The Case for Bash Scripts Over CI/CD Pipelines in Some Projects

The Case for Bash Scripts Over CI/CD Pipelines in Some Projects

Look, I’m going to say something that might get me banned from the DevOps dinner parties: not every automation task deserves a fancy CI/CD pipeline. I know, I know—it sounds like heresy in 2026. We’ve been conditioned to believe that bigger, more complex, more enterprisey is always better. But what if I told you that sometimes a well-crafted Bash script, sitting quietly in your repository, might be exactly what your team needs?...

January 24, 2026 · 12 min · 2480 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Designing Libraries That Are a Joy to Use: A Practical Guide to Modern UX in Library Spaces

Designing Libraries That Are a Joy to Use: A Practical Guide to Modern UX in Library Spaces

If your library’s website feels like navigating a labyrinth designed by someone who’s never actually tried to find a book, or your physical space makes patrons look like they’re searching for buried treasure without a map, you’re not alone. The good news? Designing libraries that people genuinely enjoy using isn’t some mystical art reserved for tech giants with bottomless budgets. It’s about understanding that libraries aren’t just repositories of books—they’re experiences....

January 23, 2026 · 14 min · 2851 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Tabs vs Spaces: The Most Honest Symbol of Pointless Engineering Wars

Tabs vs Spaces: The Most Honest Symbol of Pointless Engineering Wars

If you’ve spent more than five minutes in a software engineering team, you’ve likely witnessed it: two developers, locked in passionate debate, arguing about the width of their indentation. One reaches for the Tab key with the righteousness of a crusader, while the other frantically taps the spacebar, refusing to yield. Their pull request sits in limbo, and the team watches, exhausted. Welcome to one of programming’s most gloriously pointless wars....

January 23, 2026 · 8 min · 1692 words · Maxim Zhirnov
How to Write Technical RFCs Your Team Will Actually Read

How to Write Technical RFCs Your Team Will Actually Read

I’ve been in too many meetings where someone says, “Wait, why did we build it that way?” only to discover the answer was buried in a 47-page RFC from 2019 that nobody ever opened. Sound familiar? The irony is that Request for Comments documents are supposed to prevent this chaos. Instead, many teams produce RFCs that get skimmed, misunderstood, or worse—completely ignored. But here’s the thing: a well-crafted RFC is like a good movie....

January 22, 2026 · 16 min · 3335 words · Maxim Zhirnov
CAP Theorem Worship: Why Most Teams Don't Need This Level of Drama

CAP Theorem Worship: Why Most Teams Don't Need This Level of Drama

I’ve been in enough architecture meetings to know what happens when someone mentions the CAP Theorem: the room gets quiet, heads nod knowingly, and suddenly everyone’s discussing partition tolerance like they’re planning for nuclear fallout. Here’s the thing—they’re probably wrong to worry this much. Don’t get me wrong. The CAP Theorem is a legitimate, important concept in distributed systems. But it’s also become the technical equivalent of a sports car in a suburban driveway: impressive to have, rarely driven at full capacity, and occasionally used to justify questionable decisions at 2 AM during a crisis meeting....

January 22, 2026 · 10 min · 2018 words · Maxim Zhirnov