R. Michael Rogers - Bearded Programmer

Exploring AWS IoT Analytics

I've had my eye on IoT space for a while (motto: "IoT: the 'S' is for 'Security'") because it's a really cool intersection between embedded (i.e. blinking lights) and cloud. But where to start?

learning

JavaScript for people who knew JavaScript 15 years ago

I was assigned a project that used JavaScript everywhere, and I got a taste for how complex the landscape had become. And my experience is not uncommon - there are plenty of engineers with years of experience that are unsure of this "modern JavaScript" thing and/or can't find a way to approach it.

communication

Non-expertly talking about language

I want to talk about a particular language feature and I don't want to be held back by a little thing like "not having any expertise in linguistics".

team

The Debt metaphor sucks, Part 2

Not too long ago I wrote on my dissatisfaction with the 'technical debt' metaphor, to much applause and adoration. And also some browbeating.

team

The Debt metaphor sucks

As I was packing dirty dishes into the refrigerator and oven I found myself reflecting on my current project. "How is this frantic 'cleaning' any different than when we made questionable technical decisions to help the client make their deadlines?" I asked myself.

git

Forkin'

If you're like me, you use git an awful lot. Primarily through the command line. Though sometimes from EMACS. And also there are ponies for some reason. Even if you're

mocks

On tests and testing

Hello, gentle reader. Please allow me to rock your entire human face by dropping this truth bomb: Tests are about more than testing. "Obviously!" you yell, your riposte ringing out triumphantly against what is seemingly a rather anemic statement. The truth bomb

team

Team Dynamics from the Perspective of a 4th-level Bard

Have you ever played a pen-and-paper role-playing game? You create a character. You define whether this character is human, dwarf, elf, or whatever. You decide the character's height, weight, age. You're given an amount of gold with which to equip your character. Will they

feedback

Feedback, anonymity, and self awareness

Did I ever tell you about the time a manager pulled me into a conference room and told me I had a week to finish the project I was working on or I'd be fired? When that effort started I was on a team

estimation

Estimation without estimating: how long will it take?

It’s a question that development teams dread: There are 100 stories left until our major release. When will they be finished? Let’s try to answer this without doing any guessing about how big stories are or how long they will take, which

agile

Refactoring and clarity

TLDR The purpose of refactoring is to improve code clarity. Introduction I refactored some code lately and I want to talk about it. Actually, let me back up and cover a few foundational points first, because without those it's going to appear like I'm

continuous-integration

Builds should fail sometimes

Inception Well, you don't want your builds to succeed all the time... I remember hearing that for the first time a year or two ago and thinking to myself "that's probably one of those counter-intuitive truths that make a lot of sense in