Software engineering, projects, and lessons learned from Mark Truong https://marktruong.dev/ Portfolio Project Analysis and Reflection - For my portfolio project, I developed a fully functional interpreter for a BASIC-like programming language using Python. This was inspired by the advanced programming languages course I took at San Diego State University (SDSU), where I learned core principles of language design, parsing theory, and runtime system implementation. This project... Wed, 30 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-30-interpreter/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-30-interpreter/ React Theory Discussional - Last week, I had a technical interview with a senior principal engineer at a consulting company, for a React possibly full-stack consulting position. The role involves working closely with client teams particularly in the healthcare space to help build and optimize internal applications. The interview lasted just under 30 minutes,... Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-28-react/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-28-react/ My Interview for Founding Backend Engineer - On July 25th, I interviewed with an AI company for a Founding Senior Backend Engineer role. They’re building an agentic AI platform designed to empower recruiters—automating everything from sourcing and screening to evaluation with remarkable speed and consistency. Their flagship product, RB, is already in production with real traction. Interview... Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-28-ai/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-28-ai/ Here’s What Went Wrong - As a developer, I wanted to create a portfolio project that showcased my frontend chops with Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, ShadCN, and my growing interest in newer backend stacks like Convex and Clerk. The goal? Build a Fiverr clone – complete with service listings, subcategories, user authentication, and seller dashboards.... Sun, 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-20-fiverr/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-20-fiverr/ Lessons from the field by Mark Truong - I recently got pulled into a freelance project involving n8n, a tool I’d honestly never used before. I was consulting on an automation build with a Telegram bot, working alongside a junior developer. While I can’t share the project specifics due to NDA, I wanted to reflect on the experience... Sat, 19 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-19-n8n/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-19-n8n/ Here’s What I Learned - When our team was brought in on a defense contract to support autonomous drone development, the mission was clear: build a high-fidelity simulation environment that developers could use to test drones in realistic scenarios. But as with many legacy systems, what we inherited was outdated, fragile, and full of integration... Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-18-dronesim/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-18-dronesim/ The Startup That Might Happen (Someday) - So very recently, I’ve fallen into the AI image generation rabbit hole. (Sorry, artists — I swear I still love you.) It started as curiosity, quickly turned into obsession, and somehow snowballed into startup brainstorming, prompt engineering marathons, and more time spent inside ComfyUI and FluxGym than I’d like to... Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0700 https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-17-lora/ https://marktruong.dev/2025-07-17-lora/