The home of Julie Pagano.
This one snuck up on me. It has been ten years since the last time I wrote a "real" year in review . A decade since I almost did not make it to thirty and learned my sister never would. Ten revolutions around the sun since I quit my corporate job, moved across the country, and made a new home in Portland. 2015 was a complicated year. Ten years later, I made it to forty. So much has happened in the…
Another year has passed. I am continuing the tradition of sharing some things I enjoyed instead of a standard "year in review" post. Finding the positives is increasingly difficult as a cynical person living in these unprecedented times, but I continue to try. Moving into a house My largest life event this year was buying my first (and plausibly last) home. I found the actual house-buying and…
Another year has passed. Yet again , I do not have it in me to write a full "year in review" post, so I am sharing a handful of things I enjoyed this year. Continuing to explore film I loved movies when I was younger, but did not have the time and resources to learn about the history of film or dive into older movies. Over the years, the stress of work and the world deprived me of the time and…
Just like last year , I don't have it in me to write a "year in review" post for 2022. It may be a long time before I have a year I'm excited to reflect on in detail, so this is my new tradition. Sharing a dozen or so things I enjoyed during these difficult times. Taking a summer vacation For the first time in my adult life, I gave myself a summer vacation . I still had some adult responsibilities…
While writing my 2022 job search retrospective , I realized my takeaway about hiring into staff/principal levels was getting too long and covered topics outside of my job search. I decided it made more sense to spin it off into its own post. This is that post! Table of contents My background Levels are confusing Frustrations in my job search Organizational problems One track for staff engineers…
Learn from my 2022 job search.
Learning from my job search.
Evaluating offers and making decisions.
The gauntlet of "onsite" interviews.
Getting ready for interviews.
Evaluating jobs for a potential fit.
The searching part of my job search.
General preparation for my job search.
Reflecting on what I want out of my next job.
My thoughts on searching for a job.
This is no longer an active post. I accepted a job offer and am no longer looking for work. I am leaving the post up for archival purposes As promised earlier this year , I am actively on the market for a new job. After a long, restful summer break, I am recharged and excited for new opportunities! I will continue to use my reverse job posting approach this time around, since it worked well for me…
Julie can have a little break as a treat.
This is no longer an active post. See Looking for Work (2022 edition) for the latest information about my job search and how to contact me with job opportunities. This post is an early announcement that I will be available for work later this year. I am channeling my school years and taking a long, restful summer break, but at the end of the summer, I will be looking for a new job. I will continue…
I do not have it in me to write a "year in review" of 2021. It was a terrible year, and I do not wish to reflect on it. Instead, I present you with a dozen or so things I enjoyed as distractions from the continued horrors of our waking lives. Pig Sold as Nic Cage doing a John Wick with a Pig. Actually, a beautiful little film that folds both the absurd and heartfelt into one of my top films of…
Learn from my 2020 job search
This is no longer an active post. I accepted a job offer and am no longer looking for work. I am leaving the post up for archival purposes For a limited time only, I am on the market for a new job. Last time I was looking for work, I wrote a sort of reverse job posting that helped me reflect on what I was looking for and communicate it to people who might want to work with me. It was pretty…
Cate Huston came up with the awesome idea to list things she's leaving behind in 2018 . As someone who hates making New Year's resolutions, I love this idea. In 2018, I'm freeing myself from the following: Apologizing for or minimizing my achievements. Especially my professional ones, especially for men. I work my ass off. I'm done shrinking myself, so more privileged people can feel better about…
Notes from my AlterConf talk about mid-career survival.
2015 is coming to a close, so it is time to continue my habit of reviewing the year . 2015 has been a terrible, awful, no-good year for me, but writing about it helps. This year, I'm taking it month by month. I'm also channeling teen Julie and providing a digital mix tape to go with it --- a song for each month. It's a mix of old and new music that meant something to me this year. January The…
One of my talents is coming up with increasingly horrifying metaphors for the tech industry. Systemic abuse is like a DDoS attack . The pipeline ends in a meat grinder . Toxicity in the tech industry is like Centralia, PA . I'm going to expand on that last one --- the newest one. It's much less self-explanatory than the others. To understand the metaphor, you need to know about Centralia , a tiny…
In my job search retrospective , I mentioned that one of the companies I interviewed with earlier this year owed me $700. It was actually $748.50, but that doesn't read quite as nicely. I am happy to provide an update about the situation. My blog post circulated in the Portland tech scene and eventually made its way to company #1's human resources staff. They contacted me asking to chat. I…
I recently searched for a new job. For the first time in my career, I approached it in an organized, process-oriented, and public way (as opposed to the disorganized, quiet, desperate job searches of my youth). This post is a review of what I did, what worked, what didn't, and why. A retrospective for myself and others that may be searching for jobs. It is likely useful for companies hiring, but…
I am deeply frustrated right now. Yet again, a tech organization has failed horribly at requesting gender information. Their attempts to "fix" it are not an improvement. It's troubling how frequently this happens. It seems like organizations aren't learning. This is my attempt at turning my frustration into education. Disclaimer: I am not an expert on any of this. I strongly recommend consulting…
It's been a few months, but the firebee dispatches are back in business! I am going to try to keep them a bit leaner this time, so that I can keep up. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings My Writing Miscellany What I'm Up To I quit my job and am currently funemployed! Check out my post about looking for work if you want to recommend a job or help me find one.…
This is no longer an active post. I accepted a job offer and am no longer looking for work. I am leaving the post up for archival purposes after receiving requests to do so. Disclaimer: I am not interested in hearing from independent recruiters, recruiting firms, etc. This post is not for you. Everyone else, continue on! This post will self-destruct when I find a new job. For a limited time only,…
This post was originally published anonymously in Model View Culture's "2014 in Review" issue on December 5th, 2014. After two months of reflection, I decided to put my name next to my words, so I could republish on my blog. When it comes to diversity in tech, things are changing. As with almost every other subject, people are ready to “disrupt”… and turn a profit. Reduced to Clickbait The press…
Time for one more conference recap. Just one more. The only one for 2015. Maybe the last one ever, so this feels a bit like a goodbye even though I wrote one in October . Background I mentioned in my goals for 2015 that CUSEC was an exception to my "no more tech community" rule. I could have cancelled, but I was unwilling to screw over the student conference organizers because the tech community…
Earlier this week, I received an email about an upcoming event from an organization that focuses on queer women in the tech community. The email announced that one of the keynotes would feature a straight (as far as I know --- he's married to a woman and is not out as anything else), male tech CEO being interviewed by a queer, female technology journalist. I did a double take the first time I read…
I am not really a New Year's Resolution sort of person. resolution -- A firm decision to do or not to do something. Resolutions tend to be absolute, so one gives up on them the first time they fail. It's all or nothing. Black and white. I prefer to live in shades of grey. I like to set goals. goal -- The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. A goal is a thing I can…
In which I talk about stuff I did in 2014.
I managed to get another dispatch out in a row! I'm still pretty behind on things, so apologies for the content this week being all over the place. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events My Writing Miscellany Cuteness What I'm Up To The kitty is feeling better this week! He's gained back some weight and is back to his silly, energetic self. I am so thankful for that. The world is…
Last week, I took on the grueling task of transcribing the male allies panel from Grace Hopper Celebration 2014 . I had many thoughts on the content, but held off on including them at the time. I wanted to give people a chance to evaluate the content for themselves and needed a little break. Today, I am sharing a version of the transcript annotated with my own thoughts. I think this is useful on a…
It's been a few weeks, but I'm back. This week is a weird mix of content from the last few weeks. Hoping to be back on track with the regular dispatches next week. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings Julie's Cooking Corner My Writing Miscellany Cuteness What I'm Up To One of my cats has been sick for a little over a week now, so that's been eating a lot of…
Content notice: violence, violence against women, mass shooting Today is the 25th anniversary of the mass shooting in Montreal often referred to as the École Polytechnique Massacre . I have been thinking about it a lot today, so I want to share some thoughts, rambling as they may be. Today I wonder how many people outside Canada think about this incident. Do those who are younger and American even…
I have been thinking a lot lately about making content in the tech community more accessible. For example, much of our content is inaccessible to people who are deaf or have other hearing or auditory processing issues because of a lack of transcripts. I try to provide written versions of my talks relatively soon after the fact. I thought I can also help out by transcribing high profile…
Our busy period at work is finally over. FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOM! What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings My Writing Julie's Cooking Corner Miscellany Cuteness Promotion What I'm Up To Finished up the super-busy period at work. Doing more yoga. I have been faithfully going twice a week, and it is really helping me relax. Watching more film. Once upon a time, I was a…
Now that I quit the tech community , I want to try more writing on non-tech topics. One such topic is film! Before the tech community destroyed my soul, I was a film nerd. I am finally getting back into that headspace, and I am so pleased. Prepare yourself for some silly film reviews! If you've seen my film livetweeting, it will probably be a bit like that, but with slightly more cohesion. My…
Everyone liked the animal rescue pictures so much last time , that I decided to do it again. Let the cuteness wash over you and consider adopting a shelter cat meow. Also, bonus birds and gerbils!
I made it to a dozen dispatches! Let's see how longer I can keep this up. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings Firebees Julie's Cooking Corner Miscellany Cuteness What I'm Up To Work is still pretty busy, but that should end after this week. FREEEEDOOOOOM! I made more homemade applesauce. I may have an addiction to applesauce. I LIVE FOR THE SAUCE. CAN'T STOP…
I actually like sending these out on Sunday better than Friday, so I may just move days instead of continuing to call this late. Table of Contents What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Rant of the Week Mass Media Musings Miscellany What I'm Up To I was a cat from the future for Halloween because I wanted a chance to wear my necomimi cat ears . Meow! I am the Goldilocks of yoga.…
Yet another week of a late dispatch with the firebees. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings My Writing Miscellany Cuteness What I'm Up To Work is still super-busy. ::dies:: I tried hot yoga. I did not like it. I think that was the closest approximation to hell that I have ever experienced in my life. From now on, I will be sticking with forms of yoga that do…
Check out these pictures of some adorable cats at the animal shelter where I volunteer.
We're back to our regularly scheduled program this week, but still late because things are still busy at work. What I'm Up To Recommended Reading & Current Events Mass Media Musings Julie's Cooking Corner My Writing Miscellany Cuteness Promotion What I'm Up To I deleted my public twitter account and quit the tech community. Read my post for more details. I finally moved the rest of my sites…
Content notice: assault, sexual assault, harassment, threats, suggestions of suicide I recommend starting at the beginning of this series for context. Yesterday, I declared on twitter that I was leaving the tech community. That my involvement in tech will just be my job for a good long while. I meant it. Before the day ended, I deleted my public twitter account. This has been a long time coming.…
In my last post , I talked briefly about how healing isn't quite as simple as people might think. I want to elaborate on that. If you are new to the series, I recommend starting at the beginning . Even the tiniest little things add up to something big --- sometimes it’s really death by 1000 paper cuts. [...] That no matter how tough I get, how thick my skin, the paper cuts still hurt. -- from My…