Pybites Podcast

This week we talk with Mike Driscoll , a Python developer and content creator / book writer. We talk about: - how he got into programming and Python (and the importance of community), - how he uses Python at work for an automated test framework (to test C++ GUI apps), - how he got into Python content creation through blogging and later writing 9 (!) books, - how to keep up with new technology, - h...

In this episode Julian has a conversation with Andrew Knight, the Automation Panda, about his journey in the Python space. Over the years, Andy has worked his way beyond being in the developer job he'd always wanted, to being a prominent figure in the Python Testing space. Andy shares the story of how he started in the industry and what his first big hurdle was. There are just so many mindset...

This week we talk with Thomas Gaigher about software planning ... We discuss many things ranging from the Zen of Python, being pragmatic as a software developer, his pypyr open source project (a lightweight task runner implemented in pure Python), how to start a software project without getting stuck in analysis paralysis (both in a company or on your own), premature optimization, adaptability and...

In this episode we talk about shipping your code and why it is important to get code out there fast, because it's where part of the learning / feedback loop happens. We hope the main takeaway from this episode will be that you shouldn't sit on code. Get it out there, and make it better in conjunction with the real world and people using your software. This iterative process is also one o...

This week we have a very special guest on the podcast, our mate, Anthony Shaw. There are so many things we discuss in this episode but we essentially discuss his career path, his switch from a managerial to a software dev / advocate role at Microsoft and, his process for writing his book, CPython Internals . Most importantly though, we dive into the mindset involved with every one of these endeavo...

In this special Bonus episode, Julian dives into the story Ryan Austin tells in Episode #037 .  Not being part of the episode himself, he was so inspired listening to it he had to break down the lessons he took away from it and share them with you all. It's quick and packed full of inspiration.  Enjoy!

Grab a coffee and sit down for this week's episode and guest! Ryan Austin is a client in our PDM Coaching Program and always brings a wealth of knowledge to our conversations. This week he joins Bob for a deep and inspirational conversation about Entrepreneurialism and the Mindset it takes to follow your dreams. Having done what many of us only dream of doing, Ryan shares some deep and person...

In today's episode I interview Julian about one of his favorite topics: communication skills . We talk about why those skills are so important and beneficial, challenges in current COVID-19 and lockdown times, and communication tips for the increasingly remote and virtual ways of working. Mentioned quote: " Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success...

We're doing it differently this week! Even though Bob was on holidays last week, he jumped on to have a chat... so naturally Julian quizzes him on the benefits of taking a break! The underlying message / takeaway: Take a long break and make sure you actually switch off, unwind and recharge so you come back ready to kick goals. This is a pretty casual chat so grab a coffee (or beer), sit back...

This week we speak with Gabriel Simões about his career journey, particularly how he worked his way up from chef to support engineer to software test engineer. As usual, mindset played a big part in him succeeding in this journey and in this episode you will get some valuable career advice how you can achieve this too. Enjoy this inspiring story. Gabriel's career article: How I made my move i...

This week we have Mirela Tulbure on the show to talk about her work, mindset and books. Mirela is a geospatial scientist using terabytes of satellite data to quantify environmental change, particularly flooding. She is deeply passionate about research that has a societal impact. In this episode Mirela shares with us: - Some of the tech she is using to conduct and automate her research (DS librarie...

We started reading Dare to Lead which starts with a great quote from Roosevelt : "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and...

This week we talk about the Sunk cost bias, also been called the "Concorde fallacy" when the UK and French governments took their past expenses on the costly supersonic jet as a rationale for continuing the project, as opposed to cutting their losses (source: Wikipedia ). As you'll see we encounter it in every part of your life including coding and career. We talk about various conc...

This week we talk about persistence and its importance for developers. The skill of learning (complex) things fast and persisting through the difficulty that accompanies it is one of the best skills you can develop. After all we don't always get to choose what technology to use. And there is no better feeling of accomplishment after having struggled through a complex problem. Other areas we t...

A common issue is the fear and uncertainty around employment our veterans face when leaving the military. After years of solid structure, coming into the civilian world and being left to fend for yourself and not know if you'll be able to land a "9-5 job" can be incredibly daunting. This is the situation our guest found himself in when he left the Australian Army. In this very speci...

Every time you go up you're inevitably going to hit more challenging problems which takes a lot of mindset. Today we talk about 3 occasions where we entered new levels, met new devils and how we dealt with it: 1. Getting our first coding role: How you have to dive straight in. Step back a bit, setting expectations with the team (see also episode #021 ). Try to gain a quick win to boost your c...

This week we have Drew Kerr on the show, consultant / web developer and like us, big on self development and mindset. We talk about the importance of mindset as a developer and lessons learned from The Last Dance , an amazing documentary about the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan: Fail your way forward, often not taught at school (and important to conquer rejections with interviewing). Being prese...

In this episode I have a chat with long time PyBites Community Member, Rhys Powell, about the skills programmers should have when coming into a coding role or opportunity. As someone who mentors and trains graduates in Python development for success in the industry Rhys has some great insights into what's really needed, what works and what doesn't. One of the takeaways here is that many...

Today we talk with Paul Nnaoji, software engineer and co-founder of AskAGuru . We talk about how he got into Python and used it to build out his passion project into a startup!  AskAGuru solves a real world problem: how to make music sharing more social.  Paul used Flask and Vue.js, a decoupled architecture that makes it easier to scale. We also talk about the business and marketing side of things...

Protect your calendar In this episode we wanted to address another productivity issue. We talk about the concerning trend of having an open calendar and how detrimental this can be for getting stuff done. We talk about how we balance meetings vs deep work via time boxing. Related essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html Mentioned meeting quote: "Meetings are a symptom of bad organ...

Today we tackle the ugly monster of distraction . We give you some valuable pointers that can reduce the amount of stress that distractions cause: - Work on the 80/20, the stuff that matters and have goals so you know what to aim at. - Time-box your time, including social media. - Airplane mode is your new best friend. - Watch your bio (= willpower). - Social media vicious cycle (story time!) - Go...

This week we talk with Patrick Groß, long time PyBites community member and lead developer of Karmabot, the bot that handles karma points and other tasks in the PyBites Slack Community. We talk about how Patrick got into Python and how he really learned it, his switch from a university to a data analytics job and ... his overhaul of our early Karmabot prototype, turning it into the mature open sou...

In this episode we have a chat about how setting realistic expectations in your day-to-day can make all the difference when it comes to frustration and stress. We share a bunch of stories and situations to drive the point home. Links to mentioned content: - Podcast: Chris Voss on Negotiation - Book: Indistractible  by Nir Eyal - Book: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the...

This week we talk with another member of our PyBites community: Robin Beer. He shares his coding journey, going from physicist to cloud software architect and co-founder of an energy startup. Some takeaways from our conversation: - Learning core Python and having a constant curious mindset gets you really far. - You have to become comfortable stepping outside of your comfort zone, specially in a h...

Stress comes from everywhere these days. It's become such a constant part of all of our lives and if we don't know how to acknowledge and deal with it, it can lead to all sorts of problems. In this episode we share 5 Tips on how we deal with stress: Take a step back and remove yourself from the situation. This is a tip we learned from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . Use gratefu...