The Maverick Debugger

(Est. Reading Time: 12 min) Look around. How many tech devices do you see? If you are nerdy like me, it might be a slightly higher than average number of devices. Smart TVs, the phone or pc you are reading this on, smart assistant speakers, gaming consoles, all of those are obvious ones. What about your car? Your lightbulbs? Oven? Smoke detectors? Check and check. Tech is everywhere, and more and more things are getting "smartified" each year. Who builds all that? Hardware people, software people, and a whole slew of supporting cast members. So tell me, when more and more of these tech things are going up, and more and more apps are getting created, and all these billion dollar investment deals keep happening to build the next breakout startup around AI, who is going to do all this? Well, if you said AI and a bunch of "vibe coding" non-developer types, you are very wrong. Those people smell success, but can't see the future problems. They don't understand t...

(Est. Reading Time: 5 min)   ( Don't have time to read? Listen to the Podcast version ) The higher the level of the role, the more that technical interviews start to become insulting. And now I cannot wait to read all of the comments explaining how wrong I am. I have over 9 years of Python programming experience, almost 10. Asking me to do a "coding challenge" is an insult to my experience and skill level. But I have to put up with it, because that is the unfortunate norm in Software Engineering today. To dig into this deeper, though, we need to talk about Software Engineers. An engineer is a problem-solver who applies scientific and mathematical principles to design, build, and optimize systems, machines, and processes that improve daily life. Whether inventing new technologies, refining existing ones, or ensuring safety and efficiency, engineers combine creativity, technical expertise, and strategic thinking to turn ideas into reality. What separates engineering discipl...

(Est. Reading Time: 3 min)      I've been working remotely since COVID. That was 5 years ago. Most of us/I have been vaccinated for 4 years. Why haven't I returned to the office? As a Software Engineer, working remotely is extremely more productive for ME. I'm not going to get into the semantics of it, we all have heard the reasons both sides align to, but everyone has a preference, and that is just fine. But it's not even about being more productive, or having more time for a work-life balance. Being a Software Engineer today means being in a "blue collar desk job" type career that is loaded with far more risk and constant highly unpredictable situations. If I had relocated to the cities of any of my previous employers that I was remote for, and they didn't work out like they did, that would have been so much more financial and emotional stress for not just me, but my whole family. Even my last major employer would have had me in California, coming from T...