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Michael Lynn

Blog Articles

A collection of blog articles and thoughts on software development, technology, and other topics.

Blog Posts

The Software Factory Is Here - and It Runs on Cursor

The Software Factory Is Here - and It Runs on Cursor

July 4, 2026

Everyone's talking about an AI-driven SDLC 'software factory.' Here's what that actually looks like now that Cursor has cloud agents, Bugbot, and native intake from Jira, Linear, Slack, and PagerDuty, plus the steps to wire each stage up yourself.

cursor
ai
sdlc
software-factory
cloud-agents
bugbot
workflow
I Knew Git. I Just Never Had a Reason to Branch.

I Knew Git. I Just Never Had a Reason to Branch.

July 4, 2026

I learned version control back in the Subversion days, but I never learned how to work like a team. Here's how a protected main, a PR-only workflow, and Cursor holding the discipline finally closed the gap.

cursor
git
ai
developer-experience
workflow
I Almost Didn't Try Cursor. Here's What I Was Wrong About.

I Almost Didn't Try Cursor. Here's What I Was Wrong About.

June 7, 2026

I assumed Cursor was VS Code with autocomplete. Five wrong assumptions later, here's what actually changed my mind - and one low-stakes way to find out for yourself.

cursor
ai
developer-experience
agent-mode
myths
productivity
Asymmetric Embeddings: Building a Personal Brand RAG Pipeline with Voyage 4 + Claude

Asymmetric Embeddings: Building a Personal Brand RAG Pipeline with Voyage 4 + Claude

March 9, 2026

A practical guide to asymmetric retrieval: embed with the best model, query with a lighter one — and learn three different ways to get your docs into MongoDB Atlas.

RAG
Voyage AI
MongoDB
Atlas Vector Search
Claude
Embeddings
AI
MCP
VAI
Building Lightning Hire: Project Overview and Architecture

Building Lightning Hire: Project Overview and Architecture

March 27, 2025

The first in a series exploring the development of Lightning Hire, an AI-powered resume evaluation system built to revolutionize the recruitment process through intelligent candidate matching.

AI
recruitment
Next.js
MongoDB
vector search
A Day in the Life of a Principal Developer Advocate

A Day in the Life of a Principal Developer Advocate

March 27, 2025

Dive into the dynamic world of developer relations as I share what a typical day looks like in my role as a Principal Developer Advocate, from content creation to community engagement.

developer advocacy
tech career
community
content creation
Boosting productivity with Cursor

Boosting productivity with Cursor

March 26, 2025

Discover how Cursor's powerful rules system can streamline your coding workflow, enforce consistency, and help your team code smarter and faster.

cursor
ai
coding
productivity
RAG chunking lifecycle: How document chunking strategies impact AI response quality

RAG chunking lifecycle: How document chunking strategies impact AI response quality

April 7, 2024

Explore how different document chunking strategies affect the quality of AI responses in Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, with practical examples and code samples.

ai
rag
mongodb
vector-search
llm
embeddings
10 Tips for the Hackathon Beginner

10 Tips for the Hackathon Beginner

January 26, 2019

Learn how to navigate the challenges of a hackathon and maximize your chances of success.

hackathon
developer
coding
My Last One

My Last One

March 26, 2015

Michael shares the painful story of his final alcoholic binge, waking up humiliated under his desk as his wife leaves him. A friend's timely call helps him face reality, leading him to sobriety through AA. Now sober for over five years, Michael emphasizes that lasting change and a meaningful life are truly possible.

blog
test
recovery
3 Powerful Things to Remember when Speaking Publicly

3 Powerful Things to Remember when Speaking Publicly

March 26, 2015

Overcoming common public speaking fears to become a better communicator

blog
public speaking
advice