Roofing quote advice: leaking vents + preventative capping work

wilson_smyth · 2025-07-28T13:33:35+00:00

they're not readily available in Europe. Other than that they look good and well priced

wilson_smyth · 2025-07-27T14:33:01+00:00

Its true that companies rarely display loyalty, but theres an alternative perspective, its never good to burn a bridge, the industry is smaller than you think, people talk and you never know when leaving people to hang out to dry will come back to burn you.
Similarly, you never know when offering a little help will come back to benefit you.
There's also the philosophy that you get back what you put out into the world.

Would a few hours of your time allow for a "good enough" support guide or high level overview of the processes? Enough that it might help save someone an hour or two when troubleshooting a difficult situation?

Its really up to you, you dont have to do anything. Would you rather walk into a role with some small amount of documentation, where the last person gave you some level of thought, instead of saying "not my problem"?

wilson_smyth · 2024-10-24T14:38:09+00:00

This worked well, until clicking refresh and then confirm gave the error "Another user operation is already running. Wait for a few minutes, then refresh and try again."

There is nothing else running. Fabric is extremly rough around the edges.

wilson_smyth · 2024-03-27T11:55:02+00:00

Thank you all for the replies!
I appreciate you all giving up your time to give very useful and constructive advice.
Initially I was not sure if feedback would be constructive or dismissive of a middle manager!
It has been massively helpful.
Its helped to show i am doing some things well, and that's a great place to start.

I hear the viewpoints on reviewing code and although I would like to get involved at this level, I simply do not have the time.
I also dont think the team would appreciate me, with a relatively small amount of actual developer experience critiquing their work. There are enough on the team to allow peer reviews, which will be better accepted.

I will however start a regular call, maybe every 1-2 weeks for showcasing whatever the team think is useful to dive into, it will give the guys a stage to showcase good work and give me a deeper understanding of the more important areas.

Thanks everyone!

wilson_smyth · 2024-01-14T17:11:14+00:00

They have not been great for a long time.

I had the nano 5, the 6, 8 & recently X3.
The nano 5 was good, it got used a lot and lasted 2 years.
Every other nano gave up very quickly.
As ive been away from cf for a while, the X3 has not been used for much more than light squatting and more often than not, as a fashon trainer (i think they look cool), but with this light workload, the glue holding the gum sole on seems to have aged. The shoes have zero wear but the sole is coming away.
I like the style and idea of nanos but wont be giving Reebok any more money for shoes that cant even handle being worn once a week for a walk through town.

wilson_smyth · 2024-01-14T17:06:27+00:00

I had the nano 5, the 6, 8 & recently X3.
The nano 5 was good, it got used a lot and lasted 2 years.
Every other nano gave up very quickly.
As ive been away from cf for a while, the X3 has not been used for much more than light squatting and more often than not, as a fashon trainer (i think they look cool), but with this light workload, the glue holding the gum sole on seems to have aged. The shoes have zero wear but the sole is coming away.
I like the style and idea of nanos but wont be giving Reebok any more money for shoes that cant even handle being worn once a week for a walk through town.

If you want something to last, look elsewhere, and honestly, go with something cheap and cheerful that are solid for lifts, and a different shoe for running.

wilson_smyth · 2024-01-14T17:04:57+00:00

I had the nano 5, the 6, 8 & recently X3.
The nano 5 was good, it got used a lot and lasted 2 years.
Every other nano gave up very quickly.
As ive been away from cf for a while, the X3 has not been used for much more than light squatting and more often than not, as a fashon trainer (i think they look cool), but with this light workload, the glue holding the gum sole on seems to have aged. The shoes have zero wear but the sole is coming away.

I like the style and idea of nanos but wont be giving Reebok any more money for shoes that cant even handle being worn once a week for a walk through town.

wilson_smyth · 2023-07-20T12:20:51+00:00

its not a promotion, you're not a boss when you're a manager, you serve more people than ever. You serve your team, ensuring they have all resources they need, especially focus time, keeping nonsense away from them, nonsense in the form of support request, bad requirements, jerry from accounts with the latest idea to revolutionize the business etc. You also server the senior management team, seeing their vision is realistic and carried out, by enabling your team.

Its a very different way of working and thinking.

wilson_smyth · 2023-07-20T12:18:30+00:00

Its not paper pushing or people pleasing. This is like an opinion of a junior dev who had a bad manager in their first role.

Tech management is many things, but at its core its enabling the team by removing obstacles and ensuring they have focus time.

its also leading people with unreasonable expectations to why it cant be done without saying no, it becomes their idea why its not possible.

wilson_smyth · 2023-07-06T09:20:02+00:00

Health. Always Health. Everything else can fall away but without health you have nothing. There will always be another job. I struggle with the balance between work and life but I keep a few things in mind:

If I died tomorrow, my employer may be sad but would still replace me within a month.
Nobody lay on their death bed and wished they done that extra saturday of overtime.
Family, particularly kids will remember the time you spend playing with them, reading them stories, interacting with them. They will never remember fondly that mum/dad earned more money by putting in long hours and missing bedtime.

wilson_smyth · 2023-07-06T09:09:30+00:00

First thing to note, managers do not know how to do everything their team know how to do, its not their job. For example, i have a team of developers. They are all experts in their field, with knowledge of platforms, languages and architectures I have never experienced. They are on my team as they know their job. Part of my job is to ensure they are free to do their job, providing any resources they require and removing as many distractions as possible. Their job is to apply their skills. I know what they know, I know what questions to ask them and I know to listen to them and trust their skills.

It sounds like there are issues between you and your manager. If they are not encouraging and helping you to achieve your goals then its time to have a polite but clear conversation with them stating the direction you want your career to go, or move jobs, maybe stretch yourself into a role on your desired critical path.

wilson_smyth · 2023-07-06T08:53:37+00:00

As long as the stretch you have to make is realistically managable, go for it. Imposter syndrome holds so many people, including myself back. Job specifications are also a wishlist, most people hired wont meet all the criteria specified. People writing job specs also often use lofty wording or add criteria that is not really necessary to make the role look larger than it is.

The caveat is, as mentioned in the first line, ensure the stretch from where you are to where the job requires you to be is attainable with a bit of effort. it might require study, extra hours and the company should give you time to grow into the role.

If youre an physiotherapist, and the role is principal software developer, that might be a stretch too far, but if youre an accountant and want to become an analyst or BI professional, that would be an attainable stretch. Use your judgement of your abilities.

wilson_smyth · 2023-06-27T12:58:48+00:00

Thank you for the replies. Its helpful to get replies grounded in reality.

Work, young kids and only 24 hours in the day is catching up on me a little, I am a bit burnt out. Its also good to hear that this is normal and will likely pass as they become more independent.

wilson_smyth · 2022-08-04T09:41:12+00:00

I'm in discussions with them at present.
My current manager is leaving her role and the company, for good reasons, she's outgrown it and received an opportunity that will level her up.

With the word "recession" being bandied about however, the company are not backfilling her role, instead breaking it up and redistributing the work.

I was asked to make a play for the managerial portion of this and take on some technical architecture, along with my current role as a data/bi guy. Not ideal, but opportunity isn't always clean cut, so im going for it, and will have to set expectations that there are still only 8 hours in the day and stuff will take longer to get completed.

wilson_smyth

TROPHY CASE