Recent Readings 30th of October, 2023 (#1)
In an effort to read, learn, and share like I used to I'm going to start blogging a reading list. This is inspired by one of my skip level (multi times removed) manager's own almost daily reading list. I'd love to say I'm going to do this even weekly, but now I know I've got ADHD and keep my interests and activities diverse. Thus, I've named it Recent Readings.
Most of the articles in Recent Readings will be tech & software development related, and all of this list's are. But remember, I did I keep my interests diverse and some of those may slip in as well. It's always good to keep ourselves well rounded. So, here are some recent articles that I have read.
- Thoughts on techno-optimism - It's easy in today's day and age to be either jaded by what tech will do with our future, or caught up in the hype of it. This article looks at some different ways you might look at our techno-future with a positive lens. I found myself to be mostly active-normative with a bit of passive-positive.
- AI Is Becoming a Band-Aid over Bad, Broken Tech Industry Design Choices - Right now the AI hype is loud. It has actually been behind the scenes for a while too. When something becomes the new hotness in tech it often falls into the, "My only tool is a hammer so everything looks like a nail" problem. This article goes into some places, especially UX, where this is the case. Yes, AI is powerful, but maybe we can improve our design to improve experiences.
- 8 ways we're making daily tasks more accessible - I'm intensely interested in user experience(UX), and fascinated by the ways accessibility(a11y) affects everyone's life. This goes over some of the latest ways Google Maps, Search, and Chrome are improving all our experiences by making things more accessible.
- Interviews in the Age of AI: Ditch Leetcode - Try Code Reviews Instead - I saw this article the day after I had to be the interviewer for a candidate. I'm not really a fan of the way interviews go because I want everyone to succeed, or at least show their best more clearly. This is an alternative I had never thought of before, but it does represent more of a software engineer's workday than leetcoding. Also, it allows for more of a conversation where you can hear how the candidate thinks. Speaking of which, have a read and let me know what you think.
- How the microservice vs. monolith debate became meaningless - The world of tech is filled with little squabbles between the best language, framework, methodologies, and more. It can be really difficult to parse all of it to find a best practice. So, which is better, using microservices or all your code as a monolith? Read on to see how the debate has evolved.
- MMO Architecture: client connections, sockets, threads and connection-oriented servers - As someone who has worked in the games industry (never on a true MMO) and played many MMOs, this was a fun read for just seeing the way problems were solved when the obvious solutions didn't quite work as well after first glance.
- Top 3 SWE Skills I Picked Up On The Job - As someone who has been in tech since 2005, I do the math and am surprised how long I've been working in the field. Many days my impostor syndrome makes me feel as if I'm still a novice. Articles like this are a good way to both solidify what I have learned and help me find words for when I mentor others.
Thanks for checking out my first set of Recent Readings. Please, let me know if these articles gave you any interesting thoughts. Or, perhaps, you've written something yourself that I might find worth reading.
