Writing
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The best engineers work to make themselves replaceable
Keeping knowledge to yourself feels safe, but everyone around you does the same, so you learn less too. Why making yourself replaceable is good for the team and for you.
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Is AI killing open source?
AI broke the two assumptions open source ran on: developers visit your site, and published packages are safe. What I've seen firsthand, and three guesses at what comes next.
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Early-career engineers, write your own code before AI does
I built native iOS and Android apps with AI and reviewed every line. I still didn't learn the platforms, and that gap should worry anyone early in their career.
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Why rubber-ducking is the AI use case I trust most
The AI I get the most from never writes my code. It is a rubber duck that questions my thinking until the gaps show, worth more than any answer it could give.
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Most rewrites serve the engineer, not the business
The urge to rewrite working code that already works usually serves the engineer, not the business. A test for when a rewrite is worth it, and what AI does and doesn't change.
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Why I prompt AI to write at a 7th-grade level
ELA7 is the US 7th-grade language standard. Pinning AI to it makes docs and backlog tickets concise, scannable, and easy for the whole team to read.