Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

We all have busy lives.  That is just a part of modern life.  However, those of us in the develpreneur world can have it even worse.  Sleeping well can be quite a challenge when you are facing deadlines and always trying to push for that next goal.  Nevertheless, sleep is a critical factor in health and even long-term productivity so let's look at ways to get some rest without sacrificing producti...

A Side Hustle will typically earn money by trading hours for dollars.  There is a hustle or level of work that is required.  However, there is also income related to that hustle.  This is a good step towards total success and we need to move forward from hustle to passive income.  In other words, do not simply invest in your career and skills, invest in future revenue. Side Hustle Vs. Passive Inco...

Across the hundreds of programming languages, there are some similarities.  These even fall into types of development language families.  When you are looking at how to expand your technical skills these complementary languages can speed your growth.  The key is to start with fundamentals and use those to grow to less common problems that are solved with code. Start With a Good Foundation The key...

We have a full schedule and are always busy.  That is no excuse for skipping exercise.  In fact, staying healthy is a critical key to success.  In this episode, we look at some ways to keep your body healthy.  Better yet, how to do this without sacrificing too much of that all-important resource: time. Staying Healthy is About Habits We have seen how success in any area is best predicted by good h...

There is an old saying that we should underpromise and overdeliver.  This may seem obvious to us, but it is worth considering in our career and business.  In fact, this approach is one of the best recipes for success in both your individual career and that of your company or employer. Underpromise and Overdeliver to Separate from Competition There are many ways to appeal to customers, but this con...

Like any area of technology, there is a lot to know about databases.  We are not going to cover all of them.  In this episode, we will look at popular modern databases and keep to a non-technical overview. Databases Come In Many Types There are many database solutions available on the market.  These range from the familiar relational databases to lesser-used ones like object databases.  Each of th...

It may be my background in technology, but I find automation to be the greatest way to improve productivity.  This time-saving mechanism is not new either.  We can look back a hundred years to see where assembly lines and automation allowed us to progress rapidly.  In fact, computers are made for automation. Automation is Not Just Technology Even though computers have given us a wealth of automati...

There are many ways to monetize the work we have been discussing.  For example, advertising is a typical avenue for a revenue stream.  However, it does not have a high likelihood of being substantial in most cases.  Instead, offer a product or service to generate real revenue quickly.  The problem is that finding work is easier said than done.  Never fear, here are a few suggestions to get you sta...

The primary communication method and tool of a developer is code.  There are hundreds of such languages in use.  Thus, learning development languages is an essential part of a development career.  No matter when you started developing there were languages that existed, and new ones pop up each year.  This situation only gets more complicated when you consider frameworks and libraries for many of t...

We live in a world full of distractions.  That fact does not go away just because we have a goal or focus.  In fact, those little distractions can be harder to identify when they are in line with our primary goal.  These are the small time wasters and productivity thieves that hide as helpers. Focus Must Be Guarded Any entrepreneur lives with a steady stream of new ideas.  However, too many of us...

Whether you are just getting started or your business is decades old, customers are critical to success.  In fact, without your customer base, there is no business.  So let's look at some ways to build loyalty and grow your core of customers. A Strong Customer Base When we look at a customer base, we look beyond the numbers.  A core of 100 purchasers of your product is better when they are loyal c...

Any good developer has to start with an environment for their work.  These requirements can be an expensive obstacle to overcome.  However, Amazon has made their extensive network and resources available to all of us.  There is a cost, of course, but it is easy to scale.  They even have a free tier of services. Your Personal Data Center The suite of services provided by Amazon called Amazon Web Se...

There are many measures of success.  Fame and fortune often top this list.  However, when you think about it, a life of contentment is the real measure of success.  Once we reach this conclusion we need to dig into what makes us content.  This is our personal key to happiness. Contentment Comes From Your "Why" The are many ways to achieve contentment.  However, anyone that is truly content has fou...

Any good business generates revenue.  However, this fact can impede growth.  The desire to work hard and increase revenue can be a tactical decision that ignores good strategy.  In this episode, we look at some steps you can take to keep yourself from losing the big picture. Strong Companies Require Business Development The problem with strong revenue is that it is a short-term value.  I can sell...

Our focus on technology can make improvement appear to be impossible.  The industry is moving at an incredible pace so keeping up is hard enough.  Thus, getting head is too much to ask.  We have found that technical improvement while staying current is not impossible.  It just requires us to keep a steady pace of improvement. Technical Improvement Requires Steady Use The challenge in growing our s...

Our efforts to become a better developer and entrepreneur are only valuable if they lead to living better.  Therefore, we cannot limit our discussions to just those two topics.  In this series, we will look at how to work better.  Also, we will explore how to accomplish that without sacrificing a fulfilling life. Living Better is Our Ultimate goal The worst thing I can imagine is if someone follow...

Becoming a better developer requires us to understand the business side of our solutions.  Therefore, this series of topics is highly valuable.  They also help our goal of becoming a better entrepreneur.  This first episode provides an overview of what to expect from the business-focused category. Why Business-Focused? One of the big complaints about developers is a lack of building solutions for...

We will start the tech track of episodes with an overview of what topics to expect.  This discussion also helps tie our past blog post articles into these upcoming podcast episodes.  We want to set a suitable destination as we embark on this journey.  Thus, this too looks at what we think makes for a better developer. Be A Better Developer We start from ground zero.  However, it will not hurt to t...

The Podcast Overview This episode starts us on our journey to become a better developer.  We look at the planned release schedule and structure along with why this podcast came into being.  The episodes will cover three main topics that make up a great developer. These are technical skills, entrepreneurial drive, and life-hacking/life balance tips and tricks. We have a busy road ahead so this prov...