The Benefits of Not Following Agile Methodologies Rigidly

The Benefits of Not Following Agile Methodologies Rigidly

When I first encountered Agile methodology about a decade ago, it felt like discovering fire. Finally, we had a framework that promised flexibility, rapid iteration, and freedom from the bureaucratic chains of Waterfall. We were going to be different. We were going to be fast. We were going to wear hoodies and have standing meetings about standups. Then something funny happened. We became so committed to the Agile gospel that we forgot why we started using it in the first place....

December 19, 2025 · 12 min · 2498 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Building Your Own Memory Leak Detective: A Practical Guide to Automating Go Memory Analysis

Building Your Own Memory Leak Detective: A Practical Guide to Automating Go Memory Analysis

The Ghost in Your Machine You know that feeling when your Go application starts consuming memory like it’s training for an all-you-can-eat buffet? One day it’s running smoothly, the next—boom—your ops team is paging you at 3 AM because the service is using 8GB of RAM when it should be using 800MB. Welcome to the wonderful world of memory leaks. Here’s the thing about Go: it’s got this fancy garbage collector that’s supposed to make memory management our problem no more....

December 18, 2025 · 13 min · 2649 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Green Coding Certifications: Why Your Code's Carbon Footprint Actually Matters (and How to Measure It)

Green Coding Certifications: Why Your Code's Carbon Footprint Actually Matters (and How to Measure It)

We live in an age where we obsess over every kilobyte of our JavaScript bundles, but somehow never stop to think about the kilograms of CO2 our code is burning. Ironic, isn’t it? Here’s a wake-up call: the Information and Communication Technology sector is responsible for approximately 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions—that’s equivalent to the entire aviation industry. And it’s getting worse. Projections suggest this figure could skyrocket to 14% by 2040 if we don’t fundamentally change how we develop software....

December 18, 2025 · 8 min · 1589 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Creating Cross-Platform Desktop Applications with Electron: From Zero to App Store

Creating Cross-Platform Desktop Applications with Electron: From Zero to App Store

Why Desktop Apps in 2025? Because the Web Isn’t Everything Let’s be honest—we all love JavaScript. It’s everywhere. You can build web apps, mobile apps, CLI tools, and even smart toasters with it (probably). But there’s one frontier that sometimes feels left behind: the desktop. Sure, you could argue that web apps are sufficient, but there’s something satisfying about shipping a native-looking application that works offline, has real file system access, and doesn’t require users to open yet another browser tab....

December 17, 2025 · 8 min · 1545 words · Maxim Zhirnov
The Art of Embracing Failure as a Path to Innovation

The Art of Embracing Failure as a Path to Innovation

When I first launched my startup, I had a vision so clear I could practically taste it. Six months later, that vision tasted more like ash. The product nobody wanted, the feature everyone ignored, the pivot that should have happened three months earlier—all of it pointed to one unavoidable truth: I had failed spectacularly. But here’s the thing nobody tells you in those inspirational TED talks—failure doesn’t taste bad because you did something wrong....

December 17, 2025 · 11 min · 2232 words · Maxim Zhirnov