# Blog [Unlearn faster](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/unlearn) 2026-03-03 · 1 min read When I started engineering seriously, I carried a lot of "correct" patterns in my head. [The real unfair advantage is focus](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/the-real-unfair-advantage-is-focus) 2026-02-20 · 2 min read "unfair" advantages are often associated with things that are external. Better network, funding, timing. But in practice, the biggest one I've seen is focus. [Vibe-engineering an OpenAPI compatible API authoring tool](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/vibe-engineering-an-openapi-compatible-api-authoring-tool) 2026-02-08 · 7 min read As an engineering lead, I spent most of my time architecting systems, writing issues, and translating business requirements into clean technical requirements which… [You aren't qualified until you've lived the role](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/unqualified) 2026-01-15 · 2 min read We overestimate preparation. [Race conditions in async code](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/race-conditions-in-async-code) 2025-07-16 · 3 min read What do you think is wrong with this particular block of code? [Your website has a carbon footprint too.](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/carbon-footprint-of-web) 2025-06-01 · 3 min read Every page load burns electricity — servers, networks, your user's device. That electricity usually comes from fossil fuels. An average webpage generates ~0.5g of CO2… [Version control your motivation](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/version-control-your-motivation) 2025-05-27 · 3 min read Look, I’m not going to pretend like I’ve cracked the code to productivity or motivation. I’ve abandoned more projects than I’ve finished - ideas that started with… [Reducing blast radius when designing APIs](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/reducing-blast-radius-when-designing-apis) 2025-04-29 · 5 min read I’ve been designing APIs for almost a decade now and one of the things that I frequently see developers get wrong is with designing APIs that are stiff and tightly… [Your users aren't IP addresses.](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/your-users-arent-ip-addresses) 2025-03-11 · 3 min read Let’s get this out of the way first: [Auth is a product, not a feature.](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/auth-is-a-product-not-a-feature) 2025-02-23 · 5 min read “Just generate a token and check it later, right?” [Don't be a ticket engineer.](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/dont-be-a-ticket-engineer) 2025-01-19 · 5 min read Imagine one day, you’re scrolling through your Jira tickets, and the latest ones are marked as resolved by AI. Why wouldn’t it be? If it had access to the code,… [Accessibility is UX.](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/accessibility-is-ux) 2024-12-08 · 2 min read I’ve worked with many developers over the course of several years and there’s a recurring misconception I keep noticing: most people still think accessibility is only… [It thinks, therefore?](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/it-thinks-therefore) 2023-12-29 · 3 min read If a system behaves indistinguishably from a conscious being, should we call it conscious? ## Topics [a11y (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/a11y) [accessibility (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/accessibility) [advice (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/advice) [ai (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/ai) [api (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/api) [apis (3)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/apis) [artificial-intelligence (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/artificial-intelligence) [asynchronous-javascript (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/asynchronous-javascript) [authentication (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/authentication) [backend (2)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/backend) [best-practices (2)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/best-practices) [bugs-and-errors (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/bugs-and-errors) [climate-change (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/climate-change) [consciousness (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/consciousness) [documentation (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/documentation) [engineering (5)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/engineering) [experience (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/experience) [full-stack (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/full-stack) [general-advice (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/general-advice) [general-programming (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/general-programming) [motivation (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/motivation) [openapi (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/openapi) [philosophy (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/philosophy) [race-condition (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/race-condition) [ratelimit (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/ratelimit) [reflection (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/reflection) [server-driven-ui (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/server-driven-ui) [side-project (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/side-project) [software-development (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/software-development) [spec-driven-development (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/spec-driven-development) [swagger (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/swagger) [upskilling (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/upskilling) [ux (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/ux) [web-development (1)](https://alanvarghese.me/blog/tags/web-development) [Back to Alan Varghese](https://alanvarghese.me/)