Yesterday I read an article entitled “Why I Don’t Want to Have Coffee With You”, in which the author writes that he doesn’t have the time or the desire to simply “have coffee”. While I empathize with some of the author’s justifications for his position, I was disappointed at the hard line he took on this. Personally, I prefer a…
How many times have you said to yourself, “Someone should build an application that does [x]…”, or “Wouldn’t it be easy to add automation to [y]”, or “It would be a lot of fun to work on a project to build [z]”? For me, this has happened a lot, and seems to occur more frequently the longer I’m in this…
The first rule of blogging is that you should write about topics you know a lot about. And I know a lot about failure. This post will be the first in a series on the topic, through which I’ll share a few of my own failures and how I’ve done my best to use them to my benefit. In almost…
Social media is the new résumé. In many ways, it’s even better than a résumé – a person’s social media stream can reveal attitudes, biases, and deficiencies that wouldn’t dare appear on a résumé. Your online thoughts are what friends and strangers will use to assess who you are and what you can contribute. The things you share on social…
Perspective can make or break a career. Maintaining a proper perspective is very often the differentiating factor between a good technologist and an incredible one. In my 15-ish years in IT, I’ve said a lot of dumb things. Many of them I’ve forgotten, but I can’t shake the memory of one particular phrase I uttered more than a few times…
I met up for lunch with a good friend and former coworker today, and among the topics of discussion was how we as professionals often neglect personal relationships when work and life get busy. I’ve found that to be especially true since I started working from home last year. I don’t miss a lot about working in an office setting,…
I remember a lot of things about that day. It was July in Texas, which is to say, it was unbearably hot. For the work I ended up doing that day, I was way overdressed in my long-sleeved blue button down and khakis. I was training a new guy – Andy – who had recently been promoted from Service Agent…
“Hey man, this is Ty*, what’s happening?” roared the familiar voice in my Bluetooth earpiece. It was a voice I knew well, and briefly brought a smile to my face. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up a bit, Ty revealed the real reason for his call: “Say, dude, I’m looking for a new job, and I was hoping you’d write…
Earlier today I read a blog post that compares consultants with corporate staff members. The author unashamedly compares consultants to major league baseball players, while grouping corporate staffers into the minor leagues. While he does make a few valid points, the theme of the post – as well as many of the assumptions he makes – are out of left…
Like clockwork, another year has come and (almost) gone. It’s been a wild year on many fronts: major happenings included the devastating Haiti earthquakes, the signing into law of a landmark healthcare reform bill, a major debacle over the use of body scanners and intimate pat-downs at TSA airport security stations, the personal crash and burn of golf star Tiger…