Recent Posts

A Complete Guide to the Amplify React Authentication Components

2022-01-10

  A few weeks ago, the team I work on, AWS Amplify, launched brand new authentication components for React, Vue, and Angular. I want to give…

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Build a Vacation Rental Site with Amplify Studio

2021-12-13

What is Amplify Studio? One of the most exciting projects I've worked on in my career, AWS Amplify Studio, just launched at Re:Invent in…

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What is the Cloud?

2021-11-01

Frontend developers! Have you ever wondered why to choose a certain type of database for a project, how to create an API, how to deploy to…

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Three New Next.js Features and How to Use Them

2021-09-21

AWS Amplify recently added support for Next.js 10 features, including incremental static regeneration, optional catch all routes, and image…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to GraphQL

2021-08-30

I first used GraphQL on a project right after its launch in 2015, and to be honest I didn't understand why we were using it. Over the years…

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Add Sign in with Apple to your React App!

2021-08-05

AWS Amplify added support for implementing Sign in with Apple to your apps! In this tutorial we'll start from zero by creating an Apple…

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Build a Serverless Subscription Site with Stripe

2021-08-04

In this tutorial, we'll be building out a site that uses Stripe to create a checkout system, then that triggers an AWS Lambda Function…

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Build a React App with Authorization and Authentication

2021-07-08

In this tutorial, we'll be talking about authorization and how to implement it with AWS Amplify's DataStore. First, let's get on the same…

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Create a Fullstack Next.js App with Authentication, Data, and Storage

2021-07-08

Next.js is one of my favorite tools for web development -- but it's a frontend framework. How can you build a fullstack application with it…

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Deploy a Next.js App to AWS Amplify

2021-05-19

AWS Amplify just announced server-side rendering deployment support for Next.js ! Here's a quick guide on how to deploy both an SSR and an…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to Next.js

2021-05-19

I've used Create React App non-stop to scaffold React apps, and I love it. Recently, though, I've been using Next.js for more and more…

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Breaking Down the Acronyms: SSR vs. SSG

2021-05-19

Acronyms are always fun -- they're helpful for reducing the effort of saying out a full long-winded technical term, but they can also look…

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How I Manage my Life with Trello

2021-05-04

Like many things, productivity systems are deeply personal and subjective. But, I've learned so much from other people's posts on their…

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Building an Offline-Ready Form With Vanilla JavaScript

2021-04-19

I recently had a conversation with some colleagues about whether I as a web developer often needed to have data available both offline and…

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The Case for Lower Code

2021-03-24

Many developers don't like the idea of low or no code, yet they use tooling to dramatically lower the amount of code they need to write…

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My Desk Setup

2021-01-12

Whenever I post a picture of my desk, I get asked what's on it, so I thought I should write it all down! First, here's a picture of the…

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Introducing the AWS Amplify Admin UI: Create an Application Backend in Clicks

2020-12-03

I am so, so excited about the brand new Amplify Admin UI, which the team that I'm on at work launched this week. You can create and…

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How to Teach Code

2020-10-27

Teaching code has been a large part of my life -- I was an education minor in college before I left to become a software engineer, and I've…

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Create Custom GraphQL Queries in AWS Amplify

2020-10-20

AWS Amplify uses code generation to create GraphQL queries for you when you add an API. This is super handy, but say you want to add a…

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Create a Git Diff in Markdown

2020-10-20

One of my favorite blogging tips is using diff formatting in GitHub flavored markdown. I use this to show what has changed in code snippets…

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Create Multiple Files at Once with Brace Expansion

2020-10-20

Did you know that you can create multiple files with the same name but different extensions all at once using the CLI? Bash/Zsh/Fish etc…

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Using Children in React

2020-10-20

You can use props.children in React in order to access and utilize what you put inside the open and closing tags when you are creating an…

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Getting Started with Storybook: How to Develop React Components Without an App

2020-10-20

I wanted to write up some thoughts and a quick tutorial on one of my favorite development tools, Storybook. You can use Storybook which…

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Build a Music Sharing App with Amazon S3 and AWS Amplify

2020-10-13

Amazon S3 was the first AWS service I ever used, which I would guess is a pretty common occurrence -- it's pretty simple and allows you to…

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Create Rainbow Text with CSS: Three Different Methods

2020-10-13

I really like adding rainbow text to my apps 🌈. There are three methods I usually use for this, so I thought I'd aggregate them into one…

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Read from a File with Python

2020-10-09

You can read from a text file in Python using the open function. First, create a file with some text in it. Mine is named input.txt and…

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Center an Element Horizontally and Vertically with Flexbox

2020-10-08

Did you know that you can center an HTML element horizontally and vertically in just a few lines of code using CSS Flexbox? First, we need a…

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Create a Card Layout with CSS Grid

2020-10-08

You can create a card layout with just a few lines of CSS Grid code! First, we need a parent HTML element with some child elements inside it…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to Web Development

2020-10-06

You most likely visit websites almost every day, whether to interact with friends on social media, to shop, to do work, or thousands of…

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Learning Tips for Programmers

2020-09-29

One of the most challenging but exciting parts of being a programmer is that the field is constantly evolving and the learning is never done…

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Building a Full Stack Application with AWS Amplify: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

2020-09-22

A few weeks ago, I joined the AWS Amplify team as a Senior Developer Advocate. I am really excited to be working on a product that makes…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to React: Hooks Edition

2020-09-15

A few years ago, I wrote an introductory React tutorial based on a workshop I taught. Since that point in history, I've taught hundreds of…

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Working Remote for Those Who Struggle with It

2020-09-08

I have been open about the fact that remote work is very difficult for me. I'm an extrovert, and the social environment at work helps to…

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On Being a Digital Nomad

2020-09-04

Almost two years ago, I donated almost everything I owned and left DC. I was at a job I was unhappy at, and I didn't know my future. I…

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Managing Imposter Syndrome

2020-09-01

Have you ever felt like you just aren’t smart enough or like you’re incapable of being a programmer? Have you ever felt like an imposter and…

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What Productivity Looks Like to Me

2020-05-20

First off, productivity is all about balance. You will not be fully productive if you don't take breaks, don't get enough sleep, or you don…

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Hasura 101: Building a Realtime Game with Graphql and React

2020-05-13

My favorite technology discovery of 2019 was Hasura . It makes getting up and running with a full Postgres + GraphQL backend a breeze…

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My Favorite Books

2020-01-05

I absolutely love reading. At the time of writing this, I've read 25 books so far this year. Since reading is such a big part of my self…

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The Career Advice I Wish I Had

2019-10-21

There are so many things I wish I knew before I became a professional developer. Or a professional at all. I know I'm in a position of…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to Programming

2019-03-27

This post may seem out of place on a site for programmers, but I wanted to write something from zero. What even is programming? And, what…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to Vue

2019-03-19

Vue.js is a frontend framework that is optimized for progressive integration. That means you can have a large app with only a couple Vue…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to CSS

2019-01-29

CSS defines the way things look on your websites. HTML is your content, JavaScript adds interaction, but the appearance comes down to CSS…

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The Most Important Non-Programming Skills for Programmers

2018-10-15

When I think about who I would like to work with as a programmer, I think so much more about non-technical skills than technical skills that…

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My Blog Post Workflow: from Topic to Publication

2018-09-05

Writing blog posts can be pretty tricky -- it's hard to come up with a topic to write about let alone actually create the content. I've been…

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A Complete Beginner's Guide to React

2018-08-28

If you're interested in learning React with Hooks first, check out the 2020 re-write of this post! I want to get back into writing more…

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A Web Design Crash Course: From one non-designer to another

2018-08-19

I will preface this by saying that I'm not professionally a designer. That being said, I like building pretty things and have had some…

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My Favorite Free Resources for New Programmers

2018-08-12

Last week, I shared my tips for new developers and how to start coding. I also wanted to share my favorite free resources for learning how…

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25 Tips for New Developers: Advice from a (Mostly) Self-Taught Software Engineer

2018-08-07

The most common question I get from blog readers is "What is your advice for new programmers?" So, I thought it was time to write up my…

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Building a Kickass Portfolio

2018-08-02

According to GitHub, I have had a portfolio site since September 1st, 2016. And, according to Google Analytics, I got less than 300 views on…

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My Terminal Setup: iTerm + Zsh

2018-07-31

As a follow up to my post on my text editor setup, I wanted to write about the other key part of my development setup -- my terminal…

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Public Speaking as a Developer

2018-07-25

As a follow up to my post from March on blogging as a developer , I wanted to give my tips for doing public speaking events as a developer…

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Extreme Makeover: Code Edition

2018-07-23

I am a little bit obsessed with writing clean code. Code should be written for future developers (including yourself) and extendability…

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What is a Web Framework, and Why Should I use one?

2018-07-18

"Framework" is a word used a lot in relation to code. So, what even is a framework? When we talk about frameworks, those frameworks normally…

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My Visual Studio Code Setup

2018-07-17

I love the text editor setup I've been using for the past year and a half, so I want to show off my setup! Visual Studio Code has far…

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