CodeNewbie

Alex Kallaway was working as a full-time developer, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted a way to try new technologies and grow his coding skills outside of work. So he created #100DaysofCode, the hashtag-based challenge that’s helped him incorporate coding into his daily routine. He talks about how he designed the challenge, the number of people who’ve joined him, and the updates he’s making for 2017....

Ish Shabazz recently released Stamp Pack, the iOS app that gave him his biggest launch yet. He talks about the iterative process of building and selling an app, what’s it’s like to create a whole app category in the App Store, and why being an independent iOS developer is getting harder and harder. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Stickers for iMessage Stamp Pack Grammar Sno...

George Moore drove trucks for years. But he knew he wanted to do more with his life, and his wife encouraged him to go back to school, finish his degree, and pursue the tech career he’d started long ago. So he did. He started at help desk, and slowly climbed his way up to his current role, as master software engineer. He shares his incredible journey filled with uncertainties and perseverance, and...

In part II of our interview, Ashe Dryden talks about how the harassment she’s experienced has made her worry about the safety of people around her and influenced her decision to move to the woods. She tells us about the incident that made her angry enough to start working on diversity advocacy, how her work has changed her perception of the internet, and what we can all do to be advocates in the w...

Diversity in tech is a big topic. In our conversation with Ashe Dryden, programmer, organizer and diversity consultant, we unpack the many questions, misconceptions, and realities of diversity in our industry. In part I of our interview, Ashe gives us a diversity primer, explains why this topic is so important, and tells us how she’s crafted a conference based on inclusion called AlterConf. Show L...

Terri Burns didn’t start off as a computer science major, but she ended up not only graduating with a CS degree but running one of the largest student tech organizations in the country. She tells us what it’s like to be a computer science major, the projects and topics she’s covered in school, and the value of that degree in the real world. If you’ve been curious about the elusive CS degree, take...

Nick is an Innovation Accountant, a mash-up of data, analytics, coding, running experiments, and explaining to leadership how it’s all going. He talks about what it’s like to build NPR One, the listening app created by NPR, a decades-old, non-profit media company, what he’s learned from the data about the way people listen to podcasts, and what technical skills he uses on the job. Show Links Partn...

Leslie Hitchcock started her career writing white papers on information security. Now, she organizes some of the largest hackathons and tech events in the world for TechCrunch. She shares her tips on how new developers can make the most out of a hackathon, what types of coding projects people work on, and how she helps make hackathons more inclusive. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (...

In part two of our interview with comedian Baratunde Thurston, we talk about how he brought together product development and comedy to create entertaining apps in his recent role at the Daily Show, how he uses coding and technology as tools in the many unique positions he’s held, and how we should balance our coding responsibility with the simple goal of having fun. Show Links Partner with Dev &am...

Baratunde Thurston’s made a career of combining tech, comedy, and politics. From launching Comedy Hack Day to his recent role as the Daily Show’s first Supervising Producer for Digital Expansion, he’s found innovative ways to use code as a tool for satire, entertainment, and activism. In part I of our interview, he tells us why he started as a computer science major but ended with a philosophy deg...

Emily Karungi went to university for software engineering, but when she walked into class and had no idea what the students were talking about, she started to doubt about whether or not she belonged. She tells us how she tackled that intimidation, what it’s like to build software in her country of Uganda, and how she uses her skills and love of mentorship to help others learn to code. Show Links P...

Dara Oke graduated with four tech internships under her belt. She’s worked at Intel, Microsoft, and Twitter building features in languages she hadn’t studied and on topics she hadn’t yet covered in school. But now as a program manager at Microsoft, she looks back at those internships as an essential part of her success and education. We talk about the day-to-day of a tech internship, how she found...

Lorraine Hutter watched her son Bobby go to a bootcamp and learn to code. She saw him come home happy and excited, and she wanted to feel that same fire. So months later, she signed up for a coding program, and her son ended up as her teacher’s assistant. Lorraine and Bobby talk about what it’s like to watch each other grow as coders, how learning to code has affected their relationship, and what...

We continue our conversation with developer Julia Nguyen on her mental health journey, how it's affected her life as a programmer, and what unique product decisions she has to make for "if me," her mental health open source project. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) if me HIPAA Vim Neopets Evanescence University of Waterloo ThoughtWorks Emacs Codeland Conf Codeland 2019

Julia Nguyen was diagnosed with OCD when she was in high school. It took a long time for her to talk about it, but soon she was writing and giving talks on mental health. She’s even created an open source project to help those dealing with mental illness. In this incredibly open and honest interview, she talks about her own struggles with mental health and how she hopes to help others through her...

Have you ever heard of a scrum master and wondered what that was? Anjuan Simmons, certified scrum master and project manager, breaks it down for us in this highly informative interview. He explains the practical applications of agile, the different tools and processes used to apply its key principles, and how you can apply the agile philosophy to your learn-to-code journey. Show Links Partner with...

Carina C. Zona helps us understand algorithms, both what they are and how they are used. She walks us through fascinating examples of how they've been used in technology over the years, exploring the benefits and unintended consequences they've had along the way, and how we as developers can boost those benefits and decrease those unintended consequences. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewb...

A lot can happen in a year. For high school biology teacher Aurelian Sennett, that time was spent writing his first program that launched his tech business to help schools solve scheduling problems. Long-time listener and codenewbie, Aurelian tells us how he started learning to code, how he built his education app, and what it's like to have thousands of people pay for and use the first product he...

Jacob Kaplan-Moss is often credited for co-creating Django, one of the most popular web frameworks written in python. But that’s not exactly true. He’s also given credit for being an amazing developer. But that’s not very accurate either. Jacob tells us the true story of Django’s creation, why he calls himself a mediocre programmer, and unpacks the concept of the talent myth. Show Links Partner wi...

For our special 100th episode, CodeNewbie founder gets interviewed by her husband, Rob Frelow, on creating CodeNewbie, her own coding journey, and shares info on upcoming projects for CodeNewbie. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) New York Tech Meetup CodeNewbie Gina Trapani on CodeNewbie Codeland Conf Codeland 2019

Last episode we talked to Gina Trapani about her Lifehacker days. In this episode, we look to the future and hear about her work at Postlight, what it’s like to work with Paul Ford (Episode 82), and what she looks for when she’s hiring an engineer. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Postlight Lifehacker IBM PC Junior Track Changes Paul Ford episode Meet the Twitter API (book)...

Once upon a time, Gina Trapani started Lifehacker. It got big, really big, with the ups and downs of being the sole editor responsible for a website that millions of people read. But after awhile, she wanted to get back to coding. In part one of our two-part interview, Gina talks to us about her journey going from famous blogger to product creator, the risks of building an app based on APIs, and w...

Ashley Lewis used to light stages. She worked as a theater technician working shows like Hamilton (when it was much smaller) and New York Fashion Week. But after some introspection, she realized that her passion wasn’t in light design, and she searched for other career options. She talks to us about the similarities between coding and her art background, what it’s like working as a theater technic...

Nickolas Means talked about airplanes, and in doing so, he connected them with code in beautiful and interesting ways. In this interview, Nick explains how to take seemingly disconnected subjects and put them together in compelling talks, and how he uses his public speaking training to turn these talks into inspiring performances. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Ruby Conf 2...

When one man decided to crowdfund a bailout for Greece on Indiegogo (a feat that required over a billion dollars), Stella Cotton and her team found themselves in trouble. The site went down, and they had to figure out what to do. Stella takes us through the journey of getting the Indiegogo site back up, shares what she’s learned about site availability and what CodeNewbies can do to be ready for t...