26 Jul 2025 #writing
Six years ago, I wrote my first blog post… and heard crickets.
Nobody was reading my blog. I wanted some traffic there. Some attention. I was playing the SEO game with keywords and answer posts. I prayed to the SEO gods to send readers to my blog.
Those days, I found out about dev.to, the new platform in town for coders.
A better way to get readers? Create an account and repost there. So on July 23rd, 2019, I did it. I didn’t know where it would take me.
Some vanity metrics, before I move on.
In six years, I’ve written 176 posts.
Some of them are dev.to “originals.” Others reposts. I wrote more posts, but I deleted the oldest in a moment of embarrassment. Yes, even I cringed at reading them. They were so bad.
My posts on dev.to have received +114K views and 1.6K reactions. And I have +25K followers. Mostly bots or inactive users I think.
But dev.to didn’t just send traffic.
Where was I? OK, what my dev.to account has done for me…
#1. It’s helped me connect with other members of the community. I’ve had virtual coffees with other “devtoers.”
#2. It’s given me confidence in my writing skills. I went from deleting some posts in embarrassment to being featured in the Top7 more than once. That’s a sign my writing has improved. A win for taking my writing more seriously since last year.
#3. It’s put my content in front of an audience. Last year, I burned out and got laid off. Writing was my therapy. So I started to share my career stories and lessons. Writing helped me process a rejection from a FAANG, for example. Seeing my posts resonating with a lot of people was so encouraging.
#4. It gave me a small moment of virality. Thanks to dev.to, I went viral for the first time ever. With this post: This Is Why We Don’t Test Private Methods.
In a single day, I got thousands of readers and dozens of downloads from my Gumroad account. Shameless plug. Someone reshared it or it got syndicated somewhere. Dunno. I felt like an Internet coding celebrity… just for a few hours.
#5. It’s given me a chance of giving back to the coding community. It’s helped me turn my stories into inspiration and some laughs for others. Like the best comment I’ve received: “Made my day go from brain-f*cked to f*cking good.” That made my day and reminded me why I keep showing when it feels nobody is reading.
25 Jul 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey, there.
I thought I wouldn’t find another 4 since last Wednesday email. Here are 4 links for you today: (I couldn’t avoid adding the last one, not about coding though)
#1. The whole point of AI is making coders faster. But here’s an study (4min) that shows AI makes some experienced developers slower.
#2. Sure, AI is the buzzword these days. But there are things that don’t change (4min). “AI amplifies what you already know.”
#3. Something we coders should learn from pilots? The value of checklists (3min).
#4. This one isn’t about coding, but… I found out there’s an official list of cocktails and a guy who drank them all (20min).
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about how to stand out from AI content (2min) and the simple method I use to replace my second brain (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Check my Gumroad store to access free and premium books and courses to level up your coding skills and grow your software engineering career.
See you next time,
Cesar
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24 Jul 2025 #books
Adam Aaronson drank every cocktail on the official list.
Yes, there’s an official list of cocktails. And Adam drank them all. He started by handing the list to a bartender in his city and ended up at Satan’s Whiskers in London. Yes, that’s a bar.
Quite an impressive adventure.
Just like Adam tackled cocktails, what about book lovers? That story reminded me of a 10-idea list I wrote with 10 book reading challenges. If you want to try one, here they are:
- Join a book reading club
- Read the last 25 Pulitzer winners
- Read the last 25 Nobel Prize winners
- Read your favorite writer’s complete works
- Read a book from a new writer every month
- Read one book per week. Or 52 books in a year
- Take your own MBA by reading 12 business books in a year
- Read 12 biographies of history’s most influential figures
- Read James Altucher’s book recommendations. Full list here
- Read 10 or 12 books released more than 50 years ago. Idea from CulturalTutor.
Which one would you like to try first? For my challenge, I’m doing #4. I’m reading most of James Altucher’s books.
23 Jul 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey. I just realized I already had 4 interesting links to share. I didn’t want to wait until next Friday to share them. So here they are.
#1. I have to admit I fell into the specialization trap and started calling myself a “backend engineer.” I stopped trying to be a full stack developer. Maybe with AI, we’re witnessing the renaissance of full stack developers (10min) again.
#2. The problem with Google AI Overview is we think their answers are accurate. Hey it’s Google. They must be building AI answers from all the pages they have indexed. Wrong. In fact, Google AI Overview might kill you (7min)
#3. Speaking of Google killing people, Chrome killed uBlock Origin. And if you want it back, you need to turn to Firefox. Here’s a good adoption guide (8min).
#4. From Clean Code, I learned to avoid comments, like all comments. But there’s some value in TODO comments (2min).
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about productivity secrets revealed by a real spy (2min) and a language lessons I learned in an Asian restaurant (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Check my Gumroad store to access free and premium books and courses to level up your coding skills and grow your software engineering career.
See you next Friday, even if that’s only with one or two links.
Cesar
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22 Jul 2025 #writing
I’ve decided to start a new writing adventure: writing a book.
I’ve had to debunk lots of limiting beliefs.
- “I need a publisher”
- “I need 100% new material”
- “Writing a book is hard.”
Wrong!
After going down the rabbit-hole of searching how to write and self-publish a book, here’s what I’ve learned:
1. A hit book creates demand for more books.
After Atomic Habits, there was an audience interested in habit creation. Then, more books about the same topic came out.
A hit book isn’t necessarily competence. It’s signal of market interest.
2. You can plagiarize yourself.
We can remix our own ideas. Credits to James Altucher’s podcast.
A good post can become part of a book chapter. A series of posts can become a short book. A personal story can become an intro.
That’s the strategy Yuval Noah Harari used to write 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. He compiled lots of disperse ideas into a book.
More examples? The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was a blog post. The Psychology of Money, a series of posts.
You see? We can repurpose our posts into books.
3. A book’s job is to tell stories.
(Another lesson from James Altucher’s podcast.)
Always be storytelling. Stories are the best way to make a message memorable.
Our job is to tell stories, not to present facts - unless we’re writing a textbook or something.
4. A book lives forever.
Your book doesn’t need to be a best-seller at launch. It can succeed anytime. And there’s plenty of time for that.