What’s something you believed early in your career that now feels completely backwards? I used to think the smartest engineer was the most valuable person in the room. Now I think it’s usually the clearest communicator.

What’s the greenest flag you’ve seen in an engineering team’s culture? For me it’s when senior engineers ask questions in public channels instead of always having the answers. It normalizes not knowing everything and makes it way easier for junior folks to speak up without feeling like they’ll be judged.

A senior engineer on my team is leaving, and our manager sent a link for a farewell gift card. She mentored me when I was a junior, so I want to chip in, but I can't see what others are giving and have never done this before. She makes great money if that matters. The default options are $20, $30, and $50. What's standard here? Is $30 enough, or should I go higher since she helped me so much?

Do you think the best engineers are the ones who spot problems early or the ones who solve them quickly? I’m starting to think spotting them early creates far more value.

Do you think engineering gets more technical or more psychological over time? The longer I work with teams and systems, the more human behavior seems to matter.