Jakub Zalas

Are Siloed Development Teams Dead? The Rise of the Agentic SDLC The Silo Struggle: A Relic of the Past? For years, software development has been plagued by s... https://lnkd.in/e3ENEckz

Alex Pryor breaking down how to create teams that run themselves, where autonomy isn't a reward but a delivery engine. The manager's playbook revealed. #DevConf2026

1

DevOps hiring costs in the UK vs Poland often get reduced to one thing: salary. That’s usually where the mistake starts. A salary, a contractor rate, and a monthly external fee might look comparable on paper. In reality, they’re built differently and include very different cost layers. Hiring time, continuity, operational overhead don’t disappear. They just show up elsewhere. With DevOps, you tend to feel it quickly. Slower releases, recurring issues, more pressure on the team. So the real question is not which number is lower, it’s what that number actually includes. We broke this down in detail — what businesses really pay and how the cost logic differs in the UK vs Poland→ link in the comments.

15

7 Comments

You automate everything for your clients but nothing for yourself. We see this constantly. Engineers who've built sophisticated CI/CD pipelines for three different clients — still manually deploying their own projects over SSH. Developers who've automated reporting workflows for six companies — still writing their own release notes by hand. The hidden tax you're paying every week: Manual deploys: 20 min each, 3x a week = 5 hours/month, gone PR review cycles: 45 min of context-switching per round Sprint ticket breakdown: 2 hours of manual work, every sprint That's a part-time job you're doing for free. The counter-argument: client work pays. Internal tooling doesn't. Fair point. But your internal velocity is your product. When we built Scarlet — our 9-agent dev toolkit — delivery speed doubled. That speed became our pitch to every new client. The automation you build for yourself becomes the proof you sell. Stop treating your own workflow as the last priority. Automate for clients first or yourself first? Pick a side. #AI #LLMOps #AIEngineering

1

TDD Is Out. Spec Driven Development Is In. by Drew Cain, Software Engineering We stopped writing tests first and started writing specs instead. Plain English, reviewed by humans and AI, then handed off for implementation. The spec is the source of truth now, not the code. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g4mR3SfE

5

Most software agencies are deliberately vague about how they actually work. The discovery call is genuinely a discovery call — for them, finding out how much you'll pay. The "agile" pitch is mostly a hedge against having to commit to a date. The contract describes outputs in language soft enough to mean anything. Six weeks in, when something feels off, there's no document to hold up against the actual work. This is not because agencies are bad. It's because vagueness is structurally easier than commitment. Specifying scope is hard. Estimating accurately is hard. Standing behind a date is hard. Saying out loud "the same engineers will maintain this after launch" is hardest of all, because it forces the build to be maintainable in a way that lots of agency builds aren't. We took the opposite approach. The image attached shows the actual six-phase process every Folt Labs project goes through, with timelines, deliverables, and what we sign for at each stage. Discovery is one week. Specification produces a written document, fixed price, fixed launch date — agreed before kickoff. Build takes four to ten weeks depending on scope. Pre-launch review is documented acceptance criteria, not assumed ones. Launch happens on the agreed date, not when we get around to it. The care plan after launch is run by the people who built the thing, monthly, cancellable any time. Nothing in this is novel. It's just unusually transparent for an industry that benefits from the opposite. If you've worked with agencies before, the shape of this should look familiar from what you wished was true and rarely was.

2

The lean approach means: 🔹 Prioritize features that move the needle 🔹 Deliver in short, iterative sprints 🔹 Gather user feedback early No bloated timelines. No wasted budgets. Just progress you can see. #RemoteDev #UK #Smart #Technology #build #MVP #SoftwareDevelopment

4

Built for speed. Engineered for clarity. ✨ Our latest Kualitee updates are live, designed to help you manage tests and teams more effectively. Here's how we're simplifying your workflow: ✅ Less Clicking, More Testing: Our new Execution Screen Assignment means you no longer have to leave your flow to manage your team. ✅ Proactive Bottleneck Detection: The Assigned vs. Executed Graph allows you to visualise productivity in real-time, helping you reassign tasks instantly to avoid delays. ✅ Optimised AI Spend: With Project-Based AI Credits, you get total transparency. Track billing and monitor costs directly to keep your AI-powered testing efficient and cost-effective. ✅ Focused Reporting: The Delete from Execution feature ensures your data stays accurate by keeping active cycles clean and clutter-free. Elevate your quality process today.

8

1 Comment

AI has brought back a feeling I hadn’t had in years. The tight feedback loop I used to associate with good TDD. Not the dogma. Not “tests catch bugs”. The fast cycle of iterate → validate → adjust that tells you whether you’re actually building the right thing. For a long time, AI was too slow or too noisy to fit into that loop. Recent improvements have changed that. AI now sits inside the workflow: it writes quickly, I validate, I simplify, I decide. I’m still driving — just with much faster feedback. I wrote more about this here 👇 https://lnkd.in/ecmWvKTy #AI #SoftwareEngineering #TDD

21

5 Comments

I've started my series on bitmask and how it applies to software engineering and architectural decisions in, for example, authorization in auth systems: https://lnkd.in/eR6wPPys This is an essential read for anyone who wants to think in systems (and not just use cases) as a software engineer. Let me know what you think! 1. https://lnkd.in/efTP6-YQ 2. https://lnkd.in/efN-E6Qc Happy hacking!

7

Spot on. And sadly, this dysfunction often mirrors how companies treat their internal QA/E teams, too. We often see internal Testing treated as a separate 'service desk' rather than a distinct specialism embedded in the team. It leads to bad incentives, like forcing brilliant Quality Experts to become automators just to tick a box. I am glad to see a shift towards Quality Coaching and holistic quality partnership, though. We need fewer gatekeepers and more enablers who help teams own their quality. Let’s keep drumming that beat! 🎶

4

During Rails developer interviews, performance optimisation knowledge consistently separates candidates who receive offers from those who don't. Our clients tell us that developers who understand production performance characteristics command 15-25% higher salaries. Performance skills employers prioritise: 🔹 Identifying N+1 queries and implementing eager loading solutions 🔹 Understanding database indexing strategies for frequently queried columns 🔹 Implementing effective caching strategies (fragment, Russian doll, HTTP) 🔹 Using profiling tools like Bullet, Scout, or New Relic 🔹 Optimising background job processing to maintain responsive applications Technical leads at our client companies consistently mention that candidates who can discuss real-world performance challenges they've solved stand out significantly during technical assessments. Why performance knowledge matters for your career: Senior Rails positions almost always require demonstrated performance optimisation experience. The ability to discuss how you've improved response times, reduced memory usage, or scaled applications proves you've worked on production systems at scale. Developers who've used APM tools and can articulate their findings during interviews demonstrate production experience that junior developers lack. This distinction directly impacts compensation negotiations. Career development insight: If you're currently in a junior or mid-level Rails role, volunteering to investigate performance issues provides valuable experience that accelerates career progression. Our placement data shows developers with documented performance improvement projects receive significantly more interview requests. What performance challenges have you tackled in your Rails career? We're connecting developers who understand production optimisation with companies valuing this expertise. #RailsPerformance #CareerDevelopment #RubyOnRails #TechSkills #TechRecruitment

5

A simple but meaningful contribution to Rails demonstrates the framework's continued attention to developer experience - dark mode support for the default welcome page. This first-time contribution from developer Frexuz highlights how Rails maintainers value quality-of-life improvements. The contribution story: Developer Frexuz, after "going over to the dark side," noticed the Rails welcome page lacked dark mode styling. Since their startup script always opens localhost:3000, they saw the screen frequently and decided to contribute a solution. Why small contributions matter: Rails' approach to accepting cosmetic improvements - from Safari drop shadow fixes to responsive design enhancements - reflects the framework's philosophy that developer experience matters at every level. The contribution process: 🔹 Clear problem identification and personal motivation 🔹 Simple, focused solution addressing one specific issue 🔹 Following established contribution patterns and guidelines 🔹 Quick review and merge by core maintainer byroot Community-driven development: This contribution exemplifies Rails' inclusive approach to development. First-time contributors can make meaningful improvements that benefit thousands of developers worldwide. The change improves the experience for anyone using dark mode during development. Developer experience focus: Rails continues prioritising developer happiness through attention to details. Whether it's major framework features or simple styling improvements, the community values contributions that make daily development more pleasant. The broader pattern: Rails accepts contributions that solve real problems experienced by developers. This particular fix addresses a common modern workflow where developers use dark mode extensively and frequently interact with local development servers. This approach - welcoming meaningful improvements regardless of scope - helps maintain Rails' reputation for developer-centric design and community collaboration. What small improvements have enhanced your Rails development experience? We're connecting with developers who appreciate both major framework capabilities and thoughtful details that improve daily workflows. #RubyOnRails #OpenSource #DeveloperExperience #Community #FirstTimeContribution #TechRecruitment

10