Work With Me: Jeremy Voorhis

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Values

Work Personality

Receiving Feedback & Recognition

I believe feedback should be given often, and freely. I find long periods with no feedback regarding my work to be anxiety inducing.

I often find it difficult to receive a compliment, but I appreciate any positive feedback nonetheless. I prefer to have difficult conversations in a 1:1 setting whenever possible. Regardless, I value honesty and direct communication.

Work Patterns

I work remotely, typically from the hours of 9:00 AM until 5:30 PM Pacific Time, with a break for lunch at 12:00 PM. Sometimes, my family responsibilities require me to go AFK for short stretches of time.

I enjoy light travel for meetings, on-sites, conferences, etc., but have significantly reduced my travel due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Communication Preferences

I prefer asynchronous communication by default, as well as minimizing meetings and interruptions. Sometimes, I become hyperfocused and can lose track of time, but these sessions can also be highly productive, and I can follow up with non-urgent matters afterwards. If I don’t respond right away, I may have found my flow.

Slack, or other asynchronous chat is best. Email is where urgent requests go to die.

Being on camera, especially for prolonged time during the day, causes anxiety for me. I prefer voice chat to full video, but I do turn my camera on for social interactions with my team, and as a sign of respect in 1:1/small group discussions.

I tend to hit my stride in the afternoon, so I typically use my mornings for catching up on communications, planning, etc.

I try to maintain an up to date calendar for my colleagues, and appreciate when they do the same.

How To Know I’ve Gone To The Dark Side

Warning Signs

Often, I find it difficult to schedule time away from work, but this is a recipe for burnout. Accountability from my management or peers in this area is appreciated.

How to help

Sometimes if I am excited about a topic, I may be prone to interrupting. Please don’t interpret this as a sign of disrespect. Discrete feedback is always appreciated if I strike a nerve. I also may never get used to high latency on Zoom calls.

Large group settings can be anxiety provoking, and I have a tendency to shut down. Efforts to help me reengage are appreciated.

Pet Peeves

I don’t expect this list to change your actions—but it might help you better understand and empathize with my reactions.

I am very sensitive to auditory and visual distractions. I am also very hypervigilant with respect to touch. If you cold call me, or tap me on the shoulder, especially when I am focused, you are likely to cause a jump scare. Please try one of the above methods of seeking my attention first.

Career Goals & Future Interests

I have been advancing down the individual contributor career path, which has been rewarding. I value increased autonomy, authority, and responsibility as I gain more experience, but of course this tends to tip the balance from hands-on technical work towards communicating more often and with more teams and contributors.

I’d like to continue to increase my skills in cloud systems administration and security operations/devsecops.

Areas for Development

Occasionally, I find it difficult to start a new project. It’s possible for me to become overwhelmed by analyzing the situation, or simply struggling with a bout of imposter syndrome. When I become aware that this is happening, I try to look for smaller, less overwhelming tasks, or simply take a break. I’m hoping to become more self-aware when this happens, and strengthen my coping skills.

Ask Me About

I am an avid musician and voracious music listener. I am always down to talk about musicianship, artists and live music, or anything related.

I also enjoy crime and science fiction. Tell me about your favorite novels and films.