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AI is destroying my CS degree
I am a computer science student. I got a scholarship to study computer science and AI last year and I love it! It's something that I wanted to do since I was...
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The consequences of task switching in supervisory programming
the future of senior developers, junior developers, more on cognitive debt, DevEx versus AgentEx, the role of IDEs, consequences of task switching in supervisory programming
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Listen to Understand
You can captivate someone not by what you say, but by how you listen.
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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
Stroustrup's Rule (2024)
Beginners need explicit syntax, experts want terse syntax.
186
Were software engineers blue-collar workers all along?
There’s a common idea among economists that you can broadly split employees into two categories. “White-collar” workers are typically people who work in offices doing service-based, knowledge-based, managerial, or administrative...
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CS240 AI Cheating Retrospective
Jeff Turkstra's personal website. Contains photographs, memoirs, TI-86 & TI-89 programs/games, quotes, MIDI's, SeaQuest images, links, and more!
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The Importance of Limitations for Creativity and Learning (2023)
The other day, my kids started messing around (at home) with an online document writing platform their school uses. They’d discovered a fun little easter egg. I watched them laugh and play with the feature - pushing its limits and ultimately crashing the browser.
190
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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When moving fast, talking is the first thing to break
When you make speed and “moving fast” the biggest priority on a project or in an organization, the first thing to breakdown is talking to each other. Talking takes time. Consensus is expensive and slow. In a pressurized environment there’s no time to schedule calls, get input from subject matter experts, or resolve…
192
I'm a seeing-eye dog for a computer
I'd rather argue with strangers on the Internet.
193
If you stop hiring juniors, your senior engineers own you
The 'AI replaces junior engineers' argument ignores basic economics. Junior employees aren't just cheap labor. They're salary insurance, pipeline protection, and the only hedge companies have against a senior workforce that increasingly doesn't need the job.
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Assistant to the Regional Manager
The problem with utopia
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I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years
In 2021, being a good software engineer felt great. The world was full of software, with more companies arriving every year who needed to employ engineers to…
196
The truth about being a manager
I vividly remember most of my own journey into engineering management over the years. Throughout my career, I’ve also mentored several people taking the step from engineer to engineering manager. It’s a challenging and often lonely journey, and here are a few truths most new managers realize the hard way. (If you…
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On Really Trying (2009)
What are the true limits to motivation?
199
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.
200
Pros and cons of solo development
I created and maintain Luxury Yacht, a desktop app for managing Kubernetes clusters. Think Headlamp, Lens, and k9s. It's that kind of app. Luxury Yacht is a ...
201
Microsoft Teams is a red flag
Teams looks free because it comes in the bundle. The people paying for that choice are the ones stuck using it every day.
202
Management as AI superpower: Thriving in a world of agentic AI
Thriving in a world of agents
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I got into YC Startup School by hacking it
tldr: I uncovered Y Combinator was scoring 100k+ founders around the world through Paxel, I broke it (possible easter egg) + found a vulnerability that let anyone forge and push any score to their ranking database, courtesy of an unvalidated hmac
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Personal software factories are a waste of time
Why the last thing you should spend time on is your own software factory.
206
Your biggest vulnerability is your shitty compensation
My fourth month of unemployment. I'm fresh off an interview with a senior technical role advertised with a decent compensation range whose upper end would let me make median rent, and whose lower range would not. At the end of an excellent interview, I am informed that said compensation
207
Nobody is coming to save your career
I waited years for someone to invest in my career. Nobody came.
208
What are Forward Deployed Engineers, and why are they so in demand? (2025)
Startups and scaleups are on a hiring spree for a software engineering role pioneered by Palantir. A deepdive into this role, and why FDEs are so popular in 2025
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Think of Pavlov
almost all interactions are repeat games
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The Demoralization of the White-Collar Worker
The implicit contract — work hard, stay employed, build a life — is broken.