How We Work

FromThe Laracasts Snippet

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How We Work

FromThe Laracasts Snippet

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Length:

11 minutes

Released:

Jul 14, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

I recently hired a new instructor for Laracasts. Now that the team has grown to four people, including myself, I thought it might be interesting to discuss my personal hands-off approach to running a small and low-stress team.

Released:

Jul 14, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

The Laracasts snippet, each episode, offers a single thought on some aspect of web development.

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In Over My Head: I'd love to tell you about the most dangerous app I've ever built. To say I was in over my head...is the understatement of the century. by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
Go Out On Your Own: Making the transition from employee to business owner is, to be frank, scary as hell. If you're not careful, you'll freeze. The "what ifs" will quickly assume command, and you'll once again fall back to the safe path. But, if you can fight it, there just might be something better on the other side. by The Laracasts Snippet
10 min listen
Nobody Knows What the Hell They're Doing: After over a decade of working in this industry, I've come to one undeniable truth: nobody knows what the hell they're doing. Let me explain... by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
The Q&A Episode: I keep a list of frequently asked questions, related to Laracasts and being a programmer in general. In this episode, we'll breeze through a long list; everything from Jim Henson, to DHH, to facades! by The Laracasts Snippet
22 min listen
Prioritize, Incentivize, Optimize: Rather than big New Year's Resolutions, I prefer to make three simple lists. Prioritize the things you love to do, incentivize the things you need to do, and optimize the things you hate to do. It's cheesy as hell, but stay with me... by The Laracasts Snippet
9 min listen
Blame Amy Schumer: So my wife and I recently took a trip into Nashville to see Amy Schumer perform. And wouldn't you know it: the moment we arrived, Bugsnag began sending me error reports. No laptop, and two hours from home. ...Crap. by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
Permission to Forget: I use task apps religiously for, mostly, two specific reasons: I want permission to forget about it, and I believe the process of checking off items gets you in the habit of being productive for the day. Listen to me ramble, if you'd like to hear more. by The Laracasts Snippet
7 min listen
10 Business Tips When Launching Your First App: So you're a developer planning to launch your first SaaS or subscription site? The business side of things get really complicated... really fast, right? In this episode, I rattle off ten tips and notes to be aware of, as you prepare for launch. by The Laracasts Snippet
17 min listen
90% of Devs Don't Test Their Code. Why?: 90% of developers don't test their code. Made up percentages aside, I think you'll find that this is fairly accurate, when you gather the entire development community. How come? With so much evangelism across the board, what's the reason behind this hesitation? by The Laracasts Snippet
13 min listen
The 100% Goal is Wrong: Particularly when building open source tools, I think it's important to remember that the 100% goal is wrong. Or, in other words, when you repeatedly make compromises to make everyone happy, it might just turn out that you've made no one happy. by The Laracasts Snippet
7 min listen
Technical Debt vs. Mental Debt: The concept of mental debt is something that developers never talk about. We're obsessed with pointing out technical debt, but isn't there value in worrying about our limited mental energy? There's only so much complexity we can take in. by The Laracasts Snippet
8 min listen
Pass the Salt, Please: The topic of discussion for this episode is a pet peeve of mine: treating developers like children. "Bobby, you're likely to cut yourself, so, no, you may not use sharp knives." Is that really the type of community we wish to foster? I hope not. by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
Mint-Chocolate Burnout: If we're being frank, in the last month, I've felt somewhat burned out. As developers, it happens to us all at some point or another. Let's talk about that for a bit. by The Laracasts Snippet
8 min listen
The Alien: This week's episode takes a detour, as we talk discuss the alien living inside my wife's belly. by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Russian-Doll Caching in Laravel: One of the things I've been tinkering with these last few days is a mechanism for performing Russian-Doll caching in Laravel. In addition to determining if I can even make it work, I've been pondering whether this truly has a place in your future projects, or if there simply isn't enough value to warrant its usage. Who knows - let's talk about it. by The Laracasts Snippet
7 min listen
Prepare for Terrible People: Even a site as innocent and helpful as Laracasts has had its fair share of malicious users. It's a simple fact of the business. Are you lucky enough to have built a relatively popular product? Excellent! Now, get ready for the attacks. by The Laracasts Snippet
8 min listen
8 Marketing Tips for Developers That Cost Nothing: If you're a developer launching your first product, it sometimes easy to forget that it's now exclusively your job to tell the world. Luckily, you don't have to reach into your pocket and spend thousands of dollars to get the word out; there are free - and more effective - alternatives. by The Laracasts Snippet
15 min listen
Let's Talk About Introversion: We forget that there was a time when the terms "introvert" and "extrovert" didn't mean anything to the common person. Naturally, the internet has shined a huge spotlight on these personality types, but, yeah, a decade or so ago, things were a bit different. Some of us thought we simply awkward, detached individuals. by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
It All Goes Back to a Single Assumption...That Could Be Wrong: The vocal consensus in the PHP community seems to be that, unless a class is perfectly unit-testable in isolation, it's inherently poor code - and in need of refactoring. But are we sure this is true? Let's talk about it. by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Should College Be Mandatory?: An interesting question popped up recently. Should college be mandatory for your children? We all bring our own pasts and experiences to the table, when a question like that pops up. Here's what I think... by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Taking it Too Far is a Rite of Passage: There's no two ways about it: taking things too far is simply a rite of passage. Whether it's developers over-evangelizing microservices and command-oriented architecture, or guitar players forcing newly learned modes into their solos, we all take it too far...before finally pulling back. by The Laracasts Snippet
9 min listen
30 Days: I'm a big fan of the tv show, "30 Days." I even apply it, at a lower level, to things in my own life. Whether it's contributing to open source every day for a month, or working out six days a week for a month, I've done a bunch of them. by The Laracasts Snippet
5 min listen
Unlearning Programming: Remember, back in high school, when your English teacher prescribed countless rules and techniques for writing well? Remember how we all quietly applied these rules? Why not? Who are we to disagree at that age? However, fast forward a half-decade or so, and you start to realize that so many of these "rules" are simply...gibberish. Does that remind you of any other industry? by The Laracasts Snippet
9 min listen
Laracasts Question Block #3: It's that time again. I have six new community questions to answer, ranging from the most stressful thing about running Laracasts, to new content in 2017, to a developer's Christmas list. by The Laracasts Snippet
16 min listen
Does Your Class Name Really Need That Suffix?: What do "PostRepository", "TooManyMembersException" and "StaticallyTriggeredHydratorFactoryInterface" all have in common? The suffix! Are you sure that you really need to tack on the name of the pattern to each class? by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Two Hours, Two Times: We have enough data to show that the typical 9-5 work day schedule is entirely arbitrary. The reality is that humans simply aren't good at holding their attention for such long spans of time. So - with a two-week-old baby in my house, I've begun re-thinking my work schedule. Is it possible that we can get the same amount of output from two hours of work, two times a day? by The Laracasts Snippet
9 min listen
You Will Figure It Out. Every Time.: If I were to pick my most favorite aspect of programming, it's this: no matter how difficult or confusing a bug/feature/refactor may be, if you stick with it long enough, you will figure it out. Every single time. by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
The Beauty of CSS is BS: A decade ago, I was taught that the beauty of CSS is its ability to completely alter the presentation of a website without touching your HTML. Yeah... "you never have to touch your HTML again." Sounds great, right? Too bad it's BS. by The Laracasts Snippet
12 min listen
Just a Detail: Last week, we talked about development trends - and how they sometimes have a tendency to make developers feel as if they're falling behind. "These are the new trends of 2016! Get to the mall, stat!" Today, let's continue the discussion a bit more. Will this new trending architecture bring you closer to launching the project of yours that's been sitting at 90% complete for a year now? Maybe...but maybe not. by The Laracasts Snippet
8 min listen
Victims of Our Curiosity: If you think about it, every single year, certain development trends take the community by storm. Whether repositories, or service classes, or the command bus, this is undeniably true. Let's talk about it. by The Laracasts Snippet
13 min listen

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Horses for Courses: We love tools: linters, type checkers, test runners, asset compilers, et al. Whilst these tools can help solve problems, they might also be a sledgehammer when all you really need is a screwdriver. Let me tell you a little anecdote about upgrading my personal site to Laravel 11, and why sometimes removing a tool is even better than adding one. by The Laracasts Snippet
13 min listen
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Tell me what you think of this. We all have certain stories about ourselves that we repeat, like mantras. "I am the type of person who is X, therefore..." But, for all the reps, I'm not sure these are doing us any good at all. by The Laracasts Snippet
16 min listen
Here's Why You Should Attend Laracon: Luke, here! I recently got the chance to attend and speak at Laracon EU 2024, and it was fantastic. The venue was awesome, the talks were amazing, but what really makes the event special are the conversations you have with like-minded developers. Let me tell you about it. by The Laracasts Snippet
15 min listen
Find Your Fit: It occurred to me recently that, if my job consisted exclusively of writing code 40 hours a week, I don't think I'd be a programmer today. I might go out of my mind. The secret, from my experience, is to find your fit. Figure out how to combine all of your skills into some unique concoction that gets you through the day with a smile on your face. by The Laracasts Snippet
14 min listen
Juggle the Idea: If someone on your team presents a business idea to you, they've likely had it simmering in their head for quite some time. Don't be so quick to toss that idea aside. If there's such a thing as anti-patterns in business, this is one of them. Give the idea its due. by The Laracasts Snippet
11 min listen
Programming is Bootcamp for Conscientiousness: Programming taught me an interesting life lesson: be a stickler for the details. You see, getting the thing to work is only half the battle. You’re not done. Not even close. Yes, make it functional. But then make it readable. Should it also be flexible? Then do so. And certainly make it beautiful. by The Laracasts Snippet
15 min listen
Business Impostor: When it comes to business, I - like many developer-turned-small-business-owners, I’d imagine - am really quite green. Not just green, deep green. No MBA in sight. I’m not even sure what that stands for, to be honest. Master of Business Administration? Is that it? Yep, a master of business… yours truly is not. Can you relate? by The Laracasts Snippet
9 min listen
Steal From Other Hobbies: In this episode, we'll talk about stealing techniques and approaches from other hobbies or industries. What have you learned from one hobby that might be useful for your programming career? I can think of a few. by The Laracasts Snippet
18 min listen
Laracasts Q&A: 2022 Edition: It's hard to believe, but the last Laracasts Q&A episode was published over two years ago. Let's fix that with a new 2022 edition. I'll answer a wide variety of questions, including: how to initially plan a business, are lifetime accounts worth offering, why don't we have dedicated Laracasts apps, how to avoid content creator burnout, and more. by The Laracasts Snippet
30 min listen
Zoom Out: I often hear about flat organizational structures and how they lead to more autonomy and better collaboration. That could be true! It sounds appealing. But my worry is: don't you lose the zoomed out perspective in the process? From my experiences, that multi-focus hierarchy is essential. by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Don't Participate: For a number of years now, I've found myself quietly mumbling the words, "Don't participate," every time I feel the need to insert myself into events or conversations that have nothing to do with me. It works wonders. Nearly every time, I delete the draft and get back to work. by The Laracasts Snippet
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Programming Bullet Points I'd Send Back in Time: In this episode, I take some time to ponder over which programming bullet points I wish had been drilled into me more in the early days of my learning. We'll discuss the psychology of learning, design patterns, SOLID, and, of course, the never-ending river of programming opinions. by The Laracasts Snippet
20 min listen
If It's Not Perfect, Ship It: It's far too easy for developers to fall into a trap of never shipping new code to production. "It's not ready," we tell ourselves. "Just one more month to clean things up, and then we'll push it up." But if you're not careful, there will always be a reason why it's still not ready. In this episode, we discuss habit building and why it's necessary to not be a perfectionist. by The Laracasts Snippet
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Be the Tortoise: If you've worked in programming spaces for any period of time, you will surely have heard the advice, "It's better to go slow than fast." We all instinctively knows this, and, yet, we're simultaneously obsessed with optimizing every facet of our workflow. by The Laracasts Snippet
6 min listen
Three Shapes: Whenever I ask a slightly controversial programming question, the responses often take one of three shapes. Let's talk about each of them in this episode, before taking a few moments to discuss why it's so important to play gracefully with ideas. by The Laracasts Snippet
12 min listen
Trust the Process: Every time I learn something new, I have to re-remind to trust the process. I'm not sure why. That feeling of "I can't" never goes away. You would think we'd eventually make the connection that if you work on something a little bit today, and a little more tomorrow, you'll eventually become quite skilled. And, yet, why do I always begin the learning phase with a hesitation that says, "You'll never be able to do this." by The Laracasts Snippet
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The Best of Both Worlds: In this episode, we discuss the three-month process of converting Laracasts to a single-page application with Inertia.js. by The Laracasts Snippet
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If You Flip It, They Can Learn It: It has occurred to me that I might have made some teaching mistakes in the past. Learning sticks when it can immediately be applied to a particular task or need you have. If you don't have an immediate use case, it might as well go in one ear, and out the other. It's not going to stick. by The Laracasts Snippet
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About That Laravel 8 Controversy: I keep seeing oddly similar threads around the web that relate to Laravel 8's "increased prerequisites." They all seem to share the view that, if you want to upgrade to Laravel 8, be prepared to also learn Livewire, Inertia, and Tailwind. Of course, I find it odd...because it's not even remotely true. by The Laracasts Snippet
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Cool Kids Table: Here's an uncomfortable truth about the programming world: we all want to sit at the cool kids table. It was true in high school, and it remains true today. It makes you wonder how this might be reflected in the tools we choose. by The Laracasts Snippet
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If Programmers Had a Superpower: My wife recently paid me a compliment. "You're a good troubleshooter" - to which I replied, that's because it's all I do every day. Programmers are professional troubleshooters. by The Laracasts Snippet
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How to be Ignored on GitHub: After you've maintained a popular open source project for any length of time, you begin to notice a pattern. Certain issues and pull requests bubble up to the top of your todo list, and certain issues...are ignored. Let's talk about why that's often the case. by The Laracasts Snippet
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The Goodbye Debacle: We recently pushed a new "goodbye" landing page for the Laracasts website. In an effort to not succumb to the usual, boring "Goodbye, hope to see you again" copy, I opted for a different approach. Unfortunately, it didn't land for everyone the way I thought it might. by The Laracasts Snippet
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How We Work

How We Work

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from The Laracasts Snippet