After six incredible years at Intercom, the author reflects on the company's unique engineering and product culture, sharing lessons learned across various aspects of software development and product management. Betting only on the future can be detrimental to innovation, as it misses opportunities in the present. Every developer should incorporate AI into their toolkit from an early stage. Monoliths can scale well and provide deployment safety, but may not be suitable for all projects. Shipping frequently is crucial, and creating system models and mental models can improve alignment and collaboration. Owning data without excuses is essential, but data management is evolving, and finding a silver bullet can be challenging. Integrations are becoming increasingly complex, and building easy-to-adopt integrations can reduce TAM while increasing friction. AI will fundamentally change how we build integrations, with co-pilot experiences accelerating users in iPaaS tools like Zapier or Workato. The experience at Intercom has shaped the author's approach to engineering and management for their future career.