Note: I wrote this in 2015 when I was VP Technology at Observer and looking to hire our team's first full-time software engineer to help build Commercial Observer and other projects, since previously we had relied solely on agencies. Several of the links are dead, but I thought it would be good to archive this … Continue reading How to Hire a Software Engineer
Category: Meta
A random collection of posts about me, jobs, technology, etc. This has nothing to do with the social media company of the same name.
My Path to AI
Everyone takes a different path to Artificial Intelligence. Sure, there are some common approaches from academia, research, engineering, and the like. But AI is a weird field that has had massive transformations in its history, and I don't think I'm too unusual in that I've only started to really "do AI" professionally in the last … Continue reading My Path to AI
I Love AppleScript
Perhaps it's all nostalgia, but I really love AppleScript. What is AppleScript? Or should I say, what was AppleScript? A quick search finds multiple stories and threads and discussions about its demise. But it's still there, as of today, May 16, 2020, in macOS Catalina (10.15.4). The venerable Script Editor application is still right there … Continue reading I Love AppleScript
So much depends
so much depends upon a big excel workbook saved with linked data beside the sad analysts. Thanks to Mr. Robot, finance pros, and Not So Standard Deviations.
C&O Potatoes
For about a year after college I worked as a dishwasher in the nicest restaurant in Charlottesville, VA, the C&O. I was a pretty bad dishwasher, honestly, because I was too detail-oriented and therefore slow. I had to make sure each dish was perfect! Generally a bad plan for a busy kitchen. I mostly worked … Continue reading C&O Potatoes
One Month With Windows
I've just spent four weeks using Windows at work, for the first time in about 6 years. Recently I've been working almost exclusively on Macs, with Linux for any deployed server processing. However, before that I spent about 10 years on Windows, mostly as a SQL database engineer and occasional .NET programmer. Before that, however, I … Continue reading One Month With Windows
Fighting the Proxy
Like many companies, mine uses an HTTP proxy to protect us from various security risks, such as malware, unintended data leaks, and the like. In general this is a great thing. I heard from one of our risk engineers that malware incidents went down substantially when they implemented this proxy. However, as a developer trying … Continue reading Fighting the Proxy
First Week
I just started a new job, and finished my first week. I'm working with people I've worked with before. However it's been about 6 years since we worked together, so it's a interesting mix of familiar and new, both culturally and technically. Culturally, processes are very open and there are lots of discussions, both hallway … Continue reading First Week
Just Write
Let's get this thing going.