Why The Coder Cafe?

Let me introduce myself. I’m Teiva Harsanyi, and this is me giving a talk at Devoxx (with my favorite Borg1 t-shirt):

I’m a senior software engineer at Google with years of experience, including work in the safety-critical domain of air traffic control and at companies like Docker. I run a tech blog with over a million views, and I am the author of the very well-received book 100 Go Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

One day, I had a discussion with someone on Twitter about Google, and this person told me this:

Honestly, I never ever considered myself as talented. During my studies, I was always close to giving up, constantly needing to retake exams because computer science was too difficult for me.

Yet, one day, I discovered a principle that changed my life: Kaizen (改善). This Japanese concept emphasizes that growth isn’t about how quickly you advance but about a consistent commitment to improvement. I didn’t join Google or become an author because I was talented; I did it because I applied the Kaizen philosophy for over a decade2.

That’s why I created The Coder Cafe. I wanted to build a newsletter to help people grow week in and week out. While you might not learn everything in a day, I believe you will make steady progress over time.