software engineering

20 Nov

“Task Failed Successfully”

“Task failed successfully.” It’s a fake* prompt, which inspired a meme, which inspired a widespread descriptive term. It’s a joke, and an absurd joke, but like many absurd jokes it exists and persists because it reflects something real. The mimetic...
Read more »

15 Aug

“Scrappy Path”

In the world of software, you often hear about the “happy path” of a product. A “happy path” is the optimal use case, the ideal journey a user takes to accomplish a goal in a piece of software, from...
Read more »

4 Sep

The Human Solution to Design Process

Note: when I say designers below, this can apply to any technical+creative types, such as engineers, product designers, etc. You put five designers in a room with a big free slot of time to let them solve a challenging and...
Read more »

27 Jul

A Developer’s Impact

There are a few metrics in common use for gauging a developer’s ability: Proportion of success Years of experience Speed / efficiency Quality of code Fame or reputation Amount of code written Ability to think abstractly Different people and...
Read more »

20 Jul

Hanami (Ruby) on Ubuntu

Hanami is a modern Ruby web framework. I’m experimenting with it right now. Ubuntu, compared to other linux distros, or to a mac, can often require different steps when getting started with a new tool. Here is the process...
Read more »

16 May

Text Editor Wars

If you’ve been anywhere near professional programmers or enthusiastic hobbyists, you’ve heard the contentions over “best text editor,” in guises which range from gentle ribbing to outright flame wars. I can’t weigh in on that. I have my preferences,...
Read more »

12 May

Clinch Your Technical Interview: It’s Not All Technical

The words technical interview strike fear into many a technical job-seeker. You’ve heard the horror stories, maybe you’ve gone through the process before: the grueling and sweat-inducing second- or third-round interview to make sure you know your stuff cold. You...
Read more »

20 Mar

Et Cetera

Category Archives: software engineering

“Task Failed Successfully”

“Scrappy Path”

The Human Solution to Design Process

A Developer’s Impact

Hanami (Ruby) on Ubuntu

Text Editor Wars

Clinch Your Technical Interview: It’s Not All Technical

More Ruby Tidbits

Communication & Lack Thereof

5 Dev Tricks I Learned This Week

Tags