How to Manage Up

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…

The 3 biggest career growth mistakes I made as a Software Engineer

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…

Landing a Job in Silicon Valley

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…

To Succeed in Life, Learn How to Fail

No one likes to fail. We feel embarrassed, angry, frustrated, self conscious, and vulnerable. But I’ve recently begun to feel comfortable with failure and started embracing it. I want to share some of my feelings about failure. Vanity None of us want to look incompetent. And you have every…