working with me

Last updated on July 1st 2025.

Working with a new coworker is like taking a walk in an unknown city. You aren't sure what to expect. You don't know if you will like it. You're not even sure if the local culture will align with yours. To make it easier and more enjoyable for my new colleagues, I thought I could write a bit about who I am.

I'm an intense and passionate person, and I love what I do for a living. Because of that, I may come up as impatient, but I'm a firm believer that nothing is truly urgent in life. If the answer is no to "is someone dying", then it's not urgent! I'm quite laid back, so no stress, seriously! I'm someone assertive, transparent and an extrovert. It definitely translates in the way I'm interacting with others. I'm colorful and I like to politely tease people, but my goal is never to offend anyone, so please let me know if I do. I have no tolerance for sexism, racism, transphobia, ageism, ableism or anything around those lines. French is my first language, but I consider myself bilingual.

I have ADHD. While it does present challenges, I’ve developed strategies over time to manage it effectively, so it doesn’t affect my work. In fact, it’s part of why I thrive in environments that are stimulating. In other words, I’m at my best when I’m challenged.

I learned to be good with work life balance, and I'm working in the ET/EDT time zone when I'm not traveling. I'm not checking my emails or Slack during the evenings or weekends when I'm not at an event. I also use the pomodoro technique, which means that I focus on tasks 25 minutes at the time and don't constantly check Slack. I avoid notifications as much as possible, but don't worry, I always get back to everyone in a timely manner. Text communication-wise, I overuse emojis and Slack reactions.

I will fight the status quo if I believe we can have a bigger impact or be more efficient. With that said, I'm a big fan of the "disagree and commit" approach. I value feedback a lot and I don't take them personally, so please, don't be shy: anything is up for discussion. I manage developer relations (or my work as an IC) as a lean startup. Try things, measure, fail fast if needed, and learn along the process. Since it's a recurrent question, you can write my name in two ways: Fred or when writing it with my last name, Frédéric Harper. As for how to call me, I prefer when people just call me Fred. My pronouns are "he” and "him”.

Lastly, I'm a crazy cat man, a huge "The Office US" fan, and I teach meditation & Buddhist philosophy on my free time. I could write a lot more about myself, but the goal is to give somewhat of a quick high-level introduction on who I am and how I work. I felt that those points were more important as they can have a positive (or negative) impact on our new work relationship. In the end, I get shit done and I hope we'll have fun together!