I used to be a project manager and a software engineer within software development. I’ve designed and developed frameworks and lead greenfield development projects and large refactoring projects. My last assignment ended about one year ago. I’ve burned out twice and got let go thrice since moving to Stockholm nine years ago. While I had … Continue reading A lose-lose proposition
Category: Software
To build and use software.
Healthy work habits
Don’t be too proud to ask for help Accept that things take time Don’t own every problem Check with your co-workers how they are doing. People are not machines. Appreciate what works and what gets done. Give positive feedback. Have fun at work every day Leave work at the office
Feed a man for a lifetime — AI version
In a thread on a Swedish forum for tabletop role-players, someone asked for help with dice probabilities. A basic question involving two six-sided dice. Two replies came in almost instantly with a correct solution supported by mathematical/probability arguments. You can say they “gave a man a fish”, referring to the classic proverb. I was thinking … Continue reading Feed a man for a lifetime — AI version
Time for the yearly salary adjustment?
It's a slow January morning after the holidays. A mail to all employees lands in your mailbox announcing the yearly salary adjustment. A fixed percentage that applies to everyone. Hands up if you have worked for a company that used this trick. One company I worked for sent out this mail the morning after the … Continue reading Time for the yearly salary adjustment?
Age of Slop
Our internet provider proudly announced their new ai chatbot. The link to unsubscribe was broken so I asked the bot how to unsubscribe. The answer had little resemblance to the Swedish UI but at least it gave me the idea to log in and look around until I found the setting I needed. We live … Continue reading Age of Slop
Going to the office
I’ve started a new job. While I have the option of hybrid work, I am working full time from the office, five days per week. Going to the office is fantastic for onboarding. Onboarding is stressful Onboarding is stressful. You have so many assumptions about how things are and what you will be doing for … Continue reading Going to the office
I blog therefore I am
Two recent events triggered me to reflect on how I use social media. In this post I recap my history of social media use, present my current choice, and conclude with why social media are here to stay and why they are so hard to get right.
PNG is not GIF
Restrictions spur creativity. Perception shapes reality. Or why you don't want to get on the wrong side of your users. In the early days of the internet, GIF was the prevailing file format for website graphics. While JPEG is great for compressing photos, GIF (Graphical Image File) is a lossless encoding that works great when … Continue reading PNG is not GIF
How do you like your coffee?
How do you like your coffee? If you are like me, the answer is Hot as Hell, black as the Devil. No milk, no sugar. And absolutely not the lukewarm poor excuse for coffee served with every lunch deal here in Stockholm. Or perhaps you prefer tea? On Mars? Why not. Now you can make … Continue reading How do you like your coffee?
Office or remote?
The pandemic showed that software engineers can work productively from home. But most of us have also realised that working remotely is hard to sustain as a healthy business operating model. So what is the recipe for success in post pandemic software engineering?