Top all-time · #6427
David Tate
Personal blog · blog.davidtate.org · on HN as tatecareerproductivityprogramming
David Tate's personal blog at blog.davidtate.org covers career, productivity and programming. Since 2011, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 101 times, most often “DIY Tech MBA”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link David Tate's blog for essays on software developer careers, hiring, and team practices, plus a post on remote work terminology. One commenter found it valuable as a student.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Remote Work, Engineering Management, Software Development, Personal Growth
Most-linked posts?
- DIY Tech MBA3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-11-12
- Getting Unstuck When Working Alone3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-01-25
- Companies that support remote workers win against those that don’t2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-01-10
- So You've Been Told to Work from Home Because of a Virus2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-03-03
- Productivity Is Deeply Personal: Don't Listen to Anyone Else2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-01-03
- We Can't Let People Work from Home Because2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-12-21
- Key points to look for in your next job if you are a developer2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-01-24
- The Dangerous Effects of Reading2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-12-29
- Working at a startup is like riding a bike (off a cliff)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-11-09
- You *will* lose money working at a startup – why do it?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-01-12
What Hacker News says?
I don't think it's as much as a compromise, just that we should focus less on the language aspect of it. Technical details like implementation and syntax are easily learned. Passion for development is more of a character trait that can't easily be taught. Out of your 4 criteria, I'd say (personally) that the important ones are "Loves what you're doing" and "Loves your team". If you hire someone who is a Ruby god but…
Comment linking /2013/01/companies-that-support-remote-workers-win-against-those-that-dont/
on “How to Hire a Hacker”Submitted How to work from home without going insane (purple monkey dishwasher) as a story · 343 points
HN discussionThat blog is a gem. At least for me as a student. One item that I found particular fascinating is this: in [1] he quotes: Rigorous inspections [code reviews] can remove up to 90% of errors before the first test case is run (Fact 37) How to implement this in a loosely organized group of 3 to 4 developers that each have other projects on their schedule but work on some common projects? I'm eager to write a long email…
Comment linking /2011/12/5-minute-book-review-facts-and-fallacies-of-software-engineering/
on “Key points to look for in your next job if you are a developer”Submitted The Dangerous Effects of Reading as a story · 214 points
HN discussionAgree - I think there is a big difference, in case this helps the terminology tips your hand - "remote-friendly" is a meaningless term in my experience. Remote-first or Distributed are the "get on a plane to smell each other" terms of a truly remote team: http://blog.davidtate.org/2016/12/remote-work-terminology/
Comment linking /2016/12/remote-work-terminology/
on “Remote Work Is Not a Perk”Submitted Clear and Present Leadership as a story · 151 points
HN discussionpermalink: https://blog.davidtate.org/dark-underbellies/
Comment linking /dark-underbellies/
on “Dark Underbellies”Submitted We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons as a story · 144 points
HN discussionSubmitted Companies that support remote workers win against those that don’t as a story · 107 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Dangerous Effects of Reading as a story · 103 points
HN discussionSubmitted Key points to look for in your next job if you are a developer as a story · 42 points
HN discussionSubmitted Remote Work Terminology – what you should know as a story · 36 points
HN discussionSubmitted Remote Work Is Not a Perk as a story · 36 points
HN discussionSubmitted We Can't Let People Work from Home Because as a story · 34 points
HN discussionSubmitted Remote Work has exposed a Fundamental Truth as a story · 26 points
HN discussionSubmitted We Can't Let People Work from Home, for Stupid Reasons as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted So You've Been Told to Work from Home Because of a Virus as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Productivity Is Deeply Personal: Don't Listen to Anyone Else as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted We Can’t Let People Work from Home Because _______ as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Working at a startup is like riding a bike (off a cliff) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted So you've been told to work from home because of a virus as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Developers Need to Understand the Business as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A New Definition of Work Ethic as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Getting Unstuck When Working Alone as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted What I've Learned About Business as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Companies that *can* support remote workers will win against those that can't as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Art of SQL as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Thought Experiment: How working from home might change the world (a little bit) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted My daughter designed my perfect home office in Minecraft as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted You *will* lose money working at a startup – why do it? as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
