Software Developers Journey

Bubu first took us through his discovery of computers and how he decided to study computer sciences. He quickly veered off and told us about his first startup, how it came to be and how it shaped the creation of his second startup AF-Radio. We then discussed about DevCongress, the community Bubu is heavily involved in, and how he slowly but surely took over more responsibility there. We finished o...

Dave first told us where the idea for the Soft Skills Engineering Podcast first came from. Then he took us back to when he started programming, with the Basic language on a Texas Instruments calculator. We then followed his studies, and the start of his career... just after the DotCom burst. We then talked about his first steps toward management, and how he swung from individual contributor, to ma...

Wes first came in contact with CSS tweaking his MySpace page... and got hooked. He first told us how he scratched his entrepreneurs itch, doing some small web-dev for Hardcore Metal bands and small clients. Then how he somehow survived university, dreaming of the time he could finally create websites. And told us about how he started creating websites full time by the time he graduated. We discuss...

David first told us about his sales background and why he decided to learn the dev stack he was selling himself. He told us about Model Driven Development an how he learned development with a very holistic, systemic approach. We then talked about this tech and sales background prepared him to create his first company. After a few painful tales from the DotCom era, we pushed toward learning to code...

Kemdi started by telling us his first experience with Salesforce and how he then realized that he could solve problems this way. Fast forward a few years, he had then leveraged the power of existing tools to uplift voters in Nigeria and was hooked on entrepreneurship. We then talked about how he then built Versus, his current company, to pioneer sentiment analysis in Africa. We finally talked abou...

Kai started by describing his first steps into HTML, manually scratching his own itch. He then described his troubled studies and how he ended up in an apprenticeship position. We then spoke about the beauty of the Ruby language, about intuition and aesthetics. We discussed testing, TDD and the art of producing simple code. We finally jumped forward to the no-code movement and the future of our in...

Katrina first told us about her rocky start that had nothing to do with science or programming. She described the detours she took and how she finally woke up earning a living as a programmer some day. She explained how her first job in a fashion startup was a forming experience and how she picked her next job afterwards. We touched on her debut in public speaking and how it started an avalanche t...

Do you want to help me grow the DevJourney podcast? Vote for "Software Developer's Journey" for the "Discover Pod Awards" until October 21st: http://podawards.devjourney.info Here's a list of our potential guests: http://potentialguests.devjourney.info   Here's a form to suggest guests to interview: http://newguest.devjourney.info   Here's a form to suggest...

Irwin first spoke about his studies and how he volunteered to write code everyday. He went over the ups and downs and told us how he joined Teleios. We discussed his bumpy start. He spoke about how he learned from his own failures, how this became part of the company culture and a praised example for newcomers. We discussed his move toward Engineering Management and mentorship. And we finally spok...

Jeeva took us full circle. She started telling us about her first interest in computer science -because it sounded easy- and then really falling in love with it. She told us about the harsh reality of her life in Sri Lanka, and having to take on a completely different career. We spoke about her moving to the USA, how she felt about this dream-land and how she was welcomed there. We continued talki...

Aisha first walked us through the Musical-Conference she is putting up. Then we scrolled back to the place software entered her life. We then talked about her volunteering at the Cristo Rey High school and then in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. We discussed how this formed her teaching skills as well as letting her dig deeper into software development. We talked about her bootcamp and how teaching ca...

Greg first told us about his need for creating things, building things and expressing himself through products. We then talked about his studdies and how he ended up working for Mozilla. Greg told us a lot about what he learned there, what he liked and why he decided to move on. He then told us about the consulting part of his career and how this all was the perfect build up to create his company...

Kapunahele talked about her going back and forth between technical studies and non-technical activities, between dancing, grammar of the roman languages, tech support and hardware repairs. She spoke about her love for esthetics and how she enjoys mathematical mental models of the world around her. We finally spoke about her work for the Angular. JS community and how she strives to make the open so...

Rob first told us about his first jobs on the hardware side of IT and described how he slowly transitioned into software. Fast forward a few years, he told us about applying for a new job and discovering teamwork, tight feedback loops and direct contact with the clients. Rob then told us about moving toward front-end development and embracing HTML5. We talked about Javascript, ES6 & Typescript...

Woody took us all the way back to the 70s, when he started learning programming as a side activity. He described how he learned to scratch his own itch for almost 15 years before finally making the jump to become a "professional developer". We talked about the jump itself, the imposter syndrome attached and how he overcame it. We talked about how he discovered pair-programming and eXtrem...

Guillermo first took us through his very early steps in the software world... as a child. He then explained how he discovered he could make a living out of it, and how it shaped his perception. We then discussed how he grew learning and teaching in online communities and how he finally decided to move to the Silicon Valley. We finally touched on moving away and stepping into a new life. Guillermo...

Stephanie first told us about the detours that led her from math, art and political science to computer science. We then discussed her first jobs and her first mentor. We then touched on how she joined Oculus and Unity and their respective interview processes before switching gears and talking about entrepreneurship and her creating her own business. Stephanie was then very open about her technica...

Llevellyn took us way back to the point where he discovered his first computer and FORTRAN. We brushed over his studies and drifted toward MobProgramming after talking about dancing. Llewellyn told us about how he discovered "strong style pair programming" and how it brought the joy of programming back in his life. Llewellyn Falco is an independent agile coach who spends most of his time...

Elissa first spoke about her political sciences, activism background and then her love for IT. We then discussed getting into Security, Mentoring, people surrounding you and creating a business. We finally delved on failures, growth and being a role model.  Elissa Shevinsky is CEO at Faster Than Light, where she is building super fast tools for static analysis testing. She previously helped launch...

Trisha took us from her first years at school, being an outsider, all the way to taking advantage of it as a developer advocate for JetBrains. During this fantastic discussion, we brushed over the people that helped and even pushed her. We spoke about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. We discussed taking a leap of faith, not burning bridges, taking control of your career, working on your...

Julie first told us how she met Christopher Allen, the co-author of her Book "Haskell programming from first principles", why learning in general is hard and why they wanted to approach learning Haskell from a different angle. We then drifted into Julie's own learning of Haskell and how she came into the programming world. We then digged further into the Haskell echosystem and the w...

Robby first told us how the selfless scratching of his own itch lead to the success of his tool "Oh my Zsh". We then backtracked to his early years and how he got into development. Step by step, Robby took us through the creation and growth of his consultancy ; which is deeply intertwined with Ruby on Rails, scratching his own itch(es) again, and helping others along the way. Robby co-fo...

Adam took us through his journey at Microsoft. From the first (failed) interviews, to his long career writing code, helping teams and teaching developers. We spoke about the key learnings that encouraged him to write two of his books and finished by talking about the state of software development and where our industry could grow in the future. Adam Barr worked with and for Microsoft for more than...

Magnus started by telling us the story of his first steps, tinkering on a Commodore64 devising on what attracted him toward computers in the first place. Then we discussed his first apps using Borland TurboPascal and how this hobby evolved into a job. We talked polyglot-ism, craftsmanship, re-reading books, apprenticeship programs and code katas. Forged of iron and walrus blood, Magnus Staahre com...

After brushing over his "false starts" at being a developer, Yehuda slowly took us into a deep, deep dive. We talked about framework design, design philosophy, the importance of communities and being part of a core team. Yehuda is one of the creators of Ember.js, and a retired member of the Rust, Ruby on Rails and jQuery Core Teams. His 9-to-5 home is at the startup he founded, Tilde Inc...