johnro

Category: Software Engineering

  • Catching Issues Before Customers Do

    Catching Issues Before Customers Do

    About ten years into my career, I had the opportunity to work on a large-scale, business-critical talent management software system. One part of the platform I focused on was the application workflow — the feature where candidates applied for jobs.

    This workflow might sound straightforward, but it was mission-critical. If it broke, candidates couldn’t apply, customers missed out on talent, and everyone lost valuable time. The challenge was that candidates themselves rarely reported errors; instead, our clients would eventually notice and file a bug report. By then, the damage had already been done.

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  • From Reactive to Proactive: My “Light Bulb” Moment With Monitoring

    From Reactive to Proactive: My “Light Bulb” Moment With Monitoring

    About ten years into my career, I had one of those rare light bulb moments that completely reshaped how I approached engineering. Until then, I’d mostly thought of my role in terms of building features, fixing bugs, and keeping things moving. But thanks to a push from a colleague in product, I began to see things differently — not just as an engineer, but as someone responsible for the experience of real people using what we built.

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  • From Gamer to Game Builder: My Journey

    From Gamer to Game Builder: My Journey

    It’s been a while since I last posted here. Life, work, and all the usual busyness pulled me away, but I’ve missed writing. So here I am, back again. My plan is to post more regularly, and I thought I’d start with something that’s been on my mind for a while: what it’s like to go from being a player of games to someone who helps build them.

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