Jargon

In my 7+ years at LinkedIn I’ve had the opportunity to work with some supremely-talented folks. When I was a member of the growth-sre team Jerrod Lowmaster was one such individual. He’s long since moved on to his Next Play, but this dude was (and likely still is) a Data Scientist par excellence in all the ways I’ve had the luxury of coming to expect from LinkedIn engineers. Supreme tech chops, driven, deep subject matter knowledge, etc.

He was also an early riser - a relative rarity among Bay-area employees - and…well…duder was Intense.

So. I’d get into the office, grab a cuppa and mebbe a piece of fruit, shuffle on over to my desk and start to get acquainted with my day. It was in this pre- coffee fugue state where Jeh-rode would hit me with both barrels. He’d just stroll up and blindside me with something like “Cliff, I’ve been looking at some data - the ratio of abooks to zeppelins is wonky and I think we should look into it.”

Huh. No shit?

This happened about once a week for months until I finally had to pull him aside for a little chat.

J-Low. My man. You’re the Godfather of Soul. Your energy, conviction, and delivery have conspired to convince me profoundly that everything you’re saying is right and true and of utmost importance. …but also, I can only understand about one in three words you’re saying. I need a Jerrod-to-Mere- Mortals translator or a dictionary or…look, maybe we can come up with a more constructive method of triage than you James Browning me and my banana first thing in the morning, mmm?

I think of Jerrod any time I find myself slipping into the LinkedIn argot, particularly with newer hires who may not be entirely up-to-speed with the vernacular.