Chris Smith
@achrissmith.bsky.social
I post snarky things about software.
Just keep reading this until it sinks in.
> Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
> Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]
www.africa.upenn.edu
January 19, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Just keep reading this until it sinks in.
> Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
> Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
I don’t watch sports ball very often. But when I do, it’s to watch the Sea Hawks dominate the 49ers.
January 18, 2026 at 3:54 AM
I don’t watch sports ball very often. But when I do, it’s to watch the Sea Hawks dominate the 49ers.
Look, I’m a fan of diversity. And appreciate the new perspectives people from other backgrounds bring to the workplace. But I don’t think enough is said about the mental fortitude it takes to not right-click and correct “spelling errors” of people who use “specialised” and “colour”.
January 16, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Look, I’m a fan of diversity. And appreciate the new perspectives people from other backgrounds bring to the workplace. But I don’t think enough is said about the mental fortitude it takes to not right-click and correct “spelling errors” of people who use “specialised” and “colour”.
RTO Hell: you are spending 2hrs a day commuting to an office, and your primary interaction is listening to the guy a few desks over getting paged every 20 minutes.
January 15, 2026 at 11:28 PM
RTO Hell: you are spending 2hrs a day commuting to an office, and your primary interaction is listening to the guy a few desks over getting paged every 20 minutes.
Yeah. This is kinda embarrassing.
January 15, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Yeah. This is kinda embarrassing.
I still mourn the loss of Twitter. It took years of cultivating that follow list. But I felt that I had found my tribe. And enjoyed a gentle sense of connection to folks who struck the right balance of professionalism with “posting snarky shit” about software.
BlueSky will get there eventually.
BlueSky will get there eventually.
January 15, 2026 at 12:40 AM
I still mourn the loss of Twitter. It took years of cultivating that follow list. But I felt that I had found my tribe. And enjoyed a gentle sense of connection to folks who struck the right balance of professionalism with “posting snarky shit” about software.
BlueSky will get there eventually.
BlueSky will get there eventually.
Looks like it's time to pack it in for the day.
January 13, 2026 at 3:10 AM
Looks like it's time to pack it in for the day.
Seems like in the era of AI-powered development, "the 12 factor app" will be replaced with "the 12 pre-submit hooks" to ensure your agents stay on the rails.
If someone has a good laundry list of dev infrastructure to ensure a high-quality web app, I'd love to see it.
If someone has a good laundry list of dev infrastructure to ensure a high-quality web app, I'd love to see it.
January 13, 2026 at 1:32 AM
Seems like in the era of AI-powered development, "the 12 factor app" will be replaced with "the 12 pre-submit hooks" to ensure your agents stay on the rails.
If someone has a good laundry list of dev infrastructure to ensure a high-quality web app, I'd love to see it.
If someone has a good laundry list of dev infrastructure to ensure a high-quality web app, I'd love to see it.
Insight from my 9yo:
“The most worthless invention in the universe would be a pedal-powered wheelchair.”
… no notes.
“The most worthless invention in the universe would be a pedal-powered wheelchair.”
… no notes.
January 11, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Insight from my 9yo:
“The most worthless invention in the universe would be a pedal-powered wheelchair.”
… no notes.
“The most worthless invention in the universe would be a pedal-powered wheelchair.”
… no notes.
Dearest test runner, “770031000000 nanoseconds” isn’t quite the flex you think it is.
January 9, 2026 at 2:49 AM
Dearest test runner, “770031000000 nanoseconds” isn’t quite the flex you think it is.
For all the people saying that LLMs are shifting the industry such that code reviews and understanding how things work is more important than knowing the syntax of a language… what if I told you that was _always_ the case?
January 8, 2026 at 5:36 AM
For all the people saying that LLMs are shifting the industry such that code reviews and understanding how things work is more important than knowing the syntax of a language… what if I told you that was _always_ the case?
Signs you’re on a toxic team #1362:
When you hear a colleague is leaving the company, and your reaction is that of jealousy.
When you hear a colleague is leaving the company, and your reaction is that of jealousy.
January 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Signs you’re on a toxic team #1362:
When you hear a colleague is leaving the company, and your reaction is that of jealousy.
When you hear a colleague is leaving the company, and your reaction is that of jealousy.
Wasn’t like, the world supposed to end by now? Why the heck do I need to deal with 2026.
December 23, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Wasn’t like, the world supposed to end by now? Why the heck do I need to deal with 2026.
I know it’s cliche as a neck beard to be saying this… but it still is pretty awesome when I write some code that replies on functional programming. There is an elegance to function composition that cannot be beat!
December 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
I know it’s cliche as a neck beard to be saying this… but it still is pretty awesome when I write some code that replies on functional programming. There is an elegance to function composition that cannot be beat!
Years ago I was talking to a more grizzled engineer than me. And he talked about the importance of having tight deliverables, so that in his words he wouldn’t be tempted to “tend to the codebase like a garden”.
I think that concept really shines through in this post:
gricha.dev/blog/the-hig...
I think that concept really shines through in this post:
gricha.dev/blog/the-hig...
The highest quality codebase
Blog post
gricha.dev
December 11, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Years ago I was talking to a more grizzled engineer than me. And he talked about the importance of having tight deliverables, so that in his words he wouldn’t be tempted to “tend to the codebase like a garden”.
I think that concept really shines through in this post:
gricha.dev/blog/the-hig...
I think that concept really shines through in this post:
gricha.dev/blog/the-hig...
The thing they don’t teach you in parenting school is that those holiday concerts your kid is in? They are TERRIBLE. Like seriously. And apparently _you_ are the asshole for pointing this out to them.
December 11, 2025 at 3:45 AM
The thing they don’t teach you in parenting school is that those holiday concerts your kid is in? They are TERRIBLE. Like seriously. And apparently _you_ are the asshole for pointing this out to them.
“Bro, <LLM Model> is so June, 2025. AKA bullshit. You gotta get <Other LLM Model>, it’s like way better when you consider <absolutely no evidence>.”
December 10, 2025 at 11:46 PM
“Bro, <LLM Model> is so June, 2025. AKA bullshit. You gotta get <Other LLM Model>, it’s like way better when you consider <absolutely no evidence>.”
Let us have a moment of silence for the brave pumpkins, who sacrificed themselves so that we may enjoy a post-meal pie.
November 27, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Let us have a moment of silence for the brave pumpkins, who sacrificed themselves so that we may enjoy a post-meal pie.
Life pro tip: you’ll be able to remember the people in your spouse’s work stories by giving them colorful nicknames.
November 22, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Life pro tip: you’ll be able to remember the people in your spouse’s work stories by giving them colorful nicknames.
The easiest way to measure <X> about a company, is to see how engineers spend their time on-call.
November 19, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The easiest way to measure <X> about a company, is to see how engineers spend their time on-call.
Status Code 4XX, for when you want to make it clear that it’s more of a “you problem”.
November 18, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Status Code 4XX, for when you want to make it clear that it’s more of a “you problem”.
LLM: please do the same thing again, but in such a way it doesn’t fall with ERR_TOO_MANY_OUTPUT_TOKENS.
November 16, 2025 at 10:29 PM
LLM: please do the same thing again, but in such a way it doesn’t fall with ERR_TOO_MANY_OUTPUT_TOKENS.
Are the people on LinkedIn for real?
November 15, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Are the people on LinkedIn for real?