What Is Good Code?
We all nod along to "good code" but rarely define it. Here are the four attributes I look for, and the practices that protect each one.
Who is Mike Zornek?
Hello! My name is Mike Zornek. I describe myself as both a developer and teacher, and I've been building digital products for over 25 years.
From the suburbs of Philadelphia, I code in Elixir . When I am not coding, I enjoy watching Phillies baseball and playing video games (mostly laid-back simulations and RPGs).
Recent Blog Posts
A Place for Everything: How I Track Work
A window into how I track work: issue statuses, types, and pull request conventions, with sample PR templates you can copy. Take a look around and keep what's useful.
Decision Records, Playbooks, and Other Acts of Kindness
You've opened a project you didn't write, hit a wall, and found no one left to ask. The code is there but the why is gone. Here are the small habits that spare the next developer that moment.
Stabilizing Inherited Software: My First-Week Checklist
Inherited a live codebase with no one left who built it? Here's the checklist I run through in week one — before touching a single feature.
Fresh Eyes on a Cucumbered Team
There's a term for what happens when you've been on a team so long you stop noticing its quirks: you've been cucumbered. Here's what fresh eyes can (and can't responsibly) do about it.
The Moral Struggles of AI Coding
A journal documenting my use of and personal ethics around AI coding as a programmer.
GitHub Copilot and Unhonored Branch Protection
GitHub Copilot commits directly to `main` and ruins my night.