Brielle Harrison

In the early days of the internet, the W3C and few other organizations helped build the first Internet Standards so that the Web could foster it's own innovation & growth. Fast forward 30 years, I cannot believe we needed a law to get browsers and websites to agree on protecting your privacy by default... The internet should really be decentralized, and customer centrist by design. How did we ended up here?

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Welcome Mitwa Patel to join Seradex as a co-op Software Developer in the spring/summer of 2024. During her tenure, she'll be working on converting Crystal reports to Telerik reports and adding test cases to QA automated testing for Windows-based ERP application. The new redesign report will remove imperfections, improve usability, and Seradex branding. The new test cases will be integrated into TestComplete which will be triggered by Azure DevOps pipeline. This integration will significantly reduce our manual testing timeline and inform any bugs to the developers immediately after auto-build and auto-deployment are completed. #ReportConversion #DataVisualization #QAautomation #AzureDevOps #TestComplete #ContinuousDevelopment #ContinuousIntegration

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Project update! My application tracking extension is now doing fuzzier matching and injecting new information into LinkedIn (and other sites) to keep me from doubling up on applications. Next up: local storage and bulk import/export operations...

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I rarely post on LinkedIn, but I'm curious to find some folks to chat with about some ideas for an Enterprise Product Management product. My thesis is that the current suite of tools do not do a sufficient job providing features for managing sprawling, complex suites of products + product lines that mature tech organizations maintain. Most PM products are geared toward startups and smaller companies with simpler products, but few tools help PMs and other leaders manage the sprawling complexity of a situation like 30 products over 6 product lines, 14 industry solutions, and components from a dozen acquisitions. Let me know if you'd be down to chat for 20 minutes one day about it!

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Time to be fair.... In past posts, I have been less than complimentary of the DLC regulations that now make it more difficult to implement SMS into an application. I understand that all sorts of organizations use (and misuse) SMS millions (billions?) of times daily. I get that the new regulations make an attempt to reduce, as much as possible, SMS Spam. All in all, it just seemed like another example of hand-cuffing the good guys while trying to put some limits on the bad actors. My experience at the time was with #Twilio... and I tried to make it very clear that my frustration wasn't necessarily with them - they were doing the best they could to handle an avalanche of organizations trying to comply with new rules that everyone was stumbling their way through. I've been using Twilio for years and can't complain AT ALL about the platform performance for my particular small-scale needs. It was the nearly impossible approval process that really soured me. After nearly a year of living without application-based SMS (email only), I decided to revisit. The application was already all wired up for the feature - it was just dormant. This time around I was able to get up and running in 3 days... 99% of which was the DLC approval - which happened today. Kudos #Twilio for suffering through the tough days and making SMS once again something that can be done with very little pain. #twilio #sms #dlcapproval

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I keep hearing about people getting PIP’d instead of laid off. In other words, gaslighting a decently performing employee into thinking they aren’t meeting the bar. If this ever happened to me it would utterly destroy my confidence. I’m generally a high performer but that is very motivated by my intense imposter syndrome. That means I work really really hard to avoid getting bad feedback. So a bunch of arbitrary and unfair nitpicks leading to a PIP would be really tough for me. I have no problem managing out a team member who is actually not performing, but destroying someone’s confidence to save a few dollars on severance is a low I will not stoop to. As managers we have a responsibility to our team members to treat them with dignity and respect, and above all not traumatize them. For me, this absolutely trumps a paycheck. If you are a manager, you need to refuse to do this. It might be “bad” for your career, but is that more important than treating people with dignity and respect? If it is, you shouldn’t be a manager anyway. If you are a company who does this, you don’t deserve good talent.

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Isn’t it funny that 60% of engineering managers see a shortage of qualified candidates while 56% plan to increase headcount? The math is not mathin’. 🧮 Maybe it’s time to rethink what makes a “good engineer”. Skills are evolving with AI and machine learning, and our criteria needs to evolve too. The “passion engineer” coding all night is rare now, and that’s okay — maybe even better — because we can introduce more diverse skill sets, experiences, and problem-solving. Let’s evaluate our talent definitions, invest in training, and embrace diverse paths of excellence. ✨ For more insights like these, check out Jellyfish's 2024 State of Engineering Management report: https://lnkd.in/eKAJ5jZy

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I am hiring Sr. React Engineers. You and I are a fit, except there are just a couple of things I need from you. Before that, let me establish that I can read your mind, and what I can offer will make your problems go away! Your current job may have no impact, but Boosted offers challenging assignments. You hate your job in a toxic culture (who doesn’t?). We offer you a highly collaborative environment. You feel your career has stagnated, but we offer continuous growth and career development programs. You feel left out in your current job, whereas Boosted ensures engineers are part of planning, architecture, and technical roadmapping. The rest you can see for yourself in the diagram below (which I created with love and took my time to make for you). There are only three things I am looking for in you: React expertise, a growth mindset, and excellent communication. I will drop a link to the JD in the comments.

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Repost: Offtopic Since my feed is filled with layoffs news here is my personal take on what can be done to reduce cost and layoffs. 1. Give permanent work from home for software engineers. We don't need lavish offices. What we need is challenging work, handsome pay, peace of mind, good equipment, clear career progression path, supportive management, safe working environment, access to best learning resources. 2. If you really have to cut cost, then cut x% across the board for all employees. 3. Don't over hire, ever. 4. If a unit in your firm is not making profit and you don't see it to make profit in next few years then shut it down and move the people from that unit to other core units of the firm. 5. Don't fire people. Fire poor projects, poor products,

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Yesterday someone said to me that the true Engineering Managers job description is: To enable really smart people to make them look good. I think in truth there is a bit more to it than that phrase. I like that they have included the word 'enable' and that they are highlighting really smart people. If I had to try and rewrite this in the same vain perhaps: To empower and enable really smart people to achieve business outcomes and deliver business value. How you empower and enable those is the art of Engineering Management.

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What can we learn from Apple calculator and other announcements? Product and Marketing matters - a well designed and built product, demoed in the proper way is like magic. https://lnkd.in/gHbqxc26  https://lnkd.in/gieg3btq https://lnkd.in/g8JDkTku There is no new AI.  Handwriting recognition has been good and around for a while. This a creative use of it. We have also been able to have formulas and smart inference for a long time. It never gets old to mix the right fundamentals in computer science, product and marketing to build great products.

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Thoughts from the Job Search: 1. Terrible job descriptions lead to what-appears-to-be arbitrary decisions to reject/interview. 2. Seemingly arbitrary decisions incentivize applicants to adopt a "quantity over quality" approach, leading to automation. 3. Automated applications lower the signal/noise ratio for recruiters/hiring-managers. I'd love to say "if everyone wrote better job descriptions this problem would solve itself" but it won't. The bell can't be un-rung. Now that the cost of applying to most jobs is at-or-near-zero there's very little reason for job applicants NOT to blanket the market with resumes. I see plenty of recruiters saying "we don't use AI to filter out resumes" and that's a great sentiment, but I'll be shocked if anyone is saying it in a year.

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After a year of work my book Building A Startup - A Primer For The Individual Contributor is finally available! https://lnkd.in/erThxvpP If you’re working in or around startups as an IC or technical leader this book is for you. It’s based on 20 years of startup work and will help set you up for success to do more with less, move faster and more correct, and spend more time building features and product people love and less time banging your head at roadblocks and bottlenecks.

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I've noticed that a lot of recruiters I talk to tell me that some of the hiring managers they work with are the ones making unreasonable or odd requests, while also claiming these same hiring managers are saying the odd requests or strange processes are "standard in the industry" despite the recruiter never seeing them before. The idea with this is that the hiring manager in question is either making an unreasonable demand or asking for a non-standard process that violates industry standards due to compliance or just how the industry works, and is then saying that these strange requests are "normal in the industry", or they claim that these weird requirements or strange processes are actually standard.. when they are not. The HM is just faking it. I also see this a lot from people who are based in India but trying to pretend to be based in the American Tech Industry, because they're often bringing processes that are legal in India to America, that are actually illegal to be used in America. To help the tech community, I have decided that instead of complaining when people lie or "fake it" like this, I would like to help recruiters prove otherwise so the can push back more effectively and get more people working. Even if its just by providing a counter perspective. It might help me, it might not. But now at least a hiring manager that is asking for crazy stuff or abusing recruiters and trying to pass it off as normal when its not, now has to deal with the fact that their HR/Recruiting people can now get a second opinion from somebody with 25+ years of experience in the American tech industry at FANG and pass that on to the leadership above them. If you're a technical recruiter and you are actually working with a difficult, fake, or imposter hiring managers, and you would like somebody with FANG+ experience to have your back, to answer your questions, or to provide a counterpoint you can then go validate yourself so you know I'm not blowing smoke, I'm happy to do that if your based in the USA. Why only the USA? Because I'm an American, so it seems reasonable that I stick to my lane. Its what I know. Either way, Let me help you bring the receipts. Is your hiring manager asking for resume after resume and refusing to hire anybody when you wont get paid if you don't place? They might actually just be resume farming to sell them as templates, or taking the best candidates and having somebody internal contact them so you don't get the Commission. Is your hiring manager asking for weird interview processes while claiming that "that's how they did it at" (a specific company that's a big tech company)? I have the skills and experience to tell you if that's true or if they are blowing smoke. We will be data-driven. If they are taking advantage of you or they are lying about a process that they say is standard, I'll give you the tools you need to call that out and help the client hire developers more effectively. Reach out and connect.

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⛔️ Fear of failure will destroy your career before it starts. Most people quit. Maybe they get overwhelmed by the research and differing opinions. Maybe close friends say its too hard, or give examples of why they will fail. If you assume failure and are around people that encourage a negative viewpoint, it'll be a lot harder for you to make progress. But what if you succeed? What if it does work out? I know for me, I spend a lot of time thinking about the "what if it works" scenario. I used to be an office assistant. 👉🏾 I'm a firm believer that consistency and work ethic will breed consistent results. Maybe things won't work as fast as you'd like, but it will work. 👉🏾 Don't fail because you chose to fail. Surround yourself with doers. The rewards are worth the struggle. #mentormesh

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I have been recently involved into actively #hiring at multiple software levels and found this insight: Applications that I received for Senior Software position were ~13 times less than the applications I got for Jr. Software Engineer. And Applications that I received for Lead Software positions were ~7 times less than what I got for Senior Software positions What do you think this insight mean? I'll let the audience make out the meaning. #apuravwrites

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Everyone is talking about how tough the hiring market is for software engineers. No one is talking about how to stand out from the crowd and land your next gig. Here are my top 5 tips to put your profile in the top 1%. ✅ Strong GitHub with many projects (not just a bunch of filler forks). ✅ Portfolio website to showcase your projects. ✅ Tailored resume for every job - DON'T HIT AND HOPE! ✅ Optimised LinkedIn profile with main skills and projects - HELP US FIND YOU FFS! 🤦‍♂️ ✅ Post on LinkedIn - Yes I know it's cringe. I hate it too but just post and don't overthink. Projects, certificates, professional accomplishments... SHARE IT! You want to be visible in YOUR network. I know some of this is basic but more than 90% of you DON'T do all of this!

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Last week I sat down with Matthew Sevey (Founder of My Code Career & Head of Engineering at Celestia Labs) and Mike Massari (Career coach and ex-Director of Platform & Integrations at Chainlink Labs) to discuss the Job Market in 2024, with a focus on the industry we know best, Tech & Web3. A few takeaways below 👇 How to Stand Out in a Competitive Job Market: 1. Build an Online Presence: Whether it’s posting on LinkedIn/X or building out your GitHub profile with open-source contributions, a strong online presence can set you apart. 2. Network: Engage both online and in person at events or conferences. Talk about your passions and connect with others in your field. 3. Do the Work Up-Front: Tailor your CV and cover letter for each application and prepare thoroughly for your interviews to make a strong impression. Challenges Employers Face in Hiring: 1. Testing for Soft Skills: In a remote-first world, skills like communication and adaptability are crucial but harder to evaluate during the hiring process. 2. Filling Specialised Roles: In Web3, rapidly changing technology requirements make it challenging to find candidates with the right expertise. 3. Managing Compensation: Compensation management is especially challenging when hiring for niche roles across regions with diverse compensation expectations. To understand how to manage compensation check out our salary report: https://lnkd.in/gaZxPufW Navigating the tech job market in 2024 requires both job seekers and employers to adapt and evolve continuously. Staying proactive, whether in skill development or hiring strategies, is key. If you’re on the hunt for a new role, check out https://www.calyptus.co/ for 100+ roles across 50+ top web3 protocols.  If you need bit of extra support when it comes to applying to roles and interview preparation, I’ve not doubt that Matthew & Mike would be happy to chat. 

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Record-Keeping and Self-Retrospective Workdays often pass in a blur. You might find yourself in spontaneous one-off discussions about features for half an hour unexpectedly, or you could be planning new changes and inadvertently fall into a time-consuming rabbit hole of going through code. At times, you might even catch yourself sitting at your desk, pondering solutions during the fleeting moments between meetings, without making visible progress. Documenting these events, however seemingly digressive or stagnant, can be transformative. By recording your daily interactions and challenges, you give yourself the opportunity to revisit and potentially reframe them as part of a larger problem-solving process or to clearly identify what's hindering your progress. This practice lays the groundwork for becoming not just a problem solver but a proactive problem identifier. The best method to accomplish this is a work journal. The key to a useful work journal lies in finding a format that you can consistently maintain. My previous manager at Google recommended a straightforward template that I've adapted over time, which includes three key headers: - Thinking (Things to do) - Doing - Learnings I prefer updating my journal weekly. At the start of each week, I review the previous week's notes to populate this week’s ‘Thinking’ section. Topics that linger too long without further progress are moved to my personal backlog—although like most backlogs, they rarely resurface, it's invaluable to have these notes easily accessible for future reference. When journaling becomes a habit, you're ready for a periodic self-retrospective. Whether it's mandated by your tech company's performance cycles or initiated by personal choice, a self-retrospective allows you to: - Recognize your accomplishments - Reflect on your impact - Identify what truly motivates and excites you To create a self-retrospective artifact, I recommend the following process. My fellow Molocans can find more details in my document on Notion titled "Prepping for Self-review": - Collection: Gather a comprehensive list of all (I mean every single one) your tasks from all relevant channels and tools. - Categorization: Organize these tasks under common themes, KNN style. - Outcome: Note the impact of each category. - Reflection: Review your compiled notes to assess what could have improved and where things fell short and dropped. In these exercises, you may discover a 'champagne problem'—having so much to write about and you are happy writing them, which would reflect your efficiency and job satisfaction. Conversely, you might find areas sparse with activity or filled with unpleasantries, signaling a need for a change. Either outcome is a step forward, providing clarity and a path to enhancement.

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