Recent articles on Jose M.
Things got a bit messy. They all demanded more, more and more: clients, your manager, deadlines coming up, even yourself, feeling you were falling behind, and now, thanks to AI, you can provide. Oh boy, big time! You don’t even execute the code anymore, reviewing PRs is almost a lost art, and you can’t remember the last time you typed some actual code in your editor. You have reached peak…
Writing might be repetitive, boring, and difficult. It takes effort, skill, and countless edits to make it right, to transform what you had in your mind into something people can understand without getting bored. Now with AI, it’s very tempting to use Claude, or ChatGPT, to write something, or just use a dictation app because who wants to write anymore, right? But if you think that what you…
We now spend more time looking at pixels than at real things. Almost everything involves a screen nowadays: buying things, looking up things to buy, ordering food, finding a date, driving, searching for a vacation destination, or reading the news. And the list goes on. It also doesn’t help that everything has a screen: fridges, cars, watches, treadmills, self-checkout machines… even…
We’ve accelerated so much that we forgot how to stop. Now, more than ever, it’s important to define what’s enough for us. How much do we need? How much money, space, recognition, power, and status? In a time when you can build anything with AI, create your own “economy” based on your personal brand through social media, or get the best education in history thanks to…
I didn’t know this until COVID hit, I was stuck at home, and wanted to set up a home gym. Naturally, after watching too much content from Matt Fraser and other CrossFit athletes, I knew which brand I wanted needed: Rogue (spoiler: an expensive one). Durable, excellent quality, but pricey. So, the question was, how could I justify (wife included) spending so much money on a home gym knowing…
YouTube is an excellent source of information. But it’s usually hard to find exactly what you’re interested in efficiently. Recently, I’ve been using this method to learn from long-form videos, usually dense in information where the visual part is not so important, like a podcast. Thanks to AI, I don’t need to watch two hours of videos to get to the content I’m…
Photo by Remy Loz Some years ago, building a side project meant finding time wherever you could. Late nights, weekends, or early mornings to squeeze in some work before your real job starts. Any SaaS or app you wanted to build used to take months of this busy schedule until you could launch it. As a result, balancing building a side project with a day job (plus family!) was a challenge that few…
There’s a ritual that happens every September. Apple unveils its latest iPhone, and millions of us suddenly discover that the device in our pocket—the one we loved just yesterday—has become obsolete. It’s marketing genius, really. The same phone that was “revolutionary” twelve months ago is now just…old. Big tech companies have mastered the art of manufactured…
Now that summer is in full swing in many parts of the world, I thought it would be a good time to write about something I’ve felt for years whenever I go away for a few days. Trips might be the only chance we get to view our lives from a distance. Let me explain. In the midst of our daily responsibilities, it’s almost impossible to gain distance and evaluate what’s working and…
I vividly remember a school trip to a Catholic monastery as a kid. The Dominican monk we met could speak 12 languages, had several degrees, did daily chores like working in the garden, and still had time to follow a strict routine of prayers and study. When I asked him how he managed it all, he replied: “We take care of the schedule, and the schedule takes care of us.” That sentence…
Once it’s well integrated into our lives, any new technology can be seen as an exchange. We lose something and get something else in return. When we started using our calculator app, we lost the ability to do basic operations by hand, but we got accurate results quickly. After some time, even making a basic addition without it seems like a struggle. I don’t remember the last time I…
We’ve all been living under the promise that things will get faster, and oh boy, that promise has certainly been fulfilled. We now have faster transportation, fast food, two-hour delivery shopping, and faster technology each year. Yet, we rarely pause to reflect on what this speed means for us—how it affects us individually and collectively. It impacts our habits, sleep (or lack of it!),…
Art history shows us that we tend to move between adding “unnecessary” elaborate decorations to clean styles and back again. It’s almost an endless cycle repeated over and over. This cycle happens in the different arts and other fields where design is involved, like software. Let’s trace it in architecture first. Here is the Abbey Church of St James in Hungary (1206), a…
A family in my environment has recently lost their child in a terrible accident. I cannot imagine what those parents must be going through, but it has made me reflect on what it means to be a parent. In this semi-digital world, we’re losing touch with what makes us feel fully alive, what makes us feel, cry, laugh, and bond. What makes us human. Some experiences can keep you in touch with…
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood I remember my breakfast as a kid. It was as sugary as it gets, with cereal and milk or a good marmalade toast and a chocolate shake to start my day. I remember the highs and lows of my energy levels throughout the day or how I would look in the mirror and wonder why I grew as a chubby kid instead of thinner and stronger like some friends. I had no idea what a good diet…
I haven’t watched the news in over three years. Yes, I’m living in a bubble. We all are, but mine is a bit smaller. More controlled. It’s not that I don’t care about our world, but we’re not designed to keep up with this level of information coming in from all directions. It sometimes feels too much because it is too much. I still remember how hard it was to resist…
I read somewhere that we should invest a lot in whatever separates us from the floor: our mattress, our car (or tires, more specifically), or our shoes. There are countless options when it comes to shoes, but most of them are the wrong choice for your feet. Let’s see why. Your foot and its natural shape The main problem with our shoes is that they need to be designed based on our feet’…
Don’t wait until January 1st, or next Monday, or any other random date when you think everything will be perfectly aligned to start. Do something before today ends. Do you want to get fit and still cannot go to the gym for some reason? Do 100 burpees today, or go for a run. Do you want to read more? Try to read ten pages before going to bed. Do you want to meditate or adopt any other habit?…
When we buy something, we pay only a small fraction of its cost. I reflected on this while also realizing how many good things capitalism does for us (others not so good, but that’s for another day). Given enough demand, more companies compete to offer you a better product, usually at a lower price. Products get better and cheaper over time. Take ‘Elden Ring’ as an example. This…
It’s amazing what we can achieve in ten years. At 15, Hakeem Olajuwon joined a local Nigerian sports tournament. He had planned to play handball there but ended up playing basketball, and it changed his life. “He couldn’t even dunk at first,” said one of his first coaches in an interview . The article’s headline was “Olajuwon: He’s not the best yet.”…
I’m angry today. As web apps become increasingly complex, developers need more shortcuts to map various actions. Now we have countless shortcuts for any site. Take GitHub’s shortcuts as an example; they have a few. But there’s a limit, and I’m here to draw that line. Your website shouldn’t hijack the default browser shortcuts. Don’t assume your feature is more…
When you open your browser, you usually have a legitimate interest. What’s the weather like tomorrow? How long is the flight? How do you write “definitively”? All valid questions, and the Internet provides. But then, you jump to another type of content. This second phase starts with a dangerous question that defines what you’re about to do: “What new things do you…
Opening your eyes, you glance at the clock on the night table—time to get up. The house is completely silent as you make your way to the kitchen. Each sound feels amplified at this early time in the morning. Entering the kitchen, you remember the fantastic croissant your partner bought you yesterday. It looks delicious and crispy on the outside. It must taste so good. You can’t help but…
Let me introduce you to WordStar 4.0 , a popular word processor from the early 80s. WordStar 4.0 As old as it seems, George R.R. Martin used it to write “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Why would someone use such an old piece of software to write over 5,000 pages? I love how he puts it: It does everything I want a word processing program to do and it doesn't do anything else. I don't want any…
Capitalism is great at giving people what they demand and making them even want things they don’t need. Once a company creates a product or service, the industry streamlines its production, distribution, and sales to maximize efficiency. The more they sell, the better it is for the business. Living in a market-driven society is a blessing if you want to buy a good fork or a reliable car.…
I’ve been experimenting with ways to be more disconnected from technology for a long time, from disabling notifications to using a dumbphone. However, a challenging exercise still hard to do is to go for a walk without my phone. When I leave my place without my phone, I feel like I’m leaving my pants at home; the whole experience is stressful. What if someone needs me? What if I need…
I’ve always loved lighthouses. Apart from their astounding views and beautiful settings, they’re a great reminder of how we can have a deeper meaning in our lives. We live in a world where you don’t need to talk too much to anyone if you don’t want to. Do you want a pizza, an Uber, or a date? Open the right app and tap on the right places. Do you want to feel important?…
I’ve been fighting all my life. I always wanted to move forward, to get somewhere. Once I pass that exam, everything will be ok. Once I get my degree, I’ll be fulfilled and happy. Once I get enough money, my life will be great. I was always looking forward to the next stage, always wanting something more. Like if all my problems would fade away as soon as I achieved something. But…
I’ve been working fully remotely for more than ten years now. The last eight as a software engineer at Buffer, a fully remote company since its inception in 2010. From all these years, I’ve learned a lot: how to balance my work and my personal life, how to communicate better when I write, heck I’ve even learned how to use the right emoji at the right time; it’s more useful…
There are two fundamental components in the world: human beings and nature. By influencing either one of them, you can effectively create change in the world. It’s hard to have a significant impact on nature, though. Even if you use your bike more, recycle regularly, or vote for the right politicians to pass environmentally-friendly laws, your impact will be small. While we should all strive…
If you’re like most people, you have some free time every day to choose what to do with daily outside obligations like work or taking care of your family. What you do with your free time has a direct and profound impact physically and mentally, and you probably repeat some activities each day. They’ve become your habits now. If we repeat certain behaviors daily, wouldn’t it be…
One of the easiest ways to start sharing your work in the form of writing, designs, or photographs is by using the latest trendy platform in that space, especially when everyone else seems to be using it. How many Blogspot sites are you checking these days? They still work, but Google has killed one or two services , so who knows for how long? Medium was great for publishing content, but it…
We constantly question ourselves when attempting anything new for the first time, which is daunting. And what’s worse, it prevents us from doing anything new, so we can’t change who we are. If you’ve always been terrible at sports and want to start working out, the natural reaction after a few attempts is to stop and return to your old habits. At the end of the day, you’re…
In the summer of 2019, I started to build Planleave , a SaaS product to manage time off days in an organization. I did it as a side project while working full-time as a software engineer at Buffer. Three years later, in 2022, I sold it. I’ve never worked harder on any side project than on Planleave. When I start any project, I usually go through the first honeymoon phase of absolutely loving…
Your car is perfect until you see your neighbor’s. Everything seems good enough, but then you see an ad or your Instagram feed and wish you had that beautiful desk instead of the perfectly fine one you’re using. “If only I had that new thing.” “If only I could go to that beautiful place.” “If only I could get that new laptop, car, or watch. My life would…
We’re losing our capacity to focus. When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, little we knew how much that would change the world, it was the first step towards the ubiquity of smartphones. There was a premonitory phrase from Steve Jobs: “iPhone is like having your life in your pocket”. [1] iPhone presentation in 2007 And we loved it. We’ve embraced smartphones to the point…
Once you’ve learned something, it’s not interesting anymore. What was surprising once now feels dull and obvious. Have you ever chatted with an adult friend about how rivers form? How does the water evaporate in the sea, forming clouds, and then the rain creates snow in the mountains? How is that snow melted and rivers are born, bringing that water down to the seas again? I bet you…
Naturally, as you grow in your profession, you develop a vision and think about ideas and opportunities you can take to grow and have a more significant impact. The natural process when these ideas come to mind is to add them to a never-ending to-do list. When I have time, I’ll propose that thing I’ve been thinking about for the last two months, you might think. Sometimes, it’s…
It’s Saturday, and I’m enjoying the last sunlight for the day in my studio. The house is silent now; my family is taking a nap downstairs. And I’m here, writing, in silence. There’s a thought that kept coming in the last few weeks. As painful as it is, any creation happens in isolation without any signals or external validation until it’s complete. Any idea or…
Youtube is a great free source of information and entertainment that we’ve all used at some point. If it’s free, then how does Google make money from it? Yes, you guessed it, ads. And the more videos you see, the more ads they show you, so more money for them. If Google gets more money the more time you spend on Youtube watching videos, it’s safe to assume that that principle…
I love my Kindle. It allows me to read and buy a new book, and that’s it. Everything on it is oriented towards reading e-books. When you’re reading a book on it, there’s nothing else on the screen and no interruptions. I hate my smartphone. It allows me to do almost anything without a clear sign of what’s more important. I can receive a notification about a doctor’s…
I’ve recently launched a side project , a SaaS product to manage absences in companies. It might generate some money in the future and yet, I don’t need any of it. I know what you’re thinking. Money is always nice, and you’re right, but I’m also working full-time as a software engineer. Any extra income is welcomed but not needed. This is a great path for many…
We all try to create good and clean code, projects that are maintainable and easy to change and yet, we don’t appreciate when we have one. Do you remember the last time you easily change something in your code? Maybe it was a simple constant that was only in one place, or a new parameter in an API endpoint that was fast to test. You might remember but I bet you didn’t stop to…
Illustration by Drawkit I've recently used a nice feature in Gitlab to automatically post my articles scheduled in the future in Hugo and I share how I did it in this article. Setup This static blog uses Hugo to be generated and its repository is in Gitlab. I have a private repo but it doesn’t really matter for this, it could also be public. The final site is hosted on Gitlab too with a…
Notebook Photo by Negative Space When creating software, you'll make mistakes. Sometimes they'll be huge, sometimes they'll be small but you can always learn from them if you spend some extra time documenting them. After working for more 10 years as a software engineer I’ve realized it doesn’t change. You might develop some techniques to prevent some from happening but others will show…
In order to render a React component in the Hugo framework, we need first a way to have custom JS for a certain blog post. Let’s start with that. Adding Javascript to a post in Hugo There are different approaches to this. I’ve used one where I can have a specific JS file for any given blog post. Find the single.html file in the layouts directory in your Hugo theme. (this could be in…
Startup Photo by Startup Stock Photos The current scene, with so many companies working remotely, leaves the employees with some changes in how things work in a company when there’s no office that are not obvious. Dynamics, habits and workflows change to some extent in a remote organization. In this article, I share some of the things I’ve learnt in the last few years that helped me…
Bitwise operations are really useful and fast for storing and operate on certain values. They are way more used in systems where resources are more limited like video-games or embedded devices. In this first article about bitwise operations, we get a quick introduction to them with a drawing (new format!) and some written content but I plan on sharing more 🙂. What are bitwise operations?…
Problem with array_filter This is a small trick to avoid issues when removing elements in PHP in an array. If you have an array where some elements might be empty, like null, the first idea that comes to mind is doing something like this: <? php $array = [ 'a' , null , 'b' , 'c' , null , 'd' ]; array_filter ( $array , function ( $element ) { return ! empty ( $element ); }); Of, if we don’t…
Class Photo by Pixabay Computer Science sounds so boring, so academic, that sometimes it’s hard to know if there’s even any useful knowledge for our jobs building actual software. Of course, I’m half joking. Computer Science is very important to understand what’s going on in a computer but I understand it doesn’t sound as attractive as learning a specific technology…