Jose Navarro

If you’re an engineering leader, this report about the current state of tech has some great insights. It’s super fascinating to see what the current common themes are.

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Just the usual morning chat with your technical co-founder Ben 😆 Things are moving fast in SetSeed land, it’s crazy. Making it fun too, otherwise what’s the point eh. Especially with customer requests coming in fast, rapid development, testing Voyager, AWS, Azure etc all at once, migrations, stack scripts, multiple backup systems, cybersecurity etc etc. Awhile back I was actually afraid of success, as it felt uncontrollable. Guess what, in a way it is! But embracing the uncomfortable is crucial to growth. Be like the cicada; get a bit noisy and keep shedding the old you. P.S. SSL simulation is a nifty trick when preparing to migrate customers.

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Want to watch me build an app in 30 minutes at SXSW London? 👀 Only joking… sort of. The way we code and build apps is changing FAST, and I think its super important that engineers are keeping up with the most up to date workflows and tools. Tools like Copilot and Cursor are making development faster, smarter, and more accessible than ever. At SXSW London, I want to show you how to harness these tools for your own projects. My hands-on talk will explore the AI transforming app development and what it means for the future of our industry. But I need your vote to make it happen. ➡️ Sign up for a SXSW voting account and hit the heart on my session page here: https://lnkd.in/eRmSSUnu

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Just trying out the newly released GOT (General OCR Theory) on Hugging Face Does anyone know any trick to improve the output quality? I just used the code on HuggingFace https://lnkd.in/eacHpGuX

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Not a podcast listener? No problem. We've transcribed the latest episode of our podcast so you can read it instead. In this one, we talked about how developers are feeling burned out and why, and also how engineers are now informing business strategy. https://lnkd.in/eEhWt-yV

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📢 Introducing 'Continuously Delivered', our new email series‼️ Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eTXhFR5m If you've ever wondered why faster feedback is better, how to make your developers happier, or why you don't have to sacrifice stability for speed, we've got the newsletter for you. Our editorial-focused newsletter, Continuously Delivered, is a series that *continuously delivers* easily digestible pearls of development wisdom to your inbox every few weeks. Each email covers an evergreen software delivery topic through the lens of Octopus's experiences. We offer advice, strategies, and opinions about #ContinuousDelivery, and related concepts like #Agile, Lean, #DevOps, and more.

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🔍 In our series highlighting our engineering team, Steffan, our Senior Software Engineer, answers a key question: How do we ensure high-quality, well-organised data at scale? There's a fundamental challenge in making sense of unstructured, inconsistent data while maintaining quality. Some of the most complex design decisions come from balancing technical solutions with deep domain understanding. When building robust data systems, my approach focuses on three key principles: 1. We design flexible data models that align closely with our product direction, avoiding premature specialization. This keeps us agile as our company evolves—crucial in the startup space where our focus can shift month-to-month. 2. Human oversight remains critical. Just like you wouldn't eat M&Ms if 1 in 20 was filled with dirt, we ensure all significant external data points (AI-generated or not) get human verification. Quality can't be compromised. 3. We strategically leverage LLMs to accelerate our processes. With today's affordable AI solutions, we can rapidly extract metadata, parallelise manual tasks, and review data—all while maintaining quality standards. My job is to build systems that turn these principles into reality, transforming complex data challenges into sustainable solutions. The result? Less technical debt, more value generation—what I call collecting Tech Rent! 💷

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Trying to hire a junior to mid-level engineer in Scotland with great benefits and remote working is hard... https://lnkd.in/eQNHVqGR Not because the role isn't attractive (you'd be working on exciting large-scale system infrastructure challenges writing code with Golang - 1,000's of Kubernetes clusters, 10,000s of cloud VMs) or because the team are all crazy (they're thought leaders in their field including multiple upstream Kubernetes contributors from 3 continents!)... you got me... maybe there's a little crazy - but only the good kind! No... my challenge is whether this AI-generated image to go with my LinkedIn post makes any sense! I never have much luck with images containing generated text. Even using prompts like "spell check any text" or as is the case with this one "do not include any text" doesn't seem to work. Not to mention, I know what a Scottish Terrier is... but that "thing" in the bottom right looks more like an angry, tartan-wearing Capybara. Comment below for your biggest concerns with this image... or if you're a junior/mid-level, talented software engineer based in Scotland - maybe just skip over the image and apply online - https://lnkd.in/eQNHVqGR

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🌟 Don't miss out on an engaging discussion with our very own Richard O'Brien, Head of Product at BugHerd and Kavya Nair, Director of Product Marketing at LambdaTest! 🌟 Richard and Kavya will be exploring why adaptability and continuous learning are the real keys to success in software testing. 🛠️ Don't miss out on this valuable discussion as part of the LambdaTest XP Series! #BugHerd #LambdaTest #SoftwareTesting #QA

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Mastering the Interview Game: Insights from a Software Engineering Leader In our latest #CareerDownloads episode, James Oravec, Senior Manager for Software Engineering, shares his journey 'From Tech Support to Software Engineering Leader.' James breaks down the interview process and offers invaluable advice: • Embrace rejections as part of the journey • Reflect and improve after each interview • Develop a growth mindset 🎬 Watch this clip to hear James' perspective on navigating tough interview landscapes and turning rejections into opportunities. Ready to elevate your career game? Listen to the full episode on careerdownloads.com or watch on our YouTube channel to learn about James' experiences, including his fascinating journey through the patent creation process! #TechCareers #SoftwareEngineering #InterviewTips #CareerGrowth #LeadershipInsights

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It’s common knowledge among developers that testing in production is a bad practice, right? So why, as technical leaders, do we sometimes test our skills on our teams? For example, can I deliver constructive feedback? 🤔 At HAY, we’ve created a space for such experiments in a safe environment 🙌 “As a beginner Engineering Manager, I dreamed of having a testing environment to practice all the tasks I was terrible at as a leader,” said Tomek, CEO of codequest. Drawing on his extensive experience and knowledge, he created a safe environment for other leaders to develop these skills. It’s a two-day course for a small group (8 people) based on role-playing. Learn more at 👉 https://lnkd.in/eFr3-awu

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Is there a way to tell LinkedIn “if I haven’t connected with or followed them, just assum ‘I’m not interested in this author’”? I’m so bored with content-free posts by junior engineers utterly failing to sound like senior engineers. To the junior engineers: It’s cool; you have to start somewhere. My history is chock full of inane posts that I thought were clever at the time, too. I just don’t have any interest in having your musings shown to me as if they were equals to the ideas presented to me by people I trust. Don’t stop posting. Keep at it, get better! To LinkedIn: show me that my connections are looking for work or have positions available or have posted something new. Your AI recommendation algorithm isn’t as hilariously wrong about what I want to see as Facebook’s is, but it is irritatingly irrelevant. Just stop. Suggested posts aren’t working.

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📬 Newsletter issue #22 is out! Find out what topics we covered last week 👇 ✅ Scope Management 101 by Kent Beck 🔍 Being an EM at Amazon by Anton Zaides 📝 First thing in the morning by Ethan Evans & Jason Yoong ⏺️ Learning Impactful Engineering with Jagannath Kintali, ex-head of engineering at Dojo 🔗 Link to the issue is in the comments!

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Check out our recent blog post highlighting some of the most insightful and engaging technical talks our team has come across. From Git to the role of empathy in software design, these are the videos we've recently appreciated: https://lnkd.in/d4Gn5ptV #technology #TechTalks #Innovation #Inspiration

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So, I decided to teach myself React, and, like John Crickett suggests, I decided to build a real project. (And no, you don't get to look at the code because it looks like it was written by someone who just learned React.) It's a basic app that calculates the real cost of hiring and having an open role. It's not much, but I think it might be useful for recruiters or HR folks. I'd love to get some opinions on it from folks in the recruiting field, like Darren Bush or Amy Miller. Feel free to question the assumptions, make fun of the design, or really, anything else. https://lnkd.in/eHuDtchz

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🚨 2 Days to Go! 🚨 We're just two days away from our live webinar with Max Kanat-Alexander, Principal Staff Software Engineer at LinkedIn and the brilliant mind behind LinkedIn’s Developer Productivity & Happiness (DPH) framework. 🧠 In this session, you'll be learning insights on: * How to elevate your engineering team’s performance * Create maintainable and high-quality software * Implement practical strategies to boost productivity and morale But that’s not all! We’ve set aside time for a 15-minute live Q&A where you can ask the engineering audience your burning questions and get expert advice tailored to your challenges. ⏳ This is a rare opportunity to learn directly from one of the top minds in the industry. 📅 Date: August 21st 🕒 Time: 9 AM PT 🔗 Register using the link here or Scan the QR below: https://lnkd.in/dAuiq6S7 Don’t wait—secure your spot today and get ready to transform your approach to engineering leadership! #EngineeringLeadership #Webinar #SoftwareDevelopment #Productivity #LinkedIn

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I don't shit where I eat. There are enough great developers around for me not to need to poach from clients OR ex-clients. In fact, I have a clause in my contract called NO POACHING, which reads: "Let’s show each other a little respect and promise not to poach or steal each other’s staff on purpose and without permission. It’s not cool. Just to let you know, there may be occasions when one of your existing employees approaches us directly. For whatever reason (maybe they don’t like your choice of coffee), they’ve chosen to look elsewhere and have stumbled across one of our job postings. If this happens, we’ll do our best to talk them out of it and request that they try to resolve it internally first; if the situation is too far gone and they’re actively looking, we’d accept their right to apply for any roles through us. However, we promise not to entice or signpost any of your employees to our live roles and will provide proof of our conduct where possible and if needed." That said, Mark worked for an ex-client, and I recognised his name when he approached me in December after getting my name from someone he knew. He wanted a role with sensible hours/pressure levels for a company where he has people he can learn from, despite his 20+ years of experience, which I loved. I felt two of my clients would be a fit. He interviewed, and both wanted to make an offer, but his mind was already made up as he felt fighting financial crime would be his better option. He had a three-month notice period and started this week. Referrals make the world go around, and I was happy to help Mark make this move. Here's how Mark felt about working with me: -------------------- Simon not only found me my new role, but was friendly, personable and supportive throughout. While other agencies took my existing CV and seemed to give it no more than a cursory glance, Simon spent the time and effort helping me understand what parts of my career to highlight in my CV for the current market. Simon had already been personally recommended to me by a friend, and I can see why. I'll be passing his details on to anyone I know who is looking for work in the future. Thanks again, Simon!

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AJ Bell’s CTO, Mo Tagari, has something to say about returners! 📢 Check out our recent blog, which highlights how AJ Bell hired four returners. The result? A stronger, more dynamic team, with returners even mentoring junior developers. We need to view career breaks as part of someone’s journey—not the end of it! 👉 Read why supporting returners is every CTO’s responsibility: https://lnkd.in/duHDxtpX #tech #AJBell #careerbreak #softwareengineer #techreturners

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