I've been writing a long-form article every month for the past couple of years.
At the end of this year, I thought of drawing some lessons from these articles and recapping their most important insights.
Clearly, 2025 was about three major topics: AI, building teams, and lessons learned.
My first article in 2025 was about AI... and it has already become somewhat obsolete.
I talked about the simple prompt I used to get meaningful results, and one of its components was the persona (i.e., who the LLM should be when replying).
With models improving significantly with every release, the persona component has lost much of its value. Prompt engineering as a concept has actually become less relevant.
A prominent topic for me was how software engineers - and people in general - should interact with AI to win in the long run.
My main concern is how junior engineers will experience the easy path offered by AI coding assistants without jeopardizing their critical thinking skills and their ability to learn.
The solution I adopted is to constantly ask "Why?" This helps master first principles and prepare engineers to design systems instead of just writing code.
I also experienced vibe coding's fast execution and the frustration that comes with it. I now treat platforms like Replit and Lovable as highly productive yet overconfident interns.
Building tech teams that deliver is what I do for a living at Supportful.
I wrote about some practices that proved successful for us and for our customers.
When hiring top talent, we got rid of three resume myths that no longer hold in 2025: the necessity of a college degree, perfectly continuous resumes, and the assumption that remote work equals lower productivity.
To build elite tech teams, we rely on four ingredients.
We use genuine job descriptions to explain the role we're looking to fill, and we adopt a headhunting approach to find the right talent.
We keep the hiring process as simple as possible, while assessing candidates for both technical and cultural fit.
I also shared advice with software engineers on how to stand out in their first interview, particularly when answering the much-dreaded "tell me about yourself" question.
In brief, candidates should should aim to leave a mark by being memorable through a meaningful personal story.
They should be genuine about what they know - and more importantly - about what they don't know.
I've been an entrepreneur for the past four years, and the journey has taught me a great deal.
My three main takeaways are to fail fast and learn, to find one's unique path and style, and to regularly assess and adjust the strategy.
My LinkedIn network has been steadily growing, and I shared a detailed guide on what worked for me and how others can reproduce it.
In a nutshell: be genuine, produce content consistently, and connect with people.
One last lesson, learned from a missed flight some 16 years ago, is about ownership.
Ownership means taking responsibility for my work to secure the overall outcome.
Having an ownership mindset leads to growth.
I hope you had a good 2025. Feel free to share your lessons, and I wish you more wins and lessons in 2026!
Book a call and get matched with engineers in 24–72h.
