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There is more to code review than (automatable) detection
The abstract for article “ The End of Code Review: Coding Agents Supersede Human Inspection ” paints this picture for the reader…
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 259 posts.
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First Principles Thinking
On first principles thinking, learning to work with agents, and setting experience aside long enough to see a problem clearly.
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Goodbye Google
Robert O'Callahan. Christian. Kiwi. Software guy. All content human-authored unless otherwise noted.
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How I changed teaching after AI managed to do all my homework assignments
AI forced me to abandon evidence-based best pedagogy practices, focus on oral and written exams, and redo most assignments. Here is what we did in 17-645...
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28% of job postings on company career sites have been open over 90 days
28.0% of 668,355 job postings open on employers' own careers sites have been up for more than 90 days. Age by category, country and applicant tracking system, the employers with the most open postings, closures and reposts. Measured at the source, monthly.
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I don't want the details
Why reasonable explanations are one of the easiest ways to avoid changing anything.
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Side-stepping the Secretary Problem, unwittingly
Having played both parts in the kabuki play that is employee-employer matchmaking, I feel the way we play it is a zero-sum game. I wish it were not so. When this post started life in 2024, as a wall of text chat message, it was brutal out there, on both sides of the software industry interview table. The ZIRP had…
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I am often wrong
[I shared this note with my team earlier this week, and am posting it here as well. I hope it is interesting or helpful for others working on building product in the age of AI.]
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The senior engineer death spiral
on proving yourself, burning out, and being a good teammate
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There's no point at which turning your brain off will work
In early 2025, I started seeing people turn off their brain as they use LLMs 1 . They would have an LLM take an action (summarize text, write some code, etc.), and just assume that it worked 2 . This generally didn't work in early 2025 and the result was often quite silly.
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The most important product decision is what you don't build
Ask a team what they shipped this year and you’ll get a list. Ask what they killed and the room goes quiet.
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Tell the speakers that you liked their talks
if you always wanted to but think it isn't worth telling a speaker you liked their talk, this is your encouragement post to do so.
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Doing Everyone Else's Job
I find it very useful to be able to do everyone else’s job — it helps you learn how they work and what they need, and it helps even more when you need their job done, but they won’t do it themselves.
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How to write an effective software design document
Best practices for writing a design doc based on my experience working as a developer at Google and Microsoft.
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Fuck it, make it anyway
Carrying on in the face of creative devaluation.
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On Really Trying (2009)
What are the true limits to motivation?
47
Wikimedia Foundation Workers Overwhelmingly Vote to Form Union with CWA
U.S. workers form first recognized unit as global union movement builds across Wikimedia Foundation
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I'm a seeing-eye dog for a computer
I'd rather argue with strangers on the Internet.
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Bug Blindness
I used to wonder why I see so many more bugs than most people. I easily observe hundreds to thousands of bugs per week and nothing seems to work , but most people I talk to don't see anything like this . For a long time, I thought this had something to do with how I use computers but, over time, I've realized that…
51
Calibrate Before You Accelerate: Bias Toward Action in a New Role
Starting at Engine brought back the urge to prove myself quickly, and the difficulty of knowing what to change before I understood the context.
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Good Culture Is the Biggest Productivity Hack, Not AI
AI definitely helps with productivity, but only when you have the right culture in place first!
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Software engineering is about managing complexity
There is a misunderstanding about software engineering that AI is making increasingly visible: we tend to confuse writing code with building software.
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Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
The need for ongoing friction in long-term skill formation.
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How I find problems to solve as a staff engineer
How listening broadly turns everyday problems into useful project ideas.
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Three important steps in my maturation process
My father passed recently, and he was twice my age. I am approximately the same age that he was when I was born, and I am now “the old generation” - there’s no one left in the generation above me.
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How to compromise your system with a job interview
The current situation on the IT job market is hard. So you are lucky when a recruiter on LinkedIn reaches out to you having a suitable match for a new position based on your prior experience. It might not be what it seems at a first glance.
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Remote workers report the highest well-being in study of 7,700 employees
Many employers worry remote workers feel disconnected. A new study found they reported higher well-being and were no more likely to feel isolated than their
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Beware Management Consultants
Both teams worked really hard to get in the best shape. On the day of the first race, both teams were ready to win.