Markizano.NET

AI Workflows So, I have been considering make.com for some time now to help me out with workflow automation. I had seen someone using it in the past and thought it was interesting... Then, NetworkChuck's video on n8n crossed my FYP on YouTube... Introducing n8n Website Docs Workflow automation that you can host yourself and get to automating like a pro! Has tons of integrations and this really got me thinking about things that I could automate. This works great as workflow automation visualization tool. In this way, I don't have to hook up all the plumbing for automation, this can serve that purpose. Background: Electricity in Texas Disclaimer: I may not get all these details correct, so don't quote me on how all this works. I just know the players. So, the way electric works here in Texas is you have to select your power company who basically is responsible for collecting the bill and "delivering" electric to your home. I suppose this is great beca...

When I was 15 going on 16 working for my parents at The Metro Inn, I was the only cook in the kitchen from 09:30A until 01:30A. I ran that kitchen even when there was 25+ people in the bar, 15 people downstairs and 10 people in the VIP room, all them hungry and want their food now. I ran that kitchen by myself! Dearest father who had run tablecloth level restaurants expecting me to perform at that level. Did I see a single cent of payment or even just a tip leftover for me as I bus the table afterwards? Hell no! but, I'm not enough... When I was 19 and it was the first day of my life as an adult, I'll never forget the date: Jan 25, 2010. It was my first day working in a corporation, first day of returning to college for online courses with UOPX and it was the first day living on my own without either of my parents. My dad bought me a week in a hotel and that was all I needed until I got my first paycheque. I made my life since then. I got my own driver's license since my...

In response to a LinkedIn post I came across (If you are part of the AWS Certification & Training ). I hit the character limit 😅, so extending on that here. DevOps Automation DevOps has been trying to automate itself out of its role since its inception. That was the whole point of the role in the first place and yet still many orgs are facing: Totally custom setups and never-ending edge cases. Operational dysfunction. Multiple disjointed tools that perform the same functions. Development teams operating in silos that don't conform to the federated guidance DevOps is attempting to implement. Incomplete monitoring systems or multiple monitoring tools that don't cross communicate. Incredibly ever complex logs with vague descriptions as to what actually went wrong. Office politics where confusion exists around role and responsibility when the pipeline breaks. Current Challenges Many orgs are still: In the phase of getting away from monolithic apps into micr...

This is a rant post. The problem I have with AI has multiple layers. I'll try to cover them as best I can in this post. However, this may change over time. Premise It started with an email from Lovable. This weekend, they are doing "free credits" for this championship match among the top AI companies out there: OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude/Sonnet) and Google (Gemini). So I login to see what's going on and what can be done. I talk with ChatGPT a bit on the side to help me craft the perfect prompt. Then I feed that into Lovable to see what the result is. My intention is to have it build the scaffolding and beginning of the front-end so I can continue developing the back-end and have the app up in a weekend. This should go like a breeze, right? Wrong... Problems Current AI Limitations Perception Created Results of Perception Let's break down all these points I see and the outcomes they may produce down the line in the hopes I can save at lea...

After giving it a good trial, Supabase is just not working for me. I really did put in some effort to learn how this works and to try to run this stack. For a self-hosted setup, Supabase is just not for me. Here’s why: Out of the Box Docker Functionality Poorly documented issues AI Access is not built-in (as advertised) Self-Hosted != BaaS Scale? Out of the Box Docker Functionality They say it’s supposed to work out of the box … Just clone the code. Copy your project over. Run docker compose up and you’re off and running to the races! Want more customization? Configure as needed! This was not the case for me. I had to heavily mull thru the docs, configuration, learn the setup. Then on top of that, I HAD to setup my own domains (e.g. studio.mydomain.com, analytics.mydomain.com, functions.mydomain.com, et al) because it didn’t do service discovery properly. I also had to change the network type to bridged because the native network type obscurred all the services and for...

I thought this was a great prompt and does well to represent me in this current snapshot of me. This will help others understand me better in the near to mid-future. Prompt If you were to guess at my management style, based on what you know about me now. What would you say that style is, where are my strong points and where are my opportunities for improvement? ChatGPT-4o Based on everything you’ve shared, including how you structure your thinking, prioritize autonomy, and navigate emotional and technical systems, here’s a clear profile of your likely management style , along with strengths and areas for growth. 🧭 Your Likely Management Style 💠 Visionary Builder (with Technocratic-Purple Leanings) You’re someone who: Builds from first principles , not just trends Sees the big picture long before others do Thrives on autonomy , mastery, and meaning Wants others to grow through trust, not control Balances logic with deep emotional awareness You're not the kind o...

The idea was this: What if what we are doing here is creating the shrine that will serve as our home when we transcend into the next life? The extended part of that thought is this: What if we are all Ghod (I misspell that on purpose so folks don't get confused with the Christian "God" and to denote that there's other forms of "The All" that I want to try to incorporate here. I guess lot of words to say it's my word for the definition, not the belief?) I think a lot about that story Kurzgesagt illustrated called "The Egg" . We are all baby gods and must live all the lives possible in a universe in order to transcend it. Dolores Cannon says we are here to learn how to control energy in its most primal state. Many here have created organizations much larger than themselves. What if what we do here is to create our shrine that will serve as our home after we've left this plane? Pulling from Noragami Aragoto , Gods only exist as long as people...

Regarding: ChatGPT's recent release of Codex I can see so many ways in which this can go right and wrong and in between. Ways it can go right: Vibe Coding : Developers are starting to learn how to incorporate and use LLM's with coding software. This whole "vibe coding" movement is another tool, not a replacement to writing code. There are far too many edge cases and problems with Vibe Coding that warrants a skilled developer to be able to troubleshoot issues and offer a creative hand where LLM's cannot provide. Developer Workflow : I've seen where folks are starting to learn how to spoon feed the LLM a prompt about a specific context, let it work on that context, review the changes, then work on the next context as completion runs along. This isn't new. I've seen devs plan out their functions before filling the body of them with the operations they should consume. This results in more efficient development and hence the reason why TDD ( Test Drive...

The messed up part about AI that nobody's talking about is how it slows down senior engineers. While it may be great at "Hello world" and simple algorithms, many times, senior engineers are way past this, and don't really need help building boiler plate code because it just doesn't scale. I find myself more often than not, fighting with AI in some cases rather than using it to write stuff for me that I need done quickly. From custom algorithms or complex situations where scale, multiple contexts or hidden details about how computers and coding works that you don't gain from the RactJS tutorials, even design patterns that are gained from learning other languages cannot be captured and implemented by AI just yet (learn how C and C++ works and then tell me you know how to code properly in JavaScript) to its inability to write in Angular vs ReactJS or even use a different language other than Python for a product solution. We all know JavaScript and Python are not...

Scope creep: When the scope of the project exceeds the original instructions and additional features get added in the sprint. Be mindful of this because its very common in various places. Ways to protect yourself: Document every meeting. Don't just take notes, identify action items, who's responsible for them and a summary of what's expected. I usually email them to the team as well, so I have a paper trail of the discussion to be referred later. Identify the full scope to the best of your ability. What will it take to get started? What will it take to completion? Are there any blockers? Are there any dependencies? Where are the blind spots in the project? Stick to the immediate task of the sprint. I have historically been really bad about this because I want to be able to do everything including deliver the moon! However, when assigned a task for a sprint, its important to stick to the ask at hand to avoid having added responsibility mid-sprint and then being ...

I've had a lot of folks around me say they are jumping from their current careers and wanting to get into IT, but don't know where to start. My advice: JUST START. Just like learning a new language, any new skill is going to take time. There's no perfect entry point. With something and rapidly changing and evolving as IT, you will never find solid ground that will give you a lift off more stable than your own workstation or home lab and whatever documentation you can throw together for yourself. You will be your biggest blocker to learning anything. The very first thing you need to do is Dispel, Dismiss and Disprove is the idea that you are stupid and because you don't have any exposure to this you can't learn it or get to know any of it. Let's get one thing clear: you are smart, intelligent, and you CAN do this. I believe in you. And if you don't believe in you, believe in the me that believes in you! (yes, I totally took that from Gurren Lagan, for...

 YaY! Test pass!!! Photo is from last week. As of last Thursday, I renewed my CompTIA Linux+ Certification As of an hour ago, I'm now AWS Cloud Practitioner Certified! Now to study for the next step in the certification path. AWS Certs I am aiming to complete: - Foundational: AI Practitioner - Associate: SysOps Administrator, Developer, ML Engineer - Specialty: Security, Advanced Networking, Machine Learning Other than AWS, coming soon: more AWS certs, CCNA (Cisco Certification Network Administrator), and CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) and finishing my Bachelors in InfoSec. Man, being sober is so amazing 🥳🤩 You can see my badges and certs here:  https://www.credly.com/users/mark-e-harris-jr