Stories from the Hackery

What happens when a side hustle photo business turns into a decade-long marketing career that no longer fits? In this episode, Michael Galo shares his non-linear journey to Nashville Software School (NSS). After feeling "stuck" in marketing and communications, Michael decided to follow the advice of local coffee shop regulars and dive into tech. Michael discusses the intensity of the six-month Sof...

Generative AI is leveling the playing field for neurodiverse technologists. In this episode of Stories From The Hackery, we sit down with NSS alum, Shalane Proctor for an honest and insightful conversation about neurodiversity, learning to code, and generative AI as an assistive technology. Shalane shares what it was like to be diagnosed with AuDHD during bootcamp, how that shaped her learning pro...

Career change is a roller coaster, but it's one you can navigate with the right support. Jenni Roselle, a graduate of Nashville Software School’s full-time Data Analytics cohort DDA16, shares her journey from a decade as a hairdresser to landing a data analyst role at Ascension. Jenni discusses how the pandemic prompted her re-evaluation of her career, how her brief compliance role sparked an inte...

Kasey Endsley, a graduate of Nashville Software School’s full-time, full-stack Web Development Cohort 76, shares her journey from working as a vet technician and manager to becoming a software developer. She discusses finding a career that finally offers the intellectual challenge she was seeking. Kasey dives into the power of the NSS community and the impact of continued training through our ProT...

Does generative AI level the playing field between a junior and an experienced developer? Or does experience matter more than ever? To get a real-world perspective, we sat down with two Nashville Software School (NSS) graduates now working together at Purity Health: Ripal Patel, an alum of Web Development Evening Cohort 8 and developer with five years of experience, and Drew Goodman, a 2024 gradua...

Generative AI tools are changing software development, but how does that impact how we teach it? In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, NSS Founder John Wark sits down with Lead Instructor Steve Brownlee to discuss the intentional way generative AI has been integrated into NSS’s full-stack software development bootcamp. They cover NSS’s AI journey: from initially coaching students to use AI...

Should startups only hire senior developers? The conventional wisdom says yes, but what if hiring junior developers is actually a startup's secret weapon for building a strong, collaborative culture? In this episode, we talk to Purity Health's Chief Technology Officer, David Andrews, and Chief Product Officer (and NSS grad!) Fletcher Watson. David and Fletcher share why they've made it a priority...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we talk with Nashville tech leader and hiring manager Jason Turan about one of tech's most in-demand fields: data engineering. Jason, a long-time friend of NSS, was one of the first people to tell us that Nashville needed more data engineers. He shares his perspective on what a data engineer does, describing the role as the "connective tissue between da...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we explore the emerging field of data engineering with NSS alumni Teresa Whitesell and Joshua Rio-Ross. They share their career journeys and how their education in data analytics and data science set a solid foundation for their data engineering roles. Teresa discusses the critical role of data engineering in healthcare, while Joshua describes his exper...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we learn about Code Campfire, a new community initiative founded by NSS grad Preston Robbins. Joined by Lynn Samuelson, they discuss how Code Campfire supports Nashville Software School graduates and other juniors in tech with projects, mock interviews, and gamified job search tactics. Preston shares how the idea came to life from a simple need for peer...

In the latest episode of Stories from the Hackery, we catch up with Steve Brownlee, Nashville Software School’s lead full-stack software development instructor, for a behind-the-scenes look at how he rebuilt an application we used for pre-work that was discontinued several years ago using an open-source agentic AI tool. The result? A working prototype that would’ve taken much longer to code by han...

Life-long learning can open doors you never imagined. In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we talk with Chris Miller, an NSS alumnus who pivoted into software development after studying jazz composition and bass performance in college and recently tackled a high-stakes project supporting one of the largest live-streaming events in the world. Chris shares how skills he developed as a musici...

Generative AI Levels the Playing Field for Neurodiverse Technologists | Stories From The Hackery by Nashville Software School

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, John Wark, founder and CEO of Nashville Software School, talks with Charlie Apigian, a well-known figure in Nashville's tech community with a significant academic background. Charlie discusses his journey from academia to consulting, the importance of bridging the gap between education and real-world application, and how his company, Data Inspire, integ...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we hear from Jordan Rosas, a graduate of Nashville Software School's Web Development Cohort 29. Jordan shares his journey from working at an Amazon warehouse to becoming a Software Engineer and building SocialWaive, a social media management application. Jordan shares insights into his career progression, the challenges of creating a social media manage...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we talk to Ryan Bishop, a Nashville Software School (NSS) graduate, about his journey into software development and his experiences with generative AI. Ryan shares how prompt engineering has become a critical part of his work, discussing its applications in both coding and management. He provides insightful advice for new developers and emphasizes the i...

In this episode of Stories From The Hackery, we chat with Spencer Sharpe and Jack Parsons, two NSS graduates and lead software developers. We catch up on their journeys of transitioning from music to tech and explore the impact and utilization of generative AI tools in their current roles. They also share their insights on the evolving landscape of software development. Listen in for their advice...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, John Work, founder and CEO of Nashville Software School, sits down with NSS graduates Pemberton Heath and Rob Schulteis to discuss their careers post-NSS. They share insights on how they have integrated generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude into their daily work routines, focusing on generative AI as a learning and productivity aid. The conversati...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, we catch up with Brandon Valentine, a founding board member at NSS and a lifelong software developer. Brandon departed GitHub this spring after five years, where he spent most of his time leading a team that collaborated with some of the largest development shops in the world. Brandon shares his insights from his front-row seat on how generative AI is,...

Explore UI & UX design with Susan Culkin, a senior product designer and instructor at Nashville Software School. In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, Susan shares insights on the evolving field of user experience design, the importance of collaboration between designers and developers, and how she's giving back to the tech community through teaching and philanthropy. Show Notes: Introducti...

In this episode of Stories from The Hackery we catch up with Data Science 3 alumni Dibran Rexhepi, a former biology graduate turned data engineer and now instructor for the Part-time Analytics program at Nashville Software School. From his humble beginnings in a chemistry lab to discovering the world of programming through a bioinformatics class, our guest shares how he found his passion for codin...

As we continue to discuss generative AI on Nashville Software School’s podcast, Stories from the Hackery, Founder and CEO John Wark and lead Data instructor Michael Holloway, dive into various techniques for leveraging large language models (LLMs) like generative AI. They explore the potential of using hosted public LLMs via chatbot interfaces and discuss strategies for embedding LLMs into applica...

In this episode of Stories from the Hackery, Founder and CEO of Nashville Software School, John Wark, sits down with lead analytics instructor, Michael Holloway, to provide insights into the impact of generative AI tools like ChatGPT on data analytics and data science. They highlight the importance of human oversight and contextual understanding in leveraging these tools effectively as well as str...

In this Alumni Spotlight episode of Stories from the Hackery, we catch up with Full-time Web Development Cohort 22 alumna Kimmy Bird to discuss her NSS journey. From her time as a product owner at an international education company to now working as an Elixir backend developer in Germany, hear about the diverse paths NSS graduates have access to in the tech industry after graduation. Connect with...

Gabe Guio is a Nashville Software School graduate who contributed to the recent local data conference, DataTune Nashville, in a big way. He had the opportunity to not only build the website for the conference that serviced over 400 attendee registrations, but also built a conference scanner application that sponsors used to capture the information of attendees as they visited sponsor tables for a...