Louie Bacaj (@LBacaj) / X

Louie Bacaj

20.1K posts

Louie Bacaj

@LBacaj

Engineer turned Entrepreneur, turned Engineer, and the cycle continues.

New York City

Joined May 2009

Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jan 4, 2022
I managed multiple engineering teams before quitting big tech. Now that I quit, I can speak freely. Here are 12 things your manager may not be telling you, but I know for a fact will help you. 👇
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jan 13, 2023
Charlie Munger on remote work for Software Engineers: "those people are never going back" "If your job in life is to get on the telephone and talk to other engineers all over the world while you solve problems, why do you have to do it from an office?"
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Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jun 13, 2023
These clips are two of the best pieces of writing advice you will ever get about writing on the internet. I promise. It is so good we show it to our newsletter students. 1st: Most of us should write to help ourselves think.
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Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
May 9, 2024
Once you realize how much of the rewards in this world go to people who simply make noise, you realize you cannot afford to simply be a “heads down, do the work” kind of person. You need to do both.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Apr 14, 2022
The top 10 predictors of successful engineering careers. I've helped hire 100s of engineers in my 12+ year career. I've managed and steered the careers of multiple engineering teams. Some of these may surprise you, but I am confident they predict career success in our industry.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Dec 28, 2021
From living in poverty in 2010, earning $20k per yr in a restaurant, to half a million in tech by 2020. My income 2010-2020 2010 - 20k~ 2011 - 39k 2012 - 70k 2013 - 77k 2014 - 165k 2015 - 125k 2016 - 175k 2017 - 251k 2018 - 335k 2019 - 423k 2020 - 500k~ My decade in review 👇
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Apr 28, 2022
Software engineering is like 80% writing. And I'm not talking about code: - Jira Tickets - Designs docs - Presentations - Emails & slack - Documentation - Internal and external blog posts, etc. You may not realize it, but you try to program humans more than machines.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Nov 18, 2022
9 uncomfortable truths about engineering and tech right now. How Twitter might play out, the ramifications, and what Elon’s calculus might be. Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m relaying observations through a lens of engineering for over a decade & managing engineers.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Sep 18, 2023
It's my two year anniversary since I quit the big company job to become an entrepreneur. By the way, here is how much the big company used to pay me before I left: a $310k base salary. About $275k in equity vesting each year. A 35% cash bonus on top. And at the time all that was
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jan 4, 2022
Replying to @LBacaj
2/ Being smart or good at what you do does not give you the right to be a jerk. Empathy as an engineer is a superpower. Caring about those you work with will do more for your career than writing beautiful defect-free code.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Apr 8, 2023
I first visited Google’s offices in San Francisco way back in 2016. It was strange that tens of thousands of engineers were just hanging out doing nothing for a large chunk of their day. Software engineers were biking and going to the gym. They had swimming pools. They had
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Mar 12, 2024
Back in 2014, I was a software engineer at one of the big banks. At a quarterly meeting, the head of a big biz unit came to speak to us devs. The biz guy said, "Your work on automation will be so amazing. Estimates are it'll directly help us eliminate 200k+ biz jobs!" People
Gergely Orosz
@GergelyOrosz
Mar 12, 2024
I apologize but won't be amplifying startups whose mission is to fully replace software engineers with "AI devs." It's clear why VCs & investors love this idea; and why founders as well. Imagine how much money they could make if they succeed! I hate the idea of that future.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jan 4, 2022
Replying to @LBacaj
5/ Your code should follow this pattern: 1. Make it work 2. Make it fast 3. Make it beautiful Reminder: You won't have a chance to make it fast or beautiful if it doesn't add value.
Louie Bacaj
@LBacaj
Jun 13, 2023
Replying to @LBacaj
2nd: In the real world, people are not paid to read your stuff, like your teachers were. So, everything you learned in school about writing is wrong.
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