Ask the Programmer

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss the role requirements, skill set, personality traits, and dedication required to be a successful manager of AV Programmers. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on LinkedIn, X/Twitter,...

James King and Steve Greenblatt review 2025, discuss their observations and reactions, and share some predictions for 2026. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, or Bluesky, and be sure to include #Ask...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Chris Kelly, Senior IT Support Specialist at Creighton University and Chair of the HETMA Advisory Board, to share how his background in social work contributed to his soft skills that provide great benefit to his career in IT and AV. Chris Kelly can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-kelly-272155122/, the HETMA Community https://comm...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome Chris Kelly, Senior IT Support Specialist at Creighton University and Chair of the HETMA Advisory Board, to share his AV journey, including his background in social work and then IT, which led him to AV. Chris Kelly can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-kelly-272155122/, the HETMA Community https://community.hetma.org, and advisory@hetma...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Kevin Rhodus, Manager of the Platform Integration Team at Q-SYS, to talk about a personal passion project involving the automation and choreography of holiday lights called the Lucy Depp Park Light Show (https://www.lightshownetwork.com). Kevin previously appeared on episode 243, where he shared his AV journey and background in show control. Kevin Rhodu...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome Kevin Rhodus, Manager of the Platform Integration Team at Q-SYS, to share his AV story, including how he started at the Columbus Zoo, learned show control, and continues to challenge himself to develop innovative AV solutions. Kevin Rhodus can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinrhodus/, the Q-SYS Communities for Developers https://develope...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss how to help clients understand what they should be getting in a functional system and avoid settling for good enough. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, or Bl...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss on-premises vs. cloud solutions and provide insight regarding the value and challenges of each. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, or Bluesky, and be sure to...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Jeremy Gerick, Senior AV Project Engineer at University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, to discuss how AV and IT differ, what they can learn from each other, and what the future holds. Jeremy Gerick can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-gerick-45621197/ or via email jpger@umich.edu. To join the conversatio...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome Jeremy Gerick, Senior AV Project Engineer at University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, to share his AV journey and approach to projects. Jeremy Gerick can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-gerick-45621197/ or via email jpger@umich.edu. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using control programming versus the built-in automation of products. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on LinkedIn, X/Twitter, or Bluesky, and b...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Dan Ferrisi, Group Editor, Commercial and Security with Emerald, to discuss his question about the impact of AI in the AV programming world, and how AV programmers and other professionals can leverage AI to benefit their organizations and clients. Dan Ferrisi can be reached on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-ferrisi-55675a7/), CommercialIntegr...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Dan Ferrisi, Group Editor, Commercial and Security with Emerald, to discuss his question about the similarities and differences between programmer roles within various organizations: external integrators, internal integrators, independent programming companies, and manufacturers. Dan Ferrisi can be reached on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-fe...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Jason Martinez, Q-SYS Ecosystem Developer, to discuss what goes into building a successful plugin for the Q-SYS ecosystem and how to ensure it meets quality requirements and is trusted by programmers. Jason Martinez can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-martinez-597660219/, via email jason.martinez@qsc.com, and on the Q-SYS Communit...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome Jason Martinez, Q-SYS Ecosystem Developer, to share his AV journey, transition from residential to commercial AV, and his self-taught mindset. Jason Martinez can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-martinez-597660219/, via email jason.martinez@qsc.com, and on the Q-SYS Communities for Developers https://developers.qsc.com/s/. To join the c...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Patrick Gilligan, Principal A/V Infrastructure Engineer at Zillow Group, to discuss how his IT and software engineering approach to AV programming allows him to provide a deeper level of control in his solutions. Patrick can be found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@patrickgil_dev, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-gilligan-72583617/, or o...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome Patrick Gilligan, Principal A/V Infrastructure Engineer at Zillow Group, to discuss his AV journey and his approach to learning programming. Patrick can be found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@patrickgil_dev, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-gilligan-72583617/, or on the Q-SYS Communities for Developers https://developers.qsc.com/s/. To join...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss how to be effective in delivering technical support to different audiences. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on X/Twitter or Bluesky, and be sure to include #AskTheProgrammer. The...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss how technical experts interact with users and how technology has caused the average person to become less technically literate. To join the conversation or have your question answered on a future episode, join the Ask The Programmer group on LinkedIn and post a message, leave a comment, or reach out to us @AV_JamesKing or @stevegreenblatt on X/Twitter or Blu...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Jeff Perkins, Q-SYS Control Curriculum Developer and Trainer, to share his perspective on how varied training paths are the best way to serve AV programmers, designers, and software developers. Jeff Perkins previously appeared on episode 228 of Ask The Programmer. Jeff Perkins can be found on X/Twitter at perkins_jeff, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.c...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome guest Jeff Perkins, Q-SYS Control Curriculum Developer and Trainer, to share his AV journey and discuss his programmer-centric approach to training, as he has been in the shoes of a programmer for many years. Jeff Perkins can be found on X/Twitter at perkins_jeff, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-perkins-cts-d-59659674/, and via email jeff.perkin...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome back Leon Prather, an industry veteran and co-host of the brAVe Skills podcast, to discuss the importance of soft skills and how to work and interact with people. Leon was previously on episode 226 of Ask The Programmer. Leon Prather can be found at his website, leonprather.com, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/leon-prather-cts/, or on the brAVe Skill...

James King and Steve Greenblatt welcome guest Leon Prather, an industry veteran and co-host of the brAVe Skills podcast, to share his AV journey and discuss what is simple. Leon Prather can be found at his website, leonprather.com, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/leon-prather-cts/, or on the brAVe Skills podcast at higheredav.com. Leaon's article What is 'simple', anyway? can be found at h...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss what we wish more people understood about AV programming. Here are some ideas that were discussed and debated: - Saying one system is just like the other except for a few things is does not mean it is easy to program - Programming involves much more than writing code - Scope creep and ongoing changes ead to unexpected problems - Programming is not as easy as...

James King and Steve Greenblatt discuss our thoughts on the toughest part of being an AV programmer. Here were some ideas that were discussed and debated: - Dealing with vague or changing requirements - Getting blamed for things that aren’t code issues - Not being included in the design process - Explaining complex systems to non-technical clients - Helping everyone else do their job so that progr...