Some of us including me always complain about being a student at Addis Ababa University. But the bitter truth is AAU is by far better than most universities in Ethiopia.

According to the laws of statistics, I might be wrong to make such a statement. since I’ve only visited AASTU and ASTU so far. But here’s why I say this - the universities most often mentioned as being “active” in tech are those two. Yet, when I saw the infrastructure there (which is way lower compared to AAU).. it’s not the university itself that makes them active... it’s the students.

They’re engineering campuses, but if you get an F in Machine or Thermodynamics... the staircases feel more like they’re open to let you jump than to actually let you go down :) Jokes aside... there’s really nothing in the environment that draws you in. Most startups and innovation centers are in Addis anyway.

Conclusion to my little rant... let’s use the opportunities we have as AAU students. Don’t mind me... I’m writing this in the middle of the night after many hours of debugging... but yeah, it is what it is :)

more code =/= better apps.

as having more laws doesn't ensure justice, writing more code doesn't let you build better apps. and the new technology, AI, made the wrong part easier. which is it lets you write more words but not quality one.

agree ?

back in high school... whenever I joined events like hackathons or competitions... I’d see university students and think, “wow, they’re so old” and I couldn’t imagine competing in something that high schoolers could still join once I got to their age.

now I’m a 5th-year student... and at every hackathon there are these insanely smart high schoolers making me feel dumb, like I’ve never done anything better since high school. 😭

they’re smart and active, fr.

late_night_rant

if you are looking to apply for internships and jobs in big techs, these github repos might be worth to consider. drop in the comment section if you know other.

https://github.com/speedyapply/2025-SWE-College-Jobs?tab=readme-ov-file

https://github.com/vanshb03/Summer2026-Internships?tab=readme-ov-file

https://github.com/SimplifyJobs/Summer2026-Internships

እግር ኳስና Product Development

ብዙ የአርሴናል ደጋፊዎች ማንቸስተር ዩናይትድን የምንጠላበት ምክንያት በአምስት ኳስ ቅብብል ጎል የሚያስቆጥሩበትን ምክንያት ነበር። በአንጻሩ አርሴናል ኳሷን አሽሞንሙኖ ከ20 በላይ ቅብብሎች አድርጎ የሚያምር ጨዋታ አሳይቶን ነበር። እንደውም ያ ሁሉ ቅብብል መጨረሻው መሳት ሊሆንም ይችላል ።

ሶፍትዌርም ላይ Ui አማረ አላማረ ሳይጨነቁ functional የሆነ app ሰርተው የሚሽጡ አሉ። ስራውን ይስራ ማሳመሩ ይደርሳል የሚሉት አይነት ሰዎች ማለት ነው።

ሌሎች ደግሞ ከሁሉም በላይ የሚያሳስባቸው UI ነው። Redesign እያደረጉ ወራት ይሄዳሉ። በመጨረሻም የተፈለገውን ያክል ሳይሆን ይቀራል ። አርሴናል እንደነዚህ ሰዎች ነበር።

አሁን ግን የዋንጫ ቡድን መሆን የገባው ይመስላል ። ጥሩ ሳይሆን ነጥብ ይዞ ሲወጣ ይታያል።

መቸም ዋናው ነጥቤ ኳሱ አይደለም። ሀሳቤን ካገኝችሁት የውጤት ሰው እንሁን ነው።

we are almost saying this year to year. but I hope this time we take points from every game ...and gyokeres won't flop up😭

the feeling when you are encountering a weird bug and all the search results are purple 😭

anyone know a workaround to play web audio in web apps with the ringer switch turned off on recent iOS devices (iPhone 15 or newer)?

You have an important exam and ChatGPT suddenly decided to go down.

ለዚህ ነዉ ህይወትን የማላምናት 😭

Everything feels scary when it comes in numbers.

Watching your battery percentage drop- 34, 33, 29, 10- feels scarier than the phone just shutting off without you seeing the numbers fall.

Counting your age, the hours, the months, the days-literally ticking down in numbers-feels heavier than suddenly realizing the year has ended on New Year’s Eve.

Tracking the money you spend on every single thing, doing the math, and knowing the exact numbers in your pocket feels scarier and more suffocating than just noticing your salary has already run out with 25 more days to go.

Counting down to an exam makes you more anxious than waking up and realizing the exam is tomorrow.

Life becomes more stressful and more demanding when you are forced to measure and account for every moment. You want to be the best programmer? You will not get there unless you pay attention to the moments. You want to own a Range Rover? You will not get that unless you count every single moment and remind yourself that time is slipping by, and then work toward your goal. (Tho, let’s be real- you will probably never own a Range Rover.)

So take care of every single moment. Be scared enough to hold yourself accountable for the future you want.

I am writing this while lying on my bed before sleep. You will probably read it with a fresh mind, not a tired one like mine. So consider this a late night rant.


late_night_rant

ኢትዮጵያውያን በአትሌቲክስ ጎበዞች ነን። በእግርኳስ ግን የለንበትም። የመጀመሪያው የግል ጥረት የሚበዛበት ሲሆን ሁለተኛው የቡድን ስራ ነው። የድህነታችን መንስኤ እዚህ ውስጥ ይታየኛል አለ @anwarbilcha

የሆነ ሰው ባዶ ትሪው ይዟል።
ሌላ ሰው እንጀራውን ይዟል።
የሆነ ሰው ጋ ወጡ አለ። አቀናጅቶ መብላትም መስራትም ስላልተለመደ ሁሉም ተዓምር ይጠብቃሉ።

አንዳንድ ሰዎች ብር ይዘውም ምን እንስራበት የሚል ጭንቀት ይዟቸዋል። ሌሎች ቦታ ይዘው ካፒታል ስለሌላቸው ቦታውም ባለቤቱም ሲመሽ ሲነጋ ይቆጥራሉ።

In football, a goal doesn’t count unless it actually goes in the net; no matter how many times you hit the post.

Arsenal have been incredible over the past three years, winning about 90% of their games. At times, they even led the league for more than 30 matches straight. But then, one slip in a 38-game season, and they lost the title. Despite all those achievements, their trophy cabinet stayed empty.

The next generation won't remember how Arsenal lost the title because of a single game against Aston Villa, or how they let an 8-point lead vanish with just five matches left. They’ll only say: Arsenal went three years without a trophy.

So don’t just “try.” Don’t celebrate hitting the post as if it were a goal. At the end of the day, your kids, your family, the people you’re working for, they won’t live off your attempts. They need you to actually achieve.

If your plan is to work at Google, don’t start celebrating because you got a job at some smaller company “on the way” to Google. If your plan is to build an empire, don’t cheer just because you recruited one soldier.

Anyway, I’m heading to sleep. I’ll read this back in the morning to myself. :)

Ex-Cursor engineer showed me this hack. Changed how I code forever.

"I built a $1.5k MRR app in 3 weeks using Cursor," he said.
"90% AI-written. Want to see how?"

Then he opened his laptop.

What I saw broke my brain:

1️⃣ His Context Hack
He never starts coding immediately.
First: Big picture → Data models → APIs → UI
"Feed Cursor context like you're training a junior dev."

2️⃣ His Test-First Approach
No long requirement docs.
Just comprehensive tests.
Then: "Hey Cursor, make these pass"
Tests become the spec. Genius.

3️⃣ His .cursorrules File
Under 100 lines. Crystal clear.
Patterns, conventions, versions, examples.
"This file is Cursor's operating system. Treat it that way."

4️⃣ His Workspace Setup
Frontend + backend in ONE workspace.
Cursor sees everything. Traces every connection.
"Split workspaces = split brain. Don't do it."

5️⃣ His MCP Strategy
Only 3 servers: Context7, Task Master, GitHub
"More than 3? You're playing yourself."

6️⃣ His Model Mixing
Claude 4 → Planning
Gemini 2.5 Pro → Implementation
o3 → Complex stuff
"Different tools for different jobs. Obviously."

7️⃣ His Golden Rule
"Cursor amplifies everything.
Good code becomes great.
Bad code becomes a nightmare.
Choose wisely."

Then he showed me his GitHub history.
21 days from idea to revenue.
Working 2 hours per evening.

"The secret?" he said.
"Stop expecting magic. Use it like a power tool. Iterate fast. Ship faster."

Haven't coded the same since.

What Cursor trick changed your workflow?

P.S. That app? Junk Mail Cleaner. Still growing.
The tools are here. The question is: what will you build?
♻️ Repost to help someone finally launch that side project

Source

They say behind every great man there’s a hardworking woman. But having two behind you doesn’t guarantee double the success. One job might be enough to keep you alive, but taking on another doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll thrive more. Instead, you might end up drained-like trying to keep up with two women at once. You have to be brave enough to carry the weight of both.

early_night_rant

[Python: The Documentary]

what other conference do you suggest to attend? 😄