It’s a popular joke among software engineers that writing overcomplicated, unmaintainable code is a pathway to job security. After all, if you’re the only…
We should rethink how we teach people to code | deadSimpleTech
It's fair to say that the tech industry at the moment is not in a good place. Software engineers tend to be detached, demotivated and unwilling to care much about the work they're doing beyond their paycheck. Code quality is poor on the whole, made worse by the current spate of vibe coding and whatever other febrile ideas come out of Sam Altman's brain. Much of the software that we write is either useless or actively hurts people. And the talented, creative people that we most need in the industry are pushed to the margins of it.
Why Can’t Programmers... Program?
I was incredulous when I read this observation from Reginald Braithwaite: Like me, the author is having trouble with the fact that 199 out of 200 applicants for every programming job can’t write code at all. I repeat: they can’t write any code whatsoever. The author he’s
Coding Agents Are Easy, Actually - Kara's Nonsense
Software engineering is here to stay
Non-Coding Contributors in Open Source
The tradition of privileging only technical skills triggers imbalance and inequality.
Writing software is hard
Good software is uncommon because writing it is hard. In the abstract, we all know that it is hard. We talk incessantly about how it’s hard. And yet, we also collectively seem shocked — just shocke…
The developer’s dilemma
When it comes to making money, software developers are an odd bunch. Developers produce code, and code is in high demand. At a glance, it…
Writing Code Is Easy. Reading It Isn’t.
Writing code is easy. Once you have a solution in mind, and have mastered the syntax of your favorite programming language, writing code is easy. Having an LLM write entire functions for you? Even eas
Note on 24th September 2026
The more time I spend working with coding agents, the more convinced I am that they make software engineering even harder. We can do amazing things with them, but unlocking …
The Bulk of Software Engineering is Just Plumbing
I read a post online recently about how some software engineer was asked to complete a technically complex, jargon-filled coding challenge over the...
Mahax on Twitter / X
Head of Claude Code, Boris Cherny:"You're not supposed to write code anymore. You're supposed to build a graph that writes itself."In 30 minutes he breaks down how engineers at Anthropic build graphs that write the code, catch the bugs, and ships.Most engineers build… https://t.co/I3b2Rt2ul3 pic.twitter.com/UCPTCr1Sl7— Mahax (@Mahaximus_) September 7, 2026
Coding Is Dead, Long Live Programming — Ian Cooper - Staccato Signals
Summary In this post, we argue that the role of a coder now belongs to a coding agent, but that the distinct role of a programmer define...
Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It
In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird.
Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It
In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird.
Please Learn to Write
There's been lots of buzz on the topic of whether or not you should learn to code. As an engineer, I don't have unbiased thoughts on the matter. I tweeted Jeff
Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend.
“Every line of code is written without reason, maintained out of weakness, and deleted by chance” Jean-Paul Sartre’s Programming in ANSI C.
When compilers surprise you — Matt Godbolt’s blog
Sometimes compilers can surprise and delight even a jaded old engineer like me