Fragmented - AI Developer Podcast

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to long-time friend Dan Lew about his recent career switch from Android developer to TypeScript/Node.js/Progressive Web App Developer (and more). It's an interesting discussion that covers ... Why Dan decided to leave the Android world The challenges he faced when he moved from one tech stack to another How to prepare for a big change like this (mentally, fin...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about one of the age old bike shedding topics - code formatting, and how you can solve it with automation and tools. Code formatting can turn into an endless debate amongst peers and teams, and what Kaushik and Donn have found is that this can be delegated to a tool and automated. Freeing you and your team of having to worry about proper indentation, bracket...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about the fear of shipping, some impostor syndrome and how it contributes to uncertainty and doubt in your capabilities as a software developer. Recently Donn embarked on a mission to come up with an idea and ship it within 24 hours (which he did do). The end result was a net benefit of confidence, speed and skill acquisition. This helped reduce any doubt, un...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about 5 new-ish Kotlin constructs that you might not be aware of. The constructs that they talk about are: fun interface (SAM - Single Abstract Method), and they juxtapose them vs function types type alias import alias value class data object You'll learn what they are, how you can use them and when or when you might not want to use them, and more. We hope yo...

In this short episode, Donn talks about the CODEOWNERS file and how it can help you ensure teams review the code that they are responsible for before merging. The CODEOWNERS file is a file that you drop into the root of your project (or into the /docs or .github/ directory) that tells GitHub (or whatever git host you're using) to require a review for any code changes that match the patterns as def...

In this episode, Donn talks about the tips and tricks he's used over the last 20 years of consulting, freelancing and working full time to find jobs and new opporftunities. We're hoping some of these tips help those affected by the recent tech layoffs. These are tips that Donn still uses to this day. They work wonders to help you land a job quickly when you do them. The tips: Update your LinkedIn...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about their thoughts on Jetpack Compose and XML for Android layouts and which one you should learn first. As with every conversation in tech ... it depends on what you're trying to do, where you are at in your career, what the company is doing and more. Donn and Kaushik go into both of their thought processes around Compose and XML and when you should learn o...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about the thought of having a terminal for Android. Have you ever wished you could whip up a quick script to get the current location of a device, add it to cron and do some automated tasks on your phone? Wouldn't it be nice to have low level access to your system like you do on your desktop? In this episode, Donn and Kaushik dive into the details of what tha...

In this episode, Kaushik goes solo and interviews Ben Orenstein. Ben is a prolific Ruby developer, an amazing conference speaker, an ardent vim-ster, and now the CEO of Tuple. Kaushik has been a big fan of Ben's work and was super stoked to talk to Ben and pick his brains on a host of topics: starting the company Tuple, pair programming in general, learning different programming languages and tech...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about how many Android applications seem to suffer from the disease of over-architecture while neglecting the product (UI/UX) itself. They discuss why this is deterimental to the user experience in the Android platform and how they've seen it evolve over the years. They attempt to provide some thoughful ideas on how this can be rectified in the future and mor...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to John Rodriguez (jrod) about the Paparazzi library which allows you to perform UI screenshot testing on Android without an emulator or physical device. They talk to John about what screenshot testing is, why it's important, advantages and it's disadvantages as well. You'll learn how to use Paparazzi and how it can test various different screen configuration...

In this episode Donn and Kaushik talk about frustration, finding "flow state" and how it's known as "the madness" and how to deal with it. We originally were going to talk about an other topic, but during the off air banter Donn brought up how he was frustrated with losing/burning so much time on a task that he had for his side project. He only meant to spend a little bit of time on it and then sp...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to Android GDE Vinay Gaba about learning Jetpack Compose. They talk about how to learn how to use Jetpack Compose by example (and Vinay's excellent talk by the same name ). How to use Jetpackcompose.app to help you find the right Jetpack Compose component and how to use ShowKase to organize discover and visualize your Jetpack Compose Elements.  We then dive i...

In this episode Donn talks about that pit of the stomach feeling we all get when we feel like we should know something but we  don't. It's that voice in our head as developers that makes you feel like an idiot even when you're not. Donn gives examples of how even senior engineers are subject to this feeling and how they are often the ones to not speak up about it simply because of their experience...

In this episode, Kaushik peppers Donn with questions about his foray into Android Turbo, Hotwire, and the concept of "Native Where You Need It". Donn recently launched Android Jumpstart, the Android client for the Jumpstart Rails trifecta. Jumpstart Rails allow you to launch your SaaS business much faster than if you were to do it from the ground up. The Android client for Jumpstart Rails builds o...

In this episode Donn and Kaushik talk to Konstantin Liakhovskii about Expo development and how it takes cross platform development and its productivity to the next level.  Konstantin dives deep into the usages and reasons why Expo (and React Native) are still very good options for companies that are looking to adopt a cross-platform application.  Links from the show Expo.dev Konstantin's Twitter R...

In this episode Donn sits down and talks to Ephraim Schmitt about how he changed careers from being an exotic car salesman to a mobile software developer. It's a fascinating and inspiring story for anyone looking to get into software development.  We talk about the mental and financial struggles, how he learned to start coding, how you can find opportunities everywhere, how to interview better, wh...

In this episode Donn and Kaushik are back together on the mic. After an extended break, they both returned renewed and ready to dive into all things software, starting off with IDE themes, plugins and what they've been up to since they were last on the show together. Links from the show Monokai Pro Theme VS Code & Atom IntelliJ/Android Studio/WebStorm/etc VS Code Plugins Beautify Change Color Form...

In this episode Donn talks about something not giving up and persevering when the going gets tough in software, your career and more. It's easy to give up, but the real reward is when you persevere. Links from the show Growth Mindset Book AndroidJobs. IO Job postings are FREE on AndroidJobs. IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording). Sign up to get notified of new jobs on a...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about some of the books that they're reading and thoughts and recommendations on each. Links from the show Donn's Books Designing Data Intensive Applications Systemology Who Not How Skin in the Game Zero To Sold Freelance Tactics Kaushik's Books Staff Engineer An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management Grokking Algorithms Coders At Work A Philosophy...

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik reunite for an episode on how they use productivity tools like various todo apps as well as how the organize information for storage and easy retrieval in their day to day lives. Shownotes In this episode, Donn and Kaushik reunite for an episode on how they use productivity tools like various todo apps as well as how the organize information for storage and easy r...

In this episode, Kaushik talks to his good friend Prabhjot and learns about " Android Enterprise ". This is the official way for companies or organizations to enable the use of Android devices and apps in the workplace.  Prabhjot talks about how he setup the infrastructure to provision devices and the different capabilities the solution allows. If you ever wondered what kind of control is possible...

In this episode, Donn continues to dive into his favorite software book: Working Effectively with Legacy Code. He talks about one of the fundamental tactics of the book: Introducing seams You'll learn what a seam is according to the book, as well as how Donn interprets it so that you can get the same benefit he has gotten from it. You'll learn how to introduce seams into your codebase through meth...

In this episode, Donn talks to Jay Ohms about Turbo Native for Android, Hotwire, and how to build apps faster with Hotwire, Turbo, Stimulus, and Strata. Jay is an Android developer at Basecamp.com and Hey.com and has been building Hey with Android Turbo since it has been released (he's one of the developers of it). You'll learn what Hotwire is, how to use it with Android Turbo (and Stimulus and St...

In this episode, Donn talks dives into his favorite software book: Working Effectively with Legacy Code. He talks about one of the introduction level topics: The Legacy Code Change Algorithm You'll learn what it is and how you can use it as the basis for this new series that will be focused on the book, Working Effectively with Legacy Code. Links from the show Working Effectively with Legacy Code...