The 3 gears of a software engineer

While working as an engineer, there are 3 paces at which I’m operating. Each of them is necessary to be truly productive and happy.

Gear 1 — Ideation, recovery, and small tasks

In Gear 1, you have no major projects or deadlines that you’re working towards. You’re listening to ideas, customers, thinking about the bigger picture, and trying to figure out what the right thing to build next is.

Meanwhile, there are lots of small things that you’ve been meaning to get to, and you finally have the time do so. You’re not really spending much time in the zone.

This gear is great for taking a step back and recovering after a big project!

Gear 2 — Moderate progress towards a goal or project

You have a project and direction that you’re moving towards. You know you need to get there, but don’t necessarily have to be super excited about it. You are not rushing towards your goal, but are making progress towards it at a sustainable pace. You have the bandwidth to do other tasks and small things on the side. You fluctuate in and out of the zone.

Gear 3 — Hyper focused towards a goal

This happens when you are truly honed in on your goal or project. You have no time for much else, because why would you? Your goal is so much more important than everything else! You’re in the zone a huge amount of the time.

You end up at this gear either when you are intrinsically motivated and excited about what you are building. Or there are some sort of external motivator (like deadlines) driving you towards this goal.

The risks with each gear

Gear 1 forever and you won’t really be a productive engineer adding much value. I don’t think you’ll have a job for long if you’re stuck here.

Gear 2 forever and you’ll truly be a 1x mediocre engineer forever. A lot of people land here, which is alright, but never fulfill their true potential.

Gear 3 and you’re operating as a 10x engineer. Stay in this forever, and you’ll burn out though. Your capacity to stay in this gear expands if you’re intrinsically motivated to be here, so find something that excites you if possible.

How to use these?

Every individual is different, so try to find the balance that you and your team thrive at. I personally like to stay in Gear 3 as long as possible, followed by a reasonable amount of time in Gear 1. And try not to spend too long in Gear 2, although it’s inevitable sometimes.