VP Eng | ILM Executive Coach | Neurodivergent | Chief Racoon Officer

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No-bullshit writing on techsweary, occasionally furious, always honest.

Thoughts on engineering management, burnout, neurodivergence, and working in tech without becoming someone you hate.

• Are human coaches irrelevant in the age of AI?

  No, the opposite actually. Here's why.

  June 10, 2026 |  coaching, personal-development

• Limiting Beliefs Kick Your Ass

  I'd put off raising my coaching rates for ages. When I looked at what was actually stopping me, it wasn't the market or the budgets. It was a goblin.

  June 04, 2026 |  personal-development, coaching

• We Can't Be Trusted With Microservices (And the AI Knows It)

  We took one app that worked and shattered it into forty that mostly don't. A spicy tech poem about microservices, hype, and the AI that asked us why.

  June 02, 2026 |  programming, spicy, fun

• Great News, EMs: We Can All Go Back to Coding!

  AI is giving orgs a free pass to push managers back into code. Just because EMs can code now doesn't mean they should. Here's what it quietly costs you.

  May 29, 2026 |  new-manager, management, programming, spicy

• Haiku: The EM Who Went Full IC

  An engineering manager who codes more than they lead doesn't stay a manager for long. A haiku about the team that quietly disappears.

  May 27, 2026 |  new-manager, management, haiku, fun

• Haiku: Another Reorg

  We rename the same sadness with some new team names. A haiku for everyone who has survived one reorg too many.

  May 13, 2026 |  haiku, fun, spicy

• This Is What Your AI Hiring Tool Thinks a Tech Leader Looks Like

  99% of Fortune 500 companies screen candidates with AI. The same tech that just told you women belong in QA is filtering your pipeline before a human looks.

  May 03, 2026 |  hiring, diversity, spicy

• Running a Small Business Be Like

  You build something great, immediately assume it's terrible, and then one 5-star review threatens to become your entire personality.

  April 29, 2026 |  personal-development, coaching, fun

• Haiku: Groundbreaking Interview Tip

  A haiku for hump day. Groundbreaking interview advice for the new AI world.

  April 29, 2026 |  hiring, haiku, fun

• She Outworks Everyone. And She'll Never Ask For A Raise.

  An AI employee advert promised a woman who never gets sick, never complains and never asks for a raise. That is not innovation. That is not okay.

  April 14, 2026 |  diversity, leadership

• 996 Is Not The Future

  Some tech leaders are celebrating 9am to 9pm, six days a week. Some tech leaders are full of bullshit.

  April 07, 2026 |  leadership, self-care, spicy

• Be The Kind One

  AI is changing everything fast and it's noisy and sometimes frightening. But human kindness is the one thing we can't automate away.

  March 30, 2026 |  leadership, personal-development

• Have You Heard of AI-Washing?

  Much like my laundry, there's a ton of it and I'm already over it. Companies are using AI as a convenient cover story for cuts that were coming anyway — and 86% of the workers most at risk are women.

  March 28, 2026 |  diversity, leadership, spicy

• The Anthropic Report Doesn't Say What You Think It Does

  The latest Anthropic report does NOT say 75% of programmers will lose their jobs to AI. Here's what it actually says — and why the difference matters.

  March 16, 2026 |  programming, leadership, spicy

• Haiku: I Don't Read the Code

  A haiku about AI-assisted code review, for a certain kind of team.

  March 15, 2026 |  programming, personal-development, haiku, fun

• One More Qualification Won't Fix a Broken System

  It's not you. It was never you. LinkedIn's 2026 State of Women in Leadership report reveals the uncomfortable truth about why women aren't progressing — and it has nothing to do with qualifications.

  March 14, 2026 |  diversity, personal-development

• Don't Hand the Baby a Chainsaw

  Giving someone without engineering knowledge an AI agent doesn't make them an engineer. It makes them a baby with a dangerous power tool.

  March 03, 2026 |  programming, personal-development, spicy

• Haiku: Five Devs, Five Projects

  A haiku about what happens when you spread a team too thin.

  February 11, 2026 |  management, haiku, fun

• Timed LeetCode Interviews Are Incredible

  A completely sincere and not-at-all satirical appreciation of timed, locked-down LeetCode tech interviews and everything they optimise for.

  February 04, 2026 |  hiring, spicy

• If You Don't Rest, You'll Pay For It

  One of the most important things I've learned as a VP is that rest isn't optional — and the cost of ignoring it is higher than you think.

  January 06, 2026 |  leadership, self-care

• Devs Who Use AI Are Rated 9% Less Competent

  New research shows developers who use AI are perceived as less competent — and for women and older engineers, the bias is even worse. Here's what we can do about it.

  September 05, 2025 |  diversity, leadership, spicy

• Most One-To-Ones Suck

  Wanna know why?

  June 09, 2025 |  management

• What's A Coach Anyway?

  What coaching actually is, what it is not, and why you might want a coach when work has become a bit too much to untangle alone.

  February 27, 2025 |  coaching

• The Advent of Bad Management

  Help the Grinch get Christmas cancelled by validating Santa's bad management choices.

  December 02, 2024 |  management, advent, fun

• You're so great with people

  What might sound like a compliment can land in a painful way if you're not careful.

  November 21, 2024 |  new-manager, management

• Your architecture problem is a people problem.

  It's easy to blame systems for all your problems.

  November 19, 2024 |  management, spicy

• Stop sacking managers

  We gotta stop forcing engineers to do pastoral care and pretending management isn't an entire job.

  October 10, 2024 |  management, spicy

• Imposter Syndrome is A Verb

  You are not an imposter. Imposter Syndrome is being done to you.

  September 20, 2024 |  personal-development

• What does an EM do in a small team if they don't code?

  Clearly nothing at all right? ;)

  March 07, 2024 |  new-manager, leadership, spicy

• The Importance of Creative Rest

  AI art is my happy place. What's yours?

  February 10, 2024 |  self-care, leadership

• LGBTQ+ inclusion and profitability report

  A recent study by Open for Business has revealed that LGBTQ+ inclusion is linked to higher profitability. Here's a summary of the findings.

  February 01, 2024 |  diversity, leadership

• Atlassian Remote Work Report

  Atlassian have just published an excellent ‘1000 days of distributed work’ report. Here's a summary of the findings.

  January 30, 2024 |  remote-work, leadership

• The Unexpected Struggle to Slow Down

  Something I didn't expect after quitting my job was the monumental struggle to slow down.

  October 19, 2023 |  self-care, remote-work

• Energy Eggs

  It's important to remember that productivity and connectedness to others looks different to everyone.

  October 16, 2023 |  productivity, leadership, remote-work

• Remote Work is Safer Work

  The unspoken benefits of remote work for members under-represented groups

  September 22, 2023 |  remote-work, leadership

• What are you saying no to?

  There's power in unchecked boxes on your todo list.

  September 01, 2023 |  productivity, leadership

• Launch Alert! ‘Holy Shit I'm A Manager!™’ is now live!

  My new course to teach Engineering Managers everything they need to succeed in the role is now live! No corporate BS, just a ton of fun and a bunch of racoon art.

  August 15, 2023 |  new-manager, training, management, leadership

• Share Your Salary Ranges 2 - Salary Deflation

  Let's put to bed why using the current salary of a candidate is a terrible idea.

  May 10, 2023 |  hiring, spicy

• Share Your Salary Ranges 1 - Negotiation Bias

  Don't let this one limiting belief stop you from doing the right thing for underrepresented candidates.

  May 10, 2023 |  hiring, spicy

• Holidays Will Not Fix Your Work Burnout

  Sorry about that. But these actions will help instead.

  April 08, 2023 |  personal-development

• Introverted Leaders

  Never let anyone tell you introverts can't be leaders.

  April 01, 2023 |  leadership

• Continuous, Inescapeable Failure.

  When deciding how to react to failure and mishaps, be more Efren Reyes and keep on smiling your way to success.

  January 30, 2023 |  personal-development

• Go Time vs Go Slow Time

  How to avoid being the harbinger of chaos as an engineering manager and embrace the learning zone.

  June 27, 2022 |  personal-development, management

• How To Rock At One-To-Ones

  An exploration of the purpose, structure and outcome of one-to-ones to help you rock at them.

  June 07, 2022 |  new-manager, one-to-ones, management

• BRAVING Trust In A One-To-One

  A walk through Brené Brown's recipe for building trust, in the context of one-to-ones.

  June 06, 2022 |  new-manager, one-to-ones, management

• Radically Candid Programming

  Giving and being willing to receive constructive feedback and why it matters. A story about my experience with Radical Candor and how it changed my behaviour as a programmer.

  May 14, 2022 |  personal-development

• Managers Are Technical

  Does becoming a manager mean giving up your 'technical skills'?

  February 13, 2022 |  new-manager, management

• My Favourite Questions

  It's surprisingly hard to ask the right question, at the right time to the right person but when you get it right it unlocks doors and ways of thinking you didn't even know were possible. This is a list of my favourite questions.

  July 09, 2021 |  leadership, books

• Will I Belong Here?

  I'll share my view on how I look to answer this key question when I'm job hunting to help you increase the number of diverse and amazing applicants that apply for your positions.

  July 01, 2021 |  hiring

• Compassionate Hiring Checklist

  A quick reference checklist to help ensure your hiring process sets the candidates and your company up for success.

  June 11, 2021 |  hiring, management

• Pairing Isn't Staring: Five Perils of Pairing In Interviews

  Many technical hiring processes have a 'pairing' step, but many actually involves staring and not pairing! Let's look at five possible perils of interview pairing and how we can address them to set the candidate up for success.

  May 13, 2021 |  hiring

• Other companies tech hiring processes are costing YOU talent

  Are you sabotaging your recruitment efforts by using other companies' outdated 'elitist' processes? These practical tips will help you develop a 'compassionate hiring' ethos to attract diverse and impactful candidates.

  April 27, 2021 |  hiring, management

• 7 Nuggets from 'The Better Allies Approach to Hiring' Book

  April 26, 2021 |  hiring, books

• Self Sponsorship and Why It Matters

  Grow your career and sense of pride by owning your achievements and advocating for yourself, regardless of the environment.

  April 14, 2021 |  personal-development

• 5 Things I Learned from Humble Inquiry by Edgar Schein

  A summary of 5 things I learned about asking more, telling less and staying open, curious and humble in order to build better relationships and why it matters.

  April 13, 2021 |  management, books

• Tips for Learning to Touch Type

  Having learned to touch type in dvorak to reduce RSI over the last couple of years, I’d like to share some insights about what I learned on that journey.

  January 14, 2019 |  personal-development

• On Being an Imposter

  On feeling like you are not good enough and what to do about it.

  September 08, 2016 |  personal-development

• S.O.L.I.D For Human Beings

  A (hopefully) digestible explanation of the S.O.L.I.D principles from Object Orientated programming.

  August 30, 2016 |  programming