Web developer. Technical leader. Husband. Father. Dundasian. Haligonian expat. Atheist. Humanist. Introvert. Hiker. Cyclist. Archer. Shutterbug. Moviegoer. Junk food bon vivant. Part-time ribald.
It’s very easy to obsess (and then burnout) during a job search. We try hard to get noticed and make a great first impression within a cold and mechanical system that’s stacked against us before we even submit our first application. My advice has always focused on how to protect and empower yourself in the shadow of an inescapable power dynamic. In good times—when job postings are plentiful and…
There’s something about reckless “AI” use, and vibe coding in particular, that’s bothered me for reasons I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on until now. Indulge me as I rant about our total disregard for constraints and the good ideas that come from them. I’ve noticed that the creator of Claude Code , Boris Cherny , is mentioned relentlessly on social media by users with feedback. Cherny…
Most everyone finds writing to be challenging (especially those who say they enjoy it). This is because writing is an intentional, thoughtful act. This is as it should be, but “AI” has recently exacerbated the misbelief that writing is simply an output. In fact, it’s a creative process that has merit in and of itself. For some time I’ve been sitting on the idea of writing about my personal rules…
This essay is half of a 2-part series about ego, empathy, and humility for developers and technical leaders. For thoughts on why these principles matter at work, you might also enjoy A Unified Theory Of Ego, Empathy, And Humility At Work . The ego can be an amorphous thing. Empathy and humility are lofty ideals. So, it can seem daunting to figure out how to manage them at work. The good news is…
This essay is half of a 2-part series about ego, empathy, and humility for developers and technical leaders. For advice on how to execute the ideas in this essay, you might also enjoy My Working Principles For Managing Ego, Empathy, And Humility . In our daily lives empathy and humility are obvious virtues we aspire to. They keep our egos in check. Less obvious is that they’re practical skills in…
We all want to do awesome things and make an impact at work. However, what we call “work” is a relationship between employer and employee that’s inherently and persistently designed to benefit the former over the latter. How do we meaningfully contribute, earn a living, and maybe even enjoy ourselves when the organization simply does not care about us? It’s harsh, but that’s capitalism, baby! Any…
This trend of using sparkles (✨) as the visual metaphor when slapping “AI” onto our products has been bothering me lately. It’s not just sketchy to pass off large language models (LLMs) as something magical. There are also deeper implications here about how design plays into Big Tech’s desired narratives. You’ve seen it, I’m sure. Every company under the sun has aligned on the sparkles to…
This README is an attempt to succinctly explain who I am, how I work, and my personality quirks. For the reader I hope it helps expedite any potential interaction between us. I also hope it helps me triangulate and refine how I present myself in work settings. In The Beginning… I’ve been working in web development since 1999. I was a “full-stack developer” before it was even a phrase—writing…
Meetings aren’t evil in and of themselves. They’re fundamentally just people talking, right? And yet we hate meetings with a contempt that often borders on irrational rage. Probably because it’s people talking. Meetings have always been frustrating but I feel like it’s become more pronounced in recent years since the rise of remote work during the pandemic. Technology has made it that much easier…
This essay is adapted from a lightning talk that I originally presented to coworkers in 2019. The advice I’ve consistently given to developers who want to grow might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s always held true for me—the first step to being a great developer is recognizing that your job is not to write code. How do I know this to be true? Well, I’ve never spent a single minute of a…
Countless technical interviews are conducted every day that are little more than theatrical self-sabotage for everyone involved. To say that this process is deeply, truly, fundamentally flawed is an understatement. We need to do better. What kinds of technical interviews am I talking about? The list of offenses is endless: whiteboard tests in pseudocode, hours-long (or days-long!) take-home tests,…
This essay has been adapted from a lightning talk that I originally presented to coworkers in 2019. It was intended as an absurd, tongue-in-cheek thought experiment, but I’d like to think there could possibly be some truth to it… There’s a slight problem with the standard definition of a hack. It says more about why you wouldn’t want to use one than why you might. What if—now hear me out—hacks are…
In web development it’s a common trope that working with legacy code is considered boring, painful, or even beneath us. Only the shiniest new framework or tech stack will do! The truth, however, is that legacy code is impossible to avoid. But don’t worry, that’s actually a good thing. React has been all the rage for about 7 years, but it’s in use on only 2% of all websites . The story’s the same…
This is an updated version of an essay that I originally published on the Rangle.io blog . Most notably, the cumbersome technical section in the middle was replaced with an outline to better resources that are already out there. CSS is often belittled because it’s naturally global—which we‘ve been trained to avoid—but doing so betrays a failure to understand CSS’ basic premise and greatest…