What I do outside of code: forest, camping, photography, and a German Shepherd named Katie

The main page of the site about weekends says in one line: “forest, Discovery, and the shepherd dog Katie.” I’ll tell you more, because what a person does outside of work says a lot about how they work.

Forest and camping

During the day I sit over architecture and code, and by evening my head is full of schemas, queues, and graphs. Nothing clears it better than the forest. When there’s no network, no notifications, and the only urgent task is to light the fire on time, the brain switches in a way that movies or a hotel vacation can’t achieve.

Camping teaches the same things as engineering:

• Preparation decides everything. If you forgot an axe or water, you can’t fix that in the forest. It’s the same with systems: a mistake at the planning stage can’t be “fixed later” without consequences.
• Simplicity is more reliable. From gear I choose what almost never breaks and can be repaired on the spot. In code I choose the same way: fewer moving parts, fewer failures.
• Margin of safety. When heading out into nature, you take more than you calculated. In production, resource headroom and a contingency plan are needed for the same reason.

The shepherd dog Katie

Katie is a shepherd dog, and she doesn’t let me forget about walks. A dog is the best time manager: at the same time every day she comes and demands to go outside, not “just five more minutes, I’m finishing a commit.” A long walk airs out the head well before a complex architectural decision.

ROSTCAMP channel

I started a YouTube channel ROSTCAMP, where I’ll post videos about travel and camping. The channel is brand new, but it’s already clear that shooting and editing is also a craft: script, frame, sound, rhythm. The approach of “do it yourself and see it through to the end” is the same for video as for software. If you’re interested, subscribe: there will be nature, the road, and life without a network.

Photography, music, art

I also love:

• Photography. It’s a discipline of attention: light, composition, the moment. The habit of seeing details carries over well to code review.
• Music. A good system is like a good composition: it has rhythm, structure, and no extra notes.
• Art. Design and typography aren’t a separate world for me. The site and Drafta are styled according to my own brand book, and I check little things like fonts and spacing just as carefully as code.

Machine learning

This is a hobby that quietly became part of my work. I’m interested in how models learn and where they can be trusted. At work at AtomMind I need to select hardware modes, and in my own products I embed AI assistants carefully and under user control: AI assistant in Drafta: ⌘J and your key works with your key, and Drafta MCP server: agents read and write notes can be limited to read-only.

How hobbies affect my work

Many people think that a good developer needs to “live code.” I think the opposite: clarity in decisions comes when there’s somewhere to step away from the screen. That’s why my projects don’t appear in a mode of crunch and night marathons. I plan work so it can be done calmly: with time to spare, with clear stages, with checks at every step. Exactly how this is set up is described in the article Разработка ПО с нуля под ключ: от идеи до релиза.

If you love the forest and technology, write to me: Telegram @w1shmaster. If you have a development task, write too, but I’ll reply when I get back from the forest.