Notes from production.
Shipping AI features, scaling React apps, and the small lessons that didn't fit anywhere else.
When plain React is the better choice over Next.js
Next.js is the default answer for React projects, yet many mature products still run on plain React. What I learned from both sides, and the one question I now ask before picking.
Your database is two databases now, and one is behind
A read replica is a second database that replays the first one's change log. Setting one up takes an afternoon. Using one correctly means deciding, query by query, which answers are allowed to be a second out of date.
The best code I write makes itself disappear
Nobody should have to learn how the machine works just to flip a switch. This is why I build the boring helpers nobody notices, and why it's the work that matters most.
How scaled products actually deploy frontend and backend
Deploying looks simple until real users and real money are on the line. Here is how big products really deploy their frontend and backend, and why one small git tag sits at the centre of it all.
How product companies actually manage their git branches
I've worked at a few product companies, and they manage branches one of two ways: copy every change by hand, or only ever move it forward. One of them quietly breaks.
I worked with two coding gods. It was never about speed.
One had the entire frontend memorised and ended a months-long migration with one hook. The other was the one every hard decision ran through. Neither was the fastest engineer in the room.