It's the beginning of a new year, the traditional time to make New Year's resolutions. My resolution every year, even if I don't explicitly state it, is to try to be a better person.
Now, what "better person" means has evolved over time -- at least in the specifics. And over time, I've found pieces on the Internet written by much better writers than me that talk about how to be a better person in whatever specific they were writing about that had some good advice or observation.
This sort of writing has captured my interest more and more the older I get. It's going to culminate in a "what would you tell your 25-year-old self?" essay, no doubt, some time in the future (not any time soon, I hope). Consider this research for that essay.
First, a series of articles by David Brady from his blog, Heart, Mind, Code / Why Dave Why about loyalty in the workplace.
https://heartmindcode.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/loyalty-and-layoffs/
https://heartmindcode.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/loyalty-and-trust/
https://heartmindcode.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/loyalty-and-the-headsman/
https://heartmindcode.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/loyalty-and-daring/
Next, Kate Heddleston's excellent article on being a team player.
https://www.kateheddleston.com/blog/becoming-a-10x-developer
Talin's collection of essays, which I described to my colleagues as "old person knowledge", do a nice job covering the soft skills one picks up as a professional engineer (or pretty much professional anything-that-involves-working-in-a-company).
https://medium.com/machine-words/engineering-insights-15ed954bbcf7
And on being a better person in general, Brady Haran's conversation with Cliff Stoll on the Numberphile Podcast may bring a tear to your eye. Well worth the hour to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxdcBD4ppF0
I may re-post this entry occasionally as I add more links. It'll be much easier to find when I need it if it's near the top of the stack, and it'll help make this blog look like it actually contains something, now that Home Run reruns are complete.
