Hiring in the Age of AI
Thoughts on how to obtain the best talent quickly in a market where AI is shaping the way we work and the skills we need.
Writing
Essays on software engineering, system design, and technical leadership.
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When Event Sourcing is Ignored: The Case of Chile's Open Finance Directory
Good System design not always thinks about the internals of a system, but also its consumers.
Greed: "Grabbing Every Relationship You Can"
Just because you can map it, doesn’t mean you should. Greedy relationships bloat your model and your queries.
It's About Time
A series of facts that every developer should know about time, timezones and clocks.
Sloth: "Lazy Entities, Lazier Minds"
Turning your entities into empty vessels with no behavior is the ORM equivalent of spiritual apathy
On Scaling Software Companies
Scaling isn't about doubling headcount—it's about delivery speed, developer experience, and doing more with less.
To Array is Human
Context matters more than dogma. Why arrays aren't always evil and how to know when rules don't apply.
A CRUD Reality
The 'U' in CRUD is lying to you—updates don't tell the story, domain events do.
The Repository Pattern Done Right
Stop wrapping ORMs and start thinking in collections. Build repositories that are specific, immutable abstractions over your domain.
Naming Interfaces in PHP, Java, et al.
Ditch the 'Interface' suffix—let abstractions have pure names and implementations be specific.
Interfacing is Decoupling
Interfaces are like electrical outlets - they remove complexity and make components easily swappable. Learn how to use interfaces to decouple your software components.
The Bigger the Interface, The Weaker the Abstraction
Fat interfaces lie about their capabilities—split them into focused contracts that use types, not boolean checks.
What You Really Need To Know About Testing
Forget the jargon wars. Good tests do two things: run fast and fail for the right reasons.
The Goal of Software Engineering
Great software isn't pragmatic OR maintainable—it's both. Learn to navigate the tension between shipping fast and building right.
The Power of Aesthetics
Logic doesn't change minds—aesthetics do. Why the most compelling argument is the one that looks and feels right.
Leaks Can Become Floods
Small leaks in your abstractions can flood your entire codebase. Design interfaces that hide implementation details, or pay the price later.
Dealing With Imposter Syndrome
No one is adequate for their role, and that's okay—break it until you make it, one experiment at a time.
Adding is Better Than Changing
Ship new features without touching a single line of existing code—composition beats modification every time.
Isolating Your Enemy Wins You The War
Change is the enemy of software. Win the war by isolating what changes behind abstractions—the true meaning of Single Responsibility.
My Top 3 PHP Naming Pet Peeves
Stop polluting your code with 'Interface' suffixes, pattern names, and namespace taxonomies—less noise, more clarity.
Messaging Guarantees
Exactly-once delivery is impossible—learn why the Two Generals can't agree, and how idempotency saves the day.
Codebases are Pets, Not Cattle
Your services can be disposable, but your source code deserves love, care, and individual attention.
Globals are bad, but!
Singletons are convenient until you try to test them—but they have their place in bootstrapping code where coupling is expected.
HELM vs Kustomize
HELM's templating creates more problems than it solves. Kustomize's composition approach is simpler, more flexible, and natively supported by kubectl.
Considerations before jumping into Microservices
Microservices can save you or sink you—estimate the cost before you build the tower.
Unit Testing the Filesystem in PHP
Rules say that for unit testing we should not access the filesystem, but what if you don't have a filesystem abstraction you can stub?
Efficient Data Crunching in PHP
Four rules I try to sacredly adhere to when streaming data for reporting purposes in PHP.