Blog

Thoughts and ideas about code, engineering and tech
July 3, 2025
Rails Testing Gotcha: When Concerns Work in Console But Not in Tests

If you’ve ever encountered a situation where your Rails model associations work perfectly in the console but mysteriously fail in your test suite, you’re not alone. I recently ran into this exact issue and wanted to share the solution along with some insights about Rails’ autoloading behavior.

July 24, 2024
Iterate Quickly and Learn: The Path to Continuous Improvement

Welcome back to my series on “The Effective Engineer” by Edmond Lau. In the previous posts, I introduced the key themes of the book, discussed the importance of prioritization, and explored leveraging tools and technology. Today, I’ll delve into another critical theme: the importance of quick iteration and continuous learning.

July 19, 2024
Amplify your efforts: An Introduction to The Effective Engineer

Welcome back to my series on “The Effective Engineer” by Edmond Lau. In the previous posts, I introduced the key themes of the book and discussed the importance of prioritization. Today, I’ll delve into another crucial theme: leveraging tools and technology to amplify your productivity and impact.

July 9, 2024
Enhancing performance in rails with ActiveRecord methods

When developing applications using Rails, efficient database interaction is crucial for maintaining high performance. ActiveRecord provides several methods to optimize database queries. In this post, we’ll explore how using specific ActiveRecord methods can significantly improve the performance of your Rails applications.

July 8, 2024
How to setup GNU Stow with existing dotfiles

Dotfiles are configuration files for applications and shell environments, often prefixed with a dot (.), making them hidden by default. Managing these files across different systems can be challenging. GNU Stow helps by creating symbolic links from a central directory (usually a Git repository) to the appropriate locations in your home directory.

July 7, 2024
Focus on what truly matters: An Introduction to The Effective Engineer

Welcome back to my series on “The Effective Engineer” by Edmond Lau. In my first post, we introduced the key themes of the book and discussed why becoming an effective engineer matters. Today, we’ll dive deep into the first and perhaps most crucial theme: Prioritization.