--- title: Best Substack posts — November 2023 | daily.dev description: The most upvoted Substack posts from November 2023, curated by the daily.dev community. canonical: https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of/2023/11 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:url: https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of/2023/11 og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Best Substack posts — November 2023 | daily.dev og:description: The most upvoted Substack posts from November 2023, curated by the daily.dev community. og:image: https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VAY5ToZt--/f_auto/v1724209435/public/daily.dev%20-%20open%20graph --- # Best of Substack — November 2023 1. 1 [](https://daily.dev/posts/why-you-should-read-5t0rox7zz "Why you should read") Article Substack · 3y Why you should read Reading books can greatly accelerate the growth of a developer, teaching them valuable skills and changing the way they think. Books are underrated and can provide mentorship and guidance from experienced experts. Some top books for fast growth in software engineering are recommended. 139 10 2. 2 [](https://daily.dev/posts/a-good-engineer-thinks-like-a-product-manager-jgfel8m0h "A good engineer thinks like a product manager") Article Substack · 3y A good engineer thinks like a product manager Engineers need to think like product managers to create solutions that customers love. They should focus on solving customer's problems rather than the technical aspects. To improve product-mindedness, engineers can pair with non-tech people, explain technical solutions to non-tech people, ask business and customer-related questions, talk directly with customers, do freelance work, and take on different roles. Simplifying solutions before implementation is also crucial for better results. 63 8 3. 3 [](https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-a-staff-engineer--klajkytsz "What is a Staff Engineer?") Article Substack · 3y What is a Staff Engineer? The article discusses the role of a Staff Engineer, including its definition, career progression, and responsibilities. It explores how roles work in big tech firms like FAANG, the different archetypes of Staff Engineers, and the differences between Senior Engineers and Staff Engineers. It also delves into the duties and challenges faced by Staff Engineers, as well as their typical day. The article concludes with insights into the Staff Engineer career path and tips for aspiring Staff Engineers. 60 3 4. 4 [](https://daily.dev/posts/how-i-quit-my-600k-data-engineering-job-at-airbnb-and-made-600k-in-7-months-from-content-creation--wr7s09hqm "How I quit my $600k data engineering job at Airbnb and made $600k in 7 months from content creation and teaching") Article Substack · 3y How I quit my $600k data engineering job at Airbnb and made $600k in 7 months from content creation and teaching The author quit their $600k data engineering job at Airbnb and made $600k in 7 months from content creation and teaching. They were inspired by living with YouTubers and wanted to have complete ownership of their ideas. They launched a data engineering boot camp and created long-form valuable content. They also marketed their boot camp and made improvements to their product during different iterations. Despite incurring expenses, they achieved a net profit of $539,065. 39 5 5. 5 [](https://daily.dev/posts/from-senior-to-staff-software-engineer-a-managers-perspective-t8wi9thbx "From Senior to Staff Software Engineer... A managers perspective") Article Substack · 3y From Senior to Staff Software Engineer... A managers perspective To get promoted to Staff Software Engineer and beyond, you need to focus on impact and visibility. Impact involves being able to lead a wide array of projects and foresee roadblocks. Visibility includes regularly engaging with various stakeholders and measuring the success of initiatives. 23 6. 6 [](https://daily.dev/posts/8-common-interviewing-mistakes-rmuirqoak "8 common interviewing mistakes") Article Substack · 3y 8 common interviewing mistakes Learn about common interviewing mistakes, the importance of asking good questions, and how to improve your coding and design patterns. 21 1 7. 7 [](https://daily.dev/posts/efficient-communication-4swmxbgvf "Efficient Communication") Article Substack · 3y Efficient Communication Meetings can hurt productivity for software engineers, and efficient communication through writing can help reduce the need for meetings. Reading is faster than listening, written material is easier to reference, and preparation for writing often yields higher quality results. Recommendations for efficient communication include opting for written information exchange, taking meetings offline, and using writing templates. 17 8. 8 [](https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-microservice-architecture--krdsfqino "What is Microservice Architecture?") Article Substack · 3y What is Microservice Architecture? Microservice architecture is about breaking down an application into small, loosely coupled services. It offers benefits such as scalability, flexibility, and resilience. The CAP theorem states that a distributed system can't simultaneously provide consistency, availability, and partition tolerance. Self-contained Systems (SCS) are a software architecture approach that prioritizes the decentralization of applications into independent systems. 14 9. 9 [](https://daily.dev/posts/fastapi-supabase-template-for-llm-saas-part-1-auth-and-file-upload-xjsj8rxrt "FastAPI + Supabase Template for LLM SaaS Part 1 — Auth and File Upload") Article Substack · 3y FastAPI + Supabase Template for LLM SaaS Part 1 — Auth and File Upload FastAPI and Supabase are used to create a template for LLM SaaS, focusing on authentication and file upload. 13 10. 10 [](https://daily.dev/posts/7-books-that-changed-me-the-most-as-a-software-engineer-n8ampksoe "7 books that changed me the most as a software engineer") Article Substack · 3y 7 books that changed me the most as a software engineer The article highlights seven categories of books that are valuable for software engineers, including writing and communication, software design, challenging conversations, relationships, engineering soft skills, productivity, and engineering management. It also mentions some specific book recommendations and provides insights from senior engineering leaders on books that have impacted their work or lives. 12 [See all Substack archives](/sources/substack/best-of) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of/2023/11#page","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of/2023/11","name":"Best Substack Posts — November 2023","description":"The most upvoted Substack posts from November 2023, curated by the daily.dev community.","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","url":"https://daily.dev"}},{"@type":"ItemList","@id":"https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of/2023/11#items","numberOfItems":10,"itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-you-should-read-5t0rox7zz","name":"Why you should read"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-good-engineer-thinks-like-a-product-manager-jgfel8m0h","name":"A good engineer thinks like a product manager"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-a-staff-engineer--klajkytsz","name":"What is a Staff Engineer?"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-i-quit-my-600k-data-engineering-job-at-airbnb-and-made-600k-in-7-months-from-content-creation--wr7s09hqm","name":"How I quit my $600k data engineering job at Airbnb and made $600k in 7 months from content creation and teaching"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/from-senior-to-staff-software-engineer-a-managers-perspective-t8wi9thbx","name":"From Senior to Staff Software Engineer... A managers perspective"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/8-common-interviewing-mistakes-rmuirqoak","name":"8 common interviewing mistakes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":7,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/efficient-communication-4swmxbgvf","name":"Efficient Communication"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":8,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-microservice-architecture--krdsfqino","name":"What is Microservice Architecture?"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":9,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/fastapi-supabase-template-for-llm-saas-part-1-auth-and-file-upload-xjsj8rxrt","name":"FastAPI + Supabase Template for LLM SaaS Part 1 — Auth and File Upload"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":10,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/7-books-that-changed-me-the-most-as-a-software-engineer-n8ampksoe","name":"7 books that changed me the most as a software engineer"}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sources","item":"https://daily.dev/sources"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Substack","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/substack"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Best of","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/substack/best-of"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"November 2023"}]}]} ```