workingmominit

[workingmominit]

Reading Notes, Takeaway & Self Reflection - Remote by Jason Fried

Another book of Jason Fried. Very easy and quick read - https://basecamp.com/books/remote

1. Read the summary when you don’t have time I did not read the whole book, but instead borrowed the “summary” using my town library card on Hoopla. It’s always a great way for me as a busy mom to quickly get some relaxing down time along with some learning to make it double valuable.

2. No Health, No Work. PERIOD! These two insights attached really hit me! During the pandemic and crazy project time, I was glued to my chair and desk. Ordered Uber Eats for lunch and ate the whole combo in 10 minutes at the computer. I ended up in ER twice. Was in pain like I was in labour. I missed more work instead of achieving what I planned to. What’s the point?!

3. Routine Like the insights suggested, I found myself much more productive. That also means sometimes I have to protect it by leaving an overrun meeting or stopping my thinking process or declining a last minute meeting invite. My decreasing health left me no choice to commit 3 times a week during lunch hour for a workout. I no longer feel guilty of this because I am a better me for the people around me. My family deserves a better me enjoying life together and my work team deserves a calmer and more effective me! Find a work buddy to keep each other accountable.

4. I’ve got this! You’ve got this too! During this process, I am amazed how resilient we all are. We adapt and now we all come out stronger! I am sure there will be more challenges coming our way, but with the right mindset we learned during this time, I know we will be ready!

[workingmominit]

I learn a new programming language, Scratch, designed for children

As a busy working mom, I am always exhausted at the end of the day after work, family time, and endless chores. I never got through my learning path in Udemy. My ML course with Professor Andrew Ng on Coursera was sitting there for years, not finished. Studying after work is very challenging. However, that doesn’t mean I am not learning. I am still able to learn good useful little things here and there. Life experience never stops. Thanks to my dear little one, she helped me learn a few things in Scratch, a programming language designed for children. Well, I’d say it’s for all ages who are interested in coding for fun. Yes, it’s so much fun for me too as an adult with grey hair.

This is how it started. I was on leave one Friday for self care. I didn’t want to do anything on the screen. Coffee, books, gym and a nap are the only things on my agenda. But things didn’t go as planned. LO woke up with sore throat. Since she wasn’t able to go anywhere, she asked me if we can code tic-tac-toe together in Scratch. The journey started… The experience was quite interesting and amazing. Here are some highlights:

Pair Programming, team work makes the dream work - We first worked together on the paper. We would agree on the high level plan to tackle a particular problem. I knew nothing about Scratch. She knows how to use Scratch but not much of computer science or some math concepts. We became the perfect pair programming partners helping each other. #XP for the win!

QA is your best friend - The sequence usually went like this. I wrote a piece of code, she helped test. She followed my pattern/logic extending to the second player then we tested it together. We ensure we got all the possible test scenarios covered and the program worked as expected. There were actually quite a few bugs we discovered because we didn’t think of a few scenarios. Never ever ask a technology team to skip testing when asking for an urgent feature. NEVER, please!

Just like Lego - I find Scratch programming is fascinating because it works just like lego You don’t have to worry about syntax. You put things together if it fits. Boolean are in one shape that fits in the conditional statement. It makes the concept so easy to grasp for users.

Master Pub/Sub Pattern - In Scratch, each character/object is called a “sprite”. Each sprite is independent and you cannot access another sprite. For example, if I have a sprite “submit button”, when clicked, I’d like to make another sprite “Done Label” to appear. Submit button sprite will not be able to gain access to control Done label sprite. Unlike JavaScript or Java, the only way to achieve in Scratch is though pub/sub by broadcasting and listening to a message. Now when I am at work dealing with pub/sub in the angular app or API’s asynchronous service-to-service communication, it puts a big smile on my face knowing how Scratch embraces this pattern and makes an impact in the younger generation.

[workingmominit]

Pandemic Burnout Recovery Journey

There are literally a million things I can blame as root causes of my burnout, but what’s the point? To recover, I did self-care, vacation, meditation, exercises…etc. Nothing really worked. I was fine for a few days and felt the same depleted right after.

I soon realize self care won’t cure my burn-out unless it’s executed consistently. If work/chores keep adding on to the to-do list, then self-care must keep adding on to the daily routine just like how work comes in. Here are some highlights of my journey…

Manage fear: A big part of my burnout is caused by fear. Fear that I’d disappoint my team, my family. Fear that my performance review isn’t good. I learn to manage my fear with mindfulness. I also have a social worker to keep me on track. If you have extended health coverage, use it and keep using it. I also carefully observe how my family and teammates manage their fear. It gives more perspectives, and it reminds me of compassion to self and to the people around me. Lastly, I work on this I-do-my-bestest-and-then-it-is-what-it-is attitude. God will not give me what I cannot bear.

Manage health: My health was falling apart. I went to ER twice during pandemic. I not only need to start exercising but also I have to “keep” exercising. After some trial and error, I found a local micro gym. All I need to do is to show up, then a coach will guide me through the work-out in a group setting. As a mom, I do not wish to sacrifice my family time after work to go to gym. I cannot force myself to wake up at 5am either to go before work. The only time which works for me is lunch break at work. Unless it’s life-and-death business emergency, I force myself to stop my task or even the conference call and leave the house. It’s the most difficult 30-second task to do, let me tell you. But if I want to live healthy and not burden my family, this is the critical 30-second. Only 30 seconds, I can do it, I tell myself.

Work boundary: Since lockdown, work has had no boundaries. It first creeped into my life, then worst of all, it creeped into my mind. My brain cannot stop thinking about work, the to-do list, the code, the 1-on-1, the production release. I very often dream about work ideas in my sleep. Even if I clearly set the boundary, my mind wouldn’t stop. This basically tells me I need more time. Turn off everything work related, turn off all the notifications on the phone, find all the distractions I can to steer away from work after work even though things aren’t finished. I can’t expect my mind to be clear all of a sudden magically, but the discipline I commit to eventually will heal me making me more productive both at home and at work.

It’s a two-year pandemic that leads to my burn-out. I may need two years to heal, who knows?! All I care is I am positive that I will win this journey. I got this!

[workingmominit]

My Reading Note - Rework

What?! It’s a 10+ year old book… I have two books in my digital library for a very long time. The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. The 4-Hour Work Week appears before Rework. So naturally I picked The 4-Hour Work Week. Sadly, I never finished. I wasted so much time trying again and again, but Tim Ferris’ values just don’t align with mine. I decided to move on. Then I opened the first page of Rework and couldn’t stop reading.

Rework is not just for entrepreneurs. I can reflect on many of good insights to my job as an employee and also at home.

“You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.” Such a powerful quote teaches me:

Rethink my risk mitigation plan in large projects from a different perspective in my corporate job

Support my family to pursue their passion

Consider an exciting job offer and process it logically to guide my decision

If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it. Even the Summary & Analysis version is worth it.

[workingmominit]

Better Late Than Never

I remembered saying I’d like to start a blog as my mid-term personal goal in couple job interviews. Yet I just got so many excuses. Until recently, I stepped out of my comfort zone by accepting a role in a start-up. Mixed feelings about the upcoming roller coaster ride, I think it’s time to pick up this blogging initiative.

Late, but better late than never!

I look forward to sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of being a working mom in IT, passionately seeking the secret recipe of having the best life-long job, a mother, thrive me in my second job, my career.