· When AI makes software creation nearly effortless, deliberately slowing down—immersing yourself in the problem space—is still how real understanding gets built.
· Citing AI adoption as the reason for layoffs masks the same leadership failure behind most job cuts—and, in the long run, hurts the companies wielding it.
· Lessons from 7.5 years on call for distributed caching at Twitter—why predictability beats raw speed, why tail latency matters most, and why operational excellence comes from design, not last-minute patching.