There’s a saying I like “don’t punish the punctual”. Besides being succinct, I find it a good prompt for running successful meetings.
Read on for why people are late and what you can do about it.
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Category: Soft Skills
Social skills, people, communication, etc.
How To Manage People Who Are Better Than You
Talented technologists often get promoted by desire or default into management. Now with managing people, the rules have changed and success is defined differently than as an individual contributor (IC). You’ll be leading teams that may have people who know more, are smarter, have more experience, or get paid more. How do you successfully lead?
Inspired by a podcast interviewing Phil Jackson, this post alludes to useful bits of the interview with my own commentary. Read on to learn how to manage people “better” than you.
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How to Manage Technical Projects
Over the years, in various positions, I’ve participated in many projects as a developer, lead developer, architect, jack-of-all-trades administrator, etc. I’ve also had the opportunity to lead technical projects as well.
This post focuses on techniques I have employed to successfully manage technical projects. Read on for tips regarding meetings, communication, and building your confidence.
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The Nature of Software Engineer Personality
The age old question of nature vs nurture influences the careers we have and the jobs we get. After being involved in software engineering most of my career, a question that comes to mind is: “can anyone do my job?” Can anyone, provided the right inputs, achieve the same output such as being a developer, systems administrator, or managing people and projects?
My conclusions have evolved over time. Read on to hear my ruminations about how our personality influences our work!
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Blogiversary #3 – Finding the Balance
September marked the 3 year birthday for my blog. It is times like this that I like to reflect upon the past year and see what I have learned.
Read on to hear about my last year in blogging!
Read More » Blogiversary #2 – Climbing the Blog Ladder
Last month marked the 2 year point for my blog. At times like this I like to reflect on the past so I don’t forget it – even better to learn something from it.
Read on to hear about my last year in blogging!
How to Survive the Office Bully
Featured image photo credit: TheDyslexicBook.com. Licensed: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Being a software person has advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side you probably “speak machine” with ease. However we often struggle to interface well with the other humans. One of the ills of the office that I have experienced is the office bully. Over the years I have compiled an effective strategy and tactics to deal with them.
The best resource I’ve read is a book called “Beating the Workplace Bully” by Lynne Curry (twitter). The book does an exemplary job of describing the situation and prescribing treatment for dealing with the workplace bully. I share the content below. Read on to see the details and my analysis!
Blogiversary #1 – Blogging is a Ladder
Last month marked the 1 year point for my blog. It’s been quite the year of blogging! I wrote 21 posts over the 12 months. It is a little less than I thought I’d post but I’ve learned a lot on the way.
Here’s a quick recap of my 1st year:
Drive – Your Motivation at Work is Calling
What Moves You?
Motivation is what moves us to action. What motivates you at work? For some it is pay, others prestige, and others a wide array of things: recognition, seeing results, making a difference, working with interesting people, etc. Sometimes you need to get motivated – this article is for exactly that.
T-SQL Tuesday #93 – Interview get-help
The topic of this months T-SQL Tuesday #93 (hosted by Kendra Little / @Kendra_Little) is Interviewing Patterns & Anti-Patterns. The question: What advice to you have for people preparing for or going through an interview?
It is a big question with many different perspectives and factors:
- Entry level vs experienced professional
- Startup vs enterprise
- DBA vs developer
Instead of delving into each specific domain I will discuss some insights that have served me well. I hope they will help you too. Whether you are interviewing for a Senior DBA role or an entry level BI developer some things remain the same.