Wizards of Our Age
I used to work with an engineer named Tim. Tim, for all i could tell, was a wizard. He employed advanced and arcane magics such a sed and awk to achieve bizarre but desirable outcomes.
Goal Setting for Engineers
One of the first things new team members learn about me is my outspoken detest for the word "manager". I am not a manager.
"I would describe my codebase as _____ and _____."
If you had to pick a pair of everyday words to describe the nature of your codebase, what would they be? Take a moment and fill in the following blanks. "I would describe my codebase as ______ and ______" Now, answer a similar question about your ideals: "I would
Lessons from MicroConf Day 3
The third and final day of MicroConf 2017 was focused on a few themes: revenue, time and value. Any conference Patrick McKenzie (patio11) speaks at will surely have a simple message: double your prices. Patrick has been making this case tirelessly for years and with good reason. His own page
Lessons from MicroConf Day 2
"Leverage your failures." if i were to summarize day 2 into a single statement, that would be it. In a conference focused on bootstrapping products, a lot of the information has been about parlaying opportunities. The first full day of talks was equal parts inspiring and exhausting. You
Lessons from MicroConf Day 1
I bet you've considered building a product and earning enough income to quit your job. I'd even bet you already have one; partially built, sitting in digital mothballs. You are not alone. The dream is shared by us all. As is the reality: our SaaS products, incomplete, dashed upon the
The One Thing to Avoid While Coding
At a recent talk, one of the attendees asked me, "What is the one thing to avoid when coding?" My answer lacked the foresight a question like that deserves. In the time since i've mused over this very topic. What is the most important thing to avoid when
How to Communicate as an Engineer
There is a running joke at my company that i communicate with analogies. I take it as a compliment. Reason being that i have found no better way to explain abstract technical topics to lay people. Consider this common example. My coworker, Tim, doesn't understand why two similar-looking development tasks
Scaling to Millions of Users
Companies are like boats. The small ones are quick and agile. They move fast and pivot on a dime. But that agility comes at a cost: they are notoriously unstable. The rough seas of the market define what they can and cannot do. Make a bad turn and they risk
Quotes That Changed How I Approach Software
When you say enough words, the law of averages ensures that some of them will be profound. One of the neat things about blogging is that you have a record of when you manage prophetic statements. On that note, if you aren't current blogging or journaling, start. More on that
Whiteboard Coding Measures Penmanship While Nervous
Every time i go through the interview process i am reminded just how terrible tech interviews are. We ask questions that tell us if a candidate has read an algorithms book lately and assume it speaks to their ability to code well. This approach isn't just flawed, it's uninviting. Interviews
A/B Testing Features by Segmenting Users
"A/B test everything." Those of us in the startup world hear it routinely. But it is a useless statement. Ask "how" and you will be met with the shifting eyes of the ignorant. Indeed, A/B testing is powerful but tricky. Whole companies have been
The Internet is Fundamentally Flawed
Why has the internet been so transformative in the last 20 years? I would argue any complete answer to that question would need to speak to 4 major points: Anonymity Interconnectivity Information sharing Equal platform for individuals and companies But these aspects are the drivers for the internet's success. The
There Can be No Ego in Products
Software engineers are an opinionated bunch. We hold unreasonably strong opinions on how code should look, read, be styled and where it should go. Hell, we can't even talk about tabs and spaces without rising to violence. This isn't a bad thing. It is important that we feel strongly about
Choosing a Stack for Your Side Project
Selecting a stack is the first technology decision in a side project. Unfortunately, it is also one of the biggest factors in determining whether or not your project launches. This is not because there are right or wrong technology choices. All widely adopted technologies are different flavors of good. The
Hosting Multiple HTTPS Domains from the Same Server with Let's Encrypt and Nginx
This post is a continuation of my original, How to Set Up HTTPS with Let's Encrypt and Nginx. If you have not read that post, i suggest starting there. HTTPS is increasingly required for websites, as it should be. Chrome now explicitly marks HTTP sites with password or credit card
The Hardest Things to Learn in Programming
Coding continues to gain popularity in the professional world. As it does, people who didn't major in programming are using coding bootcamps as a way to enter the field. As my friends consider a transition, i am often asked, "What is the hardest thing to learn about coding?"
User.pronoun() is a Time Saver
Usability is all about the little things. Small changes in how your copy reads can have big effects in how your users react to things. This is one reason why designers love to use gender-specific language in copy. For example: "Hey Ben, [first name] just sent you a gift!
Programmatically Capturing Spam with Detextion.io
There is a [modified] adage about attracting users to web apps. "Build it and spammers will come." The fact is that if your users can enter text others will see, your app is going to be a target for spammers. This means comments, profiles, messages, feeds and even
Untold Benefits of a Software Blog
Starting a software blog can feel out of reach to most. Without readers our time will be wasted, right? Wrong. Thousands of dollars. That is what blogging about software will make you, even if no human being ever reads your blog. Not hogwash. At first, readers may seem like the
2017: The Goals
If i had to summarize my learnings of 2016 to a single lesson, it would be the importance of goal setting and measurability. In the same vein, it is time that i set some clear goals to tackle in the new year. Write 52 blog posts Blogging has become one
Designing as a Developer
Software developers have two things in common: we write code and we suck at making things look nice. Or so we think. The truth is we aren't actually bad at making stuff look nice. Our issue is that the blank canvas of a new site is daunting. Ironic, given that
Side Projects: Avoiding Failures to Launch
The story is a familiar one. An excellent idea, simple but valuable. A fresh codebase, like a world of possibilities. A side project is born. A weekend of delivered pizza and whirlwind coding lays the foundation of something wonderful. But then the novelty fades. Productivity slows. Eventually, between work and
Software Engineering Lessons Worth Learning Early
College didn't teach me what i needed to know. It taught me how to learn what i needed to know. I read this quote on a pamphlet in RIT's Software Engineering office one day. I didn't understand it at the time, but it has turned out to be the most
Prove Features Manually
At companies, we spend a lot of time using intuition to solve problems or increase revenue. But it is rare that these features, in their first version, end up working as we intuitively expect them to. Heck, some of them outright fail to produce the desired effects at all. If