15 Sep 2025 #coding
“Is using AI totally forbidden?”, “When and how should I use it?”, and “What’s your take on vibecoding?”
I was on a firechat with a community of new coders last week. Those questions kept popping up. They all wanted to know about AI.
I get it! There’s a lot of noise… It’s taking our jobs. Some guy built an app with no coding skills and now he’s drinking martinis in the Caribbean. Don’t be discouraged by those headlines. This is the best time to learn coding.
You won’t like it, but… Here’s the rule: Don’t use AI to generate code until you’re comfortable coding on your own.
If you only copy and paste what ChatGPT, Cursor, or “insert the newest and fastest LLM here” gives you, you’re in trouble. You need to know if what that tool is spitting out is good code. And for that, you need your own judgment.
When in doubt, think of AI as a powerful calculator in math class. It makes you faster, but you still need to know how to solve equations.
14 Sep 2025 #misc
His name is Bryan Johnson and he has one single obsession: to stop and reverse his aging.
His obsession has led him to turn his apartment into a $2.5M science lab. He measures and tracks hundreds of markers to check if he’s getting closer to his goal.
He has the discipline of an Olympic athlete: eats only 2000 calories, takes 111 pills, and works out for one hour. Every. Single. Day.
He’s 45. But he’s aging as fast as a 10-year-old boy. (We don’t think of aging when we imagine a young boy). He beats his teenage children in almost any sport and aces any fitness competition with straight A’s.
His goal has attracted the media attention. Netflix has a documentary about him: Don’t Die. And you can find plenty of interviews on YouTube.
I watched his documentary and the interview on the James Altucher Show, here’s what I learned:
#1. Identify your self-destructing behaviors
The Big Mac and the 2-hour binge-watching on Netflix after work are coping mechanisms to run away from the life we hate.
That’s your mind looking for forms of pleasure. Learn to identify the self-destructing self and separate mentally from them. “Here it comes, the destructive Alice. Hi! I don’t need you around.”
That was Bryan’s first step before embarking on his goal of eternal life.
#2. Sleep 8 hours and eat well
If you don’t have $2.5M to turn your apartment into a lab, start taking care of your sleep and diet.
Here’s Bryan’s 80/20 for wellness:
- Go to bed at the same time.
- No light in your bedroom.
- No alcohol.
- Eat less.
- Eat more nutritious foods.
- Don’t eat before going to bed.
You don’t need plasma transfusions like Bryan. Rest and pay attention to what you put into your body.
#3. Live a steady life
Be like a high-performance athlete: focused on your body and mind.
Protect your mind by staying away from cheap dopamine like Candy Crush, news, social media, and smartphones. And, don’t use screens before going to bed. It ruins your sleeping patterns too.
After following his regimen for two years, Bryan has changed so much Face ID has had a hard time recognizing him. Maybe you don’t want to adopt a strict lifestyle to live forever, but if you want to age well, start today, not at 70 when it’s too late.
Well, it turns out I’m not that far with my healthy habits. I’m only 45 extra minutes of exercise, 99 pills, and a science lab away. But hey, we all start somewhere.
13 Sep 2025 #misc
A recent podcast interview was the perfect excuse to ask for feedback on my interviewing skills.
I’ve been putting more attention on my communication skills, but never asked for feedback. So I reached out to Ryan Alexander Wiens, a coach who helps engineers speak clearly and show impact, showing him one of my answers.
Here are two suggestions Ryan gave me. I’m sure he doesn’t mind I’m sharing them here:
#1. Slow down at key words and pause for emphasis. It’s hard to sound confident while answering well. Pauses give us time to think and create a sense of expectation for the listeners.
#2. Answer with PREP: Point/Reason/Example/Point. To answer questions confidently, I learned to start and end with the main point.
But to make our answers more impactful, add a “Why” or a reason after the main point. Then to end the answer, restate the question with the main point again. We tend to remember only the beginning and end, so win-win! We look more confident and help the listener remember our answer.
So let’s say we’re asked about the mistakes beginners make in terms of branding. Following the 4-step framework we could say:
(Point) I’d say one of my biggest mistakes has been not to start earlier.
(Reason) Building a brand has brought me great opportunities, like this interview… I wish I had started sooner.
(Example) If I had to start right from scratch again, I’d…
(Point) That was my mistake and the mistake most beginners make: waiting too long to start.
Now thanks to Ryan’s PREP framework, you’re PREPared for your next podcast or job interview. Pun intended.
12 Sep 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Before the usual 4 links, a quick update about my book.
This week, I finished another four chapters. But there’s still work to do.
I haven’t chosen a final book title, but what about 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding? What do you think? Does it sound interesting?
And… Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. Forty years ago, Programming Pearls was released, a collection of hard truths about coding. But are they still relevant? Here’s a breakdown of those pearls (20min).
#2. Here’s why the guy who stopped the largest cyberattack in history hates AI (30min).
#3. Want to understand the AI hype? It’s not a technology, but a subscription company (6min).
#4. Speaking of coding in the old days, here’s how ADA handled code formatting (4min).
And in case you missed it, this week I was invited to a firechat session with the LAX Africa community to discuss how to land a first job. Here’s a summary of the session (5min).
(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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11 Sep 2025 #career #coding #writing
This week, I had the chance to share some of my career lessons with the ALX Africa community.
I joined Shehab Abdel-Salam, a Senior Software Engineer at Proofpoint, to share the mindset shifts needed to land a coding job for the first time.
Here’s the recording of the session—In case you want to watch it, there’s some back jokes:
And here are 15 takeaways from the session—In case you don’t want to watch the recording:
Career Growth
#1. Identify your gray zones vs growth zones.
A gray zone is doing comfortable work.
And a growth zone is doing work that stretches your skills.
To grow your career, do the things that scare you. Comfort zones kill growth.
#2. Forget the corporate ladder.
Hard work alone doesn’t guarantee results.
Instead of chasing the corporate ladder, define your own success metrics and climb your own ladder.
#3. Stand out at work by doing the work nobody else wants to do.
And make sure you’re able to do it.
By the way, that’s only one way to stand out besides hard work. Here are another 9.
#4. Be aware of cultural expectations when working remotely.
Coming from LatAm, when I started working with American companies, I missed the chitchat and off-topic conversations before starting meetings. The American way is direct and to the point.
#5. As a junior coder, stand out by showing you’re able to learn new subjects and follow instructions.
As a senior coder, it’s the opposite. You stand out by showing you don’t need many instructions.
#6. Rely on your personal and professional network to look for your first job.
Shake hands online and offline and skip the hiring lines.
Over ten years ago, I didn’t apply through a job portal to land my first job. I knew someone who knew someone who made an introduction. Then when I left my first job (fired actually), my ex-boss arranged an interview for me. That’s the power of your network.
It sounds like a cliche, but your network is your net worth.
#7. Listen to feedback, say thanks, and act on it.
Avoid the temptation of explaining and justifying your behavior.
Writing
#8. Writing online is one of the most rewarding skills for your career.
It improves your research and communication skills.
For example, my blog has opened many career opportunities. Thanks to a link to my blog on my CV, I turned a failed interview into a content collaboration… And I made some lunch money.
#9. Your writing and online presence can replace your portfolio.
Every time you finish a project (or move to another job or achieve a milestone), write about the lessons you learned and what you would have done differently. And showcase those posts in your LinkedIn profile or CV.
#10. If you’re completely new to writing, start with a worklog.
If you have only written README files for your GitHub repos, you don’t need to write deep dives.
Start with “Today I Learned” posts. That’s exactly how I started writing. My very first post ever was a word vomit pretending to be a coding tutorial about Aspect-Oriented Programming in C#. (I’m so embarrassed by that post, but I still keep unedited to remind me how I started).
Document what you’re learning and the resources you’re using. That’s the easiest way to start writing.
Technical Skills
#11. Build simple apps and projects to practice.
Or even clone existing apps and some of their features.
#12. Understand you don’t need many programming languages to be a good coder.
You can make your way with HTML/CSS/Javascript, one backend language (JavaScript counts here), and SQL.
#13. Read engineering blogs:
#14. Embrace the struggle.
It’s part of the learning process.
When you’re stuck with a coding problem, don’t rush to AI for a quick answer. Try solving it yourself and don’t hesitate to ask for help.
#15. Don’t be scared of AI.
Use it wisely. Otherwise, your coding muscles could atrophy.
If you’re starting out, keep learning and having fun. This is the best time to learn coding. Always be a beginner.
Starting out or already on the coding journey? Join my free 7-day email course to refactor your software engineering career now–I distill 10+ years of career lessons into 7 short emails.