The Best Engineering Blogs
The world of tech and software development evolves fast, with new frameworks and libraries advancing all the time. It’s important to stay tuned in, or you could be left behind. To make that less of a challenge, I’ve handpicked thirty engineering blogs that you should follow or at least bookmark for future reference.
Engineering blog is, of course, an umbrella term that includes not just software engineering but also a wide range of engineering disciplines. So to properly evaluate each blog, I scored them against a consistent set of criteria: writing quality, consistency, longevity, technical depth, broad usefulness.
Based on that criteria, here are the thirty best engineering blogs being published today:
1. Facebook Engineering
As one of the tech’s headliners, Facebook Engineering offers a highly technical digest on what’s going on in the software engineering world. From developer tools and popular platforms to infrastructure and artificial intelligence, the Facebook Engineering blog covers a wide range of topics and gives insights into how Facebook solves large-scale technical challenges. Also, if you’re looking for an open-source project to contribute to, you should definitely check out their FioSynth project.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 5.0
2. Github Engineering
GitHub is one of the most popular hosting sites for software development and version control using Git. Their blog has a special section for engineering posts, which I found really convenient. It covers mostly GitHub workflow topics and related issues, however, since GitHub is broadly implemented in many tech companies, it can be considered as a generally useful blog.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 5.0
3. Heroku Engineering
Heroku is a cloud platform as a service where you can deploy projects and websites. It supports several programming languages, so it’s no surprise that Heroku’s really popular. Perhaps unexpectedly, the Heroku Engineering blog describes not only deployment issues but also a wide range of software-tangential topics. For example, I bookmarked this article for myself: “Let’s Debug a Node.js Application.”
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.8
4. Amazon Web Services Blog
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) blog is rather specific: it’s focused mostly on AWS implementation and related issues. However, AWS is one of the most common and broadly adopted cloud platforms in the world. As a result, the information provided by the articles can be applied to a range of industry workflows.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 4
Total score: 4.6
5. Microsoft Azure Blog
Similar to AWS, Azure is a popular cloud provider. Its blog shares cloud-related information, particularly centered around Azure. However, since Azure is a common provider, this blog is still very useful, especially for those who are thinking of implementing it.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 4
Total score: 4.6
6. Google Developers Blog
Similar to Facebook Engineering, the Google Developers blog is a trustworthy digest of engineering news and mostly Google-related topics. Since Google is of an industry giant, the information you get will be highly applicable. Some might find it less technical than expected, but I enjoy the inspiring success stories and industry insights.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 4
Total score: 4.6
7. Netflix Tech Blog
Netflix is undoubtedly one of the most popular streaming services. A lot of different technical processes are going on under the hood: great UI and UX experience, a huge and uninterrupted movie database, and—the most exciting!—a machine-learning model that powers movie recommendations. From the Netflix Tech blog, you’ll learn about all these topics in-depth. It’s always helpful to know how a seamless client service experience was achieved, and this blog covers that.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
8. LinkedIn Engineering
LinkedIn is a unique professional social network, with a rather diverse blog. It contains a wide range of content, from the expected LinkedIn website-related problem-solving topics to more general concepts, all polished and deeply detailed.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.4
9. Spotify Engineering
The Spotify blog is one of my personal favorites; I enjoy the engaging and easy writing style as well as the range of topics. Most of them are related to Spotify and all the magic behind one of the most popular music apps. But still, it covers a lot of general cloud, API, and machine-learning subjects, and videos and podcasts break up the more standard blog posts.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
10. Pinterest Engineering
Pinterest, the first visual discovery engine, is a creative website, and their blog lives up to the theme. You’ll find a lot of articles on architecture and infrastructure, design, and UX, as well as insights into what it’s like to work for Pinterest.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
11. Code as Craft
Code as Craft is the Etsy engineering blog. It produces a consistent combination of general and Etsy-specific content. The Etsy team is large and evolving fast, so the concepts they share can be broadly useful for online shop engineering teams.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
12. Yelp Engineering
Yelp is a crowd-sourced local business review and social networking resource. Its engineering blog is a great source of knowledge for those who want to learn more about Yelp functionality and some of Yelp’s troubleshooting methods. However, it also raises some rather broad questions about general machine learning, discusses hackathons, cloud, and API issues.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.4
13. Engineering at Quora
Quora is a question-and-answer website—ask any question you’ve ever wondered about, and another user will respond. I was excited to learn that the Quora team builds Quora from the ground up, from backend infrastructure to ranking algorithms to frontend abstractions. The Engineering at Quora blog is fully devoted to the issues the team faces on both the front- and backend.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
14. Salesforce Developer Blog
The Salesforce Developer blog is devoted to backend and testing topics. Many large companies use Salesforce, so it’s vital to stay up to date with all the new products and tools it releases. If you’re not already using Salesforce, remember that learning new technologies broadens your mind personally and professionally.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 2
Total score: 4.4
15. Medium Engineering
Medium is a well-known blog platform, and Medium Engineering is like a blog inside a blog, where you can find articles from the team that builds Medium. You’ll learn about front- and backend issues, problem-solving, and the most interesting and unique Medium technologies. Every once in a while, you’ll find some articles on Medium engineering culture and company values.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.4
16. Machine Learning Mastery
As you can guess from its name, this blog is all about being a professional in the field of machine learning. Lacking broad usefulness and general approaches, this blog does offer thorough, consistent, and highly technical content about how and where to begin with your first machine-learning project.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 2
Total score: 4.4
17. SoundCloud Developers
The SoundCloud blog is similar to Spotify’s, but it’s mostly focused on backend issues; reasonable, since SoundCloud is often used as a music storage service. For those looking for a new career path, be sure to check out the recruiting section.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 4
Total score: 4.3
18. Twitter Engineering
Each social media platform has its own technical issues, and Twitter is not an exception. Still, as one of the most active social media platforms, it has to run as smoothly as possible. This blog shares how the Twitter engineering team tackles problems, but some posts are more broadly useful; for example, “Improving Engagement on Digital Ads with Delayed Feedback.”
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 5
- Broad Usefulness - 2
Total score: 4.2
19. Ebay Tech
Similar to Code as Craft, eBay Tech shares some insights into the obstacles the eBay engineering team faces on a daily basis. This blog would be particularly useful for anyone wondering about the online stores operation and what technologies it uses.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.2
20. Taro Career Growth Blog
One part of engineering that doesn’t get talked about enough is career advancement. Unlike many of the other blogs on this list, Taro’s focuses on career, interview, and promotion tips for engineers who are trying to build a long, successful place in this world.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 2
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.2
21. Instagram Engineering
The Instagram Engineering blog is mostly specific to Instagram services, there are some posts that cover more broadly implemented topics. For example, “Static Analysis at Scale: An Instagram Story” offers insight into some Python-based programming.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 5
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 2
Total score: 4.0
22. Uber Engineering
Uber Engineering may be a little bit different from the other tech communities on this list, given that its service is felt more “in the real world” than strictly online. It can result in some interesting posts on the team’s blog, describing logistic issues from a tech perspective. I also like the Profiles in Coding section, where you can read about the engineers, not just the software.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.0
23. Airbnb Engineering
Airbnb is a prominent startup success story, so their engineering blog is definitely worth checking out. It could be more technical, but soft skills are also important in the world of tech. I personally enjoy the Fintech section; the insights from the payments team are generally useful.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 4.0
24. Coursera Blog
Coursera is a well-known platform for online courses, so it’s no surprise their blog covers a wide range of data structure and computer science topics. It also publishes a lot of content specifically targeted at educators and anyone else interested in the arts and humanities.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 2
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.0
25. Reddit Blog
Reddit is a well-known social news and discussion website. Its multiple user-created boards called subreddits cover a variety of topics. Similarly, the Reddit blog itself covers not only tech and engineering issues, but also shares community news, introduces prominent team members, and discusses upcoming events.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 2
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.0
26. Dev.to
Dev.to is a tech blogging platform for creating blogs and sharing knowledge about various technical topics. A lot of articles are written by students and engineers young in their careers, but I find the experiences they share rather valuable. The content here might not always be deep, but the platform is priceless for anyone looking for a personal approach and real-life stories. Also, Dev.to’s tagging system and sorting options are rather convenient.
- Writing Quality - 3
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.0
27. BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed is a news and entertainment platform, not to mention the occasional fun online quiz. Its tech blog spotlights various content from the engineering world, including front- and backend topics and project launching, and team culture insights. It’s one of the less technical blogs in this list, but it offers a solid roundup of what’s going on at BuzzFeed specifically and in the digital world in general.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 3
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.0
28. Product at Canva
Canva is an online design tool for posters, book covers, social media banners, anything you want to create and publish somewhere. Its blog is a good combination of Canva’s specific engineering approaches and more broadly useful topics like, how to boost your digital marketing.
- Writing Quality - 4
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 5
- Technical Depth - 2
- Broad Usefulness - 5
Total score: 4.0
29. BBC Design and Engineering
If you’re more interested in UI and UX engineering, the BBC Design and Engineering blog is for you. It’s mostly BBC online-focused, however, it also highlights more general design trends and content.
- Writing Quality - 3
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 4
- Broad Usefulness - 4
Total score: 3.8
30. Lyft Engineering
Lyft Engineering is similar to the Uber blog, but I did find this one to be less thorough and technical. However, some company insights drew my attention, for example this post about a successful implementation of a feature that allows users to compare bike/scooter modes against rideshare and transit modes.
- Writing Quality - 5
- Consistency - 4
- Longevity - 4
- Technical Depth - 3
- Broad Usefulness - 3
Total score: 3.8
Conclusion
Clearly, there are a lot of great engineering blogs out there worth following. I hope this list has helped you discover some resources to keep you up to speed with everything happening in the world of tech.
And please remember: knowledge is all about sharing. Do you have an engineering blog that you’d like to share? Don’t hesitate to submit your suggestions here!
If you’ve enjoyed this, don’t miss our other Best Technical Blogs lists.
By Anastasia Orlova
Full-stack web developer experienced in Ruby on Rails and JavaScript-based programming with a background in retail and social work. Transformed her passion for learning foreign languages and creative writing into programming languages and tech blogging.
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