Working Notes

As I've been preparing for interviews lately, I've been rehearsing my 30-second elevator pitch and unique selling point (sounds like futures posts, doesn't it?). As part of this prep, I've been trying to anticipate interview questions that are both technical and behavioral.  As I've been in the interviewer chair before, I always found the behavioral questions to provide the most insightful answers. As a candidate, answering this questions with clarity and confidence can help to differentiate you from everyone else. At the end of an interview, there is usually time for the candidate to ask questions to the interviewers. It might be tempting to get out while you’re ahead, but this is really an opportunity to dig in and find out more about the company and the people you might be working for. At the risk of tipping my hand to potential hiring managers, here's a list of questions I keep with me during the interview. Questions for the hiring manager or leader W...

Last week I worked from home for three days as an experiment to see if I would like it or not. Short answer, it wasn't bad. I felt like I performed my work tasks with the same level of efficiency, but I also felt like I'd have to make some changes to optimize the experience. First, my current work environment includes the following features: a 45-minute commute an on-site gym with showers a PC with dual 22in wide-screen monitors  a cubicle with windows Free K-Cups Walk-up traffic from Developers and Project Managers By contrast, my home office includes the following features:  a 1/2 minute commute my laptop (MacBook Pro w/ 13in Retina display) office with french doors and windows personal coffee maker Walk-up traffic from my kids Pros Working with only my laptop was pretty nice. I tend to mono-task, so a single screen for work was perfect for my workflow. I found myself bouncing back and forth into a Citrix desktop environment for access to some applic...

...it's who you know. I could have called this tip "networking" but on a technical blog, that could have a different connotation. In much the same way that cold-calling isn't the most effective way to sell product, cold-submitting resumes and applications online isn't going to be an effective means of getting an interview. I'm not staying that it won't work, but it will require a LOT of work. So what's the answer? Employee referrals. According to the Society of Human Resource Management,  employee referrals remain the top source of new hires . With personality and cultural fit is important to many organizations, hiring managers are looking to find candidates that will fit comfortably into a team. Resumes can show your experience, but may not be a good indication as to how you might fit. With an employee referral, not only do you get a recommendation from a current employee who feels that you would be a good fit, the company gets an candidate with a...

With growing number of organizations embracing the idea of working remotely either part time or full time. The proliferation of collaboration tools, like Slack and WebEx, and remote access tools like Citrix that have enabled effective off-shore engagement are now being enabled for the workforce in General. not actually me Companies like Accenture, Amazon and Github all part of  this trend. Gitlab has been particularly forward thinking in this area, with a workforce that is 100% remote and a public algorithm that calculates salary, taking into account the geographic location of the candidate.  Along with companies looking to hire workers remotely, the number of specialized services offer postings for positions that are also 100% remote. Remote.com and Angel List  are both services available for candidates looking for remote-only work.  For my entire career, I've commuted into a physical office space each morning, and back home each night...and never ...

There are many paths to take when looking for a new job. Planning for the next step in career is an important step in making sure those paths aren't dead-ends, circles or worst of all traps. Location, Location, Location When looking for potential employers, are you concerned about how long it will take to get there? How many rivers do you need to cross? Do you want to bike to work? All of these can impact where you start looking for your next job. On a good day, my trip from Eagan to Minneapolis is about 45 minutes;  on bad days(blizzards), it could be close to 2 hours. That's my baseline for a commute. I can deal with the occasional outlier commute, but ideally I don't want to substantially increase my daily commute time. Therefore, I've broken my job search into three different zones. Zone 1 is < 10 miles from my house(inclusive of St Paul). Zone 2 is downtown Minneapolis. Zone 3 is everything else. In jest, I refer to Zone 3 as my Panic Zone . If I still...

The first lesson I learned at the beginning my job search was to write down everything. You'll be talking to a lot of people and (hopefully) discussing all the new opportunities. Documenting these conversations will help provide context for future interactions and define next steps.  There are hundreds of ways to take notes. I use a hybrid approach of pen & paper and Microsoft OneNote Online .  Writing with pen and paper during the conversation helps to quickly jot down ideas, key discussion points and to-dos. Later, I consolidate notes into a OneNote notebook, so I can easily look back at the history of my interactions.  My Story The first thing I did after I found out about my the now fluid nature of my position, was to start hitting up the recruiters that had found me on LinkedIn .  I started by messaging the some of the most recent connections and worked backwards. Soon I was scheduling phone calls and meeting for coffee and generally feeli...