The Pragmatic Engineer

By: Gergely Orosz
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Software engineering at Big Tech and startups, from the inside. Deepdives with experienced engineers and tech professionals who share their hard-earned lessons, interesting stories and advice they have on building software. Especially relevant for software engineers and engineering leaders: useful for those working in tech.

    newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
    Gergely Orosz
    Show More Show Less
Politics & Government
Show More Show Less
Episodes
  • Developer Experience at Uber with Gautam Korlam

    Developer Experience at Uber with Gautam Korlam
    Mar 12 2025
    Supported by Our Partners• Sentry — Error and performance monitoring for developers.• The Software Engineer’s Guidebook: Written by me (Gergely) – now out in audio form as well.—In today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I am joined by former Uber colleague, Gautam Korlam. Gautam is the Co-Founder of Gitar, an agentic AI startup that automates code maintenance. Gautam was mobile engineer no. 9 at Uber and founding engineer for the mobile platform team – and so he learned a few things about scaling up engineering teams.We talk about:• How Gautam accidentally deleted Uber’s Java monorepo – really!• Uber's unique engineering stack and why custom solutions like SubmitQueue were built in-house• Monorepo: the benefits and downsides of this approach• From Engineer II to Principal Engineer at Uber: Gautam’s career trajectory• Practical strategies for building trust and gaining social capital • How the platform team at Uber operated with a product-focused mindset• Vibe coding: why it helps with quick prototyping• How AI tools are changing developer experience and productivity• Important skills for devs to pick up to remain valuable as AI tools spread• And more!—Timestamps(00:00) Intro(02:11) How Gautam accidentally deleted Uber’s Java Monorepo(05:40) The impact of Gautam’s mistake(06:35) Uber’s unique engineering stack(10:15) Uber’s SubmitQueue(12:44) Why Uber moved to a monorepo(16:30) The downsides of a monorepo(18:35) Measurement products built in-house (20:20) Measuring developer productivity and happiness (22:52) How Devpods improved developer productivity (27:37) The challenges with cloud development environments(29:10) Gautam’s journey from Eng II to Principal Engineer(32:00) Building trust and gaining social capital (36:17) An explanation of Principal Engineer at Uber—and the archetypes at Uber (45:07) The platform and program split at Uber(48:15) How Gautam and his team supported their internal users (52:50) Gautam’s thoughts on developer productivity (59:10) How AI enhances productivity, its limitations, and the rise of agentic AI(1:04:00) An explanation of Vibe coding(1:07:34) An overview of Gitar and all it can help developers with (1:10:44) Top skills to cultivate to add value and stay relevant(1:17:00) Rapid fire round—The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:• The Platform and Program split at Uber• How Uber is measuring engineering productivity• Inside Uber’s move to the Cloud• How Uber built its observability platform• Software Architect Archetypes—See the transcript and other references from the episode at ⁠⁠https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast⁠⁠—Production and marketing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://penname.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@pragmaticengineer.com. Get full access to The Pragmatic Engineer at newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/subscribe
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Design-first software engineering: Craft – with Balint Orosz

    Design-first software engineering: Craft – with Balint Orosz
    Mar 5 2025
    Supported by Our Partners• WorkOS — The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS.• The Software Engineer’s Guidebook: Written by me (Gergely) – now out in audio form as well• Augment Code — AI coding assistant that pro engineering teams love—Not many people know that I have a brother: Balint Orosz. Balint is also in tech, but in many ways, is the opposite of me. While I prefer working on backend and business logic, he always thrived in designing and building UIs. While I opted to work at more established companies, he struck out on his own and started his startup, Distinction. And yet, our professional paths have crossed several times: at one point in time I accepted an offer to join Skyscanner as a Principal iOS Engineer – and as part of the negotiation, I added a clause to my contrac that I will not report directly or indirectly to the Head of Mobile: who happened to be my brother, thanks to Skyscanner acquiring his startup the same month that Skyscanner made an offer to hire me.Today, Balint is the founder and CEO of Craft, a beloved text editor known for its user-friendly interface and sleek design – an app that Apple awarded the prestigious Mac App of the Year in 2021.In our conversation, we explore how Balint approaches building opinionated software with an intense focus on user experience. We discuss the lessons he learned from his time building Distinction and working at Skyscanner that have shaped his approach to Craft and its development.In this episode, we discuss:• Balint’s first startup, Distinction, and his time working for Skyscanner after they acquired it• A case for a balanced engineering culture with both backend and frontend priorities • Why Balint doesn’t use iOS Auto Layout• The impact of Craft being personal software on front-end and back-end development• The balance between customization and engineering fear in frontend work• The resurgence of local-first software and its role in modern computing• The value of building a physical prototype • How Balint uses GenAI to assist with complicated coding projects • And much more!—Timestamps(00:00) Intro(02:13) What it’s like being a UX-focused founder (09:00) Why it was hard to gain recognition at Skyscanner (13:12) Takeaways from Skyscanner that Balint brought to Craft (16:50) How frameworks work and why they aren’t always a good fit(20:35) An explanation of iOS Auto Layout and its pros and cons (23:13) Why Balint doesn’t use Auto Layout (24:23) Why Craft has one code base (27:46) Craft’s unique toolbar features and a behind the scenes peek at the code (33:15) Why frontend engineers have fear around customization (37:11) How Craft’s design system differs from most companies (42:33) Behaviors and elements Craft uses rather than having a system for everything (44:12) The back and frontend architecture in building personal software (48:11) Shifting beliefs in personal computing (50:15) The challenges faced with operating system updates (50:48) The resurgence of local-first software(52:31) The value of opinionated software for consumers (55:30) Why Craft’s focus is on the user’s emotional experience(56:50) The size of Craft’s engineering department and platform teams(59:20) Why Craft moves faster with smaller teams(1:01:26) Balint’s advice for frontend engineers looking to demonstrate value (1:04:35) Balint’s breakthroughs using GenAI(1:07:50) Why Balint still writes code(1:09:44) Rapid fire round—The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:• The AI hackathon at Craft Docs• Engineering career paths at Big Tech and scaleups• Thriving as a Founding Engineer: lessons from the trenches• The past and future of modern backend practices—See the transcript and other references from the episode at ⁠⁠https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast⁠⁠—Production and marketing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://penname.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@pragmaticengineer.com. Get full access to The Pragmatic Engineer at newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/subscribe
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
  • The man behind the Big Tech comics – with Manu Cornet

    The man behind the Big Tech comics – with Manu Cornet
    Feb 26 2025

    Supported by Our Partners

    • WorkOS — The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS.

    • Graphite — The AI developer productivity platform.

    • Formation — Level up your career and compensation with Formation.

    —

    In today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I am joined by a senior software engineer and cartoonist, Manu Cornet. Manu spent over a decade at Google, doing both backend and frontend development. He also spent a year and a half at Twitter before Elon Musk purchased it and rebranded it to X. But what Manu is most known for are his hilarious internet comics about the tech world, including his famous org chart comic from 2011 about Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

    In today’s conversation, we explore many of his comics, discuss the meaning behind them, and talk about the following topics:

    • The viral org chart comic that captured the structure of Big Tech companies

    • Why Google is notorious for confusing product names

    • The comic that ended up on every door at Google

    • How Google’s 20% time fostered innovation—and what projects came from it

    • How one of Manu’s comics predicted Google Stadia’s failure—and the reasons behind it

    • The value of connecting to users directly

    • Twitter’s climate before and after Elon Musk’s acquisition and the mass layoffs that followed

    • And more!

    —

    Timestamps

    (00:00) Intro

    (02:01) Manu’s org structure comic

    (07:10) Manu’s “Who Sues Who” comic

    (09:15) Google vs. Amazon comic

    (14:10) Confusing names at Google

    (20:00) Different approaches to sharing information within companies

    (22:20) The two ways of doing things at Google

    (25:15) Manu’s code reviews comic

    (27:45) The comic that was printed on every single door of Google

    (30:55) An explanation of 20% at Google

    (36:00) Gmail Labs and Google Stadia

    (41:36) Manu’s time at Twitter and the threat of Elon Musk buying

    (47:07) How Manu helped Gergely with a bug on Twitter

    (49:05) Musk’s acquirement of Twitter and the resulting layoffs

    (59:00) Manu’s comic about his disillusionment with Twitter and Google

    (1:02:37) Rapid fire round

    —

    The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:

    • How Manu creates comics

    • Consolidating technologies

    • Is Big Tech becoming more cutthroat?

    —

    See the transcript and other references from the episode at ⁠⁠https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/podcast⁠⁠

    —

    Production and marketing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://penname.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@pragmaticengineer.com.



    Get full access to The Pragmatic Engineer at newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/subscribe
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins

What listeners say about The Pragmatic Engineer

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available