I haven’t posted in a few weeks, and there’s a reason for that. I recently changed jobs. It was a long journey, and I’ll go in to that here in this post. But the last few weeks were focused on wrapping up my work with my old employer and getting … Read more
Category: Life
A Day In The Life
Taking some inspiration from my favorite ‘cast this week, Guidance Counselor 2.0, by Taylor Desseyn. I wanted to ‘get real’ a little bit about what it’s really like to be a professional software developer and use this post to delve a bit into the day-to-day life of a dev. A … Read more
Imposter Syndrome Never Ends – And That’s Fine
There’s a ton of feeling in the developer community among new, so-called “junior” developers. It’s something that has come up in many of the mentoring sessions I have held with quite a few people who are new to coding or trying to get into the field. It’s a feeling that … Read more
It’s Your Time Off… Take It
A quick rant this week. There’s a trend in American workplaces, and it’s terrible. People are taking “time off”, but still working. I can’t even begin to count the number of co-workers I hear who say something to the effect of “I’m out next week, but I’ll still be monitoring … Read more
The Employee Right to Privacy
I’ve seen a lot of posts on social media in recent months where people are complaining about their companies spying on them and what they’re doing on their employer-issued equipment and accounts. I want to put this in as plain a statement as possible. ANYTHING you do on employer-issued equipment … Read more
Is a College Degree Necessary To Find A Tech Job?
It used to be that having a college degree was a necessary thing to getting a job in software development. This was especially true at the “entry” level of the spectrum. Oftentimes it didn’t really matter much what that degree was in. It was just “required” that you have one. … Read more
My Being Fired/Laid Off Horror Stories
For the most part, every job I’ve ever left has been on my own terms. It might be for a better opportunity. It might be because I was fed up with the state of the company I was working at. But almost always I left when I decided it was time to go…. with 4 exceptions.
Contributing to the Community
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve taken the opportunity to participate in a number of “coffee chats” with some who are just getting started in the developer community. They come from all over the place: Ohio, North Carolina, Nigeria, Panama, South Africa, India. But they all share a common … Read more
The True Costs of a Startup Failing
I read an article in Fortune magazine’s online site this week titled ‘What Happens When a Startup Goes Bust’. The article focused on vendors who don’t get paid when startup fails. It gives examples of several small businesses owed various amounts of money in the wake of Bay area food delivery startup Munchery failing. And while the article is interesting in its take on vendors losing out on payments and how venture capital firms should have more accountability, it doesn’t even give a single mention to those who end up getting screwed the most when a startup fails: the employees of the startup.