Jay Conrod
@jayconrod.com
Computer tamer. Beach person. Works on distributed build tools. Likes your cat pictures.
New blog post, with a perhaps mildly unpopular opinion: jayconrod.com/posts/133/in...
Integration tests are best tests
Itegration tests are the most important kind of tests. You should strive for excellent integration test coverage and invest relatively little time in unit tests. I've believed this since I worked on c...
jayconrod.com
January 15, 2026 at 5:36 PM
New blog post, with a perhaps mildly unpopular opinion: jayconrod.com/posts/133/in...
I spoke at BazelCon! If you missed it, the slides and transcript are up on the EngFlow blog. The recording on YouTube is linked from there too.
blog.engflow.com/2025/11/25/l...
blog.engflow.com/2025/11/25/l...
Lightning-fast BUILD file generation with Gazelle lazy indexing - EngFlow Blog
blog.engflow.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I spoke at BazelCon! If you missed it, the slides and transcript are up on the EngFlow blog. The recording on YouTube is linked from there too.
blog.engflow.com/2025/11/25/l...
blog.engflow.com/2025/11/25/l...
The first new entry in this series in six years! Today we're learning how to write a Bazel module extension.
jayconrod.com/posts/131/wr...
jayconrod.com/posts/131/wr...
Writing Bazel rules: module extensions
The biggest Bazel change in the last few years was the introduction of modules (also known as Bzlmod). Today we'll explore how to write a module extension, and why you'd want to do so.
jayconrod.com
October 14, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The first new entry in this series in six years! Today we're learning how to write a Bazel module extension.
jayconrod.com/posts/131/wr...
jayconrod.com/posts/131/wr...
Someone told me they got better results from an LLM code generator if they used ALL CAPS in the prompt. I wonder if it produces even better results if you swear at it. Could effective use of profanity really be what distinguishes a good senior engineer?
July 25, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Someone told me they got better results from an LLM code generator if they used ALL CAPS in the prompt. I wonder if it produces even better results if you swear at it. Could effective use of profanity really be what distinguishes a good senior engineer?
Counted 6 cars without lights on the way home tonight. It is the hour of hour lord 8:30pm. Turn your lights on.
July 8, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Counted 6 cars without lights on the way home tonight. It is the hour of hour lord 8:30pm. Turn your lights on.
Some reflections on professional open source work, first blog post in a while.
jayconrod.com/posts/130/op...
jayconrod.com/posts/130/op...
Open source is like a second job
When I started working as a software engineer, I really wanted to work full time in open source. I've been lucky enough to spend a decent chunk of my career doing exactly that. Much of that work has b...
jayconrod.com
June 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Some reflections on professional open source work, first blog post in a while.
jayconrod.com/posts/130/op...
jayconrod.com/posts/130/op...
Tinkering on a side project while on PTO this week. Wanted to share a clever little parser trick borrowed from the Bazel tools.
jayconrod.com/posts/129/pr...
jayconrod.com/posts/129/pr...
November 2, 2023 at 4:38 PM
Tinkering on a side project while on PTO this week. Wanted to share a clever little parser trick borrowed from the Bazel tools.
jayconrod.com/posts/129/pr...
jayconrod.com/posts/129/pr...
Heading back to the beach after a week in Munich at BazelCon. Had a great time, but I’m kind of looking forward to eating some vegetables again.
October 27, 2023 at 12:45 PM
Heading back to the beach after a week in Munich at BazelCon. Had a great time, but I’m kind of looking forward to eating some vegetables again.
An xkcd that perfectly describes what it's like to work on a build tool on Windows. xkcd.com/1888/
Still in Use
xkcd.com
October 17, 2023 at 5:35 PM
An xkcd that perfectly describes what it's like to work on a build tool on Windows. xkcd.com/1888/
Finally, a day to practice my favorite activity, staring directly at the sun.
October 14, 2023 at 7:50 PM
Finally, a day to practice my favorite activity, staring directly at the sun.