Eric Spiegel

“I’ll have a beer.” Then I felt the eyes on me. All four of them. Two from my potential peer and two from my potential boss. I was on one of my first lunch interviews. Back then I looked at it as a “lunch break” between interviews. But hey, what did I know? No one […]

“You really need to come out of the dark ages of software development.” I was vigorously rubbing my temple as Jenna went on and on about a new programming language she was all hot and bothered about. Jenna had been on the team about two days before she started in on how we needed to […]

“Haven’t seen a poster like that since I lived in a fraternity house.” I was chatting with my wife over dinner and filling her in on the first day of my new job. The fledgling tech startup didn’t have many employees, but was experiencing strong customer growth. I was brought on board to manage customer […]

“I’m resigning.” My new father-in-law looked at me with surprise and concern. “But you haven’t even been there a year!” he said incredulously. I couldn’t say I was surprised at his reaction. And he wasn’t the first to lecture me. This was only my second software development job since graduating and I was only at […]

“You are going to be so busted!” My coworker Tyler was probably right. But I didn’t care. I had been moonlighting for months writing software on the side, saving up for my latest gadget. I couldn’t wait to play with this new, cool handheld device called a PDA. (Yes, this was ten years before Phineas […]

I was surprised to see the sign posted on the software developer’s departmental bulletin board. “Join the prayer meeting every morning at 7:30 AM.” One of my fellow developers, Jimmy, was an outwardly pious person and had started this daily meeting. Simply stated, this bothered me. I felt strongly that religion is something personal that […]

“You have got to be kidding me!” I was actually surprised I said it out loud. But there it was: my true feelings. My teammates and manager were staring back at me. Some of them sat there, mouths agape. My friend John had a Cheshire grin a mile wide, obviously finding great humor in my […]

We all know that lighting matches near a combustible substance like gasoline is not a good idea. Yet people go up in smoke every year. Similarly, putting a developer and a customer in the same room can have a combustible effect. Many developers tend to be very direct, and talk in technical terms the customer […]

ALSO SEE: Are Quirky Developers Brilliant or Dangerous? I’m willing to bet that many future developers could have been spotted in their teenage years. They typically would stand out from the crowd. Way out, probably. For example, we all knew kids like Fred. Fred’s dad was a science teacher at the school and Fred was […]

“You want me to do what?” I was flabbergasted. My manager Daryl was looking at me with a slight smile and nodding his head. “I want you to lead the team,” he said. “The team has grown too big for me, so management has decided that you would be a solid fit to take over […]