Kent Fenwick - Ewakened

What do to with ideas

In my mind, always bustling with ideas, I find myself constantly trying to create. Everywhere I look, I see opportunities, businesses, and also distractions. My nature is to fully commit to an idea, to nurture and build upon it. Yet, there are always other tempting ideas floating around, luring me to explore them. I am loyal. I ignore these other ideas, knowing I don’t have the time to invest in them. I feel that ideas are like living entities, craving growth and consuming the thoughts and desi

ChatGPT Prompting and Meta Prompting

So, you’re considering using ChatGPT to assist in your work. I find myself using it more than what many might deem reasonable. Why? Deep down, I’m an AI maximalist. I firmly believe that each of us will eventually have a personalized AI companion that will observe our daily activities, identify efficiencies, draw connections our minds might miss, and even tailor communications when we forget. I am excited for this future, and I believe that ChatGPT is a step in that direction. I don’t think thi

What are Droposals?

Before we dive into Droposals, it’s important to understand what Web3 Proposals are. Web3 Proposals – What Are They? In the Web3 universe, Proposals serve as a democratic tool enabling protocol or NFT collection communities to vote on various changes. These could range from alterations to the smart contract, website modifications, or amendments in tokenomics. With the power to vote, the community decides whether these changes should be enacted or not. What’s so unique about Web3 Proposals is

Moving to Next.js Serverless Functions for REST APIs

I’ve recently embarked on rewriting Agora using NextJS 13 and it’s stirring up some serious déjà vu of my Rails and Django days back in 2007-2009. The premise of a framework-driven infrastructure resonates with me. Coupled with the prospect of partnering with Vercel, I’m eagerly anticipating a leaner, more efficient developer experience and a highly performant web app. One of the most exicting new features is serverless function support. This feature, specific to NextJS 13+, has the potential t

I take the call

Lately, I’ve started answering sales calls. Yes, those unexpected interruptions that occur just as you’re settling into work. As a father and husband, I never set my phone to Do Not Disturb or Focus mode, as there’s always the underlying fear of a call from school or camp with news about my children. This leaves the field open for inside sales representatives to make their pitch. Inside representatives arguably have one of the most challenging roles. Their job isn’t primarily to sell a product,

Write, don't copy

Often times as programmers, we use tools like LLMV to copy and paste code from one place to another. We can debate the pros and cons of this another day but my challenge to you is to write the code yourself. Don’t copy and paste. You’ll learn more and you’ll be a better programmer for it. It sounds so simple and trivial but the act of writing out the code that someone else wrote for you, like writing notes as student helps imprint the code in your mind. You’ll be able to recall it faster and yo

Low key excited for Threads

I am excited for Threads. I think it could be the Twitter of old. Let’s go Mark.

GPT4 is the new 3D Printing

There are always new buzzwords and concepts that capture our attention. GPT-4 has been one of the most talked-about developments in the field of artificial intelligence. However, as I look at the trajectory of GPT-4, it’s worth comparing it to a previous moment in tech history: the 3D printing boom of a decade ago. When 3D printing first emerged, it was hailed as a game-changer that would transform the way we live, work, and consume products. The promise was that we would never have to buy anyt

Early Thoughts on NextJS Coming from Ruby on Rails

I have been a Ruby on Rails developer since the pre 1.0 days and truly do love the framework and all it has to offer. However, for those paying attention, around the time of Rails 4-5ish area the growing power of React and Node was becoming overwhealming and while DHH and Basecamp were still driving a ton of innovation on the front-end with their Basecamp.com re-write and the addition of webpacker, it became clear that the Rails way was falling short when compared to tools like React. I recenty

How to Not Land a Starship

I was visting my parents today and my mom brought up the Starship explosion. In case you missed it, the testflight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded this week during a testflight. I am sure this was a dissapointing day and a massive setback, but did you know that in 2023, as of this writing in April, there have been 24 documented successful Falcon 9 missions from SpaceX. 24 successful missions where a Falcon 9 goes up, comes back down, and lands by itself. You probably didn’t know that. My p

Fickle minds

Not more than a year ago I told myself and the world that I would stop jumping around from blogging platform to platform. Dreamweaver then Blogger then Posterous then Wordpress then Ghost then Jekyll then Posthaven then Hugo then Gatsby then Wordpress then Jekyll And here we are, and here we will stay.

More coffee dates

My resolution this year is to say yes to more of those coffee dates you get asked to go on. They start like Hey! I was wondering if I could grab a coffee with you and get your help with hunting for my next gig, been working as a growth PM for a year now and figured you’d be a good resource for tips on making my next move Sometimes these are fishing expeditions, driven around getting a new job or introduction, but often, as advertised, someone out there either looks up to you, respects your opi