Engineering validation not extraction | Ramblin' & Amblin' | Oct 29, 2026
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer)
Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
• Series Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNtb969T2-l0
• The Sound Above Curriculum: https://www.just3ws.com/series/the-sound-above/
• Canonical Profile: https://www.just3ws.com
Spoken Overview:
"Maybe it's fine, but that's not engineering. Testing, verification, validation. That's engineering. But whatever they did was just extraction. And I paid the penalty for that. Just like I paid the penalty for all of them after..."
Recorded: October 29, 2026
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Maybe it's fine, but that's not engineering. Testing,
verification, validation. That's engineering. But whatever
they did was just extraction.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And I paid the penalty for
that. Just like I paid the penalty for all of them after
what I raised up. I don't know if they call it a whistleblower, I don't think
. I don't know.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Maybe. But, you know, I'm going to just say,
you know, if I had this CTO reach out to me and ask me if I
'm worried about whistleblower retaliation. I don't know. You tell me.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I'm walking through the forest
here. And it's just. I've never been so alone. 26 years.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
You know, maybe I was always, you know, maybe I, the thing
was, it's always your tone, Mike. Your tone. But, uh, you push somebody for so long. What do you expect?
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But the problem is, it's not the same people. But it's the same ocean. It's the same. It's not the one wave.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
It's the, it's every wave. So every wave comes down on the drowning man's head. And says, what's your, why are you, why are you panicking? And then it moves on.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And then the next wave comes down. And says the same thing. And, uh. And then it says, mind your tone.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And then everybody says, you're so angry. Why are you so angry? I don't know. I don't know.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
You tell me. It's your tone. Five years, I was at OMF. And it was exceeds expectations with manager one.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Succeeds expectations with manager two. It was, it meets expectations with manager three. And then fourth year, same manager again. Exceeds.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Exceeds and an apology because he didn't understand what I
was really facing that first year when he, when he came on
board and thought I was just being dramatic. And then, uh, uh, fifth year exceeds and then a new manager
and then, uh, then the layoff. My, uh, position has been eliminated. And then, uh, and then I get a low ball offer finally
because I'm great at interviewing.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, I get, you know, I get stressed out on interviews. And, um, and, um, and I, and often I'm holding all of this
in my head when I'm talking to somebody who has got maybe
seven years experience and they've really never been in
production where I've been in production where I've got
people telling me it's, uh, you know, this is $3 million a
minute. Every time this is down, uh, cool story, bro. Go check Grafana.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Um, and then I get, I get us back online. I mean, I, I coordinate people and, and I do stuff and they
do stuff, but I'm coordinating and I'm leading it. I'm not, uh, some passive, passive, uh, participant. I'm the one that everybody's looking at, but, uh, on a call
with, uh, with some person who's got seven years who couldn
't possibly understand any of this.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Because that's seven years, did I understand this? No. Um, not, not even. This is experience.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But, I've got tone problems and when somebody doesn't
actually feel, you know, you know who never had a problem
with my tone? Seniors, senior engineers. Not once, but then again, usually I didn't have to have, uh
,
To have to have a tone with them because, uh, they wouldn't
debate with me. They knew that I knew what I was doing.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, I wouldn't have said what I asked them to do if,
uh, if I didn't know that it was what was necessary and I'd
explain to them exactly how it, uh, it's part of the, uh,
solution. But all of this, when you're somebody who doesn't know any
of these things, just sounds like tone problems. Sounds like being angry. Sounds like blah, blah, blah.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
You know, I, and I, and I, I would believe it too. I grew up in blue collar. I served in the army. I, uh, was always kind of a little direct.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And probably autistic. Definitely ADHD. And, uh, the last words I said to the, uh, CTO and the
director when they were telling me that, uh, that, uh, I
was getting fired. Was, uh, I said, if this is the future of private equity
for America, then we're all fucked.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, cause they had already told me I'm not getting any
, uh, severance and they're not gonna, I'm not getting any
continuation for medical and, um, not even, uh, um, they
cut me, they cut me short. They didn't even finish up the week. Um, because they were in power and they could, and they'd
already gotten everything from me. So, you know, now I'm watching is, uh, the AI people want
to, uh, brag about how they're gonna wipe out all software
engineers.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And I'm watching Bob Martin just being the huckster that he
is up there promoting it. Just so happy to be back in the spotlight again after years
of people rejecting the clean code and calling it a cult
that, uh, and craftsmanship a cult as a, uh. But anything about, uh, anything about that? The trees have more to say.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And it hurts because once upon a time I listened to what he
said and I thought, oh, yeah, you know, this is a higher
calling. I'm an Eagle Scout. I'm Black Button Taekwondo. I, I believe in, in, in, in, in pushing myself and, and,
and integrity.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I've taught. But it was just, uh, it was just to, uh, it was just to run
around on stage and get everybody else hyped up because
that was the hot thing at the moment. And now the very industry that is decrying the death of, of
, of this profession is, uh, gleefully being hopped upon and
bandwagoned by the same person. So what did it ever mean?
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Did it ever mean? Did it ever mean anything? Did it ever mean anything at all? I don't know.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I want to say I'd like to believe it did. But that statement says, says it all. I'd like to believe it. All right.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Thanks. Bye.