Matthew Cocco

Spent the whole day researching an idea that’s been in my head for over three weeks. No code written. But a lot of clarity gained around the problem space, scope, trade-offs, and system architecture. Before writing a single line of code, there’s work that doesn’t show up in commits: understanding real user pain, defining boundaries, thinking through edge cases, and deciding what not to build. Sometimes the most valuable progress isn’t visible. It happens before the first line of code is written.

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I gave a talk last night at the Remix Austin meetup on using Convex within React Router 7. I'll post the recording when I have it, but I'll share a quick summary in the meantime. One of my favorite things about being a developer is being able to code anything I want: personal software, side projects, SAAS ideas. However, I tend to start a project during a wave of motivation and then hit a snag and never finish it. So when I'm choosing my tech stack, I have to optimize for reducing friction. I need to spend as little energy as possible setting up the project and debugging my environments, so all my energy goes into creating. Previously, I've done this with template scaffolding tools like https://create.t3.gg/ which give you a type-safe, full-stack app with Next.js, React Query, TRPC, and Prisma or Drizzle. It's a really nice tool. However, that's an awful lot of boilerplate just to get a full-stack app, and you still have to choose your SQL flavor and deploy your database. This is where Convex comes in. It's an all-in-one backend-as-a-service. I can spin up a fully deployed backend in just two commands. I define my functions and schema, and Convex generates a type-safe client for my frontend. It gets even better from there. Convex is a sync engine (designed by the devs who built the Dropbox sync engine). When your client loads, it makes a WebSocket connection to your Convex backend, and the data is reactive. When the database updates, the client is automatically updated, so the user doesn't need to refresh. Convex has been a huge unlock for me. I'm able to iterate quickly with Claude and write full-stack features faster than ever. Most importantly, I'm actually finishing projects and shipping because deployment is easier than ever. I've got a page on my site below with some links to check out. The gold dashboard I built with Convex, the code repo, my Convex referral link, and a blog post on how Convex works. Check it out and let me know what you think! https://lnkd.in/gamjPFW5

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Having interviewed a few C++ positions recently, I'm seeing some gaps in my language knowledge I previously overlooked. Most developers like myself are interested in knowing the how, language best practices, to be proficient at the job. But the really curious ones dig into the why. Why something doesn't work or why it works this way also matters. It's time to dig deeper.

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