DEV Community: Cesar Aguirre

For some moments, it felt I was talking to bots. Most likely true, if you also believe in the Dead Internet Theory. I didn't take too much time to answer questions that sound like AI.

In case you missed it, here are my favorite questions:

Before vs Now

What changed in your perspective and what makes a Senior Software Engineer...Senior?

For me, there's one true sign of being Senior: when you stop optimizing/refactoring/cleaning/perfecting because you know when a solution is good enough.

For someone specialized in a single stack and rebuilding right now, how would you think about where to invest the next couple of years?

Figuring this out myself too...The first answer that comes to mind is be a big fish in a small pond...and definitely see how to incorporate AI tools to assist your processes.

And what helped you separate real signal from the fear when you chose your own next step?

The fear is still there. I just built an insurance policy by freelancing on the side. So worst case scenario I have my basic expenses covered.

Job hunting

What core skills, structured learning paths, or key resources would you recommend to help someone stand out and land their first role?

Hope you find these posts helpful:

Cesar Aguirre

Sep 15 '25

15 Takeaways From "Breaking in the Mindset That Gets You Hired" With ALX Community

#career #coding #writing #beginners

4 min read

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 22 '24

New Developers Looking for a Mentor: Here's a (Free) Mentorship Session in 8 Lessons

#career #careerdevelopment #mentorship #beginners

5 min read

After a decade of employment, was the hardest part of the shift the money, or having no team to check your work against?

Work style. In a corporate job, most likely you're part of a team, you expect a lot of collaboration, splitting tasks, sync ups...As a freelancer/contractor, you're a lone wolf.

Which parts of the career do you miss and wish if you could keep? The parts you still loved regardless of burnout?

Oh, the problem solving part. Coding makes you feel stupid and doubt your life choices when facing an error...and the next second, it makes you feel the smartest when you solve it

Which parts you absolutely do not want, or maybe that's what led to the burnout?

The corporate world in general...and meetings...

What is your advice for someone who loves the Computer and coding but he didn't find work yet.

It's hard I know. We're in a tough market these days. I wrote something about it here:

Cesar Aguirre

May 19 '25

How to Land a Coding Job in Post-Pandemic Times—The Untraditional Way

#career #careerdevelopment #beginners #jobhunting

2 min read

Did you see the layoff coming?

Yes! It felt like the Hunger Games: making people fight until only a few stood up. These days, there's a lot of uncertainty and the easiest lever for companies to pull is letting people go. Prepare for the worst case scenario.

How did you deal with the layoff?

First I felt relieved, then I felt desperate so I went crazy applying to almost any job listing I could find. Then I decided to took some time off, I had some savings to cover my basic living expenses for a couple of months.

What would your suggestion be to someone like me, looking for a new job?

Your mileage may vary. But I've always preferred referrals and introductions from friends and acquaintances. Try to shake hands and get to know people in your network.

What lead you to choose the path of trainer/writer over finding a new developer job?

That's just something I do on the side. I still code for a living.

In your experience, did you find it nicer working for a large company, or a small company?

Smaller companies. Definitely, easier to make an impact and get yourself noticed...and ask for raises.

Where do you see the developer industry going?

It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future. I see smaller and smaller teams of full-stackish developers doing the work that used to take a whole team. And I also see the role of "AI fixers," people cleaning the mess of assistants/bots.

While after the time you got laid off, do you feel like AI is a boon, or a threat to developers?

It's not a direct threat. But it's the perfect excuse to make it look like one. Often it seems CEOs of AI startups are insurance sellers predicting a major catastrophe to make us buy their insurance policies.

Have you read Rich Dad Poor Dad?

Yes! My #1 lesson is the difference between assets and liabilities.

What books would you recommend (beyond your own), for the modern day developer?

Apart from my own...Definitely good time to revisit the classics: Clean Code, Clean Coder, Art of Unit Testing, Domain Modeling Made Functional...I tend not to buy the hype right away, and wait for the dust settle down for a bit.

Would you still choose the same path?

Yes, but not in the same way. Probably I would have taken a look at entrepreneurship earlier. The other day, I read (probably from Erik Dietrich's blog) that five years of coding experience are enough to then move to consulting/start your own thing.

When (and why) did you feel the most productive across those 10+ years? Was it a specific era, a specific team setup, or after the burnout during the sabbatical?

That was at my second job (~8 years ago) I was working with a great team and good product. I also had the chance of working literally next to my mentor.

What are you most productive in today? Has your "productive stack" changed since before the burnout?

I tend to balance my days between freelance coding and writing.

Did recovery change your personal definition of what "productive" means as an engineer?

Yes! As an engineer, I only work a fix set of hours with a hard stop at lunch. And personally, I try to do something for my body, mind, and spirit every day.

Which one currently feels like the more productive use of your time, and why?

Writing! Definitely. When you write something (unless you're journaling), you want others to see it. But in a corporate job, your bosses don't want the world to see how they do another CRUD app :P

What's one stack or architectural decision you made that you'd call "street-smart"?

I don't have a specific one now. But, any time you choose hitting a business goal over using the latest/brightest just because it sounds cool.

When you were laid off, why did you choose the path of writing instead of finding a stable job right away?

I couldn't find any job at the time. It was at the start of the hiring decline after the pandemic. I had some savings and taking some time off was an easy decision. But eventually I turned back to freelancing/contracting.

Do you think a beginner should spend years building connections and savings first, or take the risk and try while they're young?

Mmmm...I see advantages of both approaches. It's not a bad idea to take a tour thru the corporate world. It depends a lot on your financial situation, goals, and risk tolerance.

As someone who has been through industry ups and downs, burnout, and a layoff, what do you think about AI's impact on young developers?

Maybe the death of junior roles...And if we don't train juniors, where are the future seniors?

What’s your take on the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) economy and Cloudflare’s ultimatum to Google?

This is a discussion worth having. But I don't have a strong/solid opinion at the moment. It's true that we fed the bots and now they're charging it for access. Kind of weird, isn't it?

Does it change how you think about the value of web content in the agent era?

Yes! There's no more value in how-to tutorials when there's a magical text area and a button that figure out what we want. If we want to stand out, we have to give what AI can't.

Burnout

What's the one habit from before the burnout that you've deliberately refused to carry into the rebuild?

I only code for work..and I've learned to diversify my sources of joy. Before, my career was probably one of the most important parts of my life. And when I lost that with a layoff, it took away my sense of joy and accomplishment with it.

I have a question regarding burnout, what helped you overcome that period?

I was a long process on the way down...and a longer one on the way up. If I could summarize into one line: taking care of my health (by doing something for my mind, body, and spirit every day) and bringing a sense of joy/fulfillment to my life every day (I went back to some of my hobbies just for fun)

Cesar, 7 years and a trilogy out of a layoff and a FAANG rejection is a hell of a return on a bad year.

It was a tough year, but I prefer to remember it as the year I chose myself and started my reinvention.

Did the first post you wrote through it feel like therapy while you were writing it, or only in hindsight once the Top7 hit and people responded?

It was more going back to the habit and reflecting on every stage of my career. The first posts I wrote around that time were about the lessons I had learned in every milestone of my career. Hitting the Top7 and the engagement was confirmation to keep doing it.

If you don't mind me asking, have you ever experienced impostor syndrome? If so, How did you overcome it?

All the time. Find a challenge that stretches you enough out of your comfort zone to prove yourself wrong.

Starting out or already ahead on your coding journey? Check out Street-Smart Coding, the roadmap I wish I had on my journey from junior to senior.

Had a great time answering all your questions! Let me know if I should another AMA soon!

Cesar Aguirre — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:41:40 +0000

Writing therapy and a new book trilogy

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 20

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

103

105

1 min read

AMA!

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:33:39 +0000

Writing therapy and a new book trilogy

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 20

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

103

105

1 min read

Ask me anything!

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:07:52 +0000

Writing therapy and a new book trilogy

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 20

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

103

105

1 min read

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, I'm Cesar, a Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience.

In 2023, I got sick and burned out.
In 2024, I was laid off and even rejected from FAANG.

I used the time between jobs as a mini-sabbatical to recover.
Writing became part of my therapy, and dev.to was a big part of the journey.
Hitting the Top7 and encouraging comments pushed me to keep writing.

Since then, I've been turning my lessons into posts and books.
My goal is to complete a trilogy before I retire (hopefully before I'm 60).
I already published the second one, Street-Smart Coding, and I'm working on a prequel.

This week, I'm celebrating my 7-year anniversary on dev.to.
Ask me anything about coding, burnout, or writing.
I don't have all answers, tho.
Or simply stop by to say Hi.

UPDATE (July 24th): I'm officially closing this AMA. I had a great time answering your questions. I think I tried to answer all of them, or at least most of them...For some moments, it felt I was talking to bots. Most likely true, if you also believe in the dead internet theory. Next week, I'm sharing a summary of my favorite questions.

#1. Detach yourself from your code

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:01:22 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 13

7 Unconventional (But Surprisingly Effective) Ways to Get Better at Coding

#beginners #coding #programming #career

2 min read

7 Unconventional (But Surprisingly Effective) Ways to Get Better at Coding

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Junior-me was obsessed with syntax.

Ten years ago, coding only meant learning languages.
I was learning C#, keeping up with PHP, and sneaking into Python.
I thought coding was only about symbols and lines of code.

But to grow as coders, you need more than learning syntax and typing symbols.

Here are 7 unconventional ways to grow as a coder:

#1. Detach yourself from your code

You'll write simpler code and become a better teammate.
You'll let others touch, critique, and work on your code.

#2. Reinvent the wheel to learn

It forces you to read, dissect, and really understand code.

Try rebuilding one of your favorite libraries and tools, just to learn.
Once you've understood how they work, stick to the real one.

#3. Do on-call at least once

Being paged after hours isn't a pleasant experience.

But you'll learn to triage, debug, and stay calm under pressure.
And more importantly, to communicate with non-technical people.

#4. Watch House M.D.

This isn't a TV show about coders or hackers, but about doctors.

It's a masterclass in problem-solving.
You'll see how they tackle complex problems until they find a solution.
Just replace a dying patient with a coding bug.
More useful than most coding classes.

#5. Learn to write

Not lines of code, but clear, direct prose.

Writing sharpens how you present ideas and solutions.
That's why every coder should write.
And it's no surprise the higher up you climb the ladder, the less it's about coding and the more about communication.

#6. Start and monetize a side project

A side project will teach you:

Marketing and sales
How to think like a builder
Hosting and the Cloud aren't free
End users don't care about clean code

#7. Learn polite ways of saying no

You'll need this a lot.
You will have to say no to unneeded complexity, scope creep, and burnout.

If you want to stand out as a coder, you need more than mastering syntax.
Because the best coders don't just type.
They collaborate, build, and solve.
Nobody ever taught me that starting out.

If you want to grow as a coder, check out Street-Smart Coding, the roadmap I wish I had on my journey from junior to senior.

If AI can do it in minutes, it's not special.

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:42:25 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 6

The Mantra to Thrive in the AI Hype

#coding #beginners #softwaredevelopment #ai

1 min read

The Mantra to Thrive in the AI Hype

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

If AI can do it in minutes, it's not special.

AI has made coding accessible.
You don't need a degree or bootcamp to have something working.
A few prompts to an LLM can replace hours or days of work.

That's good news...and bad news.

A portfolio with the same to-do apps no longer stands out.
Anyone can do that with AI in a few minutes.
Maybe the alternative is a "build/learn in public" YouTube channel.
Or contributing to non-trivial open source projects.

A take-home challenge doesn't work for hiring.
Again. An easy task for AI.
Maybe whiteboarding interviews won't go away.
Or we're back to onsite interviews.

Only crafting clean code isn't enough

Forget about syntax, lines of code, and only crafting clean code.

Don't burn your copy of Clean Code.
You still need to tell whether what AI spits out is good code.

You need to do what AI can't:

Ownership when code breaks
Collaboration to build trust
Communication to present technical problems clearly

That's what you can't automate.
That's what makes you special.
That's what AI can't do.

Those skills worked 10 years ago and will work 10 years from now.

To help you build the skills to stand out, I wrote Street-Smart Coding—The roadmap I wish I had on my journey from junior to senior.

What would you add to the list?

Cesar Aguirre — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:26:28 +0000

The shift from code to meetings

Cesar Aguirre

Jun 8

12 Hard Truths About Coding I Learned the Hard Way After 10+ Years

#career #careerdevelopment #beginners #coding

3 min read

DEV Community: Cesar Aguirre

My favorite post from July!

In case you missed it:

I Ran an AMA on Dev.to. Here Are My Favorite Questions

Before vs Now

Job hunting

Burnout

Had a great time answering all your questions! Let me know if I should another AMA soon!

AMA!

Ask me anything!

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

#1. Detach yourself from your code

7 Unconventional (But Surprisingly Effective) Ways to Get Better at Coding

#1. Detach yourself from your code

#2. Reinvent the wheel to learn

#3. Do on-call at least once

#4. Watch House M.D.

#5. Learn to write

#6. Start and monetize a side project

#7. Learn polite ways of saying no

If AI can do it in minutes, it's not special.

The Mantra to Thrive in the AI Hype

Only crafting clean code isn't enough

What would you add to the list?