Big Data is my passion.
That's why I built, for fun, the self-service reporting infrastructure for a company of nearly 10k employees. I've continued to manage the project and its contributors for 5 years because I believe the ROI is worth it. Big data is incredibly interesting, incredibly hard to work with, and incredibly easy to misrepresent. I love the challenge
The most important thing isn't what languages or frameworks a developer knows, it's whether they pick the right tool for the task. For example
Software must be secure.
It must be beautiful
It must make it easy for the user to do what they need and want to do, protect them from incidental mistakes, and guide them seamlessly to the correct outcome.
It. Must. Work.
After nearly a decade spent working as a software test engineer, I know how important quality is. Developers need to understand what quality means.
I do.
One of the trickiest things about project management is defining scope. Scope creep comes from a lack of knowledge about what the customer really wants or needs, or from pressures within the team or management. I'm not new to finding the balance.
Good managers are guides lighting the way, finding resources an opportunities for their team members, serving as a sounding board for ideas, providing context for prioritization and initiatives, and enforcing the culture of the team. Good managers do not micro-manage. They learn their team members quirks and trust in their judgement.
When there is a disconnect between the user and the developer, users feel they have less stake in its future as well as its present. By communicating openly and often with users, developers draw them into the process, and create a product they feel invested in from day one.