I work remotely so I may work with the best people in the world. I love the craft of building businesses and shipping software. However working remotely can be lonely sometimes.
This is a standing invitation: if you want to talk software or business, I want to talk to you.
My email address is adam@hawkins.io. You can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn. I strongly prefer email because I like writing.
- I love getting email. It makes my day to see emails from real people regardless of the topic. Every email is opportunity to connect, learn, share or help.
- I like reading and writing. I’ll admit that I’m old-fashioned here. I enjoy long-form written communciations between people. It encourages both parties to express themselves accurately asynchronously. If you write me a well thoughout email, then I promise I’ll do the same for you. Moreover, I enjoy reading longer form articles. My focus areas do not suit themselves well to tweets or individual paragraphs. Communicating ideas takes time to covers high level ideas and subtleties. If you write something worth reading then tell me. The worst thing that could happen is that I don’t read it. The best thing that could happen is you recieve feedback.
- I enjoy business and software. This is especially true when relevant to my interests like writing, cryptocurrency, SaaS, travel, or trance. If you build software or SaaSes that I may be interested, then feel free to send me an email. Invites are nice but product questions are even better. I’m especially interested in deployment pipeline and telemetry software (since I think it sucks right now).
- I like face-to-face meetings. I work remotely so I can live where I want. Unfortunately that may not be a software hub. If you see me at a conference or meetup then don’t hestiate to introduce yourself. This is doubly true if I’m a speaker. I’m there to talk to people! I’m the one standing out speaking lively (or loudly depending on how you slant) with a beer in my hand, minimalist sandals, cheap Casio watch, and my beloved TranceFamily braclets. Oh, I like beer and coffee.
- Tell Me You Disagree. I’ll admit that I’m strong headed when it comes to what I consider good and bad practices. Here’s an example: If you’re not doing TDD then you’re not doing professional software engineering. You may not agree with that. Great. Tell me why I’m wrong and let’s start a conversation. This is especially true about my recommended technical solutions. It’s even better if you can tell me “You recommended X over Y. Y has changed since then and is better because $reasons”. I enjoy talking to people with strong positions and ideas. Let’s talk if you’re one of those.
- You need Trance music recommendations. I think Trance (and many
other forms of electronic music) is the best. My favorite emoticon
(until an awesome enough emoji is available) is
\o/\o/\o/. It’s the only thing that’s stuck with me longer than my reddit account. I listen to a ton of electronic music. Hit me up if you want recommendations on psy, trance, ambient, balearic, and pretty much anything in between. John 00 Fleming is my favorite DJ. Pretty please email if you know where I can find mixes similar to Night Addix series by Kristoff or vocal trance ala the old school DJ GT & Project C from the Generation Trance days. - You’re going somehwere I’ve visited or lived. I’ve lived in California, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and India. I’ve travelled most of Europe and South East Asia. Hit me up if you’re visiting any of these places and want first hand advice on what to do (or not). If you’re a fellow immigrant (or expat) then we should definitely talk. My In Search of Sunset (extra points to you if you see the reference) photo-blog should give you an idea where and what I’m best suited to talk about.
- Pro-Tip: My favorite greeting is “Yo”. Sure I may not use in the certain professional settings. Starting an email with “Yo Adam” is gauranteed to get my attention.
All that being said, I defer to Parick McKenzie’s tips for emailing busy people. I’ll sum it up in two quotes:
**Restrained, professional confidence is a good skill to master**. Don’t apologize for contacting me or wasting my time — avoiding that is the whole purpose of giving you an engraved invitation to contact me. Don’t minimize your own experience, competence, success, or chances. I give people advice on selling things for a living — you will not offend me with restrained salesmanship about why I should care about your email.
I appreciate folks with a can-do attitude who look like they are going places and will benefit from specific suggestions that I can give them.