Summary

The Philosophy behind Dreltek is pretty detailed and likely more than you are planning to read in its entirety on a first visit. By covering a wide range of topics, both business-related and technical, there are a lot of topics that may not be relevant to your interests. This page condenses this information into a summary & index for easy reference.

Tech

Main tenets

  1. Elixir should be the new default for web & api work, especially in microservice architectures
  2. Node was a viable option back in 2010 but requires too much extra effort for only mediocre results compared to options available now
  • The Erlang VM is vastly superior to V8 for web/api servers, and offers considerable advantages over the JVM as well Read More
  • The popularity of object-oriented programming (OOP) at the time of the creation of Erlang limited its success, but is proving to be ahead of its time now that our needs today are solved quite well by the design of Erlang Read More
  • Functional languages, like Elixir, are making a significant comeback for a variety of legitimate reasons Read More
  • Elixir is a powerful macro language, not to be confused with a transpiled language like modern Javascript Read More
  • Elixir & Erlang have a mechanism called supervisors that turn traditional error handling on its head with a 'let it fail' mentality Read More
  • When combined with Phoenix contexts and Erlang OTP, Elixir Umbrella applications & releases offer a powerful solution to microservice architectures and monorepos Read More
  • Elixir has few disadvantages but might not be as well suited for certain types of projects Read More
  • The biggest problem with Node is the extra investment required to make it 'workable' for modern development, and the lack of idiomatic practices Read More
  • The extra investment required to configure and maintain tools such as Typescript, Babel & Webpack is unusual compared to other languages Read More
  • Node's strengths are not as much technical as they are practical, especially for hiring, though many of these 'benefits' can also be a double-edged sword Read More
  • With very few exceptions, you are likely better off with something other than Node, such as Elixir, Go or Rust Read More
  • Node was a good option compared to the technologies available at the time, but not when compared to newer alternatives Read More

Business

  • Early-stage startups, especially those without technical founders, are at a disadvantage when recruiting CTOs for their business, and the CTO they choose will have lasting effects on the organization, good or bad Read More
  • Deferring the addition of a CTO until the business is established is ideal simply because of the leverage a company has over just an idea Read More
  • Large companies that rely on specialists, rather than generalists, encounter inefficiencies and bottlenecks due to reliance on other departments for specialized skills, while team-based C2C partners can fill these needs more efficiently Read More
  • C2C contractors are underutilized in startups today compared to W2 work, especially for earlier stage companies that may struggle recruiting the right talent Read More
  • Junior engineers are investments, not assets, and should not be expected to contribute immediately but instead offer high-upside over the long-term due to their potential Read More
  • Contractors can be much more flexible in times of crisis, whether scaling up for rapid, unexpected growth or scaling down due to financial difficulties Read More
  • A recurring contractor budget can be used to bring in different specialists at different times i.e. security, performance, database to help strengthen technical areas of weakness or double-down on something that's working really well Read More
  • Less conventional arrangements can be highly suited to a companies short-term budget or needs, such as offshore partners/contractors or even part-time contractors where you pay for just the 'sharpest' hours of their day Read More
  • Leadership is addressing the individual needs and desires of employees and working with their strengths and around their weaknesses; management is a one-size-fits-all approach Read More
  • Having incomplete teams, due to challenges in hiring, can easily set teams off on the wrong foot, especially in highly process-driven organizations Read More
  • Large C2C partners can temporarily fill missing gaps in the team and even assist in filling those roles Read More
  • Replacing an entire in-house team, while seldom necessary, is practically impossible, while severing a single C2C relationship is far less painful Read More
  • Contractors and C2C partners may be much hungrier for your business than an engineer that's flooded with recruiter messages every day Read More
  • 1099 & C2C contractors should be worked into engineering budget according to business size, similar to how you'd manage a retirement portfolio. Read More
  • Contractors should be utilized as much as possible early on to retain equity and minimize risk, but over time should be replaced by higher and higher ratios of on-site employees.
  • Large companies, however, should leverage contractors more for expert knowledge, and C2C vendors for scale and assistance.
  • In-house teams are ideal for proprietary/IP-related work, or highly-specialized work relevant to maintaining a competitive edge in the industry, while contractors are better for more mundane work, in-house tools or anything that isn't considered the 'secret sauce' Read More
  • The simple solution to implementing a 'mini-corp' approach is to set a budget ratio of contractors/partners to employees that is starts very contractor-heavy at early stages and very employee-heavy at late stages Read More
  • 1099/C2C contractors may be suitable for some engineers while W2 is better for others, but barring any unique restrictions there shouldn't be a good reason to choose one over another Read More