In the beginning of August, I return to the Great White North to partake in my 20th high school reunion.  For the naysayers out there, Yes, I graduated high school and, Yes, I am that old.  It’s true.  In preparation, I crawled into the dark storage area of my house and pulled out yearbooks, a cheap photo album and stack of newspapers.  I didn’t realize it, but I was trying to rediscover who that person was 20 years ago.

So, here are the facts (I’ll post next on my reactions): (more…)

I should have included this in my previous post, but, honestly, I never get to use the word dichotomy anywhere that doesn’t seemed forced (like plethra), so I felt this needed it’s own article.

I’m a North American boy… grew up near Canada, visited Mexico a few times, but mainly hung in the mid-west of the US of A.  I’ve been to both coasts a few times.  Why is that meaningful?  Well, it probably isn’t, but it should give you context to my point of view.  My conclusions may just be based on uninformed perspectives/experiences. (more…)

Again, I’m just going with some random perspectives on what I saw and experienced… very much train of thought.  You can see the pictures I took here.

• •The people are incredibly nice. Often, they want to practice their english with native speakers, so you will find yourself being engaged in conversation with everyone.
• •Even though you may be tempted, DO NOT ORDER A STEAK AT ANY RESTAURANT. It’s not that they will be offended. If it’s on the menu, it’s there for a reason. It’s not going to be good, though. I told a friend I was going to India and going to have a steak, so I felt obligated. It’s not that I wanted to offend anyone, I thought it would be ironic. Little did I know the levels the irony would take. It was the most dreadful piece of meat I’ve seen. Not only did that cow die of old age, it must have laid alongside the road while someone performed some ceremony for days on end. (more…)

I took a new job with a different company. You can check here to see the details, but the bottom line is that I realized fairly early on that the work and general approach to software development where I ended up was not inline with my overall career goals. I like…

→ agile development
→ open source/Internet development communities
→ building applications that people I know will use and find value in
→ doing something I can show my kids and they’ll get

Luckily, a local company I’ve had my eye on opened up a management position. Three people who were on my team at AOL all have jobs there and were kind enough to go recommend me to the hiring manager. In my second week, I’m already more relaxed then during my 5th month at the other place. I have no more insight into the “business” of what we do here than I did at the last place, but I’m more comfortable with the people and my abilities to contribute. I need to research and post about “rebound jobs” in the future, but I still need a bit more distance to get that objectivity back.

I’ve added a couple new items to my fundamental lessons I have learned from working in informational technology article. Periodically, the list gets updated, but I thought I’d elaborate on the two new items.

1. If you aren’t happy with what you are doing, nothing else matters.  All your successes will lack value. 

Saying “this should go without saying” should go without saying, but honestly, this should go without saying.  There are basic needs you must fulfill to be happy:

• food
• shelter
• family

That’s an unordered list.  Employment provides money to make these things possible.  Those three simple items make you happy.  Your job can add to your satisfaction and overall happiness if it’s something you enjoy.  If it isn’t, no matter how successful you are at work, it will always seem like work and there will be no satisfaction.  This will creep into your productivity and lessen your long-term potential and overall happiness.  So, keep your day job, but be on the look for one that may make you more satisfied. (more…)