Lara L. Schenck

Computing researcher, maker of monsters

Category: Thoughts

  • 2015 Year in Review

    This is “Year in Review” has a bit of a negative tone. I considered editing this post to make it sound more I-love-my-life-and-work-always for potential employers, but that’s no fun! Go ahead and read about 2015, the year that made me want to leave NYC, move to Utah, and work at a bar (which I…

  • It’s identity crisis, not impostor syndrome

    I think we’ve gotten to a point where non-impostors, myself included, are using impostor syndrome as a way to describe ever-human insecurity. The web is in its awkward twenties, and so are many, many of the people working on it. Fortunately or unfortunately, with your twenties comes the inevitable, quarter-life identity crisis.

  • Cocktails on the Pastry Box

    For those unfamiliar, the Pastry Box Project is a curated collection of thoughts and articles from anyone who works with the web. I wrote an article about cocktails and websites, i.e. my two favorite things, and it was published! You can read it here.

  • Let’s try “Full-Stack Designer” instead of unicorn

    At An Event Apart last week, one speaker asked, “How many of you refer to yourselves as designers? … Developers? … Or maybe you design and develop…so…unicorn?”. The latter had the most hands, along with a few modest chuckles. Let’s take a step back here.

  • I wrote a post for CSS-Tricks and people read it

    This week, I had a guest post published on CSS-Tricks. You should read it. It kinda blew up. Well, definitely blew up. What started as legitimate comment thread on the post turned quite sour when the article was shared on r/programming: Not a nice way to rephrase my post title. Yes, that would be me. I…

  • On Progressive Enhancement

    In a nutshell, progressive enhancement is building “content out”, separating the structure of a website (HTML) from its presentation and behavior (CSS and JS). Content should be available regardless of the capabilities of the device, and should not rely on styling or scripting to function at a base level. There are some strong opionions for…

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  • Coding and Me

    All too often, someone new to the tech world sees coding as some kind of magic language we coders are born with. When you see a programmer slapping away at the keyboard, it’s no wonder! But it’s not magic. Really. Coding is not like this This morning I read a great article, What “coder” means…

  • Freelancer is a dirty word.

    First of all, I am very proud to be a freelancer, and certainly identify as one. But…I hesitate. I kind of loathe the term. I feel like the word itself implies someone taking whatever work they can get, aimless and uncommitted, or in-between jobs with no other option to make ends meet. Of course this may…