Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional

Is professional networking the same thing as sales? Does the thought of that make you cringe a little? Ramzi Marjaba, our guest in episode 307, says sales skills are some of the most important skills we as technology professions need that no one talks about. Whether you are building professional connections or searching for a job, you are running a sales cycle. Ramzi helps us understand the role o...

Are layoffs top of mind for you right now? Brad Pinkston is a returning guest and someone who has experienced multiple layoff events in the tech industry from different seats. In episode 306, Brad shares the story of getting laid off from a small startup. We’ll dissect how he processed that news and eventually returned to big company life. Then, looking at layoffs from a different lens, we talk ab...

What exactly is a technical alliance? Technology companies create alliance relationships to support product integration and to increase revenue by creating multiple avenues for selling a product. But as Brad Pinkston knows, alliance relationships between different companies can become quite complex. This week in episode 305 we’re rejoined by Brad Pinkston to hear his story of pursuing a role at a...

Are you trying to reach that next level in your career? Why do you want to get to the next level, and what is most important to you in doing that? If next level means next job level in your case, at some point there is no next level. What then? Duncan Epping would encourage you not to set a goal based on an endpoint. This week in episode 304 we share Duncan’s career progression over time to Chief...

What would you do if your co-presenter for a breakout session at a large technology conference had to back out a couple of weeks before the event? One option is deliver the presentation yourself. That’s exactly what Duncan Epping did in this situation despite his crippling fear of public speaking at the time. Duncan Epping is a Chief Technologist, a published author, a blogger, and someone who has...

How do you know when to stop doing something you love? Amy Lewis would say decisions like these require us to be intentional about putting something down so we can pick up something else. Amy is an unapologetic marketer working in the tech industry, and she was once a Geek Whisperer. This week in episode 302 we explore the genesis of Amy’s involvement in The Geek Whisperers podcast. You’ll hear ho...

Who knew leaving publishing might result in a career as a marketer in the tech industry? Amy Lewis was encouraged to pursue a role at Cisco by a career counselor who recognized her unique strengths. Now Amy refers to herself as an unapologetic marketer and a people person. On the soccer field and in her career, she is always a winger. She is focused more on the assist than scoring the goal. In epi...

What can you learn from 300 episodes focused on career progression in technology? This week we’ll remind listeners of our show’s mission and share the origin story of the podcast. Listen closely for the lessons we’ve learned, the patterns we have seen in our discussions and guests, the feedback we want to hear from listeners like you, and some recommended episodes if you want to dive deeper in spe...

Recent episodes and tech industry layoff trends made us wonder – is there a connection between layoff events and burnout? And if there is, are there differences in how burnout shows up in people impacted by layoffs, in those who remain, and in leaders? In episode 299 burnout expert, coach, keynote speaker, and podcaster Cait Donovan returns to help us connect the dots. We start by defining b...

Technical managers are responsible for developing great engineers, right? Yes, but that is only part of the job. Technical managers should also be developing leaders on their team. But how exactly do you do that? It starts with delegating some leadership responsibility when you delegate work. Tad Reeves, our guest in episode 298, returns to share his experience as a blogger, the progression from e...

How can a technology become our focus area unexpectedly? For Tad Reeves, it started when he said yes to the right opportunity. After doing back-end systems work for hosting providers, working in web design and development, stints in contracting and consulting, and experience with web analytics platforms…content management systems seem like a logical next step in the progression. Tad Reeves, our gu...

What do you love most about your job? Give that some thought before you answer. Have you forgotten what brought you into this industry in the first place? Tad Reeves, our guest this week in episode 296, has been consistently reminded of the things he loves about technology throughout his career. Tad originally pursued mechanical engineering but made a change to graphic design. Soon he fell into te...

How many questions should you ask before offering your opinion? If you’re working as a consultant in tech, Erik Gross would advise not offering your opinion until you have the full context of the problem to be solved and the organization you’re trying to help. Erik’s recommendations for being successful as a consultant follow a repeatable pattern. And just as the consultant needs context to be eff...

Entrepreneurs have no shortage of ideas. But how do they know if a new business idea is actually a good idea? Our guest this week would advise seeking fast feedback during the ideation process to save time, preserve energy, and remain focused on delivering value to your intended audience. This week in episode 294 we’re rejoined by Erik Gross to discuss some of the lessons learned from his recent e...

Are you solving the right problem? To get a specific outcome, the problem we need to solve is not always what we think it is. Abby Clobridge, the founder and lead consultant at FireOak Strategies, and her team perform detailed discovery with clients to ensure everyone is aligned to solve the right problem(s). This week in episode 293 we discuss Abby’s transition to becoming a consultant and her re...

What do you think the following jobs have in common? The answer will give you a hint about our guest this week! Doing statistical work for a market research firm Conducting research for a popular news network Architecting information flow and query optimization for websites Leading digitization initiatives for a university Becoming a consultant Owning a business Abby Clobridge, our guest in episod...

For job seekers out there, are you getting ghosted by potential employers even after asking for a status update? Is it possible that the impact of tech industry layoffs on the current job market might explain some of this, or are we observing a lack of leadership and communication? This week in episode 291, we continue a focused discussion on layoffs with Liz Bronson and Kat Nelson Troyer from Rea...

Are layoffs in the tech industry a trend that will continue? What can IT workers do about it? Whether you’ve been impacted by a layoff event, lost colleagues in a layoff, or have just been watching from afar…this episode is part of a focused discussion on layoffs meant to encourage and advise all of us. This week in episode 290 we’re joined by Kat Nelson Troyer and Liz Bronson, the hosts of Real J...

How often do you ask other people for feedback? Why are you asking for feedback in the first place, and what will you do with the feedback you receive? Dale McKay, our guest this week in episode 289, would remind us that the purpose of feedback is to make ourselves better, and we can articulate that purpose to other people when we ask them for honest feedback. This week we talk through Dale’s expe...

What would the job description for a mentor look like? For Dale McKay, our guest this week in episode 288, mentoring is a passion area. In fact, Nick has been blessed to have Dale as his mentor for several years. Today, Dale McKay is a VMware consultant working with federal customers. In this discussion Dale shares his Naval experience and tech industry origins, the transition to civilian life, an...

Can we progress to the highest levels of the technical career ladder like senior staff or principal without destroying our lives? Max Kanat-Alexander would say it comes down to getting very clear about what your job is and is not. Those seeking to become principal engineers must relentlessly focus on the work they are uniquely suited to deliver within a specified scope. This week in episode 287 yo...

What should we consider before taking on a new work-related or personal project? Max Kanat-Alexander, our guest this week in episode 286, thinks about the end of his involvement in a project as a first step. The only way to focus on bigger things that could make a larger impact is to offload what you’re working on now. Succession planning is about offloading a responsibility or specific work to an...

Do you know anything about Bugzilla? Sometimes the answer to a simple, unexpected question like this can change our direction. Max Kanat-Alexander, our guest this week in episode 285, once answered this question with a resounding yes because of something he’d done earlier. Max spent time triaging bugs for the Mozilla project while in college and had learned how to use Bugzilla. He would later depl...

Have you developed a personal narrative covering the important accomplishments in your career? Contrary to what many people think, our work does not speak for itself. We have to speak for our work. Jason Belk, our guest in episode 284, used writing to prepare his own narrative before sharing it verbally the first time, and he has continued to iterate on that narrative over time. In this episode yo...

How could the skills learned as a video game tester be applied to different roles in technology? Understanding and documenting the steps needed to reproduce an error in a video game aren’t so different from understanding the steps to perform a specific task like removing malware from a laptop or replacing a hard drive. Jason Belk, our gest this week in episode 283, has consistently utilized the sk...