And How Our Tech Community Might Heal — Disclaimer: This post is from 2018. My views—and the Stack Overflow community culture—have evolved since then, and this post may no longer be representative of either. I’m leaving it up for historical purposes. -April — Please see updates at the bottom of the post Stack Overflow, a source of helpful…

I run a company called Compassionate Coding, and I’m often suggesting that people treat each other more kindly. This leads some people to believe that I’m a naturally “nice” or charismatic person. People who have known me for years can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. …

I delivered a talk based on this article at Mobile + Web Dev Con: My first user test blew my mind. I sat in a room watching a woman enter sensitive data* into an app our team had built in order…

In 2016, I went vegan, started a mission-driven company, and ran my first marathon. All of these were New Year’s resolutions, so I’m not willing to accept any cynicism related to making resolutions! Actually, the fact that people continue to make resolutions gives me great hope for the future of…

Read the latest version of this post: https://compassionatecoding.com/blog/2016/10/11/be-a-mentor-not-a-bully I met a young software engineer on the train the other day, and we started talking about mentoring. Although he’s only been an engineer for two years, he works with several less experienced engineers. When I asked if he had been able…

Read the latest version of this post: https://compassionatecoding.com/blog/2016/9/21/how-to-beat-coding-frustration-with-self-compassion Coding can be stressful. It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or you’ve been doing it for 30 years—you are going to experience difficult moments. …

Find the latest version of this article: https://compassionatecoding.com/blog/2016/9/9/gratitude-and-a-growth-mindset-the-key-ingredients-to-a-successful-agile-retrospective Retrospectives are, without a doubt, my favorite part of the agile workflow. There’s time to celebrate successes, there’s time to target specific areas for improvement, and there’s even time to make a plan to work toward that improvement. …

Find the latest version of this article: https://compassionatecoding.com/blog/2016/9/2/only-you-can-prevent-tech-burnout-5-compassionate-tips-for-managers-and-employees “They’re not the happiest bunch. They’re all overworked and under pressure.” This is how a wellness professional described Silicon Valley tech workers at an event I attended earlier this week. She used “they” because most of the people in the audience did…

Find the latest version of this post: https://compassionatecoding.com/blog/2016/8/25/tech-has-a-toxic-tone-problemlets-fix-it When it comes to communication, especially involving engineers, tech has a toxic tone problem. I know because I’ve not only been surrounded by it for the past decade, but during less enlightened moments, I’ve contributed to it. Just to be clear, by…