I’ve really neglected my website. My choice, but I want to reverse that now. I’m going to try to start posting again. A lot of things have changed for me lately, as far as my career.
Demands On Time By Startups
The reasons for not posting are mainly related to my work, and my last two employers. The demands of a startup, and the crazy hours they often want, have some rather negative effects on things like blogs and public presentations. Both of these things which I have a lot of experience in, have become very rare. Given that I also like to take a lot of time to prepare a really good presentation, it becomes a time crunch. I had to pay the bills. Fortunately, that’s not an issue with my current employer, which is great!
Adobe
First, I am no longer an Adobe User Group Manager. I turned those reigns over to someone else. Unfortunately, the group did not survive a year after. I was able to stay as an Adobe Community Professional for a while. I did two presentations I think, early on, but my time got heavily compromised, so I’m no longer officially affiliated with Adobe. I still love Adobe, but I just couldn’t set aside the time to meet my commitments. Having the content of my presentation materials online was a major reason for my blogging activity, so when that went away, so did the entries.
The Pleasure And Pain Of A Blog
I enjoy it when I’ve helped someone learn something, made a bunch of samples available, or published a fix to something truly obscure. I like giving back to the community. It’s fun to be quoted elsewhere. But…
I had a colleague of mine, who recently was let go from his job for criticizing Agile programming online. He didn’t mention any names or companies or people. He referenced other blog articles, and got fired. Naturally, this would have a chilling effect on what I’m going to say here, as historical record. While I have no doubt my current employer doesn’t care what I post, I can’t get it out of my head that someone would gladly disqualify me over a stupid blog post from the past. It’s a real thing.
What Did I Learn?
I have learned that I can get a job just fine. iOS is in demand, and that’s not changing anytime soon. I have a better understanding of how I will fit or not fit, or how happy I would be, or how well I’d be utilized, better than I every have. This last time I made myself quietly available by word of mouth, and had two or three interviews (on phone or in person) every day for the next six days. That was exhausting. Things worked out great for me.
There’s a lot more, but, remember that part above about the pain?
What’s Next?
Predictions, advice, product reviews, and technical material. I have been pretty good at predicting what will stick and what won’t. There are some things I love, but recognize they are not ready yet. I’ve been helping many juniors try to get that first or second job. I need to do more to promote the products I love, and why I love them. And I’ll start posting presentations again, as I start doing those with more regularity.