Gregory Witek

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The problem with velocity

Velocity is one of the most common metrics in software development, but very often is misused. Here's what the process managers get wrong and how to use velocity to the benefit of the whole organization. What does velocity measure One of the most common practices in software development

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How to run an effective retrospective

Team retrospective doesn't need fancy formats or activities. It needs to help the team improve. Here's how I run it as an engineering manager

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I relearned typing to save my wrists

With help of Ergodox keyboard and Colemak layout I changed my typing habits and saved my wrists from severe pain.

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From init.vim to init.lua - a crash course

5 minutes crash course on moving from init.vim to init.lua and unleashing the power of Neovim 0.5!

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Reverse interview questions

How to find out what companies are good places to work? The key it to ask them good questions during the interview process!

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Why nobody hires junior developers and what happens next

While the number of job opportunities for software developer skyrockets together with salaries all around the world, fresh grads and junior developers struggle to even get invited for the interviews. Why does it happen and can we do anything about it?

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Are you afraid to negotiate salary?

With a bit of probability and game theory I explain why you should always negotiate your salary!

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Resources for Engineering Managers

A curated collection of books, tools, and other resources for engineering managers

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The power of reduce

Reduce() is one of the most unintuitive functions, and yet it's so flexible that most of the array functions can be written using reduce()

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Become a Productive Software Developer

Even the best programmers may struggle to get their job done if they don't have good habits. In this video I share some tips on how to build these habits to become a productive programmer

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Engineering manager interviews

In this video and article I'm talking about how to prepare for engineering manager interview

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Python gotchas for JavaScript developers

Python and JavaScript are close languages, yet they have a couple of surprising differences. In this article I list and explain a few of them

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What does an Engineering Manager do?

In this video I'm talking abouet engineering management - who is an engineering manager? What does an engineering manager do? Do engineering managers write code? After a short walk around Amsterdam I'm going to tell you about different hats that engineering managers need to wear depending

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How I got my first jobs as a sofware developer

There are tons of different ways to get a job as a programmer - here's how I got my first couple of jobs without applying for them on the website

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Finding job as a junior developer - tips from tech recruiters

In this video 4 tech recruiters and managers share their tips for junior software developers who are looking for a new job

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How to choose best job offer - interview with tech recruiter

In this interview with Matt Barr, tech recruiter from Amsterdam, we talk about how to choose and negotiate a job offer that will make you happy

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We moved to async stand-ups and never looked back

I tried improving stand-ups in 3 different companies. Here's how it went and why I believe async stand-up is a good idea

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How to pass job interview - chat with tech recruiter

In this video I'm talking to Ross Inman, experienced tech recruiter. Together we discuss best practices to pass the job interview as a software developer.

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Tech interview tips for developers

In this video I'm interviewing Bart van de Garde. Bart is an experienced CTO and software engineering manager with past positions at bol.com, VONQ and experience in e-commerce, recruitment and game development. Currently as a freelance CTO and IT consultant he helps organisations to connect business, technology

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Job application tips for developers

In this video I'm interviewing Angus Mackintosh, a tech recruiter working in Amsterdam. Together with Angus we discuss job application best practices: where to find job offers, how to decide when to put more effort into application and how to ensure our resume gets noticed. Angus also shares

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How to mentor bootcamp graduates

This post was inspired by "How Dev Bootcamps Are Failing Their Students" [https://dev.to/thawkin3/how-dev-bootcamps-are-failing-their-students-5b4h] by Tyler Hawkins [https://dev.to/thawkin3] (and yeah, I started writing it 3 months ago, something something about unfinished projects). Software development bootcamps have passed their hype stage and now

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Agile estimation: points vs t-shirts

In this video I'm talking about Agile software development and in particular about how t-shirt size estimation compares to story points estimation.Estimating software delivery tends to be tiring, mundane and thankless task - we always feel we're not accurate enougn, we always feel we should

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Why we use points in Agile estimation

In this video I'm talking about why we use points estimation instead of estimating how much time will features take to implement. This is something I often need to explain to junior developers and I believe it deserves a few minutes video. Agile software development, while in my

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How to talk to micromanager

This video is a 2nd part about dealing with micromanaging boss - in previous episodes I explained what are common symptoms of micromanagers and why people become micromanagers. This week I'm talking about different ways to talk to micromanager in order to get more independence and more decision

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Is your boss a micromanager?

In this video I'm talking about micromanagement. A lot of people ask - is there something wrong with me or is my boss a micromanager? I'm here to answer this question - I'll explain what is micromanagement, how micromanagers stiffle their teams and why