Accidental Technologist

Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

10 Steps to Survive Working from Home

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10 Steps to Survive Working from Home

I’ve been working from home for the past 16 years and love it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Surviving working from home when you’ve never done it, can be challenging.

Working from home isn’t for everyone and takes discipline.

I thought with all the people recently forced to work from home due to COVID-19, I’d share some tips that have helped me over the years.

  1. Find a dedicated space. Even if it’s temporary, have a place you go to in your home. If all you have is a bedroom then try to create the environment there, a small table near a window would work well. If you have a dining room or kitchen to use, then set up on a table in there. You may need to move at the end of the day for dinner if you don’t live alone. Sitting on the couch in the living room with the TV on probably isn’t going to work.
  2. If you have a family with young children home, try to set boundaries. Let others know you are home to work, and there will be time after your day is done for time to be part of the family. If it’s hard to have quiet time, get a pair of noise-canceling headphones. I use Bose QC-35’s and love them. Unfortunately, they are not cheap.
  3. Get up and do the same routine you’d do if going into the office. If you get up at 6:00 am, shower and get dressed. If you have an hour commute, then use that time to listen to a podcast, audiobook, or catch-up on the news. Start work at the same time.
  4. If you’re used to a busy office, have the radio on or TV in another room to provide some background noise. Silence can be hard to deal with, and adding some level of noise can help. I like quiet when I’m deep in work but like background sound otherwise.
  5. Stay in touch with coworkers via Slack, Zoom, or other means. Brief video calls with Zoom during the day can help you feel connected. This one is probably one of the most important. It can be lonely working from home, and you have to figure out how to fill the void.
  6. Leave your desk for lunch, even to the living room or deck. It would help if you got away from your computer.
  7. Take plenty of breaks. It’s essential to get away from the computer, so get up and get some water (yes, drink plenty) or set outside.
  8. Eat as you do at work, don’t indulge because the food is close. Too much food can make you feel lethargic and lead to unnecessary weight gain.
  9. End your day by making some notes about what you plan to work on the next workday. This way, you get to your computer and have a plan to get your day started. I’ve gotten into this habit; it reminds me of what I was working on and where I need to start for the day.
  10. Stop working the same time you usually do, don’t feel like you should be working more because you’re home.

I hope this helps.

Remember, it’s only temporary. Maybe this new lifestyle will suit you, and you will want to work from home more.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

“Are you building a business or learning a stack?”

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I always love when someone posts something online saying they have an idea for an application and ask, “What stack should I use?”

It’s a fair question, but the answers usually start with “it depends”.

What is a “stack”?

The “stack”, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to what programming language, frameworks, and database a project uses to get its work done.

Examples could be Ruby, Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL, or JavaScript, NodeJS and MongoDB or maybe C#, ASP.NET Core, and SQL Server. All acceptable choices to build a web application.

Indie Hackers

There is a post on Indie Hackers, titled Tech Stack Suggestions. The original poster wants to build an MVP for his business idea and is soliciting opinions as to what stack to use.

He’s wondering about using a frontend framework like React and replies to someone suggesting he keep it simple:

Shouldn’t I be using a frontend framework in order to develop this? Backend Django + SQL has its advantages, in fact, the current project I’m working on in my organization is partially based on that. But, I’d like to implement things like GraphQL, NoSQL primarily to get a more hands-on on how they’d work in a real project. Would really appreciate your input.

Volkan Kaya replies with brilliant and practical advice:

Are you building a business or learning a stack?
If you want to learn a stack do it while being paid, not while starting a business.

Nick Haskins pragmatically suggests:

It’s really unfortunate that our industry has convinced you that you need to utilize tooling built for larger applications. On behalf of the industry, I apologize for that.
You do not need a front-end framework to develop a web app.
I’ve built multiple very large apps with Rails + Bootstrap. No ReactJS. No VueJS. No JS libs, just a sprinkle of jQuery.

These are examples of excellent and practical advice. The responses to the post include a lot of misguided answers as well.

Shiny Things

The thread from Indie Hackers sums up what it’s like to be a technologist who wants to build their software. You should give the thread a read.

It’s easy to want to build something and want to use the latest frameworks. It’s a great chance to learn something new. I’m all for learning; you should never stop. But, if your goal is to build a business and challenge yourself with new technology while doing it is not the best decision.

I’ve been guilty of trying to convince myself there’s some technology I need to use because applications that are created with it are faster or scale better. It’s not essential before you have that problem. People will try to justify using it anyway.

Don’t follow like sheep do…right off a cliff.

Love the One You’re With

It’s best to take a step back and breathe. Take stock in yourself and where your strengths lie. Ask yourself which programming language and framework you use most today? Which one do you make a living using today?

What is wrong with this combination that you wouldn’t want to use it to create your application? You want to make the right choice and not regret it later.

In its most basic form, people want to make an application and try to think too far ahead. Thoughts of scaling, finding developers, performance, and such things that don’t matter until later.

As a software entrepreneur, more appropriate questions you should be asking yourself are:

  • Am I solving a real problem?
  • Do I know people who will pay me money for my solution?

These are the questions to ask yourself now. Notice these have nothing to do with the stack you choose.

The simple answer to the stack question as a developer is to use the stack, you know, leading from idea to product in the shortest amount of time.

Why strap yourself with two hard problems? Toss the stack problem right out the window.

The best advice is to use the framework you are most comfortable with and will be the most efficient—the one you can get done what you want in the shortest amount of time. You’ll be happier and have something to show for it.

Don’t let people try to convince you their stack choice is better. They will have convincing arguments. None should sway you.

Exceptions

The above is my rule, but there can be exceptions.

As a Ruby on Rails developer, if I want to build a native Mac application, then I probably need to use Swift or Objective-C. Yes, I could use something like React Native; that’s not the point, so please don’t send me an email to the effect. If I don’t know the language, then I have given myself multiple challenges.

I’m sure there are other instances where I would need to learn something new, but the cases will be unusual when you’re deciding the application to build.

Conclusion

If you’re planning on starting a software business and you’re going to be the primary developer, then use the tools you know best. You are in a great position to get something out for your customers to see. Remember, they don’t care what your application is written in, only that it solves their problems.

Switching to Fathom Analytics

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Fathom analytics

I’ve used Google Analytics for many years, and continuing because it’s free. As time has gone on, I’ve decided to use Google products less and less.

Google Analytics always seemed to be complicated or maybe overly complex for the pieces of data for which I care. It gives many details I have never used.

Enter Fathom

I started looking for an alternative analytics tool. I discovered Fathom. Fathom offers excellent features and the ones I care about most. I like to be able to see:

  • What are people reading?
  • Where are they coming from?
  • What is the visitor’s geographic origination?
  • What browser are visitors using?

I did a quick informal survey of analytics tools on Twitter that resulted in a favorable response for Fathom. They offer a 7-day trial.

  • Fathom allows unlimited sites
  • Privacy – they don’t collect personal data
  • Great support, yes, I know first hand. Quick, helpful replies.
  • Pricing is by total page views over all your sites.

Installation

Installation is simple, add a JavaScript snippet to each page or template to start tracking. If you use WordPress, there is a handy plugin that adds the Fathom Dashboard to WordPress. One issue I had was getting the analytics dashboard to show up in WordPress and making sure sharing is enabled. You need to tell Fathom to share data with WordPress because it’s an external site.

Notice the setting, the default being Viewable by You. Change the setting to Viewable to anyone with the share password.

IMG 0707

If you ignore this setting, you won’t see analytics in the WordPress Dashboard, only a 404 error.

Support

I contacted Fathom support a couple of times, and they were quick to reply from both Twitter and email. A couple features were missing, and support informed me of their full pipeline where features are always being added.

After using Fathom for the past few of weeks, it’s a great solution, and happy I made the change. I purchased an annual plan. Glad to support an indie developer.

If you’d like to check out Fathom and help me out, use my referral link. 🙂

How to Assign Static IP Address on Raspberry Pi

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I have been setting up a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to use as a Pi-hole server to help block the constant wave of ads my family and I keep seeing on the Internet.

One requirement for Pi-hole is the host Raspberry Pi needs to be configured to use a static IP address.

The Problem

I’ve been configuring and administering Linux servers from the command line for years, but the task of setting up a Raspberry Pi to use a static IP address was a lot more complicated than it should have been.

I started with the Raspbian GUI, expecting a Network Settings dialog where I could make the necessary changes. No such luck.

On to the obligatory Google search to find some instructions on the process. Many people are asking the same question.

Surprisingly, there are very few answers, and even less that worked. A total of 0 worked for me on my Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.

The Solution

After much trial and error, I discovered a combination that works. I wanted to write this up for a couple of reasons; first, to help others that have better things to do with their time and second, a reference I can go back to when I forget how I solved this problem.

It comes down to modifying a couple of files and adding a small bit of configuration.

The first file to update is /etc/dhcpcd.conf:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Most of what needs to be added already exists in the file commented out. I left the file as-is and added the changes to the bottom of the file.

The first line indicates which interface (network card) I’m configuring, the wired port, if you’re on WiFi use wlan0 instead of eth0 for the interface.

Lines 2-4 should be pretty clear, set the IP addresses specific to your network. Line 4 indicates I am using Cloudflare DNS servers.

Line 5 sets up the static IP address even with no network cable attached. Probably not necessary but I wanted it in there.

interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.200/24
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1
nolink

Don’t forget to save your changes, Ctrl-x, then select Y and then press Enter to keep the file name.

The second file to update is /etc/network/interfaces:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

I added this to the bottom of the file.

interface eth0 manual

This line means the interface is configured manually and does not use DHCP.

Again, don’t forget to save your changes, Ctrl-x, then select Y and then press Enter to keep the file name.

Restart the DHCP daemon or reboot.

sudo service dhcpcd restart
sudo reboot

Finally

After much trial and error and the static IP address set, configuring the Pi-hole is easy and works great.

I’m currently blocking ads at a feverish pace.

11 Ruby on Rails Podcasts Worth Your Time

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Ruby on Rails

There is great value in the Ruby on Rails podcasts and screencasts we have available today. Some podcasts have gone away while others have appeared, and others have changed hosts. The title is a bit deceiving, I’m including some screencasts too.

I wrote up a list of Rails learning resources last week, which included some screencasts. I list those here to keep the resource consistent for folks finding this in the future.

Podcasts

I have far too many podcasts in the Overcast app on my iPhone, but these always get listened to first.

Remote Ruby – three developers, chat about Ruby on Rails, what they’re up to, and the community at large. Occasional guests.

Ruby on Rails Podcast – this podcast has been around a long time and has seen a few hosts. Episodes consist mainly of interviews with people in the industry or who use Rails for their jobs. I do really like the guests and topics, many are the cutting edge of what we are being exposed to in work today.

Ruby Rogues – a long time show featuring a panel of known people from the Rails community who discuss various topics with guests. Episodes are mainly a single timely topic the panel and guest discuss. Approaching 500 episodes.

Rails with Jason – interview-style show with Jason Sweet. Jason has some great guests on his show. If you can listen to only one, I’d try this one. If you can’t get enough of Jason, he has written some great articles.

Maintainable – hosted by Robby Russell, long-time Rails developer and founder of Planet Argon, a Rails development agency. From the Maintainable site:

On Maintainable, we speak with seasoned practitioners who have worked past the problems often associated with technical debt and legacy code. In each episode, our guests will share stories and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges

Running in Production – a podcast about how folks are running various frameworks in a production environment and what it takes to do so. Not strictly talking about Rails, but there are a handful of episodes specifically dealing with challenges of running Rails in production.

The Bike Shed – discussion podcast, with two people from Thoughtbot. Much of the discussion encompasses issues the hosts face while working at the company. The episodes aren’t strictly Rails but cover topics many of us face in our day-to-day development work.

Screencasts

Drifting Ruby – created by Dave Kimura, also a long-time Rails developer. Dave is currently up to 227 episodes with episodes running from ~10 min to ~30 min. You might think these screencasts are probably like those from Go Rails, hardly. I think they complement each other very well. Even for topics, they are the same. I find the approaches very different. There are also free episodes, while others require a small monthly fee.

Go Rails – created by Chris Oliver, who is a great contributor to the community. At the time of this writing, Chris is up to 330 videos of varying lengths (~5 min to ~30 min) covering a full breadth of topics, including everything from Rails concepts to the inevitable problem you’ll face when creating Rails applications. There is also a forum that accompanies the videos were you can ask questions or answer some if you so choose. There are some free videos and a Pro plan you can pay to get the rest of the videos for a reasonable monthly fee. It’s a bargain for sure.

RubyTapas – created by Avdi Grimm, a long-time member of the Ruby community. From the RubyTapas website:

RubyTapas is for the busy Ruby or Rails developer who is ready to reach the next level of code mastery. Short, focused screencasts twice a week will introduce you to a wide variety of intermediate to advanced Ruby concepts and techniques, Object-Oriented design principles, testing practices, refactoring skills, and much more.

RailsCasts – created by Ryan Bates, these short screencasts were the original for the Ruby community focusing on Ruby on Rails. Ryan stepped away from making these a while ago, but many are still relevant today and free.

There’s so much great content in these resources. Whether you like to listen to podcasts or prefer to watch people code in a screencast, there’s plenty to learn. If you find other Ruby and Rails related podcasts, I’d love to know about them.

Podcasters Please Stop Wasting My Time

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I listen to many podcasts. I have some I’ve followed for years. I have some I add to my favorite podcast app on my iPhone, hear a couple of episodes, and remove.

The number one reason I unsubscribe; the hosts are wasting my time. I don’t have much time each day for podcasts, and when I turn them on, I would like to get right to the details.

I don’t want to list those that I have problems with because I don’t want to call anyone out. Those that waste time know who they are.

Examples of wasting my time:

  • Casual banter. Carrying on about the trip you took or the co-working space you visited adds no value. It’s not the reason I am listening to your podcast. Get to the point.
  • Complaining – many do it, complaining about something unrelated to the topic isn’t adding value to the show.
  • Personal discussions are unrelated to the topic I tuned into in the first place.
  • Your world philosophy – podcasts tend to be a soapbox for some folks, it’s really not the place.

Examples of who does it right:

I don’t know why so many podcasters do this. I can only imagine they think they need to fill more time in the show. I’d rather have a short show on-topic than a longer show with talk. I believe shows that run 60 minutes could easily shorten to 30-40 with being on topic

Maybe they think we are interested in their personal stories. Sorry, but I’m not.

Podcasters, value the time of the listener. Address the topic with spot-on discussions and remove the filler. No fluff, just stuff.

Tell Me My Value Up Front

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The hiring process is broken. I hear of people who are looking for work, either as a full-time employee or a contractor, go through an extensive interview process, and if they are lucky enough to be offered a role, they cannot afford the salary.

I’d like to see all companies looking to hire people to post the opening and have full-disclosure on the amount of money the candidate will receive if offered the job. I do see some companies offer a range but far too few do this. I think recruiters behave because they are reluctant to share too much information and lose a possible hire.

Imagine going through the hiring process companies many companies use today; 3-5 weeks of multiple rounds of interviews, coding sessions, and onsite visits to learn the money offered was too low. It would be draining.

When I talk to companies about possible projects, I get it the money topic out right away. This way, often the deciding factor, is out in the open.

You might not need jQuery

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This is a really nice resource for those moving from jQuery to JavaScript ES6. I like the 1:1 comparisons.

jQuery and its cousins are great, and by all means use them if it makes it easier to develop your application.

If you’re developing a library on the other hand, please take a moment to consider if you actually need jQuery as a dependency. Maybe you can include a few lines of utility code, and forgo the requirement. If you’re only targeting more modern browsers, you might not need anything more than what the browser ships with.

 

10 Ruby on Rails Learning Resources for 2020

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Even though Ruby on Rails has been around since 2004 as an open source project, I still get asked the best ways to learn the framework today.

It’s a fair question and answers do change as the Ruby on Rails landscape has evolved.

Beginner Level

You have little to no Ruby on Rails knowledge and are looking for resources to get you started out right.

  1. The Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl – now in it’s 6th edition and keeping up with Rails 6. This book and video options (20 hours) help many Rails developers get started. It’s written my Michael Hartl and comes in at 883 pages. It is a well-written tutorial.
  2. Ruby on Rails Guides – when talking about getting information from the source, this is the one to use. Each section contains the documentation on all the major parts of the Ruby on Rails framework broken up by function. A nice feature is users can select the version they are using, starting with the latest as of this writing, 6.0.2.1 all the way back to 2.3.
  3. Agile Web Development with Rails 6 – the Rails 6 version of the book which has gotten many Rails developers started, including myself. The Pragmatic Bookshelf offers a version back to Rails 4 so make sure you reference the correct version. This version will help with coming up to speed on the new Action Mailbox and Action Text. It offers source code for the project, which is a nice eCommerce application with practical value.
  4. Agile Web Development with Rails 5.1 – this version of the book is, you guessed it, targeting Rails 5.1. It contains the latest updates for 5.1 and offers source code for the project, which is a nice eCommerce application with practical value.

Intermediate Level

You’ve built a couple applications, know the beginner material and have a couple years of Rails experience. You are ready to move on to hone your skills.

One of the-best ways to learn, for me and I’m sure others, is by watching screencasts. The next two resources are they best out there.

  1. Go Rails Screencasts – created by Chris Oliver who is a great contributor to the community. At the time of this writing Chris is up to 330 videos of varying length (~5 min to ~30 min) covering a wide breath of topics, including everything from Rails concepts to the inevitable problem you’ll face when creating Rails applications. There is also a forum that accompanies the videos were you can ask questions or answer some if you so choose. There are some free videos and a Pro plan you can pay for to get the rest of the videos for a reasonable monthly fee. It’s a bargain for sure.
  2. Drifting Ruby Screencasts – created by Dave Kimura, also a long-time Rails developer. Dave is currently up to 227 episodes with episodes running from ~10 min to ~30 min. You might think these screencasts are probably like those from Go Rails, hardly. I think they complement each other very well. Even for topics they are the same, I find the approaches very different. There are also free episodes and others are paid for with a small monthly fee.
  3. Modern Front-End Development for Rails – when moving to recent versions of Rails, 5.1+, you have exposure to technologies such as JavaScript with the required tooling. This book takes you there and helps clear up some of the confusion that will certainly arise.

Advanced Level

You feel good about your Ruby on Rails skills and want to press on to even more advanced topics.

  1. Metaprogramming Ruby 2 – if you aren’t sure what metaprogramming is, it’s worth learning about and use it where it makes sense. It’s a technique that’s used in Rails and other Ruby frameworks and applications. It’s powerful. This book is the best resource I’ve found on the subject from just learning it to becoming proficient.
  2. Rails 5 Test Prescriptions – the Rails community is all about Test-Driven Development (TDD) and this book gives great coverage of the subject. It covers RSpec and mintiest. RSpec is probably the most popular testing tool for Rails. Mintiest is the default testing framework.
  3. Docker for Rails Developers – unless you’re living under a rock you have at least heard of Docker. This book is the only source I am aware of that directly helps Rails developers containerize their application. It is a great single source.

If you’re just starting out, a seasoned expert or somewhere in between. I think these are some of the best sources of guidance and knowledge available for our beloved Ruby on Rails.

If you think I forgot something, please leave a comment and let me know.

Computer Science Education in the Past to the Present

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A quick but thought-provoking post from Fred Wilson about CS education in our K12 system.

As many of you know, I have spent a fair bit of my time over the last ten years on increasing the amount of CS Education in our K12 system in NYC and around the US.

My friend Rob sent me this short (2 1/2 min) clip of John von Neumann in the early 50s talking about how important CS Education and in particular K12 CS Education would be.

We largely ignored his advice for the last sixty years but I am optimistic that we are finally heeding it.

This video from the 1950’s shows John von Neumann talking with a young man about his future. This young man is considering being an attorney. Computer Science in those early days was virtually non-existent except in very small circles.

Fast forward to 1983 when I was in High School and was one of about a dozen students who had access to the only TRS-80 (with a cassette drive) in our school system. We were our own CS education. There were no classes to learn to program at that time. It was only a couple years later that the first BASIC programming courses appeared.

Continuing forward to 2018 where my daughter was a senior at the same High School I attended. The computer science program was certainly expanded but I don’t think it had a large focus. I can’t explain why, maybe the administration couldn’t find adequate teachers or probably more accurately, the administration felt there were other priorities.

This High School even has gotten into eSports, where students get credits for playing video games.

I agree that CS education has gotten better, but it needs to get a lot better. K-12 today is the incubation channels for our kids and their future. I think it starts with early education to stimulate the minds of kinds to be creators. Creators with technology and the capabilities of the tech but what is possible for the future. The future they can build, with their minds.