Patrick Escarcega: Software Engineering Principles - Episode 341

03/17/25 • 32 min

Patrick Escarcega is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Meserow Design, a company known for its excellence in developing and maintaining custom software solutions. His background is in software engineering and has been leading software teams for many years. His technical focus has been on Microsoft development and cloud technologies.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:30] Patrick recalls the moment he transitioned from individual software developer to leading teams, highlighting the importance of understanding how software adds business value beyond just code.

[5:00] Patrick describes the joy he rediscovered in coding when starting his own company, emphasizing the delicate balance between hands-on coding and leadership responsibilities.

[7:50] The head chef and food scientist analogy.

[9:26] The importance of creating a safe environment, a “pit of success,” so developers can naturally follow best practices without feeling constrained.

[10:36] Why readable, maintainable code is crucial, especially for senior leaders whose time is spent reading code more than writing it. [13:27] Comparing software engineering creativity to building an engine from “invisible Lego bricks," emphasizes the hidden creativity involved in engineering solutions. [15:08] The importance of leaders giving developers space and freedom to craft innovative solutions, rather than overly prescribing methodologies.

[17:00] Running integration tests.

[20:41] Accessibility and WCAG compliance explained: Why accessibility should be an integral part of software development and testing workflows. [23:14] EqualWeb accessibility checker and Chrome browser extension.

[25:02] Practical everyday use of AI in software development, especially GitHub Copilot, and why developers should embrace AI tools regularly to remain productive and competitive.

[31:10] Patrick encourages developers to embrace AI and keep learning, emphasizing that continuous adaptation will keep careers vibrant over the next decade.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at [email protected].

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo

Patrick Escarcega

Meserow Design

Engineering Practices for LLM Application Development

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:30] Patrick recalls the moment he transitioned from individual software developer to leading teams, highlighting the importance of understanding how software adds business value beyond just code.

[5:00] Patrick describes the joy he rediscovered in coding when starting his own company, emphasizing the delicate balance between hands-on coding and leadership responsibilities.

[7:50] The head chef and food scientist analogy.

[9:26] The importance of creating a safe environment, a “pit of success,” so developers can naturally follow best practices without feeling constrained.

[17:00] Running integration tests.

[25:02] Practical everyday use of AI in software development, especially GitHub Copilot, and why developers should embrace AI tools regularly to remain productive and competitive.

[31:10] Patrick encourages developers to embrace AI and keep learning, emphasizing that continuous adaptation will keep careers vibrant over the next decade.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at [email protected].

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo

Patrick Escarcega

Meserow Design

Engineering Practices for LLM Application Development

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Previous Episode

Daniel Roth: .NET 10 Preview 1 - Episode 340

Daniel Roth is a Principal Product Manager on the ASP.NET team working on ASP.NET Core, Blazor, and other web features. He has previously worked on various parts of .NET, including System.Net, WCF, XAML, and ASP.NET. His passions include building frameworks for modern Web frameworks that are simple and easy to use.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:15] Daniel shares his journey from back-end services to front-end development and his role in making .NET open-source and cross-platform.

[6:10] Blazor and its impact on development.

[8:32] A few of the strengths we get with .NET.

[9:24] .NET 9 and performance improvements.

[12:45] .NET 10 Preview 1 and new features.

[17:32] Architectural guidance for Blazor applications.

[30:17] The importance of handling state persistence to avoid memory bloat and security issues.

[32:32] Observability and telemetry in Blazor.

[36:28] Is the nature of the UI web user interface changing as we integrate AI technology and large language models and agents?

[37:12] Integration of AI and Generative AI in Blazor.

[37:38] The new Microsoft Extensions AI library for interfacing with chat services in .NET applications.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at [email protected].

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo

Ep 274 with Daniel Roth

Daniel Roth LinkedIn

What's New for ASP.NET Core Blazor in .NET9

Daniel Roth — Author in .NET Blog

Performance Improvements in .NET9

.NET Preview 1 is now available!

ASP.NET Core in .NET 10 Preview 1 — Release Notes

ASP.NET Core Roadmap for .NET 10 #59443

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Next Episode

Per Kops: Architecture of Ollama and Local LLMs - Episode 342

Per is an experienced software architect and developer with more than 19 years of experience in designing, developing, and testing software. He is currently serving as a Distinguished software developer at Delegate, a Microsoft Partner in Denmark.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:02] More about Per’s background in nearly two decades in .NET and Azure consulting.

[6:11] The concept of a boutique consultant.

[7:00] Founding ATC-Net to share common .NET libraries and avoid duplicative coding.

[10:02] Building trust with customers by open-sourcing “generic” components.

[11:50] Creating a connector to run Olama (local LLMs) with Semantic Kernel.

[20:08] Why Per “fell in love” with Semantic Kernel’s abstraction layers and extension possibilities.

[21:44] The role of vector stores (like Azure Cognitive Search) in retrieval-augmented generation.

[24:33] What do we mean by “vector” in the AI space?

[26:39] What is a “text chunker”?

[31:43] Azure AI search.

[34:07] Finding the right tool for the right task.