The Balanced Engineer • Issue #38
The things I'm most excited about from CascadiaJS: MCP and the Agentic Web, ATProto, Developer Advocacy, Langflow, Reboot, GitHub Copilot Coding Agent, and the developer community, plus a plug for MagnoliaConf!
The Balanced Engineer Newsletter
Week of September 22, 2025 • Issue # 38
I spent this week at CascadiaJS, a wonderful celebration of web and mobile developers in the Pacific Northwest. Given that I was at the conference, I didn't spend any additional time for the week looking at any other content to share. I'm going to do something a bit different from my usual newsletter and list the things I'm most excited about after attending.
But first! My dear friend Abbey Perini asked my to give a shout-out to MagnoliaConf to help spread the word about this upcoming event. It sounds incredibly cool, and if I wasn't already heading to GitHub Universe the next week in October (another super cool looking event!), I would absolutely consider making the trek! From Abbey:
Our catering isn't just feeding your body, it's possessing your taste buds with flavors that will haunt you long after the conference ends. Come hungry, leave spiritually transformed. Don't miss out on the spookiest tech event of the year! Get your tickets for MagnoliaConf 2025 today!
These tickets aren't just disappearing, they're being consumed by the void of regret that follows people who miss good conferences. Don't become part of the void. The void is lonely and smells like instant coffee. Get your tickets for MagnoliaConf 2025 today!
🧛 MagnoliaConf 2025 is just around the corner! Grab your tickets and be part of the excitement in Jackson, MS!
What I'm most excited about after attending CascadiaJS
MCP and the future Agentic Web: Both Kent C. Dodds and Rachel-Lee Nabors had talks that were in this area, and they both have me incredibly excited about doing some experimenting and dreaming of a future, better internet. I did a bit of research into MCP when the hype first came out, but their talks were excellent overviews of just how impactful this change is likely to be, as MCP will allow personal assistant agents to interact on the Web unlike anything before. Think if your preferred assistant app could do things like plan a birthday party, or make appointments for you.
ATProto: Rachel-Lee’s talk had a shout-out to ATProto, and Chris Griffing had a deeper dive during his lightning talk. I've been thinking a lot about ATProto since the Overcommitted episode we had with Nick Gerakines. I think between my general disdain for what social media is now and what I want to see for the future of the web, I think ATProto is where I will finally be making time to make some more significant open source contributions, and I am EXCITED. Seeing everything built on ATProto and the promise of a portable identity on the internet is incredible. If you're working in this space and know of any projects that need help, please hit reply and tell me about it ♥️
Langflow: Langflow was one of the sponsors of the event, and Phil Nash had an awesome talk showing it off. It was one of the sponsors I was most excited to talk to and learn about, and I fully intend to play with this tool soon. It is a super intuitive drag-and-drop interface for building and sharing AI Agents. Also another aside, I was so impressed by how curated the various sponsors felt for this event.
Reboot: This was the other sponsor I was most excited to chat with. I had a chance to chat with Riley Scheid, a founding engineer at Reboot, and a buddy I also got to see at Boise Code Camp this year, about what Reboot is up to. Think durable tasks for backend, with a specialization in MCP servers. It definitely seems worth investigating and is something I plan to work on a side project with soon.
Developer Advocacy: Both evident at this conference and from the Overcommitted episode this week with Annie Sexton, this has been on my mind a lot! Will Klein gave an awesome talk about making things for developers, and I met a ton of folks this week in the Developer Advocacy/Developer Relations space. This is a career path I am semi-interested in for the future and is a thing I kind of do for fun right now, between writing blog posts for the GitHub blog and doing talks about cool things at GitHub. I'm not sure if this is ever a pivot I will want to make full-time, but I absolutely love being involved in the Developer Community, and this seems like a great way to focus on it!
New things in CSS: Adam Argyle had a really awesome and jam-packed presentation on cool new things in CSS that he thought were worth sharing and demoing. I'm most excited about playing with scroll animations soon, and hope to add some to my own sites!
GitHub Copilot Coding Agent: Okay, this actually came from my own talk, BUT I was very energized to hear from quite a few other folks who were already using Coding Agent by assigning Copilot to GitHub issues, or were excited to try it out after hearing about it. I genuinely think this is going to be the most incredible tool for clearing tech debt and backlog items that would otherwise be taking up space and distracting engineers. It was lovely to hear the various ways folks have made use of it so far!
Developer Community: this is probably the thing I will be most taking with me from the week. I love having the opportunity to bask in the glory of the community made up of fellow developers. It is so fun to have a space to nerd out about these things, and to meet so many folks that I'm excited to keep up with and learn from.
What I've Been Building
A quick look at what I've been working on this week
Overcommitted: Ep. 25 | Developer Advocacy with Annie Sexton - What is developer advocacy and why is it important? Plus an opportunity to hear from one of the coolest ladies in tech, Annie Sexton!
Overcommitted Book Club: Check out the async Looks Good To Me book club!
Have comments or questions about this newsletter? Or just want to be internet friends? Send me an email at brittany@balancedengineer.com or reach out on Bluesky or LinkedIn.