WHAT WOULD THE CORGIS DO?

Thoughts on software remodeling and legacy code.
  • Handling AWS Bounce Notifications from Simple Email Service
     JAN 31, 2017 Written by Don Denoncourt

    About a year ago, I had to code a Rails application to handle bounce notifications from AWS SES. Amazon Simple Email Service is ridiculously easy to configure and use in a Rails application. As the instructions at the GitHub gem page explain, all you need to do is add the aws-ses Rails gem and create a configuration file called config/initializers/amazon_ses.rb that contains your Amazon credentials (soft-coded of course). But, if you need your application to handle bounce, complaint, or delivery notifications, things get a little more complicated.

  • Using Metaphors to Drive Business - Part 1, The Seat Belt Metaphor
     JAN 24, 2017 Written by Wendy Closson

    At a CTO Roundtable in NYC, I sat with several other technical leaders. During our session, we listened to each other’s current challenges and responded with empathy and advice. When I responded to one of the concerns with the advice “influence the CEO to adjust the schedule,” I was caught off guard by everyone’s response. Our former respectful and inquisitive dialog broke down into sneers, laughs and eye rolls.

  • Don't Take the Bait
     JAN 19, 2017 Written by Jocelyne Morin-Nurse

    Even though Conway's Law originated in the software world, it's easy to extrapolate the idea to pretty much anything an organization produces, including content. I would even say that it’s not only the communication structures that permeate the content, but also the organization’s values and culture.

  • GIS Basics
     JAN 17, 2017 Written by David Grieser

    Do you use a GPS navigator on road trips? Or a GPS watch to track your run or bike ride? Then, you’ve been exposed to GIS. GIS stands for Geographic Information System. Even if you haven’t used the two items I mentioned, I’m confident you’ve experienced it, as most everyone has used GIS in one form or another. The most common usage is the maps application on a smartphone.

  • The Postman Always Helps Twice
     JAN 10, 2017 Written by Nickie McCabe

    In my role as Director of Operations at Corgibytes, one of my responsibilities is automating and optimizing our day-to-day tasks and workflow. As a result, one of the common patterns of my work is gathering, manipulating, and presenting data of various sorts. Thankfully, much of the data I’m gathering is accessible via API, which means I get to use one of my favorite technical tools: Postman.

  • A Brief History of Enterprise Software - Part 2, Cloud City and Open Source Makin' It Rain
     JAN 5, 2017 Written by Brian Bassett

    A few months ago, I wrote about how a small group of engineers with a noble idea created open source software and changed the world. The idea proved the collective intelligence model for software development and allowed for an explosion of software products. In this post, we will explore how those early gains accelerated quickly through cloud computing and the birth of Software as a Service (SaaS)

  • Starting a Journey with Clojure and ClojureScript
     JAN 3, 2017 Written by Kamil Ogórek

    If you've never tried functional programming development, I assure you that this is one of the best time investments you can make. You will not only learn a new programming language, but also a completely new way of thinking. A completely different paradigm.

  • White Space as an Active Element: Learning to Say No
     DEC 22, 2016 Written by Andrea Goulet

    If you sent me an email today, you’d get an autoresponder that starts with a quote from Jan Tschichold. What better quote to feature during my own “White Space” time in December and January, during which I’ve purposely limited my meeting schedule and am only checking email once a day.

  • Technical Interviews Are Not Spec Work
     DEC 20, 2016 Written by M. Scott Ford

    We're interviewing people to join the Corgibytes team. When I mention this to others, I hear a wide range of opinions on what exactly those technical interviews should look like. Over the years, I've experienced the gamut myself. Some were intensive. Some thought-provoking. Some... bizarre.

  • I Hate Testing Angular Applications
     DEC 13, 2016 Written by Catalina De la cuesta

    First, a confession: I recently wrote a blog post about unit testing an Angular application. Well, as it turns out, what I was in fact doing was trying to convince everybody of the joys of Angular testing. Including myself.