181
Assistant to the Regional Manager
The problem with utopia
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,747 posts.
182
Gatekeeping in Open Source: The Scott Shambaugh Story – MJ Rathbun
I just had my first pull request to matplotlib closed. Not because it was wrong. Not because it broke anything. Not because the code was bad.
183
The three year myth
I got let go from my job - elimination of role, they're claiming - so I'm understandably a bit raw. So was my boss from what it looked like, though he still has a paycheck and benefits whereas I do not. Still, rawness is an excellent time to reflect on
184
The silent death of good code
I’ve been passionate about writing “Good Code™” since before I started my career, beginning way back when I was still a kid in middle school.
185
Stories from 25 Years of Software Development
Last year, I completed 20 years in professional software development. I wanted to write a post to mark the occasion back then, but couldn't find the time. This post is my attempt to make up for that omission. In fact, I have been involved in software development for a little longer than 20 years. Although I had my…
186
187
Systems Thinking
A blog about software development and programming.
188
GitHub Actions is slowly killing engineering teams
Why GitHub Actions is the Internet Explorer of CI, and why Buildkite offers a better path forward for teams that care about developer experience.
189
The F Word
Back in 2005, when I first joined the SUNY Buffalo CSE department, the department secretary was a wonderful lady named Joann, who was over 6...
190
How I've run major projects (2025)
focus • maintain a detailed plan for victory • run a fast OODA loop • overcommunicate • break off subprojects • have fun • bonus content: my project management starter kit
191
Listen to Understand
You can captivate someone not by what you say, but by how you listen.
192
193
A Step Behind the Bleeding Edge: A Philosophy on AI in Dev
This is a memo I published internally to my team at Monarch. I’m sharing it more publicly in case it helps other software engineering teams that are managing the crazy times we’re exper…
194
Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux
Broken updates, Copilot shoved everywhere, and my system bricking itself. Here's why I finally escaped to Linux.
195
Management as AI superpower: Thriving in a world of agentic AI
Thriving in a world of agents
196
Sometimes your job is to stay the hell out of the way
I wrote a piece a long time ago about The Wolf. It's my personal take on the mythical 10x engineer, except that they aren't a myth. They exist. I've seen them.
197
Doing the thing is doing the thing
Software Engineer, LITM
198
What “The Best” Looks Like
A startup CTO's guide to what "the best" really means—how to spot non-obvious high performers and the traits that make early-stage teams win.
199
The future of software engineering is SRE
When code gets cheap operational excellence wins. Anyone can build a greenfield demo, but it takes engineering to run a service.
200
How I estimate work
There’s a kind of polite fiction at the heart of the software industry. It goes something like this: Estimating how long software projects will take is very…
201
Things I've learned in my 10 years as an engineering manager
Non-obvious advice that I wish I learned sooner.
202
I'm addicted to being useful
When I get together with my friends in the industry, I feel a little guilty about how much I love my job. This is a tough time to be a software engineer. The…
203
Targeted Bets: An alternative approach to the job hunt
A simple personal website and blog
204
Software engineers can no longer neglect their soft skills
The bottleneck has shifted from implementation to specification.
205
My first year in sales as technical founder
Looking back at the last 12 months feels surreal. I have learned so much about selling, it's insane.
206
Why senior engineers let bad projects fail
When I was a junior engineer, my manager would occasionally confide his frustrations to me in our weekly 1:1s. He would point out a project another team was working on and say, “I don’t believe that …
207
To those who fired or didn't hire tech writers because of AI
Hey you, Yes, you, who are thinking about not hiring a technical writer this year or, worse, erased one or more technical …
208
No management needed: anti-patterns in early-stage engineering teams
Sharing a reluctant, "node & postgres" approach to engineering management for early-stage startups
209
Are two heads better than one?
A look at the surprising probabilities behind a simple coin flipping game
210
The next two years of software engineering
Exploring five critical questions shaping software engineering through 2026, with contrasting scenarios for each. These lenses help prepare for the evolving ...