Writing on Software Engineering
Setting up a Remote Development Environment with Google Chrome and DigitalOcean
My Macbook Pro is a couple years old now and I’ve been thinking about switching...
How Do Open Source Companies Make Money?
Since starting Draft.dev in 2020, I’ve had the opportunity to work with dozens of open...
Becoming a Senior Software Engineer
I used to speak regularly at many of the Chicago-area coding bootcamps and one of...
API Development: The Complete Guide for Building APIs Without Code
The term “API” gets thrown around a lot these days, but what does it mean?...
The Best Software Engineering Books
Early in my career as an engineering manager, I wrote a long list of my...
What to do After Your Coding Bootcamp
I have been a guest lecturer, instructor, and mock interviewer at half a dozen Chicago...
What to Expect from a Coding Bootcamp
You’ve probably noticed the rise coding bootcamps over the past few years. If you come...
Laravel Forge: Deploy Laravel Applications Fast
As a long-time PHP developer, Laravel is one of the most exciting additions to the...
Testing Microservices: A Layered Testing Strategy
We made some considerable improvements to the tech stack at The Graide Network during my...
The Importance of Software Testing
I’m currently writing a series of articles about test frameworks, and it got me thinking...
Recruiting and Hiring Software Engineers
When I took my first real management role as Packback’s Head of Engineering back in...
The One Reason Software Engineers Should Write
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing lately. I recently left a career as a...
Why I Left a Career as a Startup CTO to Become a Writer
When I graduated from college, my dream was to lead a team at a startup....
Farmers, Pioneers and Software Engineers
I’ve worked with a lot of software engineers and met hundreds while speaking at conferences...
How to Start Freelance Technical Blogging
I like writing. I lived with a bunch of English majors in college, so we...
Building a Resilient Career
I was reading another engineer’s story this week about his 65-day job hunt. I’ve avoided...
PHP Architect 2019 Contributions
I have not been writing as much this year as I did in 2017, but...
On Diversity in Conference Speakers
I caused a bit of a stir this week because I called out a conference...
CFP Land: A Curated Newsletter for Tech Conference Speakers
In 2017, I started applying to speak at a number of tech and developer conferences...
Essential Reading for Software Engineering Managers
Software engineering management is an evolving field with a growing body of knowledge, and thousands...
The Myths You’ll Hear About Working as an Engineer at a Startup
When I first graduated from college and went looking for a job with a startup...
Using Postman to Access APIs Without Code
An “Application Programming Interface” or API describes the way that two computer programs talk to...
Using Airtable as an API
I’ve started using Airtable for almost everything that I used to pack into spreadsheets. The...
The Bulk of Software Engineering is Just Plumbing
I read a post online recently about how some software engineer was asked to complete...
Web Applications: The Guide for Building Webs Apps Without Code
Web applications are getting more and more popular, but in 2018, what’s the best way...
My First Year Speaking at Software Engineering Conferences
For over a year now I’ve been applying for (and speaking) at tech conferences. Midway...
The Age of Cloud Services
Cloud based web hosting has enabled small startups to build and scale software applications that...
Writing Less Software to Accomplish More
Creating custom software should be the last resort for early stage startups. Writing good software...
Building a Free Website on the GABA Stack - A Spin on JAM Stack
Note: When I first wrote this in early 2018, I had not heard of the...
API Testing Presentation at API Strategy & Practice Conference
This year, I decided to make speaking at a conference one of my goals (and...
Beginner PHP Resources
I was recently asked by a new web developer what resources I would recommend for...
Book: Building PHP Applications in Docker
Last month I finished my first book - a step-by-step guide for PHP developers who...
A Collection of Docker and PHP Tutorials
As part of my 2017 writing goal, I decided to spend this month writing a...
Building a PHP Command Line App with Docker
At The Graide Network, we needed to automate a bunch of reminder emails and text...
Continuous Integration on a Budget
Since I wrote this in September, 2015, continuous integration has become pretty much the standard...
Security Tips for Engineers at Early Stage Startups
Since publishing this post in August, 2015 I’ve become somewhat fanatical about getting my company’s...
Five Takeaways from Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
I first published this post in May 2015, but Clean Code is timeless. If you’re...
Roadblocks to Project Estimation
When I first published this in April, 2015, we were trying to obsessively estimate our...
Peopleware: All Technology Problems are Really People Problems
Two years ago I read Peopleware for the first time and wrote this blog post....
The Risk in Sending Your Startup's Technology Offshore
When I wrote this in September, 2014 I was managing an offshore dev team for...
The Secret to Staying Employed: Be Indispensable
With everyone talking about automation and the widespread job loss that it may lead to,...
The Key to Networking: Keeping in Touch
I first started using a system for keeping in touch with important people in my...
Colleges API: A Database and REST API of Accredited Colleges in the United States
Back in 2013 I needed a list of all the colleges in the US. The...
The Power of Responsiveness - Web Design for Multiple Platforms
Since writing this post in 2012, the case for responsive (and now progressive) websites has...
How Startups Know When They've Got the Technology Right
I wrote this post back in September of 2012. I had just started my first...
The Key to Success: Never Stop Learning
Back in July, 2012 when I wrote this article, I was barely a PHP novice...
Writing - You Don't Need a Degree for it
Writing has been one of my favorite hobbies since high school, but I used to...
My PHP Open Source Project Checklist
Open source software is becoming the norm, and not just for small companies, indie developers and...
How Microservices Help Enforce Domain Driven Design
I’m working my way through a long backlog of episodes of Software Engineering Radio right...
Using Docker to Run a Laravel Application in PHP7
PHP7 has been out for a few months now; the performance benefits have been demonstrated,...
5 Things I Learned at Midwest PHP 2016
Now that Midwest PHP 2016 is over and I’m back on my cozy couch here in...
Bedrock: Bringing Modern PHP to Wordpress
I cut my teeth writing websites in Wordpress, but I’ve fallen out of love with...
Sub 1-Second Page Load Time in Wordpress
Wordpress has a bad reputation on the web for being bulky and slow, but that...
Accessing Job Board APIs in PHP
Niche job boards have made a surprising comeback in the past few years. Despite the...
Textbook Prices: Packback's Open Source Price Comparison Tool
Like a lot of startups, we rely heavily on open source software at Packback, and while...
Packbot: Helping our Business Access Data at Packback
Note: Since writing this, I’ve stopped using Slack for most things. Here’s why. Slack is...
Moonclerk Recurring Payments PHP Library
A few months ago I was looking into an easy way to set up recurring...
An Update on Engineering at Packback
As I enter my second full year of working with Packback, I can say that...