Book author Azat Mardan writes about apps, startups and technology
As you know, there are two types of software engineers: those who use debuggers and the those who use logger statements. I am in the second camp myself, and not because I don’t know how to use a debugger (which can be tricky and probably worth writing another tip on) but because logs don’t break … Continue reading "Debugging Quicker with a VS Code console.log Shortcut"
https://github.com/azat-co/day-one-classic-migration Day One Classic was a good journaling app but sadly the modern Day One app suffers from feature bloat-creep and requires subscription for synchronization. Your data should belong to you. Let’s see how to break free from Day One Classic into plain Markdown that can be used by any free or open source editor … Continue reading "Day One Classic to…
I’ve been in software engineering/development for over 20 years. I’ve noticed when I did a good job and when not. I’ve noticed how others have struggled to do a good job and what inhibited their potential. Here is my list of top five traits and abilities that distinguish a good software engineer. Practical Tips for … Continue reading "Top Five Traits of a Good Software Engineer and How to Develop…
node-pg-migration is a useful library. You can add a constraint of a foreign key with a simple references property on the column. For example, you have table client_session with publishable_key column and you want to reference publishable_key column in workspace table where it is not a primary key (just a unique key). The following usage … Continue reading "Adding constraint on a foreign key with…
I recently needed to update the check constraint on a Postgres table column. This check does format validation similar to regex. This check was part of the CREATE TABLE statement meaning it was created with the table. However, ALTER COLUMN is not supporting updates of checks. So what we need to do is to drop the … Continue reading "How to show all constraints on a Postgres table"
As a startup founder, you might think that building an app, whether it’s for the web or mobile, is the only way to validate your business idea. However, that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, using messenger apps like WhatsApp or Telegram can be a great way to test the waters and validate your concept … Continue reading "📱💬Leveraging Messengers for MVP Validation and Sales in Your Tech/IT…
React.js version 17 was released in October 2020 and introduced several new features and improvements. In this blog post, we’ll explore the major updates in React.js version 17. No More Event Pooling One of the most significant changes in React.js version 17 is the removal of the event pooling optimization. Previously, React.js used a technique … Continue reading "What’s new in React 17: new…
In our day and age, learning is more important than ever because things change so rapidly. I learned a taught a lot of things during my career which led me to discover that the best and the most effective learning method is to use MMAT: Motivation, Methodology, Action and Time. Motivation is number one. It’s … Continue reading "MMAT: My Teaching and Learning Approach"
Two months ago, I applied and was accepted to a master’s program at a prestigious business school (ranked #2), HEC Paris. The degree is title Master of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE). It has 10 normal courses, 10 practical project-based courses and one large team project. The master’s program lasts about one year and … Continue reading "Why I’m Getting a Second Master’s Degree…
After 2.5 years of starting my online school for software engineers Node University and growing it to one of the best resources on Node.js, APIs and AWS, I’m happy to announce the acquisition of Node University by the tech training company DevelopIntelligence. 💰😎🍾 I’ve known and worked with DevelopIntelligence for many years. They deliver outstanding … Continue reading "Acquisition of Node…
Have you ever wondered what your manager is doing all day? Are you guilty of secretly thinking he/she is playing Candy Crash and attending endless stream of useless meetings? If yes, then you are normal. Management is often invisible and hard to understand. We have tons of books and courses on management but too few … Continue reading "Azat’s Management Philosophy"
A few years ago, I managed a team at DocuSign that was tasked with re-writing the main DocuSign web app which was used by tens of millions of users. The APIs didn’t exist yet to support our new shiny front-end app because since the beginning the web app was a .NET monolith. The API team … Continue reading "Why GraphQL is Taking Over APIs"
The Practical Node.js, 2nd Edition print book is finally ready. It turned out the biggest thickest book I ever wrote (500+ pages). Practical Node, 2nd Ed. is even thicker than React Quickly.
A discussion came up in at my work about distinction between a triage and planning meetings. My take on this is that triage reactive whereas planning is active. Let me illustrate this with examples. Imagine a customer-facing app like a WordPress CMS. Users use the CMS, encounter bugs, and curse. They sometimes report the bugs. … Continue reading "Triage vs. Planning"
I got an email from a person frustrated that he can’t get an entry-level job in IT/tech. He knows PHP, HTML, CSS and MySQL, but he is tired of all the companies rejecting him and requiring a “perfect” expert (as he put it). That’s true that there are not that many entry-level jobs in tech. … Continue reading "Breaking Into IT and Tech as a Beginner"
As I was editing my new book Practical Node.js, 2nd Edition, I found a few recurring mistakes that my publisher’s editor was correcting. I wrote over dozen of books but I still don’t know some of English grammar. Do you know some of these tricky rules? Front-end app vs. frontend Which vs. that While vs. … Continue reading "Tricky English Grammar for Programmers"
There are multiple ways how software engineers can achieve a successful career. Some can be early employees at Google while others can be a life-long employees of IBM. Some can build side projects while other can get equity. But there are only five common habits and traits: LEARN: Find balance between learning and doing. Have … Continue reading "5 Habits of Highly Successful Software Engineers"
Hello everyone! In this post, I want to contrast the terms with which other people and we ourselves call us. There are a lot of confusion around the names for our trade. People use terms such as software engineer, software developer. Some people even use programmer or coder, etc., etc. And some event go as … Continue reading "Programmer vs. Software Engineer vs. Software Developer vs. Coder"
Let’s start from the smallest to the biggest five reasons why programming and software development is awesome. The reason number 5 (smallest) is programming can pay really well. The average income in the USA is somewhere along $50K per year per household. Programmers typically starts their careers with $80K/year salaries. In major metro areas the … Continue reading "5 Reasons Programming is…
Packt Publishing reached out to me and offered to do a book. They pretty much want me to do any book and pre-agreed already. They gave me carte blanche on the topic. (More or less, I doubt I can convince them to publish a vampire thriller set in a Silicon Valley startup.) Funny thing is … Continue reading "My New Book Concept and Top Qualities of a Good Software Engineers"
