Nyc on Evan Hoffman

Tips for recruiters

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:25:33 +0000

I’m a pretty lucky guy these days. As a DevOps engineer in NYC my skills are in high demand and recruiters contact me almost every day. As someone who was once unemployed for 6 months I’m grateful to be in this position. That said, there are some requests that go straight to the trash, and some I’ll at least respond to even if I’m not interested. Here are some of the factors that influence my decision:

New York City commuter winter survival kit

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:28:18 +0000

Since I started working in Manhattan again a couple years ago I’ve learned a couple of things about surviving the winters on the LIRR platform. This winter in particular has been pretty lousy, temperatures below 20ºF and gusty most of the mornings for the past couple of weeks when I’m waiting for the train. Here are some of the things that have made it bearable. This is kind of a hodge-podge as a result of complete trial & error, but when fully geared I’m totally comfortable in the biting wind and snow even as others visibly shiver.

Why I love and hate Citibike

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 08:29:21 +0000

When I first heard about Citibike, I had just started working in Manhattan. I walk about ten blocks each way between Penn Station and my office on 6th Ave & West 23rd Street, which takes about 15 minutes or so, so the prospect of reducing that time was pretty appealing. Also, I should add that I just fundamentally hate walking. It’s just too slow. Before I got a car at the age of 17 I rode my bike everywhere. When I went to college I rode my bike to every class, even in 3-foot snowdrifts of a New Hampshire winter. After I took this job I looked into some folding bikes that I could actually bring with me on the train to work. That’s kind of a huge pain in the ass, plus the folding bikes start at around $700, so that wasn’t realistic for me. So I was pretty excited at the prospect of Citibike.