Published in ITNEXT·PinnedI’m Changing How I Review CodeI’m a big advocate for code reviews. I’ve written about my experiences reviewing code, including lists of dos and don’ts, how to survive your first code review, and why we should review code at all. My views have been mainly shaped by my experience with a particular kind of code…Software Development6 min read
Published in Better Programming·PinnedOur Obsession With Design PatternsDesign patterns are great to use. However, they can lead to roadblocks when used in excess — Learning patterns has become a core aspect for many people on their journey to becoming software engineers. Countless articles have been written about patterns and how to apply them. Courses, YouTube videos, and GitHub repos all exist to help engineers master the power of patterns. …Programming4 min read
Jun 9Surviving Opinion WhiplashLast week I was researching some best practices and conventions. I was trying to learn how other teams name their Kafka topics since I’ve recently been working on some event broker technology. I wasn’t looking for anything super concrete — just something to help me start to reason about things…Software Development6 min read
Published in Policygenius·Apr 15The Technical Debt SnowballTechnical debt. Many software engineers will be familiar with this term and the constant arguments about its definition. A popular analogy of technical debt is personal financial debt. People often take out loans on large purchases to allow them to make the purchase much sooner. For example, buyers often take…Software Development9 min read
Mar 26Some Thoughts on Thought LeadershipThe other week I saw a pretty upsetting Tweet by Allen Holub. Holub is an Agile coach and software thought leader. A lot of his focus is on helping teams get away from process and “Agile-ish” workflows to workflows centered on team productivity. He wrote the following:Software Development6 min read
Feb 18The Importance of Vision as a DeveloperFixer Upper. We all love it. Even if you hate it… you still kinda love it. If you are unfamiliar with the show (living under a rock?), Chip and Joanna Gaines help prospective homeowners build their dream homes by finding cheaper “fixer-upper” homes and remodeling them, saving the homebuyer’s money…Software Development5 min read
Published in Better Programming·Jan 17How to Get Software Documentation RightWhat to write down, what to generate, and coming to terms that documentation is always out of date — I recently joined a new team. An entirely new company actually. I’m now an engineer working for Policygenius — the leading online insurance marketplace (in the US at least). I’ve enjoyed the change so far; it was well needed. When joining a new team — and a new company —…Software Engineering5 min read
Jan 2The Books I Read This Year (2021)Every year I try to take a short inventory of the books I read through that year. I find that doing so helps me solidify the concrete things I learned from each. You can see last year’s list too if you would like. Let’s jump right in. Dune by Frank Herbert After hearing the…Book Review6 min read
Dec 13, 2021My Top Takeaways from Team TopologiesI’ve played team sports my whole life, and I learned the unique power and ability a team can take on early on. I’ve seen how a great team can elevate each team member to achieve better results than if alone. …Software Development6 min read
Nov 8, 2021What’s the Point of Containers Anyway?Have you heard of Docker? Or maybe containers? If you’ve been in software the past few years, you probably have. There also might be a chance that you have no idea what these technologies are. Or you might know what they are but have no clue why you would use…Software Development7 min read
