Steve Jobs: Love What You Do

It was early one morning when the company had a gathering in the conference room. We were shown a video, of Steve Jobs making a speech at Stanford College. Apparently this was meant to be an educational experience for the staff.

During the video, Jobs said this.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

No, I have no problem with what Jobs said, whatsoever. In fact, I concur.

What was interesting was when our Office Manager used that quote to illustrate her own behavior. She told us she loves what she does - and that's why she comes in early and leaves late. It's true - she does that, and I offer no argument to the contrary.

What did pose a problem, however, was that the entire exercise was meant to inspire staff to work harder and put in that extra mile. I'm afraid it could very well have been taken the wrong way.

Love what you do.
LOVE IT!

The staff seemed to be being fed the concept that loving what you do means spending more time in the office.

Dead wrong. On so many levels. But I'll address the most pertinent one - that you don't have to be in the office, or even part of your current company, in order to love what you do.

Yes, spending more time in the office can be a result of loving what you do. But loving what you do should never be confused with loyalty to the company. At some point in your career, your company and you are going to part ways. Bank on it. But you will remain who you are, what you are.

I am a web developer. I write scripts, code and test. I design layouts and systems. I set up databases.

I love what I do.

I love it so much that I leave the office on time whenever possible, so that I can continue honing my craft once I reach home.

I love it so much that the insane amount of competition flooding this little island has not deterred me one bit.

I love it so much that even though I could feasibly be making more money doing something else, this is what I want to do.

So much that most of my waking hours I spend doing just that, on my weekends and vacations. And I will continue to love it even if, one day, I no longer work for this fine company. Because I would be doing what I love somewhere else.

That is what it means to love what you do.

Much love,
T___T

Five Employer Bullshit Lines

Morning, long-suffering readers.

Have you ever felt like your employer was trying to pull wool over your eyes? Give you some textbook pep talk designed to put your nose even more firmly to the grindstone? Grease you up for some heinously degrading/difficult/thankless/all three task?

Well, wonder no more. In my years of web development, I've come across some real doozies. Even fallen for a few of them. Here, I'll list five of the stinkiest bullshit lines I've ever heard an employer utter.

1. The Post-probationary Bait

"We'll pay you this much first, and review your salary after you pass your probation."

Subtext: Bite, sucker. Bite hard!

This line has happened three times in my professional life. The first time, I laughed out loud and abruptly left the interview. The second time, I got laid off as soon as my probationary period was up. The third time, the employer actually increased my salary... by thirty-three dollars. Per month.

Such overwhelming generosity!!!

I've seen it happen to others too. Promises are easy to make, but somehow after you've made it through the months of your probationary period, getting a raise is like getting blood from a stone.

In short, anything that isn't written in your contract is just so much hot air. And if it is written in your contract, the probability of you getting fired after your probationary period just went up by 20%. No, when I apply for a job, I want my raise right away, and I want it to be worth the hassle of switching jobs in the first place.

2. The Dummy Promotion Carrot

"We're looking to promote. We need to evaluate your performances these coming months."

Subtext: We already know who we're going to promote, and it's not you. But what the hell, let's see how hungry you are.

This is when your employer has already decided who he's going to give that promotion to. The rest of you just aren't working hard enough for his liking. In his eyes, you'll never qualify for promotion - you're either not skilled enough, not pretty enough, not eager enough. But hey, you don't have to know that. A little bit of  motivation will go a long way, right?

This isn't for you, but you're
not supposed to know that.

The idea here is to dangle that carrot. You'll put in the performance of your life, and meet with certain disappointment. They'll imply that you simply weren't up to the mark, but the fact is, that carrot was never meant to be yours.

My humble opinion? Don't do it for a promotion. Give your best because it's who you are and what you do.

3. The Reverse Psychological Ploy

"You're probably not up to it, so no pressure."

Subtext: Prove yourself.

Good golly, I hate this one. Especially since I've been suckered by it time and again. I suspect the employer who used this on me, especially since he's a computer geek as well, knew how well it would work on me because it's worked on him before.

Basically, here the employer implies that this is such an awesomely difficult task that you might not be good enough. And if you fall for that one, you'll work extra hard just to prove otherwise.

Challenge accepted,
motherfucker.

Back in the day, I could never let this challenge to my huge developer's ego pass unaccepted. If the boss even hinted that something was too difficult for me, I absolutely had to prove him wrong. This led to very long workdays, slaving away on weekends and loads of intense effort. Fortunately, in the process, I leveled up.

Still a bullshit line, and one of the dirtiest tricks in the book.

4. The Burnt Bridge Gambit

"If you tender your resignation to your current company today, you can come over this evening and sign your appointment letter with us."

Subtext: We really hope you're dumb or desperate enough to swallow this one.

So you've gone for an interview. The boss seems to like what he sees, and he's prepared to make you an offer. All he needs you to do is sign the appointment letter. Of course, there's the small matter of tendering your resignation to your current company. Not a problem, right?

But then the boss throws a spanner in the works. He needs you over ASAP, so he's going to put the date of your appointment as exactly one month (or whatever your contractual notice period to your current company is) from today, not tomorrow. Which means you have to tender your resignation before going over to sign the appointment letter.

Don't burn your bridge before
signing.

This is a dick move, no doubt, but please tell me you're not actually stupid enough to do it. What if the terms and conditions in the contract are different from what you discussed earlier? What if the pay suddenly isn't as attractive, the job scope seems to have doubled and there are more strange clauses you weren't aware of earlier? You just burned the bridge behind you, dude.

5. The Butter-up

"I like you because..."

Subtext: The task I'm about to entrust to you is something even interns are too dignified to do.

Insert more bullshit after the "...".

I like you because you take responsibility for your actions. Like, whose actions should I take responsibility for, yours?

I like you because you see things through. Like I have a choice here?

I like you because I know you'll rise to the occasion. Kiss my ass. Oh hold up, you already are.

Christ Almighty. Just how trite can bosses get?

Fake and overdone praise.
Who needs it?

It's some shit job they need someone to do, and you just got arrowed. Fine. No need to sugarcoat it. What's that flattery supposed to accomplish, enthusiasm? Lame.

What a load of poo...

Phew! Even typing all this down makes me feel filthy. Some employers really don't understand subtlety, do they? If you're just such an employer, may I suggest you try something a little less insulting to the intelligence of your employees? Employees need a little encouragement now and then, sure. You want your subordinates to sweat for their measly wages, understandable. But if your lines stink like you pulled them freshly out of your arse, perhaps it's time to put a little sincerity into it.

Sincerity, like, y'know, a big fat bonus paycheck.

Yours excrementally,
T___T

Google's Logo Switcheroo

Holy pixellated pictograms, Batman! Google has changed their logo! Again!

Google: Before and after

If you're like me and a little slow on the uptake, you might have noticed the change now, when it actually took place two months ago. It's not that I never noticed; it's more that the change never fully registered in my mind until now. I mean, come on, this is Google. Ever so often, they change their home search page for shits and giggles, and sometimes, that involves changing the font and styling of the word "google". This felt like one of those changes.

Take a look at some of these. (Check out more at Google Doodles!)

And I'm suppose to blink when I encounter this?

That aside, check out Logopedia and you'll see that Google has changed its logo no less than five times since it burst on the scene in 1997. The last change took place in 2014 where the "l" in "google" was shifted by a few pixels. If nothing else, this tells you just how anal detail-oriented the branding team is. As they should well be - Google's brand is pretty damn strong and one of their main assets.

Google's been evolving since Day One. It's associated with change, in a constant state of flux; which is perhaps why it still feels fresh and perky despite having lasted more than a decade. Which is also why I saw the new logo two months ago and thought little of it. Hey, this is Google, right?

The Trend

Two other web companies that changed their logo these past few years - Microsoft and Yahoo!. It's worth noting because the changes, including Google's, reflect a trend. Note the transition from fancy lettering and kerning to simpler non-serif fonts. In Yahoo!'s case, the vertical alignment has also been altered to be less radical.

Yahoo!: Before and after

Microsoft: Before and after

All to what end? Well, you may have noticed that the changes seem to have been made to allow their logos to be better viewed on small screens, ie. mobile phones and tablets. Mobile devices have influenced yet another aspect of our lives. This is the new normal. Embrace it!

When will Google next change their logo? Hey, search me.
T___T

TeochewThunder: Year One (Part 2/2)

OK, so what goes into the blogging process? I think it would be clearer if I first started with aims.

On target?

My Aims

Simplicity. I want this to be a tech blog, but I want it to be a tech blog that can act as a bridge between the layperson and the techie. Therefore, I'm not going to spew long complicated jargon-y words just to sound clever. I may not always succeed in this, though.

Friendliness. No hostility. OK, not much, at any rate. This isn't one of those personal blogs where the blogger constantly goes off on a long rant on what's wrong with the people around him and how misunderstood he is. I want to keep things light-hearted. That doesn't always work, however. Some topics just aren't light.

Neutrality. Some topics are divisive. That's fine and dandy. But I generally try to avoid taking sides, not because I'm too much of a pussy to take a stand, but because I think being extreme helps no one. You pick a side, and you automatically develop a blind spot. And blind spots are bad for techies. Blog content suffers for it. But instead of taking neither side, I prefer to take both sides.

Constant quantity. A consistent stream of content. Something dependable. I'm actively avoiding cases of dropping out of sight one month, and posting like mad next month. If you take a look, you may notice that with the exception of October 2014 when this blog started, every month from there on there have been 5 to 7 blog posts. This is not a coincidence. I like to pace things.

Variety. Sometimes I rant, sometimes I get technical, sometimes I get instructional. Sometimes I talk about front-end, or back-end, or the database. Sometimes I talk about the business end of things. But there will not be a month where I do any one of these to the exclusion of all else. There's got to be a healthy mix of everything.

Point, A, Point B.

The process behind a TeochewThunder blogpost

Conceptualization. It may be on a bus ride, or during a few laps in the pool, or over lunch. Or perhaps the ol' lightbulb will spark to life while browsing in the library. Or during a conversation with a fellow techie. Ideas for blogpost topics pop up ever so often. Taxi Turmoil, for example, was brought to life during a conversation with an ex-classmate turned taxi driver. The Bowline Bend Analogy was written after an IT Consultant gave me some feedback on my blog. The various Spot The Bug posts were penned sporadically as I made mistakes while coding, and decided to document them for posterity.

Research. This may take the form of interviews, online searches, library haunting, all in the name of getting the information I need; and ensuring that my facts are credible, if not rock-solid.

Content. Then comes the actual writing, and the insertion of codes, screenshots and stock photos as illustrations. I don't have that much faith in my writing that I wouldn't resort to visual aids.

Final touch. As mentioned earlier, I generally try to keep things light-hearted. That usually manifests itself in a pun at the end of the blogpost. Generally that works well, but in some instances have backfired. In the case of The Tragic Case of Izabel Laxamana, I had ended the blogpost with a pun only to be informed by my test audience (yes I have those, doesn't everyone?) that it was flippant and disrespectful to the subject of my blogpost. I agreed, and changed it.

Rewording. Sometimes I get carried away, and write a bit more than I should. Sometimes I get a bit too harsh, and use way more profanity than is needed. When I finish a draft, it rarely gets published right away unless it's breaking news. No, I go over it with a critical eye first. (Is it too long? Did I belabor some points? If so then it's time for a bit of truncation, or in certain cases, to split the blogpost into multiple parts. Of Gratitude and Loyalty is one such example, as are some of the web tutorials. Perhaps I came on a bit too strongly in certain areas? Sounded a bit too defensive? Time to tone it down. Does my choice of words - usually swear words - detract from the essence of the blogpost? Clean it up.) It could take months before the draft is published. One of the advantages of posting it on the Internet over saying stuff out loud, is that you get plenty of time to choose your words wisely. I wouldn't want to come back to my blog archive to find that I had droned on endlessly like some self-important mofo over one point, or emoted like some angsty teenager over another. Not that I have anything against bloggers who do those - I'd just prefer to keep this to a minimum here.

Those trends...

Demographics

You know who reads TeochewThunder, you know what goes into TeochewThunder, now the burning question: who reads what?

The most popular blogposts tend to be those dealing with local events, such as Web Tutorial: LKY's Memorial and The Great Widget Falsification.

Following a distant second are rants, such as Of Gratitude and Loyalty. Even this is context-based; Part 2 appears to be way more popular than Part 1, probably because Part 2 criticizes employers while Part 1 criticizes employees.

Of moderate success are the web tutorials, and I'm glad for that because I worked pretty damn hard on those. Reviews, on the other hand, seem to enjoy less success.

Technical snippets are the least popular, but they're important. To me.

Finally...

That's it for the year-end report. For a virgin effort, I think it went pretty well. Here's looking forward to another productive blogging year.

Thanks for tuning in. I'll keep you posted.
T___T

TeochewThunder: Year One (Part 1/2)

And with the arrival of October 2015, TeochewThunder has passed its first year. I'd like to thank my esteemed readers for being patient with the sometimes monotonous nature of this tech blog - at times too technical for the layperson, at times too simplistic for the tech guru. And, at times too ranty for the weak of stomach. It's been an interesting ride.

How did it all begin?

It was in the October of 2014 when I met Catherine Ling. Catherine is a food blogger of some fame, and runs Caremberu, a food blog with some very well-written reviews and appetizing pictures. We got along swimmingly, and I revealed that I had nursed the idea of starting a blog. She told me to go for it.

This got me thinking. I'd been nursing the idea since late 2012. Several things have put the idea on hold - job changes, the acquisition of my first (and hopefully last) home, and so on. Catherine was dead on. It was time to stop talking and start writing.

Thus, here we are.

Why blog?

To go back even further, why had I been thinking about blogging? My hands were full with household chores, bills and work. It wasn't like there was nothing to do. No, this went beyond that.

Bits and pieces of a puzzle.

Firstly, as a web developer trained in the 90s, a lot of my knowledge tends to be piecemeal. A bit of this and that, taken off various sources. I wanted a place where I could document everything I'd learned in the process of being a web developer. A technical scrapbook of sorts. This would include not only technical knowledge, but also knowledge of the industry. My experiences. My reactions. What I've learned, not just technically, but personally.

The Third Level of expertise.

Secondly, there's this thing about expertise. I tend to divide expertise into three levels. Level One - how readily you can understand concepts when explained. Level Two - how readily you can apply those concepts. And finally, Level Three - how well you can explain those concepts to someone else. I was going for gold. And starting a blog seemed like a step in the right direction, a way to keep honing my craft. Because the amount of research needed to ensure that whatever I post is factually correct, I level up in the process of writing these blogposts. It's different from doing, where all I need to do is ensure that shit works, to hell with why it works or how to explain why it works.

I'm good, baby.

Thirdly, putting modesty aside, I've been told I have a way with the English language. And that I should totally do something with that.

Who reads TeochewThunder?

It's a very modest demographic. My friends, ex-colleagues and family, some of whom receive special mention from time to time. And when I write something that resonates, I'm rewarded by them sharing the link.

Damn, that's dry.

Laypersons who read this blog will sometimes find the content dry. Terribly dry. Dryer than the Sahara. When I comment on life in the office, I like to think that's where we find common ground, regardless of whether or not they are web developers.

Techies who read this blog will often already know the stuff I'm going on about, like in the web tutorials, for example. But there's a million different ways to accomplish the same things, and often these guys are just comparing notes. Because how I do things isn't necessarily how they would do it, and vice versa. That's how we all learn. There are no blanket solutions.

What goes into TeochewThunder?

The focus of this blog started out pretty narrow, but evolved to become a bit more inclusive as time went by. So what do I write about?

Tech. In particular, web tech. Tech news, tech snippets, tech tutorials, tech reviews. Experiences as a web developer. Experiences as an office drone in general. If it doesn't come under any of those, I don't blog about it. Focus. I don't want to be rambling on about a million things all at once. To elaborate...

Tech news. News about the web industry, news about how internet technology has wormed its way into our lives. Even non-related news may get exposure on my blog if I can wrangle a tech angle out of it. See the death of LKY.

Tech snippets. Little programming or coding elements, and my musings about how they work. This will be very varied. The skillset of a web developer demands it. Things like Spot The Bug are a prime example.

Tech tutorials. Self-explanatory. This particular feature was requested by my sister, not that she seems to have used any of it.

Tech reviews. From time to time, I may offer my two cents on some of the products involving computer technology. These may be reviews on movies, apps, software or books (both fiction and otherwise).

Office experiences. Part and parcel of being a web developer. I share my view of how the industry works. Sometimes, it's very developer-specific, and sometimes it's a bit more general.

Next

I go into detail about the blogging process. Stay tuned!