Human router. Bestselling author of DevOps for Dummies. I’ve led community, DevRel and product marketing at AWS, MSFT, and startups.
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✨It was such a pleasure to speak on how I believe GenAI and AIOps will impact developers over the coming years.
Many thanks to Lee, Victor, Will, and the teams at Ars Technica and MongoDB!
➡️ arstechnica.com/video/watch/…
ALT Emily speaking with Ars Technica and Condé Nast on GenAI and AIOps.
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It’s my birthday. I’m 37 and I have some things I’d like to share, in no particular order.
1. No one thinks about you more than you do. That thing from two years ago that keeps you up at night? No one else remembers. Honor the memory and let it go.
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Is the reason we all have to go back to offices because not doing so would initiate a commercial real estate collapse?
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My “For you” is like 80 percent right-wing propaganda. There isn’t an algorithm on the planet that would serve me that content unless someone had their finger on the scale.
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2. Have fun. Every day. I’ve had enough friends pass away too young to know that nothing is promised. Enjoy the moment.
3. Tell people you love them. Often. Even if you feel awkward. Your love is worth sharing.
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Python has surpassed JavaScript as the No. 1 language on GitHub. #githubuniverse
ALT Thomas Dohmke speaking at GitHub Universe.
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5. Fucking go for it. Whatever it is. Just try. Maybe you make it. Maybe you don’t. The result isn’t the point.
Your journey, your growth, is the important bit. Don’t let anyone convince you shouldn’t try. Their fear is theirs, it’s not yours to carry.
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4. You’re enough. I don’t care what your parents told you. Or your teachers. Or anyone else.
You. Are. Enough.
You are worthy. And you deserve love.
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6. Some people are gonna hate you. And a lot of folks aren’t gonna like you. The brighter you shine, the more shadows you cast. Let their hate be your fuel. You’ve got shit to do.
7. Floss. Seriously, floss.
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Three of my male colleagues are pulling out of two conferences after finding out they’re on all white guy panels.
That. Is. How. It’s. Done. ❤️
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9. Try things you suck at. It unlocks different parts of your brain. It humbles you. It eliminates perfectionism. Take pottery lessons. Or dancing. Be the worst in the class. And learn not to care.
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8. Investing in yourself is always the best choice. Bet on yourself. Get that extra education. Switch careers. Learn a new thing. Write the book. Your future depends on you continuing to learn and grow.
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20: “I sleep on a futon.”
25: “These are Egyptian cotton.”
30: “I spent $100 on a pillow.”
35: “Listen, I need a specialty neck pillow, a body pillow, a weighted blanket, a mouth guard, a fan, a noise machine, ear plugs, and 20mg of melatonin to get 3 hours of sleep.”
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10. Your skin is important. Wear sunscreen. Moisturize. Take care of it.
11. There is no right age to have kids. If you want kids, have them. It’s gonna be a shitshow no matter what you do. You’ll figure it out as you go. If you don’t want kids, I love you too.
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13. No one’s gonna give you the raise. Or the promotion. Or the new job. It’s always gonna be a fight. So fucking fight.
14. Your body is one of the most glorious things on earth. Every wrinkle and mark and scar and jiggle is a story. And you know how much I love stories.
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15. Read. And expose yourself to ideas that challenge you, even ones that make you angry.
16. No one’s got it figured out. Everyone is bumbling through life. It’s just some people are better at making bumbling look put together.
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12. Parenting is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And it’s totally worth it. The foundation of parenting is loving them, accepting them, protecting them, and showing the fuck up.
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36. Weaponizing sophistication makes you look small. Using big words to make others feel stupid makes you an asshole.
37. You are magnificent. And utterly unique. Step into your power. The power that lives deep inside your soul.
Release your fear and go!
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17. Bring others with you. Wherever you’re going. You need their perspective. And it’s more fun anyway.
18. Walk. Our bodies are great at it. And you’ll feel better.
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19. Don’t over pluck your eyebrows.
20. Learn to cook. And season your food. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder are the bare minimum. Paprika, parsley, lemon — there’s endless choices! Be adventurous. White food is sad food.
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You know, when people hire artists, they look at their portfolio.
They don’t hand them a canvas, some watercolors and make them paint in front of an audience.
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25. Friendships come and go. Releasing a friendship doesn’t mean it didn’t matter. It just means it no longer serves you.
26. Your body likes vegetables. Eat them occasionally.
27. Drink some water.
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28. Shame is a weapon others use to control you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Set yourself free.
29. You’ll never regret saying nothing in a heated moment.
30. If you’re ever arrested, shut the fuck up. Get a lawyer.
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If you’re employed in tech right now, you should be tipping EXTREMELY well to everyone delivering takeout, bringing you groceries, cutting your hair, cleaning your house, etc. We’re in a very tenuous time and service workers need all the support you can give.
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21. Stand in grass (or sand, or dirt) barefoot. It feeds your soul. Don’t stand in poison Ivy. That itches.
22. Save money. Don’t chase the spending habits of others.
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23. Take vacations. Spend the money to treat yourself. Go somewhere new. Take people with you. Enjoy yourself. Make memories. Take photos. Make photo books.
24. Be wary of hype. It comes and goes quickly.
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Her: “I want a hug.”
Me: *hug*
Her: “A carry hug.”
Me: “That’s what we call scope creep.”
Her: “I would like a scope creep.”
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33. Don’t start fights you can’t finish.
34. Never ever ever prioritize someone else’s comfort over your safety. Scream. Yell. Make a scene.
35. Tip generously. Say thank you. Chew with your mouth closed.
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31. There’s no shame in being fired. Or let go. The most successful people take risks. Sometimes that means getting fired. Keep taking risks.
32. Sunshine is important. Let the sun dance on your face. You have sunscreen on, remember?
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Don’t do this. It’s gross.
Highlights:
• “Well, OK, since when do such hot women work in tech...”
• “I found the content wasn’t too bad either.”
• “I would like to take you out.”
🙄🤢🤮
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At some point we're going to have to talk about the fact that the most successful people at anything work nights and weekends, at least occasionally.
It doesn't mean they work all the time. Or never take off a Tuesday. And it doesn't mean it's fair or equitable. But it's true.
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I know a ton of Ruby devs who named their kid Ruby but not a single JavaScript engineer with a kid named DOM.
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Nothing like a big tech conference to remind you what men in tech think about the rest of us.
Them: “You’re in client services?”
Me: “Not exactly.”
Other them: “You don’t seem that technical.”
Me: “I wrote the whole damn session.”
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I was 28 when I wrote my first line of code. I pumped in an electrical closet while at code school to feed my six-month-old.
You can kick ass at any age.
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I like when people are like, “We get paid more because it’s hard.”
No, roofing in the middle of summer is hard.
We get paid more because our services aren’t yet commoditized.
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Anxiety is a background process that occasionally eats 100 percent of your CPU.
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Getting an earful from a London taxi driver on how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did the Brits wrong.
I don’t care. America has a princess now. She’s beautiful and wonderful. You can’t change my mind.
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HOLY SHIT, Y’ALL!
My book is the No. 1 New Release for Software on Amazon.
Many thanks to @mattr_ for delivering me this happy news.
I’m blown away. And it’s all because you all believed in me. I’m so happy right now.
❤️❤️❤️
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Why did we stop napping after kindergarten? What a terrible lapse in societal judgment.
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I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Microsoft for hiring the single greatest group of humans I’ll most likely ever work with and then making it impossible for us to stay.
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I will die on the hill that RTO hurts families with young children the most — and mothers above all when mom is still the default caregiver.
Don’t make people choose between their kids and their careers.
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I’m super disappointed to see leaders in this industry — who have made shit tons of money off the backs of developers — use the current economy as an opportunity to make public statements about how we don’t work hard enough, aren’t talented enough, and don’t deserve jobs.
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I lost someone beautiful from my life. Someone who mattered to me. And so many others.
@biglovisa was killed in a hit and run accident yesterday in SF.
She was smart, kind, sweet and stunningly beautiful.
I met her at code school. I’m devasted. And I’ll miss her desperately.
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I think I can confidently say that the entire tech community stands with the Twitter engineers — all of them.
We love you. None of this is your fault. We’re going to get you settled somewhere else. It’s going to be OK. ❤️
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✨Some personal news...
After two and a half years, it’s time for a reboot.
Stay tuned for more updates...
ALT I’m leaving Microsoft.
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We’re over a decade in and I still don’t know what to do with this.
ALT Apple’s UI for end and accept, send to voicemail, or hold and accept when someone calls during another phone call. It’s awful.
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Underrated tweet.
Don’t.
Make.
People.
Implement.
Binary.
Search.
Trees.
For.
Web.
Dev.
Jobs.
We have libraries for that.
Nurses interviewing for a job first are asked to draw the molecular structure of various medications, then usually they’ll have them start an IV but require that it isn’t done on the arms or legs. Lastly, they usually wrap up with brain surgery.
None of this is true, I’m told.
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PRO TIP: When you’re having a shit day, it’s 1000x more efficient to tell people you’re having a rough go and step away than it is to snap at a bunch of people out of nowhere and then have to go mend a bunch of relationships.
We all have bad days.
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1/ There is a HUGE difference between working extra hours for a PERSONAL goal or win and doing so for someone else’s monetary gain.
I have worked ridiculous hours once in my life, when I was writing DevOps for Dummies, because I knew that would create new opportunities for me…
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Growing up poor makes for irrational behavior. I’ll buy myself an expensive bag the same day I duct tape a broken deodorant lid to avoid paying $3.
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THIS! I sat in on an interview with a brilliant engineer. English was his third language.
Other guy: “He seemed slow to respond like he struggled with his words.”
Me: “Do you speak three fucking languages?!”
Speaking slow and thinking slow are two entirely different things.
Please be patient with non-native language speakers. The fact that they’re even trying to speak your language takes courage. Respect them.
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I’m looking forward to the upcoming children’s book “The Little Excavator That Could.”
ALT Long reach excavator trying to dig the Evergiven out of the ever side of the Suez Canal.
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My friend has never seen the first Top Gun and asked for an explainer. How’d I do? 🤣
ALT Hot guy in fighter pilot class mouths off to woman instructor. Takes too many risks in the air to prove he’s hot. Kills his friend. Sulks. Instructor puts him back together because in the 80s we still believed women were responsible for men’s feelings. Hot sex scene set to 80s music. Probably Kenny G was involved. Hot guy still hot and reckless but perhaps a millimeter more aware of other people’s existence because that’s all we expect from hot guys.
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I now, as a woman in tech, have to not only prove that I’m technical BUT ALSO that I actually exist.
Awesome.
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I’m closing my DMs. The messages are getting increasingly weird because some men don’t understand boundaries.
If you’re part of a marginalized or underrepresented group, we’ll figure out how to get in touch. I will always make time for you. ❤️
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Has any human in the history of the world wanted to paste and *not* match the style?!
Why is paste and create 14 different fonts, sizes, and colors the default?? No professional email should have purple text.
Is this some kind of vast word processing social experiment?
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It’s very telling when tech companies choose not to post jobs in Colorado because we require the pay to be listed.
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At what point is it socially acceptable to drive to Starbucks in a robe?
Asking for me.
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Man, pointing to elevator: “After you.”
Me: “You gonna put on a mask?”
Man: “No.”
Me: “I’ll wait.”
Him: “I’m fully vaccinated.”
Me: “I don’t know you.”
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I used to be irritated by teams that would go from company to company together.
Now I get it. It’s priceless working with people who know all the pros, cons, and quirks of you. And who know how to make it safe for you to exist as your full self.
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We need to collectively agree on a term for small tech companies so we can stop calling 15-year-old businesses startups.
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Some folks are so concerned with looking smart that they lose all curiosity and miss opportunities to learn.
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I get a good chuckle when organizers ask for slides weeks before a conference. Like, unless it's an old talk, it's just not gonna happen. I can send you _something_ but there is zero guarantee it'll in any way resemble the final talk.
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I changed my Uber account to a man’s name a few months ago as an experiment.
I haven’t been harassed since.
If the driver asks about it, I say, “Oh… boyfriend.
*rolls eyes and smirks with a slight shoulder shrug*
“He’s super protective.”
It’s. Amazing.
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If anyone @Twitter wants a new role… we’re hiring.
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I wonder sometimes if the rampant burnout and anxiety we feel is because we don’t accept — nor truly believe — that thinking is work.
But it is. And thinking can happen anywhere. At the gym. In bed. On a walk. In a sauna. At lunch.
Ideas require quiet. Solutions too.
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Next time someone asks me how many books I read a year, I’m just going to look at them stone faced and say, “I have a child.”
I mean if we’re counting Peppa Pig, I’m have all y’all beat.
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Unpopular opinion: companies doing an about-face to focus only on AI while abandoning existing products will regret that decision.
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And my personal favorite of the week: “Let me explain microservices to you.”
Like, I wrote a book, sir. On kind of that.
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So HBO decided to make me download a new app instead of swapping out some logos? Am I understanding this correctly?
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Prediction: as soon as the job market opens up a bit we’re going to see churn like we’ve never seen before.
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There needs to be a “hire a man” service.
Only instead of anything sexual, I just pay a man to stand there while I buy a car, or go to the hardware store, or have a plumber come by the house.
You know, so other men don’t treat me like a helpless moron.
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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but take your vacation days.
No, you can’t really go anywhere.
Yes, it will be weird.
Yes, it will feel like a waste.
Do it anyway. Your future self will thank you n
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I would not be able to have the career I have and be an awesome (single) mom if I worked from an office. I live four minutes from my kid’s school. I take calls in car line. I step away to make dinner and finish things after.
Remote work isn’t for everyone but it is for me.
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I’m pretty proud of this. It represents roughly six months of my work and I’m hopeful that it will get the conversation started on what’s next for DevOps.
More to come!
flip.it/g7vdf2
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Why Women Leave Tech, Exhibit 6529:
ALT No male anywhere is a DA bc it’s a bs made up position to hire a girl. I’d like to know what her skills were at the time of hire not credentials. I’m sick of seeing jr. dev women being propped up while mid level men are ignored. Wtf
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A whole lot of engineers worked all weekend and deserve the week off.
Friendly reminder that you should give it to them.
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The man next to me on this flight is not only manspreading but took off his shoes AND HIS SOCKS.
There is no god.
ALT What the actual fuck is wrong with people
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"If computer science fundamentals are so important why do I only think about them during interviews?" @sarahmei
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We cannot have a discussion about the low birth rate without acknowledging that parents are left with almost zero resources and exorbitant childcare costs.
And we’re criticized for having to take time out of work to care for our kids. It is near impossible.
US fertility rate dropped to lowest in a century as births dipped in 2023 abc7.com/us-fertility-rate-d…
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He who smelt it dealt it.
In all seriousness, I’ve come to view suggested rewrites as a red flag. Especially when it comes to large legacy systems.
Isolated rewrites of specific services? Hell yes.
Complete rewrite? Lol.
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