Alex Kates

👋 Hello, bsky! I'm Alex. I'm a product engineer currently working at croissant.com I'm addicted to writing about building, and building things worth writing about. Things I think about while building - Time to market - Customer feedback - Iteration If this sounds like you, let's connect!

New App Submission from beloved community member @alexkates.dev! 🌿 HelloNature lets you capture, identify, and share wildlife with others. Alex built it solo, entirely with Expo. ♢ expo-image ♢ expo-router ♢ expo-updates https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hellonature/id6741009884 #ExpoAppAwards

SDK 54 beta is out 🚀 ◆ RN 0.81 + React 19.1 ◆ Precompiled React Native for iOS → ⚡ faster builds ◆ iOS 26 Liquid Glass icons + Expo UI ◆ Android 16 edge-to-edge + predictive back ◆ Updates to EAS Update + Autolinking ◆ Final release w/ Legacy Arch Details in the changelog: expo.dev/changelog/sd...

doggie prison is a ruff life

Weird A.I. Yankovic

real house wives of dc

i've built two shopify apps in my career one in 2022 before the llm blitz and one today in 2022 it took weeks, and today it took an hour some of that is because of the llm, but a lot of it is shopify's dx getting way better

chatgpt knows whos boss

✨ I’ve got a couple of extra General Admission tickets to @renderatl.com and I’d love to give them to folks who might not otherwise get a chance to go. If you’re from an underrepresented group in tech and want to be in the room or know someone who should be DM me!

I’m a rich man

under my htmella ella ella eh eh eh

Startup mode: ON. 🛠️ This May 7, we’re bringing together @tazsingh.com (Guild) & @jamesperkins.dev (Unkey) for an unfiltered convo on what it really takes to go from zero to launch. 📍 1PM EDT — Torc Virtual Meetup Come learn, ask, and connect. #BuildInPublic #TechStartup #FoundersJourney

🧠⚙️ The future of tech is now — and it’s powered by AI. Join our Torc Virtual Meetup to explore how AI is reshaping tech roles: from automation to brand-new careers that didn’t exist a year ago. 💥 🗓 May 6th 🕐 1 PM EDT ✍️ guild.host/events/torc-...

If the recent prompt-to-code AI tool explosion will force the tech industry to reflect on, but properly: "How much of software engineering is the act of writing the *code* itself?" It's a key part: but it turns out that there are many other things that are key to software

We should all accept that the web is extendable and promise each other we will add "data-external-id" attributes that will never change

guess i'm building a blogging app on top of AT called freedium

the entire world is just ETL

i once made it to the front page of reddit's LPT www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTip... AMA

Listen, I get it, continuous learning is vital in software But the pace the past 6 months feels overwhelming

I did it. I blogged again! This time, I wrote about what Developer Advocacy looks like in 2025.

On my 38th birthday all I wanted was to eat a pbj on a mountain

www.reddit.com/r/newscast/s...

Your GitHub is a portfolio. 💼 Clean up old repos, highlight your best work, and write clear READMEs. First impressions matter. #TorcTips

Perfect timing for me to announce my newest JavaScript framework hotdogflavoredwater.js

nothing like a good session of answering customer support questions to remind you that you get more help when you are nice to people

test-driven-ai-development is kind of fun

imagine if NPM imposed these tariffs on your import statements

Apply today to join Vercel's open source program. Get access to Vercel credits, partner credits, and community support. Applications are open until April 11th. vercel.com/docs/open-so...

I’ve officially reached “watch people dry walling on YouTube” years old

It's happening in 4 min!!

😰 "Friction kills productivity." @galaxies.dev just published a sweet vid about building with Expo Router and Nativewind to reduce app dev friction and ship better apps faster. youtu.be/acj7-3-EQWM?...

i kinda want to relearn java

Want to enter the world of AI, but don't know where to start? I've built a roadmap on how to become an AI Engineer. We cover: - What AI engineers are - What LLM's are used for - Evals - A directory of 17 techniques It's the perfect way to get ahead of the curve. www.aihero.dev/ai-engineer-...

As someone that’s a bit new to oss, seeing 23 stars is mind blowing

"The AI Engineer Roadmap" dropping soon. Covering everything you need to enter the AI world: - What LLM's are used for - The AI engineer mindset - Evals - 17 techniques for improving your LLM-powered apps

This is unbelievably cool Just keep pressing 'space' to learn how an LLM works

I've been going deep on @clashofclans.bsky.social lately and recreated their buttons (to the best of my ability) in CSS with a fun lil web component on @codepen.io! codepen.io/cassidoo/pen...

I am excited to announce the release of Valibot v1, a 1 kB alternative to Zod with a type-safe and easy-to-remember API. Check out the announcement post now: valibot.dev/blog/valibot...

has i get older i'm finding its harder to figure out where exactly to spend my energy

UUIDs are endangered! Reuse, repurpose, recycle

Bluesky's gonna really take off once people discover joking

I wrote a quick blog post on how to setup and use Amazon S3 Tables with @duckdb.org, based on its new Iceberg capabilities: tobilg.com/query-s3-tab...

Super excited to share the stage with my friend @theburningmonk.com at #AWSSummit Amsterdam! 🎉 Yan is a serverless genius, and I always learn so much from him. Get ready for some serious #serverless insights in our session! See you there on April 16! go.aws/4kOzjvE

I’ve hit that point in my career where I’m a full time LIFO stack

🆕 Want to use Tailwind CSS 4 in your Expo project? We've updated our Tailwind guide to include instructions for how to use Tailwind CSS 4 in Expo apps. Check it out: docs.expo.dev/guides/tailw...

I wrote some oython today ama

There will be a premium spot available on Uneed this Friday 👀 Who wants to take it? DM me!

This is your periodic reminder that you don't need that useEffect you're about to write because there's a better, more idiomatic solution available. Read the page:

Trump selling Teslas was not on my bingo card

TypeScript announces rewrite to Go, with a 10x editor and CLI speedup. It's the biggest TS announcement I can remember. www.totaltypescript.com/typescript-a...