It is not hard to shine in a dim room. Pressure makes diamonds, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

We steadfastly refuse to treat IaC as a fully blown software engineering problem and we stick to using bad languages, substandard tools, and crappy runtimes as our solution. Terrible Terraform, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Taking a sabbatical is an excellent idea. Bonus content: Free marriage advice. The gift of time, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

One of the best decisions you can make as a senior person is to make yourself dispensable... The gift of leaving, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Match the energy to the task! Overcoming a slump, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Your value to the company is not that you can design the shiny city on the hill, that’s the easy bit. Your value is that you know how to get there while keeping the swamp that you are in right now functioning. The swamp and the city, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Great chefs know more than just the recipes. They understand _cooking_. The black box engineer, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

You should give yourself time to really reach the summit of any mountain you are going to climb, but you need to attack that mountain with a plan, and not just start ambling up the incline... Ramping up is hard to do, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

To all non-native speakers: Congratulations on having learned English! You can read this!, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Being certain means that you don’t have to think about anything anymore, which results in more speed. You might be going in the wrong direction, but at least you are going fast... The unfortunate desire for certainty, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

I typically spend a large part of the weekend and most of the public holidays resisting the urge to sit down and do some work. Taming the monkey brain, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

It's a magical quality that will save you, even when you (like me) are the dumbest person in the building... Getting Stuff Done, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Preparation beats talent and experience nine times out ten. Candidates: Please prepare!, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

You might be a distributed systems genius or the world’s best leet coder, but without tech support, your life would be miserable. Remember that next time you go to tech support! Appreciate your IT support!, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

You are either part of the conversation, or you are on the menu. Where would you rather be? Embrace the politics, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Hot take: If you want to work in this field, you need to understand computers. Keeping it real, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

Europe seems determined, yet again, to come in a distant third, aspiring as always to receive the bronze medal in a race where the winner takes it all. medium.com/@josvisser/the…

For the systems you own, do you look at the logs and metrics? If not, you are not the owner but at best, the lazy guardian of a bunch of orphans, anyone of which could become the next Voldemort. The burden(s) of ownership, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…

The EU seems hell-bent to come in third in a race where winner takes all... josvisser2.substack.com/p/the-eu-and-a…

When communicating in a professional context, you want every communication to count towards something. All communication is strategic, by Jos Visser open.substack.com/pub/josvisser/…