The hottest Software Engineering Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

SIEM 4.0: The Essentialist Evolution

Detection at Scale • 59 implied HN points • 28 May 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Security teams are moving towards prioritizing impactful MITRE tactics over complete ATT&CK coverage to reduce distracting alerts and focus on critical threats.
  2. Transitioning from individual behaviors to risk-based alerts allows for a more context-based approach, reducing alert volumes and enhancing significance.
  3. The evolution to SIEM 4.0 includes opening up data lakes, adopting 'as code' principles, and utilizing AI to automate routine tasks so human analysts can focus on high-value work.

No more coding vibes in the efficiency era

Dev Interrupted • 210 implied HN points • 19 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. The focus on just hiring more engineers is outdated. Now, it's important to measure productivity based on real outcomes and impact rather than just feelings.
  2. AI can help with tasks, but it doesn't understand your specific business context. It's important to use AI wisely and not rely on it for critical thinking or decision-making.
  3. To improve productivity, teams need clear context and communication about goals. Understanding the 'why' behind their work is essential for success.

Quick reflection on AI in 2024

Gonzo ML • 504 implied HN points • 02 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. In 2024, AI is focusing on test-time compute, which is helping models perform better by using new techniques. This is changing how AI works and interacts with data.
  2. State Space Models are becoming more common in AI, showing improvements in processing complex tasks. People are excited about new tools like Bamba and Falcon3-Mamba that use these models.
  3. There's a growing competition among different AI models now, with many companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google joining in. This means more choices for users and developers.
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Happy 2025 High Growth Engineer 🎉

High Growth Engineer • 493 implied HN points • 01 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Prioritize your mental health and learn to say 'no' when needed. This helps prevent burnout and keeps you focused on what really matters.
  2. Adapt your systems to align with your goals. If your priorities change, make adjustments to ensure your daily actions support your personal growth.
  3. Embrace change and keep learning. The tech industry evolves quickly, so being open to new skills will help you stay relevant.

RAG Implementations Are Becoming More Agent-Like

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 99 implied HN points • 08 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. RAG implementations are changing to become more like agents, which means they can make better decisions and adapt to different situations.
  2. The structure of prompts is really important now; it’s not just about adding data, but about crafting the prompts to improve how they perform.
  3. Agentic RAG allows for complex tasks by using multiple tools together, making it capable of handling detailed questions that standard RAG cannot.

You're not a true software engineer unless...

A Perfectly Cromulent Software Engineer • 99 implied HN points • 07 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. In some tech communities, there's a concept called 'No True Scotsman' fallacy where group definitions get reshaped to exclude counterexamples.
  2. Humor in tech, especially when joking about expertise, can inadvertently lead to gatekeeping and exclusion, promoting dogmatism and fragmentation.
  3. Tech choices should not define our worth or belonging - divisive jokes can lead to isolated communities that hinder growth and acceptance.

Building a Simple Live Streaming Platform[System Design Sundays]

Technology Made Simple • 119 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. When designing a live streaming platform like Twitch, key steps include ingestion, transcoding, packaging, CDN utilization, and database management.
  2. Challenges like low latency, scalability, and reliability must be addressed for the success of a live streaming platform.
  3. To enhance a streaming service further, consider advanced technologies like adaptive bitrate algorithms, advanced caching, and community features.

Build What You Depend On

Kathy PM • 13 implied HN points • 24 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Use your own product for real, high-stakes work — not demos — so every moment of friction becomes obvious and compels fixes.
  2. Dogfood the way customers actually do, including the API and cross-team workflows, and do it continuously so slow, repetitive annoyances surface.
  3. Make sure the people who feel the pain can act on it; dogfooding only improves the product when teams have the agency to fix issues and earn real trust.

Correct vs Good

General Robots • 383 implied HN points • 11 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Being correct means having a product that works as intended—it's stable, bug-free, and meets specifications. However, it can be very costly to reach near-perfect correctness.
  2. Being good is about providing value and meeting customer needs. There's no limit to how good a product can become, and making something better is always beneficial.
  3. To improve a product, it's essential to iterate quickly based on real customer feedback. This helps in learning what features work best and keeps development moving efficiently.

How I Interview Software Engineers, Post AI Code Gen.

decodebytes • 87 implied HN points • 15 Sep 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Interviews should focus on real-world skills instead of memorization. Candidates need to show they can break down complex problems and work collaboratively, which is more important than just recalling syntax.
  2. It’s essential to create a friendly atmosphere during interviews. This allows candidates to feel comfortable asking for help or admitting when they don't know something, which reflects how they'll behave in a team.
  3. Diverse interview panels can reveal how candidates respond to different perspectives. This helps assess their teamwork and social skills, ensuring they contribute positively to team dynamics.

Scaffolding is coping not scaling, and other lessons from Codex | OpenAI’s Thibault Sottiaux

Dev Interrupted • 9 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Widespread AI adoption comes from engineering for resilience: teams build repo-ready context, rule files, and guardrails so models become reliable teammates across iOS, Android, and backend systems.
  2. The era of humans typing syntax is fading — engineers are shifting from writing code to orchestrating and managing multiple AI agents and the handoffs between them.
  3. Don’t be loyal to one model; treat models as tools in a belt and pick the best model for each task to maximize velocity and capability.

The CAP Theorem of Clustering: Why Every Algorithm Must Sacrifice Something

Confessions of a Code Addict • 529 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Clustering algorithms can never be perfect and always require trade-offs. You can't have everything, so you have to choose what matters most for your project.
  2. There are three key properties that clustering should ideally have: scale-invariance, richness, and consistency, but no algorithm can achieve all three simultaneously.
  3. Understanding these sacrifices helps in making better decisions when using clustering methods. Knowing what to prioritize can lead to more effective data analysis.

Grow Your Software Engineer Career

Tech Ramblings • 19 implied HN points • 21 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Many young software engineers make common mistakes that can hold back their careers. It’s important to recognize these traps early on.
  2. Good communication skills are essential for solving problems and sharing ideas effectively. Learning to articulate your thoughts can make a big difference.
  3. Experience in different domains, like academia and tech companies, can provide valuable insights. Be open to learning from various industries to grow your career.

Navigating the Software Engineering career ladders

system bashing • 275 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Software engineering career paths differ based on company size and age, so titles like "Senior Software Engineer" can vary widely.
  2. In early-stage startups, titles like "Senior" may simply imply a higher level of autonomy, not necessarily a specific rank.
  3. As companies grow, the tech team pyramid evolves, introducing new levels and roles like SDE1, SDE2, SDE3, VPs, and EMs.

VTEX scales to 150 million metrics using Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus

VTEX’s Tech Blog • 99 implied HN points • 10 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. VTEX successfully scaled its monitoring system to handle 150 million metrics using Amazon's Managed Service for Prometheus. This helped them keep track of their numerous services efficiently.
  2. By adopting this system, VTEX cut its observability expenses by about 41%. This shows that smart choices in technology can save money.
  3. The new architecture allows VTEX to respond to problems faster and reduces the chances of system failures. It increased the reliability of their metrics, making everyday operations smoother.

New Layer of Abstraction, Not the End of Software Engineering

Adam’s Notes • 255 implied HN points • 17 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. AI tools will enhance software developers' productivity and create new possibilities.
  2. Historically, productivity increases in software engineering have occurred with advancements like high-level programming languages, open-source culture, and cloud computing.
  3. Lower barriers to coding will attract more people to software engineering, leading to new opportunities, growth, and products.

Release Management

Software Engineering Tidbits • 255 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Ensure all necessary steps are taken before landing a pull request to the main branch, such as passing all tests and code reviews.
  2. Deploy new software versions gradually to production, starting with a small number of machines first.
  3. Consider implementing CI/CD for continuous deployment to improve observability, but balance it with on-demand deployments to ensure all changes are attended to.

Joe's Nerdy Rants #9

Joe Reis • 255 implied HN points • 15 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Data modeling in the industry is often ignored or undervalued.
  2. There is a trend towards 'query-driven modeling' or 'just-in-time modeling.'
  3. The question is raised about the importance of data modeling and its impact on businesses.

Going Faster is the Greatest UX

Sung’s Substack • 79 implied HN points • 26 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.
  2. In data engineering, the focus on speed is increasing, with the need for tools to actually make users go faster, not just show possibilities.
  3. To improve workflow efficiency, demand every element to be faster without compromises.

Under the microscope: E.T. Interplanetary Mission (PlayStation)

Rings of Saturn • 101 implied HN points • 07 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. The game 'E.T. Interplanetary Mission' includes hidden messages, one notably expressing a sentiment towards Osama Bin Laden. This reflects the cultural context and sentiments surrounding 9/11.
  2. Players can unlock useful cheats in the game, like starting with 100 lives by entering a specific sequence at the title screen. This adds a fun twist for gamers looking for an easier experience.
  3. There's a hidden graphics editor that was likely used by developers, showcasing the behind-the-scenes work that goes into game design. This kind of feature is a cool insight into how games were created.

Outage Management

Software Engineering Tidbits • 235 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Acknowledge and address service alerts promptly to prevent further degradation.
  2. Prioritize returning the service to normalcy by rolling back changes or failing over to healthy regions.
  3. Communicate effectively, prepare in advance, and conduct post mortems for effective outage management.

Software Engineering Myths Wasting Your Time

Brain Bytes • 139 implied HN points • 10 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Software engineering myths include the idea that you have to learn everything in the field, but it's more practical to focus on specific areas and have a general understanding of others.
  2. The belief that adding more programmers speeds up development isn't always true; it can lead to more delays due to increased need for communication and management.
  3. Software development involves more than just writing code; it includes tasks like planning, testing, deploying, and maintaining software.

The Sequence Radar #669: MiniMax-M1 is a Very Impressive Model

TheSequence • 140 implied HN points • 22 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. MiniMax-M1 is a new AI model with 456 billion parameters. It can handle a huge amount of context, making it efficient and powerful for tasks.
  2. This model uses a special attention mechanism called Lightning Attention to process information faster and at a lower cost than previous models. It's designed to work well without needing massive amount of resources.
  3. MiniMax-M1 was developed quickly and economically, showing that strong performance in AI can be achieved without spending a fortune. This opens new possibilities for making advanced AI accessible to more people.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 535

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 99 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Scaling AI tools like ChatGPT involves overcoming many engineering challenges to handle large user demands. It's important to manage growth effectively to keep users satisfied.
  2. There's a lot of information out there about generative AI, making it hard to keep up. A guidebook can help condense this information and provide practical insights.
  3. Linear regression is still a valuable tool in data science. Sometimes going back to basics can yield better results than relying on complex models.

How We Built a Self-Healing System to Survive a Terrifying Concurrency Bug At Netflix

Push to Prod • 5 HN points • 27 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. At Netflix, there was a serious concurrency bug causing CPU problems, and they needed a quick solution. They couldn't fix it right away and had to come up with a way to keep their systems running through the weekend.
  2. Instead of manually fixing everything, they created a self-healing system. They randomly killed a few server instances every 15 minutes, replacing them with fresh ones, which allowed the team to relax during the crisis.
  3. This situation taught them that sometimes unconventional solutions are necessary. Prioritizing the team's well-being can be just as important as fixing technical issues.

The Messy Page

Register Spill • 216 implied HN points • 07 May 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. The author prefers messy projects over greenfield projects because they provide more certainty and direction.
  2. Having clear product-market fit and defined requirements make a project enjoyable to work on.
  3. The author finds debugging appealing due to its clear requirements and the assurance that efforts won't be wasted.

How to scale yourself

Software Engineering Tidbits • 216 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. One way to scale yourself in a professional setting is to schedule specific office hours for addressing requests.
  2. Another method to scale yourself is to create a comprehensive internal search system to easily access knowledge resources.
  3. Delegating tasks to team members and managers is essential for freeing up time, reducing bottlenecks, and fostering growth opportunities.

Beauty in Simplicity

Mindful Matrix • 119 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Simplicity in software engineering is crucial for elegant solutions. Simple code is easier to maintain, read, and collaborate on.
  2. Prioritizing simplicity leads to streamlined debugging, improved scalability, and lower technical debt. It makes adapting and deploying software faster and more user-centric.
  3. Applying simplicity principles involves starting simple, avoiding premature optimization, focusing on core features, implementing incrementally, and leveraging existing tools. Embracing simplicity in coding doesn't mean avoiding complexity entirely, but finding beauty and efficiency in straightforward solutions.

These 7 Software Engineering Skills Give You an Unfair Advantage

Brain Bytes • 119 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Software Engineering
  1. Thinking like a hacker helps in identifying and fixing security flaws before they are exploited, crucial in today's cybersecurity landscape.
  2. Understanding different devices through cross-platform critical thinking gives a competitive edge and promotes reusability of business logic.
  3. Scripting and automation for repetitive tasks enhances productivity by ensuring consistency, accuracy, and freeing up time for more complex work.