Ruby was the first language that I truly enjoyed after struggling to learn Java using the Head First Java book, building web pages with a bunch of PHP scripts and attempting to build an airplane ops application with Laravel. I had lots of haha, light bulb moments when I was learning Ruby. A lot of things became crystal clear and I could finally explain code to a 5 year old. Read more

What hardware I use? I use a pretty simple and old MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) for my day to day programming. I also have an HP Pavillon 15-inch with Linux Ubuntu OS as my secondary laptop, 2 1TB hard drives and a Google Home device What software do I use? For development, I use a mix of Sublime Text, iTerm, Bash, Tmux and Vim. I recently download VS Code to check out what the hype was about but it didn’t stick (probably because I was lazy to try something new). Read more

When looking at a new codebase, the first thing I look out for is the docs for getting set up. If none exists, I ping the contact person to find out how to get set up. It’s important to always document what worked/didn’t work for me while getting setup because sometimes, even on a repo with documentation, the original developer(s) may have missed documenting a key component because they were writing the doc with loads of context and local libraries/packages that a developer new to the codebase might not have. Read more

One of the reasons why I love tech is because it’s an ever-evolving industry where there’s always something new to learn. There’s always an old or shiny new concept or knowledgebase to explore. This makes it fun for me but it can also get a bit overwhelming if not managed well. I like that at Happy Bear we have a culture of asking each other what we want to learn next for self-development. Read more

I love remote work because it allows me to optimize my daily work routine for when I’m most productive. I also like how the focus of remote work is much more about the work you’re able to produce than anything else - so it’s quite effective. I love the freedom and control remote work gives. It’s quite exciting that with a very good internet connection, a laptop and a workspace that’s convenient for you, you can be a functioning part of an organization. Read more