Robert Roskam

@raiderrobert
3.3K Followers
62 Following
3.4K Posts

I am deliberately eclectic.

I write mostly about software engineering, and I also post #programminghumor, #gaming, #writing, #gamdev, and lots of other stuff.

I tend to write stuff in #python these days with bits of #js / #go / #rust tossed in. Playing with #godot too!

Engineer & Manager

🌐https://robertroskam.com
🗺️Greenville, SC
Robert Roskam3h ago
There are only two options, as an engineering manager:
- you're the constraint
- you're finding the constraint

Any kind of leader, but especially in technical roles, is tempted to do the work.

If you're routinely doing the work, there's no one else doing the things that only a manager can & should do.

The main thing you should be doing is ensuring that all of your direct reports aren't blocked.

When they're waiting on you, then you are the constraint.
Robert Roskam2d ago

YouTube demonetized Patrick Boyle's video on the Epstein Files. Which effectively hides it over there.

I'm doing my part to ensure his hard work doesn't go to waste.

Watch his video and reshare.

https://youtu.be/GAJf2F1BbRA

Show threadRobert Roskam3d ago

Infra: I pulled down a glass from the artifact registry, and it held water just fine
QA: I can confirm the water looks like it's halfway up; I also tested it with a duck, and the glass broke, so that may be a bug
Security engineer: the glass has a slight green tint; it may have vulnerabilities if it was made during the 30s when glass had uranium in it. We should isolate the glass to prevent users from interacting with it.

3/

Show threadRobert Roskam3d ago

EM: let's clarify the ACs with the PM
UI Designer: the glass is a user hostile pattern
Product Manager: glass size may be a perception issue; let's A/B test some fake doors

2/

Robert Roskam3d ago

The glass is ....

Optimist: half full
Pessimist: half empty

Backend engineer: this is a frontend problem
Frontend engineer: I just put in the water that the API gave me
Fullstack: the glass meets the spec I was given.

1/

Robert Roskam4d ago
Spend a day planning. Save a year of coding.

Spend a day coding. Save a year planning.

There is no science to figuring out which case you’re in.

Only art.
Robert Roskam5d ago
Always code as if the individual who will maintain your code is a very dear friend.
Show threadRobert Roskam6d ago

I say that containers "helped".

Mostly what happened is that Docker took off in popularity and brute forced a reference implementation over time. One that's demonstrating that there's more work to be done in this space.

So like I was saying, I wonder what comes next. I think it might be WASM and shipping something for that, but so far I haven't seen any standards in the space.

2/

Robert Roskam6d ago

Containers are showing their age. I wonder what comes next.

Don't get me wrong. Containers were a good step forward. Better than JARs or binaries and much better than shipping around entire VMs like we did with Vagrant.

Containers helped with three problems (1) isolation on shared resources, (2) build replication, and (3) a single, standardized, and configurable artifact.

1/

Robert Roskam6d ago
nixCraft 🐧6d ago
💯 justified outrage about AI slop. Source https://bsky.app/profile/robpike.io/post/3matwg6w3ic2s