The Software Engineering Times Newsletter

The Software Engineering Times is a weekly newsletter on the parts of a software engineering career that nobody really teaches you. Soft skills, leadership, communication, navigating organisations, building influence, having the conversations that actually matter. Written for engineers at any level, from juniors to CTOs.

The weekly article is free. Always has been, always will be. No paywalls, no “subscribe to keep reading” walls, no archive that locks up after a month. If you just want the weekly read, the free tier is the whole thing.

Paid is for the readers who want to go deeper.

When you subscribe paid, the first thing you get is a field guide: How to Be Taken Seriously: A Field Guide for Software Engineers. It’s the non-technical playbook I wish someone had handed me earlier in my career. Sent to your inbox the moment you sign up.

Then, every week, you get the worksheet that goes with each article, plus a short video walkthrough showing how to use it. The worksheets aren’t busywork. They’re the thing that turns “I read a good article” into “I did something differently this week.”

Once a month, you get a 4,000 word deep-dive, paid subscribers only. One specific career or leadership situation, worked through properly. The kind of piece I’d write for a coaching client.

Once a month, you also get live office hours. Last Thursday of every month. Bring a real problem you’re working through. The link and time go out a few days before each session.

About me

I’m Ryan Murphy. Former Engineering Manager at Yelp, now running EM Accelerator and writing this newsletter.

60,000+ followers on LinkedIn, where I write daily on engineering leadership and career growth. Speaker at CTO Craft. Two-plus years on the programming committee for LeadDev. Author of six courses on Dometrain covering software engineering and leadership. I’ve coached engineers from junior to staff to director, and managed teams shipping software that millions of people use.

I write the things I wish someone had told me earlier, and the things I now tell the people I coach.

The fine print

£8/month or £80/year. Cancel any time. If you ever want to switch from paid to free, hit reply to any email and I’ll sort it.

You can use your learning and development budget to reimburse a year’s membership.

Feel free to use this expense template to make it easier for you.