Hi, I'm Cesar, a Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience.
In 2023, I got sick and burned out.
In 2024, I was laid off and even rejec...
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Hey Cesar! Hope you are well and congrats on the 7 year anniversary on dev.to!
Mostly stopping by and saying Hi :D
Though, I am wondering about the last 7 years at DEV. What changed in your perspective and what makes a Senior Software Engineer...Senior? Thanks :D
For me, there's one true sign of being Senior: when you stop optimizing/refactoring/cleaning/perfecting because you know when a solution is good enough.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Cesar! Hope you feel better now. 7 years here? Wow! Ill celebrate my first year on dev.to next month!
Hi Pascal. Yes, 7 years with different levels of participation and engagement. Congrats on your first year!
Thank you for sharing this, César. It takes real courage to lay out both the highlights and the hard parts of a 10-year journey. Wishing you strength as you rebuild — and I hope you find work that truly values the person behind the code.
With your 10 years of experience, I’m curious: what’s your take on the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) economy and Cloudflare’s ultimatum to Google? Starting September 15, 2026, the default will be to block mixed-use crawlers like Googlebot. Do you see this as a pivotal moment that forces the search and training bots to split? Does it change how you think about the value of web content in the agent era? Would love to hear your perspective.
This is a discussion worth having. But I don't have a strong/solid opinion at the moment. It's true that we fed the bots and now they're charging it for access. Kind of weird, isn't it?
Yes! There's no more value in how-to tutorials when there's a magical text area and a button that figure out what we want. If we want to stand out, we have to give what AI can't.
That's exactly the paradox, isn't it? We spent years feeding the machine with our content, and now the machine wants to charge us to access what we created.
But you're right — the real value shifts to what AI can't generate: proprietary data, real-time on-chain intelligence, and machine-readable APIs. That's why I shifted AgentShare from human-facing price data to DeFi intelligence for agents. The market will pay for data it can't synthesize itself.
What kind of 'AI-proof' value are you thinking about building?
At the moment, I'm working on a book trilogy to share everything I've learned and I wish someone had told me.
That's a beautiful project — a book trilogy is the kind of work that outlasts any API or framework.
I think the most valuable thing you can share is the story behind the lessons: the failures, the pivots, and the moments you almost gave up. AI can generate a tutorial, but it can't generate lived experience.
Wishing you clarity and flow with the writing. If you ever want to discuss the intersection of storytelling and AI, I'd be happy to exchange notes.
Cesar, 7 years and a trilogy out of a layoff and a FAANG rejection is a hell of a return on a bad year.
"Writing became part of my therapy" is a line I could've written myself, just with different specifics . mine's a contract and an OS instead of a diagnosis.
Did the first post you wrote through it feel like therapy while you were writing it, or only in hindsight once the Top7 hit and people responded?
It was a tough year, but I prefer to remember it as the year I chose myself and started my reinvention.
It was more going back to the habit and reflecting on every stage of my career. The first posts I wrote around that time were about the lessons I had learned in every milestone of my career. Hitting the Top7 and the engagement was confirmation to keep doing it.
Not a question — just recognition. I sit on the opposite side of your table: I'm a physical therapist by trade, and burnout recovery is literally the work I do with patients. Reading "in 2023 I got sick and burned out, in 2024 I was laid off" from inside a career, instead of across a clinic desk, landed differently.
One thing I tell people in recovery that your post already lives out: the goal isn't to get back to who you were before it broke — it's to rebuild into someone the same thing can't break the same way twice. You didn't sprint back into a job, you turned the wreckage into a book, and then a trilogy. That's not just healing; that's redesigning the load so it stops landing on the same joint.
The dev.to part is real, too. I found this place late and used it the same way — writing here became somewhere to think out loud and get told the thinking wasn't crazy. If a question helps: what's the one habit from before the burnout that you've deliberately refused to carry into the rebuild? Rooting for all three books.
I only code for work..and I've learned to diversify my sources of joy. Before, my career was probably one of the most important parts of my life. And when I lost that with a layoff, it took away my sense of joy and accomplishment with it.
That lands, and it quietly finishes the metaphor from my first comment. Putting all your joy into one joint means that when the joint goes, everything it was carrying goes with it — you didn't just lose a job, you lost the only thing the weight was resting on. Diversifying the sources of joy is the same move as spreading a load: not because any one source is weak, but because a single point of failure shouldn't be able to take the whole system down with it.
In my work I see it constantly — the people who recover best aren't the strongest, they're the ones whose life doesn't route entirely through one thing. You rebuilt the load-bearing structure, not just the muscle. "I only code for work" might read as smaller to someone else; from here it reads as someone who found out where the weight actually belongs. Genuinely glad you came out the other side pointing at it. The trilogy's lucky to have that behind it.
Great analogy! Hope you don't mind if I use it somewhere else :)
Thank you for writing this so openly — the part about not tying your identity solely to your career really landed with me.
I'm in a similar chapter, just earlier in the climb out. I was laid off, and most of my experience is deep in one stack — PHP, many years. I'm finding it hard to land roles in the same tech, and I'm unsure which way to move: go deeper, branch to something adjacent, or pivot entirely.
What struck me was your take that AI isn't a direct threat and that much of the fear is manufactured. I want to believe that — but from where I sit (one stack, tight market), it's hard not to feel the ground shifting.
So my question: for someone specialized in a single stack and rebuilding right now, how would you think about where to invest the next couple of years? And what helped you separate real signal from the fear when you chose your own next step?
Wishing you the best on the trilogy. 🙏
Figuring this out myself too...The first answer that comes to mind is be a big fish in a small pond...and definitely see how to incorporate AI tools to assist your processes.
The fear is still there. I just build an insurance policy by freelancing on the side. So worst case scenario I have my basic expenses covered.
Thanks, Cesar. Honestly the part that stuck with me was you saying you're still figuring it out too, and that the fear doesn't really go away. I've been feeling behind because I don't have it sorted — good to know that's kind of just the deal.
The small-pond point makes sense. I've been trying to be okay at everything and it's exhausting. Probably smarter to go deep where my PHP years actually count for something.
The freelancing safety net is the real one for me though. Hard to think straight when you're worried about the basics. I think I need to fix that part first.
Appreciate you actually taking the time to reply properly. Good luck with the books.
We're all figuring this thing called life as we go :)
Hey Cesar! 👋 Happy 7 years on dev.to and congrats on everything you’ve built back from such a tough chapter.
Also, “Street-Smart Coding” is a great title. 😄 Wishing you good health, great writing sessions, and that trilogy completed long before 60!
Thanks. It was a moment of inspiration. That wasn't the original title, by the way.
Thanks for stopping by! May the Force be with you!
They say "write tests, not just code," but nobody tells you that sometimes you also have to write your way out of a burnout. I have been there—staring at the screen, knowing exactly how to fix the bug, but having absolutely zero energy to move the cursor. The code still works, but you do not. That is the part they do not put in the job description.
Thank you for sharing this so openly. The fact that you turned a layoff and burnout into two books and a DEV writing streak is genuinely inspiring—not because it is a "success story," but because it is honest about the struggle. I think a lot of us in this industry quietly carry the weight of rejection, exhaustion, and imposter syndrome, and seeing someone lay it out like this makes it a little lighter.
One thing I am curious about: you mentioned writing became part of your therapy. Was there a specific moment or post where you felt the shift from "I am writing to process" to "I am writing to teach"? I have found that line blurs more than I expect, and I am always interested in how other people navigate it.
Also, congratulations on the 7-year DEV anniversary. That is longer than most startups survive, and definitely longer than my last New Year's resolution lasted. Keep writing, keep coding, and keep being honest about both.
The line is blurry. I started to write for my younger self. Just thinking of lessons learned from getting a job, being fired, and a layoff helped processing it.
Your timeline hits closer to home than you'd think — I'm writing a fiction series about engineers who get replaced by AI and have to rebuild from scratch. The line from the top comment, "the goal isn't to get back to who you were before it broke — it's to rebuild into someone the same thing can't break the same way twice," is basically the thesis of the whole thing. Glad writing pulled you through. Rooting for that trilogy before 60 💪
Thanks for your comment. Definitely, going back isn't an option. Just thinking about how I felt made me anxious.
I'd love to ask for your advice on publishing. What are some good publishing channels? I'm planning to publish my 36 Stratagems series and the prequel/old series, but this is my first time dealing with anything like this — I have zero experience and no clue where to start. Would really appreciate any help you can offer.
Definitely, Amazon KDP. It's the largest library online. I use a combination of Gumroad and Amazon. But just don't expect to publish your book and have an audience right away.
If you're working on your first book, start by testing/sharing your ideas first. I like to think of a non-fiction book as the compilation of my best ideas on a subject. That's what I do for my books: all the ideas started as social media posts, then blog posts, then book material.
Hi Cesar, congrats on seven years on DEV!
Going through illness, burnout, and a layoff all at once sounds incredibly rough. I’m glad writing gave you a way to process it, and it’s pretty amazing that it eventually grew into books and a whole new direction.
Did writing change the way you think about your engineering career, or did it mainly help you find your way back to it? Can you introduce your book?
The whole experience changed the way I see coding. I joke saying I'm not a passionate coder anymore. These days, I have stronger boundaries around work and leisure. For example, I only code during working hours at work.
Sure! Street-Smart Coding is a roadmap with 30 lessons to sharpen your coding skills. I wrote it because my real coding journey started after college with one Google search: "how to get better at coding."
That's actually incredible. I got here rather recently, but I've been loving Dev.to! I cant even imagine how it's grown over the past 7 years...
I actually have a few questions for you:
Did you see the layoff coming? I've been feeling lately like I can smell blood in the water and I'm thinking it's me. I'm a very competent developer, but they've been wanting me to start working from the office, instead of from home and I reinjured my back around the same time, so I've been on work from home doctor's mandate, but I'm not recovering and I have a feeling my neck's on the chopping block...
How did you deal with the layoff? I'm in Namibia, so there's virtually no job market here. I'm kinda stressed about it, cuz foreign companies dont really hire from Namibia, because we're not even listed on Forex.
What would your suggestion be to someone like me, looking for a new job? You can have a look at my Dev.to profile for some of my work, mostly centered on infrastructure, AI and low-level systems, though my current job is writing blazor code.
What lead you to choose the path of trainer/writer over finding a new developer job?
In your experience, did you find it nicer working for a large company, or a small company?
Where do you see the developer industry going? My bet's on orchestration and infrastructure over writing apps manually.
While after the time you got laid off, do you feel like AI is a boon, or a threat to developers?
Have you read Rich Dad Poor Dad? I find that the concepts in it might be inspirational for your writing. The relation between low-level and high-level programming, reusing assets vs custom, etc. Those books are simple to understand due to the framing, might lend well to writing about software?
What books would you recommend (beyond your own), for the modern day developer? With AI becoming a core tool lately, alot of the classics are a bit dated, still good theory, but they focus more on teaching the patterns than understanding the purpose.
If you could go back to the time you were laid off? Would you still choose the same path? Or would you have tried to work a little longer in the industry, before the switch?
Hope you enjoy answering these, feel free to skip any you dont want to answer, or dont have time to answer thoroughly.
Yes! It felt like the Hunger Games: making people fight until only a few stood up. These days, there's a lot of uncertainty and the easiest lever for companies to pull is letting people go. Prepare for the worst case scenario.
First I felt relieved, then I felt desperate so I went crazy applying to almost any job listing I could find. Then I decided to took some time off, I had some savings to cover my basic living expenses for a couple of months.
Your mileage may vary. But I've always preferred referrals and introductions from friends and acquaintances. Try to shake hands and get to know people in your network.
That's just something I do on the side. I still code for a living.
Smaller companies. Definitely, easier to make an impact and get yourself noticed...and ask for raises.
It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future. I see smaller and smaller teams of full-stackish developers doing the work that used to take a whole team. And I also see the role of "AI fixers," people cleaning the mess of assistants/bots.
It's not a direct threat. But it's the perfect excuse to make it look like one. Often it seems CEOs of AI startups are insurance sellers predicting a major catastrophe to make us buy their insurance policies.
Yes! My #1 lesson is the difference between assets and liabilities.
Apart from my own...Definitely good time to revisit the classics: Clean Code, Clean Coder, Art of Unit Testing, Domain Modeling Made Functional...I tend not to buy the hype right away, and wait for the dust settle down for a bit.
Yes, but not in the same way. Probably I would have taken a look at entrepreneurship earlier. The other day, I read (probably from Erik Dietrich's blog) that five years of coding experience are enough to then move to consulting/start your own thing.
Well said, I was actually heading the same route you suggested this year, in May I started up my company once I got the foundry in a solid state, but then I realized if I open it to the public, it's a 1 way ticket to malware mass production, with auto-patching no less... So instead, I opted to keep it internal and just use it to pump out apps. Though not really a market in Namibia... But hey, I made some fun games, solid frameworks, a MCP for browsing that's honestly much better than playwright (quite proud of that 1, despite only 2 stars), though now I've been on the heels of rather ambitious projects, eg. V.E.L.O.C.I.T.Y. IDE and V.E.L.O.C.I.T.Y. OS, main focus is on IDE at the moment though, just added 25k LOC to it over the past 2 days, integrating a native browser built from ground up for it, a custom VC system that's hopefully better than git for agentic coding, a custom MCP server native to the Rust-based IDE, which executes in nanoseconds, not milliseconds, similar agentic orchestrator layer as I used in the foundry, except with a much wider range of models and providers, a file-sync/share system that operates faster than enterprise standards, all while using no JSON unless absolutely necessary, instead opting for my NDA standard.
So quite a big project, but it's taking shape beautifully, all of that is integrated and fully functional, except the native browser is still in development, but I'd very much like to finish it before release, as that would be a killer feature, it's built off of MCP-Heavy (the full version of MCP-Lite), which is a pretty killer feature on it's own, I just hope I get it to a solid state before... The call... Cuz I can smell it coming. I dont know when, but I know the second I finish up all the difficult stuff for them, I'm gunna get laid off... Not because I'm slow, or too expensive, or anything, purely because I work from home, not the office, so they cant brain drain me to boost their own systems...
Congrats on your projects...hope you can sort out everything on your side soon.
Congrats on your seven years on dev.to!!
Since I know your story, I just stopped by to say "hi!".
Hola Baltsar! Thanks for all your support and congrats on the world cup!
Hi Cesar, congratulations on your 7 year anniversary on DEV!
I love that writing goal of yours. Good luck!
I have a question regarding burnout, what helped you overcome that period?
I was a long process on the way down...and a longer one on the way up. If I could summarize into one line: taking care of my health (by doing something for my mind, body, and spirit every day) and bringing a sense of joy/fulfillment to my life every day (I went back to some of my hobbies just for fun)
This is great and all the best for your upcoming achievements
Through your exp , from an Stand point of Enterprise applications , what pattern of Support or quality framework in an product and dev life cycle is really successful ?
Because when the team size is huge it really is hard enough to track all issues across multiple enterprise apps and reduce them becoming cumbersome job
I don't have a clear answer for this question. My experience has been always with small teams and companies.
It depeeeends? The clear sign of success is keeping clients happy and money rolling. That looks different for a small company where you can pick a phone and talk directly to your clients...and that looks different for a large corporation.
I’ve been continuously building my own side projects and creating my own safety net. My goal is to build my own brand and my own way of generating income, so I always have options even if I leave a company someday.
One of the best things about software development is that your users can be anywhere in the world. Compared with many other industries, software is lightweight, has a much lower cost of distribution, and allows individuals to create products that reach a global audience.
I believe building something of my own is not just about making money — it’s about creating more freedom and resilience in my career.
Hi Cesar, I cant tell you, how much I really relate to this. Burnout is very real, especially when the motivation that once kept you going starts to fade. I have experienced a similar feeling, and it’s difficult when something you once enjoyed begins to feel exhausting. It is really good and hopeful to see that writing helped you recover and gave you something meaningful to work towards. I myself am looking for one (joining dev.to is my first step I guess). Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on seven years on DEV!
Welcome to DEV!
Hey @canro91. What advice would you give for an up and coming full stack engineer like myself. Personally, I like advices on how I could avoid burnouts and also how to find reasons to keep going and climbing the tech career ladder. Btw, I'm happy that dev.to became a huge part of your life. I'm also planning to go long term for connections and community.
There's a lot to share. But I already wrote something here:
New Developers Looking for a Mentor: Here's a (Free) Mentorship Session in 8 Lessons
Hope you find it useful :)
Hi Cesar! Your journey through burnout, a layoff, and using writing as a form of therapy is incredibly resonant, especially in today's tech landscape where these challenges are so common but rarely discussed with such openness.
My questions:
That was at my second job (~8 years ago) I was working with a great team and good product. I also had the chance of working literally next to my mentor.
I tend to balance my days between freelance coding and writing.
Yes! As an engineer, I only work a fix set of hours with a hard stop. And personally, I try to do something for my body, mind, and spirit every day.
Writing! Definitely. When you write something (unless you're journaling), you want others to see it. But in a corporate job, your bosses don't want the world to see how they do another CRUD app :P
I don't have a specific one now. But, any time you choose hitting a business goal over using the latest/brightest just because it sounds cool.
Which thing motivates you to rebuild your career?
Not going back to where I was: sick and burned out :)
Hello Cesar !
Wish you all the best
What is your advice for someone who loves the Computer and coding but he didn't find work yet.
It's hard I know. We're in a tough market these days. I wrote something about it here:
How to Land a Coding Job in Post-Pandemic Times—The Untraditional Way
Hope you find it useful.
Thank you
Cesar, this hits: sickness, burnout, layoffs—rewiring a career is brutal but brave. Your honesty already helps others push through. Ask me anything, and I'll bring coffee and a debugging joke.
Hi Cesar,
how long did it take to get any kind of traction on dev.to? I think I'm shadow banned because while I was lurking for a long time, I just created my account.
Congrats on the anniversary!
I only started to see traction after a couple of years...given I stopped writing how-to tutorials, took my writing seriously, and wrote about what I wanted to read myself.
Thanks for the answer, it makes sense.
I do think I'm shadow-banned unfortunately because I cannot find my posts using the search engine.
Hi Cesar, congrats on your 7 year anniversary on DEV!
Really inspiring journey. I should definitely check out your books.
Thanks for stopping by!
I'm 50 years old .can I learn coding and get a job
Nice Article