Join Bethany, Brittany, and Jonathan as they reflect on their first quarter using the 12 Week Year goal-setting framework. This candid retrospective reveals what actually works (and what doesn't) when trying to balance ambitious career goals with the demanding life of a software engineer.

Inspired by Brian Moran's "The 12 Week Year" and Ali Abdaal's productivity strategies, the hosts formed an accountability group to track quarterly goals—from newsletter writing and conference talk submissions to fitness and reading habits. Now, three months in, they're sharing their wins, failures, and lessons learned.

What you'll learn:

How to apply the 12 Week Year methodology to tech career goals
Why quarterly goal setting works better than annual resolutions for developers
Creating accountability groups that actually stick
Balancing personal development with demanding engineering roles
How to reframe "failure" when you don't hit your targets
The value of setting goals even when you over-commit

Quarterly highlights discussed:

Publishing The Balanced Engineer newsletter weekly (Brittany's journey)
Submitting conference talks to GopherCon
Reading goals (including Gödel, Escher, Bach)
Building consistent workout and stretching habits
Learning design fundamentals as a backend engineer
Writing technical blog posts

Bonus segment: The hosts share app ideas they'll never have time to build, including Friend OS (a CRM for personal relationships), a customizable standing desk timer, and alternatives to Facebook Events for casual event planning.

Whether you're crushing your goals or struggling to start, this episode offers honest insights into sustainable personal growth for busy engineers.

Join Bethany, Brittany, and Jonathan as they reflect on their first quarter using the 12 Week Year goal-setting framework. This candid retrospective reveals what actually works (and what doesn't) when trying to balance ambitious career goals with the demanding life of a software engineer.

Inspired by Brian Moran's "The 12 Week Year" and Ali Abdaal's productivity strategies, the hosts formed an accountability group to track quarterly goals—from newsletter writing and conference talk submissions to fitness and reading habits. Now, three months in, they're sharing their wins, failures, and lessons learned.

What you'll learn:

How to apply the 12 Week Year methodology to tech career goals
Why quarterly goal setting works better than annual resolutions for developers
Creating accountability groups that actually stick
Balancing personal development with demanding engineering roles
How to reframe "failure" when you don't hit your targets
The value of setting goals even when you over-commit

Quarterly highlights discussed:

Publishing The Balanced Engineer newsletter weekly (Brittany's journey)
Submitting conference talks to GopherCon
Reading goals (including Gödel, Escher, Bach)
Building consistent workout and stretching habits
Learning design fundamentals as a backend engineer
Writing technical blog posts

Bonus segment: The hosts share app ideas they'll never have time to build, including Friend OS (a CRM for personal relationships), a customizable standing desk timer, and alternatives to Facebook Events for casual event planning.

Whether you're crushing your goals or struggling to start, this episode offers honest insights into sustainable personal growth for busy engineers.

Links

Hosts

Bethany Janos: https://github.com/bethanyj28
Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com
Jonathan Tamsut: https://jtamsut.substack.com

Quarterly Goal Setting for Software Engineers: Q1 Retrospective | The 12 Week Year Method

Overcommitted | Software Engineering and Tech Careers Insights