If this resonates with you, then you might like working with me

Me and Gary dressed up as Wednesday and Pugsley Addams for Halloween -- get it?!

Let's try this again

Back in October 2023, I wrote this article on LinkedIn hoping that an unconventional approach to job searching would get me an offer.

And it worked! Sort of!

While my gig with Snowflake didn't end up working out, it did help me identify my professional strengths and needs. So here's an iteration on the original post:

I can't keep pretending

It is a bummer spending yet another holiday season unemployed. I wish it wasn’t so hard. I’ve tried medication, coaching, and years of therapy, but my most recent role at Snowflake finally forced me to confront some truths about myself: The parts of myself who struggle to conform are also the parts who make me good at what I do well.

My ability to see the bigger picture, adapt to new plans, efficiently internalize new information, empathize with developers, and produce high quality content is a side effect of a confluence of neurodivergence and lifelong mental health conditions. My innovative approach to problem-solving is a result of seeing things differently, and because I see things differently, I have different needs.

I have spent my life trying to be the person I think other people want me to be; as a result, I’ve ended up in some very misaligned situations. What happens if I stop trying to pretend?

So here I am, no longer trying to pretend because real talk: your girl needs a job!

You receive: One unconventional but cool teammate, I receive: One job

You might like working with me if:

• You need someone who can quickly synthesize the big picture and figure out how to achieve it by breaking it down into explicit, atomic tasks. As an autistic person, I excel at identifying patterns and novel connections – especially patterns and connections in data and especially-especially data related to human behavior. This has been very useful in identifying and creating content that resonates deeply with readers. Once I have the big picture in mind, my natural inclination for “bottom-up thinking” means I am meticulously detail-oriented – a skill critical to breaking down objectives into actionable items.
• You are process and data driven – or need someone to develop and establish process and data. I have ADHD and when it’s this easy to get distracted, a documented process helps keep me on track. While my co-workers may not need process for the same reasons I do, process can help establish a reproducible structure or framework that actually makes pivoting easier as priorities shift or data reveals new findings. Process and data enable more accurate goal-setting and facilitate better work evaluations. And just like code, process is best when given room to iterate upon.
• You need someone who can write code and write words. I like doing both and I relish any opportunity I get to context switch rapidly between the two. Tutorials and recipes are my favorite types of content to produce. My technical writing skills are extensible and especially useful when working alongside engineers.
• You need someone who is not only comfortable in front of an audience, but enjoys it. The precise and focused mindfulness that interacting with a live audience requires forces me to be completely present mentally, physically, and even spiritually. It breaks me out of the state of survival dissociation I live in. It’s a dopamine high I would compare to snowboarding, and I can’t get enough dopamine – literally!
• You need someone who can inspire a team and be honest with you. As a creative person with a film and arts degree who was very active in the Los Angeles arts and LGBTQ+ communities, one of my values is creating a space around me that feels safe and nonjudgmental. I’ve participated in and facilitated support groups and know how to meet people where they are at. If you want me to tell you the truth about something, you can trust me to be completely honest. To that point, I believe that honesty without kindness is just bullying, and there’s already enough crap people have to deal with out in the world – I don’t want to be another source of it.

I like doing a good job. I value high quality, considered, and intentional output and I do that by focusing on the details. I want to do a good job and would love to find a situation where I can truly thrive.

From surviving to thriving

I work best when I have the following:

• Fully remote or hybrid up to two days a week with a strong preference for offices in San Francisco. Offices are a minefield for my focus and executive function. Because I hold myself to such high standards, I feel distressed when I feel my productivity slow down. When I am allowed to be a weird little goblin in private, I get so much work done!
• An emphasis on work-life balance and boundaries. I often do my best work when I am not at work. My brain never turns off, so even when I am relaxing I am passively problem-solving. I need to take breaks so I can nurture my hobbies and replenish my internal resources. Moreover, as a deeply creative endeavor, successful DevRel requires rest! I think Marisa Smith, PhD says it best here:
• Opportunities to write code, to write words, and to lead projects. These are my favorite things to do!
• Trust, autonomy, and appreciation. I take a lot of pride in my work and though my methods may occasionally seem unconventional, anything that I put my name on has to meet my high standards. When I am fully resourced and I feel confident and focused, I am extremely self-motivated -- I mean, just look at how I've managed to keep up a consistent flow of my own content all on my own! I trust my teammates to be the best at what they were hired for and I always acknowledge the efforts of others.

All I want for XMas is a job 🎵

Here's hoping for a holiday season miracle! If you've got any leads or if this post resonated with you in anyway, you can contact me by leaving a comment here, via LinkedIn, or using the contact form on my website.