Vibe coding is fun, but don't be fooled: it can only get you so far.

I just published "The Hidden Cost of AI Coding" As AI coding tools make us more productive, are we sacrificing the joy that made us fall in love with programming? terriblesoftware.org/2025/04/23/the…

Your engineers don't want you to make them "happy" — they want you to help them ship meaningful work. terriblesoftware.org/2025/05/16/man…

Hot take: Stop following DRY so religiously. I've seen more codebases destroyed by premature abstraction than by duplication. Sometimes copy-paste is the right answer. New post: terriblesoftware.org/2025/05/28/dup…

Last year I wrote about how AI won't replace programmers — just like COBOL, OOP, and Low Code didn't. Got a lot of heat for it. "This time is different!" they said. A year later, we're still here. Still shipping. Still needed. terriblesoftware.org/2024/12/14/wev…

For me it isn't one *over* the other; more like working with them together. My Claude Code flow usually starts in the terminal, but it's common for me to open Neovim (or Cursor), at the end, to finish the job.

Duplication Is Not the Enemy by Matheus Lima terriblesoftware.org/2025/05/28/dup… An amazing post on the concepts of duplication and abstraction.

When AI says, "You're absolutely right!", something bad usually follows

New post is out; I think you'll link this one! terriblesoftware.org/2025/06/13/goo…

After 10+ years as an engineer, I became the thing I used to complain about: a manager. Finally wrote about why this relationship is so broken (and how to fix it): terriblesoftware.org/2025/06/24/why…

Built a tiny zsh plugin that's been super helpful for me - converts natural language to shell commands. Just 5KB, no dependencies. Would love feedback! github.com/matheusml/zsh-…

The faster tech changes, the more valuable the things that don't change become. New post on why fundamentals matter more than ever: terriblesoftware.org/2025/07/14/wha…

How much of your feedback is actually about performance vs. personal preference? If you can't point to specific impact, maybe the behavior that needs changing is yours. terriblesoftware.org/2025/07/18/why…

"Be the pilot, not the turbulence." Great parenting advice that's equally true for management.

Read a parenting book recently (stay with me here) that completely changed how I think about management. Turns out the most important skill isn't avoiding mistakes, it's what you do after making them. terriblesoftware.org/2025/08/22/the…

Politics isn't manipulation and backstabbing. It's understanding how decisions actually get made and learning to navigate that reality. Refusing to engage doesn't make politics go away. It just means you lose by default. terriblesoftware.org/2025/10/01/sto…

New post is out 🔥 If you're copy-pasting AI responses as code review feedback, you're not helping. You're just creating more work for everyone else. Your teammates need YOUR thoughts, not ChatGPT's generic advice. terriblesoftware.org/2025/10/24/cha…

The thing that actually makes you senior isn't architecture or communication or ownership. It's being the person who makes fuzzy things concrete. terriblesoftware.org/2025/11/25/wha…

I've been thinking about what AI actually changes for software engineers, and what it doesn't. Wrote some thoughts: terriblesoftware.org/2025/12/11/ai-…