A special case of primitive obsession is the use of an int value to describe a span of time. You see this all the time in various APIs, and it’s a frequent source of bugs and confusion. Developers are forced to either guess or try to find the documentation that describes what units int timeout or int delay actually uses.

Having a retry delay of 1 millisecond instead of 1 second, for example, is a huge difference - that’s 1000x more load on your system! But so is having a timeout of 1000 seconds (nearly 17 minutes!) instead of 1000 milliseconds (1 second). Either way, it’s three orders of magnitude away from the expected and intended behavior, which can lead to production incidents and difficult-to-diagnose bugs.

I may have gone a bit overboard this year… I’ve scheduled myself for 5 developer conferences in 4 weeks during October 2025! If you’re interested in learning about Clean Architecture, SOLID principles, microservices, modular monoliths, and other software architecture best practices, here’s where you can find me speaking across three countries and online.

Whether you’re a.NET developer, software architect, or just passionate about writing better code, these sessions will cover practical techniques you can apply immediately to improve your applications.

Merging multiple MP4 files into one can be useful when working with ripped DVDs, split movie parts, or recorded gameplay. On Windows, the simplest and most flexible tool for this task is FFmpeg — a powerful open-source utility that can join, convert, and manipulate video files.

This guide walks you through installing FFmpeg, preparing your files, and performing a lossless merge (no quality loss).

1. Install FFmpeg with Winget

Windows 10/11 includes the winget package manager, which makes installing FFmpeg simple:

If you’re setting up a polished dev terminal experience with icons, custom fonts, and PowerShell 7 on Windows 11, here’s a step-by-step guide that actually works. We’ll install a Nerd Font, configure PowerShell 7 properly, and enable terminal icons in directory listings — all without pulling your hair out. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube video on prettying up your terminal with terminal icons.

🚫 What Not to Do

Before we dive in, here are a few things that didn’t work and might trip you up:

I originally posted this on LinkedIn / BlueSky but I’ve found that it’s nearly impossible to find (searching for “AI is the new offshoring” or"genAI is the new offshoring" both fail to find it) so I’m cross-posting here and adding a bit more context.

Twenty years ago, the internet and improved communications led to a massive push in US corporate enterprises to outsource IT and dev efforts to far less expensive offshore outfits staffed by eager but often inexperienced workers making pennies on the dollar compared to their US counterparts. Layoffs occurred in many orgs and whole departments moved offshore in some cases, and while there were success stories and many companies continue to leverage offshore talent, many (most in my experience but that’s probably biased by the ones coming to my company for help) later regretted the decision.