These are the bits that going into making up one of my blog posts. I make decisions on each of these points and create something that is hopefully useful and satisfying to me and an artifact to share that others might draw inspiration or help from as well.Types of PostsI divide my writing into two k...

Want to never have to think about or argue about your JavaScript code format again? Install Prettier on your project today. Be within the first 5M npm downloads to receive free semicolon demolition.Prettier.jsPrettier is a code formatter that parses your JavaScript, converts it to an AST, and then p...

My favorite thing about React is how it simplifies the mental model of the developer when coding a UI. The key is the repaint.RevolutionaryWhen I was first exposed to React, it was revolutionary. And not in a good way. I was skeptical. It was weird. Why would I just call render again and repaint an ...

In the trendy open spaces of today's tech environments, we need to find space for focused attention.Open SpaceOpen space work environments are definitely the trend. We collaborate a lot in a product dev team. We need to sit together. We need quick feedback. We need to help each other out. Sometimes....

Writing middleware for Redux that gets executed on every action is easy. Here's a method.Execute on Every ActionRedux middleware is great for a case where you'd like to do something every time an action is dispatched to Redux. The scenario we'll look at is alert dismissal. It's common to have alerts...

Humans are not machines. Energy will deplete, and in our rhythm of living, we must be able to rest and recover.Not MachinesHuman beings are not machines. We require energy to function. Our energy levels are not constant. The human body will expend energy as we work and think. Sometimes our energy is...

Sometimes it might be better to write test descriptions that are less like an English sentence and more like code.English So Hard It IsWe often try very hard to make our test descriptions full English sentences. This is supposed to make it more clear and more accessible to the test reader. Sometimes...

You may think you're just doing a job, but the people around you notice who you are. They will remember your kindness. I remember my friend's.Trip of a LifetimeI found out yesterday that my friend, Bea Rigby, just died. She had fought cancer for years. After some moments of relief, some of relapse, ...

You may want to chime in on chat or Slack at any time of the day, like late at night. Choose not to, and lead a better life, build a better company.The LureWe're on our computers a lot. We take our company laptops home where we're doing random side projects and life management on it. We use this sam...

React Router v4 has a new API that's pretty cool. The method for accessing the route params is different, and it's very straightforward.First, get React Router in your web project by installing:npm install react-router-dom --saveWrap in RouterNow, somewhere near the top of your component tree, you'l...

Local auth for an API in koa will take a few pieces working together. Here's one way to do it.The FlowWe're going to require authentication on our rest APIs for a single page app web client. We're going to maintain a session in the API. If you're logged in, you have a session. When a request is made...

Be careful when you store a user password locally. You can use bcrypt to make the password hash hard to break. Here's a partial implementation in Node.Sometimes you might want to store a password with a local user record in your app. You might do this if you didn't want to let Twitter, Facebook, or ...

It is refreshing when your leader is not the center of your work. Rather, it's the purpose that is clear. Your leader is almost invisible.At the Center of it AllSome leaders seem to crave the spotlight A portion of the service the company provides is really a service to the leader. It all seems very...

Get a first taste of Elm's syntax in this kata to implement your own map function. We'll start with a failing test suite, work through first errors, make the tests pass, explain basic tidbits of syntax along the way.This exercise was adapted from the "Accumulate" exercism. If you'd like to follow al...

Some product managers may see devs as a roadblock to getting good product. Some devs may view product as arbitrary and authoritarian. Without communication, early and often, it's easy to see why these perceptions persist. Perhaps we can have better conversations instead.The "No" PeopleSome product p...

Devops is a mindset and a practice that asks a lot. Engineers must learn a two worlds of ops and dev. This encourages some good things, and needs to be tempered in order to be more realistict.Ownership is AwesomeDevops encourages ownership of the code, the product, and the environment in production ...

You are just doing what you think is best. You might not go with the flow. You might go against the grain. For this, you gain a bit of a reputation as a rebel. Later, that might change. It may be found that you indeed a visionary.Solution MismatchAt Pluralsight, our architecture recommendations used...

When you don't feel very proud of your personal performance, it can be easy to believe that what you have done is not worth much. Sometimes we may be surprised to find out that our work was more impactful or had been more meaning than we otherwise thought.Do What You DoWe are called upon to do many ...

Is a Porsche convertible or a Handa Minivan the best car for you? It depends on your why. Why are you looking for a car?Minimum Level FunctionalityTo be a valid choice, any car must meet a minimum bar. It needs to perform the basic function of a vehicle. It must be in good condition, driveable, comp...

You do yourself and your audience a disservice when you preface your talk with why we shouldn't listen.Everyone knows that when they go to a conference or a meetup there will be some talks that rock your socks. There will be other talks that are generally boring with a few islands of interest. You p...

It turns out that we're not as objective as we think we are. We want to think we're rational. The things that you'll gravitate toward and stick with will be those that you identify most closely with -- you like what that that thing represents and why it exists.Justifying Our HappinessDoes your happi...

If we want to feel productive, we can help each other progress on clear paths of learning."A productive day"The other day, as we were wrapping up the day, my teammate said to me, "that was a really productive day." It was an interesting statement to me. From my perspective, the day had been good, bu...

Elm is usually run in a browser with output in HTML. So how does one run Elm outside the browser, say, in the terminal? Here's a quick setup.Setup Headless ElmA headless program is one without a UI. If we run in a terminal or the commandline, we'll be bypassing any UI building and just using the con...

We all come from somewhere, often somewhere humble. Even from these humble beginnings, each of us as normal people can accomplish great things. So don't discount yourself.A Humble StreetWe all start somewhere. We grow up as just one of the neighbor kids on the street -- just some humble street in an...

What do you do when you need experience for a job but don't have enough experience for that job? It's time to break the paradox!The ParadoxThe permission paradox describes a difficult state. It sometimes applies to job hunting. You are looking for a job. That job requires experience, but you don't h...

Perhaps non-intuitively, seeking praise doesn't bring a lot of it. More actively giving praise may actually increase your admiration (and praise) in the end.Being an ExpertWhen you're an expert, your advice is sought. When you're around, people defer to you. You have built up loads of experience, so...

We hear stories about engineers being taken advantage of. Surely they aren't the only people to receive such treatment. There is an impression, however, that this has been the case for some engineers. Why is that? Here are some possible reasons why this might be a thing in software engineering.Flexi...

The React prop of key is a special attribute that's used by the library to keep track of nodes within a list. There are a few guidelines that can help in selecting an appropriate key value.The key prop is used in React's diffing algorithm. This means that when React is trying to determine what has c...

It sounds so obvious that it almost goes without saying: of course we're more engaged in work we like. And everyone loves an engaged worker. And every worker loves engaging work. Why are we sometimes then so dismissive about liking our work?Guilt of Liking WorkIt's almost like there's a tendency tow...

It's easy to get frustrated when you're asked to repeat yourself. We've been through this before. Why are we having this same conversation? But if someone else doesn't get what you're trying to say, it's really not their fault.There are many reasons we might get asked for a repeat conversation:It Wa...