It’s going to be a quick set today. Get the HR up and sweat a little, just enough to wet a girl’s appetite for more, and then cut and run.

I was up at 6AM watching the grass grow on dashboards I developed in AWS Cloudwatch. An upgrade to the software I support went in overnight and since that client is East Coast, I was on point for the first shift. Not a ton of activity, but good enough (no errors). I did some task switching for about 3 hours and made progress on multiple fronts. Feeling great about the work stuff and it’s nice to have a queue of tasks for me to pick and choose from.

I like documentation but let’s be honest.. it’s flipping boring and since nobody else seems to care about it but me, I get no love for the awesomeness I produce. Building stuff people can see and care about gets way more attention, despite the fact that it often takes way less time.

I have learned so much about AWS in the last 5 months. Some of the infrastructure stuff is yet to come, but taking log files, building filters and metrics, and the pretty dashboards is my new jam. I knew I didn’t want to just work on interfacing data the rest of my life so having something new and different to chew on is great.

Next level shit will be sucking all that data into parquet files and defining a database for persistence. AWS has some pretty fancy services and tools and I do do love the GUI tools. It’s probably the #1 reason why I’m not a developer. I can look at code and back-end stuff for troubleshooting but I don’t want to live there. I want to work I’m an environment where the user experience has already been solved and I can learn it and then amaze those who are not in the know with my mad skillz. 😜

The real value added prop though is the ability to communicate info to all levels. I get geek speak (for the most part), and can translate so that the top dog gets it. Communication is the real skill and that’s what I’m passionate about. Personally and professionally. The thing I still need to learn or master is knowing when to keep my damn mouth shut. I have a history of having strong opinions on things and not shy about sharing (ironic right?!).

Oh hey.. I just got a message across the Work wire that our virtual morning meeting is ultra-mega virtual. Meaning we don’t have a call… just communication over slack. Translation: I can type my status from right where I am (my beloved elliptical machine) and keep right on trucking. So I don’t need to cut this short.

I may anyway though because i know my work life and goals aren’t the most exciting topic in the Universe.

Speaking of work.. I volunteered to do a local interview of an acquaintance of mine who is very knowledgeable in the space my company is growing into. That was last night and the best part is that his wife is one of my good friends and she came by after work so we were all able to drink and catch up.

I had no less than 4 “Time Lord” cocktails and 2 delish birdhouse sliders. I haven’t had that much to drink in a while, yet I woke feeling great! 🤔 It was probably good quality stuff (better be for 10 bucks a drink). I’m a lightweight drinker but these people are seasoned. The rounds kept coming. It was a great evening and best part is.. I’m getting paid for it (and the very healthy tab is not on me). Not that I would ever ever EVER want to be in sales but the schmoozing is pretty top shelf.

Anyway.. that’s probably enough work stuff for now. Time to get back .. to actual work. 😉

Eight Pieces of Eight and I’m Out,

~Miss SugarCookie