Rambling on Treadwell

Communication in a Team

Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I spoke with a friend recently who was a little frustrated after a one-on-one with his manager. The feedback he got was essentially that he needed to communicate more. That’s it. No specifics, no examples, just communicate more.

He came to me confused, and honestly, I get it. That’s a vague ask. If you’ve never been told how to communicate in a professional setting, the note lands flat. You’re left guessing what “more” even means.

Using AI for Programming

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A hot topic as of recent years. It’s a topic that’s discussed by every person right now - especially in tech it seems.

Do I use AI?

100%. Yes. I don’t do the “vibe” coding shit though. I’ll outline some examples of what I’ve used AI for.

Optimization of database queries
Documentation of methods or a feature
Boilerplating - for example writing out a base template for html using.
Translations - I wrote a script to utilize the DeepL API to translate files that I input.

Vibe Coding

Oh shit I hate this. I’ll say I do love that more people are building things, but not understanding anything that the AI is doing isn’t cool. In a logical world people would learn code and use AI to help perfect an implementation. This is how I use AI.

Enter Technical Debt

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll be talking about technical debt in general, what to look out for before you fall into tech debt, and my experience with it.

What is technical debt?

So tech debt’s definition on Google is “Technical debt is a concept in software development that reflects the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer.” That sums it up lol.

2020

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

So 2020 has sure had its ups and downs as does every year, but 2020 is quite a special year for many reasons.

2020

The year started off well for me, I started work on Shifted and I even decided to get my drivers permit. In March I went back to work at the golf course which the guys there actually are the reason for getting my permit. Yeah, I could’ve done it and should’ve done it several years ago, but I’ve never really seen the point to get it.

Open Source All of the Things

Tue, 19 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

After reading Tom Preston-Werner’s post (Open Source (Almost) Everything) it got me thinking that I should write about this topic also.

I’m a huge fan of open-source software. I know I haven’t released a ton of software or even contributed to much, but it was a new years resolution this year to do both of those things. I agree with open-sourcing most of your software as a company, but not your bread and butter.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Wed, 13 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been writing code for 10 years - I started in 2009/2010. The first language that I picked up with Visual Basic and then about 2 weeks later I switched to C# as I liked the syntax of C# more. I then eventually moved into PHP, C++, and other languages. Over these years I’ve worked on a ton of software - most private, but I’ve still grown my skills over time.

How I Got Into Programming

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I began writing code back in early 2010. I got into programming so I could make mods for a game that you may have heard of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Sure mods ruined that game and several others, but it not only helped teach me code - it also gave me an outlet as a teenager. Instead of being out doing mischievous things I would stay inside and write code. This code from back then wasn’t good at all, but it was fun.

Why I Switched from CentOS to FreeBSD

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Simply put… software versions. I got tired of messing with compiling Python from source and all of that shit. I feel like FreeBSD is also faster when doing updates etc.

I used CentOS as my main OS for servers for several years and it pains me to say, but I love FreeBSD and I wish I made the switch a while back. I don’t hate CentOS, but it’s not going to be the OS that I choose when deploying stuff (unless I don’t have a choice or I can’t choose FreeBSD).

Growing Your Skills as a Software Engineer

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past ~6 years I’ve been friends with a great programmer - someone that has taught me stuff over the years and I still learn stuff from him. I’ve grown to ask him for help when I’m stuck rather than dig deep on an issue and this is certainly a BAD thing to do. I’ve recently realized that I do it too often and while I still do my own research it’s still bad. If I ever want to grow my skills I need to figure things out on my own - I’m basically spoiled. I’m certainly a better programmer than when I first started, but I can’t stop thinking that maybe if I didn’t ask for help as often my skills would be better.

Why I Hate Blueprint in UE4

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Hate isn’t the best word to describe my feelings towards Blueprint (“BP”). Let’s go ahead and change that to strongly dislike or just dislike.

So I dislike using BP for a few reasons and the main one is performance. Yes, I’m aware you can use nativization to speed it up, but C++ would still be faster in the long run. I’m a programmer, I don’t feel like a programmer when I write BP and I find networking easier in C++. I also find C++ much cleaner and easier to understand (even if the code isn’t documented). I guess that’s like most programmers, we find code easy to understand. /shrug

Datacenter Dream

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

For the past few years, I’ve had the dream or rather idea to build and run a datacenter.

I know, this isn’t logical when there are tons of providers out there that offer relatively affordable solutions. So why would I want to open one? Honestly, I have no clue. lmao

I believe you could open a datacenter with only a few hundred thousand dollars. For example, land in my area is rather cheap - while you couldn’t probably buy good commercial land with $300k you could buy a house and use it as an office. Then you’d need to get some internet from different providers (in my area good luck) and some servers.