chris Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Development, Architecture Every developer loves playing with new frameworks and technologies. But for production applications—especially ones you’ll maintain for years—boring, proven technology usually wins. Here’s what I’ve learned about making technology choices that age well. The Bleeding Edge Problem New technology is exciting. The documentation makes everything … Read more
Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Business, Freelancing After 12 years as a solo freelancer, I’ve evolved chrisbeaver.com into cbCodeStudio—positioning as a team-based development studio. Here’s what I’ve learned about making that transition while staying true to what worked in the first place. Why Make the Change? The solo freelancer model worked well … Read more
Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Development, Database, Architecture Bad database design is technical debt that compounds over time. I’ve inherited enough poorly designed databases to know: it’s worth getting this right from the beginning. The cost of fixing a bad schema after you have production data and dependent code is significant. The … Read more
Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Business, SaaS, Entrepreneurship After 12 years of client work, I’m increasingly convinced that the best software businesses aren’t trying to be unicorns. They’re solving specific problems for specific people and making good money doing it. This is the MicroSaaS model: small, focused software products that generate meaningful … Read more
Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Mobile Development, React Native Your users aren’t always online. They’re in basements. They’re in rural areas. They’re on spotty LTE connections that drop mid-request. If your mobile app only works with perfect connectivity, it’s going to frustrate people. I learned this the hard way building field service applications … Read more
Published: November 2025 Author: Chris Beaver Category: Development, PHP, Laravel Testing is one of those things every developer knows they should do, but many struggle to do well. Over the past decade of Laravel development, I’ve learned that the difference between tests that help and tests that hurt usually comes down to a few … Read more
