Sean Byrd

I know so many developers who follow best practices without questioning if they truly are the best practices. A prime example is `eslint-config-airbnb`. I know many developers adopt these "best (not) practices" because they believe Airbnb uses them. But who said Airbnb is the standard in the dev world? The story gets even more interesting. Recently, I discovered that Airbnb don't use `eslint-config-airbnb` internally. 😊 #dev #js

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Developer downtime: don’t overwork your devs. It’s memorial weekend and I’m lazily sitting on my porch. My kids keep coming in and out of the house, but get stuck because the sliding door keeps coming off the rails and won’t open. Well, since I’ve got nothing else scheduled for the afternoon I investigate the issue. Turns out sliding doors have a bunch of adjustment screws. I adjust them till the door slides smooth. Left in the broken state my kids learned to hit top left side of the door before opening it. Bringing this back to work, I know customer success teams that have a cheat sheet of these maneuvers. Give devs space to observe, we naturally fix these issues.

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I put on my interviewer's hat 🧢 today to join Brian Norton on a technical interview at Chameleon. It wasn't my first time interviewing - I had quite a few experiences before, the first time ~8 years ago when I was just a jr. 🐣 developer; although every interview is a new experience. My knowledge as an interviewer is primarily empirical (both as an interviewer but also being on the other side way more times), but one thing I learned in a DEVNAESTRADA podcast episode a few years back stuck with me to this day: "As an interviewer, I want to make the person I'm talking to as comfortable as possible to show their strengths. After all, we have the same shared goal (of this being a successful hire): hopefully, that will be the candidate to make it". -- I quote Antonio Marin Neto 👾 (loosely, as far as my memory is capable of 🙈, but you get the idea). 💡 This was an enormously useful insight I have tried to exercise since then when interviewing. (thanks, Neto + Eduardo Matos!) Way easier said than done, I recognize. Hopefully, I was able to get it done today though! 🐥

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I've been thinking about the challenge of preserving the "low priority voice" as software products scale. As teams and projects grow, folks outside of development and product positions seem to get more and more quiet—or maybe they're just harder to hear. Sure, a typo here, some inconsistent spelling there; these don't really rise to the level of "bugs" since nothing's technically broken. But when these little things accumulate, they can start to chip away at the users' trust in the product and the company. Curious to know, how are others tackling this within their teams? #SoftwareDevelopment #TeamCollaboration #QualityAssurance

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I just sent this email to #BigBasket #bbdaily about inconsistent billing. Some (like I) would call it fraud. I had a customer experience and fraud confrontation with #Flipakart a couple weeks ago. What's going on with me? Really... Is it me or them? When will they really get serious? I understand that there can be software errors. In digital world, or technically - a software, N number of things can break. But there are few things that cannot be compromised. OK, here's that email 👇 Dear Grievance Officer at Bigbasket, I am writing to bring to your immediate attention a serious issue regarding incorrect billing of products on my account between <redacted> and <redacted>. This matter is not just a simple error but constitutes financial fraud, which cannot be taken lightly. During the specified period, I noticed that the billing for one item (<redacted>) was inflated. For <redacted> milk, the correct billing was <redacted>. However, between <redacted>, both dates included, <redacted> was charged. Although I have been promised by the customer support that the additional amount has been refunded to my account, I am concerned that other customers might have been similarly affected. This issue likely extends beyond my account and could have impacted numerous other customers. I am also worried that these things might just be occurring and will continue to occur. Out of 100 customers impacted, a few may notice and the remaining may not even know that this happened. Bigbasket is making money in unscrupulous ways. Given the gravity of this situation, I urge you to initiate a thorough investigation into the matter. It is imperative that corrective measures are implemented promptly to ensure that all affected customers receive appropriate refunds. Additionally, robust measures must be put in place to prevent such issues from occurring in the future. Please provide me with detailed information on the steps you are taking to resolve this issue for other customers and the preventive measures you plan to implement to avoid such incidents in the future. I also intend to bring this matter to the attention of the concerned government authorities to ensure that appropriate actions are taken. I look forward to your prompt response and resolution of this matter. Trying to do the right thing Saket Modi

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I'm going to post a few challenges I have had as a software QA. I should be relaxing today but those that know me, know my brain is always in thirty places at once. To developers: Trust your QA. Y'all don't know how many times I've heard, "Well, it works on my local". I don't care. In the test environment, it breaks. I do my due diligence to investigate why, present evidence in logs and from the database, present recordings, and meticulously document steps of reproduction and results. And even after, I still get, "It works on my local". Get off the dang local. NO ONE knows this software, app, platform, etc. better than the QA because we live it more than anyone else does. To business analysts: I know you all are overwhelmed. But please stop copying and pasting Acceptance Criteria for similar features. It makes a mess for developers and QA because the AC doesn't match or conflicts with not only the developed feature but integration as well. Which brings me to my next point... What QA is: Everyone thinks of us as just testers. I am sick of that. I spend half my time working with the product owner, BAs, and Devs, just making sure the AC reflects the solution needing to be resolved. I can't tell you how many times I have had to address with the BAs conflicts in a story over AC, nonsensical AC, WTF verbiage, etc. So then the developers get confused and we are in long meetings addressing what is messed up. We are here to help you ask the questions you didn't think to ask. We don't just test..... we look at future issues too. We like process improvements. Automation: Stop asking me to automate a one-off feature test that hasn't even gone through UAT yet. It's time wasted. Too many companies do this. Might as well give me the day off for the time it takes to do that because the automation is useless after UAT. Learn the purpose of automation. Product Owner: When I tell you before a demo not to demo certain things because there are still issues, don't shred me after the demo because you decided to demo them anyway and they break. I TOLD YOU not to do that, and why. Data: QA worst nightmare. My last position I would get two test records to test against 20 AC when I first started. I said "Helz no". I built up a catalog of test records I could use, positive and negative, as I progressed because I want multiple records against every AC. Which I often shared with the developers for their unit tests who loved it. QA needs data, all. You give me two records, don't yell at me that coverage isn't thorough. Probably sounded more a rant. But I'm opinionated. Where many QA are not. And these are common issues. Want to improve QA, improve the above.

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If you've ever had to deal with inconsistent UX, multiple generations of design systems, and the perpetual back and forth between UI and backend developers - there's hope, you are not alone. And let me just say it out loud - there's no "full stack" development - it is simply impossible for an engineer to stay up to date on all the development across JavaScript, frameworks, Node.js, Kubernetes, Java, etc. You either have deep and somewhat narrow, or broad and shallow. These problems are quite common for everyone who has inherited an existing product (which is like 99.9% of us). This blog post by Kyle Shevlin about building a tightly-enforced composable design system resonated with me. #UI #designsystem #react https://lnkd.in/gStEWHtC

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I believe that the end consumers of any Language Java , Js , C ,C++ etc are the developers . They need a better developer experience to make good products as in software. And these principles are what makes the codebase predictable and accessible. So that each time another developer looks into the codebase he can predict what's coming next and can understand the flow. Writing your own crappy code design makes it very less understanding and thus very difficult to interpret and debug by others. These structures , naming patterns , community conventions are what makes life easier. Breaking it , would make you linger in the code trying to figure out where the code has gone buggy.

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Does anyone else remember sitting in class thinking, "Am I ever going to actually use this?" 🤦‍♂️ I still ask myself this weekly when reading blog posts, listening to podcasts, catching up on massive Slack threads, or diving into documentation and feature listings. I don't always use the info, but it feels great when a memory from six months ago suddenly becomes relevant. I always think of that original Jurassic Park Unix scene. This often happens when discussing DevOps and Serverless, where boundaries blur already. Trying to keep all of the AWS documentation in my head while discussing the design of new features and optimizations feels like a superhuman task. What are some things you wish you had remembered when solving an issue or problem? For me, we designed a Lambda function to fail purposefully instead of attempting to recover for efficiency. Unfortunately, the Lambda control plane self-throttles a function once a failure threshold is reached... slowing our processing to a crawl and forcing some quick code changes. 😅 #AWS #lambda #serverless #learninginpublic #hugops

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Informal leadership in software engineering is a critical part of becoming more senior in your role What's involved in informal leadership? Why is it so beneficial? As an individual contributor, you don't have direct responsibilities called out for managing others. And often people associate leadership traits with management responsibilities. These are *not* the same. Informal leadership is all about leveling up those around you - Even when not in a formal leadership role. 👇Check out the comments for the link to the article!👇 ---- 📨 Sign up for my email newsletter! 🗣️ Share with your network! #SoftwareEngineering #Leadership #Developers

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Not specific to coding screens so forgive me for going off-track but I feel like there can be a "you won't always have a calculator" discussion that might be interesting. In regards to open-book or closed-book, it is difficult to remember everything so referencing something you might have forgotten isn't uncommon but there is a distinct difference between refreshing your memory and searching for a solution. However, being able to research effectively is also a great skill. With access to this information so readily available and the growing popularity of AI, I can definitely see engineers trending toward having less technical fundamentals and critical thinking in favor of yielding quick results. Is it efficiency or laziness? Will it be damaging? I'm curious how it will affect the industry.

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Have a gap? Several clients have reached out about gaps within their staff development that they're looking to get ahead of. Most of their problems in staff development have stimmed from lack of Mid-Level Developers who have 3-8 years of experience. Now, you're probably thinking, "But Alex, someone with 8 years of experience could be titled a Senior." To that I'd say your correct, but not every developer has the opportunity to succeed in that way in their current roles or have amazing company loyalty and don't understand the current hiring market/trends. On top of that there are major, major salary ranges in those 3-8 years of experience, but that can be a topic for tomorrow... So, are you seeing similar gaps in your teams?

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Can you provide some perspective on interviewing for a Rails developer job today? I have not interviewed for a job since before Obama was in office. I am frequently asked for my advice on how to land a job. I had a friend reach out with the following message. >> Do you have any advice you can give, or perspective on what you would look for in hiring a mid level RoR dev position? We certainly hire people like my friend but with don’t currently have any positions open and I don’t think our interview matches what many people expect. I want to help them be successful. What advice would you share with this person?

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Curious to know other peoples thoughts regarding this subject... Whether you're a developer or an employer looking to hire a developer, I think something that is extremely common with the interview process, is for the developer to complete a technical test. Now, I completely understand the reasoning behind setting a technical test, you obviously want to see if we can do, what we're saying we can do, and so you can see the level we're at to see if we fit the role. I've worked for a handful of different companies, some I didn't have to do no test at all, some I had to just answer a load of test-like questions in an interview, and others I've had to complete a test. However, this is where my question is... Let's say the role is for a WordPress Developer, with the main responsibility of the role being building custom themes from scratch. Do you think it's better to set a test of building a homepage design with WordPress and letting the candidate send it back to you or do you think it's better to set a coding test where the candidate has to solve coding problems? Personally, having interviewed with many different companies in my years, I've had both forms of tests given to me. And it got to the point where if I was set a test that was primarily a coding test having to solve problems, I just ruled myself out of the running. Now, why did I do this? Everyone is different, but for me... I've always struggled when it comes to exam type settings, it makes me extremely anxious knowing there's people walking around, watching me. It feels like my every move and my every decision is being examined and questioned, and this makes me forgetful and also makes me stress out. Now, how does this relate to code? The coding tests I've been sent before by some companies, it tends to be a link to an online test where you have to have your camera on, and share your screen whilst you do the test, as well as having a time limit. Again, I understand the concept of having your camera on and sharing your screen, they want to see it's YOU doing the test, and they want to see if you struggle with the test or if you try and find the answers online. But for me, knowing my every move is being closely monitored, makes me mess up even more. It makes me forget even the most simplest of things, because I think 'what if I'm doing this wrong' and they look at my submitted test and see how many mistakes I was potentially making. I think as developers, we can all agree that when someone is sitting / standing watching you trying to fix a code related issue, you feel this extra sense of pressure, because you ultimately don't want to look 'stupid'. However, when it comes to doing a technical test that is building a homepage design in WordPress, I can do that essentially blindfolded with 2 hands tied behind my back... (physically I can't but you get the point!). Because I can take my time with it, I'm not being closely watched in real-time and I feel more relaxed.

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I don't understand all the unquestioning, dogmatic positions on remote work. On the one hand, proponents declare everyone's necessarily more efficient working from home, and claim that those who want you in the office don't trust you and are just trying to micromanage. Conversely, the "other camp" seems to think that if they can't see your face, you're slacking off or playing with the dog, and that teams are always more productive in person. The reality clearly lies somewhere in between. Efficiency (at least in technology) is not the same as hours in front of the keyboard, so forcing people to keep strict office hours is meaningless and, if anything, counter productive. Besides, being able to be home to receive a package, or be around when your child is home, actually helps you be more focused at work (since you don't need to spend so much effort planning around not being home). Not to mention being able to focus for long stretches without office chatter. On the other hand, there isn't a good replacement yet for quick conversations and whiteboarding. There are workarounds, but nothing nearly as effective and satisfying. If you work in isolation, sure, it doesn't matter; but most of us don't, or shouldn't. Even the most efficient fully-remote teams I know of meet regularly. Otherwise, in practice, you're not really a team, you're a bunch of people working on the same codebase. So far, the best setups I've experienced are hybrid, flexible and smart: you have a place to meet, you're encouraged to be there once or twice a week in sync with the rest of your team (or whomever you need to communicate non-trivially with), but you have the freedom to alter that schedule. The people claiming only one extreme or the other works are either speaking from very limited experience, or (like most people with extreme points of view) have unnecessarily "picked a side".

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Someone I'm mentoring just started their first job in the tech writing field (hoorays!) and came to me asking for advice about their new role. Their boss, who isn't a tech writer, was building the team from the ground up to take on a new project, and everyone else on the team was new as well. Where to begin? Here's the advice I gave him: - Give yourself time: Give yourself a month to figure things out - at the minimum. Every company is different, and every department is different, and every manager is different. You should give yourself a month to figure out what’s important and at least three months to figure out how everything works. - Solve your boss’s problems: There’s a number of things keeping your boss up at night, and you should be working to understand what their problems are and how you can contribute to the solution. It’s OK to point blank ask your boss “What’s your biggest problem right now?” and “How can I best help you?”. There’s a good chance your boss doesn’t have any process set up and needs some guidance around it. Try to not get frustrated that you boss doesn’t know everything. Try your best to be the solution to their problems, reducing their workload instead of making more of it. - Find allies: Make friends with other people in your role at the company and learn from them. What are their challenges? How are they different from yours? What tools are they using and can you use them in your own work. If possible, work together with them to develop standardized processes for work. Share your knowledge with others and work to grow together. - Define your own personal goals at the job: This is not your “forever job” or your “forever company”, so define what you what to learn from the role and how you want to grow. Your own personal development is on you. See if your company will help pay for professional development, like books or classes. Decide if you want to grow more technically and what technical skills you would like to learn. If there are conferences or meetups you’d like to attend, sign up and make it a priority. - Keep a paper trail: Take note of your weekly accomplishments in a document, including your “To Do” list. At Google, this is formalized in a process called “Weekly snippets” where what you got done this week and what you plan to do next week are published weekly to the company. You don’t need to do anything as rigorous, but at least once a week, take 15 minutes to write down what you’ve accomplished in case you’re ever required to highlight the work that you’ve done for the company or make a case for promotion. Also, keep ongoing 1-1 notes with both your boss and with others on your team if you meet with them regularly that you can refer back to if needed.

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"How many minors make a major?" This is a question that comes up frequently in the QA world - how many minor bugs pile up before they become more then a minor annoyance and become a major hinderance? I've been renovating my basement. This requires bolting 2x4 lumber to the concrete. Of the 20 pieces of lumber I bought, 1 was warped within a degree of reason. 5% failure rate, minor annoyance Out of a pack of 100 concrete screws, 5 had defective heads. 5% failure rate, minor annoyance Part way through, I needed a new drillbit. The new bit was slightly smaller then the original, despite being listed as 5/32". Fractional inch off, minor annoyance. Here's the problem: The slightly smaller drillbit made smaller holes, caused extra torsion on the screws, snaping 5 of the 30 and requiring me to drill new holes. 15% failure rate. The warped lumber put extra strain on the screws, snaping 4 bolts and requiring 4 extra screws to re-shape the wood. 30% failure rate vs normal screws required. I calculated I needed 80 screws. I bought a pack of 100. I used 98. They only sell these screws in packs of 50 for $30. If I had lost just two more screws, I would have made a trip to the hardware store and spent $30 for 50 screws I should never have needed. Not to mention my time and building frustration. 3 minors very nearly caused a major. #quality #qaengineer

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