March 2023
I am aggregating here some more or less interesting stuff of various IT related materials which I came across this month. Some of them are strictly related to the things I did or am currently doing.
Articles
GitHub: We updated our RSA SSH host key
At approximately 05:00 UTC on March 24, out of an abundance of caution, we replaced our RSA SSH host key used to secure Git operations for GitHub.com.
You’re Using ChatGPT Wrong! Here’s How to Be Ahead of 99% of ChatGPT Users
Master ChatGPT by learning prompt engineering.
Why Experienced Programmers Fail Coding Interviews
Generally speaking though, the more interviews I tried out, the better I did get at interviewing.
I didn’t like the price so I built a SaaS company over a weekend. Here is what it took.
Every once in a while you do something unexpected or out of character. Last summer I created a company, initially out of spite, but it turned into an incredible learning experience and the realization that it is very easy to start a company. Perhaps this may be helpful to others starting a similar journey.
HubSport: Saving Millions on Logging: Finding Relevant Savings
In this two-part blog series, we will look at a structured method we use for approaching cost savings work and demonstrating how we apply it at HubSpot to save millions on the storage costs of our application logs.
Using a Raspberry Pi to add a second HDMI port to a laptop
Not being able to use my second external monitor on this new laptop felt like a huge downgrade from my previous one (which was able to output to both its HDMI and VGA ports simultaneously).
This is the story of how I managed to overcome this limitation by rolling my own virtual screen streaming solution using a Raspberry Pi. I tried to write it in a way you can follow along if you want to reproduce it.
Why Write?
Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Importantly, writing is also the process by which you figure it out.
How to Think Better: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught
If you want to think better, schedule time to write out your thoughts.
Productivity
What are Self-Sabotaging Habits and How to Fight Them
An interesting fact about habits is that it’s a negative art. Commonly, you have a better chance of correcting your overall behavior by getting rid of self-sabotaging habits vs. focusing on good habits.
Sitting and Standing at Work
Sit to do computer work. Sit using a height-adjustable, downward titling keyboard tray for the best work posture, then every 20 minutes stand for 8 minutes AND MOVE for 2 minutes. The absolute time isn’t critical but about every 20-30 minutes take a posture break and stand and move for a couple of minutes.\ Simply standing is insufficient. Movement is important to get blood circulation through the muscles. And movement is FREE! Research shows that you don’t need to do vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks) to get the benefits, just walking around is sufficient. So build in a pattern of creating greater movement variety in the workplace (e.g. walk to a printer, water fountain, stand for a meeting, take the stairs, walk around the floor, park a bit further away from the building each day
Life is a game. This is your strategy guide
Real life is the game that – literally – everyone is playing. But it can be tough. This is your guide.
Python
Should You Be Using Python’s Walrus Operator? (Yes. And Here’s Why)
Python’s controversial assignment expression — known as the walrus operator — can improve your code, and it’s time you start using it!
Cloud
Okta Integration with Cloud Identity
TL;DR Cloud Identity is an Identity as a Service (IDaaS) solution that centrally manages users and groups. You can configure Cloud Identity to federate identities between Google and other identity providers, such as Okta, Active Directory and Azure Active Directory.
10 DevOps & SRE resources everyone should check out
I recently had a shot at the new BETA Google Cloud DevOps Professional exam. To say the least it was quite a workout. Now this post isn’t about that exam but it is about some super resources that I think are interesting around the topics of Site Reliability Engineering and DevOps. Now let’s get into the content.
Other stuff
Wikimedia's Grafana installation
Below are five high-level metrics indicating the overall user-visible health of the site. For advice on interpreting these metrics, read the instructions.
This dashboard mirrors what is shown on wikimediastatus.net, our public-facing status page. The data is uploaded to there by [Statograph](https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimediastatus.net#Statograph_(automated_metrics_upload). We keep these panels up-to-date with configuration.
Dare to Fail Gloriously
I make websites. Some in the past have made money, but most have failed. In fact, almost everything I have tried to do has failed. My goal now is to build things that get used in real time or fail gloriously. Take note of the amount dumb the ideas are and how bad I am at interviewing. No matter how hard you try, you cannot fail 100% of the time. I am tracking all metrics live here and sharing my failings.
Rejected Emoji Proposals
Sample images are usually taken directly from the proposals and may not accurately reflect best practices. The “sample” column has been left blank where a proposal document did not offer suitable illustrations.
Podcasts
The Bike Shed 372: Onboarding (Well!) Onto a Project
Stephanie raves about more software development-related zines by Julia Evans. Joël has been thinking about the mechanics of rolling dice.
Stephanie also started on a new client project that Joël has already been working on for many months. They talk about onboarding.
Talk Python To Me: Clean Code in Python
Clean code is one of those aspects of your programming career that's easy to put on the back burner (sometimes by management more than yourself). But it's important in the short term for writing more debuggable and readable code. And important in the long run for avoiding having your program take on the dreaded "legacy code" moniker. We're fortunate to have Bob Belderbos back on the show. He's been thinking and writing about clean code and Python a lot lately and we'll dive into a bunch of tips you can use right away to make your code cleaner.