We engineers are taught to look for problems and flaws at every turn. We search for the root causes of every issue and, the better we get at isolating problems, the better we are at our jobs. After all isn’t it our job to minimize risk, discover bottlenecks, and “code review” each other’s work? […]
We are all judges. One can try to stay open-minded, but inevitably they will judge and draw conclusions about every person that they meet. In the wild, animals are hardwired to make quick judgments about predators and prey to survive. And in many ways humans do the same. Whether it is when you see a […]
Mastering first impressions by learning to listen I don’t think enough before I speak and so I often say the wrong thing at the wrong time. And when I get nervous I have a terrible habit of talking too much. So you can imagine that these two things lead to a lot of bad first […]
The is a lot of power in being positive at work. Just think to yourself about what makes a good coworker? Most jobs don’t come with an instruction manual. And there are certainly no hard fast rules on what it takes to be awesome at work. But I bet when you thought about your answer to […]
Normally I don’t do this many personal posts in a row, but this week I was inspired by Jesse’s post, so I thought I would join in writing my own letter to my former myself a decade or so in the past. —— Dear Katherine (since you don’t call yourself Kate yet), Hello from the […]
I love new years resolutions. I am one of those people who is motivated and excited by accomplishments and achievements. I make lists for everything; and everyday I savor the moments I complete an item on the list. And new years, like birthdays, are a chance to think about the future and plan for what […]
At the risk of embarrassing myself terribly, I decided to tell you all a little bit of my “swan” story. Hopefully a little insight into my path will inspire you a bit on yours…. You see, when most people meet me now they are surprised when I tell them things like: I used to weigh […]
Time for a change In relationships, they say that people get an itch every seven years or so to make a change or shake things up. While I am not sure what the standard timeline is for jobs or careers, mine seems to be about 2 years. The last few years it seems about 2-3 […]
One thing I am passionate about is improving my productivity and making the most of my time. Therefore I am always looking for articles, tips and ideas on how to be more efficient. I was recently chatting with some other engineering leaders and was telling them some of the things I do to get more […]
This post is part of a series on Being Awesome at your job. The first post was on how to manage your career, the second on being a great person to have on a team, the third on improving your communication skills (including listening and sharing information verbally and in writing), and this final part on the […]