Hi. I'm Scott

Last week I worked from home for three days as an experiment to see if I would like it or not. Short answer, it wasn't bad. I felt like I performed my work tasks with the same level of efficiency, but I also felt like I'd have to make some changes to optimize the experience. First, my current work environment includes the following features: a 45-minute commute an on-site gym with showers a PC with dual 22in wide-screen monitors  a cubicle with windows Free K-Cups Walk-up traffic from Developers and Project Managers By contrast, my home office includes the following features:  a 1/2 minute commute my laptop (MacBook Pro w/ 13in Retina display) office with french doors and windows personal coffee maker Walk-up traffic from my kids Pros Working with only my laptop was pretty nice. I tend to mono-task, so a single screen for work was perfect for my workflow. I found myself bouncing back and forth into a Citrix desktop environment for access to some applic...

...it's who you know. I could have called this tip "networking" but on a technical blog, that could have a different connotation. In much the same way that cold-calling isn't the most effective way to sell product, cold-submitting resumes and applications online isn't going to be an effective means of getting an interview. I'm not staying that it won't work, but it will require a LOT of work. So what's the answer? Employee referrals. According to the Society of Human Resource Management,  employee referrals remain the top source of new hires . With personality and cultural fit is important to many organizations, hiring managers are looking to find candidates that will fit comfortably into a team. Resumes can show your experience, but may not be a good indication as to how you might fit. With an employee referral, not only do you get a recommendation from a current employee who feels that you would be a good fit, the company gets an candidate with a...

With growing number of organizations embracing the idea of working remotely either part time or full time. The proliferation of collaboration tools, like Slack and WebEx, and remote access tools like Citrix that have enabled effective off-shore engagement are now being enabled for the workforce in General. not actually me Companies like Accenture, Amazon and Github all part of  this trend. Gitlab has been particularly forward thinking in this area, with a workforce that is 100% remote and a public algorithm that calculates salary, taking into account the geographic location of the candidate.  Along with companies looking to hire workers remotely, the number of specialized services offer postings for positions that are also 100% remote. Remote.com and Angel List  are both services available for candidates looking for remote-only work.  For my entire career, I've commuted into a physical office space each morning, and back home each night...and never ...

I took a break from work, my job search, and blogging to participate in the World Masters Ultimate Club Championships in Winnipeg, MB.  For the past two seasons, I've had the pleasure to play for an Master's club team called Hey Babe. Last season, we finished 4th at the USAU National Championships and qualified to play at Worlds this season. WMUCC is a week-long tournament with teams invited from all over the world to play . The opening ceremony was held on Sunday afternoon. Each countries' teams marched into the 'stadium', kinda like the Olympics. The key difference being the number of spectators in the crowd; we had about 20, Olympics have 10s of thousands.   The tournament is separated into two parts: Pool Play and Bracket Play. In our pool, we were placed with 2600 (Columbia), Masala Magic (India), Penguin Village (Canada), UFO (South Korea) and Bridge Club (San Francisco).  After pool play wrapped up, we had a 5-1 record. In order to make it into the C...