About this episode

The episode ranks common software engineering clichés on a tier list based on their impact on problem-solving.

This Episode never made it to Spotify for whatever reason, Original Air Date: 2025-11-20. Enjoy! We break down the most infamous "thought-terminating clichés" in software engineering. From the classic "It depends" to the controversial "Premature optimization is the root of all evil," the team ranks these common dev phrases on a tier list based on how much they actually hinder or help real problem-solving.

People in this episode

Host: ThePrimeagen

Topics covered

• software engineering
• clichés
• problem-solving
• tier list
• development phrases

Keywords

• thought-terminating clichés
• It depends
• premature optimization
• software development
• engineering phrases

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Bullsh*t Engineers Say Tier List (Lost Episode)

More episodes of The Standup with ThePrimeagen

• How We Got Our First Dev Job (Lost Episode) · June 11, 2026 · 54 min
• Casey Destroys Optimization Myths · June 5, 2026 · 1h 30m
• Trash vs Linux · May 29, 2026 · 1h 13m
• Recovering from AI Psychosis · May 22, 2026 · 1h 1m

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