Blog
All articles about cloud engineering, AWS, serverless, and career advice.
2024 Summary - A year of trips and professional work
Closing out 2024 my highlights were mostly in conferences. The majority of my time was occupied with professional work going towards a big product release, viral posts and many conferences in Italy,...
2023 Summary - Data Driven Stories About The Cloud
Another year down, so that means another recap. For the past recaps, you can see: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. The goals for 2022 were essentially in two parts: to grow on YouTube, and to build out...
2022 Summary - The Open Up The Cloud System
Hello, friends of Open Up The Cloud ! đ Welcome to the 2022 annual report for Open Up The Cloud. Here weâll reflect together on last years goals, data and revenue, and then look at plans and goals...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #30 (January Recap 2022)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Open Up The Cloud is here to help you get your start, and grow your career in the cloud. The newsletter comes once a month,...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #29 (November Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Open Up The Cloud is here to help you get your start, and grow your career in the cloud. The newsletter comes once a month,...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #28 (October Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â What is going on cloud friend! Itâs been another month in the cloud world, so itâs time to catch up on everything thatâs been going...
2021 Summary - A Rebrand To âOpen Up The Cloudâ & The Start Of Video Content
Itâs now become a tradition for me to sit down and do an end of year review, if you want to see the previous years, here is 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. But wow, what a crazy year 2021 has been!...
Income Report â Dec 2021
This is the first in a series of monthly income reports. In these reports, I will share where Open Up The Cloud generates itâs revenue, and where every penny is spent. Open Up The Cloud is a...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #27 (August and September Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Well hello, there cloud friend! The keen-eyed among you will realize this is a double-edition newsletter because there was in fact...
What Are The Different Roles In The Cloud? A Beginners Guide.
If youâre new to the cloud industry, itâs likely youâre feeling overwhelmed by all the routes and roles to get you into the cloud industry, right? I speak to many people new to the cloud industry...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #26 (July Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Hey cloud friends! Itâs been quiet on the announcements and new features front this last monthâ it must be summer! And, of course,...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #25 (June Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Hey cloud friends! Weâre another month down in 2021âwhere does the time go? This means weâre back again recapping the most...
Which Is The Best AWS Region For Your Location? Based on Cost & Latency
There are many factors to consider when choosing an AWS region: latency to end-users, cost, data residency laws, inter-region latency, etc. Which makes it hard to unequivocally say which AWS region...
How To Find Which AWS Region Is Closest To You?
You canât do anything in AWS without picking a region. You canât navigate the console, launch a server, or even use the SDK. AWS resources have to exist in some physical location. So where should you...
Which AWS Region Is Cheapest? A Costing Report
Iâve heard lots of anecdotal over the years about which AWS regions are the cheapest, with both Ireland, and North Virginia coming up frequently. But whilst researching the cheapest AWS region I was...
Where To Start With Cloud Computing? 5 Quick Tips To Get Hands-On Today.
Do you have 100 tabs open, reading about Linux, DevOps, CISCO, AWS, Azure, and wondering what it all means and where to start? I spend a lot of time talking to people getting into the cloud industry,...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #24 (May Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Well hello, cloud engineering friend! This months newsletter comes to you a little later than usual (I like to ship the newsletter...
Open Up The Cloud Newsletter #23 (April Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Well hello, cloud engineering friend! First up, if youâre wondering about the name change to âOpen Up The Cloudâ then I know you...
Cloud Software Engineering Newsletter #22 (March Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â Well hello! Welcome back to this monthâs edition of the cloud software engineering newsletter! The newsletter is finding you a...
Is An AWS Certification Enough To Get You A Job? (Spoiler Alert - No)
If youâre in the space of learning AWS, it takes (roughly đ) 0.3 seconds before someone recommends you get a certificate, right? But is that AWS certification alone enough to land you a job? And if...
Which AWS Certification Should You Take First? The Definitive Answer.
When it comes to looking for jobs or just improving your career in the cloud industry, you only need 2-3 seconds (roughly đ) on the internet before itâll be recommended to you to get certified. Iâm...
Cloud Software Engineering Newsletter #21 (February Recap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â My promise to you: If you receive only one newsletter on cloud engineering, this should be it. You should never miss an important...
Can You Learn AWS (And Get Certified) With No Experience? e.g. No IT Background Or Degree
So youâre thinking about learning AWS and maybe even taking an AWS exam, but youâre worried about your job prospects because you donât have a lot of experience in IT, or maybe you donât have a...
How Long Will It Take To Learn AWS? And How To Speed The Process Up!
So, youâre thinking of learning AWS, but of course, youâll need to know at least roughly how long itâs going to take you, right? AWS is huge, so finding an answer to how long it might take can be...
Cloud Software Engineering Newsletter #20 (January Re-Cap 2021)
Reading this somewhere thatâs not your email inbox? sign-up here. â My promise to you: If you receive only one newsletter on cloud engineering, this should be it. You should never miss an important...
Best Resources For AWS Certifications - An Extensive & Opinionated Guide (So You Pass The First Time!)
When it comes to passing your AWS certification, itâs one of those â1000 open chrome tabâ type situations, right? Thereâs just so many different options available that it can make your head hurt:...
How Much Do AWS Certifications Cost? Including All The Extras
If youâre looking to take an AWS exam, youâre going to want to know how much itâs going to cost, right? If you do, youâre in the right place. After spending a ton of time researching, and taking the...
In Serverless, Who Sets Up The Environment? What You Do & Donât Have Access To
If youâre coming into the world of Serverless, especially if youâve worked in a server-based world, you can end up confused about who exactly âsets up the environment in serverlessâ, and how the...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #19 (December re-cap 2020)
Hello! And welcome to the round-up for the things going on in the world of cloud for December of 2020. It was a busy month early on with AWS Re:Invent, but towards the end, with the holidays, things...
2020 Summary - Traffic Growth, The Websites First Income & The Plans For 2021!
Woah! Here we are, another year down! 2020 was a very interesting year for the website, and Iâm super excited to share how the year went down with you, diving into what went well, not so well, and...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #18 (November 2020)
Hello my cloud engineering friends and welcome back! Itâs time for this months cloud software engineering newsletter, rounding up everything thatâs being going on in cloud engineering for the last...
ACloudGuru - Is It Worth The Money? And Your Main Options For Learning Cloud
So Iâm guessing youâve been thinking of learning cloud, or taking a cloud certification and youâve stumbled across the company ACloudGuru in your search. Now youâre wondering if ACloudGuru is worth...
How To Test AWS Lambda - Everything You Need To Get Started.
If youâre just starting out working with AWS Lambda there are a LOT of things for you to understand. And of course, one of those areas is going to be: testing. How to test AWS Lambda? AWS Lambda can...
How To Debug AWS Lambda - A Detailed Overview
Ah, so youâve reached that point: youâve been through the euphoria and the buzz of setting up a Lambda function, and the eureka moment when everything is running⊠but then everything comes crashing...
Are Containers Serverless?
The cloud industry is evolving quickly right now, and when it comes to the big trends likes containers and serverless it can be hard to work out the difference. Are Containers Serverless? No....
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #17 (October 2020)
Hello my cloud engineering friends, We are back with another installation of the monthly Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter! Where I ferret around the the interwebs reading as much cloud...
Lambda Extensions - What Are They, And Should You Care?
This month AWS announced a new feature called Lambda Extensions (Source). AWS release so many features it is hard to keep up. With each new feature we often need to ask ourselves, is this something...
Can You Stop An AWS Lambda Execution?
There are a few reasons why you may want to stop a Lambda. Either the Lambda is buggy or performing incorrectly, your Lambda is reading an event source like kinesis and you need to pause it, or your...
What Is Terraform Used For? The 3 Main Use Cases.
So Iâm guessing youâve heard about Terraform. And maybe youâre now wondering what Terraform is really used for and why itâs so popular? What is Terraform used for? The main use of Terraform is for...
Best Online Communities For Cloud Engineers (Forums, Chats & More)
As I was writing an article yesterday: Can You Learn AWS On Your Own? How To Ensure Success, I mentioned that joining a community can be a great way to ensure success when youâre getting into cloud...
Can You Learn AWS On Your Own? How To Ensure Success.
There are many ways to learn AWS. But the thought of learning anything new on your own definitely seems daunting, right? So you might be wondering if AWS is one of those topics where it possible to...
What Are The Pre-Requisites To Learning AWS? 5 Topics You Probably Should Look Into First.
So, Iâm guessing youâre new to AWS? If you areâyou might be wondering what different things you should understand before deep diving into your learning. Well, youâre in the right place, since thatâs...
Does AWS Require Coding? Understanding When You Might Need To Code.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a cloud computing platform popular with tech companies and engineers. When it comes to working with AWS a question that comes immediately to most people is: âWill I need...
Can AWS Lambda Access A Database? And The Considerations You Should Be Taking.
Architecting solutions using AWS Lambda means understanding many nuances in how AWS works, and a main consideration for our application architecture is the database. So weâll need to need to know...
How Long Does It Take To Learn Terraform? And How To Speed Up Your Learning.
For a long time Terraform seemed like a mystical technology, so I avoided learning it. When I finally got around to putting my mind to it, it turned out that learning Terraform was a simpler and...
Is AWS Easy To Learn? (And How You Can Make It Easier)
Are you just starting out learning AWS? AWS has lots of services and it can be daunting when youâre just starting out. Staring at all those online resources, articles and courses gets you wondering:...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #16 (September 2020)
Hello friends, and weâre back! Itâs the end of September and itâs the next edition of the Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter, where I dig through the internet to bring back everything...
The Secret Of Web Development BootCamps And How To Use Cloud To Your Advantage
Yesterday, as I read an article on DEV, titled: âforget web development, become a cloud developer instead!â I punched the air: yes! The author, Moneer, put into words something Iâd been talking about...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #15 (August 2020)
What is good, friends! We are back with another issue of the Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter. Today weâll be taking a look back over August and the latter parts of July 2020. Sound good?...
Youâre Alerting Wrong - The Why & How Of Setting An AWS Lambda Alarm Using Error Rate Percentages.
When it comes to operating Lambda, we often want to configure alarms to alert us when things arenât running smoothly. Naturally our first choice for Lambda alarms is CloudWatch, the default...
Should You Use Typescript To Write Terraform? (The Terraform CDK)
Recently, Terraform dropped an interesting new extension to their Terraform toolchain: the Terraform CDK. The new CDK allows you to write Terraform using TypeScript and Python â neat! But is the CDK...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #14 (July 2020)
Hello again cloud friend, Itâs that time again, to go through another month of cloud news, topics and interesting articles. So grab yourself a coffee (or whatever), and letâs dig in. To begin I must...
A Philosophy For Effective Error Handling (Using JavaScript Examples)
Error handling can be a confusing topic â for a long time I struggled to understand error handling myself. I found the whole topic quite mystical and daunting. I ended up subscribed to the school of...
How To Setup Monitoring / Observability On Existing Software (e.g. A Web API) - A Practical 5 Step Guide.
Recently I find myself in the position of applying monitoring to existing software applications quite often. Whilst I have been applying the monitoring tools, I noticed that I follow the same steps...
How Do You Look at Console.Log Output of an Amazon Lambda Function?
Are you creating a lambda function? Are you currently debugging wondering where you can access the output of your console.log entries? Understanding how logs work is a common confusion area when...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #13 (June 2020)
Hello friend, This past month Iâve given the website a new lick of CSS paint. Thatâs a new body new font and a simpler white design. Let me know what you think! And in other news this month I started...
Book Summary - âBuilding Microservicesâ By Sam Newman
1 Sentence Summary: Building Microservices allows us the opportunity to tackle software complexity and deliver faster; if (and itâs a big if) we build our services right: choosing the right tech,...
Terraform - How To Rename (Instead Of Deleting) A Resource
Are you trying to rename or move a Terraform resource and Terraform is now trying to re-create your resource rather than referencing the existing one? Itâs a common issue, and the answer is quite...
How I Gained Consistent Traffic To My Website Using SEO (And How You Can, Too)
Are you growing a website of your own? Are you looking to generate traffic to view your work? I want to take a slight step away from the usual proceedings of cloud content to talk about a somewhat...
Reader Question - Which AWS Certificates Should You Start With If Youâre A Junior?
In reader questions I share real reader questions / answers. In this question we discuss with AWS and where to start with AWS certificates. Also, if you have a question of your own, feel free to...
Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter #12 (May 2020)
Hello friend, And weâre back with another instalment of the Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter. The newsletter which brings you fundamental concepts for Cloud Engineering and the most...
The Simplest Possible EC2 Web Server Setup Using Terraform (On AWS)
Are you looking to create a basic AWS instance web server? Maybe youâre learning AWS, trying to get an understanding on Terraform or actually trying to get a pieceof your infrastructure setup....
What is Terraform? A Simple Definition.
So you might have heard of this Terraform thing, but youâre not totally sure what it is, right? Not to fear, weâve got you covered⊠Today weâre going to dive into what Terraform is, why itâs useful,...
10 Terraform Best Practices - For Secure & Fast Infrastructure.
If youâve just started working with Terraform you might be getting that familiar feeling in the back of your mind: âAm I doing this the right way?â. Today weâre going to tackle your nagging feelings...
Serverless on AWS Lambda - A Comprehensive Comparison Of Approaches (Serverless Framework vs SAM vs Terraform vs CloudFormation)
When it comes to working with Serverless and AWS Lambda there are many different tools and approaches to choose from. You may have heard about a few already and might be wondering about the...
3 Simple Serverless Beginner Projects Ideas
Are you looking to learn Serverless but need a little help in where to start? One of the best ways to get your head around a new technology is to dive in and build some example projects. But what are...
Misconceptions of Serverless - 5 Things You Thought AWS Lambda Did⊠But It Doesnât.
Ah Serverless⊠itâs the golden child of software engineering right now, and the internet is full of Serverless and AWS Lambda success stories. But actually the golden child of software engineer is...
How to Use AWS KMS in AWS Lambda
So youâre new to AWS Lambda and secrets management? Maybe youâve just joined a team thatâs using KMS and you want to know more about how KMS and Lambda work, or maybe youâre looking to use KMS as...
Should You Commit the Terraform .tfstate File to Git?
Iâm guessing youâve started working with Terraform and youâre staring at that weird looking state file Terraform just outputted wondering if itâs safe to commit the file to Git (or some other source...
The Ultimate Terraform Workflow - Setup Terraform (And Remote State) With Github Actions
Running Terraform in a CI Server can be incredibly useful when youâre trying to automate or experiment with cloud resources. One of the easiest, cheapest and most accessible setups Iâve found is...
Master the AWS Lambda Console - A Comprehensive Walkthrough.
I remember staring at the AWS Lambda console for the first time and feeling overwhelmed. There were so many things happening: qualifiers, actions, triggers, permissions. Itâs like the cockpit of a...
AWS Queues And Lambda Processing - A Simple, Quick Walkthrough.
Have you ever wondered what a queue is or how you could implement a queue in AWS? Perhaps youâre considering using a queue for a solution that youâre working on but youâre not fully sure how the...
How To Setup AWS Lambda Scheduled Events with Terraform
Lambda functions on their own are pretty useless. Lambdaâs need someone â or something â to initiate them. An important (and fun) trigger for Lambda is the CloudWatch event. With CloudWatch events we...
Do Cloud Engineers Code?
DevOps. Platform Engineer. Cloud Engineer. So many terms and roles! But they all seem to mean the same thing. So when it comes to this new term Cloud Engineer. What do Cloud Engineers do all day? And...
What Is the Best Way to Learn Terraform?
So youâve heard about this Terraform thing and want to get in on the action? Learning a new technology such as Terraform can be a daunting task at first. Today weâre going to go through the best way...
Create An AWS S3 Website Using Terraform And Github Actions
Weâve talked a lot recently about infrastructure as code and setting up cloud environments. But nothing beats getting hands on with a technology to help learning. A workflow Iâve used a lot recently...
2019 Summary - Up & Running With Serverless and Regaining Blogging Motivation
At the end of the year itâs now become somewhat of a tradition that I partake in the whole year in summary thing. I do find it interesting to read these posts, and I like doing my own since itâs a...
Youâre Logging Wrong - What One-Per-Service (âPhat Eventâ) Logs Are and Why You Need Them.
Common sense says that application logging is a good thing. But common advice doesnât answer questions like: what to log, when to log, or the format to log, which can get really frustrating...
Where (And How) to Start Learning AWS as a Beginner
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is overwhelming. If youâre new to AWS youâll know the feeling of being lost and not knowing where to start. But today, thatâs going to change change. Weâre going to clear...
How To Get AWS Lambda Logs Into CloudWatch
Your AWS Lambda code is throwing errors in production. To defuse the situation, you need to pinpoint whatâs going wrong and find the fix. Itâs a good thing you already instrumented your Lambda with...
What is Immutable Infrastructure?
Ever had to SSH into a production server to manually copy over files, or to run a command? Palms sweaty and shaking. You donât know what the outcome of the update will be, and if something goes wrong...
Set Up AWS Lambda With An ALB (Load Balancer)
The marketing around Serverless likes to make it out like âspinning upâ a function is a simple task with no other dependencies. However, Serverless functions have to be triggered somehow. And one of...
3 Steps To Migrate Existing Infrastructure To Terraform
When everyone keeps talking about Infrastructure As Code you might feel stuck and frustrated because a lot of your cloud infrastructure was created manually. Infrastructure As Code feels like a...
AWS Lambda on Github Actions - How To Send Zipped Artifacts to AWS S3
Recently Iâve been experimenting with Github Actions as a CI tool, specifically for setting up AWS Lambda on Github Actions. Container based CI is awesome. And Iâm really excited about the community...
5 Important Reasons To Learn Terraform Before Cloud Computing.
Ever wanted to learn Kubernetes? Serverless? Write some Microservices in AWS or GCP? Awesome⊠But donât. Or at least, not yet. Why? Because the first thing you should learn is Terraform. Donât touch...
Terraform Modules - A Guide To Maintainable Infrastructure As Code
If youâre new to Terraform, you might have started experimenting creating resources. Before long itâs likely that all your Terraform files are inside one large file, or even many large files. After a...
Yarn and the dark future of third party NPM clients
Iâve spent the last few days wrangling with Yarn errors. Our builds weâre failing in some weird and random ways â and all signs pointed at Yarn. I can give you the TL;DR; of the investigation, and...
Declarative vs. Imperative Infrastructure As Code
Not all infrastructure as code is born equal. Some styles of infrastructure as code give us great benefits â whereas other kinds can cause a lot of headache. Writing good infrastructure as code...
AWS access keys â 5 Tips To Safely Use Them.
AWS Access Keys are how you can programatically access the AWS cloud. AWS Access Keys can be used to provision, update â or even delete cloud resources. When it comes to your cloud account, personal...
Learn The 6 Fundamentals Of Terraform â In Less Than 20 Minutes
Terraform is a really useful tool when it comes to learning cloud engineering. In my opinion Terraform will become as ubiquitous for infrastructure provisioning as tools like git are for version...
The Big List Of Cloud Native Engineering Resources
I spend a lot of time researching Cloud Native technologies. Also whilst editing the Cloud Native Software Engineering Newsletter Iâm always looking for the best sources of knowledege and high...
AWS networking fundamentals - A simple guide for software engineers.
Have you ever been into the AWS console and been completely baffled about all the concepts and jargon? Youâve got: Security Groups, Inbound rules, VPCâs, Subnets, Internet Gateways, NAT, ENIâs and...
3 Terraform Features to Help You Refactor Your Infrastructure Effortlessly
Ever created an app, like a website? You create the app and get everything working. But when you go to make a change the thought scares you to death. Does this sound like you? Iâve been in that very...
4 Signs You Should Break Your App Into Microservices
Microservices have been talked about a lot in the last few years. And itâs commonly accepted practice that applications should start as monolithic applications before being broken down into...
Your personal AWS setup (and how to not get hacked)
In 2016 hackers compromised my personal AWS setup. Within a matter of hours I received an AWS bill for $3000 dollars đ±đ±.đ±.đ±. When youâre a Cloud Native Engineer one of the best ways we can learn is...
The 6 Concepts You Need To Know Before Trying Serverless
So youâve been hearing a lot about Serverless? Maybe youâve started to see some tell-tale signs your app could be broken down into microservices? Serverless is a really awesome technology in the...
Infrastructure As Code - A Quick And Simple Explanation.
One of the most essential topics when youâre a Cloud Native Software Engineer is a concept called Infrastructure as Code. Infrastructure As Code continues to be an essential topic for Cloud Native...
What is a Cloud Native Software Engineer?
Knowing just the basics of Software Engineering isnât enough to thrive in todayâs market. Many Software Engineers need to have drastically more knowledge of cloud platforms than they currently do....
ACloudGuru Review - AWS SysOps Exam Prep.
Have you thought about taking an AWS certification? If you have you might have stumbled across a learning platform called ACloudGuru? I had thought about taking an exam for quite some time to help...
Setting up a REST API on Serverless Framework
Hello all and welcome to the first in an in-depth multi-part series on breaking down a monolithic application into a Cloud Native Lambda-based architecture! Can you say #buzzword!? Only kidding â...
2018 - A Year In Review
Last year when I put out content around the new year about my plans I got a spike in traffic. I guess something about the personal nature of the post was attractive. Based on how much people seemed...
How To - Get Over Your Fears Of Writing And Just Get Going
Have you been thinking about wanting to write? Did someone mention to you that it might be good for your career? Or you want to write to earn some money? Maybe you just want to document your notes...
Why Your Code Review Could Be Doing More Harm Than GoodâŠ
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠Recently, I conducted an experiment with my team. This experiment was challenging enough to make even some seasoned developers sh*t their pants. What...
Before you build the product, build the deployment pipeline.
Recently Iâve been training for a long cycling event. The event is a three day event where we will cycle around 70-100 miles each day back-to-back. Itâs very much an endurance event and for all my...
Are you thinking of building an app or website? Ask yourself these four questions first.
I sat at a Starbucks cross-legged with my laptop on my lap. Iâd gone out to try and find the peace required to focus on the job application I was completing as a front-end product developer. The task...
Iterating to product/market fit
Weâve been working hard over the past few weeks to put together finishing touches to the UI design. Whilst itâs not perfect, and with many more ideas to come, the product is starting to come...
8 Non-Programming Books You Havenât Considered That Will Boost Your Programmer Career
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠There are many lists of books about becoming a better programmer. They likely include books like Refactoring, Code Complete, The Mythical Man Month, etc....
Youâre Selling It Wrong â How to Explain DevOps so Your Business Will Care
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠We were struggling to get our features out into production. There were lots of defects and firefighting. All this and the company was but a few months...
Build Faster, Waste Less, and Save Your Sanity by Writing World Class Tickets.
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠As programmers, we have a lot on our plates. Understanding the newest technology, the business, navigating politics in the business and in our teams, and...
The Software Career You Didnât Think To Consider â Professional Services
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠It looked something like this: Become extremely knowledgeable in a given programming language until eventually you become a senior programmer. Once...
How to Coach - A Cheat Sheet
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠At some point in your programming career so far, you might have been asked to âcoach.â Most programmers get into the field to write code, and often...
Building a Workplace Learning Culture - Starter Kit.
Here is my latest post for Simple Programmer⊠For success, it isnât the programming knowledge you or your team members have at present that matters most. Nor is it how many years of experience we...
How unclear roles can damage your teams performance (and what you can do about it)
Coaching is often described as âholding up a mirrorâ. So that teams and individuals can reflect on what they see. Itâs not about impart ârightâ or âwrongâ. Coaching is not limited to only managers or...
The one and only thing Iâll be focusing on in 2018
âYou seem Zen. Do you meditate?â. We were in a bar having a catch up drink before Christmas. We hadnât spoken for a year, but weâve been friends for a long time. I didnât think much of the comment at...
The best reads of 2017
2017 it seems was the year of marketing, business and philosophy reading. A big (reading related) revelation of 2017: Used books on Amazon. This has saved me a huge bunch of cash. I read around 75...
The Secret Splitoo Master Plan (just between you and me)
On the 2nd of August 2006 Elon Musk wrote a blog: âThe Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)â. A prophecy about what he would achieve with Tesla. 10 years on in 2016 he responded...
Beyond scrum - Augmenting agile frameworks to achieve high team performance.
With 2018 on the horizon, Iâve started thinking about plans for the new year. That means changes that Iâm making to my site, updates and rethinking my personal brand. Itâs been around 8 months now...
A rundown on the insights from user-testing Splitoo.
This Saturday was our first round of user testing with the Splitoo product. Itâs been a year in the work. From discussing ideas, looking at payments solutions and settling on a business model. We are...
Writing A Punchy Junior Software Developer Cover Letter - A Case Study.
Are you going through the job application process now? Have you been asked to write a cover letter as a junior software engineer? Not to fear. Because how to write a punchy junior developer cover...
The important questions I ask myself every week, and why.
By rewriting your concerns as questions you move from anxiety to curiosity. This is a paraphrased quote from the book Sprint. Author Jake Knapp is talking about gathering a list of âwhat could go...
Do incremental delivery models hinder our ability to deliver on vision?
Most companies want innovation and many of these same companies utilise an incremental software delivery model to achieve it. These models can be big on short-term delivery but weak on long-term...
Unit testing - Why you arenât convinced (and what to do about it)
When it comes to unit testing most people fall into one of two categories. Unit testing advocates and unit testing sceptics. The reasons there are unit testing sceptics can often be from bad test...
On being and hiring an apprentice
We are often an apprentice. Whether thatâs joining a new team with a new business domain. Or joining a new job that requires new skills. This means that weâre at the mercy of needing someone else to...
Why so many miss the point of scrum.
Communication is at the heart of everything we do. But doing it well can be difficult. One of the goals of this blog was to practice communicating. Trying to make a point in the most impactful way...
On becoming a better developer without losing your sanity (8 tips)
Iâve been lucky in my brief career to have worked in a range of environments. From small startups to enterprises and large government projects. Along the way Iâve learnt a few things about making...
Want to become more agile? Ask yourself these 3 questions.
Agile is something we are, not something we do. That means in order to be agile, we must embody traits. To keep us on track with these traits, we can ask ourselves questions. These questions ensure...
Stoicism - A software developers guide.
Most problems have happened before. If we search back in history far enough, weâll find someone overcoming a problem we now have. Stoic philosophy (Stoicism), when studied can give us many of the...
Changing Javascript framework - 4 questions to ask yourself before doing it.
âWhat good does it do you to go overseas, to move from city to city? If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what youâre needing is not to be in a different place but to be a...
Does your agile team have a âlearning disabilityâ?
The term learning disability is taken from Sengeâs The Fifth Discipline. In the book, Senge discusses how to transform organisations into what he calls âLearning organisationsâ. Organisations that...
An inside look at my favourite apps
Iâm always getting asked âwait, what is that app?â when someones peering over my shoulder as I work. So I figured it was about time to unleash them all. A list of my favourite apps from productivity...
Creating a powerful online presence with a platform
My journey with Platform all started a few years ago when I read Key Person of Influence. It ultimately prompted my intrigue with writing. Blown away by the ideas in this book I had to dig deeper....
5 ways to get more out of your non-fiction reading
Iâve been recently pushing myself to improve certain knowledge gaps. Whilst thinking about how to tackle the problem I ended up posing myself a question: When have I made the biggest learning...
Plot twist! Your portfolio is not about you âŠ
For developers, portfolios have become more commonplace. Which in itself is a wonderful thing. Itâs a great tool to showcase your work and your passion. I even believe itâs one of the best...
Why âShould you build your portfolio with code or a template?â is the wrong question
If you want to step up your developer career you might be considering creating a portfolio. If you are, bravo! Having a portfolio immediately puts you ahead of the curve. So, you sit down with a...
The Best Software Developers Write, You Should Too
The rules are changing. Especially for knowledge workers like software developers. Itâs impacting how we should craft our careers. The opportunities and the tools we have are different to the years...
Why learning a new framework could damage your career.
A water-tight career strategy for your personal brand is your most important asset. Having one will: Guide your decision making Lead you closer to fulfilment Create more purpose in your work It also...
Overcome the fear of selling yourself
Iâd always hated the idea of âsellingâ myself. The thought of interviews made me sick. It felt so egotistical. I even asked my father to fill out the about me section of my CV. I couldnât bring...
How ancient greek philosophy will make you a better developer
âTheyâre the scariest man at AND Digitalâ ! Exclaimed a developer to me about a colleague. I burst out laughing. Not at the developer, but at his choice of words. The developer isnât native English....
Software Engineer Coaching With The Socratic Method
As software developers, weâre always teaching each other. Itâs a core part of what we do. Yet, most developers get little formal training in areas outside of software developing. Most developers...
Agile is the ability to change, not just the ability to ship.
There is one majorly overlooked aspect to agile software: The software itself. Weâre always worried about the speed of implementing, not the speed of maintenance. But it is actually the speed of...
The importance of trust in software teams for disaster avoidance
Trust is the foundation of an effective software team. A team that is empowered and trusted is more likely to speak up and address pervasive technical issues that could threaten disaster for a...
A software developers guide to quitting your job
The time may have come to quit â youâve done all you can and itâs time to move on⊠Youâre going to make a change, maybe youâve even got another job ⊠but how do you do it? You donât want to burn...
The best personal investment youâll ever make - Touch typing
Life can be treated as a series of investments ⊠some more lucrative than others and itâs hard to know what to invest in first or when to invest. However â this one investment, if youâre set on...
Debug with the scientific method and preserve your sanity
At a point in your career, youâll come across a bug or a problem that you just have no idea how to solve. In order to tackle these seemingly unsurmountable hurdles â you need a method, The Scientific...
How to build resilience and master your emotional responses
Emotional reactions have a lasting effect â In order to be effective you need to be in control of your emotions, itâs one of the greatest self-investments youâll ever make.
How using metaphors saved my bacon
Do you struggle to communicate your message or struggle to get others on board with your ideas? Strong communication is built on getting others to discover the answer themselves ⊠and one way you can...
What my lifeâs most terrifying event taught me about leadership
Sometimes inspiration can come from the most obscure of places. When cold, wet, lost and alone in amongst the trees in New Hampshire came a lesson about leadership and staying calm under pressure âŠ
A simple strategy for staying calm under pressure
Staying calm under pressure is about having a solid process to stand behind â Thatâs why I make it a priority to take stock before I take action.
5 tips on how to - ask powerful questions to get powerful answers
I reveal 5 ways that you can ask better questions to get better answers from your colleagues and your bosses â crucial information if youâre just starting out or have a new job as youâll be asking a...
Enable strong conversation with 3 versatile metaphors
My top 3 metaphors that I use when converting particularly technical issues into concepts anyone can understand
5 steps to bulletproof behavioural interview prep
Interview prepping is hard ⊠I show my strategy for nailing those tricky behavioural questions!
The Importance Of The Developer Portfolio
Learn why a portfolio can be an incredibly powerful asset when it comes to employability as a developer
Should I go to university to be a software developer?
Choosing options for study can be hard, I give my opinion on some of the options available to you.
Becoming an irreplaceable junior software developer
Being a junior developer can be testing at times, but there are some areas you can focus on to keep yourself sane.
One short exercise that will 10x your employability as a software developer
Developers miss out on this super simple tip to become massively more employable.