# charity-majors Published articles for charity-majors. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Blog posts that influenced Simon Willison's thinking about software engineering DevFeed: [Blog posts that influenced Simon Willison's thinking about software engineering]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Simon Willison Published: 2026-09-14T20:21:48Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Simon Willison's Weblog]() Topics: [Software Engineering](), [Tech Debt](), [Database]() Tags: [charity-majors](), [charity-majors-10](), [individual-contributor](), [joel-spolsky](), [joel-spolsky-10](), [management](), [software-engineering](), [software-engineering-64](), [tech-debt](), [will-larson](), [will-larson-17]() ### AI overview Simon Willison describes three blog posts that influenced his thinking: Joel Spolsky's "The Law of Leaky Abstractions," Will Larson's "Migrations: the sole scalable fix to tech debt," and Charity Majors' "The Engineer/Manager Pendulum." He says they shaped his approach to understanding software layers, treating migrations as an important engineering skill, and moving between engineering management and individual-contributor work. ### Source excerpt My comment on What blog posts influenced your thinking the most? -- Lobste.rs. An early Joel Spolsky one for me was The Law of Leaky Abstractions. I read that near the start of my career and it's encouraged me to always be looking for improved understanding of the layers under where I'm working, just in case one of those abstractions leaks. A more recent one, from 2018, is Migrations: the sole scalable fix to tech debt by Will Larson. I absolutely love his idea that migrations (e.g. replacing one service with a new one, or switching database engines, or whatever) are part and parcel of software engineering and are a skill that you should invest in and get good at, not avoid or treat as special one-offs. The Engineer/Manager Pendulum by Charity Majors was hugely influential for me. I was stuck in engineering management and worried that if I switched back to being an "Individual Contributor" (ugh I hate that term) I'd damage my career. Charity gave me permission to make the switch by pointing out that many of the most successful software developers pendulum from one track to the other multiple times over their career, and doing so makes you better at both sides. Tags: joel-spolsky, software-engineering, will-larson, charity-majors ## A critique of arguments for doing more AI DevFeed: [A critique of arguments for doing more AI]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Sergio Visinoni Published: 2026-07-08T09:16:36Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Sudo Make Me a CTO]() Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](), [Code review](), [engineering-culture]() Tags: [ai](), [charity-majors](), [code-review](), [discussion]() ### AI overview The article responds to two articles by Charity Majors, examining arguments about AI, resistance to AI enthusiasm, ethical considerations, and the role of code review. It argues that the articles' conclusions remain unconvincing to the author. ### Source excerpt A reaction to two recent popular articles by Charity Majors. Is AI a big deal? Is resistance to AI fundamentalism? Does the solution to the current problems emerge from doing more of it?