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Big Machine · 43 essays

Occassional, high-value messages for self-taught programmers switching over to an AI world

AI can create slop, but it can also create a masterpiece. It just takes a little practice.

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Who's writing

Rob Conery

Hiya! I'm Rob Conery, and I've been building software for over 25 years without a CS degree. I've created applications for huge corporations including Ameritech and Southwest Bell, and contracted to Visa, Google, Starbucks, and PayPal - building their very first developer portal back in 2005.

I wrote an open-source e-commerce site for Microsoft that was demoed on stage by Steve Ballmer at Tech Ed. In 2009 I co-founded Tekpub, specializing in high-quality video productions focused on technology - acquired by Pluralsight in 2013.

These days I'm obsessed with helping programmers make the switch to AI, showing them how to be efficient while building magnificent pieces of art.

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More about me

Work

What I do

Video Production

I love making videos at bigmachine.io, and I've been doing it for over 20 years. It's an obsession, and quality means everything.

Podcast

I created This Developers Life with my friend Scott Hanselman, and still do shows from time to time.

Speaking

I love meeting people in the real world, and am lucky enough to be invited to speak at conferences around the globe.

Latest

Recent writing

Sep 23, 2026 Stop saying no, just build it I went to Costco twice yesterday, three times total in the last two days. I help my friend run big supply runs

Sep 15, 2026 The Key Is Leverage Using AI in the programming world is great for speed and efficiency, but there’s so much more that’s possible if you just

Aug 21, 2026 Inheriting a massive codebase, knowing what's there I just pushed 7 more lessons to The Massive Codebase, which is the latest course I’m working on. I have a plan,

Aug 18, 2026 Opus 5 is changing the possibilities here The shift to AI programming presents a number of problems that we need to figure out as senior developers: crap code, vibed

Aug 7, 2026 Transform Books into Power Tools This is such a strange time to be alive. I'm writing this email to you while Claude is rebuilding the dashboard page

Jul 22, 2026 Throwing Claude at a 22 year old project One of the fun things about running an AI community is that I get to read the fun stories that members share

Elsewhere

Notable links

Repo Kolea This is my home made list server, the site you're viewing now. github.com/robconery/kolea ↗ Repo Champion OS A set of skills that fights for you in a council, helping you refine your idea and focus. github.com/robconery/champion ↗ Download The Claude Playbook A set of skills to improve the quality of your AI generated builds. bigmachine.io/freebies/claude-playbook ↗ Download The Wealth OS An AI-driven OS to help you get rich, implementing Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" methods. bigmachine.io/freebies/wealth-os ↗

Everything I've written

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