Bryan Kahlig

My initial involvement with .NET was in 2008. I started with WinForms, then UWP, and most recently Blazor, with some Web API work as well. I also did/do some Xamarin.Forms and .NET MAUI on the side. I've worked with SQL Server, Oracle, and SQLite. The last year has broken me. Without work and income for at least a year I've been forced to start tapping retirement funds at least a decade before I had planned. (In fact, I had always hoped to take my last breath at the keyboard trying something new.) The constant fruitless efforts in the job search, including massive numbers of ghosting events; postings I've applied for, never had a response, but continue to be posted; the horribly vague pieces of textual trash called job descriptions; and so on, have made me give up. I just can't do it any more. Without the generosity of friends, right now I'd either be dead, in jail, or living under a bridge. This was not the way I saw my future. I dedicated my career to .NET and I ended up broke and homeless, in massive amounts of debt that can't ever be repaid. So I'm backing away from full-time search. That said, I'm still looking to keep involved with the .NET technologies but in a part-time manner, as well as build upon the meager retirement income. I'm looking for a Blazor or MAUI project to work on, perhaps a lower-priority solo developer effort, demo, or POC requiring around 20 hours a week. If there's some other .NET technology, give me a little time and I'll get up to speed. No charge until I start doing your work! It probably could go unsaid, but I'm not interested in being contacted by recruiters. You're the ones that did this to me with your gross incompetence and terrible work practices. Yes, I'm bitter, and I hope every one of you that ever ghosted me suffers like I am.

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Is it just me or does 11 AM feel like the perfect time for coffee ☕ and pastry 🥐, or am I just creating my own time zone? 😆 #sunday #breakfast #pastry #coffee #softwaredevelopment #qaautomation #womenengineers #womenintech #austin #linkedintopvoice

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I guess testers never stop testing and being curious, even when between jobs. Yesterday I was on a quite prominent Government website. I was clicking on links and getting 404 responses. Wasn’t in the mood to do more than shake my head and laugh. Today I went back and the links appeared to work. Huh, what gives? So I start having a play and it didn’t take long. Open the link in a new tab and a 404 is returned. Open the link in the same page and the page loads without error. I used Dev tools to compare network info. Call the link from a new page and a different (I’m guessing an outdated version) API is called compared to when you open the link within the page. So I’ll be reporting a bug tomorrow and maybe adding a couple of options for addressing it.

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Testing software is quite a bit more than seeing if it can do something right. Testing is about trying "everything". Most importantly values that are on the edges and especially values outside valid ranges. https://xkcd.com/2928/

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ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: Is your RCM partner up to today’s security challenges? If you’re unsure, it’s time to find out. Watch to uncover how recent cybersecurity events have refocused vendor-selection requirements and what to evaluate during review.  #Cybersecurity #RevenueCycleSecurity #RCMSecurity

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Ok, everyone has an unpopular take. Here is mine. Your testing is flawed. All of it. Automation? Flawed. Manual? Flawed. BDD? Flawed. Code coverage? Flawed. Entrance or Exit? Flawed. Performance? Flawed. Environment? Flawed It's all flawed. Why? Because the moment you put something into Production, that is a series of variables you CANNOT duplicate in test scenarios. Because there are dozens of other systems out there that you have to play nice with, and you CANNOT duplicate these in test environments, Because the customer has expectations that the moment you flip the switch, things will work out of the box and everything will sync up nice and everyone will be happy. Until Mary can't get to the Company Payroll systems because no one mentioned that tidbit in Discovery calls. You CANNOT duplicate Mary. And, there is a flaw in this post. Did you find it?

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So many developers get this wrong 🚨 They say that their manager / company doesn't give them time to tackle tech debt or to develop high quality code. But when asked to give estimates, they give two estimates: one for a quick and dirty implementation and one for a proper one, including tackling tech debt. This is a mistake. Tech debt, tests and code quality are your business as developers, and yours alone. There are no two estimates. There's only one, and it includes the time you need to do things right. Never give other estimates. #estimates #codequality #cleancode #softwaredevelopment #developerlife

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Frontend performance is *so* important nowadays, but it's almost always done with a bandaid approach... going back to basics & shipping HTML-first, low-bloat, user experience-focused code is the way.

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Rubber Ducks & Pair Testing Are you easily distracted? Have a tendency to "go down the rabbit hole" or "get lost in the weeds"? I know I do. I find that when I have someone to work with, even if they're just watching and occasionally nodding their head when I ask questions that are really directed at my own mental process than anyone else, I work better, faster, and most importantly, stay focused on the task at hand -- especially if there is a time limit. I've tried pomodoro timers, time tracker and focus apps, but none of them seem to work quite as well as just having someone there. And it's great if that someone is vested -- or at least interested in the work. That's one reason I love pair programming. I even like to return the favor, and see how other people think, code, and solve problems -- and occasionally offer my advice, whether asked for or not. Working together is just more fun. And it keeps me focused on getting the task done, especially if there is a time limit. I don't know who invented the concept of "Rubber Ducking" -- but the general idea is that if you're stumped on a problem, talking to a rubber duck (or some other inanimate object) will help you solve your problem as you explain it. But some of us are too self-conscious (or as I like to say "self-aware") to talk to a toy duck, or even a real live pet. (We have real life ducks that quack hello to me every time I go outside.) I've tried talking to AI or sometimes my wife, but they get impatient with me and too readily point out the flaws in my reasoning. So I decided to create a tool, initially for myself, but maybe open it up for others to use well. Rubber ducks as a service. The idea is to find someone to pair with, and pay them a nominal fee for their time, and it doesn't have to be someone who knows how to solve your problem; in fact, it might be better if it's someone who doesn't know, but is interested (or at least good at pretending to be interested) in listening while you solve your problem, and maybe learning a bit while you listen. So if you'd like to act like a rubber duck while I write automated tests or build software tools for testing software or learn how to do sales and marketing for my small consulting company, let me know. And if you have something you'd like to bounce off of me and could use an ear to listen to you and help you keep focused while you're working on something, give me a call, I'll be your rubber duck too. https://duckwork.io

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How to ruin a Developer's or UX's Designer's day. And save the product. Yes, let's explore and use your product. It's obvious...right? uh right? of course! Any child can follow along! Children can think like this until they are trained out of it. Obviously a skit. but how often has it happened in real life? If a person or company has a lot of hubris and doesn't think about and test edge-cases .. well .. at best one can get unexpected results. At worst - a catastrophic failure. ps. I don't know if he is talking to her, or a child off screen, or himself. I was first slightly offended. Then I realized made the skit even more amusing. Developers watching QA test the product. https://lnkd.in/eWZi8W22

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I've often heard leaders in software development describe Product as responsible for the "what" and Engineering the "how". If we're talking about "how the software is built" in terms of the code, then I agree. But what about "how the software behaves" from a UI perspective? This might include: * User flows - what paths they can take through the app * User interactions - hovers, clicks, animations, etc. * Behavior for success vs failure - an error in processing, invalid form input, etc. * Features disabled - when a new feature isn't yet toggled on * Access controls - when a user doesn't have access to perform a function In my mind, "how the app behaves" is a shared responsibility. Moreover, it's a key place of overlap where we need shared language and tooling. Any other things you think fall into that category of "how the app behaves"? #softwareengineering #softwaredesign #productmanagement

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