Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

One of the most popular methods of passive income is the use of affiliate links.  While there are courses and numerous books about it, there is a lot that gets missed.  This option is not a method of generating revenue on its own.  The key to success in this area is getting eyeballs to your site. Affiliate Links Need Traffic The essential step in using this revenue approach is the one that is ofte...

The best possible approach to passive income is by creating products.  Even a single product can provide a substantial profit.  Of course, there is a cost involved in researching and creating that product, but the pay-off can be limitless.  The time and effort spent can be completely worthwhile.  On the other hand, it can all be a complete waste. From Creating Products to Passive Income There are...

Value-added reselling is roughly a form of passive income.  However, it is still a good enough approach for us to look at it as an option.  This approach can lead us quickly to a product for a side hustle and maybe even the automation required to limit our required hours each week.  We will not always find this to be a passive approach to income.  Nevertheless, it can be done with proper outsourci...

Passive income is a hot topic in certain quarters.  Likewise, we have mentioned and even discussed this approach to revenue over the years.  This season will focus on passive income approaches and side hustle families of work that are in the "work now, earn later" vein.  While some of the topics this season will have the potential for life-changing income, many will not, and some will be very smal...

Whether in audio form or the old-school paper version, books are an essential part of becoming a better developer.  Better yet, they can help us enjoy life and lead to overall success.  As we pause between seasons, it seems like a good time to go over a few book recommendations.  These are reads that have had a significant impact on me.  Thus, I share them in hopes that they similarly impact you....

As a podcaster, I am also a fan.  I listen to numerous shows and have for many years.  Therefore it makes sense to offer an episode of podcast recommendations.  There is an enormous number of options available, but maybe this episode will help you find some good ones and sort through the noise. The Tip of The Iceberg The recommendations are by no means a complete list.  The options available are a...

In this stand-alone episode, we look at solvers block.  This is what I call the situation where one can not seem to push through to a solution.  It is not due to options that have not been tried.  Instead, it feels like there are no further options to explore. Solvers Block Hits Us All We all have good days and bad ones.  Sometimes everything falls into place, and we feel super productive.  Howeve...

We have marched through 31 examples during this antipattern season.  Therefore, we have enough of them to step back and look at themes, bad habits, and commonalities.  While it is helpful to know about the individual patterns, it is better to see the big picture approaches we should avoid.  Let's get to beating some dead horses. Communication Is Key We can do everything right and still end up down...

Death by planning is an anti-pattern that makes us look like lemmings.  We make a plan, and then we follow it mindlessly.  This approach can work for some projects like building a house.  However, software development does not work this way.  There are always changes and unknowns that we encounter during the SDLC process.  Thus, we want to be able to adjust to those instead of staying rigidly to t...

The fire drill anti-pattern is one that falls on project management.  While we can personally place ourselves in this sort of situation, the anti-pattern comes from planning.  To be specific, it comes from poor planning.  Think of the idea that we can cram for a test the night before and extend it to slamming home a project at the last minute. Defining the Fire Drill Anti-Pattern The definition fo...

The throw it over the wall anti-pattern is shared across a broad range of disciplines.  However, it is particularly damaging to the software development process.  We will focus on that discipline as we dig deeper into this communication-related issue. Defining the Throw It Over The Wall Anti-Pattern The Sourcemaking site provides an excellent setup for this anti-pattern.  Thus, we will start there...

The "Analysis Paralysis" anti-pattern may be the most well known.  It has a few other names.  However, a search on this one will return a broad range of results.  The detrimental effects of thinking over action are not seen only in software development.  They make an appearance universally. Defining the Analysis Paralysis Anti-Pattern This time our definition is more of a description.  The linked...

The mushroom management anti-pattern is one that appears everywhere.  While it can be simplified to keeping employees in the dark, there is more to it.  The side effects of this anti-pattern can cause long-lasting problems and even prevent a company from success.  Let's look at it from the software development point-of-view. Defining the Mushroom Management Anti-Pattern The simple definition provi...

Feature creep is one of the most prevalent anti-patterns in my experience.  I personally find it a recurring challenge to avoid.  The issue is that we can always find features that are nice to have with our solution.  That makes them very attractive to tack on to our release or version.  There is also a limit to what can be called feature creep.  Let's look a little deeper into this one. Defining...

The magic strings anti-pattern implies a much more entertaining experience than it is.  This coding style is not rare.  Thus, it is likely you have encountered it or even fallen into this trap.  As always, proven design principles and best practices help.  However, the reasons this is an anti-pattern are worth reviewing. Defining the Magic Strings Anti-Pattern The DevIQ definition for the magic st...

The death march anti-pattern is one of the most painful to endure.  There is even a tendency to envy those involved in actual ones.  This situation crushes morale and feels like it will never end. Defining the Death March Anti-Pattern This anti-patten is so common we can go to Wikipedia for a good definition. [Click Here to See The Page] "In  project management , a  death march  is a project that...

In this episode, we cover another anti-pattern that everyone has experienced.  However, the CYA approach is not often seen as something to avoid.  There are downsides to the cover your assets approach that need to be seen for what they are so our use of it is tempered. Defining the Cover Your Assets Anti-Pattern The Antipatterns.com site has a short and sweet definition of this anti-pattern for us...

This anti-pattern implies a heavier hand than is common.  While the intellectual violence anti-pattern sounds shocking and over-the-top, it is common and often subtle.  We have many ways of shutting down discussion or "protecting our turf" that are easy to miss. Defining the Intellectual Violence Anti-Pattern The Sourcemaking site has a good definition and discussion about this anti-pattern.  They...

It is hard to go through life without being warned against reinventing the wheel at some point.  This recommendation is a general warning to avoid duplicating effort where possible.  Thus, we have an easy to understand anti-pattern.  On the other hand, we should look deeper to determine whether we are avoiding an anti-pattern. Defining the Reinventing The Wheel Anti-Pattern The DevIQ site has a si...

A swiss army knife is a great tool to carry around with you.  However, this anti-pattern tells us that building a one-stop-shop for your design functionality is a wrong approach.  Several problems arise when you throw almost everything into a single class. Defining the Swiss Army Knife Anti-Pattern I found a good blog post on this anti-pattern to provide our definition.  The article focuses on an...

While experience is an excellent teacher, it is not a silver bullet.  Every problem we tackle is a little different.  Thus, we should follow best practices even when we think we have done this all before.  When we instead believe we can take short-cuts, we are likely to be practicing architecture by implication. Defining the Architecture By Implication Anti-Pattern We go with a lengthy definition...

The skills of writing code and abstracting functionality are not the same.  This fact is why the Grand old Duke of York is an anti-pattern.  Passing around essential tasks like design is not a practical approach.  We should set up a team, so the people that are best at a job are the ones doing it. Defining the Grand Old Duke of York Anti-Pattern This particular pattern is not easy to define.  Inst...

There is an old saw about too many cooks spoiling the broth.  This statement roughly describes the design by committee anti-pattern.  While two heads may be better than one for most problems, there is a diminishing return as we add more "heads" to the mix.  At its worst, we end up with a design by committee situation. Defining the Design By Committee Anti-Pattern The comments on the definition at...

We all know that more is always better except when it is not.  The challenge of quality and quantity is a common anti-pattern for software development.  We take a look at it in this episode about the warm bodies approach. Defining the Warm Bodies Anti-Pattern There are several definitions of this anti-pattern.  In this episode, we use the Daxx site definition to drive our discussion. [Click Here t...

In an effort to re-use our previous work, we can over-simplify a solution.  One such situation is when we grow from a stand-alone system to a distributed one.  This particular anti-pattern is a facet of the autogenerated stovepipe.  Even the best solution in one case is not always going to be a good one to move to an enterprise or a distributed approach. Defining the Autogenerated Stovepipe Anti-P...