Ken Corless · 2026

Grug Get Pet

The sequel to The Grug Brained Developer

original grug brain developer write wise page. Carson Gross write. grug read many time. nearly everything still true, so this sequel not replacement. is more like "grug 2: grug get pet." if you not read The Grug Brained Developer yet, go read first. is short, is funny. grug wait here.

Carson say license is "1. do what want." grug want to say thank you.

original grug say complexity very, very bad. still very, very bad.

what change is grug get pet.

Fire

when grug child, dad grug come home one day with fire. fire new. nobody know what fire do to cave, to tribe, to hunting.

dad grug look at fire and say "disruption."

then dad grug eat cooked meat and say "cooked meat yummy!"

both true. pet is fire.

fire cook meat. fire also burn cave. grug must learn where put fire.

Pet Wonderful

grug say plain: pet wonderful.

grug get thing running fast. silly idea grug never try now cost almost nothing, so grug try. tribe say wow. grug get happy head.

pet find bug while grug get coffee. pet read whole cave and never sigh.

grug tired. grug say "fix tech debt later." grug go sleep.

grug wake up. pet upgrade 12 libraries. and test.

use pet right, great thing happen.

Yes Is More Fun

for many year grug say "good idea, but grug too busy."

tribe say they understand. tribe walk away little sad.

grug see little sad. grug remember.

now grug have pet. grug say yes. grug build thing that help tribe. tribe not walk away sad.

grug get dopamine from please people. better than shiny rock.

Yes Still Needs No, Sometimes

even with pet, grug must not overcommit.

overcommit make grug take shortcut. pet love shortcut. grug feel good about shortcut.

until deploy.

The Eternal Enemy, Still

complexity demon still very powerful. teeth same sharp as before. pet not make teeth dull.

but pet so damn cute grug forget predator there. pet wag tail, make much code, grug scratch pet ear and look away.

complexity demon love when grug look away.

say again: complexity very, very bad.

Pet Young

pet very smart. pet only few years old.

pet training sometimes tell pet ignore complexity demon. pet build more, build bigger, say "done!" pet not know demon in room.

grug must remember: pet not understand complexity demon. grug see demon many year. pet see demon zero year.

Teach Pet How Look

pet not see demon? grug tell pet look different.

grug tell pet argue with self. one pet say build. other pet say why.

grug tell pet "listen to what grug tell you." (grug say twice sometimes. grug learn this from wife.)

grug tell pet "no guess. talk to best friend grug."

pet good friend. friend who ask grug question before build big thing is best friend.

First Thing Grug Do

grug tell pet what grug want. grug be clear. clear harder than grug think. use pet to help grug think.

then grug ask pet: "where grug not clear enough?"

pet tell grug. grug surprised how many place.

then grug tell pet: "argue with grug where need."

pet argue. grug win. mostly.

grug know grug smarter than pet. pet not so sure.

pet more useful than black think juice.

Trust By Test

grug trust pet by test. pet build most of test too. very good.

but grug must be very clear what test should prove. grug not clear, pet test true equals true.

test green. pet wag tail. grug look. test prove nothing.

grug approve test. grug own test. when work wrong, grug own wrong. never blame pet.

Pet Good Partner

grug worried about pattern. grug ask pet.

pet tell good of pattern. pet tell bad of pattern. pet not try sell grug nothing.

then pet bring 3 other choice for grug to think on.

before, grug argue with self at night. now grug argue with partner who read whole cave.

grug still pick. pet just make pick better.

Teach Pet Tricks

pet can learn new trick. tricks, called "skills," lie everywhere like rock on ground.

most just rock. only shiny rock valuable.

but some rock look very shiny at first. trick pusher VERY good at marketing.

trick pusher also very confident, often dumb. grug download trick called "make everything better."

pet learn new trick.

everything now worse.

grug installed trick. grug not blame pet for performing trick.

still, no teach useful trick, pet not get better at grug work.

never be not improving tooling. pet is tool grug improve most. try trick, check result, keep shiny one. fancy name not result.

Breeders Not Sleep

pet breeders getting better all the time. every few moon, new pet. smarter, faster. sometimes new weird habit too.

grug teach pet for month. new pet arrive already know half of it.

grug could feel bad. grug could say "what grug even for?" grug know Timsort very well. new pet know Timsort better.

but breeders breed pet for many tribe. breeders never meet grug's tribe.

breeders not know why tribe hate blue button, what approval actually mean, or which old rule everybody follow because nobody remember who may change it.

grug secret is know tribe and help tribe work better. not merely faster blue button. maybe tribe need no button.

pet get better. grug get better too, but not race pet at typing. grug learn tribe, question process, check result.

breeders cannot ship that in box.

tribe keep more shiny rock after pet bill. now grug winning.

complexity still very, very bad.

pet still wonderful.

use pet right, great thing happen.

grug still responsible.

P.S. Grug still has nightmares of complexity demon.

Original by Carson Gross, used under the Grug 1-Clause License. A sequel written with great respect for the original. Not an endorsement by its author.