Simon Willison's blog offers a mix of technical tutorials, data analysis projects, and reflections on technology and society. With a focus on Python, SQL, and web development, Simon shares insights into building web applications, working with data, and exploring emerging technologies. Developers can learn about data visualization, API design, and software engineering best practices, gaining inspiration and practical knowledge to advance their careers.

Simon Willison

Software engineers must deliver proven, working code rather than untested contributions. This requires both manual testing (seeing the code work yourself, documenting steps, testing edge cases) and automated testing (bundling tests with changes). With AI coding agents like Claude Code, developers should train these tools to prove their changes work through testing before submission. The human developer remains accountable for ensuring code quality and providing evidence that changes function correctly.

Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work

<p>This is the standard of rigor for anyone aspiring to be considered professional.</p>


<p>Agreeable, but huge caveats. The companies aren’t split in two, the bright IT guys and the monkey accounting department. The developer is often the less informed person in the room, and while non IT at least know what they want, they also know of business processes that the dev might not be informed of. Seen that all the time. A possibile balance is to work together with non tech savy people who know the platform they’re working on, and see if there can be any “middle ground” for collaboration. Responsibility is fair when shared</p>
