About The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter

The #1 technology newsletter on Substack. Highly relevant for software engineers and engineering managers, useful for those working in tech. Written by engineering manager and software engineer Gergely Orosz who was previously at Uber, Skype/Microsoft, and at high-growth startups.

What to expect:

  • Big tech and high-growth startups, from the inside. Tech is accelerating rapidly: but some fast-moving companies are ahead of the rest of the pack. What are they doing differently and why? I go deep.

  • Actionable advice for engineering managers, software engineers and tech workers. Topics covered are relevant to those working at tech companies. Get tools and insights to become a more efficient engineering leader. If you use just one approach to make your project, team, or company more efficient, the weekly newsletter already pays for itself.

  • A pulse on the tech market and scoop worth knowing. What is happening in tech, and why? How is the market changing? What does this mean for hiring managers and for those navigating their careers? I cover patterns and trends heard within Big Tech and high-growth startups in the series The Scoop.

  • An independent viewpoint. I don’t take sponsorships of any kind, and disclose any affiliation I would have with the companies covered. Read my ethics statement and more about the lack of sponsorship in the newsletter.

  • Join 350,000+ subscribers on the #1 technology newsletter on Substack. Read reviews from readers.

🔒 For paying subscribers:

  • Long-form educational articles every Tuesday. These articles typically go deep into a topic relevant for software engineers or engineering managers, and tend to offer actionable advice. The Tuesday article is a Real World Engineering Challenge issue every 4-6 weeks. See the full archive here.

  • Timely articles on Big Tech and high-growth startups most Thursdays. These issues are almost always The Scoop issues: insights, patterns and trends I observe and hear about within Big Tech and at high-growth startups.

  • 🔒 Resources and templates for engineering managers and engineers. Access them here.

  • No ads. No sponsored content, job ads, or other types of ads.

  • Suggest topics through this form.

  • How much does it cost? $15/month or $150/year (or local currency equivalents). See also the “Discounts” section below for students and purchase pricing parity.

To get the full value of this newsletter, subscribe to the weekly, paid edition. Many subscribers expense this newsletter to their team’s learning and development budget. Here is an email you can send to your manager.

🙌 For free subscribers:

(Subscribe either for free, or for $15/month or $150/year)

Expensing the newsletter

Many subscribers expense this newsletter using their learning, professional development, or training budget. Here is an email you can send to your manager.

When becoming a paying subscriber you immediately receive a receipt.

You can also generate invoices that are suitable for expensing at companies on this page.

Questions on invoices or need an EU VAT-compliant invoice? Send an email to billing@pragmaticengineer.com.

Group/company subscriptions

Buy a group subscription here. Once you have bought a group subscription, manage your group on this page.

When setting up a group subscription, an administrator can purchase X annual seats for the group. They can then add/remove/replace people in the organization who receive newsletter issues. Here’s how the user interface looks like for the group manager:

The interface for managing groups

Group discounts: Use this group discount for groups of 5 or more seats. Contact me for further group discounts when purchasing over 10 seats.

Invoices: Invoices can be generated to expense groups and additional group members can also be added later on.

To add further group members: the group admin can add additional seats. Follow the steps outlined here.

Discounts

  • Purchase pricing parity: if you are based in a country with lower income compared to the US and Western Europe, email me at ppp@pragmaticengineer.com with your country of residence to get a more affordable option.

  • Students: Student discount for academic email addresses. Don’t have an .edu email address? Email me at ppp@pragmaticengineer.com.

Gift subscriptions

Get gift subscriptions here.

Changing credit card details

Do you need to change your credit card details?

  1. Log into your account here.

  2. Go to this page to manage your subscription, and hit “Update” next to “Payment details” and enter your new card details.

Changing your email

Want to move your subscription to a different email? Follow the steps here.

Go to your Substack settings page and change your email address there.

Usage guidelines & sharing content

One subscription is intended for one individual, and not for groups. See the ‘Group/company subscriptions’ on details for group subscriptions.

Occasional forwarding of newsletter issues internally is completely fine. If you find yourself doing this regularly, please consider getting those people a subscription - or gifting them one!

Refunds

My business philosophy is that if you, as a customer, are not happy, then I’m not happy. I have a 30-day, no-questions-asked refund policy. Please email billing@pragmaticengineer.com for a full refund. I appreciate if you can share the reason unhappy with the contents or purchase, but doing so is not necessary for a refund.

Read past articles

See the most-read newsletter issues in 2021 here.

Get a sense of the type of content I write with these essays:

Ask a question

For billing inquiries, email billing@pragmaticengineer.com.

For topic suggestions, submit a topic you’d like to hear about in the newsletter.

For anything else, email hello@pragmaticengineer.com.

Publishing schedule and holidays

Expect 100+ issues published every year.

The Pragmatic Engineer publishes every Tuesday (long-form pieces) and most Thursdays (timely pieces) on most weeks, and very occasionally, on Wednesday (bonus pieces). Exceptions to this are:

  • Winter break. At the end of December, for a week and a half, there are no Tuesday and Thursday issues.

  • Spring break. At the end of April, for two weeks, there are no Thursday issues, only Tuesday ones.

  • Summer break. In early August, for a week and a half, there are no Tuesday and Thursday issues.

Subscribe to The Pragmatic Engineer

Big Tech and high-growth startups, from the inside. Highly relevant for software engineers and managers, useful for those working in tech.

People

Gergely Orosz 

Writing The Pragmatic Engineer, advisor at mobile.dev. Previously at Uber, Skype, Microsoft. Author of a few books: pragmaticurl.com/books