Nothing to Catch
At 16 I passed off a Twilight Zone episode's plot as my own short film. My journal remembers what I did next.
Kevin London
A collection of thoughts and ideas from Kevin London
Latest posts
Burning the 3:40 AM Window
Fable 5 costs 2x Opus and burns like 6x. I spent a month learning to ration my wishes.
Parachuting In
I don't hand-write code anymore. The hard parts didn't go away.
Two tables
You don't start with parallelism.
You can't borrow muscle memory
I copied 27 Claude commands and realized it wasn't doing me any favors.
Temporary is Permanent
Light Iron announced it was winding down. Some memories from my first job, my first family in LA, and where I accidentally started writing software.
You can use AI every day and still not get better
Working with AI isn't a binary skill. It's an instrument that requires deliberate practice.
Ideas Die in Drafts
Some of my best ideas used to die before anyone saw them. That's changing.
My Experience with the Amazon Promotion Process
My promo journey at Amazon took two years from when I first thought I was ready. One rejection, a lot of reflection, and a manager's quote that made it all click.
Dangerous Python Functions, Part 2
In part 2 of my dangerous Python functions series, I cover more risky functions like pickle.loads(), yaml.load(), and tempfile.mktemp(). These can lead to code execution, deserialization attacks, and race conditions.
Dangerous Python Functions
Python's dynamic nature can lead to subtle bugs that are hard to catch. I've created a deck of cards highlighting dangerous Python functions like eval(), exec(), and input() that can cause security vulnerabilities or unexpected behavior.
The Quadrant Test
I had a tough career decision to make, so a manager suggested this simple quadrant exercise. It helped me map out the best and worst-case scenarios for both the short and long term, and it gave me clarity.
Wider, Not Faster
Working with AI changed what I'm willing to attempt. It also changed me.
The Rock Tumbler
Some feedback is easy to act on. Other feedback takes work to process. That work might be the point.
High-Bandwidth Communication
Why do some conversations click while others fall flat? Using the language of networking to understand human connection, trust, and saying what you mean.
Getting out of my own way: Lessons from becoming a Staff Engineer
Lessons from my journey to Staff Engineer at Snap. A personal look at imposter syndrome, becoming a force multiplier, and the strategic shifts to succeed at the next level.
Why I write (and why you might want to too)
A colleague asked me why I write, and it got me thinking. This post explores my journey into writing, what I've gained from it, and why you might want to start putting your thoughts out there too.
The AI Prisoner's Dilemma
AI coding tools are everywhere, and each step feels reasonable. But what if we're all caught in an AI prisoner's dilemma, where individual choices lead to an uncertain future for our craft?
I made a game with AI and I don't know how to feel about it
I tried building a game with AI, and it was an interesting journey. This post covers the ups and downs, what I learned about AI collaboration, and my thoughts on how it's changing game development.
Know where you're going (and be open to change)
My career path has been a bit unusual, from film school to software engineering. This post is about why it's important to have a clear direction, but also to be open to changing course when new opportunities arise.
Jekyll to Astro: an AI-assisted migration
I migrated my old Jekyll blog to Astro using AI tools. It cut the time in half, and I learned a lot about what AI is good at (repetitive tasks) and where it still needs human guidance.
Personal Finance for Engineers
I've made every money mistake possible, from not saving enough to investing poorly. What I wish I knew about personal finance when I started my engineering career, including practical advice on 401(k)s, budgeting, and investment strategies.
In Python, Rose == 'Red', Violet is not 'Blue'
I came across Python code that used `is` to check if a string was "red" or "blue," which felt wrong. After digging into string interning behavior, I discovered why this sometimes works and why it matters for performance and correctness.
Launching Effective One-on-One Meetings
When I took over one-on-ones for a team of 8 engineers at Amazon, I needed a framework to make these meetings valuable. This template evolved over 20+ sessions to help create effective one-on-ones.
Tech Interview Tips and Strategies
I've been helping a friend prepare for technical interviews by running mock interviews and offering feedback. Here are my best tips and strategies for acing your tech interviews, from behavioral questions to coding challenges.
Senior Engineer Job Search Preparation
I recently concluded a job search and landed at Snapchat. My detailed guide on how I prepared for interviews, navigated the process, and selected a new role as a senior engineer.
Backfill Considerations and Lessons Learned
When you need to backfill data, it's easy to cause problems. I've learned this lesson the hard way. This guide walks you through planning and executing backfills safely, from small fixes to massive data migrations.
Reflections on my Amazon Career
Today's my last day after four years at Amazon. I joined to learn what made Amazon so successful, and I'm leaving with insights on their engineering culture and Leadership Principles.
Providing Effective Feedback to Engineers
Giving feedback to engineers is one of the most important skills for tech leads and managers. My framework for providing constructive feedback that helps people grow without damaging relationships.
Load Testing Guide
We built a new service that handled 20x more traffic than expected. When we load tested it, it died at 20% of expected traffic. My complete guide to load testing, from choosing tools to interpreting results.
Getting Unstuck
We all get stuck. The trick is knowing when and how to ask for help. My framework for troubleshooting problems and, when that fails, how to ask for help in a way that gets you the answers you need.
My Path to Software Engineering
I've gone between software engineering and film for most of my career. People often wonder about my unusual path, so I'm sharing the story of how I bounced between these two worlds and found my way to tech.
The Princess and the Pea
The Princess and the Pea fairy tale perfectly captures a problem I see in software teams. When someone on your team is overly sensitive to small issues, it can create tension. How to handle it constructively.
Don't Bake a Cake
Don't bake a cake became my shorthand for a common problem in software teams. What I learned about communicating status updates effectively and why transparency, even when things go wrong, builds trust.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Notes
I recently passed the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam and wanted to share my study notes. These cover the key services, concepts, and gotchas you need to know to pass.
An Intro to AWS Certifications
I'm usually skeptical of certification programs, but AWS certifications felt different. They focus on how to build scalable and reliable services. My take on why they're worth it and how to prepare for the exams.
What is Churning and Why Should I Care?
I got into credit card churning a few years ago, and it's become a rewarding hobby. My wife and I went on our honeymoon using rewards points. This introductory guide covers the world of credit card rewards.
More Code Review Best Practices
Three years after my first code review best practices post, I've learned even more about what makes reviews effective. Here are additional strategies for making your code reviews more valuable and less painful.
Programmer Resources
A friend asked me what I've used to improve as a software engineer. When he asked for a list, I realized I didn't have one yet. Here are the blogs, books, and online courses that have helped me grow as a developer.
Dangerous Python Functions, Part 3
In the final part of my dangerous Python functions series, I cover more security risks including assert statements, XML parsing vulnerabilities, and unsafe input handling. Plus, I've turned the whole series into a deck of cards!
DevOps from Scratch, Part 2: Amazon & Terraform
In part 2 of my DevOps from Scratch series, we'll take our Flask app from local development to production on AWS using Terraform for infrastructure automation and Ansible for deployment.
DevOps from Scratch, Part 1: Vagrant & Ansible
Ever wondered how to build and deploy a web app from scratch? This is the first part of my 'DevOps from Scratch' series, where we'll get hands-on with Vagrant and Ansible to automate our local development setup for a Python web application.
Refactoring Analogies
Refactoring can be hard to explain to stakeholders who don't code. Using analogies from home improvement and organization, I share how I communicate the value of refactoring to non-technical audiences.
Two Trains Talk
I gave a talk using the "two trains" analogy to explain technical debt and refactoring. The response was so positive that I wrote it up as a blog post, complete with slides and speaker notes.
Strategies for Writing Useful Tests
I used to hate writing tests—they felt like a waste of time, took forever to run, and broke constantly. Now I actually enjoy it. Here are the strategies that transformed my approach to testing from dread to delight.
How to Land the Right Tech Job for You
Job hunting can feel like shopping for a new car—exciting at first, then intimidating and hopeless. Having been both a candidate and an interviewer, I've put together this comprehensive guide to help you navigate the process and land the right tech job.
How to Prepare for Talks
Preparing for a technical talk can feel overwhelming, but I've learned something new every time I've given one. This 11-step process covers everything from choosing a topic to handling Q&A, helping you go from idea to presentation.
Answers to Django Security Questions
I found a list of Django security questions but couldn't find clear answers anywhere. So I dug in and wrote them myself, covering everything from CSRF and SQL injection to password hashing and mass assignment.
Using Bandit in the Field
After talking about Bandit, I wanted to see how it actually performed in the real world. This post shares my experience using Bandit to find vulnerabilities in Python projects and practical tips for integrating it into your workflow.
Finding Vulnerabilities with Bandit
Python's dynamic nature makes it hard to catch security vulnerabilities statically. Bandit scans your Python code for common security issues. Learn how to use it to find problems before they reach production.