The MM Software Engineer’s Insights #7 — May 12th, 2025
A weekly digest of interesting reads for software engineers.
Staying up-to-date in software engineering can be a challenge. Here are some recent articles and trends to keep you informed.
Java & JVM Ecosystem
- Instance Main Methods Move from Preview to Final in JDK 25: “The primary goal is to provide beginners with an accessible entry into the Java language, while also enabling experienced developers to craft scripts and prototypes with significantly reduced ceremony.”
- Strings Just Got Faster: “In JDK 25, the performance of the class String is improved in such a way that the String::hashCode function is mostly constant foldable.”
- Easily query SQL and NoSQL databases in your Java application with one single language: “Querity, an open-source Java query builder for SQL and NoSQL, is introduced.”
Performance & Optimization
- Why performance optimization is hard work: “Performance optimization is hard because it’s fundamentally a brute-force task, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
- Why did Windows 7, for a few months, log on slower if you have a solid color background?: “Why is logon slower with a solid background?”
- Microservices Are a Tax Your Startup Probably Can’t Afford: “Why splitting your codebase too early can quietly destroy your team’s velocity — and what to do instead.”
System Architecture & Engineering
- How Discord Indexes Trillions of Messages: “Message search system to index billions of messages.”
- Life Altering Postgresql Patterns: “Small improvements in Postgres database usage significantly enhance productivity.”
- Getting things “done” in large tech companies: “Programming large web applications is like planting a tree, requiring ongoing maintenance and improvement.”
Career, Culture & Management
- Senior engineers should make side bets: “What is a side bet? It’s a project or task that you think will be valuable to the company, but that isn’t on anyone else’s radar.”
- Why are big tech companies so slow?: “Big tech companies spend a lot of time and money building things that a single, motivated engineer could build in a weekend.”
- Escaping the “bro” bubble: Why toxic bro culture still holds teams back: “Bro culture isn’t just cringey — it’s exclusion in disguise.”
- I just want to code: “Internal conflict: coding for fun versus coding for profit.”
- 9 Management Habits Quietly Burning Out Your Best Engineers: “Burnout in engineering teams is rarely caused by a single event. Instead, it’s the result of persistent, often overlooked management habits that quietly erode motivation, well-being, and performance.”
- Why some creators are returning to traditional jobs and side hustles as brand deals slow: “The transition from viral influencer to a full-time career as a creator has always been tough — but with greater economic pressure, some are realizing the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.”
AI & Emerging Tech
- Sycophancy is the first LLM “dark pattern”: “OpenAI models, particularly GPT-4o, are overly sycophantic, praising users excessively.”
- Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview: “Even better coding performance.”
- AI is getting “creepy good” at geo-guessing: “AI can guess locations from background photos and audio clues.”
- Deno’s Decline: “6 Regions and Falling.”
Originally posted on marconak-matej.medium.com.