Author: Murad Musakaev
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The Double Standards in Recruitment
A friend of mine from Copenhagen lost his job in November last year and has been searching for a developer role since then. Every time we talk, it always goes down to how weird the recruiting scene is recently. The thing that caught my eye is that he has to find a smooth way to…
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I was not writing for my blog because I was writing a book
Yes, that is correct – I finally self-published my fiction book called “CineMagic”. In fact, the book contains two stories: “CineMagic” as the main course and “Mechanism” as a dessert. Russian version. English version. If you are sitting there surprised with this twist, below is the story of its creation ⬇️ I enjoyed writing stories…
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We Have a Conference at Home: The Story of Sunflower Festival
“We are doing something wrong. Look at all the money there!” – exclaimed my friend, sharing a picture with a price list for Gamescom Opening Night Live sponsorships. Yes, Gamescom is huge. One of the last three giants standing (with GDC and Summer Game Fest) after E3’s fall from grace. It makes sense that the…
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How Crunch Reminded Me of Boundaries
When I joined a new company recently, I found myself in a classic newbie situation that often happens with me when I end up in a new environment: I try hard to leave the best impression in the shortest time possible. It’s like a personal tradition I never fully outgrew. I don’t change jobs often,…
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How I Recharge My Social Batteries
After four days of an intensive offsite, most of my colleagues were quiet and tired. It’s that type of business trip that makes you dream about a vacation to recharge your social batteries. But what do you do when your working week consists of calls, meetings and other human interactions? I wrote about efficient meetings…
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Discipline Is Freedom
A few weeks ago, I was at an offsite, getting to know my new colleagues. Casual chat about hobbies somehow segued into one of those “How do you find time?” conversations. I asked my fellow managers about prioritization and planning outside of work life. Some considered this a part of professional deformation, others embraced it…
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From Courtrooms to Game Rooms
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the sharp turn I took in my career and decided to write a post about the transition that changed my life. There’s a certain expectation in life that if you work hard, follow the rules, and do everything right, you’ll eventually reach your goal. That’s what I believed when I…
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Demystifying Communication Biases
Or “The best thing you can learn from the diverse teams”. The thing I am going to write about is only one of many things you can learn by working with people of different backgrounds, cultures and areas of expertise. It’s not technical insights, hard skills or “How does Let It Go from Frozen sound…
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How to Support Growth With Skills You Build
Targeted learning – one piece at a time. There is no doubt that AI is reshaping how we approach work so knowing how to get the most out of it is important – that’s why in 2024 I took the Prompt Engineering Specialization at Vanderbilt University. It helped me to improve how I interact with…
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How to Identify Risks and Navigate the Unknown
Imagine launching a major feature only to have the servers crash under the load. The chaos, the angry users, the weekend of crunch – these are the consequences of underestimated risks. You can’t really live a life without taking any risks. It is an unavoidable part of any project you start and yet it’s often…
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My Top Picks of 2024
As the year comes to an end, it’s time to look back and reflect on what made 2024 memorable. Here’s my personal list of the top things that defined this year for me: 🎮 Top 3 Games of 2024 2024 for me was mostly about playing some old hits that I’ve missed for ridiculous reasons.…
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4 Days, Countless Lessons – PMP Training Journey
The last time I truly immersed myself in a group learning was when I was learning Danish back in 2022. I don’t count self-education here as it does not include interactions with the “class”, does not have exams to verify your knowledge, and both these things require different approaches and bring a different experience. Recently,…
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The Art of Delegation
Have you ever found your team drowning in work, thinking “Is it faster if I just do it myself”? If so, you’re not alone. Let’s talk about delegation, a skill that is often seen as fundamental for managers, team leads and anyone in a leadership position. On the other hand, it’s also one of the…
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How to Keep the Spark Alive?
Hello, everyone! Today, let’s talk about motivation and engagement in teams, the two essential ingredients for success that often go beyond the typical paycheck. That’s right, compensation != motivation, or at least is not limited by just monetary part. In my experience, effective motivation is also about purpose, feedback, and a sense of impact. Having…
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Why Brainstorms Fall Short
This post was inspired by this toy I saw on the web. Apparently, some old people were buying it for their grandkids 🤣 But it suddenly got me thinking about brainstorms and here we are. Brainstorms Aren’t Always a Storm of Ideas Brainstorms are often named among the best idea-generation tools, but the thing is…
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Read This and Your Meetings Will Never Be The Same
There’s nothing as bad as a manager obsessed with meetings. We’ve all been in those slow and useless meetings, with hours wasted in endless discussions that seem to go nowhere. Many managers pack their schedule with meetings to appear ‘busy’, but if you’re not one of them and genuinely want to step up your meetings…
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Team ≠ Family
It’s common to compare teams to families. “We’re all a big family here”, “Welcome to the family!” I don’t buy that analogy. For me, teams are like ship crews. Each member has a defined role, a specific task. Personal connections are essential but the crew’s focus is always the mission – getting to that destination.…
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Learning From Others’ Mistakes Does Not Work
In the world of self-improvement and business advice, a common mantra is to “learn from others’ mistakes” with fancy quotes like “You can’t make all mistakes on your own” or “Learning from others’ mistakes is cheaper and faster”. The idea seems legit – by understanding where others went wrong, you can avoid the pitfalls and…
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Fear as a Pathway to Growth
I’m afraid we have to talk about fear. Jokes aside, fear is always around, in our lives, professional and personal. The most fundamental emotions, known as the basic emotions, are those of anger, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise and fear (hands up who pictured them as characters from Pixar’s “Inside Out”). The basic emotions have a…
Retrieving Thoughts 