Monday was a super busy day!
In addition to working a couple hours with the mob, I also had my first meeting with my director, Chris Lucian, as well as an AWS Immersion Day workshop all afternoon. This is a bit of a funny week for my team, as many of us will be attending Agile Open SoCal on Thursday and Friday, and we're having these AWS workshops yesterday and today all afternoon. Sometimes that just happens!
While I still have a long way to go, I do feel like I'm starting to feel oriented in this environment. Its as if I were plopped on a deserted island alone, and am finally starting to understand where the landmarks are in relationship to each other. I still have a long way to go as far as technologies go, but I do feel like I'm getting my bearings.
Speaking with Chris was so illuminating! I knew that Hunter was a different sort of organization, but every chance I get to learn exactly why is exciting. One thing he shared with me is how we try to keep a very flat organization, which allows more ownership by the engineers themselves. It's palpable how much ownership engineers feel over their work and process here at Hunter, and this seems to be the foundation for that.
Monday was especially enjoyable because at the end of my workday, I got to give my very first lightning talk, at an event focused on resilience in tech! One of my good friends started an alumna organization for those who graduated from Arizona universities and went on to work in tech. I spoke on Richard Carlson's book "You Can Be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective". For my first lightning talk, I think it went great! When I have the link to my talk, I'll share it here!
If you're unfamiliar with this book, allow me to share with you the five principles:
- The Principle of Thoughts/Thinking - You are not your thoughts; you are the thinker of your thoughts. Thinking is a function that originates inside of us. Your thoughts are something your brain produces, whether you want it to or not, and whether your thoughts are accurate or not. You don't have to pay attention to every thought you have, and in fact you shouldn't!
- The Principle of Moods - Moods are part of the human condition - moods frequently change and shift, and you may notice one mood doesn't stick around for too long. Our thoughts inform our moods, so thinking of positive things may bring about a positive mood just as thinking of negative things may bring about a negative mood. As Carlson says, "when you're in a low mood, learn to pass it off as simply that: an unavoidable human condition that will pass with time, if you leave it alone and avoid giving it too much attention"
- The Principle of Separate Realities - All of us approach life from our own reality, our own viewpoint, our own interpretation of life. We cannot expect others to behave as we would, or see life the same way we do. So, we should instead expect that others will NOT behave as we would.
- The Principle of Feelings - Feelings act as a built-in feedback loop that informs us of what we really think about what's happening around us. As Carlson says, "our feelings are to our mental health what the warning lights on the dashboard are to our automobiles." Bring your feelings to work! Reflect on the feelings you have! Honor them and pay attention to them!
- The Principle of The Present Moment - if you practice mindfulness or meditation, you may know this one already. Focusing on the present moment, as opposed to the past or future, helps bring about an easy, light feeling. We focus on the moment we are living in as it's happening as an attempt to stop being reactionary. The goal is to become less preoccupied with our thinking, as it colors our moods, eventually scaffolding our interpretation of reality, and can bring about negative feelings.
Despite my adventures in mob programming and my satisfying chance to share how I stay resilient during this day and age, my favorite part of the day yesterday was my family's monthly Moon Viewing party for the full moon! Few things are more satisfying than spending time with family out in nature (or as close to nature as you get in the big city) after a day of focused work.
Its nights like yesterdays that make me happy to skip writing a blog post - however, I'm eager to get back on track today, so expect another post later!