Build and Learn

In this episode of Build and Learn you'll hear CJ and Colin discuss the following:

• CJ's weekend project of installing new kitchen cabinets. They share the DIY process of customizing and installing inexpensive cabinets from Lowe's.
• Running and training tips, including focusing on "zone two" aerobic base training. Colin shares his goals to rebuild his running foundation and get faster this year.
• How performance reviews work at their companies, the process of self-reviews and peer feedback, and how 5:15s "five fifteens" help document accomplishments.
• CJ is building API documentation using OpenAPI spec and integrating Twilio APIs into his product. He realized he needed both Twilio's legacy and modern APIs.
• Colin is working on a Google Calendar integration for Discord, allowing users to schedule meetings in Discord voice channels. He discusses the challenges with Discord's permanent voice channel URLs.
• Interviewing and pair programming with candidates using Tuple. They wish for ephemeral URLs to avoid overlaps.
• Strategies for ramping up on and understanding a new codebase, like tracing the flow of a request. An LLM tool for summarizing codebases could be useful.
• Encouragement to get outdoors, avoid burnout, and "touch grass"!

2024! This week, we're sharing the various tools we use day-to-day in our work and side projects. Let us know if you have any favorites on Twitter @buildandlearn_

Building

• CJ: working on a side project, https://buckets.cjav.dev
• Colin: working on some fun docs projects at work

Learning: Sharing Our Tools in 2024

Tools by Category

• Terminal
• Editor
• API tools/clients
• Content Creation/Editing
• Mac Helper Apps
• Notes
• Calendar
• Email

CJ's Toolkit

• Warp terminal 
• ohmyzsh with my own theme which is based on Sarah Drasner’s night owl
• Raycast
• neovim
  • fzf and telescope
  • tpope: vim-rails, vim-commentary, vim-fugitive
  • vim-test
  • ale - linting
  • AI: copilot + butterfish
• Skitch for screenshot annotations
• Postman (Used to use Insomnia a lot, but many companies have Postman collections so that’s easy to drop in)
• Descript for screen recordings
• Tuple for pairing

Colin's Toolkit

• iTerm2 as my main terminal
• ohmyzsh with Dracula Theme
• VSCode as a daily driver for code and markdown (also Dracula themed)
• RapidAPI client (formerly Paw)
• Descript for audio-editing
• Screenflow for screencast video editing
• Mac Workflow Apps
  • Cleanshot for screenshotting, annotations, and recording screen gifs
  • Raycast for moving around apps quickly
  • Magnet for window management
  • HandMirror for monitoring video
  • HiddenMe for hiding icons on desktop
• Note Apps (too many lol)
  • Notion for work and podcast notes
  • Obsidian for 2nd brain, brainstorming
  • Textmate for scratchpads while working on a project
  • Apple Notes for personal on-the-go and collaborative notes for home
• Fantastical for desktop calendars 
• Apple Mail on phone for personal inboxes, Gmail app for work emails

Build and Learn around the web

• Twitter: @buildandlearn_
• Colin: @colinloretz
• CJ: @cjav_dev

In this episode, we'll touch on office setup and soundproofing, with a focus on effective techniques and materials. We talk about the challenges and strategies in finding non-technical co-founders for startups, emphasizing the importance of shared values and complementary skills. The episode also delves into the impact of AI on the tech industry, particularly concerning recent layoffs. Additionally, we discuss technical topics like API documentation, memory management in Ruby and Rails, and the art of content creation and screencasting.

Resources:

• Google Music FX - Text to Music https://aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com/tools/music-fx
• Hammerstone Dev Podcast - https://hammerstone.dev/podcast
• Tweets mentioned: https://twitter.com/cjav_dev/status/1742909106795528581
• Job Boards We like: 
  • https://railsdevs.com/
  • https://remoteok.com/
  • https://weworkremotely.com/
• Stripe OpenAPI https://github.com/stripe/openapi
• ScoutAPM - https://scoutapm.com/
• Screen casting course - https://screencasting.com/
• KeyCastr - https://github.com/keycastr/keycastr
• Keyboarding Videos 
  • https://youtube.com/shorts/-Ibq3zbvvSY
  • https://youtube.com/shorts/xMWugPr2u-U
  • https://youtube.com/shorts/f0rFJn1gI24
  • https://youtube.com/shorts/8FWJqqTzUak

Chris and Colin wrap up 2023 chatting about personal finance, website annotations, vim and a growing need to "finish" something over starting yet another thing.

Replacing Mint

• Colin is using Copilot money
• CJ was using YNAB earlier this year
• Tagging + podcast expenses: notion, zencastr, transistor, descript
• Use our referral code 7X6AQD to get 2 months free https://copilot.money/link/9p7G8LwLqNWGkfrL6

Building

• Colin: Website Annotations
  • Annotate the web
  • Rap Genius
• CJ: Lots of little API integrations: PostHog, Segment, Deputy, Twilio

Learning

• Colin: Actually finishing projects before starting new ones
  • Startup weekend vs Finish weekend
  • Resolutions and goals
• CJ: Couple new vim things -
  • The missing semester of CS from MIT
  • `:g` global command which lets you run ex aka command line commands on multiple lines at once it has two arguments, a pattern to match to find which lines to run on and the command to run. I’m excited to use this instead of macros for some common editing cases.
• Tried out using Descript’s built in video recorder / editor for a video this week and it worked out pretty well except I couldn’t figure out the camera preview thing
• Now Colin wants to learn vim
• Happy 2024!

In this episode, Colin and CJ discuss their experience with Advent of Code challenges. They use it as a virtual meetup for their local developer group and the value of solving problems in new languages.

They also talk about live streaming using Twitch's built-in Stream Together feature and alternatives like Meld Studio for multi-person streaming setups.

Other topics include potentially writing code with voice in the future, resources for learning Ruby like Avdi Grimm's Graceful Dev, and managing home maintenance through preventative care rather than reactively.

Advent of Code- The coding challenges we discussed
Jonathan Paulson's YouTube - Videos solving Advent of Code challenges
Bash Bunny on Twitch - Learning Zig with Advent of Code
Stream Together on Twitch - Built-in multi-person streaming
Meld Studio - Alternative to OBS for Mac streaming
Screencasting Course - The course about recording screencasts
Whale Quench Talk - Emily's talk about coding with voice
Graceful Dev - Avdi Grimm's site with Ruby resources
City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America by David Banks
How to Outsmart Your Brain
Replit mobile

This week we're digging into when to hold on and when to call it quits when it comes to a business. The team at Craftwork is paying down tech debt with Polish week. We also chat about USB hubs, llamas, and how to get started on YouTube.

BUILDING

• CJ: Polish week at Craftwork - cleaning up code formatting, todos, tests, UI polish and clean up, DX clean up, etc.
• Colin: Coworking space deep dive
  • Running numbers on business models
  • Using chatGPT to run forecasts
  • Sustainability
  • Book: Quit by Annie Duke
    • Grit vs Quit
    • Sunk Cost & Identity

LEARNING

• CJ: Started doing these mob pairing sessions this week. Mike showed some React Native, Drew showed some UX/UI stuff, Nik showed how to fine tune. Got access to the llama2 models and trying to use ankane’s informers gem to run onnx models locally with Ruby.
• Colin: Curious if you have any tips on getting started with youtube 
  • How to egghead
  • Aaron Francis - Screencasting.com 
  • TubeBuddy
  • Sean Cannell - ThinkMedia 
  • Ali Abdul Skillshare Course

In this episode, we catch up on recent tech events, discussing in detail the AI launches at both OpenAI and GitHub. We chat about the Hu.ma.ne AI pin, and touch on GitHub Universe. We also talk about Docs implementations and the challenges of managing and maintaining code snippets in documentation.

Show notes:

• Docs 
  • Astro Starlight - https://starlight.astro.build/
  • Tailwind UI protocol - https://tailwindui.com/templates/protocol
  • Angular - angular.dev
  • Markdoc - https://markdoc.dev/
• Calendars 
  • cal.com infrastructure https://cal.com/infrastructure
  • Calendly - https://calendly.com/
  • Nylas - https://info.nylas.com/
  • Full Calendar - https://fullcalendar.io/
• StoryFuel.app
• Humane AI pin https://hu.ma.ne/
• Github monaspace https://monaspace.githubnext.com/
• Crochet talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FtbmlZOk44
• Jupyter notebook episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTmcdixuqcY 

Episode 31

• Intuit is apparently shutting down Mint, pushing folks to Credit Karma 
• Colin's school bus update

Building

• CJ is continuing to build out a comms center for managing customer comms in a scalable way for Craftwork. SAML`
• Colin is working on the conference room booking app,
  • Likely use jumpstart for all stuff you need when you build something new
• CJ talks more about his new side project, Story Fuel 

Learning

• Colin is also learning a lot about sending/receiving audio over socket connections
• The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok Or how, exactly, platforms die." from Cory Doctorow
• The Imminent Enshittification of the Internet from Gary Marcus

In this episode, we'll share updates and talk about what we're learning and working on. First up, is the exciting prospect of buying a short school bus and converting it into a fun project. We'll touch on UI frameworks like PhlexUI, as well as share updates about our experiences with different diet and fitness regimens. We'll chat about some more AI tools. Lastly, we'll share updates on the conference room booking app and the Reno Colective co-working space's accountability group.

Resources

• PhlexUI - https://www.phlexui.com/
• RailsUI - https://railsui.com/
• ShadCN - https://ui.shadcn.com/
• v0.dev - https://v0.dev/
• Macrofactor - https://macrofactorapp.com/
• Chronometer - https://cronometer.com/
• LangChain.rb - https://github.com/andreibondarev/langchainrb/
• Detangle - https://detangle.ai/

• No cut off date + multi-modal ChatGPT
• Generating AI voices with ElevenLabs
• Looking cool with New Ray Ban + Meta Smart Glasses?
• Making an epic screencast set up with Screencasting.com from Aaron Francis
• Who’s upgrading to the new iPhone 15 with USB C
• Traveling with international / regional esim cards from Airalo
• Betting against SaaS? Once from 37Signals
  • Calculating customer lifetime value
  • Not having to deal with churn
• Hashicorp and the Business Software License 
  • OpenTofu - open terraform initiative

CJ is working on calendaring with FullCalendar and tinkering with Rails generators.

Colin is exploring prose linter options for docs and keeping docs quality high without relying purely on human. Working on some open-source project maintenance.

Btw, Craftwerk is hiring!