because of the intense meeting schedule that comes with my job, I have to optimize for mostly improvisational content. Learn With Jason is entirely improv: aside from the initial booking of the episode, I don't do any prep ahead of time. the premise of the show is both an intentional teaching device (I want to ask beginner questions, so I want to make sure I don't have too much context ahead of time) and a survival technique (there's no way I could sustain the show if there were hours of prep required for each episode)

for something like a blog post, I usually put in 4-ish hours. for a workshop, it's generally days or weeks of prep

I really enjoy conversational formats, so podcasts are usually my preferred medium if I'm not streaming. I also really enjoy speaking at conferences in person (once it's safe again). writing is something I love to do, but struggle with since my time is so fragmented most days

whatever way makes you most likely to write!

the best blog is the one that gets updated, so my recommendation is to start with something like Hashnode or Dev.to to develop the habit of publishing, and then build a custom blog once you've created enough of a content habit to justify the effort

building a custom blog is very tempting, but I've often found that trying to optimize things is a very productive-feeling form of procrastination

so don't overthink it! just publish!

hi!

serverless functions are one of my favorite tools! I use them for anything that requires a bit of server-like processing or secure calls

a few examples:

• to access an API that requires a token, I use a serverless function and add the token as an environment variable, which lets me securely get the data
• to provide a simple API, such as the Learn With Jason schedule API
• to handle form submissions
• to respond to events from other services (for example, sending a receipt whenever someone buys something from my store)

the easiest way I know of to implement serverless functions is to create a new Netlify project and add a file at netlify/functions/hello-world.ts with the following code:

export const handler = async function () => {
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: 'Hello world!',
  };
};

to test locally, install the Netlify CLI:

npm install -g netlify-cli

then start the site:

ntl dev

you'll be able to call your function at localhost/.netlify/functions/hello-world

I have a post on getting started with serverless functions, a video tutorial for getting started with serverless functions, or if you want a full-blown course I have a Frontend Masters course on serverless functions

Okay, thanks Jason Lengstorf. I'll watch the course on Frontend Masters since I have access to it.

thanks so much for the kind words, Catalin!

hello!

Netlify handles Next.js API routes the same as other routes, so they don't generate different serverless functions. if you want to customize your serverless functions, you can put them in netlify/functions/whatever-you-want.js

to mimic the /api/* pattern, you can add this to your netlify.toml:

[[redirects]]
  from = "/api/*"
  to = "/.netlify/functions/:splat"
  status = 200

that would let you call example.com/api/whatever-you-want to reach your serverless function

for Middleware, we currently handle those requests at our origin. Matt Kane (who knows far more about this than I do) wrote up details here: github.com/netlify/netlify-plugin-nextjs/blob/mai…

thanks!

Jason Lengstorf

Thank you!

hi!

my biggest advice is to find an area of tech that brings you joy and that keeps you interested. the best dev advocates are the ones who are clearly having fun — there's a magnetism there that makes me want to hang out with them and learn from them

for resources:

• Sarah Drasner has great posts on this. her ideas around what Developer Experience means laid a strong foundation for how I view the industry netlify.com/blog/2021/01/06/developer-experience-…

• Kurt Kemple has written up a lot of thoughts in this space as well, including this one: theworst.dev/developer-experience

good luck!

Thank you very much. Jason Lengstorf

keep showing up. people notice when you only show up to sell something or to ask for something, so it's important to actually engage with the community in ways that are helpful and casual more often than you try to extract value from it

communities need to be additive, not transactional!

Thank you Jason Lengstorf, this is indeed true!

hi!

this is a very "it depends" question

I've found that for sites where I'm the only one working on the content, or where everyone working on the content is a developer that prefers working in Markdown, a git-based flow of storing Markdown and building the site from there tends to work well

however, if anyone working with the site isn't a developer, I prefer a headless CMS. I like Sanity and use it for several projects. I've also been impressed with Strapi, GraphCMS, and Contentful as CMS options

if the folks editing the site are not super comfortable with the web, I'm also a fan of using WordPress as a headless CMS. it's one of the better editing experiences, and when you use the API instead of its page builder it's a wonderful tool

in my experience, it's very hard to start by getting people to come to you. at first, you need to go where people are. if you're someone people enjoy being around (and, in the case of trying to build out a community, someone they feel they can trust for guidance) you'll start to build a small following in each place you spend time

however, if the goal is ego-driven (e.g. "I want people to validate me by adoring me") communities don't tend to thrive

my approach has always been to build communities around a goal. for example, I wanted to experiment with all the tech I saw coming out, and Learn With Jason was a way to do that. people who shared that goal and interest showed up, and it's grown into a great community — but people aren't there because of me specifically

put another way: I don't want fans; I want friends

I think people can sense that and it helps with building out a community

as far as setting up Discord specifically, I haven't done that. someone like Cassidy Williams would know far more about that

Netlify's focus is on strengthening the ecosystem and community. the growth of Vercel is a great thing — the modern web development practices we've been advocating for at Netlify for the last 7 years are gaining enough ground that new companies were able to form and grow by getting into this space

we'll continue to focus on improving the workflow for the modern web by improving developer experience, encouraging defaults that ship less code to browsers for improved user experiences, and providing the best support for any stack your team wants to build with

on top of that, we'll keep focusing on creating a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community and company 💜

Well said Jason!! Jason Lengstorf

I've loved working at Netlify. it's really nice to be at a company that's guiding metric is "build a better web" — it means I get to learn so many things and focus on making the web development community better as my job

as far as I can tell, the journey to VP will be different for everyone, but there are a few big things that contributed to me getting here (I think):

1. learning how to step back from a problem and see how it affects an entire company
2. developing an understanding of how different departments function and what their desired outcomes are, then using that knowledge to frame proposals from that point of view
3. being willing to own an outcome. I regularly stake my job on decisions, and I've been willing to do that for a while now. willingness to take full responsibility for projects that multiple people work on is rare because it can be scary to know that you'll be responsible for someone else's work and decisions — but without someone owning it, we get decision paralysis and bureaucratic gridlock
4. taking most of my victories in the form of seeing other people advance. I try my best to give credit away and advocate for the advancement of my team (as well as people who don't work at Netlify but that I see doing amazing work) — my role is to be a springboard for others, not to hoard credit

I could probably go on about this for a long time, but to be completely honest I think my journey was more timing than preparation. I was at the right place in my career at the time the role opened, and Sarah Drasner was there to advocate for me