About PragmaticBuilder
I started programming in the early 90s on a Commodore 64. For the past 20 years I’ve been doing it professionally — building scalable products, leading teams, and working as a solutions architect in fintech.
This newsletter exists because 2026 is a genuinely different moment in software. The tools have changed faster than most people’s habits. And there’s a massive gap between the hype and what actually works in practice — I want to close that gap for you.
What we cover
Building with AI, without getting burned, AI can make you dramatically faster. It can also send you confidently in the wrong direction. We’ll look at how to use modern agents and coding tools — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and whatever comes next — in ways that actually save time and money, and where to keep your guard up.
The mistakes that cost people the most. After 20 years of shipping software, the failure patterns are surprisingly consistent. We’ll talk honestly about the errors teams make repeatedly — in planning, architecture, tooling choices, and execution — so you can skip the expensive lessons.
Software architecture that actually scales, not theory for its own sake. Practical principles — domain-driven design, event-driven architecture, API design, system thinking — explained in a way that connects to real decisions you face when building products.
Building things people actually use. Technical excellence means nothing if nobody wants what you built. We’ll cover the product side too: how to validate ideas, how to think about users, and how to ship things that earn a place in someone’s life.
Who this is for
Developers who want to level up beyond just writing code. Founders and builders trying to move fast without cutting the wrong corners. Anyone curious about where software is heading and how to stay ahead of it.
No tutorials for the sake of tutorials. No tool-of-the-week takes that age in a month. Just earned, practical knowledge — from someone still in the trenches every day.
Let’s build something worth building.
