January 2026
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
The challenges of soft delete | atlas9
The article discusses the complexities and challenges associated with implementing soft delete in software projects. It highlights the issues with using an
archived_atcolumn, such as increased complexity in queries, operations, and application code, as well as the accumulation of dead data in the database. The author explores alternative approaches to soft delete, including application-level archiving, database triggers, and WAL-based Change Data Capture (CDC). Each method is analyzed for its benefits and trade-offs, with a focus on maintaining clean live tables and reducing operational overhead. The article concludes with a preference for the trigger-based approach due to its simplicity and effectiveness in keeping live tables clean.
Use the power of storytelling in tech to get promoted faster
Communication techniques that build your executive presence
What The Best Engineers Do—and What Actually Got Them Promoted, from an Amazon VP
Guest post by Amazon VP, Ethan Evans
How the hell are you supposed to have a career in tech in 2026? - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
How Markdown took over the world - Anil Dash
AI generated summary
The article explores the reasons behind Markdown's success, emphasizing its community-driven nature, adaptability, and timing with web development trends. It also highlights the influence of key figures and the absence of intellectual property restrictions.
Ukryte Perełki: Mało Znane Funkcje Bash
AI generated summary
The article explores lesser-known features of the Bash shell that can significantly enhance productivity in the command line.
Why You Should Prepare for a Layoff, Even If You Think You're Safe
You can't control layoffs. But you can control your readiness for them.
The Psychology of Code Reviews: Why Smart Developers Accept Bad Suggestions - Java Code Geeks
Discover why smart developers accept bad code suggestions. Explore the cognitive biases, power dynamics, and social psychology
3 Signs It's Time to Leave Your Job - by Steve Huynh
Why you should decide before something forces you to.
3 Smart Moves to Make in January (While Everyone Is Distracted)
The annual window most people miss.
Building Critical Infrastructure with htmx: Network Automation for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Building critical software infrastructure with htmx, and how the simplification induced by this approach is interesting for AI-assisted development.
Loopwerk: Expertise is the art of ignoring
Trying to "master" a programming language is a trap. Real expertise comes from learning what you need, when you need it, and ignoring the rest on purpose.
2025 - My year in review · Better Simple
The page is a personal reflection on the author's experiences and achievements in 2025. It covers various aspects of their life, including personal growth, professional accomplishments, and community involvement.
Technical Blogging Lessons Learned - Write that blog!
Expert tech bloggers share their top tips for others
Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (~100 Models Explained)
The smartest people in the world use mental models to make intelligent decisions, avoid stupidity, and increase productivity. Let's take a look at how ...
everything is a ralph loop
Ralph is an orchestrator pattern where you allocate the array with the required backing specifications and then give it a goal then looping the goal.
The Long Now of the Web: Inside the Internet Archive’s Fight Against Forgetting | HackerNoon
A deep dive into the Internet Archive's custom tech stack.
Productivity
The Napoleon Technique: Postponing Things to Increase Productivity – Effectiviology
The Napoleon technique is a productivity strategy that involves delaying action on tasks that may resolve themselves without immediate intervention.
AI
AntiRender - See Through The Architectural BS
Upload a glossy architectural render. Get back the cold, honest, depressing reality of what it'll look like on a random Tuesday in November.
LLM predictions for 2026, shared with Oxide and Friends
The article discusses Simon Willison's predictions for the tech industry in 2026, shared during the Oxide and Friends podcast.
How AI Impacts Skill Formation
The article discusses the dual impact of AI on productivity and skill acquisition. While AI can enhance productivity in well-developed skills, it may hinder the acquisition of new skills.
OpenClaw — Personal AI Assistant
OpenClaw — The AI that actually does things. Your personal assistant on any platform.
Claude Code in Action
Integrate Claude Code into your development workflow
The Agent Skills Directory
Discover and install skills for AI agents.
Free Claude Code Course | Learn AI for Non-Technical People
Learn Claude Code IN Claude Code! Free Claude Code course for beginners - no coding experience required. No videos, just doing.
Developer’s guide to multi-agent patterns in ADK - Google Developers Blog
Move beyond monolithic agents. Discover 8 design patterns for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) using Google's Agent Development Kit (ADK) to build smarter, more reliable AI applications.
Agent Designer overview -- Vertex AI Agent Builder -- Google Cloud Documentation
Understand Agent Designer's low-code visual interface to design, configure, and test AI agents, integrating models and tools.
New AI model predicts disease risk while you sleep
Stanford Medicine scientists and their colleagues created the first artificial intelligence model that can predict more than 100 health conditions from one night’s sleep.
AI Agents: Complete Course. From beginner to intermediate to… | by Marina Wyss | Data Science Collective | Medium
AI generated summary
This article by Marina Wyss explores the world of AI agents, detailing their significance in 2025 and providing a guide from basic to intermediate levels. It covers the core concepts, applications, and offers practical insights into building AI agents, including no-code options.
ScrollMind - AI Microlearning
AI generated summary
ScrollMind offers an engaging way to learn AI through bite-sized cards and quizzes, making it accessible for software engineers and curious minds. The platform focuses on simplifying complex concepts without lengthy videos or heavy math, and it's free to use.
Codex vs Claude Code: which is the better AI coding agent?
A practical look at Codex vs Claude Code: agents, model choices, costs, and the workflows they enable in real projects.
OpenCode vs Claude Code
Is Anthropic's polished CLI better than the open-source alternative? We compare features, the OAuth drama, and why visual context is the missing piece.
Conductor: Introducing context-driven development for Gemini CLI - Google Developers Blog
Conductor for Gemini CLI enables context-driven development. Formalize specs and plans in Markdown to control AI agents & keep code consistent.
Security
Jak prawie dałem się zhakować "rekruterowi". - Ben Motyka
Dostałem wiadomość na LinkedInie, która wyglądała dość standardowo, ale oferta była wyjątkowo kusząca.
How to Securely Store Secrets in Environment Variables - miguelgrinberg.com
AI generated summary
This article explores the security risks of storing secrets in environment variables and offers a method to secure them using a password manager like Bitwarden. It provides a detailed example of using the Bitwarden CLI to inject secrets into applications and discusses the challenges of protecting secrets in cloud environments.
GitHub - dev-sec/ansible-collection-hardening
This Ansible collection provides battle tested hardening for Linux, SSH, nginx, MySQL
Objective-See: LuLu
LuLu is a free, open-source firewall designed to block unknown outgoing connections on macOS, enhancing privacy and security.
Python
A different way to think about Python API Clients - Paul writes software
The one frustration I keep seeing again and again with APIs is the client integration story.
How uv got so fast | Andrew Nesbitt
uv’s speed comes from engineering decisions, not just Rust. Static metadata, dropping legacy formats, and standards that didn’t exist five years ago.
Django
Some notes on starting to use Django
Some notes on starting to use Django
GitHub - FarhanAliRaza/django-repl
Run django in the browser.
Python libraries
GitHub - mr-fatalyst/fastopenapi
FastOpenAPI is a library for generating and integrating OpenAPI schemas using Pydantic v2 and various frameworks (AioHttp, Django, Falcon, Flask, Quart, Sanic, Starlette, Tornado).
GitHub - sparckles/Robyn
Robyn is a Super Fast Async Python Web Framework with a Rust runtime.
Django libraries
Migrating From Celery to Django Tasks | PaulTraylor.net
The blog post provides a detailed guide on migrating from Celery to Django Tasks. It outlines the necessary configuration changes in the settings.py file, such as removing CELERY_ prefixed settings and installing django-tasks.
GitHub - FarhanAliRaza/django-bolt
Rust-powered API framework for Django achieving 60k+ RPS. Uses Actix Web for HTTP, PyO3 for Python bridging, msgspec for serialization. Decorator-based routing with built-in auth and middleware. - FarhanAliRaza/django-bolt
Tools
La Suite numérique · GitHub
La Suite numérique is a set of open-source applications for digital collaboration and teamwork. It offers modern solutions for the digital workplace. - La Suite numérique
Top 10 API Management Tools for 2026: A Deep Dive for Architects | Zuplo Blog
A comprehensive evaluation of the top 10 API management tools for 2026, focusing on edge performance, AI capabilities, and GitOps workflows for modern architects.
Home | Local Desktop | Linux on Android
Local Desktop helps you run a desktop Linux environment on your Android device.
an ssg written in shell
Notes on writing this site's new, mildly cursed, and fun static site generator in (mostly) POSIX shell.
GitHub - Quenary/tugtainer
An application for automated Docker container updates with a web UI - Quenary/tugtainer
GitHub - rberg27/doom-coding
A guide for how to use your smartphone to code anywhere at anytime.
Cloud
Application Design Center now GA | Google Cloud Blog
Application Design Center provides an AI-powered, canvas-style approach to designing and modifying Terraform application templates, and is now GA.
Other stuff
Loot Drop | 1100+ Failed Startup Case Studies & Ideas to Steal
Explore 1100+ failed startups and learn from $40B+ in burned venture capital. Discover why they failed, their market potential, and how to rebuild them with today's tech