https://dougkerwin.comSoftware developer. Builder. Author. Runner. Christian. Dad. Thoughts on technology, faith, and a life spent building things.en-ushttps://dougkerwin.com/even-this-much-power-can-do-nothing/https://dougkerwin.com/even-this-much-power-can-do-nothing/What if you had almost unlimited power, would anything still be impossible?Sun, 17 May 2026 22:00:53 GMTFaithTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/2025-a-year-measured-in-output/https://dougkerwin.com/2025-a-year-measured-in-output/I didn’t plan to do a public year in review. But this year, nearly every tool I use had one — Cursor, GitHub, WisprFlow voice dictation, ChatGPT. Seeing the same…Sat, 10 Jan 2026 14:48:04 GMTLife Reflections & PerspectivesPersonalTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/the-god-who-authors-an-interesting-world/https://dougkerwin.com/the-god-who-authors-an-interesting-world/There’s an idea often associated with Elon Musk—that the most interesting outcome is the most likely outcome, at least as seen by whoever might be running the…Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:09:37 GMTFaithLife Reflections & Perspectiveshttps://dougkerwin.com/1k-month-per-developer-the-ai-cost-nobodys-prepared-for/https://dougkerwin.com/1k-month-per-developer-the-ai-cost-nobodys-prepared-for/Augmenting developers with AI is going to cost real money. A lot more than companies expect.Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:00:50 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/villagemetrics-is-live-built-for-families-navigating-autism-adhd-and-behavior-challenges/https://dougkerwin.com/villagemetrics-is-live-built-for-families-navigating-autism-adhd-and-behavior-challenges/Back in April, I shared that I was building something personal — something for my daughter, and for every family navigating the daily challenges of behavioral…Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:00:31 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/stop-futzing-with-figma-why-ai-should-be-your-first-ux-tool/https://dougkerwin.com/stop-futzing-with-figma-why-ai-should-be-your-first-ux-tool/You should be using AI not just for writing better copy, but for thinking through what you’re even trying to say in the first place. Not just “how should I word…Mon, 23 Jun 2025 04:41:08 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/i-built-this-for-my-daughter-and-for-every-family-navigating-behavior-challenges/https://dougkerwin.com/i-built-this-for-my-daughter-and-for-every-family-navigating-behavior-challenges/April is Autism Awareness Month, and it felt like the right time to talk about something deeply personal that I’ve been building. My daughter, Sydney, has autism…Wed, 16 Apr 2025 14:02:14 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/designing-for-affordability-scalable-app-architecture-built-to-last/https://dougkerwin.com/designing-for-affordability-scalable-app-architecture-built-to-last/Building scalable, resilient applications often brings to mind concerns about performance, features, and user experience, but cost considerations are rarely…Wed, 15 Jan 2025 19:36:00 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/if-youre-still-writing-code-youre-doing-it-wrong/https://dougkerwin.com/if-youre-still-writing-code-youre-doing-it-wrong/That might sound bold, but hear me out. Most developers I know are at least dabbling with AI—using it for autocompleting functions, generating snippets, or…Wed, 18 Dec 2024 16:25:34 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/introducing-bestselfapp-my-take-on-hacking-personal-success/https://dougkerwin.com/introducing-bestselfapp-my-take-on-hacking-personal-success/I’m excited to announce the launch of BestSelfApp, a new iOS/Android app that I’ve created with Ryan Moseley. BestSelfApp is designed to help you get what you…Wed, 02 Oct 2024 12:08:48 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/rethinking-expertise-ai-problem-solving-and-the-end-of-task-mastery/https://dougkerwin.com/rethinking-expertise-ai-problem-solving-and-the-end-of-task-mastery/Recently I got to speak to 4th and 5th graders as part of the Hour of Code program. I found myself imparting a piece of advice that, I believe, holds the key to…Mon, 11 Mar 2024 09:10:00 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/excerpts-from-a-letter-to-myself/https://dougkerwin.com/excerpts-from-a-letter-to-myself/For the past 20 years I’ve had a personal tradition of taking some time on New Years Eve to write into a kind of time capsule. It’s private — just for me, an…Sun, 08 Jan 2023 21:26:13 GMTLife Reflections & PerspectivesPersonalhttps://dougkerwin.com/evolve-or-die-aws-reinvent-2022/https://dougkerwin.com/evolve-or-die-aws-reinvent-2022/AWS re:Invent is just such a great time of learning, connecting, and getting pumped up! It’s one of my favorite weeks. Maybe it was the nostalgia of Martin…Sat, 03 Dec 2022 16:09:56 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/introducing-riley-bot-jobs-for-robots-and-jobs-for-me/https://dougkerwin.com/introducing-riley-bot-jobs-for-robots-and-jobs-for-me/I’m excited to announce the release of Jobs for Robots and Jobs for Me, an illustrated children’s book about artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of work.Sat, 15 Jan 2022 16:05:37 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/wisdom-from-will/https://dougkerwin.com/wisdom-from-will/When you read someone else’s story you get the benefit of wisdom it took them their whole life to acquire. It’s one of the reasons I love biographies. I loved…Tue, 11 Jan 2022 01:47:40 GMTLife Reflections & PerspectivesPersonalhttps://dougkerwin.com/8-quotes-that-shaped-my-worldview/https://dougkerwin.com/8-quotes-that-shaped-my-worldview/A worldview is a collection of attitudes, values, stories, and expectations. It represents our most fundamental beliefs and assumptions about the world around…Sun, 06 Dec 2020 20:47:46 GMTLife Reflections & Perspectiveshttps://dougkerwin.com/things-that-trigger-me-well-tech-related/https://dougkerwin.com/things-that-trigger-me-well-tech-related/After I left my last company, one of my teammates shared with me a list of things she had been keeping about me in the Notes app in her phone called “Things that…Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:55:06 GMTLolTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/artifact-a-poem/https://dougkerwin.com/artifact-a-poem/Time marches on as I brush my teethNo task undone, no duty beneathTue, 14 Apr 2020 22:44:00 GMTLife Reflections & Perspectiveshttps://dougkerwin.com/10-rules-for-building-better-internet-applications/https://dougkerwin.com/10-rules-for-building-better-internet-applications/If you’re working on an application that’s been around for a while, has lots of usage and several different teams working on it, there’s a good chance it’s a…Thu, 13 Dec 2018 23:58:18 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/super-powers-aws-reinvent-2016/https://dougkerwin.com/super-powers-aws-reinvent-2016/Amazon knows how to throw a party. They hired the best DJ in the world, literally – Martin Garrix. The re:Invent Party was an experience I’ll never forget.…Sun, 04 Dec 2016 03:48:19 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/devops-because-were-not-in-kansas-anymore/https://dougkerwin.com/devops-because-were-not-in-kansas-anymore/DevOps is one of those things that are hard to wrangle down to a definition, and if you’ve read anything on the topic you probably didn’t walk away with a…Sat, 24 Sep 2016 20:28:30 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/ux-so-bad-it-just-might-kill-someone-audibles-new-clips-feature/https://dougkerwin.com/ux-so-bad-it-just-might-kill-someone-audibles-new-clips-feature/Even with the recent rise in focus on user experience (UX) testing, I think the practice in general is frightfully under invested in. I don’t have unreasonably…Thu, 07 Apr 2016 13:21:28 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/2015-a-year-of-gratitude-journaling/https://dougkerwin.com/2015-a-year-of-gratitude-journaling/In late 2014, I started keeping a gratitude journal. I have an appointment on my calendar every weekday at 12:30 pm to remind me to do this. I try to take a few…Sun, 03 Jan 2016 02:51:54 GMTLife Reflections & PerspectivesPersonalhttps://dougkerwin.com/why-i-went-back-to-being-a-software-developer/https://dougkerwin.com/why-i-went-back-to-being-a-software-developer/When I was a kid, I was told that a midlife crisis was freaking out because you suddenly realized your life is half over, which results in buying a red sports…Thu, 31 Dec 2015 21:34:09 GMTTechhttps://dougkerwin.com/store-locator-the-most-underutilized-asset-in-online-retail/https://dougkerwin.com/store-locator-the-most-underutilized-asset-in-online-retail/Want a quick way to increase your online sales? If you’re an omni-channel retailer, there’s probably something simple you can do right away and may see a 10%…Tue, 21 Jan 2014 21:10:20 GMTMarketinghttps://dougkerwin.com/branded-search-thine-friend-thine-enemy-2/https://dougkerwin.com/branded-search-thine-friend-thine-enemy-2/Once upon a time I didn’t know what “branded search” meant. I would have assumed it referred to people searching for a particular brand of product like Nike they…Sat, 05 Oct 2013 18:05:39 GMTMarketinghttps://dougkerwin.com/the-truly-pathetic-state-of-mobile-commerce/https://dougkerwin.com/the-truly-pathetic-state-of-mobile-commerce/Do you know why Internet Retailer’s Mobile 400 List isn’t “The Mobile 500”? Because of all the companies Internet Retailer reviews to compile its famous lists,…Sat, 03 Aug 2013 14:34:17 GMTMarketinghttps://dougkerwin.com/desktop-geolocation-i-almost-know-where-you-are/https://dougkerwin.com/desktop-geolocation-i-almost-know-where-you-are/I think Geolocation services are hugely important. Since we’re all now used to the idea that our smartphones know our exact location and can immediately serve up…Sun, 28 Jul 2013 19:08:30 GMTMarketing