Your Assumptions Are Wrong

Hi,

Your email validation is probably incorrect. And your model that every person has a first and last name is also incorrect.

While I was rummaging through my bookmarks in the past few days looking for an article on Project Management in BigTech , I stumbled upon an old article from 2010: Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names .

An excellent essay!

Our Assumptions are Wrong

Perhaps you’ve already experienced that not every person has exactly one first and last name. And maybe you’ve had a support case where names change. After all, there are people who get married 😉

Marcus Held

I Commited to Main

Hi,

I committed to main. Just like that 🫢

, you’re likely to have one of two reactions:

“So what? Don’t bore me with that!”
or

“WTF? YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

If you belong to the first category: Cool! Either you’re not live yet and have the freedom to develop trunk-based, or your organization is so advanced with automation and the DevOps mindset that you can develop trunk-based too.

Everything’s cool! Nothing to see here. See you in the next newsletter!

Marcus Held

Unnecessary Unit Tests

Hi,

Ever Heard of Tautological Tests?

In recent months, I’ve delved back into test architecture and design.

(I can’t quite remember how it all started… probably the YouTube algorithm suggesting interesting talks again 😉)

Anyway, I wrote back in early December that a few years ago, in a blog, I propagated practices quite different from what I recommend today.

The topic keeps gripping me, so today, it’s about tests again.

Marcus Held

3 Highlights From 2023

Hi,

When was the last major change in your life?

For me, it was becoming self-employed in 2023. What an adventure!

The year is now over, and I enjoyed the holidays to unwind and spend time with my family.

Believe me, in the first year of self-employment, it’s leisure time that suffers the most 😉

So much happened last year. There were so many highlights. And there were so many interesting topics. Today, I want to share three of my many highlights from last year with you. Buckle up. Here we go!

Marcus Held

The Paradox of Freedom

Hi,

The Paradox of Freedom: The more options we have, the more anxious we become that we chose the wrong thing.

~ Mark Manson

Mark Manson is not a software developer. He is an author. His bestseller: “THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK”

He provides self-help for people who hate self-help books. In this paradox, he refers to life decisions. For example, many people find it hard to enter into a love relationship via Tinder. The options are so vast that with each date, you think you might have something better.

Marcus Held