Graham Cole

Finished a major component yesterday. Then realised deploying it anywhere else would be chaos… so today I built an environment checker. And yes, checking the umask like this is pretty futile. #BuildInPublic

I built an authentication system that silently shadow-bans bots. Now I’m trying to test it… with a bot, and it's going just about as brilliantly as you might expect. #BuildInPublic

Just testing how Bluesky handles ultrawide images.

Dumping jQuery levelled up my JavaScript DOM skills massively, but now I’m constantly fighting the urge to patch dodgy design decisions with clever JS.

Say it with me: Simple. Clear. Maintainable.

#buildinpublic

Having spent a significant chunk of my dev career in QA, “good enough” is hard to accept... especially with flashbacks to running major incident postmortems… and my boss asking me who he should fire. 🫣 #buildinpublic

If you’re out of touch, then I definitely am too. Not sure if that’s reassuring, or just mildly terrifying… but at least we’re in it together. 😅

I started questioning my UI instincts today. Rounded corners, drop shadows, fancy animations… why? My old internal tools went straight for the jugular. SaaS needs to look good, sure, but sometimes you just need a trip to motherfuckingwebsite.com to refresh your palette. #buildinpublic

I'm the founder.
I do sales.
I do coding.
I do design.
I do support.
I do marketing.
I do accounting.
I don't sleep - I build.
I'm the founder.

OMG, what have I done?

7am on a Monday and I’ve already refactored last week’s “what on earth was I thinking?” code. Simpler, cleaner, way more KISS. Funny how obvious things get... in hindsight. #buildinpublic

Does anyone else find it hard to share what they’re working on? Decades of consultancy and management drilled corporate confidentiality into me, so vagueness is my default mode. How do we change that mindset? #buildinpublic

My SCSS was getting rebellious, so I’ve been consolidating bespoke rules into shared ones in my framework... basically slapping it into shape, against its will. Hard grunt work, but AI’s been great at spotting inconsistencies. Elegance rarely pays off fast, but hey, I need to sleep. #buildinpublic

My AI assistant? Yes, “Emily” is ChatGPT, but with a carefully personalised setup, so she’s never starting from scratch. She knows my coding standards, tools, even my tone. Brilliant for everything from refactoring jQuery to vanilla JS, to designing colour palettes. A bit of a secret weapon!

Absolutely. I treat AI as a virtual assistant with infinite patience. It's great for speeding things up, but it doesn’t get to make decisions. I make sure I fully understand everything I deliver.

Is a simple "yes" an acceptable answer? 🫣

Before I start ranting about my latest coding debacle, let’s address the elephant in the room — or should I say elePHPant? Yes, I’ve been using PHP since it was a toddler. These days, it’s all grown up… and surprisingly solid. #coding #php

Just landed on Bluesky, fresh from Threads. Had an account here for a while, but never used it. Still finding my feet — feels a bit different, but I’m learning as I go. Please excuse any missteps!

Hi, I’m Graham. I’ve been #coding, testing, leading, and shipping software projects for longer than I care to admit.

I’m here to #buildinpublic, share the ups and downs, and enjoy some proper tech chat along the way.

Always happy to connect with other builders, tinkerers, or code-obsessives.