code as art "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
growth 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
growth 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
growth 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
growth 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
Communication 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
tech 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
growth 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
process 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
tech 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
tech 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
product 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
tech 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
security 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
growth 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
tech 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
tech 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
growth 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
growth 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
product 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
tips 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
growth 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
process 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
tech Iterative Architectures One of the common themes i see teams struggle with is their architecture. In the technology world, needs and opinions change over time. Because of this, no architecture is truly future-proof. They inevitably
process Design By Ideal I find myself asking the question, "How would this work in a perfect world? What is the ideal here?" more and more lately. It seems to fit in so many discussions,
