Tag: lessons-learned

All the articles with the tag "lessons-learned".

• Temporary is Permanent

  Published:Mar 24, 2026

  |9 min read

  Light Iron announced it was winding down. Some memories from my first job, my first family in LA, and where I accidentally started writing software.

• Wider, Not Faster

  Published:Feb 15, 2026

  |4 min read

  Working with AI changed what I'm willing to attempt. It also changed me.

• The Rock Tumbler

  Published:Jan 31, 2026

  |5 min read

  Some feedback is easy to act on. Other feedback takes work to process. That work might be the point.

• Getting out of my own way: Lessons from becoming a Staff Engineer

  Published:Oct 6, 2025

  |7 min read

  Becoming a Staff Engineer meant working through self-doubt, helping others do better work, and learning which problems to leave alone.

• Why I write (and why you might want to too)

  Published:Jun 22, 2025

  |5 min read

  I started this blog for my future self. Eleven years later, writing has given me something I once felt I lacked: a record of things I made.

• The AI Prisoner's Dilemma

  Published:Jun 12, 2025

  |5 min read

  AI coding tools are everywhere, and each step feels reasonable. But what if we're all caught in an AI prisoner's dilemma, where individual choices lead to an uncertain future for our craft?

• I made a game with AI and I don't know how to feel about it

  Published:Jun 4, 2025

  |10 min read

  I built a sprint-planning game with AI over a weekend. Making it was more fun than playing it, and left me unsure what that means for the craft.

• Jekyll to Astro: an AI-assisted migration

  Published:Nov 28, 2024

  |5 min read

  I migrated my old Jekyll blog to Astro using AI tools. It cut the time in half, and I learned a lot about what AI is good at (repetitive tasks) and where it still needs human guidance.

• My Experience with the Amazon Promotion Process

  Originally:Jan 24, 2023 | updated Feb 21, 2026

  |3 min read

  My promo journey at Amazon took two years from when I first thought I was ready. One rejection, a lot of reflection, and a manager's quote that made it all click.

• Backfill Considerations and Lessons Learned

  Published:Dec 6, 2022

  |8 min read

  Lessons from sending millions of production records through a new service: planning a backfill, testing small, monitoring, and verifying the results.