Jun 3, 2020When to use a reporting databaseAlmost always. Continuing with my theme of scaling, let’s talk about how to handle application use cases that require complex reports to be run, whether to drive dashboards or just create CSVs for customers. Reporting-style queries are typically computationally expensive, as they have to go through a large swath of…Reporting6 min readReporting6 min read
Published inThe Startup·May 20, 2020Startup Engineering: How to Build Fast and Prepare for ScaleEvery technology startup I have been at has had the same problem: how do you build things as quickly as possible in order to achieve product-market fit, and then how do you make sure you can smoothly and rapidly scale once you hit it? Some of you might arch your…Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Published inFincura Engineering·Feb 6, 2020The Automation FallacyIn today’s world, a superficial reading of tech newsletters and startup press releases leads one to believe we are on the cusp of a machine-driven society. Indeed, “Artificial Intelligence” and “Machine Learning” have become table-stakes marketing terms, with companies like Tesla (autopilot) and Google (duplex) leading the charge toward fully…Automation7 min readAutomation7 min read
Published inFincura Engineering·Jan 11, 2019Money Talks: How to speak business as an engineerWhen I was handed the keys to the engineering organization at my previous company, I did what I knew: I jumped in head first and focused on the architecture and code. And I thought I was doing a great job. We successfully scaled the platform to handle a massive influx…Software Development6 min readSoftware Development6 min read
Feb 14, 2018Member-onlyBlockchain doesn’t solve all your technology problems.“Blockchain” is the technology buzzword of the year. It’s so powerful that Kodak was able to almost double its stock price just by announcing their own cryptocurrency, and a small restaurant group had similar moves after announcing its intent to use blockchain to manage its rewards program. …Blockchain3 min readBlockchain3 min read