The journal
Working notes from the workshop.
Posts on AI, software craft, and the things we learn while shipping. Twice a month, sometimes weekly.
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Showing 12 of 541 articles
- Business·
How to Hire a Full-Stack Developer in 2026: What the Job Actually Requires
Full-stack means different things to every team. This is a practical guide to defining what you actually need, running a screen that catches specialists in disguise, and knowing when a generalist is the right call.
HiringFull-StackBusinessWeb Development - Business·
How to Hire a Node.js Developer in 2026: The Screen That Finds Real Backend Engineers
Node.js has fractured into async-first, TypeScript-native, and edge-runtime camps. This is the practical screening guide for hiring a Node.js developer who can build production backends, not just Express tutorials.
HiringNode.jsBackendJavaScript - AI Integration·
Reducing LLM API Costs in Production: Caching, Batching, and Model Routing
LLM API bills grow faster than usage. These are the concrete techniques that cut costs by 40-80% without degrading quality: prompt caching, semantic deduplication, tiered model routing, and batch inference.
AI IntegrationLLMPerformanceBackend - Business·
Statement of Work vs. Time and Materials: Getting the Contract Right Before Work Starts
Choosing the wrong contract structure is one of the most reliable ways to damage a client relationship. Here is a practical guide to SoW, T&M, and the hybrid models that actually work for software projects.
BusinessAgencyPricingContracts - Business·
How to Hire a DevOps Engineer in 2026: Kubernetes, IaC, and the Roles That Replaced DevOps
The 'DevOps engineer' title now covers three distinct jobs: platform engineer, SRE, and CI/CD specialist. Here's what each role actually does, what to screen for, and what the market pays.
HiringDevOpsCloud & InfrastructureBusiness - Business·
How to Hire an iOS Developer in 2026: SwiftUI, Concurrency, and What to Screen For
iOS development has changed more in the last three years than it did in the previous seven. Here's what strong iOS candidates know, how to screen them, and what to expect on rates.
HiringiOSMobileBusiness - Web Development·
Svelte 5 Runes in Production: How the New Reactivity Model Changes the Way You Write Components
Svelte 5's runes replace the old magic variable tracking with explicit reactive primitives. A year into production use, here is what changed, what improved, and what surprised us.
Web DevelopmentJavaScriptFrontendDeveloper Tools - Business·
The Technical Interview Process That Actually Predicts Job Performance
LeetCode interviews are popular and largely useless for predicting on-the-job performance. Here is what the research says works, and how to build a process that finds engineers who will thrive in your codebase.
HiringCareerBusinessDevelopers - Cloud & Infrastructure·
Background Jobs in 2026: BullMQ, Inngest, or Temporal?
Three tools, three different bets on where complexity belongs. Here's how to choose between BullMQ, Inngest, and Temporal based on what your system actually needs — not what sounds most impressive.
BackendInfrastructureJavaScriptArchitecture - Business·
How to Hire an Android Developer in 2026: What to Screen For
Android development has changed more in the last three years than the previous decade. Here's how to tell who can build modern Android apps from who learned it circa 2019 and never looked back.
HiringAndroidMobileRecruiting - Business·
How to Hire a Python Developer in 2026: A Practical Screening Guide
Python is the language of AI, data, and backend. But 'Python developer' covers a huge range of skill sets. Here's how to define the role, screen for real ability, and avoid costly mismatches.
HiringPythonRecruitingBusiness - Technology·
OpenFeature in 2026: Feature Flags Without Vendor Lock-in
OpenFeature is now a CNCF incubating project with broad SDK support. Here's how to use vendor-neutral feature flags in production — and why the standard matters more than the specific tool you back it with.
Developer ToolsBackendInfrastructureOpen Source
