Randy Shoup

Wrote up the full story of how we went from 150 flaky tests to 2 at Thrive Market.. and what happened when we deleted them (nothing broke).

“My degree is in math, not arithmetic” — me, more times than I can count

It is hard to lose a father. All the words not spoken now never can be.

But I can say from personal experience that your father had excellent taste in pubs!

I’ll raise a pint a continent away in his memory.

🤦 Mansplaining achievement unlocked for the day, then!

Google “laszlo bock google interview questions” to start. Probably some citations behind the news articles?

Google famously used to evaluate engineering candidates with “brain teasers” like “how many ping pong balks can fit in a school bus?”. Then they did the math and found that didn’t correlate at all with success.

Is that what you’re looking for?

Except that the pedant is wrong about this — it is a half twist. The strip can’t be one-sided with a full twist.

Ashley married well. That’s all I have to say.

If I didn’t already have plans with my brother and his family, I’d be there with bells on.

Gateau Basque! One of my favorites from the long-closed Piperade in SF.

What time should I be there?

Building Resilient Distributed Systems Struggling with system failures despite multiple safeguards? In the world of software development, distributed systems have proven essential yet remain complex. If you're tired of... - Selection from ...

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but a lot of the patterns will be in Sam Newman’s upcoming book: www.oreilly.com/library/view..., and possibly also in martinfowler.com/books/patter... ?

You are a gentleman and a scholar, @rgarner.bsky.social. It was my distinct pleasure to meet you in person this evening.

May it not be the last time, my friend.

We haven't met, but you certainly know your whisky. Glendronach is a personal favorite!

With hiring for DevRel roles increasing and junior folks often having limited in-person presentation experience (thanks to the Covid-era), I highly recommend reading Randy's advice!

Speaking about Speaking, Part 5 — Taking Questions This is the fifth in my series of posts on giving technical conference talks. We have discussed preparing yourself, organizing the content…

Part 5: Taking Questions (medium.com/@randyshoup/...)
* The Good Questions
* "Good Point"
* "I Don't Know"
* "I Don't Have an Opinion"
* The Annoying Questions
* The Dissertation
* The Context-Dependent
* Huh?
* The Multi-Parter
* The Gotcha
* The Troll

/end

Speaking about Speaking, Part 4 — Giving the Talk This is the fourth in my series of posts on giving technical conference talks. We have discussed preparing yourself, organizing your…

Part 4: Giving the Talk (medium.com/@randyshoup/...)
* Make Connections
* Pick Up the Pace
* Pause for Emphasis
* Be Straightforward
* Be Honest Without Being Insulting
* "Does This Make Sense?"
* Audience Participation
* Hands Free
* Refer Back

Speaking about Speaking, Part 3 — Preparing the Stage This is the third in my series of posts on giving technical conference talks. In the first, we discussed preparing yourself, and in the…

Part 3: Preparing the Stage (medium.com/@randyshoup/...)
* Walk the Grounds
* Mic Check
* Water
* Device prep
* Presenter mode

Speaking about Speaking, Part 2 — Organizing Content This is the second in a series of posts about giving talks at technical conferences. Part 1 discusses how I prepare myself before a talk…

Part 2: Organizing Content (medium.com/@randyshoup/...)
* Content
* Brainstorming
* Organizing
* Refining
* Structure
* Agenda
* Slide organization
* Pictures

Speaking about Speaking, Part 1 — Preparing Yourself Here are some things I’ve learned about preparing myself to give a talk. After a few talks this past week, with a few more upcoming, I…

Chatting today with fellow QCon organizer @danielbryantuk.com, we discussed how we prepare for talks, and I have *thoughts*, in the form of a 5-part blog series:

Part 1: Preparing Yourself (medium.com/@randyshoup/...)
* Sleep
* Practice
* Timing
* Clothes
* Psyching yourself up

And you succeeded, Julia!

I am a practiced speaker exactly because I have … practiced speaking!

(I started competing in policy debate in 1982, my first year of high school. So it’s been 43 years.

But I also used to regularly throw up from anxiety before debate rounds, and I still get nervous before a talk.)

Speaking in public is a skill like any other, and it absolutely comes with practice.

But it does not come naturally to most humans. Public speaking is typically people’s number one fear, even over death. Seinfeld joked that people at a funeral would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy!

So far at least, right? … Uh oh, is this mic still hot?

As evidenced by you and me, amirite?

Genau. Ich auch.

If not now, when? If not you, who?

As a former Berliner, I will tell you that German bakeries are world class. The quality and variety of bread alone is incredible: Schwarzbrot, Dreikorn, Siebenkorn, etc.

They can do anything the French or Viennese can do, and much more.

@himal.bsky.social you too

Oh yeah and stuff like this where @randyshoup.bsky.social had written a really great set of lyrics for a Gilbert & Sullivan tune and @himal.bsky.social said someone should record it so I did. I have met neither of these people IRL

And we absolutely need to rectify the not meeting in real life thing! I’m in London and environs the week of November 3. Many rounds are on me.

So amazing you recorded that! I spent the first months of the pandemic between jobs, so had an inordinate amount of time to play around with those lyrics.

Putting them on the bird site and getting this positive reaction meant a lot.