Trusty Duck

Hello World

Bethany Janos — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Hello world! I wanted to start off my blog with a simple hello to introduce myself and share a bit about what you can expect from my posts.

A little about me

I learned to code in college as a bit of an accident. I was a biomedical engineering major, but found myself drawn to the coding side of many of my courses. Through a very patient research professor, I learned how to code through Android development and I was hooked. I did finish out college with a biomedical engineering degree, but I also minored in computer science and spent a lot of my free time coding.

I started to go down the computer science PhD route, however life had other plans for me. I ended up taking a job as a software engineer at a local digital marketing company and never looked back. Since then, I've worked at a couple different companies, learning new technologies and growing my skills along the way.

Why "Trusty Duck"?

I had been looking for a cooler sounding gamer tag when one day, I was driving behind a dusty truck. I was being silly with my husband and swapping the letters and came up with "Trusty Duck". It stuck with me and now I use it as my online handle for most things. As rubber ducks are often used by programmers for debugging, it felt like a fitting name for my blog. Unfortunately I can't change my GitHub handle while working there, but maybe one day it'll happen!

What to expect from my blog

In this blog, I'll be sharing my thoughts and experiences on software development, industry trends, and coding deep dives. I may also share some posts on side quests such as personal development, productivity, art, and work-life balance. I hope to create a space where I can connect with other developers, share knowledge, and learn from each other, so please feel free to leave comments and reach out!

My Tech Stack: 2025 edition

Bethany Janos — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

As developers, we're fairly aware of tech stacks for services and companies, but I love the idea of a tech stack that supports you and your life! Mine changes probably too much, but I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the hardware and software in my life at this point in time.

Hardware

Phone

I used to be an Android girly, but I swapped to Apple in 2020 and have begrudgingly embraced the walled garden. I'm using an iPhone 14 Pro right now which still works fairly well aside from the battery getting a little worse for wear. I might upgrade to the 17 Pro soon but it's only because I have phone upgrade funds to use and nothing to do with the current performance.

Computer

As mentioned above, I am bought into the Apple ecosystem. I just love a Unix-based system for coding! I know Windows has gotten better since I've used it as my primary machine, but the Mac just works so well. I have given Linux a shot, but found myself debugging my OS more often than I'd like.

I do use a Windows PC for gaming! It's perfectly fine for that, though I do find myself fighting against Windows a lot, but I think that's more because I don't have the right mental model for using it. I do wish it would not reset my settings back to default after every update!

Accessories

Again on the Apple train, I have AirPods 2 for earbuds. They're perfect in every way except fit, but I think I have an odd ear shape. I do have AirPods Max which look gorgeous, but is so heavy. I prefer the Sony WH-1000XM4s for listening to music and traveling because they're so much lighter and sound a lot better.

I use the Elgato Wave as my microphone and a very basic Logitech webcam. I might look to upgrade the webcam this year.

Keyboards!

I finally upgraded my switches this year and have a keyboard setup I like! My desk keyboard is the ZSA Moonlander with Huano Sakuras. It's so comfy to type on now and sounds impeccable. My travel keyboard is a Planck from ZSA (that's now discontinued, but you can get a Planck from many places). I replaced the Cherry Browns with Akko V3 Fairy Linear Silents so I wouldn't feel terrible bringing it with me to my coworking space. It's actually more quiet than the default Mac keyboard now and still feels great!

I game with a Rainy75. I wish I could copy its sound to all my other keyboards because it is so nice!!

Tablet/E-reader

I've been waffling on buying an iPad mini for a while. I finally bit the bullet and got it and honestly I regret not doing it sooner. It's a great e-reader, second screen, notepad, sheet music, etc. All that while being so portable! I haven't picked up my Kindle in quite a while because the Kindle app on iPad is way better.

Health

I've stopped wearing my Apple Watch because of wrist issues and not wanting to have a mini-phone on me at all times. I now use Oura which I do like a lot! It passively monitors and it adjusts goals based on where you are rather than pushing for perfection like Apple did. The only downside is it's not the most sturdy so it's difficult to wear while working out.

Software

Notetaking

Things are a little chaotic here. I have Obsidian and really want to make it work but I find it hard to continuously take notes and feel organized. Maybe I haven't figured out the right plugins for my uses, but it's been a struggle.

When I need to take handwritten notes, I've been reaching for Apple Freeform. It feels like FigJam but is free, so it works for me.

I tried VoiceNotes for a stint for an audio transcriptions. It was fine, but I can't use it for work things because of AI, so the subscription fee didn't feel super worth it.

Coding

I'll write a more in-depth post about this, but I have continued to use Neovim! It's so extensible and I've honestly had zero issues with feature parity compared to other editors. This includes AI agents and such, too.

I switched from iTerm2 to Ghostty this year and haven't looked back. iTerm2 was doing more than I want my terminal to do. Ghostty is mostly perfect with nearly zero additional setup.

I've been using Bruno as a cURL client. It's pretty good! I love that it's open source and privacy-concious. I don't love that everything has to be in a collection so if I make a cURL request, I have to figure out a collection to put it in.

I of course use GitHub for code storage, CI/CD, project tracking, and so on. Since working there I've discovered there are few problems that it can't solve!

AI

I use GitHub Copilot for most coding AI usage and coding agent tasks. I use Claude for personal AI chats. I may re-signup for ChatGPT since its audio functionality is really nice, but it's not a strong need at this point.

Conversation

My favorite chat app would probably be Discord. It's really awesome for communities and gaming and I think their free offering is very fair. I did start paying for the full membership this year, but I don't mind supporting it.

Other than that, I really like Signal as a privacy-first chat app. I still use Telegram a bit but I find myself enjoying Signal more.

Slack is great for work, but I really do not enjoy it for anything non-work related. Its free tier is extremely limited and frustrating.

Trackers

I use How We Feel for emotion tracking. I think it's a lovely app with a great UX. And I like their privacy philosophy! I have been using Natural Cycles for cycle tracking. I think it's fine if you have a typical cycle but is a little frustrating as someone with a chaotic cycle. I've used HabitKit off and on this year for habit tracking.

I've been using Goodreads and Fable for book tracking. They're fine but far from perfect. I also use Album of the Year for music tracking.

Music

I use Spotify, but have been tempted to consider Apple Music given some choices Spotify has made recently. It is fine as a music app though, and I do love that they've made it easy to share a queue recently, especially via CarPlay.

Etc.

I've really enjoyed Crouton for recipe storage! Google Calendar and Gmail for calendar/email just work and I haven't found a reason to change.

In conclusion

I thought this would be a short little post, but it was fun to reflect on what tech I put in my life! Would love to know what your tech stack is, or if you have recommendations for note taking!

A GopherCon Retrospective

Bethany Janos — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Last year, I spoke for the first time at GopherCon! I was so grateful for this experience as I have always wanted to speak at GopherCon since first hearing about it on Go Time. As my lightning talk was just posted, I wanted to share a bit on the experience, what I learned, and what has changed since then.

First things first, here is the talk recording: Not Your Parent's Editor: A Gopher's Guide to Neovim

The idea

I have been a Vim user for a while, and have encountered a lot of people criticizing me for it saying it's not as efficient or feature-rich. I don't see myself as an elitist, I think everyone should use what works best for them. However, it has been a great environment for me as I learned how to code and I wanted to demystify it for others. I did submit this as a full talk originally, but it was not accepted. I applied to do it as a lightning talk instead after deciding to attend GopherCon and was accepted!

Preparing the talk

I had a loose idea in mind of how I wanted this talk to go, where I demoed each individual plugin and how it helped me. However, as I started to prepare, I realized that this would take too long and was not very engaging. I pivoted to showing how I would do a pretty common refactor and call out plugins as I went along. This made it a bit more engaging and faster paced.

I demoed the talk to my husband, coworkers, and some friends (both technical and non-technical) and got great feedback. After that it was just practicing over and over again until I had the muscle memory down.

The talk

I was pretty nervous going into the talk, but the GopherCon team and other speakers were so kind and supportive. I did mess up a bit during the demo, but it wasn't too noticeable unless you're already a vim expert. Bonus points if you can spot it in the recording! The audience was super engaged and I got some great questions from individuals after the talk.

What's changed?

Since giving the talk, the Copilot CLI was finally released and I have been integrating it using sidekick.nvim which is made by the legendary folke.

One thing I didn't get to mention is my use of Chezmoi to manage my dotfiles. It is so nice if you leverage multiple machines and virtual development environments such as GitHub Codespaces. It makes it super easy to keep everything in sync and revert if anything goes astray.

What did I learn?

Feedback is key

I learned a lot from this experience. First, getting feedback early is key. I attempted to get feedback as early as the CFP stage, which helped with refining my idea. I think it's important to keep your audience at the forefront of your mind and put yourself in their position. For this talk, I wanted to make sure that both Vim users and non-Vim users could get something out of it and therefore I got feedback from both groups.

Stay humble

Second, impostor syndrome will never go away. While I use Neovim primarily, my usage is definitely not perfect and I knew there would be people in the audience who knew more than me. It was important to stay humble and acknowledge that I could offer a unique perspective as someone who's not a typical Vim power user. I actually learned new things from others in my experience giving the talk that I might've not learned otherwise!

Social anxiety doesn't go away

I get pretty extreme social anxiety with having conversations with new people, especially in large groups. While I was able to get through the talk, I found it difficult to network and meet new people at the conference and had a bit of a panic attack during the speaker happy hour. I do fine while presenting or if I'm approached, but this reminds me that I need to keep working on my social skills and putting myself in uncomfortable situations to grow.

Conclusion

Doing a lightning talk was a great experience as a first talk and the perfect length for dipping my toes into speaking! I am so grateful for the opportunity and am excited to apply for my next speaking opportunity. If you have any questions about my talk or feedback, feel free to reach out!