jonathanfoster

Thanks for the TL;DR. I abandoned after the first paragraph because Wired throws up a modal when using an ad blocker. The lead wasn't interesting enough to disable the modal.

Edit: uBlock Origin blocks the modal, AdBlock doesn't.

Software Engineering Radio is hands down the best programming podcast out there. The guests are always top tier and they discuss interesting problems that push the edges of tech in their domain. I also like the fact that they don't focus on one particular tech community.

My only wish is that they put out content more frequently (I think it's once a week now) and improve the audio quality. SER needs to hookup with Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from .NET Rocks. Those guys put out tons of shows with the highest production quality.

If you're interested in learning assembly language, I recommend checking out "Programming from the Ground Up" by Jonathan Bartlett [0]. It's a great introduction to ASM and how computers work at the low level. It's also used in universities such as Princeton to teach introductory CS classes [1]. Definitely worth checking out.

[0] http://savannah.spinellicreations.com//pgubook/ProgrammingGr... [1] https://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware5/default.asp?cmd...

I'm currently taking this course for the second time. The first time I enrolled I didn't get around to watching any of the lectures. Luckily, I ran across a reminder email from the course and it just so happened that I had enough free time to re-enroll and complete the first week's lectures. It's really difficult to feel invested when the cost to sign-up is $0. They do try to create a community around the course, but it's so distributed that I wouldn't consider it a cohort in the traditional sense.

There's only one measure of management productivity and that's the output of their teams. The go-to book on this subject is High Output Management by Andy Grove [1]. It is hands down the best book on management. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is transitioning into a role where you'll be leading people.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/d...

This is what happened during the Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1864[0]. Cities like New York and London were drowning in manure from all the horse-drawn carriages, which caused major health issues. No one could find a solution until Henry Ford came up with a process to build affordable cars and made horse-drawn carriages obsolete.

[0] http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-...

I still haven't seen a better git branching model than https://gist.github.com/17twenty/6733076 (aka feature branching model). I've found this model works well for smaller apps and can scale easily with modularization and feature flags.

I really like the resolution to embrace the uncomfortable. When you're young and inexperienced you have very little to lose by taking uncomfortable risks, but as you advance in your career it becomes more difficult to take the same risks.

I recently read the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and he has some great exercises called Comfort Challenges that really push you to go outside of your comfort zone. Some examples include

  * Maintain eye contact for a long time
  * Approach attractive males/females and get their numbers
  * Lie down in the middle of a public place

These seem like simple activities, but they quickly get you acclimated to uncomfortable situations. I highly recommend Ferriss' book if you're interested embracing the uncomfortable.

How does Dwolla compare to Yodlee and Plaid?