Nelson da Costa
@baruica.bsky.social
Navigating socio-technical systems by going back and forth in the engineer/manager pendulum (https://tinyurl.com/mshhjety).
Interests: systems thinking, XP, DDD, Team Topologies, Wardley maps
https://github.com/baruica
https://mastodon.social/@baruica
Interests: systems thinking, XP, DDD, Team Topologies, Wardley maps
https://github.com/baruica
https://mastodon.social/@baruica
What Actually Makes You Senior terriblesoftware.org/2025/11/25/w...
What Actually Makes You Senior
The one skill that separates senior engineers from everyone else isn’t technical. It’s the ability to take ambiguous problems and make them concrete.Retry
terriblesoftware.org
November 27, 2025 at 10:27 AM
What Actually Makes You Senior terriblesoftware.org/2025/11/25/w...
Hotelling's Law
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
Hotelling's Law
Or why your streaming services are all looking the same.
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Hotelling's Law
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
Recently heard this on Lenny's podcast:
"The only ones who'll remember you working late are your kids"
"The only ones who'll remember you working late are your kids"
November 20, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Recently heard this on Lenny's podcast:
"The only ones who'll remember you working late are your kids"
"The only ones who'll remember you working late are your kids"
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.
October 16, 2025 at 1:36 AM
AOC: And they are able to radicalize a generation of young boys in particular, away from healthy masculinity and into an insecure masculinity that requires the domination of others who are poorer, browner, darker, or a different gender than them.
Stop Avoiding Politics terriblesoftware.org/2025/10/01/s...
Stop Avoiding Politics
Most engineers think workplace politics is dirty. They’re wrong. Refusing to play politics doesn’t make you noble; it makes you ineffective.
terriblesoftware.org
October 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Stop Avoiding Politics terriblesoftware.org/2025/10/01/s...
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
Claude told me that it doesn't automatically load CLAUDE.md files, despite the docs saying so.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
September 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Claude told me that it doesn't automatically load CLAUDE.md files, despite the docs saying so.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
When I asked why it contradicted its own docs, it went and scanned them (consuming loads of tokens) and told me I was correct and it was wrong.
You really can't trust this thing.
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
When you die, what is the last part of your body to stop working?
Your pupils. They dilate.
Your pupils. They dilate.
September 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
When you die, what is the last part of your body to stop working?
Your pupils. They dilate.
Your pupils. They dilate.
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
This amazing video makes me think again that someone needs to build a BlueSky and Twitter account that literally just republishes all the cartoons, comedy sketches and radio shows mocking Trump from around the world.
September 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
This amazing video makes me think again that someone needs to build a BlueSky and Twitter account that literally just republishes all the cartoons, comedy sketches and radio shows mocking Trump from around the world.
Bullshit Detectors
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
Bullshit Detectors
Tools to build BS filters
open.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Bullshit Detectors
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
open.substack.com/pub/fffej/p/...
Time Allocation ≠ Capacity Allocation
open.substack.com/pub/cutlefis...
open.substack.com/pub/cutlefis...
TBM 377: Time Allocation ≠ Capacity Allocation
Spoiler: the concept of capacity allocation is fraught with misunderstanding, and companies waste a lot of money (and do a lot of damage) by mistaking time allocation for capacity allocation.
open.substack.com
September 8, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Time Allocation ≠ Capacity Allocation
open.substack.com/pub/cutlefis...
open.substack.com/pub/cutlefis...
Check your context randsinrepose.com/archives/che...
Check Your Context
I didn't much like Wally from the first time I met him. We worked in the same circles, but not on the same projects. I was aware of his work, but not involved or dependent on it. My initial reaction t...
randsinrepose.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Check your context randsinrepose.com/archives/che...
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
New blog post: Growing other developers as a staff engineer
Alternative title: How I use the Dreyfus skills model to help other engineers progress.
barryosull.com/blog/growing...
Alternative title: How I use the Dreyfus skills model to help other engineers progress.
barryosull.com/blog/growing...
Growing other developers as a staff engineer
I was recently asked how I, as a staff engineer, work with and upskill other developers on my team. It was a great question, and I thought I'd write down a longer form version of the answer I gave.
A...
barryosull.com
September 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
New blog post: Growing other developers as a staff engineer
Alternative title: How I use the Dreyfus skills model to help other engineers progress.
barryosull.com/blog/growing...
Alternative title: How I use the Dreyfus skills model to help other engineers progress.
barryosull.com/blog/growing...
The PM Litmus Test bloomt.org/p/the-pm-lit...
The PM Litmus Test
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something
bloomt.org
August 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The PM Litmus Test bloomt.org/p/the-pm-lit...
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
TrunkVer is a nice tool for generating version numbers on GitHub Actions.
from my friends Raimo and Krys
trunkver.org/
from my friends Raimo and Krys
trunkver.org/
TrunkVer
TrunkVer is a SemVer-compatible versioning scheme for continuously-delivered, trunk-based applications and systems that don't follow a release scheme.
trunkver.org
August 27, 2025 at 12:44 PM
TrunkVer is a nice tool for generating version numbers on GitHub Actions.
from my friends Raimo and Krys
trunkver.org/
from my friends Raimo and Krys
trunkver.org/
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
I literally had a conversation with one of the managers I work with where I asked him point blank: “if I brought you results that changed every time you looked at them, how would you feel about that?”
He said he wouldn’t trust them.
Then I asked him why he was trusting ChatGPT results.
He said he wouldn’t trust them.
Then I asked him why he was trusting ChatGPT results.
August 5, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I literally had a conversation with one of the managers I work with where I asked him point blank: “if I brought you results that changed every time you looked at them, how would you feel about that?”
He said he wouldn’t trust them.
Then I asked him why he was trusting ChatGPT results.
He said he wouldn’t trust them.
Then I asked him why he was trusting ChatGPT results.
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
2 MILLIONS de signatures contre la loi Duplomb, c'est extraordinaire ! Désormais on vise 2,4 millions pour que cette pétition devienne la pétition la plus signée de France.
PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ !
petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...
PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ !
petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...
July 28, 2025 at 5:46 AM
2 MILLIONS de signatures contre la loi Duplomb, c'est extraordinaire ! Désormais on vise 2,4 millions pour que cette pétition devienne la pétition la plus signée de France.
PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ !
petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...
PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ, PARTAGEZ !
petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/...
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
Using a builder to create your mocks is a clear signal that you are doing something wrong and should start looking for an alternative solution.
(And that solution is probably an abstraction using domain language)
(And that solution is probably an abstraction using domain language)
July 25, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Using a builder to create your mocks is a clear signal that you are doing something wrong and should start looking for an alternative solution.
(And that solution is probably an abstraction using domain language)
(And that solution is probably an abstraction using domain language)
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
My wife told me to take the spider out instead of killing it...
So I did. We had a few drinks, pretty cool guy, said he works as a web developer.
So I did. We had a few drinks, pretty cool guy, said he works as a web developer.
July 24, 2025 at 9:07 PM
My wife told me to take the spider out instead of killing it...
So I did. We had a few drinks, pretty cool guy, said he works as a web developer.
So I did. We had a few drinks, pretty cool guy, said he works as a web developer.
Reposted by Nelson da Costa
The government is going to release Half Life 3 before they release the Epstein files
July 22, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The government is going to release Half Life 3 before they release the Epstein files