The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack

Monthly 5-minute essays from a senior engineer at Big Tech. Worth every minute, imho. Click to read The True Engineer, by Adlet Balzhanov, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

www.thetrueengineer.com

The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack · Sep 16, 2026

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND COMPILERS

TypeScript team chose Go over Rust

Why TypeScript picked Go over Rust for its new compiler

ANDERS HEJLSBERGUBER

The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack · May 14, 2026

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

The Moving Floor

A few years ago, I watched an engineer become a Director of Engineering at a company worth over $10 billion before turning 27

MICROSOFTMETA

The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack · Apr 07, 2026

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND COMPILERS

Takeaways from “On Writing Well”

I used to think good writing was “nice to have” for engineers

GOOGLEAMAZON

The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack · Feb 25, 2026

DATABASES AND DATA ENGINEERING

SQL vs NoSQL: How to Answer This in 2026

Modern databases are all good enough.

METAGOOGLE

The True Engineer | Adlet Balzhanov | Substack · Nov 10, 2025

ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SYSTEMS

3 ways out of tech burnout

the plateau of seniority

AMAZONMICROSOFT