Jalal AhmadPersonal blog of Jalal Ahmad — essays on life, notes on software engineering, and everything in between.https://jalalahmad.com/en-usCheap once, expensive foreverhttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/retrofit-cost-asymmetry/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/retrofit-cost-asymmetry/A handful of design decisions cost almost nothing to make and a fortune to change. The skill is spotting them before you make them.Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe strictest guardrail is often the weakest onehttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/the-routed-around-control/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/the-routed-around-control/When a control blocks legitimate work, people route around it — and the control’s own dashboard gets better as its coverage collapses.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTThis site is built with Astrohttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/built-with-astro/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/built-with-astro/How this blog is put together: Astro 7, zero-JS by default, content collections, and a design system in one CSS file.Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTHello, world (again)https://jalalahmad.com/blog/hello-world/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/hello-world/Every blog starts the same way. This one is mine — why I'm writing, what to expect, and a small promise.Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTA pragmatic git workflow for solo projectshttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/pragmatic-git-workflow/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/pragmatic-git-workflow/You do not need Git Flow for a side project. Here is the boring, effective setup I use on every personal repo.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTOn good tools and bad habitshttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/good-tools-bad-habits/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/good-tools-bad-habits/The tools we love quietly shape how we work — sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. An essay about paying attention to that influence.Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTToday's Headlines - April 25, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-04-25/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-04-25/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for April 25, 2026.Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:01:53 GMTToday's Headlines - March 26, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-26/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-26/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 26, 2026.Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:01:47 GMTToday's Headlines - March 23, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-23/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-23/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 23, 2026.Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:01:16 GMTToday's Headlines - March 22, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-22/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-22/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 22, 2026.Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:01:50 GMTToday's Headlines - March 21, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-21/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-21/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 21, 2026.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:01:50 GMTToday's Headlines - March 20, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-20/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-20/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 20, 2026.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:01:40 GMTToday's Headlines - March 19, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-19/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-19/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 19, 2026.Thu, 19 Mar 2026 20:00:41 GMTToday's Headlines - March 18, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-18/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-18/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 18, 2026.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 20:02:15 GMTToday's Headlines - March 17, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-17/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-17/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 17, 2026.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:20:43 GMTToday's Headlines - March 16, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-16/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-16/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 16, 2026.Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:53:18 GMTToday's Headlines - March 15, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-15/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-15/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 15, 2026.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:23:26 GMTToday's Headlines - March 14, 2026https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-14/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/todays-headlines-2026-03-14/Daily roundup of world, U.S., business and tech headlines for March 14, 2026.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 23:36:44 GMTDesigning a Scalable, Pod-like Data Lake on AWS for On-Premises Datahttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/designing-a-scalable-pod-like-data-lake-on-aws-for-on-premises-data/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/designing-a-scalable-pod-like-data-lake-on-aws-for-on-premises-data/A modular, pod-like data lake architecture on AWS (S3, Glue, Lake Formation) for migrating on-premises and SAS data.Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:35:30 GMTWelcome to My Bloghttps://jalalahmad.com/blog/welcome-to-my-blog/https://jalalahmad.com/blog/welcome-to-my-blog/The first post on the original Hugo version of this blog.Tue, 11 Nov 2025 20:21:59 GMT