Mike Baynton

Sporadic chronicles from a decade+ of dev.

You’ll find assorted bits of development and other technowisdom from gradually shifting roles and interests on the eworldproblems blog. My posts are a combination of tips I’ve just personally found useful and lesser-known development strategies that I think are worthy of discussion.

Besides the literal, descriptive side of the blog’s name, it is also an allusion to “first world problems,” the phrase meaning those trials reserved for the world’s privileged minority. Although most examples you might hear are in jest (“My hand got too fat for the Pringles can”), the concept of first world problems also carries a powerful reflective message for paid programmers like myself. My day to day life, and perhaps yours if the content on offer at this site is of any interest to you, finds countless hours filled in relatively abstract thought and problem-solving of a decidedly first world nature. It is probably difficult for those tasked with producing so much of the real merchandise of this world to conceive of a living made on intangible products, never mind with the imbalance in compensation. That the prevailing socio-political and economic forces have seen fit to so value my toilings in a virtual realm that is completely invisible to 2/3rds of us globally is a wonder that I accept humbly. In that sense, I hope that the name also provides some perspective to you as you peruse the content on offer here.

I am currently a software engineer at Posit, PBC. This blog is powered by Quarto, a Posit project.