essays
How To Ask For A Raise
I got a 48% raise this year. I didn’t threaten to quit. I didn’t get competing offers. Even with inflation at 17%. I thought you had to do both, but luckily I saw this LinkedIn post from Louie Bacaj in Feb 2022 - during Performance Reviews. Let me
Brag Doc: Why and How?
I started keeping a Brag Doc at work in Aug 2018. I learned about them from Julia Evans on Twitter. The premise is simple. You’re already doing awesome work, therefore, you should get recognized for it. Since I started, I’ve been promoted every year - except for 1.
Close to the Money
You know the value of your code. Your boss does not. One app my old team built made 90% of the company's revenue. The code was so terrible it took 45 minutes to compile. Even though the app was slow and clunky we still got paid. 10% raises just for
Patch Your Pipelines
I have 615 restaurants marked “Want To Go” on my Google Maps in New York City. Why? Because when I'm out and about and I'm hungry, it’s decision-time, not research time. Choose a Restaurant From The Map The average Yelper is not evaluating food in the same way that
Top 3 Overrated Pizza Spots in NYC (and Where You Should Go Instead)
Eating pizza in New York City is high stakes. You're here for two days. You want to do a million things. The last thing you want to do is wait two hours in line for mediocre pizza. Fortunately, you can have pizza bliss. Here are the three most overrated pizza
Employee Manager Fit
The quality of your work matters much less than who your manager is. I’ve had an “exceeded expectations” rating and been laid off shortly thereafter - twice. To prevent this from happening again, I’ve developed a framework to categorize my manager so that I can maximize the return
80% of your job is your manager liking you
I've had seven different jobs with ten different managers in my career. If a manager doesn't like you, It doesn't matter how good your work is. Whether you get a promotion, a raise, that new project, or laid off - only your manager decides. Your manager is a human. Humans
What's A Pie Grower?
A pie grower is an individual with a growth mindset. The pie is the gap between what exists and what could be. Growing pie is by far the most direct way to grow your career. By growing the pie, you create an irrefutable ledger of transitive success. Let me explain…
