too stupid to be having this conversation

A place where I mostly write about my experiences building software and managing people.
Passion in the Workplace

Passion in the Workplace

Much has been written about hiring for passion: seeking out engineers who... * spend as much of their time programming and interacting with computers as possible. * identify with your company's mission and believe it lends their life a sense of purpose (John Doerr's whole missionaries-not-mercena[...]

career
Gibraltar Rock

Gibraltar Rock

Part of the reason I started this blog was to have somewhere to post my photography.  Well it's been like 2 years and this is my 1st post on the topic, opps. Better late than never to test out the fancy photo galleries I integrated into this blog's theme. Surprise!  There are bugs in the gallery mo[...]

photography
Anodyne Opinions

Anodyne Opinions

Opinions that verge on truisms are dangerous when spoken by people in a position of power. The personal cost of speaking out is too high; thus they waste time, incite frustration, and breed disillusionment.

management
Succeeding as a Mid-Career Hire

Succeeding as a Mid-Career Hire

Starting your first job is tough: you have to juggle learning the ropes of professional life alongside skilling up as a new engineer. You might believe the going gets easier each subsequent job switch. Sorry to disappoint: it doesn't–taking a new job mid-career comes with increased expectations.

career
Talking About Trade-offs

Talking About Trade-offs

You can't make it more than 1 minute into a piece of media discussing microservices without encountering admonitions to "carefully consider the trade-offs." This is promptly followed by not explaining any trade-offs, as if being direct would make their position technically indefensible.

technology
Beware Weaponized Trust

Beware Weaponized Trust

Literature on the importance of empathetic leadership is everywhere. However, just because we now talk about things like relationships and trust at work does not mean that we have all magically become more empathetic. We must walk a fine line between outright manipulation and influence.

management
3 Building Blocks for an Effective Meeting

3 Building Blocks for an Effective Meeting

Despite their necessity and prevalence, I attend a huge number of meetings that are duds. Hosting meetings with 3 or more people is a little bit of a dark art. Unlike a 1-on-1, larger group settings don't benefit from spontaneity. The fix is structure, which you are responsible for as the host.

management
Mastering the Phone Screen

Mastering the Phone Screen

In a phone screen you have limited time to make a judgment about a candidate...someone you have just met and know practically nothing about. The humble phone screen touches every candidate in your pipeline so getting it wrong can have dire consequences for your hiring pipeline.

management
What I Learned Creating Junction

What I Learned Creating Junction

Junction is a Python package that allows developers to publish markdown files tracked in a Git repository to Confluence. With Junction, you can use pull requests, code review, release branches, etc. to also manage how documentation gets released to your wiki.

technology
The Privilege of Vulnerability

The Privilege of Vulnerability

Opening this blog took longer than I am proud to admit. In truth, I was afraid of putting my ideas out there. What if I accidentally expose myself as incompetent? It didn't matter to me that virtually no one was going to read the blog, I was not comfortable with that level of vulnerability.

career