Frequently asked questions #

I try to pick my battles to strike a balance between code excellence and the expectations of the project.

The biggest things I comment on are when something is unclear or something is written to be more complicated than it needs to be, and of course if something is very inefficient. This could be an issue with the mental model of the problem or it could be a misunderstanding or incomplete knowledge of the existing codebase.

I tend to think about how reusable the code is when that is applicable - not everything needs to have a generic solution, but a lot of the time we can save our future selves headache and additional refactoring burden by taking a bit of extra care with how we write a solution.

Code needs to be readable and clear and commented, especially if it’s something that isn’t very obvious or something that other developers are likely to use or understand. Think about how the change affects the rest of the codebase, about how likely it is to be refactored, and whether it’s something that could/should be generalized for others to use.

Learning and growth are paramount, and to that end what I’m looking for most is a team I can thrive with for several years. Ideally, I would work on a product that I truly believe in that helps people.

My ideal job would be working on a developer tool, library, API, SDK, or language.

I do this organically at work, by talking with my teammates and managers, or by reading the release notes of technologies I use, such as the Golang release notes. Some times news about a technology or vulnerability will show up on my feed, and I’m a member of the CNCF Slack.

Salary isn’t a consideration for me when deciding on the next step of my career.

I’ve been doing contract work as a developer and instructor while I await the perfect fit. I’m looking for a long-term position.