Esther Schindler
Your Worst Hire: Four Lessons from Other People's Mistakes
Alas, all of us are imperfect at the job interview process, on both sides of the desk. When we hire people to work for (or with) us, we sometimes bring on the wrong people. Find out what you can learn from stories of other managers'...
Surviving a Job Promotion
I don't mean to imply that it's a bad thing to be promoted — quite to the contrary. But as you move up the corporate ladder, things change. And you have to change, too.
Getting a Job with the Skills Nobody's Paid You For
If you've picked up a language or development skill on your own time, it can be hard to sell that expertise to an employer. Here's two ways to do it. This is an old question, but it's one that comes up at least once in every...
Who Pays for a Telecommuter's Equipment?
I've worked from a home office for most of my career. Primarily, those years were spent as an independent computer consultant, freelance writer, or other role motivated by, "If I don't write, I don't eat." However, for eight of the...
Is Your Manager Responsible for Your Career?
A few years back, I wrote an essay about the best and worst tech interview questions and I dare say that you may find some of the suggestions valuable today. However, in re-reading that essay recently, my attention came to a...
How Many People Should You Interview With?
When a software developer — or anyone, really — is looking for a new job, it's expected that you'll talk with the person to whom you report. Your new boss knows what she's looking for in the new hire (including technical skills and...
When Do You Have "Enough" Design Time?
How do you know when it's time to stop staring out the window... and start coding? The department had been given a new project. It was a bit like earlier projects, but had a few unique needs that made the application interesting. On...
7 Lessons for Software Developers from Heinlein
Robert Heinlein wasn't really a programmer, of course. But in his writing career he said or wrote several things (in his own voice or that of a fictional character) that can help any software developer improve her code... or her...
Several Tech Blogs Worth Exploring. Oh Yeah, All by Women.
Rather than whine about the low numbers of women in technology, I'll turn the spotlight on several geeky women — in programming, design, or other techie circles — whom you might like to discover. I try to ignore gender in choosing the...
Looking Forward to Being Wrong
Here's one quick way to tell how good a colleague is: How does he respond when he finds out he made a mistake?
I knew it was time to look for a new job when they said....
Or, Phrase Translation: Get Your Résumé Out