The Pragmatic Engineer

For compute-intensive services: it’s worth reserving more compute now. Also: growth dreams end for more COVID-era unicorns, engineers losing touch with systems when AI handles incidents, and more

OpenAI’s Tibo Sottiaux shares how Codex was built and how it’s reshaping software development.

AI generates more code than devs can track in 2026, so will the code review process have to adapt – or is it doomed? A look into this decades-old practice and the approaches that could replace it

Cost-saving efforts reveal that moving simpler workloads to open AI models is the easiest way to save ~50% on AI bills. Also: automated software maintenance experience, and more

As the newsletter reaches its fifth birthday, we reflect on how the publication has changed, and what to expect. Also: the launch of the ‘How Software Engineering is Changing’ essay contest

We find out why Meta destroyed its standout engineering culture: it feared AI-native startups doing more with less. Also: thoughts on Ramp’s AI infra, GitHub’s load doubles in four months, and more

Casey Muratori explains why software performance matters, how developers can write faster code, and why he challenges conventional engineering practices.

A fintech company rejected the easy route and homebrewed its own coding agent – and is now a step ahead of coding agents from frontier AI labs. An in-depth look

Asana completed a testing framework migration in two weeks, that they would have delayed for years more, and they’re not alone. Also: AI startups could make Gartner much less relevant, and more

Addy Osmani shares lessons from 14 years at Google and how AI agents are reshaping software engineering, developer workflows, and the skills engineers need to succeed.

Trend: more CTOs, VPEs, and Heads of Engineering are walking away from their high-status, in-demand positions. There are many reasons, mostly related to AI, and to "founder mode"

The social media giant is offering $1M+ retainer equity grants to staff who are leaving: and even this is not effective. Also: is Grok Bot the “OpenClaw moment” for managed AI agents?

In 2025, it was rational to be skeptical about AI. In 2026, it's not, anymore. With Charity Majors, CTO and co-founder of Honeycomb.

A shift from a focus on latency to building better AI models, owning the full stack from applications to building custom hardware, very different incentives to most tech companies in play, and more

Hillel Wayne explains why formal methods like TLA+ matter, how they help build reliable software, and whether AI will finally bring formal verification into the mainstream.

A deepdive on what’s changed in how the leading AI lab makes software. Ever more code review and testing is done by AI, two-pizza teams very much alive, and more. Details from inside of Anthropic

Also: Chinese open models match closed ones from Anthropic and OpenAI, AWS’s “heart-attack” billing error, and more

Turbopuffer cofounder Simon Eskildsen on the benefits of longer tenure, using first principles to build durable software – and why founders should be cautious when raising VC money

Also: engineering leaders concerned about continued increase in code review load, devs at enterprises surprised by high enterprise pricing, and more

Dex Horthy explains why context engineering is key to building more effective AI-assisted software without sacrificing code quality.