Dan Coffman

On this random Wednesday, if you’re a software developer thinking, for no specific reason, about pivoting into the impact space and want to talk about what FreeWorld is doing and why we’re growing so fast and how you can help, please reach out.

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Reading about the CAP theorem in distributed systems. Some posts online claim to have systems that achieve consistency and availability - is this possible, if so, how? I read an article from Coda Hale called "you can't sacrifice partition tolerance" - link in the comments. I've been looking into how LLM systems operate, much like Google search, where availability supersedes consistency but obviously trading systems must (for the most part) prioritise consistency. ...and we're hiring - link in the comments! #distributedsystems #Hiring

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If you think that the Trump assassination attempt somehow only affects Republicans, know that for some reason Bernie Sanders also cancelled his rally in Portland, ME for this Friday. The problem isn't that there aren't other candidates with better ideas--there are. The problem isn't that people are dumb and don't want a better future for the planet--I think they do. The best candidates are seldom the ones on the ballot. The higher you go in politics this is true: it is often the richest and oldest that are eligible for Presidency, and those with archaic ideas and that support the status quo, and those that serve for self gain. So once again, I'll be voting for the US Presidential candidate, whichever one is on the ballot whose ideas are more progressive. I will vote for the candidate not trying to topple government as we know it, or shake the hands of the Dictators whose hands snuff out the life of dissent. It was a Historic Meeting when Donald Trump shook the hands of Kim Jong Un, because he shook the hand of a despot that murders his own people for consuming the culture of other people, like the 30 teens North Korea recently executed for watching South Korean shows. Similarly, we must express our outrage at China's treatment of the Uyghur population. The Chinese government has detained hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Uyghurs in what they call "re-education camps." These camps are nothing short of modern-day concentration camps, where people are held without trial, subjected to political indoctrination, forced labor, and even torture. The world cannot stand idly by as an entire ethnic group is systematically oppressed and their culture erased. I get that some folks think we should just respect their Vote, but look, even Hitler and Putin were elected and that's just shit to think someone would vote for that, yet alone enough to normalize it. So this November, Let's Vote! Let's vote not to become America the Scared and Punished; lets not vote for camps; Lets not roll back the clocks of social progress when the hands of the Science clock will not be turned back by such rhetoric. No, we must work together to accomplish the impossible, if we want a future for our Grandchildren and their children on this planet.

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"I don't like leetcode style interviews!" See I wasn't making it up! Kurtis Nusbaum tells us more about why engineers don't like leetcode and the types of interviews that lead to a more enjoyable and effective interviewing experience.

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This product was practically built for me. I’ve been waiting for something like it for years, long after I gave up writing on paper almost entirely. Heck, if it wasn’t for having kids, I probably could have gone the last the past decade with the challenge of not writing anything down on paper. Which makes it all the more frustrating at the price point it’s released. This isn’t targeted for grade school students, college students, or young professionals. It’s targeted at prosumers which share the same space as an iPad Air, and the market is already dominated by prosumers who want that product. For those who can’t afford the iPad, Amazon releases tablet computers in the $100 range. I know Remarkable is a much smaller company, and can’t compete on price with Amazon, or volume like Apple. But waiting so long for something I can’t justify the purchase price just hurts. At half the price it would have been a no brainer. It checks practically every box.

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Public Service Announcements to recruiters. If you have the same job post you re-publish every day for many weeks, we notice. This gives hesitation to apply as we have no idea why you rejected the dozens of other candidates that commented "Interested" on your previous posts. Please provide more details about the position so that it's easier for candidates to know if they are a fit or not. If your intent is to build a pool of candidates, please be candid about it and openly say "Need iOS developer to build a pool of candidates". Believe me, they will still apply.

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Some things I have learned building a "side gig" investing business: 🎉 It's fun! Investing has always been a hobby of mine, and turning it into a service for others is very rewarding. Especially when it works. 😊 🤔 You have to _keep_ it fun. Many times I've been tempted to seek venture funding to turn it into a "startup" and grow it like crazy...but my brother Benjamin Lyman (who co-founded with me) keeps me in check in that regard. We build because it's fun, not because we "have to", which would be the case if we had venture capital investors stipulating sales and growth targets. 👬 It's very important to pick the right partner(s). Not all partnerships work out, that's a fact of life. Fortunately my brother and I work really well together and are good complements to each others' skills. 😩 Keep trying. This is probably the 20th LLC that I've created during my career and it's the only successful one. Like science, you don't stop after your first failed experiment. You keep trying and failing until you get it right, then build upon that. 🏦 Financial companies appear to lag about 10 years behind current technology. It has been _extremely_ difficult to find a stock broker that could support our use-case with API's. The biggest broker we talked to even told us their "API" is to upload a CSV file of trades via FTP for them to execute. 🤯 📈 Data is king. Of all of the investing strategies out there, the best one we've found (and that we use) is to let the data tell you what to do. No magic numbers, no assumptions, and no guessing. Just back-test and let the numbers speak for themselves. 🤖 Automation makes it somewhat "passive". We're using cloud-based server-less functions that run every morning automatically....and most of the time we just watch the updates roll in and don't have to do anything. We've made a lot of money for our clients while we were on vacations. 🏖 💲 Control your costs. We keep reducing and simplifying, removing services and software licenses we don't _actually_ need to provide value for our clients. We're managing over $3M AUM and our monthly cloud spend....is less than $2.00 🤣 📰 Marketing is tough, especially for engineers. We apparently understand computers, data, and processes much better than we understand other humans. Still trying to figure out how much to try and do ourselves vs. outsourcing to someone else. Still in progress... we'll have to let you know how it goes. So far not so well. 😅 What things have you learned from your successful (or failed) side-gigs? What tips or advice would you give us? Please let us know in the comments! 💬 And if you want to keep up on how we're doing, we post our stats at the bottom of our webpage at www.lymanwealth.com

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Bidenomics at work - your tax dollars spent on creating unionized, low-end, low-wage jobs in construction and hospitality, mostly wasted on low-value-added infrastructure (assuming any value gets created at all) and subsidies that enrich the well-connected, but do very little for the workers. Today's data also confirmed the US economy is slowing down, despite the $1TN+ bonfire of cash in the Inflation Roaring Act, while inflation is still well above target: we're heading straight towards stagflation, with a hapless Administration, using government money to buy votes; appalling, really. #economics #jobs #inflation https://lnkd.in/gtq7ebzt

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While some folks hire entire Figma design teams for their personal websites, I'm here at 6:30 AM explaining to my partner why I need a third coffee to "write stuff." 2022: "I'll share monthly insights about building companies!" 2024: checking it -> Writing consistency matches crypto winter performance 📉 But look - AI got better at English faster than I got better at writing. That's what we call product-market fit. New strategy for 2025 - Actually write 12 articles - Convince partner these dawn coffee raids are essential business ops Track my progress (or lack thereof) here: https://lnkd.in/e6bkkxvH P.S. If my partner reads this - yes, this is exactly what I'm doing at 6:00 AM either wiring or reading the book. Note: Will open source my coffee consumption metrics in Q3 2025. Full transparency, like web3 promised.

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Dev agencies, if you don’t want to be treated as a commodity, stop acting like one. - Learn the business context for engineering needs - Stop squeezing your clients every opportunity you get - Prioritize transparency, communication, and accountability In short, position yourself as a partner that uses tech to solve business problems. You really can’t complain about being seen as a commodity if you treat everything as a transaction.

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⛔️ Fear of failure will destroy your career before it starts. Most people quit. Maybe they get overwhelmed by the research and differing opinions. Maybe close friends say its too hard, or give examples of why they will fail. If you assume failure and are around people that encourage a negative viewpoint, it'll be a lot harder for you to make progress. But what if you succeed? What if it does work out? I know for me, I spend a lot of time thinking about the "what if it works" scenario. I used to be an office assistant. 👉🏾 I'm a firm believer that consistency and work ethic will breed consistent results. Maybe things won't work as fast as you'd like, but it will work. 👉🏾 Don't fail because you chose to fail. Surround yourself with doers. The rewards are worth the struggle. #mentormesh

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Yesterday, I had to work _directly_ on my MacBookPro for a bit. Usually I work on an external monitor. It's kind of shocking how little screen real estate there is on the laptop itself. It definitely gives me pause when considering UI design. As a dev, it's hard to imagine working directly on the computer. But, I know that's how a lot of non-developer people work. I wish the Chrome Dev Tools device simulator had sizes for laptop devices so I could keep laptops front-of-mind. Seems strange that they only have mobile devices. What are people using these days to at least consider laptop design?

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Startup425 will be hosting their "Eastside Summit" on August 1st at Bellevue City Hall during #SeattleTechWeek and you do not want to miss it! The Eastside Summit is hosted by Startup425 and its partner cities of Bellevue, Renton, Redmond, Issaquah, Kirkland, and Bothell. Join #Founders, #Investors, Executives, PolicyMakers, and those in bigtech and startups for a day of networking, education and community. There will be a series of panels around topics like... - Venture Capital & Startup Investments: Offers a deep dive into funding trends and investment strategies, providing attendees with crucial insights into the financial backbone of startups. - Eastside Startup Founder Exits: Successful founders share their exit strategies and experiences, offering invaluable insights for upcoming entrepreneurs. - Enterprise Technology on Eastside: Highlights the latest advancements in enterprise technology and their impact on both the local and global markets - Business and Technology Policy: Facilitates a dialogue on evolving regulatory frameworks to better support technological innovation and business growth Registrations have just opened.

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Non-software engineers can actually be like “some” software engineers. This is something I’ve already thought during this journey of technological change, backed by direct experiences helping companies solve real problems with software. Software is a solution to a problem. Thus, we usually need to understand the problem before starting to think of a possible solution. Traditionally, different people were dedicated to those different domains (understanding the problem and designing the solution). But things get a little blended nowadays. In some situations, non-technical members are in a better position to design (and implement) a solution. They just need to be a little technically-minded. The most effective solutions might actually come from non-technical individuals, as they possess domain expertise, which gives them a clear understanding of both the problem and their needs. With the help of modern tools, they are now able to create potential solutions themselves. The article is very interesting also because it basically demystifies the current adage about “we’ll all be replaced by AI agents” with a much more interesting take: “people can become more effective at solving problems” https://lnkd.in/de3b7vM5

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It's hard to choose the right code reviewers. I just read the research paper below, detailing persistent gender inequities in who reviews code. In short: examining code reviews at Google over one three month period, the authors found that women were sent about 25% fewer reviews than men. The number is closer to 16% when accounting for factors like whether the person is actively writing code or whether they kept their job for the entire period. Even shorter: Coders send women fewer code reviews than they send to men. In my experience, this is only one part of a general problem with assigning code reviewers. As a team lead, I typically wanted code reviewers to be assigned so that: 1) The code ends up getting a good review. Reviewing is a skill, and some people are better at it than others. A good review has to be gracious, provide both positive and constructive feedback, and have a reasonable turnaround time. You also want thoughtful - ideally diverse - ideas and feedback. 2) More than one person on the team understands the code. You need this so that code can be maintained when one person is unavailable. 3) The code reviews are evenly distributed through the team. The good reviewers are often in high demand. But they can get bogged down with too many reviews. And you don't get to be a good reviewer unless you get some practice first. Like I said, that's what I wanted. In reality, these goals can be hard to reconcile. If you have one person writing a subsystem, and you really want someone else on the team who understands that subsystem, then you often have to pick a single person to do all of the reviews. That makes it hard to distribute reviews evenly. If you have someone who is a relatively new hire, and you absolutely need the best review possible, you may not give that hire a lot of reviews. That makes even distribution hard. And that's not even counting the stresses of having to worry about this while you juggle product deadlines and complicated personalities! As a result, teams tend to fall into very bad review assignment habits. There's the TL who is overwhelmed because they try to do everyone's code reviews. There's the expert who has a week-long turnaround time, but you *absolutely* need their review. There's that one developer who needs to be reminded every single day that they have pending code reviews. The article suggests automated reviewer selection tools that apply round-robin strategies can help deal with bias problems. They absolutely can - but those strategies just can't account for the human aspects of the review. My take is that code review is a bit like bug assignment - you need to assign reviewers for project code as thoughtfully as you assign the project itself. It's not something that can completely be done by a given developer in a vacuum - but it's also not a problem that a tool can solve by itself. https://lnkd.in/gTDxAhpG

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Have a gap? Several clients have reached out about gaps within their staff development that they're looking to get ahead of. Most of their problems in staff development have stimmed from lack of Mid-Level Developers who have 3-8 years of experience. Now, you're probably thinking, "But Alex, someone with 8 years of experience could be titled a Senior." To that I'd say your correct, but not every developer has the opportunity to succeed in that way in their current roles or have amazing company loyalty and don't understand the current hiring market/trends. On top of that there are major, major salary ranges in those 3-8 years of experience, but that can be a topic for tomorrow... So, are you seeing similar gaps in your teams?

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