Happy International Women's Day, today is the day we celebrate rights and fights. I aim to make more technical commentary, as I am first and foremost an engineer. However, I am also a femme in tech, and there are some issues we need to talk about. Over the last twelve months I'm finding myself in the position of Knowing Things About Tech Companies of All Sizes in confidence. I began taking on more…
When I read the blog https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/ , I had also thought Heroku was done. Then I talked to my friends who still work there, and I don't think Heroku is dead. I am going to talk about what happened, with a focus on organization dynamics in a start-up post acquisition, and how complex system dynamics and poorly-mitigated entropy can get the best of us.
This documents gathers research evidence, efforts, and initiatives world-wide around school air quality. It is being created in haste and will be updated and organized. Indoor air quality and health in schools: A critical review for developing the roadmap for the future school environment Indoor air quality at school and students’ performance: Recommendations of the UNESCO Chair on Health…
I have been sitting in these thoughts for months and months, I keep telling friends -- I'm writing this thing, but I don't. In our new AI-infested, or rather, could I be neutral -- AI-entangled world, time moves faster than than time used to, so months felt like years, and it's because this is such a heavy topic. I have lost friends. I have been alienated from communities. It's beyond me.…
The other day I told my 13-year-old the big open secret -- motherhood comes with resentment. The resentment of motherhood is about it being the presented default, the socialization that places the implicit training in our heads -- no mother knows whether she actively made the choice or it was systemic influence, for certain. Motherhood never feels like a thorough choice, not to those who really…
We've all seen the headlines, yes -- this doesn't happen in Vancouver. A mentally unstable driver plowed his SUV into the crowd at Fraser and West 41st, previously known to police, and had interacted with the police. 11 dead so far. The last time we had a massive tragedy like this happening, it was in 1958, the Ironworkers Bridge(…
My strength, I've been told, is that I'm a principled person. I have shared these principles in different contexts and different formats, now let's consolidate it -- it would be helpful to many considering "what is it like interacting with Ti" or "what should I adopt as my own principles". I also talk about my experiences with cyberbullying, and how I lived through it. 1 - Authenticity I have…
Context switching results in productivity loss, this is a known problem. Going to Google Scholar and typing "context switch productivity loss" will get you a ton of papers on that, you also have personal experience about it. I'm here to tell you that the ability to context switch can be acquired through practice. I'm very good at context switching. At Heroku I ran 7-9 projects in parallel at any…
This post is part of a series that will be addressing multiple complex software issues like built-in security, compliance, IAM, cost-to-serve, and more. The goal is to share expertise on building and maintaining better complex software systems: here’s what worked for the author from multiple roles covering various stages of start-ups as well as enterprise environments, on customer-facing SaaS…
When I first moved to Vancouver from Europe, my mom had just passed away and I was freshly separated. I had no friends in Vancouver, everyone I knew was elsewhere. It was a brand new city to me, other than the fact that my mom had spent the last few of her years here I had no ties to it. It had been just Child and I. It was freeing, but I was also very alone. I took Child everywhere with me since…
Today is my last day at Heroku – I’m passing on the torch of workplace memelord and shitposter to all the cool people still doing cool things there! This was simultaneously a very easy and a very difficult decision – easy because the path is clear, difficult because, well, of course, leaving is difficult. I did a lot of introspection and spoke to a lot of insightful friends. One friend asked a…
I sense that the tech industry in the west is moving towards a direction guided by leaders like Elon Musk, who has demonstrated to a degree that certain practices will pay off and would not destroy a system. Being in communication with many ICs and leaders from all over the world, including China, I can say that these practices are extremely reminiscent of patterns that can be observed in Chinese…
Around September 2023 I hit a downward spiral, working too hard and eating too little. Unintentionally, I’d lost 30lbs, which was a lot for a 5’1’’ person. Hitting goals, getting things done, consolidating project milestones and checking off things that mattered, but what really mattered? I thought I was ruthlessly prioritizing, but rapidly I deteriorated. In November I fell ill and ended up in…
For a very long time I could not understand why some of the most brilliant and kind individuals I know stopped wearing masks despite the rampant COVID numbers and the detrimental effect it has on our brain, bodies, and long term health. It has been an isolating journey of self discovery and observation of others, and I would like to share some of my theories, produced from a place of curiosity and…
Purpose This doc serves as a shopping list for those who aren’t familiar with having hot pot at home. Tools needed A table-top electric pot (any will do - you can even do a little table top gas stove or electric burner with a regular pot). The key is to have a pot containing the soup base heated throughout dinner. You should be able to adjust the heat up and down too. Hotpot soup ladle Hotpot…