Tag: career
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Making Someplace New, Home
I’ve had this conversation multiple times lately, so it’s time to document it. I feel like a hippocrite offering these observations, since I don’t feel at all at home in London yet, but at least I’m mindfully unhappy about it. Even somewhat 1-dimensional workaholics have multiple aspects to their lives (they normally have somewhere to…
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On Appreciation
One of my friends laid down some wisdom recently, which they allowed me to post anonymously here with instructions that it was to be illustrated with a picture of ants. I hope it reverberates with you, as it did with me. We don’t talk about the slow fade of being ignored, being unappreciated. This is a…
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5 Undervalued Skills in Tech… And Why You Should Master Them Anyway
Prioritising There is a tendency amongst engineers to try and scope out the whole problem, and understand it all, and then work on fixing… all of it. Being able to say this is the most important thing, and then doing that first – even when it is not the most interesting thing, is a super-power. Do this,…
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Crisis of Conscience
At some point, my doubts about whether it was the Right thing to do, to encourage high school girls to go into Computer Science crystallised, and I accepted – I just cannot do it anymore. I cannot tell them that it is a good idea, that they will be treated well, that there are plentiful…
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6 Things I Look For When Considering Projects and Teams
Women in senior roles (I am ignoring the presence of new grad women as a metric – it’s a meaningless measure of diversity). A manager with some kind of work life balance. Does he (sadly it’s always a he) talk about his kids? Make an effort to moderate his travel for the sake of his…
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10 Ways to Develop Your Plan B
Following on from The Disillusionment of the Early Career Engineer, I could write a number of different things, but the thing that I find people having the biggest trouble with, that I am continually nudging people on, is the finding of other options and opportunities. I don’t know why. Do people view this as disloyal?…
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Book: The Male Factor
This book – The Male Factor: The Unwritten Rules, Misperceptions, and Secret Beliefs of Men in the Workplace (Amazon) has to be one of the most depressing books I have ever read. Sometimes, surrounded by men, I think that I don’t understand the rules of the game that is on. Having read this book, and had…
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3 Things I Learned on my Burnout Break
I can live with less internet. Note – this is no no internet (although I survived my 6 days in NK), but less. Most of the time when traveling I’ve had some connection, but there has usually been a limit. Maybe it’s not on my primary (favorite) phone, or it’s really slow/intermittent (Bali! Portugal), or…
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The Disillusionment of the Early Career Engineer
You’re brilliant! You have so many options! You graduate, start work… and now you’re at the bottom of the food chain. There’s a game on, and from what you understand of it, you’re not sure you want to play. Sometimes people ask me for advice. I have no idea why; I’m not sure what I’m…