#8 I'm Becoming a Manager!
If you’re new here, welcome! If you’re not, welcome back! I know it’s been a while since I showed up in your inbox. Between the layoffs at my company, tax season, and the SVB failures (which we’ll talk about soon), I’ve been busy and a bit overwhelmed if I’m honest. Some good things, some less-than-good things, so it goes. But I’m back, and hoping not to be as much of a stranger in the near future.
The title tells the full story, no burying the lede: I’m becoming a manager. I’m excited and scared, and ready to take on a whole host of newness. And I’m excited to bring you all along with me as we go.
I took the reins about a month ago, towards the end of performance review season. The learning curve’s been very steep, and I’m seeing worlds of complexity from a different angle. I’m also having to confront a bunch of my own internal shit and deal with it, so I don’t pass it on to my team. I’ve been questioning my assumptions about almost everything in work and life, and I’ve only had one fully-fledged breakdown in front of my manager. So far, I love it.
I promise this won’t turn into a management blog, but I don’t pinky promise. Funnily enough, the hard stuff about software engineering doesn’t change too much, regardless of the perspective you have on it. I’ve got some renewed energy, and I’ve got a bunch of stuff I want to talk about with all of you.
I also recently took a week off and went scuba diving, as a topic-transition, here’s a turtle:
A note on things to come:
Three months ago, I was oncall, for a tax payments and filings team, at a payroll company, during the SVB collapse. I dealt with the subsequent incident response and cleanup, which was multi-pronged and extremely messy. There were so many things we learned and observed, both during and after, that I should be able to write about. And I just haven’t been able to. I’ve tried, and failed, to write it multiple times.
Part of it is self-consciousness: what if I say something that paints my current company, team, or leadership in a less than favorable light? Part of it is probably self preservation: what if I can’t meet the moment and write about it in a compelling way? But part of it is just good ol’ fashioned writer’s block. Maybe I’ll get unstuck and tell you about it as my next piece, maybe I’ll need to noodle on it a bit more. In the meantime, what questions do you have about what it was like from the inside? Maybe your questions will shake something loose. I did buy a commemorative sweatshirt.
This is the part of the post where I usually tell you what’s next (and am 100% wrong). I’m loosely thinking that my next post might be about burnout and taking breaks, but we all know better than to take me at my word. Anything you’re dying to read about? Let me know.
What I’m reading/watching:
First of all, if you haven’t yet read This is How You Lose the Time War, it’s breathtaking. Second, the story about how it popped back up to the bestseller list is incredible.
An incredibly compelling article about gun safety on John Wick sets. John Wick 4 was amazing, btw.
We watched Jeopardy Masters a couple weeks ago and it was unbelievable. Also, I’m very excited for Ken Jennings' new book!
Trying not to take this study to heart as I start my next chapter at work
Naomi Wu: Why Do I Look Like...This? The SexyCyborg Origin Story
1776 on tour was everything I wanted and so much more!
The quote tweets to this tweet made me laugh harder than they had any right to
Other odds and ends:
Impressed with orcas, I’m not going to lie
Can you design a worse volume control interface than these?
My birthday was also shared with four other special dates
My brain’s full of Barbie trailer
I’ve started DJing silent reading time in my team retros and other meetings, and it’s amazing. Related to the above: this has shown up on every playlist
See y’all next time!