Hard-won lessons from 45+ years in the trenches.
No optimism theater What actually works
The observability market will hit $172 billion by 2035, yet alert fatigue is epidemic and engineers spend 40% of time on tooling. Dashboards create illusion of control while real understanding require...
Assembly language isn't a relic - it's essential for voice AI, cryptography, and performance-critical paths. When 'compilers optimize better than humans' is marketing vs reality....
Strip away the marketing and 'agentic AI' is workflow automation with LLM steps. Useful, but not the revolution the vendors are selling....
Most pivots destroy more value than they create. Knowing when to iterate versus pivot is a survival skill....
Speech recognition vendors have spent decades perfecting noise filtering. Research shows it often hurts accuracy. A different approach to acoustic intelligence is needed....
Evidence-based hiring methods that predict engineering success: structured interviews, work samples, and behavioral questions. Based on Sackett 2022 meta-analysis....
SQLite runs on more devices than any software in history. After 45 years watching technology disappoint, here's why SQLite is the rare project that delivered on its promises....
Serverless promised to eliminate infrastructure concerns. Instead it created new problems: cold starts, vendor lock-in, debugging nightmares, and costs that spiral at scale. Containers won. Kubernetes...
Self-awareness isn't a trait you have or lack—it's a practice. The specific habits that enable honest self-evaluation, from feedback systems to reflection rituals....
MVP was meant to be a discipline for validated learning, not permission to ship half-finished software. The corruption of the concept has given founders an excuse to skip the hard work of building som...
Kubernetes Ingress NGINX will receive no security patches after March 2026 due to maintainer burnout. 60% of open source maintainers work unpaid. Critical infrastructure is dying from neglect....
The senior engineering interview process tests preparation, not ability. 63% of seniors get downleveled. Here's what actually predicts success and how to hire differently....
Contrarian takes on tech, startups, and software. What vendors won't tell you. No spam.
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