The Liquid Engineer - My New Newsletter

I’ll start a weekly newsletter called “The Liquid Engineer” next week. What does it mean and what will it cover? Read on or subscribe here if you’re sold already… 😂

❓What’s the meaning behind the name?

🫠 Liquid. Why is software called software? The term was coined in the mid-1900s in contrast to hardware, which is quite hard to change. So softness is related to the changeability and updateability of the code. Fun fact: This also explains the term firmware, the low-level software layer that controls hardware. It’s a special kind of software that’s a bit harder: firm.

Today, software encompasses a huge bandwidth of softness. You can still buy software on CDs and DVDs, especially games. This code never changes. You have apps on your computer or phone updated weekly or monthly. And you’re interacting with server-side software via your browser or app, updated 10s, 100s, or 1000s of times a day, e.g. on Google’s, Meta’s or Netflix’s servers.

So software is becoming more and more fluid, it is becoming liquid. But software is only one of the many interesting fields of engineering, and the same applies to almost all other fields. Zara, the fashion brand, produces clothes in Europe to speed up cycle phases and react quicker to demands and trends. Just to make one example, more to come in the newsletter.

⚙️ Engineer: Engineering is a huge part of my life. I always liked to create things. Engineering sounds like a very lonely job in front of the computer. Actually it’s a team activity involving a lot of communication with the team and customers. There is always the same process behind it, from building Lego to engineering huge software projects. It can be broken down into three steps:

💡 It starts with thinking about a possible solution to a hopefully real problem. This involves seeing the problem, identifying it as solvable with current technologies, and imagining a solution.

💪 Then comes the act of building, be it with tools and hands or a keyboard and computer. For most of us, it’s more rewarding to build with our hands. This is the addictive fun part, because you can get absurd amounts of flow state out of it.

🧐 Next is the testing phase, where we assess our solution. It’s never perfect, triggering the next thinking phase. And so the cycle continues.

Repeating this cycle leads to more sophisticated solutions. The time it takes to go through one full cycle has a huge impact on the quality of the solution.

❓What’s the newsletter about?

Now comes the confusing part: It will be about 3D printing! It’s a magical technology that makes mechanical engineering much more like software. It’s also a great visualization of how software principles spread into our everyday world.

Subscribe here, if you haven’t already!