Your Company Is About to Repeat the SPA Mistake
The companies that refused to adopt SPAs a decade ago are banning AI today. I have watched this pattern before and I know exactly how it ends.
Nick Hayden
Recent content on Nick Hayden
Latest posts
I Made Good Money Off Engineers Who Refused to Learn React
Ignoring AI tools today risks the same career stagnation that hit engineers who skipped React. I made good money contracting for the companies they left behind.
Writing Tickets for Software Engineers
Thoughts around writing tickets, what makes a good ticket and, expectations on the team.
Five Years to Start and Three Days to Finish
How I finally migrated my personal site from WordPress to Hugo in three days after putting it off for five years, with help from Claude
Building for the K Shaped Economy
Why founders need to understand the K-shaped economy where wealth concentrates at the top and how to position their product accordingly
Preventing AI tool use is a talent risk
Companies blocking AI tools like Claude Code and Codex risk losing top developers, just like those that resisted React lost talent a decade ago
I spent 2025 telling myself I was too busy to write. I wasn't too busy, I just stopped trying.
Reviving my blog after a year of silence, setting a goal of 52 posts and committing to trying hard in 2026
Dark Matter Developers
Most developers work in traditional IT departments, not tech companies. Why these dark matter roles are great for junior devs
Express v5: A Decade in the Making
Express v5 finally ships after ten years with security improvements, better promise support and a growing backlog for contributors
AI taking control of your computer, Anthropic's latest release, new Claude models and computer use API
Breaking down Anthropic's updated Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Haiku improvements and the new Computer Use feature that lets AI control your desktop
Domain-Driven Design Distilled notes
Chapter-by-chapter notes from Domain-Driven Design Distilled covering bounded contexts, aggregates, event sourcing and event storming
One Year of Juiced BJJ
Lessons from one year running Juiced BJJ, an ecommerce jiu jitsu apparel brand, covering marketing, products and growth
Maybe the real Next JS was the friends we made along the way
Reflecting on Vercel's pricing debate, the value of self-hosting and what the rise of serverless means for developers
Response to “Operate at all levels”
Why senior leaders should focus on strategy and direction rather than doing IC work, in response to Brex co-CEO Pedro Franceschi
You need to know about this new security feature in Deno
Exploring Deno 1.36's new deny permissions API that lets you block specific resources instead of allow-listing every permission
Working with recruiters as a software engineer
A practical guide to working with recruiters as a software engineer covering day rates, contracts, relationships and timesheets
No more feeds, please
Why I am done with the endless scroll of social media feeds and the low-quality content designed for engagement
Economic disruption means more Creators
Why economic uncertainty and recession fears will push more professionals into content creation as a side hustle for stability
24/7 streaming will produce more experts
How streaming platforms like FloGrappling, UFC FightPass and YouTube are creating better experts in jiu jitsu, tech and beyond
Playing the Right Game
Lessons from jiu jitsu metagames applied to the workplace -- understanding win conditions, setting rules, and picking battles wisely
Give Juniors a Shot
Why hiring junior developers strengthens your team, frees up mid-level engineers and where to find motivated early-career talent
Right Tool for the Job
Why WordPress, Shopify and the JAMstack each have their place and how combining the right tools leads to better outcomes
Online courses and the people that teach them
How specialists like Louis Nyffenegger and Lachlan Giles turned their expertise into profitable online courses in a booming e-learning market
Closures exist, so what are they?
A beginner-friendly explanation of JavaScript closures, how they provide data privacy, scope access and partial application
BSides Canberra 2019 - Wrap Up
Highlights from BSides Canberra 2019 including talks on JavaScript malware deobfuscation, Linux toolkits and ransomware on a coffee machine
BSides Wrap-up
A first-timer's recap of BSides Canberra 2018 covering favourite talks, lock picking, hardware hacking and the infosec community
War, poverty, and the human elements of cybersecurity
An award-winning essay exploring how war, poverty and global conflict create human-driven cybersecurity threats for nations like Australia
Change your life with CSS Variables
A practical guide to native CSS custom properties covering syntax, scoping, nesting and how they compare to SASS variables
Let’s talk about CSS Grid
A beginner-friendly tutorial on CSS Grid covering rows, columns, named lines and how it works alongside Flexbox
WTF is strict mode?
A guide to JavaScript strict mode covering what it does, how to use it, the security benefits and why it makes you a better developer
Understanding why we use `===` in JavaScript
Learn the difference between loose equality and strict equality in JavaScript and why triple equals prevents type coercion bugs
Working with Google Custom Search (GCSE)
How to style and customize Google Custom Search Engine to match your site design using CSS overrides and JavaScript workarounds
ASMS Presentation Night Speech
Full transcript of a speech to ASMS high school students about pursuing your passions, building networks and doing your own thing
Books
A reading list of recommended books on business, technology, fiction, and personal development curated by Nick Hayden
The Coworking Sociatea & Unleashed Awards
How we built The Coworking Sociatea at the Unleashed open data competition and won three awards including a pre-accelerator spot
Startup Weekend - July 2014
My experience at Startup Weekend Adelaide building Lend A Skilled Hand, a platform matching skilled volunteers with organisations
Meditations
A curated collection of personal reminders, quotes, and principles on leadership, technology, and living well
My Impossible List
Nick Hayden's impossible list of life goals spanning fitness, travel, career, and personal challenges with progress updates
Oz Teacher Magazine Article
Oz Teacher Magazine featured the ASMS website after spotting it online, leading to an interview with the team behind it