this winter rainfall
gently upon the rooftop
silence of the night
Blog
A Pet Peeve From Recruiters
It looks like the job market’s about to pick up. I’m getting gobs of messages from recruiters. (Most of them are temp agencies, but I still take as a good sign). But I’m getting lots of them like this one:
Am I interested? Well, should I be? There is NOTHING in this description that’s useful. NOTHING! Who? What? When? Where? Salary? I have nothing here that makes me think I should give my time to this, nor my data. Is it with a company I want to work with? Is the salary something I can work with? Is it an urgent temp position that can’t wait for 2 weeks notice?
Right now, I am open to an amazing opportunity, whether that’s pay-wise, work-wise, organization-wise. I have a job (properly, I have two) that I love and am not eager to change. I am not even close to desperate. You’ll need to do better than this.
Looking Forward: Career Thoughts
I’m a bit behind on my 2025 planning. This “bug” I’ve been fighting has sapped away SO much energy. As I’m FINALLY feeling my energy return (at least more of it) this week, I’m starting to map out what my career direction and focus looks like in 2025 and forward.
Quick summary: I spent the pandemic working on a degree in Information Systems with its main focus on Web Development. In a weird twist of fate, I finished it right as the tech sector meltdown was hitting hardest. Competing with 500k+ tech workers has made the transition challenging. But I did land an IT role. Currently, I work 1/2 time as an IT/Systems Analyst for the Edmonds Waterfront Center, and 1/2 as a “tech savvy” Administrative Assistant. I feel like I’m straddling both my past and my future. My vision of my future, though, is to move full-time into IT/Information Systems. And that’s the plan I’m building.
However, that’s not a narrow enough focus. Within this umbrella is a huge array of roles. Network administrator, help desk analyst, web developer, systems analyst, information security, and data analyst….and there’s plenty more! First world problems, a plethora of riches….you know.
Anyway, focus, right?
After looking over my notes, exploring all the projects I’ve worked on the past few years, reviewed the classes I’ve taken, exploring what I’ve found the most fulfilling, most valuable, and even what I thought was the most fun, I have pretty much narrowed things down to what I’ll call “data systems”.
I’ve worked with data in many settings, and have spend many hours with Excel. And I like this stuff! While studying for my ATA, I got to work with a LOT of database systems and tools. Besides extensive projects in Access, I got to do a lot of work with SQL. Not just MySQL, but also SQL Server, and even a few variants of Oracle. I find this stuff endlessly fascinating. And I see that “data” is a huge growth area in our economy. Between data analytics, data security, data warehouses, and data lakes, there’s a huge need for people who both understand these systems and structures, but also, well, enjoy it! My experience with data is pretty extensive as well. From budget tracking for my teams at both Starbucks and Microsoft, creating dashboards for real estate teams, and tracking projects and feasibility for construction companies, I’ve done a lot.
Looking towards the future, I want to dive deeper into key skills. First, Data Visualization. I have studied design and worked extensively with PowerPoint. Power BI and Tableau are a logical next step. Thus, I’ve started the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst course on Coursera. I also want to build my skills in Python/R and Statistics. Perhaps via the IBM Data Analyst Cert or Google’s Data Analytics Cert. I’ll evaluate that as I move forward.
As I was cementing my data plan, a YouTuber that I value, Network Chuck, posted a video with a “Hacker” career roadmap (really, network engineering/cybersecurity). It sounded so cool! But, as much as it sounds awesome, I need to accept I’ve made my roadmap and need to move forward with it.
I recognize the place of privilege I’m in, where I have all these options that I struggle to choose amongst. For that, I’m grateful.
So, I know some of you have experience in this area. I’d love your thoughts on my framework/vision (I’m still turning it into a plan). And if you have any advice, I’d deeply appreciate your thoughts.
Music via YouTube
I like to listen to Trip Hop while I’m working. Today this one popped into my feed:
What first caught my attention was that this DJ was streaming from her kitchen, which is pretty cool. Oh, and I’m very jealous of this kitchen! But then I noticed this:
A stuffed llama! I thought “That’s so cool”. And, sure, that marks me as one type of nerd. But it gets better! I then think “LLama”…Large Language Ama”. Hmmm….now if I ever build an AI platform, I’m going to call it “LL Llama”. Sounds like a stutter.
Ok, I’ve flung enough dad jokes your way. Do you like to listen to a certain type of music while you’re working? What sort?
Today’s Haiku: January 26, 2025
sunlight in the cold
bitter frost upon the grass
the grace of my coat
It’s been a cold couple of days here on the PNW. Looks like it’s been quite cold (brutal?) throughout a lot of the US. I’ve had the additional annoyance of fighting a nasty and belligerent cold. The remaining symptom: coughing. I’ve had to reschedule one dentist appointment, and that looks like it’ll become two. Sigh…
I hope 2025 has been kinder to you.
Tonight’s Haiku: January
winter moves forward
cold air underneath the clouds
this infectious gloom
Some Thoughts On TikTok
The Law of Unintended Consequences again applies as the US Government is preparing to ban TikTok for data privacy and security concerns. I expect the expectation was for all those TikTok folks to just bop over to Instagram, Facebook, Threads, or X, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. At least, it’s not as simple as that. It looks like many Tiktokers are migrating to “RedNote”, the Chinese answer to TikTok. So now we’re playing a game of whack-a-mole. Fun.
As wiser people than me have pointed out, a TikTok ban will not do much of anything in terms of security and data privacy (here’s a good piece on that). These sorts of things happen when legislation is crafted by people who don’t understand the technology they’re trying to regulate. Anyway, I understand there’s the possibility that the Supreme Court will weigh in on this, so I guess there is a slight possibility that this ban be halted, but I’m not holding my breath. So, it’ll be interesting to see how the policy implications shake out. I doubt anyone has a solid grasp on how this will ripple out.
With this, I know some folks whose businesses are highly dependent on TikTok who are scrambling to work their way through this. As I’ve written before, you should NOT set your business up highly dependent upon a single platform you can’t control, or have little to no influence with. I always recommend driving people to a website that you are in control of, and then having them sign up for a newsletter. Email lists are very portable, as are website signups. If you can email even 70% of your followers, something like a TikTok ban becomes less life-threatening to your business. Keeping the risks your business faces in mind is crucial for sustainability.
2025 is shaping up to be a very dynamic year for business in the digital realm.
Mind-Full vs Mindful
Found this gem on Pinterest today:
I expect that, in today’s culture in the US, this is an easy post to connect with. Well, at least I do! There’s always so much bumping around in my mind. For several years I practiced focused mediation, and I got more aligned with the horse here. I still work on that, but not with as much dedication.
I’ve found that I miss out on so much when lost in the flurry of modern life. Which makes me think of the classic Thoreau quote: “…I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
So, take a reminder early in the year to budget time to step out of the busyness of life and, well, just embrace living.
Making the Internet Personal Again
I’ve been on the web for years. I started this blog back in 2005, though before that I messed around with hand-coded sites. Reading Justin Cox’s post from early 2025, “Let’s Make The Internet Personal Again” reminded me of those days. The internet was a quirky place, with sites ranging from the cerebral to the downright weird, ie: Dancing Hamster.
In his post, Mr. Cox writes about Lost and its impact on the blogosphere. Though I didn’t get into Lost, I did have my sets of interests and found my own focused sites.
On a 2023 post, “The End of Centralized Platforms is Over“, he states:
You put the distribution into the hands of a company without your interest in mind.Â
I deeply agree with this point. Build your own site, build your own community. Even in the heyday of the platformed web, I promoted the notion of using social media sites to drive people towards YOUR site. Don’t let a third party control your community! I can point to Twitter and YouTube, amongst others, who seemingly capriciously de-platforming people, people who depended on that community for a living. They were left in professional limbo. A benefit of pointing people to your website, to your email list is that if you’re kicked off a platform, or that platform fails/goes out of business, your community can still find you, can still maintain that connection.
Personally, I’m going through a minor struggle. Should I hand-code my main site (like this page of mine), should I focus on THIS site (which is WordPress)? Or some other option (Joomla?)
What are your thoughts? Do you focus on a single platform? Do you maintain a website/blog? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Today’s Haiku: January 3, 2024
within winter's depths
and sunlight's power reduced
life resists the gloom