80% of the time, coding is a performance. The other 20% is doing real coding.
Performance means Scrum ceremonies, meetings, and JIRA:
A meeting to present tickets for the next two weeks
A meeting to answer questions from the previous meeting
A meeting to watch someone enter a number in a text box. Read: poker planning and story points
Meetings to watch someone move a ticket between JIRA lanes. Read: daily meetings
A meeting about all the other meetings. Read: retrospective
And when things go sideways, the performance intensifies with more frequent meetings. Sometimes a team member’s only job is running ceremonies and writing reports.
This happens everywhere. Sylwia Laskowska asked in a dev.to post if that’s something that only happens at her place. Nope! Even in the best families, as we say in our hometown.
Showing progress matters more than real work. Coding is often just a side quest. A hard truth nobody tells us about.
To succeed as a coder, you need to master the ceremonies as much as the code. That’s why Street-Smart Coding covers communication and collaboration. Because coding is more than typing symbols.
Our story didn’t start with love at first sight. You weren’t my first option. Sorry! But when we started to hang out, everything clicked. There was chemistry!
First, it was a textbook on C/C++ in college. Then, it was a recipe catalog in PHP late at night. Then, it was Java. Then, our first adventure in the real world with C#. Then, building, fixing, growing—what others would call “passion.”
I enjoyed the time we spent together. It was the challenge, the victory dances, the aha moments at the most unexpected times…It was funny, rewarding, almost magical.
But something felt off. The passion faded, and then one day, everything changed.
I don’t blame you. It was the corporate world, Scrum and its ceremonies, unrealistic deadlines, office politics…They all ruined our thing. I stopped waking up eager for you. I didn’t want to talk or read about you. I got sick. I got burned out. I got tired of us.
It was a hard time. We stopped seeing each other. Nobody hired me to be with you again. And I stopped looking.
It was a long time away. Honestly, I didn’t miss you. I thought we would never cross paths again. After months of applications, hope arrived in an unexpected email. Someone wanted us back together. But things can’t be the same after a breakup. We now need boundaries and space.
Coding, I sometimes hate you. I sometimes dream about a life without you. But you rewired my brain, making me see the world with different eyes, and that’s why I’ll always love you.
What better constraint than “solving the problem with what’s in your room”?
That’s a line from Edwin H. Land, founder of Polaroid.
I knew about it from this bookofjoe’s post.
Before he had his own lab, Edwin snuck into his university lab after hours.
Maybe that’s why he adopted that line.
What about solving a problem with what’s in your head, library, and notes?
It forces recall and sparks connections.
It make us read and learn broadly.
It help us build range.
#1. 100-repetition rule. When starting a new hobby, aim for 100 repetitions to judging your progress or quitting. That’s 100 posts, 100 photos, or 100 paintings.
#2. I feel/I wonder/I think.Reviving my Zettelkasten led me to morganeua’s YouTube channel. To react to something, answer I feel __, I wonder __, and I think ___. Those answers will help you to create new notes.
#3. Cover design idea. Last week, I found my copy of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, and noticed its cover. The title is on the cover and its subtitle is on the back cover. Simple! I’m stealing that idea.
#4. Techno selectionism. You don’t have to stick to a piece of tech. You can always try it, watch it, and change it. If it drains you or disconnects you, drop it.
#6. Work with your garage door open. If marketing and sales sound daunting, just show your progress. Open your garage door and let people see what you’re building.
#7. Read one book about work per year. I haven’t read a coding book since my burnout and layoff in 2024. This idea inspired me to pick one again. I opened my Books folder and started reading Dependency Injection: Principles, Practices, and Patterns by Mark Seeman.
A search for vignettes took me to a YouTube video by Bookfox on short stories, then to its blog, and finally to 100 word story. Each month’s photo inspires a 100-word story. Here’s this month’s photo and my story.
Game at sunset. Photo by Orlando Contreras Lopes on flickr.com
“One day, I’ll be like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.”
After school, the only thing he did was play street soccer.
No field.
Nets were two piles of stone.
His only audience was the next team waiting to challenge the winner.
In his mind, it was a gigantic stadium, people screaming “Gooaaal” as he took off his shirt.
His class was full of doctors, police officers, and even a mayor.
He dreamed of Bernabéu, Maracaná, and the Champions League.
But today, he only had an old ball to kick on a rooftop.
He only had a big dream and another sunset.
