Developer Experience in the AI Era — Helping Engineers Stay Competitive

While teaching a Claude workshop, an engineer in the room asked me: how do you think about improving Developer Experience (DevEx) in the AI era? I answered on the spot. This post revisits that as a fully remote CTO. What DevEx used to mean, what AI changed, how leadership provides the environment. The goal: growing engineers who stay competitive in the market, the kind people call excellent even after they move on.

The AI Era Is a Great Time to Learn - 15 Years Since I Was a Fledgling Engineer

"What should I learn in the AI era?" "How do I grow as an engineer?" At TechLead Conference 2026, I heard those anxieties often. Fifteen years after asking basic MySQL questions at Python mini Hack-a-thon, and with AI now available to answer anything on demand, I believe this is the best era yet for beginners.

AI Slopper — The Cost of Misdirected AI-Native Development

LLMs and AI coding agents have made writing code fast. But a person who runs an agent without understanding the direction of the project or product produces AI slop at the same high speed. In traditional development, fine-grained direction could catch a wrong turn early. In AI-native development, a wrong direction is amplified into output volume. As a result, the cost of delegating to an AI Slopper exceeds the cost of the requester using the AI themselves, and work routed to AI Sloppers disappears.

Why I'm Skeptical of the AI Vampire 3-to-4-Hour Workday — Raising Human Intensity Every Day Instead

Steve Yegge argues in The AI Vampire that 3 to 4 hours is the sweet spot for the new workday. I'm skeptical. Keeping up with how fast models and agents evolve requires steady daily exposure, and a high-intensity human running AI at full throttle over long hours can still outproduce a 3-to-4-hour setup, so I don't expect the market to converge on the lower end of the dial.

Benefits of Allowing Side Jobs ~ Improved Hiring Power, Skill Enhancement, Turnover Prevention

How allowing side jobs helps engineer hiring, skill growth, and turnover prevention, from an Engineering Manager's view.

I became the CTO and Director of ROUTE06 Inc.

A short announcement about being appointed CTO and Director of ROUTE06 Inc.

Reading Memo: 'Dan Kogai's Meeting with Alpha Geeks WEB+DB PRESS plus' by Dan Kogai

Reading notes on 'Dan Kogai's Meeting with Alpha Geeks WEB+DB PRESS plus.'

Reading Notes: 'Think Honestly and Thoroughly' by Mitsunobu Okada

Reading notes on 'Think Honestly and Thoroughly' by Astroscale founder Mitsunobu Okada.

Reading Notes: 'Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies (Interview)' by Reid Hoffman

Reading notes on Reid Hoffman's interview book 'Blitzscaling.'

Reading Notes: 'Career Change 2.0: New Rules for Japanese Career Development' by Shin Murakami

Reading notes on Shin Murakami's 'Career Change 2.0,' read from a hiring manager's angle.

Reading Notes: 'What You Learn in Your First Year as a Consultant' by Tetsuyuki Oishi

Reading notes on Tetsuyuki Oishi's 'What You Learn in Your First Year as a Consultant.'

Reading Notes: 『クリエイティブ人事～個人を伸ばす、チームを活かす～』(Creative HR: Growing Individuals, Leveraging Teams) by Tetsuto Soyama

Reading notes on 'Creative HR' by CyberAgent's HR lead Tetsuto Soyama.

Wise Words from 'Don't Read the Air' (『空気を読んではいけない』の金言)

Wise words from Shinya Aoki's 'Don't Read the Air,' viewed through an engineer's lens.

Reading Notes: '起業家の思考法――「別解力」で圧倒的成果を生む問題発見・解決・実践の技法' (Entrepreneur's Thinking Method: Problem Discovery, Solution, and Practice Techniques for Overwhelming Results through 'Alternative Solution Power') by Takeshi Hirao

Notes on Takeshi Hirao's 'Entrepreneur's Thinking Method,' including quotes on what separates people who deliver results from those who don't.

Reading Notes: 'Entrepreneurship is 100% Will' by Minoru Moriya

Notes on Minoru Moriya's 'Entrepreneurship is 100% Will,' capturing the quotes that stood out on what matters most for founders.

Reading Notes: 'The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You' by Takeda Tomoki

Takeaways from Tomoki Takeda's 'Highly Sensitive Person' — showing your true self attracts the people who fit you.

Reading Log: 'Boku wa Kimi no "Netsu" ni Tōshi Shiyō ― Benchākyanitarisuto ga Chōhatsu suru Nanokakan no Tokubetsu Kōgi' (I'll Invest in Your "Passion" ― Seven Days of Special Lectures Provoked by a Venture Capitalist) by Anri Samata

Takeaways from Anri Samata's 'I'll Invest in Your Passion' — founders grow only through their business, not by simply working hard.

Reading Log: 'Learn or Die: Shi nu Ki de Manabe Purifādo Nettowākusu no Chōsen' (Learn or Die: Learn with Deadly Determination - Preferred Networks' Challenge) by Toru Nishikawa and Daisuke Okanohara

Reading notes on Preferred Networks' 'Learn or Die,' with quotes on values, hiring, and organizational philosophy.

Reading Notes: 『絶望しきって死ぬために、今を熱狂して生きろ』(To Live Passionately Now in Order to Die in Complete Despair) by Kenjo Toru

Notes from Toru Kenjo's sequel about strategic communication, management intuition, and living without regrets.

Reading Notes: 'You Can Only Be Serious About What You Love: Survival Work Skills for the 100-Year Life Era' by Akiyuki Minami

Career notes from the Coconala CEO's book on surviving and thriving in the 100-year life era.

Reading Notes: 'Let's Talk About Failures. What We Learned by Pushing Forward Through 'Not Knowing Anything'' by Yosuke Tsuji

Reading notes from Money Forward founder Yosuke Tsuji on weekend startups and finding committed teammates.

Reading Log: 'Ōkina Uso no Ki no Shita de ～Boku ga OWNDAYS wo Keiei shinagara Kangaete ita 10 no Uso.～' (Under the Big Lie Tree ～10 Lies I Was Thinking About While Managing OWNDAYS～) by Shuji Tanaka

Reading notes from the OWNDAYS CEO on money as exchange, trust, and professional preparation.

Book 'PR Work Techniques' recommended by a PR person at a certain IT company

A short note on 'PR Work Techniques,' a book recommended by an IT-company PR practitioner.

Reading Notes: 'Genius of Entrepreneurship! Hiromasa Ezoe: The Man Who Created the 8 Trillion Yen Company Recruit' by Yasuyuki Onishi

Notes on the Recruit founder's story: intrinsic motivation, PSM, and a proto-teal organization.

Reading Notes: 'The Science of Good Career Choices' by Yu Suzuki

Reading notes on 'The Science of Good Career Choices' — quotes and reflections on the deadly sins and virtues of choosing a career.

Reading Notes: 'Single Dad Entrepreneur Doesn't Try Too Hard - Philosophy of Living Freely' by Hibi Miyazaki

A short reading note on Hibi Miyazaki's book, recommended for single fathers navigating challenges.

Reading Notes: 『小さな会社がITエンジニアの採用で成功する本　自社にピッタリの人材がみつかる』(A Book for Small Companies to Succeed in IT Engineer Recruitment: Finding the Perfect Talent for Your Company) by Kenichiro Yamato

Reading notes on engineer recruitment for small companies — finding the right fit and retaining engineers over the long term.

SNS strategies learned from 'Achieving Dreams Through SNS'

Reading notes on 'Achieving Dreams Through SNS' — differentiating posts by platform and starting with no risk.

Reading Notes: 'The Young Talent Development Textbook: CyberAgent's "Promotion Method" for Growing People' by Tetsuto Soyama

Reading notes on Tetsuto Soyama's book on CyberAgent's promotion method for growing young talent.

Reading Notes: 'Zero to IPO' by Frederic Kerrest

Reading notes on 'Zero to IPO' by Okta co-founder Frederic Kerrest, spanning team, sales, culture, and leadership.

Books I Read to Gain 'Finance' Knowledge as an Engineer Turned Business Owner

Three books an engineer-turned-co-founder read to build a baseline in startup finance.

Books I read when an engineer became an executive to understand 'labor management'

Books an engineer-turned-co-founder read to understand back-office labor management.

Summary of research for creating engineer recruitment page on bosyu

Research for creating an engineer recruitment page on bosyu, including service overview and real examples.

/careers seems to be the mainstream URL for recruitment pages

Looking at overseas web companies, /careers seems to be the mainstream URL for recruitment pages.

Catching Up After a Long Vacation

How I tried to catch up on a week's worth of changes using release notes, Slack, and GitHub after a long vacation.

Started a Tech Podcast for engineer recruitment purposes

Why I started an in-house Tech Podcast as an engineer-hiring channel, and how it compares to blogs and scouts.

'Corporate Engineer Night #2: We'll Become Beloved Corporate IT' Participation Report #CorporateEngineerNight

A report from Corporate Engineer Night #2 in Tokyo, with LT summaries and startup corporate-IT advice from the after-party.

Reference Information for Corporate Engineer Recruitment

A reference list for hiring your first corporate engineer - recruitment, salary, career paths, and startup job posts.

Create an environment where you can create what you want to create

A short reflection prompted by Yasutaka Nakata's article on shaping an environment to build what you want to build.

The CTO's Next Career — Why Unicorn Founders Move to AI Labs, and the 9-Step Exit That Makes It Possible

There are thousands of articles on how to start, fund, and scale a company, and almost none on how to leave one. Henry Shi, co-founder and CTO/COO of Super.com, wrote exactly that, then published the resignation process he spent nine months preparing as a 9-step playbook. His destination: Anthropic. His goal: safe AGI. Using this essay, I think through the question of a CTO's next career along three axes: the trend, the operator's value, and the design of a clean exit.

Recent work content and thoughts (August 2014 edition)

August 2014 notes on days pulled between vendor coordination, bug triage, and recruiting instead of coding.

Useful information for getting internal approval for engineer PC renewal

How I got internal approval for an engineer PC refresh — angles, references, and depreciation timing.

2018 Goals and Policies

2018 goals and policies as a development lead and PM, plus what I've decided not to focus on.

The role of Engineering Lead

Mapping the Engineering Lead role from The Manager's Path onto my actual day-to-day work.

Reading The Great Engineering Leader Career Break Through Metabolism and a New CTO Role — A Response to Six of Pragmatic Engineer's Reasons

Pragmatic Engineer's Headed for the Exit dissects the wave of CTOs and VPEs stepping away from high-status roles into ten reasons. I largely agree that the reasons are real, but treat the choice to leave or stay as an individual life decision. Here is my response to six of those reasons, framed around organizational metabolism and a new CTO role that does HR for AI agents and humans.

Books I'd Recommend to Engineering Managers

Books I recommend to Engineering Managers, gathered as I handed off the EM role.

Engineers aren't wizards who can do everything

Engineering roles are highly specialized — a note on setting realistic expectations across them.

Engineers/Programmers Will Eventually Become Cheap Labor

Notes on a book's prediction that engineering will commoditize, and what still matters in an AI-driven era.

Consultation and Response from Someone Who Became an Engineering Manager for the First Time

Answers to a first-time engineering manager on 1on1s, mentoring, coaching, and recommended books.

How to Ask Questions for Learning

On asking for the method to reach an answer, rather than the answer itself, when you're still learning.

Ideas for Not Working with 'People You Don't Want to Work With'

Practical options — from direct feedback to changing jobs — for not working with people you'd rather not.

Is a Salary Freeze Effectively a 3% Pay Cut? The Reality of Rising Prices and Real Wages (November 2025)

Do you feel like your paycheck should be going further, but somehow it isn't? As prices continued to rise throughout 2025, the real value of our wages has been steadily declining. This article uses official data to simulate just how much harder life would be if your salary had been frozen, and explores what engineers can do to break free from this situation.

Real Wages Turned Positive, But a Salary Freeze Is Still a Pay Cut — Inflation, AI, and Engineer Job Changes in Japan (May 2026)

At the end of 2025, I wrote that wages weren't keeping up with prices. Six months later, the picture has quietly shifted: real wages have finally turned positive. But 'the average is positive' and 'you are positive' are two different things. If your salary is frozen, it is still an effective pay cut. Using the latest government statistics and a domestic survey, we read three converging trends (wages versus prices, AI and employment, and the engineer job market) as close to the primary sources as possible.

Should Engineers Choose In-house Development or Contract Development for Their First Job?

My personal take on whether new engineers should start at an in-house product company or a contract dev firm.

Joined the Japan CTO Association as an Individual Member

About a year after being appointed CTO, I joined the Japan CTO Association as an individual member.

IPO Salaries Typically Range from 4.2 to 5 Million Yen

A look at Mercari's and ZUU's 2018 securities reports and typical IPO-era salaries in Japan.

Five cultural differences between Japanese and US companies you should know

A colleague's Tech Talk Tokyo #4 slides on five cultural differences between Japanese and US companies.

Is Joining a Venture Company a Smart Choice for Individual Career Planning?

A quote from Yoichi Ochiai's Japan Revitalization Strategy on why joining a venture company is a smart career move.

'Product Managers Talk About Their Careers. For Engineers Under 35 Aspiring to be PdM【kiitokMeetup】' Participation Report #kiitok_meetup

Notes and takeaways from the kiitokMeetup event on product manager careers for aspiring PdMs.

For beginners learning programming, I recommend specialized engineer training instructors

Why I recommend specialized training instructors over working engineers for programming beginners.

How Staying Active on LinkedIn Led to a Japan CTO Inquiry from an Overseas Startup

By continuing to post on LinkedIn, I received an inquiry about a Japan CTO position from an overseas startup. I'll explain how important LinkedIn is for Japanese engineers aiming for a global career, based on my firsthand experience.

Save 'Long Working Hours' as a Last Resort

Reflections on saving long working hours as a last resort and producing consistent output within a fixed timeframe.

Looking Back at 2020

Reflecting on 2020, my first year as a co-founder, across development, back office, corporate engineering, and hiring.

Looking Back on 2016

Reflecting on 2016 across business improvement, returning to engineering, and starting remote work from Kumamoto.

Won't mentoring systems produce good results unless the person recognizes 'there's a need for a mentoring system'?

A note on why mentoring systems tend to work only when the mentee themselves recognizes the need for one.

[Video] "Venture-oriented Programmer" by Naoya Ito

A quick note on watching Naoya Ito's Venture-oriented Programmer lecture video.

Personal Study Methods and How-To Guide for Network Technology

A self-study guide to networking for app engineers — books, hands-on tips, a troubleshooting checklist, and must-have gear.

What I Learned from One Week of Hard Work

One week of hard work — takeaways on energy, input, and spotting DEV team tech debt.

[Column] Notes from Reading 'How to Deal with the Programmer 35-Year Age Limit Theory?'

Notes from a roundtable article on how programmers should deal with the '35-year age limit theory'.

Proposals from people without track records are like entrepreneurs with ideas but no execution ability

An email excerpt on why cross-team proposals need a track record and completed personal work behind them.

I Was a Guest on PROTOTYPE.FM

Thoughts and a career reflection after guesting on the PROTOTYPE.FM podcast, episode 64.

Articles and Books I Referenced for Setting Qualitative and Quantitative Goals

Articles and books I referenced for setting qualitative and quantitative goals.

Reading Notes: 'The Rich Theory Nobody Taught You' by Tsutomu Jonenju

Notes on assets, risk, and the ten-year cycle of economic shocks from 'The Rich Theory Nobody Taught You'.

Reading Notes: 'Future-Making Entrepreneurs: Failure and Success Stories of 20 Japan-Born Startups'

Notes from '20 Stories from Japan-Born Startups' on the center-pin strategy and early recruiter/PR hires.

Reading Notes: 'How Generative AI Will Change the World' by Shota Imai

Notes from a Matsuo Lab researcher's book on generative AI, metacognition, and 'extreme actions' as a winning pattern.

Reading Notes: 'The Start-up of You' by Reid Hoffman

Reading notes on Reid Hoffman's 'The Start-up of You', covering permanent beta, niche strategy, and contrarian thinking.

Recommended Books for New Employees

Recommended books for new employees covering onboarding and the purpose of 1on1s.

Before Engineer Hiring, Consider the Approach of Reducing Work by Terminating Services and Features

Before hiring more engineers, consider sunsetting services and features to shrink the workload first.

Full Remote Work Isn't for Everyone — Reading the 'Home Alone' Isolation Study from Both Sides of the Household

Full remote work is comfortable. But what if a mental-health cost is quietly accumulating behind that comfort? The new Science study 'Home alone' shows, with data from nearly 590,000 workers, that working from home increases isolation and worsens mental health, and that the harm concentrates among people who live alone. I have lived through full remote work both alone and in a household of five. Here I read the study's data against both versions of my life.

Retirement-Driven Development (RDD)

Retirement-Driven Development: using a teammate's departure to convert tacit knowledge and drop busywork.

Thinking About When Operating Companies Should Do Contract Development

Why an operating company shouldn't take contract dev during its own service's peak season, using an e-commerce year-end as the example.

Disadvantages of Side Jobs

The downsides of side jobs from an employee's perspective, and why I don't actively pursue them.

Internal Interview Notes Related to Software Engineer Hiring

Notes prepared for an internal interview on software engineer hiring — values, work style, and priorities.

Information Summary for Software Engineers Taking on Product Owner Roles

Notes and references from a software engineer taking on the Product Owner role.

[Resource] 'Future Vision Through a Business Model That Makes Programming a Lifelong Career' by Sonic Garden CEO Yoshihito Kuranuki

Slides and Publickey commentary on Yoshihito Kuranuki's talk on making programming a lifelong career.

Hiring Plans Should Be Cautious Even After Successful Fundraising

Why hiring plans still need to be cautious after fundraising — spell out the role and its day-one work before interviewing.

What I want you to do if you're aiming to be a supportive type of leader

A prioritized to-do list for supportive-style leaders — hand off work, catch up on the team, join meetings, own cross-team coordination.

Article summary explaining Tech Lead roles clearly

A reading list of the articles and podcasts I used to understand what a Tech Lead actually does.

Technical Product Owner

Notes on the Technical Product Owner role and how it compares to Technology Officer and Tech Owner.

Tokyo Otaku Mode Acquired by Shogakukan — Reflections From Someone There Since the Early Days

Tokyo Otaku Mode has been fully acquired by Shogakukan. I was part of it for roughly eight years from the early days, both as an engineer and as a shareholder. This is the story of how the company grew from media into e-commerce and cross-border logistics, told from someone who was inside it.

Web Developer Roadmap was helpful for writing engineer recruitment information

How the Web Developer Roadmap helped me write engineer recruitment content.

Reflecting on 2018 [Work, Family, Learning]

Looking back on 2018 as Engineering Lead — hiring, warehouse relocation projects, 1on1s, family, and learning.