Mark Fusco

I was saying the same thing to one of my engineers this morning. I think practices like TDD are even more relevant now with Gen AI tooling. I had an experience recently where my IDE was generating a solution that failed the unit test suite. Since it was instructed to author code, run the tests and ask if I wanted to refactor or commit; it attempted to correct the failing code multiple times. It failed three times to create a working solution. After the third attempt it deleted the entire class and started from scratch. On this attempt all of the unit tests passed. The code was solid. Without well authored unit tests, the IDE wouldn't have known it's implementation was flawed. For me to read each block of generated code and debug it in my head would be just as unlikely. That's why we write unit tests. If you're a human computer on legs and you can keep all of that context in your head and simulate the code on sight alone; by all means write your code without a test suite. However, for the rest of us mortals and apparently the AI code genies too; unit tests are the price for professional and reliable code.

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pro tip: teach your coding agent to make small commits. add pre-commit hooks in the same way you used conventional commits. pretty rad.

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Anthropic launched free courses and certificates for Claude development via Skilljar (https://lnkd.in/eKPK_Kbu). The community response has been overwhelmingly positive. As someone who uses Claude Code daily for Rails development, I'm excited to see Anthropic investing in developer education. Here's why this matters for practicing engineers: 1. Prompt engineering fundamentals - The courses cover structured prompting techniques that actually work in production. Polished system messages can significantly reduce back-and-forth iterations when debugging complex Sidekiq jobs or architecting new Rails features. 2. API integration patterns - They teach proper error handling and rate limiting for Claude API calls. This is crucial when you're building features that depend on AI responses. 3. Code review workflows - The advanced modules show how to use Claude as a thinking partner for system design, not just code generation. Using it to explore architectural tradeoffs before writing any Ruby is like having a senior developer to bounce ideas off. The certificates add credibility when clients ask about AI capabilities. But the real value is learning to prompt effectively. It's becoming as important as knowing your framework's conventions. My rule: if I can't explain the prompt strategy to a junior dev, I need to simplify it. The course structure helps with that systematic thinking - and I love it.

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LLMs are obsessed with prematurely optimizing React code. They love overusing useCallback/useMemo. If their training data is updated to learn React 19 with the opt-in React compiler, we will hopefully see less of this happening.

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Your GitHub might be the reason you're getting ghosted by recruiters. Not your resume. Not your cover letter. Not your lack of “networking.” GitHub is where hiring managers actually see what you can do. And if you're a software engineer not treating it like your code portfolio... you're leaving serious opportunities on the table. Employers will often ask us to submit candidate resumes AND GitHub links And often, their GitHub profile told a better story than their CV ever could. Just like a designer needs a portfolio — so do you. But here’s the catch: Not all GitHub profiles help you. Some actively hurt you. ✅ What works: Clean, focused, easy-to-navigate projects A few solid repos > 20 half-baked experiments Clear README files with real context Projects that show progression, not just college work from 2016 ❌ What doesn’t: Dead projects with broken code Activity with no documentation Code dumps that show zero care or quality GitHub isn’t just storage.  It tells employers: How you think What you value Whether you can work like a pro Treat it like your LinkedIn, but for your code. If you haven’t set up your GitHub yet, or need to refresh it, start here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_4ApmAW 💬 Not sure if your GitHub would impress or repel a hiring manager? DM me, I’ll take a look. #GitHub #SoftwareEngineering #JobSearch #TechHiring #PortfolioTips

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Agent coding tools increase the blast radius of your developers. For your best developers this is a positive. But for your low performers? This is a negative development. The impact of your hiring has gotten even higher than it was before. A poor performer will not magically be a person who can get good results from these tools. But they will be able to churn out really poor quality solutions much faster than they could before. If your high performers can't keep up and you don't have good enough guardrails in place this is going to create real problems for your team and the company.

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If you're a Senior Engineer looking to move up, the next role will likely be a Staff Engineer. And in this guide, Shruti shares tips from her own experience of getting promoted to Staff Engineer at PayPal and Slack. She talks about what Staff Engineers do (and how it's different from Seniors), why you might not be getting promoted, and how to take that next step. https://lnkd.in/g58dnFEG

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Job postings looking for Software Engineers who are experts in React or Python or whatever language/framework are so 2025. If your engineers are writing code you're going too slow (or ... maybe you're writing very dense novel compression algorithms or something?). Don't hire one more engineer that way. In the time it'll take you to go through that old school process, your project manager could have figured out how to set up Claude Code and just build it themselves. That's not a dig at project managers, it's a wake-up call to you as a(n engineering) hiring manager. Set aside an hour today to rethink things. Pull down all those stale job postings and write one that's appropriate for February 2026. And revisit it in March 2026. Help out y'all: What should that February 2026 software engineer job posting include?

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🚀 The Frontend Job Market Is Splitting Into Two Directions Most people are still debating React vs Vue… but the real shift is happening in hiring trends. 👨‍💻 Senior Frontend Roles Compensation is rising steadily Expectations now include system design + backend familiarity Heavy focus on performance, accessibility, and user experience 👶 Junior Roles Entry-level openings have dropped sharply Competition is intense Companies want real projects, not just “completed tutorials” 🧭 What Companies Actually Want Not just “frontend developers,” but: ✔️ Architects who can think end-to-end ✔️ Specialists who solve complex UI/UX and performance challenges 🔧 What This Means for Developers Juniors: Build practical projects Mid-level: Strengthen backend fundamentals Seniors: Focus on technical strategy and mentorship 💡 My Perspective The classic “HTML/CSS/JavaScript only” role is disappearing. To stay valuable, you either: 🎯 Go deep into UX + performance or 🛠️ Go broad with full-stack and system-level skills. #frontenddevelopment #frontendengineer #webdevelopment #developers #softwareengineering #techcareers #javascript #reactjs #fullstackdeveloper #uidesign #uxdesign #programmingcareer #careerdevelopment #techjobs #webdevcommunity

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Basically, the best thing you can do when working with coding agents in order not to lose your sanity: slow down, breathe, and learn to enjoy reading.

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I do not hire developers based on their ability to write syntax anymore. I hire them based on their ability to debug an AI’s logic flow. In a world of GitHub Copilot and Cursor, writing code is the easy part. The hard part is orchestrating AI to write correct code. I see the difference clearly now. Junior devs ask, “How do I prompt ChatGPT to write this function?” Senior devs ask, “How do I structure the state so the agent does not hallucinate or get stuck in loops?” This is the real shift happening quietly. We are moving from syntax authors to flow architects. From typing instructions to designing decision paths. If you cannot sketch your agent’s decision tree on a whiteboard, you are not really building AI systems. You are just gambling with tokens.

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💻 Software engineers must navigate several rounds of interviews, tests, and technical obstacles when looking for a job. 📄 It's not just about sending a resume—only to occasionally receive a refusal. 😓 It's difficult and draining, but it serves as a reminder that each "no" moves us one step closer to the ideal "yes." 🚀 Continue on, everyone undergoing this journey. You're about to make your breakthrough. #JobSearchJourney #TechCareers #SoftwareEngineering #InterviewProcedure #NeverGiveUp 💪 #KeepPushing 🔁

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