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Start free trial →The Peterman Post · Software Engineering & Infra · November 2026
Asked what advice he would give a young engineer, Toub says he used to have a clear answer and no longer does. The experience that makes someone good at steering agents is the experience agents are removing.
…from nothing to a reasonable understanding of how everything works. And I was blown away by the book, and I've since reread it on multiple occasions, even though I know everything that's in there, I just love the way that it communicates things. So if I had one recommendation, that's it.
Looking back on all your experience, you've kind of been working in the industry for a while. What professional advice would you give a young engineer just entering the industry today that you believe could be helpful?
That's a great question. And it's one I've been struggling with. A couple years ago, I would have had a much more clear answer. But with AI, I still don't know what the right answer is. A lot of the times that I spend working with AI agents, I'm bringing to bear 25 years of experience, for better or worse, in being able to very quickly sniff out things when they're doing the right thing or they're doing the wrong thing or how I want to guide them. Or an agent says, I'm 100% confident that the right answer is A. And I'll say, yeah, but have you also considered B and C and D because these trade-offs might not be there, right? And oh, of course, like just those little things, being able to guide them in the right way requires you to have gone through it. And I'm concerned that because of what AI, how AI agents are progressing, that they're taking away the opportunities to have gone through it. And I don't yet know what the answer then is. I'm a very firm believer in really learning kind of the basics and building everything up from core principles. And so, like, when, you know, learning a language, I still think it's valuable to learn and to start out…
Awesome. Well, yeah, thank you so much for your time today, Steven. I really appreciate it.
Pleasure. This has been a fun conversation. Thank you.
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