[MM’s] Engineering Weekly #29 — Engineering in the Age of AI
What 25 years at Amazon teaches us about new tech, plus a look at Jackson 3 in Spring and the art of saying ‘no’.
🎯 Featured Article
Development Gets Better with Age
After 25 years at Amazon, an experienced engineer reflects on how longevity in the field sharpens judgment, pattern recognition and problem-solving.
⬢ Experience enhances foresight and creativity in complex systems.
⬢ Veteran developers can guide responsible generative AI adoption.
⏩ TL;DR (Quick Recap)
⬢ Experience enables pattern recognition and long-term perspective.
⬢ AI adoption requires discernment, not hype.
⬢ Continuous learning keeps seasoned developers sharp.
⬢ Mentorship bridges knowledge between generations.
☕ JVM Corner
Faster Than Ever: Hibernate Validator 9.1 Performance
⬢ Optimized loop detection and reduced bean-tracking overhead.
⬢ Benchmarks show measurable validation speedups.
JUnit 6.0.0 Release Notes
JUnit 6.0.0 adopts Java 17 and Kotlin 2.2 baselines with JFR integration.
⬢ Deprecated APIs removed, nullability annotations standardized.
⬢ Stronger alignment with modern JVM tooling.
What’s in a Parameter Name?
Parameter naming remains vital for frameworks depending on convention over configuration.
⬢ Explains metadata differences between Java and Kotlin.
⬢ Highlights impact on frameworks like Spring MVC.
Ktor 3.3 Roadmap
Introduces OpenAPI, WebRTC and gRPC previews for real-time, multiplatform APIs.
⬢ Simplified service discovery and enhanced documentation support.
⬢ Expands Ktor’s reach into distributed, event-driven systems.
🍃 Spring Updates
Introducing Jackson 3 Support in Spring
Spring Boot 4 integrates Jackson 3 for improved JSON processing and compatibility.
⬢ JDK 17 baseline and side-by-side usage support.
⬢ Improved handling of JSON views and annotations.
Transactions and ThreadLocal in Spring
Examines how Loom’s virtual threads challenge Spring’s ThreadLocal transaction model.
⬢ Loom’s design breaks assumptions in current transaction handling.
⬢ Points to future architectural changes in Spring’s core.
The Interviewer Tried to Trick Me in a Spring Boot Interview
A practical walk through of Spring Boot fundamentals from a real interview scenario.
⬢ Covers controller annotations, autowiring and transaction behavior.
⬢ Highlights value of applied knowledge in real projects.
🔍 Extra Reads
💡 AI & Engineering
🤖 AI Is Writing 90% of the Code — Real-world reflection on AI-generated infrastructure code in production.
🧠 Effective Context Engineering for AI Agents — Managing finite context windows in AI agent design.
📈 ChatGPT Driving 20% of Walmart’s Traffic — How chatbots are reshaping e-commerce referral patterns.
⚙️ Vibe Engineering — Fast, AI-driven development with minimal structure.
🧩 Software Practice & Culture
🎨 What Is “Good Taste” in Software Engineering? — How judgment and trade-offs define technical maturity.
🏗️ Seeing Like a Software Company — How legibility and structure influence organizational efficiency.
🚫 Hiring Only Senior Engineers Is the Worst Policy — Why mentoring juniors is a strategic advantage.
📰 Nine HTTP Edge Cases Every API Developer Should Know — Common pitfalls in HTTP behavior under real-world load.
🧠 Tools, Learning & Craft
🧰 How Java OSS Projects Use IntelliJ IDEA (Part 2) — Patterns from open-source projects that boost build speed and testing.
📚 A Deep Dive into the RSS Feed Reader Landscape — Comparing tools for modern content aggregation.
⚒️ You’re Doing Rails Wrong — A debate on modern vs minimalist Rails setups.
💬 You’ve Been Lied To: 13 Programming Myths — Debunking persistent myths in software culture.
🌱 Personal Growth
💪 10,000 Pushups and Other Silly Quests — A reflection on incremental discipline and motivation.
🗣️ An Opinionated Critique of Duolingo — Why gamified learning doesn’t always equal progress.
💬 Saying No Is Not a Free Action — Managing boundaries and focus in complex engineering teams.
🧭 The Software Essays That Shaped Me — Essays that changed one engineer’s thinking about the craft.
Originally posted on marconak-matej.medium.com.