What are some honest, unfiltered things about you?
- I have worked across many industries (higher education, marketing, security, telecom) in various stages of growth as software developer, site reliability engineer, platform engineer, and even a LAN administrator.
- I absolutely 😻 cats and have a probably embarrasing number of cat t-shirts!
- I 🧑🍳 a lot in a wide variety of styles, however 👎 on 🐟 🦐 🦀 🦞 🦑 🦪 and most 🧀 (mild white cheeses 👌)
- I grew up around greater Baton Rouge area in Louisiana, eventually went to Louisiana State University, and marched as part of The Golden Band from TigerLand playing trombone.
- I have been playing Final Fantasy 14 MMORPG off and on for 8 years and always love having others join me!
- I am a connoisseur of 🍺, 🍔, ☕, 🍸, role playing games, card games, board games, and cajun/creole food; love to talk about any of them!
- I listen to a lot of audiobooks via audible.com and recommend the following series:
- The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
- Revanche Cycle by Craig Schaefer
- Daniel Faust by Craig Schaefer
- Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer
- The Wisdom's Grave Trilogy by Craig Schaefer
- Monster Hunter by Larry Correia
- The Wandering Inn by pirateaba
- Spellmonger by Terry Mancour
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
- Awaken Online by Travis Bagwell
What drives you nuts?
- Disorder, conflict, confusion, and ambiguity
- Coordination and communication without visuals, documentation, roadmaps, agendas, and/or setting expectations
- Inconsistency without exception and reasoning
What are your quirks?
- I tend to step in and potentially overstep when I perceive disorder, conflict, confusion, or ambiguity; please believe this comes from a good place.
- I am a very visual person 🖼️ and might need to sketch or diagram problems to understand them better.
- I might jokingly 😆 say I hate all programming languages or tools as a way of staying detached; they all have strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies.
- I believe writing documentation or communications takes as much thought and effort as writing code; sometimes it takes time
What are some things that people might misunderstand about you that you should clarify?
- Sometimes my 🤔 face gets confused with my 😠 or 😡 face; being a 👨🦲 makes facial features more distinct but 🙇 for patience
What qualities do you particularly value in your colleagues?
- Proactive in communication and taking action
- Prepared for events and discussions
- Celebrate successes, achievements, and good fortunes of others
- Genuine and introspective about who they are, where they come from, and what truly matters most to them
What do you wish colleagues didn’t do?
- High-level planning and coordination efforts without data and/or roadmaps
- Asking for help without relevant information provided upfront
How can people earn an extra gold star with you?
- Be genuine celebrating others!
- Be persistent in seeing a question answered or a problem solved!
- Present short and long term solutions upfront; a majority of hard problems need both and this is often a cause of talking past one another!
- Take and own responsibility actively!
How do you coach people to do their best work and develop their talents?
- Celebrate others' efforts in channels / venues where their leaders can see and recognize it (Slack, formal accolade processes, etc)
- Get to know colleagues (backgrounds, experiences, values, and aspirations) and include them in discussions and activities around them
- Partner together on activities, training one another up in a safe space
- Spend 1:1 time asking for feedback
What’s the best way to communicate with you?
- Visuals are better than documentation, both are better than verbal knowledge sharing
- Provide context, agendas, and any expectations prior to meetings so I can actively participate
- Tell me how much time you need, so I can block that off for you especially; I prefer to be present for discussions as a courtesy for you
What’s the best way to convince you to do something?
- Actively ask and engage me, give me space to ask questions
- Demonstrate it is something everyone on the team and/or organization is doing
- Affirm this is what will make me successful and celebrated
- If there isn't data for this, then explicitly ask me for trust; this works especially when reciprocated if I need to ask for trust, too
How do you like to give feedback?
- For feedback that might be potentially sensitive; personal; or emotional, I will ask for 1:1 time on video and might follow up with additional context after the conversation
- I prefer giving feedback around the results of work and other external things as I try to disassociate people from the work done
- I try to ask lots of questions because I really do want to understand; sometimes it’s a lot because situations are complex
How do you like to get feedback?
- Help me feel like we collectively have something to improve and that we are in it together
- Help me feel heard and understood even if you can't sympathize or empathize
- Please reinforce the good things as much as improving others