Information Technology Dark Side

Jingle Hells (to the tune of Jingle Bells) Dashing through the snow To cubicle hell we go Whining all the way My coffee’s getting cold My boss is always late To the meetings she sets up I want to leave to do my job But everybody waits Oh… Jingle bells, snotgun shells, Coming from my [...]

[Read more →]

Corporate IT is soul-sucking. I was lucky to escape, a hollow shell of the software developer I once was, with a tiny shred of my soul left. It’s been over a month now since I shed those chains and frankly, I feel taller. Protect your soul (or the soul of an IT geek you care [...]

[Read more →]

Most career advice sucks at least 50% of the time. Context matters when it comes to advice because most career problems aren’t simple enough for generalities to work very often. Buy a house. Have kids. Don’t lease cars. Good advice? Sometimes, not always. For career advice to be really useful, it has to context imperial. [...]

[Read more →]

Tuesday night I spoke at XP Western Michigan, an XP user group in Grand Rapids Michigan. Here’s a link to the presentation – “Pulling Your Head Out of Your… Budget: Mental Re-tooling for Agile Project Management.” It was a great time – thanks to XPWM for having me out and to Matt Heusser for introducing [...]

[Read more →]

10. Deodorant is not optional. 9. Change jobs early in your career to get ahead. 8. Change jobs late in your career to get ahead. 7. Work as an independent consultant anytime you can. 6. Blogging is a two-edged sort. It can take away as many opportunities as it helps you find. 5. Get hemorrhoids. [...]

[Read more →]

Over a year ago I traded in my old PC for an iMac. Since then, the whole family had converted over – my kids have an iMac, my wife has a MacBook Pro. There’s not a single PC in my house anymore. I don’t have an iPod yet, or Apple TV, but… I am really [...]

[Read more →]

Drive by cubicle invasions interrupting your code efforts? Long talking visitors sucking the life out of you? You don’t have to come into the office before dawn to get a few hours of uninterrupted work time. No sir, cubicle drop-ins are a thing of the past with this foul smelling productivity boosting tip from my [...]

[Read more →]

I wish I wrote this article. Join the order, and turn your brain over to the information age. Very nice.

[Read more →]

I met John Garrett at a charity event for The Hair Fairy Project, where he opened for another, “more famous” comedienne. He was funnier than the headliner, to tell you the truth. I laughed my butt off. John started out as an accountant. You don’t normally think of accountants as funny, and maybe that’s why [...]

[Read more →]

One of the nice things about corporate IT is that you get to wear jeans on Friday, at least in most places. Sure, you can wear shorts, flip flops, and bring your dog to work at Google (or Microsoft, or lots of other SOFTWARE companies), but this is THE DARK SIDE. Take what you can [...]

[Read more →]