SolutionStreet

March 22nd, 2020

Let’s Not Forget About the Other 50%

Software engineers and engineers-in-test tend to focus our efforts on developing the depth and breadth of our technical skills related to our area of expertise. We often get excited about learning a new framework, language, or technology. We focus on getting certifications for various programming languages and services (who doesn’t have an AWS certification of […]

February 23rd, 2020

If You Build It…The Jobs Will Come

How do you know you’ve learned a new programming language or web framework? Build something! After over thirty years in the software development industry, as a coder and a business owner, I am often asked by those new to the industry for guidance about landing that first coveted development job. Those seeking my advice include […]

January 9th, 2020

Some Thoughts on Managing AWS Costs

There are many reasons today that companies are considering migrating to the public cloud. Cost is only one of these many reasons. It may be tempting to see how your organization might quickly reap the benefits of a pay-as-you-go model the public cloud offers and avoid over-provisioning resources in anticipation of growth via traditional infrastructure […]

December 12th, 2019

Getting React on the Rails

Five years into its life, ReactJS remains one of the most popular front-end frameworks of 2019. It was created by the Facebook team and is the client framework of choice for many other large companies including Netflix, New York Times, Dropbox, PayPal, Pinterest, and Uber. React is continuing to evolve (most notably with the addition […]

November 21st, 2019

Traveling on the Street

Over the past year, I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to spend over half of it living and working as a software developer in seven different countries around the world. Solution Street has been willing to support my desire to see the world by allowing me to work remotely from anywhere in the world. While traveling, […]

October 8th, 2019

It Takes More Than Luck – A playbook for mitigating departure risk

Arguably the biggest news of the NFL offseason was the retirement of star quarterback, Andrew Luck, of the Indianapolis Colts.  Luck was a great player but suffered numerous injuries in his career, and decided he no longer wanted to suffer the cycle of injury, pain, rehabilitation and performance that came with a career in professional […]

September 17th, 2019

How Do You Find Great Software Developers?

One of our clients whose team we supplement recently said to me, “Your team is the best team I’ve ever worked with in my 20 years of experience. I don’t understand how everyone on the team is so good. How do you find them?” I simply replied that we find thoughtful problem solvers who have […]

August 20th, 2019

You Are Probably Doing Some ChatOps Even If You Don’t Know What It Is Yet!

In my last newsletter article I talked about team communication and how having a team communication contract can increase productivity and happiness across the team. One of the communication options for teams that is experiencing significant growth is “chat.” You have probably heard software teams raving about HipChat (now part of Slack) or Slack and […]

July 24th, 2019

Writing Software Is Like Making Pizza!

Well…it’s a bit of a stretch comparing software development to pizza making, but let me take a crack at this. First, some background. I have been writing code for 38 years and I have been making pizza for 29. I consider myself a pizzaiolo (pizza maker) who is still learning to perfect my craft, even […]

June 24th, 2019

Team Communication Contract

Does your team have a communication contract? Recently I was having drinks with a former manager of mine and he was relaying a story I had completely forgotten. He used to send me at least a half dozen emails a day with various thoughts, ideas and actions for me to address. He said that one […]