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    Swizec's articles in the "lessons" category

    I aim to write mindblowing emails with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them.

    Below are 36 articles filed under lessons. Enjoy ❤️

    A backend service nobody can grok

    a little case study from an upcoming book I'm writing with Manning about software rewrites
    April 28th, 2023

    Own the outcome, not the work

    Efficient problem-solving in engineering with a shift in perspective – focusing on user outcomes can lead to innovative solutions and change your approach to system design.
    April 26th, 2023

    DRY vs SoC, a difficult choice

    What is the essential difference between DRY and SoC principles in software engineering and how do you balance the two
    April 11th, 2023

    Coding is the easy part

    Behind the scenes of a vendor migration project. What senior+ engineers do so you can focus on the code.
    March 24th, 2023

    Clever technical hackery can't solve the wrong design

    A simple change in perspective can help you overcome complex technical challenges and save time on future projects.
    March 7th, 2023

    My biggest React App performance boost was a backend change

    Performance lives in the unlikliest of places. Follow the metrics.
    January 31st, 2023

    Why PATCH endpoints matter

    A painful lesson from production that brought several engineers almost to tears: *Please* add PATCH endpoints to your public APIs.
    October 28th, 2022

    How better data modeling fixes your code

    When your code feels hard, 9 times out of 10, the problem is with your data model. The signs are subtle.
    September 27th, 2022

    useCallback is a code smell

    One of my favorite ways to simplify and de-gotcha React code is to rip out all the useCallback and useMemo drama. 90% of the time you don't need it.
    September 16th, 2022

    If it works together, it lives together

    Wherein I use LEGO to talk about organizing your code for ease of use
    September 5th, 2022

    Why others' code is hard to navigate

    Some people like to organize code in files and folders and neat categories. Others love search. When they work together, that's the challenge.
    September 1st, 2022

    Your code doesn't matter

    "Your code doesn't matter" is something experienced programmers say, between the lines, when they sound like complete lunatics. But what do they mean? Why does everyone say it?
    August 16th, 2022

    Move your business logic into data

    The quickest way to simplify a complex function with lots of logic is to turn it into data. A lesson from production
    August 3rd, 2022

    A work ritual that keeps me sane

    A coworker asked me for tips on how to stay focused during the day. Here's what I said.
    July 15th, 2022

    Write abstractions, not just code

    Wherein I use a silly example to show why you need more than small reusable single purpose functions to write good software.
    July 8th, 2022

    Coding forces you to understand the problem

    Programming translates fuzzy understanding into exacting specifications. That’s why it’s hard. The Illusion of Explanatory Depth reigns supreme
    June 22nd, 2022

    A lesson on expertise from a great mafia movie

    You cannot make something good until you understand who you're making it for.
    June 16th, 2022

    Writing software is like kicking a can

    Writing software is a playful process of exploration and discovery. Like a game of kick the can on a Sunday walk.
    May 25th, 2022

    The Italian foods theory of bad software design 🍝

    Spaghetti code – unstructured Ravioli code – too structured Lasagna code – layered wrong Minestrone software – unclear domains
    May 23rd, 2022

    Learnings about the future of the web from Reactathon

    The first in-person conference in years! It was wonderful 🤩 - Remix is great - Serverless at edge is the future - GDPR does not play with 👆
    May 7th, 2022

    The role of a senior+ engineer

    "Every product org should have a senior+ engineer whose job it is to run around and make everyone else more productive" 🤔 That IS the role of a senior+ engineer
    April 26th, 2022

    Saving time in UTC doesn't work and offsets aren't enough

    Lessons from a painful outage with timezones, UTC offsets, and database clients that took a whole week to resolve.
    March 25th, 2022

    A quick lesson in writing resilient code

    On the backend anything can and will fail. How do you deal with that?
    March 21st, 2022

    Immutability isn't free

    Or how we took an API endpoint from 16s to 3s.
    February 4th, 2022

    How I used indie hacking to sponsor my own greencard

    The longest project of my life
    February 1st, 2022

    What to do when bugs are whack-a-mole

    What do you do when every bug you fix creates 5 new bugs? You could laugh and move on, or realize it's a sign of bigger issues
    January 6th, 2022

    The Passion Paradox

    burnout doesn't work the way you think
    December 24th, 2021

    When it’s okay to work overtime

    Not all overtime is bad overtime
    December 11th, 2021

    Why null checks are bad

    Every null or undefined check doubles the number of tests you need 😱
    December 10th, 2021

    Small choices can wreck your codebase

    wanna see the strangest looping construct I've found in production code?
    December 3rd, 2021

    How defensive coding leads to bloat

    Defensive coding is an important lesson and over time and engineers it leads to massive bloat, if you're not careful.
    November 15th, 2021

    Stop SHOUTING = 'shouting'

    A hill I will die on 👉 global CONSTANT = 'constant' are bad
    September 21st, 2021

    Your luck & opportunity surface area

    Here's a comment that resonated yesterday and you might like. It's about how to maximize the opportunity in your work.
    March 26th, 2021

    Different medium, different mindset

    Ever wondered what it's like to make a physical book? It ain't as easy as shipping code lemme tell ya 😅
    March 19th, 2021

    Variants – a quick tip for better React components

    Reusable components like to grow boolean props for different situations and complexity soon blows up. Variant props are the perfect solution.
    March 2nd, 2021

    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 🎉 Here's what I learned.
    August 24th, 2020

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