• Gambas - "Gambas is a free development environment and a full powerful development platform based on a Basic interpreter with object extensions, as easy as Visual Basic™."
• How (some) good corporate engineering blogs are written - An investigation of some companies that have functional blogging processes.
• How Git Partial Clone lets you fetch only the large file you need - An explanation from GitLab.
• Working from home – things no one talks about - There's a lot of WFH advice floating around these days, of course. This one struck me as more insightful than most.
• Demonstrating that revocation checking is pointless! - Getting down in the weeds of SSL certificates.
• Bonito - "Bonito is a ruby DSL for generating canned data where timing is important."
• You can get my DevOps books free the rest of this month - An offer from Jeff Geerling that is worth taking up.
• Zero Trust Networks - A basic high-level explanation.

So, yeah, it looks like I'm on the job market again. I'm not at all unhappy where I am, and I still believe firmly in the company's mission. But like so many other small companies these days, we may well end up as a victim of the global pandemic. There's assorted belt-tightening going on, but we're also starting to think about how to gracefully wind down, or to cut everyone back to part-time at lower salaries.

Here's the pitch: I'm an experienced manager, software developer and writer with a strong focus on satisfying customer needs. My most recent specialty has been on on Ruby on Rails, but I have experience with a wide variety of programming languages and applications. I also have substantial experience in remote consulting and distributed teams as well as documentation and customer service skills.

My current job title is "Lead Architect" but it could just as well be "Principal Engineer" or "Engineering Manager." I thrive in positions where I can help a team grow through both technical and personal leadership.

Things I am most interested in for my next job:

• Diverse challenges where I can bring my experience to bear
• 100% remote but with opportunities to meet with the team and company in person
• A top-to-bottom agile environment, in a company that believes in transparency and employee engagement
• An organization with good prospects and a commitment to doing good
• The chance to make a wider impact in the company, through people management and mentoring as well as technical expertise

I've done a little of a lot of things. I can happily step into an engineering manager, team lead, principal engineer, architect, or other leadership role as necessary.

You can email me at MikeG1 [at] larkfarm.com , or there are some other alternatives on the About page here. And thanks in advance for any leads!

If anyone out there is hiring a remote engineering manager or senior Rails developer, let me know. I'm moving back into job search mode.

• A maintained fork of Paperclip - There's still hope for projects that aren't ready to switch to ActiveStorage.
• Eventing Facets - Tim Bray is putting together a great series of posts on event driven architectural choices.
• Open-Sourcing riskquant, a library for quantifying risk - Python risk-modeling code from Netflix.
• Google Container - "Google Container is an add-on you can install on Firefox to prevent Google from tracking your activity on other websites, so you can continue to use Google while protecting your privacy."
• Why Svelte is our choice for a large web project in 2020 - An in-depth evaluation.
• The SOC2 Starting Seven - Things you can do to start setting up for a future SOC2 certification.
• Designing the perfect Typescript schema validation library - In the fine developer tradition of "if you don't like the existing alternatives build another one."
• Do Not Log - There are better tools than exhaustive logging for many software needs.

• Do we need Standup? What problems does it help with? - There are a lot of good reasons for daily team meetings. Cargo culting isn't one of them.
• Why your software should use UUIDs in 2020s - Because it helps with scalability.
• cidrchk - "A CLI tool to assist you with CIDR ranges and IPs."
• Creating a private, commercial Docker registry - Mike Perham shares how he did it.
• Crescendo - "Crescendo is a real time event viewer for macOS that uses the ESF to show process executions and forks, file events, share mounting events, kernel extension loads, and IPC event data."
• Can We Make Open Source More Sustainable? - A look at some attempts to generate financing for open source.
• How we migrated from Timecop to built-in Rails 5.2 time helpers - One more library you can do without if you want.
• Fraidycat - App & browser extension to let you follow people without signing up on and visiting various platforms.

• Static Site using Amazon S3 + Cloudflare + HTTPS - Tool to wire everything up for free.
• Cryptographic Signatures, Surprising Pitfalls, and LetsEncrypt - A dive into subtle issues.
• Memcached 1.6.0 Release Notes - Some big changes for larger use cases.
• Full Stack Pronounced Dead - "Since no one person can handle it all, the 2020 stack must be covered by a team."
• Lessons learned managing the GitLab Data team - Advice for new managers.
• Bottlerocket - "Bottlerocket is a Linux-based open-source operating system that is purpose-built by Amazon Web Services for running containers on virtual machines or bare metal hosts."
• Cypress vs. Capybara - Three-part screencast comparison.
• Several grumpy opinions about remote work at Tailscale - The state of remote video conferencing is not all strawberries and cream.

• How to make your web app work offline - "Service workers, caches, IndexedDB and PWA."
• Releasing Pleroma 2.0.0 - The Fediverse really is a much more pleasant place that Twitter, though maybe just because it hasn't been overrun yet.
• EmailJS - Claims to send emails directly from JS, but looks like maybe it proxies everything through their servers. Interesting glue anyhow.
• Personal Security Checklist - "A curated checklist of tips to protect your dgital security and privacy" full of things you really should do.
• Data-Oriented Architecture - "In data-oriented architecture, a monolithic data store is the sole source of state in the system, which is being acted on by loosely-coupled, stateless microservices."
• Meshtastic - "Meshtastic is a project that lets you use inexpensive ($30 ish) GPS radios as an extensible, super long battery life mesh GPS communicator."
• Moving from Nextcloud to Synology - Sometimes it doesn't make sense to run your own open-source alternatives.
• Host a Secure Private Gem Server With LDAP Authentication and Authorization - Because sometimes you don't want to share your internal code with the world.

For what it's worth my accumulated pile of links about remote work is available here.

• #StayTheFuckHome - "A Movement to Stop the COVID-19 Pandemic"
• git-req - Git addition to check out branches by PR/MR number from either GitHub or GitLab.
• New Guides for Terraform Modules - Some new documentation from HashiCorp.
• APT 2.0 released - I guess if I'm headed back to Linux I need to start tracking this sort of thing again.
• Querying data without servers or databases using Amazon S3 Select - If you're working with dinosaurs, you can in fact treat a big pile of CSV files as a low-rent SQL store.
• 24 open source tools for the serverless developer: Part 1 and Part 2 - A dive into the ecosystem growing up around AWS Lambda.
• RailsConf 2020 - It's cancelled, just in case you hadn't heard. If you have spare cash there are some people who could use help as a result.
• Redwood - Web app framework built on React, GraphQL, and Prisma.

• birch - "An IRC client written in bash"
• Technical Lead Management 101 or How to Try Out Management - A path for a tech lead to try out people management.
• DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use - Same conclusion I came to a while back.
• The Kui Framework for Graphical Terminals - "By combining the power of familiar CLIs with visualizations in high-impact areas, Kui enables you to manipulate complex JSON and YAML data models, integrate disparate tooling, and provides quick access to aggregate views of operational data."
• JavaScript Variables: var and let and const - A non-prescriptive look at the differences.
• CKEditor 5 + Ruby Rails - A demo app with source code available.
• C++ Matrix in terminal - With links to a batch of other implementations.
• Libravator - Federated open-source alternative to gravatar.

• Boardist - Browser-based storage/productivity tool.
• What's new in Kiba ETL v3 (visually explained) - This ruby data-processing framework continues to mature.
• Project Sandcastle - Android for the iPhone.
• What is NULL? - I've never understood why people find database nulls so perplexing, but if you need it here's an explainer from Percona.
• Creating a Slack Writing Etiquette Guide for Your Workplace - Some suggestions on having a more useful group chat.
• Coronavirus Tech Handbook - "A crowdsourced resource for technologists building things related to the coronavirus outbreak."
• DuckDuckGo Tracker Radar Exposes Hidden Tracking - DuckDuckGo shares their big list of jerks.
• The Beer Drinker’s Guide to SAML - Explanation via analogy.

• Monitoror - Clean-looking monitoring wallboard implemented in Go.
• Toolkit for a Successful Manager - Some advice on tools & techniques to manage more efficiently.
• Everything We Learned Running Istio In Production — Part 1 - How HelloFresh managed an Istio rollout.
• “Let’s use Kubernetes!” Now you have 8 problems - I see a fair amount of k8s running on the basis of "but we WILL be that big some day!"
• Future-proofing Firefox’s JavaScript Debugger Implementation - A bunch of insider baseball.
• 25 reasons to switch to Webpacker - The main reason, of course, is that it's the new convention in Rails.
• Clear Your Terminal in Style - Another way to avoid boredom at the command line.
• HiddenVM - "HiddenVM is a simple, one-click, free and open-source Linux application that allows you to run Oracle's open-source VirtualBox software on the Tails operating system. This means you can run almost any OS as a VM inside the most anti-forensic computing environment in the world."

• Making Order in CI/CD Mess - How Wix does CI/CD at scale.
• micro-serverless - "A micro serverless service (FaaS). Based on Node.js vm."
• Brutal - "A code-first approach to automate the writing of unit tests."
• Joe Lab - the Cloud-based Malware Analysis Lab - Outsource your malware analysis, if you need such a thing. Part of their Pro package, but worth a mention because their free version is useful too if you think you've picked up an infection.
• Spreadsheet Architect - "Spreadsheet Architect is a library that allows you to create XLSX, ODS, or CSV spreadsheets super easily from ActiveRecord relations, plain Ruby objects, or tabular data."
• Bypass Paywalls Clean for Firefox - An extension to get around paywalls.
• Extending Vue.js Components - How to do it, recently updated with new APIs and patterns.
• The Case for Limiting Your Browser Extensions - More like "The Case for Paying Attention to What You Install" but that wouldn't be as catchy.

• Edtr.io - Open source "WYSIWYG in-line web editor written in React."
• In favor of small modules and plumbing - A rethinking of the npm ecosystem that suggests maybe we drew the wrong conclusions from left-pad.
• The Only Type of API Services I'll Use - An argument for usage-based pricing with automatic volume discounts.
• Making Your Rails Console Interesting.. - Just in case you're easily bored.
• O.MG Cable - For $120 you can buy an innocuous-looking USB cable that contains, among other things, a web server and wireless transmitter. Don't trust random hardware.
• Little known features of iTerm2 - Smart selections and Dynamic profiles can make your work easier.
• The death of Agile? - A bit deeper look inside the current backlash.
• Why the World Needs CSS Developers - Because overall front-end developers have trouble developing enough expertise in modern CSS.

• plausibly deniable encryption - Thinking through ways to avoid legally-compelled key disclosure.
• How to do High-Bar Code Review Without Being a Jerk - The "not being a jerk" part is important.
• Node.js Best Practices - There are a lot of them.
• The Shifting State of Remote Work - A look at some of the trends in Buffer's annual surveys.
• Best Developer Tools Trick/a></strong> - There's a lot I don't know about JS debugging. This was a nice tip.</li>
• Can You Use FreeBSD for a Developer Machine in 2020? - Not unless you're pretty danged flexible about your process.
• Requirements volatility is the core problem of software engineering - A bold claim with some things to consider.
• Using BPF to Transform SSH Sessions into Structured Events - A new feature in Teleport that looks useful for the enterprise security crowd.
• Dear Founder: So You’re Thinking About Building a Remote Team - Some advice on starting points.
• Google's Abandoned Android Authenticator App - It's time to switch if you haven't already.
• The Experience Paradox - Ruminating on the dysfunctions of hiring (or not) experienced developers.
• Fixing Scrum - The hardcore Scrum folks say it's perfect, of course.
</ul>

• Docker Images : Part I - Reducing Image Size - Including the fun of 'FROM scratch' builds.
• The Open Guide to Equity Compensation - A fairly detailed look at the basics including US tax consequences.
• Open Offices Inhibit Remote Work - As does anything else that makes remote workers second-class citizens.
• !BANG - DuckDuckGo bang autocompletion workflow for Alfred.
• Memex 2.0 and our mobile app launch today! - I've been using Memex for quite a while to help me find things I saw in the browser months ago - highly recommended.
• Kasaya - An attempt at natural language browser automation.
• How to Assign Static IP Address on Raspberry Pi - I've wrassled with this myself. Thanks, Rob.
• Discord Is Not An Acceptable Choice For Free Software Projects - I'll admit to being prejudiced after watching Discord enable crappy behavior in my teens, but there are some good points here.
• The Facts: Mozilla’s DNS over HTTPs (DoH) - The world according to Mozilla. I think this is probably a win for most people, though personally I proxy my DNS through a PiHole.
• kubenav - Mobile/desktop app for managing Kubernetes clusters.
• Introducing Dispatch - Netflix has open-sourced their security incident management orchestration tool.
• On Voice Coding - A guide to still programming even with carpal tunnel. Everyone seems to agree that Dragon+Caster is the only game in town here.
• The 7 best things about the new Firefox browser for Android - My mobile browser of choice.
• Let's Encrypt Has Issued a Billion Certificates - Pretty impressive.
• Ant Design 4.0 is out! - And probably worth a look if you're building React UI.

• On Design Thinking - If IDEO has its way, design (rather than software) will eat the world.
• What are the essential skills for Microservices developers? - A quick survey of both tech and soft skills.
• We decided to leave AWS - Moving a service to self-managed UpCloud.
• The Slippery Slope of Docker Dev Environments - It's definitely not all strawberries and cream. Trying to demo stuff in Docker over Zoom is one of my current huge pain points.
• Introducing Materialize: the Streaming Data Warehouse - A product for big data comes out of stalth mode.
• Rails Sidekiq configuration for micro services on reverse proxy. - Hoops you may have to jump through to get assets to render right.
• dg. (dogelang) - Alternate way to write Python using Haskell syntax, or something like that.
• 7 Principles of Icon Design - "Clarity, Readability, Alignment, Brevity, Consistency, Personality, Ease of Use."
• Joe bot, an SQL query optimization assistant, updated to version 0.5.0 - A SlackBot to help you optimize PostgreSQL databases.
• How to de-Google-ify your site to make it faster and visitor friendly - I'm certainly in favor of less Google.
• Heroicons - "A set of free MIT-licensed high-quality SVG icons for you to use in your web projects."
• JetBrains Academy - Learn Java, Kotlin or Python in your browser.
• Helium - "Helium is a Python library for automating web browsers."
• isomorphic-git 1.0 - A pure JS implementation of git.
• Shox - "A customisable terminal status bar with universal shell/terminal compatibility. Currently works on Mac/Linux."

• JWT is Awesome: Here's Why - I disagree, but maybe I just got scared by a JWT in my crib or something.
• Why talk about compensation? - Putting the recent Twitter activity in the broader context of tech industry wage-fixing and anticompetitive practices.
• Cozette - "A bitmap programming font optimized for coziness."
• How to back up your password manager - Something to think about. I go for the locked-in-a-vault Flash drive myself, but there's no perfect solution. In my dreams I could handle everything by a pair of security keys, with one that securely backs up to another, but I don't think that exists yet.
• The lesser of three evils - The current state of picking a machine to do Web development pretty much sucks. Current pie in the sky: WSL2.
• Awesome StimulusJS - Resources for people who don't want to go the monolithic SPA route. (That'd include me).
• Three Methods to Share Rails Assets With Nginx - "Improve the performance of your Rails applications by serving the assets with a reverse proxy such as Nginx."
• Why designing for open source can be so difficult - Nerd Porn and other issues.
• The Leadership Library for Engineers - "Helping engineering leaders level up by curating the best resources on engineering leadership."
• Production Oriented Development - Practices built from the realization that the only code that matters is code that ships.
• The Dever Ransomware Experience - Investigating an intrusion, without a happy ending.
• Introducting Hanami::API - A "minimal, extremely fast, lightweight Ruby framework for HTTP APIs."
• Open-sourcing Ferrum: a fearless Ruby Chrome driver - Is it just me or are there a lot of browser automatino libraries popping up recently?
• Rome - "Rome is an experimental JavaScript toolchain. It includes a compiler, linter, formatter, bundler, testing framework and more." Facebook reaches the pinnacle of NIH.
• TailwindUI - "Beautiful UI components, crafted by the creators of Tailwind CSS."

My apologies. Due to a mistake in syncing things to my travel laptop, some older posts were republished out of order last week, in place of the new posts that I thought I had queued up. That's fixed now, and you'll get some longer-than-usual Double Shots this week as I clear out the backlog. Sorry about that!

• PDP-6 Hardware Log - 1967 Stanford document from the good old days of debugging things. Page two: "The model 35 is a hunk of (angry poopy scribble)"
• A better way to reason about software testing terms - Reworking the test pyramid to focus on the size of tests.
• nodebook - Multi-Language REPL with Web UI + CLI code runner
• GraphqlRails 1.0.0 has been released - A combination of syntactic sugar and opinionated structure.
• Running servers (and services) well is not trivial - Why "let's just self-host on our own server" is trickier than it sounds.
• The Myth of Architect as Chess Master - No, your architect can't just stare off into space and tell you the best answer.
• Interactive Redis: - "A Cli for Redis with AutoCompletion and Syntax Highlighting."
• Flow Core - "A multi purpose, extendable, Workflow-net-based workflow engine for Rails applications."
• Inrupt, Tim Berners-Lee's Solid, and Me - Anything that is on Bruce Schenier's and Tim Berners-Lee's radar probably should be on yours too.
• Should you self-host Google Fonts? - A pretty deep dive into the topic at hand.
• The Mac is No Longer an Open Platform - If it ever was.
• What You Need to Know About the New OpenSSH Security Updates - Nice to see the Fido/U2F support.
• Internet in a box - Cruise ship kit. I don't know what half this stuff does and I'm still impressed.
• In depth guide to running Elasticsearch in production - I haven't had to do this in a while and honestly I'm not looking forward to the next time.
• Haven - Use an Android device to physically monitor an area for intruders.

• Rails Performance - Simple self-hosted APM in a gem, for when you don't care to pay for DataDog, New Relic, and the like.
• Agile as Trauma - More backlash.
• Vorta for Borg - Desktop data backups for Mac & Linux without vendor lock-in.
• How I switched from macOS to Linux after 15 years of Apple - With notes on translating MacOS concepts to Gnome.
• Rails has added a benchmark generator - Opens up some interesting possibilities for regression testing.
• Ruby API - Search and browse the Ruby API from any device.
• Supercharge your command line experience: GitHub CLI is now in beta - Tools are good but I worry about the inevitable blurring of a proprietary site with git itself.

• Plink Plonk - Add an audio indicator to your browser for background DOM activity. Be sure to scroll through the comments; people have taken this idea nad run with it.
• DBLog: A Generic Change-Data-Capture Framework - Sort of a heterogeneous one-way replication fromework. Cool engineering, but insert standard "you're not Netflix" disclaimer here.
• Apparition - A Chrome driver for Capybara - From the Capybara team. I'm using it for some Rails 6/RSpec system tests and it's working well for me.
• Reworkin - A remote work networking site.
• Reflections on software performance - "I’ve really strongly come to believe that we underrate performance when designing and building software."
• The Art of Command Line - One (web) page to help you up your command-line game.
• 1 on 1 Meeting Questions - A big old list compiled from various managers.
• Don’t Use the Word ‘Did’ or a Dumb Anti-Piracy Company Will Delete You From Google - The DMCA continues to be a (sometimes unintentially hilarious) pile of crap.

• Rails Performance - Simple self-hosted APM in a gem, for when you don't care to pay for DataDog, New Relic, and the like.
• Agile as Trauma - More backlash.
• Vorta for Borg - Desktop data backups for Mac & Linux without vendor lock-in.
• How I switched from macOS to Linux after 15 years of Apple - With notes on translating MacOS concepts to Gnome.
• Rails has added a benchmark generator - Opens up some interesting possibilities for regression testing.
• Ruby API - Search and browse the Ruby API from any device.
• Supercharge your command line experience: GitHub CLI is now in beta - Tools are good but I worry about the inevitable blurring of a proprietary site with git itself.