The Legit Baines Blog

Why Giving Advice Is Easier Than Doing the Work (Especially in IoT and Embedded Systems) ☝☝☝☝ It’s something I’ve become increasingly aware of while working on technical projects: giving advice is often far easier than actually doing the work. On the surface, a suggestion can sound simple, logical, and even obvious. But once you’re the person responsible for implementing it, the reality quickly becomes more complicated. This gap between theory and practice is something every developer eventually encounters, and it’s particularly noticeable in hands-on fields like IoT and embedded systems . When someone isn’t directly involved in a project, they don’t carry the same constraints. They’re not dealing with the specific hardware limitations, firmware quirks, time pressures, or integration challenges that define the day-to-day reality of the work. As a result, their advice can be well-intentioned but disconnected from what is actually achievable. It’s easy to recommend a clean solution whe...

  Honesty Really Is the Best Policy - Especially in Job Descriptions There’s a simple idea that gets repeated so often it risks losing its meaning: honesty is the best policy . But when you look closely at how organisations communicate especially in recruitment you start to see just how often that principle is quietly ignored. In the long run, honesty doesn’t just benefit the person reading a job advert; it benefits the organisation, the hiring team, and the wider community. Without it, time is wasted, expectations are mismanaged, and trust slowly erodes. One of the clearest examples of this is the growing trend of vague and overly broad job specifications . Many of the roles I’ve come across recently sound inclusive on the surface, but when you dig deeper, they lack the clarity needed for candidates to make an informed decision. Phrases like “ strong communication skills ,” “ commitment to customer service ,” and “ experience in innovation and transformation ” sound impressive, ...

  My Multi-project Method I have developed a method for dealing with procrastination and I have named it “My Multi-project Method”.   🕐🕑🕒🕓🕔🕕🕖🕗🕘🕙🕚 I procrastinate on a project by working on a different project.  I will always do what needs to be done in time but if I’m leaving a task to the last possible moment then I may as make that time productive by working on one of my other projects.  If I’m avoiding my emails I’ll procrastinate on that task by updating my CV.  Whenever I’m working on my githubpages.io site I’ll make progress for a while before I hit a wall so instead of doing no work at all I’ll step back from that project to work on one of my Python based projects instead.  Sometimes stepping back from a project for a few days or even a week can give me a better perspective on it when I get back into working on it. 📤📥📤📥📠📟📡💾💽💻💻💻💻💻💻 My current projects include: Working with PostgreSQL Databases. My Python based imperial u...

  Test Yourself then Check Yourself Pushing myself to grow has always been at the heart of my journey through the world of IT, computing, and data analytics. These fields evolve at lightning speed, and I’ve learned that staying still is the fastest way to fall behind. Whether it’s a new programming concept, a data modeling technique, or a tool I’ve never touched before, I’m constantly seeking out ways to stretch my abilities. But with that drive comes a responsibility to recognize when I’m approaching my limits. The tech world can be intense, and curiosity can quickly turn into overload if I’m not careful. Early on, I realized that challenging myself doesn’t mean pushing to exhaustion—it means being intentional about growth, not reckless. 🙏🙏🙏 One of the biggest influences on how I manage that balance came from an extracurricular course I once took: “Connecting with Yourself on a Spiritual Level.” It might sound far removed from coding or data analytics, but the meditation te...