Just about a week ago, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during one of his college debates. Since then, a war has erupted between people who celebrated his death (or said they thought he had it coming) and those who believe that political violence is never acceptable. I've had a... Read more →
Hi!, I'm Andrew Shell a Senior Web Engineer from Madison, WI.
I'm a software developer, writer, and community builder passionate about open-source technology and collaboration.
Welcome to my weblog! Here you'll find my essays and quick updates. Check out my notes for technical documentation. You can also learn more about me and what I'm up to now.
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Recent Posts
For the last few weeks, I've been playing around with Claude Code and have found it to be very useful. In particular, I've been leveraging it to modernize my RSS Cloud Server project, which has been on the back burner for several years.
It's very much AI-assisted and not "Vibe Coding" because I know specifically what I want to be improved, and I'm running everything through my extensive tests and doing code reviews. It's allowing me to take months of work and compress it into hours.
The biggest variable is that I'm so stretched with my new job that I haven't had the mental bandwidth for side projects. Using Claude Code has allowed me to start checking things off my to-do list and giving myself more margin.
I decided to share my ThothGPT System Prompt which I'll keep updated as it changes and evolves.
I've been using a variation of this prompt, first with ChatGPT and now with Claude for several months. It has been an indespensible tool in my recent journey of self development.
I could see myself writing a mini-book and/or video tutorial about my journaling process. If this seems interesting, please reach out.
When Growing Means Letting Go
Two weeks ago, I started a new role at PetPlace, and it's been incredible. The responsibility, the challenge, the potential for growth. Everything I'd hoped for. But there's been an unexpected side effect. I can feel myself getting close to burnout. This isn't your typical... Read more →
When Everything Important Becomes Nothing Important
At my last job, I could literally go days without accomplishing anything significant. I'd wake up with the best intentions, but then I'd open my computer and immediately feel overwhelmed by everything I needed to do. So, instead of tackling any of it, I'd escape into a game like... Read more →