Why I Use AI
Let me start with one critical point: I am NOT an Artificial Intelligence evangelist. We clear? Got it? Good. Moving on… I use AI. I am an AI user. I leverage AI in (not quite) my daily activities to address the …
Topic
Career
109 posts tagged with this topic.
Outplacement in Technology, Part 1
Part of my severance is outplacement services, which I am genuinely thankful for, if for no other reason than I haven’t been without work for quite a long time. And as happens to all of us, I’ve gotten older, …
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Lawyers and Severance
Let me make one thing very clear: I am not a fan of lawyers. In my experience, they use up precious funds to provide vacuous information. It’s never a full recommendation (eg. “you should do X”), …
Layoffs at ChangeMakers
You’re being let go, your department’s being downsized, you’re part of an outplacement, we’re going in a different direction, we’re not picking up your option… - Emperor Kuzco and …
AI is a wrench
Well, it’s vise grips for pliers, and pliers for a wrench A wrench for a hammer, hammer’s everything else It just don’t seem to make much difference I sure do like him but he’s hard on equipment …
My first public book reading
I gotta start off with a disclaimer: Despite all my aspirations otherwise, I am not a professional writer. (At least, not yet. Maybe. One day.) But I do have a novel! Books from new/unknown authors very rarely sell …
2025, A Year In Review
The 2020s keep on burning like a bad dumpster fire. It’s hard to find the highs when we saw the disturbing rise of fascism in the former home of democracy, authoritarianism rising in Alberta (with several uses of …
Right Place, Right Time, Right Answer
I was having lunch with my friend Jim the other day, reflecting on how many years we’ve known each other, trouble we’ve gotten into (him more than me, let’s be honest, I’ve never been that …
Short Weeks are the Worst
The company is giving us Friday off. And Monday is the Canada Day Stat. Two short weeks in a row. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned after all these years, it’s that short weeks are hard … two …
Alex's First (Paid) MRI Shift
Alex works in “Diagnostic Imaging”, which is how the medical community (at least in Alberta) lumps together X-Ray, Ultrasound, Computer Tomography (CT, aka “cat scan”), and Magnetic Resonance …
Early Retirement is a Myth for Most
My dad was about my age when the company he’d worked for most of my life until that point decided to screw him over, effectively forcing him out. I wasn’t there when he got home, I was at my after-school job …
The Famous Lethal Weapon Quote
Several times in the Lethal Weapon movie series, Roger Murtaugh (played by Danny Glover) says: “I’m getting too old for this shit.” I’ve joked about that line on several occasions, especially when …
Thank you, Neil Randall
Tonight, I met up with a very old friend, Duncan. He and I lived together in the basement of a house shared with 4 other students (including my friend Mike, another denizen of the basement) on Albert Street in Waterloo. …
Marketing Never Has All The Answers
I had one of “those” meetings with one of our clients today. If you’re in marketing, you know what I mean. We were called out for non-performance: lots of money spent, very little result. The client …
Morality in the Marketing World
I’ve been in marketing since the mid-ish 1990s, in one form or another, and done actual agency marketing for about 20 years in that time. I’m not going to say “been there, done that, seen it all”, …
It's too quiet
It’s quiet. Too quiet. At this time of the year, in the marketing industry, it’s usually mayhem: everyone trying to get their sales up as the year winds down, get holiday specials out the door, and my …
Soft Skills are Hard Requirements
Today I had a call with one of our vendors who helps find developers and other technically-skilled contractors that we’ve employed in the past. It wasn’t with Marlene, who’s been my contact with this …
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Are Successful People Awful?
I’m a bit late to the podcast game. I had listened to them on and off over the years but hadn’t really taken to them. Why would I want to listen to someone prattle on about something when I can listen to …
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Life in the Pandemic
On 13 March 2020, a majority of Calgarians followed a sizeable portion of the planet’s population and went into figurative isolation as COVID-19 raged across the world. So began a near-total removal from society …
Dispelling a myth of centralized IT
“Information Technology”, or IT as it’s more commonly known, tends to get a bad rap. It’s a black box to organizations, there to serve arcane purposes that always seem to have a habit of getting in everyone …
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The importance of experience
“Experience” is a tough word to use in the digital marketing industry. Quite often, it’s used to encompass one’s adventure and awareness through a user interface of an application. It’s one of the most common …
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20 years from Ontario
Two decades ago today, I did something immensely stupid: I left home. Literally and figuratively. Twenty years ago, I was still sleeping in my room on Gatestone Avenue in Oakville. While I had lived on my own at …
Marketing is common sense
I’ve worked in the marketing industry, in one form or another, since the mid-1990s (save for a couple-year break when I did technical writing, but we’ll ignore that for now). I’ve seen a lot in those many (many) years, …
Taking stress leave
It’s happened. I’ve snapped. All work and no play make Geoff go crazy. Three weeks ago, I left Evans Hunt’s office a broken man. A comment made in a meeting caused me to blurt four non-profane words. This brought me a …
20 Years a Web Developer
Twenty years ago this month — and very possibly this week, though I’m not 100% certain of that — I entered into the very nascent industry of digital marketing. At the time, the project had been little more than a simple …
The Annual Review
Sorry for the long silence, folks. I’ve been a very, very busy boy the last couple of months, and … well, writing hasn’t really been a high priority for me. Family, as always, comes first, with my job (which …
The need for the Big Picture
On Saturday, my wife Alex and I went out on our own. (We manage to do this every couple of weeks thanks to Alex’s mother, who comes over to watch the kids so we can behave more like adults for a while.) On our little …
The first week back at work
On Monday, Alex went back to work for the first time since August 2007, which is when she went on maternity leave. Then we moved to Costa Rica and back, and had a second child. During that entire time, Alex stayed at …
New life at Evans Hunt
A year ago, I was a “free agent” of sorts. I had gone self-employed, and had started to live in the world of contracts, invoices, expenses, and running around without adequate amounts of personal injury …
The fork in the road
Not so long ago, when I managed a team, I used to coach people in their career directions. (How well I coached people is another matter, and I can only leave it to those people to assess my real effectiveness.) I’d help …
The development in my life
If I were to summarise the last ten years of my career prior, specifically from about June 2000 to June 2010, it would look something like this: web developer, specialised web developer, senior web developer, junior …
Get Geeqee
Back at the beginning of the year, I took a different direction in my career. Until December, I’d been a career man — work for one company. Work your butt off, be the cog in the machine, and do the best you could to stay …
Visit Calgary - You're Very Welcome!
When we returned from Costa Rica, our plans had been pretty simple: take off the month of December to get settled, and then head back to work in January. Plans changed shortly after arriving back home, and suddenly I …
Some tips for your next interview
In my time, I’ve interviewed over 1,000 people (counting the screening interviews I’ve done at job fairs — I’ve done a number of job fairs). I don’t think that qualifies me as an expert — I don’t think that you can ever …
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Mentorship is a must
No-one is ever born knowing everything. Like all animal life, we enter the world devoid of knowledge, having only the instincts innate to our species after countless eons of evolution, adaptation, and survival of the …
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What makes a Senior Developer
Every so often, someone asks me what I need to see in a senior developer. Why people ask me this is a mystery. I mean, besides the fact that I’m a Know-It-All, could it really be that several years of being a manager …
Goodbye, Critical Mass
Hey Critical Mass! I’m sorry I didn’t say “goodbye” properly. You know, the traditional email that goes around to cmassother, usually followed with the “we’ll be in the Ship starting at 5 …
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Adios, Costa Rica
Eighteen months ago, I set foot in Costa Rica. Not as a tourist (despite what my visa said), but to make a new life abroad. My family (Alex, Monkey, and Asia the Cat) would join me a month later. One big, happy family, …
A good programmer is lazy, not stupid
I say this, in one form or another, to developers I manage. I’ve said it for years, and I’ll continue to say it until I’m proven horribly, horribly wrong. Which, until I leave this industry, is not likely to happen.My …
O Canada, my home and native land
For anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while, you know two things: I currently live in Costa Rica. I’m Canadian. One of those things is about to change. Almost a year and 2/3 ago, I caught a rumour about Critical …
The power of responsibility
With great power comes great responsibility. – Various sources I’m sure you’ve heard this quote before. It’s a good one, often used to reinforce the need for people to not slough off their priorities. Don’t get me …
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The blinding effect of an ego
One of the most dangerous things for anyone to have is an unchecked ego. I say “dangerous” because egos lead to a significant number of problems between team members, and can even lead to teams being pitted …
The Failure of Offshoring
A couple of years ago, I engaged in my first offshore experience, when we hooked up with a small company out of Argentina to develop and deliver some additions to a website, including the addition of a simple CMS. It had …
Repetition breeds complacency
Last night, I was feeling a little reflective. (That sometimes happens after I’ve had a glass of wine. Or three.) It was dark, the lights out, and everyone else already in bed. I stood on my second-floor balcony …
9 years ... and counting
Today marks yet another notch on the belt of my career. Today, I’ve been at Critical Mass (or within the Critical Mass family, anyway) for nine years. It’s weird. Very weird. I’m actually having trouble comprehending …
I'm just a "passionate" guy
I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry that I mad you cry, I didn’t want to hurt you, I’m just an “passionate” guy. – With apologies to John Lennon I won’t lie. Things haven’t been easy here in Costa Rica. …
No guarantees on going back
I hate to say it, but I saw this coming. When I signed the contract that put me down here in Costa Rica, there was a part of me that was yelling: “But what about when we come back?” Well, Jason just answered …
Blog or Die
There’s been a lot of talk lately about people saying you shouldn’t blog anymore. The arguments seem to break into two categories: Don’t blog because you probably have nothing interesting to say and no-one will read it …
My evolving job
When it was first proposed that I would come to Costa Rica and start up a new office, there were a lot of questions about how all this would be done. Starting a new office means running without the infrastructure that …
Lastday. Gemini 13s. Year of the Company 2008. Carousel begins.
I’ve been with Critical Mass (Canada) for 8 years. Eight years, two months, and 9 days. Today is my last day. Sorta. On Sunday, I leave for Costa Rica. Although I am working for another company, I’m still technically …
One last lunch with the team
For all intents and purposes, I’m off the Rolex team. I’m still on their resource sheet, but the reality is that I haven’t done sqwat with the Rolex account for over a couple of weeks now. It’s all been transferred to …
Back in Costa Rica
Years ago, I used to think business travel was glamourous. You got to go to far-flung places, see different things, and engage in activities you just don’t do at home. Then I started going on business trips. I learned …
There's nothing quite like a good ego boost
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been approached by a number of organisations looking for “talent”. (I use the term loosely, mostly because I don’t really see myself as “talented”. I like to …
It's the end of the world as we know it...
…and I feel, well, okay. Maybe not necessarily “fine”. Critical Mass has done a bit of a reorganisation. I emphasise “a bit”. Mostly because this is not the radical shifts we’ve seen in the …
The beginning of the end?
Allard pulled me aside this afternoon. Big changes are coming. It’s not the first time we’ve seen big changes at Critical Mass. We’ve seen them before, as they’ve needed to take place. They’ve usually been for the better …
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No, I'm not going to be working on a beach
It’s funny the number of people who now ask me if they can come with us to Costa Rica. They congratulate me and make it sound like it’s going to be fun, sand, and cervesa all the time. News flash, folks — we ain’t …
I'm leaving Critical Mass
I’ve been at Critical Mass for 8 years, 1 month, and 5 days. That’s a long time to be a one place. I never thought I’d be here that long. Two years, max, and I’d move on. (Heck, I was originally supposed to go with Chris …
What have you done with Spock's brain?
One of the hard parts about leaving any group is passing your legacy off to someone else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short-term thing (e.g. vacation) or a long-term thing (e.g. leaving the company). It still has to …
Things to do before moving
Moving within a city is a snap. It’s a lot of work, yes, but logistically it’s not a big deal. You disconnect some services, sign them up at a new location, move your phone numbers, arrange your mail, and then move your …
Thundercats are go!
The contract is signed. It’s as official as it gets until my feet stand on Costa Rican soil. Most everything was already 99% assured, but until my name appeared on a legal document, there were still a whack of questions. …
Letting the toucan out of the coffee sack
Finally, after many, many weeks of discussion (and far more email than I’d care to think about), it’s semi-official. (Hey, it’s better than “still in the works”.) The fact that I’m moving to Costa Rica has …
Anyone going to Web 2.0 Expo?
Yep, one of my “favourite” buzzwords, Web 2.0, now has a conference thanks to O’Reilly — the same folks who came up with the buzzword in the first place. This is the Expo, not the Summit, which although …
I hate going on vacation
I get four weeks of vacation a year. It’s not a lot, especially now that I have a family that I want to spend lots of time with. But you make do with what you have, right? My problem isn’t so much the lack of time I have …
Do you know the way to San Jose?
I love challenge. I love adventure. And I love to travel. If you’ve been reading this blog, you already know that. Critical Mass is giving me an opportunity to do all three. It’s going to shake up my life a lot (not to …
Damn Good Manager
I love skipping through my hits every now and then. Not so much for ego (though there is no question that ego is an element of the desire), but also out of plain ol’ curiousity — how are people finding all the crap I …
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Been around the block a few times
It kind of came to me this morning, as I sat on the #2 heading down 17th Avenue. I’ve been on the internet for over 15 years. Rapidly approaching half my life online. I’m that old fart you see sitting in the corner, …
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Examples of Online Shopping Experience
This was originally posted at http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com. The site is no longer active. We’ve been talking a lot about ideas. But ideas don’t always translate well without examples. Thankfully, the …
Time moves more slowly at an agency
Everyone comments on time moving so fast. The older you get, the faster it goes. Now that I have a child, everyone tells me that before I know it, they’ll be graduating high school and I won’t know what hit me. Right …
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Great Canadian Video Game Contest
In a previous life, I worked for Radical Entertainment, maker of video games. Very fun company, very fun job. Well, when I wasn’t writing technical documents, which is about the most boring job I think I’ve ever done. …
Updates to the Rolex Website
Almost since we launched the new Rolex.com website back at the end January, we’ve been working on more updates. First off are four additional languages with which to learn all there is about Rolex: Spanish, Japanese, …
The new Rolex website is live
Over a year ago, we started on a brave new project: bring a whole new experience to the Rolex brand. It’s been a tough year. Countless designs. Several prototypes. A lot of lost sleep. (Not to mention some martial …
My Expectations of a Technology Team
I’m a tough person. I don’t settle for mediocrity in my own work, or in the work of those who work with me. There are the minimum height bars, and then there are the ones I set. Knee-capping height, some even high enough …
Review and reflection on my job
One of the things Critical Mass introduced years ago was performance management. I was glad to see it come. Radical Entertainment had it when I worked there, and I lamented the lack of such evaluation when I came to …
All work and no play make Geoff something something
I know, I know — where are the journals, Geoff? Pardon me if I’ve been busy. I’ll dispense with the specifics of my job. First, you don’t want to hear them. Many of them are things that would only make sense to someone …
The Great Critical Mass Shuffle
Not quite five and a half years ago, Critical Mass moved into our current building. It was a monumental exercise that required a lot of forethought, planning, and organization. When we moved into the then-new building, …
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How do I know what I seem to know?
Ever find yourself providing information to someone as an “expert”, where the point of view flows from your lips as easily as drinking a glass of water, and then after you’ve finished wonder where you learned …
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On five years at Critical Mass
Five years ago, I walked in the doors of Critical Mass, having basically no idea what I was about to get myself into. At the time, I wasn’t planning on being at Critical Mass that long. Chris and I had planned on going …
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How to get a web development job at Critical Mass
For the last two nights, Critical Mass has run what are effectively recruiting job fairs over at the Roundup Centre. They’re weird things. We’d done them before when we were recruiting for a planned move to Toronto …
Give web developers respect
I cannot praise Jeremy Zawodny enough for having posted a very concise POV on respect for web developers. It’s not like we’re a collection of haphazard Rodney Dangerfields — we’re just largely ignored. Web development …
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Mercedes-Benz meetings, going home
Despite having the room to myself, I was really groggy when I got up this morning. I know it wasn’t a result of last night, though, as I didn’t feel any worse for wear. I showered, packed, and checked out (using the …
Mercedes-Benz meetings, team building
Allard and I hit the restaurant in the main atrium for breakfast, joined shortly thereafter by Christian and a very tired-looking Jules. Powdered eggs aren’t exactly the breakfast of champions. Jules has been up late …
Mercedes-Benz meetings, Calgary to Chicago
I hate waking up before 6:00. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with it. Today, though, it was necessary. Today, I fly to Chicago. Was ready for my 6:30 pickup. Allard was collecting me for the trip to the …
BC Vacation - Calgary to Fairmont Hot Springs
I so wanted to get my butt out of the office, almost from the moment that I was alerted to the problem on MBUSA.com’s live server. There’s nothing like trying to diagnose the cause of a homepage failure when you’re not …
Job interview at Kanga
Today, I did something I haven’t done for about four and a half years. I went on a job interview. Relax, I didn’t get fired (and hopefully, this little escapade of mine doesn’t precipitate that — though I can’t imagine …
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I'm being headhunted
I’m being headhunted. Not the cannibalistic type, of course. This is the “executive recruiter” type. This is a result of having my website, and having my resume available through my website. The recruiter is …
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Foul things on the Good Ship Critical Mass
There are time when I really wonder who the hell is steering the Good Ship Critical Mass. ‘Cuz right now, we’re headed for a really big iceberg. All of last year, we went through a long process of Performance Management. …
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Layoffs at Critical Mass
It’s tough to say good-bye to friends who leave from your company. It’s even harder when they get laid off. Yesterday, Critical Mass experienced an adjustment. I don’t know what was the root cause of this adjustment, but …
Winning Critical Mass Valuable Person award
Once in a while, someone notices you. Sometimes it’s just a pretty woman walking down the street. Sometimes it’s a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. And once in a while, it’s your entire company. This year, …
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Friends - Visiting and moving away
Last weekend was the first weekend in a while where a) I wasn’t busy with work or family, and b) wasn’t trying to paint the house. (No, I’m not done painting. I’m just sick of it.) So I opted to relax a little bit. It …
Aunt Brenda's birthday and my hatred of Microsoft Word
The weekend past was the August long weekend. Well, it was the long weekend for most people. For me, it was one of three things: painting the house, spending time with family, or being at work. Four things, if you count …
Promotion to Manager ... uh oh!
It seems that good things do happen to those who wait. Surprisingly enough, that also applies to me. You may recall some weeks ago, I lamented Critical Mass’ ability to see the need to promote from within. It wasn’t so …
Middle Management
I found out today that I’ve become middle management. I’ve become my own arch-nemesis. Critical Mass has (almost) finished its massive organizational effort. It’s not really a reorganization, per se, but it is a process …
The Hell of my job
Not that I’m complaining. This week had been a stressful and depressing one. First off was the Technology department meeting for Critical Mass. The company’s been going through a structural overhaul. It’s not the first …
First ever layoffs from Critical Mass
When I first started work here at Critical Mass, I compared it to Radical, my previous company. I noted how the size was similar, how the age distribution was similar, how the energy was similar. Now I can add one more …
Stress and Blepharospasms
Blepharospasm (n.): The repetitive contraction of eyelid muscles in a rhythmic fashion. In some instances, the eyelid may repeatedly close or attempt to close. The most common causes of muscle twitching in the eyelid …
Getting a Critical Mass Reality Check
Different company. Different industry. Same problems. The age of people staying with companies for decades is an idea I think my generation (and those succeeding) will have a hard time grasping. With the hi-tech sector …
Download Overload, the Critical Mass Kelowna Getaway in Westbank
This is a hard-working company. And Ted (our founder and corporate Chairman) knows it. To “thank” us for all the grief he puts us through, he closes (more or less) the office for two days, packs us off to …
Kicking Back in Calgary
If it were possible to work like a dog, my name would be Rover. Bow wow. I’m working on the latest and greatest version of a website we’re doing for one of our Fortune 500 clients. There are nine people on the team: …
My First Entry from Critical Mass
It is said that the best things come to those who wait. I can safely say that I’ve got good things coming. It’s been a month since my somewhat dramatic departure from Vancouver and I entered into obscurity. It’s high …
Why I Don't Want to be a Technical Writer Anymore
It’s been a busy beginning to the year. I think it’s just a sign of things to come. You’ve probably been wondering where I’ve been — didn’t I send all those logs during Christmas? Where are all the ones from January? …
Softball Tournament with the Rad Sox and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE)
“The goats have been sucked.” That was how the Rad Sox season wound up Saturday afternoon. We started off the season with a fairly inspirational rallying cry before each game. However, as our …
Going to Microsoft Meltdown in Seattle
On Monday and Tuesday, I experienced my first real business trip. I probably would be more excited about it than I should be, but we went to Seattle. Whoopee. Going to Seattle for a business trip is like … well, …
Playing Softball with the Rad Sox, Visiting Granville Island, Seeing Alanis Morrisette
A few weeks ago, I made the decision to join the company softball team, the Rad Sox (Rad, as is “Radical”). This was for several reasons: I’d get out more, meet more people in the company that I wouldn’t …
The Great Radical Entertainment Layoff (aka Black Tuesday)
I found out this morning that I’m worth keeping. Needless to say, this is a big boost to not only my esteem, but also my ego. What’s all this stemming from? The Radical restructuring. Today will forever be known as …
Corporate Communications, White Rock, Tsawwassen, and Point Roberts
The fallout from the round of layoffs a week and a half ago came to a rather disappointing end — one of our lead programmers decided he didn’t want to work for corporate America, and quit. Just as the game he was working …
Layoffs at Radical Entertainment, Victoria Day on Vancouver Island
Well, this is my first crack at a proper Branch entry. Hopefully these will go as well as I hope they do… My weekend got off to a bit of a rocky start — my company laid off 12 people in our Vancouver office. The …
Biking to Work, Dad brings my Car to Vancouver
Once again, I’ve left writing too long, and probably forgotten details of the events of my life. So if I forget anything, I apologise in advance… A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was high time that I started …
Radical Entertainment, Buying a Condominium in Vancouver
First and foremost, I apologise for not writing sooner. It’s been over a month since my last message, and I can safely say that in those four weeks, I’ve been so busy that I can group my life into three categories: Work, …
Meeting the Family and Touring Victoria
Greetings from Lotus Land! (I still have no idea why people call it that — nowadays you could reefer to it as Grass Land … yes, I spelled “reefer” on purpose.) Undoubtedly you’ve all heard the trials …