Uncovering Motivation in Software Engineering - Dev Leader Weekly 98
Welcome to another issue of Dev Leader Weekly! In this issue, I discuss how to breakdown what keeps you engaged as a software engineer.
dnsimg - storing images in txt records
I was intrigued by the idea of storing images in DNS records, and I wanted to test out how effectively images could be stored in DNS records. I've always been interested in TXT records because they seem to be a useful way of storing arbitrary data, and in this…
HR is not your friend
This is a public service announcement from your friends at Miserably Employed. Early in most people’s careers, you’re first exposed to Human Resources when you’re hired. They interview you, onboard you, and get things rolling. You think they are nice, but the…
Analysing FIX Data With ClickHouse | BenjaminWootton.com
Using ClickHouse String and Array Processing functions to analyse FIX Protocol data.
Let the Model Write the Prompt
Notes from a talk I delivered at the 2025 Data + AI Summit, detailing the problem with prompts in your code and how DSPy can make everything better.
Optimizing for Longevity
How a company like Ente optimizes for longevity
Parsing, Not Guessing | Francis Sunday
Using ASTs over regex to build a predictable, lightweight, theme-aware Markdown renderer in Go.
I fight bots in my free time
I made Anubis, a lightweight, open-source Web Application Firewall designed to block automated bot attacks without frustrating real users. Anubis uses techniques like TLS fingerprinting and JavaScript proof of work to keep your site safe while staying flexible…
Adding .md URLs for Raw Markdown Content in Next.js
How to add .md URLs to your Next.js blog to serve raw markdown content, inspired by Vercel's docs.
Things that influence my mental state -Louis-André Labadie
I've been thinking lately about what actually keeps me balanced, as opposed to activities that I think should. I don't want to fall into prescriptive thinking about wellness - meditation is good, exercise is good, social connection is good - without paying att…
We Live In a Golden Age of Interoperability
On the growth of open standards.
Your idea probably sucks
If you think you have a brilliant idea, I have bad news: your idea probably sucks.
Seven replies to the viral Apple reasoning paper – and why they fall short
Also: another paper that seals the deal
On technique: what is it and how do you get it? - Robert Howard - Brisbane Woodworker - Classes in Woodworking and Woodcarving
I have spent a good part of the past five years* teaching woodwork. As most teachers probably find, I have learnt as much as my students have. In fact, I am moved to say that if you seriously wish to learn, for example, how to cut a better dovetail, the most e…
RAG Anti-Patterns with Skylar Payne - Jason Liu
AI Consulting, RAG, and other personal notes.
7 Signs Your Agile Process Sucks
Congratulations. You’ve adopted Agile. You have daily standups. You’ve plastered Jira with enough tickets to wallpaper your overpriced open office. You’re doing the thing. But here’s the truth: you’re not Agile. You’re not even mildly flexible. You’re just tir…
A2A Is For UI
Sat June 14, 2025
The Gap Through Which We Praise the Machine
My current theory of agentic programming: people are amazing at adapting the tools they're given and totally underestimate the extent to which they do it, and the amount of skill we build doing that is an incidental consequence of how badly the tools are desig…
Trust and Procedural Fetishism
I recently finished reading Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The book explains the various missteps taken by the U.S. government that led us to where we are today: a bureaucratic sludge of policies and regulations that’s caused ambitious projects to…
LLMs, Vibe-Coding, and Where I Draw the Line - ordep.dev
Why I Analyzed 16,384 Bundle Combinations (And You Should Too) | blog | puruvj.dev
How building a modular drag-and-drop library led me to analyze every possible plugin combination and achieve radical bundle size transparency for developers.
One more reason to choose Postgres over MySQL
Almost always, I'd choose Postgres over any database for a new project because it's flexible and support multi-variances of scenarios that may require different performance characteristics. However, I don't generally feel strongly about MySQL vs. Postgres. Ei…
How to Deploy Schema Changes to a Million Databases
Your SaaS application just hit a major milestone. 100,000 active users, each with their own isolated database. You're celebrating until you realise you need to deploy a schema change. What used to be a simple ALTER TABLE now means coordinating migrations acros…
Fujifilm X half: Is it the perfect family camera ?
When Fujifilm announced the Fujifilm X half, the internet was literally divided into two halves. Some people were disappointed that it offered limited features for its high price, while others were delighted and found it intriguing. In fact, some even predicte…