Bringing Gratitude into our Level 10 Meetings

Busy people often fall into autopilot as they move from one problem to the next. Leaders can lose sight of the importance of acknowledging the efforts of others—especially when things aren’t going well. It’s hard to make the time or effort to express thanks. But there are small ways you can take back control of […]

Kick Out The JAMstack: A Reading List for Beginners

After my Ok Boomer post, I wanted to dig into “JAMstack” technologies and try to challenge my assumptions about modern web development. As it turns out, while this is a term I’m only recently familiar with, the JAMstack concept is actually about four years old (at the time of this writing), which feels like forever in […]

Setting Up a Work Study Group for AWS Certification

Last fall, a small group of us at Atomic Object Grand Rapids decided to sign up for Amazon’s AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam. The cohort consisted of Dan, JoeC, Lydia, PatrickB, and myself. Even though most of the group had prior exposure to AWS, we were interested in a more focused look at the services […]

Atomic Tech Lead 2020 Learning Interests

Last week, the tech leads in Atomic’s Grand Rapids office got together to share professional development interests and brainstorm opportunities for 2020. Atomic has sponsored employee professional development since its beginning, including an internal conference (“Atomic Con”) and funding for conferences, certifications, classes, reading groups, etc. This year, the Grand Rapids tech leads wanted to […]

Professional Development Goals for Grumpy Old Developers

I’ve been recruiting folks to join Atomic for a while now, but this year’s a bit different. The folks I’m offering jobs to this year were born after I finished college. I’m officially old! Stack Overflow’s developer survey confirms it: if development was still my primary role, I’d be in the top 15% of developers […]

My Project/Product Management Toolkit

I recently switched roles from developer to delivery lead. Quickly after the shift into project/product management, I realized my existing toolkit was obsolete. I no longer needed Docker, Git extensions, or a million Chrome tabs open to Stack Overflow. Over the past eight months, I’ve been re-building my toolbelt to make me an effective Delivery […]

How Templates Cured My Gmail Paralysis

I’ve learned an inconvenient truth: avoiding writing a difficult email won’t improve my situation. So why do I fall prey to email paralysis? I spent some time considering the emails that trip me up most, and I found they tend to fall into a few categories. I put off writing emails that: must be absolutely […]

Self-Hosting Your Own Cloud – Part 6: Ad & Tracker Blocking with Pi-Hole

We can block trackers and ads while we browse the web with Firefox. But there are still a lot of apps and connected devices that may be tracking us. By setting up network-level ad blocking through DNS, we can further protect our privacy and prevent annoying ads. We will be using Pi-Hole, an excellent free […]

What I’m Taking with Me into 2020

Now that I am halfway through the second year of my career, I have been reflecting on what I wish I had known at the beginning of this year. The second year at Atomic looks different for everyone. Some see new projects and new opportunities. Some are suddenly thrust into team roles with more responsibility […]

Overcoming Pair-formance Anxiety

Pair programming is fantastic. And daunting. It’s one of the most effective ways to build high-quality code quickly and efficiently in a flexible way. But your first time pairing can be terrifying. If solo programming is like making your own lunch in the morning, switching to pair programming can feel like being asked to make […]

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