Stefano Chiodino

Software engineer. Writing about programming, technology, and things I find interesting.

2026 Is The Year Of Serious AI Engineering

AI won’t replace engineers until AGI, and AGI changes everything anyway.
AI makes the easy parts easier and the hard parts harder — lean into the first, avoid the second.
Think of it as the next step from assembly to C to Python: now we program in English.
The real bottleneck was always human willpower, not the computer — AI eases that bottleneck.
Configure your agents.md, plan ahead, and experiment with what you thought was impossible.

You can create an encrypted, cloud-synced Obsidian vault using macOS encrypted disk images.
Mount the encrypted DMG, open Obsidian, then eject to trigger a sync of the encrypted file.
Automation via shell scripts and the Obsidian Shell Commands plugin reduces the workflow to one click.
The setup is free and leverages Apple’s built-in encryption, but only works on macOS.
Deleted notes go to the system trash unencrypted by default — a security gotcha to address.

The concept of buried pirate treasure traces back to a single incident: William Kidd on Gardiners Island in 1699.
The treasure was quickly handed over to authorities.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island almost single-handedly created the popular image of pirates burying treasure.

You can geotag DSLR/mirrorless photos using your Google Maps location history.
Download KML files from your Google timeline, then use exiftool to match GPS data to photo timestamps.
If GPS data is too far from the photo time, extend the matching window with exiftool flags.

Always negotiate your salary — ask for more money at every opportunity.
Ask “why” before jumping into solutions; understand the problem, not just the task.
Impostor syndrome is normal and never fully goes away.
Invest heavily in communication, honesty, and people skills.
Protect your work-life balance and polish career leverage points like your CV and interview skills.

Review your own code thoroughly before submitting it for review.
Be polite in reviews — frame feedback as suggestions, not criticisms.
Code reviews are not the place for style debates; those belong in team-level discussions.
Tailor your review intensity to the author’s track record.
Perfect is the enemy of good — focus on what matters.

Recruiters can discover your email from GitHub commit history.
You can batch-clone all your public repos using the GitHub API.
Use git filter-branch to rewrite committer and author emails across all repos, then force push.
Always back up your repos before rewriting history.

Overuse of acronyms increases cognitive load and hurts understanding.
In code, you would name a variable pageTitle not pt — the same principle applies to communication.
Use acronyms only when your full audience knows them.
Write for your audience: maximise understanding, not brevity.

Use mirroring and labelling to build rapport and extract information.
Good negotiators want to hear “no” — it makes the other party feel in control.
Use open-ended calibrated questions starting with “how” or “what” to shift positions.
Follow the Ackerman model: start at 65% of your target and raise in decreasing increments.
Keep emotions in check and always summarise until you hear “that’s right.”

Clarity is the top priority in business writing; never waste the reader’s time.
Use formatting (bullet points, white space, bold) to make text easy to scan.
Use active voice, cut unnecessary qualifiers and adverbs, and keep one idea per paragraph.
Start with your purpose, not the justification; lead every paragraph with a strong topic sentence.
Read your work aloud to preserve your natural voice after revisions.