Christopher Wright

PSA: EZ-Pass phishing campaign. Don't click the link in your text! (technically it's "smishing" but I dislike the term lol) There are several ongoing text message campaigns where messages are being sent to people's phones telling them that they owe E-Z Pass for a uncollected tolls and by clicking the link in the message they can pay the toll before they get hit with fees/fines. DON'T CLICK THE LINK! If you think it could be legit, open a browser and go to the appropriate EZ-Pass for your state or for the state you recently travelled in by typing it in yourself. It takes a second or two longer than using the link but will save you money and stress. Consider doing that for all links that you are not 100% sure of who sent them and where they are taking you. Source: https://lnkd.in/e8WSJHHx

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New section in my interview questions...finish these phrases: You deserve a break today, at <where> Calgon, <finish> Gag me with a <what> Nobody puts <who> in a corner I want my <what> Where's the <what>? Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, <finish>

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If your company has to tell itself and its employees (via cringe mottos) how great it is…..it’s probably not that great. Especially if it is constantly asking you to positively review it after employees give honest negative feedback on social platforms. Maybe listen to the employees instead of trying to convince them they are wrong. Employees are not unhappy because they want to be, they are unhappy because you made them that way with action or inaction. Im lucky to work for an organization that listens to employees and is constantly trying to understand problems and find resolutions. We don’t solve everything, but make the effort to try. Trying to balance employee, customer, and financial satisfaction is not easy and there will always be compromises. But what keeps me coming in everyday is our drive to be the best at what we do, being the best employer we can, and building our relationships with our customers so they feel like part of our team. An almost fifty year old company doesn't hang around that long for no reason.

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Up and coming technical professionals: Get a lab. Set one up at home, ask your infrastructure administrators for a sandbox in your virtual environment, or sign up for a freemium tier with Azure or AWS. I learned significantly more by recomposing (ok . . . breaking) structures than I did by trying to engineer them textbook perfect all the time.

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Do you ever get the feeling that some recruiters only follow you for their own following metrics and engagement here? There's a staffing agency here in Portland and every job that I've applied to, I get nothing back. Not even a rejection email. Ironically enough, same agency had a Recruiter reach out to me a little over a year ago that basically cut contact almost immediately when I told them my target salary range and went into detail about how my experience justified that. And for the record, it wasn't me whining and crying and being all "rahhh you need to pay me this much 😡😤" it was a simple "Based on my previous 3 roles paying me between X-X, I'm looking for Y at the minimum before I would be struggling financially." Transparency is important in all things be it IT or even our own day to day conversations. If you have no interest in /EVER/ hiring a candidate, don't beat around the bush. Speak your truth.

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Trying something new as I reflect on my career. Decided to create a spreadsheet and just start listing what I have worked on throughout my career. Then I put a category and a sub category to each line. After that I added a description and a rating about my proficiency in that project or skill. Example: category = databases sub category = postgresql Description = Deployed and managed postgresql databases Rating = Proficient After doing this I realized what if I added each job that skill applied too. Next thing I knew I was writing a matrix of my collective experiences throughout my career. Once I got to a few hundred lines reflecting on the last 15+ years I realized that others might find this exercise useful. Times you might consider doing this: - Deciding to take the next step in your career and wanting to update your resume - Putting together your performance portfolio for a promotion or raise - Considering going into consulting and wanting to determine what services you want to provide - Just taking a few minutes to reflect on your accomplishments and when you feel like you are feeling stuck. Remembering that you accomplished everything on that list and you can do it again or make new experiences you are excited to add to it I think something important about this is taking the first step and making the list, then you just update it once in a while when you are proud of something new or exciting you have done. Share, discuss and connect with people. Your experiences and abilities are valuable and unique to you. Be proud of them and let them help push you to your future successes.

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My thoughts on the narrative that remote work is the only way to have flexibility, see kids events or have work/life balance: Working fully remote is not a requirement to be a good leader and human. We work a hybrid schedule, I encourage my team to flex their schedule to not miss out on these things, I don’t need or want to know why you need PTO, unless you want me to know. I call out the people I see working on their day off, tell them it’s their time and to take it. That said, when the sh** hits the fan, these people always always show up! Remote work isn’t for everybody or every job, and a company has the prerogative to decide where you need to work- but leaders need to be more humanistic. Period. Personally I think that remote work has forced the wrong narrative, that you have to work remote to have flexibility and balance. That is a lie! Many remote workers are expected to be logged on and available every second of their shift, just as absent from family life as if they were remote. I hope this “remote” push shifts to one encouraging flexibility, humanistic behavior and less rigidity.

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I couldn't say exactly how long I've been interviewing candidates, but part of that process has been asking design questions. From that I've realized interviewees never ask the single most important question when coming up with a response. "What's the budget?" It's important because even though trying to work it out with actual numbers during an interview is hard, knowing there's a budget is the difference between trying to optimize with what you've got, expanding on it, or building something new. My answer would be, "they've asked you to create a proposal and present a budget to complete the task." No real numbers but it gives the candidate the flexibility to do whatever.

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Hey there! Just a friendly reminder to take a few minutes at the end of your week to check out this super helpful article by Jordan Cutler. It's packed with practical examples that will help you level up your communication skills. Trust me, with these easy tips, you'll be sounding more professional and engaging in no time!

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I did not expect my last post to receive the engagement it did, but I'm thankful for it. Yesterday, I had a call (scheduled) with an employee of a service provider (who is to be left unnamed) who had seen the post and wanted to ensure they were not another person spreading misinformation to clients or potential clients. First, I am not an expert; I am just an employee from an OSC who has been very dedicated to learning contractual clauses and compliance. I appreciate this person's honesty, as anyone who knows me knows I am very transparent and expect that in return. This person works for a rather large software vendor for SMBs. They mentioned a white sheet that claims the product will cover about 98 of the 110 controls. While many of you reading this have the same response I did (that is HIGHLY unlikely), the person on the other end of this call, at the end of the day, is only working with the information they have been provided. The other day, my post was aimed mainly at the decision-makers from these companies, providing their sales departments with overly inflated information to sell a product. I am calling out the salesperson who cold-called me from the original post, as they were trying to gaslight me when I attempted to correct them. There is no one-size-fits-all solution; while a product might meet a control in one environment, it might not in another. I am all for companies trying to grow and offer more services, but I beg you to take the time to learn the ropes before cashing checks. If you are with an OSC or want to learn more about CMMC, I recommend following or contacting some of the industry's top names. If I forgot to mention anyone, please drop them in the comments. Andy Sauer, Allison Giddens, Ozzie Saeed, Glenda R. Snodgrass, CCP/CCA, James Goepel, Kyle Lai, Matthew Titcombe, Jacob Horne, Ryan B., Amira Armond, Robert J. Teague, MBA, CCA, CCP, Thomas Graham, PhD, CISSP, MBA, Robert Metzger, Patrick Colantonio, Levi Kapilevich, Jacob Hill, Fernando Machado, CISSP, CISM, CCA, CCP, Derek Kernus, Daniel Akridge, Koren Wise, Jeff Baldwin, D.Sc., Joy Belinda Beland QTE, CISM, CMMC PI CCA, Dawn Greenman, Amy Williams PhD CISSP, CMMC-CCA, PA, PI, Tara Lemieux

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Long post time…. Some of you may not know this, but I was in the enviable position of not having to jump back into work after I left my former employer; so the fact I agreed to partner with SmartTab, the ‘POS that doesn’t suck’ so quickly, there had to be a serious ‘draw’ for me to get back into the pool. There were many considerations I looked at; company structure & culture, defined verticals who would benefit in the product, as well as features & functionality. I’ve worked with both cloud & legacy companies, so one factor that peaked my interest is the fact SmartTab is a hybrid system. I’ve quickly learned the advantages of this model, so here’s some highlights for those of you (both industry & owners), considering making the leap. ▶️ Best of Both Worlds: Hybrid POS systems combine the accessibility of cloud-based POS with the reliability of an on-premise POS system. They offer the flexibility to operate both online and offline, making them suitable for businesses with varying needs. ▶️ Features and Functionality: Legacy POS systems tend to lack modern features such as customer loyalty programs, online ordering capabilities, automation, real-time accounting, and payment processing. Cloud POS systems provide faster order-taking capabilities and secure data storage solutions, but they may not be available in all locations. Hybrid POS systems strike a balance by offering features like real-time data access, inventory management, and employee management while maintaining reliability. ▶️ Cost-Effectiveness: Legacy POS systems are often less expensive upfront, but they require on-site servers and ongoing technical support. Cloud POS systems eliminate the need for bulky hardware, but subscription costs can add up over time. Hybrid POS systems provide cost-effective solutions by leveraging cloud technology without compromising reliability. ▶️ Customization and Integration: Hybrid POS systems allow businesses to customize their setup based on specific requirements. They can integrate seamlessly with existing operations, such as inventory management and analytics. In summary, hybrid POS systems offer the best of both worlds, combining features, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. They are a smart choice for businesses seeking flexibility and modern functionality. Thanks for coming to my TED talk 💜

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Shared this post By Elia Ahadi.🫡 🧐 Did you see what happened in A.I. news this week? ��� Here are 5 trends you can't ignore. 😱 👇 ♻️ TikTok auto labeled ai generated content 📎 It will automatically have an "Al-generated" label attached to it to notify viewers that it was created with Al. 🤖 ♻️ Amazon Q ls an Al Tool That Handles Workplace Queries and Writes Code 📎 GenAl assistant for work can answer questions, build apps and suggest new code. -By connecting to company data sources (company doesn't allow ChatGPT use). 💻 ♻️ Open Al considers allowing Al p*rn 📎 New policy is intended to start a conversation about how - and where ⁃ the company might allow explicit images and text in its Al products. 🔞 ♻️ Lackluster Ipad event 📎 Ipad Air is heavier than the Pro, the new squeezable Pencil has zero backward compatibility, and the new Magic Keyboard is only for the new iPad Pros. 😒 ♻️ Fairgen 'boosts' survey results using synthetic data and Al-generated responses 📎 Market researchers run a survey for a small sample of their target market. 📎 From that, Fairgen establishes patterns to expand the sample ('fake data'). 🧐What A.l./tech news caught your eye this week? 🤔 #AITrends #TechInnovation #FutureTech #AIProgress #DigitalTransformation #CuttingEdgeTech #TechTrends #AIInnovation #IndustryInsights #EmergingTech #TechUpdates #AIAdvancements #TechEvolution #InnovationInsights #AIRevolution #DigitalDisruption #TechLeadership #AIInsights #FutureOfTech #InnovativeTech #TechNews #AIApplications #AIinBusiness #TechDevelopment #AIinIndustry #TechBreakthroughs #AIinHealthcare #TechThoughts #AIinMarketing #AIinFinance #TechDiscussion #AIinSecurity #TechStrategy #AIinEducation #TechCommunity #TechConversations #AIinRetail #TechSolutions #AIinWorkplace #TechIntegration #AIinCustomerService #TechVision #AIinCybersecurity #TechAnalysis #AIinSustainability #TechExperts #AIinManufacturing #TechCollaboration #AIinEntertainment

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TELL ME, COPILOT! You Copilot, please match missing content in left columns to the right columns: A). There is a house in __                  1. New York B). If you’re going to __                    2. Southern California C). I'm in a __ state of mind              3. New Orleans D). I'm Shipping Up to __                 4. San Francisco E). It Never Rains In __                     5. Boston Copilot Certainly! Here are the matches for the missing content: A). There is a house in New Orleans. B). If you’re going to San Francisco. C). I’m in a New York state of mind. D). I’m Shipping Up to Boston. E). It Never Rains In Southern California. 🌴 You Thank you, Copilot! You are right on! 👍 Copilot You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help. If you have any more questions or need assistance, feel free to ask. 😊 #ai #ml #nlp #generative #copilot #github #promptengineering

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