Hi, I’m Ted Hagos.
I write about software careers, engineering maturity, and the economics of boring technology.
I’ve been writing code since the late 80’s and working professionally in tech since the late 90s. Over nearly three decades, I’ve been a developer, an author, and an instructor. I also spent the better part of two decades in technical management, overseeing everything from C++ and .NET to iOS and React.
While I have deep roots in Java and Android, my perspective is mostly shaped by watching technologies rise, peak, and eventually become the "legacy" systems someone else has to fix.
Why listen to me?
I’m interested in the transition from "competent" to "trusted." I’ve seen enough project lifecycles to know that the most "clever" solution is rarely the one that makes sense three years later. I focus on what survives the reality of hiring loops, budget constraints, and long-term maintenance.
What I’m thinking about:
- The Seniority Gap: Why years of experience don't always equal seniority, and how to signal true engineering maturity.
- The Economics of Code: Complexity taxes, maintenance debt, and why "boring" technology is often a competitive advantage.
- Building Leverage: Using writing and teaching to escape the trap of trading every hour of your life for a linear paycheck.
Start here:
- The Kubernetes Complexity Tax: Cost vs. Benefit in the real world.
- Moving Past Junior: Stop stressing and start growing Moving beyond syntax.
- The Case for Boring Tech: Why stability is a feature, not a bug.
Where I Write
If you need tactical, "how-to" tutorials and concrete skill-building, head over to workingdev.net.
This site is for the slow-burning ideas—the stuff that connects systems, careers, and the reality of working in tech for the long haul.
The Newsletter
A few times a week, I send out an essay on software careers and engineering maturity. No fluff, just observations from 30+ years of looking at screens.