Jacob Voytko
@bitlog.com
Staff backend engineer at Hinge. Ex-Etsy, ex-Google.
https://www.clientserver.dev -- my newsletter on software engineering and the tech industry
https://www.clientserver.dev -- my newsletter on software engineering and the tech industry
I see a lot of people complaining that ChatGPT ruined em dashes for them, but I have taken a different approach.
September 4, 2025 at 2:43 AM
I see a lot of people complaining that ChatGPT ruined em dashes for them, but I have taken a different approach.
I got asked a simple question:
“What advice would you give a high schooler who wants to work in tech?”
I wasn’t planning to write anything this week. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
www.clientserver.dev/p/a-staff-en...
“What advice would you give a high schooler who wants to work in tech?”
I wasn’t planning to write anything this week. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
www.clientserver.dev/p/a-staff-en...
A staff engineer's advice to high schoolers who want to work in tech
Are you a high school student interested in working in tech? Here's my advice as someone who has worked at everything from FAANG to research labs, and has been in the industry since 2008.
www.clientserver.dev
June 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I got asked a simple question:
“What advice would you give a high schooler who wants to work in tech?”
I wasn’t planning to write anything this week. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
www.clientserver.dev/p/a-staff-en...
“What advice would you give a high schooler who wants to work in tech?”
I wasn’t planning to write anything this week. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
www.clientserver.dev/p/a-staff-en...
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
OK, this is a pretty solid take on LLMs.
June 3, 2025 at 3:22 AM
OK, this is a pretty solid take on LLMs.
A few people have asked, “how do you have time to write a newsletter?” This post has my full playbook. What is my audience? How do I pick stories? Why is writing an outline so important? What do I do after a post is published? What would I do if I had more time?
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-have-t...
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-have-t...
You have the time to run a technical newsletter
A dad's playbook for running a newsletter when you have very little free time.
www.clientserver.dev
May 29, 2025 at 1:19 PM
A few people have asked, “how do you have time to write a newsletter?” This post has my full playbook. What is my audience? How do I pick stories? Why is writing an outline so important? What do I do after a post is published? What would I do if I had more time?
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-have-t...
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-have-t...
My latest newsletter is trending on Hacker News!
It's a story from 2011 about how Larry Page tried enacting strict rules and conventions around meetings, in an attempt to get Google to stop slowing down.
www.clientserver.dev/p/malicious-...
It's a story from 2011 about how Larry Page tried enacting strict rules and conventions around meetings, in an attempt to get Google to stop slowing down.
www.clientserver.dev/p/malicious-...
Malicious compliance by booking an available meeting room
In 2011, Larry Page became CEO of Google and tried to fix meetings. But his new policies were no match for Google Calendar pedants.
www.clientserver.dev
May 15, 2025 at 2:24 PM
My latest newsletter is trending on Hacker News!
It's a story from 2011 about how Larry Page tried enacting strict rules and conventions around meetings, in an attempt to get Google to stop slowing down.
www.clientserver.dev/p/malicious-...
It's a story from 2011 about how Larry Page tried enacting strict rules and conventions around meetings, in an attempt to get Google to stop slowing down.
www.clientserver.dev/p/malicious-...
This week, I wrote about something that I found interesting in the Linux world: Ubuntu is actually replacing their implementation of sudo with a version written in Rust.
www.clientserver.dev/p/ubuntu-is-...
www.clientserver.dev/p/ubuntu-is-...
Ubuntu Is Betting Big on sudo's Rust rewrite
Canonical is rolling out sudo-rs by default in Ubuntu 25.10, embracing Rust’s safety while shedding some of sudo’s legacy baggage
www.clientserver.dev
May 13, 2025 at 1:02 AM
This week, I wrote about something that I found interesting in the Linux world: Ubuntu is actually replacing their implementation of sudo with a version written in Rust.
www.clientserver.dev/p/ubuntu-is-...
www.clientserver.dev/p/ubuntu-is-...
How did Spotify ship a release 24 hours after a judge ordered Apple to loosen its restrictions on alternative payment methods within the app store?
www.clientserver.dev/p/how-did-sp...
www.clientserver.dev/p/how-did-sp...
How did Spotify ship that iOS payment app update so fast?
A judge ruled that Apple violated her previous order. The next day, Spotify shipped an update linking to their external purchase flow, among other things. But how did they do it so quickly?
www.clientserver.dev
May 5, 2025 at 1:23 PM
How did Spotify ship a release 24 hours after a judge ordered Apple to loosen its restrictions on alternative payment methods within the app store?
www.clientserver.dev/p/how-did-sp...
www.clientserver.dev/p/how-did-sp...
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
Me: “Sorry, I curse a lot.”
Them: “I’m from New Jersey.”
Me: “Thank fuck.”
Them: “I’m from New Jersey.”
Me: “Thank fuck.”
April 30, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Me: “Sorry, I curse a lot.”
Them: “I’m from New Jersey.”
Me: “Thank fuck.”
Them: “I’m from New Jersey.”
Me: “Thank fuck.”
When I had only been working in the software industry for a couple of years, I worked on an augmented reality training simulator for DARPA that required an incredible number of fixes.
www.clientserver.dev/p/war-story-...
www.clientserver.dev/p/war-story-...
War story: I fixed this bug after 3 months with a shower thought
I talk over a bug from a computer vision prototype from 2009 that required hardware fixes, software fixes, BIOS fixes, Windows Registry fixes, and a tour through distributed queuing.
www.clientserver.dev
April 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
When I had only been working in the software industry for a couple of years, I worked on an augmented reality training simulator for DARPA that required an incredible number of fixes.
www.clientserver.dev/p/war-story-...
www.clientserver.dev/p/war-story-...
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
Thanks!
What I learned:
1. This group doesn't like writing that takes time to get to the point. Start with a tl;dr that summarizes upfront (this was not a surprise tbh: saw it eg inside Uber!)
What I learned:
1. This group doesn't like writing that takes time to get to the point. Start with a tl;dr that summarizes upfront (this was not a surprise tbh: saw it eg inside Uber!)
April 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Thanks!
What I learned:
1. This group doesn't like writing that takes time to get to the point. Start with a tl;dr that summarizes upfront (this was not a surprise tbh: saw it eg inside Uber!)
What I learned:
1. This group doesn't like writing that takes time to get to the point. Start with a tl;dr that summarizes upfront (this was not a surprise tbh: saw it eg inside Uber!)
Bazel recently had the 10-year anniversary of its announcement.
I’ve used Bazel a lot, both personally and professionally. I also used Blaze when I was at Google, and it was magical.
www.clientserver.dev/p/bazel-is-t...
I’ve used Bazel a lot, both personally and professionally. I also used Blaze when I was at Google, and it was magical.
www.clientserver.dev/p/bazel-is-t...
Bazel is too pure for this world
At the 10-year anniversary of Bazel's announcement, I reflect on my disappointment that Bazel never became a viable build system for small-time development.
www.clientserver.dev
April 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Bazel recently had the 10-year anniversary of its announcement.
I’ve used Bazel a lot, both personally and professionally. I also used Blaze when I was at Google, and it was magical.
www.clientserver.dev/p/bazel-is-t...
I’ve used Bazel a lot, both personally and professionally. I also used Blaze when I was at Google, and it was magical.
www.clientserver.dev/p/bazel-is-t...
Shopify recently announced that they expect their employees to use AI as part of their day-to-day work. They’re serious about it: they’re going to even include it in their peer feedback cycle, and it is now mandatory to use AI in the prototyping phase of projects.
Helping Shopify employees game their AI promotion criteria
Shopify's CEO just announced that AI usage is expected of employees, and they will get peer feedback on AI usage. So why not help them out and brainstorm how they can game it.
www.clientserver.dev
April 10, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Shopify recently announced that they expect their employees to use AI as part of their day-to-day work. They’re serious about it: they’re going to even include it in their peer feedback cycle, and it is now mandatory to use AI in the prototyping phase of projects.
Several CEOs have declared “you shouldn’t learn to code” in several different ways. These proclamations range in severity from “coding and all related activities will be done by AI systems” to “you should not learn to code now.”
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-should...
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-should...
You should obviously still learn to code (if you want to)
Coding is one of the easy parts of being a software engineer. There are a whole host of coding-related activities and specialties that will be important for the foreseeable future.
www.clientserver.dev
April 7, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Several CEOs have declared “you shouldn’t learn to code” in several different ways. These proclamations range in severity from “coding and all related activities will be done by AI systems” to “you should not learn to code now.”
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-should...
www.clientserver.dev/p/you-should...
I need to update my handle to @clientserver.dev. I keep forgetting to do the DNS record changes because I don't use Bluesky a ton.
Client/Server | Jacob Voytko | Substack
A staff software engineer's view on current events, tech trends, and the occasional rant. Click to read Client/Server, by Jacob Voytko, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
clientserver.dev
April 3, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I need to update my handle to @clientserver.dev. I keep forgetting to do the DNS record changes because I don't use Bluesky a ton.
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
In case you just want to bury yourself in engineering blogs today...here are Piotr's latest picks for writethat.blog
- Choosing languages- @steveklabnik.com
- Why Fastdoom is fast- @fabinou.bsky.social
- War story: the hardest bug I ever debugged- @bitlog.com
...
- Choosing languages- @steveklabnik.com
- Why Fastdoom is fast- @fabinou.bsky.social
- War story: the hardest bug I ever debugged- @bitlog.com
...
April 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
In case you just want to bury yourself in engineering blogs today...here are Piotr's latest picks for writethat.blog
- Choosing languages- @steveklabnik.com
- Why Fastdoom is fast- @fabinou.bsky.social
- War story: the hardest bug I ever debugged- @bitlog.com
...
- Choosing languages- @steveklabnik.com
- Why Fastdoom is fast- @fabinou.bsky.social
- War story: the hardest bug I ever debugged- @bitlog.com
...
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.
April 2, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.
I just hit a milestone with my newsletter this week: 100 free subscribers to my newsletter. It's Client/Server, at www.clientserver.dev
March 29, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I just hit a milestone with my newsletter this week: 100 free subscribers to my newsletter. It's Client/Server, at www.clientserver.dev
I'll believe these people when they stop having open engineering positions on their careers page
jobs.ashbyhq.com/replit
jobs.ashbyhq.com/replit
March 29, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I'll believe these people when they stop having open engineering positions on their careers page
jobs.ashbyhq.com/replit
jobs.ashbyhq.com/replit
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
I built a Playstacean!
March 21, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I built a Playstacean!
We have a big problem today: people cheat on their coding interviews using LLMs, and LLMs do a better job every year of answering bog standard interview questions. People really do this. This is happening today.
www.clientserver.dev/p/allow-cand...
www.clientserver.dev/p/allow-cand...
Allow candidates to use LLMs in job interviews
If you interview people remotely for software engineering positions, then you need a strategy to deal with people cheating by using LLMs. One option is letting them do it and adjust your questions.
www.clientserver.dev
March 20, 2025 at 4:31 PM
We have a big problem today: people cheat on their coding interviews using LLMs, and LLMs do a better job every year of answering bog standard interview questions. People really do this. This is happening today.
www.clientserver.dev/p/allow-cand...
www.clientserver.dev/p/allow-cand...
In this post, I look at the recent "kill switch" developer and rate his sabotage methods. How good were they? How likely was he to get caught? Were the methods themselves interesting? How well did he implement them?
Rating the "kill switch" guy's sabotage methods
A Texas-based software engineer was convicted of several different methods of sabotaging his former employer's computers. How good were they? I'll be the judge.
www.clientserver.dev
March 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
In this post, I look at the recent "kill switch" developer and rate his sabotage methods. How good were they? How likely was he to get caught? Were the methods themselves interesting? How well did he implement them?
Reposted by Jacob Voytko
Haskell is a language that has the elegance of typing with your elbows while listening to math rock
We need some variety on the timeline. Quote this with a take that has nothing to do with politics
March 15, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Haskell is a language that has the elegance of typing with your elbows while listening to math rock
I wrote a post about the recent Citigroup extreme overpayments. In one situation, they credited their customer's account with trillions of dollars. In another, billions. I wrote a post about this from the lens of "human factors" research - www.clientserver.dev/p/citigroup-...
Citigroup and extreme overpayments
In two separate incidents in April, Citigroup employees sent incorrect values to customers. The incidents are an interesting study in ergonomics.
www.clientserver.dev
March 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
I wrote a post about the recent Citigroup extreme overpayments. In one situation, they credited their customer's account with trillions of dollars. In another, billions. I wrote a post about this from the lens of "human factors" research - www.clientserver.dev/p/citigroup-...
Oddly, the DST transition has been easier with a toddler than without. Our toddler tends to wake up early anyway. Her "early wakeup" was exactly at 7am today. Surprise, you thought you were ruining our day but now you're prepared for the daycare nap schedule tomorrow.
March 9, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Oddly, the DST transition has been easier with a toddler than without. Our toddler tends to wake up early anyway. Her "early wakeup" was exactly at 7am today. Surprise, you thought you were ruining our day but now you're prepared for the daycare nap schedule tomorrow.