Software Developers Journey

Carl first told us about his father's role in introducing him to computers. He then spoke about how he used projects to learn new things and became a developer. He told us the story of his first job at Crescent Software and how he got the teaching bug. We then discussed teaching and how he got onto the .NET bandwagon. Carl told us how a Windows update ended up crashing one of his music shows....

Laura took us on a wild ride, made of starting and dropping, taking unexpected turns to follow creative endeavors, and finally reaching a great destination. We spoke about her dreams of studying tech, going to trade school instead, and joining a startup before the end. We talked about opportunities, moving out and back in and then abroad, applying, and finally meeting communities. Here are the lin...

Holden's tech story started at a very early age, and her tech-savviness grew very quickly. She told us how her parents and childhood neighbors helped her get on the right track. Going from one nostalgic memory to the next, Holden took us from her love for "Search" to Amazon through internships and moving to the West Coast. We talked about functional programming, Scala, and going to...

Aran started talking about Biotech and how he discovered that the slow feedback loop of biology didn't suit his needs. We then brushed over his career, from learning to code, going to Harvard, being a researcher, and finally, his startup Archera. We briefly talked about his privacy projects, including the so-called "Marauders Map," exposing Facebook's lack of privacy concerns....

Dagna decided to study robotics to change the future. She told us how she hated programming at first until it clicked when she worked with a fantastic crew at Nokia. She spoke of her mentors and learning to value simplicity. We discussed moving abroad and the privilege of being developers. We talked about startups and sabbaticals. Finally, Dagna took us on her last adventure of becoming a career c...

Ségolène's story started in law school and with internships which left her puzzled about her career choice. She then studied for an MBA and finally joined a startup with an undefined role. She took over a product management position in this company and working with developers slowly piqued her interest. Later on, Ségolène decided to join a Bootcamp and later the 42 school, which we talked abo...

Nicolas started tweaking HTML pages on PHP-BB forums when he was in high school, but even though he liked coding, that didn't propel him toward a dev career... yet. He then studied physics and chemistry and joined a business school while still coding on the side. His interests were very eclectic, so he freelanced on web projects. After an exciting experience building a real-life connected win...

Julianna started by telling us about her love for maths and figure skating. She spoke about the hard choice she had to pursue sports toward a professional career or going to college. She chose the latter and went to a business school. There she discovered computer science and transferred to Stanford. We then talked about her studies there and how she entered the startup world. We discussed finding...

Carly took us from her CS and software engineering studies to her internships and later career at an investment bank. We spoke about moving internally, mentorship, learning, public speaking, management, and going back to individual contribution and trusting your guts. Here are the links from the show: https://www.twitter.com/CarlyLRichmond https://carlylrichmond.medium.com/ https://www.linkedin.co...

Laurie first took us through the many times where she should have realized that she was meant to be a developer but didn't. We spoke about her changing gears, going from law to program management, and finally, tech'. We talked about the public vs. private sector and highlighted her transferable skills when applying for her first dev job. We spoke of consultancy, what she learned and how...

Rich's computer story started early in his childhood with an Amstrad computer. But it took him 30 years, 2 or 3 different careers in screenwriting, scaffolding, building glasses, and moving from the UK to Sweden to discover programming (again). We talked about this journey and what ensued when he married his love for screenwriting and tech together to become a technical writer.  Here are the...

Luce took us back to her childhood when she discovered computers but also realized she didn't fit into the mold. She told us the story of her being bullied and eventually diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. She told us about her difficulty studying and how she finally found a vocational program in IT that matched her needs so well that she could strive. She then took us on the wild r...

Michael took us back in his gaming past, tweaking his machine to get the most of it. This led him to enroll in a trade school, leading to IT support and network administration. Discovering Powershell and later Python were the game changers for him. From there on, he went into automation and then SRE. We talked about learning, changing careers, recognizing when you are not learning, being bold, mak...

Suze took us from her first love for programming on a BBC-Micro, to her career in Marketing. She explained how she worked for the Police and managed communities. After being made redundant, she embraced freelancing and went back to coding. We discussed how she finally came back to technical marketing in the form of developer advocacy. Here are the links from the show: https://www.twitter.com/SuzeS...

Scott took us from his job as a bank clerk to learning VBA. He told us how he became a VBA analyst, solved problems on giant spreadsheets, and at some point decided to change careers. We talked about recruiting(and recruiters), teaching, blogging, advocating, and scratching your own itch. Here are the links from the show: https://www.twitter.com/spences10 https://scottspence.com https://www.youtub...

Sydney first told us about her early love for building websites on Geocities and how she didn't pursue a career in tech but instead went into sociology. We then talked about the implications of sociology on society and how she came back to tech. We spoke about growth hacking and (technology) adoption. We finally talked about Web3, how it relates to Web2 and how one can go from one paradigm to...

Karl took us from his passion for architecture and mechanics to his first freelancing project in college. We talked about how he learned how to create websites and started building a network. We spoke about the startups he joined and the ones he made. We finally talked about the power of networking and how Karl used it to his advantage throughout his career. Here are the links from the show: https...

This year was even crazier than 2020, time for a review! Credits Cover Campfire Rounds by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 . Your host is Timothée (Tim) Bourguignon, more about him at timbourguignon.fr . Gift the podcast a rating on one of the significant platforms https://devjourney.info/subscribe Support the podcast, support us on Patreon : https://bit.ly/devjpatreon Support the sho...

After briefly speaking about his early eSports amateur career, Tom took us on a teaching journey. We talked about how he beat his fear of public speaking and became a high school teacher. Then we talked about his decision to go back to school and study computer sciences. Tom told us about his experience in Finnland, how he finally ended up working for Info Support and how he set foot into the publ...

Madison took us from her dropping college and learning about development to the BookClub she is running. We talked about learning on your own, figuring things out, applying, and getting job interviews. We talked about internships and free mentoring. We talked about making plans and revising them. Finally, we talked about her podcast, as well as the CodeBookClub itself. Here are the links from the...

April took us on a rollercoaster. We talked about how she learned Python in the open, made videos about her learning, and landed a children's book deal. April told us about transitioning to the AR/VR space and how she landed at Microsoft, first as a Program Manager, and then (finally) in advocacy, with an explosive start happening in an MIT Hackathon! From her project management studies and r...

Adrian took us back to his first line of code on a ZX-Spectrum. We then brushed over his computer science studies and landed at IBM. We talked about how he discovered Java and AspectJ. We discussed how it led him to speak at conferences and stumble upon Spring. We then talked about his role moving out of IBM into SpringSource, then VMWare, and Pivotal. Finally, Adrian dropped a learning-related ge...

Aviv took us back to his childhood, discovering PCs and learning how to code on his own. We then talked about his time in the army, applying for and then working in Unit-8200. We talked about purpose and how it was to do meaningful work. We then talked about his time at IBM and how disappointing it was. Aviv then told us about his growth from a first engineer to leader inside a startup and how it...

Zac took us from his discovery of development in high school, through his CS degree, to his work as a freelancer. We discussed freedom, the skills required to lead your own business, missing your estimates, etc. Zac then took us through his first interviews and office jobs, all the way to discovering developer advocacy and his current work at Huawei. Here are the links from the show: https://www.t...

Sebastien took us back to his discovery of the C64 in the 80s and his passion for DJing on public radio. We then talked about his studies in Computer Sciences and how he landed in the software industry. We spoke about consulting, customer centricity, and learning. Seb spoke about how Java entered his life, leading him to become a renowned expert in Luxemburg and eventually working for Sun Microsys...