Onboarding is a critical process for new employees, as it sets the tone for their entire tenure with the company. Poorly implemented Onboarding reduces the effectiveness of your team. One strategy I've used to ensure a smooth onboarding is to implement 30/60/90 day plans. These plans outline specific…
Effective leadership is crucial for the success of any organization, and fostering a leadership culture can help ensure that all team members are empowered to contribute to that success. A healthy team is one in which everyone, regardless of their position or title, is encouraged to take ownership. Here are…
A couple things conspired for me to write this post. First, I was browsing the cscareerquestions [https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/] subreddit and seeing some variation of "How Do I get Hired as a Software Engineer?" question over and over again. Second, I've been helping a family friend and…
One area I work on with engineers and new managers is how to "manage up". Before we dig into managing up, it's worth covering "managing down" as this will help us compare and contrast these two functions. Managing down is traditionally what we think of when we describe managing a…
There is considerable overlap between the roles and responsibilities of a CEO and any other leader. These roles and responsibilities include: 1. Setting Strategic Objectives 2. Implementing plans 3. Budget and Forecasting 4. Public relations 5. Board Communications 6. Performance Tracking 7. Establishing the Culture One mental hack I've used…
As you advance in your career you'll find you are increasingly "in demand", both internally and externally. If left unchecked this work will consume your entire week; it's important to prioritize accordingly. The Eisenhower Matrix is a system by which you can bucket different kinds of work so that you…
When I started my first Software Engineering job, a combination of technical insecurity (I didn't have a Computer Science degree) and a naive understanding of professional development (this was my first real job) led me to believe that my career advancement would be pretty straight forward: Accrue as much programming…
Those following along know that my wife and I relocated from Portland, to San Francisco, then to Denver. Well, we recently moved BACK to San Francisco after realizing we're West Coast folks at heart. The first time we moved to SF, it took me 5-6 weeks to receive two job…