June 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.
Some thoughts
This month was packed with learning, both from books and from the community.
I finally got around to reading "The Phoenix Project." It's a novel about IT and DevOps, but it's written more like a thriller, which makes it a really engaging read. It gave me a much better perspective on how development work connects to the larger goals of a business. I highly recommend it if you're interested in seeing the bigger picture and understanding the "why" behind many IT processes.
Google Developer Groups: Meet NotebookLM
I also attended a couple of great local meetups. First, I visited the Google office in Amsterdam for a Google Developer Groups event on NotebookLM. It was insightful to hear Pablo Felip discuss its applications in education. I'm already familiar with the tool, having used it for my 2024 Summary, so it was great to see other use cases for it.
Py.Amsterdam Meetup at Fareharbor
Later in the month, the Py Amsterdam meetup was hosted right at Fareharbor, the company I'm currently working for and enjoying a lot. In the past, it was always quite a trip to get to the meetups, but this time I just grabbed my coffee mug and walked one floor up from my desk to participate in the amazing event. There were three great talks:
- An intro by Ujjwal Tyagi, the VP Engineering at FareHarbor.
- An inspiring session by Iulia Feroli on building her own, more accurate Spotify Wrapped.
- A very relevant talk by my workmate, Tyrone Damasceno, asking if it's still possible to develop without AI.
The networking afterward was super nice, and I even ran into someone I had met at the Google event earlier in the month.
Articles
What Real Feedback Sounds Like - by Claire Lew
You’ve probably faced these exact situations. Here’s how to finally say the thing.
O(no) You Didn’t 😱 | MrShiny608
A deep dive into why real-world performance often defies Big-O expectations and why context and profiling matter more than theoretical complexity
how i use my terminal
i have gone a little above and beyond trying to get all the features of VSCode
on instagram addiction | the greg technology blog
I was addicted to instagram for about a month. it upended my life enough that i realized that i was living with something new-an undesirable habit. and once i realized this, it seemed like it would be wise to try to address it or at least think about it. easier said than done.
Gawęda o Smart Home PL
Zapis i transkrypcja dwugodzinnej gawędy o Smart Home - Informatyk Zakładowy dzieli się swoimi doświadczeniami z inteligentnym domem
Alex West
The page details the author's journey through various entrepreneurial attempts, starting with a failed platform idea for sharing top job candidates, followed by a remote job experience that was unsatisfactory.
Why Some LED Lights Feel Uncomfortable: Understanding PWM Flicker and Better Alternatives | by Amber Case | Jun, 2025 | Medium
AI generated summary
The article explores the discomfort caused by PWM flicker in LED lights, which can lead to eye strain and discomfort. It highlights the experience at a historic chateau where LED lighting disrupted the ambiance. The article explains PWM flicker and suggests alternatives like CCR dimming for a flicker-free experience, emphasizing the importance of flicker-free lighting standards promoted by the Calm Tech Institute.
Productivity
A receipt printer cured my procrastination [ADHD]
Why can I focus for hours on a game but procrastinate on simple tasks? I finally cracked the code using thermal receipt printer and game design.
Another Day And You Have Nothing to Show For It?
A Guide to Recognizing "Zero Days" and Turning Them Into High-Impact Work.
Start Alone, Then Together: Why Software Modelling Needs Solitary Brainstorming
Watch a jazz quartet improvise, and you might think they're making it up as they go. They're not. Every riff builds on practised scales and learned patterns. The constraints don't stifle creativity—they make it work. The same goes for software modelling. Before we get into the chaos of group exercise, we need to have the frame and material to improvise.
AI generated summary
The article advocates for solitary brainstorming in software modeling to prevent hierarchical dominance in meetings. By starting with silent idea generation, all voices are equally heard, leading to more effective and inclusive discussions.
AI
Making Friends with Agents: A Mental Model for Agentic AI Applications | Temporal
Demystify agentic AI: Cornelia Davis offers a clear mental model for developers on how AI agents work, integrating LLMs, tools, prompts, and durable loops.
The many fallacies of 'AI won't take your job, but someone using AI will'
True, but utterly useless
AI generated summary
The article argues that the statement 'AI won't take your job, but someone using AI will' is misleading. It highlights eight fallacies in this view, emphasizing that AI is transforming the entire system of work, not just individual tasks. The article uses historical and industry examples to show how focusing on task-level changes misses the broader systemic transformation.
My (mostly) minimalistic AI setup as a Senior Engineer in Big Tech
AI generated summary
This page provides insights into a minimalistic AI setup, highlighting tools like Cursor and Raycast that can significantly improve productivity. It features user comments and discussions, emphasizing a collaborative learning environment.
The Prompt Engineering Playbook for Programmers
Turn AI coding assistants into more reliable development partners
My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts · The Fly Blog
My smartest friends have bananas arguments about LLM coding.
5 Non-LLM Software Trends To Be Excited About
Innovations outside the AI spotlight
Python
Ways to Optimize Your Code in Python | AppSignal Blog
AI generated summary
This article explores four ways to optimize Python code, focusing on efficient use of data structures, avoiding global variables, encapsulation, and proper namespace management to enhance performance and scalability.
PyCon US 2025
AI generated summary
The blog post recounts the experiences at PyCon US 2025, including game testing, the Community Organizers Summit, Lightning Talks, the PyLadies Auction, keynotes, and the PyLadies Lunch. It highlights the community spirit, successful fundraising, and the connections made during the event.
A Python dict that can report which keys you did not use
Demonstrates a very basic way, in Python, how to know which fields of a dict you never accessed.
Django
How to Migrate your Python & Django Projects to uv
Migrating an existing project to uv
How to split up a Django monolith without using microservices
AI generated summary
This article explores methods to decompose a Django monolith without adopting microservices, focusing on the use of custom data objects and the importance of understanding application context and data flow.
Cut Django Database Latency by 50-70ms With Native Connection Pooling
Deploy Django 5.1's native connection pooling in 10 minutes to cut database latency by 50-70ms, reduce connection overhead by 60-80%, and improve response times by 10-30% with zero external dependencies.
Python libraries
GitHub - Teemu/pytest-sugar
a plugin for py.test that changes the default look and feel of py.test (e.g. progressbar, show tests that fail instantly)
GitHub - macieyng/dripdrop: Server support for Progressive JSON.
Python server support for Progressive JSON
Django libraries
Better Django management commands with django-click and django-typer
Writing Django management commands can involve a ton of boilerplate code. But Revsys uses two libraries that cut our management command code in half while making it more readable and powerful: django-click and django-typer.
Tools
GitHub - m4xshen/hardtime.nvim
Break bad habits, master Vim motions. Contribute to m4xshen/hardtime.nvim development by creating an account on GitHub.
Other stuff
Strudel REPL
Strudel is a music live coding environment for the browser, porting the TidalCycles pattern language to JavaScript.
Videos
Gen AI - Studia podyplomowe Big Data - Krzysztof Jędrzejewski - YouTube Playlist
Materiały na zajęcia w ramach studiów podyplomowych Big Data na UAM: https://wmi.amu.edu.pl/dla-kandydata/studia-podyplomowe/big-data
PyData Virginia 2025 - YouTube Playlist
PyData Virginia 2025 YouTube Playlist
AI vs Programmers: 4 Critical Skills You Need To Win the Race - YouTube
37 INSANE Linux Commands you NEED to Know in 2025 - YouTube
The Past, Present & Future of Programming Languages • Kevlin Henney • GOTO 2024 - YouTube
Develop Your Development Automation • Jessica Kerr • GOTO 2017 - YouTube
Ola Kunysz - Czy można pracować inaczej? Prosta droga branży IT do wypalenia | Infoshare - YouTube
Andrej Karpathy: Software Is Changing (Again) - YouTube
AI generated summary
Andrej Karpathy's keynote at AI Startup School highlights the transition to 'Software 3.0', where natural language becomes the new programming interface. He discusses the role of LLMs as utilities and operating systems, and the importance of human-AI collaboration in this new era.