- Father.
- Software engineer at Block.
- Lives in Colorado.
- 18+ years in software. Before Block: Shopify, Procore, and CircleCI.
- B.S. Computer Science and Engineering, Ohio State, 2008.
- Writes at matthewboston.com.
What I believe
Rules tell us what to do; principles tell us why.
Every keyboard should come with a ‘simplify’ key.
You can trade quality for speed. But you don’t have to, and I wouldn’t recommend it.
On code
Simplicity. Doing what’s needed with nothing extra.
Code quality. How well the code works, reads, and lasts.
Technical debt. The future cost of choosing quick, easy solutions now.
Continuous refactoring is the single most important developer habit.
Tests are for the benefit of your future self.
Performance is a functional requirement.
On teams
Plant a flower in a desert and watch it die. Plant a flower in a garden and watch it flourish.
Trust isn’t just nice to have—it’s the foundation for innovation, collaboration, and growth.
I speed up the team by forcing them to slow down.
On shipping
AI writes all of my code now. The medium changed, not the craft.
Alert Fatigue is real. Alert systems must be accurate, meaningful, and actionable.
An updated application is a secure, fast, reliable, and maintainable application.