Being a Backend Developer Is a Thankless Job

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Mar 10 2022

Being a Backend Developer Is a Thankless Job

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Being a Backend Developer Is a Thankless Job

Have you ever noticed how there are no awards for backend development? It is a job that nobody notices when it’s done right, but when it’s not, everything crumbles. Sort of like the Night Watch in Game of Thrones. If you are interested in pursuing this not very glamorous, but badass role, read on to find out what it entails.

Rails

How to add Feature Flags in Rails with the Flipper gem

Testing out new features or changes in production is something almost every application needs. Flipper is a fantastic tool with a GUI for rolling out these changes easily in your Ruby on Rails app.

In-depth Guide to ActiveRecord load_async in Rails 7

Rails 7 introduces ActiveRecord load_async API that runs SQL queries asynchronously in the background thread. This seemingly simple change of just adding a single new method that takes no arguments has profound implications for database layer interactions.

Abstraction in Rails

If we wanted to, we could, of course, write web applications in assembly code. The reason we write programs in higher-level languages like Ruby or Python is that while assembly language is easy for computers to understand, it’s of course not easy for humans to understand.

Ruby

Taking our Ruby & Kafka stack to the next level

Enter rdkafka-ruby (rdkafka), our saving grace. This is a simple wrapper gem around the C library librdkafka, which is without question the most up-to-date and widely used Kafka library in the Kafka ecosystem.

Ruby Rogues: Async Ruby

Not a fan of typical Ruby? We got you. In this episode, the Rogues talk with Bruno Sutic, an Async Ruby developer who will convince you why Async Ruby is a fantastic and stable alternative.

Blast from the past

Blink Estimation

Experienced delivery folks can have surprisingly good instincts for macro-level estimation, as long as we are careful to manage blind spots and cognitive biases. This can be an important tool in early project investment discussions, and can remove roadblocks where people are uncomfortable or unwilling to provide estimates.