Posts Tagged work
Mushrooms at Work
I saw these mushrooms in my plant at work yesterday. Let’s see what becomes of them…
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Hmmm… not very interesting, oh well.
If architects were web developers
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on June 30th, 2007
Via Stephen and www.ilovecode.com
If architects were web developers
–Author unknown
Dear Mr. Architect:
Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.
Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don
ISO: software people
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on June 29th, 2007
If anyone is looking for a software job or knows people who are, please let me know. MentorMate is looking to hire a project manager immediately. Experience is not necessary, although it is preferred. What is necessary is a strong ability to learn on the job, self-motivation, and attention to detail.
Longest… commute… ever…
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on June 6th, 2007
Well, it’s official… I now live in Minneapolis and work in Boston (technically Worcester). I have the longest commute ever - 1,124 miles! I fly out Mondays or Tuesdays and back Thursdays or Fridays, giving me two weekdays at home and three in Massachusetts. At least it seems I will be making a ton of money - no living expenses while I’m away, and I managed to negotiate myself a 42% raise for the hours I work out of town. W00t!
Hopefully it will only be a weekly thing for another month. I don’t know if I could to stand it long-term.
Oi!
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on May 29th, 2007
Sigh… off to Boston for a third time in as many weeks. Living out of a hotel gets old quick. At least I’m only gone two days this time.
Trip to Boston
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on May 12th, 2007
I’m back from Boston - my first business trip. Bjorn and I left Wednesday night, worked at [client name redax0red] Thursday and Friday, and flew back last night (Friday). The views from their office were amazing! They’re on the 14th floor and the exterior walls are glass from floor to ceiling. Actually, most of the interior walls are glass too. It’s was really neat being able to see into everyone’s office.
Sweet, this beats legos!
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on April 26th, 2007
Today my boss - my software company boss - called me into his office to tell me that we’ve acquired a medical device patent, and he wants me to build a prototype. That is, find an intern, find whatever technical resources we need to fill the gaps in our knowledge, acquire the tools and technology, and then manage the project. On one hand this is so amazingly awesome - this is exactly the sort of thing I want to do when I’m finally through with school. On the other hand, it’s a huge amount of responsibility, and there are so many unknowns it’s not even funny. This could be really, really good, though. I’m so looking forward to it =D
If you know anyone who might be interested in helping out, please let them know. Here’s the information:
MentorMate, Inc. recently acquired a medical device patent and is looking for one or two people who are interested in developing a prototype. We
So you say your name is “Bill”
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on April 2nd, 2007
I don’t think I can take any more phony corporate BS. I just got off a customer service call with a rep in India. I really can’t stand all this “please sir, thank you sir” stuff, and what I really can’t stand is when they ask how my day is going. Do the corporate overlings really think having their people query my emotional state will make me more pleased with my phone experience?
And the fact that he asked, “did you have a good day” at 9:15am completely gives away that he isn’t anywhere near my time zone, even though his employer has attempted to conceal this fact by changing his name to “Bill”. I think that’s what bugs me the most. First, they make the poor guy pretend he’s interested in my day, and then on top of it he has to use a fake name because his real one might creep me our or something. Honestly, the only thing I really care about was being able to understand him, and frankly, his English was better than that of most high school seniors here in the US.
There’s a dog in the office!
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on February 2nd, 2007
My boss Bjorn brought his dog to the office today. Much fun was had 
I love competent, motivated people
Posted by Jacob in Imported from LJ on February 1st, 2007
I wish competence and motivation could be easily taught. For the past month and a half I’ve been working on a new software project with one of our junior developers, and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed. He takes charge of the tasks given to him, investigates what he can on his own, asks the right questions if there’s something he’s not sure about, and thus far hasn’t made any mistakes.
I wish I knew how to get everyone else to do that too. Anybody know how to get someone to really care about what they’re doing to the point where they