Frontend Engineer & Agile Enthusiast
Nature versus nurture is an ongoing debate as to whether human behaviours are driven by inbuilt natural factors already there, or are formed through environmental factors such as parenting and life experience.
Over my 11 year career in tech, I’ve noticed with each move I have built instincts through trying, failing, adapting and learning from others. Here I reflect on the main types of instincts I’ve nurtured through my technical career, and share tips on how you can build these instincts too.
Should I stay or move to a new company? That is a question that many engineers and individuals working in the technology landscape today ask themselves when figuring out their next career move.
I wouldn’t call myself an expert on developers resigning, but I do have a few thoughts on the resignation versus mobility debate. In my 10.6-year tenure, I’ve resigned twice, retracted a resignation once, moved teams twice, been promoted once, and moved roles several more times within teams. This experience has moulded my viewpoints on tech careers.
In this piece, I’ll cover the reasons people, and more specifically engineers, quit; when a move might be a better option for you; and tips for managers on how to handle resignations with grace based on my own experiences on both sides of the table.
The Differences Between Conference Attendance Experience as an Advocate versus Speaker and Attendee It’s tech conference season! I’m starting to find that there are two busy periods in the year for tech conferences: April-May and October-November. It’s kept me busy as a new developer advocate starting in April 2022. It’s more of a learn-by-doing approach,Continue reading “Speak Your Mind”
Reflections on the Pitfalls of Story Points and Velocity Capture Many don’t know this, but I studied mathematics for two years at university before specialising in Computer Science. One mandatory class specialized in teaching the fundamentals of mathematical proof. In a nutshell, we learned how to establish that a given hypothesis was correct, or identify theContinue reading “Eight Days a Week”
Exploring Reluctance in Automation of Manual Development Practices When building software for clients, a key driver is providing value and improvement to current manual user procedures. We should always look at ourselves in the same light. Without eliminating the manual processes in our own software engineering practice, how can we advocate the same lean focusedContinue reading “Why Won’t We Change?”
Where is Our WFH Workspace Empathy? Let’s be honest, we are already getting tired of hearing about COVID-19. It dominates our media headlines. It is leading to the cancellation of many events and conferences. Company policies are invading our mailboxes. The resulting panic is emptying our supermarket shelves. As much as we want to ignoreContinue reading “Long Distance Call”
Confessions of a Neurotic New Mummy Coder Becoming a parent is hard. It doesn’t matter how many books you read. Or how many warnings you receive from friends and colleagues. Or however many hours of extra sleep you attempt to stockpile in advance. Your new reality swings through like a sledgehammer through a paper wall. AContinue reading “The Mother We Share”
The Case for Evolutionary UI Prototyping Over Primary Feature Perfection Over the past through years, innovation has become a buzzword in many technology domains. This includes the finance industry where I currently reside. Yet many consider it to be an extra function, rather than a core tenet of their daily responsibilities. Or even a oneContinue reading “Rudie Can’t Fail”
Managing Software System Alerts Blaring sirens. Whooping car alarms. Crying newborns. Be it noise, lights or colour, everyday life is full of alerts to which we need to react. People learn heuristics to guide them in identifying the how to’s of everyday life. These rules are normally generated through reaction to the piercing sirens and learningContinue reading “Danger! High Voltage”
Reflections on the Adoption and Use of Obstacle Boards in Agile Practice Life is full of obstacles. Be it school, work, home or any other feat we set our sights on, there’s bound to be a few blockers along the way. Let’s be honest, if every desire or achievement came easily, life would be rather dullContinue reading “Over the Wall”
Carly Richmond