Hi friends!

It’s Fall in the United States, and here in Wisconsin, the leaves are changing color and falling from the trees. The air is drier and colder, and it’s almost hockey season. It’s also the end of the month, so here’s the September issue.

In this issue, you’ll explore how to tell if you’re being pushed out of your role, how to make your writing and teaching more inclusive through the words and phrases you choose, and how to add notes to your Git repository.

Warning signs that your job is in danger

Ah, late August. In Wisconsin, it's the time of year when kids are gearing up to head back to school, football is gearing up, and the realization that the weather is about to start getting colder.

Summer is winding down, but this newsletter is just getting started. This month's issue introduces a new command-line tool you might find useful, explores effective marketing, and shares some advice about effective résumés based on my experience as a hiring manager and some patterns I’ve seen.

Let's go!

Marketing is good and good for you.

Happy Summer, folks. I'm excited to share this issue with you because it covers three areas I think are important for career development and growth. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think.

Let's start with some interview prep.

Create Five Stories to Prep for Your Next Behavioral Interview

I've been conducting a lot of interviews as I look to fill a very specialized role on my team, and so interview techniques are on my mind. I wanted to share with you how I prepare for behavioral interviews and how I coach others to do so.

Hi friends. Once again, I’m putting out the monthly issue at the very end of the month, but I’m excited to share a couple of things with you in this issue. First, you’ll find my advice on when it’s time to leave your current role. Then I’ll share some thoughts on programming language popularity, based on some data I learned about recently.

Let’s go!

Is it time to leave?

Every so often, I’ll have a conversation with someone about whether or not it’s time for them to move on to a new role. Sometimes they’re actively looking, sometimes they’re unsure if they should look, and occasionally they have an offer in hand.

Hey friends. It's the last day of May here in the US, so technically, this still counts as the May issue. Things have been hectic on the personal side, but I still had a couple of thoughts around content creation and leveling up your skills that I wanted to share this month. I also didn't want to skip an issue because, as you'll read in this issue, consistency is essential to success.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this issue.

The Quick Win isn't that quick

People are looking for a quick win. A shortcut to success. People shell out money to influencers so they can learn to be as successful as that influencer. Companies look at other successful companies and try to copy their approaches.

Happy April, friends. I hope it's been good to you all. The new job is taking up a lot of time and mental energy, and I've been dealing with some personal family things this month, but I'm excited to bring this month's newsletter to your inbox.

This month features two pieces. The first focuses on how people skills are critical to your success as a software developer in today's world. The second explores how you can shift from an instructor-centered approach to a learner-centered one when creating content.

Software is 20% code and 80% people

The days of the lone coder are all but over. Modern software development is now a team sport in startups and large organizations. You'll find that collaboration across teams is necessary to get anything done. This means that you'll spend a lot of your time interfacing with people. And since the workforce is more distributed, you'll do a lot more communicating than before, often in public spaces.

Hello friends. The March edition comes to you much later than usual because on March 15th, I left my role at DigitalOcean, and on March 21st, I started a new role as Director of Education at Temporal.io, so things have been busy on the personal and professional front. But I still have a great issue for you that I hope you enjoy.

This month's issue takes a look at advice. First, we'll talk about all that social media content about how to get a new job, and why it might not be as valuable as it first appears. Then I'll share a tip about pitching your next article, book, or conference talk. Finally, I'll share my thoughts on one of the worst pieces of advice I hear developers give. Spoiler alert: it's about code comments.

Let's go!

Don't confuse "it worked for me" with "It will work for you" when it comes to the job hunt!

Happy February, everyone. This month's issue comes to you a little later than I'd hoped due to some technical reasons on my end. But I hope you find it worth the wait.

This issue is about putting your best foot forward, putting yourself out there, and thinking about why you're doing what you're doing and what impact you're looking for.

Please don't ask this question during your interview

It's the Great Resignation, and many people are out looking for jobs. That means lots of interviewing. Over the last year, I've seen the following question come up from candidates when I'm interviewing them:

Hi folks, and welcome to the first issue of Code, Content, and Career. My goal for this is to cover each of these areas each issue in some way or another and help you make positive steps in your career in tech. Rather than get into the super technical details, this newsletter will offer my advice and thoughts around what I call “core skills”. It’s my hope you find this useful.

This issue is all about responsibility, from what it looks like to how you hold yourself accountable as you deliver products for people. As you read it, think about how you demonstrate responsibility in the work you do. And at the end, you'll find some thought-provoking questions to ponder.

Active vs. Passive Responsibility

Are you waiting to be told what to do? Or are you doing it before being told?