I sat down on my couch one morning, opening my tablet to start my pre-work ritual of Wordle, study , and meditation. I was working from home on a day usually devoid of meetings. Before starting, I quickly checked the calendar on my phone to make sure I didn’t have any unexpected early meetings. Huh. I had a 15-minute meeting scheduled for 10:10 AM. That was odd. I read more. It talked about…
Some ideas rush into our heads with urgency and fanfare. Others take their time, showing up unannounced, pretending that they have always been there. One idea quietly snuck into my head on a Friday morning, eight months after I had abruptly lost my job. The job loss had shaken me. In all previous job changes I had been driving the change — not in this one. I had found and started a new job , but I…
(Author’s Note – This is part of a series focused on job loss and is the first of three posts focused on identity. I wrote this post in December 2024.) This past summer I suddenly and unexpectedly lost my job. I had been contemplating leaving this job for a while, but being asked to leave still came as a horrible shock. It was scary. Losing my salary and health benefits was scary. Losing my work…
It was a beautiful Monday morning last summer as I sat down on a lounge chair to relax. I had lost my job five days earlier, but was in no rush to find the next job – or even to look. So I was taking some time off: My plan was to do whatever I wanted to do. I had spent the previous four days backpacking with friends on an already-planned (and wonderful) trip. This was the first day I would have…
I waved goodbye to the smiling faces arrayed before me on my monitor and prepared to join my next call. It was late Wednesday morning, and these were my last two calls before starting a four-day weekend. I looked forward to finishing up some tasks, cleaning up loose ends, and heading out on my annual backpacking trip. The call had been a going-away for my friend Amy. Her last day would be Friday,…
I was sitting on my mother's couch after Christmas, crossword puzzle in hand, when my stomach suddenly dropped. The puzzle hadn’t suddenly frightened me, nor had anything happened around me. Rather, my mind had jumped forward to the end of my vacation and returning to work. I liked my job. I had successfully changed it to better align with my interests and abilities over the previous year. What…
Tomorrow (January 2nd, 2024) I start a new job. Five months ago I left my previous job with no idea of what would come next, beyond taking a long break to relax and recharge. Me, at an early viewpoint on Wildcat Mountain towards the start of a backpacking trip and the beginning of my 5 months off. Photo courtesy of Tom Lehmann . Over the past five months, I’ve done exactly that, taking a long…
The tech world is obsessed with speed – the faster the better. Books are written about it ( If You're Not First, You're Last , Fail Fast, Learn Faster ), Facebook used to have the motto " Move fast and break things ," and people tout ideas like " Act Before You're Ready .” They aren't wrong, but the focus on speed can be misleading. Sometimes going fast first requires going slow. There are…
Note: This was originally published on the MongoDB Engineering Blog on April 30, 2019 here by Henrik Ingo and myself. Please read it there assuming the link works. I have copied it here to ensure the content does not disappear. The links in the article are the original links. On the MongoDB Performance team, we use EC2 to run daily system performance tests. After building a continuous integration…
Note: This was originally published on the MongoDB Engineering Blog on April 30, 2019 here by Henrik Ingo and myself. Please read it there assuming the link works. I have copied it here to ensure the content does not disappear. The links in the article are the original links. In an effort to improve repeatability, the MongoDB Performance team set out to reduce noise on several performance test…
Note: This was originally published on the MongoDB Engineering Blog on January 30, 2023 here . Please read it there assuming the link works. I have copied it here to ensure the content does not disappear. At MongoDB, we want to (honestly) tell our users that each new version of our software is faster than the previous version. We also want to be able to explain why. We definitely do not want to…
Note: This was originally published on the MongoDB Engineering Blog on April 30, 2019 here by Henrik Ingo and myself. Please read it there assuming the link works. I have copied it here to ensure the content does not disappear. The links in the article are the original links. In an effort to improve repeatability, the MongoDB Performance team set out to reduce noise on several performance test…
Note: This was originally published on the MongoDB Engineering Blog on April 30, 2019 here by Henrik Ingo and myself. Please read it there assuming the link works. I have copied it here to ensure the content does not disappear. The links in the article are the original links. In an effort to improve repeatability, the MongoDB Performance team set out to reduce noise on several performance test…
Putting down my book, I stood up from the bench and walked over to my 10-year-old son by the water. His fishing line was tangled. Again. This was the third time he had needed me to fix something. He hadn't caught a single fish and was getting very upset. He loved the idea of fishing and had visions of catching impressive fish like those caught in the videos he watched. Sadly, he was not good at…
I sat at my desk with a pile of academic papers next to me waiting to be read. I worked at a research lab and reading papers was part of my job. My colleagues amazed me by reading scores of academic papers, calling up the right paper at the right time. I couldn’t compete. I couldn’t even keep up. I had received my Ph.D. a few years prior and felt I should have been able to. I wondered if I just…
Sitting at my computer recently, I looked back across my notes for 2023. I was following my annual review process , reviewing the goals I had set for myself last January and the notes accumulated since then. I had a good 2023, accomplishing many of the things I had set out for myself. Those accomplishments spanned changes to my job (new role), my writing, and how I take and organize my notes.…
I stepped up to the end of a growing line of people at work. We were having an end-of-summer event and the line was for ice cream! To make the most of my wait, I introduced myself to the person in front of me. To my horror, he knew me and we had talked before. With prompting, I vaguely remembered our conversation. I wanted to crawl into a small cave and hide. I have always been impressed with…
One of my favorite things to do is to formally and publicly address newly minted Ph.D.s with their title. “Congratulations Dr. Smith!” I’ve done it in person, on LinkedIn, and Twitter. Getting a Ph.D. is hard. It requires time, luck, and personal sacrifice. It makes me happy to acknowledge that person and their accomplishment. I get to work with many extraordinary college students through my…
I got my current job because I hike. Rather, I wouldn’t have gotten my current job if I didn’t regularly hike. Many people think that their success is solely due to their hard work. They planned, put in the effort, and achieved what they set out to do. They deserve credit for what they have done. However, I also think they benefited from a large helping of luck. More importantly, I think we do…
A few years ago, I read a New York Times article that changed my life. That may sound overly dramatic, but the effects of it show up repeatedly in my blog posts, including My Yearly Reflection and Planning and Writing and Labeling in a Journal . It’s why I knew Cookie Club was so important to me and it’s why I knew I should stop being a manager . While writing one of those posts, I discovered that…
A few summers ago I got to work with a wonderful intern. It was a pleasure to work with him, as it always is with our interns. He was a rising senior, and at the end of the summer, we extended him an offer to return as a full-time employee after he graduated the following year. He was excited to receive the offer, but then, over the next couple of months, he tortured himself and everyone else over…
Everyone is different, with their own unique interests and quirks. If you can tailor your interactions for each of your colleagues, you can get more out of them. If you make it easy for your colleagues to understand and adjust to you, they can get more out of you. In both cases, you end up with a more productive and enjoyable environment. This post is my attempt to make it easier for my colleagues…
Two years ago I was hiking with two friends in the pouring rain on the side of a mountain in New Hampshire. We were a few hours into a two night backpacking trip and we were soaked through. For many people this experience would be hellish. It wasn’t for me. I knew we were well prepared and we were doing something that I love. It was the start of a great trip. I spend a lot of time reflecting . I…