Darragh Burke

I'm a software engineer at Cognition. I'm interested in making software more fun, humane and productive. In the past, I was a technical lead on Figma Make, worked on design systems at Tinder, and contributed to Babylon.js at Microsoft. I studied Computer Science at UC Santa Barbara and Creative Writing at OCSA.

Writing

Speaking

Principles

  1. The systems we interact with should be beautiful, intuitive, and joyful.

    Every second wasted on poorly designed or constructed systems is a lost opportunity. If you're creating something for others, make it good. The world has no shortage of crap. We need fewer, better things.

  2. You need to have fun.

    All our greatest treasures as a species come from people who love something deeply enough to make it better, day after day. Care and dedication compound over time. Outcomes are determined primarily by force of will, not innate ability, so you should work on something that excites you.

  3. Slow down and think harder.

    Speed feels good in the short term, but the best outcomes come from deep, thoughtful work.

  4. Technology alone will not solve the world's hardest problems.

    Advances in medicine, software, hardware etc. will massively improve human wellbeing. But the most important problems - poverty, bigotry, war, purpose - require sociopolitical solutions. As technologists, we should dream big but remain humble.

Shelf

Elsewhere