The Bad Idea Fairy

Poorly Conceived Ideas

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5 Tips for New Managers: Things I Wish I Had Known

5 Tips for New Managers: Things I Wish I Had Known

All of the things that I wish I had known when I was becoming a first-time manager.

5 Myths of Bad Managers

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5 Myths of Bad Managers

I've discovered that there are a few things that from the outside might make someone seem like a bad manager but are often mirages that obscure the truth.

I Applied For 483 Jobs In 3 Months: Here's What I Learned

I Applied For 483 Jobs In 3 Months: Here's What I Learned

I applied for close to 500 jobs and learned some things along the way.

Fanned-out roll of twenty dollar bills on a red background

Total Compensation Is A Lie

There’s been a trend emerging in the job market that is actively hurting job seekers in ways that may not be immediately noticable.

Tech Debt Isn’t A Bad Thing

Tech Debt Isn’t A Bad Thing

Not always, at least

The DEI Issue No One Is Talking About

talent acquisition

The DEI Issue No One Is Talking About

You can do everything else right, but if your DEI initiative doesn’t also address this one thing…well, you’re doing it wrong.

You Don’t Deserve Free Software

You Don’t Deserve Free Software

This is going to be short, but it’s something that I have been seeing in increasing frequency and I’m sick and tired of it.

What Makes a Good DevOps Engineer?

What Makes a Good DevOps Engineer?

A few points from my experience hiring engineers and how to interview for these specific traits

6 Pros and Cons of Working at a Large Tech Company

6 Pros and Cons of Working at a Large Tech Company

The good and bad of tech positions at big firms

DB 101: Databases for Developers

DB 101: Databases for Developers

A few overlooked aspects of working with databases

7 Database Concepts You Should Know About

7 Database Concepts You Should Know About

There’s a lot to know about databases, so let's start with the basics

My Code Stinks and That's OK

My Code Stinks and That's OK

An impassioned defense of “code smells” and why tech bloggers have gone insane

Basecamp: A Cautionary Tale in Company Culture

Basecamp: A Cautionary Tale in Company Culture

Sometimes I really hate being right.

How To Interview: 5 Things To Master

How To Interview: 5 Things To Master

Five simple concepts to help you master interviews.

Culture Doesn't Matter

Culture Doesn't Matter

Your company culture doesn’t mean anything if it’s not lived and demonstrated by your company leadership.

Infrastructure as Code’s Broken Promises

Infrastructure as Code’s Broken Promises

It was supposed to make our lives easier.

Are Containers Still Relevant?

Are Containers Still Relevant?

In today's ecosystem, do serverless, PaaS, and no-code solutions make containers obsolete?

Three DevOps Trends to Pay Attention To

Three DevOps Trends to Pay Attention To

Wherein I package my gut feelings about the tech industry as insider information.

4 Ways to Break Out of That Slump

4 Ways to Break Out of That Slump

We get stuck in ruts, the developer’s version of the yips, and sometimes we don’t know how to get out. Here’s four ideas on things you can do to try and get out and grow as a developer.

Hypocritical Gophers

Hypocritical Gophers

Go is the COVID-19 of languages; it spread really fast, it didn’t seem that bad at first, but it sucks and I hate it.

5 (More) Rules of Code

5 (More) Rules of Code

Five more things that make your life as a developer easier, saner, and overall more enjoyable

Confronting Your Mortality

Confronting Your Mortality

I, like most other high-school juniors, never really thought about the existential questions of life and death and what happens after.