I recently volunteered at a mock interview night for a great company here in Chicago called i.c.stars (link here), and both of the budding programmers I ‘interviewed’ asked me questions along the lines of ‘do I enjoy being a programmer/developer?’ and ‘what are some things you don’t like about the profession.’ Pretty generic questions in themselves, … Continue reading Programmer Culture and the God Complex

Designing a great user interface starts off with the best of intentions; make it pleasing to the eye, providing great feedback, and ensuring a delightful interaction. However, when we get to the code it’s often a game of tacking on functionality, extra validation rules, and an ever growing management responsibility. Recently, I’ve been diving into … Continue reading Encoded Reflections: Code + Design Theory

There’s always something new to learn. Hopefully, there’s a subsequent spark that ignites when you integrate new knowledge and come out the other side with an enhanced set of neural connections. The best ones, I’ve found, come from taking concepts from a neighbouring disciplines (or better yet, disciplines that are completely alien to each other), … Continue reading Software Architecture and Human-Centered Design