My career story.
June 14, 2020.
As I’ve had more early career folks reach out about mentorship, the most frequent question they have is learning about the story of my technology career. I genuinely don’t think my story is a good one to learn from because I’ve had a path dependent on a great deal of privilege and luck. That said, at some point it’s easier to simply write the story and let folks decide that for themselves.
Mentoring from privilege.
June 13, 2020.
A couple weeks ago, Sean Page tweeted to match engineering and product manager mentors with BIPOC mentees. I’m amazed at the ability of the internet to create these sort of special congregations, and raised my hand. A good number of folks reached out asking if I’d mentor them, and as I started trying to respond to them, I realized I needed to spend more time trying to understand a few core questions.
Ways I'm available to help.
June 12, 2020.
Thinking about how I can be a helpful person in the world, along with the sorts of folks who do and don't think to ask for help, I wanted to take some time to explicitly write down ways that I’m available to help folks. This is an initial list that I’ll have to think about expanding over time.
Black Lives Matter.
May 30, 2020.
Last Wednesday evening I was (virtually) at an event that started with a silent moment in the memory of George Floyd. I wasn’t expecting it but appreciated the moment before it moved on to other topics. That moment came back to me the next morning, and threw into sharp contrast the extent that George Floyd’s death simply didn’t exist within the communities where I spend the majority of my time.
To lead, you have to follow.
May 25, 2020.
Years ago, the company I was working with hired a new Director of Engineering, and the CTO was talking about why the new Director was an amazing hire. The new Director’s clinching accomplishment? The best ever explanation of the distinction between leadership and management. This turned out not to be a particularly effective way to evaluate hires, but it is an interesting topic.