Learning (Lib)Tech

Learning (Lib)Tech
Stories from my Life as a Technologist
	Reflection: My third year at GitLab and becoming a non-manager leader
Wow, 3 years at GitLab. Since I left teaching, because almost all my jobs were contracts, I haven't been anywhere for more than 2 years, so I find it interesting that my longest term is not only post-librarian-positions, but at a startup!

Year 3 was full on pandemic year and it was a busy one. Due to the travel restrictions, I took less vacation than previous years, and I'll be trying to make up for that a little by taking this week off.
	UBC iSchool Career Talk Series: Journey from LibTech to Tech
The UBC iSchool reached out to me recently asking me to talk about my path from getting my library degree to ending up working in a tech company. Below is the script for my portion of the talk, along with a transcription of the questions I answered. Context To provide a bit of context (and … Continue reading "UBC iSchool Career Talk Series: Journey from LibTech to Tech"
	Choosing not to go into management (again)
Often, to move up and get a higher pay, you have to become a manager, but not everyone is suited to become a manager, and sometimes given the preference, it’s not what someone wants to do. Thankfully at GitLab, in every engineering team including Support, we have two tracks: technical (individual contributor), and management. Progression … Continue reading "Choosing not to go into management (again)"
	Prioritization in Support: Tickets, Slack, issues, and more
I mentioned in my GitLab reflection that prioritization has been quite different working in Support compared to other previous work I’ve done. In most of my previous work, I’ve had to take “desk shifts” but those are discreet where you’re focused on providing customer service during that period of time and you can focus on … Continue reading "Prioritization in Support: Tickets, Slack, issues, and more"
	Reflection Part 2: My second year at GitLab and on becoming Senior again
This reflection is a direct continuation of part 1 of my time at GitLab so far. If you haven’t, please read the first part before beginning this one. Becoming an Engineer (18 months) The more time I spent working in Support, the more I realized that the job was much more technical than I originally … Continue reading "Reflection Part 2: My second year at GitLab and on becoming Senior again"
	Reflection Part 1: My first year at GitLab and becoming Senior
About a year ago, I wrote a reflection on Summit and Contribute, our all staff events, and later that year, wrote a series of posts on the GitLab values and culture from my own perspective. There is a lot that I mention in the blog post series and I’ll try not to repeat myself (too … Continue reading "Reflection Part 1: My first year at GitLab and becoming Senior"
	Is blog reading dead?
There was a bit more context to the question, but a friend recently asked me: What you do think? Is Blogging dead? I think blogging the way it used to work is (mostly) dead. Back in the day, we had a bunch of blogs and people who subscribe to them via email and RSS feeds. … Continue reading "Is blog reading dead?"
	Working remotely at home as a remote worker during a pandemic
I’m glad that I still have a job, that my life isn’t wholly impacted by the pandemic we’re in, but to say that nothing is different just because I was already a remote worker would be wrong. The effect the pandemic is having on everyone around you has affects your life. It seems obvious to … Continue reading "Working remotely at home as a remote worker during a pandemic"
	Code4libBC Lightning Talk Notes: Day 2
Code4libBC Day 2 lightning talk notes! Code club for adults/seniors – Dethe Elza Richmond Public Library, Digital Services Technician started code clubs, about 2 years ago used to call code and coffee, chain event, got little attendance had code codes for kids, teens, so started one for adults and seniors for people who have done … Continue reading "Code4libBC Lightning Talk Notes: Day 2"
	Code4libBC Lightning Talk Notes: Day 1
Code4libBC Day 1 lightning talk notes! Scraping index pages and VuFind implementation – Louise Brittain Boisvert Systems Librarian at Legislative collection development policy: support legislators and staff, receive or collect publications, many of them digital but also some digitized (mostly PDF, but others) accessible via link in MARC record previously, would create an index page … Continue reading "Code4libBC Lightning Talk Notes: Day 1"