Articles
Software engineering lessons from production, raw and honest from the heart — almost 20 years of them. Jump to a year in the sidebar, or browse categories and curated collections.
6 articles from August 2021 · show all
How to ask for help
what makes a senior engineer stand out in an interview? No it's not the amount of side projects or their leetcoding speed. It's knowing how and when to ask for help.
Build simple backends with Gatsby Serverless Functions
Until recently adding a little backend to your Gatsby site meant 2 options: 1. Climbing the AWS learning curve 2. Rewrite with NextJS Now there's an /api directory 😱
WorkInProgress kills your progress
If it takes 6 engineers 10 days to complete 6 projects in parallel, why does it take 8 days when you work together 🤨
Reader question: "When do you fix tech debt?"
Long time reader Phil asks when do you fix the tech debt you used to ship faster. Heroic efforts don't work. The real answer is "always" – a mindset of gardening.
Tech debt is a tool
If your house was on fire, would you mow the lawn first?
Complex vs. complicated
Would you rather work with a complex system or a complicated system? 🤔