DecaDad

I'm currently unemployed. It sucks. I work in the tech sector, and was laid last fall. This journey has given me new perspective, knowledge, and appreciation for the little things in life. I have learned a bit about how to navigate the unemployment systems in my state. My faith has been tested so much over the last few months. I wish I could simply snap my finger and have a job again, but that is not how things work. I think one of the hardest parts about this experience is that I can give it my best efforts, and yet at the end of it all, the decision to reach out to me for a phone screening or interview is out of my control. After doing all I can with what I can control, the only thing left is to have faith that God will handle the rest. Earlier this week, I found out one of my parents had gone to the ER. This was not news anyone wants to hear. Cancer. They were admitted to the hospital to get treatments right away. So far, they are handling it well, but the extra bumps on my emot...

In my line of work—and I’m sure in many other industries—there’s a common acronym that reminds us how to design systems or make decisions:  KISS , which stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” While the original phrase might come across as a bit harsh, I prefer the less common version: “Keep it stupid simple!” This principle is best exemplified by a story about Kelly Johnson, lead engineer at Lockheed Skunk Works (the creators of the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes, among many other innovations). Johnson handed a team of design engineers a handful of basic tools and challenged them to design a jet aircraft that could be repaired by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions using only those tools. The “stupid” here isn’t an insult—it’s a reminder of the relationship between how things break and the sophistication available to fix them. Keeping things simple can make all the difference. In software, it’s easy to get carried away with over-engineering or planning for fu...