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Showing posts from November, 2019

With RPA, Your Only Limitation is Yourself

Originally posted on HPA's website Twenty years ago when we pitched automation to clients, we would get crazy looks. At the time, macros were nothing new, but handing off an entire business process to a piece of software? Madness. Ten years ago when we formed one of the first robotic process automation (RPA) companies in the world, we still faced an uphill battle. Industry leaders remained unwilling to place their trust, and their work, in the proverbial hands of robots. Today, RPA happens to be one of the most buzz-worthy terms trending in business. In the same way that everyone was once going to the cloud or IoT, businesses are now going robotic. So what's changed? As companies take a closer look at their costs—staffing, infrastructure, and networking costs—they realize they’ve been overlooking their productivity costs. Said differently, it turns out those business processes they sought to protect happen to be very simple, straightforward tasks that are mindless and routine.
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#TechlessTeaching

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For some months now I've been working on an 8-part series on teaching kids to code without tech. I'm really excited and proud to say it's now rolling out on Young Coder , a technical publication. There'll be one new article published each week. If you're a STEM teacher, or know a STEM/Computer teacher, please share it with them! #TechlessTeaching: Put Aside the Computers and Programming Toys A big thanks goes to my wife Stephanie Novin who is an amazing STEM teacher who helped with editing, and to Matthew MacDonald for the idea and encouragement.
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Lady Bug Blanket

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Almost 14 years ago, back in college, I was moving in to an apartment with some friends. I needed to buy some bedding and, being a broke student, I couldn't spend much. I ended up buying a fleece blanket on clearance, not really noticing it had a lady bug on it and was a baby blanket and way too small for a twin bed... So I had to buy a bigger blanket on my credit card. Suffice it to say, my roommates teased me about it. One of those old college roommates just had a baby and emailed an announcement. I thought he'd get a kick of seeing a recent photo of my own kid wrapped in that same lady bug blanket. It sent me down a rabbit hole, going through older and older photos and realized how much that blanket now means to me. From Toronto to Vancouver to Seattle to Nashville and perfect for my niece, then my daughter and now my son. It's a good blanket.
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Let's Clear Up The Ambiguity!

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Job seeking is hard - especially when you factor the ambiguity around expectations, the lack of transparency and consistency around process. It's frustrating dealing with the sheer subjectivity of everyone's opinions. Just think of even the basics: How long should your resume really be? Traditional black and white, or modern? Should you include a headshot? Oh - and cover letters - are those needed? Is anyone actually reading the cover letter? What are they looking for? Is there a bias for people with a more traditional background? Worst of all: The dreaded typo  that you catch only after applying to your dream job.  Are typos really going to cost you the opportunity??? To help bring some clarity to the process, I surveyed a bunch of hiring managers. The results were really interesting, and very illuminating.     If you're on the job hunt, I hope this information helps out! One final note: My recent post,  7 Steps to Writing an Amazing Resume , factors a lot of this feedba
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FAQs for a Software Engineering Hiring Manager

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Technical Interviews have evolved a lot since the early I transitioned from being a Software Engineer to an Engineering Manager. Particularly in the post-Covid era, there's been a greater emphasis on the person, which I think is an important and welcome change. Over the decade of interviewing hundreds of coders, I've also had the pleasure of working with various bootcamps, colleges, and hundreds of individual job seekers on LinkedIn. Across all the changes over the past years, across the various locations and mediums, something remained consistent throughout: The questions I get asked.  With that in mind, I thought - why not make a FAQ from my perspective as a hiring manager? While this is my perspective, it's based off years of observation and supporting data. But that being said, advice is not fact. You may disagree with certain points, and that's OK. Opinions we disagree with allow us to better understand our own views. At best, I hope these responses help you
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7 Steps to Writing an Amazing Resume

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  Since sharing my resume template  I've received plenty of feedback from job seekers, HR and hiring managers - all of whom value its purpose. Two (now former!) jobseekers even shared that as soon as they used my template, they were getting calls. Something about this template works, and given the traction it's getting others, I wanted to share - in more detail - why  this approach works so well.  Before continuing, let me give an important disclaimer: This resume isn't a miracle cure that's going to land anyone their dream job. Unless they're filled with lies, resumes are only as good as the candidate themselves. But they can also be a whole lot worse. This template and approach are all about maximizing the potential candidates have by highlighting and summarizing key areas.  Last point before beginning: If you don't know me, it's worth stating this advice comes from more than a decade of having hiring a broad range of coders: straight out of college, high
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7 Steps to Building your Portfolio MVP

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Often when I suggest to coders that they build a portfolio, I'll hear back: "I don't need one..." "With all the effort it takes to apply, where will I find the time?" Simply put, having a portfolio's never going to hurt your chances at landing a job - it can only help. That second question is where a lot of struggle - because applying to jobs can be time consuming. Especially if you're wrapping up a bootcamp, or having to manually type in your resume info after uploading your resume. That's why I made these 7 steps which, when done correctly, can really help you stand out with a hiring manager. And, the best part is, it should only take you 2 days. Being the Agile-Obsessive that I am, it's all about maximizing value while minimizing effort. Fix links to your Resume, GitHub, LinkedIn, etc. at the top where they're always accessible. Link to everything here - and then remove all other links on your Resume except your Portfolio link . It sa
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On Systems Debt

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Pre-amble/tl;dr:  I recently published  The Lloyd Braun Principle of Agility  mostly as a silly-but-true observation about how that classic Seinfeld line "Serenity now, insanity later" relates back to Agile. I ended that post with a statement about how we need to better prepare for the "Insanity" that comes later. With that in mind, I'm introducing my approach to building productive teams. It's about paying down your   Systems Debt. The modern tech team is broken.  We rely too much on Seniors, and don't leverage Juniors. I've been thinking about this problem a lot over the last year, as I've adapted multiple teams to our "new normal." Months ago, I began an article to support the case that hiring managers should hire juniors. To make an effective argument, I knew I had to address a common concern: "First I need seniors to train the juniors..." Quickly the article grew and grew. If you're new to management, this is my "
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