AD:
So how do we write a blog post together Vito?

VC:
What do you want to write about?

AD:
I don’t know
What should we?
Tech?
Culture?
Life?
Let’s do it bro

VC:
Sure
UX maybe 😊 inclusive UX?

AD:
That isn’t bad
Something we have strong opinions about
Or maybe contrasting opinions
Hah!

VC:
but I tend to eventually agree with yours though 😊

AD:
Other way round lol!

VC:
Recently, I thought about the conversation we had at the Starbucks at the ground floor of your new office (AD: now old office!)

AD:
Remind me again

VC:
You said something on how good programming practices makes the tools/language used more or less moot…

AD:
Some practices transcend tools I guess

VC:
Well, I had been suffering lately from maybe around 5 years of technical debt in Prudent, stemming from the lack of use of types… (Prudent is VC’s side project)

AD:
That’s sort of true I think still
Haha

VC:
Suffering is not a good word, its an interesting relationship more like

AD:
Yeah
(but) you have to appreciate what was there
I mean, it works

VC:
Hmm…

AD:
It just can’t move
Lol

VC:
I am very tempted to rewrite from scratch again, time and again, and again…

AD:
It’s the best feeling
I kind of wish you had unlimited time
Could just write non stop till it was good enough

VC:
It’s like I am getting nowhere, deja vu in the quantum of years
I am starting again, but this time, I will write it out with pencil first, mathematically…

AD:
I think it’s just you learn to see more and more so it feels like there is more to get right
The higher you are, the less the ground looks like it moves

VC:
Yea, I am pretty sure I learnt, the hard way, but there’s no other way for me to learn, but this time I’d learnt, but it’s too late

VC:
Programming is not something I can be satisfied with in a lifetime

AD:
Yeah

VC:
Need, more, time…

AD:
Me too
My gosh you can’t believe how little time I have now
It’s crushing and depressing
You know
It’d be fun to do a blog series of rambling posts
Sort of like today’s chat
Wanna?

VC:
How?

AD:
Start a shared doc and start writing a lot!

VC:
Okie dokie

AD:
Journeys of software journeymen!
The setup:
Part 1) How we met, started together, and an interesting tidbit from the first months
Wdyt
Each post can revolve around a nugget of wisdom

VC:
Hmm…
let me immerse in this and try to get in this zone tonight :)

AD:
😊 I was thinking it’d be cool
Cause I’m going to revive my blog allending.com
I was thinking MCU style
Post 1 on yours
Post 2 on mine
etc
Just seemed like something fun

VC:
Yea, i had a cool idea too while going to sleep yesterday but forgot when i woke up 😅

AD:
What was ittttt?
😃

VC:
Oh yeah
Maybe something like a dialogue

AD:
Oooh
Vito: _____
Allen: _______
Chat revolving around a topic
That’s not bad

VC:
Yea, that is easier as it is less asynchronous

AD:
Not bad
We sort of chat together about something, edit it, and then post

VC:
We can just start with this topic itself… let’s call it pair blogging

AD:
Very meta
and very smart
Calendar slot will force us to do it ? 😊

VC:
I can create a shared private repo on GH
I think we can publish whenever ready
I was thinking of publishing an edited version of this conversation as part of the first post?
The title will be Pair blogging: the epoch
I can send you a draft?

AD:
Oooh good idea
GIT
Let’s

…

And here we are!

Pair Blogging is a series of conversations between Vito Chin and Allen Ding about technology, culture, and life.

Vito is a Senior CSA at Microsoft, where he helps partners deploy apps and develop practices on Azure. Vito is also the creator of prudent.me, a lifetime side project to make personal finance optimization work.

Allen is a CEO at Snappymob, a web and mobile app developer based in Malaysia. Allen has worked on a lot in the past, and mostly focuses on the business of software now, especially a SaaS he has in the works.