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Hello all, it’s Michael here from New York. Hope you are relaxing in your post-Thanksgiving food coma. Today we’re going to tell you about t [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hello all, it’s Michael here from New York. Hope you are relaxing in your post-Thanksgiving food coma. Today we’re going to tell you about the other popular tech newsletter. But first... Today’s must-reads: • Amazon may have a [merrier Christmas]( than expected. • Musk’s Twitter is restoring [anti-trans accounts]( that fuel hate. • Sequoia apologizes for FTX, [a rare disaster]( for the storied VC firm. Captive audience The author of the most popular technology newsletter on the publishing platform Substack isn’t a journalist by training, but a software engineer based in Amsterdam. In just over a year, Gergely Orosz has amassed 220,000 subscribers to his newsletter, [The Pragmatic Engineer](. “Engineers are a really tough crowd,” said Louie Bacaj, a New York-based entrepreneur who is a subscriber. “We make each other go through all these crazy hoops on the white board to make sure we know our craft.” Orosz has “built up this personal brand and he’s got a bird’s eye view into the entire industry.” Orosz, who is in his 30s, has worked at a variety of big names, from developing software for making markets in equity derivatives at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the early 2010s to building the wallet and payments system at Uber Technologies Inc. He left Uber in 2020 and started the The Pragmatic Engineer the next year, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also serves as an advisor to a few startups. In his newsletters, he speaks with inside knowledge and authenticity about the industry. The Pragmatic Engineer covers a lot of ground, from sweepy pieces about the state of Big Tech and [layoffs](in the industry to how employees should prepare for performance reviews. Orosz also started a “bonus series” called The Scoop, that focuses on industry trends and insights, and sometimes delivers what he calls “firsthand, original reportage.”  One edition of The Scoop detailed how Meta Platforms Inc. was pushing back the start of new hires and chronicled LinkedIn’s hiring freeze and expense cuts. “I have had to learn to use journalistic practices—like building relationships with sources, protecting anonymity, offering companies a chance to respond to claims,” Orosz wrote in a response to questions from Bloomberg. A subscription to Pragmatic Engineer costs $15 a month or $150 a year for two articles a week plus the archive and [access](to documents and templates about how to prepare for promotions, how to grow a young team and examples of performance reviews. A free version gives you access to one article a month. Crislana Rafael, a sophomore at Arizona State University, felt the price was worth it and subscribed in July. She interned at Google over the summer and said the newsletter has been a helpful resource. “Because of his experience in engineering, he has that authority and that’s probably why I feel more inclined to read what it’s about and pay attention to what he says,” she said. On Tuesdays, Orosz publishes long-form educational articles that he says go “deep into a topic relevant for software engineers or engineering managers, and tend to offer actionable advice.” On Thursdays, there are timely pieces on Big Tech and high-growth startups. In addition to his newsletters, Orosz has a significant social media presence, and uses that platform to draw attention to subjects he may later cover behind the paywall. He boasts more than 260,000 followers across LinkedIn and Twitter, where he’s posted exclusive details about [Elon Musk’s](bbg://screens/ELON%20REEVE%20MUSK%20%28TESLA%20INC%2C%20CHIEF%20EXECUTIVE%20OFFICER%2FCO-FOUNDER%29) chaotic takeover of the site. His followers consist of fellow engineers, tech journalists, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists like Greylock Partners’ Josh Elman. Orosz regularly tweets scoops about small startups that are cutting jobs or shutting down all together. Earlier this month, he said he’s taking a break from tweeting about layoffs, instead looking to “balance things out” by highlighting more positive material. In a recent edition of The Scoop, he devoted a section to companies that are bucking the trend and don’t plan to reduce headcount, and compiled a list of those that are continuing to hire through the tech downturn. Osorz says he’s conflicted about being labeled a content creator, writer or “thought leader.” “My business is still in its early days, and it keeps changing and evolving,” Orosz told Bloomberg. “The best way I’ve found to describe what I do is that I run a one-person business which helps software engineers and engineering managers grow professionally.” —[Michael Tobin](mailto:mtobin37@bloomberg.net) The big story Tech workers are confronting a “pit of despair” as job cuts tear through the industry. After years of boom times, many young workers have never experienced [such a downturn]( and the accelerating layoffs have rattled a cohort who only months ago felt safe job-hopping in pursuit of better salaries and benefits. Get fully charged Microsoft agreed to buy a massive amount of clean energy for a [data center in Ireland.Â]( Elon Musk poked fun at a stash of [old T-shirts]( with #StayWoke emblazoned on them from the Black Lives Matter movement Has Tesla’s slump gone too far? [Morgan Stanley thinks so](. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more, every Sunday - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business, delivered on Friday - [Cyber Bulletin]( for exclusive coverage on the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage, sent every Wednesday Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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