Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you have all traveled safely and are gearing up to have one hell of a meal. I decided to go ahead and put together some links of things that I have owned and put them together for y’all. Full transparency: Links will be affiliate links which means I generate income if you choose to buy anything. You do not have to use these links! I included the full name of the item in case you want to search on your own.

Onward!

But first a word from our sponsor!

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Jocelyn Approved (The Most RANDOM List of Things I love)

1. Govee RGBIC Light Bars (I have these on the back of my monitor) (37% Off)

2. Sonos Ray White (My speaker for my PC setup) (39% Off)

3. BASN Bmaster in Ear Monitor (My gaming headset. I’m never going back.) (27% Off)

4. Nanoleaf Elements Wood (My setup has 10, but this starter kit with 7 is essential) (36% Off)

5. Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 (My forever monitor! This is a steal.) (40% Off)

6.  BISSELL Multi-Purpose Cleaner (I have a cat. Enough said.) (34% Off)

7. Medicube Age-R Booster Pro (I.. really like skincare, and this thing is amazing.)(34% Off)

8. Logitech Litra Glow Premium LED Light (If I’m streaming or need flood light, this is it.) (21% Off)

9. Elgato Facecam MK.2 (This is my stream/work combo webcam.) (20% Off)

10. AMD Ryzen 5 76000X (If you need to upgrade your CPU before the next drop, this is the time to do it! This is the one I have in my 5 year old PC, and it’s still doing fantastic.)(37% Off)

Want to Support Git Cute?

• Subscribe! To the newsletter, to my YouTube, etc.

• Support Git Cute by buying products that are in the Git Cute Shop! I currently have my Squarespace Template and an e-book available for purchase, so go check them out. There will be more added within the next coming months. Newsletter subscribers always get those notifications first.

• Click on the affiliate and sponsor links. ;)

• I am also available for consulting services! Contact me through my Contact Page if you are interested.

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Americans! I hope that those of you that are employed have taken the week off, and that the rest of us are getting those last minute interview emails to confirm post break.

Newsletter update: Towards the end of the email you will see a new section called *Content of the Weke* where I will post embeds to my weekly content. This does not autoplay, but watching, liking, and subscribing is a way to support without monetary donations. Thank you and now on to the issue!

But first a word from this week’s sponsor.

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1. Set a schedule for the days you will interview.

   Take it from me; do not jampack your week full of interviews. My rule of thumb is a maximum of 3 recruiter screens a week and one technical screen. If it is an interview loop, that is the only thing I am doing the entire week. Interviewing is a mentally exhausting task, and while we all need to get to the dollars, burning out on interviewing is not the way to do it.

2. Decide what you want in your next company.

   Think outside of your canned response for recruiter screenings. What in a company would bring you peace of mind even during the hard days at work? For me: high salary, friendly coworkers, complex and interesting work. I cannot say the first one to the recruiters for reason that are obvious, but the other two are the most important to me always. Bad days only get worse with bad coworkers.

3. It is okay to say no.

   Sometimes you know a company is not right for you when you go through the recruiter screen. Do not ignore those feelings. Yes, you could continue on with the interview for practice, but practice is still draining, and I do not have enough mental capacity to do all of that. No is a complete sentence and my favorite one. Thank them for their time and proceed otherwise.

4. Ask the Hiring Manager Everything

   If you have questions about next year’s roadmap, the way that they manage direct employees, if they are accomodating of the company’s policy on WFH and unlimited vacation days, what their current tech stack is looking like and how many resources are they looking to add to the team in the next calendar year, etc. Vet your manager and their skip level manager thoroughly. I won’t bore you with the details of my company horror stories, but just trust me.

5. If you really like a company, see if they will fast track the interview process.

   Especially at this time of year with the holidays knocking politely on our doors, there is no harm in asking to fast track the interview process if possible. A lot of companies will have it fast tracked because of end-of-the-year headcount, but there is no harm in showing some enthuasim about the prospect of being with the company before the end of the year. It also helps if you are also in the interview process with other companies as well! Just do not have six in rotation like I do currently.

Content of the Week

Want to Support Git Cute Newsletter?

1. Subscribe! To the newsletter, to my YouTube, etc. The easiest,

2. Support Git Cute by buying products that are in the Git Cute Shop! I currently have my Squarespace Template and an e-book available for purchase, so go check them out. There will be more added within the next coming months. Newsletter subscribers always get those notifications first.

3. I am also available for consulting services! Contact me through my Contact Page if you are interested.

While the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight was lackluster in terms of a boxing fight, Netflix’s testing of their live streaming infrastructure was not! I am going to take my best professional, educated guess as to why it happened, and why the issues that were reported will be turned into a net positive win for the streaming giant.

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We know that the pillars of uptime are reliability, scalibilty, and maintainability. We also know that Netflix has championed development teams making sure that their production ready products are ready for downtime at any moment with their infamous Chaos Monkey resiliency tools. However, livestreaming on their already somewhat famous infrastructure is a different beast.

We won’t know the real strategy until the Netflix infrastructure engineers (hopefully) release a post mortem blog. Until then, I decided to breakdown what I believe they focused on reinforcing to make such a large livestream - with a rumored 1/6th of the world’s internet users streaming - a company event. A more detailed blog with diagrams and takes will be available this coming week on my blog on www.gitcute.com. Stay tuned because I will send out a blast to let you know when it drops!

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We must come to a hard truth; that AI in the way that it has been shape for public consumption is not going to go any time soon. People have already picked up AI to help with mundane tasks in their personal and work lives. Personally, I use ChatGPT multiple times a week, and when it is in time for a project, almost every day! While my sponsor is great at ongoing tips with using AI, I would love to expound upon how I use it in my business and creatively.

1. Let ChatGPT help you with outlines, not writing the full thing.

   While it would be the easy way to type a prompt into ChatGPT and let it write the entire thing for you to copy and paste, people always know when something is written by AI. In the process of aggregating the data, the soul behind the words collected loses it’s meaning. Instead, I use ChatGPT in areas where I feel stuck or need guidance. For instance, when I relaunched my website consulting, I asked ChatGPT about what documents would be beneficial to send my clients in the beginning to lay out the entire process.

2. ChatGPT can also outline blog posts and newsletter ideas!

   Believe it or not, sometimes my newsletter ideas don’t pop out of thin air (although this one did,) and I need a little help. ChatGPT knows my newsletter pretty well at this point in terms of content and my audience. I tend to ask for a list of ideas, see which ones I want to write about, and then research and move forward with execution. AI tools are essential for me to become unstuck because once I find myself stuck, I stall.

3. Grammarly can help me find mistakes and tone differences.

   I am a huge fan of Grammarly because a lot of the time I switch tone instances in paragraphs, and even sentences, without realizing it. Did you know that they also have an AI tool that can help you restructure your thoughts or soften the blow? There are other AI tools alike to this, but this is the one that I have the most experience with. I like having a side-by-side of my initial writing and the “Casual” AI output and seeing if it is worth thinking of a rewrite to get my initial point across. While it has been helpful with making me about the tone and structure of my writing, I can’t say that it replaces my own writing or a good writing class.

Want to Support the Newsletter?

1. Subscribe to the newsletter: I want to keep this newsletter free to subscribers, so in order for that to happen, please subscribe! The numbers help for more amazing companies like Pinata to sponsor the newsletter.

2. Visit GitCute.com: Git Cute is my personal website to keep up-to-date with my different ventures associated with the name. I am currently selling my first Squarespace Template for those that want to invest their money into other areas of their business aside from web design and accepting consultations for custom websites.

Credits:

Photo by Google DeepMind on Unsplash

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Need to Job Hunt? No Fear; Breathe.

1. Apply to everything.

   At one point I was being extremely particular about the type of role I was looking for, how it aligned with the direction I wanted to take my career, if it was remote, etc. At this point I am 8 months in with applying and interview, and most of my hard nos because slight maybes. I am currently in the interview loop for a position that would require me to be in the office 2 days a week when I needed to be remote. I still won’t apply for a front-end engineer or fully in-office job, but unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of not flexing.

2. Have patience!

   This is harder said than done when you have gone through your savings, are starting to tap into your 401k, and now the holiday season has fully ramped up. It is also the thing that I have the hardest time staying true to, however, it must be done. Be kind to yourself. However you lost your job, that moment is past, and you must focus on being the best version of yourself to move forward with the job search when you are ready.

3. Lean on your support network.

   In hard times, you have family and friends to support you. While some conversations are better to have with a mental health professional, the people closest to you are going to be the ones to carry you through this hard time.

4. Update that LinkedIn

   As someone that was ignoring the vitality of LinkedIn despite getting several recruiters in my inbox with offers, keep that LinkedIn updated. Kelly Vaughn of The Modern Leader has a recent newsletter issue about updating your LinkedIn and maing sure that it is up-to-date for finding a new job. I’ve included the link so you can subscribe and read. (Not an ad, I just genuinely love her newsletter.)

5.  It’s Study Time!

   I’m coming from the place of a high level software engineer role, it is time to get to the books. This is where your introspection comes into play. Figure out what your weak areas are in interviewing, and hone in on them. For me, I have extreme interview anxiety when it comes to only the coding portion of interviews. Pair programming, take homes… You name it, it gives me the jitters. So, that is the thing that I prioritize my day with. Two LeetCodes a day, and once I solve them, I time myself and do them again. Your routine may look different from mine, but it is just as important.

Reminder: It is a tough job market for every single software engineer that is looking right now. Not receiving a callback, not making it through to final interviews, not getting an offer is not an indication of you or your abilities. Feel free to email me if you want to keep each other accountable; We are in this together!

Want to Support the Newsletter?

1. Subscribe to the newsletter: I want to keep this newsletter free to subscribers, so in order for that to happen, please subscribe! The numbers help for more amazing companies like Pinata to sponsor the newsletter.

2. Visit GitCute.com: Git Cute is my personal website to keep up-to-date with my different ventures associated with the name. I am currently selling my first Squarespace Template for those that want to invest their money into other areas of their business aside from web design and accepting consultations for custom website.

(Have you been forwarded this email?)

• www.gitcute.com is alive and buzzing! Thank all of you that went to the site since the last issue, looked at things, and even responded to the email saying that they love the site. It means a lot to me since I am putting so much of my energy into it! (But not as much as job hunting)

• With the website launch, I have also hard launched my Express and Custom Websites! I have consulted regularly with start up clients, most notably Polywork, while they were still focused as a social media company and a few quarters as they transitioned into their automatic website builder. So, if you know of anyone that’s in need of a website, a redesign, or a tech consultation, send them my way, and they will receive a 15% off discount if they mention the newsletter. 😉 

• Not in the market for a custom website or it isn’t in budget? I also have launched my first Squarespace Template Serenity! It’s perfect for anyone looking to launch an ecommerce store or have a multipage portfolio. I designed it after a spa because I very much need a spa day. Purchase here!

• As an incentive for people to sign up for the newsletter - and also because I’m studying for my CKAD right now - I went ahead and put together a 6 week study plan for the CKAD specifically. Can you take longer than 6 weeks? Yes. Do you have to follow it? No, but I did include a glossary of terms you should know and made it able for you to print it without needing to by a new ink cartridge. Current newsletter followers can get the study guide below.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Amazon Prime!

Amazon Prime is offering Git Cute readers 30-day trial for free! Join me in having access to Prime Gaming for their gaming freebies and my new favorite, Grubhub+!

Did you know that Amazon also has a Prime Young Adult trial? See if you qualify for 6 months free of Prime Young Adult.

LeetCode of the Week

Welcome to the new segment where I want you to solve a LeetCode with me each week! I am in the middle of interviewing, and even if you’re not, keeping up on your algorithmic skills is a great way to keep your mind sharp.

Integer to Roman Numerals

I picked this one because this was one of the LeetCodes that I had to do for a chance to interview with Capital One when I was in my coding bootcamp in 2016. In retrospect, being able to do this problem within 8 weeks of my 12-week bootcamp is really something I should have been proud of, but all I knew was the grind.

Reply with a screenshot of your accepted results and get a shoutout in next week’s newsletter!

Short newsletter this week due to interviewing. Be kind to yourself and others!

x Josie

Have you been forwarded this email? Sign up here!

Hi Everyone -

It has been awhile! For the sake of brevity, this email won’t be the usual format because I’m honestly going to be trying out a couple of things in A/B testing to see what does well and what doesn’t. However, to catch you up on a few things…

Updates:

• I’m currently unemployed (and have been for 6 months), so I have been focusing more on content creation and getting my website back up to generate some income because this rent needs to be paid regardless!

• The fun news is that this is the soft launch of Gitcute.com! I am so excited and proud of it. While there are still a lot of elements and products that need to be added to the site, I’m glad that I have something centralized up and ready for y’all.

• I have already written 3 blog posts and ported over my Medium article about my time at Capital One to the website. I think that they are worth the read, so feel free to go ask!

• I have taken a dive into the cozy, soft desktop and mechanical keyboard side of content creation. It’s been… amazing actually. It makes me really happy and encompasses all of the things that I genuinely love about technology, planning, etc. Feel free to follow me on TikTok and Instagram because that is where I post most of my content.

• Conquer System Design.. what’s going on with it? WELL, I am actually in talks to having the website professionally developed and marketed. Since the 2 years I announced that I was going forward with the course, I have run into a lot of bottlenecks, mostly with having the time to devote to it as needed. With the help of an outside vendor, I will be able to get you to the product much more quickly. Now, will it continued to be named Conquer System Design? Unsure, but all of you that have already purchased will NOT have to worry about paying for this one. Keep an eye out in the newsletter for more news!

• I am also studying for my Linux Foundation Kubernetes Developer Certification. I was terrified, but then i wrote out a 6 week study plan, and it isn’t so bad. I am also sharing the study plan on gitcute.com as a freebie incentive for people to join the mailing list this week. Pass this email along!

That’s it for right now. You may not get ALL of my technical ramblings in the blog from now on, but I will save at least one or two for all of my great subscribers.

Thanks for not forgetting me as I have not forgotten you.

With Warmth,

Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email?)

Hi Everyone!

Spring is officially in full swing today, and so are my allergies. This weekend I got to enjoy the high 70s and full sunshine after a few weeks of good ole East Coast spring showers.

I am playing with the aesthetics and layout of the newsletter. Do I keep the header image? Do I keep it mostly text so it’s easier for y’all to read via mobile? I’m also rotating some things in and out, depending on my energy level for the week so I can stay consistent with issues. Reply and let me know what you think because I’d love the feedback!

Anyway, onward!

Updates

• Conquer System Design is on pace for the mid-May release, and I am very excited. Who knew that it would take so long to create videos to audio? The preorder price is still available until launch day, and then it will increase!

• This month marks the beginning of a very busy summer for me. I have a couple of talks, articles to write, a few conferences to attend, a move, BEYONCÉ, work in NYC, and even more to fly back and forth between until August. I’m not sure how this ended up this way, but something may have to give so I have enough time to enjoy the summer vs. letting it slip by.

• I can officially say that I am giving a Lightning Talk at DevOpsDays NYC! If you are in the city, I would love for you to come and talk about actionable alerts and monitoring for complex systems with me. Guaranteed a fun time until I hop on that train back home.

Sponsor

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Thanks again to Microsoft Surface for sponsoring this newsletter issue and don’t forget to check one out!

Trivia

Reply with the answer and the first 5 people will be shouted out with the social media of their choice in the next newsletter!

What is the concept in software development that describes breaking a complex problem into smaller, more manageable pieces?

Links That Made Me Happy

Some of these links may be affiliate links for me, but no one mentioned has told or paid me to mention their products. You don't have to use them if you do not wish to use them!

• I am extremely active, but my activity dropped significantly like many people during the pandemic. I finally decided to pull the trigger on a walking pad to use while working from home or watching t.v. I am surprised that this is so good for the price of $220 with a coupon. If you were looking for a cheaper alternative to the $500+ treadmills, check this one out and get those steps in!

• I will take a pink wireless macro pad any day; this one was no exception. It’s so damn functional and cute!

• Is anyone else excited about AfroTech because I am BEYOND excited. I won’t even tell you how long I’ve had my ticket, but you should go grab yours for one of the best tech conferences stateside.

Have an amazing week, and please be kind to yourself. And don’t forget to respond to the trivia if you know!

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email? You can sign up here!)

It has been almost 5 months since the last time that I wrote a newsletter. It's not to say that I have not missed writing this and connecting with other techies, but when it rains, it certainly does pour! While I have been on hiatus, we have grown to 917 readers though. That's actually amazing that y'all are still sharing my content and people are finding use out of it.

Enough rambling... here we go!

Update(s)

• I have officially been at The New York Times for 3 months. My 90 onboarding period has ended which means I have been thrown into the deep end of Staff Software Engineer and Tech Lead duties. I still don't understand how I managed to go through 7 rounds of interviews to find myself in this position or how anyone thinks that I have expertise in anything, but I've decided that I'm not letting imposter syndrome take this win from me this time.

• The elephant in the room: What is happening with Conquer System Design?! A lot has been going on and revamping behind the scenes. The date for launch keeps getting pushed back because either work or my health is in the way of completion. I'm uncomfortable speaking more about my health than it has been nothing short of many lows and some mids. Currently, my goal is to have it out to y'all by May 17th. If you have any further questions, send an email to admin@conquersystemdesign.com. Tell your friends they still have two weeks until the price increases to $250.

• I have started writing my second book! I am cleaning up an outline to send to Apress, my previous publisher. If, for whatever reason, they don't want to publish it, I think I will self-publish again. If you haven't read my current book A Software Engineer's Guide to Seniority, purchase it through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apress.

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The Great Twitter Exodus for BlueSky

It's been nine days since I accepted a BlueSky invite from a Twitter mutual and made an account to see what was going on, and, to be honest, there was not a lot going on that made it stand out from Twitter. There were a lot of NFT artists and people that still dabbled in crypto stripped away of the facade of pretentiousness that you'd find that the larger accounts had on Twitter. While this may have made me nervous once upon a time, it was nice to be outside of my Tech Twitter bubble this time. I enjoyed scrolling through my What's Hot feed looking at incredibly detailed art, and laughing at shitposts that felt nostalgic for web forum communities in the early 2000s, a detail that I hadn't realized that the current stage of the Internet was sorely missing.

My mutuals from Twitter quickly started procuring invites and making their way over. The majority of them were coming over since it had already hit Twitter that the invites were hard to come by, so perhaps there was something that we were missing out on. Most notably, Aveta was throwing exclusive invites at anyone on Twitter whose vibes were right, and luckily for me, it was mostly Black Tech Twitter. You could say that this article is self-serving since I am a member of Black Twitter and was one of many that accepted the invite to join the BlueSky community. For the first 48 hours, we partied. We made memes. We joined in with the current community and rejoiced, adding to the chaos of shitposts and the uncurated socialization that I haven't felt since being in AOL chat rooms in the late 90s.

We have direct access to the CEO, Jay Graber, and the whole development team of BlueSky. The CEO using their platform isn't new, but how she interacts with the community as a user first and CEO second is refreshing. The way that she stepped up to defend her developers and her closed private beta product once Tech Twitter decided to do only what we know how to do best, alluding to ourselves knowing everything about AT protocol that is entirely out of our depth and then complaining about the lack of common social media features such as blocking - which has been implemented on their web app as of the publishing date.

She made it extremely clear; this was an app and a new decentralized protocol that was put together within a year and a half that suddenly had an explosive onset of users. They have a relatively small startup developer team, and as much as the user base would like a feature, "come back later." I laughed hysterically at the polite way she told us to fuck off. It was then that I decided that I would be on the app for the long stretch.

On the ninth day, we adjusted. The atmosphere of the app has only changed minimally despite the staggering number of users now on BlueSky. There are more notable faces there, thanks to users with a broader network of connections on Twitter. We now have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Quinta Brunson, and even the accidentally no longer satirically digital media company The Onion. There are growing pains as more communities join the app through the beta invites. Some communities are seen as less than favorable as they spout anti-Trans rhetoric, but the BlueSky moderation is quick to act on reports and ban them.

I initially started writing this to note the ridiculousness of the community, such as referring to posts on the timeline as "skeets" and how we left the CEO mortified, which left us only wanting to adapt it more. I also wanted to highlight the unprecedented spike in users and traffic, but this has become an open love letter to BlueSky instead. It is still invite-only on the platform, but when I get more invites, I will continue what I started on Twitter and allow people to enter a raffle for them. If you get ahold of an invite, sign up and start skeeting. You won't be sorry that you did.

There are no happy links this week because I am trying to not tempt myself to shop while looking at my wishlists.

While we do not have any new members this week, remember that you can support me by subscribing to Patreon here.

Have a fantastic week and please be kind to yourself.

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email?)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized that this weekend I am going to be extremely busy with studying and preparing for a series of iterviews that I have next week, so I was not going to have time to give you the newsletter that I wanted.

I wanted to take a moment and let you know that I am extremely thankful for all of you. Supporting me through being subscribed to my newsletter, the lot of you that have become my Patreon Patrons, laughing at my bad Tweets... It all means so much, and I could never explain to you the profound impact that you have had on me this year. So, thank you, for being a constant source of happiness when the days are not so bright.

There are a lot of cool tech Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals that I wanted to let y'all know about beforehand and some other personal updates... Anyway, you know the drill. Onward!

Updates

• I have officially relaunched the Conquer System Design website! It is very cute if I do say so myself. The hardest part was muting my color palette and making it feel cute enough for me while keeping it professional enough for people to actually buy from me. The best part is that because of the launch and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, I decided to take $100 off the course and sell it for $99 until Tuesday, November 29th! Yay! I also offer Pay-in-4 payments now for people and that discount is also applied to that as well. Enjoy!

• As I mentioned in the intro, I have interviews that are happening after the holiday that I am very excited about. I have a really good feeling that I have manifested this opportunity for myself, and that this sabbatical to focus on my mental health and rediscovering my purpose in tech have led me to this. If you believe in spirtuality, all good vibes are welcome!

• No book updates as of right now! We are still in the editing phase and the end of the year is always a large push for publishers. I hoping to set up a preorder for the book through Apress to be able to share with with you, my faithful newsletter readers. I'll keep you updated.

Sponsor

This week's email is again sponsored by Audible Plus!

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We Are Exploiting Our Most Vulnerable

The topic that I wanted to talk about in Sunday's newsletter that I was not able to because of ongoing article writing and litigation was My Tech Best Friend. I have always vocalized that I came from a coding bootcamp, and that I was proud of what I accomplished there because without it, I would not have my career. In fact, you would not be reading this newsletter, however, there are bootcamps that take advantage of people that were in my circumstances: low income, ambitious, desperate for a way out to break the gneerational cycle of poverty. My Tech Best Friend is one of those bootcamps.

Dominic Madori, Senior Reproter for Tech Crunch, wrote an article that dropped today called My Tech Frenemy. She has done the critical research to give us a thorough deep dive into what it was like for the students that were and are still currently enrolled in My Tech Best Friend. She even goes into Mary Adowele's alleged anti-Blackness against Black Americans since she herself is of Nigerian descent — which is an important angle to pursue when her target audience were Black Americans. It would be a disservice of me to rewrite that article her article, so go read it here.

The issues of My Tech Best friend is many, but, for me and others, the main issue is that Mary is allegedly targeting low-income Black people. People that had to take out loans, quit their jobs, in order to dedicate their time to the bootcamp with no guarantee of a job. It was the perfect storm of promise, ambition, and opportunity for both entities. One was pure and the other opportunistic and social media served as the breeding ground.

We are proud members of Tech Twitter. I enjoy the community that I have found there and the bonds that I have formed with people that I did not think were possible in my same career. However, most of us dropped the ball on becoming informed about the person that we were retweeting, defending, or watching silently from the shadows. I will admit that I have had her muted for a month or more, but I was ignoring my own advice of "being silent is siding with the oppressor," but the only difference is that I was not watching it happen. I turned my eye and therefor I turned away from people that needed the help the most.

It is important as social media users to take note of our influence and make sure that we are not supporting bad actors -- which is easier said than done. I can mindlessly hop on Twitter or TikTok, shit post, scroll, retweet, like, and then go on with my day. A signifier of "likes and RTs do not mean endorsement" in a profile is a weak deflection at best, and takes away our responsibility for letting this pass. Mary presented My Tesh Best Friend in the best light to those who knew her and to strangers. There is a reason why that the bootcamp was so successful in terms of enrollments and payments.

While the fall out of My Tech Best Friend is the doing of the creator and owner, the impact that it has had on hundreds of individuals is a share responsibility. From liking the Tweets, commenting on the LinkedIn posts, and recommending for business opportunities, letting ourselves be bullied into silence. We cannot go back and change our actions, but we can continue to support those that won't let this deter them away from joining the tech industry. All things done in the dark must come to light, but let us be the lanterns to lead the affected to the right path.

Links That Made Me Happy (Holiday edition!)

Some of these link may be affiliate links for me, but no one mentioned has told or paid me to mention their products. If you do not wish to use them, you don't have to!

• My hardcover copy of Engineering Management for the Rest of Us came today, and I promise you that Sarah is not requesting me to promote this book. It's just. So. Damn. Good. Get it while you can!

• I love my Elgato Stream Deck, and it is currently 20% off trough Amazon. I got mine before there was this amazing white colorway, but either color will help you tap into your Twitch streaming or computer macros with ease. A must buy.

• My friend Lindsey owns Lindsey Created, an amazing Black owned, candle business. When I tell you that I have every single candle that she has ever made, I am not exaggerating. Her candles are a most purchase every time that I see a Tweet or an email alert. Go forth and choose a scent that taps into your true self. Shop here.

• For me, the holidays mean that I get to treat myself to decadence, and there is nothing that screams decadence to me than buying myself anything that I want. This year, I desperately want this sweater. Is it just a sweater with sheep? Yes. Is it the only thing that I have pined for this entire year? Also yes. Let's be twins and wear the sheep together!

Java Facts

Did you know that Java can be used to create a front end? For a programming language that is typically known for it's backend capabilities, Java has been used with frameworks like JavaFx to tackle the user interface for desktop applications. Look out, React. We're coming for you. (Jokes, all jokes. Please don't yell at me.)

Thank you to Katy and Michael for becoming a Git Cute Patron! If you want a shoutout in the newsletter, you can sign up here.

Have an amazing extended weekend. Eat all of the turkey that you want and send me some pictures of your spreads on Twitter!

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email?)

Hi everyone! If you hadn't noticed yet, every issue's title has been a song lyric of a song that I happen to be obsessed with that week. It could be fun if you email me what you think the song is, and I will add you to the newsletter with your social media (if you choose to share that with me) so everyone knows what type of winner you are.

Let's quickly dive into the newsletter because too much has happened this week, and we need to process it. I'm also feeling under the weather because of my allergies, so there won't be any article in this week's newsletter. Take it as a nice short, holiday send off!

Updates

• I have decided to release the episodes that I am recording on the main Git Cute Podcast feed and to leave the video episodes (and outtakes) on Patreon. I had people tell me that now would be a great time to bring back something that they've missed, and I don't disagree. It will more than likely start back up on the Monday after Thanksgiving so I can give myself a nice break in editing.

• The Conquer System Design website is currently under a huge revamp. I decided to stop fighting with trying to customize Teachable (which, is uncustomizable to a modern, reactive site) and move the main site to Webflow! I have been working on that in tandem with the newsletter this weekend, and I plan on having that launched on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week with the Database module up for the current 30 people that have preordered!

• I have a *great* prospect for a job, that I am really, really excited about. I wanted to take some time to deep dive specialize on the next job, but this job is perfect in every single way, that I have come to learn that I just need to do the mastery on my own time and master a whole new set of skills. Stay tuned that this will work out! And cross your fingers for me.

Sponsor

This week's email is sponsored by Audible Plus!

Audible offers customers more selection with access to a robust catalog of fresh and original audio entertainment and superior programming. The unbeatable selection and Audible’s award-winning app offer your readers the ability to listen to their favorite content anytime, anywhere.

Try Audible Plus, free for the first 30 days, by clicking here

Links That Made Me Happy

Some of these link may be affiliate links for me, but no one mentioned has told or paid me to mention their products. If you do not wish to use them, you don't have to!

• Cassidy has officially launched her licensed Scrabble keycaps and accessories with Clackeys! Go pre-order because the set goes off.

• I'm Glad My Mom Died will make you laugh, cry, and cry while laughing. If you haven't read it, do so. It's a well-written delight.

• This isn't a link so much as general advice for you all; Black Friday deals have already started! If you want to avoid the waiting, go find your favorite deals now. The amount of skincare that I have purchased is ridiculous.

Java Facts

Did you know that Java runs on over a billion smartphones since Google won the lawsuit that Oracle launched against Google for using Java in the Android operating system? Pretty cool to me at least!

Thank you Katy for joining us on Patreon! We are up to 7 people now, which is wild because I didn't think anyone would actually sign up. If you want a shoutout in the newsletter, you can sign up here.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving and make sure you take a long walk after that turkey hits.

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email?)

I feel like a 'hello' isn't enough to suffice for the opening of this email.

It has been the longest week of 2022 I am certain of it. I hope that all of you are taking care of yourselves and most importantly being kind. Kind to yourself, kind to others, kind to pervasive thoughts and temptation.

Updates

• I have recorded the very first episode of Git Cute Podcast with one of my favorite people - Kurt Kemple! It was such a fun conversation, and Kurt is just one of the best humans I have ever had the pleasure to meet and call a friend. I am in the process of editing it and trying to decide if I want to keep it strictly to Patreon subscribers or release the audio version on the normal RSS feed and do an outtake version for Patreon readers as well. This experimentation with the podcast will more than likely change episode to episode. Either way, it is available now for Patreon members.

• The progress on Conquer System Design is moving slowly, albeit moving. I am not sure what my mental block on this course is coming from, but I know that I need to have the visuals and content down pat before I release it. I think it's coming from a place of professionalism and perfectionism, but sometimes you need to just release it quickly and iterate on the edits, right? 🥲 You can still take advatnage of the preorder price below.

• Thanks to some a great conversation with my dear friend Scott, I have next step interviews with a couple of places that interest me and seem like they are really interesting in terms of work and meet the criteria that I look for in terms of a team, org, and company. We will see how they go, but after writing this email, I am going to be brushing up on my algorithms immediately! (Again. And again.)

• The publishing process of A Software Engineer's Guide to Seniority is moving with a slight setback! During the typecasting process, it looks like that I am a few pages short of what I was contracted, so it's back to writing extra for this book! It's a great opportunity for me to expand on subjects that I felt I couldn't when I was publishing it myself, so I am very excited to see what the final outcome will be. I've already seen the cover, and I am in *love* with it. I can't wait to share it with you all!

Sponsor

This week's email is again sponsored by beehiiv - The Newsletter Platform Built for Growth!

When starting a newsletter, there are plenty of choices. But there’s only one publishing tool built to help you grow your publications as quickly and sustainably as possible.

beehiiv was founded by some of the earliest employees of the Morning Brew, and they know what it takes to grow a newsletter from zero to millions.

The all-in-one publishing suite comes with built-in growth tools, customization, and best-in-class analytics that actually move the needle - all in an easy-to-use interface.

Not to mention—responsive audience polls, a custom referral program, SEO-optimized webpages, and so much more.

If you’ve considered starting a newsletter, there’s no better place to get started and no better time than now.

Try beehiiv absolutely free with no credit card required.

The Facade of Tech Toxicity is Breaking

With Elon Musk's acquisiton of Twitter, a few things have become apparent to a subset of people that were not aware of it before. Musk has shown that he is not competent at running a technology company and that the senior management at Twitter could allegedly be complacent with it.

On November 12th, a Tweet crossed my timeline that I could not ignore from William Pietri.

Tech Twitter lit up with a ferocity that I have only seldom seen when discussing if people with software engineering degrees were better engineers. There were many of us that took this information and decided to inform the rest of the world that this is not how anyone should be talking about their employees. The irony is not lost on me that htese people were let go, yet these "weak, lazy, unmotivated" workers are the ones that they need to keep the app running.

My first reaction to the news was to find his Twitter. There is nothing that sets my tech activism fire ablaze than white men in tech treating employees poorly. By the time I got to it, he had already locked it down. (I won't link it here, but it isn't hard to find considering the information in the above graphic.) The damage had already been done. Many of my friends annd colleagues had already started calling this man out for his atrocious behavior. Will anything be done about this behavior? Considering the number of lawsuits that his direct boss's other companies are going through, I doubt it.

I have been speaking out about the toxicity within the tech industry since I become a software engineer, but this is one of the first examples that we got into the mindset behind senior management about how they feel about their engineers. I even spoke in last week's newsletter about how tech employees had a rude awakening about how temporary we are in our positions. And we are watching it play out in real time.

Links That Made Me Happy

Some of these link may be affiliate links for me, but no one mentioned has told or paid me to mention their products. If you do not wish to use them, you don't have to!

• Sarah Dosner has released Engineering Management for the Rest of Us. I am a couple of chapters in, and I have already learned so much. It's a *must* read for career advancement.

• The Staff Engineer Path is a great resource for anyone that does not want to get into management quite yet and wants to stay on the IC track, like me!

• I am obessed with this Ronin figurine. I was a little distraught when I realized that there isn't an anime for these figures, but uh, I'm going to buy them all anyway.

Java Facts

Did you know that Java has automatic garbage collection? Yeah, that's right. We don't have to worry about memory management because the JVM has automatic garbage collection for objects that it knows are no longer in use. Pretty cool, huh?

Thank you to Stephon for becoming a Git Cute Patron! If you want a shoutout in the newsletter, you can sign up here.

Have an amazing week and please be kind to yourself.

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email? Sign-up here!)

Hello everyone and welcome to November.

I'm going to be honest with y'all; I am very upset that October is over. Aside from August, October is my favorite month with my favorite holiday. We are not hurdling toward the end of the year, and I feel as though I haven't gotten anything done in terms of personal goals. I know that it isn't true if I sit down and think about it, but I'm already thinking of personal and professional goals for next year, and well, those seem to be enough to ponder about for now.

Updates

• I received my first proof for A Software Engineer's Guide to Seniority and also saw the cover that Apress has made for it. I cried. A lot. I sent it to my closest friends and allowed myself to feel joy that this feels so real now. It was real when I was selling it on my own, when I self-published through Amazon, but this? This is ... something new. I'm going to be in bookstores! Eee! I will let y'all know first as soon as the book is available to pre-order.

• I told y'all last week that I am bringing back Git Cute Podcast episodes monthly through my Patreon. I have sent out schedule invites to everyone that has asked to be a part of it, and when the last few conferences of the season are out of the way, I expect to have them all scheduled and slated for recording. Git Cute Podcast was initially just me talking to the audience, so I am very excited to bring this next chapter with guests that can talk back.

• The slated first module release of Conquer System Design is slated for Thanksgiving 2022. Is it much later than the initial date of August 2022? Absolutely, but I also needed to seriously readjust my goals, and that is of no one else's fault but my own. The goal within the next 30 days is to have the new website up and running to showcase the first module, but also to show different payment options for the course. I have been fully transparent in the process of interviewing and content creation while trying to come to a place with my mental health where I felt comfortable. Thank y'all for being patient with me during the preorder phase.

Sponsor

This week's email is again sponsored by beehiiv - The Newsletter Platform Built for Growth!

When starting a newsletter, there are plenty of choices. But there’s only one publishing tool built to help you grow your publications as quickly and sustainably as possible.

beehiiv was founded by some of the earliest employees of the Morning Brew, and they know what it takes to grow a newsletter from zero to millions.

The all-in-one publishing suite comes with built-in growth tools, customization, and best-in-class analytics that actually move the needle - all in an easy-to-use interface.

Not to mention—responsive audience polls, a custom referral program, SEO-optimized webpages, and so much more.

If you’ve considered starting a newsletter, there’s no better place to get started and no better time than now.

Try beehiiv absolutely free with no credit card required.

The Twitter Lay Offs

We had long speculated that it was coming, but as of midnight EST, too many Twitter employees were let go from their long standing jobs while attempting to log in to their company Slack and email accounts only to see that their access had been revoked. It was surreal watching it happen to people I follow and others I just watched from a distance. The most amazing thing to witness was their solidtarity.

Then, today - Saturday, I write these early - Jack Dorsey decided to Tweet out his own words of solace to the employees that were laid off for a reason unbeknownst to most of us.

A more succinct explanation of his Tweet comes down to, "I'm sorry I hired so many of you." He is putting the onus of the layoffs on himself without acknowledging that he was the one that chose his replacement CEO, Parag Agrawal who appointed Elon Musk to Twitter's board in April 2022. While he hasn't publicly stated the reason as to why, we know now that it was money. Based on how the Twitter board forced Elon to follow through with his buy out of Twitter, it is safe to say that the integrity of Twitter was not on the forefront of the investors minds.

It's fitting that mere hours after taking Twitter private that Musk dissolved the board of directors, making him the sole director of the social media company.

What Jack's Tweets are is a sign-off and silent support of Elon Musk and the current gutting of Twitter's earliest employees and largest supporters. If a man can stay neutral and silent while his predecessor is dismantling the very company that he grew, what will it take?

At one point tech workers thought that we were imprevious to the mass layoffs that seemed to only plague game studios dev units. However, with the latest layoffs and hiring freezes at tech's largest companies, we were fools to think so. We were never in a place where we can be complacent. We were overpaid cogs in a algorithm generating machine, and some of us weere fooled that we were anything but that.

Edit: As of Sunday night while I went to schedule this newsletter (this is super annoying because it's , it seems as though Jack has started to push back against Elon's rapid Twitter changes.

There's actual discussion happening about this now. It seems that the only appropriate pushback would be from another billionaire.

Links That Made Me Happy This Week

• These adorable Nendoroids of SUGA and Jungkook from BTS

• I need this. NEED.

• Razer made a Hello Kitty keyboard.

• I was looking for Christmas gifts and these are beautiful.

Java Facts

Did you know that Java was originally named Oak? I'm kind of sad that they changed it because I could be making so many Professor Oak jokes right now.

Also thanks to the new Patreon Patron Ariane! You can also get a shoutout in the newsletter by becoming a Patron here. 💖

Enjoy your week and remember to take care of yourselves!

xx Josie

(Have you been forwarded this email? Sign-up here!)

Happy Halloween, Cuties! 👻

Artist: Nikkileeisme on Instagram

The best day of the entire year is here: Halloween. I can smell the plastic wrapped Starbursts and Skittles. The slight smell of undetermined chemicals as I open my Halloween costume package. The promise of incredulous bar crawls and a possible candy coma all on a Monday night... how can you not love it?!

Updates

• I got my first Patron on Patreon off of last week's issue! I was extremely excited, and it spurred me to reorganize the Patron Tiers and also bring back something kind of fun... You should join them though because I've decided to post new Git Cute Podcast episodes monthly my Patreon. You can pledge here to be the first to hear the new episodes!

• The slated first module release of Conquer System Design is slated for Thanksgiving 2022. Is it much later than the initial date of August 2022? Absolutely, but I also needed to seriously readjust my goals, and that is of no one else's fault but my own. The goal within the next 30 days is to have the new website up and running to showcase the first module, but also to show different payment options for the course. I have been fully transparent in the process of interviewing and content creation while trying to come to a place with my mental health where I felt comfortable. Thank y'all for being patient with me during the preorder phase.

• I have an interview with a company that I find interesting coming up. Let's hope I can show them my value.

Sponsor

This week's email is again sponsored by beehiiv - The Newsletter Platform Built for Growth!

When starting a newsletter, there are plenty of choices. But there’s only one publishing tool built to help you grow your publications as quickly and sustainably as possible.

beehiiv was founded by some of the earliest employees of the Morning Brew, and they know what it takes to grow a newsletter from zero to millions.

The all-in-one publishing suite comes with built-in growth tools, customization, and best-in-class analytics that actually move the needle - all in an easy-to-use interface.

Not to mention—responsive audience polls, a custom referral program, SEO-optimized webpages, and so much more.

If you’ve considered starting a newsletter, there’s no better place to get started and no better time than now.

Try beehiiv absolutely free with no credit card required.

So, Elon Finally Bought Twitter...

I used to have a lot of thoughts about this when it was first talked about on Twitter earlier in the year. Now that the day is here, the only people that I feel bad for are the people that are working at Twitter and have suddenly had the value of their RSUs reduced to 0%. A lot of rely on the extra money from our RSUs for making large life purchases, taking care of family, or just to make ends meet. This Verge article by Nilay Patel says brilliantly what I am thinking. As far as staying on Twitter, I will still be there, shit posting to the tens of thousands of you that follow me.

Links that made me happy

• Second Twilio Breach in June

• The sale is over, but I wanted you to know these cute yummy keycaps existed

• Meta's stock is currently worth $98.90

• RIHANNA IS BACK!

Why Using "Black-on-Black" is Perpetuating Communal Harm

We all know of Black Twitter, and because of Pariss Athena, we all should be aware of #blacktechtwitter - a niche subset of Black technologists tackling everything from racism in the workplace to would you rather...? topics. If you don't follow a lot of Black technologists, chances are you are not in the know, but let's talk about one topic in an otherwise blissfully slow topic week.

Earlier on Friday, a Black technologist with 50k+ Twitter followers made a Tweet regarding two topics that don't mesh in or out of context : Ashanti's sexual assault and abusive relationship with Irv Gotti and "black-on-black workplace trauma." While the trauma that we can have from members of our own community, the use of "black-on-black" is problematic and is more divisive and takes away from the importance of the experiences of those that are in the corporate workplace.

You may be confused as to why "black-on-black" is seen as inherently anti-Black, and I will break it down for you.

Black-on-black is a phrase that was perpetuated by racism, especially in the context of black-on-black crime since the late 1800s, most famously by a white Fredrick Ludwig Hoffman. While he did not outright use the phrase, he alluded to "the basic idea that Black people have a special crime problem." From Hoffman's ancedote about Black Americans spurred hundreds of years of statistical and logical fallacies that are still conservative talking points about Black people to this day.

While looking at these statistics, it is important to note that if you live in a neighborhood or city with people that share the same race idenity as you, you have a vastly larger chance of a violent crime being committed against you by your same race. You are parroting anti-Black talking points without understanding the damage that you are doing to yourself and to the Black image at large.

There is also a section of Black people that believe that there is an inherent comradery amongst each other in workplaces based on our race alone. To that, I paraphrase what another Black woman in the Twitter Space in question pointed out, that not every Black person is going to have the same experience as you based on their locale. If we can say that to defend using black-on-black when describing harmful workplace scenarios, we can argue the adverse that our skincolor does not immediately dictate a closeness or kinship. All skinfolks are not kinfolk.

Instead of unknowingly following the steps of Black conservatives that use black-on-black crime to spur disodence within the forseen monoethnicity of Blackness in America, let's be mindful of how we discuss the struggles of corporate politics amongst our own communities.

Sources: Here, here, and here, also a lot of books and lived experiences by me.

Java Facts

It's my favorite part of the newsletter: Java facts!

Y'all may hate Java, but there's one thing that can be said, that we Java developers get *paid.* As of the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2021, Java is still the 5th most used language. When you your dinosaur systems are written in Java, someone needs to come in to refactor and maintain them, no? 😏

Also thanks to Angelique, Scott, Sean, and Emmy for being Patreon Patrons! 💖

Have an amazing week, y'all! Don't forget to celebrate the spooky!

xx Josie