Category: Business

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My experience building digital products

digital product

When writing about digital problem solving, I tell stories about past projects. On top of a tech perspective, I also dig into the business, design, marketing, and inter-personal aspects. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a wide breadth of tech experience through my career. It has helped me dive deep into principles and ideas about building digital products. This range of experience was afforded by continually pursuing new work. Finding room for side projects and extra gigs is a great way to grow.

After a daily, hour-long commute I could barely sneak an hour or two for my creative projects and side gigs. But I always did. Side projects were often for paying clients, but sometimes just for fun. They would include not just programming, but also design, marketing, networking, and infrastructure. On top of this, I always made sure my hobbies would serve my overall goals. Reading good books, playing quality games, and being physically competitive all lead to a better life and career.

The key take-away is to work on a variety of projects. Be ready to try different technologies and new platforms. In general, keep trying new things.

Understand infrastructure. Survive some horror stories.

Web infrastructure and hosting setup are skills often missed out on by both casual programmers and professionals. Configuring domain names, email, web hosting, and load balancers is usually reserved for system administrators. Working as one-stop-shop, on your own or in a company, can give you the opportunity to manage all of these details.

I’ve gotten to work with many third-party services and vendors. I’ve seen the good and the bad, and even worse. AWS (Amazon Web Services) has been the best infrastructure provider that I have used. I’ve had horrible experiences from other companies.

Once having had my web servers infected by ransom-ware, HostGator wanted to charge nearly a thousand dollars, to solve the problem. This was the only solution they offered while multiple web properties were infected and out of commission. I fixed the issue myself in less than a few hours by purging all data from the servers and redeploying source code from version control. That was a nightmare.

Another time servers provided by OLM went down for multiple days. This was in 2014. During this time, they wouldn’t answer telephones, letting them ring. I stood on hold for at least 30 minutes, multiple times per day trying to get through. After nearly a week, things started working again, with no explanation provided. That was one of the most unprofessional experiences of my career. I will forever shout them out about this.

Get your hands dirty

Looking forward, I’m excited to explore more of AWS. I’m currently learning through online courses from Udemy: “Certified Solutions Architect” and “Certified Developer”, and plan to take the certification tests. Next, I want to jump into their “Machine Learning” and “Internet of Things” services.

I regularly use AWS services for cloud computing, storage, and databases. My go-to for a new project is to spin up a EC2 instance. If I know I’m using WordPress, I may use a Bitnami AMI. Other times, I’ll create a basic Linux box, and setup Apache, MySql, and PHP myself. Here is the documentation I regularly reference: Install a LAMP Web Server on Amazon Linux 2. This process usually includes configuring a domain name, and setting up SSL: Configure SSL/TLS on Amazon Linux 2.

I’ll continue this post as a series. I plan tell stories about my experiences in building digital products. I’ll cover topics such as design, marketing software, customization, and APIs. Follow me on Instagram for regular updates: @AntPace87

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Writing, engineering, and creativity

writing resources

It was 2006 and I had just installed WordPress on a web server. I would draft blog posts nightly, before getting ready for bed. At the time I was a philosophy major and wrote prose more than code. That was my first venture into web development and digital marketing. It started with writing.

Writing blog posts and publishing software have a lot in common. For both, “perfect” is the opposite of ready. It’s easy to keep editing your own work. It’s even easier to keep adding half-done features and clutter. That’s why having a plan before you start helps so much. When I write, my first draft tends to be bullet points and a vague outline. The same goes for software. If I’m building something complex, I write comments explaining its functionality before any code. It’s my way of “thinking out loud”, and making sure that what I plan on doing even makes sense.

It’s been over a decade since I’ve maintained a blog. Creative tasks require hard work, lest they bear no fruit. (“Writer’s block is for amateurs”). Problem solving, in its many shapes, is the highest form of creativity. It’s how we build our reality. Modern technology gives us creative leverage through tools, knowledge, and community. We’re being given opportunities to build and create things, to grow and be better, at an unprecedented scale. It’s the best time in history to be CEO of your own life; creative director of your destiny. This also sets the bar higher to stand out.

My plan here is to write regularly, and discuss what I’ve been working on and learning, as well as what’s next. This gives me a chance to explore my thoughts, and prune the branches from which they stem. Hopefully, working at this will help to make me a better storyteller too. This blog is my notes and stories from the field, on the ground!

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Bootstrap Website for a Book Author

A vendor (video producer) to the company I worked for, who had is office on the same floor as us, mentioned in the hall way that he had a friend who needed a website. His friend was an author who just had a book published by Simon and Schuster. Joshua Horwitz released “War of the Whales” in 2014. I built his website from scratch using Bootstrap CSS and HTML5 boilerplate. It’s responsively designed, so it adjusts for mobile devices.

I even implemented a custom CMS mechanism, powered by TinyMCE, that was super light weight. It allowed him to update a few pieces of small content through out the site. It used basic authentication, and wrote to a MySQL database.

<script type="text/javascript">
tinymce.init({
forced_root_block : false,
   force_br_newlines : true,
   force_p_newlines : false,
    selector: "textarea",
	  plugins: [
         "advlist autolink link image lists charmap print preview hr anchor pagebreak spellchecker",
         "searchreplace wordcount visualblocks visualchars code fullscreen insertdatetime media nonbreaking",
         "save table contextmenu directionality emoticons template paste textcolor"
   ]
 });
</script>

I used some cool visual effects to add animation and make it feel like an immersive experience. The design process took many iterations, but we got it to a place that made sense for the project. The marquee jQuery plugin used the following code:

$('.marquee')
    .bind('beforeStarting', function(){
        
    })
    .bind('finished', function(){
       $('.marquee').marquee("destroy");
	   $(".marquee").css("overflow", "scroll")
    })
   .marquee({
	//speed in milliseconds of the marquee
	duration: 7000,
	//gap in pixels between the tickers
	gap: 0,
	//time in milliseconds before the marquee will start animating
	delayBeforeStart: 0,
	//'left' or 'right'
	direction: 'up',
	//true or false - should the marquee be duplicated to show an effect of continues flow
	
	//pauseOnHover: true
})

Project proposal

Looking back at the original agreement, this is what be planned before the project began:

“I will provide two initial design direction samples. You can choose either direction, request changes, and/or combine elements from each sample. Prior to this step, you can send me examples of what you would like your website’s look-and-feel to be similar to, as well as any other specific requests regarding functionality, style, and layout. Following this, we can go through up to two more rounds of revisions regarding the style, layout, and functionality of your website. You will provide any information, text, and images (photos, logo, etc.) that need to be displayed on this website. Any stock images that we may choose to purchase for this website will cost extra.”

It was a fixed price agreement, but I added this paragraph to our documentation:

“I know from plenty of experience that fixed-price agreements often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. I don’t want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind. If you do want to change your mind, add extra sections or content or even add new functionality, that won’t be a problem. You will be charged an hourly rate.”

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Being a Web Developer in NYC

starting a website project in new york

Full time employment

Six months ago I started a full time programmer position in Manhattan. The office is located in a Chelsea building, on the 11th floor. It’s a trendy neighborhood with plenty of restaurants, walking distance from art galleries.

My daily commute takes me through the Bronx on the 6 train, landing me steps away from Madison Square Park and the Flat Iron Building. The subsequent ten minute walk pumps coffee through my veins and prepares my mind for a day of meetings, thinking, and coding.

An hour long lunch break gives me a chance to explore local shops and scenery. More walking. More thinking. Then, back to the office for more meetings and more coding. The boutique atmosphere has a start-up feel. Marketing and event-planning have been woven through my responsibilities as keeper of all things tech. Each member of our small team fashions a millinery worth of metaphorical hats. Team building events and shared lunches help us to stay lockstep.

After work I’ve been attending tech meetups and happy hours. Networking is important. I’m excited to see what the city has in store for my life and my career. This blog will be a journal for my adventures in technology.

Freelance

I’ve been a freelance web designer and developer in New York City for a few years. I find new clients prospecting small and medium size businesses.