Welcome to John's Tech Garden
Hi, I’m John
I’m a 34-year-old software engineer based in Toronto, Canada. By day, I work on backend systems at a fintech company, wrangling Java microservices and occasionally writing Go. By night—and early mornings, and lunch breaks—I’m learning Rust, tinkering with my home lab, and trying to perfect my pour-over technique.
This blog is where I document what I’m learning, mostly for my own reference, but hopefully useful to others walking similar paths.
What This Blog Is About
I believe the best way to learn is in public. When I struggle with something for three days, when I finally understand a concept that’s been eluding me, when I make a decision about technology that turns out great (or terrible)—I want to write it down.
The content here falls into a few categories:
🦀 Learning Rust (12-Week Series)
I’m currently six months into learning Rust, and I’m documenting the journey. Over the next 12 weeks, I’ll be publishing a post every Sunday covering everything from setting up your environment to building production-ready applications. Whether you’re a senior dev curious about the hype or a junior dev deciding where to invest your learning time, I hope these posts save you some of the frustration I experienced.
☁️ Cloud Architecture
After a decade of working with AWS, I’ve got opinions. I’ll be sharing practical guides on architecture decisions for small teams, cost optimization strategies, and infrastructure patterns that actually work in production.
🤖 Developer Tooling & AI
Not the “AI will replace developers” kind of content. I’m interested in how we can use LLMs and AI tools to write better code, faster. Think: prompt engineering for specific use cases, integrating AI into your workflow, and practical applications of these new technologies.
🏠 Home Lab & Hardware
When I’m not writing code, I’m probably tinkering with my home network or building mechanical keyboards. Expect posts about Proxmox, Home Assistant, network architecture for home offices, and the occasional desk setup photo.
💻 General Development
VS Code extensions I actually use, Git workflows, debugging techniques, and the productivity tips I’ve accumulated over ten years of writing software.
What This Blog Is Not
I keep the content focused on technology, learning, and practical development. You won’t find here:
- Political commentary or opinions
- Privacy/security debates
- Lifestyle content or personal drama
- Hot takes designed to generate controversy
The internet has enough of that. This is a place for calm, technical writing.
Current Series
“Rust for the Curious Developer” (Starting March 16, 2026)
- 12 weekly posts
- Sundays at 8 PM EST
- Covers fundamentals through real-world applications
- First post: “Why I Started Learning Rust at 34”
“AWS for Small Teams” (Coming May 2026)
- 8-week series
- Practical cloud architecture for teams under 10 engineers
- Cost optimization, infrastructure as code, monitoring
“Practical LLM Integration” (Coming August 2026)
- 6-week series
- Real-world AI integration for developers
- API usage, prompt engineering, RAG applications
About the Tech Stack
This blog is built with Hugo using the Archie theme—a minimalist, text-focused design that prioritizes readability. The site is hosted on a VPS I manage myself because:
- I wanted to learn more about web server administration
- It’s cheaper than most managed hosting options
- I enjoy the control
What’s Next
The next post goes live Sunday, March 16, 2026: “Why I Started Learning Rust at 34: A Senior Dev’s Honest Take”—my take on whether the Rust learning curve is worth it, what I got wrong in my first month, and who should (and shouldn’t) invest the time.
After that, we’ll dive into the practical stuff: setting up your environment, understanding ownership, and actually building things that compile.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something useful here.
Last updated: March 15, 2026