Iceberg | Revenue & Trends

The hottest Substack posts of Iceberg

And their main takeaways

Limit who or what can invoke processes in CI systems to reduce the blast radius.
Utilize separate cloud and saas accounts for different environments to enhance security and avoid errors.
Regularly monitor dependency security, distinguish between CI and deployment contexts, and minimize reliance on third-party systems for supply chain risk mitigation.

Remote collaboration tools have limitations like bandwidth and latency issues.
Async communication is better for remote work but can lead to slower decision making.
Remote work impacts motivation and performance due to lack of social interactions and living arrangements.

E2E browser tests can be made easier to write and maintain using LLMs
Using natural language instructions and website structure can simplify test creation
Challenges with LLMs include pricing, integration issues, and the possibility of flakiness

Choosing JavaScript for backend development can come with a high maintenance cost due to its npm ecosystem having a lot of dependencies.
JavaScript projects in npm tend to have 10x more dependencies compared to projects in other ecosystems, leading to frequent updates, breaking changes, and security patches.
Despite the benefits of a vibrant ecosystem, it's important to consider the trade-offs and evaluate tech choices based on factors like maintenance costs when comparing to alternatives like Python and Golang.

Developer hiring process involves tests for coding and system design skills, regardless of prior experience.
Challenges in developer hiring include absence of regulation, varied tools, and mismatches in qualifications.
Suggested shift from direct full-time positions to a contractor-to-full-time model for more accurate hiring.

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LLMs are gaining popularity in the tech world, especially through chat interfaces like Chat GPT models.
Developers face challenges when transitioning human-to-machine interfaces to machine-to-machine interactions with LLMs.
Tools like adjusting temperature parameters and utilizing frameworks can help overcome issues like hallucinations, context size limitations, and arbitrary output in LLM applications.

Open source software is commonly used to solve industry problems and dependencies are essential when developing a web app.
Relying on auto updaters and scanners for security can be reactive and not fully effective in preventing issues.
Implementing capability based security in programming languages could provide a solution to software supply chain security concerns by limiting the permissions of imported code.