ESPHome is a remarkably simple yet powerful framework and toolchain for programming ESP8266/ESP32 boards. ESPHome provides a whole bunch of “components” - pre-built modules to manage the underlying hardware/functionality - and lets you enable, configure, and integrate them with a few short lines of YAML.

ESP32 (and the ESP8266 predecessor) is “a series of low-cost, low-power system on a chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth” with a wide range of uses, but particularly valuable for IoT and/or home automation.

There are relatively inexpensive dev boards (£14 on The Pi Hut), and a whole bunch of commercial “smart” devices built on top of an ESP core.

There are many ways you could write a job advert, but, absent something pre-existing to work from, here’s the skeleton template I use.

This was written as part of wider documentation about ensuring healthy and inclusive hiring practices, so isn’t a self-contained fully-fleshed-out thesis, but it’s been handy for me to use and re-use.

The examples are a little contrived and brief, but should serve as a basic indicator of the kind of content intended.

I have a number of Software Defined Radios (SDRs), ranging from cheap RTL-SDR dongles originally designed to receive TV, to the much fancier Hermes Lite 2 transceiver.

OpenWebRX is powerful yet easy-to-use remote SDR receiving software, that you can operate from a browser. It’s designed for people to offer radios to a wider audience over the internet. For me, it’s valuable on my local network.

I’m a big believer in the value of “real” DevOps - culture, collaboration, breakdown of silos, etc.

But the lack of a formal definition has often made it feel challenging to explain, particularly as it’s so widely and often superficially used - “our ops team is now the devops team” etc.

I’ve finally found an introduction and explanation I want to share:

Previously I wrote “My 2019”, inspired by Always Improve, Never Stop, Never Pause, Never Appreciate: things I did; not necessarily “achievements”, but happy and/or notable things.

2020 was a pretty terrible year. Though I am fortunate enough to have been less negatively affected by the pandemic than many, being “Clinically Extremely Vulnerable” has made it challenging for me to offer much help to others. I have been giving money to various charitable efforts, including Save the Children and The Felix Project, and would encourage others who can to do the same.

Meanwhile, in no particular order:

As per 2019, some things I read in 2020, with some brief opinions/recommendations.

It turns out I do most of my reading while travelling - trains, planes, and while waiting at stations - all things I didn’t do much of in 2020!

All categorisations are approximate at best and will probably cause some kind of contention.

Previously I wrote “My 2018”, inspired by Always Improve, Never Stop, Never Pause, Never Appreciate: things I did; not necessarily “achievements”, but happy and/or notable things.

The end of 2019 was a bit of a whirlwind so I put off writing “My 2019” and never got around to it, but I regret that and wanted to rectify it, especially given how terrible 2020 was for so many.

So, in no particular order:

As per 2018, some things I read in 2019, with some brief opinions/recommendations (published slightly later than originally planned).

All categorisations are approximate at best and will probably cause some kind of contention.

Neofetch is a command-line system information tool, displaying information about the operating system, software and hardware. Onefetch is a command-line Git information tool, displaying information about a repository including language, contributors and size.

If OKRs - “Objectives and Key Results” - are completely new to you, there are probably better introductions. But if you’re looking for a lightweight OKR system that has worked well for me, then here goes.

Many of the problems I’ve seen and heard of with OKRs seem to come from well-intentioned people taking Google’s implementation of OKRs (which includes scoring and assessment and measurement and other complexities and nuances) and misapplying it, copying some parts but not other essential pieces, and just generally having a square-peg-round-hole situation.

I’m sure the Google system works well for Google. Here’s what has worked well for me.