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I'm interested in learning to develop more complex low-level systems. I thought about starting by learning database systems. I know how they work, having experience dealing with distributed systems and databases, and I have written some patches for considerably large databases here and there.

I have started by giving this course a try: https://skyzh.github.io/mini-lsm/ , but I'm feeling it is overwhelming and extremely difficult. For instance, this is the "official solution" for the 1st day exercise:

    fn freeze_memtable_with_memtable(&self, memtable: Arc<MemTable>) -> Result<()> {
        let mut guard = self.state.write();
        // Swap the current memtable with a new one.
        let mut snapshot = guard.as_ref().clone();
        let old_memtable = std::mem::replace(&mut snapshot.memtable, memtable);
        // Add the memtable to the immutable memtables.
        snapshot.imm_memtables.insert(0, old_memtable.clone());
        // Update the snapshot.
        *guard = Arc::new(snapshot);

        drop(guard);
        old_memtable.sync_wal()?;

        Ok(())
    }

There are many folds of complexity and things you have to be aware of to write such a good solution. Rust concurrency primitives, COW state updates, subtle ownership moves (std::mem::replace) to avoid cloning big things, lock complexity, etc.

I know enough C++ to read and contribute to big and complex projects, but probably not enough to write a project on my own. Rest aside, it's my first time reading/writing Rust.

All this explanation to the real question...

Does it make sense to keep grueling this tutorial by approximating it like the following: 1) try to write the code on my own, 2) go to the solution to discover everything I did wrong, and 3) invest as many hours as necessary until I understand what every single line of the solution does.

Or does it make more sense to start with something a bit lighter, where I'll still learn a lot without all this suffering?

I always read before bed. I used to read fiction, which helped me disconnect and fall asleep.

I have a pile of non-fiction books I never read because I can't find the motivation to read during the day. My brain is used to reading before bed and can't get motivated to do it at any other time during the day.

I always thought that reading non-fiction before bed would be counterproductive since it would make me start thinking about the future, plans, things I did wrong, etc.

I've been trying to read someone or another non-fiction book lately, and the effect is exactly the opposite. I fell asleep just after a couple of pages and can manage to keep focus as I do when reading fiction. It is not that I find the books/topics boring; it feels like it's not the right time for me.

How do you find good moments to read non-fiction throughout the day? When do you find it's the best time for you to read them?

I studied ECE but since the beginning I've been working as a Software engineer, as almost everybody from my promotion.

Lately, I've been thinking about starting some hardware side projects. Despite my background I don't remember a thing about those years and would be great to start playing with smaller projects before jumping into something more complex.

Are there any good resources on electronics? I have been looking around and everything I've found is either too simple or too complex.

During last years I started seeing less good answers, and discussions around that website.

It's clear Google Search algorithm is favoring other websites. And probably AI and the new LLM models are being another reason devs will stop going directly to StackOverflow.

What do you think? Will StackOverflow keep up, or will slowly dye?

SQL based databases are complex, and we have a vast amount of different flavors available.

If someone fresh from university ask you for resources to understand basic concepts such as query parsing, query optimization, execution plans, etc

What kind of resources will you share with them? I expect to see people here who have been developing complex database systems, how do you get started? How is this different to other software engineering projects? Did you enjoy(ed) the process? What did you do to get better at it?

Lately, I'm finding it particularly difficult to disconnect from work. I've tried deleting work apps from my phone, but I still find myself reinstalling them to check something.

It's particularly annoying since I really want to disconnect and rest.

What are your best tricks? Do you have any particular routine during holidays that allows you to completely forget about work?

I'm mid-thirties working in Software/Data Engineering. I've been working at different companies during the last decade, and currently making ~$120k, and hitting no more than 40h/week.

I don't consider myself especially intelligent. Neither I'm dumb. I suffer from imposter syndrome from time to time, especially when I start a new job/challenge. I usually acknowledge these situations and manage to drive them without major problems. I have been in places where I was making way more but the job was boring, in startups where I was learning x10 every single day, I cut my salary to join especially talented teams, I stayed at places that required less than 10h/week while being paid for 40h... Sometimes I have been focused on pursuing a bigger salary, a promotion, or becoming a manager. I successfully accomplish most of these challenges. Every single situation had pros and cons, and none of them made me feel completely full-filled.

I thought I had a pretty good work-life balance but lately, I've been through health issues and every single doctor/therapist is pointing out to stress and sedentarism. Due to that, I've been reading some articles where researchers explain how people in tech started to care more about happiness and less about salary. I thought I was already doing that but looks like I've been doing something wrong with my professional career, and there is a path more equilibrated and focused on happiness I should follow.

Do you do something special?

I've been trying different approaches such as subscribing to newsletters or using RSS readers to follow people I find interesting but not everything they write every time is interesting! Also, if you limit yourself to following people you've been reading before you probably end up not discovering new content.

With the technology, amount of data, and algorithms we have currently should be pretty easy to build a tool capable of tracking articles/papers/talks you read/like and suggest things you could be interested in.

Does anybody use/know a tool like that? There are many places to get suggestions based on how popular they are across the entire platform but aren't we in the era of the personalization?