#613 – February 16, 2025
Pinterest shares quantitative models to understand metrics
The Quest to Understand Metric Movements
9 minutes by Charles Wu, Isabel Tallam, Franklin Shiao, Kapil Bajaj
Suppose you just saw an interesting rise or drop in one of your key metrics. Why did that happen? It’s an easy question to ask, but much harder to answer. In this blog post authors present three approaches for root-cause analysis of metric movements. These complementary approaches help narrow down the search space for root causes of metric changes and are integrated into Pinterest's analytics platform, supporting investigation of nearly 2,000 different metrics.
Combine Stream Processing and OLTP
sponsored by Volt Active Data
Legacy OLTP hits limits with real-time workloads. The Volt Active Data Platform can process high-velocity streaming data with low latency, built-in high availability, and strict ACID compliance. Get started quickly and see how it easily handles what traditional database solutions can’t.
Meta’s Hyperscale Infrastructure: Overview and Insights
31 minutes by Chunqiang Tang
Chunqiang provides a deep dive into Meta's hyperscale infrastructure, shedding light on its unique engineering culture, infrastructure components, and key technologies that power its global services. Key insights include Meta's commitment to continuous deployment, the optimization of hardware and software co-design at the datacenter scale, and its AI strategy that integrates hardware accelerators, networks, and machine learning models.
How I learned to code with my voice
12 minutes by Salma Alam-Naylor
In this article Salma shares their journey of learning to code by voice after developing severe hand pain. She successfully adapted to voice coding using primarily four tools: Talon, Cursorless, Apple Voice Control, and Rango. She emphasizes the importance of starting slowly, mastering fundamentals like the Talon alphabet, and gradually building up to more complex coding tasks. Despite initial challenges, she managed to become proficient in voice coding within two weeks.
Behaviors to Adopt as a Junior Engineer
5 minutes by Hemant Pandey
Breaking into the tech industry as a junior engineer is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. In this post Hemant discusses key behaviors and habits that help junior engineers accelerate their growth and advance to mid-level positions faster. He outlines seven essential practices where each practice is accompanied by practical tips, examples, and explanations of why they matter for career progression in software engineering.
Incremental Platforms: Monolithic Modular Architecture
5 minutes by Marcos F. Lobo
In this article Marcos introduces the concept of Modular Monolithic Architecture as part of a series on Incremental Architectures for SaaS products. He explains that a modular monolith is a single deployable unit with clearly defined internal modules, offering benefits like simplified deployment, lower operational overhead, and better transactional integrity. He also provides practical implementation guidelines, including establishing clear boundaries between modules, maintaining separation of concerns, and using proper dependency management, while emphasizing that monoliths can be a viable alternative to microservices when properly structured.
And the most popular link from the last issue was: