#software-engineering
48 posts
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7 min read
Reading Petzold's CODE as a book club, one Saturday at a time
X Six months of Saturday sessions reading Petzold's CODE together, from flashlights and Morse code to operating systems. Over 120 started. 4 of us finished.
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1 min read
Why "Product" is No Longer the Moat: The End of the Feature Factory!
LinkedIn We are witnessing the most significant shift in the economics of software since the advent of cloud computing.
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10 min read
From the audience to the stage: how a backend engineer learnt to give talks X In 2019 I was in the audience at Bengaluru meetups. Since then I've given talks in Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa, Pilani and Chicago. Here's every one, in order.
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1 min read
#DistributedDilemmas: all 24 days in one place X In February 2025 I posted one distributed systems dilemma a day on X. I made it to day 24. Here they all are, with the diagrams.
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1 min read
Day 24 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed sessions are a persistent headache X Distributed sessions are a persistent headache. Sticky sessions don't scale, but fully distributed sessions add complexity. Consider JWT or externalized…
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1 min read
Day 23 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed caching layers often become consistency nightmares X Distributed caching layers often become consistency nightmares. As cache invalidation schemes attempt to maintain coherence, real-world implementations…
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1 min read
Day 22 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed background jobs need careful orchestration X Distributed background jobs need careful orchestration. While stateless architectures simplify scaling, they risk duplicate processing like Slack alerts…
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1 min read
Day 21 of #DistributedDilemmas: Event sourcing isn't a silver bullet for distribution X Event sourcing isn't a silver bullet for distribution. Replay and snapshots become bottlenecks at scale. Design for efficient event storage and retrieval…
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1 min read
Day 20 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed rate limiting is harder than it looks X Distributed rate limiting is harder than it looks. Local rate limits don't prevent global abuse. Global protection requires coordination mechanisms like…
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1 min read
Day 19 of #DistributedDilemmas: Database migrations in distributed systems require meticulous planning due to their inherent complexity X Database migrations in distributed systems require meticulous planning due to their inherent complexity. Schema changes become distributed coordination…
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1 min read
Day 18 of #DistributedDilemmas: Microservice authentication is a distributed minefield X Microservice authentication is a distributed minefield. While JWTs excel at decentralized authentication, they introduce authorization complexity due to…
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1 min read
Day 17 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed cron jobs are a coordination nightmare X Distributed cron jobs are a coordination nightmare. Time drift and job duplication plague naive implementations. Consider distributed schedulers or…
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1 min read
Day 16 of #DistributedDilemmas: Serverless doesn't mean worry-free X Serverless doesn't mean worry-free. Cold starts and hidden state create new classes of distributed problems. While offering auto-scaling and cost…
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1 min read
Day 15 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed logging creates more noise than signal X Distributed logging creates more noise than signal. Modern distributed systems face two critical logging challenges: 1. Data overload from scattered logs…
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1 min read
Day 14 of #DistributedDilemmas: Service discovery often becomes a SPOT (single point of failure) X Service discovery often becomes a SPOT (single point of failure). Your registry being unavailable shouldn't prevent finding the registry. Design for…
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1 min read
Day 13 of #DistributedDilemmas: Configuration sprawl is the silent killer of distributed systems X Configuration sprawl is the silent killer of distributed systems. Environment variables become unmanageable at scale. Treat config as code, not as an…
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1 min read
Day 12 of #DistributedDilemmas: API versioning perpetuates distributed mistakes X API versioning perpetuates distributed mistakes. v2 endpoints often carry v1's technical debt. Evolve APIs additively to avoid version hell.
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1 min read
Day 11 of #DistributedDilemmas: Queue-based architectures hide scaling issues X Queue-based architectures hide scaling issues. Kafka topics with long retention become both a blessing and a curse. Backpressure beats unbounded queues!…
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1 min read
Day 10 of #DistributedDilemmas: Observability becomes obscurity at scale X Observability becomes obscurity at scale. More metrics often mean less visibility. Focus on the critical few signals that truly indicate system health!…
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1 min read
Day 9 of #DistributedDilemmas: Distributed transactions are a myth at scale X Distributed transactions are a myth at scale. Two-phase commit falls apart under network partitions. Design for compensation, not for distributed…
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1 min read
Day 8 of #DistributedDilemmas: Eventual consistency is consistently misunderstood X Eventual consistency is consistently misunderstood. CRDTs work better in whitepapers than in production. Real-world systems need a spectrum of consistency…
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1 min read
Day 7 of #DistributedDilemmas: Network partitions heal dangerously X Network partitions heal dangerously. Merging divergent states introduces subtle data corruption. CAP theorem isn't a choice, it's a law of nature in…
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1 min read
Day 6 of #DistributedDilemmas: Leader election creates false security X Leader election creates false security. Raft/Paxos implementations often have higher MTTR than the failures they aim to solve. Simplicity frequently beats…
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1 min read
Day 5 of #DistributedDilemmas: Sharding decisions made today become tomorrow's scaling bottlenecks X Sharding decisions made today become tomorrow's scaling bottlenecks. NoSQL's partitioning promises often cost more than vertical scaling. Distribution ≠…
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1 min read
Day 4 of #DistributedDilemmas: Idempotency is a lie we tell ourselves X Idempotency is a lie we tell ourselves. Nested partial failures expose retry logic flaws. True exactly-once delivery remains elusive in distributed…
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1 min read
Day 3 of #DistributedDilemmas: Caching accelerates inconsistency X Caching accelerates inconsistency. Cache invalidation storms often outweigh hit rates. The fastest cache is sometimes no cache at all. Exhibit A: DoorDash…
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1 min read
🚀 Launching today: 28 Days of #DistributedDilemmas
Medium Follow me on Twitter/X this February for one battle-tested insight a day on the hidden complexities behind outages, tech debt and architectural nightmares.
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1 min read
Day 2 of #DistributedDilemmas: Microservices don't eliminate complexity, they redistribute it X Microservices don't eliminate complexity, they redistribute it. Your monolith's function calls become network calls. Pick which failures you want to debug…
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1 min read
Day 1 of #DistributedDilemmas: Consistency guarantees become availability nightmares X Consistency guarantees become availability nightmares. Every distributed lock is a future bottleneck. Systems that embrace controlled inconsistency often…
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2 min read
🎄Solve Advent of Code 2024 With Me! Medium Announcing a spoiler-free YouTube video series for Advent of Code 2024 that focuses on how to analyze and approach each puzzle, not just the answers.
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8 min read
Cell-based architecture, explained: the public version of my Innovation Day talk X My Innovation Day deck was internal, so here's the public version: what a cell is, scaling up and across, blast radius, and what cells cost you.
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2 min read
The engineering books I'd read first, and how I actually get through them X A Blind post listed 9 books for a >600K/yr engineering job. I've read 8 of them. Here are the ones I'd read first, and the habits that get me through books.
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11 min read
The Redis Paradox: my DelhiFOSS 2.0 talk at IIT Delhi, written up X The written version of my DelhiFOSS 2.0 talk on Redis beyond caching: a short history of caches, live driver matching with GEO commands, and Pub/Sub.
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6 min read
Speccing a Shopify app for a friend: Etsy-to-Shopify inventory sync
Obsidian A friend needed a Shopify app that keeps stock in sync with Etsy. Before any code, I wrote him a spec to hand to a developer: scope, diagrams and a 70-hour initial estimate.
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4 min read
Our Journey with Multi-region Cloud Architecture and Data Residency LinkedIn How Atlassian built its multi-region cloud architecture for data residency, covering region creation, service hydration, tenant migration and self-serve moves.
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9 min read
Elevating Trust: Atlassian's Journey to HIPAA Eligibility Expansion! LinkedIn How Atlassian expanded HIPAA eligibility by replacing a manual BAA process with a self-serve flow and a new service integrating IronClad with Admin Hub.
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3 min read
🌶 Just writing code doesn't make you a good Software Engineer! 🌶 LinkedIn Six habits beyond coding that turn a coder into a 10x product engineer, from focusing on the end-user and communicating well to documenting everything.
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10 min read
Job hunt 4.0: five weeks of senior and staff interviews, and what I got wrong Obsidian An offer pulled in the crypto winter, a warm-up in November 2021, about 40 companies in one Obsidian note, and my notes on every round I fumbled.
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9 min read
Two system design problems from my 2022 interviews, worked with real numbers Obsidian A photo pipeline for a fleet of 360-degree camera cars and an A/B split-testing service: requirements, capacity math, data model and the parts I'd tighten.
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16 min read
Interview prep, senior edition: a system design checklist, one backtracking template and what loops grade on Obsidian My 2022 prep notes for senior and staff interviews: a system design checklist, one Python DFS for seven backtracking problems, rubrics and a STAR story bank.
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13 min read
Back from Dead | Troubleshoot slow page loads & 503 errors of WordPress blog
BitSnapper How a slow, 503-throwing WordPress blog on GoDaddy shared hosting was traced to a bloated Jetpack postmeta table, and fixed by cleaning up the database.
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7 min read
Post[0] = "why tech?"
GitHub blog I always talk about how I am a huge nerd when it comes to tech. So, what better way to start my engineering blog than talking about "why tech?".
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4 min read
Face recognition on a Raspberry Pi 3 at Shuttl X We built face-recognition boarding for Shuttl on a Raspberry Pi 3 with Python and OpenCV. Low FPS, a crunch and a TV demo.
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2 min read
The best resource to prepare for a Software Engineering interview | Fresher Edition BitSnapper Discover the best resource to prepare for a Software Engineering interview and make sure that you clear it like a boss. Tried 'n' Tested.
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4 min read
Love Python? Take this challenge now! BitSnapper Do you think, code & live in Python? So, this is for you. Discover "The Python Challenge" and explore new horizons & possibilities with Python. Dive in!
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3 min read
Android 101 : Day 4 | Intent In Android BitSnapper Activities, Yay! Learn how to design a Multi-Activity App using the concepts of Intent In Android & build something great. Oh, and Source code is included!
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2 min read
Android 101 : Day 3 | Hybrid Approach BitSnapper In this post you'll learn, how to develop a Caller Application using Hybrid Approach and Intents in Android OS. Get your hands-on session now!
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3 min read
Android 101 : Day 1 | Building Your First App BitSnapper Learn how to start Building Your First App for Android smartphones by following this uber cool Android 101 guide. It's time to say - Hello, World!
