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codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby
@codingwithroby.bsky.social
12 followers 9 following 69 posts
Software Engineer | Python | AI Nerd | Good Person to Know https://www.codingwithroby.com/newsletters/python-brain-bytes
www.codingwithroby.com
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codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 21
What’s the one concept that took you way too long to finally understand as an engineer?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 21
What’s more dangerous: poor documentation or poor naming?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 20
How much of your coding today is influenced by AI tools vs your own experience?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 20
The best backend engineering feels invisible.

And that’s the point.

No one praises the API that works.
Or the system that scales under pressure.
Or the database that returns queries in milliseconds.

But behind that simplicity?

• Careful tradeoffs.
• Thoughtful architecture.
codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 19
How do you know you’ve “leveled up” as an engineer?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 19
If LLMs become perfect at writing code, what part of engineering can’t be replaced?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 19
You won’t always know why something broke.

But as a backend engineer, you better know how to find out.

Because something will break:
• A deployment fails.
• An API suddenly returns 500s.
• A background job uses too much memory.

Great ones will know how to debug anything.
codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 18
Do you still manually write SQL queries or rely entirely on ORMs?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 18
What’s one “best practice” you’ve seen backfire in real projects?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 18
How does your company track if a software engineer is good or not?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 17
What’s a popular software engineering best practice you disagree with?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 17
What’s the most important quality of a senior engineer (that isn’t technical)?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 17
Great backend engineers aren’t built overnight.

They’re built through repetition, patience, and consistency.

Everyone wants results.

But few are consistent enough to earn them.

Because in backend engineering, consistency is the cheat code.
codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 16
If coding becomes 10x faster thanks to AI, what becomes the new bottleneck?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 16
What’s one thing AI still can’t do that makes you valuable as a developer?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 16
Good backend engineers build features.

Great ones build confidence.

Confidence that the system will scale.
Confidence that edge cases are handled.
Confidence that if something breaks, it won’t take the app down.

Because backend engineering isn’t just about building what works.
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 15
Do you think daily standups actually help engineers get more done?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 15
Do you think pair programming is actually helpful?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 15
Most people don’t fail to learn backend engineering.

They just never start.

They wait for:
• The “perfect” tutorial.
• The “right” course.
• More free time.

But the engineers who grow?

They start messy. Start small. But they start.
codingwithroby.bsky.social
Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 14
What’s the most underrated skill for a senior engineer?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 13
If AI keeps improving, what will backend engineers focus on 5 years from now?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 12
Do you think a 10x engineer is a myth or anyone can achieve this?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 12
When I hire entry-level developers, I look for just 3 things:

1. Do you have strong backend fundamentals?
2. What past projects can you share?
3. Are you someone I’d want to work with every day?

If you can demonstrate these, you’ll move on to the next round.

It’s not about a perfect resume.
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 12
How do you balance deep work with meetings as an engineer?
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Eric Roby @codingwithroby.bsky.social · Jul 11
Do you think remote work makes software engineers more productive, or more distracted?
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