How do you know when it’s time to leave a job vs. stick it out and push through a rough patch? For me it comes down to whether the core reasons I took the role are still intact. If the work is still interesting and the people are decent, a rough patch is survivable. But if I’m dreading Mondays every single week, that’s usually a signal worth listening to.

I’ve been working in construction since I graduated 5 years ago. I’ve gradually realized I don't want to do this for the next 3 decades, but I feel stuck. Is it too late to switch engineering disciplines without destroying my career progression?

What’s something that seemed critically important early in your career but matters much less to you now? For me, being the smartest person in the room has become a lot less important than being part of a strong team.

Do you think engineers spend enough time thinking about the user experience of internal tools? I’ve seen teams tolerate painful internal systems that they’d never ship to customers.

A senior engineer on my team is leaving, and our manager sent a link for a farewell gift card. She mentored me when I was a junior, so I want to chip in, but I can't see what others are giving and have never done this before. She makes great money if that matters. The default options are $20, $30, and $50. What's standard here? Is $30 enough, or should I go higher since she helped me so much?