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The Programmer Identity Crisis
On AI, Creativity, and Craft
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,747 posts.
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The Accountability Problem
This is a transcript of my keynote presentation at the Agile Cambridge conference in England on October 2nd, 2025. The topic was “The Accountability Problem.” How do we define software department accountability so our business partners don’t do it for us?
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Talent
“It is generally ill-advised to say 'never' and I'm pleased for you that your grafting has got you to where you wanted to be.”
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Things I've learned in my 7 years implementing AI
Even though the impacts of LLMs have never been seen before, they feel familiar to earlier assumptions.
275
I almost got hacked by a 'job interview'
I was 30 seconds away from running malware, Here's how a sophisticated scam operation almost got me, and why every developer needs to read this.
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I am a programmer, not a rubber-stamp that approves Copilot generated code
Today morning, I came across this reddit post titled Completely losing interest in the career due to AI and AI-pilled people. They describe how in a span of ...
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Root cause analysis? You're doing it wrong
If you have arrived here, you should know this is an early draft containing mostly unedited stream-of-consciousness crap because I have found it difficult to structure this topic. My latest attempt is to split this information up into multiple separate articles.
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The illegible nature of software development talent
Here’s another blog post on gathering some common threads from reading recent posts. Today’s topic is about the unassuming nature of talented software engineers. The first thread was a …
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My approach to building large technical projects (2023)
Whether it's building a new project from scratch, implementing a big feature, or beginning a large refactor, it can be difficult to stay motivated and complete large technical projects. A method that works really well for me is to continuously see real results and to order my work based on that.
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How I influence tech company politics as a staff software engineer
Many software engineers are fatalistic about company politics. They believe that it’s pointless to get involved, because: Technical decisions are often made for…
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The collapse of the econ PhD job market
What is an Economics PhD worth in 2025?
282
Work is not school: Surviving institutional stupidity
For 16+ years, we master the rules of school. Study hard, get good grades, follow the formula and ultimately merit wins. Then we enter the workforce and none of it works quite like we thought. This becomes painfully obvious as you rise higher in the org. Even seasoned veterans forget
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Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
At FTX, Frank, and Pollen, software engineers were asked to do something potentially illegal, or to go along with what looked like fraud. They obliged in two out of three cases, landed in hot water, and now face jail time. A reminder why it’s never a good idea to go along with such requests.
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Don't avoid workplace politics
Most engineers think workplace politics is dirty. They’re wrong. Refusing to play politics doesn’t make you noble; it makes you ineffective.
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Five years as a startup CTO: How, why, and was it worth it? (2024)
CTO as a Service / Fractional CTO by Sergey Khaladzinski2025155 points114 commentsCareer & Management details
I can't believe it's been five years since my last post… Five years since I decided to join an early stage startup as the CTO / "the tech guy". Five years since I took my last train
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Organize your Slack channels by "How Often", not "What"
A few weeks ago, I changed my Slack channel sections. I’m now more responsive and engaged, while also feeling less stressed. How? By sorting my Slack channels by urgency, or how often I want to read them. Versus Sorting by “how often” lets me read my most urgent messages first, focusing my energy on what
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Don't Become a Scientist (1999)
Don't Become a Scientist!
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Write the damn code
You are a software engineer. Don't become a prompt refiner.
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Go ahead, write the “stupid” code
When I finished school in 2010 (yep, along time ago now), I wanted to go try and make it as a musician. I figured if punk bands could just learn on the job, I could too. But my mum insisted that I needed to do something, just in case. So I went down to the local TAFE (this is like a trade school in Australia, though…
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Why I'm not rushing to take sides in the RubyGems fiasco
We are in the midst of a Ruby drama for the ages. I'm sure a bunch of people figured we were all too old for this shit, but apparently we are not. This debate…
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The Theatre of Pull Requests and Code Review
I recently attended the Goatmire Elixir Conf and one of the standout talks for me was Saša Jurić’s “Tell Me a Story” . It was an incredible presentation that combined theatrical storytelling with practical technical advice. Saša performed parts of his talk in character, turning technical topics into a compelling…
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How to be a leader when the vibes are off
...and the vibes are definitely off It feels different in tech right now. We’re coming off a long era where optimism carried the industry. Something has curdled. AI hype, return-to-office mandates, and continued layoffs have shifted the mood. Managers are quicker to fire, existential dread has replaced
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Questions to ask when you think need to finish something
When a pursuit becomes a drag, here's some questions to help you figure out why, and what to do about it.
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How to Lead in a Room Full of Experts
Here is a realization I made recently. I'm sitting in a room full of smart people. On one side are developers who understand the ins and outs of our microservice architecture. On the other are the fro
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Getting More Strategic
Strategy – how to be strategic, and how to be seen as strategic – is one of my ongoing obsessions. Years ago, I read Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, and it’s guided my thinking ever s…
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I'm spoiled by Apple Silicon but still love Framework
A personal comparison of battery life between my MacBook M1 Pro and Framework 13
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How can I influence others without manipulating them?
Learn practical ways to influence others ethically using five respectful approaches that build trust, commitment and genuine buy-in.
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I forced myself to spend a week in Instagram instead of Xcode
This is what happens when you ban yourself from coding
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Universities should be more than toll gates
Personal writing by Walid Dib, and a collection of games, apps, and companies I’ve built.
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AI was supposed to help juniors shine. Why does it mostly make seniors stronger?
AI was supposed to empower junior developers. In reality, it has become a tool that makes seniors more valuable while exposing the gaps in software culture.