a dev can build a thing, an engineer can build a distributed modular thing with more complexity around non programming parts like infrastructure. Take the thing and design a machine of parts and each can be maintained, observed, and optimized as needed. For example we can use topics for backpressure and consumer lag for auto scaling pods, but then you have to consider the distributed processing for duplication, out of order, throughput… there is no exact line in the sand between dev and engineer but that’s how I think of it.

lots of tutorials in different languages, a base project that you start to rewrite over and over forever whenever you aren’t motivated to do something else. write scripts to start new projects with a readme, git, a logger, and a unit test or two. You should be able to run a command to have a new working project ready to test any new library or idea. don’t be afraid to write code and not use it. writing is the point itself.

SQL scouts credo: I will never use indexes, I will always use column names.

disk is cheap and it’s easier to test exact versions of dependencies. As a user I’d rather not have all my non OS stuff mixed up.