Wednesday Wisdom

The ancient Greeks told us to “know thyself.” They probably didn’t anticipate software engineers armed with AI assistants, dashboards, personality tests, and enough browser tabs to heat a small village. Yet somehow, understanding ourselves remains just as difficult and we continue to make mistakes because we attempt things that just do not match who we are... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/know-...

Or maybe: Security is more than a feeling. I couldn't quite decide on the title. There seems to be a pervasive idea that you do not have to "be technical" in order to qualify for many security-related roles. Personally I think that if you are working on dealing with attacks from computers on computers, it might be helpful if you understand how computers work. Health and safety warnin...

When you are done with late nights and answering pages at night, a remote sister team is usually the way to go. This week's Wednesday Wisdom explains how to start such a remote team and why Kazakhstan is not a great location for that. Warning: Contains strong language and children should only watch/listen under adult supervision.

Hiring is still a thing. Unfortunately, I still see a lot of terrible interview feedback. In the age of ChatGPT, there really is no reason anymore to write bad interview feedback, provided that you put a little bit of effort in keeping good notes during the interview. Throw the notes, the job description, the candidate's resume, and the question rubric into ChatGPT and it will write the feedba...

AI coding tools are changing software engineering, but not in the simple “everyone gets replaced” way the headlines suggest. The real story is messier: more productive senior engineers, fewer easy entry-level paths, shifting salaries, more software getting built, and a profession trying to figure out where its next generation will come from. This week’s Wednesday Wisdom looks at what AI coding too...

NOTE : Because of a mistake, this episode has been posted out of order and was supposed to be published on 5/20/2026. It should be listened to before the episode on 5/27/2026 called: Coding with AI tools is still hard. Apologies for the confusion. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/a-tiny-history-of-software-engineering

AI coding tools excel at the part of software development that was never really a problem to begin with: Typing in the statements. Because of this, coding with AI tools is still hard. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/coding-with-ai-tools-is-still-hard

Welcome to this week's Wednesday Wisdom, in which we cover a reader question on how to deal with managers who insist on "accurate ETAs" for software development projects. Obviously, no software project in the history of time has ever been delivered according to a pre-established immutable plan and there is no more common sound in software than the sound of a deadline, whooshing by. B...

Many startups are anxiety factories. But why? There are the obvious reasons, but there is one that is often overlooked. Find out how that works in this week's Wednesday Wisdom article. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-anxiety-factory

Does it? Because let's be honest, most code reviews are terrible. Also, what about AI generated code? Warning: This episode contains more questions than answers! https://josvisser.substack.com/p/does-code-review-still-matter

This week: An article confirming the Law of the Conservation of Misery. Rejoice! https://josvisser.substack.com/p/ten-things-not-to-worry-about-regarding

It’s like morphine, not overly dangerous when used sparingly and in small doses by experts…

Think big, but execute small... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/big-machine-people

This week’s Wednesday Wisdom features a competition of human against bot. I took the question of how to become a better engineer, wrote an article about it, but also asked  ⁠Midweek Muse⁠  (a ChatGPT trained on Wednesday Wisdom content) to write an article about it. I am posting both of these articles and you choose which one you like best. This is the article written by the bot. https://josvisser...

This week’s Wednesday Wisdom features a competition of human against bot. I took the question of how to become a better engineer, wrote an article about it, but also asked  Midweek Muse  (a ChatGPT trained on Wednesday Wisdom content) to write an article about it. I am posting both of these articles and you choose which one you like best. This is the article written by the human.

I finally learned to enjoy being nobody… https://josvisser.substack.com/p/coming-to-terms-with-my-unimportance

Do you have one? https://josvisser.substack.com/p/exit-plan

It has come to this: A standard response to the many messages I get that seek to sell something to me, offer me a job, use me as an introduction to sell something to OpenAI, or get a referral for a position at OpenAI. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/standard-response

Can you afford to be so efficient that you cannot innovate anymore? https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-efficiency

If at this moment in time you are not investing in proficiency with AI coding tools, you are doing yourself an enormous disservice. https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-one-about-codex

The subtle art of gliding into retirement with ease and comfort... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/the-gift-of-post-career

It is often hard to move on after an amazing work experience... Article: https://josvisser.substack.com/p/losing-the-secret-sense

To get something done, be everywhere all the time and persist... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/taylor-swift-and-the-value-of-time

Seniority is not a job description, it is a mindset you take to every task you engage with... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/short-seniority-is-a-mindset

Math is everywhere, but rarely used... https://josvisser.substack.com/p/math-and-you