https://www.iroot.net/categories/general/ Recent content in general on Mike Wiacek Hugo -- gohugo.io en Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/lessons-from-the-line/ Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/lessons-from-the-line/ My first real job wasn’t in technology. It was washing dishes in a restaurant at the Jersey Shore. [A shout out to my first real boss, Keven, who was the head cook there. He recently opened his own restaurant in Ocean City, NJ - Hooked on Breakfast. If you’re nearby, check it out]. Back to the story, allow me to craft the scene for you: the dish room was small, hot, and so humid that steam would collect on the ceiling and drops would rain down on you. https://www.iroot.net/blog/moving-mountains/ Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/moving-mountains/ Having had worked at Google for over 13 years, I grew accustomed to having geniuses in every field just a XMPP, Google Talk, Buzz, Hangouts, Allo, Chat˛ Meet message away. If I ever got stumped by something, a world class expert was nearby. In fact, it’s one of the things that make the environment of big tech companies so attractive to the curious engineer. However, what you ultimately realize is that the amount of time spent doing real hands on building is actually quite limited. https://www.iroot.net/blog/to-the-stars/ Sun, 03 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/to-the-stars/ 4891, it’s a number that I’ll remember forever. Despite being odd, it’s one that represents something fairly important… at least to me. It was the number of days that I was an employee of Google / Alphabet. This past Friday I handed in my badge, my laptop, and I walked out the door one last time. I joined Google in 2006 as a member of its now infamous Information Security Engineering team. https://www.iroot.net/blog/shaker/ Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/shaker/ I’m a software guy. I’ve spent thousands of hours writing code, debugging it, and analyzing algorithms. But that’s what I do, it’s not why I do it. Personally, I like to solve hard problems. The world in which we live is anything but problem free, so you could say it’s a target rich environment. I also like to learn about new things and I firmly believe that a small change in perspective, coupled with experience in diverse areas, can lead you to unexpected yet elegant solutions. https://www.iroot.net/blog/learnings/ Sun, 07 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/learnings/ When Shapor and I sat down, and we started thinking about what would become Chronicle, I must admit that my mind was focused on potential products and technological problems that I wanted to solve. Now while it’s important to do that, I never really expected how impactful and vital non engineering skills would be on the journey to where we are today. As I sit here 4 years later, I wish I could go back and give myself, a healthy smack on the side of the head. https://www.iroot.net/blog/hello-world/ Wed, 26 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.iroot.net/blog/hello-world/ Perception Our perception of time is an amazing yet mysterious thing. 30 minutes in traffic can feel like an eternity, but 30 minutes of our favorite passion can feel like an instant. I took this photo years ago… it’s several seconds in a single image. What’s in the image you ask? Well, every programmer’s first program in a new language is the famous Hello, World! To commemorate my new blog, I’ve pulled this image out of my archive.