Atomic Thinking

Half of Atomic Developers Now Past/Current Accelerator Members

The Atomic Accelerator program has recently reached an exciting milestone—Accelerator members and graduates now make up over half of our development team!

We’re thrilled with the value our Accelerator Atoms are contributing to client teams, the strong positive effect they’re having on our company culture, and the relationships they’re building early in their Atomic careers. Our new Atoms have done so well in the program that it’s become our primary way to hire for development positions. Read more on Half of Atomic Developers Now Past/Current Accelerator Members…

Who’s Doing the Glue Work at Your Company?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the work that falls outside of job descriptions. I’m talking about the stuff that needs doing, but isn’t anyone’s explicit job.

I’m aware of how this type of work can impact my career, but Atomic has made that impact manageable—and sometimes even beneficial—through smart policies. I’ll share my story and offer some ways you can support workers at your organization. Read more on Who’s Doing the Glue Work at Your Company?…

Knowledge Sharing at Atomic Object with Snack Table Talks

In the software development industry, you frequently hear people referring to software as DRY. Unlike a dry personality, DRY software is a good thing; it stands for Do not Repeat Yourself. The idea is that if you find yourself writing the same code over an over again, you should refactor it to enable the code to be reused instead of copying it.

When we write code, we don’t like repeating ourselves, and we especially don’t like repeating our mistakes. Within a single application or a single team, it’s relatively easy to avoid repetition, but when you consider an entire company where many project teams are working simultaneously, the challenge intensifies.

How do you effectively share knowledge and lessons learned throughout a business? We’ve recently started an experiment at Atomic Object with the hope of accomplishing just that. We call it Snack Table Talks. Read more on Knowledge Sharing at Atomic Object with Snack Table Talks…

Atomic Grand Rapids Welcomes its 2018 Accelerator Cohort

Three new makers have joined Atomic’s Grand Rapids office as part of the Atomic Accelerator—a professional development program for newly-graduated developers. I asked each to tell me a little about themselves and to share their first impressions of Atomic Object and the Accelerator program. Read more on Atomic Grand Rapids Welcomes its 2018 Accelerator Cohort…

Three Ways to Increase Employee Well-Being & Improve Business Outcomes

Imagine setting off with a group of strangers for a yearlong journey into the wilderness. You must all work together to overcome the dangers you’ll face along the way. Now imagine that the group’s leaders seem much more concerned with their own personal security and success than yours. This is a pretty stressful situation, right?

Unfortunately, that type of stress is what many folks feel at work, and it’s terrible for their happiness, engagement, and health. Read more on Three Ways to Increase Employee Well-Being & Improve Business Outcomes…

GOTO Chicago 2018 – Complexity, Boring Languages, and Not Throwing Null

Recently, our group of Atomic accelerators headed over to Chicago for the 2018 GOTO Chicago conference.

It was a two-day conference with six different tracks each day, so there were always multiple good options to choose. The talks ranged from machine learning to office politics. Even though the conference did not have a specific focus, there were themes that came up repeatedly, such as the complexity of computer science, big data along with its capabilities and biases, and handling errors well. Read more on GOTO Chicago 2018 – Complexity, Boring Languages, and Not Throwing Null…