Developer Tea

On Today's episode, I talk about making a good first impression. How can we engineer memorable moments that will create a positive impact on how people will remember your product or service? We don't have to be experts, but as developers we do need to be mindful of what it means to create a good user experience. As an example, I refer in this episode to Image Magic and their lack of good user expe...

In today's episode I review why focus is so important to coding by diving into the Solid Principles developed by Robert C. Martin also known as "Uncle Bob" and the importance of the Single Responsibility Principle : A class should have one, and only one, reason to change. Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com...

Today's episode, I answer a listener question from Janus, who focuses primarily on User Experience and Design. Janus asks, How much code should I know before handing it to a developer? Programming isn't easy. Hard work ethic pays off. To answer this question, I turn to the experts, and a 9 step framework for checking your code. Thank you, Janus for your question. If you have a question that you'd...

Strengths and skills are two different things, but when should you learn a new skill or improve a current skill? During today's episode, I'll talk about what strengths can help you recognize which skills to become a master at, how your current resources can help, and the importance of investing time in relationships. Additional Reading Mentioned: Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham I...

Have you ever felt like you've had to plan everything before beginning to write your code? In today's episode, I talk about the disposability of our computing resources, code testing tips, and how to intermingle coding with planning. Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code " DE...

Clients are never happy when hearing that you've underestimated how long a project will take in reality. In today's episode, I talk about how to anchor your estimations and keep your clients happy, and share a quick tip to get you there. Related Resources from this episode Estimating sandwiches: https://developertea.com/episodes/9981 Anchor Bias: http://coglode.com/gems/anchoring-bias How do you k...

In today's episode I'll talk about the importance of refactoring your software, identifying when you should refactor your code and tips and techniques for optimal refactoring to keep your code easier to maintain and easier for future extension. Martin Fowler, who wrote the Agile Manifesto and a great resource has a great stance on this when he says, "You don't decide to refactor, you refactor...

What is the difference between a Junior and Senior Developer? In today's episode, I talk about what it takes to get from Junior level programmer to a Senior level programmer. We'll go over some basic characteristics of the two levels, and tips to get further in your programing career. Special thanks to Today's sponsor: Code School Code School is an online learning destination for existing and aspi...

in today's episode, I get to talk with fellow developer and podcaster Patrick Hill about how to balance hobbies and work life. We talk about goals, motivation, time management and learning to focus on how to progress from one week to the next. You can follow Patrick not on Twitter but you can find him on Instagram or Letterboxd . Make sure you check out Patrick's podcast: Master of 1 and if you're...

I had the pleasure of talking with Grant Ingersoll. Grant is a search and NLP engineer, author of Taming Text and CTO at Lucidworks . In today's episode, Grant and I discuss his book, Taming Text , how he got into Natural Language Processing (NLP) , and discover what he thinks is the next big problem to be solved in text and language analysis. If you're interested in working on text problems follo...

Today marks our 100th episode! Special thanks to you, the listener for tuning in, submitting your many listener questions, sending feedback, and for nominating Developer Tea as podcast of the year in this year's Net Awards. We've accomplished a lot in our first 100 episodes, experimenting and improving along the way. In today's episode, I'll talk about the importance of improvement as a developer...

Today I talk about the pros and cons to the restraint bias or impulsive behaviors. Tools like a daily routine help to refocus your impulses. I'll go over routines and other helpful tools to help steer those impulsive behaviors. If you have not voted for Developer Tea in the year's Net Awards head on over to bit.ly/votetea and support the show for this year's podcast of the year. Thanks to today's...

How many times have you seen someone create a framework, realize it has bugs, and instead of adopting a bigger framework, would rather spend the extra time fixing their bugs, all for the sake of using something they'd built? This is also known as The IKEA effect . When one places more value on something they'd had a part in building, regardless of quality or function. Today, I look at the things t...

In today's episode I talk about the positive and negative effects of laziness, and the overlap between simplicity and complexity, especially in your code. Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea for podcast of the year in the 16th annual Net Awards - Voting ends July 13th! Today's episode is brought to you by: OneMonth Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in...

Estimation is so hard to do. Today, I talk about overcoming estimation obstacles, and some tactics to help you along the way. It's difficult to know what we're capable of, especially if we haven't nailed down a routine. Even if you do have a routine down, you can't predict the future. How do we get around this when scoping a project? I'll dig into this and many other questions about estimation and...

During today's second half of our two-part interview, Russ Taylor and I talk about the importance of testing. We dive into methods for testing like Happy Path Testing, and how to stay productive using techniques like Kanban . If you missed the first half of my interview with Russ, and listen to more episodes, you can head over to Developer Tea.com and hit Subscribe through our RSS feed, Stitcher ,...

During today's first half of a two-part interview, I have the pleasure of talking with Russ Taylor . Russ works on the continuous integration team at Etsy . We had a chance to talk about test driven development, all of the processes that Russ is involved with at Etsy, and how big applications like Etsy come together. If you don't want to miss out on the second half of my interview with Russ, you c...

Don't Delay In today's episode, I talk about the fatal flaw of putting things off 'til tomorrow, and the simple, yet difficult, solution to the imbalance of the demand we experience versus our capacity to accomplish those demands. Mentioned in this episode: Avdi Grimm's new language roadmap Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com , a...

In the second half of this episode, Mackenzie Child and I talk about his 12 in 12 challenge , and what it was like to make the switch from designer to developer. We cover a lot of ground in this episode. Starting with Mackenzie's first job as a designer, getting the backstory on why he decided to learn code, what encouraged him to make the switch, and how designers can get coding, today through Un...

I caught up with Mackenzie Child to talk about his 12 in 12 challenge. In which he challenges himself to learn Ruby on Rails by building 12 web apps in 12 weeks. During this first episode, we talk about why he decided to challenge himself, the overlap in skill set between design and development, and learning to recognize when you're overcommitted . If you want to learn how to build Ruby on Rails w...

Today, I talk about teaching in order to learn. This isn't reserved to just those in or going through school, but anyone who has learned a skill. There aren't many excuses for you not teaching what you know. This is especially important for developers, where languages, functions, and working knowledge changes on a dime. During this episode I'll talk about when to start teaching, how to start teach...

This is a question that I think needs to come up more often. That is, how do we integrate our professional lives with our personal lives? in today's episode, I give a very difficult answer to Matthew's very difficult question: "How do you separate your social media identities?" If you have questions for me like Matthew did, you can contact me via email: developertea@gmail.com or on twitt...

If you're serious about becoming a developer, you should consider getting an internship. Today I'll give you three tips on choosing an internship. Along with three tips on getting the most out of that internship, and discuss the importance of code reviews. Thank you for listening. You can always reach out to to me via email: developertea@gmail.com or twitter: @DeveloperTea Today's episode is spons...

Today is a very special inspiration episode. Thanks to each and every one of you, our listeners, Developer Tea has reached over 1,000,000 unique downloads. To celebrate, I want to talk to you a little bit about hard work, determination and where to find the motivation to get on the ground and start doing. Thank you to all of our listeners. I couldn't do this without you. I am, also excited to anno...

On today's episode, I discuss the importance of forming an informed opinion by disecting two questions in github's Front-End Developer Interview Questions repository. Employers want to know how you approach situations and your opinion on topics in the industry. To illustrate that, I answer two questions from github's Front-End Developer Interview Questions repository: What's the difference between...