Just Some Code

The less time spent tweaking a post, the more it seems to resonate. Yesterday, I hit the 600 daily post milestone. The most popular posts were often the ones I spent less time editing. Some were only to avoid breaking the chain. The ones I poured my soul into resonated less. Same observation after 300+ LinkedIn posts. I’m calling it: the inverse effort effect. Too much tweaking dilutes the real message and hides your true voice. Maybe that’s why rants go viral and invite replies. They feel raw…

Why These last 100 posts made me ask why. Likes and attention are tempting. I’ve questioned if a blog is the right place to be. Writers I follow on social media have already moved to Substack. Everybody seems to be thriving there. Sometimes blog aggregators make me rush to count votes each morning. Analytics, votes, replies, mentions… “How did my posts do yesterday?” I’ve had to remind myself to write for one person. To build something I like. To do it for my own health. To quiet my inner…

Mark Thompson introduced me to the The Bean Soup Theory: Feedback from outsiders can tempt you to reshape work not meant for them. Write a bean soup recipe for girls needing iron, and someone will ask, “What if I don’t like beans?” Then comes the temptation to tweak it. Replace bean soup with creative work and the principle still applies. My first product was an intermediate video course on unit testing. When I asked an ex-coworker for feedback, he asked: “Did you include about AI to generate…

Paul Graham shared how to earn a billion dollars. Being the founder of a startup incubator, it’s not a surprise he recommends starting a successful startup. For that, he recommends building something people like so much they tell friends share about. For that, solve a need of yours. And for that, build projects just for fun. After all, entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be complicated. Or maybe the alternative is to become a time billionaire.

Buying a birthday present… “We have these tote bags. They’re so practical,” she told me. I was secretly buying a birthday present for my sister. “I’m looking for Hello Kitty merch,” I told her when I entered the store. My sister was turning 30, but still adored Hello Kitty. She left the register and guided me to a red aisle with almost every Hello Kitty item you can imagine. When I showed her a photo of my sister, she recommended the right lipstick—Hello Kitty-themed, of course. “OK, I trust…

#1. Close a window. For a moment, I thought something had gone wrong with my computer. One of the windows I had opened mysteriously closed. After a “wait what” moment, I realized I had accidentally pressed Delete while holding Alt and Tab. That closes a window without asking for confirmation. That was it! #2. Change your keyboard input language. I didn’t understand why my keyboard input language kept changing between English and Spanish. That’s a bit annoying when coding: Symbols aren’t on the…

Hey there. Quick update: I’m about 70% through the first draft of Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. Of course, it’s a rough draft that needs editing. But I came up with 4 traits of a street-smart coder. And as usual, here are 4.5 links I thought were worth sharing this week: #1. If AI can do it, it’s not that special. Anyone with access to AI can do it too. But if you want human attention, demonstrate human effort (2min). #1.5 It’s tiring talking to AIs (2min) instead of humans. #2. Paul Graham,…

Last week, I started a new book project, and the inner critic showed up too. After months of testing the material, the idea is solid. I’ve used my 10-idea lists and followed lessons from past books. As soon as I began, my inner critic (or the Resistance as Steven Pressfield calls it) spoke up: Do you really have something for a book? This one will be short. Are people going to like it? Are you sure about this? To quiet that voice, I had to shake my head and remind myself to: Do it for yourself…

“But… how did you know what to write?” That’s what Greg Baugues’ daughter asked him after her first encounter with vibe-coding. She was curious if there was a time when we had to type symbols, one by one. It isn’t about what symbols to type Coding used to be about the craft: Mastering symbols and perfecting the lines of code. If you knew what to type and could make it work, you could find your way as a coder. But AI has changed our job description by making code cheap. Anyone is just a few…

While a coder obsesses over syntax: Adding endless abstractions Micro-optimizing code nobody touches Building 100% reusable components no one will reuse A street-smart coder: #1. Writes the right code at the right time. Starting massive refactorings just because “people recommend it online” isn’t always wise. #2. Understands there’s no perfect code, only tradeoffs. Not every piece of code needs to scale or be perfectly clean. Not every project needs Domain Driven Design, microservices, or the…

When I started coding, I thought my only job was writing code. And I was wrong. I went to the extreme, obsessing over syntax and lines of code. I didn’t want to attend meetings, answer my phone, or reply to emails. Those were the days I had a cubicle. After trial and error, I realized code neither saved me nor made me stand out. It was always something beyond symbols on text files. That’s why I’m writing this book: the prequel to Street-Smart Coding. It’s my case against obsessing over syntax…

If you write a blog consistently, you already have a book. Here’s how to make your blog a book: Find your favorite and most popular posts. Group them by subject or year. Remove links, CTAs, stock photos… Name your book after your blog. Writing a book from your posts isn’t cheating. Derek Sivers recommends that strategy. Nicolas Cole wrote Quora Best Answers of 2015. Seth Godin wrote Small Is the New Big and Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck? Wouter turned Brain Baking into a book. If they did it,…

It started as an email to 7 friends. Now it’s part of the Library of Congress. In 2024, Maria celebrated The Marginalian 18th anniversary, where she writes to figure out life. I discovered Maria and her blog, thanks to an interview with David Perell. It’s a shame I didn’t know about her work before. Here are five lessons I learned from that interview: Have a daily practice When she was asked about why she reads and keeps a diary, I’m very regulated by having a daily practice Have a daily…

Hey there. I’m writing the prequel of Street-Smart Coding. This book is my case against obsessing over syntax to stand out as a coder. I’m writing it for my younger me who believed his only job was to write code. Younger me needed to learn that code alone won’t save him or make him stand out. It’s a manifesto for mastering the skills that create real impact. That’s why I’m calling it Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. It’s about the why, while Street-Smart Coding is about the how. You can preorder…

“Are you sure that’s worth it?” she asked him. “Yes, mom!” a little boy said, nodding. He was holding two Roblox cards. One for him and another for a friend. That family stood behind me at the grocery store. The boy insisted, “Buy them with my money.” His older brother tried to convince him otherwise: “My only advice is not to spend a lot of money on games. I’ve been there too.” His mom, trying to reason with him, added up his expenses and the money she managed for him. When those arguments…

Growth hacks are exhausting. I spent almost a year trying to grow on LinkedIn. All gurus’ advice felt daunting: Post twice a day Comment for 1 hour Don’t schedule your posts Like and repost your own posts Use carousels, selfies, and video I tried almost all of the hacks, except for the selfies. I wasted my best hours pleasing the algorithm. Recently, I logged into LinkedIn after a week. I’ve started using social media mindfully. And one of my posts got above-average impressions, with no hacks.…

Feeling stuck? Writer’s block? Try one of these 10 fun writing challenges: Use only one-sentence paragraphs Write only four lines Write 100 words Write 280 characters Follow Smart Brevity Use second-grade language Write without using commas Write a single take post. No editing Handwrite with your non-dominant hand Ban adverbs, filler words, or common phrases Write enough to fill an iPhone screen without needing to scroll Write blind. Turn off your screen or use white as the text color

I cheated on my fourth Analog Sunday, but I learned something. I watched a TV episode, exceeding my one-hour limit of screen time. In my defense, it was after touching grass and staying away from screens all day. Before cheating, I went out to buy groceries for the week. Without my phone, I realized I was more aware of what was happening around me. At the grocery store, I overheard a conversation and wrote a post. That’s not the first time it has happened on an Analog Sunday. Waiting at the…

Creativity begins with imitation. We transcribe a passage from our favorite writer. We recreate a scene from our favorite painter. We first adopt, then adapt. I’ve hand-copied James Altucher’s passages and dissected Dan Brown’s bestsellers. But don’t only steal the work, steal the process behind it too. Watch how your favorite writer launches a book. Or how a painter curates a gallery. After studying Craig Mod’s membership, I wrote 10-idea lists for my own using my current setup. As a creative…

On the other side of these words, I know there’s a human. Maybe they found this through a blog aggregator, a bookmark, or even Google, if that’s still a thing. Chances are, they’re reading a “regurgitated” version from an LLM or agent. Just as social media did, AI is changing how we consume words and what we write. Kevin Kelly says he writes his books for LLMs. Maybe we should publish ideas as custom ChatGPTs, letting people “read” by chatting. In any case, LLMs are already scraping our public…

Hey there. Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week: #1. Would you like to retire from tech one day? Here’s the typewritten story of someone retiring to live offline (2 pages). Maybe I should start planning a garden. #2. Here’s a piece of poetry urging us to please use AI (3min). #3. AI has made it clear. The real moat has always been domain expertise (4min), not cracking lines of code. #4. Looking for how to block distracting sites? Try this long-term strategy and browser…

“You have to take care of yourself when you’re still young,” she told me. I was walking around a shopping mall with my sister. We stopped at a popcorn cart for a healthy snack. I asked for one bag of popcorn with a tiny bit of salt. Your heart and kidneys don’t like salty food. “You know, I just turned 80 last month and I did take care of myself,” she told me while serving a brown paper bag of popcorn. I couldn’t help but react in surprise: “80!?” She had makeup on and was wearing golden…

For years, I was afraid of calling myself a writer. In 2024, I doubled down on my writing. After burning out and getting laid off, I paused my coding career. I filled my days writing a daily post and studying my writing heroes. Hundreds of posts later, “writer” still felt impossible. I thought I needed a big follower count and a best-seller. Of course, that was my inner critic talking. Make your first $1 One rabbit hole took me to an interview with Devon Eriksen, a sci-fi author. He said, “If…

If we’re not paying, we’re the product. Because social media is free, corporations profit from our likes, comments, and scrolling data. Apart from being the product, we’re unpaid workers too. Recently Seth Godin wrote about participating in social media as unpaid labor: “Labor is work that we get paid for. It’s work we wouldn’t do for free. And for most people on social media, it’s unpaid labor on behalf of the platforms.” His words made me rethink how to use LinkedIn, before quitting social…

Unlike my second Analog Sunday, I maxed out (and probably exceeded) my 1-hour screen time. Here’s what I did on screens: Read Bubbles weekly and daily Briefing Paid my monthly bills Wrote tomorrow’s post Video-called my uncle and aunt Offline, I spent most of the time: Shopping with no phone Breathing after lunch Going over my physical Zettelkasten After ~40 notes, some chain of thoughts have appeared: social media over-consumption, digital minimalism, and creativity/writing. If you want to…

Big cities have “content” in odd places: A gummy bear in a wall A love letter in a metro wagon A motivational message in a bridge Thanks to James’ new ways of storytelling, I learned the Internet, like a big city, has odd places for art too: Google Docs. They’re a corner of the internet away from social media, search engines, and AI. They form a gray web: The Doc Web. A term coined by Elan Ullendorff, originally in a Google Doc. Join the Doc Web And to practice my 10-idea list habit, here are…

Time for another blog challenge. This time, Rishabh started one about AI. Here are my answers: How was your first experience with AI models? I jumped to try ChatGPT when it was announced. But since it was still in beta, it was always too busy. Then in 2024, I tried Copilot for coding. First, it felt like, “hey this is cool.” Weeks later, it was more like “this is dangerous.” That’s my AI coding journey in two lines. Do you use AI or are you completely against using it? Here’s my full statement…

Hey there. Yesterday marked the 7-month anniversary of Street-Smart Coding, my first oficial book. Wow! It taught me a lot about writing and marketing. “Do good work and people will come” isn’t 100% true. It should be “do good work and tell people about it.” That applies for a book, a SaaS, or a job promotion. If you haven’t already, grab your copy of Street-Smart Coding here to build future-proof coding skills. And as usual, here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week: #1. Claude…

Inspired by Herman’s idea of resurfacing old posts, here are some of my old posts on note-taking: #1. Back in 2020, I learned about the Zettelkasten method. I was so intrigued that I read How to Take Smart Notes, probably the most popular book on the subject. #2. Being a plain text lover, I started my own perverted digital version. Instead of using separate “literature” and “main” notes, I kept them in the same file. I realized I had notes of books I didn’t remember reading. I was collecting…

Daily blogging gives you a time capsule. After 500 daily posts, I can start revisiting any date and see my thoughts: #1. One year ago, I wrote my notes from James Altucher’s Skip the Line. It debunks the idea of 10,000 hours for mastery. My favorite learning strategy is the 10,000 experiments rule. Instead of counting hours, run experiments: Quick and cheap actions that teach you something. With that idea in mind, I ran my February book experiment. #2. Two years ago, I wrote about my experience…