“
I hope that being a female developer will cease to be a novelty.
I hope that you attend conferences and find yourself complaining about long lines for the bathroom.
I hope that you never have to see that look of shock when you tell someone you are a developer. Mostly, I hope you never have to hear someone say “good for you”.
I hope that when you attend a meeting that is mostly male, that you never get asked why you are not taking meeting notes. I hope you say “fuck this” more than “it’s okay”.
” —Former coworker and force of nature Stacey Mulcahy (aka @bitchwhocodes) has written an amazing piece on female developers entitled To a Future Woman in Tech.
Stacey states her inspiration came after her 8-year-old niece called to inform her that she plans to pursue a career in video game development when she grows up. The thought got her thinking about her own experience as a minority in an overwhelmingly male-dominated discipline.
Having actually been in the room one of the times it was expected that she was the PjM—not me, the actual PjM in this case—this really resonated with me.
The Ms. Mulcahy’s have been few and far between in my ten years of tech, but I hope that changes quickly.
As some permutation of a project manager for the last seven years, I found this writeup fantastic: Top 10 reasons why Darth Vader was an amazing project manager. Most people can conjure an image of this infamous Star Wars Man in Black and his leadership qualities, but significantly fewer seem to be able to name the traits of a great PjM.
Here’s the article’s list a bit condensed (but be sure to see the full thing for all the Vader references):
- Number 10: Vader prioritized brutally. Over the course of Vader’s pursuit of the Rebel Alliance, you see him set and pursue priorities according to their strategic value. …
- Number 9: Vader made decisions based on objective data, not whims. Remember that Imperial officer who had to report to Vader that they had lost Han Solo in the asteroid field, and he choked him? That was some decisive action! …
- Number 8: Vader made commitments, and worked hard to keep them. If you think of the Galactic Empire as something of a SCRUM project, the Emperor would have to be playing the Product Owner role. …
- Number 7: Vader took time to re-charge, relax, and get some perspective.
- Number 6: Vader managed risk and expectations preemptively. Remember that time when Darth Vader went to Cloud City, bought off the management, then lured Han, Leia, and Chewbacca into a trap? Genius. …
- Number 5: Such a persuasive fellow. Of all Vader’s substantial capabilities, perhaps his most effective one was his ability to persuade people to do what he needed done.
- Number 4: Vader picked a methodology and stuck with it…until it didn’t work.
- Number 3: No problem is too big to tackle.
- Number 2: It is never too late to do the right thing. … One of the most profound moments in Vader’s career came when he took responsibility for all the morally wrong things he did, and did the right thing. …
- Number 1: Vader was never afraid of getting his hands dirty. Every project will have boundaries drawn around the responsibilities of specific roles being played, and Vader knew his own role in the imperial project. But he never asked anyone to do anything that he wasn’t willing to do himself, and he made sure he had a clear understanding and appreciation for the hard things that his team had to execute on. …
—hat tip: @christinelavard
The impossible is often untried.
I’m playing (losing) Super Mario Bros chess against @ApplicoMobile dev coworker Carlin.
Swapping out my old @holstee slim wallet for the new. Made from upcycled Delhi plastic bags.
NYC is a city full of incredible culture and opportunity, but it’s also a place with a vibrant and growing tech culture. Fewer people realize that there is also an abundance of great opportunities for continuous professional growth and networking.
Here are a few of my favorites:
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This is a sentiment you often hear from people: casual users only need «entry-level» devices. Even casual users themselves perpetuate it: «Oh, I’m not doing much on my computer, so I always just go with the cheapest option.» And then they buy a horrid, underpowered netbook, find out that it has a tiny screen, is incredibly slow, the keyboard sucks, and they either never actually use it, or eventually come to the conclusion that they just hate computers.
In reality, it’s exactly backwards: proficient users can deal with a crappy computer, but casual users need as good a computer as possible.
” — I really like this writeup about “Crappy Computers” by Lukas Mathis. In fact, it gave me comfort and assurance in myself when shopping around for my recent MacBook Air purchase. (I went with the base model, deeply discounted on Amazon around Black Friday.)
Treehouse near the Embalse del Neusa, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
Submitted by Nick Perkins.
Ok, I’m going to admit it: I read and follow a blog called Cabin Porn. Just pictures of cabins. That’s it.
Psst: I’m even more obsessed with Beaver Brook.
“The worst part of Songza is needing to keep another device with Spotify running nearby to keep track of all the awesome songs that play.” —
If you happen to be following my Twitter feed, you’ve noticed that I’ve taken a speedy liking to streaming “radio” service Songza. It’s a website, but most effective in its mobile incarnations.
How’s it different than Pandora or Spotify Radio or Rdio or any of the other 8zillion streaming services? Their human-curated playlists. As a moderate (but lazy) music snob, I can appreciate good taste, but I’m too lazy to compile my own for you.
Check out their “Concierge” feature—it’s a fun playlist discovery method that keeps you from suffering Restless Pandora Syndrome, where you only ever listen to the same few stations, or they all seem to merge into the same station. Concierge guides you to first pick a time-aware mood, drill down into a music style, then choose one of three eclectic playlists. You can click into each to get a feel for the artists, as well as enjoy a snarky, well-editorialized snippet to describe it’s style.
Still not convinced? Peep TechCrunch or Mashable. (I’ll be curious to eventually learn who the secret, strategic investor might be—Spotify? Pandora? Apple?) Regardless, take a sampling of my favorite playlists so far:
The world is your runway and this is your afterparty. Dance to these deep and sultry rhythms from some of today’s most fashionable artists and DJs.
Fill your apartment with friends, neighbors and strangers; pour some drinks and dim the lights; start this playlist of new, cool and stylish songs; play it loud.
Some songs just have a certain je ne sais quoi; when you hear them you start skipping down a crowded public street. Embarrassing? Absolutely. Will you care? Not likely.
Nocturnal and textural electronica for long nights spent by yourself or with someone special. Listen to this until the sun rises.
A varied mix of smooth downtempo and electronic grooves handpicked for sitting by the ocean with a refreshing beverage.
Apparently you can follow me on Songza and spy on all my favorite and recent playlists.
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A man’s character shall be judged by his actions and/or the awesomeness of his socks.
Dear terrifying plant,
You scare me. A lot. You look like a 5yo boy drew you with a crayon. Your leaves have leaves growing out of them. And recently some of those leaves sprouted Pinocchio-like stems that weren’t there a week ago. Wtf?
Tell me what you need plant, just don’t eat me.
Love,
Matt.
(Taken with Instagram)
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