all written video podcast

  • Energy Doesn’t Disappear - The Cynical Dev

    Energy Doesn’t Disappear - The Cynical Dev

    2026-01-07
    When work doesn’t absorb a developer’s energy, it doesn’t vanish — it gets redirected, or burned off as heat.
  • The First Real Pause - The Cynical Dev

    The First Real Pause - The Cynical Dev

    2026-01-04
    The first week in about 21 years without a job. Unfamiliar territory but oddly freeing.
  • End of Year Reflections - The Cynical Dev

    End of Year Reflections - The Cynical Dev

    2025-12-18
    A quiet end-of-year reflection on contracts, community, delivery, and heading into uncertainty with cautious optimism.
  • Serial Learning: The Most Respectable Developer Addiction - The Cynical Dev

    Serial Learning: The Most Respectable Developer Addiction - The Cynical Dev

    2025-11-17
    Why constant learning can feel productive but quietly erode our ability to think.
  • Death by a Thousand Pings - The Cynical Dev

    Death by a Thousand Pings - The Cynical Dev

    2025-11-05
    Attention isn’t infinite, and yet modern development culture behaves like it is. A quiet rebellion against meetings, pings, and performative productivity.
  • How Much Control Do Developers Really Have? - The Cynical Dev

    How Much Control Do Developers Really Have? - The Cynical Dev

    2025-10-01
    A field guide to what developers can control, what they can bend, and what they can only influence inside a larger organisation.
  • Retro Clarity Snapshot - The Cynical Dev

    Retro Clarity Snapshot - The Cynical Dev

    2025-09-30
    A short, external teardown that turns your team’s last retro into a roadmap for shipping faster.
  • https://thecynical.dev/privacy/ - The Cynical Dev

    https://thecynical.dev/privacy/ - The Cynical Dev

    2025-09-22
    Privacy Policy Effective date: September 22, 2025 The Cynical Developer (“we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. Information We Collect Personal...
  • https://thecynical.dev/ccc-thanks/ - The Cynical Dev

    https://thecynical.dev/ccc-thanks/ - The Cynical Dev

    2025-09-01
    Thanks for Joining Career Course Correction Your seat is confirmed. You’ll get a welcome email shortly with all the key details, including: Start date and time (NZDT) Zoom link for the live sessions Access to the private Signal group A reminder of...
  • Career Course Correction - The Cynical Dev

    Career Course Correction - The Cynical Dev

    2025-08-26
    A 6-week program for mid-career developers who feel stuck, coasting, or drifting. Stop autopiloting. Start steering.
  • What If the Internet Wasn’t Free? - The Cynical Dev

    What If the Internet Wasn’t Free? - The Cynical Dev

    2025-08-19
    A thought experiment: how different would the web look if every service came with a price tag?
  • The Two Faces of a Failing Culture - The Cynical Dev

    The Two Faces of a Failing Culture - The Cynical Dev

    2025-08-15
    An open review of workplace culture and patterns I've seen across the years.
  • The Career Ceiling No One Talks About: Senior Dev, Stuck Forever - The Cynical Dev

    The Career Ceiling No One Talks About: Senior Dev, Stuck Forever - The Cynical Dev

    2025-08-07
    For many developers senior is the quiet end of the road.
  • Your Order Number Is Everyone’s Order Number - The Cynical Dev

    Your Order Number Is Everyone’s Order Number - The Cynical Dev

    2025-07-15
    A self-checkout system so broken it deserves it's own blog post.
  • How I Accidentally Set Fire to My Netlify Bandwidth Quota - The Cynical Dev

    How I Accidentally Set Fire to My Netlify Bandwidth Quota - The Cynical Dev

    2025-07-01
    A cautionary tale about what happens when your cynical developer blog gets popular before you learn how to compress images.
  • Agile That Doesn’t Suck Pt 2/2 - The Cynical Dev

    Agile That Doesn’t Suck Pt 2/2 - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-27
    Agile isn’t broken—it’s just been overcomplicated, overcontrolled, and oversold. Here’s how to rebuild it from the inside, one useful change at a time.
  • Agile Was Never Your Problem Pt 1/2 - The Cynical Dev

    Agile Was Never Your Problem Pt 1/2 - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-26
    Agile didn’t fail you. The process theater did. A blunt look at why your team hates standups, story points, and pretending it’s working.
  • Ticket-Driven Development: The Fastest Way to Go Nowhere - The Cynical Dev

    Ticket-Driven Development: The Fastest Way to Go Nowhere - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-21
    When every dev is just doing the next ticket, who’s steering the ship?
  • You’re Not Refactoring — You’re Just Moving Code Around - The Cynical Dev

    You’re Not Refactoring — You’re Just Moving Code Around - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-18
    Refactoring is supposed to make code better — not just different. Here’s how to tell if you're improving something or just rearranging the mess.
  • UX So Bad It Looks Like a Crime - The Cynical Dev

    UX So Bad It Looks Like a Crime - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-16
    When your public health system accidentally nails every hallmark of a phishing scam — and calls it a service.
  • The Death of 'Senior' - The Cynical Dev

    The Death of 'Senior' - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-04
    Somewhere between title inflation and egalitarian delusion, the meaning of 'Senior Developer' got lost.
  • Why Are We Still Hiring Release Managers in 2025? - The Cynical Dev

    Why Are We Still Hiring Release Managers in 2025? - The Cynical Dev

    2025-06-04
    Scrum Masters, Release Managers, and the illusion of progress in a world that should know better.
  • Speaking & Consulting - The Cynical Dev

    Speaking & Consulting - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-27
    Want a dose of dry wit and hard-earned lessons at your event or in your codebase? I speak and consult on legacy systems, privacy, burnout, and fixing things that actually matter.
  • OKRs: Objectives, Key Results, and Corporate Cosplay - The Cynical Dev

    OKRs: Objectives, Key Results, and Corporate Cosplay - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-22
    A cynical developer's guide to why OKRs often fail, how they sometimes help, and what to do when you're assigned 15 of them.
  • Scrum Helped. Then It Got in the Way. - The Cynical Dev

    Scrum Helped. Then It Got in the Way. - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-22
    Scrum helped us escape the waterfall. But it’s become more ceremony than substance—and the real work is happening in the cracks between stand-ups.
  • About - The Cynical Dev

    About - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-21
    The Cynical Developer is a blog for tired engineers, reflective skeptics, and anyone who’s seen too many “Next Big Things” end up as tomorrow’s tech debt. This site is maintained by a seasoned developer with a mild aversion to buzzwords and a fondness...
  • Contact - The Cynical Dev

    Contact - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-21
    Want to reach out? I’m happy to hear from fellow devs, writers, or the hopelessly over-engineered. Email: [email protected] Please don’t send cold sales pitches. I’m not that kind of cynical. Got something to say? Use the form below. Please, no...
  • From JNDI Hell to CDI Heaven: A Developer’s Path to Sanity - The Cynical Dev

    From JNDI Hell to CDI Heaven: A Developer’s Path to Sanity - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-21
    Because @Stateless shouldn’t require 3 XML files and a blood sacrifice.
  • Have We Lost Our Way? - The Cynical Dev

    Have We Lost Our Way? - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-18
    Agile was never supposed to be a checklist. Somewhere between the ceremonies and the certifications, we forgot what it was for.
  • As the pendulum swings - The Cynical Dev

    As the pendulum swings - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-16
    Getting from command-and-control to trust and autonomy—and why most teams never quite make it.
  • An Evolution of a Software Company - The Cynical Dev

    An Evolution of a Software Company - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-15
    The startup origin story you've lived through at least once—and what usually comes next.
  • Welcome to The Cynical Developer - The Cynical Dev

    Welcome to The Cynical Developer - The Cynical Dev

    2025-05-02
    I’ve been a commercial software developer since 2005. I’ve earned a BSc in Computer Science (mostly for the debt), and spent the last two decades writing code at big corporations, scrappy startups, and everything in between. WYSIWYG This blog...
  • Newsletter - The Cynical Dev

    Newsletter - The Cynical Dev

    2001-01-01
    Occasional cynical essays. No spam. No meeting invites.
  • Retros Suck, But They Don’t Have To - The Cynical Dev

    Retros Suck, But They Don’t Have To - The Cynical Dev

    2001-01-01
    A short, cynical guide to running retros that don’t waste everyone’s time.
  • Where I'm At - The Cynical Dev

    Where I'm At - The Cynical Dev

    2001-01-01
    Last updated: 8th January 2026 Life has calmed down and I’m officially on holiday. First time in my entire career I’ve been between jobs and I’m enjoying the change of pace but also looking forward to the next challenge. ⚙️ What I’m Working...