Generating Windows 10 Notifications With PowerShell

August 26, 2020

I recently moved all my development boxes to Windows. That’s right, all those Mac machines, with the exception of one that I need for testing, have been Boot Camp-ed to use the latest and greatest of the Windows 10 ecosystem. As part of this process, I started building some automation scripts - I’ve had that for macOS in the form of shell scripts that I could run whenever I re-installed the system, but nothing like that for Windows.

Honey, I Accidentally Became A Product Manager

August 1, 2020

In the past couple of months, folks asked me how I got into product management. While everyone probably wants to hear an overly romanticized story about how this was my passion from an early age, the reality is much funnier - it was an accident. I never had any plan to be in product management, and yet, this is how I built my career. This essay is a story of how I got to be in the role I am today.

Announcing MeetingShot

July 8, 2020

Sometimes, you code for the sake of coding, and build something that is just fun. Back in June, my good friend Dan Fernandez came up with the idea of a website that can create Zoom meeting screenshots that place people in the company of celebrities, animals, or the Brady Bunch. That is, we’re not cool enough to actually hang out with said celebrities, but we can at least pretend that we chat with them over Zoom, to the surprise of our friends and family.

Configuring Key-Based SSH Access For Raspberry Pi

July 4, 2020

I am using a Raspberry Pi device for experimentation purposes, and I had to temporarily enable SSH on it via the public Internet, which can be a monumentally bad idea if the machine where the service is enabled is not properly secured. The problem is less related to SSH itself, and more to the default configuration which is used by some folks. That is - they use passwords to authenticate.

Chapter Two: Day One - Joining Amazon

May 4, 2020

Last week I mentioned that after six year at Microsoft I was leaving the company to pursue a new adventure that would push my growth and skills to new levels. To me, learning can only be done if I constantly push myself outside my comfort zone - I think today’s decision does this. I am happy to announce that starting today I will be joining Amazon Web Services as a Senior Product Manager, Technical on the Amazon EventBridge team, making serverless and event-driven infrastructure more accessible and developer-friendly.

End Of Chapter One: Leaving Microsoft

April 23, 2020

Jeff Sandquist, CVP of Developer Relations at Microsoft, once said that “change invigorates the soul”. Working with Jeff’s organization was one of the highlights of my career - collaborating with some of the smartest folks in the industry, shipping things that have an impact (also known as docs.microsoft.com) and being very closely aligned with developer needs. I’ve been at Microsoft for close to six years, and I always felt like I am never the smartest person in the room - the sheer caliber of individuals that I had the honor of working with speaks volumes for the kinds of organizations that exist within the company.

Building Your Own Twitter Analytics

April 13, 2020

TL;DR: Check the source code out on GitHub for the project. It’s a demonstration of how you can use simple components to build awesome tools. That’s right, you don’t need Kubernetes for this! Table of contents Introduction The basics Ingress Data store Rendering layer Building the tools SQLite database Ingress script Analysis notebook Conclusion Introduction I’m one of those people that needs data around the things that I do - there is just something fun about being able to quantify and analyze things.

Launching A Podcast

April 11, 2020

Yes, you read that right - my good friend Courtny and I launched a podcast, dubbed “The Work Item”, where we talk about everything that comes to mind in the product development and design space. We even have a mascot, named “Peppy the Post-It” (Courtny is the creative mastermind behind the art and the mascot name, by the way). Two episodes of this podcast are already out - the first one being on remote work (check it out on YouTube), and the second covering our career paths (also on YouTube).

Push To Two Git Repos At Once

March 7, 2020

Back in 2012, I had experienced a situation where one of my Git repositories (I will not mention any specific providers here) suddenly disappeared overnight, with no recovery options. And while I was able to restore some of the code from local backups, it was an all-around bad position to be in. You know how you’re always told to not put all the eggs in one basket? Who knew that it applies to code as well!

Give And Receive Feedback

February 29, 2020

Daniel Kahneman, a pyschologist and economist notable for his work in the psychology of decision making, noted that “true intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes”. And let’s be realistic - any human makes mistakes, in both professional and personal matters. It’s a part of everyone’s life, regardless of your socio-economic background or the range of skills and abilities you possess. And just like with any skill or ability, one can make less mistakes over time.