Why You Should Occasionally Avoid Using Cloud Services

Look, I get it. Cloud services are like that friend who always offers to help you move – convenient, reliable, and they’ve got all the right tools. But sometimes, just sometimes, you might want to keep your precious belongings in your own garage instead of trusting them to someone else’s warehouse. Even if that warehouse has better security cameras than Fort Knox. After years of watching companies rush headfirst into the cloud like it’s Black Friday at a tech store, I’ve learned that the “cloud-first” mentality isn’t always the silver bullet we pretend it is....

August 19, 2025 · 8 min · 1541 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Should Programming Interviews Include Mental Health Assessments? A Deep Dive Into Tech's Next Controversial Hiring Practice

Should Programming Interviews Include Mental Health Assessments? A Deep Dive Into Tech's Next Controversial Hiring Practice

Picture this: You’ve just aced the infamous “reverse a binary tree” question, navigated through system design like a seasoned architect, and even managed to explain why you’d want to work for yet another company that’s “disrupting the synergy of innovative solutions.” But wait—there’s one more step. The interviewer slides a clipboard across the table with a gentle smile: “Now, let’s talk about your coping mechanisms and stress responses.” Welcome to what might be the tech industry’s next big debate....

August 18, 2025 · 13 min · 2611 words · Maxim Zhirnov

The Myth of 'The Perfect Software Process': Why Flexibility Wins

Picture this: You’re sitting in a conference room, listening to a consultant with perfectly pressed khakis explaining how their “revolutionary” software development framework will solve all your problems. They’ve got charts, they’ve got acronyms, and they’ve definitely got a hefty invoice. Sound familiar? Welcome to the wonderful world of process evangelism, where everyone’s selling the holy grail of software development, and spoiler alert – it doesn’t exist. Here’s the uncomfortable truth that’ll make process purists clutch their methodology manuals: there is no perfect software process....

August 17, 2025 · 12 min · 2554 words · Maxim Zhirnov

Building a Text Sentiment Analysis System with BERT and PyTorch

Ever wondered how Netflix knows you’ll hate that rom-com before you even watch it? Or how Amazon can predict if a product review is going to be a love letter or a digital rant? Welcome to the fascinating world of sentiment analysis – where machines learn to read between the lines of human emotions, one word at a time. Today, we’re going to build our own sentiment analysis system using BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) and PyTorch....

August 16, 2025 · 13 min · 2580 words · Maxim Zhirnov

Why Most Developers Shouldn't Write Their Own CMS

Look, I get it. You’re a developer. You see WordPress and think “I could build something better than this bloated mess in my sleep.” You look at Drupal’s learning curve and wonder if the creators were secretly sadists. And don’t even get me started on the existential crisis that is trying to explain Joomla to a client in 2025. But here’s the thing – and I say this with love – you probably shouldn’t build your own CMS....

August 16, 2025 · 9 min · 1724 words · Maxim Zhirnov