Build Your First App with AI
A lot of people can get AI to generate code now, but still get stuck turning it into something real.
I’m a software engineer + former bootcamp instructor, so I want to help people bridge that gap.
Beginner-friendly. Bring your laptop.
www.codingyourcareer.com/events
Coding Your Career opens today! I wanted to use AI to make learning programming active, not passive. Check it out at www.codingyourcareer.com
People Power Beats Resume Power
For the next few weeks I'll be doing a thought experiment. What if I had to break into tech in 2026 instead of 2016?
www.codingyourcareer.com/blog
Making a lot of progress on my Go playing bot! How's it look?
Had a great time at the Tetrate AI Build-a-thon and got second place! Looking forward to continuing work on the project.
I'm participating in a build a thon for tetrate.ai today ahnd tomorrow and wanted to show how far I've gotten today! Still tons to do!
Hmm integrating with Slack was a breeze!
The Tetrate.AI Buildathon launches today! This event focuses on creating apps using Tetrate and integrating AI in innovative ways. While some may wonder, "Another hackathon, Jonathan?" I find great enjoyment in building apps. Keep tabs on my progress here: workflow-iq.vercel.app
It's DSA time again. Man prepping for these interviews is so intense.
Finally finished the Michigan Dev Fest AI Hackathon! My brain is fried
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate coding problems.
I hate recursion.
Alright, feeling better. Carry on.
In today's issue #3 of the Coding Your Career Newsletter, I talk about the Strategy pattern. If you'd like to get free info on how to be a better software engineer, plus a free e-book on surviving your first year as a developer, sign up for the newsletter here: mailchi.mp/e14e74f764d7...
Issue #2 of the Coding Your Career newsletter is out! I talk more about my thoughts on how to use AI tools to streamline your work and churn out better code. It doesn't all have to be AI slop!
mailchi.mp/d42ffbb9ed9a...
What are some neat projects people are working on?
This week in the Coding Your Career Newsletter, I talk about vibe coding and how you can make it work for you, from my own experiences:
mailchi.mp/55407e95eced...
Subscribe to the newsletter for fun and to-the-point tech talk every week!
Excited to launch the Coding Your Career newsletter tomorrow! If you'd like to level up your coding career, sign up for the newsletter and receive a FREE e-book!
mailchi.mp/e14e74f764d7...
What about you? Do you reach for a mapper library, or do you prefer doing it by hand?
At that point, I’m spending more time deciphering someone else’s magic than I would just writing a simple static method like:
public static RecipeDto FromEntity(Recipe recipe) =>
new RecipeDto {
Id = recipe.Id,
Name = recipe.Name,
Ingredients = recipe.Ingredients.Select(i => i.Name).ToList()
};
I prefer writing my own static factory methods over using AutoMapper or MapStruct when converting entities to DTOs.
Let me explain why.
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This isn’t about architecture purity. It’s about understanding what your app is doing at a glance — and not spending your day tracing commands through pipelines.
VerifyCheckFraud -> 3rdPartyService -> Result
It feels like hot potato — one part of the code just lobbing generic messages to another.
You lose clarity. You lose the why. And worst of all, you lose your place in the business process.
Want to keep the discussion going? You’ll get a free e-book when you sign up for my newsletter:
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I started breaking down problems more easily. I could ship features faster, translate requirements more accurately, and spend less time thinking about the basics — because the fundamentals were second nature.
I actually remember someone on my team recommending this in a teams meeting.
Want more tech talk? Sign up for my newsletter and get a free e-book!
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That curiosity — the kind that makes you open an IDE just to try something — that’s where the joy started.
What are you building these days just for the fun of it?
But mostly, I just built things I thought were cool.
I messed with Java applets, tried C++, tinkered with TCP/IP, and made websites using frames — yes, frames. May they rest in peace.
One of my boldest ideas?
I'm old enough to remember when IDEs were really really slow and sometimes collapsed if they had too much code, so if it gets on my case I'm fine with it.
If you like this kind of honest, real-world dev talk, I write a weekly newsletter called Coding Your Career. It’s for developers who want to grow, stay sharp, and avoid the fluff. You’ll get a free e-book when you sign up:
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