Welcome to the codeMentality blog!
Over the course of the past few years, while managing the chaos of COVID and the recent changes in the tech space, life had gotten in the way of doing some of the things that I enjoy. One of those things is writing about technical subjects that I find interesting. So, I recently decided to resurrect my blog, and start writing again.
Hopefully you’ll find something of interest here. Perhaps I can introduce you to something new. My goal is for you to leave here with a little bit more than you had when you came.
A little background, I’ve been working in the tech space since 2009, building websites with a variety of PHP frameworks, and have been working with the Drupal content management system since 2010. Drupal has been good to me, I’ve been able to make a nice living doing something I truly love. Tech has been my 3rd career, having worked previously in the employee benefits insurance industry out of college, and moving to a consulting career working with Fortune 500 companies to structure their benefit plans, and prepare financial projections for budgeting and compliance purposes. I have stories from that industry, including the time I was involved in firing a client for ethical reasons who later became infamous when their C-level officers fleeced investors, robbed the employee retirement and pension funds and fled the country. In between my consulting and my tech career, I indulged my entrepreneurial side, started a business and built it into a very successful personal service company, which I sold four years later when my family relocated back to our home town to care for an aging parent.
I have also been a mostly remote worker since I started working in tech — I’ve only had two jobs where I commuted to an office — my first job where I was learning and the face time with my lead developer was crucial, and my 4th job where I started as a remote worker, but due to organizational changes they began requiring people to come into the office 3 days a week. I left 6 months later for a fully remote job, and have worked fully remote ever since. So, for those naysayers who claim that remote workers are lazy, remote working is inefficient, and collaboration and personal growth can’t be accomplished working remotely, I call you out on that — the real problem is not remote working, it’s company culture. Remote working has allowed me the opportunity to work with incredible talent located all around the globe, some of who have become treasured colleagues and mentors. That is an opportunity that would never have been possible working in an office. Many of those people I have never met in person — most of them don’t even reside on the same continent that I do. But I treasure every one of those experiences and those people, they have enriched my life in ways that would not have been possible otherwise.
When I’m not working, or blogging about techy stuff, I like to attend a few college football games and an occasional race. I’m a huge SEC football fanatic, and have treated myself to season tickets to the Tennessee Volunteers since 2018 (Go Big Orange!). I’m also a bit of a Nascar fan which started in childhood. Some of my fondest memories were tinkering on cars with my dad, and joining him to watch some racing. I grew up watching the legends: Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Bill Elliott, and of course, the Intimator himself, Dale Earnhardt. On occasion I step into the kitchen and indulge my inner chef, cooking for myself and friends, and of course for my two Yorkie fur-babies, Sassy and Daisy.
So, thanks for stopping by. I hope you find some value here, and look forward to coming back.
Lisa