Notes
Engineering notes
Writing on software architecture, backend systems, developer tooling, and AI-assisted workflows.
N-001
September 24, 2026
The Query Got Faster—and the Result Became Wrong
A real PostgreSQL case where a convincing EXPLAIN ANALYZE led to a faster rewrite that silently changed the result—and what I now validate before accepting a query optimization.
database / performance / postgresql / testing
9 min read
N-002
September 14, 2026
Before You Add Another Index: Understand the Work Your Query Requests
How query shape, access paths, and cardinality estimates interact, and how to use execution plans to decide whether to rewrite SQL, change an index, or investigate statistics.
backend / database / performance
10 min read
N-003
July 30, 2026
Monoliths vs Microservices: The Real Trade-Off Is Operational Complexity
Microservices do not replace monoliths. They trade in-process simplicity for network, data, and platform complexity that only pays off when the system and organization truly need it.
backend / software-architecture / system-design
8 min read
N-004
July 29, 2026
Why URL Shorteners Are the Hello World of System Design
A URL shortener looks tiny until identifiers, cache invalidation, analytics, abuse prevention, and global traffic turn it into a compact tour of real system design trade-offs.
backend / software-architecture / system-design
11 min read
N-005
July 15, 2026
Why I Changed My Portfolio UI Into a Systems Journal
I redesigned my portfolio to stop looking like a generic personal site and start communicating technical judgment, operational impact, and real engineering evidence.
career / software-architecture
6 min read
N-006
July 13, 2026
What Makes a Codebase AI-Friendly?
An AI-friendly repository does not depend on a larger prompt. It depends on reproducible setup, fast feedback, concise instructions, executable boundaries, and clear task contracts.
ai / developer-experience / software-architecture
11 min read
N-007
July 8, 2026
GitHub Actions Beyond Basic CI: What It Solves, Where It Fits, and How Teams Scale It
A practical guide to what GitHub Actions actually automates, how workflows are structured, where security and performance matter, and what changes when teams scale it across an organization.
ci-cd / devops / github-actions
7 min read
N-008
July 6, 2026
When LIMIT/OFFSET Stops Working: Choosing Between Offset and Cursor Pagination
A practical look at why offset pagination becomes expensive on large result sets, where cursor pagination helps, and what trade-offs each approach brings.
backend / database / performance
7 min read
N-009
July 3, 2026
From a Bash Loop to Guarded Orchestration for AI Agents
I built a guarded task runner around my AI workflow so agent work happens in disposable containers, returns as reviewable Git patches, and can grow beyond a single Bash script.
ai / devops / workflow
10 min read
N-010
July 2, 2026
From Prompting to Process: How AI Is Improving My Workflow Methodology
During a short break from my master's, I started rebuilding my engineering workflow around reusable skills, project memory, PRDs, task plans, and Codex sessions that leave a real trail of decisions.
ai / software-architecture / workflow
8 min read
N-011
December 6, 2024
Open Source is Not That Scary
I always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but was scared to take the leap. Here's how I got started by fixing a simple warning in a Go project, and what I learned from the experience.
career / open-source
1 min read
N-012
November 21, 2024
Learning by Doing: Implementing Redis Caching in a Real Project
I added Redis caching to an older project to optimize performance, reduce database load, and store the most popular posts for 24 hours. It’s a strategy used by many big companies, and here's what I learned!
caching / database / performance
2 min read
N-013
October 16, 2024
Building a Concurrent File Explorer with Go
A real-world project where I created a file explorer using Go, leveraging concurrency to improve search performance in large file systems.
concurrency / go / performance
5 min read