- Serverless Design Pattern for Batch Processing with Fan Out
MAR 3, 2023, 2 minute read
β
TIL
- I Built my Side Projects Like Enterprise Software and Regretted It
JAN 26, 2023, 3 minute read
β
BOOTSTRAPPING,
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
I naively thought I could apply the same complex & scalable solutions used by actual companies to my side projects. I was wrong.
- Exploring Data Structures in the Real World: DNS Denylists
JAN 22, 2023, 3 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
DNS sinkholes like Pi-hole have to rapidly decide whether a new URL is allowed - what data structures might they use under the hood to enable quick responses?
- Confessions of Everyday Software Engineers
JAN 12, 2023, 5 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
A small collection of confessions from everyday devs at companies across the industry. When impostor syndrome strikes, they can act as a reminder that we're all human.
- Make Your Own Venmo Wrapped
JAN 4, 2023, 5 minute read
β
GUIDES
Not overwhelmed yet by all the Spotify Wrapped clones? Follow along to make your own Venmo Wrapped!
- Quick Icebreakers That Don't Suck
DEC 11, 2022, 2 minute read
β
MISC
Icebreakers that don't suck, already tested in real-life rather than being written for SEO spam.
- A Real-World Solution to Escape Embedded Double Quotes in JSON
DEC 9, 2022, 5 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Finding a solution to parse unescaped double quotes in my JSON strings, with minimal tears.
- How Your Take-home Pay Varies By State
OCT 4, 2022, 5 minute read
β
CAREER
Given a remote worker allowed to live in any state, how does their tax burden vary if they move?
- How to Self-Host n8n on Fly.io
OCT 4, 2022, 5 minute read
β
GUIDES
A simple guide to self-host n8n in just a few minutes on fly.io.
- Write a Javascript Cost Calculator for Stripe's Graduated Pricing
AUG 25, 2022, 3 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Tired of hand calculating the total cost for your graduated pricing tier in Stripe? Me, too!
- How to Self-Host NocoDB on Fly.io
MAY 7, 2022, 4 minute read
β
GUIDES
A simple guide to self-host a NocodDB Airtable alternative in just a few minutes, for free.
- How to Self-Host Actual Budget on Fly.io
MAY 7, 2022, 4 minute read
β
GUIDES
A simple guide to self-host an Actual server in just a few minutes, for free.
- Automate Recurring Venmo Payments with Github Actions and IFTTT
MAY 4, 2022, 6 minute read
β
GUIDES
Let the nice robots at GitHub handle sending Venmo requests to your friends.
- What My CS Program Didn't Teach
APR 30, 2022, 6 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Widely useful skills & tools you will be asked to use in your career.
- Remove Friction from Your Career: Advice for Students Starting College CS Programs
APR 27, 2022, 7 minute read
β
CAREER
The simple steps I would follow if I got to re-do my college CS program.
- Tech Company Careers Without Coding in 2022
APR 26, 2022, 1 minute read
β
CAREER
You donβt have to be a software developer writing code to break into working at a tech company.
- Software Engineering: It's Sales All the Way Down
APR 25, 2022, 1 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
I thought sales was a distant concept from compilers and syntax errors...I've been a fool.
- How to be Annoying with CSS Cursors (and a sprinkle of JS)
APR 19, 2022, 2 minute read
β
TIL
Emoji cursors changing based on position? Oh my.
- Why Do We Hide Failures But Celebrate Degrees
APR 13, 2022, 1 minute read
β
CAREER
- What Would You do With an Extra 500 Hours?
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
if a genie could snap their fingers and give you 500 hours to spend on anything, what would you use it for?
- Tracking Habits β Building Habits
APR 13, 2022, 2 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Confusing the tracking of habits as being enough to build them.
- Stop Looking for Shortcuts & Just Do the Work
APR 13, 2022, 1 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
There's only so much time you can spend looking for shortcuts or trying to learn more before you need to buckle down and get your hands dirty.
- Stop Asking for Advice
APR 13, 2022, 2 minute read
β
CAREER
90% of advice ends up wasted, so stop asking.
- Rethinking the Default Resume Sections
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
CAREER
If the resume should showcase your skills, why is company pedigree the most eye-catching?
- On the Importance of Maintaining a Toolkit
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
BOOTSTRAPPING
Maintain a toolkit to avoid shiny objects and be a quicker creator.
- Not-To-Do List
APR 13, 2022, 3 minute read
β
TIME MANAGEMENT
Removing negative elements of your day can be more effective than optimizing your time to perfection.
- Make Your Non-Techy Friends Safer Online in Under an Hour
APR 13, 2022, 5 minute read
β
PRIVACY & SECURITY
Help your friends nab the low hanging fruits of security posture.
- Exploring My Talent Stack
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
CAREER
Leveraging multiple strengths in concert to make the whole better.
- Donβt Hoard Your Best Writing Ideas for The Future
APR 13, 2022, 5 minute read
β
WRITING
Stockpiling your best ideas for a future audience wonβt make you a better writer.
- De-Google Yourself Without Cutting Cold Turkey
APR 13, 2022, 5 minute read
β
PRIVACY & SECURITY
Incrementally remove Google from your life without having to rip it out immediately.
- Creator Trapped in a Consumer Body
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Desiring to be creative, but defaulting to consuming content to the extreme.
- Creating Pages from Data Programmatically for Hugo
APR 13, 2022, 5 minute read
β
GUIDES
Ways to programmatically generate pages from data for Hugo. Automate your page creation.
- Clock is Tickinβ
APR 13, 2022, 4 minute read
β
TIME MANAGEMENT
Are you spending your minutes with intention?
- Beating Half-Baked Project Syndrome
APR 13, 2022, 5 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
A project person that can't seem to ship ideas.
- Obsidian Plugins for the Casual User
APR 9, 2022, 3 minute read
β
GUIDES
Plugins to make Obsidian as comfortable as other note apps, aimed at those who want tools that donβt need tinkering.
- How to Build Tools Developers Love
MAR 31, 2022, 3 minute read
β
DEVEX/UX
Lessons in developer experience learned from the best and worst tools.
- Product Ideas: Find Anything at Work as Quick as Googling
MAR 24, 2022, 6 minute read
β
PRODUCT IDEAS
An engine that unlocks the knowledge already within your company, no matter if it's in people or tools.
- Reflecting on my Failure to Build a One-Dollar Company
MAR 23, 2022, 10 minute read
β
BOOTSTRAPPING
A reflection on my failure to build a viable product, so others can learn from my mistakes.
- Debugging Without a Razor
MAR 21, 2022, 5 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Lessons learned from a couple days spent debugging everything BUT the problem.
- Creator Tunnel Vision
MAR 19, 2022, 2 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Only YOU can see the perfect vision in your imagination. Everyone else can only see what you've published, good or bad.
- Just for the Hell of it: Fun, not Profit
MAR 9, 2022, 1 minute read
β
MISC
- Add a Random Page Button to Hugo Site
FEB 13, 2022, 2 minute read
β
TIL
Let users read a random page on your site. A quick guide on how to add this feature to your site in no time.
- Python Parse RSS Feed With No Dependencies
FEB 3, 2022, 1 minute read
β
TIL
Parsing RSS with Python standard library.
- Add Search to Hugo Static Site in 5 Minutes with No Dependencies
JAN 28, 2022, 2 minute read
β
TIL
Add search to your static site in 5 minutes, the 80/20 effort-saving guide. No dependencies needed here.
- Tiny Python Router for AWS Lambda APIs
JAN 21, 2022, 3 minute read
β
TIL
The utility of Python Flask routing on a Lambda, without the framework.
- Convert Python Dict to JSON on the Command Line With Sed
JAN 20, 2022, 1 minute read
β
TIL
- Avoiding work to retain the possibility of perfection
JAN 5, 2022, 3 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Over 9 months ago, I set out with a simple task: paint a 3-D printed Halo Pelican I was gifted. Do I have any experience painting miniatures? Tons, and none.
- Life Has No Speed Limits
DEC 17, 2021, 5 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
A college degree takes 4 years, a year or more to write a book, 10 years at the DMV. Facts...or are they? Life has no speed limits, so why treat them as laws?
- Personalize your Development Environment with Dotfiles
DEC 16, 2021, 6 minute read
β
GUIDES
With a few small tweaks, take the default terminal and make it uniquely yours - then watch your dotfiles evolve as you find new tricks for your toolkit.
- Set Up Pi-hole Ad Blocker on Raspberry Pi Zero with a Netgear Router
DEC 11, 2021, 3 minute read
β
GUIDES
Learn how to set-up the Pi-hole ad blocker on a headless Raspberry Pi Zero and connect your Android and Windows devices for maximum adblock protection!
- Get Started With Obsidian Periodic Notes and Templater
DEC 10, 2021, 6 minute read
β
GUIDES
Configure Obsidian for seamless daily notes by adding the Periodic Notes, Templater, and Calendar community plugins.
- Manage Multiple Python Versions With Docker: an Alternative to Pyenv
DEC 3, 2021, 6 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Most devs don't need a complicated setup for Python, they just need to get running. Leverage a single Docker command to run any version in isolation.
- Year in Review: Reflecting On 25
OCT 20, 2021, 8 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
My Year in Review for 25. Ups, downs, and sideways.
- Personal Theme: Completion 26
OCT 20, 2021, 2 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
A personal theme for my year of 26 to guide me to a fulfilling year.
- The Best Advice I've Ever Received
APR 19, 2021, 1 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
"If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs."
- 7 Blunders Great Developers Say 'No' To
APR 5, 2021, 3 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Do you want to be more than a code monkey? Learn to avoid blunders and become a superhero to your team.
- Fighting Procrastination with Accountability
FEB 14, 2021, 4 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Starting a project is easy. Consistently working on one after the initial energy has faded? Much more difficult.
- Path to a Better Writer
JAN 10, 2021, 3 minute read
β
WRITING
- My Productivity System Snapshot: Dec 2020
DEC 20, 2020, 11 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
This is a snapshot in time of the productivity system I use: what it is, where it came from, and where it might go.
- How Ballerina Lang can Improve their Developer Experience & Adoption
DEC 20, 2020, 8 minute read
β
DEVEX/UX
- Giving Ballerina Lang a Twirl
DEC 20, 2020, 10 minute read
β
DEVEX/UX
My experience learning the language by building a small package.
- Why No-code is a Godsend for Developers
DEC 10, 2020, 7 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
It's so easy as a developer to dismiss the idea of learning no-code tools. After all, you know how to code, why spend time learning tools designed for those who can't?
- Stop Wasting Time on The Small Potatoes Decisions
DEC 6, 2020, 6 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Our days are filled with little decisions, problems where it's just not worth searching for the optimal solution. Yet we waste time digging into the details, anyway.
- How Many Customers Does a Successful Side Hustle Need? Just 99.
NOV 26, 2020, 8 minute read
β
BOOTSTRAPPING
Let's break it down and see how you only need 99 people's support for your side hustle to make a drastic change to your life.
- Starting from Zero
OCT 30, 2020, 4 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
I'm starting from zero with no audience, no businesses, no published projects or big ideas. Putting a line in the sand to look back on, no excuses.
- You Have Permission to Write
SEP 27, 2020, 2 minute read
β
WRITING
Your piece may be bad.
The topic may be over done.
It may get ignored.
But for the chance your words resonate with someone, write.
- Fixing the major flaw of Apple Screen Time
SEP 20, 2020, 3 minute read
β
DEVEX/UX
We've all done it. You're scrolling through your phone, long past the "just a second" that you told yourself, when it hits you. Time Limit.
- 365 Ways to Make Progress Towards Your Life Goals
SEP 1, 2020, 2 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ask yourself, "What did I do today that pushed me towards my long term goals?"
- Coding is Dangerous for Developers
JUL 30, 2020, 3 minute read
β
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Don't lose your tether to the original goal
- The Ideal Life Gap
JUL 14, 2020, 2 minute read
β
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
There are two versions of your life: the one you are living in & the one you dream about.
- A User-Friendly Way to get Data over SMS
JUN 26, 2020, 4 minute read
β
PRODUCT IDEAS
- The Frustrating User's Guide to Slack
MAY 21, 2020, 3 minute read
β
GUIDES
A quick list to know you are doing everything you can to endear yourself to your teammates on Slack.
- Madtown Deals
FEB 16, 2018, 2 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Gymnastics Text is Functional!
DEC 27, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Shut your PiHole!
SEP 20, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Hackathon Schmackathon
AUG 19, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
I had nothing clever for 'hackathon', sue me
- Out of Context
AUG 9, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Windows, Why You Do This??
AUG 4, 2017, 2 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Text Me Maybe
JUL 27, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Docker? I Hardly Know Her!
JUL 8, 2017, 2 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- Killing the Daemon
JUN 21, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
- So you think you can PXE?
JUN 5, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE
Don't hate the title hate the game
- The Beginning
MAY 23, 2017, 1 minute read
β
ARCHIVE