Destination v Journey Engineering in the AI Age
Why craft still matters, why outcomes still win, and how to go as fast as you should.
ifelse
Notes, marginalia, and the occasional photograph.
Latest posts
Today's Read: "The bottleneck was never the code" (Rémi Louf)
Enjoyed reading Rémi Louf's "The bottleneck was never the code" today. Lots of alignment with the "things have changed but also not really" feeling I've had for the past year or so. A few highlights I really resonated with: ... Software is what’s left over after a group of hum
TIL OpenAI and Anthropic Half of Big Cloud’s Backlog?! (as of mid-2026)
I was initially surprised to see this. But on reflection… if I had to rank the top 5 companies by overall compute/AI demand that aren’t also clouds and also don’t run their own cloud, OpenAI and Anthropic would clearly take positions one and two. But past that, my instinct wo
An RTX 5080 basically just a 5090?!
Today I learned Nvidia X070, X080, X090 GPUs all use the same design! They’ll tend to just vary based on the # of cores that are pristine/working. Makes a ton of sense, but not something I would have guessed at first.
Some Helpful, Free APIs I Run
I run a few APIs for the various side projects I tinker on; in this post, I wanted to share a little about them.
An Engineering Philosophy
It's been far too long since I've blogged. In this post, I want to reflect on some things I've learned as a senior engineer and try to synthesize them into a personal engineering philosophy.
Introducing isBusy: A Personal Status Page for Remote Work
I wanted to make things a little bit easier for my family and myself with all the adjustments happening, so I started on a little nights & weekends project: https://isbusy.app. The idea is simple: come up with an easy way for my family to understand if I'm busy and have it automatically sync with all my work and personal calendars.
MongoDB Query Performance: Understanding the Query Planner & Advanced Index Types
In this post, we'll look at a few areas that are 'beyond the basics' for MongoDB performance. You'll gain some helpful tools like working with the query planner and knowing when to use specialized indexes.
Secure & Ad-free Internet Anywhere With Streisand and Pi Hole
Better, Faster, More Secure Backups With Restic
A Guide to the React Ecosystem
A Guide to the React Ecosystem
If Else V3: from Ghost to Hugo
50% off React in Action Today
Today, React in Action is part of Manning's Deal of the Day. You can get **50%** off your order at https://bit.ly/2fBDvlc; use code dotd110316au
A Conceptual Introduction to React Components
In this post we learn about the idea of components in React. Want more? Check out React in Action by Mark Thomas available in MEAP from Manning Publications
Deal of the day — 50% off the React in Action MEAP!
Today, React in Action is part of Manning's Deal of the Day offering. You can get 50% off your order here https://bit.ly/2e4j3KQ
I'm writing a book about React!
This year, I've had the pleasure to work working on a book about React for Manning Publications. React in Action is available from Manning Publications
Originals
Wanted to share this great TED talk about original thinking; hoping it helps developers think better about the role of procrastination in original thinking
Type Inspection In Go
Recently I have been experimenting with and exploring Golang. Here we briefly look at type inspection in Go from the perspective of a JavaScript user
On Starting Simply
I'm following up on my "Start Simply, Simply Start" with some more practical thoughts on starting simply and how to learn programming.
Testing React Components with Enzyme and Mocha
Learn how to test React.js, a powerful JavaScript development tool, and learn to test simple components using enzyme and Mocha.