Regular readers of my blog may have noticed that I haven’t published many personal pieces lately. Instead, over the past few weeks, I’ve shared a series of guest posts from developers across different domains. This is part of a special initiative I recently launched—inviting practitioners who have deep experience and meaningful accomplishments in their respective fields to share their hands-on insights, hard-won lessons, unique perspectives, and personal journeys.

As a blogger, I’ve inadvertently written hundreds of articles over the years. While I still believe my content holds value, I must admit that, like many writers who publish regularly, I have gradually fallen into a kind of “formulaic” rhythm. My articles tend to focus on API usage and internal mechanisms, but they are often constructed with a “demo mindset.” Even when discussing bug fixes or pitfalls, they typically address isolated “points” rather than connected “lines,” let alone full “planes.”

As a newsletter editor, I’ve also noticed another pattern: although the internet produces an endless stream of high-quality technical articles every week, truly deep, domain-specific, and frontline-driven content remains surprisingly rare. Over time, I realized the root cause: developers working on the front lines simply lack the time or energy to write such pieces. So, a few months ago, I began planning this initiative—reaching out to these developers, hoping to unearth these “silent experts” and make their tacit knowledge explicit.

During conversations with these authors, one scenario appears again and again: they don’t know what to write about. Even though they tackle complex engineering problems every day, long-term immersion makes these challenges feel ordinary or unremarkable to them. Many wonder, “Isn’t this just common knowledge? Would anyone really care about this?” At moments like this, I switch to the perspective of both a developer and a reader, and I tell them—yes, these are exactly the stories and insights we want to learn about. These are the “industry secrets” that rarely make it into writing.

In the era of AI, large models may well master vast amounts of API usage and coding patterns. But for humans, genuine emotion, real-world constraints, the friction of working with imperfect systems, and the lessons forged through countless failures—these remain our most precious and irreplaceable assets.

I am deeply grateful to the authors who generously carved out time from their busy schedules to share their knowledge. Many of the insights in their writing could only come from long-term engineering practice and the experience of being repeatedly “battered” by challenges.

This effort to unearth “silent experts” is still ongoing, with more articles already lined up. If the response continues to be positive, I will keep inviting more of these practitioners to share their stories.

We do this for ourselves, for the community, and perhaps to preserve a few distinct voices forged through lived experience in a world increasingly homogenized by AI.