$ cat ~/about.md

Fred Lackey.
Software
Engineer

Building distributed systems, automating infrastructure, and writing about the craft of software. 20+ years turning complexity into clean abstractions.

Node.js TypeScript AWS Docker Terraform PostgreSQL CI/CD

Read Technical Posts

Life Beyond the Terminal

Father. Traveler.
Reluctant Gardener.

Stories about raising kids in a digital age, weekend woodworking disasters, and the quiet moments between deploys.

Read Personal Stories

// Latest Technical Posts

2026-02-14

Zero-Downtime Deployments with Docker Compose and Nginx

A practical walkthrough of blue-green deployments on a single VPS without Kubernetes overhead.

2026-02-03

Rethinking Config Management: From .env Files to Vault

How I migrated 14 services off scattered environment files to a centralized secrets pipeline.

2026-01-22

TypeScript Monorepo Patterns That Actually Scale

Turborepo, pnpm workspaces, and the shared-kernel pattern for teams beyond five developers.

2026-01-09

Building a CLI Tool in Rust (as a Node.js Developer)

First impressions, foot-guns, and the surprising joy of the borrow checker.

Latest Personal Writing

February 12, 2026

Snow Day Protocols: When School Cancels and Dad Works Remote

A survival guide for the intersection of Zoom calls and snowball fights.

January 28, 2026

The Bookshelf I Built (and Rebuilt, and Rebuilt Again)

Three attempts, two trips to the hardware store, and a lesson in measuring twice.

January 15, 2026

Cooking for a Ten-Year-Old Food Critic

When your kid discovers they have "a refined palate" and your pasta sauce needs work.

January 3, 2026

New Year's Resolutions I'll Forget by February

An honest accounting of ambition, habit, and the half-read books on my nightstand.

Fred Lackey. Software Engineer

Father. Traveler. Reluctant Gardener.

Fred Lackey.
Software
Engineer

Father. Traveler.
Reluctant Gardener.