On engineering as leverage

Software engineering is one of the few fields where a single person can build something that affects millions of people. This isn't inherently good or bad; it's just leverage. The interesting question is what you do with it.

Most engineers don't think about this. They optimise for what's in front of them: the ticket, the sprint, the promotion. But the leverage exists whether you think about it or not. The code you write will be used in ways you didn't anticipate, by people you'll never meet, for purposes you might not approve of.

I don't have a neat conclusion here. I just think it's worth being aware of what you're actually doing when you build software.