Blog
October 18, 2026
I can’t build software the old way anymore
When I first heard about Agile, I thought it sounded irresponsible.
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They won't remember what you said
The morning after you give a speech, most of what you said is gone.
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What my mentee taught me
When I became a mentor at Toastmasters, I thought I knew what the arrangement was. I had experience. They had less. I would share what I knew, they would learn, and we would both feel good about it.
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Your brand exists whether you tend it or not
Most developers recoil at the phrase "personal branding." It sounds like something for influencers and marketing people — not for people who build things.
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Scrum without Agile
Some teams have a backlog, run sprints, hold daily standups, and still deliver software the same way teams did in 2005. The ceremonies are there. The mindset isn't.
Read →October 10, 2026
Go vs Python
When I started building Aina, I needed a backend. I asked ChatGPT which framework to use for REST APIs in Python. It recommended Django. Seemed reasonable — Django is well-established, widely…
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Losing jobs to AI
There is a lot of talk these days on the topic of jobs lost to AI. I admit I was worried for some time — maybe that would be my last job as a programmer and I should recycle into something an AI…
Read →October 10, 2026
Focus on Scrum
When we talk about Scrum, we talk about the roles, the events, the artifacts. The Daily Scrum, the Sprint Review, the Product Owner, the Definition of Done. These are the mechanics.
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Small language models
When we started building Aina, the obvious choice was to reach for the best frontier model available. GPT-4, Claude, Gemini — they're impressive. Ask them anything about law, medicine, quantum…
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Toastmasters — the secret I wish I'd found sooner
They say Toastmasters is the best kept secret in professional development. Today I'm here to spill the beans!
Read →October 10, 2026
Four skills Toastmasters taught me that have nothing to do with speeches
You join Toastmasters to get better at speaking. That part works. But it wasn't what surprised me most.
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