April 2025
Time for another monthly post sharing some of the IT discoveries that crossed my path lately. Below you'll find a mix of articles, links, and resources, some of which tie into my current activities and areas of interest.
Articles
How I Am Using a Lifetime 100% Free Server
What if I say I have been using the Linux-based server for free for more than 4–5 years? Yes, you heard it right. I am using this Linux server with Ubuntu 20 installed, 24 GB RAM, 4 CPUs, and 200 GB storage for a lifetime free.
The Best Programmers I Know
I have met a lot of developers in my life. Lately, I asked myself: “What does it take to be one of the best? What do they all have in common?
Julia Evans: What's involved in getting a "modern" terminal setup?
I thought I would write down some notes about what it means to me personally to have a “modern” terminal experience and what I think can make it hard for people to get there.
Julia Evans: "Rules" that terminal programs follow
A lot of my understanding of the terminal is honestly still in the “subconscious pattern recognition” stage. The only reason I’ve been taking the time to make things explicit at all is because I’ve been trying to explain how it works to others. Hopefully writing down these “rules” explicitly will make learning some of this stuff a little bit faster for others.
Preventing painful coupling
In this article, I will show you how and why I’ve completely changed the way I code.
20 years working on the same software product
I released version 1 of my table seating planning software, PerfectTablePlan, in February 2005. 20 years ago this month. It was a different world. A world of Windows, shareware and CDs. A lot has changed since then, but PerfectTablePlan is now at version 7 and still going strong.
Manager Antipatterns
Many companies make the same sorts of mistakes with their managers, over and over again. If they were software designs, we'd call them antipatterns.
29 Fundamental Techniques for Software Architects
Discover essential techniques for software architects to design modern systems, align with business goals, and manage stakeholders effectively. Learn more in this post!
Self-hosting n8n na Mikrusie - Programista Na Swoim
Postanowiłem więc przetestować chyba najlepiej ocenianą alternatywą, którą można samodzielnie hostować, czyli n8n* i postawić go na najtańszym dostępnym na polskim rynku VPSie, czyli Mikrusie. A że jestem zupełnie świeżo po tym procesie, to stwierdziłem, że się nim w poniższym wpisie z Tobą podzielić.
Programming Pulse: Hexagonal vs Clean vs Onion Architectures: Choosing the Right Architecture
Choosing the right architecture for a software project is a crucial decision that can have a significant impact on the success and maintainability of the system.
A Life Engineered: 5 Simple Ways to Level Up Your Communication
Practical Tips for Getting Heard and Making an Impact
Productivity
Time Management
10 Ways to Take Ownership of Your Time
How to Be 10x More Productive
And become Top-Performer in any job.
Steph Ango: How I use Obsidian
The following is in no way dogmatic, just one example of how you can use Obsidian. Take the parts you like.
Steph Ango: 40 questions to ask yourself every year
One of my end-of-year rituals is asking myself these forty questions. It usually takes me about a week to work my way through all of them. I find it to be one of the most valuable exercises to reflect on what happened, good and bad, and how I hope the year ahead will shape up.
AI
Wired: This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops
Massive Blue is helping cops deploy AI-powered social media bots to talk to people they suspect are anything from violent sex criminals all the way to vaguely defined “protesters.”
Django
Adam Johnson: Django: what’s new in 5.2
Django 5.2 was released last Wednesday, another exciting step forward for our favourite web framework. It comes with a composite of new features, contributed to by many, some of which I am happy to have helped with. Below is my pick of highlights from the release notes.
Bendegúz Csirmaz: You don't need CompositePrimaryKeys
Django 5.2 ships with the new
CompositePrimaryKeyclass. You should probably avoid it.
Podcasts
Django Chat: Self-Hosted Open Source - Michael Kennedy
Michael hosts the Talk Python podcast, co-hosts Python Bytes, and runs courses at Talk Python Training. We discuss his recent shift to mainly self-hosted open-source options for everything from marketing emails to analytics and more.
Videos
Devoxx: Voxxed Days Amsterdam 2025 - YouTube Playlist
Voxxed Days is a community developer conference series and is part of the extended Devoxx family.
Devoxx: Developer Experience: Building an Environment for Engineering Success by Bas de Groot
Devoxx: Clean Architecture for Serverless: Business Logic You Can Take Anywhere by Elena van Engelen Maslova
Devoxx: Programming's Greatest Mistakes by Mark Rendle
Devoxx: Fail more, learn more! by Sander Mak
Devoxx: Words as weapons: The dark arts of Prompt Engineering.... by Jeroen Egelmeers
Devoxx: How to survive as a developer in the exponential age of AI by Sander Hoogendoorn
FOSS Baackstage: Airflow Beach Cleaning – Securing Supply Chain - Jarek Potiuk
Uniting efforts of Apache Airflow, ASF, PSF, Alpha-Omega fund in experimental project aimed at review and help with security of the whole 700+ dependencies of Apache Airflow.