We Can’t Name Variables. Now We’re Writing Prompts?

We used to rely on compilers for clarity. Now we rely on language models that don’t throw errors when we’re imprecise. Programming is becoming less about logic and more about articulation in natural language.

What AI Hype Misses About Real Software Engineering Work

AI coding tools are brilliant at creating new code. But most engineers don’t just create new code. They work in legacy systems, where the challenge isn’t writing, it’s understanding. We need more than just generation from AI coding tools. We also need comprehension.

AI-Generated Tests are Lying to You

AI-generated tests don’t ensure correctness. They mirror your code’s bugs. See why automating testing without understanding can destroy software quality.

Texas Sharpshooters and Test-Driven Development

The Texas Sharpshooter fallacy describes a bias where patterns are forced to fit preconceived beliefs. TDD increases the likelihood that tests reflect intended behavior rather than confirming flawed code, thus avoiding the “sharpshooting” of writing tests to suit existing, potentially faulty implementations.

Add Value and Make Noise

Expecting your work to speak for itself may be one of the reasons why you are not getting the career progression you deserve. In addition to doing good important work, you must also make noise.

Life Lessons from Statistics

When you understand basic statistics, some things in life start to make a little more sense.

The Curse of Knowledge

You don’t have to wait till you’re an expert to teach others what you’ve learned. In fact, waiting till you become an expert may be a bad idea due to something called “the curse of knowledge”.

Avoid Fakers in Unit Tests

Unless you are fuzz testing or your goal is to create property-based tests, test data generators (a.k.a. fakers) are likely to do more harm than good in the long run.

Lessons Along the Way

From every job or task you’ve done, seek wisdom gained, not battles won.

What is a Unit Test?

There is a lot of confusion about what unit tests are and how they differ from integration tests. This post provides one viewpoint on what unit tests are.