Welcome to Optivem Journal

Swimming in the ocean of software engineering quality

Hello there, welcome to Optivem Journal!

My name is Valentina Jemuović. I started posting about TDD on LinkedIn in December 2021. I also wrote about Hexagonal Architecture and Clean Architecture, and recently - how we can use those together with Microservice Architecture.

Now my goal is to dig deeper into software engineering quality. Maintainability and testability are just two aspects, but how about performance, security, scalability, reliability, and security? Quality is multi-dimensional.

A short story about me

I’m a Technical Coach @ Optivem, and my goal is to help software development teams deliver higher-quality software faster.

Previously, I worked as a Senior Software Developer, Team Lead / Tech Lead, Software Architect, and Solutions Architect. I worked on projects and products spanning multiple industries - finance, logistics, medical, automotive, and media.

My main motivation in software development was always quality first. When I started working, my main interests were OOP, SOLID, Clean Code, and Test Automation. Later, I discovered TDD, Hexagonal Architecture, and Clean Architecture. TDD shifted my mindset towards driving development with executable specifications and incrementally implementing behaviors. Lastly, shifting from Monoliths to Microservices presented another dimension of challenges - scaling, communication, and reliability.

So, I’d like to share what I learned along this journey.

Why I’m going on Substack?

Initially, I started posting on LinkedIn in December 2021. At first, it started as an ad hoc activity but then (after thousands of comments and discussions) it became a recurring activity. I liked the possibility of reaching many people and sharing diverse perspectives, challenges, and pitfalls.

So why Substack? After thinking back-and-forth (and wanting to retain focus), these are the three reasons I’m moving to Substack as a writing platform:

1. I stumbled upon Substack after coming across Kent Beck’s Software Design: Tidy First?. I liked the idea of incrementally writing a book on Substack was an interesting concept - an agile way of writing.

2. I received numerous messages and comments on LinkedIn, with developers asking me whether my articles are available online in a more searchable and bookmarkable form; I received suggestions about writing books and making courses.

3. I researched both Medium and Substack. I connected with the background story behind Substack - Chris Best outlined the problems of social media (how it causes us to lose attention, rewarding virality over information). I wanted to retain a focus on providing valuable information (rather than competing in a popularity contest).

I’m transferring my LinkedIn posts to Substack

So this is what’s happening next:

1. I’m transferring many of my old LinkedIn posts to Substack

2. I may also be upgrading some of the content in those posts

3. I may also be adding an “epilogue“ based on discussions around the topics

What you’ll get when you subscribe:

• You’ll receive those articles via email

• You’ll also be able to access the articles online, bookmark and share them with anyone, and also comment on them

I’ll still be on LinkedIn (and Twitter), but Substack will now become my primary platform for long-form writing.

And there’s also be some new soon!

There will also be a new category of technical content coming soon, based on feedback and suggestions I received from software engineers.

I'll be announcing it to subscribers soon - stay tuned!