It’s 3:00 AM. The pager goes off. You stumble out of bed, eyes barely open, and log in. Slack is screaming. The “Checkout Service” is returning 500s and your error budget is on fire. You open Cloud Logging. Then Cloud Monitoring. Then Jira. Then Github. You’re trying to mentally …

We need to talk about what AI is doing to our brains. For the last year, we’ve been obsessed with Benchmarks. Is Claude 3.7 better than GPT-5 (we all know its Gemini 😜)? Can it solve LeetCode Hard? Can it write a compiler in Assembly? But we forgot to benchmark the most important component of the …

In my previous research into the “Coder to Conductor” shift, I explored how we are moving from typing every bracket ourselves to orchestrating a symphony of AI agents. It sounds grand, doesn’t it? But when you actually try to do it on your laptop, the music stops pretty quickly. …

This is Part 6, the finale of The Neuro-Coder. We’ve diagnosed the problem. Now, let’s fix it. So, here we are. We know the IDE is a Slot Machine (Part 1). We know we have biases (Part 2). We know it’s slowing us down (Part 3) and hurting our juniors (Part 4). The knee-jerk reaction is to say: …

This is Part 5 of The Neuro-Coder. In Part 4, we looked at the human cost. Now, we look at the business cost. If you are an Engineering Manager using “Velocity” or “Lines of Code” to measure your team in 2026, stop. You are measuring noise. For decades, we’ve used proxies for …

This is Part 4 of The Neuro-Coder. In Part 3, we looked at the data. Now, we look at the people. The AI revolution isn’t affecting everyone equally. For a Senior Staff Engineer with 20 years of context, AI is a force multiplier. They know what to ask, and crucially, they know when the AI is …

Picture this: You’ve just spent two hours deep-diving into a complex Rust memory leak with your AI assistant. It’s loaded with stack traces, cargo manifests, and the precise nuances of the borrow checker. Then, you switch tasks. You ask it to write a blog post about the experience. Suddenly, your …

This is Part 3 of The Neuro-Coder. In Part 2, we looked at the biases that trap us. Now, we look at the data that exposes the cost. “AI makes me 10x faster.” We’ve all said it. We’ve all felt it. You prompt, the code appears, and you feel like you’ve just sprinted a marathon in a …

This is Part 2 of The Neuro-Coder. In Part 1, we looked at the dopamine loops that hook us. Now, we look at the biases that keep us trapped. We need to talk about “Vibe Coding.” The term has taken off as a cool, futuristic way to describe coding with AI (I have opinions and have been …

Picture this: You walk into your favourite coffee shop. You ask for “a coffee.” The barista stares at you blankly. “What kind? Espresso? Filter? Cold brew? A triple-shot-oat-milk-extra-hot-latte?” Navigating a massive, generic menu can be paralyzing. It’s the same with AI …