Blog

Writing

Technical articles on AI engineering, architecture, and building production systems.

Building the Jack Landing Page: What I Cut, What I Kept, and Why

An honest reflection on the decisions behind js17.dev/jack — the animations that stayed, the features I removed, and where the project really stands today.

May 19, 2026 · 10:005 min read

8 Versions in 10 Days: Jack Driver Assistant's Road to Android Auto

From a weekend prototype to a full AI co-pilot that watches your route, reads the weather, controls your music, and shows up on your car screen — built in 10 focused days.

May 10, 2026 · 09:009 min read

Hiring

Engineering

I Already Knew How to Do This. AI Lets Me Do All of It at Once.

A 15-year engineer on the absurdity of AI skepticism in hiring — and why asking a senior to prove they can write code by hand is the wrong question entirely.

May 7, 2026 · 09:007 min read

Mobile

Android

Voice AI

Jack: The Co-Pilot I Wished I Had on the Road

Jack is a free Android app that lets you drive without ever touching your phone. No maps, no screens — just say 'Hey Jack' and the road is yours.

May 4, 2026 · 09:005 min read

Engineering

Building in Public

Strava

Life as Data: Strava, Chess, and the UI Sprint That Completed js17.dev

A portfolio that only shows what you build professionally is missing half the engineer. Here's how I built a live hobbies dashboard — Strava stats, Chess.com ratings, and a dark theme that finally knows what it is.

March 31, 2026 · 10:009 min read

Engineering

DevOps

Architecture

Automated Trust: How js17.dev Keeps Certifications Always Fresh

Certifications that go stale are worse than none at all. Here's how I built a two-layer caching system that ensures the credentials on this site are always accurate — without a single manual update.

March 20, 2026 · 10:008 min read

Engineering

YouTube

Analytics

Open by Default: YouTube Metrics Are Now Public

The admin-only YouTube analytics dashboard is gone. Every view, like, and comment on this channel is now live at /youtube-metrics — no login, no gate, no credentials required.

March 9, 2026 · 14:304 min read

Architecture

Infrastructure

DevOps

The Blueprint: Every Provider, Every Connection, Every Dollar Behind js17.dev

A fully transparent architecture map of js17.dev — 13 providers, 6 connection types, $36/month total. Every integration documented, every cost justified, every decision explained.

March 7, 2026 · 09:007 min read

Architecture

AI-Augmented Engineering

Business Strategy

The Architecture of Omnipresence: A Full Platform for Under $50/Month

An interactive 3D exploration of the architecture behind js17.dev — every provider, every connection, every dollar. How a single engineer built website, blog, video pipeline, email marketing, and AI integrations for less than most teams spend on coffee.

March 6, 2026 · 09:007 min read

AI-Augmented Engineering

Business Strategy

IT Leadership

From Portfolio to Platform: What I Built, What I Learned, and Why It Solves Real Business Problems

A reflection on building js17.dev — the milestones achieved, the engineering patterns that emerged, and how every system built here maps directly to the pain points companies face when IT fails to support business strategy.

March 6, 2026 · 09:009 min read

AI-Augmented Engineering

YouTube Automation

Content Pipeline

The Machine That Builds Itself: From Zero to Automated YouTube in One Sprint

A live metrics dashboard, an AI-powered video pipeline, and proof that one engineer can outproduce an entire content team. Real numbers. Real views. Zero video editors.

March 6, 2026 · 09:006 min read

AI-Augmented Engineering

DevOps

GitHub Actions

23 Minutes to Production-Grade DevOps: A Real-Time Infrastructure Sprint

At 15:25, I gave the first directive. At 15:48, two protected environments were live, CI/CD was enforced, conventional commits were running, and three critical security bugs were patched. A documented look at what AI-augmented orchestration actually produces.

March 5, 2026 · 09:007 min read

AI-Augmented Engineering

Security

Legal Compliance

One Day, Fourteen Features: How I Hardened js17.dev Into a Real Platform

A full walkthrough of the platform sprint that added content moderation, legal compliance, Credly certifications, a changelog page, newsletter security, CI/CD automation, OAuth fixes, theme cleanup, and more — all built and deployed in a single session.

March 5, 2026 · 09:0011 min read

AI-Augmented Engineering

Next.js

Claude

I Built My Entire Professional Site in One Session Using Claude — Here's Every Skill It Required

A transparent breakdown of how I used Claude to build js17.dev from scratch: the stack, the architecture decisions, the failures, the fixes, and why the human side of AI-augmented engineering is the hardest part.

March 4, 2026 · 09:0011 min read

RAG

Next.js

PostgreSQL

Building a Production RAG System with Next.js, PostgreSQL, and pgvector

A complete walkthrough of architecting a retrieval-augmented generation system that actually works in production — including chunking strategies, embedding choices, and the pitfalls I learned the hard way.

December 3, 2024 · 09:005 min read

engineering

productivity

AI-Augmented Engineering: How I Ship 3x Faster Without Sacrificing Quality

A practical breakdown of how I use LLMs, agentic workflows, and AI tooling in my day-to-day engineering work — and what actually moves the needle vs. what's hype.

November 15, 2024 · 09:004 min read