Pinned — 28 Oct 2025 #codingStreet-Smart Coding: 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding Without Losing Your Mind
I spent five years in college learning to code.
A stupid dissertation delayed my graduation. But that’s another story.
Most of my five-year program didn’t prepare me for real-world coding. My real coding journey began at my first job, with one Google search: “how to get good at coding.”
I found a lot of conflicting advice:
“Use comments”
“Don’t use comments”
“Do this”
“Don’t do that”
Arrggg!
It took years of trial and error to learn what worked.
I had to survive on-call shifts, talk to stakeholders, and say “no” politely. More importantly, I had to learn that coding takes more than just syntax.
That’s why I wrote Street-Smart Coding— a roadmap of 30 lessons I wish I had when I started. For every dev who’s ever typed “how to get better at coding” into Google or ChatGPT. (Back in my days, I didn’t have ChatGPT… Wait, I sound like a nostalgic grandpa…)
Preview of the first ~12 pages
Inside “Street-Smart Coding”
This isn’t a textbook. It’s a battle-tested guide for your journey from junior/mid-level to senior.
Some lessons are conventional.
Others were learned the hard way.
And a few are weird.
One lesson comes from a TV show. Nope, not Mr. Robot or Silicon Valley. That’s on Chapter #29. It will teach you about problem-solving.
You’ll learn how to:
Google like a pro
Debug without banging your head against a wall
Communicate clearly with non-tech folks
…and 27 more lessons I learned over ten years of mistakes.
“I already know most of what’s in there,” my sister told me.
We were in a bookstore downtown. She picked a book about reducing inflammation. That’s something we both have been struggling with recently, for different reasons. When I asked if she wanted it, she said she’d rather skim.
If it teaches you at least one lesson, it’s a good book. And if it doesn’t teach you anything, it wasn’t for you.
Reading a book is downloading decades of experiences and lessons into hours. It’s the closest to the “I know KungFu” experience of Neo in The Matrix. Reading three books on the same subject puts you ahead of 99% of people.
I hope my books can give you at least 1 lesson worth keeping. Find them here.
As an experiment, I’m writing 30 Substack notes and sharing my favorite posts in a publication.
In January, Medium suspended my account. I appealed and got it back. But they shadow-banned me since then. This month, my posts got around 400 reads. That’s people staying for more than 30 seconds on my posts. At its peak, my posts got 10K reads. That was a good source of book sales.
That’s the problem with curated platforms. Say the wrong words and you’re out.
Some numbers and a suspicious DM
This week, I published first 5 notes in Substack. The best one got 3 likes and ~30 impressions. They brought 4 followers.
The second day, an influencer DMed me asking me what I was working on. I think he’s about to sell something but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Good or bad, that’s the only DM I’ve received so far. I haven’t replied to his last message. I don’t know if I will. I don’t like sales call at all.
The feed feels like…the same
The “For you” feed feels…weird?
Some praising how doomscrolling on Substack feels different from social media. No, it’s not. Feeds are draining. Call it X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Substack…
Others ranting about creators selling courses on how to create courses. When everybody is digging for gold, sell shovels, right?
Others sharing 1-only quotes to show off their wisdom.
Others offering follow for follow to support each other.
Others begging not to make Substack like all other social media platforms.
I’m still keeping my blog. It’s like working on my garage studio. Substack is for distribution. It’s like taking my best pieces from the garage studio to the Sunday market in the city main square.
For the time being, I’m keeping up with Notes to see where it takes me.
Here’s my Substack, in case you’re there too. My posts and books aren’t going anywhere else.
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. A case against syntax obsession. Because real impact comes from skills outside your IDE.
To make my doomscrolling session from yesterday feel more productive:
4 random thoughts
#1. Writing an About page is the hardest part of starting a blog or newsletter.
#2. Welcoming DMs on social media feel like a preamble to sales pitches. What are you trying to sell me, dude? Let’s skip this part. Maybe because I don’t like sales calls.
I just finished reading Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in Times of Cholera.
Here are five drops of wisdom I couldn’t help but underline (my own translations):
#1.
“Wisdom comes when it’s no longer of any use.”
I’ve often heard people say, “I wish I knew what I know now five years ago.”
#2.
“The weak would never enter the kingdom of love, it is a harsh and miserly kingdom, and women surrender only to men of brave spirit, because they inspire the security they so desperately crave in life.”
A wise friend has less stylistic version, “coward men don’t date attractive women.”
Replace the nouns appropriately.
#3.
“Say yes. Even if you’re dying of fear, even if you later regret it, because you’ll regret it all your life if you say no.”
OK, dating advice an aunt shared with her niece in the story.
“Live without regrets,”a friend told me, the other day.
#4.
“The world is divided between those who shit well and those who shit badly.”
