This week, I had a bookshelf delivered. The journey of a shelf begins with assembling the boards and nails to make a bookshelf. Was it more difficult and time-consuming than I expected, of course! But the pleasure and fulfilment of seeing it done was worth the aching back and sitting on the floor for ungodly hours. While I was between getting some parts together and cursing when I had to undo some of my progress, it got me thinking about how most of our adult lives, whether career or personal development, involve figuring it out. I was not beyond paying somebody to do the assembly, but once I realised that they would still need to come in and figure it out, my perspective changed. I began asking if they could figure it out; I can, too. The only difference is in the time it takes. Sure, it took me an ungodly amount of hours, but I had the patience and the need to finish it myself. In our careers, we get paid to figure it out in various degrees—some less than others, and others more than others. We get paid for the value and solutions we have in the confines of our predicament. Everything is figureoutable; you have to choose what you will pay. Mine was in time, but what’s yours?

Also, if I say so myself, I cannot wait to add to different conversations that I am a carpenter in the assembling category.

In the land of all terminal lovers, a resource that visually explains different commands in the shell.

If you are considering jumping from your current ship to a different cruise, here is a roadmap to mastering data structures and algorithms in 2025 and a resource to learn system design algorithms, too.

System Design 101

A journey of 1000 miles may start from 200 miles instead of one step. Here is how to gain years of experience in a few months.

There are 20 GitHub repositories you should know about, including my favorite, public APIs, which give you access to different APIs depending on your use case!

Software architecture with design patterns explains how to future-proof your architecture and how to implement design patterns for scalability.

This article explains the benefits of using compact table columns in database schema design to improve SQL query performance by caching more table records and index entries.

The word of the day is bogus, an informal term used to describe something that is not genuine. It's a synonym for words like fake, false, and counterfeit.

Examples in a sentence:

After hours of painstaking research, the detective uncovered a network of bogus charities funneling donations into shell corporations.

I am making my grand departure into the unknown.

Until the next fortnight, my treasured reader, go forth, and may the odds ever be in your favour! 👏 🤖 ✊ ☠️ 🏹 🪖