I am a pragmatic software engineer with 20+ years of experience, passionate about simplicity, operational and engineering excellence, DevOps, distributed systems and computer science.
I am also a teacher and mentor at heart, which allows me to connect with software engineers, managers and tech product leaders of all levels of experience, helping them to grow, learn, and achieve their career goals.
I started coding in GW-BASIC with an 8086 when I was 13 years old (yes, I’m old, I’ve seen a lot). This initial experience made me realize that I wanted to stay around computers as much as I could. All this eventually led to college (Systems Engineering/Computer Science) which led to a long and fulfilling career as software developer engineer, teacher, and mentor.
My journey includes starting my own software engineering companies in Venezuela (and making a living of them for seven plus years), a five-year detour teaching Computer Science related courses at a notable Venezuelan university, and seven plus years at Amazon AWS as a Principal Engineer.
My Mentoring Topics
- Software Engineering
- Software Development
- Software Testing
- Operational excellence
- Engineering excellence
- DevOps
- Distributed Systems
- Computer Science
- Software Architecture
- Cloud Computing
- Interviewing
- Career Growth
E.
21.March 2023The conversation with Demian was great, he clarified several doubts that I had about how to approach the problems of system design and algorithms, he also gave me several very useful tips on how to attack certain problems and he recommended various useful books to improve my professional life as engineer.
In conclusion it was a very pleasant and useful experience.
G.
4.February 2023It was an absolute pleasure to chat with you, Demian! I appreciate your detailed answers to all my questions. I learned so much about how to mature as an engineer.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications - The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems
Martin Kleppmann
Data is at the center of many challenges in system design today. Difficult issues need to be figured out, such as scalability, consistency, reliability, efficiency, and maintainability. In addition, we have an overwhelming variety of tools, including relational databases, NoSQL datastores, stream or batch processors, and message brokers. What are the right choices for your application? How do you make sense of all these buzzwords? In this practical and comprehensive guide, author Martin Kleppmann helps you navigate this diverse landscape by examining the pros and cons of various technologies for processing and storing data. Software keeps changing, but the fundamental principles remain the same. With this book, software engineers and architects will learn how to apply those ideas in practice, and how to make full use of data in modern applications. Peer under the hood of the systems you already use, and learn how to use and operate them more effectively Make informed decisions by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different tools Navigate the trade-offs around consistency, scalability, fault tolerance, and complexity Understand the distributed systems research upon which modern databases are built Peek behind the scenes of major online services, and learn from their architectures
ViewClean Code - A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Robert C. Martin
Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Noted software expert Robert C. Martin presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship . Martin has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code “on the fly” into a book that will instill within you the values of a software craftsman and make you a better programmer–but only if you work at it. What kind of work will you be doing? You’ll be reading code–lots of code. And you will be challenged to think about what’s right about that code, and what’s wrong with it. More importantly, you will be challenged to reassess your professional values and your commitment to your craft. Clean Code is divided into three parts. The first describes the principles, patterns, and practices of writing clean code. The second part consists of several case studies of increasing complexity. Each case study is an exercise in cleaning up code–of transforming a code base that has some problems into one that is sound and efficient. The third part is the payoff: a single chapter containing a list of heuristics and “smells” gathered while creating the case studies. The result is a knowledge base that describes the way we think when we write, read, and clean code. Readers will come away from this book understanding How to tell the difference between good and bad code How to write good code and how to transform bad code into good code How to create good names, good functions, good objects, and good classes How to format code for maximum readability How to implement complete error handling without obscuring code logic How to unit test and practice test-driven development This book is a must for any developer, software engineer, project manager, team lead, or systems analyst with an interest in producing better code.
ViewThe Clean Coder - A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers
Robert C. Martin
Programmers who endure and succeed amidst swirling uncertainty and nonstop pressure share a common attribute: They care deeply about the practice of creating software. They treat it as a craft. They are professionals. In The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers, legendary software expert Robert C. Martin introduces the disciplines, techniques, tools, and practices of true software craftsmanship. This book is packed with practical advice–about everything from estimating and coding to refactoring and testing. It covers much more than technique: It is about attitude. Martin shows how to approach software development with honor, self-respect, and pride; work well and work clean; communicate and estimate faithfully; face difficult decisions with clarity and honesty; and understand that deep knowledge comes with a responsibility to act. Readers will learn What it means to behave as a true software craftsman How to deal with conflict, tight schedules, and unreasonable managers How to get into the flow of coding, and get past writer’s block How to handle unrelenting pressure and avoid burnout How to combine enduring attitudes with new development paradigms How to manage your time, and avoid blind alleys, marshes, bogs, and swamps How to foster environments where programmers and teams can thrive When to say “No”–and how to say it When to say “Yes”–and what yes really means Great software is something to marvel at: powerful, elegant, functional, a pleasure to work with as both a developer and as a user. Great software isn’t written by machines. It is written by professionals with an unshakable commitment to craftsmanship. The Clean Coder will help you become one of them–and earn the pride and fulfillment that they alone possess.
ViewClean Architecture - A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design
Robert C. Martin
Practical Software Architecture Solutions from the Legendary Robert C. Martin (“Uncle Bob”) By applying universal rules of software architecture, you can dramatically improve developer productivity throughout the life of any software system. Now, building upon the success of his best-selling books Clean Code and The Clean Coder, legendary software craftsman Robert C. Martin (“Uncle Bob”) reveals those rules and helps you apply them. Martin’s Clean Architecture doesn’t merely present options. Drawing on over a half-century of experience in software environments of every imaginable type, Martin tells you what choices to make and why they are critical to your success. As you’ve come to expect from Uncle Bob, this book is packed with direct, no-nonsense solutions for the real challenges you’ll face–the ones that will make or break your projects. Learn what software architects need to achieve–and core disciplines and practices for achieving it Master essential software design principles for addressing function, component separation, and data management See how programming paradigms impose discipline by restricting what developers can do Understand what’s critically important and what’s merely a “detail” Implement optimal, high-level structures for web, database, thick-client, console, and embedded applications Define appropriate boundaries and layers, and organize components and services See why designs and architectures go wrong, and how to prevent (or fix) these failures Clean Architecture is essential reading for every current or aspiring software architect, systems analyst, system designer, and software manager–and for every programmer who must execute someone else’s designs. Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available.
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eXtreme Programming Explained
Kent Beck
Nearly five years after the first edition of this book exploded on to the market,noted software engineering guru and the father of Extreme Programming (XP)Kent Beck provides a fresh look at this controversial topic. XP remains themost popular agile methodology in software development, and many believe itis ideal for small to mid-size development organizations. However, XP is notwithout its detractors. The goal of the book remains to help programmers andteams decide if XP is the right path to pursue. The book offers advice, but doesnot provide a prescriptive, "how to" style format. This Fifth AnniversaryEdition enhances the full knowledge of XP and gives both the advocate andskeptic of XP full detail to move forward with an informed opinion.
ViewBuilding Microservices
Sam Newman
Distributed systems have become more fine-grained in the past 10 years, shifting from code-heavy monolithic applications to smaller, self-contained microservices. But developing these systems brings its own set of headaches. With lots of examples and practical advice, this book takes a holistic view of the topics that system architects and administrators must consider when building, managing, and evolving microservice architectures. Microservice technologies are moving quickly. Author Sam Newman provides you with a firm grounding in the concepts while diving into current solutions for modeling, integrating, testing, deploying, and monitoring your own autonomous services. You’ll follow a fictional company throughout the book to learn how building a microservice architecture affects a single domain. Discover how microservices allow you to align your system design with your organization’s goals Learn options for integrating a service with the rest of your system Take an incremental approach when splitting monolithic codebases Deploy individual microservices through continuous integration Examine the complexities of testing and monitoring distributed services Manage security with user-to-service and service-to-service models Understand the challenges of scaling microservice architectures
ViewUML Distilled
Martin Fowler
More than 300,000 developers have benefited from past editions of UML Distilled . This third edition is the best resource for quick, no-nonsense insights into understanding and using UML 2.0 and prior versions of the UML. Some readers will want to quickly get up to speed with the UML 2.0 and learn the essentials of the UML. Others will use this book as a handy, quick reference to the most common parts of the UML. The author delivers on both of these promises in a short, concise, and focused presentation. This book describes all the major UML diagram types, what they're used for, and the basic notation involved in creating and deciphering them. These diagrams include class, sequence, object, package, deployment, use case, state machine, activity, communication, composite structure, component, interaction overview, and timing diagrams. The examples are clear and the explanations cut to the fundamental design logic. Includes a quick reference to the most useful parts of the UML notation and a useful summary of diagram types that were added to the UML 2.0. If you are like most developers, you don't have time to keep up with all the new innovations in software engineering. This new edition of Fowler's classic work gets you acquainted with some of the best thinking about efficient object-oriented software design using the UML--in a convenient format that will be essential to anyone who designs software professionally.
ViewSapiens - A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
**THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** 'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack Obama What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? Yuval Noah Harari challenges everything we know about being human. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we're going. ________________ PRAISE FOR SAPIENS: 'Jaw-dropping from the first word to the last... It may be the best book I've ever read' Chris Evans 'Sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain... Radiates power and clarity' Sunday Times 'It altered how I view our species and our world' Guardian 'Startling... It changes the way you look at the world' Simon Mayo 'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species' Bill Gates **ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**
ViewThe Power of Now - A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckhart Tolle
To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us. A word of mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.
ViewDesigning Distributed Systems - Patterns and Paradigms for Scalable, Reliable Services
Brendan Burns
Without established design patterns to guide them, developers have had to build distributed systems from scratch, and most of these systems are very unique indeed. Today, the increasing use of containers has paved the way for core distributed system patterns and reusable containerized components. This practical guide presents a collection of repeatable, generic patterns to help make the development of reliable distributed systems far more approachable and efficient. Author Brendan Burns--Director of Engineering at Microsoft Azure--demonstrates how you can adapt existing software design patterns for designing and building reliable distributed applications. Systems engineers and application developers will learn how these long-established patterns provide a common language and framework for dramatically increasing the quality of your system. Understand how patterns and reusable components enable the rapid development of reliable distributed systems Use the side-car, adapter, and ambassador patterns to split your application into a group of containers on a single machine Explore loosely coupled multi-node distributed patterns for replication, scaling, and communication between the components Learn distributed system patterns for large-scale batch data processing covering work-queues, event-based processing, and coordinated workflows
ViewThe War of Art - Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Steven Pressfield
What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do? Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid the roadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dream business venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece? The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success. The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself.
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26.May 2023