Oh yay, finally starting to discover what performative behaviour is expected of me as a developer. I’ve been gently nudged to make a big deal out of the work I do by posting on our team Slack channel to Raise Visibility. Like my standup updates & the features don’t speak for themselves.

At some point I’ll post about testing and development again… but at the moment I’m far too excited about other things, like the fact I’ve just bought some lovely new kitchen knives. The catalyst for the purchase was the fact I bruised my palm chopping some butternut squash. That was a step too far.

Hey everyone, I’ve been away a while and it’s because I got married! Hoping to finally have some headspace for online things again. Sorry to those who already saw the old post!

It is not a good sign when you start your week with the retro being cancelled due to outages over the weekend.

Yesterday all my worst pairing fears came to pass - I hopped on a call with a senior, got a massive headache and totally forgot how to code. Couldn’t even figure out how to get the First() item from a list or how to do a Select 💀 He was lovely about it, but goddamn I wish this wasn’t a thing.

People say don’t cry over spilled milk but what about spilled olive oil? The cost of this little incident alone is enough to make me tear up a little.

Pretty Hate Machine again? Oh go on then. I still haven’t found many albums better than this.

Bloodstock was awesome 🤘 Machine Head and Ministry absolutely killed it. We had some mega friendly campmates too. So good to feel that sense of belonging whilst also being pummelled by loud noises.

Since I am “The Dev Who Was A Tester”, I’ve been pulled into the AI & Testing working group along with the QA folks. There’s a list of tools to review provided from up high, and a lot of them market themselves on how effectively they replace testers. This is going to be fun to navigate 😩

M&S have changed their “combo mix” crisps… I saw the packaging had changed and my heart sank. The tube shaped ones now have a stale texture and are just not as crunchy and satisfying. Curse my senses for noticing things like this. Why must the relentless push for “line go up” ruin my fave snacks?

There’s a massive difference between learning something because I want to, and learning something because I have to. The last while, it’s mostly been because I have to. I miss having the space to fall into a wiki hole for an evening!

Today’s vibes: open.spotify.com/album/1UBjGs...

Has anyone actually managed to make a new friend in real life recently? I’m having trouble finding anyone receptive to new people nearby & I’m wondering what I could be doing wrong. Tried interest groups, classes, pubs etc but the only people who wanna be mates live in the city I moved away from 😭

So this was definitely on purpose, right? 😂

I never thought I’d see the day where developers voluntarily turn themselves into testers, but that’s exactly what they’re doing by inviting LLMs to create outputs from requirements they helped refine which they have to check for errors afterward. Obviously the tester skillset is valuable then.

Wow, I have a pretty severe case of Fuck Mondays.

Yesterday I had someone on my team say “Oh Meg is really against AI” & then I was told I have to use it or I’ll get left behind. They just assumed I wasn’t using it or I was using it wrong. I have been using it for years now & I dislike that folks assume I’m ignorant because I criticise it.

Oh no, grumpy Meg is back. Must find something else to refactor before feelings escape outward.

Hmm, vibes at work are ungood. Time to disappear down a refactoring rabbit hole for the rest of the week to escape from it. There’s an integration test project which needs some love, it’s ended up like a Frankenstein’s monster due to lack of oversight. Off I go 🫠🫠🫠

So our team now has a new manager. Things have been chaos for a while. Let’s see what changes they try to make to get things under control. Meanwhile, I’m using my learning time to integrate these “AI” tools into my workflow enough that I can say that I have… I feel dumber each time I use them.

Why is proper food so unappetising when it’s hot? All I managed for lunch was a yoghurt, a bit of granola and an ice lolly.

Too hot. Gonna watch the wiggly lycra men haul their bicycles around France for a while.

Life’s hard, bake babka. (It’s gluten free too)

Why is it so hard to find folks on my wavelength in this city? Where are you all hiding? 😂

After a rough work week, I’d have thought all the extra work for my massage course would have been impossible. But every time I’ve dipped into it I have felt energised, whether that’s giving a massage, attending a webinar, writing up reports or studying. It’s surprising me with how enjoyable it is.

Asking for a friend… When a contractor joins your team and instead of focusing on their own work, rewrites literally every piece of code you write without any communication, in the name of “just trying to help”, what’s the best course of action?

Coming up to a year in my current role, which is awesome… only now I’ve got an email saying all my mandatory training videos are expiring and I’ll have to watch them all again 😭

Hilarious that I had hoped to meet some local friends at the course I’m doing and pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to does not live in my city. I am cursed 😂😭

Massage therapy course starts tomorrow. Very excited to meet lots of new people and build up a skill I very much enjoy using 😁

I have no idea what could compel someone to message me out of the blue assuming I don’t even know what tech I’m working on as part of my current task, but there we are.

Office day on 4 hours sleep? COME AT ME BRO

Got back from my driving lesson (which was awesome, btw) and I was greeted by these little guys 😍

Excitement! There’s a new Freezepop album and it’s banging. This week may yet be saved. open.spotify.com/album/2r9XWJ...

It’s gonna be a grumpy Friday. Here’s a photo of my lovelies all snuggled in together.

Went to a book club tonight where I didn’t know anyone. It took *a lot* to go as I’m still pretty burnt out. No idea what’s normal at these things but I said some stuff, got some nods. Everyone seemed to know each other already. Hopefully I’ll get some more social links in this city soon…

The team has some integration tests which use TestContainers. I deleted one as that endpoint doesn’t exist any more & suddenly 12 unrelated tests started failing on the remote. An unawaited data setup method in a constructor was running rogue & being masked by a sleep & the test I deleted 🫠

_thunderclap_

Has anyone learned to drive in their 30s or older? I’m struggling with energy levels being low and life getting in the way. My lessons have only been fortnightly for the last couple and each time I’m losing my muscle memory.

I bought a bundle of ebooks recently and was disappointed to find that one of them was obviously entirely AI slop. I don’t understand the mentality of claiming you’re an author when you didn’t actually put the work in.

I identify with this mouse more than I should. It needs to recharge in a very impractical way at the most inconvenient time and cannot function while it does so. Big mood.

Another day, another inappropriate AI tool 🫠

Been up all night with burning stomach cramps which don’t respond to painkillers. Just laid there hugging a hot water bottle, barely got any sleep, feel completely frazzled. Mad how this happens every turn of the moon and I’m supposed to just ignore it and get on with things.

New book day 💪 pls smash my mind wide open.

Wanting to talk to people but being too exhausted to find words to do so is a unique form of torture.

nitpicks in code reviews are quickly becoming my least favourite thing.

Hmm. Someone I know had an autism assessment & got told she didn’t have it due to the fact she had a job in the past, currently had a partner & that they care about people & understand the value of friendship. Last time I checked, that wasn’t in the diagnostic criteria…

Dusting off the Bonkers 13 CDs. It’s a day with brain noise that only the happy hardcore from my teenage years can quieten.

One of my favourite people just gifted me Baldur’s Gate 3 so we can play together ❤️😭 I feel like we’re going to have the best time.

It’s doing a big rain. I could listen to this sound all day 🩵