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Why thinking out loud with someone beats thinking alone
Why does a five-minute hallway conversation sometimes solve what a week of solo thinking couldn't?
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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 ...
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Jobs and Software Is Fucked
Or how I decided to scream into the void about how awful the job market is. I'm still in a very sour mood after the latest rounds of interviews but ultimatel...
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Why I Am a Programmer
There they sit, the preschooler class encircling their mentor, the substitute teacher.
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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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Software Engineering fundamentals matter more
The manifestation of my imposter syndrome, for me and today, is what does it mean to be a software engineer. There’s a lot more noise than signal on the Internet about agentic engineering, wh…
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Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API
Apple rejected WhisperPad under Guideline 2.4.5 for using the accessibility API to paste transcribed text. After an appeal that ended in another rejection, I split it into two versions — a compliant one on the App Store, and the original auto-paste version, direct.
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Why AI hasn't replaced software engineers, and won't
Coding agents as normal technology
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No management needed: anti-patterns in early-stage engineering teams
Sharing a reluctant, "node & postgres" approach to engineering management for early-stage startups
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You can't unit test for taste
I’m building In the Long Run where runners do virtual runs on famous routes around the world. The app tallies up your Strava mileage and plots your total distance as progress against country- or continent-spanning routes. The intention is to provide long-term inspiration and motivation; life is a marathon, not a…
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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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The Cold Email
Written pieces, talks, and other bits by Zach Holman.
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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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Why more companies are recognizing the benefits of keeping older employees
Although age bias is still the norm, the value-add of longtime, experienced workers is beginning to take shape.
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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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The senior engineer death spiral
on proving yourself, burning out, and being a good teammate
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RIP software hackathons. Long live the hardware hackathon
Oscar's thoughts too large for a tweet
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Programming Isn't Special
Artists understand that AI is bad for art. Why don’t programmers understand that we are artists?
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Start your meetings at 5 minutes past
I work as an Engineering Manager at Google, and my teams practice a simple habit - we book all meetings to start at five minutes past the hour (or half hour). This works better than trying to finish five minutes early. Meetings often don't finish on time, and the impact is highest with back-to-back meetings.…
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I have officially retired from Emacs
This past Tuesday I typed C-x C-c in Emacs for the last time after 20 years of daily use. Though nearly half that time was gradually retiring it, switching to modal editing, then to Vim. Emacs is a platform, and I’d grown accustomed to its applications, especially those I built myself. There was no particular hurry…
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Systems Thinking
A blog about software development and programming.
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Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born (2023)
Solitary work, creativity and larval ideas
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What job interviews taught me about Kubernetes
So I've been job hunting lately. Reading job postings, doing interviews, talking to engineering teams at like a dozen companies. And I noticed...
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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 …
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The Last Technical Interview
Today we will pour one out for the vaunted technical interview process, which is on its last leg. And we’ll talk a little about what’s…
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Why I left iNaturalist
After almost 18 years, I left iNaturalist, the product and organization I helped create. I left because I don’t believe the current Leadership team is pointing the product in the right direction, and I don’t think they are managing their talented staff in an empathetic or effective way. If you’d like me to continue…
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Grace Hopper Celebration Cancelled
It is with deep regret that we are announcing the cancellation of this year’s Grace Hopper Celebration in Anaheim, CA.