https://jcosta.tech Writing on AI-augmented engineering, open source, and building in public. en-us Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:30:20 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-job-search-where-i-never-applied/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-job-search-where-i-never-applied/ Six inbound conversations, zero applications, and why the approach was worth it regardless of the outcome. Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-ai-says-its-done/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-ai-says-its-done/ Coding agents get lazy on long jobs: they do the fun part and round up to done. A deterministic state machine takes that call away from the model. Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/what-i-built-with-claude-fable-5/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/what-i-built-with-claude-fable-5/ An audit of everything I own, a dictation app, and the division of labor that stuck Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-setup-depreciating-asset/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-setup-depreciating-asset/ The durable skill isn't building a better workflow. It's being willing to throw yours away. Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/how-i-give-claude-code-a-persistent-brain-in-obsidian/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/how-i-give-claude-code-a-persistent-brain-in-obsidian/ Project state lives in your notes, the vault writes itself as you work, and it backs itself up offsite. Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/always-on-claude-home-lab-node/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/always-on-claude-home-lab-node/ A 2019 MacBook Pro, a Claude Max subscription, and a few open tools got me my own always-on, remote Claude without paying per token Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/if-your-decisions-live-in-dms/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/if-your-decisions-live-in-dms/ The communication substrate every AI tool will run on Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/not-every-business-win-is-a-feature/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/not-every-business-win-is-a-feature/ Where engineering value lives at a mature B2B company Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/code-review-canon/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/code-review-canon/ On shared standards, accountable review, and what AI changes about both Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/100-merged-prs-what-i-learned-contributing-to-open-source-with-ai/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/100-merged-prs-what-i-learned-contributing-to-open-source-with-ai/ On persistence, ownership, and shipping code in languages I don't know Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/from-raspberry-pi-to-17-container-homelab/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/from-raspberry-pi-to-17-container-homelab/ Replacing streaming subscriptions with a self-hosted media server, book library, and monitoring stack, built in a weekend Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/you-were-never-typing-code/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/you-were-never-typing-code/ The job was never typing. It was choosing the right pattern and reviewing what ships. Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-is-bringing-developers-back-to-the-terminal-ink-is-making-it-beautiful/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-is-bringing-developers-back-to-the-terminal-ink-is-making-it-beautiful/ How a 36K-star React renderer quietly powers your favorite CLI tools Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/building-a-self-improving-trading-system-with-ai/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/building-a-self-improving-trading-system-with-ai/ An AI agent that reviews its own performance, runs experiments, and deploys improvements. Autonomously. Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/automate-your-life-with-cron-jobs-github-actions-and-telegram/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/automate-your-life-with-cron-jobs-github-actions-and-telegram/ Scheduled jobs, free tools, and a little AI can quietly run a surprising amount of your life Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/your-portfolio-site-deserves-a-pipeline/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/your-portfolio-site-deserves-a-pipeline/ I rebuilt my personal site as plain HTML with zero frameworks. Then I gave it a real data pipeline so it never goes stale. Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/claude-code-tips-and-tricks/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/claude-code-tips-and-tricks/ For AI-Assisted Engineering Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-coordination-tax/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/the-coordination-tax/ The Coordination Tax Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/why-functional-programming-is-the-most-important-skill-for-the-ai-era/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/why-functional-programming-is-the-most-important-skill-for-the-ai-era/ What type-driven design, declarative thinking, and domain modeling have to do with AI Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/how-to-have-a-career-in-2026/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/how-to-have-a-career-in-2026/ A step-by-step guide for leveraging AI in any job function Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/what-it-takes-to-be-a-software-engineer-in-2026/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/what-it-takes-to-be-a-software-engineer-in-2026/ AI made implementation easier. Here's how to stay valuable. Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-drives-you-direct/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-drives-you-direct/ How I finally started getting PRs merged Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/why-ai-assisted-development-feels-like-engineering-management/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/why-ai-assisted-development-feels-like-engineering-management/ How years of code review prepared me for working with Claude Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-assisted-home-automation-in-2026/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/ai-assisted-home-automation-in-2026/ With Home Assistant and Claude Code Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://jcosta.tech/writing/modeling-react-state-as-a-finite-state-machine/ https://jcosta.tech/writing/modeling-react-state-as-a-finite-state-machine/ A modern approach using TypeScript discriminated unions and hooks Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT