·3 min read
How to Enable Engineering Teams to Share Knowledge
Practical strategies for building a knowledge-sharing culture in engineering teams, from structured lunch-and-learns to lightning talks.
engineeringleadershipteam-culture
// thoughts
Thoughts
Deep dives into .NET, AWS, DevOps, and cloud architecture.
·4 min read
Lessons learnt after interviewing over 300 engineers
Three key lessons from interviewing over 300 engineers: conciseness, preparation, and clarity, with exercises to improve your interview skills.
interviews
·7 min read
Using The Factory Design Pattern in .NET
Learn how to implement the Factory and Abstract Factory design patterns in C#/.NET with real-world examples for flexible object creation.
dotnet
·5 min read
Using The Decorator Design Pattern in .NET
Learn how to implement the Decorator design pattern in C#/.NET to add behaviours dynamically, with examples using both manual and DI approaches.
dotnet
·7 min read
Using The Singleton Design Pattern in .NET
Implement the Singleton design pattern in C#/.NET using Lazy<T> for thread safety, plus modern approaches with dependency injection containers.
dotnet
·4 min read
AWS Cost Optimization Strategies
Practical strategies for reducing your AWS bill without sacrificing performance. Covers reserved capacity, right-sizing, storage tiering, and cost monitoring.
devopsaws
·5 min read
Chaos Engineering on AWS
A practical guide to chaos engineering on AWS using AWS Fault Injection Simulator. Covers experiment design, steady-state hypotheses, and blast radius control.
devopsaws
·7 min read
Using the Builder Design Pattern in .NET
Learn how to implement the Builder design pattern in C#/.NET to construct complex objects step by step with clean, maintainable code.
dotnet
·4 min read
SLIs vs SLOs vs SLAs Explained
A clear breakdown of Service Level Indicators, Objectives, and Agreements. How to define, measure, and use them to build reliable systems.
devops
·3 min read
Continuous Integration vs Continuous Delivery vs Continuous Deployment
Understanding the differences between CI, CD, and continuous deployment. Clear definitions, when to use each approach, and how they fit together in modern engineering.
devops
·4 min read
AWS Well-Architected Framework
An overview of the AWS Well-Architected Framework, its six pillars, available lenses, and how to run a Well-Architected review using the AWS console tool.
devopsaws
·18 min read
.NET Serialization Benchmarks - Feb 2023
Updated .NET serialisation benchmarks for February 2023 comparing System.Text.Json, MessagePack, MemoryPack, Protobuf, and more frameworks.
dotnetaspnetcore
·3 min read
Centralised Ingress Pattern
An emerging pattern for managing API traffic through a single, centralised ingress point. Benefits, implementation considerations, and trade-offs.
devopsaws
·2 min read
Split-Horizon DNS in AWS
How split-horizon DNS works and how to implement it in AWS using Route 53 private and public hosted zones for internal and external traffic routing.
devopsaws
·3 min read
VPC Endpoint Policies in AWS
How to use VPC endpoint policies to control and secure access to AWS services from within your VPC. Includes policy format, common use cases, and Terraform examples.
devopsaws
·6 min read
Anti-Corruption Layer Pattern
Learn how the Anti-Corruption Layer pattern prevents incompatible systems from affecting each other. Implementation steps, when to use it, and its role in Domain-Driven Design.
architecture
·9 min read
Asynchronous Request-Reply Pattern
Explore the Asynchronous Request-Reply pattern for decoupling request and response in distributed systems. Backend integration, polling strategies, and real-world use cases.
architecture
·7 min read
Bulkhead Pattern
Understand the Bulkhead pattern for isolating failures in distributed systems. Implementation guide, when to use it, challenges, and best practices.
architecture
·9 min read
Circuit Breaker Pattern
Master the Circuit Breaker pattern with Closed, Open, and Half-Open states. Implementation guide, configuration best practices, and real-world examples.
architecture
·7 min read
Queue-Based Load Leveling Pattern
Learn how Queue-Based Load Leveling manages traffic spikes using message queues. Implementation, monitoring metrics, dead-letter queues, and best practices.
architecture
·8 min read
API Versioning in ASP.NET Core
Learn how to version ASP.NET Core MVC APIs using headers, querystrings, and URL-based approaches with the Asp.Versioning.Mvc package.
dotnetaspnetcore
·11 min read
Pro Testing with Xunit & Localstack
Set up XUnit integration tests with Docker containers using TestContainers and LocalStack, with reusable patterns for any Docker image.
dotnetaspnetcore
·8 min read
3 Ways To Increase App Reliability With Polly
Learn how to use retries with decorrelated jitter, bulkhead and circuit breaker patterns to increase reliability in your applications with Polly
dotnet
·4 min read
Extending the AWS SDK for .Net
In this article we're taking a look at how to extend the AWS SDK for .NET, which can be useful for various tasks like adding in some custom observability components into the request pipeline.
dotnetaws
·8 min read
Hidden Features of C#
Discover lesser-known C# features including duck typing with foreach and await, custom awaitable types, and using params with indexers.
dotnet
·6 min read
Using Certificates From AWS Private Certificate Authority in .NET
As companies grow, moving to a zero-trust architecture is majorly important. This article explores how to build it in AWS.
dotnetdevopsaws
·8 min read
Blending Metrics Using EventCounters In C#
Some services like AWS CloudWatch Metrics only allow scaling based off a single value. Luckily, we can blend metrics together to create new ones, which we can then use in our scaling policies
dotnet
·10 min read
Publish Metrics to Cloudwatch in .NET Core
As companies grow, moving to a zero-trust architecture is majorly important. This article explores how to build it in AWS.
dotnetdevopsaws
·13 min read
Building a Zero Trust Architecture In AWS
As companies grow, moving to a zero-trust architecture is majorly important. This article explores how to build it in AWS.
dotnetdevopsaws
·3 min read
Using Moq with ref, in and out parameters in C#
Learn how to mock methods with ref, in, and out parameters using Moq in C# with practical examples and minimal test code changes.
dotnet
·5 min read
A Look Into CloudEvents
Explore the CloudEvents specification for standardising event data across teams, including the format, required attributes, and integration benefits.
dotnetdevops
·5 min read
Setting Up A Repository Template In Github For .Net
Set up a GitHub repository template for .NET projects with community files, CI workflows, and standardised configuration out of the box.
dotnetdevops
·3 min read
Implementing Simple Feature Toggles In AspNetCore Using IConfiguration
Build a simple runtime feature toggle system in ASP.NET Core using IConfiguration and the options pattern, with a path to dynamic toggles.
dotnetaspnetcore
·4 min read
My Favourite Git Aliases
Boost your Git workflow with practical aliases for common operations like checkout, undo, branch cleanup, and more. Includes setup instructions.
dotnetdevopsgit
·38 min read
Diagnostics with EventCounters in .NET
A deep dive into the .NET EventCounters API covering custom metrics, diagnostic counter types, Docker diagnostics tooling, and listening to inbound and outbound HTTP requests.
dotnet
·2 min read
Custom Media Formatters in ASP.NET Core
Build custom ASP.NET Core input and output media formatters using Utf8Json for high-performance JSON serialisation in your APIs.
dotnetaspnetcore
·13 min read
URL Rewrite Techniques for IIS
A practical guide to IIS URL Rewrite covering canonical hostnames, HTTPS redirects, httpOnly cookies, SameSite cookies, secure cookies, and trailing slash removal.
dotnetdevopsseo
·5 min read
Domain Driven Design Notes
Concise notes on Domain Driven Design covering ubiquitous language, bounded contexts, CQRS, and event sourcing from a practical perspective.
dotnetarchitecture
·5 min read
Write Good Code, Not Code Hastily
Why writing clean, maintainable code matters more than shipping fast. Avoid shortcuts that lead to rewrites and unmaintainable codebases.
dotnet
·9 min read
Technical Debt: How We Get It And How To Avoid It
Understand how technical debt accumulates through lack of knowledge, time pressure, and poor practices, plus strategies to manage and reduce it.
development
·4 min read
Message Queue Fundamentals: Introduction
Message queues are a substantial part of modern day enterprise architectures and a vital part of providing scalable solutions. Here I walk you through some of the basic patterns.
dotnet
·3 min read
How your binary search implementation is broken and how to fix it
Discover the subtle integer overflow bug present in most binary search implementations and learn how to fix it with a simple one-line change.
dotnetjava
·2 min read
Unit Testing Equals The Forgotten Tests
Discover the often overlooked unit tests for Equals overrides in C# including reflexive, symmetric, transitive, and consistency checks.
dotnet
·5 min read
HSTS in ASP.NET Core
Learn how to enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) in ASP.NET MVC using a custom ActionFilter to protect against network attacks.
dotnetaspnetcore
·5 min read
Using IDisposible correctly
Learn the correct way to implement IDisposable in C# including managed and unmanaged resource cleanup, finalizers, and the full dispose pattern.
dotnet
·2 min read
Semaphore vs SeamphoreSlim Micro Benchmark
Micro-benchmark comparing Semaphore and SemaphoreSlim performance in C# showing the significant speed advantage of the lightweight SemaphoreSlim class.
dotnet