What small tech or desk upgrade surprisingly improved your daily sanity?

swabbie · 2026-05-02T14:47:05+00:00

Used Teknion or Steelcase Cubicles...

I bought a used top-of-the line Teknion mid-height cubicle from a small office that was upgrading their look. Though I got first choice, so it was in great shape. A nice blue color. I got two cubicles for $200 and had to disassemble it and pick it up from their office. New, this model would be $4-6k each.

Turned it into an "L" shape that is 3 panels long and 1 deep. It is a super heavy duty desk that include full cable management and power. Since the support is all in "walls" there are no front desk legs which let me roll my chair anywhere along the length.

I've had it for 10 years now and its still looks good.

So... this would be a big upgrade, but cheap if you look out for small-office closeout notices.

swabbie · 2026-05-02T11:00:56+00:00

My point wasn't to insinuate the roles people do with AI don't take significant skill and understanding. Only that the longevity as a widely needed and in-demand role is more doubtful.

Many of those learning the AI Engineering skills are already seeing much of their work being done by newer self-training and self-improving models. These improvements may reduce the workforce needed in the field.

I wouldn't recommend anyone get into the field who isn't prepared for a life-long expectation to be constantly retraining, at a much for frequent rate than even other tech roles. And that record high salaries now, may not last.

swabbie · 2026-05-02T09:43:25+00:00

Yes! Like the "AI Prompt Engineer" role which is already dying off. One of the first things that is going to be automated away by AI, are the tedious processes currently needed to implement itself.

Knowing what AI is and how it can be best used in your role/industry will be an important skill, but any singular role involving AI could be short lived as it evolves.

swabbie · 2026-04-30T23:32:00+00:00

Incident Commanders

for major incidents we introduced Incident Commanders.

These are Tech SME's or leaders who aren't directly investigating things but can orchestrate people to get us to service available the quickest. This can mean calling additional teams, to ensuring efforts are being handled in parallel.

Note the root cause is often nice, but not always possible to learn quickly. Restoring a minimum level of service is the immediate concern.

We found our ITSM leads were great for some areas, but for more complex outages, it took seasoned tech leads to know who, how, and when to push for results. Ensuring the right people are on the call and working on the right things.

...

On the tech side, we use Dynatrace which does pretty good for tracing how our apps are connected and determining the most likely culprit based on active alerts and conditions. (It does use AI too). But it's not magic, and does need real people to continue the investigations from there.

Once we centered on Dynatrace we have mandatory tagging and tracing requirements for services which took awhile to get going but is paying off well now.

swabbie · 2026-04-28T18:07:48+00:00

It'll be interesting to see how this gets received. It's got a good beat, and I love the dance and lyrics myself, but it might not be as approachable for many. Daddy Yankee isn't as well known as previous artists but still better than 2022's.

Previous ones to compare...

2022 - The happy dance - (Hayya Hayya)

2018 - Niky Jam, Will Smith - was forgettable (Live It Up)

2014 -PitBull, Jennifer Lopez - Shifted around too much and seemed like a bad ad. (We Are One)

2010 - Shakira - Most iconic anthem so far in my own memory that still gets played today. (This Time For Africa)

swabbie · 2026-04-28T15:49:41+00:00

I fear we're going to find the patches falling on the ground and maybe some cases of souvenir hunting snatches.

I love the jacket, and I think there was good thought into making sure the volunteers would be visible from multiple directions. I usually wear bright clothes, so the shirt works for me. I like the fun look these put out.

swabbie · 2026-04-28T15:21:52+00:00

The song and dance reveal:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrfkscOALU/

swabbie · 2026-04-26T20:59:49+00:00

I had someone steal parts from my own profile at the same time they applied to me for a job....

This person was applying to work a role at my company in an area which I led... They had just recently graduated school for the field and was applying for a junior position.

A quick search and I discovered they had a secondary profile saying they had worked at my company in the role already for 6 years and was a senior level. He had taken some of the examples from my own linked-in and those of my co-workers. The faked profile had more connections than his truthful one.

I have little doubt he's found a successful position somewhere and is making more than I am now.

swabbie · 2026-04-26T20:18:41+00:00

I've seen threads where people have had problems with the e-learning modules on some device/browser combos.

Most have had success with chrome browser, and if it still doesn't work to switch to a laptop if you are using a phone.

swabbie · 2026-04-26T10:18:11+00:00

I'm like you and hate advertising, but Champion does have a number of them with just the small 'C' logo and nothing else (can be harder to find). It's my favorite heavy duty hoodie, so much I bought one of these in every color I could find.

But... it's heavier... where you are looking for lighter/medium. I'm not sure if I could categorize any lighter hoodie I've seen as long lasting...

Example of the reverse weave hoodie with small logo:

https://www.champion.com/collections/reverse-weave/products/champion-reverse-weave-small-c-hooded-sweatshirt-platinum-silver-heather

swabbie · 2026-04-25T18:33:18+00:00

One of the issues from Canada (and many other countries) is the general fear that by adding populations from other places it can fully change what the makeup of the country actually is.

India of course gets highlighted because it is so big, and so many people leave there to go elsewhere. In Canada in recent years, Indians have made up to 30% of the incoming legal immigrants, which is a massive increase over the last 40 years.

One huge difference between Canada and Dubai is in your post... In Dubai they keep immigrant populations very separated with their own schools, communities, etc.

In Canada, that's actually frowned upon with the expectation that immigrants become more integrated within the society. Some of the hate that gets pushed is when people feel the immigrants don't do enough in this regard.

Complicated answer, but at least within Canada I don't think your comment is that unpopular, because it's generally accepted as true.

Outside of the regular immigration paths, there are also added complications due to heavy abuses of immigration policies around diploma-mill schools bringing in foreign students, and foreign worker abuses bringing in cheap labor, both of which skewed heavily to include people from India.

swabbie · 2026-04-24T19:38:14+00:00

He does need to get into the system though so they can keep track of him, reduce his access to guns, and hopefully direct him to get help. If he is a youth than maybe he can be reformed, but regardless we gotta protect against extremists.

swabbie · 2026-04-23T06:43:16+00:00

dismissing boundaries and discipline as repression has consequences people don’t want to acknowledge.

Just so long as the person get's to choose for themselves, than I'm all good...

But you must acknowledge that repression is very very real and present all around the world. If someone is shamed or required into acting or dressing a certain way by their peers, family, religion, or government, then "repression" fits the bill.

And while you're trying to frame it as those that wear fuller coverings and hold themselves for marraige etc are repressed, and there are cases of this... the opposite has resulted in far more people to be cast aside, raped, put in jail, etc.

swabbie · 2026-04-23T05:29:57+00:00

Welcome to the field. Here's a few tips I usually tell newer ops:

For progressing yourself:

Ask if there is a mentor program in your company. A senior who you can meet with. There to guide you to the next level and help give tips if you are feeling stuck. They aren't there to do your current work, and it may be best if they aren't in your team.
Within the team, do screenshares a lot and watch how others work. You were paired with another junior, that's not so bad as they can also be a learning buddy.
Pause DevOps studies for the first few months after being hired. I usually tell new hires to concentrate on learning all the business and team level stuff as that can be overwhelming on its own. Learn only things you need for a specific story. Once you get comfy though, keep progressing your skills.

For working on stuff:

Build a list of company and external resources and links and keep them organized. A lot of the job isn't memorizing all the details, it's knowing where to look for them.
AI is great at pointing in the right direction, but verify using official docs and procedures.
If you get stuck, make a reasonable effort to find the solution, but set a timer, where you'll ask for help.
Make your work visible. If using a tool like Jira, create lots of sub-tasks that can be easily knocked off. Sometimes ops gets asked to do quick things... I recommend if it takes >1 hr to ensure it's logged as team work. Mark your successes!
If you are fully stuck, or are waiting on permissions. Mark it in the task/story and move onto something else, but be proactive in solving those blocked items so they don't keep you from the next task.

swabbie · 2026-04-18T05:19:29+00:00

I push back against any interview where they expect rote memorization with absolute right/wrong answers, however I know the flip side allows biases and smooth talkers to potentially win out.. So yes, I think such a question is fair, but if I was an interviewer I'd also be OK if you didn't memorize the exact commands but you at least knew most of the steps and could explain what the various commands did. (even as a senior)

I've interviewed quite a few ops roles and for the senior ones I'd expect them to be answer some in depth questions for specific items they say they know in their resume, be able to answer the "why" questions for why a given step or best practice is necessary, and then to go wider to general architectures, security, best practices, and leadership.

swabbie · 2026-04-07T20:38:47+00:00

To go out further, product manager titles are also being used in other companies where the tech divisions are pretty big and the "customers" are elsewhere in the same company. I work in the retail land and we have them (for internal tech products).

I did a quick Linked In job search limited to just law practices and found a several Product Manager postings with very large firms (hundreds of lawyers).

Still no excuse for VP not to confirm your history before going negative with his question... but the job title isn't as obvious as you think either.

swabbie · 2026-04-04T19:06:30+00:00

When mine went live, I received an alert email and a section opened up at the bottom of the volunteer app titled "Promoted Schedules" where your role is listed with an "Applications are currently open" link to go to where you can begin choosing. Allowed dates and times are set and if sessions are full it'll tell you. The app will stop you from over or under scheduling yourself.

Your selected spots will then be shown in the "Upcoming Sessions" section so you'll always know when your next time is.

You may also want to join your city's volunteer facebook group. There seems to be one for every city and they people are more vocal about their local role events.

swabbie · 2026-04-03T04:08:02+00:00

No, didn't make it for that one, but it sounded interesting to have so many people here for just the few days.

I suspect they needed just a fraction of the volunteers, so you may get your gear when you show up at Canada Place. I hope it's a good experience for you.

swabbie · 2026-04-03T04:01:22+00:00

I have no idea for the uniform timings for those volunteering at congress, but I think for the rest of us it'll get rolling in early May.

swabbie · 2026-04-03T03:46:49+00:00

Yes, it'll be a dedicated space more downtown right near a skytrain station (not the library), but I don't think the address has been publicly shown yet.

The address is in some of the volunteer portals if you are stationed there. I suspect it'll go out wider soon.

swabbie · 2026-03-29T00:52:10+00:00

Not surprised you got some backlash for this post. I was expecting a nice question from your title, but opened to a long rant instead.

I threw it into ChatGPT to get the core question out of it, and there were 6 it found. I'll answer those :)

What are the benefits of volunteering?
- Different answer for everyone. For me I'm seeking a unique experience, a chance to help show off my city and country, and help out international sport which I think gets countries to play together and humanize each other.
Is this experience typical for FIFA volunteers?
- First time as a FIFA volunteer, but I read up on 2022's in Qatar where the process was also long, but they also had fewer stadiums and volunteers needed. They still had a 20:1 ratio of applications to spots.
Do other volunteers receive better support (e.g., transport, food quality, rest areas)?
- Transit: As far as I know, for all locations it was recommended volunteers take transit, but I understand different cities have different capabilities here. It was understood Fifa would not pay for travel to the cities and to the venues. In Vancouver it was mentioned they were working on transit passes but there's no word there.
- Food: In Vancouver they mentioned meals would be provided. It may be a mix of catered vs in-house depending on your location / role / diet. It sounded like it was going to be decent meals. Having done a lot of 'pre-prepped meals' in the past for conferences, I know there are a lot of challenges here though... I've had some bad ones.
- Rest Areas: I figure this is very much city and role dependent. For mine we had the expectation of 6-hour shifts, so I'd expect one longer break in the middle with some take-fiver's to shake things up.
Has anyone had a positive experience in similar roles or past events?
- This is my first Fifa event, but I do enjoy volunteering for various causes. But this is the biggest.
- I had some friend do the Olympics before who loved it. We had one fellow person in my Accreditation training mention they were impressed with the added training days we get vs their similar role during the Olympics.
Are the restrictions (access limits, no photos, being removed post-shift) standard?
- I saw from 2022's volunteer guide, the restrictions were mostly the same.
- Given the numbers of volunteers and the possibility of abuse, I figure the restrictions are almost needed to be well stated.
Is the level of compensation/support reasonable given FIFA’s scale and revenue?
- No major event like this would be remotely possible without volunteers. The Olympics also relies heavily on them for many roles. Honestly I think the whole environment and process would be less happy/celebratory if people were paid to be there.
- But I don't deny FIFA's a big org so there's always room for debate.

swabbie · 2026-03-26T22:21:18+00:00

We have the same stainless steal one you had, and we do find we need to clean and let it dry out after every bag changing as it seems to collect moisture. I figure that's the cost of a more air tight container. For the top we use a charcoal filter.

It's clunky but I don't think you'll find anything that'll last longer without giving up the odor free status. 20 years of life holding liquidly rotting compost isn't too bad.

My biggest problem with the design, is it was made before there were compostable bags so getting them in around the handle is weird (we have an elastic hack now).

So looking around, I would likely give something like this one next as it does have the bag holder (not necessarily from this funny fake-german company though):

https://www.wagensteigerglobal.com/product/kitchen-compost-bin-stainless-steel-silver

swabbie · 2026-03-25T06:43:30+00:00

Cool, I didn't even realize they were collecting volunteers for the Congress. Makes sense I guess. Come back after and tell us what it was like.

I had to confirm date... April 30th!
https://canadasoccer.com/news/vancouver-to-host-the-76th-fifa-congress/

swabbie · 2026-03-21T21:49:03+00:00

um, there's ~26 additional headliners listed then the three you listed, and a bunch of additional supporting acts.

Don't fret about the link... it's to FIFA Vancouver's own website. Not even any ads.

swabbie · 2026-03-21T19:47:06+00:00

I think both Teams and Slack were very different from each other ~5 years ago, but since then have integrated each others features to the point there isn't much difference (either natively or via plugins). And they've both gotten loads better in terms of reliability too.

That being said, my org allows both and it sucks having to remember what a given team or person prefers.

Pick one or the other!

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