A few weeks ago, I decided to stop using Twitter temporarily, even though Twitter is by far my favorite social network for various reasons. Among them, I follow people I admire and who motivate me to do things. Also, as a developer, it is a great way to learn about new technologies and projects before anyone else and you always find something new to learn. Memes are fun, and in general, one always finds interesting things. Finally is a great place to connect with people with common interests worldwide.

So what is the problem? I think that Twitter has not done a great job of helping you avoid content that you do not want to see or that, in my case, gives me some degree of stress and anxiety. The war, the pandemic, and politics in my country, among others. In short, bomb of unwanted information do nothing but affect my mental state and therefore my well-being.

During the time I have been on this vacation from Twitter I have been trying to find an alternative to not disconnect me from the world. I thought that a blog could be a great way to achieve it. A couple of reasons:

- A blog has the advantage of being a single-side way to create content, which means that you share some info, but you don't necessarily receive an immediate response, and you don't need to join the conversation.
- It allows you to generate content that doesn't expire as quickly as other social networks, and can be helpful for more people for more time.
- If you need it, It can be an excellent way to have some content to share on your social networks.
- And finally (and maybe more important), I needed a personal site to share some of my work.

In addition, creating a blog was one of those projects I have had in mind for a long time (I think it's an SW developers thing 😅). I wanted to do something very personal and flexible in case I want to add more features.

Since I'm not a designer, but I expect to have a nice-designed and very personal website, I spend some time trying to find inspiration and develop ideas of how I wanted my blog to look. For example, one of the things I wanted was to be able to add some "easter eggs" just because I can 🤷‍♂️. Anyway..., it seemed to me that adding memes would be a way to accomplish that, and everyone loves memes, right? Finally, I said hey! What if I'm the meme myself?

To do this I first had to create a character and since I like comic strips I tried to take inspiration from illustrators like [Sarah Andersen](https://sarahcandersen.com/), [Quino](https://www.quino.com.ar/), [Fowls comics](https://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/), [The Oatmeal](https://theoatmeal.com/), and many more that I like.

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/2gPLkPZWNh5ZpWoYk6F1IXNzJT0whHvGSwUTyfQ0.png)

So I got down to work and started making quick sketches of this "Alfonso" character that you can see everywhere on this site.

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/k0rwhFpAc6jOr7sm2n2K1daNAhTBkUygOlFbC0Vn.jpg)

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/7byCozUsTB2QYD6Bwxoro7AHYpm2Bf7pg9i9rR11.jpg)

I used a mixture of patience, a Wacom tablet, and some Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer magic until I ended up with what would be my avatar (and, who knows, maybe a character from my webcomic in the future).

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/eLRzw8X7gfl2umbnsy4xMNYHS5X47d4OJ0RDlaTk.png)

Regarding the design, my goal was to make a minimalist but fun site full of memes. These are some of the things I drew in my notebook:

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/5P0kSPDgd8QjKecOKKVb5TputQXcKhR2wsLd0chK.png)

The design evolved as I progressed with the website, I did not use all the elements I initially devised, and I added some new ones that ended with this website you are seeing.

### Technology

Regarding technology, even though I consider myself a "Vue Boy," I opted to make my site in React + Next.js for this occasion. Some of the reasons:

1. Because of the integration it has with Vercel
2. Because I wanted to increase my portfolio with React
3. I wanted to experience the static site technology of Next.js

Of course, I chose TailwindCSS for styling, which basically is the best thing that has happened to me as a web developer for a long time.

### About the static site generation

I wanted this site to be fast with a 100% Lighthouse score, and the best way to achieve that was with a static site. The problem with static sites is that it is not easy to update the content because you have to recompile the site every time you adjust something. Also, the content is not exactly dynamic (as you would expect from a blog) since it does not make any calls to the server.

Here is a quick summary of what I did to solve the problem:

I created a content manager with [Laravel Nova](https://nova.laravel.com/) where I can add projects, blog posts and adjust my resume (which is also hosted on this site). I configured the various database models to mark the site as "expired" every time I modify something and added a cron job that checks when the content is expired and if so it calls a [Vercel Deploy hook](https://vercel.com/docs/concepts/git/deploy-hooks) that indicates Vervel that it need to recompile.

Worst case scenario, the site will be out of sync for 2 minutes, but I'm not CNN either, so I don't care ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The result? Hmm... I think my coffee cup pretty much sums it up:

![](https://alfonsobries.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/lPufHZEvK0jXaCN37N9q9RuMaM0nbd8uWn9kYMOJ.png)

What did you think of the site?

Could you find all the hidden memes?

I would love to read your comments. Write me via [Twitter](https://twitter.com/alfonsobries) or use the [contact form](/contact). I promise to add a way to comment directly on this site soon.

– Alfonso

Welcome to my new personal website

It was the end of 2009, I had been making websites for about a year and a half in a relatively well-known digital agency, I had gained experience through my first formal job at a digital agency, working on projects for several well-known companies in Mexico, I was about to turn 22, and I had a plan: I was going to create my own software development agency.

This is how I started 12 years of developing all kinds of projects for all kinds of companies, meeting many interesting people, and trying to make a name for this small company that just started.

Today marks about two years since I gradually stopped all Vexilo projects, and I want to share some reflections and the history of the company in this post:

Let's start from the beginning:

## Just Me

When I started my company, I was alone, I had practically no budget, but I had something better: I was motivated, I liked to do software, I was good, and I had a computer. So acquired my first clients, executed the projects, and being alone helped me survive while building a portfolio.

![First Office (between 2009 and 2010)](https://api.alfonsobries.com/storage/6wNfwyl3fesQbmrs9VN4RgOttKqWfiCTVrqa21Tj.png)

## Growth

Eventually, the first employees came, the first office, the team, and the portfolio grew. Although I was far from growing as I wanted, it was satisfactory for me. Sometimes, I had a good income, and even at the worst moments throughout those 12 years, I always had money to pay my bills, team salaries, and the rest of the company accounts.

![](https://api.alfonsobries.com/storage/WXN6PqkITYlS5OgpcQyglb7MzczOfWRN0ZzcoOOQ.png)

## Stagnation

People close to me will know that while Vexilo lasted, I was personally involved in practically all the projects, which means that even though other developers came and went, I never really managed to separate myself from the code, which stopped me from being able to take on more clients and projects.

![](https://api.alfonsobries.com/storage/xVSrczolcBIu3EVi1b6NmYTQfwn1y1Juqb4Z2PBr.png)

To grow, I needed more people, but finding the right people was tough. Reasons (or excuses, perhaps?) I have a couple:

### I wasn't paying enough money

It is no secret that the demand for software developers has grown exponentially, and their salary  has increased. Furthermore, paying higher salaries doesn't guarantee hiring the best candidate, and as a small company, I couldn't afford to hire someone who wasn't capable enough.

Think of it like this, you hire a developer, let's say you pay him 5,000USD/month (considering taxes in Mexico, it costs you like 6,000USD), starts with his first project that has to be finished in 3 months, and it turns out that he simply was not able to make it. If he does not have the capacity, you simply cannot afford to continue paying his salary, which means you have to terminate the employment relationship. Terminating an employee in México costs you an extra three months of salary, and the worst part is: Project is already 3 months behind schedule.

Summary: You spent more than USD 30,000, you have a project to deliver that has little or no advance at all, and you are already delayed.

### I didn't search well

I'm sure there are more options to find good developers. For example, you can hire developers with less experience, and train them.

In my opinion, that is one of the best options for this dilemma, and it was where I had the most success, however, the search is still challenging, talented people are there, but you have to work hard to find them, and that is a job that requires a lot of time which I did not have.

### I didn't charge enough.

More money would have given me more options, hire someone from HR, take more risk in hiring or carry less stress.

Why didn't I charge more? It is a bit complex to answer, but above all, I think I lacked experience.

## Tired

Next year I was going to get married, and organizing a wedding was something stressful. During that time, I accepted a good project that required me to step out of my comfort zone (it involved knowledge that I didn't have, so I had to look for a team to delegate to). 

I struggled to find a team that I could trust blindly and ended up paying someone in advance to help with the project. Unfortunately, that person disappeared and the project fell behind schedule, resulting in lawsuit a significant financial loss for me.

Since I do not tend to look back, I survived again (as always), but that was "the straw that broke the camel's back" of something inevitable. I was tired, my company was stagnant, and unlike when I started in 2009, I was not motivated to keep going.

## Being an Employee Again, Hello Foreign Companies

The lack of motivation was reflected in the company, although it was alive and working, the team began to shrink until it practically returned to the beginning.

During that time, I accepted a contract to work personally for a US company, it was a good experience, it helped me to lose the fear of speaking English, the pay was relatively good, and there was some comfort in being an employee again: On Friday, you finish your work and forget, you don't need to chase the clients to get paid, the stress is less, etc.

Working for a foreign company also changed my vision, I realized that Mexico was not the best place to focus my mind and energy, in addition, it gave me stability and time to retake a breath, gain motivation again and start thinking about my following projects, among which, as you can imagine, Vexilo was no longer part.

## Why am I closing Vexilo?

There are several reasons I would not like to make this note too long, but among the most relevant are the following:

- Today, I don't see an interesting future (at least not for me) working in a software development agency in Mexico.
- Making software is expensive, and in general Mexican companies are not willing to pay for it.
- Foreign companies are absorbing talented people with salaries you can't compete with. (Between $5,000USD/month and $15,000USD/month)
- Note in this regard: [Latin American companies no longer have enough to attract technological talent - Rest of World](https://restofworld.org/2022/empresas-latinoamerica-escacez-talento-tecnologico/)
- More: [https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1486972320061136899](https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1486972320061136899)
- Extremely interesting projects are emerging that do not fit with a company that makes third-party software.

In general, there is a world of opportunities, and focusing on a company like Vexilo distracts me from them.

## What about me?

I haven't changed much from when I started: I'm motivated, I like making software, I'm good at it, I have a computer, and I have something even more important: Experience.

I'm still somewhat of an entrepreneur, and I have some exciting projects and ideas I'm working on 👀.

Meanwhile, I work in an interesting company with talented and intelligent people from all over the world and I'm doing fun things that challenge my intelligence.

In general, I think there is a sea of opportunities for whatever decides to take them, and I chose to follow that path.

Bye bye, Vexilo

You may have heard about the recent scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the company that obtained and utilized the personal data of 37 million Facebook users, influencing the United States elections.

You might be wondering if this affects you in any way (at least directly), and if so, should you care? And if you should care, can you do something about it?

Now, you may be asking yourself: What does this have to do with the "mafia del poder"?

### Let's start there:

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some Twitter users started posting variations of the following image:

![](https://www.revistaneo.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/lamafiadelpoder.jpg)

I couldn't find the original image author, but I thought it would be fun for anyone to create their own credentials. Since im a developer, I took my laptop, bought a domain, and got to work. Four hours later, the website was published: http://www.mafiadelpoder.mx/

![](https://www.revistaneo.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/tuit.jpg)

If you're not from Mexico or simply disconnected from politics, "Mafia del poder" is what Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the presidential candidate for MORENA in Mexico, calls almost anyone who doesn't support him.

The idea is simple: you register with Facebook or Twitter, and using your photo, name, gender, and age, the application creates your personalized credential as a member of the "mafia del poder". You can share this image with your friends and it opens the door for them to visit the website and create their own credential.

I shared it on Twitter, reached out to some Facebook pages to help with sharing, and voilà, people started registering. Although the number of visits (and registrations) wasn't spectacular, the graph showed an exponential trend. The site reached 1,000 registrations and it seemed like it would continue growing. However, on the fourth day, visits dropped by 90%. The reason? It's hard to say, and although I have some theories, they are the subject of another article.

Around the same time, a viral game called "How Would You Look of the Opposite Sex?" emerged on Facebook. The hype surrounding it led to some articles talking about the "theft" of personal information in these types of applications.

![](https://www.revistaneo.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/face1.jpg)

This got me thinking: you know what? This little game I made for fun in just four hours is no different. With a little effort, I collected a database that reached over 1,000 registered users in a couple of days. Out of those, at least 800, which is 80%, didn't take precautions to avoid sharing their photo, email, gender, age, and if you think about it, their possible political preference.

So, I ask myself: What if it had gone viral? What if it does later on? In that case, how much is that information worth in the hands of a political party or the government? Can it somehow alter elections or something else? I leave the answer to your imagination.

Let's go back to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook. If you delve into the topic, you'll know that the information Cambridge Analytica worked with was obtained during a time when Facebook shared personal information more easily and by default (for example, your friend list) with similar applications.

Is it more complicated now? Yes, it is, but not impossible. And I can assure you that with the right strategy, people would give you even their bank account.

Some might say, "I never open applications like that, and if I do, I don't share my personal information." Okay, that's a step, but I think it goes further. Think about it: Cambridge Analytica obtained only a tiny fraction of the information that Facebook knows about a tiny fraction of its users, and with that, they were able to influence the election of the president of the most powerful country in the world.

On the other hand, I assume you know that Facebook doesn't make money by having more photos of your nephews (or maybe it does). Facebook lives off your information, the advertising it sends you, selling your data, etc. In short, you are the product.

Take a moment to think about it again: Facebook knows who your best friends are, your family, what music you like, which political party you support, what you talk about, your socioeconomic level, where you live, where you want to go, where you work, how much you earn, and I could go on. In summary, it knows more about you than you know about yourself.

The saying goes: "knowledge is power," and we're talking about one of the largest databases of knowledge ever recorded in history. Power, furthermore, in the hands of a single company that, if it were a country, would be the most populous in the world. I don't know about you, but that worries me.

## Okay, okay, what can I do?

Easy: close Facebook and, while you're at it, stop using Google, Uber, WhatsApp, Instagram, Waze, etc. Okay, okay... let's not be radical. The truth is, social media is part of our lives and the modern world, and completely disconnecting from it is a new form of isolation.

Here are some easy ideas:

#### Simply limit what you share.

Imagine that these companies will have that information forever, yes, you read that right: forever. It's hard to imagine how your information could be used in the future in other ways, but I wouldn't take the risk. Also, is it really necessary to share that you went to the gym? And I don't want to touch on the topic, but the truth is, your nephew isn't as cute as you think.

What did I do? I removed the Facebook application from my phone. This way, I share less, waste less time, and don't disconnect completely.

#### Take a few minutes to investigate how to limit access to your information.

The main applications have options to protect your information (from others, not from themselves).

Avoid connecting to unknown sites or at least limit what you share. Do you really need to know "what kind of taco you are"?

If you can't resist, the main social media platforms allow you to decide what information you share:

![](https://www.revistaneo.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/fbpri.jpg)

#### Use tools to protect your privacy.

For web browsers, for example, there are tools that help protect your privacy.

You can aslso use a VPN. I know it's not a viable solution for everyone, but a VPN is a much more effective way to hide some information from the sites you visit.

To explain it simply, a VPN filters all your browsing to hide your information from all the sites you visit (have you ever seen a TV on Amazon and suddenly started seeing TVs on almost every site you visit? That's the reason).

Moreover, a VPN makes it more difficult (not impossible) for your telecommunications provider or even the government to "track" you, i.e., know which websites you visit and even where you are and where you have been (yes, they know all of that). Hiding that information is an important plus, if you ask me.

Is it too exaggerated? It may be, only time will tell.

A brief reflection. I hope you like it

Posts / Page 3

Welcome to my new personal website

Bye bye, Vexilo

Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the "Mafia del poder": A reflection on privacy.