Software-Engineering on Og Maciel's Journal

Built To Last

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Built To Last

On learning by building, lowering the bar to entry, and the quiet legacy of useful work

Built To Last

From the very beginning, when I first got my first computer—around the age of 11 or 12—I felt inclined toward building things that were helpful and useful to others. Like many of my friends who eventually went into the computer industry and became software engineers, it all started with games. The thrill of writing your own game—something other people could use and that you could show off to your friends—was incredibly exciting to me.

Nineteen Years Ago, I Shipped a Reminder

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Nineteen Years Ago, I Shipped a Reminder

How BillReminder, Glade, and a stubborn love of simplification shaped my early years in open source.

BillReminder screens

I recently wrote about some of the reasons why I do what I do, especially when it comes to the professional path I’ve taken. It started long before software, back when I wanted to be a scientist—working in genetic recombination and gene therapy, trying to help people overcome genetic conditions as early as possible, ideally before they ever had to live with the consequences of them.

Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer's Tale

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Locked Out of the Kitchen: A Software Engineer’s Saturday

Photo by Taylor Grote on Unsplash

It’s a Saturday afternoon in early November, and instead of daydreaming about the holidays or planning what I’ll do during our annual office shutdown—a much-appreciated week off right before the end of the year—I find myself working. Babysitting, really. I’m watching over our build system for one of the projects we’re trying to wrap up in the next few days.

A Writer's Best Friend: A Proper Keyboard

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Writer’s Best Friend? A Proper Keyboard

I’m a bona fide computer geek and have been one for quite some time. I guess the fact that I started using Linux back when just getting the X Window Server up and running (for those who don’t know, that’s what lets you have a graphical interface instead of a blinking command line) was considered unnecessary—but still required what felt like a PhD to configure—instead of simply using Windows “like everyone else,” might have been a dead giveaway.

Crawl, Walk, Run—Rest

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was a day of quiet time and reflection for me—a forced slowdown after my body decided it had had enough of my constant multitasking and ignored warnings. This entire year has been a relentless stretch of challenges and tight deadlines. Every time someone said it would be impossible to complete a project by a certain date, my response was always the same: hold my beer. Yes, the chaos was self-inflicted. I own that. But what can I say—I have an almost reckless amount of belief in what can be achieved when a group of capable, autonomous engineers who trust each other come together around a shared purpose.

Nods, Lightbulbs, and Why I Still Love Being a Builder

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last month and a half, I’ve spent considerable time giving presentations at work on how AI tools can help people in their day-to-day activities. Most of these sessions focus on software engineering tasks like writing code, automated testing, setting standards, and using tools like Jira more effectively.

The Art of Presenting

Whenever I’m asked to present, I try to imagine what I’d want as an audience member. My core principle is simple: “if someone asks me to sit through a presentation, they’d better capture my attention quickly and show me what’s in it for me.”