Friday Links: Future of coding, target bets, and SaaS
30 Jan 2026 #mondaylinksHey there.
This week marks three months since I launched Street-Smart Coding. It started in a notebook with a 10-idea list. Now it’s a book. Getting the first paperback copies made me feel like a New York Times bestselling author. Pinch me, please.
After that quick update, here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. For months, we’ve been hearing that AI will replace coders. But a more realistic prediction is to say that we won’t be writing code by hand in 5 years (10min). Truth is, coding was never the hard part.
#2. If you’re looking for a tech job in 2026, instead of applying and sending out CVs everywhere, make a target bet (4min). Without knowing it, that’s the strategy I followed to land my last contracting gig.
#3. With LLMs and agents, building in-house replacements for paid tools sounds tempting as a way to save some money). But writing code is just the tip of the iceberg (5min).
#4. These days, American coworkers complain about the weather, and I keep converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Here’s a quick mental heuristic to do it (1min).
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about a new rule for using AI without losing my skills (2min) and how to be an expert at failing (and survive to tell the story) (5min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding, 30 lessons to help you code like a pro. From Googling to clear communication, it covers the lessons you don’t learn in tutorials. It’s now out on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
Until next Friday, keep coding smart
Cesar