Developers should feel empowered to configure their environment and development tools to their liking and contribute to the shared team standard. They should know the libraries they picked and why they picked them. They should be able to articulate why they like one programming language over another. As part of their job, each developer should be able to state clearly and in actionable terms how they’d like to work.
Tag: career
On elephant graveyards
An elephant graveyard, when applied to a corporate setting, is a team, company, or some other set of conditions in which otherwise bright engineers are forced into positions or assignments where there is no hope for future career growth. In this post, I hope to define the conditions that must be present for an elephant graveyard to form, how to detect them, and how to navigate them.
What does a Chief Software Architect do?
For many years I couldn’t understand what software architects do. Early in my career, I thought they were useless. As a young developer, I felt that I could do the job of a business analyst, software architect, and developer all at the same time. Now, seventeen years into my post-college career I am one myself. I am trying to learn what it means to be a good software architect, and I hope to be one myself.
Here is to a great 2017!
November of 2016 marked five years of my work at Liquid Analytics. On New Year’s Eve in 2011 I wrote: Breezing through your day at work is a recipe for stagnation. Any spare brain cycles you have at work should be spent on thinking about how to improve yourself and your project. The biggest lesson … Continue reading Here is to a great 2017!
What Every College Computer Science Freshman Should Know
In a few weeks new college freshmen will begin their classes. Some of them will choose to pursue a degree in Computer Science. Over the course of the four years in college they will be surrounded by like minded people who are at least as smart as they are and are just as interested in … Continue reading What Every College Computer Science Freshman Should Know
On Maintaining Personal Brand as a Software Engineer
Man’s wisdom is in what he writes, good sense at the end of his pen; and using his pen he can climb to the height of the scepter in the hand of his king -- The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain Moses Ben Maimon (aka Maimonides) lived over … Continue reading On Maintaining Personal Brand as a Software Engineer
Attracting STEM Graduates to Traditional Enterprise IT
Techcrunch reports: If 17-year-old Google is at all worried that it’s losing its mojo, it should find some new data highly reassuring. According to a survey of 19,000 students across 340 universities around the world, Google is still their top choice when asked where they’d want to work. Their other top picks, in descending order: … Continue reading Attracting STEM Graduates to Traditional Enterprise IT
On apprenticeship
When I was a freshman at Clarkson in 1996 there was a work-study program they called Student-Directed Computing Services. It was an effort to recruit students and get their help in wiring the campus for high speed Internet. It was thanks to that program that by the end of that year I had a real … Continue reading On apprenticeship
On Managing Stress, Multitasking and Other New Year’s Resolutions
One of my resolutions for 2015 is to reduce the stress and manage my workload. I have an obsessive compulsive workaholic personality that often makes it difficult for me to work a day without stressing out or overloading myself with tasks I cannot accomplish on time. Prioritizing There is a lot of work that needs … Continue reading On Managing Stress, Multitasking and Other New Year’s Resolutions
Scripting News: After X years programming
Dave Winer, as always, puts it well: First, most people don't program that long. The conventional wisdom is that you move up into management long before you've been coding for 37 years. Only thing is I don't see programming as a job, I see it as a creative endeavor. And I drew a big circle … Continue reading Scripting News: After X years programming
The Dulin Report 
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