Engineering notes.
Plain-English notes on building and maintaining software for small teams.
RSS feedThe Refactor That Never Ships
Every org has one — the rewrite that's been "almost done" for years. Why refactors stall, what they cost, and the three preconditions one needs at the start.
Premature Optimization Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves
Knuth's most-quoted sentence has drifted into a permission slip to avoid thinking about performance at all. Why the misuse persists, and what to do instead.
The Last Generation of Engineers
The industry is optimizing away the pipeline that creates future talent. A call to keep junior developer roles open in the AI era.
Database Design Patterns for Modern Applications
Essential database design patterns from schema normalization to indexing strategies. Learn when to use SQL vs NoSQL, how to handle migrations safely, and patterns that scale.
Effective Code Reviews in the AI Era: What Human Reviewers Should Focus On
With AI handling syntax and basic patterns, human code reviewers need to focus on architecture, business logic, and maintainability. A practical guide to reviews that add value.
Building Effective CI/CD Pipelines: From Zero to Production Confidence
A comprehensive guide to building CI/CD pipelines that give you confidence to deploy. Covers testing strategies, deployment patterns, rollback plans, and security scanning.
The AI-Augmented Developer: Skills That Matter in 2025
The developer role is evolving from executor to orchestrator: how AI tools change productivity, and why planning skills now matter more than coding speed.
React Performance Optimization: Techniques That Actually Matter
Learn practical performance optimization strategies for React applications, from code splitting to memoization, that can reduce load times by 60% or more.
Choosing the Right AWS Architecture for Your Application
A practical guide to selecting AWS services and architecture patterns based on your application requirements, scale, and budget constraints.
TypeScript Best Practices for Scalable Applications
Essential TypeScript patterns and practices for building maintainable, type-safe applications that scale with your team and codebase.