Category: Diary

  • Remote.ma: from a blog to a platform

    It’s been two years since I started remote.ma, but I didn’t share why I started it before. So today, I’m going to share this with you. It all started when I wanted to work remotely: The story I applied to Automattic for three reasons: I wanted to work on something with an impact. And for…

  • Is it bad practice to choose your own document ID in Firestore or a NoSQL database?

    What if you’re left to choose the IDs of your documents on a NoSQL database like Firestore? Will you use a random string for your IDs, or try to use a combination of your document fields? Let’s take books for example. A good candidate for a unique ID is the ISBN, it’s a book identifier…

  • Acquiring my first Internet project: okjob.io

    A few months ago, I acquired my first project ever: okjob.io, a remote jobs board. The following is a recap of why I acquired it instead of building it myself and how I’m planning to use it. But first… Why the heck a job board? It’s been a while since I wanted to build a…

  • Why developers hate Ruby on Rails

    Hey I’m Ahmed, a self taught software engineer. In my path of self learning, I tried multiple languages and frameworks; and one of them was Ruby on Rails. That was at least 5 years ago, and I hated it. I didn’t know why, but it just felt different in a bad way at that time.…

  • The day I accidentally built a nudity/porn platform

    I didn’t know that my next project will turn into a nudity platform and a home for spammers. But it did happen while I wasn’t paying attention. And here are the details. For the next 5/10 years, I’ve decided that my mission will be: “Can a Moroccan build an online business and make a living…

  • The green presence dot

    The green presence dot

    Nowadays, every app with a chat feature has a presence indicator. It comes with different flavors, like a green dot, an “online” mention, or a “last seen” feature. But they all serve the same purpose. It’s a trap. Every one of them fights for your attention, trying to spend more time with you while using…

  • Reversible decisions and tomato purée

    We freak out when we hear “decisions”. We don’t want to make them. We prefer to avoid making decisions. We think decisions are hard because they are irreversible. Once you make a decision, it will haunt you all your life. But the truth is, the majority of decisions are reversible. You can choose a path,…

  • The timing is never right

    For all the important things. Timing always sucks. The stars will never align. And the traffic lights of life will never be all green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you. The universe will not line up things for you either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take…

  • On being rich

    A little story. Let’s start from the same base. You and your friend have the same amount of money, say 200$. Who is richer? We can’t decide yet. Your friend decides to spend his money on this new crazy experience, jumping from an airplane. You decide to keep the money. After this experience, your friend…

  • Doing a lot of things at once

    I always feel I should do a lot of stuff but I don’t have enough time. It seems I can’t focus on something and always get excited by other “more exciting” projects. Lately, I’ve been pushing myself to focus. It’s still hard as I always get some new ideas I want to work on. But…