Jon Rumsey

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Learnings from 12 jobs in 4 continents over 24 years

Guest Speaker

Jim Bennett

Sr. Regional Cloud Advocate, MSFT

linktr.ee/JimBobBennett

24 years in the tech industry have taught Jim some things he wants to share!

Masters Degree in Chemistry.

Content

Out of college worked at a tech company 1st job. Learned C++.

Left due to getting a bad manager. Others working for other managers are still there, 20 years later.

Moved into FinTech, continued developing C++, spent time in Hong Kong.

Then to Bermuda (due to air pollution in H.K.), next move was easier. Left due to another bad boss.

Pivoted to C# to build mobile apps, left FinTech due to toxicity of 'money is everything' environment. Became a Xamarin MVP.

Next job was mobile dev in New Zealand - telematics and driver safety tech.

Wrote the book "Xamarin in Action".

Organized Meetups.

Employed by MSFT to do the work he was doing as a hobby -- with pay! The community involvement helped him get his job.

Takeaways

Smaller companies will require multiple hats wearers.

You must check out management and determine if there is a high turnover or other acidic issues:

Who is the manager you will be reporting to?
What about the manager above them?
If I am the manager and my people start leaving, I am not doing a good job.

Tech jobs are everywhere in the world!

Travelling and working in other countries will exand your thinking, feed creativity, and a different view on diversity and inclusivity.

Get pushed out of your comfort zone to get used to it, and get better handling them.

Burnout is read and self care is vital:

Take care of yourself else ruin your health.
Family and friends will also pay a toll.
Burn-out comes very quickly when self-care is not happening.
Burn-out will come quicker still when in a toxic environment.
Battle burn-out by giving!

Tech is constantly changing:

You must be ready to change with it!
Not always your choice, sometimes up to your employer or business.
Learn how to learn and keep it going to keep up with the tech stack.

Beware of money-money-money orientated jobs:

If money is everything, then nothing else matters.
This can lead to a very toxic environment.
Beware getting pulled into these toxic behaviors!

Culture is more important than money:

Culture eats money for breakfast.
Tech will pay good money.
If the culture is bad, is the money worth it?
If the culture is good, will the earnings matter as much?
Cross-reference any self-proclaimed great-culture pronounciations with profiles of people that work(ed) there (e.g. LinkedIn).

How to stand out in the field?

Write blog posts.
Schedule talks on what you are passionate about.
Contribute to OSS.
Make YouTube videos.
Include these contributions in your CV.

For first job:

You will need support! Big companies will have this.
Smaller companies: You will need to inquire about how to become productive rapidly: "What is my on-boarding experience?"

Reach out on LinkedIn:

It is okay to ask some of the employees via LinkedIn about the job.
Use local events and social media to discover company culture.

Learning a New Language:

In a stagnant role? Look into a new language as an option.
In a role where older tech is in use? Look into a new language as an option.
Excited about a technology? Start right away, find others that are passionate and knowledgable about it for support when you need it.

References

Ashley Willis (Google) has a seminar on self-care and burnout.

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