Best of Career — September 2025

1
Article
System Design Newsletter·35w
7 Best Practices for API Design 🔥
Seven essential practices for designing robust APIs: REST fundamentals for organizing data resources, proper error handling with clear status codes, API versioning for backward compatibility, rate limiting to prevent abuse, pagination techniques (offset vs cursor) for large datasets, idempotency to avoid duplicate processing, and filtering/sorting for efficient data retrieval. Each practice includes implementation details and trade-offs to consider.
673
19
2
Article
daily.dev World·35w
10,000 developers have uploaded their CV to daily.dev
daily.dev has launched a new developer-focused hiring platform where 10,000 developers have already uploaded their CVs. The platform aims to solve common recruiting problems by offering private matching, spam-free communication, and developer control over the process. Unlike traditional job boards, it integrates into the daily.dev platform where developers already engage with content, allowing career opportunities to find them organically without unsolicited contact or pressure.
145
39
3
Article
Javarevisited·35w
How ByteByteGo Helps You Transition from Senior Engineer to Architect?
ByteByteGo offers structured learning paths for senior engineers transitioning to software architect roles through visual system design guides, real-world case studies, and comprehensive coverage of architectural concepts. The platform provides systematic progression from basic concepts like load balancing and caching to advanced topics like sharding and consensus protocols, helping engineers develop the system-level mindset required for architecture positions.
141
1
4
Article
ByteByteGo·35w
How Grab Built An Authentication System for 180+ Million Users
Grab transformed their fragmented authentication system serving 180+ million users by adopting OpenID Connect (OIDC) and implementing Dex, an open-source federated identity provider. The solution unified authentication across internal and external applications, replacing multiple custom OAuth implementations with a standardized approach. Key features include token delegation for service-to-service communication, multi-IdP failover for high availability, and single sign-on capabilities. This centralized system improved security, reduced administrative overhead, and provided a consistent user experience across Grab's ecosystem of ride-hailing, payments, and delivery services.
133
1
5
Video
CodeHead·35w
Should YOU Become a Backend Dev?
Backend development in 2025 involves managing complex microservices architectures, cloud infrastructure, AI integrations, and security concerns. While the core responsibilities remain building APIs and managing databases, developers now juggle dozens of services, navigate extensive cloud platforms like AWS, and handle AI model integrations. The role has expanded to include security engineering responsibilities, with constant focus on preventing data breaches. Despite the challenges of debugging distributed systems and handling 3 AM alerts, backend developers remain essential for keeping internet infrastructure running smoothly.
133
10
6
Article
Hacker News·33w
AI Was Supposed to Help Juniors Shine. Why Does It Mostly Make Seniors Stronger?
AI tools in software development are primarily benefiting senior developers rather than empowering juniors as initially expected. While AI excels at generating boilerplate code and automating repetitive tasks, it struggles with code review, architecture design, security considerations, and quality assessment. Senior developers can better leverage AI's strengths while avoiding its pitfalls, as they possess the experience to write effective prompts, evaluate AI-generated code, and maintain proper software architecture. The current state suggests AI is concentrating power among experts rather than democratizing coding skills.
122
29
7
Article
Hacker News·34w
Magical systems thinking
Complex systems resist deliberate design and fight back against imposed changes, following Le Chatelier's Principle from chemistry. Successful systems like the electric grid and internet evolved from simple working prototypes through iteration, not comprehensive planning. Government technology failures like HealthCare.gov demonstrate the limits of systems thinking when applied to complex human systems. The key insight is Gall's Law: complex systems that work invariably evolved from simple systems that worked. Examples like Operation Warp Speed and Estonia's digital government show success comes from starting fresh with simple systems outside existing bureaucracy, not trying to fix broken complex ones.
110
6
8
Article
Work Chronicles·35w
(comic) Just the humblebrag interview question
A workplace comic that humorously depicts the common interview question that often leads to humble bragging, highlighting the awkward dynamics of job interviews where candidates try to present weaknesses as strengths.
104
1
9
Article
Hacker News·32w
How to Lead in a Room Full of Experts
Technical leadership isn't about being the smartest person in the room, but rather serving as an effective translator between different teams and perspectives. A lead developer's primary role involves bridging communication gaps between backend developers, frontend teams, and product managers while keeping everyone focused on solving the actual problem rather than getting lost in technical debates. The key skills include asking the right questions, admitting when you don't know something, and creating space for experts to contribute their best work rather than trying to out-expert them.
94
4
10
Article
Javarevisited·34w
25 Google Interview Questions for Software Engineers(with Resources)
A comprehensive collection of 25 technical interview questions commonly asked at Google for software engineering positions, organized into categories including data structures and algorithms, networking and operating systems, software design, coding and programming, and behavioral questions. The post includes specific examples like finding elements in circular sorted arrays, implementing hash tables, designing distributed systems, and solving coding challenges. It also recommends preparation resources including books like 'Introduction to Algorithms' and platforms like ByteByteGo for system design practice.
88
2
11
Article
ByteByteGo·34w
How Netflix Tudum Supports 20 Million Users With CQRS
Netflix redesigned their Tudum platform architecture to support 20 million users by replacing a traditional CQRS implementation with RAW Hollow, an in-memory object store. The original design used Kafka and Cassandra with caching layers, causing delays in editorial previews due to eventual consistency. By embedding RAW Hollow directly into microservices, they eliminated external datastores and reduced page construction time from 1.4 seconds to 0.4 seconds while enabling near-instant editorial previews. The compressed in-memory approach stores three years of data in just 130MB while maintaining strong consistency options for critical workflows.
87
1
12
Article
Javarevisited·34w
How I Combined ByteByteGo and Codemia.io to Crack System Design Interviews in 2025
A developer shares their successful strategy for system design interview preparation by combining ByteByteGo's visual learning approach with Codemia.io's hands-on practice platform. ByteByteGo provided conceptual understanding through industry-leading diagrams of real systems like Twitter and Uber, while Codemia.io offered practical experience with actual interview problems and AI-driven feedback. This dual approach helped the author secure multiple FAANG offers by mastering both theoretical concepts and practical application skills.
85
4
13
Article
Codemotion·34w
The world of programming has changed and with it the way to become a programmer
Programming has evolved from learning a single language to guarantee employment in the 1980s to navigating an overwhelming landscape of technologies, frameworks, and career paths today. The abundance of choices creates decision paralysis and impostor syndrome among developers, while AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are changing how code is written. Despite technological advances, the core skills remain curiosity, logical problem-solving, and tenacity. Modern programmers must learn to manage information overload and focus on fundamental problem-solving abilities rather than chasing every new technology.
83
14
14
Article
System Design Codex·33w
Most Important Tips for System Design Interviews
A comprehensive guide covering 23 essential principles for system design interviews, including scaling strategies (vertical then horizontal), caching for read-heavy systems, database optimization techniques, load balancing, and architectural patterns. Emphasizes the importance of clarifying requirements, considering trade-offs, and maintaining interactive communication during interviews rather than seeking perfect solutions.
77
15
Article
Zed·33w
Hired Through GitHub: Part 1 — Zed's Blog
Zed Industries shares stories of developers who joined their team through open source contributions rather than traditional hiring. The post highlights two contributors: Junkui Zhang, who became their top external contributor by implementing Windows support features, and Anthony Eid, who worked on the highly-requested debugger feature. Both developers started as community contributors, engaged through GitHub and Discord, demonstrated consistent code quality, and eventually transitioned to full-time team members after building relationships through pair programming sessions.
73
16
Article
Code Like A Girl·33w
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Switching Careers to Software Development
A personal account of transitioning from a non-technical background to software development, covering the challenges of learning to code, dealing with impostor syndrome, creating structured learning paths, and navigating the emotional aspects of tech job hunting. Emphasizes that persistence and authenticity matter more than formal credentials in the tech industry.
72
4
17
Video
bigboxSWE·34w
DEVELOPERS ARE EXHAUSTED
Developer burnout is widespread, with 30% reporting job dissatisfaction despite good pay and remote work. Key factors include AI fatigue (despite 84% usage), extreme work hours like the 996 model, difficult job market conditions, technology stack overload, and poor cloud platform user experiences. While developers still love coding (70% code outside work), they're exhausted by constantly learning repackaged concepts rather than genuinely new skills.
72
11
18
Article
The Daily WTF·35w
The Modern Job Hunt: Part 1
A personal narrative about navigating the challenging modern job market, focusing on mental health strategies and reframing techniques to cope with job search stress. The story follows Ellis as she processes rejection and uncertainty by using cognitive reframing methods, viewing her job hunt as a search algorithm navigating obstacles, and finding meaning in the struggle through potential future writing about the experience.
71
6
19
Article
Stack Overflow Blog·34w
AI vs Gen Z: How AI has changed the career pathway for junior developers
AI has dramatically disrupted the traditional career pathway for junior developers and Gen Z professionals. Entry-level tech hiring decreased 25% in 2024, with 70% of hiring managers believing AI can replace intern work. Computer science graduates now face unemployment rates of 6-7%, higher than liberal arts majors. The traditional promise of coding as a secure career path has diminished as AI tools automate many junior-level tasks. However, there's potential for adaptation as the industry evolves to create new roles that complement AI rather than compete with it.
70
7
20
Article
Javarevisited·36w
Why Software Architecture Skills Are the Key to Job Security in the Age of AI? (with Resources)
Software architecture skills provide job security as AI automates coding tasks. While AI can replace basic programming, architectural thinking—designing complex systems, making trade-offs, and guiding technical decisions—remains irreplaceable. The article promotes the Certified Professional for Software Architecture (CPSA) training as a structured path for senior engineers to transition into architect roles, highlighting significant salary increases and better career prospects for those with architecture expertise.
67
1
21
Video
CodeHead·33w
Should YOU Become A Full Stack Developer?
Full stack development involves working on both frontend and backend, offering versatility for startups and small teams but requiring constant learning across multiple technologies. While full stack developers can build complete applications and avoid bottlenecks, they risk becoming generalists without deep expertise. The path works best for those who enjoy variety and want to see the big picture, with solid salaries achievable when combining broad skills with specialized depth in one area.
59
3
22
Article
Medium·34w
Beyond the Code: Lessons That Make You Senior
A senior engineer reflects on the non-technical skills that define seniority in software development. Key lessons include prioritizing reasoning over rigid rules, verifying assumptions instead of guessing, questioning unexpected positive results, building mechanisms rather than relying on good intentions, learning to say no to protect team complexity, taking ownership of decisions, mentoring through safe failure rather than protection, favoring simplicity over cleverness, preparing for inevitable system failures, and adapting to technological changes like AI tools. The author emphasizes that seniority is about judgment, humility, and growing others rather than just technical mastery.
57
23
Article
System Design Codex·31w
How Amazon S3 Works Behind the Scenes
Amazon S3 processes millions of requests per second and stores over 350 trillion objects using a microservices architecture. The system consists of five main layers: front-end services for request handling and authentication, metadata services for object indexing, storage services using erasure coding across multiple availability zones, durability services with checksums and auditing, and security services with IAM policies and encryption. This modular approach enables independent scaling and updates while achieving 11 nines of durability.
56
24
Video
Tech With Tim·34w
Full Stack Developer Roadmap for 2025
A comprehensive roadmap for becoming a full stack developer in 2025, covering essential skills from frontend (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React) to backend (Node.js, Python, APIs) and databases (SQL, NoSQL). Emphasizes picking a specific technology stack, learning core web development concepts, mastering development tools like Git and command line, and building practical projects including CRUD applications and authentication systems. Provides a structured learning path from basics to deployment and DevOps fundamentals.
53
3
25
Article
Hacker News·33w
How I, a non-developer, read the tutorial you, a developer, wrote for me, a beginner
A humorous critique of developer tutorials from a beginner's perspective, highlighting common issues like excessive jargon, assumed knowledge, unclear instructions, and complex setup processes that make tutorials inaccessible to non-developers.
50
4

See all Career archives