Lessons from physics for engineers

I was a physicist before I become a software engineer.

What this background taught me:

1) Reasoning from first principles

This lets you come up with solutions no else can think of.

I am convinced all innovation comes from discovering new first principles; applying known first principles in novel ways; or both.

Maybe there are exceptions to this. If so, they are rare.

2) Sensing "error bars" around numbers

Where every numerical estimate you see, you also intuitively see how that number might vary, plus or minus, and by how much.

It's important to think quantitatively. But this takes it to a higher level.

3) Thinking in terms of probabilities

Giving you the ability to "see" the landscape of possible outcomes.

Among other buffs, this will boost your intuitive understanding of the risk trade-offs for different approaches.

4) Mental models

Learning the cognitive skills of forming a model in your mind for how a system works, so you can reason about it quickly and accurately.

Especially important when things keep changing so fast. Think of how different are the mental models you need for coding with AI, compared to before LLMs came on the scene.

5) Mental algorithms

This is going 'meta' on the last point.

It's where you learn to "hack" how you use your attention, imagination, and other cognitive resources, to accelerate calculations and common decision processes.

All of these have been priceless in my engineering career.

And each of them infuse the Boosted Code curriculum, through and through. In a way I do not believe exists anywhere else.

If you are already a member, keep an eye out for how all these principles show up.

To join, go here: