Notes
Engineering notes
Writing on software architecture, backend systems, developer tooling, and AI-assisted workflows.
N-001
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-002
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-003
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-004
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-005
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-006
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-007
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-008
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-009
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-010
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-011
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