Mastering the Craft of Software

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AI Will Replace 99% of Developers. Here’s How to Be the 1%.

The panic over AI is real, but it’s for the wrong people. This isn’t another article about the “threat” of AI. It’s a brutally honest guide that explains why the job of a “coder” is already over, and how the “architect” will become more valuable than ever. Discover the 3-step plan to ensure you’re on the right side of the divide.

Don’t Fight the Fire. Find the Spark.

A system crash triggers chaos. Most developers stare at the code. This is the story of looking somewhere else entirely. Follow a real-world crisis as a Tech Lead methodically ignores the symptoms to find the true source of failure, revealing a powerful lesson on problem-solving, pressure, and leadership.

Monolith vs. MSA? Stop Asking ‘Which,’ Start Asking ‘Why.

Stop the endless debates. This post provides a clear, actionable framework for choosing the right architecture for your specific context. Instead of a simple pro/con list, you’ll get the critical questions to ask about your team, business stage, and operational maturity to make a confident, strategy-driven decision.

The Magic Behind @Transactional: A Deep Dive into Proxies and AOP

Ever wondered what really happens when you add @Transactional to a method? This isn’t magic; it’s a sophisticated process of proxy creation deep inside the Spring framework. This deep dive dissects the exact step-by-step mechanism Spring uses to intercept your calls, revealing the AOP secrets that separate a good developer from a great one.

AI | IT | Programming & Development

When an AI Agent Has No Contract: What OpenClaw Proves About Tier-0 Risk

ByKai L. February 17, 2026February 17, 2026

In the last post, I defined six risks that exist before your first prompt. They were structural by design. Not sensational. Not theoretical. Not hypothetical. They describe what happens when capability is granted before constraints are defined. Then OpenClaw happened. And every one of those risks surfaced — publicly, visibly, and all at once. This…

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AI | IT | Programming & Development

Why AI Responses Fail in Production: 6 Risks You Must Design For

ByKai L. February 15, 2026February 15, 2026

It always starts the same way. Someone shares a screenshot in the incident channel. A sentence that went to a customer. A number that didn’t exist. A citation to a paper that was never written. And then the question: “How did this get out?” In 2025, Deloitte submitted a government report containing fabricated academic citations,…

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Spring Boot

Reactive Streams: Backpressure by Contract

ByKai L. November 5, 2025November 5, 2025

Introduction: Why This Exists at All Most services spend more time waiting than computing. Database calls, HTTP calls, queues, file I/O — that’s where your latency budget goes. In practice, reactive streams backpressure is how you stop that waiting from turning into thread inflation and unpredictable queues. If your system spends most of its time waiting…

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Technology changes. Principles don’t.

My mission here is to cut through the noise of fleeting tools and share the timeless mindset of a true software architect.

It’s not just about coding better—it’s about thinking better.

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