A senior engineer on my team is leaving, and our manager sent a link for a farewell gift card. She mentored me when I was a junior, so I want to chip in, but I can't see what others are giving and have never done this before. She makes great money if that matters. The default options are $20, $30, and $50. What's standard here? Is $30 enough, or should I go higher since she helped me so much?

How do you know when it’s time to leave a job vs. stick it out and push through a rough patch? For me it comes down to whether the core reasons I took the role are still intact. If the work is still interesting and the people are decent, a rough patch is survivable. But if I’m dreading Mondays every single week, that’s usually a signal worth listening to.

Do you think engineers spend enough time thinking about the user experience of internal tools? I’ve seen teams tolerate painful internal systems that they’d never ship to customers.

Do you think engineers are better at solving problems or preventing them? I think prevention is harder because success is basically invisible.

What engineering discipline would you recommend new students specialize in (or avoid) given the current/future job market?