The other day someone reached out to me with a question I get somewhat regularly, but I never really thought to write down my answer much. The question was, “How do you come up to speed quickly on new languages and technology?”

Don’t tell my kids, but we bought an absurd present for Christmas, and I spent a few hours putting it together and hiding it in the attic. It is called a Pickler. As I assembled it, I went through several rapid improvements in my approach to building...

Last night I saw a tweet fly by about a new book coming out that was all about the technical resume. I found it fitting since today I want to start promoting my first-ever class on the same thing. They mentioned it includes advice from 200+ recruiter...

Okay, so I’m old. I’ll be forty in two years, and writing that is enough to put me in my place. At the same time, I’m experiencing a lot of imposter syndrome in similar ways when I’ve started my career or transitioned to new ones.

Years ago, I worked with a team, and they showed some remarkable results after I suggested some pretty bold changes. On that team, there was one person who continued to work the way they always did. The team was frustrated with them and eventually ex...

Fancy title, but it is a simple idea. Here’s a publication from NASA on the topic as it relates to the Challenger disaster.

Most people I meet on their path to getting the job they want in software show me a resume that looks like something they either haven’t touched since school or full of fancy design aspects and empty when it comes to content. I quickly explain the co...

At a conference during the time between sessions, someone remarked that The Responsibility Process changed their life. I read the book and went through the class, and it changed my perspective as well.

I get asked pretty regularly by people about how to go about building a portfolio site. My controversial answer is, “Don’t.” What I want to talk about today is why I recommend limiting your time making a portfolio site and using that time on other th...

When I mentor people trying to land their first few jobs in development, I often encourage them to apply to multiple jobs a week. I’m commonly told there aren’t that many good ones out there.