https://www.guyalster.com/ Software Engineering Insights and Best Practices by Guy Alster en-us Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.guyalster.com/blog/rediscovering-i-chapter-1/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/rediscovering-i-chapter-1/ Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Complex numbers demystified through geometric intuition. We explore how multiplication on the number line works as scaling and rotation, setting up the journey to understand i. Math & Statistics https://www.guyalster.com/blog/rediscovering-i-chapter-2/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/rediscovering-i-chapter-2/ Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT We extend multiplication from the number line to two dimensions, derive the multiplication formula for 2D arrows, and discover that the arrow (0,1) satisfies i² = -1. Math & Statistics https://www.guyalster.com/blog/i-dont-use-ai-to-move-faster-i-use-it-to-get-better/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/i-dont-use-ai-to-move-faster-i-use-it-to-get-better/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT I Don't Use AI to Move Faster. I Use It to Get Better If I were to ask you how you use AI tools and agents, you would most likely tell me that you use them to automate workflows. W... Growth https://www.guyalster.com/blog/what-an-uber-driver-taught-me-about-leadership/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/what-an-uber-driver-taught-me-about-leadership/ Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT A Short Story An engineer on my team and I shared an Uber ride from Stripe’s SF office to SFO. We had just wrapped up a great onsite at headquarters and were heading back home to S... Management And Leadership https://www.guyalster.com/blog/skip-lists-a-ubiquitous-probabilistic-data-structure/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/skip-lists-a-ubiquitous-probabilistic-data-structure/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT Introduction I truly love learning new data structures and implementing them. Skiplist is a data structure that I've learnt about a long time ago and have been meaning to implement... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/merkle-trees-in-practice/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/merkle-trees-in-practice/ Sat, 16 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT I've always been fascinated by data structures that solve real-world problems elegantly, and Merkle trees are a perfect example. When I first encountered them while exploring how g... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-your-teams-culture-starts-with-you/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-your-teams-culture-starts-with-you/ Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT Why Team Culture Matters If you’ve read my previous posts, you know I firmly believe that a manager is, first and foremost, a leader. One of a leader’s most significant responsibil... Management And Leadership https://www.guyalster.com/blog/how-to-leetcode-successfully/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/how-to-leetcode-successfully/ Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT Introduction If you're in the software engineering profession and haven't lived under a rock for the past ten years, then you've most likely heard of Leetcode, the platform that le... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/solving-wordle-with-information-theory/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/solving-wordle-with-information-theory/ Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT Introduction I recently saw a video on YouTube about solving Wordle using Information Theory. The video was on the famous YouTube channel "3Blue1Brown" and the video is linked here... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/the-many-faces-of-mergesort/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/the-many-faces-of-mergesort/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT Introduction Mergesort is a fundamental algorithm taught in computer science courses, but is often forgotten in day-to-day work. It typically resurfaces when preparing for technica... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-task-breakdown-and-estimation/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-task-breakdown-and-estimation/ Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT The Art of Task Breakdown and Estimation If you ask any software engineer or engineering manager about one of the top skills they need, most will say it’s the ability to break down... Management And Leadership https://www.guyalster.com/blog/a-data-structure-for-managing-ranges/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/a-data-structure-for-managing-ranges/ Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Problem Description You are an engineer working on a SaaS application. Your company’s biggest clients have requested a new feature. They would like the application to support IP Fi... CS & Algorithms https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-on-leadership/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/diary-of-an-engineering-manager-on-leadership/ Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT Become the Manager You've Always Wanted To Have Introduction Those who know me well know that I’m an engineer at heart. I’ve been in this industry for enough years to have seen the... Management And Leadership https://www.guyalster.com/blog/the-ultimate-and-final-monad-tutorial-youll-ever-read/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/the-ultimate-and-final-monad-tutorial-youll-ever-read/ Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT Welcome to this tutorial. If you're looking to learn about Monads and their role in programming, then you've come to the right place. I'm hoping that this will be the final tutoria... Functional Programming https://www.guyalster.com/blog/two-statistical-theories-that-every-software-engineer-should-know/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/two-statistical-theories-that-every-software-engineer-should-know/ Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT Introduction I’ve always believed that Machine Learning and AI did to statistics what the iPhone did to the cellphones. In both cases the newcomers took concepts that some would ar... Math & Statistics https://www.guyalster.com/blog/binary-lifting-an-interesting-dynamic-programming-technique/ https://www.guyalster.com/blog/binary-lifting-an-interesting-dynamic-programming-technique/ Fri, 21 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT I recently encountered a very interesting question on leetcode that has taught me a new algorithmic skill to add to my toolbelt. As the title of this post suggests, the algorithm i... CS & Algorithms