Category · 83 articles

Leadership

• How I Find Problems Worth Solving

  Staff engineers are judged on whether a problem was worth solving, not just whether they solved it. I do not find those problems by thinking hard. I collect them, let them pile up, and wait for the shape.

  27 Jul 2026

• Notes on Software Quality

  What software quality actually is, why it gets harder as teams and products grow, and what a staff engineer can still do about it even when the org is working against them.

  10 Jul 2026

• I Built a Tool to Compare Senior Engineer Salaries Across 17 Cities, and I Want Your Take

  I built an interactive dashboard that compares senior software engineer compensation across 17 cities through four lenses, not just headline pay. Here is what I built, how I modelled it, and the questions I would love your opinion on.

  4 Jun 2026

• MongoDB.local London 2025: AI, RAG, and the Future of Data

  At MongoDB.local London 2025, engineers were working on agent memory, temporal RAG, and vector search in production. Here is what I took away from the day.

  16 May 2026

• Engineering Change Management: Kotter's 8-Step Playbook

  I've used Kotter's 8-step change model more times than I can count -- for large platform rewrites, for changing release processes, and even when growing m...

  23 Oct 2025

• Engineering Management in a Remote-First World

  Remote-first changed everything about how I lead engineering teams. Not the work itself -- the connections around the work. The hallway conversations, the...

  27 Dec 2024

• How Blockchain is Revolutionizing Identity and Access Management

  Traditional identity systems have a fundamental problem: they're centralized. One database holds your credentials, your permissions, your personal data. W...

  21 Dec 2024

• The Journey of Software Engineering: From Backlog to Release

  Every engineering team I've worked on follows some version of this pipeline. The names change. The tools change. The flow stays remarkably similar. Here's...

  8 May 2024

• The Flywheel Strategy: Engineering Your Path to Leadership

  Engineering leadership isn't a destination. It's a flywheel. Each rotation builds momentum from the last. Skip a step and the wheel slows down. Do them al...

  7 May 2024

• Optimizing Path Management in Vite and Remix with vite.config

  As projects grow, import paths become a mess. Deeply nested relative paths like ../../../components/Button slow you down and make refactoring painful.

  4 May 2024

• Software Engineering Job Search - Interview Process

  I have been on both sides of the engineering interview process hundreds of times. Here is what actually happens at each stage -- and what nobody tells you.

  3 May 2024

• Unlocking the engineering jungle for designers

  I gave a talk at DesignWich School called "Designers to Know Engineering World." The goal was simple: help designers understand how engineering teams work...

  2 May 2024

• A Step-by-Step Guide: Starting a Web Project with a Client

  I have kicked off dozens of client web projects over the years. The ones that succeeded all followed roughly the same pattern. The ones that failed skippe...

  13 Apr 2024

• A Guide For Six Sigma DMAIC

  I first encountered Six Sigma DMAIC while leading a team that kept shipping the same category of bugs. We had great engineers. We had good intentions. But...

  26 Feb 2024

• My Journey with SWOT Risk Analysis

  SWOT analysis — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — is one of those tools everyone learns and few people use well. I was in that camp for years.

  24 Feb 2024

• The Art of Critical Thinking in the Complexities of the Modern World

  Most engineers think they are good at critical thinking. Most are not. They are good at problem-solving within familiar patterns. True critical thinking i...

  21 Feb 2024

• The Software Peter Principle: When Code Gurus Hit a Glitch:

  The Peter Principle says people get promoted to their level of incompetence. In software, this plays out in a specific and predictable way.

  18 Jan 2024

• Tech Leadership 101: A Guide with Insights from The Manager's Path

  Camille Fournier's "The Manager's Path" is one of the few books that accurately describes what becoming a tech lead actually feels like. I read it before ...

  3 Jan 2024

• A Comprehensive Onboarding Plan for Junior Frontend Developers

  Hiring a junior developer is the easy part. Turning them into a real contributor -- that's where most teams fail.

  2 Jan 2024

• Getting Started with NestJS: A Framework for Opinionated Backend Development

  I like NestJS because it makes decisions for you. In a world where Express gives you a blank canvas and says "good luck," NestJS gives you an architecture...

  29 Dec 2023

• Storybook Harmony: Effortless RemixJS Integration Unleashed

  I presented at MelbJS recently, where Kevin Yank from CultureAmp talked about their Storybook setup. One concept stuck with me: Storybook Driven Developme...

  28 Dec 2023

• Defining Activeness: A Journey into Proactivity in Life and Work

  For a long time, I thought "being active" meant going to the gym. Running. Lifting weights. Physical output.

  21 Dec 2023

• Greenhouse Leadership: Cultivating Success in Your Organization

  Think of your team like a greenhouse. Each person is a different plant. Some need full sun. Some need shade. Plant a tropical flower in the Arctic and it ...

  13 Dec 2023

• The Art of Engineering Leadership: Inspiring Teams to Innovate and Excel

  Leading engineers is not about being the smartest person in the room. It is about creating the conditions where smart people do their best work.

  9 Dec 2023

• Easy Street Ahead: Embracing Casual Plans for a Laid-Back Journey

  If your plan only lives in your head, you don't have a plan. You have a vague intention.

  8 Dec 2023

• Be Your Own Hero: Navigating the Maze of Individuality

  I spent years studying people I admired. My manager. My tech lead. Engineers I looked up to. I absorbed their habits, mimicked their communication style, ...

  3 Dec 2023

• Decision Dilemmas: Leadership Choices with Finesse

  You don't know the answer. You're not sure which direction to go. The team is looking at you. What do you do?

  2 Dec 2023

• Geek to Guru: Rocking the Tech World

  I started coding at 17. Over 15 years later, I've built more websites than I can remember, worked across languages, frameworks, clients, and companies. No...

  1 Dec 2023

• Turning the Tide: A Leader's Guide to Overcoming Workplace Negativity

  Negativity spreads faster than positivity. Always has. Always will.

  28 Nov 2023

• Harmony in Diversity: Nurturing Unique Team Dynamics

  Every person on your team is different. Different background, different working style, different communication preferences. That's not a problem to solve....

  27 Nov 2023

• Cracking the Code: Understanding Demand in Your Job Market and Boosting Your Career

  I don't spend money on things I don't need. Nobody does — at least not intentionally. We buy things because they solve a problem we have right now.

  20 Nov 2023

• The Scoop on Leading: Unpacking the ABCs of Accountability and Responsibility

  Accountability and responsibility get thrown around a lot in leadership conversations. Most people use them interchangeably. They're not the same thing.

  20 Nov 2023

• Owning Your Journey: Beyond Blame and Complaints

  When confidence is low, negativity fills the gap. Blaming where you were born. Blaming your family. Blaming the economy. It's reflexive. And it's a dead end.

  19 Nov 2023

• Cracking the Code to Success: The Dance of Consistency and Passion in the Real World

  Nothing I've built succeeded on the first attempt. Not a product. Not a habit. Not a career move. Success always started with failure, then showed up late...

  18 Nov 2023

• Harmonizing Growth: Crafting Effective Feedback Strategies for Team Success

  Giving feedback sounds simple. It isn't.

  15 Nov 2023

• Exploring the Unknown: Unlocking Personal and Professional Growth

  When was the last time you tried something for the first time?

  14 Nov 2023

• Smooth Team Transitions: A Guide for Managers

  I have moved people between teams and managers more times than I can count. Some transitions went smoothly. Others blew up in ways I did not expect.

  13 Nov 2023

• Real Talk: Getting to the Heart of 1-1 Team Chats

  Most leaders get 1-1s wrong.

  12 Nov 2023

• Navigating Leadership Waters: Earned Authority and Authentic Influence

  Nobody follows a title. They follow a person.

  10 Nov 2023

• Unlocking the Potential of Leading Leaders

  Leading engineers is one thing. Leading leaders is a different game entirely.

  9 Nov 2023

• Navigating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Complex Challenge

  This isn't a technical article. It's about something that weighs on me as a human being who grew up in the Middle East.

  8 Nov 2023

• Steven Bartlett's 33 Laws of Business and Life

  I picked up Steven Bartlett's "The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life" because I was curious how a young founder thinks about principles dif...

  7 Nov 2023

• Navigating the Agile Landscape: Unpacking 'Shape Up' by Ryan Singer and Jason Fried

  A friend recommended "Shape Up" by Ryan Singer and Jason Fried. He said Basecamp's development process was unlike anything else -- not Agile, not Scrum, n...

  6 Nov 2023

• Balancing Act: Unveiling the Key to Productivity and Well-Being

  I picked up "Work Smarter, Live Better" by Joe Robinson expecting the usual work-life balance platitudes. I was wrong. This book challenged assumptions I'...

  5 Nov 2023

• Strategic Leadership in a Global Chess Game: Navigating Uncertainty and Shaping the Future

  Peter Zeihan's "The End of the World Is Just the Beginning" changed how I think about strategic leadership. His core argument -- that the global order we ...

  4 Nov 2023

• Dynamic Resource Allocation: Unleashing the Power of Flexibility in Tech Companies

  I've watched this happen too many times: the strongest engineer on the team spends three sprints on a routine CRUD feature while a junior struggles alone ...

  3 Nov 2023

• Embracing Culture over Complexity: Lessons from Tokyo's Clean Streets

  Every time I see a team reach for a new tool, a new process, or a new monitoring dashboard to fix a people problem, I think about Tokyo.

  1 Nov 2023

• Inspiring others: A guide to leading your life with impact

  You can't inspire anyone if your own life isn't worth being inspired by. That's not a motivational poster line. It's a reality I had to confront.

  31 Oct 2023

• Moved to Gazar.Dev

  I left Medium. Built my own platform at gazar.dev. Here's why.

  15 Oct 2023

• Advanced Complexity of Web Engineering

  I teach web engineering. JavaScript, TypeScript, the full stack. I've mentored hundreds of students through online courses and one-on-one sessions.

  15 Oct 2023

• My Experience with GitHub Copilot

  I've been using GitHub Copilot for a while now. My honest take: it makes me a better engineer.

  15 Oct 2023

• Effective Leader

  Nobody teaches you how to lead. You get promoted because you were good at building things, and suddenly you're responsible for people. These are the areas...

  15 Oct 2023

• How to use Mount Stupid Concept for Leaders — Dunning-Kruger Effect and Imposter Syndrome?

  One of the most useful mental models I've found for leading people is Mount Stupid. It changed how I read confidence in others -- and in myself.

  15 Oct 2023

• My experience of Teaching Programming as online courses

  I never planned to teach. It started as a pandemic hobby and turned into one of the most valuable things I've done for my career.

  15 Oct 2023

• Help newcomers with the onboarding process as a Lead/Senior Engineer

  HR handles the company welcome. Forms, benefits, office tour. But once that's done, the new engineer sits down at their desk and stares at a codebase they...

  15 Oct 2023

• Tesseract Library and Image Processing to Detect Texts

  Extracting text from images is one of those problems that sounds simple until you actually try it. Reading receipts, bills, documents -- the client upload...

  15 Oct 2023

• How to Stop Users to download the videos on your site

  A friend asked me how to prevent users from downloading videos off his site. I gave him the honest answer first.

  15 Oct 2023

• Books I read 2018

  I set a Goodreads challenge of 20 books that year and hit it. Most of them were about leadership, learning, and psychology — the three topics I kept gravi...

  14 Oct 2023

• What are leadership styles and how to find yours

  I spent years leading teams without ever thinking about my leadership style. I just... led. It was not until I started reading about different approaches ...

  14 Oct 2023

• Develop People Through Education

  The best investment I've made as a leader is in my team's education.

  14 Oct 2023

• Avoid Micromanaging- Give Autonomy

  You've had a micromanager. I've had a micromanager. Everyone has.

  14 Oct 2023

• Own a project end-to-end

  Taking ownership is not just doing your job. It's not completing tickets. It's not "my part is done."

  14 Oct 2023

• Keep stakeholders informed

  When senior management gets involved, the stakes are high. You're working on something visible. Something that matters.

  14 Oct 2023

• Pair Programming

  Pair programming gets a lot of hype. Some companies swear by it. Others think it's a waste of two engineers' time.

  14 Oct 2023

• Ask for help

  I spent years building a reputation as the person who had answers. The engineer people came to when things broke. I wore that identity like armor.

  14 Oct 2023

• Self-Reflection

  The best engineers I know have one thing in common. They stop and ask themselves hard questions regularly.

  14 Oct 2023

• Supportive Communication Strategies

  The hardest conversations in leadership aren't the technical ones. They're the ones where you need to address a problem without damaging the relationship....

  14 Oct 2023

• Managing Conflicts

  Conflict on a team isn't a bug. It's a feature -- if you handle it well. Some of the best technical decisions I've seen came from two engineers who disagr...

  14 Oct 2023

• What Conversation means?

  Most engineers underestimate conversation as a skill. I did for years. I thought the code should speak for itself. It doesn't. Your ability to communicate...

  14 Oct 2023

• Ask Questions

  Early in my career, I sat in meetings and stayed quiet. I had questions. Plenty of them. But I was scared that asking would expose how much I didn't know.

  14 Oct 2023

• Active Listening

  Most leaders think they're good listeners. I did too.

  14 Oct 2023

• Coaching vs Counseling

  Every time you sit down with someone on your team, you're doing one of two things. Either you're coaching or you're counseling. Most leaders don't know wh...

  14 Oct 2023

• Don't estimate for your team.

  I used to look at a ticket, do the math in my head, and tell the team it would take two days. I was wrong every single time.

  14 Oct 2023

• Don't blame your team.

  A deployment goes wrong. A feature ships with a critical bug. A deadline gets missed.

  14 Oct 2023

• Don't take credit for something your team did

  Early in my leadership journey, I made this mistake. A project shipped well. In a stakeholder meeting, I said "I" more than "we." My team noticed. Trust t...

  14 Oct 2023

• Dealing With Distractions

  Deep work requires protection. As a leader, one of the most important things you can do for your team — and yourself — is eliminate distractions.

  14 Oct 2023

• What team’s environment means?

  I am not talking about trees and weather. I am talking about the environment your team works in every day. The culture, the energy, the unwritten rules.

  14 Oct 2023

• What communication means?

  Communication is the single most underrated engineering skill. I've watched brilliant architects fail because they couldn't explain their designs to a pro...

  14 Oct 2023

• I immigrated to Melbourne and Medium

  Immigration is hard. No way around it.

  14 Oct 2023

• CouchDB over MongoDB?

  I went deep on CouchDB a while back. Read everything I could find. The question I kept asking: when would I choose CouchDB over MongoDB?

  14 Oct 2023

• My Experience with mongoDB

  I fell in love with MongoDB the first time I created a record. It was absurdly simple.

  13 Oct 2023

• What is the WebSocket API?

  HTTP is request-response. The client asks, the server answers. That works for most things. But when you need real-time, bidirectional communication -- cha...

  13 Oct 2023

• Hello, This is Ehsan Gazar personal site

  I've been building for the web for over 15 years. In that time, I've watched countless developers launch personal sites with big ambitions -- only to aban...

  10 Oct 2023