Rob Maes

Most entry-level developers are invisible. Not because they lack skill — but because of this. Many junior developers think visibility comes from doing more: more courses, more projects, more certifications. But visibility on LinkedIn — and to employers — comes from something quieter: 👉 Showing how you think. Employers don’t expect mastery from entry-level developers. They look for: how you reason through problems how you explain what you’re learning how you respond when you don’t know something Two developers can have the same skill level. The visible one is the person who documents their learning, reflects publicly, and communicates clearly. That’s not “self-promotion.” That’s professional signal. If you’re early in your dev journey, don’t wait until you feel ready to be seen. Clarity grows by showing up — not before it. If you’re a junior developer trying to find your footing, this is your reminder: you don’t need to be louder — just clearer. #JuniorDevelopers #SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperJourney #TechCareers

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React isn’t just a library anymore; it’s a full-stack architecture. 🚀 If you haven’t looked at React in the last 6 months, the mental model has changed. We are moving from "How do I fetch data in useEffect?" to "How do I orchestrate my application between the server and the client?" Key concepts you need to master in 2026: React Server Components (RSC): Rendering on the server to reduce bundle sizes and improve SEO without the "all-or-nothing" approach of traditional SSR. The use() Hook: A game-changer for handling Promises and Context directly in render. Server Actions: Forget writing boilerplate API endpoints; call server-side functions directly from your forms. The React Compiler: Say goodbye to manual memoization. React is getting smart enough to handle useMemo and useCallback for us. The barrier to entry for building high-performance apps just got lower, but the mental model got deeper. Are you embracing RSCs yet, or sticking to the traditional SPA model? Let’s discuss in the comments. 👇 #ReactJS #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #SoftwareEngineering #Frontend

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I spent $3000 on a bootcamp. Then I found these free alternatives. Let me save you $3000 right now. I paid for a bootcamp early in my journey. The content was decent. The price was not. Months later I discovered that everything I learned — and more — was available completely free. Here are the 10 resources I wish I had found on day one: 1️⃣ freeCodeCamp.org Full web development curriculum. Completely free. Certification included. Used by millions worldwide. 2️⃣ The Odin Project Project-based learning from scratch. One of the most respected free curriculums for web developers. 3️⃣ CS50 by Harvard (edX) The best introduction to Computer Science on the internet. Free to audit. World-class teaching. 4️⃣ MDN Web Docs The official reference bible for HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Bookmark this today. 5️⃣ JavaScript.info The most thorough free JavaScript guide available. Better than most paid courses. 6️⃣ Traversy Media (YouTube) Brad Traversy has taught millions of developers. Practical, clear, completely free. 7️⃣ Fireship (YouTube) Fast, smart, entertaining tech content. Perfect for staying current and learning concepts quickly. 8️⃣ CSS-Tricks Everything CSS. Flexbox, Grid, animations. Free articles and guides for every level. 9️⃣ GitHub Student Pack If you are a student, this gives you $200,000+ worth of developer tools completely free. 🔟 LeetCode (free tier) Practice problem solving. Essential if you are preparing for technical interviews. The honest truth: The internet is the best coding school ever built. You just need to know where to look. Save this post before you spend another dollar on a course. Share it with someone who is about to pay for something they can get for free. #webdevelopment #LearnToCode #programming #freeresources #TechCareers #SelfTaught #developers #freelancing #codingbootcamp #LinkedIn

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If you're a backend software engineer and you're not sure about the performance of your API, open this. Here are 5 simple ways to improve API performance: 1. Result pagination Never return 10,000 records in one response. Use pagination to send data in chunks so your server and the client can breathe. 2. Payload compression Compress the response before sending it. This reduces the size of the data over the network and makes things faster for the client. 3. Connection pool Instead of opening a new database connection every time, use a pool of reusable connections. This saves time and resources. 4. Caching Cache common responses or data that don’t change often. This prevents the server or database from doing the same work again and again. 5. Asynchronous processing Don’t make the user wait for slow tasks like sending emails or processing large files. Offload them to background jobs or queues. Check if you’re doing these already. If not, start. What other techniques do you use? #softwareengineering #dev #backend #api

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AI coding tools are for developers who can't code. That's the narrative, right? Crutches for juniors. Training wheels. Real engineers don't need them. Weird then that Dan Abramov is using them. Creator of Redux. Shaped how millions write React. DHH too. Built Rails. Basecamp. HEY. Mass market and production in one. Linus Torvalds. Linux. Git. The infrastructure under everything you've ever shipped. Antirez. Redis. The in-memory store running half the internet. These aren't juniors padding their GitHub profiles. These are my actual heroes. The people whose code I studied to get better. And they're all experimenting with AI agents. Publicly. Enthusiastically. Here's what I think is happening: the best developers aren't threatened by AI. They're curious. They've always been early adopters. They got where they are by staying open to tools that make them faster — not by gatekeeping their craft. The "AI is for bad developers" take is cope. Comfortable cope. It lets you skip the learning curve and feel superior about it. Meanwhile, the people building the most important software in the world are already integrating these tools into their workflows. Maybe the question isn't "are you good enough to skip AI?" Maybe it's "are you curious enough to try it?" Who's the developer you most respect that surprised you by embracing AI tools? #AIAssistedDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperTools #CodingWithAI #OpenSource

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In programming, you never stop learning. New frameworks. New tools. New problems. And that’s what makes this field exciting. Every day is a chance to learn something new. #Programming #developers #softwareengineering

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Coding is dead, yet we just had our best month in 3 years February was one of the best months for Code with Beto in the last 3 years. We made in a single month what used to take me a year or more when I started. I keep seeing the "coding is dead" nonsense everywhere. Yet we're onboarding more Pro members than ever. So what's actually happening? "Why should I learn to build apps if AI can do it for me?" AI makes it easy to build the basic thing. But you don't want to be basic. The reality is there's no demand for average. Most beginners are falling into the trap of trying to ship, market, and maintain a vibe-coded app. Honestly? I think that's a fine learning experience. They'll hit a wall eventually, and at that point they get to decide whether it's worth learning to keep building or quit. This is exactly why we're seeing more mid and senior engineers becoming Pro members. They already know that good, sustainable software starts from having a solid understanding of the underlying tech. If you have even a small amount of software engineering experience, you have a massive edge right now. Shipping a side project is now actually feasible. Remember the running joke that developers have tons of unfinished side projects? As an experienced engineer, you can now actually ship them and maintain them. It's easier than ever. I highly recommend doing this for extra passive income. AI is increasing productivity, and we're already seeing companies start to lay off workers because of it. Shipping your own side projects is the best way to be in a good spot if you ever get affected by that. I built and shipped Inkigo, my AI tattoo app, and it's now generating about $500/month in passive income. To put that in perspective, that's more than what I make from YouTube AdSense every month. Wild, considering I've been making videos for 5 years. An app is a faster path to income. That said, you also want to learn marketing. That's important. But having a good product that people actually use and share? That's the best growth engine, especially for a side project where you don't want to spend all your time making content for the app. Let's build cool stuff.

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Spent 3 hours last week trying to figure out why my Spring Boot app refused to start. No code changes. No config changes. Just refused to come up. The error? BeanCurrentlyInCreationException Two of my services were silently waiting for each other to be created. Classic cyclic dependency. What surprised me is how many senior devs just slap @Lazy on it and move on. That works, but it hides the actual problem. Wrote what I learned in one page. The three fixes, in the order you should try them. If you have debugged this in production, what was your fix? #SpringBoot #Java #BackendEngineering

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Aside from entry level dev interviews, it has never made sense to me to do _any_ coding with candidates. That sounds crazy to a lot of people, but there's no target traits that you can't test for with a conversation about hard problems instead. A great candidate is going to be able to show how to break down problems, think systematically, discuss testing, edge cases, and speak about technology patterns without needing to touch a keyboard. Counter-intuitively, giving them code might give you false signals about competency stemming from anxiety or a dozen other things. The job has never resembled LeetCode, and in the AI era there's nothing easier to fake. Have real, deep conversations and let that drive hiring. One of the best devs in our division bungled their coding question with me -- but you could tell that they deeply understood how to think and execute by having a conversation.

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