Use Task Runners for Common Coding Tasks
You can make your software developer life suck a bit less by using task runners to run common coding tasks consistently across multiple repositories
Ham Vocke
Ham Vocke's musings on life, software engineering, and everything else
Latest posts
Home-cooked software
Software can be a home-cooked meal. I experienced what that could mean first-hand.
Looking Back at 2025
Reminiscing and reflecting on 2025.
Reviving a Dead Pet Project
I revived an old pet project of mine that's been dormant for years
Introducing “Moments”
I built a new feature for this website to highlight personal moments. Social media without the social stuff.
This Blog Will Make You a Better Programmer
I got featured in a lovely YouTube video. Also, there's new RSS feeds.
The Important Things in Life
Friends, family, adventures, sunshine & outdoors make things so much better.
A Fresh Coat of Paint
My personal website got a new look
A 16-Color Vim Color Scheme
When it comes to the command line, I prefer to define a color scheme once, in my terminal emulator, and let all other command line tools inherit that scheme. With vim & neovim this took some fiddling, but I ultimately figured it out.
Making Ham, 2025 Edition
I cured and cold-smoked another batch of ham. Here's what it looks like.
Gloomy Season
I struggle with long winters. This year isn't any different.
Kind Engineering
Be more kind, my friends.
The Joy of Under-Engineering
As software developers we're often quick to adopt the latest shiny technology. I think building something using very basic tools only from time to time helps to declutter your developer toolbox and figure out which tools really pull their own weight.
Looking Back at 2024
Same ritual as last year; I look back at 2024 and reflect on the things that kept me busy over the course of the year.
Need an Air Horn? Say No More.
I built a small tool that helps you become the most obnoxious person around. You're welcome!
"I'm so happy"
Today I learned my first random bit of Korean thanks to a reader of this blog and I couldn't be happier.
This Little Piggie Went to the Pub
I commissioned a new avatar to use for my website and some social media channels. It's a little piggie having a beer, and I'm going to tell you how much I love it.
Let's Create a Terminal Color Scheme
Trying to create my own terminal color scheme, I went down an intense rabbit hole. Find out what I learned and check out the cool tool I built to generate your own, personal terminal color schemes.
A Short Trip to Athens
I went on a short trip to Athens, Greece with the family. Here I'm sharing some pictures and impressions.
You Might Be Better Off Without Pull Requests
Feature branches and mandatory pull requests have become a standard for a lot of modern software development teams. How did we get here? And does this really make sense?
How I Made My Own Ham
I cured and cold-smoked ham this winter and I'm pretty pumped about the results. Let me show you some pictures and explain what I did.
A Year in Review: 2023
Just before the year ends I'm taking a look back at 2023 and reflect on my personal highlights, the big things that happened and the things that had a lasting impact on myself.
It's Time to Get Personal!
I used to think too much about what should and should not live on my personal website. Where's the fun in that? It's time to make my personal website more personal!
The Hyperion Cantos
Dan Simmons' "Hyperion Cantos" is a series of science fiction novels and one of my all-time favorites. It's an epic tale of adventure, time travel, war, love, loss, and a giant-ass heavy metal creature wreaking havoc.
Book Review: “Tidy First?”
My review of Kent Beck's “Tidy First?”, a short book on the "what", "when", and "why" of tidying code.
Path to Production Mapping
Here's one from the consulting toolbox. Path to Production Mapping is a simple and effective tool that can help you understand, discuss, analyze, and improve how your team ships software to production. In this post I explain what it's all about and how you can use it.
Browser Bookmarks on the Command Line
I wrote lnks, a small tool that helps you find and open browser bookmarks from the command line. It works well as a personal bookmark manager, for shared team bookmarks, and is just the right thing for people who love working on the command line.
Book Review: “Learning Test-Driven Development”
A book review for Saleem Siddiqui's “Learning Test-Driven Development”. I think it's a great book and a modern take of Kent Beck's "TDD By Example".
How Remote Work Changed my Life
About 1.5 years ago I quit my job, started working remotely and moved to a small town. I'm reflecting on how these changes have affected my life.
Doppelkopf — 3 Years Later
3 years ago I started building a browser-based Doppelkopf card game as a pet project. Things have been quiet. Did I give up? Hit a roadblock? Nuke the git repo?
Distraction-free writing with vim
Want to write without distractions and don't feel like buying an extra app for that? Here's how.
Ham
An hommage to my nickname.
Moving On
I'm starting a new job remotely after leaving the adventures of a consultancy behind. Some thoughts on this change.
Testing Ansible Provisioning Locally
Learn how to test Ansible provisioning scripts locally
A "Doppelkopf" Browser Game
I started implementing a browser game version of the German "Doppelkopf" card game and it's great fun. Read why I started doing this and what I've discovered so far.
E-book Release of Testing Microservices
Yeah, the "testing microservices" post series got a little out of hand. If you prefer ebooks over blog posts I've got your back. I released the "testing microservices" series as an ebook.
Testing Microservices - Java & Spring Boot
Learn how to test your Java & Spring Boot microservice, based on the "Testing Microservices" article
Testing Microservices
Learn the concepts you need to build a reliable, fast and effective test suite for your microservices
Remote Pair Programming With SSH & tmux
For many developers pair programming is the way to go. But pairing often becomes challenging as soon as people are working remotely. With a simple SSH and tmux setup you can have a very simple but effective setup for collaborating remotely using nothing but your command line.
Fun and Useless Tools for Your Command Line
There are a couple of really great tools out there that can help you getting more fun out of your day-to-day command line use. These are some of my favorites.
Make tmux Pretty and Usable
tmux has its flaws when you use its vanilla configuration. I'll show you how you can customize tmux so that it fits your needs, is a little more comfortable to use and pretty to look at.
A Quick and Easy Guide to tmux
tmux is a tool that can boost your productivity while using the terminal. Think of it as a window manager in your terminal with some extra fanciness on top. This post gives you an easy-to-follow introduction to tmux and explains its basic features and how to use them.
The 'Moving Apartments' Retrospective
Probably everyone has moved at least once in their life. It's a lot of work but also offers unique opportunities. This post will tell you how the metaphor of moving can help you get great results out of your next Retrospective.
The Tweetrospective - spice up your next Agile Retrospective
I've recently tried a new approach for facilitating an agile retrospecitve based on Twitter. It was a fun and creative session and I got great feedback. Read what I've done, what I've learned and grab some resources to do it yourself!
Import your DKB account into Homebank
Homebank is a great and free personal finance tool. I have written a small converter that allows you to import account data from DKB accounts.
Working at ThoughtWorks, a three month retrospective
More than three months into my new job at ThoughtWorks I tell the story of my first day at my new job and take a first look in the rearview mirror to reflect about work, company culture and other remarkable stuff
Goodbye Gütersloh, Hello Hamburg!
Today is my last day in Gütersloh. I'm leaving Bertelsmann after six exciting years. This post is about the my previous journey as a software developer and about my future in Hamburg.