This User's Guide exists so people can get to know me on their own time. Here I do my best to describe who I am in my own words.
This is a work in progress, so kindly bear with me as I flesh this out!
I'm irreverent and witty. I enjoy making people laugh, especially via witty remarks and general silliness. There's humor in everything, and I try to find it.
I love history. You'll often hear me talk about things that have happened in the past. Knowing what has preceded us can help us make decisions that will impact us tomorrow. We ignore history at our peril.
Honesty. Be honest, even brutally honest, with me. Be forthcoming; don't leave out important details.
Kindness and empathy. I appreciate sensitivity towards others' feelings, needs, and challenges they face.
Collaboration. I enjoy working with people to build bigger things than I ever could myself. Team camaraderie is a huge part of this.
A strong argument. I truly value thoughtful, well-reasoned arguments, based on strong principles and logical applications. I don't mind being proved wrong or losing to a stronger argument than mine.
Elegant engineering. This one is difficult to describe, because much of it is qualitative rather than quantitative. I like to think deep about the engineering of products I work on, because I want them to be very useful, stand the test of time, and survive scrutiny. I want people to love the stuff I build.
Fun. Who doesn't like fun? I love to socialize and share food/drinks with my colleagues.
I suffer from partial hearing loss. I have a difficult time processing consonants, especially in loud environments, so I may ask you to repeat yourself, repeatedly. I apologize in advance!
I multitask poorly. When I'm focused on the screen or a book, or when otherwise lost in thought, I ignore almost everything else going on around me. The problem is, my peripheral senses work, but they're on autopilot: when I'm in deep focus, I will acknowledge your presence, and nod my head and say things, but in fact, I'm probably not listening to anything you're saying at all. The best way to ensure my attention is to ensure I'm looking at you. This ensures you have my true, undivided attention.
I lose track of time. It's an artifact of being "in the zone." I am learning to live and die by my calendar.
I am sometimes too terse. Sometimes I cut straight to a conclusion without taking the time to explain the thinking that underlies it. This is something I'm working hard at improving, and my transition to being Amazonian, with its culture of writing Narratives and PR/FAQs, will probably cure me of this terrible habit.
I am sometimes too cynical and/or skeptical. Cynicism and skepticism are the "flip side" of wit. Optimism is the cure for these.
Passive-aggressiveness. I'm going to screw up sometimes, and maybe even unintentionally make you upset or angry. This is never my intent. But please, don't be passive-aggressive if this happens: don't bury it or commiserate with others. When we do, it always comes back to haunt us in some way. And I can't fix what I don't know about. If you disagree with me, or if you feel like I've wronged you in some way, engage me and speak up! I'll listen respectfully and try to make our conversation as productive as I can.
Calling things "easy"/saying "why don't you just." Smart but inexperienced people can have a tendency to oversimplify problems other people are having. The shortage of engineering talent we suffer--and the high pay talented engineers command--gives the lie to this myth, though. If problems were so easy to solve, they would have been solved already! The reality is that simple, uniformly-applicable solutions are rare, and people have real problems they need to solve. Characterizing a problem as "easy" trivializes the complexity and nuance of the situations we often find ourselves in, ignores the differing opinions of stakeholders involved, and discounts people's difficulties in problem-solving.
Characterization over qualification/"throwing shade." There are few truly useless products in our problem domains. Every product out there, whether it be an operating system, a database, a programming language, a cloud offering, or a container orchestrator, has benefits and drawbacks. Our job is to find the best solution for a problem, not to sit on an ivory tower and cast judgment, dismissing the efforts of our fellow engineers.
Style over substance. Engineering as a discipline requires you prove your ideas actually work in practice.
Evasive answers. Occasionally, we are asked to answer difficult or embarrassing questions. Sometimes we might not know the answers to these questions. Sometimes the answers reveal mistakes, failures, or otherwise bad facts. The best thing to do, in my experience, is to be forthcoming with an honest reply that responds directly to the question asked. It shows responsibility and humility. On the other hand, spin, evasion, and misdirection infuriates me.
Give me honest, direct feedback--as quickly as possible. I am imperfect and fallible. I probably make several mistakes a day, not just technically, but in terms of human relationships. It's never intentional, though. Knowing this, I strive for improvement every day. If I screw up, and it impacts you in some way, please let me know as soon as you can! Be honest, and, most of all, tell me how I can address the problem.
Patience if I ask you to repeat yourself. This is much appreciated :)