Ham Vocke's musings on life, software engineering, and everything elsehttps://hamvocke.com/https://hamvocke.com/blog/home-cooked-software/https://hamvocke.com/blog/home-cooked-software/Software can be a home-cooked meal. I experienced what that could mean first-hand.Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/2025-in-review/https://hamvocke.com/blog/2025-in-review/Reminiscing and reflecting on 2025.Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/reviving-a-dead-pet-project/https://hamvocke.com/blog/reviving-a-dead-pet-project/I revived an old pet project of that's been dormant for yearsFri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/introducing-moments/https://hamvocke.com/blog/introducing-moments/I built a new feature for this website to highlight personal moments. Social media without the social stuff.Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/better-programmer/https://hamvocke.com/blog/better-programmer/I got featured in a lovely YouTube video. Also, there's new RSS feeds.Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/important-things/https://hamvocke.com/blog/important-things/Friends, family, adventures, sunshine & outdoors make things so much better.Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/fresh-coat-of-paint/https://hamvocke.com/blog/fresh-coat-of-paint/My personal website got a new lookSun, 06 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/ansi-vim-color-scheme/https://hamvocke.com/blog/ansi-vim-color-scheme/When it comes to the command line, I prefer to define a color scheme once, in my terminal emulator, and let all other command line tools inherit that scheme. With vim & neovim this took some fiddling, but I ultimately figured it out.Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/making-ham-2025/https://hamvocke.com/blog/making-ham-2025/I cured and cold-smoked another batch of ham. Here's what it looks like.Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/gloomy-season/https://hamvocke.com/blog/gloomy-season/I struggle with long winters. This year isn't any different.Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/kind-engineering/https://hamvocke.com/blog/kind-engineering/Be more kind, my friends.Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/under-engineering/https://hamvocke.com/blog/under-engineering/As software developers we're often quick to adopt the latest shiny technology. I think building something using very basic tools only from time to time helps to declutter your developer toolbox and figure out which tools really pull their own weight.Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/2024-in-review/https://hamvocke.com/blog/2024-in-review/Same ritual as last year; I look back at 2024 and reflect on the things that kept me busy over the course of the year.Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/airhorn/https://hamvocke.com/blog/airhorn/I built a small tool that helps you become the most obnoxious person around. You're welcome!Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/i-am-so-happy/https://hamvocke.com/blog/i-am-so-happy/Today I learned my first random bit of Korean thanks to a reader of this blog and I couldn't be happier.Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/piggie-went-to-the-pub/https://hamvocke.com/blog/piggie-went-to-the-pub/I commissioned a new avatar to use for my website and some social media channels. It's a little piggie having a beer, and I'm going to tell you how much I love it.Sun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/lets-create-a-terminal-color-scheme/https://hamvocke.com/blog/lets-create-a-terminal-color-scheme/Trying to create my own terminal color scheme, I went down an intense rabbit hole. Find out what I learned and check out the cool tool I built to generate your own, personal terminal color schemes.Sun, 16 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/trip-to-athens/https://hamvocke.com/blog/trip-to-athens/I went on a short trip to Athens, Greece with the family. Here I'm sharing some pictures and impressions.Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/better-off-without-pull-requests/https://hamvocke.com/blog/better-off-without-pull-requests/Feature branches and mandatory pull requests have become a standard for a lot of modern software development teams. How did we get here? And does this really make sense?Sat, 27 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/how-i-made-my-own-ham/https://hamvocke.com/blog/how-i-made-my-own-ham/I cured and cold-smoked ham this winter and I'm pretty pumped about the results. Let me show you some pictures and explain what I did.Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/2023-in-review/https://hamvocke.com/blog/2023-in-review/Just before the year ends I'm taking a look back at 2023 and reflect on my personal highlights, the big things that happened and the things that had a lasting impact on myself.Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/time-to-get-personal/https://hamvocke.com/blog/time-to-get-personal/I used to think too much about what should and should not live on my personal website. Where's the fun in that? It's time to make my personal website more personal!Thu, 21 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/hyperion-cantos/https://hamvocke.com/blog/hyperion-cantos/Dan Simmons' "Hyperion Cantos" is a series of science fiction novels and one of my all-time favorites. It's an epic tale of adventure, time travel, war, love, loss, and a giant-ass heavy metal creature wreaking havoc.Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/tidy-first-review/https://hamvocke.com/blog/tidy-first-review/My review of Kent Beck's “Tidy First?”, a short book on the "what", "when", and "why" of tidying code.Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/path-to-production/https://hamvocke.com/blog/path-to-production/Here's one from the consulting toolbox. Path to Production Mapping is a simple and effective tool that can help you understand, discuss, analyze, and improve how your team ships software to production. In this post I explain what it's all about and how you can use it.Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/lnks-command-line-bookmarks/https://hamvocke.com/blog/lnks-command-line-bookmarks/I wrote lnks, a small tool that helps you find and open browser bookmarks from the command line. It works well as a personal bookmark manager, for shared team bookmarks, and is just the right thing for people who love working on the command line.Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/learning-tdd-review/https://hamvocke.com/blog/learning-tdd-review/A book review for Saleem Siddiqui's “Learning Test-Driven Development”. I think it's a great book and a modern take of Kent Beck's "TDD By Example".Wed, 15 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/remote-work-changed-my-life/https://hamvocke.com/blog/remote-work-changed-my-life/About 1.5 years ago I quit my job, started working remotely and moved to a small town. I'm reflecting on how these changes have affected my life.Mon, 21 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/doppelkopf-3-years/https://hamvocke.com/blog/doppelkopf-3-years/3 years ago I started building a browser-based Doppelkopf card game as a pet project. Things have been quiet. Did I give up? Hit a roadblock? Nuke the git repo?Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/distraction-free-writing/https://hamvocke.com/blog/distraction-free-writing/Want to write without distractions and don't feel like buying an extra app for that? Here's how.Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/ham/https://hamvocke.com/blog/ham/An hommage to my nickname.Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/moving-on/https://hamvocke.com/blog/moving-on/I'm starting a new job remotely after leaving the adventures of a consultancy behind. Some thoughts on this change.Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/local-ansible-testing/https://hamvocke.com/blog/local-ansible-testing/Learn how to test Ansible provisioning scripts locallyFri, 14 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/doppelkopf/https://hamvocke.com/blog/doppelkopf/I started implementing a browser game version of the German "Doppelkopf" card game and it's great fun. Read why I started doing this and what I've discovered so far.Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/ebook-testing-microservices/https://hamvocke.com/blog/ebook-testing-microservices/Yeah, the "testing microservices" post series got a little out of hand. If you prefer ebooks over blog posts I've got your back. I released the "testing microservices" series as an ebook.Thu, 28 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/testing-java-microservices/https://hamvocke.com/blog/testing-java-microservices/Learn how to test your Java & Spring Boot microservice, based on the "Testing Microservices" articleTue, 19 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/testing-microservices/https://hamvocke.com/blog/testing-microservices/Learn the concepts you need to build a reliable, fast and effective test suite for your microservicesMon, 18 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/remote-pair-programming-with-tmux/https://hamvocke.com/blog/remote-pair-programming-with-tmux/For many developers pair programming is the way to go. But pairing often becomes challenging as soon as people are working remotely. With a simple SSH and tmux setup you can have a very simple but effective setup for collaborating remotely using nothing but your command line.Tue, 03 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/commandline-fun/https://hamvocke.com/blog/commandline-fun/There are a couple of really great tools out there that can help you getting more fun out of your day-to-day command line use. These are some of my favorites.Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/a-guide-to-customizing-your-tmux-conf/https://hamvocke.com/blog/a-guide-to-customizing-your-tmux-conf/tmux has its flaws when you use its vanilla configuration. I'll show you how you can customize tmux so that it fits your needs, is a little more comfortable to use and pretty to look at.Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-tmux/https://hamvocke.com/blog/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-tmux/tmux is a tool that can boost your productivity while using the terminal. Think of it as a window manager in your terminal with some extra fanciness on top. This post gives you an easy-to-follow introduction to tmux and explains its basic features and how to use them.Sun, 16 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/retrospective-moving/https://hamvocke.com/blog/retrospective-moving/Probably everyone has moved at least once in their life. It's a lot of work but also offers unique opportunities. This post will tell you how the metaphor of moving can help you get great results out of your next Retrospective.Sat, 20 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/tweetrospective/https://hamvocke.com/blog/tweetrospective/I've recently tried a new approach for facilitating an agile retrospecitve based on Twitter. It was a fun and creative session and I got great feedback. Read what I've done, what I've learned and grab some resources to do it yourself!Sun, 10 May 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/import-dkb-accounts-into-homebank/https://hamvocke.com/blog/import-dkb-accounts-into-homebank/Homebank is a great and free personal finance tool. I have written a small converter that allows you to import account data from DKB accounts.Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/three-months-tw/https://hamvocke.com/blog/three-months-tw/More than three months into my new job at ThoughtWorks I tell the story of my first day at my new job and take a first look in the rearview mirror to reflect about work, company culture and other remarkable stuffSat, 22 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://hamvocke.com/blog/goodbye-guetersloh/https://hamvocke.com/blog/goodbye-guetersloh/Today is my last day in Gütersloh. I'm leaving Bertelsmann after six exciting years. This post is about the my previous journey as a software developer and about my future in Hamburg.Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMT