Recommended Tech Newsletters

Published Sunday, September 06, 2020

One of my preferred strategies for staying up to date in tech is newsletters. Call me old school, but I love a good email newsletter. A curated list of recommended blog posts, talks, and career opportunities delivered directly to my inbox? Yes please, much appreciated. I’m subscribed to a ton of them, and I’ve found them immensely helpful for staying on top of things.

Which isn’t to say I read all of them right away (c’mon, I wish I had that kind of time). Most I’ll just skim, maybe save a few links to read later, then archive away. Others I archive instantly, leveraging inbox filters to make sure everything’s sorted and tagged for easy retrieval later. The result is my own automated archive of helpful resources, stored safely away in my inbox. When I’m researching something new or looking for inspiration, it’s the first place I look.

Below are a few of my favorites. I hope they’re as helpful for you as they have been for me. I’m always looking for new recommendations, so be sure to leave your faves in the comments!

General

1. A List Apart from L. Jeffrey Zeldman et al.

“A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.” One of the most long-standing, well-respected magazines in the field. An invaluable resource for thoughtful, insightful, and resonant writing. If you’re looking to improve your own technical writing, I also recommend their style guide.

2. Increment from Stripe

“Increment is a print and digital magazine about how teams build and operate software systems at scale.” A glossy newsletter that’s also available in print form. Impeccably crafted in every sense, it offers monthly issues organized around a single them, like “APIs” or “Open Source”, with contributions from some of the biggest names in the industry. [Example issue]

3. Pointer.io from Suraj Kapoor

“Pointer is a reading club for developers. It’s a window into what other current and future CTOs are reading and thinking about. Super high quality engineering-related content, not just trendy topics or link bait.” So incredibly well-curated, I end up reading or saving almost every link in every issue. If I could only subscribe to one tech newsletter, it’d be this one, no joke. [Example issue]

4. Assaf’s Weekend Reading from Assaf Arkin

“Once a week, in your inbox, the top links about software design and development, people and management, culture and technology. A mix of insightful and funny. Goes great with coffee. ☕️” This one I usually read right away, start to finish, as soon as it lands in my inbox. It’s an absolute delight, as promised. I also enjoy that it includes spicy and/or hilarious tweets from the non-obnoxious part of tech Twitter. [Example issue]

5. SIGAVDI from Avdi Grimm

“…handpicked links to interesting articles, talks, or resources; an update on what I’ve published lately; and some reflections at the intersection of software and life.” Avdi Grimm’s semi-regular newsletter. A nice glimpse into his personal reading/viewing/listening lists, along with some delicious food pics. [Example issue]

6. LeadDev Originals from LeadDev

“Weekly words and voices on engineering leadership…[with] the latest advice and upcoming events from LeadDev.com to help you lead effective tech teams.” Roundup of articles and upcoming events from LeadDev.com. They run a fantastic conference series, and I’ve been really impressed with the caliber of their blog content and talks as well.

Career

1. Diversify Tech from Veni Kunche

“Diversify Tech connects underrepresented people in tech to jobs scholarships, events, speaking opportunities and more.” A fantastic resource for job seekers from underrepresented groups. Includes weekly resources and job alerts. [Example issue]

And for companies, founders, recruiters and allies, don’t miss the weekly Business and Ally edition, with articles on diversity and inclusion from diverse voices, candidates from underrepresented groups who are looking for jobs, and opportunities to learn and advocate for diversity in tech. [Example issue]

2. Break In from Sophie DeBenedetto

“…bi-weekly newsletter designed to help you break in to the tech world.” Whenever someone asks me for advice about changing careers into tech, I always point them to www.break-in.tech. It’s got a fantastic collection of resources on learning to code, interviewing, and succeeding as a junior dev.

3. Technically Speaking from Chiu-Ki Chan and Cate Huston

“Technically Speaking delivers call for proposals (CFPs), speaking tips, and inspirational videos straight to your inbox.” No longer active, but the archives are worth diving into if you’re a current or aspiring technical speaker. [Example issue]

Language-specific

1. Ruby Weekly from Peter Cooper, Glenn Goodrich, and Cooperpress

“A free, once–weekly e-mail round-up of Ruby news and articles.” A must-subscribe for any Ruby developer. Includes job postings. [Example issue]

2. Elixir Weekly from @elixirstatus

“Elixir Community News, one email every Thursday.” Modeled after Ruby Weekly. Includes a mix of blog posts, podcast episodes, and project updates. [Example issue]

3. Elixir Radar from Hugo Baraúna

“Weekly Elixir Newsletter. Keep updated with what’s happening in the Elixir community.” Includes content, news, events, and job postings. [Example issue]

4. CSS Weekly from Zoran Jambor

“Weekly e-mail roundup of css articles, tutorials, experiments and tools” [Example issue]

5. CSS Layout News from Rachel Andrew

“A weekly collection of tutorials, news and information on all things CSS Layout.” [Example issue]

Stack-specific

“Collective features the latest news and resources from the web design & web development community.” One of the first tech newsletters I subscribed to and still one of my faves. Consistently high quality, where every link is interesting. Almost exclusively front-end focused. [Example issue]

“The most interesting and relevant news and information published [this] week both on CSS-Tricks and off.” Don’t let the name of the publisher fool you; they cover all things front-end, not just CSS. [Example issue]

3. Codepen Spark from Codepen

Round-up of the week’s coolest Pens (HTML, CSS, and JS demos from the community). Always super impressive. [Example issue]

“Keep up-to-date on the best web animation, motion design, and UX resources on the web! Subscribe for a weekly collection of curated tutorials and articles – plus advice on how to make web animation work for you.” I subscribed to this newsletter while working on a UI animation feature, thinking I’d unsubscribe when it shipped. But that was almost 3 years ago at this point 😄 [Example issue]