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Benji Weber
benjiweber.co.uk · Personal blog · on HN since 2011
Benji Weber is a software engineer writing about extreme programming, team practices, hiring, and Java features like records and pattern matching.
What HN saysHN links his posts on Java records, hiring for weaknesses, modern extreme programming, and being a 0.1x engineer.
22HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
28stories submitted
1.6Kstory points
2 years agolast shared
2011people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Why I Strive to be a 0.1x Engineer7 people · 580 points · first shared 2016 · 272 comments on HN
- 2Modern Extreme Programming3 people · 166 points · first shared 2015 · 83 comments on HN
- 3Java 16 Pattern Matching Fun3 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 4Don’t hire top talent; hire for weaknesses2 people · 280 points · first shared 2021 · 160 comments on HN
- 5Thinking in Questions with SQL2 people · 4 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 6Engineering Team Lessons from Cycling2 people · 4 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 7Fun with java records2 people · first shared 2021
- 8Cost of Attrition1 people · 255 points · first shared 2022 · 163 comments on HN
- 9Representing the Impractical and Impossible with JDK 10 “var”1 people · 105 points · first shared 2018 · 128 comments on HN
- 10Typesafe database interaction with Java 81 people · 45 points · first shared 2013 · 37 comments on HN
- 11Monitoring-Driven Development1 people · 42 points · first shared 2015 · 10 comments on HN
- 12Tragedy of return to hostile offices1 people · 32 points · first shared 2023 · 11 comments on HN
- 13Learning from Pain1 people · 30 points · first shared 2018 · 2 comments on HN
- 14Overcoming Resistance to Extreme Programming1 people · 26 points · first shared 2025 · 27 comments on HN
- 15A little rant about talent1 people · 3 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
ivan_gammel · 2021-09-14
There are some funny ways to work with records. I can recommend this article: https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2020/09/19/fun-with-java-records/
lifebeyondfife · 2021-07-11
I agree with you, those are absolutely fundamental. The bar should be set higher though, especially for senior engineers.
https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2021/04/10/dont-hire-top-talent-hire-for…
This is why I stress the importance of culture. I got into engineering because I loved coding, I loved problem solving, I loved writing programs and making things happen on the screen. It's so easy for the team sport aspect of software engineering to become a blindspot if it's something you're not interested in.
benjiweber · 2019-02-09
https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2015/04/17/modern-extreme-programming/
XP teams, with pair and mob programming. Spacious team areas with big TVs for coding in pairs or mobs. 20% time for learning and to foster bottom-up innovation https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2018/01/29/gold-cards/
Worth noting all these practices can be done remotely too https://cucumber.io/blog/2018/06/20/inclusive-benefits-of-mob-programm…
Also notable what was absent. No synchronous blocking code reviews. No branching at all, just continuous deployment of small, safe changes. No need for standups or design meetings when mobbing. Estimates unnecessary when teams become good at slicing things small.
lolc · 2016-11-17
Good read. Reminded me of "Why I Strive to be a 0.1x Engineer"
http://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2016/01/25/why-i-strive-to-be-a-0-1x-engi…
rpastuszak · 2024-09-23
100% agree. This is fine if you're experimenting with product discovery or small projects.
> Or the guy is a x100 developer.
Haha, I've had 0.1x developer* as my bio on the cringe blue site™ for the past decade or so. I just want to make toys.
* inspired by a post by this post by Benji Weber: https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2016/01/25/why-i-strive-to-be-a-0-1x-eng…
heavyset_go · 2021-04-16
> I really feel its time for Python 3 to freeze language features. This PEP and the previous walrus operator fiasco feel like people trying to morph Python into something that it isn't with one kludge after another. This will not lead to a robust language, but instead another Perl 5 monstrosity of complexity.
I disagree entirely. This is how Python will be left behind. It needs to be able to compete with languages that adopt new features and paradigms.
For example, new Ruby releases got optional typing and pattern matching. Even Java is getting pattern matching[1]. This is where the developer zeitgeist is heading, and if Python doesn't keep up, it'll be replaced with a language that does.
[1] https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2021/03/14/java-16-pattern-matching-fun/
henrik_w · 2016-08-23
Here's a similar post that I thought was quite good:
"If the system is not easy to monitor, it is not well designed"
http://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2015/03/02/monitoring-check-smells/
mihaipocorschi · 2015-10-01