DEV Community: Jayson J. Phillips

"Pull Up & Code" - Programming on Livestream!

Jayson J. Phillips — Thu, 21 May 2020 07:00:00 +0000

After a few years of teaching web development bootcamps, both online and in-person, I've started to branch out and do live code projects and walkthroughs on Twitch!

After about 5-6 weeks of streaming somewhat consistently, I've gotten a big boost out of the energy of rocking with other folks who come by the stream. It's also made me much more of a lurker and spectator, being a part of other streams and really getting to see the diversity in code streaming content out there.

Livestreaming is also challenging, as fun as it is for me. Now, my stream has a deliberate slant on code and my engineering life. No daily vlogs from me - that's not my lane and I'm honoring that. However, it's fun figuring out the authentic connection to those who stop by the stream and really to keep that dose of humility that comes publicly showing your code imperfections (aka: I've had mad bugs and problem stumping moments on stream =)).

Hopefully, the content and community we build on stream cane help those who are earlier in their careers, especially as "non-traditional" path takers and career switchers, learn about (and share!) different topics and ways of growing.

Swing through and tell me what you think of the stream!

dev.to/Twilio Hackathon Project: Mood Tracker!

Jayson J. Phillips — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 02:00:21 +0000

I've finally decided on the project I want to develop for the Dev + Twilio Hackathon: A Mood Tracking SMS application to make it easy, even in low-bandwidth or low-wifi situations, to be able to check-in on how you're feeling and see trends over time.

The What

The goal is get a full web application up and running with Twilio SMS (and maybe MMS) integrated with secure authentication.

I will be building the application using node.js for the web services and React for the front end experience. I'll probably go with SQL for the data storage, likely Postgres, and I'll use Heroku (may change my mind later) to host the application.

The Why

During this time of sheltering-in-place, it may be hard to be in isolation from the social spheres you've had in any form. It's also a time that may be hard to form habits that haven't been your routine, such as meditation, journaling, deep self-reflection and/or reaching out to friends and talking over the phone.

So, this app aims to meet anyone where they are, with a technical approach to making an accessible, lo-fi way for you to simply record your current mood/feeling.

The How

The application will a few main aspects to the experience:

User Registration and Authentication
SMS delivered mood prompts and check-ins (for the user to reply to)
A dashboard to see trends over time
A trusted contacts area where you can add one or more phone numbers to request a contact to check in on you as well as allow you to send a check in message to your contact
Schedulable mood prompts so that you get prompted when you want to

The Where

I'll also be livecoding the journey over at my channel on Twitch (depending on when you read this, might not be any videos there yet, but check back soon!), usually around 7PM PST (but maybe earlier). Your best bet is to check in on my channel page or my Twitter (@_jjphillips) for any changes. I'll also have a series recapping from start to submission (due in 9 days!?!?!!) on my site and syndicating it on my dev.to page (you might be reading this on one or the other).

4/22 7:00PM PST - the journey begins!

I'm on Episode 258 of Talk Python to Me!

Jayson J. Phillips — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Michael Kennedy over at talkpython.fm and I had a good chat just talking about how we have adopted over the course of our careers to being remote, our beginnings in programming, and what we can share to support those who have never worked before adopt to this lifestyle in this time of Coronavirus.

We discuss some great tips, talked about how these winds of remote work may push trends of industry in a new direction, and shared some tools we use to get the most out of working from our home space daily.

Take a listen over at https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/258/thriving-in-a-remote-developer-environment

"The University of Barnes and Noble" : Tech Jr. Podcast

Jayson J. Phillips — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 03:00:21 +0000

The synopsis for the episode is so perfect that I'm going to share it here:

"Jayson Phillips is a self-proclaimed graduate of the University of Barnes and Noble. This week we talk to Jayson about working for a bootcamp, learning to code, and dig into some fun tech like flutter, Golang, and Rust."

I had a helluva time chatting with Lee Warrick and Edwin Otero about my journey into software development, my why for teaching, why Barnes and Noble will always have a place in my heart, and all the fun, nerdy, techie things that come up when you get 3 developers in a room.

Take a listen over at https://techjr.dev and the dozens of other great episodes of content Lee & Edwin have cooked up over the past year!

Enter 16 new Full Stack Developers!

Jayson J. Phillips — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 07:00:00 +0000

While in the midst of trying to flatten the curve with our shelter-in-place order in California, I was fortunate enough to have 16 bright spots during this time. They are the 16 awesome developers who just completed their final projects in the Full Stack web development cohort I taught at University of Denver!

Over the last 6 months, these students have been through all the ups-and-downs that comes with learning how to write code for the first time, complete with snow storms and a global pandemic unfolding.

I'm extremely proud of not only the work these students put in, but their dedication to getting over the finish line. And their final projects did not disappoint!

Once I've secured the proper consent, perhaps I'll share a bit more about their awesome final projects and the work they've all done, but until then, not only do I wish to welcome them to the awesome field of web development, two of them have already secured their future development roles!

This is why I teach. The journeys each of these students have taken weren't the most traditional but it was just as informative, practical and skill-building as required to be a developer in today's market. And they've got 6+ months of remote work and learning experience - something that will be very precious and marketable in the coming months as we all cope with balancing the fact that life must go on with the disruptive, devastating force that the coronavirus pandemic is proving to be.

Cheers to a new class of developers!

And for now, some time off from teaching and scotch await me.

Talking Remote Work on the Hanselman Podcast

Jayson J. Phillips — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

I had the immense pleasure of speaking with Scott Hanselman on the topic of being a remote employee in a technological function. Scott's being doing this forever, and I've been doing it for a couple of years now, so it was a great exchange of ideas and experiences of what has worked and not worked for us as professional WFHers.

We had a nice, long form discussion on some of the items I mentioned in my earlier blog post on the topic of working remotely: as engineers, and people managers in a technical function and as folks who have personal lives that they have to integrate with their work, being that their entire professional life is embeded in a place that's at the core of their personal lives.

Scott shares a few of this hard-earned tips for making this work and also shares a particular viewpoint on not allowing ourselves to live our lives by default.

What's in my Bag? 2020 Edition

Jayson J. Phillips — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Another year, another update on my remote, travelling setup for work and play...

After seeing others post how they travel, I decided it would be good to give some ideas on how I do it. After 2018 and 2019, let's see how my setup has changed for 2020.

Development Setup

So... that trusty 2017 MacBook Pro that I had as of last year? Well, I'll link to it soon, but I'm selling it. Why? Because I upgraded and invested in the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro (with new and improved keyboard!).

Why did I upgrade? Simple, 16GB of RAM just wasn't enough for my daily development and working life. So, I moved up to the 8-core i9 model with 64GB of RAM! I also upgraded to the 1TB hard drive because on my last machine, I started to feel constrained by the 500GB (especially when consolidating all of my data - I was using my main drive on the mac as the intermediary space from drive to NAS).

Also... the new keyboard brings back all my beloved memories of my 2014 MacBook Pro. May the butterfly keyboard never show its face in my house again.

I mean, I did say last year that "I think I might need to move to a laptop and platform that allows me 32GB + mobility", and well, I got to stay in the Apple family, so that's cool.

Remote Work

I also sold my iPad Pro (both the USB-C and the Gen2 Lightning models). I replaced them with a Google Pixelbook, Core i7, 16GB of RAM, NVMe SSD drive.

Why, you ask? Because I've been able to use it as a light weight development machine when I am on the road and don't want to bring the 16-inch MacBook Pro with me. Also, it's super lightweight, runs Chrome OS so I get all that stuff with me, is also on USB-C, touch screen, and pretty solid for my airplane media watching as well.

I should get around to posting the rest of my series on developing Go Services while using my Chromebook...

Tools and Accessories

Tzumi PocketJuice 20,000 mAh Powerbank (non-affiliate link) - still rolling with this from last year. Still holds me down on the juice for my devices. Probably the longest-tenured piece of tech in my travel kit (aside from my Bose QuietComfort 35 IIs).

Apple Watch Series 4 / Garmin ForeRunner 935 XT I still love my Garmin 935XT, but as a daily driver, it was getting pretty quirky. Dealing with my obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis means that I like to track my sleep for actual health purposes, and it wasn't that great. It also was too sporty - and when the Apple Watch Series 5 dropped, I ended getting an amazing deal on the Series 4 with Cellular (clearance + Amazon Points + coupon = < $100). It's been great being able to hike, run, and otherwise be active and completely not need my phone with me at all. My 935XT is back to being in use for serious half marathon and cycling traning (and my eventual push to do my first triathlon).

Bose QuietComfort 35 II I'm gonna add another " still" to what I said last year: "Still the best headphones that I’ve purchased for zoning out when coding and overall avoiding ambient noise (airplanes, loud cafes, etc). Seriously worth the investment". These are my straight up coding in public and/or long travel headphones of choice.

Powerbeats Wireless ProYes, I have headphones just for the gym. Doesn't everyone? The pros on these: much better battery life than AirPods, much more comfortable for longer periods than the AirPods, fully wireless just like the AirPods, case gets you up to 40 hours total before you have to charge them and the case, which is waaaaaaaay longer than my AirPods, and yeah, they're basically best for the gym and long outings. If they ever drop a wireless charging case for them... GAME. OVER.

AirPods Honestly, I only use these when I'm shopping or walking around the 'hood. I hate them for the gym. The battery life is pretty trash after only having them for a year... and they're essentially about to phase out of my bag life completely.

iPhone Xs Max Yes, still got the iPhone XS Max. Nope, I am not upgrading to the 11/11 Pro series. And when the 12 comes out... I'm gonna stand pat as well. I plan on getting a solid 3+ years out of this phone... and I'm only one year in.

CalDigit TS3+ When travelling for longer periods (read: not a weekend trip) and I know I'll need a work setup, I drag this beast of a dock along. Has all the USB3, USB-C and TB3 ports one could ever need (except at home, I have a second one I use with this... more on that when I post about my home setup). It's not always in my bag, but when it is, my workstation on the road is baller.

WD My Passport 1TB SSD Drive It has the smallest of footprints as an external USB-C SSD drive, but all of the benefits and speed. It's SATA SSD and not NVMe, but it's still 540MB/second read speeds, which is excellent when I'm writing code on the go (or listening to music/watching movies). It also works well with my Pixelbook, so I can use it on the road when shooting photos out in the wild. I can't say enough good things about this drive.

And there you have it. New year, some new bag friends, some mainstays.

What about you? What are you carrying along with you on the road?

Ideas on Making Remote Work... Work For You

Jayson J. Phillips — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 08:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, we had a good discussion on Twitter around remote work. Here are some tips and guidelines I use personally to keep myself on track as a remote manager for an engineering organization.

have an activity that signals the start of your work day and the end of your work day

One of the more challenging boundaries to set as a remote employee, whether you're a manager or individual contributor, is to know when your workday starts and when your workday ends.

While there's convenience when working remote, whether from home, a coffee shop, or a new location, that convenience doesn't mean that your day starts and ends whenever. To help keep myself on a healthy routine, no matter which timezone I'm in, I signal a start to my workday with the following items:

shower
coffee
taking my medication and vitamins
taking a 5 minute walk around my neighborhood (or, if traveling to work from a coffee shop or co-working place, hopping in my car).
plug in my laptop into my docking station at my desk(CalDigit TS3+ is a life saver!)

These items in succession allow me to signal to myself that my personal time, much like a commute, is coming to a close, and I'm ready to connect and dive in on my day. When I'm particularly consistent at this, I've had time to process my thoughts and physically let myself know that it's go time.

When I first started working remote, I loved the convenience of rolling over and turning the laptop on. Over time, though, I realized I encroached on my own personal time. If I woke up earlier than usual, I'd start my day earlier because, "why not?". Well, the answer now for me is, because working remote doesn't mean I don't need time to myself before I go to the office.

The lack of a commute means I don't have the same routine: catching the express bus or hopping in my car, grabbing a coffee from my favorite shop (Long live the Mint Mojito), getting that last minute of my podcast or song in on the elevator, sitting at my desk and plugging in all the wires into my laptop. Not only was that a routine that I could just automatically move into, it was also time that I had blocked off. Every morning. So if I wanted to come near the office early for a gym session, that was fine because I signaled to myself and my team that my day started at a certain time, and after I had gone through my routine.

As a manager, it also works as a reminder for me when scheduling meetings for others and otherwise respecting the routine and time of the members of my team. Unless there's a particularly urgent matter and one is on-call, that space for each employee is there by default for me to not encroach on.

Speaking of the docking station I mentioned earlier, that brings me to a really important next guideline I've set for myself.

dedicate a space away from bed or the sofa for work

Some of us have the luxury of having one more bedroom than we have family/roommates/partners/children/cohabitants of our home. Some of us may not. Even when I didn't have a second bedroom, I've had a space dedicated solely for work.

Working from the sofa feels great and why wouldn't it? You have all the comfort of home while working, right? Well, for me, it was a bad idea. Over time, the rigors of the work day would stay with me on that couch. It became easy for me to simply keep extending the workday because I'm on the couch. It also became harder for me to shut off the workday and keep my living room as a space for entertainment and relaxation. Then comes

So in my current place, I've made sure my 2nd bedroom has everything I need to be comfortable yet productive. And when the workday is over, I close the laptop, leave the room, and close the door. The only other time I go in there is to grab a pair of sneakers to wear out (I have a wall of sneakers - more on that in a different post).

You don't need the luxury of a 2nd bedroom or auxiliary unused room to create this concept. Maybe have a setup at the kitchen table, and when it's time for lunch/dinner/after work, pack up the laptop. Or, if you can, a small desk or workspace that can be integrated into your living room (or if you can resist the temptation to work, bedroom). The goal is to just have a place that you can setup and tell yourself, "it's now work time", and have a way to pack it up so it's out of sight when needed.

Speaking of packing it up, my next tip that's worked for me is away from the laptop.

take frequent breaks and battle the effects of a sedentary lifestyle

When working remote, maybe even moreso from home, it is easy to get into a zone. One of the better perks of working from home is focused, mostly distraction-free time, amirite? The downside of that is that all those little distractions in the office also can have a physical benefit - staying active.

Walking from meeting to meeting. Dropping by someone's desk to ask a question. Going to the kitchen or cabinet for a snack. Sending a fax (do people still do that?). Taking a "smoke break" (whether you smoke or not, the physical activity of leaving the office for a walk, a coffee, a chat with a coworker, etc). All these things can make it easier to get your recommended 10,000 steps a day and keep you active in small period throughout the day.

Getting in the zone at home or remote, this can take a lot more discipline. Breaking away from the desk is probably one challenge any "desk" work profressional can relate to dealing with. It is important, however, for our physcial and mental health, to take breaks from the computer. Here are some ways I do this as a remote employee.

Walking/In-Transit meetings My first year of working remote, I developed some serious cabin fever, so I started taking my daily status calls while walking around the neighborhood. It was an easy way to be able to not feel couped up in the house, get some fresh air, and also meet my obligations. For bigger meetings or ones that are focused and topical, I may not do so, but it's worked well. In addition, we hold a weekly engineering meeting for the squads I manage, and it's not uncommon for our tech leads or other engineers to ask if this session would be a primarily talking session or one where we need to be in front of our machines for a presentation.

I call out my tech leads for this because as senior engineers, they are helping to reinforce and normalize the culture of us getting some Vitamin D as a distributed team while on certain calls as well as doing so when meeting appropriate. I definitely wouldn't recommend taking a walking meeting while staring at a presentation - safety first! So, no matter your form of mobility, try and use it during at least one meeting a day.

Pomodoro (or related techniques) After a good period of some productive work, it's great to take a break and give your eyes a rest. Pomodoro as a technique involves singular task focus for 25 mins, followed by a short break, and taking a longer break once you've finished 4 tasks that way. I have found it successful, but I notice for me at times, I don't always have tasks I can break down to that short (or, as a manager, that I have back-to-back meetings).

Instead, I've started using the Google Calendar functionality that allows you to build in travel time for your meeting appointments. For instance, all of my 30 minute meetings are actually scheduled in 25 minute blocks, and all 1 hour meetings in 50 minute blocks. It's a good forcing function to make my meetings as short, sweet and productive for all as possible, but it also helps me to mimic the action of doing something between meetings as I would in the office. Bio breaks, water breaks, walks from one conference room to the other - all these things occur in the office (and more) in the time between meetings. In addition, it gives you guilt-free time to give yourself a break between meetings without being late, feeling rushed or harried, and to also ensure you're meeting your own needs.

Lunch/Dinner/Snacks - Avoid Delivery Apps If Possible So, this is a hard one. However, in office environments I'm not a fan of eating lunch at my desk, without some sort of time away, unless its an absolutely critical matter. I believe in my lunch break being my lunch break - that's my walking thought time. People watching time. Connecting with colleagues time. Release from morning stress time. I may eat at my desk when I get back from a lunch break, but that's usually in cases where I've gotten some good walking in or took care some errands that go me outside.

When working from home (or otherwise remote), I think one unique advantage is that you can prep and source your own meals, thus potentially saving money and/or prep time if you take your lunch to work. The forcing function of getting up to go cook/heat up/prep/juice/blend lunch is that it gets you away from the desk. You're up on your feet, you get the legs moving, you break up the day. It's another sneaky way we get steps in all day at the office - you've gotta walk to the fridge in the kitchen or break room, microwave your food (or get your sandwich or salad or whatever food of choice), and prep before you eat it. In my experience, mimicing that at home has helped me to not be too stationary throughout the day. Delivery apps - not so much. Sometimes I'll do it if I'm in a crunch, or have little time between my office gig and teaching gig at night, but I do prefer to not order in. On the days when I do, I try to go do the pickup option to get me out of the house (and cheaper fees!) or I'll meet the person at their car instead of them just meeting me at my door.

sick days! take them! don't work sick!

Being at home sick doesn't mean you have to work sick because you are at home. While you may not be able to give others the flu if you have it while working from home, you can give them the idea that you have to work through sickness instead of resting and healing, and that's not good either.

There's no reason to feel guilty for working from home/remote and calling out sick. Your team needs you at your 100% best just as they would in the office. Working while sick will usually make you less productive, less pleasant (let's be honest - when we don't feel good, we're not always in our best moods or spirits), and more likely to prolong your sickness. Forget the work aspect of it - that's not good for taking care of you , which should always be your #1 priority.

Don't work through a stomach bug. Don't "tough it out" during headaches and migraines. Don't force yourself to give that presentation "even though my voice is hoarse". Think of it this way - a surgeon wouldn't be allowed in an emenergency operating room while sick, due to all types of risk of infection and also just being able to focus and do the job - why should you? Take. Your. Sick. Days.

pto? make sure you take that too

Remote employees also need time away to rest and recover. Working from home/remote doesn't mean that you don't deserve vacation due to the convenience of not being in the office. You are in the office. Just also in your home or favorite coffee shop or coworking space. You need time away from work just like everyone else, so take it.

If you happento have unlimited PTO, do not fall into the trap of "I can take it whenever". TAKE IT WHENEVER. I personally suggest at least one week per quarter. If your team or group can normalize expecting everyone to take a week of for self care, you can also have the benefit of making your quarterly planning more focused. There's 13 weeks in a quarter (on average) - one week per person shouldn't make or break your productivity. In fact, if your people aren't taking time off every quarter, burnout becomes easier to seep in, and that can break your quarterly productivity and your working happiness much more than a vacation.

Your team needs you at your best. That can only come if you have the space to integrate your life and personal needs with your professional life. PTO is not a gift to take likely - it is part of your overall compensation. Not taking it is literally leaving money on the table, as well as quality you-time. So take it. Now. Go request that week off. Or whatever it is you need. Your mileage may vary but make sure you meet your needs there.

distractions are everywhere

In an ever-increasingly connected world, distractions are no longer just in the physical workspace. Apps. Alerts. Breaking News. Twitter viral threads. Instagram Live. Netflix. All these things are the same, and sometimes additional, potential distractions. Try to minimize the distractions as you would if you were going into the office. If you wouldn't update your personal Facebook feed during a meeting at work, don't do it during a meeting at your desk at home. For me, it was important that I gave myself the same clear lanes from distraction at home, because otherwise, I wouldn't have a remote job for long as my Pokemon hunts keep calling for me.

One of the benefits of working from home is removing some of those in-office distraction points. However, you now have to make sure you add some discipline to try to minimize the ones that can come from being at home or in a remote setting.

For me, I tend to keep my phone notifications muted except for Slack (for work & calendar stuff) and email. I keep my text notifications to my smartwatch, which is actually easier for me to ignore than my phone (go figure). My video game systems aren't in reach. And, because I have a separate room as my office, I can just shut the door and work.

However, not all distractions are bad, because sometimes you need that to break away from the desk. Which leads to my next item...

connection with other humans

Some distractions are good and necessary. Those usually come in the form of working around and near others, or finding some other way to get social connection outside of your 8 hour day.

One challenge with remote work, especially when working from home, is connecting with other people. If your home office isn't nearby or accessible to your location, you can miss out on happy hours, afterwork events, activities, or even just being in the environment of other people as you would commuting to and from an office.

It's important to not get stuck in the default of just staying in the house all day. For starters, there's an important health benefit to leaving the house: Vitamin D. I'm pretty sure as we spend a lot of times indoors all day that vitamin deficiencies are pretty common in some form, so get out of the house and get some sun.

Also, I've noticed in my experience, there's a sudden rush of some positive energy when you walk into a coffee shop, and the barista knows your order. You're not best friends, hell, you may not even know that they live a block away from you, but the exchange of someone knowing your order and the appreciation you give in return is the kind of connection to others that happens dozens of times throughout an in-office workday.

Another challenge of working from home in particular is the spontaneous connection with others because you happen to bump into each other, or otherwise are accessible to a common location. Often, even in the most urban environments, where the people in your life tend to hang out, may not be as spontaneously accessible to your home location. Setting friend dates and family dates can be a great way around this challenge. It reaffirms our previous principle of signalling the end of your workday AND it gets you out of the house. This can be difficult (it still is for me, ask my friends - they'll tell you lol) but practicing this over time can be worth the effort. Having fun with others is also a great way to keep your cortisol levels from remaining high from a stressful workday.

Another challenge that pops up a lot is connection with your colleagues. Which brings me to my last major point from the thread:

non-work channels of communication with remote peers

This is important, especially when setting and maintaining the culture of your team. Think about the ways you've built trust and rapport with your on-site teammates in past jobs. The reliable "who wants coffee?" colleague. The one who always drags you away fro your desk for lunch when you needed it. The "omg, did you see what _____ did at the Emmys/Grammys/Oscars/[insert event I probably didn't watch here]". The birthday cheers.

Now, everyone will respect their boundaries for social connection - some of us are introverts, some of us are extroverts, and some of us fall somewhere in-between. And my recommendation isn't to make lifelong penpals (though, it's funny how some former colleagues become friends throughout your journey, isn't it?). However, we all spend hours a day together, with our own take on the mission our company sets out to fulfill in pursuit of fiscal sustainability and happy customers. Doing so remotely tends to remove some of the connection that comes with physical presence, day in and day out.

So, my suggestion - find ways to add that back in. In my experience, channels that are held for social/non-work chatter or adding a few minutes to invite your team to bring themselves into your daily meetings can help those connections foster.

I have a managers-only gaming channel, where we all nerd out on games and just have an escape from the rigors of organizational thought. Every friday, my team adds a social component to our standups - for a few months, the team decided to do "treat yo' self Fridays", where one person either suggested the treat we should all have and/or just presented their chosen treat for that day. Recently, another team member started with noticing that we all have varied travel plans but we do also have a lot of overlap in the things we like to do on our personal travels. So - every week, one person will share an upcoming trip they will take OR a past trip they took and the itinerary they enjoyed at the end of a meeting. Our tech org channel is for connection across the squads of engineers and product managers (who at any moment can span 4 to 10 timezones). We have a focused engineering channel where we discuss code and challenges, so that allows us to use our team channel for more relaxed virtual watercooler chatter.

What I've noticed this time around is we have teams of talented people who have shared some amazing bits of who they are and a closer connection as colleagues. Someone sending me a Slack and saying "hey, you have 5 minutes to hop on Zoom?" isn't nearly as anxiety-inducing as it would be if we didn't find ways to build those professional (and personal) bonds. There's a trust that's been cultivated and it makes it easier to have the easy and hard conversations.

Whatever works for your team, organization or group may differ and that's the point. No two work environments are 100% the same and you'll notice that this list is not a "do this now" as much as it's about themes and examples of how you can personalize it for yourself.

Hopefully, this has given you some things to think about as you make remote work work for you, not just professionally, but personally as well. Let's continue the conversation over on Twitter or LinkedIn, where I can hope to make this an exchange and learn from some of your ideas as well.

Until next time...

Learning How to Write Go REST APIs on a Pixelbook: Day 2

Jayson J. Phillips — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 07:08:50 +0000

Day 2 is here, so let's jump back into our series on setting up our Pixelbook (or any chromebook, really) for developing web services with Go.

I left off at testing out my installation of go, and seeing it work properly from the terminal. The next thing I'll do is setup my default file system for working in go, such that I don't need to setup a $GOPATH, but also it just matches my mental model for working here.

One interesting note about Chrome OS, is that all your files that live in userspace do not map to the home path like it would in a traditional environment (think a default Ubuntu install, or OS X). So, when you share files between Chrome OS and its linux container, it gets mounted on the /mnt/chromeos path. That was a nice surprise for me, because I can now safely make my linux home root my root path for code.

I start out by setting up my default folders for go, so from the user home, I create my directories: mkdir go; mkdir -p go/src go/bin; and now I'm ready for code.

Next, I installed Atom for my development. I tried to get VS Code going but I just wasn't happy with its UI performance. I installed Atom by downloading the .deb package from https://atom.io/. Once saved in my downloads folder, I right-clicked on it, and selected Install using Linux (Beta), and a short wait later, it was installed.

Next, I installed a couple of packages to help with go development (go-debug, go-plus, gotests, gounit and go-signature-statusbar), and get prepped for developing in Go.

Next, I prepare my tools for getting started in building some REST API Services using go - namely, the stack I will use (Gorilla Mux, PostgreSQL and Heroku for deployment, and the frontend will either be React or Vue - I haven't decided yet). I also add a couple of env variables for my local machine: APP_ENV (which is always set to local, and I will use in any language I write in) and GO111MODULES=true (so I can use go modules to manage dependencies).

After a day of research and tinkering, I called it a night, and I'll pick up where I left off tomorrow by writing my first lines of code for a project I have brewing.

Learning How to Write Go REST APIs on a Pixelbook: Day 1

Jayson J. Phillips — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:05:45 +0000

Well, I've seen a few folks post their experience on using some chromebooks as a lightweight web development tool, but what about building web services in compiled languages? Let's take our first shot at doing so with Go!

Well, I'm working on a project in golang, and I sold my trusty iPad Pro, because while it's an amazing tablet, it's not enough of a portable dev/entertainment machine that I'd like. I want to be able to leave the 15" MacBook Pro at home when I take flights or travel and I'm not gonna need all the power (read: and weight) of the machine with me.

Enter, used pixelbook. The awesome part about the iPad Pro was that it took less than 2 hours to find a buyer for it (it was in like new condition, under warranty, and I still had all the boxes, like a madman). Now armed with unexpected new cash, I turned around and procured a used, excellent condition, Google Pixelbook with the following configuration:

Core i7-7Y75 Processor
16GB RAM
512GB NVMe SSD HD

Now, I could have gotten by with a lower spec'd machine (Core i5/8GB), but I was concerned about the eMMC SSD (yes, it's solid state, but more akin to a fast embedded SD Card and not like the SSD in my MacBook Pro), and since I planned to do a lot of development in file-system heavy ways (oh, node_modules, also compilation of binaries in Go. Or Java. Or something else), I figured I might as well go with a spec I'm used to in my day-to-day dev life.

Pretty good pickup at $700 (I was eyeing the Pixelbook Go, but the max config w/ 16GB RAM is still pre-order only, the iPad Pro cash was burning a hole in my pocket... and y'all don't care about any of this. My bad).

So, I boot the thing up, and damn - I've only had one other machine in my life boot to a GUI this fast in recent years (my home linux NUC, that thing is a beaut).

Step one: Enable Linux in chrome://settings
Less than 10 minutes later, I have Linux enabled and a terminal prompt (would've likely been faster over a faster wifi connection - this one clocked in at 2.4Mbps, but I wasn't complaining. It was free and at my favorite coffee shop).

Step two: Install golang
Well, I downloaded the linux tarball from this link, and then wondered how I would access it in my terminal. Using the Files app, I right-clicked and shared it with Linux, and that... was it. Damn.

After that, we run a quick command to untar the package into my userspace:
sudo tar -xzvf -C /usr/local go1.13.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz and let it do its thing... pretty fast too. (If you're new to terminal or haven't dealt with tarballs often, that command translates to: "while using superuser privileges, untar this package into the path I specified in the -C option". Here's the manual pages if you'd like to get the actual definitions for each of the options.

Step three: Add the go command to my user's PATH
So, in order to make go accessible without me having to type /usr/local/... every time, we want to add it to our user's path. I did that with export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin, and now all of the executables that come with golang's install are available to my user without needing explicit file paths. From there, I want to make sure this is always available, so I edit ~.bash_profile, and add that line to it. Then to make sure it loads, I type source ~/.bash_profile, and boom, it's there.

And now, my golang install is done.

Step Four: Fix something at work
This is where I'll stop the post, as I have to finish this setup later tonight, but I wanted to get this all down before I went to teach my class later tonight and forgot what all I did.

Tune in for part 2!

I'm headed to the Rockies... Virtually, that is

Jayson J. Phillips — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

I recent begun teaching my 4th full cohort of Full Stack Web Development, this time at the University of Denver’s Coding Bootcamp.

I was and still am excited to get back into the classroom. Especially now that I’m working full-time on building the best learning platform delivered online, I get to get back into the practice of really understanding my future learning user base.

I’ll be taking nearly 30 students, once again, on a ride of Javascript, HTML5, CSS, NodeJS, MySQL, MongoDB and more over the next 6 or so months.

As someone who "broke" into engineering with a very non-traditional background, being an instructor gives me a very tangible way to not only help others transition into the practice of being software engineers, but to also mentor them on the sometimes unique challenges that come with getting out there in the market post-graducation.

What's in my Bag? 2019 Edition

Jayson J. Phillips — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 23:00:48 +0000

What's in my Bag? 2019 Edition

So I had a post where we talked about what was in my bag last year… let’s see how the workflow/travel setup has changed over the last 12+ months!

Development Setup

I sold my trusty, non-Touch Bar, mid-2014 15” MacBook Pro and upgraded to 2017 15” MacBook Pro w/ the somewhat useful, somewhat dreaded Touch Bar. Core i7 2.9Ghz, somehow, 16GB of still DDR3 RAM, and all the other Retina and other goodies.

However, with all the “let’s put all apps into Electron” happening today, and just how much more processing power the web takes in 2019, in addition to the different dev environments I run, I feel like 16GB is just not enough anymore.

A few Docker containers here, a few IDEs there, Slack, Spotify, the new Dropbox app, Chrome with 15 tabs (although I must say, Firefox feels much better with more tabs, even when low on RAM because I’m running a ton at the same time), and yeah… while the machine still serves me well, I think I might need to move to a laptop and platform that allows me 32GB + mobility… but otherwise, it’s still my trusty daily.

Remote Work

So… I ended up buying the 2018 iPad Pro (USB Type-C version) even though I still have the latest lightning port version. And uh… it’s actually a much better improvement all around. Pen is much more accurate. It’s a lot snappier. Using as a second screen for teaching still works great. With iPadOS on the horizon (funny how we’re back here with separate OSes for mobile devices after Apple merged them years ago… lol), there’s promise and reports that it becomes even more useful as a productivity tool.

However, I do need to get yet another dongle for the USB Type-C port… but if they move to allowing full use of the port (meaning external hard drives and the like), this will be even better as a portable photography assistant.

Tools and Accessories

Tzumi PocketJuice 20,000 mAh Powerbank (non-affiliate link) - with USB-C, USB (2.4 amp AND a 3.0 amp), and a lightning port, and the ability to charge/recharge from any of those ports, this thing has been a lifesaver. I’ve even run my work MacBook Pro from the USB-C port in a few emergency moments. Yes, copied and pasted from the last post, and all still super relevant.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 / Garmin ForeRunner 935 XT I formerly was using a Fitbit Ionic as my smartwatch, but I ended up coming back to Garmin. The Vivoactive 3 is my daily watch for tracking steps, sleep and a few other things, and my 935 is my race and training watch.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II Still the best headphones that I’ve purchased for zoning out when coding and overall avoiding ambient noise (airplanes, loud cafes, etc). Seriously worth the investment. I had the original series and that pair lasted for years, even through gym workouts.

iPhone Xs Max I know I said my iPhone 8+ would be my last iPhone… but, the upgrade was worth it. However, it’s acting really strange lately, so this post is reminding me to take it to the Apple store to get checked out.

Well, there you have it. An update to what I usually travel with in my bag on a given day.