Articles
Software engineering lessons from production, raw and honest from the heart โ almost 20 years of them. Jump to a year in the sidebar, or browse categories and curated collections.
93 articles from 2020 ยท show all
September 2020
Exploring NextJS with a custom CMS, pt3 โ CodeWithSwiz
Friend, this episode of #CodeWithSwiz was a great example of why you want to start using TypeScript and how thermal load *destroys* computers.
How React Query gives you almost everything you thought you needed GraphQL for
GraphQL solves every problem you've ever had talking to APIs on the frontend. Mention a switch to GraphQL to your team and they think it's a joke. Rewrite our entire app? oh you jokester. React Query is the perfect middle ground โค๏ธ
What if tech interviews aren't bullshit
Every tech employee says interviews are broken. Every employer keeps interviewing. What gives?
Building a small CMS with NextJS, pt2 โ CodeWithSwiz
You're the computer, the CMS is your script. Starting small, trying NextJS, comparing microbundle vs. parcel for extracting libraries out of projects.
Your first NextJS app โ CodeWithSwiz
On CodeWithSwiz ep2, we tried NextJS and built our first tiny app. Complete with a design system, static rendering, React Query to talk to AWS Lambda, and deployed to live ๐ค
August 2020
How to export a large Wordpress site to Markdown
Migrating from Wordpress to Markdown sounds easy. Mention it to any developer and they'll say "Pfft, an afternoon of work at worst". Suddenly it's 6months later and you're losing your mind.
Why Understanding beats Knowledge
Understanding beats knowledge every day. To have a strong career, learn to understand, not just to know.
CodeWithSwiz: Privacy-focused embeds for YouTube, Twitter, et al
A new old experiment ๐ regular livecoding. It's like a podcast with video, show notes, regular cadence, and we both learn something new.
Lessons from migrating a 14 year old blog with 1500 posts to Gatsby
After 4 years of putting it off, 1 year of tinkering, a month of work, and $1500 of hired help, my new blog is finally here ๐ Here's what I learned.
In 2020's, what is "frontend"? ๐คจ
"He's a frontend guy, is this even a fair question to ask?" The head of engineering was worried about our systems design question โฆ
July 2020
Why engineers are worth so much
Engineers don't do the day to day work, they build assets the business can exploit for years to come. That's the magic
5 years of books & courses or how I made $369,000 on the side
5 years ago I moved to America to chase a dream ๐ stop selling time.