Articles

Here is a collection of 45 articles that I've written over the past few years. I write about software development, JavaScript testing, chatbots, technical leadership, and other things I'm interested in. I'm attempting to build a regular habit of writing and I hope that you find something useful in my articles.

Enjoy!

Be a force multiplier

Want to become a senior developer or software engineering manager? Forget being a 10x developer. Use the force!

Become a producer not a consumer

Don't just spend your time doom scrolling on Twitter or liking Instagram pictures. It's time to become a content producer and not just a content consumer.

Asking for feedback as a leader

Feedback is necessary for a growth mindset and to continuously improve. As a leader, we often give feedback to our team but forget to ask others for it.

Share your network

Strong leaders build great networks over time. Sharing those networks can help to unlock your team's potential too.

Remote working is the future

The technology world changed in 2020. Remote working has jumped forward faster than ever. It's time to embrace remote working as the future.

Writing great pull requests

Collaboration with other software developers is the key to great software. How do we make sure our code is merged into a project? By writing great pull requests.

Always be learning

Learning doesn't have to stop after school. Learning should be a lifelong passion that we all embrace.

Creating an idea habit

I sometimes struggle for ideas, especially as I try and a daily blog post for 30 days. Here are a few ideas on how to kickstart a habit of idea generation.

Building an audience

Building an audience is a great way to expand your online network. It can help you to find a new role or perhaps sell digital products online. Here are some tips from Nate Eliason which show how you can do it.

Ship your code with confidence

All developers want to ship code on a daily basis. If we want to get our code to our users more frequently, how can we ensure we release with confidence?

Lift your team up

Building a great culture in teams can be hard. If you help to lift them up, you create an inclusive team and everybody wins.

Stop overthinking everything

Making your brain slow down and stop worrying about everything is hard sometimes. As an active overthinker, I'm trying to adopt strategies to deal with it.

Learn in public

Most people consume content and then forget about it. The fastest way to learn something is to share it with others. So let's all learn in public.

Creating a writing habit

How can you make writing a habit? It's hard to overcome the fear of writing but by making it habitual, it should become easier. I hope to make 2021 my year of writing. Read more.

Different types of software tests

What are the different types of tests we can write for our software?

There are many different types of tests you can write. Let's find out about what they are.

2019: Personal Retrospective

2020 is going to be my year of writing more. I'm starting with a retrospective of 2019.

A look back at what I achieved in 2019 and what I hope to achieve in 2020.

How to validate an email adress using the Chatfuel JSON API

When asking your chatbot user for an email address, how do you know if it's valid? Let's look at how you can validate an email address using the Chatfuel JSON API and a Node.js web server.

When asking your chatbot user for an email address, how do you know if it's valid? Let's look at how you can validate an email address using the Chatfuel JSON API and a Node.js web server.

Lessons Learned From Running A Code Club

Teaching children about computer programming is fun but challenging. Here's what I learnt.

A Code Club is a great place for children to learn more about computing, and for adults to learn about teaching. Here are some tips and tricks on how to make your Code Club a fun learning environment for everyone.

Simple Error Handling For Your Production Express Server

Adding error handling to your Express server doesn't have to be confusing.

Adding error handling to your Express server doesn't have to be confusing. Follow this simple guide to add production ready error handling to your Node.js Express application.

How To Unit Test Express Routes

Unit testing of Express routes is often tricky but it can be done. Here's how to do it and why you probably should.

How to unit test Express routes and some reasons why you should do it.