Tech Productivity Issue #356 (Why Engineers Are Interiewing Elsewhere)

Issue #356 (Why Engineers Are Interiewing Elsewhere) 12/08/25

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In case you missed it, the annual Stack Overflow Developer Survey was recently completed and the folks at Stack Overflow have posted a few summaries of the results. One that might be of interest here is 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey: A TL;DR for Leaders.

As you can see, this is a summary specifically geared towards those in leadership roles in tech. But even if you're not in leadership, this might be worth looking at.

2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey on AI Agents

The primary points under discussion here are:

AI adoption is accelerating, but trust is declining
The productivity paradox: More tools, less flow
Communities are still developers’ go-to for knowledge
AI agents: Promising, but not yet mainstream
Continuous learning drives long-term success
Developer experience: Satisfaction is critically low

It's definitely eye-opening to see that developers are still flocking to different communities and the fact that AI agents are not yet mainstream.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

Tools & Apps

Claudesidian — An open source tool to turn your Obsidian vault into an AI-powered second brain using Claude Code, allowing you to organize your knowledge using the PARA method and maintain version control via Git, among other features.

Joonote — A note-taking app for Android users that lets you create, view, edit, and delete notes, tasks, reminders, and checklists from the notification panel and on the lock screen.

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Showesome — A free Chrome extension that lets you capture your screen, webcam, or both, in 1080p quality at 60fps, useful for tutorials, demos, and presentations.

Reiden — A keyboard shortcut copilot for Mac that runs in the background and identifies areas where you're slow and suggests keyboard shortcuts to improve efficiency.

Puzzle — An AI-native accounting app for small startups that generates more accurate books in 20-50% less time than QuickBooks.

AegisClip — A local-only clipboard app for Mac with 20+ feature, including the ability to auto‑paste with a click, split text into items, paste all at once or step by step, and more.

Articles & Resources

Becoming Unblockable — "With enough careful effort, it’s possible to become unblockable. In other words, you can put yourself in a position where you’re always able to make forward progress on your goals."

Why Your Best Engineers Are Interviewing Elsewhere — This makes the argument that a complex company hierarchy can lead to a failure in understanding problems at the top, thus leading to high turnover rates.

Running a Business Means Contact With Reality — A relevant take on real-world business ownership and how we can make a lot of assumptions about things until we really examine how things work.

The Simple Habit That Saves My Evenings — Some advice for those who are constantly looking for that lengthy period of 'focused' time, only to find it late in the day when you're too exhausted to do the work.

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You Still Need to Think — We might assume that AI is keeping us from doing any kind of productive or useful 'thinking', but even if AI codes for us, there's still much that we need to do to direct the work the AI is doing.

‘Ghost Growth’ is Frustrating and Burning Out Workers — This type of growth in a worker's career refers to surface-level growth that doesn’t translate to meaningful changes in pay or title.

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X or chat via Bluesky and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
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