Hey, I'm Alexander
A developer who cares about the user.
Latest
RSS- How to Interview Software EngineersRead moreSoon I'll be leading my first software engineering interviews at work. While I've been on the candidate side many times, I realized how unprepared I am to be an effective interviewer. To my surprise, I found very little practical advice—so I've gathered this collection of the most helpful advice I could find.
- What AI won't Teach You About Asking For HelpRead moreEarly in my career as a full-stack Haskell developer, I leaned heavily on my senior engineers for help—sometimes too quickly. They taught me to pause, think longer, and try more on my own. That habit shaped how I learn and work today—and it's something AI might not teach the next generation.
- Don't Just Ship. PracticeRead moreLately, I've been thinking about how to get better at programming. By programming more often, more deliberately, and in ways that are uncomfortable. Sometimes that means practicing fundamentals until they become effortless. Sometimes it means building something I don't know how to build yet.
- On Grace, Frustration, and Getting to Know PeopleRead moreOver the past few months, I’ve noticed that I get frustrated more frequently and more easily at work. I don't always show it, but inside, I find myself reacting more emotionally to decisions I don’t agree with. And it is exhausting. So what helps? Getting to know people. Actually talking to them.
- Building My Own CLI App to Control Elgato Key Light AirsRead moreI’m building keylightctl, a custom CLI tool to control my Elgato Key Light Airs directly from the terminal. This tool already supports turning lights on and off and checking their status, with plans to add profiles, per-light controls, and dynamic brightness/temperature adjustments. Learn how I’m solving real workflow challenges while optimizing for simplicity and flexibility.
- Know your toolsRead moreA few weeks ago, I gave a lightning talk at an unconference during our team's onsite gathering. The following is an adapted version of my presentation on why we should all invest time in truly understanding our development tools.
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Broken Up Into a TV Series (Extended Editions)Read moreIn this blog post, we'll explore how to break down the Lord of the Rings movies into episodes, creating a more accessible and engaging experience for all. So grab your elven cloak, and let's embark on an adventure through Middle-earth, one episode at a time.
- NuPhy Air60 ManualRead moreManual for the the NuPhy Air60. The Air60 is wireless 60% mechanical keyboard with RGB background colors.
- Vortex Race 3 ManualRead moreManual for the the Vortex Race 3. The Race 3 is almost as compact as a 60% keyboard but has almost the same number of keys as a TKL board.
- Borealis - My First VSCode ThemeRead moreBorealis for VS Code is a dark theme based on different shades of teal with yellow as its main contrast color.
- How to create an AJAX Form in PHP with Google reCAPTCHARead moreHow to create an AJAX Form in PHP with Google reCAPTCHA.
- Connecting Raspberry Pi 3 with UAlaskaRead moreHere is how to set up a connection with UAlaska on a RPi3.
- Eduroam setup for Linux at UAFRead moreIf you are running a Linux distribution with the KDE environment, then this should be pretty easy to follow in order to set up eduroam on your machine.
- Manjaro Installation with Windows 10 dualbootRead moreI will describe in the following post how I configured my Laptop to dualboot Manjaro and Windows 10 Education