Yep, the 'unit' is size in which one chooses to use. The exact same thing happens when trying to discuss micro services v monolith.
Really it all comes down to agreeing to what terms mean within the context of a conversation. Unit, functional, and end-to-end are all weasel words, unless defined concretely, and should raise an eyebrow when someone uses them.
I have a very small utility library that receives a few downloads every couple of weeks that I just spent a few hours upgrading today.
It solved a problem I had, but it's a very small problem that few people share and the efforts spent selling it would be a poor use of my time given how niche it is. The few extra minutes to hit npm publish is worth the couple hits of dopamine I receive whenever it's downloaded.
It's just nice to know I saved someone an hour or so of their life. No need to reinvent this wheel.
How does one know what they want until they see it or imagine it?
When you can't imagine, you're stuck with searching, searching that comes in many forms, such as scanning catalogs, walking aisles, or letting someone else do it altogether.
If you can imagine what you want and describe it with sufficient language, you can have someone else (or something) go and fetch it for you, but you're still stuck with the problem of not getting _exactly_ what you want, so again, you must parse the results... or get stuck with whatever is returned first.
Ad the end of the day, it's a question of how much you care about getting the thing you want vs getting something that is close enough, and the answer is in how much effort you, personally, want to spend.
I've been sharpening my axe by working on a few different projects in the shape of of an online shop[0][1]. Products are a bit of a mishmash as a result of the different projects - To date, I've been farming succulents, 3d modeling/printing (flower pots/hobby crafts/etc), and learning Rust/Next.js for the back/front ends!
Time investment has been _massive_ so far, but I just hit the first $100+ profit month, and despite the distance from my normal dev salary, the positive reviews/feedback have been an incredible reward that drives the motivation to continue. I will also say that it is quite the humbling experience to ship physical products and the experience has given me a whole new appreciation for the things we have in this world.
> Medium used to have an aura of carrying more reputational weight than a personal blog did.
At least within the realm of technical discussion, I'll be continuing to view it as a mostly negative signal. The institution is very rarely the individual, and there isn't value in assigning positive weight when said institution doesn't carry any itself.
Increased friction is counter-intuitively a positive here, it shows that the author has at least put some real investment into the presentation of their work. Don't get me wrong, doesn't need to be a fully self-designed/built website, just spending some cash on a domain && Wix template is at least _something_ more than throwing words at a page to profit.
I've been going back and forth for a blog/website relaunch. My current thinking is I'll just go with a new template on Google Blogger. I've actually been happy enough with that over the years.
I did just this a few days ago, it's incredible how many people will come up and ask to pet your dog. Some will keep moving quickly, others will talk about their own animals, and some will drop little hints about themselves to further a conversation. Aside from everything fun about a companion, it's really is a fantastic feeling to be able to see someones eyes light up, you're brightening up their day!
