DEV Community: Cesar Aguirre

A Year Ago I Published Street-Smart Coding. Here Are the Lessons, Mistakes, and Numbers

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 05:00:00 +0000

One year ago, writing a book felt like a distant goal.

Last week, Street-Smart Coding turned 1 year old.
It's the book I wish I had when starting out as a coder.
A roadmap with 30 lessons to build skills that last a career.
From the most conventional to the most unexpected.

I wrote it for my younger self Googling "how to get better at coding."

Street-Smart Coding became a book series

After one year, Street-Smart Coding became the second book in a 4-part series.

I wrote a prequel, Street-Smart Coding Manifesto, and I'm working on a sequel, Street-Smart Coding in the Age of AI.
I already have plans for a final career guide.

Those four will be my attempt to pass on everything I've learned about coding and nobody taught me.

What I would do differently

Street-Smart Coding made me learn to write a book the hard way.

Of course, today I'd do a couple of things differently:

I'd write a shorter introduction.
I'd rewrite Chapter 1 to make it timeless. The principle is there: find your own answers. But I framed it using Google, which is not as relevant in these days of AI as it was years ago.
I'd start writing it backwards.

Writing a book taught me a whole lot about writing, publishing, and marketing.
But more importantly, it gave me the confidence to call myself a writer.

Some random numbers

Unless you write a New York Times best-seller, you won't live off a single book, especially a technical one.

But if someone outside your circle buys your books, it's already a success.
Street-Smart Coding is a huge success.

In the last year, it's sold 92 ebook copies via Gumroad, and 9 Kindle and 2 paperback copies via Amazon.
It passed 100 copies in its first year.

Apart from sales, it earned me my first hater.
Someone called me "b*tch" for promoting it.

And it helped me define my category of one.
Someone called me the "Street-Smart Coding guy" in a comment.
Since then, I've made it my bio everywhere online.

Apart from my daily blog, Street-Smart Coding is the project I'm the most proud of.

One year later, I'd still recommend it to my younger self. If you want to code smarter and build real-world skills that last a career, grab your copy of Street-Smart Coding today.

Booo!!! Happy Halloween!

Cesar Aguirre — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 17:06:26 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 19

The Scariest Lines of Code I've Ever Written. Boooo!!!

#discuss #beginners #sql #sqlserver

2 min read

AMA!

Cesar Aguirre — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:01:55 +0000

Community shares similar burnout recovery stories

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 26

When Recovering From Burnout, Writing Became My Therapy. And This Week My First Coding Book Turns 1 Year Old. Ask Me Anything!

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

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Help me light 1 candle for Street-Smart Coding by asking any question...

Cesar Aguirre — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:03:23 +0000

Community shares similar burnout recovery stories

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 26

When Recovering From Burnout, Writing Became My Therapy. And This Week My First Coding Book Turns 1 Year Old. Ask Me Anything!

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

2 min read

I'm lighting 1 candle for Street-Smart Coding, my first coding book. To celebrate it, I'm running an AMA. Feel free to join!

Cesar Aguirre — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 14:36:35 +0000

Community shares similar burnout recovery stories

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 26

When Recovering From Burnout, Writing Became My Therapy. And This Week My First Coding Book Turns 1 Year Old. Ask Me Anything!

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

2 min read

AMA!

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:51:12 +0000

Community shares similar burnout recovery stories

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 26

When Recovering From Burnout, Writing Became My Therapy. And This Week My First Coding Book Turns 1 Year Old. Ask Me Anything!

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

2 min read

When Recovering From Burnout, Writing Became My Therapy. And This Week My First Coding Book Turns 1 Year Old. Ask Me Anything!

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, I'm Cesar, a Senior Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience.

In 2023, I got sick and burned out.
In 2024, I was laid off.

To recover, I went back to writing:
I resurrected my blog and my dev.to account.
It worked like free therapy by giving me a reason to get out of bed.

After hundreds of posts, I challenged myself to write a book.
That's how Street-Smart Coding was born:
A roadmap with 30 lessons I wish someone had told me when starting out.

Since then, Street-Smart Coding became book #2 of a 4-part series.
I already wrote a prequel, Street-Smart Manifesto and I'm working in a sequel, Street-Smart Coding in the Age of AI.
My goal is to shared everything I've learned the hard way in over 10 years.
I have planned another book, by the way.

In last July, I ran an AMA to celebrate my 7-year anniversary on dev.to:

Writing therapy and a new book trilogy

Cesar Aguirre

Jul 20

I've Spent 10+ Years in Software Engineering. After Sickness, Burnout, and a Layoff, I'm Rebuilding My Career. Ask Me Anything

#discuss #watercooler #ama #coding

106

105

1 min read

And this week, to celebrate Street-Smart Coding first anniversary:
Ask me anything about coding, burnout, or writing.
I don't have all answers, tho.

Let me know if you participated in the last AMA.
Or simply stop by to say Hi.

Let's keep this conversation between humans, not between a human and an LLM.

If AI, FOMO, and hype overwhelm you...

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 23:32:14 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Jun 9 '25

7 Strategies to Stay Sane in the Never-Ending Tech Hype Cycle

#discuss #ai #beginners #programming

3 min read

Boooo!!!

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:09:46 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 19

The Scariest Lines of Code I've Ever Written. Boooo!!!

#discuss #beginners #sql #sqlserver

2 min read

The Scariest Lines of Code I've Ever Written. Boooo!!!

Cesar Aguirre — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I don't remember if it was rainy or sunny outside. It was more than five years ago. I was still becoming a senior coder.

I've written hundreds of thousands of lines of code that I don't remember anymore. But I still remember these ones.

As part of my daily tasks, I wrote this query in a stored procedure,

SELECT * FROM dbo.HugeTableWithoutIndexes
WHERE DATEDIFF(DAY, ADateColumn, @InputDate) = 0

I was working with an email system built with Amazon SES. I needed to show all email activity: delivered, opened, bounced, and so on. I wrapped a column in a function. A deadly sin!

The table had millions of records and no indexes. My query forced a full scan of the table. The next thing I knew the server was on fire. Not literally, of course. LOL!

Those days I refused to learn SQL, convinced ORMs and NoSQL were enough. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Relational databases and SQL still reign.

Eventually I learned about indexing, scans vs seeks, and SQL Server internals. Shout out to Brent Ozar's courses.

A painful lesson I will never forget. Take your vitamins, exercise, and use indexes.

You can't escape from SQL. That's why I made it one of the lessons in Street-Smart Coding. It's the guide I wish I'd had on my journey to becoming a senior coder.

Look, ma! I'm in the Hall of Fame...under the "🏛️ Stories From the Trenches" section

Cesar Aguirre — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 23:36:46 +0000

Over 10 hours of reading behind it

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Oct 18

Promise Delivered: Welcome to the DEV Hall of Fame (65 Authors, 65 Masterpieces)

#discuss #community #showdev #writing

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#2.—It steals the joy of figuring out problems.

Cesar Aguirre — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:10:30 +0000

Cesar Aguirre

Oct 12

Four Pitfalls of Over-Relying on AI When Coding

#discuss #coding #programming #ai

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