Writing

sistemas

Systems & craft

Reading, debugging, and building software systems.

AI in interviews 2026 AI in interviews is inevitable — so what should we actually be testing for?
Chop Wood, Carry Water 2026 Twelve months of alignment, five weeks of build — what staff-level platform work actually looks like.
Structure adds scalability: a look beyond networks 2024 A networking principle traced through databases, caches, APIs — and a Netflix device-data migration.
If they don’t hang together, you don’t have them, or the pipe pattern to the rescue 2023 Streams, Optional, RxJava, CompletableFuture — hanging Java’s chaining APIs on one latticework.
Bounce: strategies for coming back to code after interruptions 2022 Strategies for escaping the Pit of Despair — coming back to code after interruptions.
What is code archeology? 2021 Understanding code through its context and evolution — dig before you bulldoze.
Debugging: the map is not the territory 2021 The delta technique — debugging as narrowing the gap between your model and reality.
Navigating (large) codebases while keeping your sanity 2021 Ten years in, joining Netflix: the merits and perils of navigating existing systems when joining a team.

oficio

Careers, teams, and the humans in the machine.

Two minds, one voice. Many minds, one direction 2025 Kahneman and Tversky, the patterns that sabotage collaboration, and the real work of building together.
Like a haircut you can sleep through 2023 Expertise is almost unnoticeable — on strengths, their overuse and their underuse.
Don’t expect context replies when you ask control questions 2023 Control questions get control answers. If you want context, ask context questions.
The growth problem in tech 2023 The “pipeline problem” is a mindset problem: who gets believed, who gets developed, who gets feedback.
Compassionate learning 2022 Why an introduction-to-APIs workshop opened with Thich Nhat Hanh — questions as compassion.
Trajectory guarding 2022 On the labor of defending your career while doing your career — and who pays for it.
It’s time to introduce emotional guidance in engineering onboarding 2022 Onboarding is not only the tech stack — new engineers need emotional guidance too.
To grow as an engineer keep risking failure 2022 Jobs on risking failure, applied to engineering: growth lives where failure stays possible.
How to prevent burnout 2021 From a Havana theater to a tech career — and how to keep the dream from burning you out.
What value would someone get out of mentoring me? 2021 The belief that no one could get value from mentoring you, broken down — from the vGHC lounge.
On being… busy 2017 An early reckoning with busyness — when working too much stands in for what is missing.

ensayos

Personal essays, culture, and the writing life.

In the land of the free 2022 A reflection on freedom, belonging, and contradiction in America.
My grandma braid my hair 2022 Memory, lineage, and the women who shaped her.
Introducing Codems: Code and poems weaved 2022 A codem is a portmanteau of code and poems: the code structure adds sense to the poem.
Mini cuento: Escuchábamos a sus muertos 2022 Un mini cuento sobre la enfermedad, la memoria y los muertos que cargamos.
The fifth day at the studio 2021 Notes from a creative residency, five days in.
We the drama cultures 2021 On drama, culture, and the stories we perform for each other.
On power, a reflection after the death of Chadwick Boseman 2021 On dignity, power, and grace in the face of mortality.
Listen, the mornings should be like birthing 2021 On mornings, ritual, and beginning again.
On writing fast 2021 Writing quickly as a way of getting out of your own way.
On eloquence 2020 What it means to speak — and live — with eloquence.
Flawed beauty 2020 On wabi-sabi, imperfection, and letting go of the pursuit of perfect.
What are you yearning to do when you can't? 2020 A hospital bed, a capricious arm, and the question that finds your passions for you.
Book notes: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert 2020 Notes on creativity, ideas, and the myth of the tortured artist.
People are watching 2020 On visibility, self-consciousness, and being observed.
This one is for me 2018 A self-portrait: rational, quiet, content in the macro.

archivo

Dated tutorials and short notes, kept as receipts.

Good ideas and projects die unknown at higher rates than we think 2021 Why visibility, not quality, is often the bottleneck for good work.
Using a DB and JPA as Data Store for Google Authentication 2020 Storing Google API user credentials with JPA as the datastore, from Groovy.
Sharing behavior on Grails 3 controllers 2020 When one shared render function meets Grails compile-time controller magic — traits to the rescue.
Testing with Grails 2020 A practical tour of testing Grails apps — Spock, fixtures, mocking, and exception conditions.