Building Software Without Tearing it Down

Many of LinkedIn’s engineers are using our publisher platform to share their experience and point of view with other professionals. Not surprisingly, they have created some really compelling content on subjects ranging from how construction of the Empire State Building was similar (in certain ways) to building software, and how one engineer tracked his time every day to make sure he was maximizing his time at work.

“How is Software Like a Skyscraper?” by David Max, Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn. A software engineer’s first instincts about how to start a project almost always begin with tearing down old code and starting fresh. That instinct – like buying a building and tearing it down instead of remodeling it – is almost always wrong.

“Tick-Tock” by Mohamed El-Geish, Software Engineer at LinkedIn. Time is arguably our most valuable asset, so one of LinkedIn's engineers took a data driven approach and graphed the time he spent on projects to make sure he was getting the most out of his days.

“Creating a Solution Architecture” by Prakash Passanha, Software Engineer at LinkedIn. Building an effective solution architecture is a collaborative process, involving many of the various stakeholders in the project. Here’s a guide to help with the process.

“Data Science: A Mindset for Productivity” by Daniel Tunkelang, Data Scientist-In-Residence at LinkedIn. Getting useful answers out of data often involves asking the right questions and making sure you’re trying to solve the right problems. Here are “three ex’s” – explain, express experiment – that will help make sure the right questions are asked so you can get useful answers.

“Community College, Security Guards and Why I Work at LinkedIn” by Craig Martell, Senior Engineering Manager: Data Standardization, Taxonomy Inference & Multilingual NLP at LinkedIn. Professors who leave academic life do so for many different reasons, sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s career advancements, and sometimes it’s because they want to make a real impact on the world.

“Did You Pick the Wrong Web Framework?!” by Marvin Li, Senior Engineering Manager at LinkedIn. Every software engineer has an opinion on how to pick the right web framework to start a project. Here are a few useful tips on how to pick the one that’s right for your project.