Tony Alicea
@tonyalicea.dev
Udemy & Pluralsight Instructor - The Smyth Group - https://tonyalicea.dev/courses - https://thesmythgroup.com
350,000 students and counting. Don't Imitate, Understand.
350,000 students and counting. Don't Imitate, Understand.
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Tony Alicea
@tonyalicea.dev
· 23d
(1/10) Big Announcement! I'm incredibly excited to announce a new way to learn with me and fight skill atrophy in the age of AI. Introducing All Access Mentorship.
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
The second episode of my new Don't Imitate Understand podcast is out! In it we talk about an important skill that leads and devs should have: the ability to be Abstraction Breakers.
Web dev is an ecosystem of leaky abstractions. Good architecture means understanding them. 👇
Web dev is an ecosystem of leaky abstractions. Good architecture means understanding them. 👇
November 13, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The second episode of my new Don't Imitate Understand podcast is out! In it we talk about an important skill that leads and devs should have: the ability to be Abstraction Breakers.
Web dev is an ecosystem of leaky abstractions. Good architecture means understanding them. 👇
Web dev is an ecosystem of leaky abstractions. Good architecture means understanding them. 👇
You get new things from an LLM. You just never get anything novel. There's a difference.
November 12, 2025 at 8:48 PM
You get new things from an LLM. You just never get anything novel. There's a difference.
There's a big difference between junior devs and AI. Junior devs learn.
October 31, 2025 at 8:05 PM
There's a big difference between junior devs and AI. Junior devs learn.
Don't get fooled by Agentic hype. It's just LLMs in a loop, maybe with tools. Useful, but still the same unreliable LLMs under-the-hood.
Plus, with every loop iteration you compound probabilities that the LLM goes off the rails.
Agent with care.
Plus, with every loop iteration you compound probabilities that the LLM goes off the rails.
Agent with care.
October 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Don't get fooled by Agentic hype. It's just LLMs in a loop, maybe with tools. Useful, but still the same unreliable LLMs under-the-hood.
Plus, with every loop iteration you compound probabilities that the LLM goes off the rails.
Agent with care.
Plus, with every loop iteration you compound probabilities that the LLM goes off the rails.
Agent with care.
There are endless tutorials on how to start coding, but almost none on what comes after.
How to lead, communicate, interview for architect roles, or organize teams around LLMs.
That’s what I’m building with All-Access Mentorship and Live Coaching for experienced devs.
How to lead, communicate, interview for architect roles, or organize teams around LLMs.
That’s what I’m building with All-Access Mentorship and Live Coaching for experienced devs.
October 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
There are endless tutorials on how to start coding, but almost none on what comes after.
How to lead, communicate, interview for architect roles, or organize teams around LLMs.
That’s what I’m building with All-Access Mentorship and Live Coaching for experienced devs.
How to lead, communicate, interview for architect roles, or organize teams around LLMs.
That’s what I’m building with All-Access Mentorship and Live Coaching for experienced devs.
(1/10) Big Announcement! I'm incredibly excited to announce a new way to learn with me and fight skill atrophy in the age of AI. Introducing All Access Mentorship.
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
October 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
(1/10) Big Announcement! I'm incredibly excited to announce a new way to learn with me and fight skill atrophy in the age of AI. Introducing All Access Mentorship.
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
It's a way to save money on courses from me, connect live every month, plus lots of other perks: 👇
Current status: Recording my new course on AI-assisted development. Tool agnostic, we derive best practices from first principles and talk how to integrate LLM-generated code into professional software dev lifecycles.
October 20, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Current status: Recording my new course on AI-assisted development. Tool agnostic, we derive best practices from first principles and talk how to integrate LLM-generated code into professional software dev lifecycles.
Task decomposition has long been a marked skill of any good software architect or designer. That's no different in the age of LLM-generated code.
October 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Task decomposition has long been a marked skill of any good software architect or designer. That's no different in the age of LLM-generated code.
Reposted by Tony Alicea
Studying React Server Components in depth for a paper, and as with all things, there is fascinating stuff there when you dive deeper. Some great resources:
Server Component RFC:
github.com/reactjs/rfcs...
Understanding React Server Components by @tonyalicea.dev:
tonyalicea.dev/blog/underst...
Server Component RFC:
github.com/reactjs/rfcs...
Understanding React Server Components by @tonyalicea.dev:
tonyalicea.dev/blog/underst...
github.com
October 18, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Studying React Server Components in depth for a paper, and as with all things, there is fascinating stuff there when you dive deeper. Some great resources:
Server Component RFC:
github.com/reactjs/rfcs...
Understanding React Server Components by @tonyalicea.dev:
tonyalicea.dev/blog/underst...
Server Component RFC:
github.com/reactjs/rfcs...
Understanding React Server Components by @tonyalicea.dev:
tonyalicea.dev/blog/underst...
Been working on the ePub version of my Normal UI book. If you buy the PDF book now you'll get the ePub later. Companion video course is on sale. tonyalicea.dev/normalui/
Normal UI - How Non-Designers Can Make Their Web Apps Easier to Use | Tony Alicea
A book and video series by Tony Alicea
tonyalicea.dev
October 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Been working on the ePub version of my Normal UI book. If you buy the PDF book now you'll get the ePub later. Companion video course is on sale. tonyalicea.dev/normalui/
The response to my offer of live coaching has been shocking and touching. I wrote a bit about it: tonyalicea.dev/blog/coaching/
I've Started Offering Live Coaching. | Tony Alicea
After over a decade of producing online courses, I'm enjoying connecting with real people live.
tonyalicea.dev
October 15, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The response to my offer of live coaching has been shocking and touching. I wrote a bit about it: tonyalicea.dev/blog/coaching/
In the age of AI, we need a replacement for Agile. Here's my pitch for one. tonyalicea.dev/blog/cascade...
Not Agile. Not Waterfall. With AI It's Cascades. | Tony Alicea
Introducing Cascade Methodology - Software Development Methodology in the Age of AI
tonyalicea.dev
October 15, 2025 at 1:34 PM
In the age of AI, we need a replacement for Agile. Here's my pitch for one. tonyalicea.dev/blog/cascade...
Huge positive news for the React community.
React and React Native are moving out of Meta and into Linux Foundation.
engineering.fb.com/2025/10/07/o...
React and React Native are moving out of Meta and into Linux Foundation.
engineering.fb.com/2025/10/07/o...
Introducing the React Foundation: The New Home for React & React Native
Meta open-sourced React over a decade ago to help developers build better user experiences. Since then, React has grown into one of the world’s most popular open source projects, powering over 50 m…
engineering.fb.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Huge positive news for the React community.
React and React Native are moving out of Meta and into Linux Foundation.
engineering.fb.com/2025/10/07/o...
React and React Native are moving out of Meta and into Linux Foundation.
engineering.fb.com/2025/10/07/o...
(1/3) In the age of AI, it's personal connection that will be the differentiator. Connection with your users, your stakeholders, your teammates, your instructors, your bosses, your employees. 🧵
October 6, 2025 at 6:11 PM
(1/3) In the age of AI, it's personal connection that will be the differentiator. Connection with your users, your stakeholders, your teammates, your instructors, your bosses, your employees. 🧵
Cascade Methodology is a replacement for Agile in the age of AI. I’m excited to say there is now an official GitHub repo to discuss and ask questions, and where I’ll be working on a book out in the open.
If the methodology interests you, starring the repo is much appreciated! 👇
If the methodology interests you, starring the repo is much appreciated! 👇
September 8, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Cascade Methodology is a replacement for Agile in the age of AI. I’m excited to say there is now an official GitHub repo to discuss and ask questions, and where I’ll be working on a book out in the open.
If the methodology interests you, starring the repo is much appreciated! 👇
If the methodology interests you, starring the repo is much appreciated! 👇
1/4 LLMs have changed software development. They can generate features in minutes that once took days, and large amounts of code that's subtly wrong.
Our development methodologies need to catch up. 🧵
Our development methodologies need to catch up. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM
1/4 LLMs have changed software development. They can generate features in minutes that once took days, and large amounts of code that's subtly wrong.
Our development methodologies need to catch up. 🧵
Our development methodologies need to catch up. 🧵
The prototype a PM produces with an LLM is communication, not design.
Much goes into good UX: workflow design, HCI principles, usability heuristics.
Don’t skip these skills just because something looks done. Don’t put your UX designer back into “just make it pretty” fail mode.
Much goes into good UX: workflow design, HCI principles, usability heuristics.
Don’t skip these skills just because something looks done. Don’t put your UX designer back into “just make it pretty” fail mode.
August 22, 2025 at 6:38 PM
The prototype a PM produces with an LLM is communication, not design.
Much goes into good UX: workflow design, HCI principles, usability heuristics.
Don’t skip these skills just because something looks done. Don’t put your UX designer back into “just make it pretty” fail mode.
Much goes into good UX: workflow design, HCI principles, usability heuristics.
Don’t skip these skills just because something looks done. Don’t put your UX designer back into “just make it pretty” fail mode.
There are two kinds of 80s/90s kids. Those who think Beakman is better than Bill Nye, and those who think Bill Nye is better than Beakman.
I'm in the Beakman camp. I cannot be swayed from this position.
I'm in the Beakman camp. I cannot be swayed from this position.
August 20, 2025 at 1:44 PM
There are two kinds of 80s/90s kids. Those who think Beakman is better than Bill Nye, and those who think Bill Nye is better than Beakman.
I'm in the Beakman camp. I cannot be swayed from this position.
I'm in the Beakman camp. I cannot be swayed from this position.
With LLMs, there is even more reason for a web UX designer to learn HTML and CSS. You will basically have superpowers for user research, iteration, and design artifact generation.
August 7, 2025 at 2:29 PM
With LLMs, there is even more reason for a web UX designer to learn HTML and CSS. You will basically have superpowers for user research, iteration, and design artifact generation.
So making AI features has us back to doing lots of string building like the old days. Anyone miss Perl?
August 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
So making AI features has us back to doing lots of string building like the old days. Anyone miss Perl?
LLMs won't replace skilled engineers. But as organizations shortsightedly replace junior devs, LLMs may make it harder to find new skilled engineers in the future.
August 6, 2025 at 1:04 PM
LLMs won't replace skilled engineers. But as organizations shortsightedly replace junior devs, LLMs may make it harder to find new skilled engineers in the future.
I'm sorry but all these 10x agentic coding stories of a single dev getting a ton of code pushed...reviewing code *takes time* (tests or no tests). Performance, logic, edge cases, etc. all need human eyes at some point.
10x technical debt is not the flex you think it is.
10x technical debt is not the flex you think it is.
July 28, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I'm sorry but all these 10x agentic coding stories of a single dev getting a ton of code pushed...reviewing code *takes time* (tests or no tests). Performance, logic, edge cases, etc. all need human eyes at some point.
10x technical debt is not the flex you think it is.
10x technical debt is not the flex you think it is.
The must-have skill for getting the best output from AI has actually been around for a long time. It's called "information architecture".
Good context/prompt engineering is just information architecture for language models.
Good context/prompt engineering is just information architecture for language models.
July 23, 2025 at 12:26 AM
The must-have skill for getting the best output from AI has actually been around for a long time. It's called "information architecture".
Good context/prompt engineering is just information architecture for language models.
Good context/prompt engineering is just information architecture for language models.
I think 'context engineering' and 'prompt engineering' set poor mental models for doing it well. A better term, for a number of reasons, would be 'context authoring'.
I feel like writing a blog post on this.
I feel like writing a blog post on this.
July 16, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I think 'context engineering' and 'prompt engineering' set poor mental models for doing it well. A better term, for a number of reasons, would be 'context authoring'.
I feel like writing a blog post on this.
I feel like writing a blog post on this.
Change happens. New tools appear. AI is the latest (huge) example of that.
As change blows through, I believe that fundamental understanding is an anchor. The safest most assured way to have a long, enjoyable dev career.
That's why I teach what I teach the way I teach it.
As change blows through, I believe that fundamental understanding is an anchor. The safest most assured way to have a long, enjoyable dev career.
That's why I teach what I teach the way I teach it.
July 16, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Change happens. New tools appear. AI is the latest (huge) example of that.
As change blows through, I believe that fundamental understanding is an anchor. The safest most assured way to have a long, enjoyable dev career.
That's why I teach what I teach the way I teach it.
As change blows through, I believe that fundamental understanding is an anchor. The safest most assured way to have a long, enjoyable dev career.
That's why I teach what I teach the way I teach it.