Chuck Tomasi is a Developer Advocate at ServiceNow. He loves to share what he has learned with the developer community through blogs, videos, live streams, podcasts and books.   Top 3 Career Tips   1. The best time to make mistakes is early in your career.   2. You need to learn how to deal with senior management.   3. Invest in building and developing relationships.   Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer   Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!

Zhuoyue Wang is a senior software engineer on the space management team at Oracle. He’s the team lead for memory management in the database kernel.   Top 3 Career Tips   1. Identify your strengths and interests. Find your unique position within the industry. Distinguish yourself from others. Enable people to remember you because of your characteristics and expertise.   2. Think like your boss. Find out what they care about. Understand their perspectives and try to anticipate their needs.   3. It’s important to leverage your strengths but don’t overlook your weaknesses. Don’t allow your weaknesses to hold you back.   Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer   Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!

Opemipo Disu is an 18-year-old Developer Advocate, keynote speaker who has been featured in several publications. He aims to empower 500,000 developers through his keynote talks and tutorials, and has already spoken at 100+ tech conferences.   Top 3 Career Tips   1. Develop a strong work ethic. By doing so you will get noticed and make sure that people are aware of your achievements. This includes helping other people which you can do by contributing to communities.   2. Don’t give up on your passion.   3. When looking for a job, leverage your network connections. You never know when there might be an opportunity.   Check out Opemipo’s YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/@OpemiposThoughts     Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer     Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!

Michael Frew is a technology veteran with 20+ years of experience. He now acquires 6 and 7 figure software and SaaS companies that generate him a 7-figure pre-tax annual income.   Top 3 Career Tips   1. There is always the opportunity to acquire a business rather than start a new business. You can acquire an existing business from an entrepreneur when they’re looking to move onto the next thing. In 2024 many entrepreneurs are looking to start businesses around artificial intelligence and selling off businesses they currently own.   2. Remember that the long-term goal is to be better every single time.   3. Don’t fret if you feel like you’re not a good entrepreneur. You can be a good operator and still be successful with your own business.   Check out Michael’s personal website - MichaelFrew.com     Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer     Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!

Dr. Kyle Elliott is confidant to many of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. He is a tech career coach, interview coach and job search expert.   Kyle's Top 3 Career Tips   1. Consistency is important. You need to put in the hard work. Spend time putting in effort and don’t look for a quick trick or shortcut to success. Be strategic and intentional on what you work on.   2. Life begins outside your comfort zone.   3. Find mentors both within and beyond tech who can support you along your career journey, serve as your sounding board and provide you with guidance and coaching. Mentorship is critical. Find people who are where you want to be in five, ten or twenty years from now.   Check out Kyle’s website - CaffeinatedKyle.com     Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer     Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!  

Al Kingsley has almost 30 years’ experience in educational technology and digital safeguarding, with a passion for education. He’s the CEO of EdTech company, NetSupport, and an EdTech author.   Al's Top 3 Career Tips   1. You are born with two eyes, two ears and one mouth. You should use them in appropriate proportions. You don’t need to be the first person to speak to prove your worth. Listen to others, assimilate their views and then share an insight. 2. Stand your ground. If you’ve listened and absorbed and you genuinely believe that something is right don’t be scared to stand your ground. 3. Be bold. Be Brave. Go with your heart. Don’t go with the obvious. Look for opportunities where you will be motivated and energized. Check out Al’s personal website - AlKingsley.com     Subscribe to the IT Career Energizer newsletter to receive actionable advice, exclusive content, early access offers and discounts – IT Career Energizer     Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts   “I just started listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago and love every episode so far.” If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people -- just like you – in being successful in their tech careers. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review”. Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!   If you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. I’m adding new episodes to the feed, and if you’re not following there’s a good chance you’ll miss out. Follow now!  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Caroline Bedford, the founder and creator of Digital Minds, an award-winning innovation programme. Her forte is embedding design thinking, future-focused skills and a creative mindset within traditional roles in the insurance and corporate tech worlds. Using her 30+ years of technology and specialty insurance experience, she brings to life discovery, ideation, innovation and cultural change within insurance organisations. She focuses her passion on developing career longevity and digital confidence across all ages and levels. And capability and curiosity in business practitioners of all roles. She has a deep-seated belief that to future-proof your career, an ever-agile Generalist approach to support industry and customer needs is the key to happy staff, happy leaders and happy clients Caroline talks to Phil about the value we can find in being as prepared as possible. She also discusses why it’s wise to accept opportunities when they arise and think about how to action them later.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP: We often find ourselves in situations that with a little thought, we may have been able to predict. The key to success is to be as prepared as possible for as many eventualities as possible.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working for a company, Caroline realized that she did not believe in the company itself or their product. This grated against her values, and proved that being congruent with your company’s mission is vital.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT The day that EDII was incorporated was one of the biggest moments in Caroline’s career. Starting out on her own was life-changing.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Diversity and inclusion in IT is becoming far more widespread, allowing for a greater wealth of talent and skill sets to enter the sector.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – It was a challenge What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t wait until you need a network to build one. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You’ve started so you have to finish What would you do if you started your career now? – Caroline would delve deep into psychological behavior combined with human and technology. What are your current career objectives? – To create a model and seek partners globally. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to raise great questions, improve energy and respect others How do you keep your own career energized? – Perpetual learning What do you do away from technology? – Caroline is a huge fan of science fiction.   FINAL CAREER TIP If someone offers you an opportunity, always make sure you say yes first and then figure out how to do it later.   BEST MOMENTS (10:31) – Caroline – “You can’t be inclusive by being exclusive” (12:24) – Caroline - “Practice your spontaneity” (13:30) – Caroline – “We need to make mistakes in order to learn” (15:10)– Caroline – “An interview is an opportunity for you to find out if they are a good fit for you”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CAROLINE BEDFORD Caroline Bedford is the founder and creator of Digital Minds, an award-winning innovation programme. Her forte is embedding design thinking, future-focused skills and a creative mindset within traditional roles in the insurance and corporate tech worlds. Using her 30+ years of technology and specialty insurance experience, she brings to life discovery, ideation, innovation and cultural change within insurance organisations. She focuses her passion on developing career longevity and digital confidence across all ages and levels. And capability and curiosity in business practitioners of all roles. She has a deep-seated belief that to future-proof your career, an ever-agile Generalist approach to support industry and customer needs is the key to happy staff, happy leaders and happy clients CONTACT THE GUEST – CAROLINE BEDFORD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-bedford-a0225212/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bedfordcj Website: https://edii.group/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Brandon Bramley, the founder of The Salary Negotiator. Brandon provides professional job offer and salary negotiation coaching to help IT professionals navigate the job offer negotiation process confidently and earn higher compensation. He’s coached clients through hundreds of salary negotiations with companies ranging in size from small businesses and startups to some of the largest global corporations such as Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft. And he has a background in strategic negotiations, having worked in professional negotiation roles for companies including Amazon and American Airlines.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Stay away from some of the myths that surround job offer negotiations. People are made to feel that they don’t have the leverage to negotiate, but this isn’t true.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After making a big career move, Brandon realized that he had made a terrible mistake and decided to return to his previous job. Through this he learned to follow his instincts and understand that not all opportunities are a great fit in the end.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Upon negotiating his very first job offer, Brandon realized that it is a viable strategy, and built a successful business centering on it as a result.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that IT talent is being respected at last, and the additional benefits being brought in by companies in order to make sure that they secure the best people in their field.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Career progression took place naturally. What’s the best career advice you received? – If you’re a success then you will always follow opportunities What’s the worst career advice you received? – You should always stay at companies for a long time What would you do if you started your career now? – Brandon would look more into software engineering What are your current career objectives? – To become a better coach and negotiator, as well as provide more free resources. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Adopting a professional and friendly approach to negotiations. How do you keep your own career energized? – Sharing insights and learnings with academic institutions and their students. What do you do away from technology? – Skiing, hiking and travelling.   FINAL CAREER TIP Switching jobs should not be scary – don’t be afraid to change if something isn’t working for you.   BEST MOMENTS (4:28) – Brandon – “People should be negotiating their job offers, so they make sure they’re coming in at the low end of the band” (15:29) – Brandon - “Not all opportunities are the right fit” (21:25) – Brandon – “Successful people do not turn down opportunities” (27:08)– Brandon – “I didn’t know if I could negotiate, but I jumped out and did it!”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BRANDON BRAMLEY Brandon Bramley is the founder of The Salary Negotiator. He provides professional job offer and salary negotiation coaching to help IT professionals navigate the job offer negotiation process confidently and earn higher compensation. He’s coached clients through hundreds of salary negotiations with companies ranging in size from small businesses and startups to some of the largest global corporations such as Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft. And he has a background in strategic negotiations, having worked in professional negotiation roles for companies including Amazon and American Airlines.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BRANDON BRAMLEY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonbramley/ Website: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com Course: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-negotiation-course Total Compensation Calculator: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/total-compensation-calculator Business LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesalarynegotiator/  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to James Malley, the CEO and Co-Founder of Paccurate. He has been working in the logistics tech space since 2009 and has helped create a variety of enterprise shipping technology. He spearheaded the design of an award-winning multi-carrier TMS (Transportation Management Software) and since 2015, he’s been evangelizing the use of AI to achieve cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable packing. James talks about the importance of investing in communication to make the innovation process easier. He also discusses the value of optimism and trying to see the best side of every situation.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP When building something new that has no precedent, it’s always best to focus more upon communication in the early stages, to make the process easier.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During a joint venture with a large company, James’s work was not matched by his partner. Through this he learned to be wary of partners and what they can provide in terms of value.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Conversely, a partnership entered into after gaining experience, proved entirely fruitful, especially when it came to sustainability.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There are always problems to be solved – innovations to be found – even when we think we’ve come as far as we can. This makes the world of IT perennially exciting and challenging.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – James found his love for IT through design and problem solving. What’s the best career advice you received? – Say yes to everything What’s the worst career advice you received? – To again, say yes to everything! What would you do if you started your career now? – James would work on problems that other people are dealing with, and not things that nobody is asking for. What are your current career objectives? – Becoming a better CEO, helping others to achieve more and finding better ways to work remotely. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Networking. How do you keep your own career energized? – Making the supply chain more sustainable and less wasteful. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with his three-year-old son and trying to prevent household accidents!   FINAL CAREER TIP Be a micro-pessimist, but a macro-optimist. It’s easy to be pessimistic and difficult to see the best in a situation. But the best of the best can see the light in everything.   BEST MOMENTS (8:08) – James – “Invest in messaging and communication” (12:05) – James - “You may look around and think every problem has been solved. The truth is that’s not the case” (12:37) – James – “Get comfortable with whatever industry you’re in. That’s where you’ll find the most valuable ideas” (18:11)– James – “Focus on solving problems, and you’ll find your niche sooner rather than later”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JAMES MALLEY James Malley is the CEO and Co-Founder of Paccurate. He has been working in the logistics tech space since 2009 and has helped create a variety of enterprise shipping technology. He spearheaded the design of an award-winning multi-carrier TMS (Transportation Management Software) and since 2015, he’s been evangelizing the use of AI to achieve cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable packing.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JAMES MALLEY Twitter: https://twitter.com/mistermalley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmalley Website: https://paccurate.io

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Luke Switkowski, the CEO and cofounder of Kognitiv, a company that provides Workday consultancy and professional services. He has been working with Workday for more than a decade and developed an on-demand services model supporting Workday clients. Luke talks about why skill sets are at the heart of every IT career. He also discusses the value of patience when it comes to unhappiness in your career path.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP To build a career, you have to build a skill set. It takes patience and time, but everything is predicated upon this, so give it your full attention.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While consulting on a project, the testing was something of a disaster. Testing showed that the systems built were dysfunctional and barely working.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Starting the Kognitiv business, and making it a success!   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The tools and capabilities available to everyone in the world of today are very exciting, and enable us to make incredible things.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The potential to tinker and solve problems What’s the best career advice you received? – Niche down and learn your specialist area. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That degrees of education are always important to every part of your career What would you do if you started your career now? – Work in consulting What are your current career objectives? – Making Kognitiv even better What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Asking questions How do you keep your own career energized? – Working on side projects and pursuits to make the world even better What do you do away from technology? – Barbecuing and grilling!   FINAL CAREER TIP If you’re not happy in a position then don’t react by quitting immediately. Look for the root cause of your unhappiness and try to fix it.   BEST MOMENTS (4:51) – Luke – “Whether we like it or not, we live in a skill-based economy and a skill-based society” (11:09) – Luke - “Don’t assume that everyone will perform their roles in a project. Take more ownership of the work you have to do, and really follow through on it” (15:37) – Luke – “Find a niche area in which you’re ready to learn, and learn it to the best of your ability” (18:52)– Luke – “Ask questions and don’t be afraid to ask for help”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – LUKE SWITKOWSKI Luke Switkowski is the CEO and cofounder of Kognitiv, a company that provides Workday consultancy and professional services. He has been working with Workday for more than a decade and developed an on-demand services model supporting Workday clients.   CONTACT THE GUEST – LUKE SWITKOWSKI Twitter: https://twitter.com/kognitivinc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-switkowski/ Website: https://kognitivinc.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Marcus Olson, who discovered his love of technology by disassembling and reassembling computers salvaged from a shuttered Black & Decker office. He also taught himself Basic so that he could create his own, simple text-based games. He is now the CEO and Founder of Pliancy, a technology-enabled professional services company that helps growing start-ups scale their corporate IT. Marcus talks about why we should always focus upon the driving value behind the companies we work for. He also discusses the value of being prepared and showing up entirely, so that opportunities can be taken.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Focus on what the value is that you drive for the companies in which you work. Often, people fall into the trap of loving their product because they love it for themselves instead of identifying the need it can serve.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Marcus took a job at the government that paid okay, but the prospects were dull, and it did not allow him to follow the pursuits that interested him.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After leaving a company, many of Marcus’ clients followed him, who advised him to begin his own consulting firm, which was the ignition beneath his second chapter in life.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The IT departments are slowly driving the success of companies in general, and so are slowly becoming more and more integral to conversations about growth and direction.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – After receiving a computer as a gift, Marcus realized the potential of taking something apart and putting it together again. What’s the best career advice you received? – Be authentic. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t take risks! What would you do if you started your career now? – Figure out how to get a job at a technical organization a lot earlier. What are your current career objectives? – Focusing on the progression of others. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keep being uncomfortable and putting yourself out there What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with dogs, architecture, design, art and other creative outlets.   FINAL CAREER TIP If you show up with your whole self and you’re passionate about what you do, then opportunities will present themselves and you’ll be in great shape to take advantage.   BEST MOMENTS   (8:27) – Marcus – “Ultimately, technology needs to serve a goal” (15:06) – Marcus - “If you do what you love, the money will follow. If you do it long enough, more money will follow” (20:07) – Marcus – “We’re seeing a shift, year over year, of the importance of the IT department in helping drive success for companies” (26:02)– Marcus – “Do it for an exceptionally long time and be authentic while you’re doing it”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MARCUS OLSON Marcus Olson discovered his love of technology by disassembling and reassembling computers salvaged from a shuttered Black & Decker office. He also taught himself Basic so that he could create his own, simple text-based games. He is now the CEO and Founder of Pliancy, a technology-enabled professional services company that helps growing start-ups scale their corporate IT.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MARCUS OLSON Twitter: https://twitter.com/pliancy_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusolson/ Website: http://www.pliancy.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Chuck Tomasi who has worked in the IT industry for 40 years. His roles have included software developer, systems administrator, project manager and technical consultant to name but a few. He has a particular interest in integrating devices and systems to increase the value of the overall solution. And he likes share what he has learned with the developer community through blogs, videos, live streams, podcasts and books. Chuck talks to Phil about the importance of remembering people skills when growing your career. He also discusses the value of putting yourself out there in order to find opportunities.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Never forget the value of people in the IT sector. Careers flourish when results are delivered, but also because relationships are nurtured.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While preparing for a conference, Chuck was working with volunteers. There was a great need for perfection, but Chuck was let down by two volunteers, which almost threw the project into disarray.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT At the most recent conference, Chuck got to MC the event and connected completely with most of the attendees.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There is a world of opportunity out there in the IT sector, and the chance to create meaningful, impactful products that can change lives for the better.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – After a computer programming course in school What’s the best career advice you received? – Trust is the ultimate currency What’s the worst career advice you received? – It’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission What would you do if you started your career now? – Find a mentor and coach much sooner! What are your current career objectives? – Creating and maintaining relationships inside and outside of the company What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to translate complex information for any audience. How do you keep your own career energized? – Knowing that his work is positively impacting lives. What do you do away from technology? – Podcasting, creating content, travelling and spending time with family   FINAL CAREER TIP Even if you consider yourself to be introverted, make an effort to meet and greet people. Career opportunities almost always come from other people.   BEST MOMENTS (2:56) – Chuck – “Putting your face out there helps recognition, and helps to build a community” (3:50) – Chuck - “Careers are built on two things – results and relationships” (4:22) – Chuck – “If you really want to be the hero then you need to listen to people and help them achieve their desired outcomes” (13:06)– Chuck – “Computers and programming combine the best of logical thinking and creativity”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CHUCK TOMASI Chuck Tomasi has worked in the IT industry for 40 years. His roles have included software developer, systems administrator, project manager and technical consultant to name but a few. He has a particular interest in integrating devices and systems to increase the value of the overall solution. And he likes share what he has learned with the developer community through blogs, videos, live streams, podcasts and books. CONTACT THE GUEST – CHUCK TOMASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctomasi LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/tomasi Website: https://www.chucktomasi.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Tyler Rohrer, a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience around end user computing. He has worked in and around the most progressive and challenging deployments in the world. And most recently, he founded Remotely INC, the world’s first Hyper Converged Console. He is leveraging his experience in the digital workspace and end user computing space to help enterprise companies contend with the daily security risks they face with remote and hybrid end users. Tyler talks about the importance of trusting your instincts when it comes to your career. He also discusses why it’s okay to ask for help and guidance when needed.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always trust your instincts. They are generally trying to lead you in the right direction. Listen to what your heart says to you.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After hitting the wrong button, a software malfunction occurred, but it taught Tyler the value in always taking the utmost care, and to own up to your mistakes.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Tyler was instrumental in the creation of VM Ware, which was subsequently acquired. This led to his appearing at a conference in front of Michael Dell.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The unbounded nature of IT itself. This is a field in which you can literally learn about, and gain mastery over, things we never considered possible.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Tinkering with things and fixing them when broken. What’s the best career advice you received? – Take chances! What’s the worst career advice you received? – Follow the rules and DON’T take chances. What would you do if you started your career now? – Look more into automation and robotics What are your current career objectives? – To take all the lessons learned and distill them into a book What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Endurance and persistence How do you keep your own career energized? – Balance technical interests with sports and other pursuits. What do you do away from technology? – Rally driving, hiking outdoors and exploring nature.   FINAL CAREER TIP Ask for help if you need it. It’s okay to not know everything, and you only learn by seeking answers from others.   BEST MOMENTS (4:04) – Tyler – “We think of scale in one dimension right now” (7:00) – Tyler - “Having the confidence to bring your best self to every conversation really goes a long way” (6:00) – Tyler – “More than anything else, trust yourself” (10:50)– Tyler – “I’ve learned as much from the good ideas as the poor ones”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – TYLER ROHRER Tyler Rohrer is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience around end user computing. He has worked in and around the most progressive and challenging deployments in the world. And most recently, he founded Remotely INC, the world’s first Hyper Converged Console. He is leveraging his experience in the digital workspace and end user computing space to help enterprise companies contend with the daily security risks they face with remote and hybrid end users.   CONTACT THE GUEST – TYLER ROHRER Twitter: https://twitter.com/Remotely_TREX LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtylerrohrer/ Website: https://remotelyrmm.com

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Arpit Mohan, who has always been fascinated by technology, from taking apart has Tamagotchi to creating a mobile game that went viral. He is the co-founder and CTO of Appsmith, an open-source project built by engineers for engineers. It is now used by more than 1,000 teams, employs people in 8 countries and has raised over $10 million in capital. Arpit talks about the value of focussing upon soft skills such as communication and enhancing teams. He also discusses the value of reading, and how it can make you a better writer.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Software engineers focus on the tools and the code too much, we should focus more upon the soft skills that go with the job, such as the people and the teams.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Arpit ran a delete query on a database, and mistyped the command, which wiped every order in the company’s system for the previous six months. This taught him the value of quality checking every moment.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT While running a mobile game company, the game they were working on went viral. The user database began to grow very rapidly.    THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Software and IT has endless potential to provide solutions for the world. There are numerous ways in which the physical world cannot achieve certain things, but IT and software can make these things a reality.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The ability to create and express himself as a builder What’s the best career advice you received? – Make your manager look good What’s the worst career advice you received? – To focus on the money and compensation, and to go for the jobs that pay the best. What would you do if you started your career now? – Arpit would focus upon the internals of systems What are your current career objectives? – Trying to be a better leader, and to become a more effective communicator What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to write long form formats, such as memos. How do you keep your own career energized? – Read, read, read! What do you do away from technology? – Running, fitness and spending time with family   FINAL CAREER TIP Reading is incredibly important. The more you read, the better you write.   BEST MOMENTS (3:16) – Arpit – “I’ve always been bedazzled by the ability to create” (6:06) – Arpit - “A lot of people end up being senior engineers, but junior humans, but it should be the other way around” (7:00) – Arpit – “What will get you ahead in life is when you build trust with your team” (16:46)– Arpit – “I’m very optimistic about careers in IT, because that’s where the future is”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ARPIT MOHAN Arpit Mohan is the co-founder and CTO of Appsmith, an open-source project built by engineers for engineers. It is now used by more than 1,000 teams, employs people in 8 countries and has raised over $10 million in capital.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ARPIT MOHAN Twitter: https://twitter.com/mohanarpit LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/arpitmohan Website: https://www.appsmith.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Alexander Embiricos, cofounder and CEO of Remotion, a virtual office that brings hybrid teams to life. Before starting Remotion, he was a Product Manager at Dropbox, as well as having studied Computer Science at Stanford. Alexander talks about the value in identifying a customer base that you can relate to on a personal level. He also discusses the value in empowering others.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP In your job, make sure that the people you deal with – your customer base – are the kinds of people that you enjoy talking to.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working for Dropbox, Alexander realized that he did not have the sufficient manpower to meet an important deadline. He ended up performing the work himself, but was advised that this was not the point of project managing.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT A video call with a customer, which resulted in Alexander being told how useful the Remotion tool had been to their way of working.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Seeing how the community is able to build upon the work of others, iterating products and services, and pushing to see what is possible.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Being able to build upon other people’s work. What’s the best career advice you received? –Make sure that you enjoy talking to the people you have to talk to. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Focus on what will get your promoted, and not what the customer needs. What would you do if you started your career now? – Become an engineer instead of a product manager. What are your current career objectives? – How to distribute products more effectively, and how to be a better manager. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being curious about what other people think or are interested in. How do you keep your own career energized? – The feeling of creating something and delivering it. What do you do away from technology? – Sports and time with friends.   FINAL CAREER TIP Always do your best to empower others so that they can solve problems for themselves.   BEST MOMENTS (8:57) – Alexander – “Choose a target audience and make sure that, even when things are going horribly, that you’ll feel energized about the conversation” (9:51) – Alexander - “Instead of focusing on what you’re going to build, focus on who you are going to build for” (18:10) – Alexander – “In IT, it is much easier to build upon the work of others” (21:50)– Phil – “Everyone is different, so the way you deal with one person will be different to another”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ALEXANDER EMBIRICOS Alexander Embiricos is the cofounder and CEO of Remotion, a virtual office that brings hybrid teams to life. Before starting Remotion, he was a Product Manager at Dropbox, as well as having studied Computer Science at Stanford.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ALEXANDER EMBIRICOS Twitter: https://twitter.com/embirico LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/embirico/ Website: https://www.remotion.com/  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Howard Scott Warshaw, a video game pioneer, an award-winning filmmaker, an innovative technologist, an author, and a Museum of Modern Art artist. He now employs this eclectic skillset as a psychotherapist in California’s Silicon Valley. His latest book, “Once Upon Atari” (subtitled How I made history by killing an industry) details his exploits at Atari and how they reshaped his life. Howard talks about why we should remember that goals are only achieved through hard work and perseverance. He also discusses the value to be found in understanding what it is that we really want in life.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Be prepared to pay your dues when it comes to your career. Dreams are all well and good, but always recognize that hard work is required in order to achieve them.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working on Yars Revenge, Howard insisted on carving out his own path for the game but was forced to admit later that the game he’s insisted upon was not good.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT While being interviewed by Steven Spielberg in order to discuss a game version of Raiders of The Lost Ark, Howard not only got to meet his hero, but also was allowed to tour the Warner Brothers Studio.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT is so wide open. One piece of tech can often give birth to whole new worlds and ways of thinking. The future is almost boundless when it comes to innovation.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Computers in college showed Howard a life he wanted to pursue. What’s the best career advice you received? –That the world of technology is chaotic! What’s the worst career advice you received? – That he was throwing his life away to make video games. What would you do if you started your career now? – Howard would focus more on handheld apps What are your current career objectives? – Howard enjoys taking longstanding problems and applying new ways of solving them. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Hypervigilance. How do you keep your own career energized? – Always try new things and seek out new challenges. What do you do away from technology? – Movies, TV shows, and exploring new places in his own mind.   FINAL CAREER TIP Understand what it is that you want, and the you that you really wish to be, and then start a journey that takes you, day by day, towards the version of yourself that you wish to be.   BEST MOMENTS (20:13) – Howard – “Most successful products do not realise 100% of their design” (24:15) – Howard- “Success has a thousand parents, but failure is an orphan” (26:25) – Howard – “Be prepared to have your dreams corrected. The difference between your fantasy of where you’re trying to get to and the reality of being there can be harsh” (36:01 – Howard – “IT is at the forefront of the toolset that’s going to help make people’s lives better. To me that’s the most exciting thing you can do”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW Howard Scott Warshaw is a video game pioneer, an award-winning filmmaker, an innovative technologist, an author, and a Museum of Modern Art artist. He now employs this eclectic skillset as a psychotherapist in California’s Silicon Valley. His latest book, “Once Upon Atari” (subtitled How I made history by killing an industry) details his exploits at Atari and how they reshaped his life.   CONTACT THE GUEST – HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW Twitter: https://twitter.com/hswarshaw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-scott-warshaw-824425/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hswmft/ Website: https://hswarshaw.com/wordpress/ Book Website: https://newonceuponatari.hswarshaw.com/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Scott_Warshaw Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari – “If you want to understand the true story of the video game crash, I highly recommend this book”

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Janet T Phan, the Founder and Executive Director of Thriving Elements and Senior Technical Product Manager for Amazon’s Project Kuiper. She has a vision to develop and empower young women in STEM to make a sustainable impact and inspire the next generation of women leaders. Janet talks to Phil about the value in making ourselves replaceable in the industry. She also discusses why “no” can mean a whole new world of opportunities for you.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Technology grows every day. If we make ourselves as replaceable as possible, then we show up for ourselves, and allow our skillsets to be easily passed on to others.   WORST CAREER MOMENT In a previous role, early in her career, Janet told her manager that she had aspirations to be a manager herself. This was met with derision by her superior, and unfortunately changed her attitude towards Janet into one of negativity.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Janet was part of a huge global launch that went exceedingly well, impressing the global leadership, despite their reservations about her way of implementing it.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT is ever evolving and requires a universe of different backgrounds and perspectives to make its applications as universal as possible. This means that it requires inclusivity and diversity in order to function at its best.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Janet was inspired by her professor. What’s the best career advice you received? –Do now, and ask for forgiveness later. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That becoming a manager was almost impossible. What would you do if you started your career now? – Janet would focus on data analysis. What are your current career objectives? – Expanding into technical product management What’s your number one non-technical skill? – A love of people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Exploring areas where true positive impacts can be made. What do you do away from technology? – American football, snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding and other physical pursuits.   FINAL CAREER TIP Anytime you face rejection or hear the word “no”, remember that NO stands for new opportunities.   BEST MOMENTS (3:57) – Janet – “Train the next generation and make opportunities for them” (15:25) – Janet- “IT is an ever-evolving field” (16:41) – Janet – “There are so many opportunities for people who are from different backgrounds. You don’t have to enjoy or love computer programming to be in it” (17:24) – Janet – “We need all personality types in order to make technology successful”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JANET T PHAN Janet T Phan is the Founder and Executive Director of Thriving Elements and Senior Technical Product Manager for Amazon’s Project Kuiper. She has a vision to develop and empower young women in STEM to make a sustainable impact and inspire the next generation of women leaders.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JANET T PHAN Twitter: https://twitter.com/janettphan09 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janettphan/ Website: https://thrivingelements.org/ Book Website: https://boldly-you.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jossie Haines, a software engineering leader at the forefront of emerging customer technology across Silicon Valley. She has held management roles at Apple, Zynga and American Express and she is currently VP of Software Engineering and Head of DEI at Tile. She’s also a public speaker and she coaches technology leaders on creating inclusive and diverse working spaces. Jossie talks about the importance of networking in growing your career in tech. She also discusses the value of resilience, and why we must practice self-care   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Networking is invaluable to your career. So many people in tech are introverted, but they must try to do better to get to know others, as the positive impacts are very important.   WORST CAREER MOMENT At Apple, Jossie found that being too nice was not always effective when it came to developing her leadership qualities.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working for Tile has provided many highlights as it has allowed Jossie to make the biggest impact. During her tenure, she has successfully grown a team and implemented a more inclusive culture.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Tech has solved many convenience problems, and is now maturing into a sector that will provide life-changing issues for the world, including racial and gender diversity.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Jossie was given a Commodore 64 for Christmas What’s the best career advice you received? – It’s important to learn from your mistakes and not dwell on them. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That the first step in your career will define it forever. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jossie would not have gone to grad school. What are your current career objectives? – To positively impact women in tech through empowerment, education and retention. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Empathy. How do you keep your own career energized? – Finding the right work life balance What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with her puppies, walking and hiking, visiting the beach, playing video games and travelling.   FINAL CAREER TIP Thriving in technology is about building resilience, building your network, and practicing self-care.   BEST MOMENTS (8:36) – Jossie – “I want to help empower leaders to build those inclusive and diverse teams” (9:28) – Jossie - “Networking, networking, networking! It’s invaluable to your career!” (10:29) – Jossie – “We need to have resilience in order to thrive” (12:57) – Jossie – “Niceness is something that a lot of people suffer from and it really can impact your career”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JOSSIE HAINES Jossie Haines is a software engineering leader at the forefront of emerging customer technology across Silicon Valley. She has held management roles at Apple, Zynga and American Express and she is currently VP of Software Engineering and Head of DEI at Tile. She’s also a public speaker and she coaches technology leaders on creating inclusive and diverse working spaces.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JOSSIE HAINES LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/maidmarianjd

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Adrianus Warmenhoven, a Defensive Strategist and Threat Intelligence Manager at NordVPN. He is responsible for getting the most relevant Indicators of Compromise, malware samples and their indicators and mapping out the threat landscape for the company’s customers. He has undertaken security reviews and advised companies on how to deal with active threats and extortion. Adrianus talks about why corporate politics should be avoided in your IT career journey. He also discusses why the basics should be ingrained at the outset of your IT career journey.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Don’t play the game of corporate politics. Focus on the job, what it gives to you in terms of satisfaction, and become the best in your field.   WORST CAREER MOMENT There are no singular “worst moments” – only a general string of challenges that all add up to learnings that we can take and move forward with.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT A company for which Adrianus was working was expanding into Africa. It was a more primitive time in terms of technology, and Adrianus was asked to head this innovation. It was extraordinarily challenging, but through hard work it was made possible.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There are countless facets to IT, with so many differing sectors that branch out into all corners of life, embracing so many different pursuits.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Computers and their possibilities What’s the best career advice you received? – Always listen to, and try to understand others. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Just to blindly follow the rules. What would you do if you started your career now? – I would do exactly the same! What are your current career objectives? – Having fun and learning more at all times. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Talking and listening. How do you keep your own career energized? – Finding new challenges and following his instincts. What do you do away from technology? – Family time and French polishing   FINAL CAREER TIP When you’re young, figure out what you want to do and start with the basics. It will serve you well as your career matures.   BEST MOMENTS (3:57) – Adrianus – “If you do anything about your career, make sure that it adds value to yourself” (4:51) – Adrianus - “Press every button you see. Try everything out” (5:48) – Adrianus – “You have to learn from your mistakes and own them, and don’t be afraid to make them. Otherwise you will not be moving forward at all” (16:08) – Adrianus – “Listen to people and ty to understand other people”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ADRIANUS WARMERHOVEN Adrianus Warmenhoven is a Defensive Strategist and Threat Intelligence Manager at NordVPN. He is responsible for getting the most relevant Indicators of Compromise, malware samples and their indicators and mapping out the threat landscape for the company’s customers. He has undertaken security reviews and advised companies on how to deal with active threats and extortion.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ADRIANUS WARMENHOVEN LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianuswarmenhoven/ Website: https://www.warmenhoven.co/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mark Angle the Chief Cloud Operations Officer at OneStream, having previously held leadership positions in areas including data centre operations, service desk, enterprise architecture and service delivery. His passions lie at the intersection of technology, science, and nature but he gets his in-office adrenaline rush leading collaboration discussions or presenting to a customer. Mark discusses why we should always go further when it comes to self-development and learning. He also talks about why we should always keep our eyes open to spot new possibilities and opportunities.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP We excel when we push past the boundaries of what we need to learn, and take on more information. This pushes us to grow more and be ready when opportunities arise.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While managing a group of engineers, Mark plugged some of the patch cabling in, which wasn’t labelled. There was a malfunction, and the result was that a large corporate network across the country was taken offline.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Growing into the position he currently holds at OneStream. It was a journey that involved working hard and ascending the ladder gradually. But the rewards have paid off handsomely.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There are countless facets to IT, which means that those with a creative mind and the will to apply themselves, will always find a route through their chosen pursuit.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Through experimentation during youth. What’s the best career advice you received? – Always be moving in your career, and stay on the bleeding edge. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To stay in a job that will take you nowhere. What would you do if you started your career now? – Mark would start up a new technology company of his own. What are your current career objectives? – Continued rapid growth for OneStream, gaining a foothold in the market, and expansion. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Gaining a broad sense of business knowledge. How do you keep your own career energized? – Training, learning and pushing to develop more. What do you do away from technology? – Outdoor pursuits and flying his own airplane   FINAL CAREER TIP Make sure you continue to learn, remain progressive, and keep your eyes open. If opportunities present themselves, take the chance and follow your instincts.   BEST MOMENTS (2:57) – Mark – “Learn more than what you need to” (4:56) – Mark - “Technology exists not just for the sake of technology. It exists so that we can enable the business” (13:52) – Mark – “If you want to get into technology, I can’t think of a better time to do it” (15:01) – Mark – “Stay on the bleeding edge!’   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MARK ANGLE Mark Angle is the Chief Cloud Operations Officer at OneStream, having previously held leadership positions in areas including data centre operations, service desk, enterprise architecture and service delivery. His passions lie at the intersection of technology, science, and nature but he gets his in-office adrenaline rush leading collaboration discussions or presenting to a customer.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MARK ANGLE Twitter: https://twitter.com/lilrkt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mangle Website: https://onestreamsoftware.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Don Pezet, the CTO and Lead Edutainer at ITPro.TV. He has been working in the IT industry since 1997 and has been training others since 2001. He is a certified trainer with many vendors including Microsoft, CompTIA, Google and Cisco. His combination of real-world experience, textbook knowledge, and a questionable sense of humour have helped him to entertain and educate thousands of people. Don talks about why it’s vital that we are continually learning throughout our IT journey. He also discusses we should never settle when it comes to our IT career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always do your best to be continually learning and developing, even in your spare time, which can provide a fun and experimental time. Make IT your passion and always look at what is possible.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Don worked with a student who did not correctly implement a server and its functionality. This led to a huge loss of data.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Don has overseen the implementation and creation of many systems from scratch, taking advantage of new technologies and helping to found new ways of working that have lasted.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The stability of the IT sector. IT is not going away, and will only ever grow stronger and more robust as a sector.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The potential for experimentation and creativity. What’s the best career advice you received? – To apply for jobs you’re not qualified for. What’s the worst career advice you received? – TO get out of IT as it’s not stable. What would you do if you started your career now? – Don would focus on cybersecurity as it’s become far more important. What are your current career objectives? – Making the training product that he wished had existed when he first began in IT What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Reading and communication. How do you keep your own career energized? – By always learning something new. What do you do away from technology? – Reading and experimenting with technology.   FINAL CAREER TIP Never settle when it comes to your career. Some find a comfortable niche and don’t like to be challenged. But the world of IT is one that provides endless possibilities in areas you’re passionate about.   BEST MOMENTS  (6:55) – Don – “It used to be enough to say that you wanted to get into IT – now there are all types of specialisations” (8:14) – Don - “A good IT pro is always learning!” (16:50) – Don – “We’re constantly having to evaluate the field to determine if we’ve got the right training to set people up to be successful” (19:36) – Don – “What’s exciting about IT is the experimentation – that you can try different things”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DON PEZET Don Pezet is the CTO and Lead Edutainer at ITPro.TV. He has been working in the IT industry since 1997 and has been training others since 2001. He is a certified trainer with many vendors including Microsoft, CompTIA, Google and Cisco. His combination of real-world experience, textbook knowledge, and a questionable sense of humour have helped him to entertain and educate thousands of people.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DON PEZET Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonPezet LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donpezet Website: https://www.itpro.tv/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Greg Edwards, a technology entrepreneur since 1998. Before founding CryptoStopper, he started Axis Backup, a backup and disaster recovery company for the insurance industry. In 2015, Axis backup was acquired by J2 Global, enabling the creation of CryptoStopper which focuses exclusively on cybersecurity. Greg talks about the importance of following up when it comes to the recruitment process. He also discusses the value in taking control of your own career plans.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always follow up when you’re looking for a company you’d like to work with. Never be afraid to chase your application, or to pursue a hiring manager about vacancies.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Greg lost a huge client to a competitor, which drastically hit his company’s revenue. He initially thought it would be catastrophic, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it allowed his company to grow and scale.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After performing well, early on in his career, Greg was rewarded with a trip, which left a huge impression on him as a youngster.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The tech sector is exploding with possibilities, including machine learning and the advances it brings are growing exponentially.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Necessity! What’s the best career advice you received? – Be your own boss. Take control and accept control of your own career path. What’s the worst career advice you received? – I’ve always ignored bad advice! What would you do if you started your career now? – Focus on cybersecurity much earlier, and learning how to be a hacker, using that knowledge for good. What are your current career objectives? – Growing the company to an annual $10m revenue level as well as find great people.. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to identify talent in people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mental and physical exercise. What do you do away from technology? – Using his private pilot license to fly planes.   FINAL CAREER TIP Determine what you want your career to look like, and plan for the career course that means the most to you.   BEST MOMENTS (4:32) – Greg – “Identify the company you want to work for and then don’t be afraid to follow up” (11:30) – Greg - “There are so many opportunities that I see coming over the next twenty years” (14:09) – Greg – “The democratization of currency is already happening and I think that’s going to proliferate and ultimately be a positive” (15:45) – Greg – “Accept control of your own career path”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – GREG EDWARDS Greg Edwards is a technology entrepreneur since 1998. Before founding CryptoStopper, he started Axis Backup, a backup and disaster recovery company for the insurance industry. In 2015, Axis backup was acquired by J2 Global, enabling the creation of CryptoStopper which focuses exclusively on cybersecurity.   CONTACT THE GUEST – GREG EDWARDS Twitter: https://twitter.com/cryptostopper LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gedwardswpd Website: https://www.getcryptostopper.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Kirk Marple, a customer-focused technology leader. He is the CEO and Founder of Unstruk Data and has more than 25 years of experience developing media management pipelines, leading DevOps at venture backed companies and structuring successful exits. Kirk talks to Phil about how taking risks and looking for opportunities can often provide the most growth. He also discusses the importance in looking past negative feedback and shaking off self-doubt when it arises.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP You are the one responsible for your career. Look for ways to take chances. By doing so, you will achieve far more growth and development.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Kirk has experienced what it is to be along some way in a project, only to find that the team are not fulfilling their potential, leading to some strained conversations.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working for Public Broadcast Systems, Kirk enacted and created a product that made its way into mainstream society. This was a source of great pride.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The world of IT is never-ending. The jobs and responsibilities are constantly evolving and developing, leading to infinite possibilities in the space.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Kirk first trained as a chef but found a greater aptitude for IT while programming in his spare time. What’s the best career advice you received? – Show empathy and try to see problems from others’ points of view. What’s the worst career advice you received? – The only times bad advice has come, has been when people refused to believe in Kirk. What would you do if you started your career now? – Kirk would focus on Python, Linux and Javascript stacks. He would also focus on videogame development. What are your current career objectives? – Juggling technical with the CEO side of operations. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing ability and communication skills. How do you keep your own career energized? – Staying current, keeping up to date with new technologies and innovations. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family and cooking.   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t doubt yourself. Everyone gets negative feedback from time to time. Learn to see the value in it, and don’t let it dissuade you from your goals.   BEST MOMENTS (5:05) – Kirk – “No one is going to look out for your career as much as you are” (8:06) – Kirk - “Be sure that you have good people around you, but also give them more responsibility” (11:05) – Kirk – “There’s always something new, there’s always another problem to solve, there’s always something new to learn” (13:45) – Kirk – “Think about things from other peoples’ perspectives, even at a technical level”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – KIRK MARPLE Kirk Marple is a customer-focused technology leader. He is the CEO and Founder of Unstruk Data and has more than 25 years of experience developing media management pipelines, leading DevOps at venture backed companies and structuring successful exits.   CONTACT THE GUEST – KIRK MARPLE Twitter: https://twitter.com/KirkMarple LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kirkmarple Website: https://www.unstruk.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Craig Goodwin, the co-founder of Cyvatar.ai, a game-changing cybersecurity firm that makes cybersecurity simple for businesses by providing fully managed, customer-centric security solutions. He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, having held the role of Global Chief Security Officer for a number of large public and private sector organisations. Craig talks about why we should go wide instead of deep when it comes to knowledge. He also tells us why it’s okay to admit when we don’t know the answers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always go wider rather than deeper. If you have aspirations in your chosen branch of the industry, try to broaden your knowledge base rather than specializing too much.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During a lull in his personal life, Craig found himself struggling to deliver at his best. His biggest regret was allowing this to continue. As a result, his reputation suffered, but it has led him to realise that honesty is important.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After enjoying a successful corporate career, Craig was given an incredible chance to grow a security business into a powerful concern, allowing him to utilize his creativity and imagination.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is changing the face and the operation of every single business type in the world. This means a huge uptick in opportunities available to people.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Gaining a background in the defense world and seeing how essential it is. What’s the best career advice you received? – You don’t know everything. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That specializing is crucial. What would you do if you started your career now? – Craig would look for hot industries and look for more experience-related growth. What are your current career objectives? Craig’s current objectives are much more business-focussed, including seeing to it that his people are well taken care of. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keep moving forward, and always be learning – professionally and personally. What do you do away from technology? – Fitness and healthy pursuits, such as cycling, running and exercising.   FINAL CAREER TIP Stay wide in your knowledge, continually learn and never be afraid to admit you don’t know something.   BEST MOMENTS (6:40) – Craig – “It’s incredibly important to know a bit about a lot of different things” (12:15) – Craig - “Having an openness with a team, and with a group of people is really powerful” (14:04) – Craig – “The digitalization of everything is growing exponentially” (14:41) – Craig – “Anyone that comes into the tech or IT world now has an opportunity to be in every single sector – to influence and change the very fabric of the way society is being run”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CRAIG GOODWIN Craig Goodwin is the co-founder of Cyvatar.ai, a game-changing cybersecurity firm that makes cybersecurity simple for businesses by providing fully managed, customer-centric security solutions. He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, having held the role of Global Chief Security Officer for a number of large public and private sector organisations.   CONTACT THE GUEST – CRAIG GOODWIN Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrCraigGoodwin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craiggoodwin/ Website: https://cyvatar.ai/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Craig Goodwin, the co-founder of Cyvatar.ai, a game-changing cybersecurity firm that makes cybersecurity simple for businesses by providing fully managed, customer-centric security solutions. He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, having held the role of Global Chief Security Officer for a number of large public and private sector organisations. Craig talks about why we should go wide instead of deep when it comes to knowledge. He also tells us why it’s okay to admit when we don’t know the answers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always go wider rather than deeper. If you have aspirations in your chosen branch of the industry, try to broaden your knowledge base rather than specializing too much.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During a lull in his personal life, Craig found himself struggling to deliver at his best. His biggest regret was allowing this to continue. As a result, his reputation suffered, but it has led him to realise that honesty is important.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After enjoying a successful corporate career, Craig was given an incredible chance to grow a security business into a powerful concern, allowing him to utilize his creativity and imagination.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is changing the face and the operation of every single business type in the world. This means a huge uptick in opportunities available to people.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Gaining a background in the defense world and seeing how essential it is. What’s the best career advice you received? – You don’t know everything. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That specializing is crucial. What would you do if you started your career now? – Craig would look for hot industries and look for more experience-related growth. What are your current career objectives? Craig’s current objectives are much more business-focussed, including seeing to it that his people are well taken care of. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keep moving forward, and always be learning – professionally and personally. What do you do away from technology? – Fitness and healthy pursuits, such as cycling, running and exercising.   FINAL CAREER TIP Stay wide in your knowledge, continually learn and never be afraid to admit you don’t know something.   BEST MOMENTS (6:40) – Craig – “It’s incredibly important to know a bit about a lot of different things” (12:15) – Craig - “Having an openness with a team, and with a group of people is really powerful” (14:04) – Craig – “The digitalization of everything is growing exponentially” (14:41) – Craig – “Anyone that comes into the tech or IT world now has an opportunity to be in every single sector – to influence and change the very fabric of the way society is being run”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CRAIG GOODWIN Craig Goodwin is the co-founder of Cyvatar.ai, a game-changing cybersecurity firm that makes cybersecurity simple for businesses by providing fully managed, customer-centric security solutions. He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, having held the role of Global Chief Security Officer for a number of large public and private sector organisations.   CONTACT THE GUEST – CRAIG GOODWIN Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrCraigGoodwin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craiggoodwin/ Website: https://cyvatar.ai/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Maura Charles, the founder of Keep it Human, a digital innovation consultancy. She has 25 years of experience working in digital transformation and digital product management for beloved brands like Bloomingdale’s, Real Simple, and the New York Philharmonic. She loves helping teams get unstuck by finding the right digital processes to build bridges between the technology side and human side so that they can work together. She uses a human-focused approach that helps companies both connect with their customers and prioritize their own people. Maura talks to Phil about the value in keeping a growth mindset. She also discusses why it’s vital for us to pause, reflect, and question everything.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Focus on learning new things at all times. By keeping a growth mindset and always looking for ways to develop, new pathways will open in your career.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During the first years of her career, Maura did not always know how to stand up for herself in the face of bias and discrimination. After several bad experiences, she has since gained the confidence and experience to do so.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT While working for Time Inc, Maura had worked her way up to the level of Executive Director, and was responsible for overseeing a wholesale restructuring of technological systems.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T We are at an incredibly interesting and transformative time that means far more inclusion and far more in the way of opportunity.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that is was new and uncharted. What’s the best career advice you received? – Take time to reflect on the things you’ve done well. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Keep your head down and just do your work! What would you do if you started your career now? – Maura would try to stay big and not let things scare her away from a particular path. What are your current career objectives? Learning more about the psychology of leadership What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Emotional intelligence. How do you keep your own career energized? – Building a network of people with similar aims and purposes. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family, yoga, reading and art.   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t take everything you see or hear at face value. Find your blind spots and question everything.   BEST MOMENTS (4:54) – Maura - “What I’ve learned from having a growth mindset is that you will challenge your own assumptions and learn new pathways” (6:57) – Maura - “You’re not always going to have the answers laid out for you. It’s not a script. There’s not a right way to do everything all the time” (19:50) – Maura – “Innovation and technology are the future of our business and personal worlds” (21:27) – Maura – “Celebrate your wins”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MAURA CHARLES Maura Charles is the founder of Keep it Human, a digital innovation consultancy. She has 25 years of experience working in digital transformation and digital product management for beloved brands like Bloomingdale’s, Real Simple, and the New York Philharmonic. She loves helping teams get unstuck by finding the right digital processes to build bridges between the technology side and human side so that they can work together. She uses a human-focused approach that helps companies both connect with their customers and prioritize their own people.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MAURA CHARLES Medium: https://mauracharles.medium.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauracharles/ Website: https://keepithuman.consulting

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Kevin Harris, who has been in the IT field for over 20 years, holding positions that range from Systems Analyst to Chief Information Officer. He is now a higher education administration official at American Public University System, continuing to make system improvements to support student success and learning. As a faculty member he has delivered instruction in several disciplines including business, cybersecurity, computer science, and computer networking, with particular interest in information security and computer forensics. Kevin joins Phil to talk about how exposure to new opportunities can help to shape our attitudes. He also discusses the value to be found in sharing our own career stories, and how this can inspire others.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Make sure you’re always stepping out of your comfort zone. By pushing yourself into spaces outside of your comfort zone, you develop new sensibilities and attitudes.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During a junior role, Kevin and his team assumed that all the work they had done was enough, but upon the rollout of the project, it transpired that things were not as prepared as they may have liked. This taught Kevin the value of understanding each organisation’s political structure.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Kevin was given the chance to return to his college and work on prestigious projects. Working on the other side of learning was quite a thrill.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT has become a more inclusive place to work, and a sector that allows for many more opportunities for growth, as well as more diversity in terms of raising up minorities.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The challenge of finding solutions to problems. What’s the best career advice you received? – As long as you understand the consequences, you can do anything you want to do. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t seek roles above you and stay where you are until something comes up. What would you do if you started your career now? – Kevin would be more intentional about finding an internship. What are your current career objectives? Focusing on more ways to introduce tech to more diverse communities. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to take something highly technical and communicating it to a wider audience. How do you keep your own career energized? – Kevin is always asking questions, as well as reading and listening. What do you do away from technology? – Kevin regularly “unplugs” by going fishing and getting back to nature.   FINAL CAREER TIP Share your story. No matter where you’re at in your career, sharing your story so far can act as a beacon to others who may be at the beginning of their own journey.   BEST MOMENTS (5:51) – Kevin - “Exposure changes attitudes” (12:20) – Kevin - “There’s a lot of underrepresented populations in the tech field that we need to focus on, but I think the momentum is there” (13:55) – Kevin – “You can do anything you want to do but you must understand the consequences to it” (17:13) – Kevin – “Anyone who’s interested in tech can find their place and a really rewarding career”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – KEVIN HARRIS Kevin Harris has been in the IT field for over 20 years, holding positions that range from Systems Analyst to Chief Information Officer. He is now a higher education administration official, continuing to make system improvements to support student success and learning. As a faculty member he has delivered instruction in several disciplines including business, cybersecurity, computer science, and computer networking, with particular interest in information security and computer forensics.   CONTACT THE GUEST – KEVIN HARRIS Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinharristech LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harris-kevin/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Leon Kuperman, the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Cast AI. He has worked in technology for more than 20 years in roles that cover product management, software design & development though to production deployment.   Leon talks about the value in fostering an engineering mind-set. He also discusses the importance of following our passions and how working on things we’re interested in can help us to be far more productive.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Developing an engineering mind-set is a keystone element in ensuring that you have a successful career as an IT leader. You must be immersed in the subject matter of what you are building.   WORST CAREER MOMENT A system was taken offline by hackers who demanded a ransom in order to release it back to the company Leon was working for. Rather than pay their demands, Leon was tasked with fixing the problem, retrieving the site and ensuring it could not happen again. However, this was not possible. The ransom was paid. But Leon learned about new ways in order to safeguard systems.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Leon had an opportunity for a larger role in cloud security at Oracle, overseeing products that customers use to secure their environments. It was a time in which Leon was allowed to be more creative.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Machine learning and data science has exploded recently, and this is incredibly exciting. There are many opportunities in the field, and many opportunities for self-development in the area.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Receiving the first computer as a child and learning coding at home. What’s the best career advice you received? – If you work to work yourself out of a job, then you’ll never be out of a job What’s the worst career advice you received? – The engineers can’t be business people, and that business people can’t be engineers What would you do if you started your career now? – Leon would take his time and focus upon what he was passionate about and interested in. What are your current career objectives? Looking for ways in which he can positively impact the IT industry. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to communicate clearly and with empathy. How do you keep your own career energized? – Deep diving into topics, and focusing on self-development. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family and participating in mixed martial arts.   FINAL CAREER TIP Always make sure that you’re working on something you’re passionate about. If you do this every day, then work will never seem like work.   BEST MOMENTS (7:13) – Leon - “If you want to have a career as an IT leader, it’s absolutely a perquisite to have an engineering mind-set” (7:51) – Leon - “You gain a lot of credibility and respect from your team if you’re able to understand their jobs at a detailed level” (10:29) – Leon – “Partners want to be able to trust you, and technical excellence is something that they hinge on” (27:25) – Leon – “Being able to sell, even in a technical role, is highly advantageous”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – LEON KUPERMAN Leon Kuperman is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Cast AI. He has worked in technology for more than 20 years in roles that cover product management, software design & development though to production deployment.   CONTACT THE GUEST – LEON KUPERMAN Leon Kuperman can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itexecutivecto/ Website: http://www.cast.ai/  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Sunir Shah, the founder and CEO of AppBind as well as president of the Cloud Software Association. He has spent his career creating and selling software products to improve how the internet works. And he believes that nothing is more profitable than becoming a piece of the internet! Sunir talks to Phil about why we should make use of the internet to reach out to those with knowledge and experience. He also discusses the value in reminding ourselves of our own capabilities when challenges arise.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP The world is filled with fascinating people, each imbued with an arsenal of knowledge. Seek them out and talk to them. The internet has made this a much easier prospect as we are all connected.   WORST CAREER MOMENT As well as suffering a crisis of self-doubt and pivoting in his career, Sunir was fired after a particularly disappointing business encounter. But this experience led him to the founding of his company.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Sunir had delivered a system designed to provide the foundation for a TV channel, Sunir took all the code he thought was useless and deleted it, despite many insisting that it was an extreme approach. The choice turned the code into something far more efficient and useable.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that we can now reach out across the world and connect with people that may otherwise never have had their voices heard. Talent is now global.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The family had a Vic 20, and Sunir’s passion for coding soon made itself known, especially when his sister was declared to be “cooler” than he was! What’s the best career advice you received? – Always remember that people are different. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To be strong – the implication is that we are naturally weak What would you do if you started your career now? – Get started on Scratch much sooner What are your current career objectives? Sunir is committed to solving the problem of subscriptions for companies. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Effective networking, and how to approach people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Interacting with the community that he has helped to build. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family   FINAL CAREER TIP You only live once, so make sure you spend that time doing something you enjoy. If you don’t know what you are doing at a certain moment, remind yourself that are not stupid, and that you will figure it out.   BEST MOMENTS (2:49) – Sunir - “When you think about what’s the purpose of life, what’s the rewarding part? For me it has been seeing other people’s lives improve through my work” (5:19) – Sunir - “Reach out to people. Even people you don’t understand. Ask questions. Learn to see the world through their eyes. You’ll gain something from them, no matter what” (12:18) – Sunir – “No one can run a business if they can’t even control their own time” (15:55) – Sunir – “You can do anything if you have confidence. If there’s no risk, then what is stopping you?”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SUNIR SHAH Sunir Shah is the founder and CEO of AppBind as well as president of the Cloud Software Association. He has spent his career creating and selling software products to improve how the internet works. And he believes that nothing is more profitable than becoming a piece of the internet!   CONTACT THE GUEST – SUNIR SHAH Sunir Shah can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/sunirshah Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sunir Website: https://www.appbind.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Meredydd Luff, the CEO and cofounder of Anvil, a platform for building full-stack web apps entirely in Python. He has a PhD in building usable programming systems from Cambridge University and he wants to make programming more accessible for everyone. Meredydd talks about the importance of finding your “and” – the secondary skill that adds value to you. He also discusses why bringing your unique offerings to your IT career can make all the difference.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Look for what your personal “and” is. If you are just a developer then that’s okay, but it’s always best to be one thing “and” another. This makes life much more interesting and yourself much more valuable.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After completing a huge amount of work, Meredydd discovered that his system had been built upon degraded hard disks. This led to a huge outage for a popular messaging system in the Philippines.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Starting and building Anvil – taking the complete system from an idea to fruition, and the experiences learned along the way.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T As cloud services and the like continue to grow, it has meant that the doors are open to far more people. So long as people have the drive to do so, the IT sector is open to all.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Meredydd was attracted to the creative component of IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – That studying something we enjoy is fine, and can sit well alongside a serious career. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That he should have taken the money over a route that seemed more fun. What would you do if you started your career now? – Meredydd would begin tinkering with systems a lot earlier than he did. What are your current career objectives? Refining and perfecting Anvil and turning into the best system it can be. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being an extrovert, caring about others, and curiosity. How do you keep your own career energized? – Running a startup! What do you do away from technology? – Flying airplanes and ballroom dancing.   FINAL CAREER TIP Find the thing that is interesting to you, and upon which you can offer a unique perspective, and bring that to your IT career.   BEST MOMENTS (6:00) – Meredydd - “The way things are with traditional web development, there’s not much a learning curve as a learning cliff” (8:12) – Meredydd - “Being at the intersection of someone who can do two different things – that’s really valuable” (23:53) – Meredydd – “If you are one of these people who has the bit between their teeth, the fact that there are so many routes into a career means that you can afford to follow your heart” (27:02) – Meredydd – “If you are the tinkering type, then tinkering your way into a career is as valid a choice as ever”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MEREDYDD LUFF Meredydd Luff is the CEO and cofounder of Anvil, a platform for building full-stack web apps entirely in Python. He has a PhD in building usable programming systems from Cambridge University and he wants to make programming more accessible for everyone.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MEREDYDD LUFF Meredydd Luff can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredydd/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/meredydd Website: https://anvil.works

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Ulf Schwekendiek, the first mobile engineer at Siri before it was acquired by Apple as well as a co-founder of Ditto which was acquired by Groupon. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Centered, designing the platform and building a team that shares his passion for achieving mindfulness at work. Ulf talks about the importance of keeping your creative spirit alive as your career progresses. He also discusses the value in documenting your ideas.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP If you have a creative spirit, always make sure that you keep this spirit alive in whatever you do. Make time to create and always be curious about what could be.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Ulf experienced a time in his career when he felt as though he should become a manager, because of the expectations placed upon him by others. He soon realized that this was not where his passion truly lay.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Ulf prefers to focus upon the failures of his career, rather than become too nostalgic for the highlights. He feels that this spurs him on to do better.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ulf is most excited about the accessibility of the IT sector, and how it allows anyone entry, no matter what their background is. He also finds himself intrigued by the advent of “emotional software”   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Being from Germany, engineering was always a part of Ulf’s DNA. What’s the best career advice you received? – You always want to have a smaller piece of a much larger pie. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That he should not speak his mind for fear of offending someone. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ulf would focus on AI, ML and other technologies that are changing the world. What are your current career objectives? Ulf is focusing upon the non-technical side of running and operating a business. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Learning about human psychology and how the brain works. How do you keep your own career energized? – Learning about new things and iterating constantly. What do you do away from technology? – Ulf is dedicated to his newborn daughter. He also enjoys hang gliding.   FINAL CAREER TIP Get out of your own head. If you have ideas then make sure you are documenting them always. Ideas never come to anything if they remain internal ones.   BEST MOMENTS (10:57) – Ulf - “If you are a maker or a builder, just make sure that you never lose that” (13:07) – Ulf - “Find something that you’re really passionate about, and not something society shows you as your next step” (13:30) – Ulf – “It’s fun to talk about your highlights, but it’s so much more powerful to talk about your failures” (23:14) – Ulf – “If nobody understands what it is that you’re doing, then there’s no point in doing it”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ULF SCHWEKENDIEK Ulf Schwekendiek was the first mobile engineer at Siri before it was acquired by Apple as well as a co-founder of Ditto which was acquired by Groupon. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Centered, designing the platform and building a team that shares his passion for achieving mindfulness at work.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ULF SCHWEKENDIEK Ulf Schwekendiek can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulfme Website: https://www.centered.app/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sulf

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Matthew Gaddy, a productivity and high-performance coach for engineers, helping them to operate at their best so that they can produce work that makes a difference. He is on a mission to increase productivity in a way that reduces stress and fosters a quality working environment. Matthew talks about the importance of visualizing our ideal outcomes and sticking to the roadmap that will take us there. He also discusses the value of time management and how planning can help.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Begin with the end in mind! We often get so caught up in the task itself that we lose sight of why we began in the first place.   WORST CAREER MOMENT When first applying productivity techniques to his work, Matthew found that he unfortunately burned himself out. This led to a greater understanding of the importance of taking time out.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After making a huge leap in his career, Matthew recognized the value in ensuring we have sufficient reserves in case of setbacks. It also allowed him to make his next step much closer to his goals, which was also his most productive action.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The way the world of work has changed has allowed for a greater sense of prioritization. Systems and processes are all moving towards being more adaptable and allowing people to do their best.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – What’s the best career advice you received? – Start with the end in mind! What’s the worst career advice you received? – The way to get more things done is to work harder and for longer. What would you do if you started your career now? – Matthew would look to gain more clarity about the goal of the company and look for further ways to make positive change. What are your current career objectives? Producing content focusing upon increasing performance and mastering time. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. How do you keep your own career energized? – Revisiting goals and realigning with what’s important. What do you do away from technology? – Running and fitness, as well as reading and spending time with family.   FINAL CAREER TIP Choose how you’re going to spend your time in advance and plan wisely. Work hard but take breaks. Remember your time is a finite resource.   BEST MOMENTS (1:30) – Matthew - “What I do is help engineers to master their time and to create their best work” (4:27) – Matthew - “Think about “What do I want? What do I want my lifestyle to look like?” And build backwards from that point” (7:45) – Matthew – “Time wants to be told what to do. It doesn’t like to be found” (19:35) – Matthew – “It’s not about the emails. It’s not about the customers. It’s about growing the business and making sure you’re communicating”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MATTHEW GADDY Matthew Gaddy is a productivity and high-performance coach for engineers, helping them to operate at their best so that they can produce work that makes a difference. He is on a mission to increase productivity in a way that reduces stress and fosters a quality working environment.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MATTHEW GADDY Matthew Gaddy can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgaddy/ Website: https://www.matthewgaddy.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthew.gaddy/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Michal Juhas, who has worked in the tech industry for more than 16 years. He has held a variety of positions during his career, from software developer to chief technical officer. And in 2019 he founded Geek Recruiters and he is now an IT Talent Advisor, Recruiter, Career Coach and Trainer as well as the author of 6 books and the creator of multiple video courses. Michal joins Phil to talk about why it’s crucial to gain as much experience as possible in the early days of your career, as well as the ways in which a note could help your job applications.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP At the beginning of your IT career journey, look for ways to gain more experience by accepting tasks from those who need work done. This looks great on your record when you come to the interviewing process.   WORST CAREER MOMENT When Michal’s company went out of business. He had built it from scratch, but it ultimately failed. Michal learned not to be too over-optimistic and be more realistic when it comes to challenges.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working as a coach and recruiter, Michal finds many highlights these days by discovering new talent – those who bring something special to the role they have taken.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The global nature of IT means that developers can now take positions around the world. Technology allows free movement in remote terms, and skills can be put to good use, no matter where we live.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – After a suggestion from a friend, Michal fell into IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – to read more books, as they inspire the mind. What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Michal would experiment with more technologies and learn more programming languages. What are your current career objectives? Identifying the companies that he wants to work for. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Marketing, sales and copywriting. How do you keep your own career energized? – Working with mission-driven companies, which adds a new sense of purpose. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family.   FINAL CAREER TIP When applying for a job, always include a note to explain why you are excited about a particular opportunity.   BEST MOMENTS (5:08) – Michal - “Diversity of experience helps you to find solutions for different problems” (13:23) – Michal - “Shift the focus from the salary to the other benefits of the work” (20:43) – Michal – “Read lots of books!” (24:15) – Michal – “Effectively, as a developer, as an IT professional, you are selling yourself on the market, so you need to be able to find your unique selling proposition”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MICHAL JUHAS Michal Juhas has worked in the tech industry for more than 16 years. He has held a variety of positions during his career, from software developer to chief technical officer. And in 2019 he founded Geek Recruiters and he is now an IT Talent Advisor, Recruiter, Career Coach and Trainer as well as the author of 6 books and the creator of multiple video courses.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MICHAL JUHAS Michal Juhas can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaljuhas/ Personal Website: https://michaljuhas.com/welcome Career Tools Website: https://careerupgradetools.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juhas.michal/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvfRMDDiKKqNVaezfvBVR0A

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Edidiong Asikpo, a developer advocate who writes technical articles about Kubernetes, web development, soft skills and open-source contributions. She has given more than 50 talks at various tech conferences and meetups around the world and also played a significant role in building three of the most impactful developer communities in Africa. Edidiong talks about the importance of embracing new opportunities. She also discusses consistency and why it matters so much when it comes to your career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always make sure that you take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. The best way to grow your career is to remain open to new possibilities.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Edidiong needed to set up a workshop, and was supposed to be facilitating the operation of it. When it finally came time to present the project, her internet connection was lost and the event could not be attended.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After joining a company struggling with certain processes, Edidiong used her talents to turn around the business’s fortunes, leading to a reversal of negative opinion.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Careers in IT are very versatile. If you aren’t happy in one place you can always pivot and move to a different sector. Technology is a field in which you can easily switch..   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Seeing other young people using technology to change lives. What’s the best career advice you received? – You gain mastery over a skill by doing it often. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That Edidiong was ill suited to the course she had chosen. What would you do if you started your career now? – Edidiong would put herself out there a lot faster. What are your current career objectives? More content creation. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. How do you keep your own career energized? – Taking breaks is very important and make sure that between the hard work you take care of yourself. What do you do away from technology? – Watching movies and travelling.   FINAL CAREER TIP You can’t get anywhere unless you start, so get going on your journey, and make sure you are consistent.   BEST MOMENTS (4:15) – Edidiong - “Always put yourself out there” (6:34) – Phil - “By doing “something” you are already ahead of somebody else” (8:30) – Edidiong – “It’s important to have a back up plan because you never know what’s going to happen” (16:02) – Edidiong – “You only learn how to do something by doing that thing”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – EDIDIONG ASIKPO Edidiong Asikpo is a developer advocate who writes technical articles about Kubernetes, web development, soft skills and open-source contributions. She has given more than 50 talks at various tech conferences and meetups around the world and also played a significant role in building three of the most impactful developer communities in Africa. She is also the co-founder of Tech UK as well as a tech mentor and empowerment coach with a specific focus on women and diversity.   CONTACT THE GUEST – EDIDIONG ASIKPO Edidiong Asikpo can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Didicodes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edidiong-asikpo/ Website: https://edidiongasikpo.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Sham Jabeen, who has worked in the tech industry for the past 12 years, starting her career is an Account Manager for an IT support and services company. She is now a Senior Account Manager for Total Computers, where she works in partnership with vendors such as Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Microsoft and Google, and manages clients in the legal, financial and gaming industries. She is also the co-founder of Tech UK as well as a tech mentor and empowerment coach with a specific focus on women and diversity. Sham talks about the value of building relationships. She also discusses the importance of finding a mentor, and how coaching can help to guide our career paths.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Building long term relationships are the key to a long term career. Your network is your net worth, and foundations built throughout your career will serve you at all points.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After beginning at a certain company, she was dismayed to find that the culture there was one of exclusion, and suffered extraordinary racism at the hands of her colleagues.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After working incredibly hard, Sham landed a huge deal – the biggest in her organization during 2019 – and became the highest achiever of the year. This was accomplished through her relationships with others and hard work.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Sham is excited and inspired by the sight of more women in the sector, and more diversity in the tech space.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Financial incentives were extremely compelling. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t just settle and always be your authentic self. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That Sham was not capable enough to lead people. What would you do if you started your career now? – Sham would look more into cybersecurity or networking. What are your current career objectives? Tech UK, mentoring and coaching, being a role model and raising awareness. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Effective communication How do you keep your own career energized? – Setting goals, making sure that reboot time is taken, and being thankful for everything achieved so far. What do you do away from technology? – Dancing, dining out and praying.   FINAL CAREER TIP Find a good coach or mentor that will be able to guide you. Coaches help to give us new perspectives and can guide us through challenging times.   BEST MOMENTS (4:44) – Sham - “Your network is your worth” (9:12) – Sham - “If you build relationships, you will go from strength to strength” (23:46) – Sham – “I want to see more women leaders, role models, mentors, coaches. That’s what excites me about IT” (27:50) – Sham – “Don’t just settle and always be your authentic self”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SHAM JABEEN Sham Jabeen has worked in the tech industry for the past 12 years, starting her career is an Account Manager for an IT support and services company. She is now a Senior Account Manager for Total Computers, where she works in partnership with vendors such as Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Microsoft and Google, and manages clients in the legal, financial and gaming industries. She is also the co-founder of Tech UK as well as a tech mentor and empowerment coach with a specific focus on women and diversity.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SHAM JABEEN Sham Jabeen can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sham-j-34732727/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tech__uk/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Ben Hong, a Vue.js Core Team Member and a Staff Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify as well as a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies & Map Platforms. He has spoken, taught and Emc’ed around the world at events such as VueConfUS, Vue Toronto and O’Reilly’s Fluent Conf. He is also a lead instructor at Vue Mastery, one of the premier learning platforms for the Vue.js community. Ben discusses the value in investing in yourself with a growth mind-set. He also talks about why we should always appreciate our personal career path, and the experiences that make it unique.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always invest in yourself with a growth mind-set. Look for methods and ways to improve and develop in your own time, as every time your move forward, you add value to your career as a whole.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After completing a project, Ben was suddenly asked about which direction he wished to go next, and could not answer. This taught him the value in focusing on specific skills and directions.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Getting the opportunity to join his current development team. For a long time, Ben had wished to reintroduce UX design to his portfolio, and this gave him the opportunity to do so.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ben is excited about the popularity of open source, and the wealth of ideas happening right now on the web. The possibilities are seemingly endless.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Ben read an HTML book when young, and was instantly excited by the possibilities. What’s the best career advice you received? – Listen, learn, and then become the person that people come to with questions. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That his dream career path was not possible. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ben would have taken much better notes! What are your current career objectives? Content generation, and empowering others to build incredible things. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Relationship building. How do you keep your own career energized? – Ben ensures that he associates with communities who understand the burnout that can blight many IT careers. What do you do away from technology? – Playing the ukulele.   FINAL CAREER TIP Never hesitate to invest in yourself, as no one can ever take away the knowledge you gain or the experiences you have.   BEST MOMENTS (4:19) – Ben - “You are getting the compound interest from skills at a much faster pace. This is key to long term sustainability when it comes to a career in IT” (10:24) – Ben - “That cluster of ideas, discussions and debates – that is what excites me. There’s a lot to come and it’s far from over” (12:49) – Ben – “By building relationships with people so they trust you, it does a lot for the impact and influence that you can have” (15:51) – Ben – “Coding problems aren’t hard. People problems are hard”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BEN HONG Ben Hong is a Vue.js Core Team Member and a Staff Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify as well as a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies & Map Platforms. He has spoken, taught and Emc’ed around the world at events such as VueConfUS, Vue Toronto and O’Reilly’s Fluent Conf. He is also a lead instructor at Vue Mastery, one of the premier learning platforms for the Vue.js community.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BEN HONG Ben Hong can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencodezen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencodezen/ Website: https://www.bencodezen.io/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Annie Liew, who graduated from a Front-End bootcamp in summer 2019 and is currently the Front-End Engineering Lead at Pastel. She’s passionate about bringing the technical and visual aspects of digital products to life and cares deeply about the user experience, beautiful pixels and writing clean, accessible code. Her goal is to become exceptional at Front-End built on strong foundational UX concepts. She is also very active in the tech and design community. Annie talks about how effective focus can help you to dig deep into a problem set, as well as help to develop your skills. She also discusses the importance of retaining the fun in everything you do during your IT career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Honing your ability to do deep work, and concentrating your focus can help you to achieve a deep focus in tasks and help to develop your skill set going forward.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While creating an app from scratch for her tech challenge during an interview process, Annie found that some of her skills were a little rusty, and was forced to retrain herself while also relocating her life and healing from a hand injury!   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Annie won out against impostor syndrome by working hard and showing resilience. The result was an offer from a very large tech leader   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Digital literacy is an incredibly powerful tool in today’s world. Being able to bring ideas to life in the tech space marks you out as someone who can make real, impactful change in the world.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The financial rewards which were very attractive. What’s the best career advice you received? – Mentors are invaluable and can guide you when your career hits choppy waters. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Always follow your passion so that you never work a day in your life. Passion shouldn’t always be the driving force in your career path. What would you do if you started your career now? – Annie would not change anything in her journey so far as all experiences brought her to where she is now. But she would spend less time on social media. What are your current career objectives? Getting better at Javascript, as well as developing back end knowledge. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to ask for, and take on board, constructive feedback without being offended. How do you keep your own career energized? – Annie makes sure that she brings her creative side to her work. What do you do away from technology? – Hiking, reading and travelling.   FINAL CAREER TIP Try to have fun and enjoy the process. Sometimes things can get tough, but remember that all struggles are temporary and all challenges provide lessons.   BEST MOMENTS (5:47) – Annie - “Something that is very useful is the ability to focus and go deep” (6:04) – Annie - “It helps to think of your skills and abilities as your career capital – valuable tangible assets that you can trade for things like salary and a great work environment” (10:20) – Annie – “We’re often more capable than we think especially in times of stress and pressure” (12:42) – Annie – “Only you can decide who you want to be and where you want to go”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ANNIE LIEW Annie Liew graduated from a Front-End bootcamp in summer 2019 and is currently the Front-End Engineering Lead at Pastel. She’s passionate about bringing the technical and visual aspects of digital products to life and cares deeply about the user experience, beautiful pixels and writing clean, accessible code. Her goal is to become exceptional at Front-End built on strong foundational UX concepts. She is also very active in the tech and design community.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ANNIE LIEW Annie Liew can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/anniebombanie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/anniebombanie Website: https://anniebombanie.com

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Toni Collis, the CEO of Collis-Holmes Innovations, an award-winning leader, International Keynote speaker, Consultant and Leadership Coach. Her career has focused on facilitating the use of technology, and she believes that this requires true diversity in the future leadership of the tech industry. As Founder of Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC), she developed and led innovations aiming to diversify the international Supercomputing workforce. And in early 2019, she began to focus on her passion for broadening diversity & inclusion in the technology industry. She now offers Leadership & Executive Coaching for women in tech, with a personal goal of assisting 2000 women into the tech boardroom in the next 5 years. Toni talks about why remaining in our comfort zones can be restrictive. She also discusses why resilience is the key to overcome challenges.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP If you are not growing, then you’re shrinking. The longer we remain in our comfort zone, the smaller it becomes. Always look for ways to expand and grow.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Toni found, at one point in her career, that she was saying yes to far too many things, and the overwhelm made her feel as though she was underperforming and not reaching the potential that she felt she could. Through this, she learned that it’s okay to say no.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT When Toni was offered her first C-Suite executive role at the age of 34. A lot of work and determination had been spent, but the payoff was worth it.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is the solution to all problems being faced by society today. By focusing upon fixing the world through tech, we can provide a better future for everyone.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – It was accidental – Toni realized that computing would play a large part in her degree education. What’s the best career advice you received? – You can’t fix all problems, so be selective about the ones you solve. What’s the worst career advice you received? – “You can’t afford to say no. Say yes to everything!” What would you do if you started your career now? – Toni would make sure she worked on things upon which supercomputing has more impact What are your current career objectives? Toni is trying to ensure that 2000 women are seated in boardrooms. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to read a room. How do you keep your own career energized? – Toni steps outside of her comfort zone on a regular basis. You need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. What do you do away from technology? – Travelling and DIY.   FINAL CAREER TIP Work on your executive presence and your resilience every day. No matter where you are in your career, you need these skills!   BEST MOMENTS (3:18) – Toni - “I could have more of an impact if I could empower more people to do tech exceptionally well than I could ever do by myself” (4:07) – Toni - “What I really want do is put people into positions of leadership in the technology sector that means we change the way it operates to the betterment of everyone involved” (6:17) – Toni – “It isn’t that you have a comfort zone. It’s that if you’re not constantly pushing at it, it’s actually shrinking, and that applies to every aspect of our lives” (17:14) – Toni – “ Technology is really the solution for all the problems the human race faces today”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – TONI COLLIS Toni Collis is , the CEO of Collis-Holmes Innovations, an award-winning leader, International Keynote speaker, Consultant and Leadership Coach. Her career has focused on facilitating the use of technology, and she believes that this requires true diversity in the future leadership of the tech industry. As Founder of Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC), she developed and led innovations aiming to diversify the international Supercomputing workforce. And in early 2019, she began to focus on her passion for broadening diversity & inclusion in the technology industry. She now offers Leadership & Executive Coaching for women in tech, with a personal goal of assisting 2000 women into the tech boardroom in the next 5 years.   CONTACT THE GUEST – TONI COLLIS Toni Collis can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/tonicollis1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonicollis/ Website: https://tonicollis.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Devin Ford, a self-taught front-end developer who enjoys solving complex problems under pressure. And he regularly tweets about what he’s doing and shares what he’s learnt along the way. Devin talks about the power of networking and how it can accelerate your career. He also discusses why resilience is the key to learning, and how to overcome rejection.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Many believe that you should have lots of projects going on at the same time. However, it is far better to have a variety of projects ongoing, as this will demonstrate your flexibility and breadth of knowledge.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Having failed to check a process, Devin found that a crucial error was made, which taught him the value of always making sure not to rush, especially when it comes to quality control.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Devin’s current work, involving building something that will make a huge difference to the way people engage with his platform.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The world is moving to a more decentralized, web-free world, and the possibilities are fascinating and exciting. It will also lead to a huge increase in privacy, and to a far more open world.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Devin and his father built his first computer and he was hooked instantly. What’s the best career advice you received? – Be honest and upfront with everything. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That you need to be married to a tech stack. What would you do if you started your career now? –Devin would find a more structured way of learning early on. What are your current career objectives? Devin is trying to move to a more senior position, and looking between platform and management roles. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to communicate. How do you keep your own career energized? – Learning new things, but also knowing when to take breaks, which is important in rejuvenating his passion for IT and tech. What do you do away from technology? – Video games and spending time with family.   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t be discouraged if you receive a knock back, no matter what it is. There are some invaluable lessons to be found when you have to pick yourself up after a setback.   BEST MOMENTS (3:02) – Devin - “Had I not networked on Twitter, I probably would not have reach the position I am in” (5:45) – Devin - “You might feel that pressure to really perform, but it’s worse to deliver something bad fast, than to slow down and deliver something good, but slower” (11:32) – Phil – “When you’re in a role and you don’t know something, don’t just assume you shouldn’t ask. Always ask!” (16:04) – Devin – “Being able to bring that to a level where everybody is on the same playing field has really helped me when it comes to my career”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DEVIN FORD Devin Ford is a self-taught front-end developer who enjoys solving complex problems under pressure. And he regularly tweets about what he’s doing and shares what he’s learnt along the way.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DEVIN FORD Devin Ford can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/devindford LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devindford/ Website: https://devindford.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jack Domleo, a front-end developer who loves working with web technologies and creating things for users to interact with. He has a particular passion for UX, accessibility and self-development. He is also the author of “Level-Up Your Career Today: Developer Edition” as well as a blogger and a speaker. Jack talks about the importance of diversifying when it comes to projects. He also discusses why we must not make excuses, and put the work in to get the things we truly want in life and in our careers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Many believe that you should have lots of projects going on at the same time. However, it is far better to have a variety of projects ongoing, as this will demonstrate your flexibility and breadth of knowledge.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Jack was made redundant from his apprenticeship. After six months, the company went bankrupt, and at such a young age, he initially believed that his career had been irretrievably affected.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being made redundant from his apprenticeship pushed Jack out of his comfort zone, which has helped him to grow and develop ever since, and has also made him more money!   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is pushing every sector forward, and so the opportunities in every field seem to be limitless. But this does come with a downside, in that security is becoming a larger issue.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Jack has always had a knack with computers, and enjoyed considering the opportunities that they could bring. What’s the best career advice you received? – You are not your code. Don’t take comments too personally. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That being a front end developer only makes you unmarketable. What would you do if you started your career now? –Jack would work more upon the immature behaviour he displayed at the beginning of his career. What are your current career objectives? – Jack has focused upon side projects and appearances in order to provide an income separate from his employment. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication and confidence. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keeping abreast of not just developer tools, but new advances in tech in general. This is better done by fine tuning our social media input. What do you do away from technology? – Ice hockey, travelling and video games   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t make excuses when you’re afraid of something. No one is going to lower the bar for you. Things are sometimes tough, but never impossible.   BEST MOMENTS (6:17) – Jack - “I do lots of different varieties of things, and I think that this better shows a broad range of things that I can do” (11:55) – Jack - “I feel like we have the right people in place to drive this world forward” (15:01) – Jack – “You are not your code, so the code you write does not reflect you as a person” (20:32) – Jack – “I know what I want to do, and what I want to achieve in my career, and that has definitely helped me”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JACK DOMLEO Jack Domleo is a front-end developer who loves working with web technologies and creating things for users to interact with. He has a particular passion for UX, accessibility and self-development. He is also the author of “Level-Up Your Career Today: Developer Edition” as well as a blogger and a speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JACK DOMLEO Jack Domleo can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackdomleo7 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackdomleo7 Website: https://jackdomleo.dev/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Michelle Barker, a Lead Front End Developer for Atomic Smash and the author of front-end blog CSS In Real Life. She likes to build fun, creative websites and side projects that are also performant and accessible. She has written articles and regularly speaks about front end development at web conferences and meetups, covering topics such as CSS Grid Layout and CSS Custom Properties. Michelle talks about the value of community and how it can energise your career development. She also discusses why learning should always be fun, and the value of taking time out to realign with what lights you up.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Find a community – online or offline – and allow the people there to help and guide you. This can greatly accelerate your personal development and growth.   WORST CAREER MOMENT When returning from maternity leave, Michelle an extra sense of pressure in terms of proving herself, along with being exhausted and overwhelmed by new parenthood. Since then, she has recognized the value of not adding pressure to oneself unnecessarily.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working on a project for The Grand Appeal, a Bristol children’s charity, a cause close to Michelle’s heart due to her own experiences with her son.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The IT community itself and the many ways in which people are innovating and pushing the sector forward. Community is everything in IT, and finding the right one is a constant source of inspiration.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The intersection between creativity and technical knowhow. What’s the best career advice you received? – Write down your accomplishments. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That we must always be coding, even in our spare time, and make work our life. What would you do if you started your career now? –Michelle would put less pressure upon herself. Your career is not a race. What are your current career objectives? – Michelle is spending far more time on writing, particularly on her blog, and now in partnership with other publications. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Working in customer services and in the events industry so as to get a better understanding of how to interact with others. How do you keep your own career energized? – Michelle enjoys creative coding as an outlet. What do you do away from technology? – Netflix and playing the drums. FINAL CAREER TIP Learning should always be fun. If you’re struggling to get motivated, put down the tutorials and try to build something for fun!   BEST MOMENTS (4:00) – Michelle - “A good way to learn is to pick things up and just keep building little side projects. Follow the paths that interest you” (5:52) – Michelle - “I made so many connections just through taking the time to learn from others” (13:24) – Michelle – “You need to push past things, keep going, keep learning, and know that there aren’t any shortcuts. It’s not a race” (20:41) – Michelle – “Every time I make something come to life on the screen I feel that sense of accomplishment”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MICHELLE BARKER Michelle Barker is a Lead Front End Developer for Atomic Smash and the author of front-end blog CSS In Real Life. She likes to build fun, creative websites and side projects that are also performant and accessible. She has written articles and regularly speaks about front end development at web conferences and meetups, covering topics such as CSS Grid Layout and CSS Custom Properties.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MICHELLE BARKER Michelle Barker can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MicheBarks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-barker-02819230/ Website: https://michellebarker.co.uk/ Website: https://css-irl.info/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Rob Rastovich, the Chief Technical Officer at ThingLogix, a provider of Internet of Things solutions, solution components and advisory services. He has been actively involved in technology for nearly 30 years including what is now known as Amazon’s AWS IoT. As CTO of ThingLogix he is the chief architect behind the company’s ground-breaking IoT platform that eliminates the need for code. Rob talks about the importance of continual learning and how it can advance our IT career paths. He also discusses why we must never feel boxed in by the career we choose, and why it’s okay to follow our passions into other fields.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP We must always be learning. The IT industry is never static, and so we must endeavour to keep abreast of what’s new, and master the skills and tools that push us forward.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working on a job, Rob accidentally deleted some invaluable information on a server. It taught him to always make sure that he is aware of the consequences of every command entered.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT The Amazon acquisition was a particular highlight. The early development of these systems were a period of experimentation and discovery, and provided much insight and motivation.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The disappearing of laptops, computers and browsers, and the advancements that will replace them. The internet will become less of a service that we plug into, and something that becomes more ubiquitous – more device agnostic.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – After his first successful attempts at coding, Rob was hooked. What’s the best career advice you received? – To go all in on ideas, and never live with any regrets. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That Rob would be paid when the company went IPO. What would you do if you started your career now? –To have focused more time looking at the possibilities of cloud computing. What are your current career objectives? – Rob is focusing on stepping back from the cutting edge of innovation, and spending more time in guiding the next generation of thinkers and dreamers. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Ranching has taught Rob the value of balance. How do you keep your own career energized? – Rob is always researching and looking for the next big thing. What do you do away from technology? – Rob spends his time on his ranch, and enjoys outdoor pursuits.   FINAL CAREER TIP Rid yourself of the idea that your career path is permanent. Remain fluid, and if you find diversions that thrill you more than the path you’re already on, follow your heart and diversify.   BEST MOMENTS  (6:37) – Rob - “The ability to discern and learn and absorb quickly has been the cornerstone for me” (6:50) – Rob - “That’s a skill that you learn – how to learn” (15:09) – Rob – “Being on the cutting edge is fun and exciting, but it’s not as profitable as being right behind that” (18:55) – Rob – “Shoot for the stars, and if you miss you’ll end up on the moon”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ROB RASTOVICH Rob Rastovich is the Chief Technical Officer at ThingLogix, a provider of Internet of Things solutions, solution components and advisory services. He has been actively involved in technology for nearly 30 years including what is now known as Amazon’s AWS IoT. As CTO of ThingLogix he is the chief architect behind the company’s ground-breaking IoT platform that eliminates the need for code.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ROB RASTOVICH Rob Rastovich can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinglogix LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-rastovich-1560532/ Website: https://www.thinglogix.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Leila Singh, a tech industry career coach who works with high-achieving career professionals who may be feeling stuck, frustrated and undervalued. She has a passion for bringing out the best in others which she does through the mi-brand academy. She is also a TEDx & Keynote Speaker, an Author and host of the mi-brand HQ podcast. Leila talks about why hard work is only part of the reason you’ll advance in your IT career. She also discusses why you need to be remembered for the right reasons to the people who matter.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Hard work alone is not enough to succeed in your career. You also need to make yourself know, and to stand out in order to advance.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Upon joining a new organization, Leila quickly began to realise that the culture was not compatible with her own values. It also taught her the value of standing out for the right reasons.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Leila counts her entire career trajectory as her career highlight, which was diverse and colourful at the outset. Hard work and dedication has seen her identify the path she always desired, and she has made fruitful leaps and bounds ever since.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The industry is exciting dynamic, and filled with opportunities for all kinds of people with all kinds of skill sets. The playing field is level and open, and all are welcome.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – What’s the best career advice you received? – To make yourself known What’s the worst career advice you received? – That one cannot move on without experience. What would you do if you started your career now? – Leila would travel a very similar journey to the one she has behind her already. What are your current career objectives? – Growing the coaching practice and increasing reputation in the industry. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication and relationship building. How do you keep your own career energized? – Something that challenges and which aids in self-development. What do you do away from technology? – Leila’s guilty pleasure is Tony Hadley and 80s music, as well as self-development and time with friends and family.   FINAL CAREER TIP If you’re looking to further your career, you must be remembered for the right reasons to the people who matter, and who can make that ascension happen for you.   BEST MOMENTS  (3:15) – Leila - “Tech is a very dynamic and exciting industry to be in, and it’s vastly growing” (4:42) – Leila - “it’s about selling yourself, , and understanding how you can do that will enable you to propel yourself through your career” (6:15) – Leila – “You need to make yourself known, and stand out to make an impact” (24:41) – Leila – “There’s always transferrable skills and experience that you gain from everything that you do”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – LEILA SINGH Leila Singh is a tech industry career coach who works with high-achieving career professionals who may be feeling stuck, frustrated and undervalued. She has a passion for bringing out the best in others which she does through the mi-brand academy. She is also a TEDx & Keynote Speaker, an Author and host of the mi-brand HQ podcast.   CONTACT THE GUEST – LEILA SINGH Leila Singh can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/leila_singh001 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leila-singh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PersonalBrandingwithLeila Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leila_singh001/ Website: http://www.mi-brand.com/ Resource: www.leilasingh.com/go/playbook

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Fernando Doglio, who describes himself as a fulltime geek. He’s an experienced Software Development Manager and architect with a background in Web Development and Big Data architectures. He also writes technical articles and is a published author, his latest book being ‘Codes Well with Others’ which is being published by Manning. Fernando talks about why we must continue to learn throughout our careers. He also discusses why it’s okay to ask questions in order to make sure we do the job well.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP You must always learn how to learn. Development is the key to a long and successful career in IT, which is always changing and always growing.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Early in his career, Fernando deleted the homepage belonging to a client due to a minor error. Luckily a fellow worker had kept a backup, but it taught Fernando the value of taking care to back up at every moment.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT The current position being held is one that brings great satisfaction and potential. It is the culmination of everything that Fernando has been searching for during his career so far.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T It is ever-changing and has the potential to supply endless possibilities. The industry is exploding with talent, and people can work to make it better from anywhere in the world.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Early computers in childhood showed the influence that computing could have on the world. What’s the best career advice you received? – Leave your problems at the door What’s the worst career advice you received? – That experience is essential to begin your career. What would you do if you started your career now? – Fernando would work towards building a presentable portfolio on Github. What are your current career objectives? – Management and developing his project management skills. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing and expressing ideas through words. How do you keep your own career energized? – Writing every day including articles, which keeps the learnings fresh. What do you do away from technology? – Family time is incredibly important   FINAL CAREER TIP It’s okay to use Google and online resources, to ask silly questions, in order to learn something new or even to remind yourself of something you’ve forgotten.   BEST MOMENTS (4:37) – Fernando - “Learning is the core to any profession or province that you can think of” (9:48) – Fernando - “You have to take it easy. Everything has a solution” (13:29) – Fernando – “Everything is at your reach. You can learn everything there is to know and you can work and learn from your house” (17:04) – Fernando – “Be proficient. Deliver whatever you have to deliver. Leave your problems at the door”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – FERNANDO DOGLIO Fernando Doglio describes himself as a fulltime geek. He’s an experienced Software Development Manager and architect with a background in Web Development and Big Data architectures. He also writes technical articles and is a published author, his latest book being ‘Codes Well with Others’ which is being published by Manning.   CONTACT THE GUEST – FERNANDO DOGLIO Fernando Doglio can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/deleteman123 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandodoglio/ Website: https://www.fdoglio.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Alan Pope, an Engineering Manager and Developer Advocate for InfluxData, the creator of InfluxDB which is an open-source time series database. He is also a podcaster and he describes himself as a through and through geek. Alan talks about why it’s okay to move on when the time is right in your career journey. He also discusses why it’s important to take people’s advice with a pinch of salt.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP It’s okay to move on in your career when the time is right. Never feel as though you are chained to a position for your entire career. Being comfortable is often not a place where we challenge and grow.   WORST CAREER MOMENT When transitioning to a new company, Alan was confronted by HR who advised him that if he left, it would damage his career journey. It was a time of anxiety, but their threats came to nothing.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Alan trained many aspiring IT professionals, so when it came to looking for a position of his own, his reputation was already secured. Putting yourself out there is incredibly valuable to your career path.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The IT world is enormous and offers countless possibilities. It is incredibly easy to pivot and move between pursuits and sectors and offers an endlessly interesting path for any aspiring IT professional.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Alan was a nerd, and after receiving a ZX81, Alan developed a love for coding. What’s the best career advice you received? – You always have a choice What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Alan would like to have attended university so as to establish a better foundation for his career. What are your current career objectives? – Learning new things. Alan is intent on staying far from his comfort zone and constantly challenging himself. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Having empathy for other people’s points of view and perspectives. How do you keep your own career energized? – Alan keeps moving once the challenge has faded. It’s vital to find the things that bring you joy. What do you do away from technology? – Cooking, which allows him the time to reconnect with the things that matter.   FINAL CAREER TIP Take other people’s advice with a pinch of salt. Everyone has their own story and path through life, and the lessons they’ve learned may not always apply to your own path.   BEST MOMENTS  (3:26) – Alan - “People need to not be afraid to leave a role” (7:41) – Alan - “It’s about looking after yourself and your own career” (8:57) – Alan – “Getting yourself out there and becoming known in your target industry is a very valuable thing to do” (13:15) – Alan – “Nobody cares what you look like. It’s the output. It’s the product you create, and it’s the work that you do that’s the important thing”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ALAN POPE Alan Pope is an Engineering Manager and Developer Advocate for InfluxData, the creator InfluxDB which is an open source time series database. He is also a podcaster and he describes himself as a through and through geek.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ALAN POPE Alan Pope can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/popey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-pope-b3a109143/ Website: https://popey.com

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Neil Day, who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry having started his career as a coder with Apple. He went on to manage online systems for Walmart and Sears before creating the successful start-up MediaMaster. He is now the Chief Technical Officer for R-Zero. Neil talks about why the search for new initiatives may not always like in your immediate vicinity. He also discusses the value that can be found in building a great team.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Don’t always look for problems to solve within the world of IT only. Broaden your search and the solutions you will find may surprise you.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working for Walmart, Neil’s team had been rushed to finish a web solution, but when the product was released, it was found to be lacking in many areas. Subsequently, Neil and the team were hurried back into action to enact a fix, which proved very challenging.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Neil is extraordinarily proud of the achievements he attained with several large companies, including Walmart’s ecommerce site, a reimagined storage solution, and many more.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Although technology is all-pervasive in today’s society, there are still so many things yet to be explored. There are always countless possibilities.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Neil began by working on Radio Shack kits with his father before moving on to programming. What’s the best career advice you received? – Be solutions focused and results oriented. What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Neil thinks that joining a large team and understanding the importance of working to scale is vital at a career’s outset. What are your current career objectives? – Building great solutions to interesting problems with people whose company he enjoys. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Research and the organization of information. How do you keep your own career energized? – Trying different things and working with interesting new people. What do you do away from technology? – Neil enjoys skiing, windsurfing, playing guitar and mandolin, and applying himself to new pursuits regularly.   FINAL CAREER TIP Find great people to work with and help them to develop their own skills. There is no greater feeling that successfully developing a great team.   BEST MOMENTS  (7:50) – Neil- “It’s been a very important theme for me – having a very broad view and trying to match things that work in other areas” (13:06) – Neil- “In many domains there are good patterns and processes for managing problems” (15:50) – Neil– “I’ve really tried to find jobs where we could make a big difference to the company by developing a new capability” (16:26) – Neil – “The most important thing is finding something that has real impact”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – NEIL DAY Neil Day has more than 30 years of experience in the industry having started his career as a coder with Apple. He went on to manage online systems for Walmart and Sears before creating the successful start-up MediaMaster. He is now the Chief Technical Officer for R-Zero.   CONTACT THE GUEST – NEIL DAY Neil Day can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-day-121444/ Website: https://rzero.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jessica Chan, a self-taught web developer who provides practical tips and tutorials for beginners in web development which she shares through blog posts and her YouTube channel, ‘Coder Coder’. Jessica talks about why communication skills are so important in an IT career. She also discusses the importance of patience when it comes to setting life goals.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: TOP CAREER TIP Communication skills are equally as important as the technical skills we need, in order to have a successful IT career.   WORST CAREER MOMENT While working on a website redesign, Jessica mistakenly deleted a huge amount of work and was unable to retrieve it. While it was touch and go for a while, Jessica learned to keep backups!   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being able to quit her full time job as a developer and focus on content creation, teaching others how to engage with coding and fulfilling her ambitions to become more independent.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The growth of developer advocate roles, in which developers are asked to create content, is fascinating and is pushing the industry forward.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Jessica taught herself coding and programming and developed a love for computers from an early age. What’s the best career advice you received? – Always keep your audience in mind. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To become a teacher, which was not a fit for Jessica’s personality or skill-set. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jessica wishes she had seen the potential in an actual career in IT a lot sooner. What are your current career objectives? – To make Coder-Coder financially sustainable. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Anticipating the needs of others. How do you keep your own career energized? – Jessica tries not to let things stagnate too much She is always learning and trying new things. What do you do away from technology? – Camping and spending time in nature.   FINAL CAREER TIP Life goals are a marathon and not a sprint. Don’t get too discouraged if you don’t get instant results.   BEST MOMENTS (4:40) – Jessica - “Communication will make you someone that people want to work with, as opposed to someone that people try to avoid working with” (7:30) – Jessica - “It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not okay to sit on that mistake” (9:15) – Jessica – “Being able to be a part of someone’s story is so transformative” (21:55) – Jessica – “Life goals are a marathon, not a sprint”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JESSICA CHAN Jessica Chan is a self-taught web developer who provides practical tips and tutorials for beginners in web development which she shares through blog posts and her YouTube channel, ‘Coder Coder’.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JESSICA CHAN Jessica Chan can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecodercoder/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecodercoder/ Website: https://coder-coder.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCoderCoder

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Anna McDougall, a former opera singer and now a full-stack developer with a passion for JavaScript. She is also a tech blogger, a YouTube creator and a public speaker. Anna discusses impostor syndrome and why it’s always wise to receive feedback with the right mind-set in place. She also talks about the importance of altering your perspective when looking for a job in the IT sector.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: TOP CAREER TIP When you are faced with insecurity and constructive feedback, remember that you are never there to prove yourself to someone. Remember to keep a learning mind-set active whenever feedback of any kind is offered.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Anna gave up when she was young, which is a constant source of regret. With the passage of time, she has come to realise how skilled she was, but was held back by societal expectations.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Anna made a career change and took on a new role, pivoting completely in terms of a career path, working hard to build her technical skills, and also applied much effort into understanding the back-end of tech while building an online presence and community.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Anna is most excited about the potential of tech – how it can achieve lasting change, benefit humanity, and reinvent itself constantly.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The potential of technology and how it can change the world. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t be afraid to say no! What’s the worst career advice you received? – To not ask for a very big salary upon moving to Leipzig. What would you do if you started your career now? – Anna would focus on back-end technologies and Java. What are your current career objectives? – Anna’s main objective is to raise her technical skills as much as possible. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Public speaking. How do you keep your own career energized? – Anna always looks for challenges to keep her knowledge fresh and her instincts keen. What do you do away from technology? – Gym work and training.   FINAL CAREER TIP When looking for a job or career path, we must think less about our own needs and wants and more about the wants and needs of our potential employers or recruiters.   BEST MOMENTS (6:43) – Anna - “It’s not about an improving-yourself mind-set. It’s about a learning mind-set” (7:21) – Anna - “Finding those gaps in your knowledge is a good thing” (17:31) – Anna – “If something isn’t right for you, or if you don’t have time, it’s better to say no” (20:42) – Anna – “Think less from your perspective, and think more from a recruiter’s perspective”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ANNA MCDOUGALL Anna McDougal is a former opera singer and now a full-stack developer with a passion for Javascript. She is also a tech blogger, a YouTube creator and a public speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ANNA MCDOUGALL Anna McDougall can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AnnaJMcDougall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annajmcdougall/ Website: https://www.annamcdougall.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mike Karan, the co-host of the podcast HTML All The Things and the co-founder of Digital Dynasty Design. Mike talks about why it’s important to begin networking as early as possible in your IT career. He also discusses why it’s crucial to step outside of our comfort zones in order to truly develop.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Never be afraid to start networking as soon as possible in your IT career. Put yourself out there and start making connections – even early in your IT journey. Look for your audience and develop it from the get go.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Mike was asked to choose the technology for a new application. Mike did so, but when it reached the client, it was found that the application didn’t work with the client’s devices. Mike learned that it’s vital to vet everything.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Mike’s current position allows for a much greater sense of mentorship between himself and those around him, allowing him to create a far more intense sense of collaboration on projects.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T New technologies are where the excitement lays. New ways of creating and developing are being released almost constantly, pushing the sector forward in dazzling ways.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Computers – Mike was instantly in love with them. What’s the best career advice you received? – Keep it simple! Don’t overcomplicate if you don’t have to. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That you have to switch jobs every few months in order to be successful. It isn’t true at all! What would you do if you started your career now? – Mike would still be in web development. What are your current career objectives? – The focus is currently on building a network and audience, as well as looking for a larger team to lead and mentor. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication and public speaking have been invaluable. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mike’s podcast keeps him abreast of the sector and its developments and allows him to meet new people. What do you do away from technology? – Hiking and online gaming   FINAL CAREER TIP If we find ourselves in too comfortable a place, then it’s always worth stepping out of that comfort zone. Pushing ourselves to do unfamiliar things helps us to grow.   BEST MOMENTS (3:05) – Mike - “Get yourself out there and network as early as possible” (9:39) – Mike - “Mentorship and guiding has been my career highlight” (10:57) – Mike – “It’s not just about coding. It’s about the whole enterprise structure” (17:25) – Mike – “Don’t settle into a spot where you’re comfortable”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MIKE KARAN Mike Karan is the co-host of the podcast HTML All The Things and the co-founder of Digital Dynasty Design.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MIKE KARAN Mike Karan can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/htmleverything LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikhail-karan-4361925b/ Website: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Tom Taulli, an author, a speaker and an advisor to startups. He has co-founded a variety of companies including Hypermart.net, WebIPO and BizEquity. And his books include ‘Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction’ and ‘The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide To Implementing RPA Systems’. Tom talks about the importance of following your passions when it comes to your IT career. He also discusses how if you create a career based around the things you love, you’ll never be short on inspiration.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Never be so set upon lofty goals that you miss the opportunities all around you. Follow your passions and do what you instincts tell you to do.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Tom has experienced periods where he reached crossroads in his career and did not follow his passions. With age has come experience and maturity, which has led to a better understanding of what is around him.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Tom recognized a need and provided a revolutionary piece of software to fill that need. Building this system allowed him to spread his wings.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Robotic process animation, artificial intelligence and quantum computing are fascinating concepts that keep Tom’s mind alive with possibilities.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Tom was attracted to computers in school as he thought they were cool! What’s the best career advice you received? – Bill Gates advised Tom to get a solid foundational education in mathematics before moving to programming. What’s the worst career advice you received? – There is only really advice unsuitable for its receiver. What would you do if you started your career now? – Tom would go to Silicon Valley and meet as many people as possible. What are your current career objectives? – Tom is working on a book about mainframe, as well as courses on the same. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – A business background in college has been very useful. How do you keep your own career energized? – What do you do away from technology? – Tom takes breaks, including walking and travelling   FINAL CAREER TIP Focus on what lights your fire – the thing that gets your out of bed in the morning and inspires you to do better every day.   BEST MOMENTS (5:08) – Tom - “It’s not about setting lofty goals, but doing what you really what you’re passionate about” (5:52) – Tom - “Ideas are a dime-a-dozen. It’s the execution on the idea…” (13:00) – Tom – “Just because everyone says that’s what you have to do, doesn’t mean that that’s the key” (19:15) – Tom – “We always think that we need to go through certain hurdles or paths to get where you want. Sometimes there are faster, more unconventional ways of getting there”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – TOM TAULLI Tom Taulli is an author, a speaker and an advisor to startups. He has co-founded a variety of companies including Hypermart.net, WebIPO and BizEquity. And his books include ‘Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction’ and ‘The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide To Implementing RPA Systems’.   CONTACT THE GUEST – TOM TAULLI Tom Taulli can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ttaulli LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomtaulli/ Website: http://www.tomtaulli.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUklLcIcf3hsxuALfmD_AYQ

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Shruti Balasa, a full stack developer. She has developed and delivered more than 200 websites over the last 9 years, ranging from static to fully-fledged networking and eCommerce sites. She is now focused on creating tutorials and courses to simplify web development for beginners. Shruti talks about why we should always try to remain open to new possibilities in our IT careers. She also discusses the importance of effective networking in order to let the world know what we’re capable of.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP We should be open to any opportunities, especially earlier in our IT careers. Even the pathways that may seem alien to us can often allow us to gain new skills that take us in new directions.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Shruti developed a piece of software that was subverted by a single user, who hacked the system due to a hidden backdoor. This made Shruti feel the weight of an error, but also spurred her on to be more attentive subsequently.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT At the beginning of her career, Shruti was interviewed and assessed by Microsoft without any expectations. As she was about to leave, she was advised that she had done far better than she had expected.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Shruti is constantly excited by the eternal state of learning in the IT sector. The excitement comes in the fact that we must always be developing in order to stay afloat.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that IT itself is built around problem solving – Shruti’s main strength. What’s the best career advice you received? – To start a YouTube channel What’s the worst career advice you received? – Shruti was advised against joining a startup by a manager, despite her instincts telling her that it was the right decision. What would you do if you started your career now? – Shruti was join Twitter and begin networking much sooner. What are your current career objectives? – Shruti wants to simply web development and coding concepts that people usually find complex. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Public speaking, which has allowed her to overcome her introversion. How do you keep your own career energized? – Shruti loves adventures, and so takes every opportunity to embark upon new ones. What do you do away from technology? – Shruti’s young child is taking up most of her time, but it is a rewarding life. Family is very important.   FINAL CAREER TIP It’s very important to improve your communication and networking skills. You have to let people know what you can do and what you are capable of.   BEST MOMENTS (4:20) – Shruti - “I want to you to be open to any opportunities, at least in the beginnings of your career” (5:11) – Shruti - “Try your hands at everything, because you never know what you’re really good at until you try” (11:37) – Shruti – “Look for the small wins every single day” (19:43) – Shruti – “I want to love everything I do, so I take up anything that excites me. That’s how I keep my career energized!”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SHRUTI BALASA Shruti Balasa is a full stack developer. She has developed and delivered more than 200 websites over the last 9 years, ranging from static to fully-fledged networking and eCommerce sites. She is now focused on creating tutorials and courses to simplify web development for beginners.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SHRUTI BALASA Shruti Balasa can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/shrutibalasa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutibalasa/ Website: https://www.shrutibalasa.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Thirus

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Don Jones, who has worked in the IT industry since the 1990s, and in that time has been everything from a software developer to a network engineer. He’s written dozens of IT books, and now focuses on helping technologists become the owners of their careers. Don discusses why you should never underestimate your value. He also talks about why we must be thoughtful about our careers, and guide them selfishly in order to create our own unique path in the world.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Never underestimate yourself, and do not under-sell yourself. Don’t let what you see influence your entire opinion about something.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Don projected his negative perspective onto an employer with which he was having difficulty. He left but found a worse experience. But it taught him not to run away from things, rather run towards better opportunities.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Don has now found his ideal career position – a company that encourages growth and development at every turn.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Don is eternally excited by the sheer explosion of growth directions – the unlimited potential of fields within IT and how they can change the world at such pace.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Don has always been in love with science fiction, the future, and computers What’s the best career advice you received? – You don’t have to respond to every email! What’s the worst career advice you received? – That we must be very good at mathematics in order to work with computers. What would you do if you started your career now? – Don would focus heavily on software development at the beginning. What are your current career objectives? – Don is spending time looking down the ladder and seeing who might need a hand upwards. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing and written communication How do you keep your own career energized? – Don looks for opportunities, and problems that need to be solved. Don actively seeks solutions and to empower others to do the same. What do you do away from technology? – Don writes fiction novels.   FINAL CAREER TIP Be thoughtful. Your career is the one thing that will be with you for your entire life. Consider each direction carefully and make sure it serves you selfishly.   BEST MOMENTS (5:12) – Don - “If you know the life you want, you can start to plan a career that can take you in that direction” (3:53) – Don - “Own that career, make it your own, and make it give you what you want” (8:01) – Don – “Be careful about making decisions based on incomplete thinking or an incomplete perspective. Keep an open mind” (10:03) – Don – “Don’t run away from something. Run towards something”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DON JONES Don Jones has worked in the IT industry since the 1990s, and in that time has been everything from a software developer to a network engineer. He’s written dozens of IT books, and now focuses on helping technologists become the owners of their careers.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DON JONES Don Jones can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/concentrateddon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/concentrateddon/ Website: https://ampere.club Website: https://donjones.com

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jana Axline, the CEO and Chief Project Officer of Project Genetics where she drives ideas from initiation to implementation, achieving successful outcomes for clients. She has strong skills and a passion for project management, coupled with years of leadership experience across a variety of industries.   She is also an international speaker as well as an active PMP, ACP, CSM and Scaled Agilist.   Jana talks about the importance of volunteering in order to energise your IT career. She also discusses the importance of recognizing our unique gifts, and recognizing who we are, so that we can better identify our prospective career paths.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Volunteering for tasks that fall within your skill-set, can often increase your chances of standing out, building relationships, and securing the trust of those who can help to accelerate your career goals.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After a cultural faux pas due to her non-exposure to diversity, Jana experienced a pivotal moment in her life, where she learned that not everyone is the same, and a little effort is required in order to be as inclusive as possible.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Jana was promoted three times during her tenure in project management, which seemed to gel perfectly with Jana’s skills, and ignited her desire to do better.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is fast-paced, and wonderful, because the skills we acquire across pursuits can be adapted and transferred into new fields.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Jana had a passion for project management, and found her path opening up to her naturally. What’s the best career advice you received? – Get yourself a mentor! What’s the worst career advice you received? – Jana was told that her career path was too varied, but they were all stepping stones to where she is now, and all helped to shape her. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jana would go through an internship, and more formal education – where relationships and networks can be built for life. What are your current career objectives? – Scaling Project Genetics in order to grow. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Problem solving abilities, which can expedite solutions and help others to understand. How do you keep your own career energized? – Constant learning and development What do you do away from technology? – Sailing and outdoor activities.   FINAL CAREER TIP Always understand exactly who you are, what you’re good at, and what the opportunities ahead are like for you. Only then can you gain a clear perspective on what your future looks like.   BEST MOMENTS   (7:56) – Jana - “Volunteering within your discipline can help you gain experience you may not gain in the workplace, as well as build relationships with people” (13:56) – Jana - “Learn about the company and the marketplace and how those things connect, so that you can be a catalyst to drive the market forward” (25:37) – Jana – “If you get involved in societies, then you build a network that can create value for the rest of your life” (28:43) – Jana – “It’s important to understand who you truly are” CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JANA AXLINE Jana Axline is the CEO and Chief Project Officer of Project Genetics where she drives ideas from initiation to implementation, achieving successful outcomes for clients. She has strong skills and a passion for project management, coupled with years of leadership experience across a variety of industries. She is also an international speaker as well as an active PMP, ACP, CSM and Scaled Agilist.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JANA AXLINE Jana Axline can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AxlineSolutions LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaaxline/ Website: https://projectgenetics.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz0Z2FUJsciMBXJBIy-mxsA  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Patrick Lynott, the Head of UK Admissions & Placement at Boolean, a tech education company that teaches their students to be software engineers and then helps them to land their first job in tech. Patrick talks about why people should consider a career as a software engineer and how Boolean can help. He also discusses the positive ways in which investment is changing the shape of the tech sector in the UK, the best ways for aspiring engineers to begin their careers, and the best resources that can energise your own tech career plans.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER BECOMING A SOFTWARE ENGINEER? Software engineering and coding provides a problem-solving approach and set of challenges that many with an analytical mind find appealing. The career prospects are incredible, and potential for diversity and growth is limitless.   WHAT DO I NEED TO LEARN? Begin by building a mental map of the industry itself, We can best achieve this by hearing from people in the industry through YouTube, blogs, vlogs and other social media. Forming this map of the sector in your own mind will give you a far better idea of what kind of role you’d like to play in it.   WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO GET STARTED? Networking in places such as LinkedIn and Eventbrite are a great way to begin getting to know people and the kinds of skills that have helped them. Resources such as Codebar can help those at the start of their tech journey, and pairs you with people already in the industry, and allow you to solve problems together.   WHAT’S THE STATE OF THE TECH INDUSTRY IN THE UK (AND THE WORLD) RIGHT NOW? The tech industry is a boom town right now, and has proved resilient and robust, even through the pandemic. The UK right now is the third hottest area for investment in tech, behind only the US and China. Most investment is staying in the south of the country, and specifically London. This has led to a hiring frenzy in the sector.   HOW DOES A NEWBIE OR JUNIOR DEV GET HIRED? The first step is to combat any feelings of impostor syndrome and build confidence in the skills you’ve accumulated. Gathering effective feedback will help you to identify any potential parts that may need development in your skill set. The next step is correctly identify the terms being used when it comes to tech roles, and better select the career path you want.   WHAT IS BOOLEAN AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TRAINING PROVIDERS? Boolean is an online international tech academy that began in Italy three years ago, and which has partnered with 800+ companies on its hiring platform. It follows a “Six months course with six months career coaching” program of learning. Boolean prides itself on its one-to-one support, and the fact that it directs students in how to solve problems on their own.   HOW MANY STUDENTS HAVE BEEN THROUGH YOUR COURSE, AND GONE ON TO SECURE JOBS? 1,300 students have been trained by Boolean. Last year alone Boolean had a 95% placement rate for students.   BEST MOMENTS (1:50) – Patrick - “The aim is to turn coding newbies into software developers” (9:17) – Patrick - “A question you should ask yourself is ‘As a developer at this company, what would my role be in helping a company to achieve its goals?’” (14:55) – Patrick – “Tech is genuinely a way in which we could level up” (18:38) – Patrick – “The tech community is so powerful, so strong. Not just for finding a job, but also for personal growth”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – PATRICK LYNOTT Patrick Lynott is the Head of UK Admissions & Placement at Boolean, a tech education company that teaches their students to be software engineers and then helps them to land their first job in tech.   CONTACT THE GUEST – PATRICK LYNOTT Patrick Lynott can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricklynott/ Website: https://boolean.co.uk/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Slater Victoroff, who has been building AI, machine learning and deep learning solutions for the enterprise for the better part of the past decade having worked with everyone from the federal government to two-person startups to the Fortune 100. He has also educated hundreds of business users in the successful implementation of deep learning through a simple framework that helps executives rapidly accelerate the adoption of the technology in their businesses. Slater talks about the importance of effective communication, and how your skills as a storyteller can inspire and motivate others. He also discusses the importance of reflecting upon the “why” that drives us onwards.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Regardless of the field that you are in, so much of your ability to drive change will depend on the way you communicate and are able to create narratives that will inspire and lead others to go the distance.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Slater was a CEO, and while he did not underperform in the role, he found that his skill-set was not what the company deserved. Sometimes we need to recognize when we are not the right person for the job.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Slater marks out the “feeling of togetherness” he experienced when bringing together a team, and the sense of high spirits and camaraderie that he helped to construct along with the team.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The idea of building shared spaces where non-technical subject matter experts can contribute to the technical solutions being developed – a broad church of skill-sets and backgrounds that combine to enrich the IT sector.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – When Slater realized that empires can be built through technological means. What’s the best career advice you received? – Slater has always found that the best way to advance his career is to not follow too much advice. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That control makes you successful. What would you do if you started your career now? – Slater would still tread the path he’s walked, as he believes his company has always been his calling. What are your current career objectives? – Growing Indico and helping their customers to be able to tell their own stories. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Acting and performance have helped Slater to deliver presentations more effectively. How do you keep your own career energized? – Talking to interesting people, and continuously improving his outlook, is the best way to keep the creative juices flowing. What do you do away from technology? – Martial arts, vegan baking, and reading science fiction..   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t forget the “why” and focus on the foundational reasons behind what it is that you’re doing.   BEST MOMENTS (1:47) – Slater - “I never want to be doing something that I believe will get done without me” (4:52) – Slater - “So much of your ability to be effective and drive change in your organization is going to pegged to how well you can story-tell” (6:10) – Slater – “The further you go in an organization, the bigger the problems you’re solving” (18:26) – Slater – “So many of our limitations are self-imposed. You can do so much on a laptop!”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SLATER VICTOROFF Slater Victoroff has been building AI, machine learning and deep learning solutions for the enterprise for the better part of the past decade having worked with everyone from the federal government to two-person startups to the Fortune 100. He has also educated hundreds of business users in the successful implementation of deep learning through a simple framework that helps executives rapidly accelerate the adoption of the technology in their businesses.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SLATER VICTOROFF Slater Victoroff can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sl8rv LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slatervictoroff/ Website: https://indico.io/

In this week’s show, Phil talks to James Stanger, CompTIA’s Chief Technology Evangelist. James has consulted in cloud security, open source, and networking for organizations such as Northrop Grumman, Tesco, AWS, West Point, SoftBank, and Symantec. He has also developed education programs on a myriad of subjects, including security analytics, cloud administration, Linux, British Romantic literature and kayaking. In this episode James talks about the importance of interpersonal skills and why we should always remember that IT is a people business. He also discusses the value in developing your own network of people. KEY TAKEAWAYS: TOP CAREER TIP Always keep on top of your power skills, especially the ability to act effectively in an interpersonal way. Remember that IT is a people business, so we must show respect for others. WORST CAREER MOMENT Early in his working life, James realized that he had spent much of his time training and gaining qualifications, only to be stuck in a job that would not pay him accordingly. CAREER HIGHLIGHT James’s public speaking touched the mind and heart of an audience member who later approached him to tell him that the advice he had given had been life-changing. THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The incredibly rapid change that happens in IT. So long as we have the foundational skills, we can always adapt and pivot in the sector and find new opportunities. IT has also impacted the world in incredibly positive ways throughout the COVID experience. THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – James recognized the need to make technology do very interesting things for humanity. What’s the best career advice you received? – Always be curious. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Follow the money! What would you do if you started your career now? – James would have worked harder in learning the foundations of IT and tech. What are your current career objectives? – Understanding security elements and analytics, as well as project management and how to be more “agile”. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Developing empathy and working out where people are coming from. How do you keep your own career energized? – James likes to do deep dives into specific topics and really get to the heart of matters. What do you do away from technology? – Scuba diving, kayaking and working on cars. FINAL CAREER TIP As well as being curious, always do your best to develop your network. Learning from others is the best way to grow. BEST MOMENTS (8:55) – James - “If you can’t manage your time, you’re not as useful as you think you are” (13:52) – James - “It comes down to listening to your network of friends and people you work with and for” (18:20) – James – “Technology, when it’s used right, can be there to help us out as long as we use our tools correctly, and don’t use them for ill” (22:06) – James – “If you have an innate sense of trying to figure out how something works, you’ll always get into the meat of a situation” ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey. CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_philburgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer ABOUT THE GUEST – JAMES STANGER James Stanger is CompTIA’s Chief Technology Evangelist. He has consulted in cloud security, open source, and networking for organizations such as Northrop Grumman, Tesco, AWS, West Point, SoftBank, and Symantec. He has also developed education programs on a myriad of subjects, including security analytics, cloud administration, Linux, British Romantic literature and kayaking. CONTACT THE GUEST – JAMES STANGER James Stanger can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesstanger LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesstanger/ Website: https://www.comptia.org/home

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Seth Hammerman, a Senior Cloud Security Sales Engineer for a large Cybersecurity vendor having made a mid-career change from the construction industry into IT. He has been either a pre-sales Sales Engineer or Sales Engineer Manager for most of his IT career, but has also held roles such as Technical Sales Manager and Director of Channel Sales Enablement. Seth talks about the importance of choosing the right career in IT, and following the path towards the things you truly love. He also discusses why the great IT careers are built upon an attitude of gratitude. Check out the show notes for this episode at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e302

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Kyle Prinsloo, who helps web designers and developers to launch and grow their freelancing careers. He is a developer, consultant and course creator as well as host of The Freelancer Podcast where he shares freelancing and marketing nuggets for web developers. Kyle talks about the importance of curiosity and inquisitiveness. He also discusses the value of forging strong relationships so as to better learn from those who can teach. Show notes for this episode can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e301

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jan Muhlfeit, who has a proven track record in building and leading successful teams which he acquired through an extensive, 22-year career at Microsoft Corporation where his last role was that of Chairman for Europe. Since leaving Microsoft in 2014 he has been coaching individuals and teams on how to uncover their personal strengths and find the best in people. He also coaches high-level executives, Olympic games winners and artists from different countries and continents. And he still manages to find the time to be a highly-regarded global speaker, having spoken at Harvard, MIT and Cambridge to name a few. Jan talks about the importance of self-awareness, and why discovering ourselves can lead to better understanding of others. He also discusses why having a growth mindset will allow us to become the best version of ourselves. Show notes and links can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e300

in this week’s show, Phil talks to Deenita Pattni. Deenita is a leading expert on LinkedIn marketing and has been helping her clients gain more visibility on LinkedIn, be seen as an authority and generate opportunities. This episode gives you opportunity to listen in to parts of a longer interview recorded for the Transform Your Career podcast, due to be launched in July 2021.

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jeff Perry, Jeff helps engineering and software professionals develop soft skills to unlock hidden potential and remove self-imposed roadblocks. This includes Leadership Training & Development, Career & Mindset Coaching and Personal Branding. He is the founder of More Than Engineering and the host of The Engineering Career Coach podcast. In this episode Phil and Jeff talk about the importance of increasing your awareness, why we can sometimes over value career stability & much more. Check out the episode's show notes at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e298

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Nancy Hammervik, the Executive Vice President for Industry Relations at CompTIA, as well as CEO of CompTIA’s Tech Careers Academy, where she is responsible for elevating the association’s public profile among its member and across the IT industry. Prior to joining CompTia (in 2011) Nancy had a 25 year career with United Business Media’s Everything Channel. In this episode Nancy and Phil discuss the best ways in which aspiring professionals can launch their career in technology, and the many ways in which they can improve and develop. Check out the episode's show notes at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e297

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Peter Johnson, a QA engineer. He has contributed to test automation on a variety of software projects in embedded systems, web services and satellite communication software. Peter talks about setting realistic goals, and how to stay on track with them. He also discusses the importance of persistence in achieving success. Show notes for this episode can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e296

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Neil Thompson, the founder of Teach The Geek, helping STEM professionals to communicate effectively by developing their public speaking skills. Prior to Teach The Geek, he was a biomedical engineer, a freelance writer and a product development engineer as well as a professional speaker. Neil talks about why we should always nurture and develop the soft skills that can make our IT careers far more compatible with those without engineering or technical backgrounds. He also discusses the importance of leveraging out the tasks you’re weaker at. Show notes for this episode can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e295

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mads Brodt, a front-end engineer from Copenhagen. He designs, creates and supports websites and applications for clients and for fun. And he loves using modern technology to create exceptional user experiences, always striving to create high quality products. Mads discusses the importance of practical experience and how it can energise your career. He also talks about why finding your niche can invigorate your interest in IT in general. Show notes and links discussed in this episode can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e294

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mike Williams, the founder of BuildLab, a digital development and automation studio and the co-founder and CTO of SharpSeat, an Event Ticket Marketplace. He is also a full-stack web developer with an emphasis on front-end-development & design and process automation. Mike talks about the importance of focusing on things your passionate about so as to remain motivated. He also discusses why it’s crucial to begin your career as soon as possible. Check out the show notes for this episode at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e293

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Eric Matthes, author of Python Crash Course, the world’s best-selling guide to the Python Programming Language, published in 2015. He is also the author of Python Flash Cards for learners of all ages as well as a completely non-tech book, The Road to Alaska. Eric talks about always remembering that people are interested in having problems solved, rather than technical brilliance displayed. He also discusses the importance of reflection, and how we should take time regularly to realign and build on our successes. Show notes can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e292

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Camille Fournier, an engineering executive, author of the books “The Manager’s Path” and “97 Things Every Engineering Manager Should Know.” She began her career with Microsoft in 2001 as a Software Design Engineer and by 2014 had been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Rent the Runway. She is now the Managing Director of Two Sigma, with responsibility for management and strategy. Camille talks about the value in becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable tasks that can energise our career paths. She also discusses why setting the right goals will lead to a more balanced life. Show notes can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e291

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Matt Rosenthal, a technology and business strategist as well as the President & CEO of Mindcore, the leading IT solutions provider in New Jersey. He specialises in working with business owners and management to fix business processes and technology problems using his process mastery formula.   Matt talks about why it is crucial to put one’s ego aside in the world of IT, and how this can benefit you greatly. He also discusses why it’s crucial that we allow ourselves the room to pivot in our beliefs and ideas.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Put your ego aside. Often times, people in technical roles think that their level of expertise grants them the power to be right every time.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After fearing that he was about to lose a valued job, Matt quit the role which threatened his income and livelihood greatly   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Matt experiences his career highlight every time he helps someone to achieve something. This happens often, as Matt is often called to construct solutions for many companies.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The constant evolution and transformation of the industry. Matt wholeheartedly embraces change, and so the IT sector is the perfect home for him and his talents.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Matt simply fell into his career in order to make money, but found that he loved it. What’s the best career advice you received? – Attitude is everything. Being positive is more important than technical skill. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To hurry through tasks in order to get them completed, instead of taking time to make sure they’re done properly. What would you do if you started your career now? – Matt would devote himself to the art of salesmanship. What are your current career objectives? – Personal growth and advancing his skill-set. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Emotional intelligence. How do you keep your own career energized? – Matt is tremendously curious and ensures he remains goal orientated. What do you do away from technology? – Matt is focused on his family, as well as physical fitness and golf.   FINAL CAREER TIP Never be afraid to pivot. Don’t become so committed to an idea or belief that you become entrenched and have no room to maneuver.   BEST MOMENTS   (2:49) – Matt - “Businesses are businesses are businesses. They have different services, but under the hood they have the same technology needs” (4:35) – Matt - “It’s important that you’re somebody who delivers value through being a team player” (12:44) – Matt – “If you don’t stay sharp and if you don’t stay ahead of the curve, you won’t survive in this business” (16:58) – Matt – “Sales is about convincing someone else to go along with your line of thinking”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MATT ROSENTHAL   Matt Rosenthal is a technology and business strategist as well as the President & CEO of Mindcore, the leading IT solutions provider in New Jersey. He specialises in working with business owners and management to fix business processes and technology problems using his process mastery formula.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MATT ROSENTHAL   Matt Rosenthal can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-rosenthal-mindcore/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattrosenthal_/ Website: https://mind-core.com/  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Al Sweigart, a professional developer who teaches programming to kids and adults. As well as being a speaker at Python conferences, he has written several bestselling programming books for beginners, including ‘Automate the Boring Stuff with Python’, ‘Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python’, ‘Cracking Codes with Python’, and ‘Coding with Minecraft’. Al talks about the fact that many jobs are attainable, despite the job description and list of qualifications required. Never count yourself out of the race. He also discusses why coding itself can feel intimidating, but that it’s nothing to be feared. Show notes can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e289

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Scott Turman, who has developed software and cryptographic systems over the last 25 years for some pretty big organisations such as NASA, Disney, Hilton and the US Department of Defence.   He is the founder of BrightRay Consulting which is a staffing and software solutions company that he formed 6 years ago.   Scott talks to Phil about making sure we achieve the worth for which we have worked by being as useful as possible and developing skills. He also discusses why we must gain mastery over our area of expertise.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Learn to be as useful as you can, and find an organization that will pay your fairly for the skills you can perform.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Scott was interviewed by someone he looked up to, and failed during the last stages of the interview. If successful, he would have gone to work for Microsoft.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Scott achieved a position at NASA – his dream job. NASA’s legacy runs deep in Scott’s family, so to win a position there was a lifelong ambition.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT in the past was not an agile sector. Ideas remained so until backing and technological development could be resourced. Nowadays, people can bring ideas t life on their own.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Scott’s Atari 400 and other early computers. Scott’s father encouraged simulations and other technical pursuits. What’s the best career advice you received? – No matter what they offer you, always ask for more. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To stay out of the fray and under the radar. There’s no better way to be fired first than to offer the least amount of value. What would you do if you started your career now? – Scott would specialize in security, the one area that can never be truly fully automated. What are your current career objectives? – Scott’s organisation is moving into proof-of-concept work. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Learning to negotiate, especially in terms of salary. How do you keep your own career energized? – Scott consumes podcasts, books and learns bout new technologies whenever possible. What do you do away from technology? – Scott loves to spend time with family.   FINAL CAREER TIP Pick an area of expertise that is useful and once you’ve done that, master it!   BEST MOMENTS   (3:11) – Scott - “Find an organisation that will pay you for your skills” (3:52) – Scott - “Be useful, develop a skill, and be ridiculously good at it” (9:12) – Scott – “From idea to minimal viable product can be done in a few months with the right people” (11:49) – Scott – “If you can demonstrate your value in the world, then there’s always a little bit of room for you” (13:40) – Scott – “Wallflowers don’t ever make history”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SCOTT TURMAN   Scott Turman  has developed software and cryptographic systems over the last 25 years for some pretty big organisations such as NASA, Disney, Hilton and the US Department of Defence.   He is the founder of BrightRay Consulting which is a staffing and software solutions company that he formed 6 years ago.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SCOTT TURMAN   Scott Turman can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/ Website: https://scottturman.com

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Jeff Wald, the founder of Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers. He has also founded several other technology companies including Spinback, a social media sharing platform. He is an active angel investor and start-up advisor, as well as serving on numerous public and private Boards of Directors. He is also the author of the Amazon Best Seller ‘The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations’. Jeff talks about the importance of resilience and why we must always push through the challenges we face. He also discusses the value of executing upon ideas, and the strength it takes in order to do so. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e287

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Oscar Santolalla, the author of "Rock the Tech Stage" and "Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo". After a decade and a half in the technology arena, he embarked on a mission to help people in technology companies present better, inspire others, and sell more.   Since 2014, he has been hosting the public speaking podcast Time to Shine, for which he has interviewed more than 150 communication professionals. He works as a sales engineer at Ubisecure. And was born and raised in Peru but now lives in Finland.   Oscar talks about why we should always seek to develop our skills and grow as professionals. He also discusses why storytelling can positively impact your career goals.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP There is always room to develop your skills, and no matter which stage you are at, time should always be taken to develop and grow.   WORST CAREER MOMENT During an early presentation, Oscar found himself ill-prepared, and having to present on a subject of which he had no knowledge. This taught him the value of always being prepared, and to devote time to learning how to feel more comfortable with public speaking.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Switching between roles, and trying out new areas in the sector, provided Oscar with his current role, which he views as the highlight of his career so far.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT is being called upon, more and more, to solve meaningful problems for the world. This responsibility will grow as technological advancements continue to be made.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – In times previous, Oscar saw the implementation of tech infrastructures, and the idea of being a part of this world appealed to him greatly. What’s the best career advice you received? – Become a problem solver. What’s the worst career advice you received? – When people tell you that hard work alone will lead to success. This is only partly true. What would you do if you started your career now? – Oscar would be more heavily involved in building tools that protect us online and reinforce privacy. What are your current career objectives? – Focussing upon training in order to deliver better results to clients and partners. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication skills, and developing creativity in thinking. How do you keep your own career energized? – Oscar remains energized by always learning new skills, and keeping abreast of technological advances. What do you do away from technology? – Sports are very important, as is reading – especially fiction, which stimulates the imagination.   FINAL CAREER TIP Work on your storytelling abilities, which remain the best way of communicating plans, ideas and thoughts to others.   BEST MOMENTS   (3:49) – Oscar - “Always invest in developing your skills at any moment in your career” (9:45) – Phil - “At any point in time, you can provide a point of view that can be described as leadership” (12:15) – Oscar – “We can solve the real and big problems that society has today” (18:07) – Oscar – “You need to make sure that others see what you do and appreciate your value”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – OSCAR SANTOLALLA   Oscar Santolalla is the author of "Rock the Tech Stage" and "Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo". After a decade and a half in the technology arena, he embarked on a mission to help people in technology companies present better, inspire others, and sell more.   Since 2014, he has been hosting the public speaking podcast Time to Shine, for which he has interviewed more than 150 communication professionals. He works as a sales engineer at Ubisecure. And was born and raised in Peru but now lives in Finland.   CONTACT THE GUEST – OSCAR SANTOLALLA   Oscar Santolalla can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/osantolalla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscarsantolalla/ ‘Rock The Tech Stage’ Book Website: https://rockthetechstage.com/ ‘Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo’ Book Website: https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484239537  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mark Richards, an experienced, hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures and other distributed systems in a variety of technologies.   He has been in the software industry since 1983 and is the author of numerous technical books and videos. He has also spoken at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics.   Mark talks about the value in developing people skills and what a difference they can make to the shape of your IT career. He also discusses why careful consideration should be employed when it comes to solutions, and why you should never be caught up in the hype of a popular methodology.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Soft skills matter in any role you perform. Never discount the value in people skills, which can make all the difference.   WORST CAREER MOMENT As a result of being abrasive in the workplace, several people left the organization. This led to a period of reflection, and several lessons learned.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being able to build a development team from the ground up, and being able to manage the team closely. This was Mark’s first assignment as an independent, and the experience shaped the way he worked forthwith.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The advancements in the tools, platforms and frameworks available now, is incredibly exciting in terms of seeing how these factors affect and energise the careers of new IT initiates.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Mark has been intensely interested in science from a young age, determined to follow his passions into discovering how science and programming can change the world. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t follow the money – the money will come. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Perception is reality. This belief promotes the idea that many achievements are fraudulent. What would you do if you started your career now? – Mark would focus purely on machine learning and artificial intelligence, which he sees as the true future of IT. What are your current career objectives? – Mark is focused upon spreading the knowledge has accumulated, which he sees as truly valuable. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Negotiations kills which Mark sees as one of the most important tools anyone can have. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mark follows his “20 Minute Rule”, which involves him devoting twenty minute periods to furthering his career in some way. What do you do away from technology? – Reading is incredibly important, but Mark also enjoys home repairs and remodeling, as well as hiking.   FINAL CAREER TIP Be careful not to get caught up in the hype, and always analyse the trade-offs of everything you see. Everything in software architecture is a trade-off, and solutions that are popular may not always be the most prudent.   BEST MOMENTS   (3:15) – Mark - “It’s the role of a software architect to understand the political climate of an enterprise and navigate politics” (7:55) – Mark - “Remember those soft skills – the people skills. This was my career differentiator” (18:20) – Mark – “That creative piece of IT tends to be overshadowed sometimes when we have to deal with the mundane technology aspects of the zeroes and ones” (26:42) – Mark – “Having negotiation skills is one of the only ways of doing your job as a software architect”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MARK RICHARDS   Mark Richards is an experienced, hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures and other distributed systems in a variety of technologies.   He has been in the software industry since 1983 and is the author of numerous technical books and videos. He has also spoken at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MARK RICHARDS   Mark Richards can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/markrichardssa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrichards3/ Website: https://www.developertoarchitect.com/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1492043451  

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Kelly Vaughn, a front end developer and founder of The Taproom, a Shopify Plus agency rooted in Atlanta. She and her team have helped hundreds of Shopify merchants build successful marketing strategies, map out customer journeys that convert and provide the insight, experience and tools businesses need to keep growing. She’s passionate about all things, ‘entrepreneurship’. Since building her first website for a client project at the age of 14, she has built up a strong customer base over the past 15 years and grew her solo freelance business from a team of one to an always-profitable team of ten in just one year. And when she’s not coding or co-hosting the Ladybug Podcast, you can find her traveling the world with her husband and sampling all the wine and whiskey she can get her hands on! Kelly talks about the importance of reaching out for help when we need it, and how it can positively impact our knowledge base. Kelly also discusses why it’s so important to keep a record of your IT journey, and how it can help to not just advance you, but act as a career diary. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e284

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Mark Herschberg, who has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups, Fortune 500 companies, and in academia. He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator”. At Harvard Business School, he helped to create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools, and most recently, he has authored “The Career Toolkit – Essential Skills For Success That No One Taught You” Mark talks to Phil about the value to be found in incremental victories through small negotiations. He also discusses why we should all create a career plan as soon as possible. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e283

Laura Berman Fortgang is recognised as a pioneer in the personal coaching field and part of the founding team of the International Coach Federation. She has brought coaching to NASA, Florida’s State Government and dozens of Fortune 500 companies. She has made appearances on Oprah, Good Morning America and CNN, amongst others, as well as publishing five best-selling books including ‘Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction’ and ‘The Little Book On Meaning’. And in 2015 she gave a TEDx talk titled ‘How to Find Your Dream Job Without Ever Looking at Your Resume’ which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. Laura joins Phil to discuss why the roadmap to your future is never in your current resumè. Laura also talks about why we should trust our instincts when it comes to shaping our IT career. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e282

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Shawn Livermore, a software engineer, a consultant, a software architect and a tech startup founder, managing to raise venture capital investment six times. He has also authored several books on software and business including the recently released ‘Average Joe: Be the Silicon Valley Tech Genius’. Shawn talks to Phil about why it’s important to choose carefully when applying to companies for work, and how career dreams can become horror stories if you aren’t careful. He also discusses the importance of having a pursuit, one that holds our passion and drives us onward. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e281

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Raffi Jamgotchian, the founder of Triada Networks. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and a member of both Infragard and the US Secret Service’s Joint Electronic Crimes Task Force.   Raffi talks to Phil about why starting at the bottom is a good thing for anyone new to the world of IT as it provides experience and knowledge.   He also discusses the value of staying curious and why without curiosity, we may sometimes stagnate.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Don’t ever be afraid to do the “unsexy” jobs. Starting in support or the equivalent is always a good place to start as it provides you with a broad range of experience and understanding.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Raffi gave notice at a job as he had received a verbal offer of a new one. However, he failed to get this offer in writing, and subsequently the new job fell through. Luckily it all worked out.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After 9/11, Raffi oversaw a stringent series of systems and processes designed to withstand future outages. This was put to the test during a blackout, and again later during Hurricane Sandy. Each time, these new systems stood up to the test.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The tech world today is changing in so many revolutionary ways, and so rapidly. If you are curious, then being in IT is a wonderful world to work in as the possibilities for innovation and creation are endless.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Money was the initial hook, but also the freedom that IT allows in shaping one’s destiny and future. What’s the best career advice you received? – Stay curious! What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t go into business for yourself. Starting his own business has been one of the most rewarding things in Raffi’s life. What would you do if you started your career now? – Raffi wishes he had spent more time on experimentation rather than going to the book to learn. What are your current career objectives? – Growing the company they have built, and focusing on training and mentoring new members of the team. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Honesty. People are drawn to this quality, so always tell the truth. How do you keep your own career energized? – Always make sure you’re learning through whatever means possible. What do you do away from technology? – Raffi is a political junkie, as well as a cyclist   FINAL CAREER TIP Stay curious and don’t be afraid to try new things. It separates stagnation from progression.   BEST MOMENTS   (4:00) – Raffi - “Ultimately we’re supporting the business, we’re not in the business of technology, necessarily” (9:19) – Raffi - “You never know what is going to happen. The best you can do is plan” (13:43) – Raffi – “Testing things – ultimately that was where I learned the most, rather than a formal training class” (14:28) – Raffi – “Let the chips fall where they may. Ultimately you will be rewarded because of your believability”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – RAFFI JAMGOTCHIAN   Raffi Jamgotchian is the founder of Triada Networks. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and a member of both Infragard and the US Secret Service’s Joint Electronic Crimes Task Force.   CONTACT THE GUEST – RAFFI JAMGOTCHIAN   Raffi Jamgotchian can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/triadanet LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raffijamgotchian/ Website: https://triadanet.com/ Book: https://triadanet.com/cybersecuritybook  

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Nigel Poulton, who does what he loves - playing with tech and teaching Kubernetes all around the world. He has trained well over 1 million people with Docker and Kubernetes.   He is also the author of Docker Deep Dive which was rated by Book Authority as the best ever book on Docker. And his latest book is The Kubernetes Book which is being updated a couple of times a year.   Nigel talks to Phil about why we must always seek to learn new things, and how this can keep us energised. He also discusses why today’s world is a golden age for technology and possibilities, and why we as IT professionals should be very excited.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Don’t ever be afraid to learn new things. Often, people are afraid to put themselves out there in case it’s too difficult, and they fail. Making mistakes is the only route to learning something.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Nigel took a job that was convenient, but not challenging. He soon learned that without the chance to be challenged, and to develop each day, his love for the job rapidly deteriorated.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Every time Nigel publishes a newly created product, such as a book or piece of video content, it gives a real buzz of excitement. It’s the same feeling when someone reaches out in response to something Nigel has made.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The tech world today is revolutionising the way we live, and allowing science fiction concepts to become a reality. For someone who grew up thinking these things could never happen, the world of today is an incredible place.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Early computers, games, and technology through Nigels’ childhood sparked his imagination, and showed him what might be possible one day. What’s the best career advice you received? – Nigel’s father mistakenly offered some limiting views on where technology could go, but thankfully Nigel foresaw more limitless possibilities. What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Learning to code is a fundamental skill of IT, and one that Nigel recommends as a basic building block when it comes to your career. What are your current career objectives? – Nigel wishes to reach people at the beginning of their careers, with the aim of simplifying their journeys. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Nigel’s accent has helped many people to connect with him, and has also made him stand out, especially in video. How do you keep your own career energized? – By indulging in science fiction and reading, Nigel is able to keep his vision fresh, and look for future possibilities. What do you do away from technology? – Nigel loves spending time with family, cars, and watching television as a way of unwinding.   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t skip the fundamentals and always look for chances to improve and innovate. We are living in a golden age for technology, and the potential for invention is limitless.   BEST MOMENTS   (4:27) – Nigel - “That’s the way that life should be – when you’re enjoying life so much that time flies” (6;12) – Nigel - “99% of us find learning something new hard. Just don’t be afraid of it” (11:33) – Nigel – “I’m not a “techie”, I’m an artist – I create something that connects with people” (13:06) – Nigel – “The things that I dreamt of are already here, but they’re better than how I imagined them!” (16:42) – Nigel – “The world of technology moves so fast, that I can never sit back comfortably and say “I’ve nailed it””   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – NIGEL POULTON   Nigel Poulton does what he loves - playing with tech and teaching Kubernetes all around the world. He has trained well over 1 million people with Docker and Kubernetes.   He is also the author of Docker Deep Dive which was rated by Book Authority as the best ever book on Docker. And his latest book is The Kubernetes Book which is being updated a couple of times a year.   CONTACT THE GUEST – NIGEL POULTON   Nigel Poulton can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/nigelpoulton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelpoulton/ Website: https://nigelpoulton.com Docker Deep Dive: https://www.amazon.com/Docker-Deep-Dive-Nigel-Poulton-ebook/dp/B01LXWQUFF/ The Kubernetes Book: https://www.amazon.com/Kubernetes-Book-Version-November-2018-ebook/dp/B072TS9ZQZ/  

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Will Johnson, a developer, speaker, blogger and marketer who enjoys helping people reach their goals by using the power of social media. He is currently a Learner Advocate for Egghead.io and Presentation Director for Kansas City Women in Technology. Will discusses the importance of specialising in one specific area rather than diluting our skills by spreading them too thin. Will also talks about why it’s vital to build and nurture good working relationships, and how this can benefit your IT career. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e278

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jennifer Byrne, a former Chief Technical Officer for Microsoft US where she worked with companies and organisations across industries and market segments to re-frame their business opportunities in digital terms. She now advises start-ups and mentors young women and leaders on topics related to making the most of today’s fast-changing, tech-infused world. Jennifer joins the show to talk about why we should always recognize the unique value we bring to any given situation. Jennifer also discusses the importance of striking the right balance between learning about technology, and the world itself. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e277  

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jason Lengstorf, a principal developer experience engineer at Netlify and host of Learn With Jason, a live-streamed video show where he pair programs to learn something new in 90 minutes. He spends a lot of time telling people that the formula for success and happiness is to lift each other up and share what we learn. Jason joins Phil to talk about the importance of enjoying the work we do, and how this can breed creativity. He also discusses the importance of building up a team in favour of hoarding credit for achievement. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e276

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Nicole Archambault, a web developer and educational technology entrepreneur. She creates online courses and coaches people who are teaching themselves how to code. She taught herself to program in 2015 using Treehouse, making a career change to an industry that she loves. Nicole talks about the importance of striking out on your own in brave ways and creating communities in IT. Nicole also discusses why it’s so important not to let your lack of educational qualifications stand in the way of your aspirations in IT. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Julian Sequeira, a Python coach and co-founder of PyBites, a platform that he and friend Bob Belderbos created to help others to learn Python. Julian currently works for Amazon Web Services where his responsibilities include running the AWS Data Centre Operations Trainee Program Julian joins Phil to discuss the importance of leaving your comfort zone and building your communication skills by involving yourself in as many things as possible without becoming overwhelmed. He also talks about why we should never be intimidated by job titles, and to remember that even those in positions of authority are people, too. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ian Reynolds, a Partner and the Chief Solutions Architect at Zibtek, a software development company focused on helping businesses build custom software.   He has spent the better part of his career in consulting covering a diverse range of industries, including Finance, Oil & Gas and Healthcare. He now helps companies to solve their core business objectives with agile software development.   Ian talks about the importance of reading, and of constantly feeding your knowledge base. He also discusses the value of recognising your individuality, and always pushing yourself to see what you’re capable of.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP You have to constantly read. Books should be your perennial companion. Reading leads to success. On average, the wealthiest Americans read 22 books per year.   WORST CAREER MOMENT In an early job, Ian encountered an employee with behavioral issues. Rather than confront the issue, Ian chose to leave the job – decision that has caused him regret ever since.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT The highlight so far has been the acquisition and growth of Zibtek, along with the success achieved and the improvements made along the way. Many more ambitions has since been realized, with many more to come.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T In terms of IT’s life in the world, we really are at the “Stone Age” period. The potential for how IT will change the world is staggering and infinite. To be at this crucial stage in its history is exhilarating.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Ian recognized the changing world of IT, rapidly evolving from day to day, and aspired to be a part of its evolution. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t be afraid to try new things. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To not stand out. We must always endeavour to be the brightest talent out there. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ian would embark upon business acquisition strategies far earlier. What are your current career objectives? – To expand knowledge on particular subjects, with a current focus upon banking, legal and finance items. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Enhanced emotional intelligence. It is good to be non-emotional at times, but emotion can also propel us forward when needed. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keeping dialogue channels open with family and friends allows Ian to experience new perspectives. What do you do away from technology? – Aggressively reading!   FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to yourself and push yourself to see what you’re capable of.   BEST MOMENTS   (6:30) – Ian - “You are doing yourself a disservice if you are not constantly learning” (9:20) – Ian - “In business, you’ve got to separate some degree of the emotional from the rational” (9:59) – Ian – “Failure is not failure unless you fail to learn from it” (18:03) – Ian – “Talking with people about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, has been the most helpful thing in keeping my career energized”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – IAN REYNOLDS   Ian Reynolds is a Partner and the Chief Solutions Architect at Zibtek, a software development company focused on helping businesses build custom software.   He has spent the better part of his career in consulting covering a diverse range of industries, including Finance, Oil & Gas and Healthcare. He now helps companies to solve their core business objectives with agile software development.   CONTACT THE GUEST – IAN REYNOLDS   Ian Reynolds can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/just_solve LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianjhreynolds/ Website: https://www.zibtek.com/

Phil’s guest on today's show is Jeff Ton, a sought-after speaker, author and thought leader, having led powerful teams and built successful Information Technology departments for over 30 years.  His mission is to change the face of IT. And he says that, “Businesses today are demanding more from their technology and their technology leaders.” As well as being the author of Amplify Your Value (2018) and Amplify Your Job Search (2020), Jeff serves on numerous boards and advisory councils including Forbes Technology Council, Indy CIO Network, and Connected World Magazine Board of Advisors.  Jeff joins the show to discuss the importance of mastering the basic skills that are sometimes forgotten in favour of technical prowess. Jeff also highlights the belief that your passion can benefit your career path if you look for the opportunities to blend the two pursuits. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on today's show is Danny Thompson, a Software Developer who has a passion for tech and programming.  He is also Chapter Founder & Leader of GDG Memphis, providing resources for aspiring developers. In this episode Danny joins Phil to talk about why it’s okay to admit when you don’t have the answer, and how it can lead to personal growth. Danny also discusses the importance of self-motivation, and why your career goals can only truly be achieved by never giving up. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Sam Lightstone, IBM’s Chief Technology Officer for AI Strategy, an IBM Fellow and a Master Inventor in the IBM Data and AI group. He is also chair of the Data and AI Technical Team, the working group of IBM’s technical executives in the division. In this episode Sam joins Phil to discuss the power of innovation, and why we must always seek to first convince people that we have good ideas by allowing them to visualise, and innovate through creative thinking. Sam also talks about the importance of being clear when it comes to your career goals in IT, and why without a clear goal to aim for, we can never truly hope to arrive at our ideal destination Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Douglas Ferguson, an entrepreneur and technologist with over 20 years of experience.  He is a master facilitator and the author of three innovation books: Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within.   He is also the founder and president of Voltage Control, a facilitation agency helping teams to work better together.   Douglas discusses the importance of finding new perspectives by looking outside of our own industry, and how this can lead to innovative thinking. He also talks about the importance of facilitation, and how it will shape the future of an ever-more automated working landscape.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP We must look outside of our own industries. By opening ourselves to new ways of working, of new experiences, we allow ourselves to find new perspectives and new ways of thinking.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Whenever emotions get the best of Douglas, it can get the better of him. Being dressed down in public can give rise to negative emotional impact. By tempering our response, we can turn these situations into empowering ones.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Building a sophisticated metric system that had to scale rapidly to keep up with the growth of its client base. Douglas recognized the need to balance the technical concerns and the elegance of the system itself in order to accomplish something entirely new.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The effects of COVID-19 upon the world have caused the world itself to take far more notice of technological advancements, and how technology itself is a benefit to humanity. Innovations are coming swiftly every day, and are changing the landscape of how we interact.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Being brought up on a farm , Douglas was instilled with a sense of enhancement through ingenuity. When he was introduced to computers, he applied this sensibility, and a career was born. What’s the best career advice you received? – Networking is key to adaptability, and understanding complexity. The modern world is built upon communication and we must embrace it in order to thrive. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To severely punish those who make mistakes. By allowing emotions to overtake a situation, we can often miss out on chances to develop those in our teams, and strengthen our organisations. What would you do if you started your career now? – Douglas would embrace AI machine learning a lot sooner. It is a transformational technology that will lead to lasting change. What are your current career objectives? – After spending much time in pivoting his organization, Douglas now has the opportunity to look for areas that require creative thinking and innovation, while delivering the levels of excellence that his team is known for. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to synthesise quickly and on the fly, as well as the speed with which information is processed. How do you keep your own career energized? – Staying abreast of new developments and innovations keeps us fresh and keen to take on the challenges of tomorrow. What do you do away from technology? – Boxing and exercise are a wonderful way to expend physical energy, while musical pursuits and meditation keep the mental faculties fresh and creative.   FINAL CAREER TIP Facilitation is the skill that will allow us to step into the future of the workplace. As AI and software becomes better able to take over jobs, we will need to rely on the things that make us more human.   BEST MOMENTS   (2:56) – Douglas- “It’s important when you have groups of people, that we understand how to do the best work we can, so that we get the best outcomes” (14:52) – Douglas - “If there’s anything that you can expect not to change, that is the fact that things will change!” (19:22) – Douglas – “We really need to make sure that we’re building strong relationships so that we can thrive” (29:49) – Douglas - “It’s all about finding inspiration in little pockets and exploring those things” (31:55) – Douglas – “If there’s one skill that’s going to be critical in the future of work, it’s facilitation”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DOUGLAS FERGUSON   Douglas Ferguson is an entrepreneur and technologist with over 20 years of experience.  He is a master facilitator and the author of three innovation books: Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within.   He is also the founder and president of Voltage Control, a facilitation agency helping teams to work better together.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DOUGLAS FERGUSON   Douglas Ferguson can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com//douglas_voltage LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasferguson Website: https://voltagecontrol.com/  

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Raj Subrameyer, an international speaker, writer and tech coach who helps people step into the leadership role of their dreams through his services and speeches.  He is helping countless people to discover their ‘Zone of Genius’ and leverage it to live the life that they love. In this episode Phil and Raj discuss the importance of establishing your own brand, and how an effective network can help to energise our career path. Raj also talks about the importance of deciding on the course of your own journey, and why it’s never too late to make a change. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on the show this time is Doug Arcuri, a Software Engineering Manager for IBM who has worked in the IT industry for 15 years.  His interest in computers began when his parents purchased a Gateway PC in 1998 which led to him developing a few successful game modifications for Half Life. Subsequently, Doug went on to learn engineering concepts, C++, website design and game modification tooling setting the foundation for his IT career.   Doug and Phil talk about the importance of building effective business relationships over being entirely purpose-driven, and why people should be the foundations of any career.   Doug also talks about why feedback should always be welcomed as a way of helping us grow and develop, instead of being seen as criticism.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Don’t be entirely purpose-driven. It’s important to focus on the business and upon delivery, but we must also pay consideration to building effective, empowering relationships.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After finding himself out of a job, Doug decided to not only hone his interviewing skills for the next opportunity, but to keep it going as a regular concern, meeting often ever since to further practice and develop the skills needed in order to keep sharp.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT As a leader, Doug has been responsible for not only hiring, but developing his team members. Using his three stage method of making sure the direction of the team is correct, mentoring others in the team and setting boundaries, and some project management, Doug has found great success is developing people.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Doug is particularly excited by The Developer’s Experience concept, which has many facets, and which shows that tools are opportunities for engineers to develop. Semantic Code Analysis, also, uses AI to gain clear feedback for code reviews, which should provide a new sense of expediency.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Doug grew up with video games, and found that he had an early knack for tweaking the experience through technical means. When he discovered a far more technical route to the same in later life, the career choice became obvious. What’s the best career advice you received? – To write for the community at large. Writing helps to clarify thought, and to inspire others. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To make things up. Working “off message” only leads to confusion and dissatisfaction. What would you do if you started your career now? – Doug would have nurtured the skill of building relationships with others, and sought more opportunities for collaboration. What are your current career objectives? – To become better as a software engineer manager, focusing heavily on the meta of the role. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – To find the humour in conversations with software engineers. How do you keep your own career energized? – Focussing on hobbies, such as scale-modelling, helps to keep the mind sharp. It also teaches the value of success and failure. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with family, especially in the recent lockdown period, is a great source of comfort and happiness.   FINAL CAREER TIP When you receive feedback, you should view it as a gift and accept it gratefully. We tend to have problems in accepting feedback objectively, but we should endeavor to remember that it can make us better in some way.   BEST MOMENTS   (4:14) – Doug- “For a business to be effective, and for you to be effective wherever you are, you really need to get to know the people first” (6:01) – Doug - “In order to be successful in interviewing, it’s a skill, you have to practice it” (14:23) – Doug - “Clarify your priorities with your partners and product and project management, and make sure that those priorities are clear” (19:50) – Doug - “When we receive feedback it’s a gift, and you should simply say thank you, take it in, and reflect on it”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DOUG ARCURI   Doug Arcuri is a Software Engineering Manager for IBM who has worked in the IT industry for 15 years.  His interest in computers began when his parents purchased a Gateway PC in 1998 which led to him developing a few successful game modifications for Half Life. Subsequently, Doug went on to learn engineering concepts, C++, website design and game modification tooling setting the foundation for his IT career.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DOUG ARCURI   Doug Arcuri can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/dougarcuri LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglaswarcuri/ Website: https://medium.com/@solidi

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Brad Finkeldei, a former IT professional who is now on a mission to help 10,000 people-pleasers become confident, and to do what they love.  He teaches his clients how to find their purpose, and how to powerfully share their stories so that they stand out in the job search process. Brad discusses the importance of listening to the voice inside that guides us from time-to-time, and why we should endeavour to find the confidence to speak out on our own behalf when opportunity knocks.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always speak up for yourself when you have the chance to. A missed opportunity to share ideas and put yourself out there can haunt you for a long time afterwards. It can also help to identify issues earlier, and prevent unnecessary pain later on.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Brad once turned down a huge opportunity for career development because of a lack of self-belief. Sometimes the opportunities that we are given are as a result of an outside perspective that other have of us.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT After arriving at a new position, Brad discovered that despite a glossy exterior, the back end was archaic, and the turnover of staff was high. Brad could see the trajectory he was about to follow and took the brave step of leaving for a new position.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Everything in IT is gradually becoming simpler and easier through refined systems and processes, and the advent of new technologies that allow us to achiever far more.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – From an early age, Brad was enthralled by the creative opportunities that technology provides, and yearned for a career there. What’s the best career advice you received? – To always speak up for yourself. Far too many people never share what it is that they want. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To do a job for the money and nothing else. It’s far better to be happy in what we do, than to be unfulfilled in exchange for money. What would you do if you started your career now? – Brad would stick to his strong points and focus on the areas in which he works better, such as people management. What are your current career objectives? – Speaking up is Brad’s current focus and doing his best to build his own business. There have been confidence issues in the past, but they are gradually being overcome. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Effective listening and always trying to discern the other person’s experience. To always attempt to understand what someone may be bringing from outside the job. How do you keep your own career energized? – Service is everything. Working with people and focusing on how to make them better provides instant feedback, and boundless inspiration to do better. What do you do away from technology? – Travelling has opened up a new world in terms of perspective and cultural influence.   FINAL CAREER TIP We should always listen to the instinctual voice inside and investigate why it is raising red flags. Sometimes we react to circumstances on a primal level. We should never discount this reaction.   BEST MOMENTS   (1:20) – Brad- “I have a passion for people, and I didn’t realise that when I was in my tech career because I’d been stuck behind the computer for so long” (3:10) – Brad - “Have the guts to speak up and really share what your heart says, that needs to be said in the moment” (7:30) – Brad - “You’ve got this thing on top of you that’s weighing you down, and it’s hard to see and understand, but once you hit it, it feels great and you feel really aligned” (11:58) – Brad - “I believed that I could get a job because I knew I had the skills, and I also knew that this was not for me” (14:48) – Brad - “One of the biggest things in IT right now is not being acknowledged enough. So many systems are behind systems that are behind systems that are behind systems, and you never get the acknowledgement”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS   Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BRAD FINKELDEI   My guest on today’s show is Brad Finkeldei, a former IT professional who is now on a mission to help 10,000 people pleasers become confident and to do what they love.  He teaches his clients how to find their purpose and how to powerfully share their stories so that they stand out in the job search process.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BRAD FINKELDEI Brad Finkeldei can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/bradfinkeldei LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfinkeldei/ Website: https://bradfinkeldei.com Website: www.dontbeachickendowhatyoulove.com

Phil’s guest on today’s show is Kris Howard, a Solutions Architect Manager at Amazon Web Services in Sydney, Australia.  Her achievements include creating a serverless application that creates an iCal feed for tech events, and the RoaldDahlFans website which has been running since 1996. In this episode Kris shares her thoughts on mentorship, IT as part of a modern society, the importance of engaging with your local tech community and much more. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com/e265

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Ramona Shaw, the former VP of a global equity firm, who now leverages her analytical, results-driven approach, personal leadership experiences and extensive research to help companies such as Google, Dropbox and Asana, to achieve success through building relationships and a strong executive presence. Ramona shares her thoughts on successful leadership, remote working and the importance of making those around you feel valued. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Boris Paskhaver, author of 'Pandas in Action' and a full-stack web developer who builds apps in React and Ruby on Rails. He is also an Agile consultant and online educator, with six programming course credits on Udemy, encompassing 236,000 students. Boris discusses his insights into ways of dynamically increasing your own creativity, the importance of initiative, and why we must always strive to grow. Full show notes and links to related resources are available on the IT Career Energizer website - https://itcareerenergizer.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Ramzi Marjaba, Senior Sales Engineer for Keysight Technologies, where he helps customers to diagnose problems and then build a vision of the required solution. He is also the creator of the website WeTheSalesEngineers and its corresponding podcast, which seeks to help other sales engineers develop and improve their careers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   (2:35) TOP CAREER TIP Although the world is headed to a more tech-driven destination, we must always endeavor to work on the human side of business, developing skills such as communication, persuasion and demonstration.   (6:20) WORST CAREER MOMENT A technical error can lead to disaster, as was almost the case with a simple mouse-click for Ramzi. It’s important to know the tools that you’re using, and understand what the potential consequences can be.   (8:19) CAREER HIGHLIGHT The bane of every sales engineer is to perform a demonstration with little information going in. Ramzi chose to forego the misinformation he’d been given on one occasion, and focused instead of the small data he did have. It led to success and a subsequent sale.   (13:15) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T IT is an ever-evolving industry, being led and shaped by technological advances. If we strive to maintain our own development in this area, then we will be taken along in that growth, and find our skills energized naturally.   (14:25) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Sales engineers are rewarded for being more pro-active in terms of sales, plus the projects are far more varied. What’s the best career advice you received? – Make sure you never reveal too much to your customers about advances in the pipeline. It can stifle contemporary interest. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Spray-And-Pray approaches to demonstrations never work. Always do your advance preparation instead of presenting irrelevant data. What would you do if you started your career now? – Go into sales engineering sooner, and do the best you can to achieve certification. What are your current career objectives? – To help as many sales engineers to become better at what they do, and to provide a wealth of resources. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Listening  - the importance of listening and understanding people cannot be overstated. How do you keep your own career energized? – Always endeavor to learn from other people through conversations. What do you do away from technology? – Family time is important. When lockdown is over, physical wellbeing will be another priority.   (21:35) FINAL CAREER TIP Learn how to communicate with people effectively. Approach each conversation with an objective, and figure out the best way to persuade that person to complete that objective. Always work on how to communicate in better ways.   BEST MOMENTS   (2:10) – Ramzi- “I’m more like the doctor who tries to understand and prescribe a solution” (7:52) – Ramzi - “I always make sure I know the tools I’m using!” (9:51) – Ramzi - “I didn’t need to do that 90%. They just wanted to see the results” (12:28) – Ramzi - “The salespeople are in a hurry to sell, and the customers are in a hurry to solve their problems” (16:04) – Ramzi - “Solve the problem with what you have today, not with what might be coming down the line”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – RAMZI MARJABA Ramzi Marjaba is a Senior Sales Engineer for Keysight Technologies where he helps customers to diagnose problems and then build a vision of the required solution.   He is also the creator of the website WeTheSalesEngineers.com, and its corresponding podcast, to help other Sales Engineers develop and improve their careers.   CONTACT THE GUEST – RAMZI MARJABA Ramzi Marjaba can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeTheSEs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramzimarjaba?originalSubdomain=ca Website: https://wethesalesengineers.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is David Bishop. He is a technologist, consultant, researcher, entrepreneur, and instructor with experience across telecommunications, transportation, government and utilities.  He is an author of numerous books and articles as well as a frequent contributor to the IEEE’s Engineering Management Review.   David is also founding chair for the Atlanta chapter of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society.   In this episode, Phil and David Bishop discuss how to manage your manager to improve your career opportunities. They talk about the importance of focusing on the business and what it does rather than just the tech.   David also talks about the challenge of selling your skills and how to do it well. As well as explaining why being happy to take risks is a good idea in the IT industry. David also briefly covers solving business problems using his Metagility approach to Managing Agile Development.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.30) TOP CAREER TIP Manage your manager. They are your gatekeeper. It is your manager who determines what your goals are, which opportunities you are given. As well as, to a certain extent, how you are perceived by others within the business.   In the podcast, David shares several ways to do that.   (7.54) WORST CAREER MOMENT In his 30s, David was set to become the chief of staff for the CIO of a big telecommunications company. He sailed through the interview stages.   But, when he sat down to talk directly with the CIO, David spoke mostly about the tech, instead of focusing on what the business was all about. That switched the CIO off and he did not get the job. That experience taught him that at the end of the day everything you do at work has to be about what the business needs. The tech is just a means to an end.   (11.43) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For David, starting to work for himself was a career highlight. When he did it forced him to exercise his intellectual and marketing skills as well as use his IT knowledge in more innovative ways. It pushed him to become a continuous learner and not be afraid to take on challenges.   At this point, David shares what he learned about selling his skills. In particular, how to stay in the game long enough to close a deal that can take months to come to fruition.   (13.44) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that IT is everywhere is exciting. But, it also means that the stakes are high. A failure could lead to a plane falling out of the air or the economy being affected when a financial system goes down.   (16.39) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – David started programming at 13, so for him, a career in IT was a natural progression. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t worry about what other people think. Just focus on yourself and what your needs are. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Always go for the highest paying job. What would you do if you started your career now? – David would be prepared to take more risks rather than playing it safe and automatically taking a job with a big company. What are your current career objectives? – Evangelizing his Metagility approach. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. It is a skill that is all too often overlooked. How do you keep your own career energized? – David constantly networks with people. In the podcast, he talks about how he is coping with doing that despite CoVid. What do you do away from technology? – David reads a lot and enjoys working on classic cars.   (25.19) FINAL CAREER TIP Learn how to interview well and network well. Both skills are critical when you are starting out.   BEST MOMENTS (5.37) – David  - “Manage your manager. They are your gatekeeper and have a bit impact on how you are perceived.” (10.02) – David  - “If you want to convince someone to adopt a certain technology focus on what it can do for their business.” (21.18) – David  - “Go where the startups are. Get associated with some incubators. That is your best chance for long term gain.” (23.10) – David  - “Writing is a particularly important skill especially for people who work in the IT industry.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DAVID BISHOP David Bishop is a technologist, consultant, researcher, entrepreneur, and instructor with experience across telecommunications, transportation, government, and utilities.  He is an author of numerous books and articles as well as a frequent contributor to the IEEE’s Engineering Management Review.   David  is also founding chair for the Atlanta chapter of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society   CONTACT THE GUEST – DAVID BISHOP David Bishop can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidAnthBishop LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbishop/ Website: https://agile-worx.com/   Metagility: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8WGCLL/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0   The Big Brother’s Guide to Job Interviews: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079BS9FNJ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2 Book – The Big Brother’s Guide to Networking: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0795BKFQC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Broadus Palmer. He is a Google Cloud Training Architect and Cloud Career Coach. Broadus is focused on helping individuals who are strongly committed to changing their lives by advancing or transitioning careers in the cloud industry.   He’s an in-demand coach, specialising in hands-on coaching with the industry’s hottest tools and skills along with motivation aimed at changing your mindset.   In this episode, Phil and Broadus Palmer discuss how to be ready for the next big thing, so your skills are always in demand. They talk about the importance of having a plan and sticking to it. As well as how to leverage what you are learning to help others, build a community and move your career forward.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (11.41) TOP CAREER TIP Sometimes success loves speed. At times, you will need to fast track your learning to take advantage of new opportunities. To push yourself to be ready.   If something new comes out and you think it is going to be hot, go for it. Learn all you can, when it takes off you will be ahead of the game and be in high demand. At this stage in the podcast, they also talk about how to improve your ability to see the whole picture and problem solve using the tech you already know.   (13.18) WORST CAREER MOMENT When Broadus wanted to switch to an IT career he was advised to secure cloud certifications and was told that if he did that he would easily get a job. He secured the AWS solutions architect, developer, and sysops associate certificates. Only to realize at his first job interview that it was not enough. He could not answer most of their questions.    It was pretty embarrassing and deflating. But, this did not stop him. In the podcast, he explains what he did to fix the problem.   (17.00) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Building his own business and creating his first few courses, which enabled him to start helping people to change their life.   (18.23) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that there is always something new means it is always possible to change direction, which enables you to find your purpose. You can create whatever you want in the IT industry, there are no limits.   (21.00) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The opportunity to change my life. What’s the best career advice you received? – Learn it, Lab it, Cert it. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Just getting certifications is not enough to get you an IT job. They are just the start; experience matters far more. What would you do if you started your career now? – Create content and share what you are learning from the very start. It is critical to building your brand. What are your current career objectives? – Building out his cloud coaching business and help at least a 1000 people take things to the next level. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – His ability to connect with people and being able to create content that helps others. How do you keep your own career energized? – Broadus is a continual learner. It keeps things fresh and gives him new material to create courses about. What do you do away from technology? – Broadus enjoys spending time with his family creating new memories and making sure they know they are important to him.   (30.11) FINAL CAREER TIP Stick to your plan. Too many people jump from one thing to another. If you do that, you cannot capitalize on what you are learning and move forward.   BEST MOMENTS (11.21) – Broadus - “Success loves speed. When you see an opportunity to push yourself and accelerate your learning so you can take advantage of it.” (12.27) – Broadus - “When new technology comes out if you think it will be hot, learn it immediately. Get ahead of the curve.” (16.14) – Broadus - “Learn to look at the problem from an aerial view. It is a skill that will make you a valuable asset regardless of your role.” (16.20) – Broadus - “Get out of your silo and look at the whole picture to understand exactly what a company is doing.” (22.17) – Broadus - “Learn it, Lab it, Cert it.” (25.27) – Broadus - “Create content, share and help others, to build a community and your brand fast.” (30.16) – Broadus - “Stick to your plan. If you keep jumping around you will just be confused and not get anywhere.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:     Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BROADUS PALMER Broadus Palmer s a Google Cloud Training Architect and Cloud Career Coach.  He is focused on helping individuals who are strongly committed to changing their lives by advancing or transitioning careers in the cloud industry.   Broadus is  an in-demand coach, specializing in hands-on coaching with the industry’s hottest tools and skills along with motivation aimed at changing your mindset.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BROADUS PALMER Broadus Palmer can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/BPalmerLA LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/levelupwithbroadus Website: https://www.levelupwithbroadus.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Tom Gilb, the author of ten books and hundreds of papers on requirements, design, project management and related subjects. His ideas on requirements are the acknowledged basis for CMMi Level 4, which were based upon his pioneering book, ‘Software Metrics’, where he also coined that term. Tom has lectured at universities across the globe, and has been a keynote speaker at multiple technical conferences. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Fellow of the British Computer Society. Tom joins Phil today to discuss his extensive business journey, his outlook upon the analytical approach to solving problems, and why the future of IT may lie in adopting an engineering approach.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4:08) TOP CAREER TIP Always try to volunteer to help people who may be facing a challenge. Gain permission to help, make friends and learn along the way. Even if you aren’t always successful, you will mark yourself out as a useful colleague.   (9:08) WORST CAREER MOMENT Tom tends not to think of his career in best or worst terms, but there have been scary moments. The most memorable involved his being asked to solve a complex problem by Israeli rocket scientists. Tom succeeded, despite his reservations, and was rewarded by having his computer confiscated!   (14:15) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working in India, Tom was able to convince the workers there to increase the quality of their workmanship instead of selling themselves as the cheapest. Soon all the workers were accredited, and competing on a global scale, which in turn changed the face of IT services in India, which became a leading force.   (19:20) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T We need to do better in terms of failure rates when it comes to IT projects, which often leaves our clients disappointed. By adopting engineering principles, we can increase our agility and reduce the failure rate to rubble. It’ll take time, but it is incredibly exciting.   (22:42) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Being a typical nerd, Tom was attracted to IT because of the technical challenges and opportunities. What’s the best career advice you received? – No matter where you are career-wise, study. Keep on educating and training yourself. What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Invest in learning basic skills, hone them in practice, and be more open and alert to the prospect of radical change. What are your current career objectives? – To ensure that all the lessons learned during his long and varied career, can be taught and disseminated to the next generation. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Quantification – the ability to quantify any critical variable, and any other value. How do you keep your own career energized? – Always make sure you’re having fun and doing the things you love. What do you do away from technology? – Tom is an avid reader on all subjects, and tries to read around 35 books per year, as well as studying and absorbing history on television.   (42:11) FINAL CAREER TIP Select the guiding books you read very carefully. There are far too many IT books out there, containing poor advice. You can filter out the not-so-helpful ones by looking for authors who use case studies and proven data that resulted in successful outcomes.   BEST MOMENTS  (4:44) – Tom- “I would use a combination of persistence and intelligence and creativity, and I would solve the problem that nobody else could solve” (7:58) – Tom - “Where others give up and say “It can’t be done”, say “Well that sounds like an interesting challenge”” (17:53) – Tom - “I was able, with simple observation, to participate in building up the whole Indian IT economy” (22:33) – Tom - “There are still this 95% of people who persist in treating a large IT system as though it’s a programming problem” (33:38) – Tom - “You need people and books to help ideas survive”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – TOM GILB Tom Gilb is the author of ten books, and a specialist in requirements, design and project management. He has acted as keynote speaker at technical conferences around the world, and in 2012, wwas named an Honorary Fellow of the British Computer Society.   CONTACT THE GUEST – TOM GILB Tom Gilb can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/imtomgilb LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomgilb Website: https://www.gilb.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Joe Carson. Joe is a cybersecurity professional with over 25 years’ experience in Enterprise Security & Infrastructure.  He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, an active member of the Cyber Security Community, and a frequent speaker at Cyber Security events around the world. He is currently the Chief Security Scientist at Thycotic. In this episode, Phil and Joe Carson discuss how to keep your skills fresh and relevant. Joe explains that it is not just about learning new languages. He shares how he uses physical experiences to help him to identify the right way to approach projects. Joe also identifies several areas of technology that are set to take off, in the near future. They also discuss how to get started in the cybersecurity field.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.38) TOP CAREER TIP Never stop learning. Being a continuous learner ensures you do this and keep moving. It is now normal to have to switch roles and tech every five years or so. Knowing when to let go of a technology you love and move onto other things is important. Joe explains how he works out what the trends are and stays ahead of the curve. As you will see from the podcast, that does not always mean learning a new programming language.   (11.26) WORST CAREER MOMENT In 1999, Joe was working on the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service system, which is clearly a critical system. Naturally, around that time they were preparing for the year2K switchover. So, they had to take the system down completely and restart it from scratch. When they did, the screen was blank. A truly awful, heart-stopping moment. In the podcast, Joe shares the strange reason behind that situation.   (15.39) CAREER HIGHLIGHT In the early days of TEDX, Joe was asked to speak. He enjoyed the experience. But the highlight came after he had given his speech and sat back down. At that point, he looked at the list of people were speaking with him and was blown away when he realized that he was in the company of people who had achieved amazing things. Olympians and quite literally rocket scientists. Until that moment, he had not really appreciated how far he had come and what he had achieved.   (18.23) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Joe is excited by the pace of change. Provided we embrace things like AI, with responsibility, he believes that our lives will improve in unimaginable ways. The other thing that Joe talks about is the way in which humans interact with technology is changing. We will soon be using our brains rather than our fingers or voice to interface with all kinds of devices. So, right now the fascinating areas of data, cognitive, and neuroscience are especially hot.   (22.59) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Joe´s love of gaming is what ultimately lead him to a career in IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don´t be a perfectionist. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You need to be prepared to relocate to be successful. What would you do if you started your career now? – Joe says he would not want to change much. What are your current career objectives? – Learning more about RFID, radio frequencies, and IoT. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to simplify things and explain complex things to practically anyone. How do you keep your own career energized? – Joe is always trying new things, which keeps his career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Joe enjoys photography, scuba diving, and travel.   (30.27) FINAL CAREER TIP Shoot for the top. You do not necessarily have to take baby steps to get to your ultimate goal. Often, you can take a big leap and get there far faster than you think is possible.   BEST MOMENTS (6.03) – Joe- “Keep moving forward and motivated. Embrace new ideas and never think it is too late to learn something fresh.” (8.11) – Joe- “When creating something new, fully understand what you are trying to achieve by studying how it has to work in the physical world.” (11.03) – Joe- “Dedicate blocks of time to something specific. This is the best way to deepen your understanding.” (22.01) – Joe- “How we interface with technology is going to change drastically. So, that is a big growth area.” (23.48) – Joe- “Don't try to be a perfectionist and don't be afraid to share and ask for advice.” (31.46) – Joe- “Bypass all those small steps. Focus on your big goal, and just go for it.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JOE CARSON Joe Carson is a cybersecurity professional with over 25 years’ experience in Enterprise Security & Infrastructure.  He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, an active member of the Cyber Security Community, and a frequent speaker at Cyber Security events around the world. He is currently the Chief Security Scientist at Thycotic.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JOE CARSON Joe Carson can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/joe_carson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephcarson/ Website: https://www.thycotic.com/      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Austin Belcak. He teaches people how to land jobs they love in today’s market without traditional ‘experience’ and without applying online. His strategies have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., Fast Company, and USA Today.  His clients have landed job offers at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook to name but a few.  In this episode, Phil and Austin Belcak discuss how to land an IT job with a major company even if you do not have traditional experience or qualifications. He explains how to establish a connection, build relationships, and leverage them. They talk about how to demonstrate to your target firm that you have something that they need. They also discuss how not to fall into the trap of simply following the crowd. As well as looking at how the CoVid crisis is changing the way everyone works and lives.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (29.32) TOP CAREER TIP If you see everybody else recommending something, take a step back and ask if that is truly the best way to do things. Ask yourself why people are doing it that way. Are they getting results? If not, in all likelihood you will be able to come up with a better approach. Often, being different is a good thing. It can help you to get noticed.   (31.47) WORST CAREER MOMENT For Austin realizing that graduating from university was not enough to get him a decent job was a bad moment. He ended up in an awful job that paid poorly. Worse, he had a bad boss. Yet, even after applying for hundreds of jobs online, he could not get out of the situation. In the podcast, he explains, in quite some depth, how he managed to break this negative cycle and find success.   (35.24) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Landing his current job with Microsoft is Austin´s career highlight. For him, it has been life changing. During this section, he explains why that has been the case and what steps he has taken to ensure that he gets the most out of being in that position.   (39.04) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The emergence of more flexibility in the workplace is exciting. It opens up all kinds of opportunities. Working from home has many potential benefits for the planet as well as for individuals and companies. Austin and Phil also talk about how easy it now is to start something on your own.   (42.14) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that working online and in IT offers the best lifestyle. What’s the best career advice you received? – Only take advice from people who already have what you want. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Go through the traditional job application process. What would you do if you started your career now? – Austin would prioritize working on his storytelling and copywriting skills, so he could be a more effective communicator and marketer. What are your current career objectives? – Doing well at Microsoft and helping as many job seekers as possible. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good copywriter, in particular, being able to write a persuasive resume or email. How do you keep your own career energized? – Austin works on projects and hobbies outside of his work life. What do you do away from technology? – Austin and his wife make their own hot source and are home brewers too.   (50.00) FINAL CAREER TIP You need to be clear about what you want to do. It is important to choose one of the things you are interested in and focus on mastering that. Speak to other people who work in those fields and roles to help you to narrow down your options. Then try Austin’s 30-day pilot method, which he talks about in the podcast.   BEST MOMENTS (3.40) – Austin - “Step outside of traditional boundaries, get creative, demonstrate what you can do and the value you have to offer.” (31.30) – Austin - “Consider zigging while everybody else is zagging. Often, it is a better way to get results.” (0.00) – Austin - “Identify people who are doing the things you want to do and follow them. They have not got to be far ahead of you.” (42.53) – Austin - “Only take advice from people who already have what you want.” (50.00) – Austin - “The first step in anything is getting clear about where you want to go. You need to focus on one thing at a time.” (52.43) – Austin - “Dip into something for 30 days. Take some courses, do a project. If you don´t like it, just move on.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – AUSTIN BELCAK Austin Belcak teaches people how to land jobs they love in today’s market without traditional ‘experience’ and without applying online. His strategies have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., Fast Company, and USA Today.  His clients have landed job offers at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook to name but a few.   CONTACT THE GUEST – AUSTIN BELCAK Austin Belcak can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/abelcak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abelcak/ Website: https://www.cultivatedculture.com/      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Nyari Samushonga. Nyari is the Chief Executive Officer of WeThinkCode_ where her primary responsibility is to gear the organization up for growth.  She also co-founded FoldLeft, a digital consultancy that uses hypothesis-driven models to design and deliver impactful software solutions. Her expertise lies in bridging the divide between business executives and tech innovators to maximize the value of software. In this episode, Phil and Nyari Samushonga discuss the best way to make complex decisions, especially those that relate to your career. They also talk about how to successfully handle the politics that exists in most workplaces.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.55) TOP CAREER TIP Get good at making decisions. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the many different things that could happen as a result of your decision. You need to learn how to understand and make sense of all of that complexity. During the podcast, Nyari shares 4 important questions you need to ask yourself when making decisions that will help you to do that.   (5.53) WORST CAREER MOMENT Some time ago Nyari found herself working on a project that had big issues. She realized there was no way what had been promised to the client could be delivered. So, she spoke up. When she did, everything she was doing was called into question and she was frozen out. For her, it was an awful time. In the podcast, she explains what she did about the situation and how she managed to come out the other side of it.   (11.23) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Finding effective ways to enable someone who has been struggling to learn how to code to breakthrough and finally succeed has been a career highlight for Nyari.   (13.25) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T It no longer matters what business you are in, you need IT. A fact that makes this a great time to be working in the industry. The opportunities are endless. It also means you can find work in any industry that interests you. Whether you enjoy finance, architecture, teaching, or agriculture you can work on transformative IT projects that are relevant to that field. Better still it does not matter where in the world you are based.   (15.22) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Nyari wanted to create things and make a real difference in the world. What’s the best career advice you received? – Learn to let go. Stop worrying about how the world perceives you and just try things. If you fail, let go and move onto the next thing. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t be so argumentative. Nyari thinks it is important to be authentic and open, which sometimes ruffles feathers. What would you do if you started your career now? – Nyari would have started coding at an earlier stage in her career. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Nyari is focusing on scaling WeThinkCode and ensuring gender parity within the company. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Her accounting skills. They have enabled her to drill down and look at the bottom line to make sure there is a good reason behind everything her company does. How do you keep your own career energized? – Nyari finds that constantly reinventing herself keeps her career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Nyari enjoys road cycling, especially when she does a 100k ride and really pushes herself.   (23.59) FINAL CAREER TIP Focus on being impactful. You want everything you do to count and make a difference. To succeed at doing that you need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve and only opt to work on those projects where you can have a positive impact.   BEST MOMENTS (5.29) – Nyari - “Don´t take decisions for granted. Make sure you are aware of what you are giving up and what you are gaining,” (9.19) – Nyari - “Even when you strongly disagree with something, display empathy. It helps to keep the communication channels open.” (14.11) – Nyari - “Take advantage of the fact that working in tech means that you can reinvent yourself more times than Madonna.” (16.46) – Nyari - “If you fail, let go of that moment, then reach out and start something new.” (26.03) – Nyari - “Focus on being impactful. Think about what you want to achieve, then work out how to succeed at making that change.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – NYARI SAMUSHONGA Nyari Samushonga is the Chief Executive Officer of WeThinkCode_ where her primary responsibility is to gear the organization up for growth.  She also co-founded FoldLeft, a digital consultancy that uses hypothesis-driven models to design and deliver impactful software solutions. Her expertise lies in bridging the divide between business executives and tech innovators to maximize the value of software.   CONTACT THE GUEST – NYARI SAMUSHONGA Nyari Samushonga can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nyarisam LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nyari-samushonga-6965523/ Website: https://www.wethinkcode.co.za/      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Bret Fisher. Bret is a freelance DevOps and Docker consultant, Udemy Instructor, trainer, speaker, and Open Source volunteer.  He teaches courses on Docker and Container technology and often does live training workshops. He’s also a volunteer Docker Captain and has been blogging about tech for more than 15 years. In this episode, Phil and Bret Fisher discuss the importance of holding strong opinions on things that are fact-based. While still listening, with an open mind, to what others have to say on the matter and not being afraid to change your view when appropriate. They also discuss how to effectively use even short online courses to greatly improve your career prospects. Bret also shares why employers now want to employ people who are willing and able to help others.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.43) TOP CAREER TIP Here Bret talks about the importance of having “strong opinions that are weakly held”. It is important to know why you hold the opinions you do, but you also have to be prepared to discuss other possibilities. Even change your opinions should someone make a strong argument that proves you need to do so. This approach ensures you become a decisive person who is also able to move with the time and use other people´s ideas to improve things   (9.36) WORST CAREER MOMENT Bret´s worst moment happened when, for a blog he was working on, he forgot to tick the AWS auto-scale box. So, when one of their posts went viral and was number one on the Reddit homepage, the site went down. As a result, they missed out on a ton of traffic. It was fixed within an hour, but it was an awful mistake to make. In the podcast, Bret explained how he changed the way he works to make sure it could not happen again.   (13.32) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Bret describes what he is doing now as being his career highlight. In particular, being able to reach and help a huge audience through his courses and how that has helped to turn him into a popular public speaker. In this section, Bret explains how he keeps everything fresh. As well as how he keeps up with the changing needs of his audience.   (17.21) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Bret and Phil discuss how the implementation of tech automation is changing the job market. As well as how people who work in the IT field can take advantage of this by seeking out and learning new stuff. Bret also discusses how you can use low-cost training to change direction and boost your career. Sometimes you only have to spend the equivalent of a few days taking a course and implementing what you learn to equip yourself to land a fantastic new job.   (23.26) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Bret always liked computers, so it was a great fit for him. What’s the best career advice you received? – Share everything you can. Be a fountain of knowledge for your colleagues. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Go get a college degree to get your promotion. What would you do if you started your career now? – Bret would still bootstrap and learn everything from the ground up. What are your current career objectives? – Currently, Bret is focusing on how to use automation, metrics, and infrastructure as code as an effective way to manage change. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being comfortable standing up in front of a group of people and talking about something. How do you keep your own career energized? – Helping others is what keeps Bret´s career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Bret enjoys spending time with his wife cycling, going to the beach, and exploring local eateries.   (28.51) FINAL CAREER TIP Regardless of where you are on your career path, stop and think about what skills you are going to need. Then address any deficit you find. Also, do everything you can to help others and share what you know. The people who are willing and able to do this are now seen as important assets by most employers.   BEST MOMENTS (6.57) – Bret - “Hold strong, fact-based, opinions. But also listen to what others think and be prepared to change your stance, when appropriate.” (13.19) – Bret - “Learn how to use Q&A processes to prevent human errors from causing problems and improve workflow.” (17.40) – Bret - “Seek out new stuff. When you do you will always be able to find new opportunities.” (19.20) – Bret - “Take advantage of training online. It is cheap. Yet, provided you follow through, it can change your career.” (23.46) – Bret - “Share everything you can. Be a fountain of knowledge for your colleagues.” (29.51) – Bret - “Your value is now directly tied to how much you can share and help others.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BRET FISHER Bret Fisher is a freelance DevOps and Docker consultant, Udemy Instructor, trainer, speaker, and Open Source volunteer.  He teaches courses on Docker and Container technology and often does live training workshops. He’s also a volunteer Docker Captain and has been blogging about tech for more than 15 years.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BRET FISHER Bret Fisher can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/BretFisher LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bretefisher/ Website: http://www.bretfisher.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Chani Simms. She is an award-winning cybersecurity leader and keynote speaker with more than 17 years’ experience in the IT industry.  Chani is an advisor and a specialist in helping organizations to understand, implement, and manage information security and privacy requirements. She is also the founder of the SHe CISO Exec. Global platform.  In this episode, Phil and Chani Simms discuss how to ensure that you are always learning and why being dropped in the deep end is often a good thing. They also talk about workplace bullying and what to do about it. Chani explains how being afraid to fail holds most people back and how to overcome that fear.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (9.13) TOP CAREER TIP Try to push yourself out of your comfort zone all the time. It is the only way to ensure you are always learning new things   (11.34) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage, Chani was bullied in the workplace by her program director. It had never happened to her before, so she did not know how to react. She was afraid of the consequences of standing up for herself, so she finished the project.   In the podcast, Chani explains what happened next. She also shares some advice about what to do should you find yourself in a similar position.   (15.46) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Founding Meta Defence Labs with her friends and colleagues is Chani´s career highlight, to date. They set up the company because they realized that for every project security came last, which meant that they were never able to do things properly. Setting up their own company enabled them to work the way they wanted and do things the right way.   For Chani, that experience was a springboard into what she is currently doing. In the podcast, Chani shares more of her entrepreneurial journey and how she ended up providing training for others.   (18.52) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The industry is changing faster than ever before, which is something that Chani expects to continue. Chani enjoys training people so that they can keep up and continue to succeed within the industry.   (19.55) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Chani knew that she did not want to be a lawyer, accountant, or doctor. So, for her, a career in I.T was a great way to avoid having to take one of those jobs. What’s the best career advice you received? – If you are not sure about something, don’t be afraid to ask questions. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Over the years, people have advised Chani not to try things because they thought she was going to fail. Most of the time they have been wrong. What would you do if you started your career now? – Chani would spend a bigger percentage of her time learning soft skills instead of just focusing on tech skills. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Chani is focusing on security research and hacking. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to communicate well using multiple formats. How do you keep your own career energized? – Staying super busy and having lots of projects on the go keeps Chani energized. What do you do away from technology? – Chani enjoys spending time with her family and cooking. She also likes swimming and snorkeling.   (30.21) FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t stand still. If you stay in a single position for too long you will end up stagnating. Keep challenging yourself and be sure to learn some soft skills as well as new technologies.   BEST MOMENTS (8.47) – Chani - “Be creative and try new things. Even when you make mistakes you will still learn.” (14.35) – Chani - “If you have a workplace issue that cannot be resolved, move on. Your sanity is more important than a big salary.” (24.45) – Chani - “Learn soft skills. You will need them regardless of what technologies you end up learning and using.” (30.22) – Chani - “If you are stuck in one job for many years, you're not progressing. Change jobs regularly to learn new skills.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CHANI SIMMS Chani Simms is an award-winning cybersecurity leader and keynote speaker with more than 17 years’ experience in the IT industry.  Chani is an advisor and a specialist in helping organizations to understand, implement, and manage information security and privacy requirements.   She is also the founder of the SHe CISO Exec. Global platform.    CONTACT THE GUEST – CHANI SIMMS Chani Simms can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChaniSimms LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chani-simms/ Website: http://www.metadefenselabs.com/ Website: https://shecisoexec.org

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Dan Shappir. He has been involved in software development for more than 25 years, having worked in a variety of different roles including engineer, team lead, architect, and chief technical officer.  Dan is currently the performance tech lead at Wix.com where he focuses on making their 100 million hosted websites load and execute faster. He is also an international speaker as well as a panelist on the JavaScript Jabber podcast. In this episode, Phil and Dan Shappir discuss the importance of being in control of your career. As well as how to change things if you are on the wrong path. Dan also explains why he thinks his biggest career highlights are still ahead of him and where today´s emerging technologies are likely to take us. He also shares why he is more interested in hiring problem-solvers rather than just people who are familiar with a specific technology.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.25) TOP CAREER TIP It is up to you to determine the meaning of your own success. Always choose the career path that makes sense for you. We all tend to listen too much to what others think. For example, so many people have switched to management and ended up being extremely unhappy because their role is no longer creative enough for them.   If you feel like you are on the wrong path, don´t hesitate to make a change. It is all too easy to wait too long to do that.   (9.22) WORST CAREER MOMENT In one of his former roles Dan ended up working with a CEO he could not see eye-to-eye with. Things got so bad that he did not even want to go to work.   At the time, he held a very senior position. So, leaving almost inevitably meant taking a step down. Fortunately, his wife was supportive, and he was brave enough to do exactly that. In the end, it turned out to be a good move for him. One that actually gave his career a boost.   (12.32) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Dan has had quite a few career highlights. Working on products that millions of people use is something he has particularly enjoyed.   He also enjoyed working for a small startup that ended up being listed on the NASDAQ by the time he left. In the podcast, he shares details of several more career highlights.   (14.44) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that every project you work on is to a large extent unique and different is not likely to change in the future. So, a career in I.T. will always be an interesting and fulfilling one.   (16.17) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Dan got into computers at a young age. Almost from the start, he wanted to create, rather than play video games so an IT career was a natural fit. What’s the best career advice you received? – One great developer is worth any number of mediocre developers. That advice is what pushed Dan to be the best. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Just shut up and do what you are told. What would you do if you started your career now? – Dan would still be a programmer but would probably not do his master’s degree in software again. What are your current career objectives? – Dan is currently working on enhancing his personal brand. In the podcast, he explains how he is doing that. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being interested in what others are doing and having the ability to genuinely connect with them. How do you keep your own career energized? – Dan makes sure that he is always working on things he enjoys and takes an active rather than a passive role whenever he can do so. What do you do away from technology? – Dan and his wife enjoy traveling when they are not doing things with their children. They like live music too.   (25.11) FINAL CAREER TIP Enjoy what you are doing. Your job is a big part of your life, so make sure that you like your job. If you don´t, take action and find something that you do enjoy.   BEST MOMENTS (5.46) – Dan - “It is up to you to determine the meaning of your own success. Always choose the career path that makes sense for you.” (12.14) – Dan - “If you are not enjoying the place where you´re at, don´t hesitate, make a change.” (17.40) – Dan - “The key to success is to get the best people that you can to work for the company that you´re at.” (23.00) – Dan - “Try to work with people you have never worked with before. It is a great way to learn new things.” (25.25) – Dan - “If you are not enjoying your work, change what you do. Life´s too short not to do so.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DAN SHAPPIR Dan Shappir has been involved in software development for more than 25 years, having worked in a variety of different roles including engineer, team lead, architect, and chief technical officer.  Dan is currently the performance tech lead at Wix.com where he focuses on making their 100 million hosted websites load and execute faster.   He is also an international speaker as well as a panelist on the JavaScript Jabber podcast.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DAN SHAPPIR Dan Shappir can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanShappir LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dShappir/ Website: https://www.quora.com/profile/Dan-Shappir-1      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Krista Seiden. She is an experienced leader in the digital analytics industry.  She has led analytics and optimization at companies such as Adobe, The Apollo Group, and Google. She is also a frequent conference speaker as well as a winner of ‘Digital Analytics Rising Star’ in 2014 and ‘Practitioner of the Year’ in 2015. In this episode, Phil and Krista Seiden discuss how she got into digital analytics and how she used informal mentors and social media to learn and network. She also explains how volunteering has helped her to gain new skills and she shares her thoughts on the future of IT.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.35) TOP CAREER TIP Use informal mentors. From the start of her career, Krista has been doing exactly that. When she saw something that interested her on social media, she would reach out to learn more. It proved to be an effective way of making connections. When she finally met them in person, after following them and reading what they had to say, she always had plenty to talk about with them.   (4.47) WORST CAREER MOMENT When Krista´s team came up with a way to increase the number of people signing up for a free trial by 20%. As was customary at Google, Krista sent out an email letting everyone know.   Unfortunately, it turned out that a significant percentage of the free trial conversions were from the Philippines. Most of which never became paid customers. However, their idea was still a good one, just not as effective as they had first thought. But it was still quite an embarrassing situation. Now, Krista always digs deeper into the numbers before sharing anything.   (8.20) CAREER HIGHLIGHT After only 3 months at Google, Krista came up with a simple homepage that converted better than anything else. That in itself was an achievement. Better still, the stats for her idea even reached the inbox of Google´s co-founder Larry Page. Over time, her approach was widely shared and used.   (12.09) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that new ways of doing things are emerging all of the time means that the possibilities are endless. Better still, it is relatively easy to learn and take advantage of these new technologies.   (13.20) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Krista was attracted to an IT career by the fact that you could nerd out and create something useful, fresh, and new. What’s the best career advice you received? – You need to write more. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You need to change who you are to fit in better. What would you do if you started your career now? – Krista says she would probably major in business and minor in computer science instead of the other way around. What are your current career objectives? – Krista is focused on growing and scaling her own analytics business. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Public speaking. How do you keep your own career energized? – Krista always finds attending the SUPERWEEK analytics conference in Hungary to be energizing for her career. It is a great way to connect with others in the industry. What do you do away from technology? – Krista enjoys spending time with her husband working on their home and looking after their new puppy.   (20.39) FINAL CAREER TIP Get hands-on. The more you do the faster you learn. Volunteering is a great way to gain more experience and end up working on a variety of projects.   BEST MOMENTS (3.30) – Krista - “Find informal mentors from your sector. People you can connect with and learn from.” (14.25) – Krista - “Write more and write often enough for people to get to know you and your work.” (15.49) – Krista - “Don´t change who you are and how you are doing things, simply to fit someone else´s idea of what you should be saying and doing.” (17.59) – Krista - “Don´t be afraid of public speaking. When you put yourself out there you benefit greatly from the I.T. ecosystem.” (20.39) – Krista - “You learn more by doing. So, get hands-on. Try volunteering, it is a good way to work on a variety of projects.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – KRISTA SEIDEN Krista Seiden is an experienced leader in the digital analytics industry.  She has led analytics and optimization at companies such as Adobe, The Apollo Group, and Google.   She is also a frequent conference speaker as well as a winner of ‘Digital Analytics Rising Star’ in 2014 and ‘Practitioner of the Year’ in 2015.   CONTACT THE GUEST – KRISTA SEIDEN Krista Seiden can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/kristaseiden LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristaseiden/ Blog: http://kristaseiden.com/ Website: www.ksdigital.co

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Tobias Macey. He currently manages and leads the Technical Operations Team at MIT Open Learning where he designs and builds cloud infrastructure to power online access to education for the global MIT community. He also owns and operates Boundless Notions where he offers design, review, and implementation advice on data infrastructure and cloud automation.  And he’s the host of the weekly Python Podcast and the Data Engineering Podcast. In this episode, Phil and Tobias Macey discuss some of the assets MIT offers free of charge to the global community, including Open Courseware and the Open edXplatform. They talk about how knowing the fundamentals makes it easier to learn the latest tech. Tobias also talks about the advancements in the ability to gain insights in real-time from data and how data engineering will be the biggest driver for our global economy.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.06) TOP CAREER TIP Make sure that you are always learning. But, also have a deep understanding of the fundamentals. Those are the things that never change and will make learning new techologies far easier. They are the foundations on which most new tech is built.   (7.44) WORST CAREER MOMENT Practically everyone that has ever worked in operations will have at one stage taken down the production system. Tobias shares an example of when he did exactly that and what the fallout from that was. As well as how he fixed it.   That particular mistake taught him to put in place strong guardrails. It also taught him not to panic when things go wrong. Worrying gets you nowhere.   (10.15) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Having the opportunity to run his podcasts and ask the industry's innovators interesting questions. In the podcast, Tobias shares the story of how he got started and how you can potentially do something similar.   (13.16) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T As our economy and the world around us becomes increasingly digitized, the number of opportunities for everyone increases. Tobias is excited by the fact that it is now far easier for people to self-actualize and get involved in changing things.   Tobias also talks about the advancements in our ability to gain insights from data and do so in real-time. As well as how data engineering is set to drastically change the way the world works.   (16.04) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Initially Tobias wanted to be a physicist, but the opportunities were limited, so he tried IT instead. What’s the best career advice you received? – Put yourself out there, speak to people, and build a network. What’s the worst career advice you received? – What would you do if you started your career now? – Tobias would start by using free courses to learn the basics, then dive in and push himself to build something. What are your current career objectives? – Building out a viable data platform that provides clean data for analysis. As well as keeping his podcast going. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being good at self-directed learning and knowing what questions to ask and how to ask them. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keeping an eye on other areas of the industry and running his podcast. What do you do away from technology? – Tobias enjoys spending time with his family. Right now, he is getting his kids into board games and dungeons and dragons.   (22.24) FINAL CAREER TIP Stay curious. Treat challenges as if they are puzzles, especially the more difficult ones. There is always an answer, you just need to keep at it to find the answers and solve the puzzle.   BEST MOMENTS (4.50) – Tobias - “Always be polite to people. You never know when they might be able to help you out, in the future.” (5.06) – Tobias - “Make sure that you are constantly learning and know the fundamentals, the things that never change.” (0.00) – Tobias - “When things go wrong, don´t panic. Accept the fact that a mistake was made and do what is necessary to resolve it.” (11.43) – Tobias - “If there is something that you want, don´t wait for someone else to do it. Step up and be the one to provide it.” (20.31) – Tobias - “Learn to ask open-ended questions, you will be surprised by how much more you will learn by doing so.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST– PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – TOBIAS MACEY Tobias Macey currently manages and leads the Technical Operations Team at MIT Open Learning where he designs and builds cloud infrastructure to power online access to education for the global MIT community.   He also owns and operates Boundless Notions where he offers design, review, and implementation advice on data infrastructure and cloud automation.  And he’s the host of the weekly Python Podcast.   CONTACT THE GUEST – TOBIAS MACEY Tobias Macey can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/TobiasMacey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmacey/ Website: https://www.boundlessnotions.com        

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Sanjeev Sharma. He was an early practitioner and coach of the Scrum methodology and has become a world-renowned expert and thought leader in DevOps as well as a pioneer of DevOps at IBM. He has authored two bestselling books, “DevOps for Dummies” and “The DevOps Adoption Playbook” and he is now a thought leader in the emerging area of DataOps. In this episode, Phil and Sanjeev Sharma discuss the importance of not getting distracted by the tech and ending up chasing certifications. They also talk about how to achieve a proper understanding of what it is that your customer needs. Sanjeev also shares why initially you need to focus on learning how to learn and the core principles of IT.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.44) TOP CAREER TIP Do not get distracted by the technology, focus on the core principles. In the podcast, Sanjeev explains what they are. As well as how not to fall into the trap of chasing certifications you don´t really need.   (9.58) WORST CAREER MOMENT Mid-career Sanjeev walked into a project with an overconfident attitude. He thought he knew what the customer needed and had all of the answers. Luckily, the manager from the client-side took him aside and asked Sanjeev to pause and actually listen to what they thought they needed.   His doing that averted a potential disaster. But, by that point, a lot of people´s time had already been wasted. It taught Sanjeev to never make assumptions and always listen to the customer.   (12.00) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being made a Distinguished Engineer while working for IBM is Sanjeev´s career highlight, to date. Getting to that stage requires you to be reviewed and nominated by your peers. It felt amazing to get that recognition and achieve one of his biggest career goals.   (14.24) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Sanjeev is more excited than ever about the potential of technology. It is pulling us together and enabling us to still be able to do important things like educating our children despite the Coronavirus crisis.   The fact that every business needs technology means that the future is bright for IT professionals.   (17.51) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Sanjeev chose IT because he liked it more than the idea of being a doctor or an accountant. What’s the best career advice you received? – Learn computers. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don´t take a risk and change the direction of your career. What would you do if you started your career now? – Sanjeev would initially focus on learning the core engineering principles. What are your current career objectives? – Helping clients with their digital transformations. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good writer. How do you keep your own career energized? – Sanjeev ensures that he talks to at least 5 other people per week about what they are working on. A habit that provides him with a fresh point of view. What do you do away from technology? – Sanjeev reads a lot. But, in a paper format rather than on a screen. He finds that this greatly reduces the chances of his being distracted.   (23.38) FINAL CAREER TIP Keep reinventing yourself. But, when you do so, try to think beyond your next job. Plan to land your dream job and take steps towards that. But, be prepared to change track.   In this ever-changing environment, there are untold opportunities. Don’t be afraid to change direction to take advantage of them.   BEST MOMENTS (5.58) – Sanjeev - “Do not get distracted by the technology, focus on the core principles.” (8.04) – Sanjeev - “Don´t get distracted by the tech and end up chasing certifications just for the sake of it.” (11.02) – Sanjeev - “No matter how often you have done something before, don´t just assume you know what the customer wants.” (16.06) – Sanjeev - “Learn how to master new tools quickly. Things move fast, tools change, so you must learn them quickly.” (23.58) – Sanjeev - “Constantly re-invent yourself. But look years ahead when deciding what to learn next.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SANJEEV SHARMA Sanjeev Sharma was an early practitioner and coach of the Scrum methodology and has become a world-renowned expert and thought leader in DevOps as well as a pioneer of DevOps at IBM.   He has authored two bestselling books, “DevOps for Dummies” and “The DevOps Adoption Playbook” and he is now a thought leader in the emerging area of DataOps.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SANJEEV SHARMA Sanjeev Sharma can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/sd_architect LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realsanjeevsharma/ Website: https://sdarchitect.blog/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Chris Ferdinandi. He is the author of the Vanilla JS Pocket Guide series, creator of the Vanilla JS Academy training program and host of the Vanilla JS Podcast.  Chris has created JavaScript plugins that have been used by organizations such as Apple and the Harvard Business School. He also publishes a developer tips newsletter which is read by more than 8,000 developers every weekday. In this episode, Phil and Chris Ferdinandi discuss how networking enables you to find out about roles that are not public knowledge yet. He shares a bad experience that taught him the need to be cautious at the interview stage, ask the right questions and get things in writing. They also talk about why communication is a vital skill and how sharing what you know brings benefits.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.11) TOP CAREER TIP Meet as many people as you can and continue to network throughout your career. It is a great way to find out about roles before they are advertised. Networking will also help you to decide what you want to do next. At this stage, Chris explains the kind of questions he uses to help him to work out what skills to learn next. Questions that also enable him to further strengthen his network. (6.46) WORST CAREER MOMENT It took Chris 2 years to find his first developer job. He needed to be able to work remotely. At the interview, it was agreed they would talk about letting him do that. Yet, a few months later, they told him that it was not possible. Chris was deeply disappointed he had been misled and wasted months in a job that was not suitable for him. Naturally, he left. It taught him, to pay careful attention to what the hiring manager says. Now if something is really important to him, he gets it in writing. (11.55) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Speaking at the Artifact Conference in Texas is Chris´s career highlight, to date. He had been to the conference five years early but as an attendee. So, it felt amazing to get up on stage and speak there. (14.06) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Chris thinks that new tools, techniques and native browser methods will make all kinds of things possible, in the relatively near future. An example of this is the ability to use virtual reality features in a web environment. (15.49) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The thrill of being able to take something from idea to something that works. What’s the best career advice you received? – Network. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You have to stay in a job for at least a year before you can leave. What would you do if you started your career now? – Chris would initially take some short courses. Then build something. If things went well, he would then invest more time and money into studying IT. What are your current career objectives? – As well as getting better at his job, Chris wants to expand the JavaScript education stuff he is currently doing. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. In the podcast, Chris demonstrates why it is a vital skill for any developer. How do you keep your own career energized? – Helping other people keeps Chris´s career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Chris likes playing Magic Gathering and is trying to get into Dungeons and Dragons. He also loves spending time outside. (21.01) FINAL CAREER TIP Share what you know. It does not matter how you do it. Just sitting down and explaining what you know to a colleague is enough for you to cement your knowledge and take things to the next level. BEST MOMENTS (3.20) – Chris - “Meet as many people as you can and continue to network throughout your career to land the best jobs.” (10.35) – Chris - “Before starting a job, get the important things in writing.” (16.30) – Chris - “As soon as you know a job is not a good fit, leave. Staying will not benefit you or the firm you are working for.” (21.20) – Chris - “The moment you really know how something works is when you´ve been able to explain it to someone.” (21.55) – Chris - “Teaching everything you know to as many people as possible will open new doors.” ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey. CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – CHRIS FERDINANDI Chris Ferdinandi is the author of the Vanilla JS Pocket Guide series, creator of the Vanilla JS Academy training program and host of the Vanilla JS Podcast.  Chris has created JavaScript plugins that have been used by organizations such as Apple and the Harvard Business School. He also publishes a developer tips newsletter which is read by more than 8,000 developers every weekday. CONTACT THE GUEST – CHRIS FERDINANDI Chris Ferdinandi can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisFerdinandi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cferdinandi/ Website: https://gomakethings.com/ Career Guide: https://gomakethings.com/career-guide Career Resources: https://gomakethings.com/itcareerenergizer/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Bob Belderbos. He is a software developer at Oracle, co-author of the 100 Days of Code in Python course and co-founder of PyBites, a community for those wanting to improve their Python skills. To date, Pybites has hosted 50 code challenges, published more than 100 articles and built a Python exercise platform. In this episode, Phil and Bob Belderbos discuss owning your career and how to choose the right skills to acquire. They also talk about how to turn a mistake into a positive situation. Bob also covers how the CoVid crisis, AI and automation are going to change the industry. He and Phil talk about why you need to push yourself and learn how to market yourself effectively and share what you are doing.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.30) TOP CAREER TIP You have to own your career. It is a mistake to rely on your manager or superior to be in charge of your development. Choose the skills you learn strategically. It is not enough to just focus on things that you feel passionate about. (3.35) WORST CAREER MOMENT In his first role, Bob made an error that caused invoicing issues. It was a serious mistake. Fortunately, he was able to quickly solve the issue. Taking ownership of his mistake and quickly finding a solution enabled Bob to turn a bad situation into a positive one. In the podcast, he explains how that can be done. (5.46) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Bob´s career highlight has been developing his blog, which led to him and his business partner, launching courses, developing a coding platform, and building a huge community. It has opened a lot of doors for him. In the podcast, Bob explains how he gained traction and shared everything with the world.   (7.54) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The CoVid situation has demonstrated that working from home is viable. So, there is likely to be much more of that in the future. Bob also talks about automation and how that is likely to change the industry. As well as the role AI is going to play.   (9.25) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – When Bob saw how things could be automated his interest in programming was sparked. What’s the best career advice you received? – Success leaves a clue. At this point in the podcast, Bob explains what that means and how it helped him. What’s the worst career advice you received? – When you find a job you are comfortable in, stay put. What would you do if you started your career now? – Bob would study marketing as well as coding. If you cannot market your skills, you will not get the most out of your work. What are your current career objectives? – Becoming an even better developer and doing more Python coaching. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good communicator especially when working with people in virtual spaces. How do you keep your own career energized? – Bob makes sure that he sets career goals that stretch him. Doing that pushes him to learn and keeps him interested. What do you do away from technology? – Bob enjoys reading, in particular, mindset, business, and marketing books. He also loves spending time with his family.   (20.19) FINAL CAREER TIP The best way to grow is to write out your goals and plan out what you need to do to achieve them. This keeps you focused. But it is important to look to the long-term rather than only having short-term goals. In the podcast, Bob explains how to be consistent so that you can make big changes.   BEST MOMENTS (2.33) – Bob - “Own your career and choose the skills you learn strategically.” (3.53) – Bob - “If you make a mistake, don´t become a victim. Instead, step up and solve the issue quickly.” (11.33) – Bob - “When you want to achieve something, look at the people that have done it before and model what they did.” (12.34) – Bob - “Use mentors, pay somebody to show you how to save a ton of time and money by avoiding common mistakes.” (13.39) – Bob - “To grow, you need to step outside of your comfort zone. It´s scary but essential.” (17.55) – Bob - “Learn to network. Plant lots of seeds, later many of them will result in new opportunities for you.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BOB BELDERBOS Bob Belderbos is a software developer at Oracle, co-author of the 100 Days of Code in Python course and co-founder of PyBites, a community for those wanting to improve their Python skills. To date, Pybites has hosted 50 code challenges, published more than 100 articles and built a Python exercise platform.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BOB BELDERBOS Bob Belderbos can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbelderbos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbelderbos/ Website: https://bobbelderbos.com  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Roberta Matuson. She has helped leaders in Fortune 500 companies, as well as small to medium-sized businesses, achieve dramatic growth and market leadership through the maximization of talent. Roberta is a leading authority on leadership and the skills and strategies required to earn employee commitment and client loyalty. She is also the author of several books including the recently released “Evergreen Talent”. In this episode, Phil and Roberta Matuson discuss the importance of building strong interpersonal and people management skills. They talk about why, instead of waiting until you have acquired every skill asked for in a job advert, you should just apply. Roberta also explains how the IT job market is changing and how job hunters can adapt and benefit from the changes. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.16) WORST CAREER MOMENT Losing a great job, mainly because she had failed to build a good relationship with her boss and other members of higher management. As a result, when the firm let people go, there was nobody there to advocate for her so she could keep her job. That experience taught her not to just focus on managing down. She now actively works on and cultivates her relationships with her bosses. (5.36) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Landing her first executive role and starting her consultancy firm have both been career highlights for Roberta. (7.42) TOP CAREER TIP Take courses to help you to improve your interpersonal skills and your ability to communicate with non-technical people. It is also a good idea to acquire the skillset to manage your relationship with your boss. These softer skills will help you in many different ways, during your career. (9.43) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There are not enough talented people out there. As a result, job applicants are in the driver´s seat. Unfortunately, some employers have still not woken up to that fact. At the same time, the recruitment process is becoming increasingly automated. It is now all about eliminating candidates from the list rather than searching out and nurturing talent. Applicants need to be aware of and adapt to the new reality. (10.50) THE REVEAL What’s the best career advice you received? – Just go for it. Don´t wait until you tick every box. If you meet about 70% of the criteria apply anyway. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don´t worry that you are underpaid, be happy with what you get. What would you do if you started your career now? – Roberta says she would probably follow the same path. What are your current career objectives? – Roberta is focusing on working exclusively as an executive coach and a trusted advisor. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to quickly build strong relationships. Business is all about relationships. How do you keep your own career energized? – Roberta stays energized by learning new skills and constantly reinventing herself. What do you do away from technology? – Roberta likes to cook, play tennis, be outside and socialize with friends. (15.40) CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW BOOK AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT? Roberta´s new book shows leaders how to seed, grow and cultivate their workforce. For the majority, hiring enough talented workers is difficult. So, they have to know how to make the most of their own talents and of the ones their employees have. The book provides employees with an insight into the way their managers' minds work. It is also an excellent resource for anyone who wants to take on a management role. (17.59) FINAL CAREER TIP If you see an opportunity, don´t be afraid, just go for it. You won´t get a second chance.   BEST MOMENTS (4.00) – Roberta - “You always have to be learning, reinventing yourself and staying current.” (4.41) – Roberta - “Learn to manage your relationship with your boss. If you don´t, when redundancies happen you will get laid-off.” (11.44) – Roberta - “If you´ve got 70% of what´s on the job posting, apply. The worst that can happen is that they say no.” (14.28) – Roberta - “Learn to quickly build strong relationships. After all, business is all about relationships.” (18.00) – Roberta - “When you see an opportunity, don´t be afraid, go for it. You won´t get a second chance.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey. CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ROBERTA MATUSON Roberta Matuson has helped leaders in Fortune 500 companies, as well as small to medium-sized businesses, achieve dramatic growth and market leadership through the maximization of talent. Roberta is a leading authority on leadership and the skills and strategies required to earn employee commitment and client loyalty. She is also the author of several books including the recently released “Evergreen Talent”. CONTACT THE GUEST – ROBERTA MATUSON Roberta Matuson can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/matuson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberta-matuson/ Website: https://matusonconsulting.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Steve Kahan. He has a distinguished career. Steve has helped to grow seven startup companies from early-stage development to going public or being sold, resulting in a total value of more than $3 billion. He is currently Chief Marketing Officer for Thycotic, a cybersecurity company, which he has helped take from $10 million to over $60 million in its first three years. And late last year his book “Be A Startup Superstar: Ignite Your Career Working at a Tech Startup” was published by Wiley. In this episode, Phil and Steve Kahan discuss the benefits of working for a startup, how to pick one with a winning product and quickly track down the best jobs within the sector. They also cover how to give yourself the best chance of landing the job you want. Then what you need to do to progress quickly and take full advantage of the chance to grow your skillset.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.06) CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST STARTUP EXPERIENCE? Steve started by looking for startup companies in his area. He took a job with a company that was working to change the way applications were being developed.   On his first day, he noticed someone taking the coffee machine away. It turned out the company could not afford to pay the bill. But, with hard work, they turned things around and the business went public.   (4.54) WHY DO YOU RECOMMEND WORKING FOR A TECH START-UP OVER A LARGE CORPORATION? Startups are usually run by mavericks. People who want to do something different and are highly driven. They don’t let bureaucracy stop them. Startups move fast and change the world. Someone who can deliver will quickly progress within that environment.   Steve also explains why some large corporations now try to create a startup-like environment within some of their departments.   (10.05) HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT FINDING THE BEST STARTUP OPPORTUNITIES? In the podcast, Steve uncovers a source of startup jobs that many IT professionals don´t know about.   (13.15) WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR WHEN DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO JOIN A TECH STARTUP? When it comes to narrowing down his options he starts by looking for firms with quality people, who share his values. It is the people who reflect the true culture of a startup, which is why, during a job hunt, he starts from that point.   Next on his list is the concept and product. In the podcast, he explains how to spot a winner.   (17.26) WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TO GIVE YOURSELF THE BEST CHANCE OF JOINING A STARTUP? At this point, Steve shares a list of questions you should be asking. Questions that demonstrate that you are the right person for the job as well as uncover what you need to know about the startup. He also recommends engaging with the starters online and via social media.   (19.20) CAN YOU SHARE A CAREER TIP THAT WOULD HELP SOMEONE BE SUCCESSFUL AT A STARTUP AND PROGRESS THEIR CAREER? Learn to protect your calendar, so you can achieve work-life harmony. If you have not scheduled time to do things you and your family enjoy, there is something wrong. Without that, you cannot do your best work.   (22.15) THE REVEAL What’s the best career advice you received? – Before accepting a new job make sure you ask enough questions to establish whether you will be truly happy in the role. What’s the worst career advice you´ve ever received? – Don´t acknowledge the elephant in the room. In the podcast, Steve explains why he ignores this advice. If you were to begin your career again in today’s world, what would you do? –  Steve would immediately start work in the start-up world. What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your career so far? – Communication. In the podcast, Steve explains how being a good communicator goes beyond just being a good listener and speaker. How do you keep your own career energized? – By being a constant learner. Steve is always looking for something new to learn. Things that enable him to deliver something extra. What do you do away from the world of tech startups? – Steve enjoys paddle boarding and learning the guitar. He has also recently started taking Cessna pilot lessons.   (36.55) STEVE, CAN YOU SHARE WITH US A FINAL STORY ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE ON THE INSIDE OF A HIGH-FLYING STARTUP, AND WHAT MAKES THEM SPECIAL? In this section, Steve shares a story about a site security firm he worked for. He explains how they overcame what appeared to be an insurmountable problem and were able to do so at lightning speed. Something that enabled them to beat their competitors.   (39.04) CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR BOOK “BE A STARTUP SUPERSTAR”? Steve´s book is all about attitudes, behaviors, and actions you need to take to be a success while working at a startup to be able to take your career to the next level.   (39.36) WHERE CAN LISTENERS GET A COPY OF THE BOOK? The book can be bought from most online book retailers or from startupsuperstar.com   BEST MOMENTS (6.46) – Steve - “When you work for startups, there's a better chance of moving up quickly, provided you deliver.” (10.30) – Steve - “When looking for a startup to work for, use the websites of technology accelerators to find jobs.” (11.25) – Steve - “Engaging with the leaders of a startup online is a great way to improve your chances of landing a role.” (22..17) – Steve - “During a job interview don´t stop asking questions before you have all of the information you need.” (28.47) – Steve - “Working for start-ups, quickly broadens your skillset. Plus, potentially, your stock options can make you a lot of money.”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – STEVE KAHAN Steve Kahan has a distinguished career. Steve has helped to grow seven startup companies from early-stage development to going public or being sold, resulting in a total value of more than $3 billion.   He is currently Chief Marketing Officer for Thycotic, a cybersecurity company, which he has helped take from $10 million to over $60 million in its first three years.   And late last year his book “Be A Startup Superstar: Ignite Your Career Working at a Tech Startup” was published by Wiley.   CONTACT THE GUEST – STEVE KAHAN Steve Kahan can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevekahan1 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stevekahan Website: https://beastartupsuperstar.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Siddick Elaheebocus. Siddick has worked in the IT industry for 18 years.  He is currently a Director and Technology Strategist for an IT services company based in the French Pacific providing vendor-agnostic digital advisory, professional services and training. Siddick is also a Chartered IT Professional, a long-standing Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), a technology conference speaker and a mentor. He is also a former Microsoft TechIdol winner In this episode, Phil and Siddick Elaheebocus discuss how continuous self-development provides security and opens up exciting possibilities. In the podcast, Siddick goes over numerous ways you can do all of this efficiently. They discuss why having a purely technical skillset is no longer sufficient for IT professionals. As well as why failure is not a negative thing. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (6.37) TOP CAREER TIP Invest in yourself continually. Things change fast you never know when your role will change drastically or disappear, and you need to find a new one. Growing your knowledge, skills, and networking will ensure you are ready for the move. You also need to work on your soft skills and personality. (9.43) WORST CAREER MOMENT When Siddick took on his first management role he had to learn on the job. The firm he worked for did not provide any formal people management training. Unfortunately, he made a mistake. One that started to impact his professional image negatively. He could not fully fix the issue, so ended up leaving a job he loved. This experience prompted him to learn people skills. Something that Siddick found has helped his career immeasurably. (13.39) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being involved in the launch of the first public cloud in Tahiti is Siddick´s biggest career highlight. There were a lot of challenges, but they succeeded and provided an affordable cloud service. Microsoft uses it as an example and other island nations are replicating it. (16.33) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Siddick is excited by the fact that we are on the edge of the next big tech revolution. The availability of cognitive and artificial intelligence, big data and augmented reality will all lead to huge changes. This is likely to transform the role of most IT professionals. They will still need their technical skills but will also play a far greater role in driving change through innovation. It is no longer sufficient to have only technical skills; you need an understanding of business too. (19.13) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?– When people started to ask Siddick to repair their hardware he became curious about how PC worked which started his IT career. What’s the best career advice you received?– Siddick´s dad told him - work isn´t life. What’s the worst career advice you received?– There´s no room for failure. Siddick believes no failure means you are not trying anything new. What would you do if you started your career now?– Siddick would start by working in the cloud, AI or cybersecurity fields. What are your current career objectives? – Building some specialized skills in data center and cloud tech and building a stronger tech community, in his area. What’s your number one non-technical skill?– Active listening. In the podcast, Siddick shares several examples of how that has helped his career. How do you keep your own career energized?– Learning from his customers and business partners and working to understand emerging technologies. What do you do away from technology? – He loves to travel and spending time enjoying the beautiful island he lives on. (26.00) FINAL CAREER TIP If you want to excel in your profession, become passionate about what you do. You will naturally become good at what you do and be inspired to carry on learning and contributing.   BEST MOMENTS (6.37) – Siddick- “Invest in yourself continuously. Today, your role is important, tomorrow you might be redundant.”  (17.13) – Siddick- “The shift in the technology landscape means IT professionals have to become innovation agents.” (19.17) – Siddick- “You need a combined knowledge of IT and business to be a real asset for companies.” (20.43) – Siddick- “When you have work-life harmony, you are happy. In time, this happiness translates into better productivity.” (23.33) – Siddick- “It's amazing how much you can learn simply by shutting your mouth and opening your ears.” (0.00) – Siddick- “If you want to excel at what you do, become passionate about your work to fuel your career.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey. CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SIDDICK ELAHEEBOCUS Siddick Elaheebocus has worked in the IT industry for 18 years.  He is currently a Director and Technology Strategist for an IT services company based in the French Pacific providing vendor-agnostic digital advisory, professional services and training. Siddick is also a Chartered IT Professional, a long-standing Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), a technology conference speaker and a mentor. As well as a former Microsoft TechIdol winner   CONTACT THE GUEST – SIDDICK ELAHEEBOCUS Siddick Elaheebocus can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtI-ssqhQd-wIIm3t49zE_w LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddick-elaheebocus Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/siddicke

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Derick Rethans. Derick is a PHP internals expert and author of Xdebug.  He works as an independent contractor and consultant on PHP extensions and related projects. Derick has contributed to the PHP project in numerous forms and is the host of the PHP Internals News podcast as well as being a frequent speaker at conferences. In this episode, Phil and Derick Rethans discuss why asking for help is a strength rather than a weakness. Derick shares how he counters his introvert tendencies so that he can fill in his knowledge gaps and help others. They also talk about how to take on challenging roles and build new skills, while still maintaining the right work/life balance. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.18) TOP CAREER TIP Asking for help should be a skill that you use liberally. Doing so saves you a huge amount of time and hassle. Often, it is a mutually beneficial experience. They answer your questions and, often, will ask you a few of their own. We should all be leveraging off each other´s knowledge base. (4.47) WORST CAREER MOMENT At the start of his career, Derick was asked to fix an SEO Unix machine. He knew a bit about Linux and Unix II, but the machine he was working on used an older version. One he was not familiar with. As requested, he attempted the fix. A decision that nearly led to disaster. He explains what happened, in the podcast. From this experience, he learned not to assume you know things about technologies you have never touched before. Things are not always as similar as you might think. (7.10) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being approached by people at conferences who say to him “It is nice to meet you; I like what you did on x project…” feels particularly good. Although, at first, it felt very weird to him. (8.23) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Derick finds the pace of change and the fact that there is always something new to learn to be exciting. For example, he has only recently started to learn new languages. He has also had a lot of fun playing a game that teaches you how to build a computer from scratch. Something he tells you about in the podcast. (10.39) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?– Derick´s interest in the industry was sparked by the fact that, as a kid, he was allowed to play around with a computer. What’s the best career advice you received?– You need to take the leap. What’s the worst career advice you received?– You have to work 80 hours a week to be successful. This is not a sustainable way of working. What would you do if you started your career now?– He would focus on his language skills so that he could better communicate with others right from the start. What are your current career objectives? – Derick wants to start hiring this year, so he is focusing on building the skills he needs to do that effectively. What’s your number one non-technical skill?– Being able to put himself out there by writing books, public speaking, and blogging. How do you keep your own career energized?– Pushing himself to have contact with other people keeps him energized. He explains why in the podcast. What do you do away from technology? – Derick loves walking. He walks everywhere, even if it takes a couple of hours to get there. (16.44) FINAL CAREER TIP With the help of others, actively work to teach yourself the things you are not good at. Even if you are very shy you should still push yourself to do this. Derick is naturally quite introverted. But he forces himself to talk to random people, especially at events. Doing so makes it easier to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. BEST MOMENTS (3.17) – Derick- “Asking for help should be a skill that you use liberally. Often, it is a mutually beneficial experience.” (6.52) – Derick- “Don't assume that you know things on stuff that you've never touched before. It is too easy for things to go wrong.” (11.26) – Derick- “Don´t be afraid to take the leap. Most of the time it will pay off.” (15.42) – Derick- “Don´t keep doing the same thing for years. Instead, learn about how others are utilizing that tech.” (17.09) – Derick- “With the help of others, teach yourself the things you're not great at.” (17.29) – Phil- “Standing in the middle of the room, at conferences, draws others to you. So, you can learn from more people.” ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DERICK RETHANS Derick Rethans is a PHP internals expert and author of Xdebug.  He works as an independent contractor and consultant on PHP extensions and related projects. Derick has contributed to the PHP project in numerous forms and is the host of the PHP Internals News podcast as well as being a frequent speaker at conferences.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DERICK RETHANS Derick Rethans can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/derickr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derickrethans/ Website: https://derickrethans.nl Podcast: https://phpinternals.news

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Stephen Woolston.  Stephen is a program and service delivery consultant with an extensive background in IT infrastructure.  He holds a first-class computer science degree from Nottingham University and started his career working on mainframe systems at Norwich Union. He is also a professional coach, helping people to become happier and more successful in what they do. In this episode, Phil and Stephen Woolston discuss how to quickly adapt your approach to problem-solving, in an ever-changing landscape, by using radical adaptability and positive direction-finding. How to quickly adapt to new environments, find and fix more problems effectively. As well as the importance of having confidence in your abilities. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.04) TOP CAREER TIP Develop radical adaptability and a positive direction finder. You need to have the ability to drop into any commercial environment and quickly figure out what is happening and how to move things in the right direction. During the podcast, Stephen explains, what he means by radical adaptability and positive direction-finding. As well as how you can develop those skills. (5.23) WORST CAREER MOMENT Stephen was once an operational planner, responsible for the governance of approving renewal costs. When he started, he was handed a cost schedule that he assumed covered everything. Unfortunately, a big expense had been left off that schedule. From this experience, Stephen learned it is not enough to simply check your work. You also need to be on the lookout for mistakes that have slipped through the net. The experience taught him that no colleague can produce flawless work every time. (9.46) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For Stephen, the highlight of his career was taking a leading role in Norwich Union´s Unix systems management. At the time, Unix was in its infancy. So, Stephen had to develop backup, recovery, monitoring and alert systems because they were not really available elsewhere. (12.56) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that there are always new problems to solve is exciting. But it is also a huge challenge. You have to constantly be learning new things to keep up. Something that will also be the case in the future. (15.12) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?– As a child, Stephen liked sci-fi, so a career in IT was a natural choice. What’s the best career advice you received?– Every day you are creating your career. Things are constantly changing so you need to regularly review the direction you are going in. What’s the worst career advice you received?– Get into one big, rich and powerful company and stay there. What would you do if you started your career now?– Stephen would network more and do so from the very start. What’s your number one non-technical skill?– Communication skills, if yours are good you can work anywhere on any project you want. How do you keep your own career energized?– By seeking opportunities to work in new environments. What do you do away from technology? – To relax, Stephen listens to movie soundtrack music and spends a lot of his downtime coaching others. (19.40) FINAL CAREER TIP Have confidence in your abilities, don´t worry that you don´t know everything. Nobody understands a technology or subject completely. Tech moves too fast for that to be possible. No firm is running perfect systems. There is no shortage of things to fix or update, so you will always be able to contribute something important. BEST MOMENTS (3.26) – Stephen- “You cannot fit the client's problem to your solution, you have to fit your solution to the client's problem.” (7.03) – Stephen- “If there is an error somewhere, find it before it finds you.” (12.44) – Stephen- “With every evolution, we solve old problems, and we create new ones. They're the ones we need to focus on.” (14.14) – Stephen- “Develop adaptability and positive direction-finding skills to meet the new challenges in IT.” (17.36) – Stephen- “Good communication skills enable you to solve many more problems and work with far more people.” (20.17) – Stephen- “Have confidence in your abilities. Don´t worry that you might not know everything about everything.”  ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – STEPHEN WOOLSTON Stephen Woolston is a program and service delivery consultant with an extensive background in IT infrastructure. He holds a first-class computer science degree from Nottingham University and started his career working on mainframe systems at Norwich Union. He is also a professional coach, helping people to become happier and more successful in what they do. CONTACT THE GUEST – STEPHEN WOOLSTON Stephen Woolston can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/woolers LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoolston/ Website: https://theswcoaching.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Aslam Khan. He has more than 20 years of experience in software design and architecture, leveraging his background in Electronic Engineering. He is a regular speaker at local and international conferences on software development and agile methodologies as well as the author of Grokking Functional Programming. He says that he is convinced that software development is hard, very hard. In this episode, Phil and Aslam Khan discuss how to better understand the problems you are trying to solve for your clients so that you produce better solutions and designs. As well as why everyone needs to be prepared to take the lead sometimes. They also discuss how the IT industry is evolving into a more diverse and accessible one.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.24) TOP CAREER TIP Don´t change jobs simply to earn more money. It is far better to do so to learn something new. Aslam has always sought out people who can teach him something and it has greatly benefitted him to do so.   (5.07) WORST CAREER MOMENT Not long after apartheid had ended, Aslam found himself leading a team of about 40 people from different ethnic, tribal and socio-economic backgrounds. The old wounds were still raw, and the team quickly divided. It got so bad that people were accusing each other of being racist, sexist and white supremacies. Aslam was young and overwhelmed by the situation. Sadly, the project failed. But he learned many lessons and started to speak publicly about what he learned from the experience. First in Europe, later in South Africa.   (9.24) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For Aslam, the highlight of his career was realising that he is good at explaining complex concepts to other software developers. It took him a long time to understand that he had that talent. When he did, it led to his being able to help a lot of other developers.   (11.54) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The industry relies on people innovating. It is OK to get it wrong sometimes. You are bound to when pushing the boundaries. Information Technology is an incredibly accommodating career path and will continue to be so, in the future.   (15.15) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – All of Aslam´s family were doctors and pharmacists. He didn´t want to get involved in the medical industry, so he chose IT instead. What’s the best career advice you received? – The compiler does not care if you are macho or not. In the podcast, Aslam explains why this curious piece of advice proved so helpful to him. What’s the worst career advice you received? – He was once persuaded to stay in a job he hated because it paid well. What would you do if you started your career now? – Aslam would work and study at the same time. He feels this approach would have helped him immensely. What are your current career objectives? – Aslam is currently working on becoming a better leader. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being self-aware and accepting critical feedback. How do you keep your own career energized? – Aslam seeks out problems that challenge him and finds people to help him to solve them. What do you do away from technology? – Aslam reads widely and occasionally watches movies to switch off.   (20.45) FINAL CAREER TIP At some point, you will be asked to lead others. Don´t resist it, step up instead. When you know more or have a certain skill people will turn to you. We all have something unique to offer, so at some point, everyone ends up taking the lead.   BEST MOMENTS (4.22) – Aslam- “Don't change jobs for money change jobs to learn.” (11.31) – Aslam- “Becoming a public speaker is an inexpensive way to connect with others, share ideas and get feedback.” (16.29) – Aslam- “What really matters is how you share your code with other people.” (21.50) – Aslam- “You're not going to like it, but you will end up being a leader, so lean into it.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ASLAM KHAN Aslam Khan has more than 20 years of experience in software design and architecture, leveraging his background in Electronic Engineering. He is a regular speaker at local and international conferences on software development and agile methodologies as well as the author of Grokking Functional Programming. He says that he is convinced that software development is hard, very hard.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ASLAM KHAN Aslam Khan can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/aslamkhn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aslamkhn/ Website: https://foldleft.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Kevin Kline. He is the Principal Program Manager at Sentry One, a leading provider of award-winning tools for database management and monitoring. Kevin is a founding board member and former president of the international Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). He frequently contributes to database technology magazines, websites, and discussion forums. Kevin is also an author or co-author of several books including SQL In A Nutshell, published by O’Reilly Media which is now in its third edition. In this episode, Phil and Kevin Kline discuss how seeking out ways to actively practice your skills pays dividends. They talk about why soft skills really matter for IT professionals and how to develop them. Kevin shares his insights into the future of the IT industry. Including how automation and big data will greatly benefit everyone. Show notes for this episode can be found at https://itcareerenergizer.com/e241

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Madison Kanna. She is a software developer working at Keeper Security.  Madison is also the host of the CodeBookClub, an online community with live online meetups for beginners and intermediate developers.  She blogs about JavaScript and teaching yourself how to code without attending a Bootcamp.    In this episode, Phil and Madison Kanna discuss how someone who is new to the industry can map out what they will learn and in what order. Madison explains how to motivate and organize yourself to acquire the knowledge you need.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.22) TOP CAREER TIP If you are a new developer, create a curriculum for yourself. Try to map out what you will learn. Knowing, in advance, what step you are going to take next will help you to keep momentum, so your career does not end up stalling before it has really got started.   (5.41) WORST CAREER MOMENT Early in her career, Madison just did not enjoy her work. The firm she worked for did not believe in mentoring or collaborative working. So, she had to basically teach herself at night and during the weekends.   It was a tough time for her. But it taught her that sometimes you just have to be your own mentor. It also made her realize that you need to recognize when something is not right for you and not be afraid to move on.   (8.05) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For Madison, joining Keeper Security has been a career highlight. Working in a truly collaborative environment has helped her to grow her skillset far faster.   Releasing her free JavaScript course, a couple of years ago, was another highlight. It played a big role in enabling her to figure out what she did and didn´t understand. Pushing her to learn more about JavaScript and do so in a structured way.   (9.05) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Madison is excited by the current developments surrounding JavaScript. It still has a lot to offer and sites like Egghead.io are making it far easier for people to keep up with the changes.   (10.05) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Madison took a coding tutorial and was hooked immediately. What’s the best career advice you received? – You don´t have to be the smartest person on the team. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Learn at least two more languages at the same time as learning JavaScript. What would you do if you started your career now? – Draw up a roadmap to ensure that she was on the right track from the very start and wasted no energy wondering what to do next. What are your current career objectives? – Madison wants to learn more about JavaScript, React and cryptography. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being an effective learner. How do you keep your own career energized? – Running the CodeBookClub. What do you do away from technology? – Madison loves to work out and spending time with her family. She also reads a lot.   (13.07) FINAL CAREER TIP Figure out what you are curious about and learn about that. Don`t just stick to learning the things you need for your job and the sector you work in. Learning about unrelated things that you are curious about will take you to new places and enable you to acquire fresh skills.   BEST MOMENTS (4.04) – Madison - “If you want to become a developer, create a plan for what you'll learn and when you'll learn and which courses you'll take.” (7.13) – Madison - “Sometimes, to prevent your career from stalling, you will have to be your own mentor.” (10.50) – Madison - “Surround yourself with people who know more than you, it is the fastest way to learn.” (13.05) – Madison - “Figure out what you are curious about and learn about that.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MADISON KANNA Madison Kanna is a software developer working at Keeper Security.  Madison is also the host of the CodeBookClub, an online community with live online meetups for beginners and intermediate developers.  She blogs about JavaScript and teaching yourself how to code without attending a Bootcamp.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MADISON KANNA Madison Kanna can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Madisonkanna LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-kanna/ Website: https://madisonkanna.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Anna Murray. She is a nationally recognized technology consultant, speaker, and blogger as well as the owner of a successful software development company.  She founded one of the earliest web-development firms, emedia, in 1996 and is a double recipient of the Stevie Award for Women in Business.   She also serves as the President of the Board of the International Women’s Writing Guild.   In this episode, Phil and Anna Murray discuss the fact that there are a lot of roles within the industry that do not require you to have an engineering background or degree. They speak about practical ways to progress your career on a daily basis.   Anna also explains why she has focused on what she wants to get out of her working life, rather than chasing after a specific job title.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.41) TOP CAREER TIP You need a day-to-day to-do list. But it is very important to have a second one, a career to-do list. Things that you need to do to move your career forward. For example, writing a book, completing a specific training program or landing a certain role.   Don´t let your daily to-do list drown out what needs to be done to progress your career. In the podcast, Anna shares several practical ways to do this.   (6.58) WORST CAREER MOMENT Very early in her career, at a young age, Anna was in charge of a massive project. But she missed something important. An error which cost about $250,000. She was horrified and paralyzed by shame and fear.   But, luckily, she had a wise and understanding mentor to help her through. The experience taught her that she, nor anyone else, could be perfect. When there are issues, you need to fix the problem rather than fixing the blame.   (9.39) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Having her book, The Complete Software Project Manager, published was a big career highlight for Anna. In particular when, a few years later, she met someone who told her it was so good that he keeps it on his nightstand and refers to it regularly.   (11.14) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that when you work in IT you are always moving the world forward is exciting. IT is an industry that has always had a big impact on the world and that is going to continue.   (13.21) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Anna´s journalism major entailed working with technology, as a result of which she was drawn into the IT industry. What’s the best career advice you received? – Anna´s dad once told her to focus on getting the job. But, at the same time, not to be afraid to turn it down. In the podcast, Anna and Phil discuss why this is good advice. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Always speak up and get your voice heard at meetings. You need to be careful not to speak just for the sake of it. What would you do if you started your career now? – Anna would probably focus on big data. What are your current career objectives? – Anna is trying to find the time to write more. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to explain something that is very technical and complex in a way that anyone can understand. How do you keep your own career energized? – Taking enough time out to relax and stimulate her mind in other ways enables Anna to stay fresh, energized and think about things in new ways. What do you do away from technology? – Anna enjoys horse riding, as well as spending time with her puppy and her family. She also travels and goes to the theatre a lot.   (21.58) FINAL CAREER TIP Stop thinking so much about what position or role you want to attain. Instead, focus on what you want to get out of your work.   BEST MOMENTS (4.04) – Anna - “Don´t let your daily to-do list drown out the tasks that need to be done to progress your career” (14.13) – Anna - “Get the job then turn it down. Doing this gives you the opportunity to interview and find out more about what is out there.” (17.07) – Anna - “Don´t be afraid to speak up. But, learn to read your audience and deploy information effectively.” (20.18) – Anna - “Understand the decision that your client has to make. This will enable you to come up with better solutions.” (21.11) – Anna - “Somehow getting away from the thing you are working on for a while pours positive energy back into it.” (23.35) – Anna - “Think more about what you are looking for from your work, as opposed to focusing on attaining a certain position.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ANNA MURRAY Anna Murray is a nationally recognized technology consultant, speaker, and blogger as well as the owner of a successful software development company.  She founded one of the earliest web-development firms, emedia, in 1996 and is a double recipient of the Stevie Award for Women in Business.   She also serves as the President of the Board of the International Women’s Writing Guild.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ANNA MURRAY Anna Murray can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/apmurray123  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-murray-a04255/ Website: https://emediaweb.com Book: The Complete Software Project Manager  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Mandy Michael. She is a community organizer, speaker, writer, and developer.  Mandy is currently working as a Development Manager at Seven West Media in Western Australia.  Her passion is front end technology and she’s a strong advocate for women in technology, volunteering at events such as She Codes and Muse JS.   She is also Founder and Organiser of Fenders, a local meetup for Front End Developers, co-organizer and director of MixinConf and was named as one of the Top 20 Women in Tech in Western Australia in its inaugural year.    In this episode, Phil and Mandy Michael discuss why it is worth taking the time to learn how to use organizational tools effectively. They talk about the best way to challenge decisions others make that affect you.   Mandy also talks a little about variable fonts, how they can be created and what you can achieve by using them. She explains how public speaking and becoming more empathetic have both helped her career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.12) TOP CAREER TIP Be organized. Mandy is not a naturally organized person, but she has found that making extensive use of tools like Asana has made a huge difference to how much she can get done. This has made it easier for her to take full advantage of the opportunities that have come her way.   (6.47) WORST CAREER MOMENT A while ago Mandy switched from working exclusively on development and moved to also working on the front end. But a new boss insisted that she choose between the two. Mandy now regrets not challenging their decision, instead of just going along with things.   If you feel strongly about something, it is wise to trust your instincts and speak up. In the podcast, Mandy explains why this is good for your team as well as for you personally.   (11.03) CAREER HIGHLIGHT The amazing reception the variable font she made and uploaded to CodePen got is Mandy´s current career highlight. When she created it, she did not really realize that nobody had used variable fonts in that way before. Coming up with something that had such a big impact felt great. Since then, quite a few big companies, for example, Google and Microsoft have used and shared her work.   In the podcast, Mandy tells the audience a bit more about variable fonts and what can be achieved using them.   (14.59) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that the industry does not have to be limited by what has already been created is exciting. It means that everything is still possible. If you want to do things differently you just code it to prove that your concept works. Within the IT industry, there is plenty of time and space to invent and develop new things.   (17.09) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Mandy first got interested in IT by building fan sites on GeoCities. What’s the best career advice you received? – Express your ideas and opinions and do it in a confident way. What’s the worst career advice you received? – If you are yourself, nobody will take you seriously. What would you do if you started your career now? – Mandy comments that if she had her time over again, she would have paid more attention during science and maths classes. What are your current career objectives? – Becoming a good public speaker and using that skill to make herself a better communicator in the workplace. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to pick up on other people´s behaviors and feelings. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mandy finds that creating small demos and getting them out there via CodePen and CodeSandbox energizes her. What do you do away from technology? – Mandy enjoys spending time with her dog Jello, reading comic books and watching anime. She also likes making costumes and props for cosplay.   (22.03) FINAL CAREER TIP Make the most of the people around you. Mandy runs her own meetup group and volunteers at events. She finds that doing those things opens up more opportunities for her to be able to learn from others.   BEST MOMENTS (5.34) – Mandy - “Be organized. Planning ahead enables you to focus, avoid overcommitting and get more done.” (8.41) – Mandy - “If you feel really strongly about something, then you should trust your instincts and push for what you think is best for you.” (16.38) – Mandy - “Don´t hold yourself back by trying to replicate what has already been done. Instead, try to do things differently.” (17.30) – Mandy - “Express your ideas and opinions and do it confidently.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MANDY MICHAEL Mandy Michael is a community organizer, speaker, writer, and developer.  Mandy is currently working as a Development Manager at Seven West Media in Western Australia.  Her passion is front end technology and she’s a strong advocate for women in technology, volunteering at events such as She Codes and Muse JS.   She is also Founder and Organiser of Fenders, a local meetup for Front End Developers, co-organizer and director of MixinConf and was named as one of the Top 20 Women in Tech in Western Australia in its inaugural year.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MANDY MICHAEL Mandy Michael can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/mandy_kerr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandykerr/ Codepen: https://codepen.io/mandymichael/ Medium: https://medium.com/@mandy.michael    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Mahdi Kafi. He started his career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Canada where he learned the basics of IT consulting.  He now works for DXC Technology where he is an IT consultant helping HR departments to better understand how to make employees' lives easier through the use of technology.   In this episode, Phil and Mahdi Kafi discuss the need to keep an open mind when it comes to your career. They talk about how the industry is opening up and finding new ways to get the most out of their employees. Mahdi also shares some methods IT professionals can use to take their career in the right direction and progress faster.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.14) TOP CAREER TIP Don’t be afraid to change your career plans. By all means, have a plan but bear in mind that as you and the industry evolve you will have to change and update it.   During the podcast Mahdi shares a personal experience that demonstrates why this is so important.   (3.26) WORST CAREER MOMENT In his last job, things were slow. At points, they had very few clients. But it was not all bad. It gave Mahdi a chance to invest in himself and learn new skills.   (4.19) CAREER HIGHLIGHT His new job is proving to be the best thing he has ever done, so far. The business is growing fast, so the work he is doing is having a real impact. He is ensuring that the firm’s staff have the skills they need to move things along at the necessary pace.   (4.47) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that you no longer need a college degree to get involved in the I.T. industry means that it is changing fast. It is exciting that people from all walks of life can now have great I.T. careers. Once they have learned to code people can solve all kinds of problems. So, this new environment is really empowering people.   (6.11) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that no two days are the same and the flexibility this type of work offers to those who do it. What’s the best career advice you received? – In all likelihood, your first job will be really boring. But don’t let it stop you from focusing on your craft so that you can keep on levelling up. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Quit your job and follow your passion. What would you do if you started your career now? – Learn to code earlier, not doing that has led to Mahdi missing out on a lot of opportunities. What are your current career objectives? – In the future, Mahdi wants to work with clients who are involved in the non-profit or green industry. So, he is working towards that. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – His communication and listening skills. Becoming an active listener has made his personal and work relationships a lot easier. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mahdi likes to set himself new challenges. This year, it is learning to code in Python. What do you do away from technology? – Mahdi spends a lot of his spare time helping people who are new to tech to learn and progress faster. He does that in person as well as through his Primal Career YouTube channel and website.   (12.39) FINAL CAREER TIP When deciding which direction to take your career in, ask yourself what if. For example, asking yourself What if I get this job, what is next? will help you to open your mind to more of the possibilities and opportunities. Making it easy for you to plan the next step. Thinking like this will also enable you to double-check that taking on that role is right for you   BEST MOMENTS (2.34) – Mahdi - “Keep an open mind about your career path. When you do, you will not miss an opportunity.” (3.48) – Mahdi - “Instead of waiting for the experience to come to you, just go get the experience yourself.” (7.15) – Mahdi - “IT events are great places to network and find out more about what different companies are looking for.” (11.14) – Mahdi - “Regularly set yourself challenges as a way to keep your career energized.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MAHDI KAFI Mahdi Kafi started his career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Canada where he learned the basics of IT consulting.  He now works for DXC Technology where he is an IT consultant helping HR departments to better understand how to make employees' lives easier through the use of technology.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MAHDI KAFI Mahdi Kafi can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/primalcareer1  LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/mahdikafi Primal Career: http://bit.ly/35AIS9G

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Simo Ahava. He is a recognised expert on customizing web analytics and tag management solutions to improve the entire “life cycle” of data collection, processing and reporting.   His main areas of expertise lie with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and Google has appointed him as a Google Developer Expert in these fields.   He is also a partner and co-founder at 8-bit-sheep, a prolific blogger and an experienced conference speaker.   In this episode, Phil and Simo Ahava discuss how helping others sharpens your skills and keeps you in touch with the fundamentals. They also talk about how compromising your personal values usually have a negative impact on your career.   Simo also shares how to prepare for entrepreneurship and when to make the switch from being an employee.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.36) TOP CAREER TIP Find a community around a topic you are good at or would like to become good at. Share, guide and be proactive in that community.   You will gain a reputation for being altruistic. This in itself comes with a big payback but helping others will also enable you to stay proficient and appreciate the importance of the fundamentals. In the podcast, Simo shares a hidden benefit of doing this.   (7.01) WORST CAREER MOMENT When Simo first started public speaking, he felt he needed to get some experience under his belt. As a result, he took on work that he now regrets doing.   The problems were interesting. But he was working for payday loan and alternative medicine companies. Both are industries he is extremely ambivalent about. Worse, looking back, he now realises that working for them was completely unnecessary.   (10.06) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Becoming an entrepreneur instead of being an employee. At the time he made the move, he was scared out of his pants. Fortunately, it has turned out to be a great journey.   Partly because he had put a lot of hard work into his career before making the move. Building a good reputation and a strong network. In the podcast, Simo explains how he prepared himself for becoming an entrepreneur.   (13.14) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that there will always be a new technological challenge to surmount excites Simo. There is a lot going on in virtually every field, especially quantum computing, IoT, AR, VR, AI, electric cars and autonomous vehicles. With this constantly developing blue ocean of possibilities in front of us, there will be challenges. The fact we are facing some huge problems like climate change adds even more. What is exciting is that we have the potential to solve these with computation or technology.   (16.40) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The opportunity to turn his hobby into a profession. What’s the best career advice you received? – As soon as you feel you cannot learn anything else, it is time to move on. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Work hard, maybe in 5 years you will be promoted to management. What would you do if you started your career now? – Simo would work towards becoming an entrepreneur faster. What are your current career objectives? – Becoming a more effective problem solver by learning even more skills. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Blogging has opened far more doors than anything else he has done. How do you keep your own career energized? – Having a healthy life. A happy family, hobbies, friends and enjoying other activities all of gives him energy. What do you do away from technology? – Simo plays board games, cooks, plays guitar and the ukulele. He loves spending time with his family.   (20.53) FINAL CAREER TIP Help others. It is a really effective way to hone your own skills. You can do this in all kinds of communities, including those that cater to the tools you use. Opportunities are everywhere.   BEST MOMENTS (4.50) – Simo - “Find a community for a topic you are proficient at and help others to sharpen your skills and gain a good reputation.” (8.28) – Simo - “Choosing profit over your personal values is never a good idea. It leads to regrets that stay with you.” (14.21) – Simo - “A career in IT could mean that you’re actively and proactively taking part in solving some of the world´s biggest problems.” (17.04) – Simo - “When you feel you can't learn anything new in your current position, it is time to move on.” (19.27) – Simo - “I attribute 95% of my current career success and trajectory to my blog.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SIMO AHAVA Simo Ahava is a recognised expert on customizing web analytics and tag management solutions to improve the entire “life cycle” of data collection, processing and reporting.   His main areas of expertise lie with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and Google has appointed him as a Google Developer Expert in these fields.   He is also a partner and co-founder at 8-bit-sheep, a prolific blogger and an experienced conference speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SIMO AHAVA Simo Ahava can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimoAhava LinkedIn: http://fi.linkedin.com/in/simoahava Website: https://simoahava.com    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Stephen Kuenzli. He has designed, built, deployed and operated highly available and scalable software systems in high tech manufacturing, banking, and e-commerce sectors, for nearly 20 years.   He has a B.S. in Systems Engineering and he loves working through challenging design problems and building solutions that are safe and enjoyable to use.    In this episode, Phil and Stephen Kuenzli discuss the need to develop non-technical skills to be able to progress your career. Stephen shares and effective way to be a continuous learner without over-stretching yourself or letting other things slide.   They also talk about the importance of sticking to your standards and refusing to be pressured into shipping a faulty product and how to do that. He also explains how to maintain the balance you need to stay successful.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.27) TOP CAREER TIP Be proactive about managing your career. Throughout his career, Stephen has blocked out at least 4 hours a week to be used to learn or practice a new skill.   It is also important to ask for help. This is especially the case when you are trying to develop non-technical skills. Learning things like effective communication and project management skills is crucial.   (5.04) WORST CAREER MOMENT Sadly, Stephen was involved in launching a product before it was ready. They knew it was buggy, but the pressure was being applied by several influential parties. Now, Stephen would simply refuse to ship a product at that stage of development. To ensure he can do this, he built up a cash buffer to make himself comfortable with standing firm on quality, even as an employee.   (9.59) CAREER HIGHLIGHT His career highlight came about while fixing that flawed system that had led to his worst career moment. During the fix, they created a better way of debugging. They did not just bug fix. Instead, their focus was on improving the customer experience. As a result, that flawed product was transformed into one that the customer loved. They got the defect rate down to 0.007% of projects had issues.   (12.22) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Stephen enjoys the crazy pace of change. It keeps things interesting. Currently, in terms of cloud security code, the half-life is currently around 18 months. This provides a lot of opportunities for everyone to do things better and better.   He also speaks about how containerization is helping to make more things possible in the cloud.   (17.57) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact you can get computers to take care of the hard things you cannot do. Freeing you up to enjoy making them do even harder things. What’s the best career advice you received? – His father advised him to do what you love and love what you do. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Stephen says he does not remember. He doesn’t really hold onto the bad stuff. What would you do if you started your career now? – Probably something on the interface of biology and technology. For example, replacement body parts and the technology needed to make them. What are your current career objectives? – Building a cloud security product that enables users to answer basic questions like who has access to each part of my data. Currently, this is far too difficult to do. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Learning to communicate and empathise with people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Relaxing and disconnecting re-energises him. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with his family and take good care of himself and them.   (23.20) FINAL CAREER TIP Learn continuously. But respect your personal and family limits. If you work too hard you will burn out.   BEST MOMENTS (0.00) – Stephen - “Take a proactive approach to your career. Block out time to learn new skills.” (0.00) – Stephen - “The tech industry is very dynamic. So, you can navigate to where you want to go.” (0.00) – Stephen - “Remember to step back from technology and relax completely. It will keep you energized.” (0.00) – Stephen - “Learn continuously, but know when to step back and relax” (0.00) – Stephen - “Respect your personal and family limits to stay happy and productive.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – STEPHEN KUENZLI Stephen Kuenzli has designed, built, deployed and operated highly available and scalable software systems in high tech manufacturing, banking, and e-commerce sectors, for nearly 20 years.   He has a B.S. in Systems Engineering and he loves working through challenging design problems and building solutions that are safe and enjoyable to use.   CONTACT THE GUEST – STEPHEN KUENZLI Stephen Kuenzli can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/skuenzli LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenkuenzli/ Website: https://www.qualimente.com Professional Bio: https://www.qualimente.com/stephen-kuenzli/ “Docker in Action”, 2nd Edition - https://www.manning.com/books/docker-in-action-second-edition Mailing List for Cloud, DevOps, and Security: https://nodramadevops.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer is James Turnbull. He is VP of Engineering at Glitch.  James was previously a founder and CTO at Empatico, CTO at Kickstarter, VP of Services at Docker and a CTO in residence at Microsoft to name but a few.  He is also the author of several books, including “Monitoring with Prometheus” and “The Docker Book”.   He is originally from Melbourne, Australia, but now resides in Brooklyn, New York.   In this episode, Phil and James Turnbull discuss the need to find work that truly excites you. They talk through how to deal with the inevitable mistakes you make in a positive way.   James also speaks about how adaptive technology is transforming the lives of those with disabilities. He also shares why you need to ask about onboarding at the interview. In particular, during the early stages of your career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (02.35) TOP CAREER TIP Don't assume you're going to be doing the same job forever. You are going to evolve, and the IT industry moves fast. So, it should be easy to find work that excites you. There is no need to just settle.   (3.35) WORST CAREER MOMENT Early in his career, James managed a major Casino’s computer. Naturally, he scheduled maintenance to take place at the quietest time. Unfortunately, one day, he fat fingered it and shut everything down for an hour during a very busy time.   He immediately told the CTO what he had done, what the impact would be and the steps that could be taken to mitigate the situation. James expected to be sacked. But the fact he had admitted his error and done all he could to solve the issue saved his job. It taught him that mistakes happen. What really matters is that you deal with them properly.   (6.35) CAREER HIGHLIGHT James is most proud of the teams he has built and the fact that he has had a positive impact on the careers of other people. Not long ago, on Twitter, people were telling others about the people who had influenced them and their careers. He was touched that several people talked about him.   He is also particularly proud of the app his team at Empatico built. It is currently being used by 20,000+ teachers to teach children how to be empathetic, something that will have a lasting impact.   (8.05) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Interestingly, James states that the pace of change within the industry both terrifies and excites him. But overall, he is looking forward to seeing how technology will change the world.   Right now, he is especially interested in the way adaptive technology is changing things for the disabled and everyone else. It is a great leveller. He is particularly excited by the difference it is going to make to the lives of the disabled in poorer countries and other more vulnerable groups.   (10.36) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that you could have an interesting career and earn good money. What’s the best career advice you received? – Treat everyone you work with respect, kindness, and empathy. James shares an interesting story that demonstrates why this is so important. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Chase the money. Making career choices based solely on monetary gain rarely works out well. What would you do if you started your career now? – Realistically, he thinks he would probably end up as an Android or iOS developer. But infrastructure is where he would really like to be if he were to start again. What are your current career objectives? – Honing the skills that enable him to build amazing teams and products. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Listening. How do you keep your own career energized? – Writing technical books exposes James to technology he would otherwise not use. This keeps him energized and engaged. What do you do away from technology? – James likes reading, art, collects antique maps and is interested in antique coins. He also finds history and politics to be fascinating.   (17.12) FINAL CAREER TIP At the interview stage always ask about onboarding. Ask if you get a mentor and how you will become a fully functioning member of the team. If they have not really thought about how they are going to do that, it is probably best to try for a job elsewhere.   BEST MOMENTS (3.06) – James - “Don't fixate on a job title. Instead, fixate on jobs that excite you.” (5.22) – James - “You make mistakes. What you do next and what you learn from them is what really matters.” (11.56) – James - “Treat everyone you work alongside with respect and empathy. If you don´t, you never know when it will come back to bite you.” (13.46) – James - “Don´t make career choices based mainly on the money. You will usually regret it if you do.” (17.30) – James - “At the interview, always ask about onboarding. If they don´t have a clear plan, consider applying elsewhere.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JAMES TURNBULL James Turnbull is VP of Engineering at Glitch.  He was previously a founder and CTO at Empatico, CTO at Kickstarter, VP of Services at Docker and a CTO in residence at Microsoft to name but a few.  He is also the author of several books, including “Monitoring with Prometheus” and “The Docker Book”.   He is originally from Melbourne, Australia but now resides in Brooklyn, New York.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JAMES TURNBULL James Turnbull can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/kartar LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnbulljames/ Website: https://www.kartar.net/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Josh Clark. He is a UX designer and design leader who helps organisations build products for what’s next.  Josh is the founder of Big Medium, a New York design studio specialising in future-friendly interfaces for artificial intelligence, connected devices and responsive websites.   He is the author of several books and he speaks around the world about what’s next for digital interfaces.   In this episode, Phil and Josh Clark talk about the need to advocate for the end-user as well as meet the needs of the business you are working for. Josh discusses the need to be persistent, but to also recognise when it is time to move on.   They discuss why the next wave of I.T. innovation is going to impact the very fabric of our lives. The culture, and how vital it is for developers to make the right decisions.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.38) TOP CAREER TIP It is important to create a separation between you and your work. You are not your work.   Remembering this helps you to cope if something you have created is not well received. The truth is that success doesn’t make you a better person, nor does failure make you a worse one.   (9.00) WORST CAREER MOMENT Nearly 20 years ago, Josh created a low-cost CMS system. Around the same time, blog platforms and WordPress began to offer something very similar at no cost.   That was bad enough. But, what was worse was that Josh did not let go of his project and move on. He failed to recognise that there was no longer a need or market for his paid product. As a result, he wasted a lot of time and energy and ended up damaging his sense of self. Sticking with it too long had really held him back.   (13.13) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Josh´s career highlight was landing Time Inc. as his first big client. They liked the fact that, at the pitch stage, he was able to present the team to them. Being a small agency without many employees that worked by pulling together a contractor team that was tailored to each project, enabled him to do this. Time Inc. liked knowing who the team would be and the fact that every person on it had said yes because they specifically wanted to work on their project.   (18.05) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The focus is now moving away from mobile. Now what we can do with data is more important. Machine learning is going to unleash huge change. But. It is also a risky time for society. It would be easy to get the management of all that data wrong. To a large extent, developers are the gatekeepers.   (22.32) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Josh felt constrained, especially, creatively in his filmmaking role. So, the idea that in I.T. you could create anything really appealed. What’s the best career advice you received? – Look ahead, but make sure that you also draw satisfaction from what you are working on today. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Do what you love. If you turn the thing that you love into work, there is a risk that you will sully it. What would you do if you started your career now? – Josh is not sure where he would start. He would probably focus on honing his research and problem-solving skills, rather than on a specific tech. What are your current career objectives? – Understanding machine learning as a design material. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being an active listener and at ease with working collaboratively. How do you keep your own career energized? – By exploring the creative process and getting to know what other people are doing. What do you do away from technology? – Josh loves going to museums. He is also passionate about running. He is the creator of Couch to 5K.   (30.47) FINAL CAREER TIP Be proud of what you do, but also show humility. Share with others and ask lots of questions. Pairing together curiosity with generosity yields great rewards.   BEST MOMENTS (2.09) – Josh - “Try to understand what customer needs are as well as what the business needs and find a way to stitch the two together.” (6.56) – Josh - “Keep things in perspective. Success doesn’t make you a better person, nor does failure make you a worse one.” (12.31) – Josh - “Failure is, okay, it can be a learning experience. But, fail fast. Don’t cling on too long to a failing project.” (23.30) – Josh - “You never arrive, every time you meet a goal there is something new that is beyond your reach, for you to strive for” (27.46) – Josh - “Learn how to collaborate with other people. Active listening is an important part of this.” (20.48) – Josh - “Remember that software shapes behavior. So, be intentional about the values you put into what you create.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JOSH CLARK Josh Clark is a UX designer and design leader who helps organisations build products for what’s next.  Josh is the founder of Big Medium, a New York design studio specialising in future-friendly interfaces for artificial intelligence, connected devices and responsive websites.   He is the author of several books and he speaks around the world about what’s next for digital interfaces.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JOSH CLARK Josh Clark can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigmediumjosh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshclark/ Website: https://bigmedium.com/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Michel Weststrate. He is a trainer, speaker, micro-consultant and independent open source developer.  As well as the author of MobX, MobX-State-Tree, Immer and a plethora of smaller packages.   Michel is on a quest to make programming as natural as possible   In this episode, Phil and Michel Weststrate discuss how to raise issues in a constructive way that greatly improves the chances of them being solved. They talk about why it makes sense to share code via OpenSource.   Michel explains how he pushes himself to tackle difficult problems without running the risk of burn out. He also touches on why he thinks React Suspense is going to have a huge impact and how tech is likely to evolve over the next few years.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.22) TOP CAREER TIP Try to raise solutions rather than problems. It is far better to explain that there is an issue and at the same time share your preferred solution. Simply sharing the problem with your manager, who does not have the hands on experience you have usually leads to a very poor outcome.   In the podcast, Michel provides an in-depth example, that explains what he means. It is a practical example that many I.T. professionals will be able to easily relate to.   (4.36) WORST CAREER MOMENT During his career, Michel has found himself regularly making the same mistake. He can overthink things a little and spend too much time working on issues that may never occur. But, he has also dismissed potential problems, only for them to turn into an issue, years down the line. In the podcast, he explains how he has changed the way he works in an effort to get the balance right.   (5.56) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Michel’s career highlight was working on MobX to solve what initially appeared to be a relatively specialist problem, which actually ended up helping thousands of developers.   (7.33) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Being a software engineer has never been easier than it is now. And it is likely to be more so, in the future. The number of technologies is also growing and will almost certainly continue to do so.   Many of these will lead to ground-breaking changes. In the podcast, he provides several examples of technologies that are set to drastically shake things up.   (9.42) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that as an I.T. engineer you are free to create truly remarkable things. There are very few limitations that you have to work within. What’s the best career advice you received? – Have confidence in your ability to learn. Michel also explains his take on negotiating a deal that will work for everyone. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You can be whatever you want to be. If you push yourself too far beyond what is feasible, you will burn out. What would you do if you started your career now? – Michel would get involved in Open Source, at an early stage. What are your current career objectives? – Facebook works at an incredible scale; they have thousands of developers. Michel wants to learn as much as he can about how such a huge team gels. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being able to communicate ideas, especially very abstract or technical concepts. How do you keep your own career energized? – Michel likes to tackle difficult problems, especially the ones he can work on at his own pace. They give him the chance to really dig deep and learn. What do you do away from technology? – Michel recently moved to London, so he and his family are getting to know the city. He loves soccer and is also active in his church.   (16.42) FINAL CAREER TIP Go the extra mile to solve your problems. You may think they only affect you and a few others. But, often, when you provide a solution you will end up helping many others as well as yourself.   BEST MOMENTS (2.27) – Michel - “When raising problems, share a possible solution too. The issue is more likely to be solved with that approach.” (11.09) – Michel - “Have that confidence that you can learn something difficult if you really want to.” (11.19) – Michel - “When negotiating, aim to make a deal where everyone is a winner. You get further that way.” (16.42) – Michel - “Go that extra mile to solve your problems. When you do you will help others.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MICHEL WESTSTRATE Michel Weststrate is a trainer, speaker, micro-consultant and independent open source developer.  He is the author of MobX, MobX-State-Tree, Immer and a plethora of smaller packages.   Michel is on a quest to make programming as natural as possible.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MICHEL WESTSTRATE Michel Weststrate can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweststrate LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-weststrate-3558463/ Website: https://michel.codes/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Erik St. Martin. Over the past 15 years, Erik has been a Web Developer, a Software Engineer and a System Architect.  He is passionate about all things Go, Kubernetes, Containers, Distributed Systems and Information Security.   Erik is currently a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate for Microsoft Azure, who is actively involved in the OSS community.   In this episode, Phil and Erik St. Martin discuss the need for those who are just starting out to push through the early part of the learning curve. They also talk about the importance of networking and how to do it, including, one quite unusual approach Erik uses.   He shares why he is not afraid to spend time playing with new concepts and languages. As well as why you should be prepared to push the boundaries.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.06) TOP CAREER TIP If you want a career in I.T. you have to persevere.  In the beginning, the learning curve is very steep, which is why a lot of people give up. But, pushing through that stage brings big rewards.   Most I.T. careers start slowly, before taking off, often, at a stratospheric rate.   (5.09) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage, Erik had been burned by a couple of start-ups he had worked for. The last one had him and his team working 16 hour days, 7 days a week, for several months. When he pointed out that this was unsustainable, his boss´s response led to him leaving.   In fact, things got so bad that he had planned to leave the tech industry. In the podcast, he shares why he decided to stay.   (8.02) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Getting a job with Disney was huge. It gave him the chance to work with some fantastic tech and on really interesting projects, for example, Disney´s Magic Bands.    But, Erik is most proud of the GOTO conference he organises. In particular, the contribution it makes to the GO programming community and beyond.   (9.21) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that 10 years from now, at least 100 new techs will have emerged is exciting. Erik also predicts that, in the future, far more people will be able to progress up the ladder without having to reluctantly go into management.   (10.57) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – At first, I.T. was his hobby. So, when he got offered money to do it, he could not resist. What’s the best career advice you received? – Never turn down an interview. Even if you are not ready to jump, you never know what will come of it. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You need to go into management to be successful. What would you do if you started your career now? – When offered opportunities, Erik would say yes more often. At the start of his career, he often turned things down because he thought he was not qualified enough. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Erik´s focus is on teaching. He does not really have hard and fast career objectives. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Creative problem-solving. Once you start doing it you will be amazed by what you can achieve. How do you keep your own career energized? – Teaching helps to motivate Erik. But, hearing about the new things developers are doing in other fields is what really excites and energizes him. What do you do away from technology? – Erik has kids, so wryly states that he mostly does what they want to do. He also plays the guitar and is taking singing classes.   (17.03) FINAL CAREER TIP Don´t get hung up on deciding what you want to end up working on, especially at the start of your career. At that stage, everything you do is building a foundation for your future. What you do then is going to lead to all sorts of opportunities further down the line. So, be open to trying new things.   BEST MOMENTS (3.25) – Erik - “It is easy for people to believe they are not cut out for tech. Often, to succeed, they just need to persevere.” (11.20) – Erik - “Never turn down an interview, they enable you to understand what is out there and make more connections.” (12.15) – Erik - “Increase your network every way you can. Attending conferences is a particularly good approach.” (14.36) – Erik - “Play with new languages and enjoy them. You never know what the next big thing will be.” (15.10) – Erik - “Don´t be afraid of failure. Nothing is too big for you, it is just code. You will figure it out.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ERIK ST. MARTIN Erik St. Martin has been a Web Developer, a Software Engineer and a System Architect, over the past 15 years.  He is passionate about all things Go, Kubernetes, Containers, Distributed Systems and Information Security.   Erik is currently a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate for Microsoft Azure, who is actively involved in the OSS community.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ERIK ST. MARTIN Erik St. Martin can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/erikstmartin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikstmartin Website:  http://erikstmartin.com    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Denny Cherry. He is recognised as one of the deftest and most knowledgeable cross-platform IT consultants in the world.  He has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional since 2008 and has held the highest level certification available for each version of SQL Server since 2000.   He has also published dozens of articles and is an author of multiple books as well as a popular speaker.      In this episode Phil and Denny Cherry discuss why chasing money instead of pursuing something that interests you is a fast way to stall your career. As well as how being a good listener can help you to succeed.   Denny also explains how he became an MVP and how others can do the same. They discuss the impact SQL Server 2019 is likely to have on the way I.T. professionals work and how it will empower end/users, like never before.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.54) TOP CAREER TIP Don’t worry about following the career path that enables you to earn the most money. Instead, seek out work that really interests you. If you are passionate about something you will become very good at it. When that happens, you will, usually, earn a good wage.   If you force yourself to do work that you are not truly passionate about, your career will likely stall.   (6.44) WORST CAREER MOMENT About 15 years ago, Denny was working for a desktop monitoring company that captured screenshots, emails and chats for their clients. Unfortunately, a code glitch meant that they ran out of disk space. They came up with a solution, but it still took days to solve the problem. Denny explains why that was, in the podcast.   (8.41) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Building a data warehouse for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. A resource that now saves them around 50,000 man hours, per year. This has enabled them to save millions of dollars, every year. That cash can now be redirected into healthcare.   (11.00) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The release of SQL Server 2019 is opening up all sorts of opportunities to work more collaboratively and do so in a far more effective way. In the podcast, Denny gives some examples of how gathering data together in the way it allows is going to empower users to create amazing reports.    It really empowers the users. That is going to change the role of I.T. professionals.   (14.51) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Denny describes himself as being literally born into I.T. His father was an executive at a computer company, so Denny always had access to PCs. What’s the best career advice you received? – Just keep trying, doing new stuff and experimenting. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Keep working at something even if you do not enjoy it. What would you do if you started your career now? – Denny would find something that interests him. Initially focus on that and only break out into other fields once he had made a name for himself. What are your current career objectives? – To continue to grow his business and making sure that his client´s projects are successful. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Listening to customers´ needs and being able to translate them into technical requirements. Denny is able to have both sides of the conversation, which is a great skill to have. How do you keep your own career energized? – Training, attending conferences and trying out new things all help Denny to keep his career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Most of his spare time is spent riding his motorcycle and playing Xbox.   (22.42) FINAL CAREER TIP Find the thing that interests you and use that to launch your career. Discovering what you are passionate about is a vital first step. You will be able to use your enthusiasm to fuel your efforts and progress fast.   BEST MOMENTS (4.37) – Denny - “Becoming an MVP is mostly about community contribution and getting your voice heard that way.” (5.23) – Denny - “If you simply choose jobs based on money alone, your career will stall very quickly.” (6.20) – Denny - “Taking an entry-level job, for example, on a helpdesk, can help you to figure out what you want to do.”  (18.40) – Denny - “Don´t become too much of a generalist, doing that can make it hard for you to find work.” (23.00) – Denny - “Find the thing you are passionate about, do that, success will follow.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community at Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DENNY CHERRY  Denny Cherry is recognised as one of the deftest and most knowledgeable cross-platform IT consultants in the world.  He has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional since 2008 and has held the highest level certification available for each version of SQL Server since 2000.   He has also published dozens of articles and is an author of multiple books as well as a popular speaker.     CONTACT THE GUEST – DENNY CHERRY Denny Cherry can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrdenny LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrdenny Website: https://dcac.com  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Nils Hofmeister. He is an Engineering Director working at Xing.  He started his career as a software engineer, working on virtual reality projects and computer games.  And after spending some time on DevOps projects, he now focuses on helping cross-functional development teams to succeed.   In this episode, Phil and Nils Hofmeister discuss the challenges of managing remote working and how his team overcomes them. They speak about why it is best to work for organizations that encourage collaboration.   As well as the benefits of employing people that are more knowledgeable than you. Nils also talks about AI and how close it is to replicating what real life forms can do.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.02) TOP CAREER TIP Karma works. Nils admits that may sound a little naive. But, he has found that taking the time to help others has really paid dividends for him. Most people do their best to return the favour.   But, if your organisation does not reward that behaviour, it can backfire and become a zero-sum game.  You should always try to work somewhere that appreciates collaboration.   (7.16) WORST CAREER MOMENT Unfortunately, when Nils became head of development, the first job he had to do was to lay off 20 members of his team. It was a bad situation, that, naturally, created issues.   Nils has never forgotten how awful it all was. So, now, he is very cautious about hiring. He does everything he can to reduce the chances of his having to lay people off again.   (8.36) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Nils does not have a specific career highlight. For him, the large, complex projects he has worked on have been the ones that bring him the most satisfaction. Seeing something grow and evolve into something that is even better than was first conceived is very satisfying.   (9.56) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Technology is driving every aspect of our lives. So, now is a great time to work in I.T. Whatever you are working on is likely to make a huge difference.   Nils is also looking forward to seeing what happens when AI comes closer to being able to do what real life forms can. A day that he believes is actually not that far away.   (11.54) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – As a kid, he always wanted to be able to create his own computer games. That led to him learning C++ What’s the best career advice you received? – Between stimulus and response there is a space. That space is our power to choose our response. In the podcast, Nils explains what this means and how he learned to put that advice into action. What’s the worst career advice you received? – If you want to be a good leader you have to play that role. What would you do if you started your career now? – Nils would network right from the start. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, he is focused on bringing the two big projects he is working on to fruition. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being a good communicator, in particular, being able to adapt what he says to appeal to and make sense to the audience he is speaking to. What do you do away from technology? – Nils is a keen collector of Star Wars LEGO sets and enjoys sports. He also describes riding his motorbike as being like meditation for him. How do you keep your own career energized? – Nils networks a lot. At least once a year or so, he applies for new jobs and goes through the hiring process. He explains why he does this in the podcast.   (18.11) FINAL CAREER TIP Work on your soft skills, especially on communication. It does not matter if you are a genius if you cannot explain things to others it will be far harder for you to get things done.   BEST MOMENTS (4.15) – Nils - “Help out other people in your organisation. Because usually, at some point, they will return the favour” (6.10) – Nils - “Don’t be afraid of hiring people who know more than you and letting them make decisions.” (9.05) – Nils - “From the beginning connect with people from other companies and disciplines.” (16.30) – Nils - “In the end, it’s about communication. If that doesn’t work, nothing gets done.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community in Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – NILS HOFMEISTER Nils Hofmeister is an Engineering Director working at Xing.  He started his career as a software engineer, working on virtual reality projects and computer games.  And after spending some time on DevOps projects, he now focuses on helping cross-functional development teams to succeed.   CONTACT THE GUEST – NILS HOFMEISTER Nils Hofmeister can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nilgrim LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilshofmeister/ Xing: https://www.xing.com/profile/Nils_Hofmeister Website: https://about.me/nhofmeister  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jamie Maguire. He has a keen interest in web development, code, machine learning, psychology, business, and start-ups. Jamie has been writing code since he was a kid, often typing out magazine code listings and then changing the code to see how they behaved.   He’s currently a Microsoft .NET Senior Developer, a Microsoft AI Most Valuable Professional and a STEM ambassador.   In this episode, Phil and Jamie Maguire discuss how working on a social media API eventually led to his working in AI. Jamie demonstrates that the barrier to entry to the AI field has now all but disappeared and how anyone can now get involved in that field.   Jamie explains how he copes with the frenetic rate of change within the IT industry. They also talk about how a research project led to Twitter, then Microsoft picking up on what he had to offer.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (6.33) TOP CAREER TIP Find ways to learn fast. Apply what you learn and adapt if you need to. In today’s job market this is essential. There is a lot of disruption tech that means things are now changing really fast.   (7.38) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage in Jamie’s career, he was working in a highly politicised environment, trying to complete his master’s degree, a research project and cope with a serious family situation.   It was awful, but, it taught him that with enough grit and determination, you can get through anything. He also learned the importance of looking after your health and making time for yourself to disconnect, no matter what.     (10.42) CAREER HIGHLIGHT  Jamie entered the side project he was building into Twitter’s Promote initiative and they liked it. He was invited to the States and asked to demo it. Unfortunately, he did not win, but he did get access to some of their private and beta APIs. In time, what started out as a side project, led to him winning the MVP award in AI.   It taught him the importance of sharing what you know and that putting your work out there is the best way to get noticed.   (14.42) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T AI is definitely hot, right now. It is now much easier to break into the field. Gradually, it is becoming easier for you to just pull what you need off the shelf, for example, through Cognitive Services or IBM Watson.   For very little money you can build a product, document what you are doing and get noticed. When you do that you automatically end up with a great portfolio.   (17.15) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Hacking games for the Spectrum was what ignited Jamie’s passion for coding and all things I.T. What’s the best career advice you received? – Evolve and adapt quickly. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Just smash it into production. Terrible advice, you have to test stuff no matter what the time constraints are. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jamie would start a blog immediately instead of waiting like he did. What are your current career objectives? – Showing developers how they can integrate AI into what they are doing and finding innovative ways to use AI on big social platforms. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being able to take a step back, think about all the moving parts, identify the key components and spot the patterns. Jamie has two other very important skills that he also talks about. How do you keep your own career energized? – Following other developers on Twitter and seeking out development initiatives. Doing this sparks all kinds of ideas. What do you do away from technology? – Jamie is very much a family man. He also goes to the gym 3 or 4 times a week and disconnects completely from tech, at least once a month.   (25.43) FINAL CAREER TIP Get a domain name and use it to share your thoughts and what it is you are doing. Ignore what everyone else is doing and just run your own race, everyone has something to contribute.   BEST MOMENTS (7.00) – Jamie - “Get comfortable with learning new skills. In today’s job market, it is essential that you do.” (9.36) – Jamie - “When all hell’s breaking loose, keep a cool head, create your own stability and take care of your health.” (15.39) – Jamie - “For very little money, anyone can build a product, document what they are doing and get noticed.” (18.39) – Phil - “Keep your mind open to alternatives, to different ways of thinking about the same problem.” (28.50) – Jamie - “Get a domain name, share what you are doing and what your thoughts are.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community in Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JAMIE MAGUIRE Jamie Maguire has a keen interest in web development, code, machine learning, psychology, business, and start-ups.  Jamie has been writing code since he was a kid, often typing out magazine code listings and then changing the code to see how they behaved.   He’s currently a Microsoft .NET Senior Developer, a Microsoft AI Most Valuable Professional and a STEM ambassador.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JAMIE MAGUIRE Jamie Maguire can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jamie_maguire1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiemaguiredotnet/ Website: http://jamiemaguire.net    

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:  Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Damian Brady. He is a Microsoft Cloud Advocate who specialises in DevOps and MLOps.  He has been a programmer and consultant for more than 20 years across a broad range of industries and he regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world.        In this episode, Phil and Damian Brady discuss the way MLOps is developing. They talk about how to choose the career path that is right for you. Damian also shares how his writing and public speaking helped him to land h job at Microsoft.    KEY TAKEAWAYS:  (3.39) TOP CAREER TIP  Pay attention to what you do and don´t like. Doing that will help you to settle on a career path earlier and ensure that you end up doing something that you actually enjoy.    Damian noticed that he wanted to know what had happened to his code once it went into production. This made him realise that DevOps was likely to be a good fit for him.    (5.44) WORST CAREER MOMENT  When Damian had just taken on his first project management role, a big customer wanted to discuss an issue. So, he got on the phone. But, asked a more experienced client manager to listen in. Unfortunately, he failed to tell the customer that there was a 3rd person on the call. When they found out, they were very angry. His lack of transparency nearly lost them the account.    (9.03) CAREER HIGHLIGHT  Being approached by Donovan Brown, who was at the time the DevOps Manager at Microsoft, and being asked to join his team is his career highlight. Damian was surprised but very pleased to be noticed and recognised in this way. That is when his writing and public speaking work really paid off.    (11.18) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T  Damian does not see any sign that the pace of change within IT is going to slow. So, working in IT will always be interesting. There will always be something new to discover and learn.    (15.05) THE REVEAL  What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – When Damian was 10, his father gave him an Amiga 500.When he realised he could change a game just by editing two pieces of text he was hooked.  What’s the best career advice you received? – Know when it is time to move on.  What’s the worst career advice you received? – Stick it out, it´ll be fine.  What would you do if you started your career now? – Get involved in meetups and user groups at an earlier stage. It is a great way to jump-start any IT career.  What are your current career objectives? – Exploring the world of machine learning even more.  What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Public speaking.  How do you keep your own career energized? – Damian is lucky enough to work with people who are real experts in their field. Learning about what is going on in their fields helps to keep Damian energized.  What do you do away from technology? – Damian´s 1-year-old keeps him busy. He also enjoys travel and surfing.    (21.15) FINAL CAREER TIP  Get involved in user groups and events. Also, expand your wings a bit beyond your day-to-day work and explore more of what you enjoy the most.    BEST MOMENTS  (4.02) – Damian - “Pay attention to what you like and don't like, when choosing your career path.”  (12.34) – Damian - “There's a good chance that the job you'll have in five years time doesn't exist yet.”  (15.58) – Damian - “Know when it's time to move on. If you are not enjoying your work, you need to leave.”  (17.04) – Damian - “You don´t have to follow the accepted path. If you don´t want to go into management, just say no.”  (21.18) – Damian - “Get involved in user groups and events, especially early in your career.”    ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  In 2017, Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.    CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS  Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:    Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer  LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess  Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer  Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer  Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact    Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com  Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer    ABOUT THE GUEST – DAMIAN BRADY  Damian Brady is a Microsoft Cloud Advocate who specialises in DevOps and MLOps.  He has been a programmer and consultant for more than 20 years across a broad range of industries and he regularly speaks at conferences and other events around the world.      CONTACT THE GUEST – DAMIAN BRADY  Damian Brady can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/damovisa  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianbrady  Website: https://www.damovisa.me       

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jeremy Keith. He is a web developer at Clearleft, a design agency that he co-founded, in 2005.  He is the author of several books about web design and is a regular speaker at conferences across the world.   He is also an organiser of events, including the recent Patterns Day 2 in Brighton.    In this episode, Phil and Jeremy Keith discuss how writing improves your spoken communication skills and builds your career. They also talk about how to get through difficult career phases. Jeremy shares his take on the future of the industry as a whole including some of the concerns he has about the direction web development is going in.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.36) TOP CAREER TIP As you learn something and progress in your career, write about it. You could just keep a record for yourself or put it all on a website. That approach has served Jeremy well.   This really enhances your communication skills. You soon become good at explaining complex things in writing and using speech. Writing is also a great way to be noticed.   (6.14) WORST CAREER MOMENT Having to let some staff go, because of the financial situation his company was in, was gut-wrenching for Jeremy. However, it taught him that no matter how hard things get, life goes on. The people he had to let go now have decent jobs, so they are now in a good situation.   That experience also changed the way he handles company finances. As a result, they have not had any financial issues since.   (9.21) CAREER HIGHLIGHT CoolSiteoftheDay.com has been highlighting the best sites and apps, since 1994. Keith was a fan from day one and set himself the goal of getting one of his sites selected as the coolest site of the day. Naturally, he was thrilled when that is exactly what happened.   (11.05) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Keith is worried about some aspects of the industry. Websites have become too bloated and slow, especially in light of the needs of emerging markets. He is concerned that the process of creating sites is becoming so complicated that the majority of people are not be able to easily learn the skill.   Nevertheless, he is still optimistic. The web design and development communities are still willing to share and work closely together. Once someone figures something out, they share it a way of working that benefits everyone.     (14.02) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that something he made in his bedroom could be seen by anyone in the world who wanted to view it. What’s the best career advice you received? –If you are supposed to be somewhere or do something, show up. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Invest in this or that technology. Usually, following that advice turns out to be wrong. Instead, you need to learn the underlying principles. What would you do if you started your career now? – He would probably go down the self-taught route and focus on learning the underlying principles rather than focusing on just one tech discipline. What are your current career objectives? – Helping others is what brings Jeremy the most satisfaction, so that is his current focus. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. It has enabled him to become a good public speaker and communicator. How do you keep your own career energized? – Jeremy has been lucky to find new tech that has interests him enough to keep him energized. What do you do away from technology? – Music is still his first love. He also enjoys reading, but he is careful to read non-fiction as well as fiction, which keeps things interesting.   (20.07) FINAL CAREER TIP Build your own website and use it to learn to write well, share what you know in different ways and track your career.   BEST MOMENTS (4.42) – Jeremy - “Develop the skill of being able to explain things well.” (12.39) – Jeremy - “Share what you know once you have figured something out. This is good for everyone.” (14.57) – Jeremy - “If you are supposed to be somewhere, or on a call, at a certain time, be there.” (15.52) – Jeremy - “Don’t invest in just one tech. Instead, learn the underlying principles. You can apply those to anything.” (20.14) – Jeremy - “Have a website of your own where you share things and track your career.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  In 2017, Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JEREMY KEITH Jeremy Keith is a web developer at Clearleft, a design agency that he co-founded, in 2005.  He is the author of several books about web design and is a regular speaker at conferences across the world.   He is also an organiser of events, including the recent Patterns Day 2 in Brighton.     CONTACT THE GUEST – JEREMY KEITH Jeremy Keith can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/adactio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adactio Website:  https://adactio.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Laura Klein. Laura has been an engineer, designer and product manager helping companies of all sizes learn about their users so that they can build products people enjoy using. She’s author of the books “Build Better Products” and “UX for Lean Startups” as well as co-host of the podcast “What Is Wrong With UX”. In this episode, Phil and Laura talk about the differences between job security and career security. And they discuss the importance of research and preparation as well as the growing emphasis on ethics within the industry. Laura also tells us why she is more excited about the potential of Augmented Reality than Virtual Reality.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.42) TOP CAREER TIP The thing that Laura found to be really interesting and important is that there is no job security. Your job can fire you at any time, the company can go out of business at any time and so forth. Laura talks about having career security rather than job security and how you can continue to be employable. Don’t be than reliant on one job forever.   (5.11) WORST CAREER MOMENT Laura says that her first public talk in tech was a disaster. And this was in front of three hundred people. She had thought that giving a talk would be easy and similar to giving a high school talk but it was totally different. She hadn’t done enough research into what other conference talks were like. But Laura learnt from the experience and in particular to do research. She also started doing talks at much smaller venues such as meetups and hackathons.   (8.51) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Laura tells Phil how excited she was at writing and publishing two books which she’s very proud of. However Laura says that, in contrast with her worst moment, she had the opportunity to give a talk to thousands of people at Davy Symphony Hall in San Francisco. This time the talk went very well.   (10.00) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Laura says that she believes we’re in a bubble which is likely to deflate a bit. She thinks there will be some painful shake outs. However she is excited about technology being made easier for everybody in a more accessible way. And she’s also excited about Augmented Reality rather than Virtual Reality. Laura is pleased that there is now a greater focus on ethics within the industry.   (12.31) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Laura says it was initially simply a way to make money. What’s the best career advice you received? – Focus on career security not job security. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Laura was advised not to become a technology recruiter by someone who didn’t know anything about it. What would you do if you started your career now? – Laura says that she would have stuck with engineering a little longer. What are your current career objectives? – To figure out what she wants the next few years of her career to be. She’s reviewing her career and looking at how to switch up to something new. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. Laura says that there is nothing she has done or learned to do that is more effective at getting me jobs and well-known, all of which happened because I wrote stuff down. How do you keep your own career energized? – Laura has a podcast, “What is wrong with UX”. More people know Laura from the podcast than the books and the writing. What do you do away from technology? – Laura says that she has a hobby solving extremely hard puzzles for fun and sometimes in competitions.   (18.17) FINAL CAREER TIP Laura says that you shouldn’t take career advice from people like her. However she clarifies this by explaining that you should look to take career advice from people who have worked for the type of organisation that you’re interested in working for. Find people like you want to be in two to three years.   BEST MOMENTS (8.42) – Laura - “All of the things we do in design and research all of the time, apply them to the rest of your career” (13.21) – Laura - “Focus on career security not job security” (18.48) – Laura - “Find people like you want to be in two to three years”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – LAURA KLEIN Laura Klein has been an engineer, designer and product manager helping companies of all sizes learn about their users so that they can build products people enjoy using.She’s author of the books “Build Better Products” and “UX for Lean Startups” as well as co-host of the podcast “What Is Wrong With UX”.   CONTACT THE GUEST – LAURA KLEIN Laura Klein can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lauraklein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraklein2 Website: https://usersknow.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Aimee Knight. She is a software architect at Tuft and Needle, specialising in JS, React and CSS. She is also a Google Developer Advocate for Web Technologies, a panellist on the JavaScript Jabber podcast and n international keynote speaker. In this episode, Phil and Aimee Knight discuss how not being afraid to fail and becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable improves your career prospects. Aimee shares how she learned as a young athlete to focus and stop wasting her mental energy. A way of working that greatly increases what you can accomplish   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.24) TOP CAREER TIP Become comfortable with being uncomfortable. The people who succeed in the IT industry are the ones that work outside their comfort zone. Overcoming your fear of failure is one of the greatest catalysts in your life.   (7.31) WORST CAREER MOMENT Like so many people before her Aimee ended up inadvertently deleting production data. That was even after it had gone through PR review and been approved. It was restored fairly quickly, but it was not a good career moment.   (10.49) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Landing a job at MPM was a highlight. Working on developer tooling and with a team she looked up to was for Aimee, a particularly exciting point of her career, a highlight. Other highlights have included being a keynote speaker at conferences and having the chance to mentor others.   (12.54) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The way technology is now being used to help drive decisions is especially interesting and exciting. Aimee is also pleased to see the barriers to entry into the IT industry falling away. This is leading to people from diverse backgrounds entering the field. This, in turn, is changing the directions in which the technologies go.   (15.00) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Aimee has always had a thirst for knowledge, so the fact that you had to be a constant learner to thrive in IT was attractive to her. What’s the best career advice you received? – Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Learning to do this has helped Aimee to achieve a lot in a short period of time. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To succeed in the IT as a woman you have to act like a b*.*. Aimee did not follow this advice yet has been able to progress quickly in the industry. What would you do if you started your career now? – Aimee probably would have focused on the architecture rather than the front end. What are your current career objectives? – Aimee wants to dig deeper into the architecture side of things. She is also helping with onboarding and doing more mentoring. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Learning at an early age to make effective use of her mental energy. How do you keep your own career energized? – Aimee works at staying focused and finds that being a mentor keeps her more energized. What do you do away from technology? – Aimee runs around 40 miles per week and goes lifting, after work, with her boyfriend.   (23.31) FINAL CAREER TIP Aimee, once again, recommends getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and learning not to fear failure. Pick something and work at until you are so good that you can’t be ignored. You should develop the talents you already have to their maximum, but also not be afraid to try new things.   BEST MOMENTS (4.35) – Aimee - “People who succeed in the IT industry get comfortable being uncomfortable.” (16.22) – Aimee - “If you are learning one new thing every day, you’re making progress.” (21.41) – Aimee - “Learn to channel your mental energy. It is a finite resource, so use it wisely.” (23.43) – Aimee - “Don’t be afraid to put yourself into situations where you could fail. You will learn and grow faster.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – AIMEE KNIGHT Aimee Knight is a software architect at Tuft and Needle, specialising in JS, React and CSS. She is also a Google Developer Advocate for Web Technologies, a panellist on the JavaScript Jabber podcast and international keynote speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – AIMEE KNIGHT Aimee Knight can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aimee_Knight LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimee-knight-b268058/ Website: http://www.aimeemarieknight.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Michael Hunger. Michael is the Caretaker General of the Neo4j Developer Community. For the past few years he has been working with Neo Technology on the open source Neo4j graph database. He likes to help Neo4j users to be successful with their use cases & projects and he is the project lead of Spring Data Neo4j. He is also an author of several books as well as a regular conference speaker. In this episode, Phil and Michael discuss behavioural career tips, why patience, understanding and compassionate are so important and why you shouldn’t be afraid to be a contributor. They also talk about making the most of every day and how opportunities can open up to you when you expand your horizons.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.10) TOP CAREER TIP Michael talks about the book Apprenticeship Patterns which is a collection of behaviours that are suitable to people joining the industry. It includes tips and tricks from experienced practitioners and is a book that Michael often returns to. Michael provides the example of learning to share what you have just learnt. This could be a blog post or a talk. Mentorship and continuous learning are two other examples from the book.   (5.22) WORST CAREER MOMENT Michael describes a time when he was frustrated with someone. However instead of taking the time to find out what the reasons for this were, he responded by email to vent his frustration. He learnt that there are often legitimate reasons as to why people do what they do and not to be so impulsive. Another learning from this was that email and written communication has its limitations and is no substitute for conversation.   (7.36) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Open Source has been had the greatest impact on Michael’s career and his life. Working on Open Source projects has opened up career opportunities as well as connections with really great people. Working on one Open Source project led to Michael attending a conference where he heard the founder of Neo4J give a talk. This, in turn, led to Michael joining Neo4J.   (10.28) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Teaching kids and, in particular, girls to code is something Michael very much supports. Having a development skillset gives you an understanding that will be helpful to your career, even if you don’t work in I.T. later. Michael also talks about the importance of diversity in I.T. Other things that excite Michael include the possibilities that technology offers and the potential of machine learning.   (13.40) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Michael started writing computer programs on paper before he had a computer. Computers fascinated him from an early age and it’s what he loves to do. What’s the best career advice you received? – Make every day a day where you learn something new. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Focus only on your own career advancement. What would you do if you started your career now? – Be much more active in travelling around the world and learning from different people with different backgrounds. What are your current career objectives? – Helping team members to grow, giving them feedback and making sure that they have everything they need. As well as learning how to delegate and make difficult decisions. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Michael has learnt how to ask the right questions and elicit information from people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Read a lot and listen to podcasts, both technical and non-technical. Also attending conferences which helps to generate new ideas. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with his daughters and family, playing board games. Michael has also started meditating.   (25.36) FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t be afraid to contribute to projects, ask questions and talk to people at conferences. Michael says that he would rather ask for forgiveness than permission.   BEST MOMENTS (4.09) – Michael - “If you learn something new, write it up and publish it as a blog post” (8.47) – Michael - “Open Source is such a great way of collaborating, showing what you can do” (15.32) – Michael - “Make every day a day where you learn something new”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – MICHAEL HUNGER Michael Hunger is the Caretaker General of the Neo4j Developer Community. For the past few years he has been working with Neo Technology on the open source Neo4j graph database. He likes to help Neo4j users to be successful with their use cases & projects and he is the project lead of Spring Data Neo4j. He is also an author of several books as well as a regular conference speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – MICHAEL HUNGER Michael Hunger can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:  Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mesirii LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jexpde Website: http://www.jexp.de

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Dave Malouf. Dave a Consultant, Coach and Educator. His mission is to help designers and design teams reach their value potential for the organisations they work with. He has been a designer, a design leader, and a former professor of design. And brings this to bear with frameworks and methods to help professionals level up. He is a co-founder of the Interaction Design Association, the co-founder of several conferences as well as a writer, a globally sought after speaker and workshop facilitator. In this episode, Phil and Dave discuss the likelihood of having multiple careers, why you can unintentionally become a zealot and why having an insatiable curiosity can drive your career forward. Dave also talks how significant a part of your life your career is and why understanding people is such a useful skill.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.19) TOP CAREER TIP You will have multiple careers in your life. Being open to that reality helps you craft your story for yourself. It’s important to acknowledge that you will have those career shifts. Dave believes that he has had multiple careers even though they are all broadly within the digital product and service design field.   (6.41) WORST CAREER MOMENT Dave talks about his first real management moment. This was at a time when he was shifting from being a web designer and learning about more traditional design practices. Dave feels that, although not deliberately, he was becoming zealot due to having passion for what he was learning whilst leading a team. However he wasn’t taking his team along on the learning journey with him. He learnt that it’s important to make it meaningful to them and help them to join the journey.   (9.36) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Dave says that the greatest success in his career is happening right now. He has managed to find a voice for himself and at the right time. Amplifying his voice and story has been successful for him as well as finding his strengths through understanding himself better.   (13.00) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Dave says that it’s a digital world, for good and for bad. You can work in the field of information technology in any shape or form and impact any part of the world. Dave then talks about working in cloud computing for Rack Space and the volume of e-commerce running on their servers. However he subsequently learnt that organisations as varied as Cern and Notre Dame University were also using their platform.   (15.21) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – It wasn’t a conscious decision. Dave discovered the world of computers in the early 1990. He bought his first laptop and was thrown into the world of CompuServe and AOL and became addicted to it. What’s the best career advice you received? – Go to where you’re going to find joy in your life because work is a significant part of your life. Also find the right manager that will help you to develop your career What’s the worst career advice you received? – Dave says that he has received criticism about having a number of short term engagements on his resume. However he doesn’t believes that it has been a strength of his career, providing learning opportunities and a range of experience. What would you do if you started your career now? – Go for a Design MBA, providing a formal background to business. Dave says that he is particularly interested in business operations. What are your current career objectives? – Stabilising his relatively new consultancy practice and making it a solid business What’s your number one non-technical skill? – It’s all about people and understanding who people are. Dave applies it to building relationships and navigating politics. How do you keep your own career energized? – Conferences is a big part of this. Attendance, creation and teaching are all factors What do you do away from technology? – Dave says that he loves to travel, which being a consultant and a conference speaker enables him to do.   (26.44) FINAL CAREER TIP Stay curious. The mentees he loves the most are those who have an insatiable curiosity. They apply it to skills about also to learning about themselves.   BEST MOMENTS (5.27) – Dave - “You will have multiple careers in your life. Being open to that reality helps you craft that story for yourself” (8.01) – Dave - “No matter how impassioned you are about something, you can’t lead people by pulling them” (11.22) – Dave - “Sometimes we need to be true to our strengths to become really successful” (15.11) – Dave - “What excites me about a career in I.T. is that you get to decide where you want to have an impact in the world” (18.05) – Dave - “Don’t look for a job, look for a manager”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DAVE MALOUF Dave Malouf is a Consultant, Coach and Educator. His mission is to help designers and design teams reach their value potential for the organisations they work with. He has been a designer, a design leader, and a former professor of design. And brings this to bear with frameworks and methods to help professionals level up.  He is a co-founder of the Interaction Design Association, the co-founder of several conferences as well as a writer, a globally sought after speaker and workshop facilitator.   CONTACT THE GUEST – DAVE MALOUF Dave Malouf can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:  Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/daveixd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmalouf Website: http://davemalouf.design

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jen Looper, a Google Developer Expert and a Cloud Developer Advocate Lead at Microsoft with over 18 years’ experience as a web and mobile developer, specialising in creating cross-platform mobile apps.  She is also the founder and CEO of Vue Vixens, which is an initiative promoting diversity in the Vue.js community. In this episode, Phil and Jen Looper discuss why making connections by physically meeting people is still the most effective way to network and uncover new career opportunities. They talk about how the frontend is changing. In particular, the impact the faster frameworks like Svelte are going to have. Jen also explains why those who are new to the industry can benefit from focusing on open source.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.50) TOP CAREER TIP Network as much as you can. In particular, attend user groups and meetups. It is surprising how much face time will help you. People remember you better and you make stronger connections this way. When you are looking for a job you will be surprised by how much easier it is to find one when you know more people.   (4.12) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage Jen worked in a workplace that was a bit rough around the edges, in general. For example, the CEO lost his temper and threw a chair at one of her female colleagues He tried to physically intimidate Jen too. But, she was taller than him so the act of her standing up and towering over him was enough to calm things down a little. Working in a place like that was awful. But, it taught Jen that if you are working in an environment where you have to use physical cues to get your point across, it is time to move on.   (5.14) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Jen and her team of Irish developers earned a Star Award for their work on an insurance application, which they did for Sun Life. It was definitely a career highlight, which felt all the better because it is unusual for remote teams to win these kinds of corporate recognition awards. She especially enjoyed seeing each team members’ careers take off after they had won the award.   (7.44) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Right now, Jen is excited about what is going on at the frontend. In particular with the new frameworks like Svelte, which are going to really simplify interfaces and improve performance. These changes will make a huge difference to people who live in areas of the world that still have slow connections.   (8.53) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – When it came to tech, Jen was an early adopter. When she realised she was good at programming working in IT was a natural step. What’s the best career advice you received? – Make a 1 year and a 5-year career plan. Jen does and she reviews them every 3 to 6 months. What’s the worst career advice you received? – From college, Jen wanted to go to Cal Berkley. But, instead of being advised how to do that, the college’s suggestion was that she explore becoming a sommelier because women had a heightened sense of taste and smell. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jen would start with open source and embrace the community around it. What are your current career objectives? – Jen has just moved into managing technical teams, so she is currently focusing on doing that well. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good networker and an active listener. How do you keep your own career energized? – Keep reading, keep following interesting people, keep building and continue to grow. What do you do away from technology? – Jen has just moved house, so has been busy making a new home. She is also enjoying learning to use Procreate app, an Apple Pencil and her iPad to create paintings, diagrams and art.   (14.25) FINAL CAREER TIP Keep learning, teach and become a mentor. When you do that you continually improve and will be helping the next generation to step up. The world is going to need a lot of people to maintain and evolve its tech. Jen is really excited to be helping people from across the world to get involved in tech, in particular, on the frontend.   BEST MOMENTS (2.58) – Jen - “Attend user groups and meetups. Meeting face to face is a very effective way to build a strong network.” (4.27) – Jen - “Avoid confrontational workplaces, the chances are you will have to leave quickly, so why put yourself through it?” (9.33) – Jen - “Make a 1 year and a 5-year career plan and review them every 3 to 6 months.” (11.28) – Jen - “Embrace open source, in particular, if you are just starting out.” (12.23) – Jen - “Cultivate active listening, to become a good communicator.” (13.18) – Jen - “Keep learning, teaching and mentoring. Doing all three will build you up and help the next generation.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Jen Looper Jen Looper is a Google Developer Expert and a Cloud Developer Advocate Lead at Microsoft with over 18 years’ experience as a web and mobile developer, specialising in creating cross-platform mobile apps. She is also the founder and CEO of Vue Vixens, which is an initiative promoting diversity in the Vue.js community.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Jen Looper Jen Looper can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jenlooper LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-looper-3442413/ Personal Website: http://www.jenlooper.com Website: http://www.vuevixens.org  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Joe Natoli. Joe is a UX consultant, author and speaker.  He has nearly three decades of experience consulting with and training the product development teams of some of the world’s largest organisations.   He has taught over 140,000 students through his online courses and is a regular keynote speaker and lecturer at events across the globe.    In this episode, Phil and Joe Natoli discuss how dogmatically sticking to processes or methodology can lead to failure. They talk about how reliance on process stops you from thinking about and solving the real problem.   Joe explains how mentoring helps him and why he does not mind failing sometimes and likes to be pushed out of his comfort zone.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.00) TOP CAREER TIP Dogmatic adherence to process or methodologies, of any kind, is not a good thing. If you are not careful it can end up painting you and the company you are working for into a corner.   The real world is messy, so insisting that things be done in a certain order every time is not viable. In the podcast, Joe gives a real world example and demonstrates how inflexibility is disrupting their workflow.   (8.03) WORST CAREER MOMENT   Joe was working as a consultant for a very large company. His recommendation was to replace a mix of legacy systems with an entire software lifecycle system. Unfortunately, prior to making this decision, he had not been allowed to talk to the guys who were running the current system.    When he did he realised that replacing the entire system would send shock waves through the company and cause a lot of damage. In the podcast, Joe explains how he works today to make sure that sort of issue never occurs again.   (11.19) CAREER HIGHLIGHT The fact that he has been able to help so many other people to progress their career has been a bit highlight for him. It feels good when someone he taught emails him and tells him they are doing well and thanks him for his guidance and support.   (13.12) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that everything chances so fast is exciting. It keeps you on your toes and keeps you sharp. Joe likes to be pushed out of his comfort zone.   For those who work in the UX field the challenges continue to evolve. The fact that human beings are so idiosyncratic means that the work is never likely to get boring. AI and machine learning are going to mix things up even more.   (15.06) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Joe always enjoyed designing things and has always had an interest in human nature. He can engage in both these passions through his IT career. What’s the best career advice you received? – His father told him to speak clearly and plainly. Using jargon and technology only confuses people. Joe explains how that advice advanced his career. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Business is business, personal is personal. If you remove the personal part when you create things they won’t be any good at all. What would you do if you started your career now? – Joe would learn everything he could about everything he could. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Joe is trying to take on less work. He is still trying to master the skill of time management. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Resilience. At some point things are going to go wrong, it is inevitable. SO, being able to weather those storms is the only thing that will keep you moving forwards. How do you keep your own career energized? – Joe finds that switching off completely, on a regular basis, helps him to stay energised in his career. What do you do away from technology? – Joe enjoys spending time with his family. He is also an artist and musician.   (22.54) FINAL CAREER TIP Be willing to be wrong and give yourself space to be wrong. There is no need to put pressure on yourself to always be the smartest person in the room. Nobody knows everything. Just keep trying, accept the fact that sometimes you will be wrong. Give yourself enough time to try again.   BEST MOMENTS (5.00) – Joe - “Dogmatic adherence to process or methodologies, is not a good thing. It can paint everyone into a corner.” (12.43) – Joe - “Help others to get past their sticking points. You will be making a positive difference in the world.” (13.58) – Joe - “Don’t fear change. It keeps you on your toes and keeps you sharp.” (16.07) – Joe - “Speak clearly and plainly. Jargon and terminology have no place in communication.” (18.12) – Joe - “You should never stop learning. Learn about culture and people as well as tech.” (23.04) – Joe - “Be willing to be wrong and give yourself to be wrong. Trying and maybe failing is the only way we learn.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Joe Natoli Joe Natoli  is a UX consultant, author and speaker.  He has nearly three decades of experience consulting with and training the product development teams of some of the world’s largest organisations.   He has taught over 140,000 students through his online courses and is a regular keynote speaker and lecturer at events across the globe.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Joe Natoli Joe Natoli can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/joenatoli LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/joenatoli Website: https://www.givegoodux.com YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/Givegoodux

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Mark Heckler. He is a Pivotal Principal Technologist and Developer Advocate, conference speaker and published author focusing upon software development for the Internet of Things and the cloud. He has worked with key players in both the private and public sector across multiple industries to develop critical capabilities on time and on budget.  He is also a frequent open source contributor as well as author/curator of a developer-focused blog. In this episode, Phil and Mark Heckler discuss how to not let the fact that the industry moves so fast that it is impossible to keep up overwhelm you.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.09) TOP CAREER TIP Embrace but do not accept your inadequacy. In the world of IT, things move so fast that you are effectively losing ground every day. It is impossible to keep up and know everything. You can either let fact frustrate you or spur you on and enjoy the fact that there are always fresh challenges to enjoy. However, it is very important not to take things too far and to know when to rest. You have to maintain a good work-life balance or you neglect your family and burn out.   (6.52) WORST CAREER MOMENT Fortunately, Mark’s worst career moment lead directly to his best one.  He was working as a Java evangelist. A job he loved.  So, when, very suddenly, his team was dissolved and he was fired he was crushed. Fortunately, others in the industry understood how good Mark and his team were at what they do. Almost immediately, several companies tried to hire them.   (8.41) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Mark describes what he is doing now as being the highlight of his career. He is really enjoying working with some of the defining companies on the planet to help them to deliver mission-critical software.   (10.12) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that you really can as Steve Jobs said: “Put a dent in the universe.” Is an exciting prospect and it is getting easier to do. Using the tools that are available now practically anyone can make a huge difference to people’s lives and in the future, it is going to become even easier to do so.   (12.04) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Mark loved programming, so for him, working in IT was always the way to go. What’s the best career advice you received? – Be teachable. If you have a closed mind you end up missing out on so much. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Do what others aren’t willing to do. This approach can work, but you have to make sure that do not end up completing tasks that take your career nowhere. What would you do if you started your career now? – Focus on what you can learn rather than what you can earn. What are your current career objectives? – Mark is planning to write a solo book. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being able to easily get along with others. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mark ensures that he never loses the wonderment of what’s new. What do you do away from technology? – Mark travels a lot, so during his downtime, he tends to stay close to home. He really enjoys spending time with his wife and kids.   (16.36) FINAL CAREER TIP Cultivate within yourself a love of learning. If you only learn one thing per day, that is 365 new things per year. He also thinks that it is important to invest in your family. When you do those 2 things, everything else falls into place.   BEST MOMENTS (2.26) – Mark - “Don’t let your inadequacies get you down.  Instead, use them to spur you on.” (12.33) – Mark - “Be teachable, it is the only way to unleash your full potential.” (12.48) – Mark - “Filling gaps that others aren’t willing to fill is a good thing, but only if you are careful about the ones you choose.” (13.33) – Mark - “When you start your career, focus more on what you can contribute and learn rather than how much a project pays.” (16.43) – Mark - “Learn something new every day. When you do, by the end of the year you will have learnt 365 new things. ”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Mark Heckler Mark Heckler is a Pivotal Principal Technologist and Developer Advocate, conference speaker and published author focusing upon software development for the Internet of Things and the cloud. He has worked with key players in both the private and public sector across multiple industries to develop critical capabilities on time and on budget.  He is also a frequent open source contributor as well as author/curator of a developer-focused blog.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Mark Heckler Mark Heckler can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mkheck LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markheckler Website: https://theheckers.com  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Steph. She is a Security Analyst with a background in journalism and web hosting. She is the creator and editor of StephAndSec.com which is a blog focused on technology, inclusion and lifetime learning.   She’s also a chapter lead for Women In Security and learning as much as she can about anything and everything.   In this episode, Phil and Steph discuss what it takes to work in the IT security industry. They talk about why getting started in the sector is not as hard as people say it is. Steph shares insights into the future of IT security. She also talks about how to know when it is time to move on to another opportunity.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (9.11) TOP CAREER TIP If you want to work in security you need to be a curious and passionate person. Slight paranoia helps too, as does having good attention to detail. But, teams need a mix of traits and skills to be able to be effectively, so potentially anyone can work in the industry and be successful.   A lot of industry veterans make it seem difficult to start a career in IT security. It is actually a lot easier than you think. So, don’t let them put you off of getting involved.   (13.25) WORST CAREER MOMENT Steph knew she wanted to work in IT security from a early stage in her career. But, making the transition was a big struggle. She finally got into a position where the security team at the firm she was working for green-lit her to work with them. Sadly, she was not allowed to move out of her current team. She explains why that was and how she handled the situation, in the podcast.   (18.21) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For Steph, this entire year has been one long highlight. So, was landing her first job in IT security. Better still she loves the work she is doing. All of that time and effort turned out to be worthwhile.   (21.14) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The future is not as predictable as you think which is exciting. The industry moves at a phenomenal rate, especially within the security sector. As does how things are done in the rest of the industry. The security side of things has had to move fast to to keep up. This is one of the reasons it is so exciting to be involved in IT security.   (23.09) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – It was her mum that suggested she take her love of computers and turn it into a career. What’s the best career advice you received? – Fire your boss. If your boss is not compatible with you, life can be miserable and limit the scope of your career. In that situation, it is best to leave. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Find your passion. If like Steph you have not long started working in a sector you need to find your feet before deciding what area you will focus on. What would you do if you started your career now? – Steph would worry less about what others think of the way she does things and how she fits in. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Steph is focusing on writing and finishing up school. Her aim is to become a Chief Information Security Officer (CSO). What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good conversationalist. It helps her to draw people out and find out what they really need from her. Also, being a good writer. How do you keep your own career energized? – Last year, Steph experienced burn out. That prompted her to focus on working for her community. It has helped her no end and keeps her energized. What do you do away from technology? – Spending time with friends and family. She also enjoys writing in a non-tech format and reading.   (30.57) FINAL CAREER TIP There is a saying if you are alone you can go fast, but if you are with people you can go far.  Steph has found this to be true. It is important to build good connections with others and be a part of your work community.   BEST MOMENTS (12.53) – Steph - “Good attention to detail and a curious nature make you an ideal candidate for working in IT security.” (24.42) – Steph - “If you are working for someone who is not compatible with you don’t hesitate to leave.” (25.56) – Steph - “When you start work in a new sector take the time to look around before deciding what to focus on.” (31.05) – Steph - “Once you find your community the journey to what you want to do in tech is not as daunting.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – STEPH Steph is a Security Analyst with a background in journalism and web hosting.  She is the creator and editor of StephAndSec.com which is a blog focused on technology, inclusion and lifetime learning.   She’s also a chapter lead for Women in Security and learning as much as she can about anything and everything.   CONTACT THE GUEST – STEPH Steph can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/StephandSec LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephandsec Website:  https://stephandsec.com/about/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Scott Ambler. Scott works with organisations around the world to help them to improve their software processes.  He provides training, coaching and mentoring in disciplined agile and lean strategies at both the project and organisational level. He is also the founder of the Agile Modelling (AM) and Agile Data (AD) methods and co-founder of Disciplined Agile (DA). In this episode, Phil and Scott discuss why Scott got interested in agile and continues to develop it. How he helps large organisations to change the way they work by leveraging the experiences of other organisations. They talk about how to effectively test the architecture of a system, at an early stage, and why it must be done.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (6.41) TOP CAREER TIP Read widely. You need to be constantly consuming information from a wide range of sources.   (7.46) WORST CAREER MOMENT Many years ago, Scott ended up working with a strong team who were handicapped by having to use technology that basically did not work. The different parts of the system could not talk to each other and the database could not handle negative numbers. Worse, these fundamental flaws could not be fixed. Months later, it all crashed and burned. The experience taught Scott the benefits of testing early. You have to prove the architecture as soon as possible.   (10.59) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Scott really enjoys seeing software and systems he has worked on being used when he walks down the street. He also loves the fact he is still in touch with some of the teams he worked with, in the past. Working with great people has been something he feels has been a highlight of his career.   (12.51) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The complexity and variety of the work you do as an IT professional is what helps to make things so interesting. Given the fact that the world is in a constant state of flux, Scott believes there will always be interesting challenges to tackle.   (14.15) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – At university, Scott decided to take computer science because he had enjoyed programming since high school. So, a career in IT was a natural progression for him. What’s the best career advice you received? – Read often. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Focus on one technology. What would you do if you started your career now? – Scott says he would probably follow a similar path. But, he would want to work on a legacy system. He explains why that is, in the podcast. What are your current career objectives? – Scott wants to dive deeper into understanding why certain approaches work and others don’t. He wants to be able to answer these fundamental questions. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good writer. How do you keep your own career energized? – Being curious and always striving to learn something new. What do you do away from technology? – Scott loves cycling. He also collects Atari 8 consoles and old computers.   (20.22) FINAL CAREER TIP Continually expand your skillset and take every opportunity to learn from others. And always question what you do. Develop several core specialities. But, be sure to look beyond them. Work to understand the challenges of the business you work for and always be willing to pick up new skills.   BEST MOMENTS (5.06) – Scott - “Own your own process, choose your way of working.” (6.41) – Scott - “Always be trying to learn, always be reading and read widely.” (9.59) – Scott - “It is important to test early and prove the architectures working code.” (18.14) – Scott - “Being able to communicate, particularly using the written word is still absolutely critical.” (21.13) – Scott - “Always be willing to pick up new skills and work with others.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SCOTT AMBLER Scott Ambler works with organisations around the world to help them to improve their software processes.  He provides training, coaching and mentoring in disciplined agile and lean strategies at both the project and organisational level. He is also the founder of the Agile Modelling (AM) and Agile Data (AD) methods and co-founder of Disciplined Agile (DA).   CONTACT THE GUEST – SCOTT AMBLER Scott Ambler can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/scottwambler LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/sambler Website: https://www.scottambler.com/index.html

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Diomidis Spinellis.  He is a professor in the Department of Management Science and Technology at the Athens University of Economics and Business, and a long-time IT practitioner.   He is the author of many open-source software tools, including UMLGraph, CScout, and git-issue.  His latest book is “Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems”.    In this episode, Phil and Diomidis Spinellis discuss how taking the time to develop tools to solve what are sometimes small problems makes you a better programmer and boosts your career. They talk about how to become an effective communicator and quickly understand the root of the problems you are working to solve.   Diomidis shares examples of how simple solutions can be used to achieve step changes. He also talks about the maths behind machine learning and the future of the IT industry.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.03) TOP CAREER TIP The first skill you need to develop is communication. This is because everything you do involves humans. The work that you do is generally connected to larger systems.   If you want your technology to truly help and be widely adopted you need to be able to see the wider picture. You have to be able to effectively present your ideas to your colleagues, customers and the wider world.   (5.43) WORST CAREER MOMENT In the 80s, Diomidis was charged with installing a powerful processor to sit alongside an existing one. Unfortunately, when Diomidis did the installation, it literally went up in smoke. He explains why in the podcast.   At the time, this equipment was crazy expensive and you had to wait months to get hold of it. So, his error was a major one. Fortunately, the company took the view that mistakes were learning opportunities. That experience taught Diomidis to be extra careful when actions can have irreversible consequences.   (9.23) CAREER HIGHLIGHT While serving the Greek government as the Secretary General for Information Systems he was asked to consolidate the payment authority system for its civil servants. Basically, he had to centralize the payment authorization process. It was to be a herculean task that could have cost a huge amount and taken at least 5 years to roll out.   Fortunately, an old hand in the administration came up with what most people thought  of as a crazy idea. In the podcast, Diomidis explains how he was able to take that idea and very quickly develop a solution.   (11.54) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Every year, we are blessed with better algorithms, new technology and more powerful computers. So, issues we could not solve yesterday can be solved today.       (13.36) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The chance to acquire the necessary skills to be able to control computers. What’s the best career advice you received? – Listen to other people, so you can understand their problems properly. Also, listen to and consider any advice you are offered. What’s the worst career advice you received? – To learn the 4GL 4th generation programming language, advice he did not follow. Over the years, Diomidis has learned not to invest too deeply in proprietary technologies. What would you do if you started your career now? – Diomidis would become a machine learning expert. He would go as far as gaining a deep understanding of the underlying mathematics. What are your current career objectives? – Working collaboratively with people from across the world. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. In the podcast, he explains how he developed this skill and uses it today, in his work. How do you keep your own career energized? – Diomidis has got into the habit of periodically evaluating what he is doing in his career, which gives him direction. Looking for and solving new problems also keeps him energized. What do you do away from technology? – Diomidis enjoys hacking gadgets. But, when he wants a complete break from tech, it is the natural world that he turns to. He also likes to run.   (20.03) FINAL CAREER TIP Constantly learn new things- new programming languages, tools and ways of working. Doing this keeps things fresh, helps you to find more solutions and keeps things relevant.   BEST MOMENTS (4.23) – Diomidis - “Learn to communicate with your colleagues and customers. To present your ideas effectively.” (8.23) – Diomidis - “When mistakes are made that is how we learn.” (8.36) – Diomidis - “Be extra careful when your actions can have irreversible consequences.” (18.43) – Diomidis - “Using technology as a lever can make you 10 times more productive.” (20.08) – Diomidis - “Constantly learn new things.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Diomidis Spinellis Diomidis Spinellis is a professor in the Department of Management Science and Technology at the Athens University of Economics and Business, and a long-time IT practitioner.   He is the author of many open-source software tools, including UMLGraph, CScout, and git-issue.  His latest book is “Effective Debugging: 66 Specific Ways to Debug Software and Systems”.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Diomidis Spinellis Diomidis Spinellis can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/coolsweng LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dspinellis GitHub: https://github.com/dspinellis Website:  https://spinellis.gr  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Noelle LaCharite. She is an advocate for women in technology, and passionate about mindful Leadership, work-life harmony and helping people achieve more through the use of AI.   She has spent many years as a trainer, solutions architect and evangelist for IBM, RedHat, EMC, Amazon and Microsoft.  Noelle has delivered keynotes, workshops and conferences around the world.      In this episode, Phil and Noelle LaCharite discuss the opportunities AI offers and how to embrace the technology so you can take advantage of them. As well as why every developer needs to get involved in AI, as soon as possible.   She also explains how she has used mindfulness and other mental exercises to improve her focus and she shares several other productivity tips. Phil and Noelle also talk about how to recognise and tap into your natural strengths to find your ideal place within the IT industry.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.26) TOP CAREER TIP Build good mental discipline. Over the years, using various methods, Noelle has trained herself to stay truly focused on one thing. As a result, she has become far more productive.   In the podcast, Noelle explains some of the things she has done to develop laser-like focus. A level of focus that enables her to stay present and calm, even when working on stressful projects that move along at a crazy pace.   (5.00) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one point in her career, Noelle was pushed out of a company that she knew she was serving well. But, the leadership were not fans of her.   They could not sack her because of her productivity or work. Instead, they just spoke to her colleagues about her in a negative way. In time, this very subtle drip-drip assault on her reputation had an effect and Noelle ended up having to leave.   (6.52) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Not so long ago, Noelle appeared on NBC as a representative of Microsoft. She was asked to speak about a project she worked on with data scientists from MIT and curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   During the interview, she was also able to speak about AI and the role it is playing in improving accessibility. A subject Noelle is particularly passionate about because her son has Down syndrome.   (8.30) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The endless opportunities IT offers and the fact that it is getting easier and easier to achieve remarkable things is something that Noelle finds exciting. For example, in under a year, Noelle went from knowing nothing about natural-language or AI to building skills on Amazon and Alexa. Some of which became the most popular in the world.   Right now, the opportunities in the AI field are endless. There is no barrier to entry. So, anyone can get involved.   (10.09) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – As a single parent, Noelle needed a job that paid well. A career in IT was an excellent way to earn the money she needed to look after her family. What’s the best career advice you received? – A friend gave her the highly personalised advice, to avoid the politics of a company. To know who her friends were and stay close to them while growing her career. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Sit down and be quiet. For Noelle personally, that was very bad advice. What would you do if you started your career now? – Noelle would work to leverage her natural skills while developing her career. Working with your strengths makes it much easier to progress quickly. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Noelle is exploring Mindful Management and how she can put it to use. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good storyteller. In the podcast, Noelle explains how she has been able to use that skill to become a better conference speaker. How do you keep your own career energized? – In the podcast, how she taps into books to keep her coding skills fresh becomes better informed than many others and uses Github to showcase what she has learned. CHANGED What do you do away from technology? – Noelle owns a 17-acre farm in the mountains. She finds that farming enables her to mentally and physically disconnect from technology.   (18.42) FINAL CAREER TIP Right now, AI is like cloud computing was 10 years ago. We know that every business is going to start using AI, at some point. So, now is the time to get involved in the AI field. When you do you will be in far better shape career-wise. Both now and moving forward.   BEST MOMENTS (3.48) – Noelle - “Train yourself to be able to truly focus on one thing at a time.” (8.41) – Noelle - “In the IT industry, with the right focus, you can achieve a huge amount very quickly.” (9.04) – Noelle - “Right now, anyone can enter the IT field. They just need desire, aptitude and passion.” (16.13) – Noelle - “Read the tech books you buy from cover to cover. Then freshen up your skills by writing the code you learned.” (19.02) – Noelle - “Get involved in AI now. Soon, every business will be using it. So, everyone needs some AI knowledge.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Noelle LaCharite Noelle LaCharite is an advocate for women in technology, and passionate about mindful Leadership, work-life harmony and helping people achieve more through the use of AI.   She has spent many years as a trainer, solutions architect and evangelist for IBM, RedHat, EMC, Amazon and Microsoft.  Noelle has delivered keynotes, workshops and conferences around the world.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Noelle LaCharite Noelle LaCharite  can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoelleLaCharite LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noellelacharite Website: http://aileadershipinstitute.com/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Lyndsey Padget. Lyndsey is the founder of Longplay Software and a full stack developer, having worked at both mega-corporations and start-ups.  She enjoys sharing her knowledge on topics including git & release management, test-driven development, agile and Kanban, and many more. And she believes that the difference between a good software engineer and a great one often has little to do with code. In this episode, Phil and Lyndsey Padget discuss effective ways to end negative cycles and habits so that you can finally grow your career. They discuss how not being afraid to ask the right questions, at the right stage, enables you to succeed. Lyndsey shares her take on where the biggest breakthroughs in AI are likely to come from. She also talks through the wisdom of being both a mentor and a mentoree.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.30) TOP CAREER TIP When growing your career you need to take act offensively rather than defensively. In the podcast, Lyndsey explains what she means by this using a real-life example and sharing numerous actionable tips with the audience. She explains how to stop wasting time and energy seeking out opportunities. Lyndsey shows you how to go from having to take whatever comes along to finding work that you actually enjoy. Roles that enable you to achieve your goals, instead of leaving you working to help others to achieve their goals.   (9.53) WORST CAREER MOMENT A few years ago, Lyndsey got hired to lead a backend development team. Yet, when she actually started she was told she was leading a frontend team. Two very different things and Lyndsey had not really worked on the frontend before. But, despite this, she was able to make a success of that situation. She explains how she did this and how you can do so too, if necessary, in the podcast.   (15.25) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Speaking at the Norwegian Developers Conference (NDC) in Oslo was a highlight. It was the first time Lyndsey had spoken internationally. Lyndsey explains how to be successful as an international speaker by knowing your audience and adapting what you deliver to better fit in with their cultural experiences.    (20.00) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Lyndsey is fascinated by the possibilities of AI. For example, getting natural language processing right is already changing the way we communicate. She also shares why she believes that the sex industry could be the source of some of the biggest breakthroughs in AI and the way it is used.    (22.11) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – When she was 13 she was invited to join a programme at a local software company. From that moment, she was hooked on IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – A good manager absorbs heat and radiates sunshine. In other words, she needed to protect her team from negativity and be more positive. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Take every speaking engagement you are offered. If you do that you just end up overcommitted and exhausted. What would you do if you started your career now? – Not be afraid to ask questions and seek help. When Lyndsey started out, she made the classic mistake of trying to figure everything out by herself. What are your current career objectives? – Lyndsey is keen to work on larger projects. So, she is currently figuring out how to make that happen. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication. It is the key to everything, listening makes you a better collaborator as well as ensuring you deliver what the client actually needs. How do you keep your own career energized? – Lyndsey rarely spends more than a year doing the same thing. At which point, she likes to pick up the pace and change things up. What do you do away from technology? – Lyndsey is acutely aware of the fact that she needs to use her downtime to recharge. So, she blocks off time to be with her kids, cook, sew and do DIY.   (35.39) FINAL CAREER TIP Become a mentor and a mentoree. The industry does a good job of teaching people to code. But, it is not so good at making sure that newcomers succeed in their new career. Going from being someone who can code to landing and succeeding in your first roles is something a lot of people need help with. The more mentors step forward the better it will be for the industry, as a whole. If you want to continually improve, finding your own mentor will prove very beneficial. Being mentored does not stop you from mentoring others.   BEST MOMENTS (9.32) – Lyndsey - “Get out of planning mode and into doing mode. You have to take action to move your career forward.” (12.06) – Lyndsey - “Nothing good comes of an environment where people are afraid to ask questions.” (24.54) – Lyndsey - “If you are a manager, protect your team from unnecessary negativity and stay positive.” (28.01) – Lyndsey - “Time is money. So, don’t be afraid to ask questions, it will help move things along.” (37.25) – Lyndsey - “You should be both giving and receiving in the mentorship, circle of life”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Lyndsey Padget Lyndsey Padget is the founder of Longplay Software and a full stack developer, having worked at both mega-corporations and start-ups.  She enjoys sharing her knowledge on topics including git & release management, test-driven development, agile and Kanban, and many more. And she believes that the difference between a good software engineer and a great one often has little to do with code.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Lyndsey Padget Lyndsey Padget can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/lyndseypadget LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndseypadget Website: http://www.lyndseypadget.com/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Ed Finkler. Ed is a software developer at DelMar Software Development. He is also co-host of the Development Hell podcast and he is currently raising mental health awareness in the tech community with his Open Sourcing Mental Illness speaking campaign. In this episode, Phil and Ed Finkler begin by talking about how mental illness impacts tech professionals and why awareness of the issue needs to increase. They also talk about how Ed has successfully managed his own mental illness issues. Ed and Phil discuss the future of IT and the need to simplify both the creative process and what we build. They also cover the need to use dependable tech.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (7.38) TOP CAREER TIP You need to develop your non-technical as well as your technical skills. These so-called soft skills are actually vital to success. Being a good communicator, the ability to work well in a team and having empathy are all essential.   (11.56) WORST CAREER MOMENT For Ed, that was being let go from a start-up position. At the time, he was working hard and felt that he was fully fulfilling the brief. It was hard for Ed to accept this change, especially because he had difficulties in other areas of his life. That was when his anxiety and depression really took hold and negatively impact everything. In the podcast, he explains how he managed to come out the other side.   (22.05) CAREER HIGHLIGHT At one stage, Ed’s mental illness completely destroyed his confidence. So, being able to gradually come back from that and once again become a fully-functioning developer was understandably a career highlight for Ed. But, perhaps even more so is what came out of that struggle. He is really proud of founding Open Sourcing Mental Illness and the fact that it has now gained momentum and taken on a life of its own. It is nice to know that it will be there and continue to help others for many years to come.   (26.41) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ed hopes to see the focus shifting from web development to creating tools that make things easier and more straightforward for developers. He feels that “complexity is the enemy” and believes that the more complex things are the more likely they are to screw up. Ed is excited about the fact that the community and open source are being embraced. He explains why in the podcast.   (34.45) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Ed has always loved computers. He kind of drifted into his IT career because he wanted to be able to build certain things. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t have a loyalty to a specific technology, brand or company. Reserve your loyalty for people. What’s the worst career advice you received? – It is a good idea to apply new and unproven technologies in production. It is not a good idea. This kind of fashion-driven development is extremely risky. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ed would start by learning Python. What are your current career objectives? – Being happy in his day to day life and at peace. Once you achieve that everything else, including work, becomes a lot easier. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to speak in front of people and enjoy doing it. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mixing things up, working in different languages on a range of projects. What do you do away from technology? – Ed loves music production. He has released an album and is about to release a 6 track EP.   (54.29) FINAL CAREER TIP Focus on the things that make you happy. You need to ensure that the things that make you feel satisfied are a part of the work that you do. In the podcast, Ed provides examples. He also explains that this does not necessarily mean working things that you find exciting.   BEST MOMENTS (9.46) – Ed - “How you communicate and interact with people and how empathetic you are will impact your success.” (29.24) – Ed - “The more complex things are, the more things are likely to screw up. We need to simplify things.” (35.15) – Ed - “We have to remember how lucky we are to work in the industry.” (40.04) – Ed - “Being focused on constantly learning new technologies can be actively detrimental to your career.” (41.53) – Ed - “You should make conservative technology choices when building things. End-users need dependable and proven tech.” (54.41) – Ed - “Seek out work that makes you feel satisfied and happy.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Ed Finkler Ed Finkler is a software developer at DelMar Software Development. He is also co-host of the Development Hell podcast and he is currently raising mental health awareness in the tech community with his Open Sourcing Mental Illness speaking campaign   CONTACT THE GUEST – Ed Finkler Ed Finkler can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/funkatron LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edfinkler/ Website: https://funkatron.com/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Luke Kanies. He is a design and strategy-oriented advisor, speaker, writer and the founder of Puppet, a company helping to define the future of software.   He has a number of interests, including software productivity, business strategy and the inclusion of more people in the software revolution.    In this episode, Phil and Luke Kanies discuss how and why he created Puppet. Luke goes into detail about his journey through founding, funding and finally leaving the company he formed.   Luke also talks about how being a bit of a maverick thinker and risk-taker has helped him to have such a successful career. They also speak about a huge software development market that is still virtually untapped and how users having more control of their data will change things, moving forward.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (10.09) TOP CAREER TIP Getting fired is incredibly valuable. It has happened to Luke several times. After a while, he worked out that not being afraid of being fired freed him up to pursue the things he really cared about and be honest.   He became braver and took more risks, an approach that really paid off for him. Provided you do not go too mad, taking a few risks can be good for your career.   (12.40) WORST CAREER MOMENT Luke has had a few bad career moments. But, it is the collateral damage that comes from running a growth company that has been the worst thing about his career.  Luke discusses the mistake he made of hiring a friend. Unfortunately, working in a high-growth environment put an incredible strain on their relationship and caused a lot of damage.   In the podcast, Luke goes through some of the issues he had with setting up and running Puppet. He talks about challenges like financing, pulling together an executive team, scaling and leaving the company behind. All of which created difficulties for Luke.   (16.03) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Making Puppet, it feels great when someone comes up to him and thanks him for creating Puppet. Luke explains that people tell him that Puppet made their lives so much easier. DevOps pros regularly tell him that they now enjoy better pay and a good work/life balance because of what Puppet did for them.   (17.40) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Luke thinks that the practice of surveillance capitalism is coming to an end. He is also excited by the movement to decentralise the web and give the power back to the people.   Smartphones and cloud platforms have opened up the chance to build products that literally billions of people can use. You can now build truly specialised software tools to help people to do their jobs better.   (22.20) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact IT was a good fit for him and he was able to get paid well. Before he took on an IT role he was fired from every previous position he held. What’s the best career advice you received? – Reserve the right to wake up smarter tomorrow. In other words, if new information comes along, don’t be afraid to change your point of view. What’s the worst career advice you received? – There is no chance that you can succeed with Puppet. They were definitely wrong about that. What would you do if you started your career now? – Luke would look at what everyone else is doing and look to fill the white space. Luke likes to do something different. What are your current career objectives? – Luke is focusing on building tools to automate tedious tasks, so you are freed up to do more interesting, better paid and fulfilling work. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Luke sees writing as his superpower. He uses writing to work through his problems and ideas. How do you keep your own career energized? – Handling multiple projects and pushing forward on 3 or 4 parts of his career at the same time. What do you do away from technology? – Luke enjoys spending a lot of time with his family. He is a keen cyclist, enjoys mountain biking, video games and photography.   (31.57) FINAL CAREER TIP Find your own convictions. Don’t always follow the crowd.   Look for common assumptions and opinions that you believe may be wrong or no longer valid. Study them and see if they are correct. If they are not, challenge them. This is a great way to discover new things, stretch your mind and change things up.     BEST MOMENTS (10.52) – Luke - “Being prepared to take considered risks will take your career in interesting directions.” (20.11) – Luke - “Building software for specific professions is a huge market just waiting to be tapped.” (28.44) – Luke - “Use writing to work through your problems and ideas. Writing things down clarifies everything.” (32.18) – Luke - “Explore your unconventional opinions in-depth. Doing so enables you to come up with ideas no one else has thought of yet.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Luke Kanies Luke Kanies is a design and strategy-oriented advisor, speaker, writer and the founder of Puppet, a company helping to define the future of software.   He has a number of interests, including software productivity, business strategy and the inclusion of more people in the software revolution.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Luke Kanies Luke Kanies can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/lkanies LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukekanies/ Website: https://lukekanies.com  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Paul Boag. He is a leader in digital transformation and user experience design thinking.  Through consultancy and training, he helps organisations make better use of technologies. He is also author of five books including “Digital Adaptation” and “User Experience Revolution” as well as being a speaker on user experience design and digital transformation. In this episode, Phil and Paul Boag discuss the importance of taking a multi-disciplinary approach to what you do. Paul repeatedly provides examples of how to do this and demonstrates the positive impact it can have on your career. They also talk about the evolution of machine learning and AI. Paul explains how soft skills, being a good salesperson and staying flexible have helped his career.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.17) TOP CAREER TIP Broaden your horizons; think outside of your immediate discipline. When you familiarise yourself with other tech and areas of business, communicating and working collaboratively becomes easier. You end up with the knowledge and vocabulary you need to understand and be understood better by others. In the podcast, Paul and Phil discuss how to do this without becoming overwhelmed. Being a generalist is not a bad thing. For example, Paul specialises in UX, but can still write code. This enables him to understand the principles used to create the systems he is working on.   (8.43) WORST CAREER MOMENT During the 90s Paul worked at a .com. When it looked like it was about to go bust, the senior management decided to turn it into an agency. They came up with a list of people to offer jobs to. But, they did this without consulting the staff. That clandestine approach caused a tremendous amount of hurt. Surprisingly, even for those that got a job out of that process. This negative experience taught Paul the importance of being open and transparent with his staff. He is now a far more empathetic person.     (12.10) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Paul’s career highlight was helping a frozen ready meals firm grow their e-commerce sales by several thousand percentage points. They specialised in delivering these meals to elderly customers. Paul provides several examples of why this project turned out to be so exciting and interesting to work on. During this section, he clearly demonstrates why you need to think beyond your discipline if you want to become a truly successful IT professional     (16.38) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Paul loves the way you get hired to do one thing, only to find that a couple of weeks later the job changes and you are doing something completely different. It is very exciting especially for the creative people who work in IT.   (19.29) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Nothing, because Paul does not actually see himself as an IT professional. You can find out why by listening to the podcast. What’s the best career advice you received? – Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t stop working, never stop hustling. Paul explains how this advice led to his burning out, during the .com boom. What would you do if you started your career now? – Paul would focus on developing smart devices. He is particularly interested in enabling users to interface invisibly with the technology. What are your current career objectives? – Paul wants to build longer-term relationships with some of his clients. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to sell, being able to sell ideas, himself and his vision. How do you keep your own career energized? – Interacting with other people. Learning from and teaching them. What do you do away from technology? – Paul likes to travel.   (26.12) FINAL CAREER TIP Stay flexible. You never know where new technology will take your career.   BEST MOMENTS (5.19) – Paul - “Think outside of your immediate discipline, this will turn you into a better collaborator.” (10.06) – Paul - “Be honest and transparent with your staff. The clandestine approach always causes untold damage.” (21.29) – Paul - “Get the work-life balance right, if you don’t you will soon burn out.” (27.09) – Paul - “Stay flexible. Careers never go in the direction you expect, so you need to be prepared to adapt.” (27.18) – Paul - “Focus on those soft skills as much as possible. Your collaborative and business skills are the ones that stand the test of time. ”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – PAUL BOAG Paul Boag is a leader in digital transformation and user experience design thinking.  Through consultancy and training, he helps organisations make better use of technologies. He is also author of five books including “Digital Adaptation” and “User Experience Revolution” as well as being a speaker on user experience design and digital transformation.     CONTACT THE GUEST – PAUL BOAG Paul Boag can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/boagworld LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulboag Website: http://boagworld.com

EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Nicolas Frankel. Nicolas is a developer advocate who has consulted for customers in a wide range of industry sectors including telecoms, banking and insurance.  He usually works on Java and Spring technologies with a focus on rich internet applications, testing, continuous integration, continuous development and DevOps.   As well as a frequent conference speaker, he is also author of three books including “Learning Vaadin” and“Integration Testing from the Trenches”.    In this episode, Phil and Nicolas Frankel discuss why you need to ask plenty of questions and not be afraid of failure. They also talk about how teaching and mentoring others helps you to grow as an IT professional.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.15) TOP CAREER TIP Do not be afraid to ask questions especially when you are a junior. People won’t think you are stupid when you ask how and why. In fact, this is the sign of a good developer.   During the podcast, Nicolas provides several examples of how asking questions has helped him to get to the root of why something needs to be done a certain way. Being informed like this makes it far more likely that the code you write will fully meet the end-users needs.   (6.04) WORST CAREER MOMENT Early on in his career, Nicolas managed to take down a production server. He was trying to automatically delete a specific set of files. Unfortunately, he ended up deleting them all. Nicolas explains exactly what happened during his discussion with Phil. It was a tough way to learn to never write anything in production.   (9.09) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Interestingly, for Nicolas, it was not one of the many big projects that he had worked on that was his career highlight. It was actually a small project that he and another developer completed while working directly with the stakeholder.   Up until that point, he had always worked with layers of management between him and the end client. The customer was thrilled with the result and thanked him and his colleague in person. It was the first time that had happened to Nicolas, which gave him a real lift.   (11.30) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The IT industry continues to get more interesting. There are so many opportunities to make things work better. For example, there is a huge need to make systems communicate and work together.   Right now Nicolas is especially interested in the new ways things are being deployed. He is excited by the new possibilities offered by using Docker Engine – Community.   (13.58) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Surprisingly, it was a course that Nicolas took while at architect school that sparked his interest in I.T. He explains exactly how that happened, in the podcast. What’s the best career advice you received? – Good communication is essential. You need to be prepared to share what you are doing with others. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Stop coding and get into management. People thought that the coding work Nicolas loved doing so much would all be outsourced. That did not happen, so Nicolas has been able to continue to earn a living doing the work he loves. What would you do if you started your career now? – Nicolas said he would not change anything about his approach. He found working for a consultant to be a good way to gain experience. What are your current career objectives? – Nicolas is working on his people skills by attending more conferences and engaging more with others when he attends. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being a good teacher and mentor. Teaching others has greatly improved Nicolas’ understanding of all kinds of tech. How do you keep your own career energized? – Talking at conferences, writing about IT, creating prototypes and setting up demos all help to keep his career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Nicolas loves sports he finds that it helps him to de-stress.   (25.35) FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t be afraid to fail. Failing is natural. If you don’t try you will never fail.   BEST MOMENTS (5.50) – Nicolas - “Do not be afraid to ask questions. Keep asking why to get to the root of things.” (16.58) – Nicolas - “Communicate what you are doing, why you are doing it and how it is better than other alternatives.” (19.33) – Nicolas - “Working for a consulting company early in your career is an excellent way to gain experience.” (21.31) – Nicolas - “Now everything is about teamwork, so social skills are becoming increasingly important.” (22.46) – Nicolas - “Teaching others pushes you to delve deeper, to understand more and hone your skills.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Nicolas Frankel Nicolas Frankel is a developer advocate who has consulted for customers in a wide range of industry sectors including telecoms, banking and insurance.  He usually works on Java and Spring technologies with a focus on rich internet applications, testing, continuous integration, continuous development and DevOps.   As well as a frequent conference speaker, he is also author of three books including “Learning Vaadin” and“Integration Testing from the Trenches”.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Nicolas Frankel Nicolas Frankel can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolas_frankel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasfrankel/ Website: https://blog.frankel.ch/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Cassidy Williams. She is a software engineer at CodePen and the director of outreach at cKeys.  Previously, she has worked for Amazon, L4 Digital, Clarifai and Venmo. She also runs a weekly newsletter and loves teaching and helping people become better coders.  In this episode, Phil and Cassidy Williams discuss the benefits of getting involved with the wider community and teaching them tech skills. They talk about the need to constantly evaluate the work you are doing to make sure that it is still right for you. Phil and Cassidy also review how the frontend is changing and what the websites of the future will look like.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.18) TOP CAREER TIP Know what you don’t want just as much as what you do. If you do not want to work in a certain kind of environment or use a specific tech knowing that is the case is essential. You have to avoid that kind of work even if it looks like it will take you closer to your dream job. Putting yourself in an uncomfortable place to reach your ultimate goal rarely works out. Usually, you just end up feeling miserable. At which point, it is all too easy to give up on your dream.   (6.08) WORST CAREER MOMENT A few years ago, Cassidy was offered a well-paid job with a good title at Amazon. Despite the fact that it was going to be practically impossible to maintain the level of life-work balance she had been enjoying at her previous firm, she took the job. For Cassidy, this turned out to be a huge mistake. She no longer had the time to work on side projects and got very little job satisfaction out of her new role. It was a tough way to learn what really mattered to her.   (9.04) CAREER HIGHLIGHT In the podcast, Cassidy shares four great highlights from her career. Including her work at Clarifai which gave her the chance to build a programme from the ground up and share it with the world.   (13.28) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Cassidy is really excited by the direction that frontend development is going in. React, Angular and Vue have really mixed things up and the possibilities are now endless. These more advanced front ends will make websites a lot faster, more functional and accessible.   (15.42) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Creating her first website is what got Cassidy hooked on IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – Ask yourself, what’s the worst that could possibly happen? Cassidy finds that thinking this way stops her from worrying too much and unnecessarily holding herself back. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Sign up for absolutely everything. It will make you better at time management. Following that advice will lead to burn out and leave you working on things you don’t really care about. What would you do if you started your career now? – Cassidy would start out by working for a large company. Then move onto working with smaller firms and start-ups. In the podcast, she explains how this can benefit your career. What are your current career objectives? – Cassidy is figuring out how she can earn enough relatively passive income, so she can spend more time working on side projects that interest her. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication, both speaking and writing. In the podcast, Cassidy explains how she went about developing these skills. How do you keep your own career energized? – Working on interesting side projects is what keeps Cassidy’s career energized. It is the main way she learns about new tech. What do you do away from technology? – Cassidy and her husband are musicians, so they both spend a lot of time playing music. She also loves making funny videos and coming up with new jokes.   (22.12) FINAL CAREER TIP Periodically, sit down and have a meeting with yourself about where your career is going. Every quarter or so, review your goals, objectives and what you are working on. Make sure that you are happy with what you are doing and where you are going. At this stage of the podcast, she shares the questions you should be asking to ensure that you stay on track and enjoying the work that you are doing.   BEST MOMENTS (4.34) – Cassidy - “Know what you don’t want just as much as what you do want.” (13.06) – Cassidy - “Technical workers should take full advantage of the freedom being able to work from anywhere offers them.” (18.06) – Cassidy - “Start your career working for a large firm, later you can switch to smaller firms.” (20.01) – Cassidy - “Learn to effectively communicate what you are thinking and don’t be afraid to ask questions.” (22.23) – Cassidy - “Periodically, take time out to honestly evaluate your career and ensure the work you are doing will keep you happy.”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Cassidy Williams Cassidy Williams is a software engineer at CodePen and the director of outreach at cKeys.  Previously she has worked for Amazon, L4 Digital, Clarifai and Venmo. She also runs a weekly newsletter and loves teaching and helping people become better coders.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Cassidy Williams Cassidy Williams can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/cassidoo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassidoo/ Website: https://cassidoo.co/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is James Ward. He is a software developer who shares what he learns with others through presentations, blogs, demos and code.  He is a self-proclaimed Typed Pure Functional Programming zealot but often compromises on his ideals to just get things done. And as well as being the co-author of “First Steps in Flex” and the creator of the first Java hosting service back in 1997, he helped to launch the Reactive Manifesto. In this episode, Phil and James Ward talk, at length, about the best ways to get involved in the IT community, help others and grow your reputation within the industry. They also discuss how to be effective at influencing decision-makers. James also talks about how to go back to basics when explaining things to beginners. A skill you need when building a team.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.26) TOP CAREER TIP Find a community you want to be a part of and work to improve it. Everyone benefits when you do that, including you. In time, you become well known and people start to recognise your efforts and what you have to offer. You can contribute in all kinds of ways. Write blog posts, put together documentation, provide code samples and more besides. Use forum and social media to uncover what people are struggling with, and then provide something to help them to meet those challenges.   (7.10) WORST CAREER MOMENT James worked at Adobe, in particular on Flex. When HTML, CSS and the web started growing, he realised that it would have a significant impact on how relevant Adobe Flex was. At that stage, James wanted to develop Flex in a way that enabled people to port their applications easily to the web. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince the management of the need to do this. It led to him leaving a job he loved because he knew the tech he was working on was going downhill. The experience taught James that he needed to work on his influencing skills.   (11.34) CAREER HIGHLIGHT James’ career highlight was TypeSafe the company behind Scala. He enjoyed being able to simplify things to the point where people could actually get started with using the tech. First, they created activator which made everything easier to install and provided templates. Later, they provided hundreds of pieces of sample code, which made things even easier.   (15.46) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T There is so much happening right now. It is almost overwhelming. But, this is a good thing because it means that the possibilities are endless. James has a lot of fun learning the new technologies and playing around with the latest tech gadgets. He shares details of his rocket related project with the audience.   (17.29) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – James describes himself as being a nerd, even as a young kid, so for him taking up a career in I.T was a natural step. What’s the best career advice you received? – You need to work on your dependability.  In the podcast, James explains how he overcame his own flakiness. What’s the worst career advice you received? – James has been lucky with his advisors, so did not have a worst piece of career advice to share. What would you do if you started your career now? – Get involved in machine learning, AI and data dynamics. What are your current career objectives? – James really wants to improve developer journeys and experiences. Right now, he is focused on using Java Spring in Google Cloud to do this. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – His desire to learn. At this stage he talks about a couple of his side projects he is involved in, including WebJars. What do you do away from technology? – James loves spending time in the mountains in Colorado. He is a keen hiker, biker and skier.   (25.21) FINAL CAREER TIP Share what you know. Everyone has something unique to share with their community, so make sure you do. You never know how many people you can end up helping by doing so.   BEST MOMENTS (4.29) –James - “Find a community you like and participate. Working to make that community better will get you known.” (11.20) –James - “Take people on a journey when trying to influence them. Build your arguments slowly over time.” (18.22) –James - “Be dependable. When you say you will deliver something, make sure that you actually do.” (19.33) –James - “Learn not to over commit. If you are a people pleaser, learn to say no a little more.” (25.22) –James - “Share what you know with your community. Everyone has something unique to share.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST –James Ward James Ward is a software developer who shares what he learns with others through presentations, blogs, demos and code. He is a self-proclaimed Typed Pure Functional Programming zealot but often compromises on his ideals to just get things done. And as well as being the co-author of “First Steps in Flex” and the creator of the first Java hosting service back in 1997, he helped to launch the Reactive Manifesto   CONTACT THE GUEST –James Ward James Ward can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/_JamesWard LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesward/   Website: https://www.jamesward.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jennifer Wong.  She is a civil former engineer and self-taught software engineer specialising in UI and frontend development.  She has written for Net Magazine and has had projects covered by Mashable, Engadget, Gizmodo and more. She is also an avid conference speaker and a Mozilla Tech speaker. In this episode, Phil and Jennifer Wong discuss how being flexible about the work you do and pushing yourself to learn completely new skills helps your career. Jennifer also speaks about her experience with sexual harassment in the workplace. Jennifer explains why you need to educate yourself about workplace disciplinary procedures, even if you have not, yet, had any issues. She also discusses how her project “Human Wasteland” helped to make a positive for the issue of homeless in San Francisco.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.09) TOP CAREER TIP Be flexible about the work you do and how you lead your life. Not being too rigid about your career plans makes it easy to adapt as things change and follow your interests.   (5.49) WORST CAREER MOMENT Jennifer experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. She went to HR, yet, the person just got a slap on the wrist. Shockingly, their boss protected them when the issue came to light. Worse, that person continued to abuse others even after Jennifer had left the company. It was an awful experience. One that highlighted to Jennifer the importance of knowing your rights and how workplace disciplinary processes should work. That way, if something goes wrong you do not waste time or end up taking ineffective action.   (9.23) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Creating Human Wasteland is Jennifer’s career highlight, so far. She took an innovative approach to highlighting the plight of San Francisco’s homeless population. Finding a public toilet is not easy, in the city. So, street defecation is an issue in the city. Jennifer mapped the 311 reports the city receives when this happens. Her innovative project caught the attention of the media. This in turn opened up the chance for Jennifer to talk about solutions for the homeless and play a part in local politics and improving social justice.   (11.45) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that anyone can now potentially work as a programmer is an exciting prospect. Jennifer can see this new wave of people coming up with lots of truly new and innovative ideas.   (13.18) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Jennifer was inspired to get involved in IT when a friend of hers learned HTML and CSS and started building her own websites. What’s the best career advice you received? – You will always feel you don’t know enough. Don’t worry about this, everyone still has so much to learn. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t worry about learning new skills just use the ones you already have. There is a real danger your existing skills will one day become redundant. What would you do if you started your career now? – Jennifer would have began her IT career earlier. What are your current career objectives? – Identifying and learning some of the skills she currently has zero knowledge of. In the podcast, Jennifer explains how she is using side projects to achieve this goal. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Empathy. How do you keep your own career energized? – Jennifer finds that working on side projects energises her. It pushes her to learn how to use new tools and languages. What do you do away from technology? – Jennifer volunteers for the League of Women Voters and co-leads the Police Commission Observer Corps.   (0.00) FINAL CAREER TIP Become an effective networker. You can never tell which relationship is going to lead the next big thing in your life.   BEST MOMENTS (4.15) – Jennifer - “Be flexible with what you want to do with your career.” (8.41) – Jennifer - “Educate yourself, in advance, about what to do if you are harassed or bullied in the workplace.” (15.12) – Jennifer - “Don’t just build on the skills you already have. Actively learn some completely new ones.” (19.33) – Jennifer - “It’s important to have empathy and understanding for your customers.” (21.24) – Jennifer - “Network. You never know who is going to connect you to the next big thing in your life.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Jennifer Wong Phil’s  guest on today’s show is a former engineer and self-taught software engineer specialising in UI and frontend development.  She has written for Net Magazine and has had projects covered by Mashable, Engadget, Gizmodo and more. She is also an avid conference speaker and a Mozilla Tech speaker.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Jennifer Wong Jennifer Wong can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mybluewristband LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferewong/ Website: https://www.mochimachine.com  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Kristijan Ristovski who is also known as Kitze. He is a developer and the founder of React Academy where he teaches React and Graph QL around the world.   He also launched ok-Google and more recently sizzy.co, which is a browser for designers and developers.  And he’s now in the process of documenting his journey on YouTube.    In this episode, Phil and Kristijan Ristovski discuss how solving problems you have helps others, stretches you as a developer and gets you known, in the industry. They talk about how easy it is to launch side projects and how to take advantage of this fact.       KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.51) TOP CAREER TIP Solve your own problems. Usually, you are not the only person with that problem, so, coming up with a solution helps others as well as you. Plus, it is a great way to learn and stretch yourself. Sharing what you create is a great way to get known.   Kristijan has taken this approach and has ended up developing two marketable and highly successful resources. The problem you solve does not necessarily have to be huge. It is the little issues that annoy people the most.     (6.17) WORST CAREER MOMENT While in college, Kristijan created a fun news portal for Macedonia. It became the 5th biggest Macedonian website.   The site could have been huge and much more profitable had he invested some of the cash he made into running ads and marketed it properly. Instead, he blew most of the profit on having fun, while at college. Understandably, Kristijan regrets doing that.   (10.06) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Sizzy.co, the developer’s browser, is Kristijan’s biggest success, so far. It has really taken off despite the fact that he is not yet heavily marketing it. Currently, there are 4 or 5 investment companies interested in investing.   (11.48) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that things are getting easier is really exciting. You can get a huge amount done. So much so that launching side projects is a viable option for every developer.   Right now, Kristijan is working on 20 ideas in parallel, something that would have been impossible just a few years ago. Machine learning and AI mean pretty soon anything will be possible.       (14.41) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – From childhood, Kristijan was enthralled by all things computer-related. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t wait until tomorrow to get started. Work on your ideas now. After all, at any point, you could have an accident and find yourself unable to work. What’s the worst career advice you received? – A friend once told him not to publish a conference summary article, he wrote. He did anyway and it proved to be very popular. What would you do if you started your career now? – Skip college and focus on self-education. What are your current career objectives? – Kristijan is currently building a bigger team. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to inject a bit of humour into most things. It makes serious, heavy subjects more accessible and easier to digest. How do you keep your own career energized? – Kristijan only works on things that he loves, which helps to keep him energised. What do you do away from technology? – Kristijan is trying to get to the gym 6 times a week. He is working at spending more time away from technology, so is learning to play the guitar.     BEST MOMENTS (5.00) – Kristijan - “Solve your own problems; others will have the same issue. Providing a solution will boost your career.” (13.18) – Kristijan - “In a weekend, you can sit down and turn any idea that you have into a launch. So, why not just do it?” (15.56) – Kristijan - “Don’t wait, create and invest in your future now, while you still can.” (18.02) – Kristijan - “Spend time on self-learning. You can learn most things using online courses.” (18.56) – Kristijan - “Build a team. You really can’t do everything on your own.”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Kristijan Ristovski Kristijan Ristovski who is also known as Kitze is a developer and the founder of React Academy where he teaches React and Graph QL around the world.   He also launched ok-Google and more recently sizzy.co, which is a browser for designers and developers.  And he’s now in the process of documenting his journey on YouTube.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Kristijan Ristovski Kristijan Ristovski can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/thekitze Github: https://github.com/kitze Personal Website: https://kitze.io Business Website:  https://www.reactacademy.io/ Sizzy: https://sizzy.co/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/kitze  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Adam Tornhill. Adam is a programmer who combines degrees in engineering and psychology.  He’s the founder of Empear where he designs tools for software analysis. He’s also the author of “Software Design X-Rays”, “Your Code as a Crime Scene”, “Lisp for the Web” and “Patterns in C”. In this episode, Phil and Adam discuss how domain expertise enables you to work faster, produce better products and cut down on maintenance. They talk about the future of the industry and whether the pace of change can continue to accelerate. Adam explains why he writes about tech and how it has benefited his career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.46) TOP CAREER TIP The most important skill you can have is domain expertise. Understand the product, its context and the end-users. Knowing your domain enables you to keep things simple. This in turn means that the code you write is simpler. Working this way solves numerous problems and brings commercial benefits which Adam talks about in the podcast.   (4.19) WORST CAREER MOMENT In 1999, Adam worked on the Y2K bug. He came up with an elegant solution, the technical details of which he explains in the podcast. It was shipped. At that time that meant physically sending out CDs which was expensive. A little while later Adam was working on an unrelated project. He looked at the date and time protocols and realised the solution they had already shipped was not going to work. Naturally, he felt terrible and he was afraid the mistake would cost him his job.   (8.52)CAREER HIGHLIGHT About 15 years ago Adam joined a project that had a hard deadline and was way behind. The package had to be ready in 3 months. Unfortunately, when he looked at the existing code, he realised there was no way that could happen. Radically, Adam persuaded his manager to let him and his team rewrite it, from scratch. Within 6 weeks they had launched a fully functioning, freshly written system.  A huge success for Adam and his team   (12.01) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Adam loves to learn new things. So, the fact that the landscape is changing all of the time excites him, but he wonders if the pace of change can continue to accelerate.   (13.03) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Adam started writing code as a child in the 80s, so a career in I.T. was a natural progression for him. What’s the best career advice you received? – Start to write. Adam finds that writing helps him to clarify things and look at them from a different perspective. What’s the worst career advice you received? – You have to become a manager to build a successful IT career. What would you do if you started your career now? – Initially, Adam would stay in roles for longer. It feels it is important to learn the project design process from the early stages to launch. What are your current career objectives? – Getting Empear up and running and becoming an even better communicator. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – His psychology degree has helped him to understand and motivate those around him. It has also impacted on how he writes his code. He explains how in the podcast. How do you keep your own career energized? – Side projects, especially those that are radically different from what he is currently working on. What do you do away from technology? – Adam loves spending time out in the fresh air with his kids.   (20.03) FINAL CAREER TIP Learn to learn. The more programmes and design methods you learn the easier it will be to pick up the next one. You soon reach the point where you can instantly relate the new thing you are learning to something you already know. When you can do that, you learn far faster.   BEST MOMENTS (0.00) – Adam - “Become a domain expert understand the product, context and your end-users.” (14.11) – Adam - “Writing is a fantastic learning vehicle, which makes you see things from another perspective.” (14.44) – Adam - “You do not have to follow the management path to have a successful IT career.” (20.09) – Adam - “Learn to learn. Gain experience with as many different programming and design paradigms as possible.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Adam Tornhill Phil’s guest on today’s show is Adam Tornhill. He is a programmer who combines degrees in engineering and psychology.  He’s the founder of Empear where he designs tools for software analysis. He’s also the author of “Software Design X-Rays”, “Your Code as a Crime Scene”, “Lisp for the Web” and “Patterns in C”. Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamTornhill LinkedIn: https://se.linkedin.com/in/adam-tornhill-71759b48 Website: https://empear.com   CONTACT THE GUEST – Adam Tornhill Adam Thornhill can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamTornhill LinkedIn: https://se.linkedin.com/in/adam-tornhill-71759b48 Website: https://empear.com      

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Eric Weinstein. He is an engineering leader focused on building performant, scalable and easy-to-use distributed applications.  He has a background in web development, SVOD, ad tech and machine learning as well as experience with mobile development and blockchain applications. He is currently Director of Engineering at ZipRecruiter where he’s helping to build the world’s first artificially intelligent job marketplace. In this episode, Phil and Eric discuss how to incrementally achieve your long-term career goals while staying current and relevant. They talk about avoiding burnout and how working in small efficient teams is effective. Eric discusses numerous ways AI and machine learning will be used in the future and the challenges this throws up. They discuss how to avoid communication failures.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.07) TOP CAREER TIP Set your career goals for 5 years time. Then work your way backwards to figure out where you need to be in 3 years, 2 years and 6 months to be able to attain that ultimate 5-year career goal. At those points, set yourself milestones along that path. This will ensure that you achieve your long-term career objectives. In the podcast, Eric explains how to adjust this approach to take account of the fact things change fast in the IT industry.   (4.19) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage in his career Eric found himself working crazy long hours. Late evening, weekends and occasionally 24-hour shifts. They got the product out on time. But, everyone being sleep deprived and stressed did a lot of damage to staff goodwill and morale. It was a bad time for Eric. Now he will happily crunch when needed, but will not let it become a regular occurrence.   (5.57) CAREER HIGHLIGHT The launch of AUX. Taking things from a product vision to launch was a very gratifying experience. It was great being responsible for every part of a product. Eric is especially proud of the fact they managed to do that while still respecting everyone’s work-life balance.   (7.44) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Eric is excited about the role that machine learning and AI are playing in shaping IT and the world we live in. People are using these technologies to tap into their own intuition and experience. This tech is augmenting their skills, making them more effective, rather than replacing them. The way natural language processing and AR are developing is also very exciting. They are going to make people’s lives so much richer. Eric shares several interesting examples of this and does so in some depth.   (11.44) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Eric’s publishing career lead to one in IT. In the podcast, he explains how he took this unusual path into the industry. What’s the best career advice you received? – It does not cost anything to be nice. What’s the worst career advice you received? – If you keep your head down and do good work, people will automatically notice. That approach rarely works. What would you do if you started your career now? – Eric’s undergraduate work was in philosophy, he would make sure it was computer science, instead. What are your current career objectives? – Continuing to get better at communication and help his team to translate the high-level vision into action. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication, Eric has worked on becoming effective in all communication delivery formats. How do you keep your own career energized? – Eric enjoys attending conferences. It is a great way to find out about emerging trends and make new connections. What do you do away from technology? – Eric is enjoying being a dad and likes to work out regularly. He is also hoping to get back into Taekwondo.   (22.59) FINAL CAREER TIP Our industry is nominally about technology, but mostly it is about people and putting them first. Focus on your human relationships not just the work that you are doing.   BEST MOMENTS (2.24) – Eric - “Set your 5-year career goal then set milestone goals to get you there.” (5.15) – Eric - “Constantly overtaxing yourself and working crazy hours leads to poor work.” (13.55) – Eric - “It does not cost anything to be nice. Things go smoother when you are.” (20.14) – Eric - “Please spend time on communication, it is critical.” (23.57) – Eric - “If you want to go far, pick a solid team to go with you.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein is an engineering leader focused on building performant, scalable and easy-to-use distributed applications.  He has a background in web development, SVOD, ad tech and machine learning as well as experience with mobile development and blockchain applications. He is currently Director of Engineering at ZipRecruiter where he’s helping to build the world’s first artificially intelligent job marketplace.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericqweinstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericqweinstein/ Website: http://ericweinste.in/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Lalitkumar Bhamare. He is a Senior Software Test Engineer working at XING SE.   He is co-founder and chief editor of the magazine “Tea-time with Testers” which was first published in 2011 and now boasts a readership of 40,000 across the globe.   And is also the founder of TV for Testers and host of Techno Talk with Lalit.    In this episode, Phil and Lalitkumar Bhamare discuss the need to be a continuous learner and effective ways to do that. They talk about why it is important not to wait around until you land your dream job.   Lalitkumar also explains how he turned a small local tech newsletter into a global resource for all to use, in just 8 years. He shares why he always pays it forward.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.21) TOP CAREER TIP The day you are finished learning you're finished as a professional. You need to be continually getting your hands dirty. Stay current, read the blogs, try new things yourself, discuss them, write about them and stay current.   (4.18) WORST CAREER MOMENT After graduating in 2008 as a mechanical engineer Lalitkumar landed a job with a finance company. Unfortunately, because of the recession, on his first day he and many others were sent home. The firm said they would ask him to join them at a later date. But, it did not come for over a year.   Instead, he took a job with an Indian firm. That decision proved to be very beneficial for Lalitkumar. So, his worst career moment taught him that he did not need to wait to land his dream job to enjoy his work and have a good career.   (6.48) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Starting and making a success of Tea-time with Testers has been his highlight, to date. Lalitkumar got a huge amount of support for this community project, from across the world.   It started small, just as a newsletter shared with colleagues. But, the fact that everyone, including newcomers, had a voice meant that it grew really fast.   (9.45) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Lalitkumar feels that the future of I.T is bright. The possibilities are almost endless. With tech, so much can be achieved. It touches every aspect of our life, which is part of the reason working in IT is so exciting.     (11.49) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact you could work on solving people’s problems and make a difference in the world attracted him to the world of IT. What’s the best career advice you received? – Keep calm and carry on. You can’t effectively solve problems if you are panicking. What’s the worst career advice you received? – The boss is always right. Don’t be afraid to challenge your boss and ask questions. What would you do if you started your career now? – Lalitkumar would like to build something special to help animals, especially dogs. What are your current career objectives? – Lalitkumar feels that things are changing drastically, right now. So, he is focused on understanding that change, so he can stay ahead of the times. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – His ability to effectively communicate with stakeholders from different backgrounds. In the podcast, Lalitkumar gives examples and explains how to develop this skill. How do you keep your own career energized? – Lalitkumar stays curious, learns new things, speaks at conferences and collaborates to make sure he always stays fresh. What do you do away from technology? – Lalitkumar likes to connect with nature. He enjoys hiking, gardening and tree hugging especially when he does these things with his son.   (17.05) FINAL CAREER TIP Stay relevant, but also pay it forward. Give something back to your community.   BEST MOMENTS (3.30) – Lalitkumar - “The day you are finished learning you're finished as a professional.” (5.30) – Lalitkumar - “It's okay to start from something in hand instead of waiting for the best opportunity” (13.22) – Lalitkumar - “Don’t be afraid to ask questions and challenge ideas.” (15.24) – Lalitkumar - “Learn to explain the same problem to different people, in their language.” (17.06) – Lalitkumar - “Stay relevant.Pay it forward. Give your community something back by sharing what you know.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Lalitkumar Bhamare Lalitkumar Bhamare is a Senior Software Test Engineer working at XING SE.   He is co-founder and chief editor of the magazine “Tea-time with Testers” which was first published in 2011 and now boasts a readership of 40,000 across the globe.   And is also the founder of TV for Testers and host of Techno Talk with Lalit.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Lalitkumar Bhamare Lalitkumar Bhamare can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lalitbhamare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lalitkumarbhamare/ Website: https://www.talesoftesting.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Simon Prior. Simon is the QA Programme Manager at Camelot which is the home of the UK’s National Lottery.  He has previously worked as a developer, build engineer, scrum master, QA engineer and QA manager.   He regularly gives talks on testing and IT in schools and universities and he’s also the host of the Aylesbury Testing Gathering.    In this episode, Phil and Simon Prior discuss the role work culture plays in career success. They talk through how dangerous working too hard is and how to get the balance right. Simon and Phil discuss QA and testing and talk about how getting it right ensures the creation of the best products.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.48) TOP CAREER TIP Define your personal values and stick to them. For example, Simon believes that nurturing and empowering his team is important. He also strongly believes that testing should be done from the very beginning of a project.   For him, those are both critical. So, he would not want to work somewhere this way of working was not a part of the culture.   (4.28) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one point, Simon ended up working virtually every hour of the day shifts and spending most of the night reading work emails. Understandably, the stress became too much and he ended up collapsing in front of his kids, during breakfast.   He hired someone to co-ordinate the two teams he was running and changed his work balance. Simon now works for a family-focused company. Plus, most of his work is completed during daylight hours.   (7.10) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Simon feels that he is currently living his career highlight. Becoming the QA programme manager for Camelot is something Simon enjoys. It is also a step up career wise.   (10.06) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The way technology is developing means that the variety of opportunities is huge and growing. Right now, machine learning and AI are both fascinating areas, right now. IT is now far more exciting, so it is becoming easier to get young people interested.   (13.16) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Simon was very good at maths; something that made it easy for him to have a career in I.T. What’s the best career advice you received? – If you want to move on find your replacement and train them effectively. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Stay with one company for life. What would you do if you started your career now? – Simon would get into testing, straight away. What are your current career objectives? – Now that he has taken on a senior management role Simon is primarily working on being an effective leader. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Knowing what information should go in which direction. It makes you a far more effective communicator. How do you keep your own career energized? – Simon reads at least one blog per day and is part of a slack group. What do you do away from technology? – He spends a lot of time with his children. He runs, writes and is a Peterborough football fan.   (18.41) FINAL CAREER TIP If something feels uncomfortable, move on. There are plenty of opportunities available elsewhere, so don’t just stick it out and stall your career.   BEST MOMENTS (3.30) – Simon - “Define your personal values and stick to them when looking for work.” (3.52) – Simon - “From the moment a project is conceptualized someone with a testing mindset needs to be involved.” (9.08) – Simon - “Ensure that you are building the right product. Not just that you’ve built the product right.” (14.49) – Simon - “If things don’t feel right, don’t be afraid to make a change.” (17.02) – Simon - “Communicate effectively by tailoring the information you share to each one of your audiences.” (18.51) – Simon - “If you’re not getting the chance to progress, see what else is available.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Simon Prior Simon Prior is the QA Programme Manager at Camelot which is the home of the UK’s National Lottery.  He has previously worked as a developer, build engineer, scrum master, QA engineer and QA manager.   He regularly gives talks on testing and IT in schools and universities and he’s also the host of the Aylesbury Testing Gathering.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Simon Prior Simon Prior can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/siprior LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-prior-0499372/ Website: https://priorsworld.wordpress.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Dominick Baier. Dominick is an independent consultant specialising in identity and access control. He helps companies around the world to design and implement authentication and authorization for their distributed web and native applications. He is also co-creator of Identity Server and the author of a couple of books. In this episode, Phil and Dominick Baier discuss the importance of building your brand and having a lifelong business plan. They talk about how to tap into the power of open source and how these projects can end up being the standard. Dominick is a security expert, so they also discuss the benefits of working in this field.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.52) TOP CAREER TIP Find something that you are ready to do for the rest of your life. Provided you continue to find it interesting and there is work, stick with it. Dominick also recommends producing as much free and open content as possible. It will build your brand and help you to get hired. In the podcast, Dominick goes through the pros and cons of each of the ways he does this.   (8.52) WORST CAREER MOMENT Dominick spends a lot of his time, helping others to turn their ideas into reality. Occasionally, someone in the firm who is higher up than the person he is working with will suddenly decide that what they working on has no value. Then the project gets cancelled. It does not happen often. But, when it does it is very frustrating.   (11.01) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Many years ago, Dominick started an open source project called Starter STS. It has evolved into IdentityServer. It is now the defacto standard if you are doing token-based services. Dominick is very proud of the fact that this project has helped and is still helping so many people.     (12.15) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Dominick thinks tools will continue to get better and better in the authentication and protocol space, mostly because of effective collaboration amongst those involved in the field.   (15.16) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Dominick’s father was a software developer, so he was interested in I.T. from an early age. What’s the best career advice you received? – Focus on the one thing you are most interested in. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Learn as many things as you can. It just did not suit the way he likes to work. What would you do if you started your career now? – Pick the thing he loves, become expert at it and let the world know about his expertise. What are your current career objectives? – Dominick has just founded a product company. So, he wants to get better at that. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being good at explaining complicated things. How do you keep your own career energized? – Dominick takes a lot of breaks and finds working in a natural outdoor environment to be very energising. What do you do away from technology? – Dominick loves family activities, camping, barbecues, beer and whiskey.   (23.37) FINAL CAREER TIP If you like working on the security side of things, specialise in it. There are still not many people that who are security experts. So, those that focus on that side of things quickly become an invaluable resource.     BEST MOMENTS (5.44) – Dominick - “Find something that you are ready to do for the rest of your life.” (6.36) – Dominick - “Produce as much free and open content as you can. You’ll get hired faster.” (21.40) – Dominick - “Be very technical, but also improve your ability to explain that technology.” (23.59) – Dominick - “Become a security expert. Currently, there is very little competition in that field.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DOMINICK BAIER Dominick Baier is an independent consultant specialising in identity and access control. He helps companies around the world to design and implement authentication and authorization for their distributed web and native applications. He is also co-creator of Identity Server and the author of a couple of books.     CONTACT THE GUEST – DOMINICK BAIER Dominick Baier can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/leastprivilege LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickbaier/ Website: https://leastprivilege.com

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Scott Jehl. He is a designer and developer working at Filament Group.  He is a tireless advocate of practices that ensure web access for all and is always chipping away at open source projects with his colleagues at Filament.   He is also author of Responsible Responsive Design, co-author of Designing with Progressive Enhancement and a frequent presenter at conferences throughout the world.    In this episode, Phil and Scott Jehl discuss why you need to follow and engage on Twitter. The benefits of sharing what you know, as you learn it. How to give succinct, yet informative, speeches. Scott and Phil also discuss the challenges the roll-out of superfast networks is going to throw up.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.41) TOP CAREER TIP Stay active on Twitter. A lot of important stuff starts with conversations on Twitter. So, stay engaged there. Be curious, listen and ask questions.   Share what you know as you learn. It does not matter if others are likely to already know or not. Putting it in writing will benefit you and, usually, many others.   (5.24) WORST CAREER MOMENT When Scott first got started as a public speaker he had a deeply embarrassing experience. Despite preparing well, he found himself only halfway through his slide deck with just 5 minutes to go.   He tried to bring it all together. But, he still ended up looking pretty bad in front of hundreds of his peers. Scott has now come up with a way of preparing his speeches so that he never overruns. A technique he shares in the podcast.   (7.44) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Scott and the Filament Group were lucky to be at the forefront of responsive design and working with the Boston Globe. Their readers mainly used IE, which at the time, had no support for media queries and CSS.   Scott was able to write a script to address that complex and difficult issue. It was exciting, challenging and interesting work.   (9.43) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Scott sees it being even easier for I.T professionals to work remotely and flexibly, in the future. So maintaining the right work-life balance will become far easier.   He is really excited to see bigger audiences, throughout the world, gaining access to the web. It is amazing the difference it is making to people’s lives. The emergence of new browser standards and technologies is having a hugely positive impact.   (11.47) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Scott’s background in graphic design led naturally to a career in I.T. What’s the best career advice you received? – You can do anything in two weeks. In the podcast, Scott explains how any IT professional can use this advice to achieve more. What would you do if you started your career now? – Scott says he would take some of the online boot camp tutorials, early on to accelerate his career. What are your current career objectives? – Right now, Scott is most interested in performance and accessibility. In particular, how devices can parse and evaluate script fast enough. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Technical and narrative writing. How do you keep your own career energized? – Listening to podcasts. They expose him to people working on all aspects of the web. What do you do away from technology? – Scott likes to spend a lot of time with his family. He also enjoys surfing, hiking and cooking.   (19.34) FINAL CAREER TIP Share what you learn, write a blog. Doing that has greatly benefitted Scott’s career and that of others.   BEST MOMENTS (4.18) – Scott - “Be curious, ask questions, share what you know as you learn it.” (13.11) – Scott - “You can do a heck of a lot in just two weeks, especially with a good team.” (14.11) – Scott - “Boot camp tutorials are a great way to learn and accelerate your career, especially early on.” (17.50) – Scott - “Write about what you are working on, it is the best way to get clarity of the problem.” (18.53) – Scott - “Pay attention to what other people are working on.” (19.34) – Scott - “Write or blog to share whatever you’ve learned.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Scott Jehl Scott Jehl is a designer and developer working at Filament Group.  He is a tireless advocate of practices that ensure web access for all and is always chipping away at open source projects with his colleagues at Filament.   He is also author of Responsible Responsive Design, co-author of Designing with Progressive Enhancement and a frequent presenter at conferences throughout the world.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Scott Jehl Scott Jehl can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottjehl GitHub: https://github.com/scottjehl Website: https://scottjehl.com/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is James Quick. Founder of Learn Build Teach.  He is a self-taught Web Developer who is addicted to learning and has a passion for teaching.  He speaks at community events, participates in Hackathons and builds continuously.    In this episode, Phil and James discuss the importance of investing in yourself and talk about effective ways to do this. They also discuss the need to regularly check progress with your manager. As well as how to sail through the appraisal process and get properly rewarded for your work. James shares how he works to effect change and engages with the IT community to help others and ensure his skill stay sharp and relevant.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.45) TOP CAREER TIP Invest in yourself. James had a great mentor who taught him to set aside some money each year to spend exclusively on himself.   You can use that cash to buy hardware, get extra training or travel to meetups. Basically, anything you need to further your career. In the podcast, James shares some great examples of how he has invested in himself monetarily.   (4.52) WORST CAREER MOMENT One year, while working as a Microsoft evangelist, he got a really low bonus. Yet when he questioned why that was, he was told he was doing a decent job and was not given any areas to improve on.   For James, this was both frustrating and disappointing. Missing out monetarily felt bad, but not knowing where he was supposedly failing and how to improve was worse. It was very frustrating. James goes on to explain how he now works to ensure that negative experience is never repeated.   (7.34) CAREER HIGHLIGHT When James joined FedEx he was worried that his programming skills were too rusty. Yet, he was able to build the entire front end of the 2nd application he worked on basically by himself.   That achievement demonstrated to him that he was still a good developer. Getting promoted to an architect at FedEx, a year ago was also a highlight.     (9.37) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that there is always something new to learn is exciting. As is the fact there are so many different ways to contribute. A positive situation James cannot see changing any time soon.   (11.14) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – For some reason, when he was asked which major to take he said computer science. So, his journey into I.T. was a happy accident. What’s the best career advice you received? – His dad encouraged him to always do the right thing for him, especially careerwise. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Accept things the way they are. If things are not being done properly, always work to change that. What would you do if you started your career now? – He would get as much hands-on experience as possible, while still studying. James shares several practical ways to do this in the podcast. What are your current career objectives? – Having more of an impact at FedEx and broadening his brand. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Speaking Spanish and being outgoing has opened up several opportunities for him. How do you keep your own career energized? – James finds that creating new stuff and investing in the IT community re-energizes him. What do you do away from technology? – James and his wife love to travel. They are also very sports orientated.   (23.17) FINAL CAREER TIP Relationship management is the key to success. You never know where a chance meeting is going to take you.   Building genuine, strong relationships with others can open up all sorts of opportunities. But, you have to be genuinely interested and engaged, with others.   BEST MOMENTS (2.47) – James - “Every year, invest monetarily in yourself as a way of growing your career faster.” (6.46) – James - “Throughout the year, clearly communicate with your managers, so you can be sure you are doing things right.” (7.12) – James - “When someone gives you positive feedback make a note of it. You can use those notes during your appraisal.” (9.27) – Phil - “You don’t necessarily have to go down a management route to progress and grow your career.”  (19.25) – James - “Broaden your brand, doing things like public speaking will make career progression much easier.” (23.31) – James - “Relationship management is the key to success.”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – James Quick James Quick is the founder of Learn Build Teach.  He is a self-taught Web Developer who is addicted to learning and has a passion for teaching.  He speaks at community events, participates in Hackathons and builds continuously.   CONTACT THE GUEST – James Quick James Quick can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesqquick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesqquick/ Website: https://www.learnbuildteach.com/    

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Graeme Rocher. He is a co-founder of the Grails framework, the co-author of The Definitive Guide to Grails and Project Lead for the OCI Grails team.   He has worked in the software field for more than 20 years and has expertise in Grails, Groovy, Web Development, Dynamic Languages and the Java Virtual Machine.  He was awarded Oracle’s Groundbreaker Award in 2018 and has recently been named a Java Champion.    In this episode, Phil and Graeme Rocher discuss how believing in yourself and becoming a lifelong-learner pushes you to make a real difference through the tech you work on. They also talk about the benefits of being involved in the open-source industry. As well as the future of IT and how you can tap into the latest trends to grow your career.     KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.39) TOP CAREER TIP You need to be passionate about what you do and be a lifelong learner. Every new technology progresses in a new and interesting way. So, it is worth keeping up with what is going on.   (6.00) WORST CAREER MOMENT For many years, Graeme headed up the Groovy and Grails development team at Pivotal Software. In 2015, he and his team had to find a new home. Fortunately, they found a good one at OCI. But, the actual move was extremely stressful.   It was a worrying time. But, it taught Graeme that open source technologies are important and, therefore, robust. They don’t get abandoned in the same way commercial software does. In the podcast, he explains why getting involved in Open Source is a good career move.   (8.14) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Receiving the Groundbreaker award at Oracle Code in recognition of his contributions to Apache Groovy was a big moment for Graeme.   From a technical standpoint, it is building Micronauts.   (9.14) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that IT is ever-changing and that the industry is becoming more diverse is exciting. This means there are so many more career paths available.   He is also excited by the possibilities Micronauts opens up. It creates the opportunity to be able to build applications in a much more efficient way. In the podcast, Graeme provides several examples of what he means.     (12.53) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Graeme got into programming through playing games, as a child. He started by working with QuakeC. What’s the best career advice you received? – Embrace open source. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t bother investigating certain technologies. What would you do if you started your career now? – Right now, a lot of the innovation is happening in DevOps. So, there are lots of opportunities in that area. What are your current career objectives? – Progressing Micronauts so it can be used to build more efficient microservices and applications. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Being artistic has made it easier for Graeme to think out of the box and stand out. How do you keep your own career energized? – Pushing boundaries is what keeps Graeme’s career energized. What do you do away from technology? – Graeme loves skiing, the beach, paddle boarding and spending time outdoors.   (21.28) FINAL CAREER TIP Keep progressing yourself and do not listen to the naysayers. Believe in yourself, never give up and strive to make a real difference.   BEST MOMENTS (5.01) – Graeme - “Be genuinely passionate about what you do and become a lifelong learner.” (8.04) – Phil - “Open source is always going to have a future.” (10.55) – Graeme - “The move towards more intelligent Java compilers and ahead of time compilation is going to be a big deal.” (15.30) – Graeme - “Expose yourself to new technologies and do so at an early stage.” (20.47) – Graeme - “Never accept that the solution is complete, there is always room for improvement.” (21.38) – Graeme - “Self-belief is really important. Don’t let others put you off.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Graeme Rocher   Phil’s guest on today’s show is Graeme Rocher. Co-founder of the Grails framework, the co-author of The Definitive Guide to Grails and Project Lead for the OCI Grails team.   He has worked in the software field for more than 20 years and has expertise in Grails, Groovy, Web Development, Dynamic Languages and the Java Virtual Machine.  He was awarded Oracle’s Groundbreaker Award in 2018 and has recently been named a Java Champion.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Graeme Rocher Graeme Rocher can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/graemerocher LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graemerocher/        

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Rick Claus. Rick is a Microsoft Developer Advocate on the Azure engineering team. His role is to connect with technical communities in order to share his knowledge about the ecosystem and capture feedback on how to make things better. He has worked in the IT industry for more than 20 years, working on Core Azure infrastructure services, Windows Server, systems management and all things “cloud” In this episode Phil and Rick discuss why you need to challenge yourself to learn, the potential of new technologies to make our lives easier and why you should try to work with people smarter than you.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.21) TOP CAREER TIP Rick says that career advice is often specific to the individual. However what has worked for him is to continue to stay curious but also challenging yourself to continue to learn. Rick approaches everything as someone new to the industry which helps to maintain his level of excitement and curiosity.   (6.56) WORST CAREER MOMENT Rick describes his involvement in a mass desktop refresh rollout project for a customer when working as a consultant. The rollout was taking place in fourteen different locations and was being delivered by a distributed team. Unfortunately they left the most difficult part of the rollout to the very end. They thought that they could apply everything they had learnt from earlier rollouts to the final rollout.     (10.31) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Rick talks about having recently become the lead for his team. Watching the team being able to be successful doing things he used to do but in different and creative ways. Rick gets a lot of satisfaction from enabling them to engage with IT professionals, speak at conferences, create videos and other content.   (11.52) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Rick is excited by seeing people starting to understand the potential of new technologies that will make their lives easier. Rick also explains how organisations are recognising that they have the ability to pivot and add these new technologies to their existing portfolio.   (16.00) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The constant challenge. Rick loves problem solving, trouble shooting and making people’s environments better for them. What’s the best career advice you received? – Hire people that are smarter than you. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Nothing specific. However Rick has a degree that he doesn’t use anymore. What would you do if you started your career now? – Stay focused on the solutions and how they help individuals. What are your current career objectives? – Providing guidance and clarity to his team. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Rick talks about his theatre background and the skill of being able to convey information through stories How do you keep your own career energizer? – Constantly go off and learn. What do you do away from technology? – Rick is an avid home brewer.   (20.51) FINAL CAREER TIP Don’t forget to invest in your own skills and your own self beyond the technology space. Rick also talks about the importance of mentoring.   BEST MOMENTS (14.04) – Rick - “Technology in the world of IT is constantly in change and we have to deal with that change. Be prepared for it” (16.50) – Rick - “Hire people that are smarter than you. Together as a team you’re going to be stronger” (17.27) – Rick - “Stay focused on the solutions and how they help individuals”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community in Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – RICK CLAUS Rick Claus is a Microsoft Developer Advocate on the Azure engineering team. His role is to connect with technical communities in order to share his knowledge about the ecosystem and capture feedback on how to make things better. He has worked in the IT industry for more than 20 years, working on Core Azure infrastructure services, Windows Server, systems management and all things “cloud”   CONTACT THE GUEST – RICK CLAUS Rick Claus can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/RicksterCDN LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickclaus/ Website: https://regularitguy.com MS Learn: https://aka.ms/AzOpsFun2

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Allan Kelly. Allan is the author of several books including “Continuous Digital”, “Project Myopia” and “A Little Book about Requirements and User Stories”. He is also a regular conference speaker and the originator of Retrospective Dialogue Sheets, Value Poker and Time Value Profiles In this episode Phil and Allan discuss why a career in I.T. can be a risk, why new technologies will open up new problems to be solved and why you shouldn’t be scared to take some time out for yourself. Allan also provides some fantastic stories and insight into his own career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.58) TOP CAREER TIP By having an interesting career in I.T. you are taking on a lot of career risk. Allan talks about the number of companies that he has worked for in the past that have subsequently either disappeared or folded. This is because interesting and innovative companies often haven’t found out how to make money reliably and this could delay your pay check.   (6.32) WORST CAREER MOMENT Allan tells us that early in his coaching career he took a role with a bank. He was very eager to help and make a difference when he joined but quickly concluded that a big part of the problem was the management. Allan believed that they needed to change the system but was unable to get the management’s time to explain his concerns. Consequently it became more and more frustrating until he was fired. However you will never know what a company is like until you try to work for them.   (11.25) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Allan describes how companies he worked for early in his career didn’t work in the way that he had been taught at university. It was disorganised and this made Allan feel guilty about not doing things correctly. He then worked for Railtrack on a project where they did work in a structured, methodical manner which delighted Allan. But he found that there were even more difficulties than he’d encountered in his previous experiences. However, he subsequently got to see what he had worked on in action and making a difference to other peoples’ lives when he visited Paddington station Allan also talks about how he was able to help someone transition their career from a programmer to a product manager.   (16.53) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Allan says that we are constantly at the frontier of new technology. As we solve problems we open up new categories of problems to be addressed. He then provides an example of how he used XML to help to move data around. Allan then goes on to say that current technologies are helping to solve problems but they will also create a new frontier of things that we haven’t even thought about.   (20.21) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – BBC Telesoftware. Allan was able to write programs, send them to the BBC for publishing and be paid for them. What’s the best career advice you received? – Allan can’t recall a specific example but recalls not having the confidence to work independently as a contractor What’s the worst career advice you received? – A school career aptitude test suggested that Allan should become a forester or woodsman. What would you do if you started your career now? – Create something and get it into the App stores and hopefully make some money out of it. Alternatively contribute to an open source project. What are your current career objectives? – Allan says that he’s longing to get back to product delivery. What’s your number one non-technical skill? - Allan considers himself to be a closet economist and that understanding has helped him in his career. How do you keep your own career energizer? – Allan does podcast interviews, speaks at conferences and writes books. What do you do away from technology? – Allan says that he’s found a love of gardening, exercises regularly and is kept busy by his children.   (26.10) FINAL CAREER TIP Allan says that he doesn’t believe that the perfect work-life balance exists. Don’t be scared of taking some time off for yourself.   BEST MOMENTS (10.10) – Allan Kelly - “Not all the agile coaches in the world are compatible with all the corporations and vice-a-versa” (25.01) – {Name} - “The person who learns most is the person doing the talking or doing the writing”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community in Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ALLAN KELLY Allan Kelly inspires, educates and advises digital teams to effectively deliver better products through Agile technologies. He is the author of several books including “Continuous Digital”, “Project Myopia” and “A Little Book about Requirements and User Stories”. He is also a regular conference speaker and the originator of Retrospective Dialogue Sheets, Value Poker and Time Value Profiles   CONTACT THE GUEST – ALLAN KELLY Allan Kelly can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/allankellynet LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-kelly-19b16/ Website: https://www.allankellyassociates.co.uk/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Aslak Hellesoy. Aslak is the creator of Cucumber and co-founder of Cucumber Limited.  He is a co-author of The Cucumber Book and was an early adopter of XP and BDD.   He has worked as a programmer, software architect, business owner and trainer in a variety of industries including finance, telecom and retail.   In this episode Phil and Aslak discuss his involvement in the test-driven way of working and how Cucumber came about. He explains how his Open Source projects played a role in the company’s formation and how his career has benefited from this way of getting things done.   Aslak demonstrates why learning functional programming languages is now a good idea. They also discuss the merits of CRDT and functional programming languages.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (8.50) TOP CAREER TIP Get involved in Open Source. Doing that has played a big role in Aslak’s career success. It is an effective way to learn new tech, have fun, expand your network and make a difference.   Aslak also recommends taking on speaking engagements. In the podcast, he explains how he got started and how you can do the same.   (12.05) WORST CAREER MOMENT Many years ago, Aslak found himself working on a big finance project. From the start, the team knew the deadline was impossible to meet. But, the project manager ignored this fact and did not make the customer aware of this issue. Despite everyone working long hours, the deadline was missed. It was a very de-motivating and stressful experience.   Bert saw firsthand the damage a lack of transparency and trust could do. That incident sparked his interest in behaviour-driven development (BDD). He could see that working collaboratively was a far better approach.   (14.27) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Selling the company he had built up with his team over the course of 5 years is Aslak’s career highlight. Aslak is looking forward to having more time to dedicate to Open Source work while still being involved in evolving Cucumber. It has also enabled him to get back to being able to code all day.   (16.05) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Aslak is a little concerned about where the latest tech is going to take us as a society. A lot of good things are going to come out of AI. But, AI and other new techs are still very much open to abuse by governments and organizations.   More optimistically, Aslak points out that a career in tech still offers excellent job security, particularly for software developers. A situation that is not likely to change anytime soon.   (17.50) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Aslak ended up pursuing an IT career by accident. Only when he understood the power of the World Wide Web did his desire to work in tech really take hold. What’s the best career advice you received? – Get a mentor, someone who is prepared to spend time with you. What would you do if you started your career now? – Aslak would learn functional programming rather than procedural programming. What are your current career objectives? – Aslak is looking forward to having a full-time team working on Cucumber. There are a lot of exciting features he wants to see added. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Listening to other people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Learning new techniques, languages, frameworks, databases and platforms. What do you do away from technology? – Aslak has two young daughters and enjoys cooking and playing five-a-side football.   (23.15) FINAL CAREER TIP Have lunch with a colleague you do not know well, preferably, someone who is doing something different from you. This will help you to understand the business you are working in far more. That will make you a far better developer.   BEST MOMENTS (9.22) – Aslak - “Working on Open Source projects is a great way to learn new technologies.”  (16.51) – Aslak - “Being a software developer is going to be a pretty safe job choice.” (19.16) – Aslak - “Get yourself a mentor. No matter where you are in your career a mentor will help.” (20.08) – Aslak - “Learn functional programming languages, you can get more done with them.” (21.32) – Aslak - “Listen to others and ask the right questions.” (23.15) – Aslak - “Get to know people from all areas of the business it will make you a better programmer.”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Aslak Hellesoy Aslak Hellesoy is the creator of Cucumber and co-founder of Cucumber Limited.  He is a co-author of The Cucumber Book and was an early adopter of XP and BDD.   He has worked as a programmer, software architect, business owner and trainer in a variety of industries including finance, telecom and retail.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Aslak Hellesoy Aslak Hellesoy can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/aslak_hellesoy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aslak/ Website: https://aslakhellesoy.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Bert Jan Schrijver who is Chief Technical Officer at OpenValue in the Netherlands.  He focuses on Java, Continuous Delivery and DevOps.  And he is a Java Champion, JavaOneRockstar speaker and user group leader for the Dutch Java User Group.   He also loves to share his experiences by speaking at conferences, writing for the Dutch Java magazine and helping out Devoxx4Kids with teaching kids how to code.   In this episode Phil and Bert Jan Schrijver discuss how engaging with the tech community leads to more interesting career opportunities. They talk about how switching projects regularly enables you to achieve more and progress your career faster. Bert explains how to get the balance right, so you can find interesting, fun and engaging work.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.57) TOP CAREER TIP Engage in tech communities. Doing this has really shaped Bert’s career. Every company he has worked with in the past 10 years is one he heard about via the community, while attending events.   In the podcast, Bert expands on the type of engagement that works best.   (5.39) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage Bert found himself in real danger of burning out. He was working on a huge insurance project. When they got to the migration stage everyone had to work 13 hours a day, 7 days a week. Luckily, Bert realised he was close to burning out and falling sick. Fortunately, when he explained this to his then manager they were understanding and responded well.   The experience taught him the importance of maintaining a good work-life balance.   (8.13) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being recognized as a Java champion by the international Java community is Bert’s career highlight, so far. It was nice to be recognized as an expert. Plus, occasionally, potential clients have also heard about the award.     (9.54) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The way the IT industry operates now means that one person can achieve a huge amount. Provided you have a broad enough set of skills, you can build products on your own that can literally change the world.   During the podcast, Bert explains how to leverage your knowledge to build great things fast. The method he outlines means you do not need access to a lot of cash to get started.   (12.12) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Bert learned to programme on a Commodore 64, which he started playing with at the age of 7. So, for him, a career in IT was a natural progression. What’s the best career advice you received? – Find a job where you can have fun. You will become far more successful, when you do. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Don’t become a consultant, you will be bored. The opposite was true. What would you do if you started your career now? – He would go into consulting earlier because you learn so much faster when you regularly switch between projects. What are your current career objectives? – To make OpenValue the best Java shop in the world. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Public speaking. Through his speaking engagements, Bert has met a lot of amazing people. How do you keep your own career energized? – Bert makes sure that he is always learning. He follows interesting people and stays involved with the tech community. What do you do away from technology? – Away from tech, Bert’s focus is his family.   (17.18) FINAL CAREER TIP Show interest in others and have empathy. When you are likeable and approachable, people want to work with you and you get stuff done together.   BEST MOMENTS (3.57) – Bert - “Engaging with the tech community is the best way to learn and find interesting projects.” (6.57) – Bert - “Keep a good balance between work and life. When you reach your mental capacity it is time to go home.” (10.12) – Bert - “Once your skillset is broad enough you can build a product that will literally change the world.” (12.50) – Bert - “Find a job that enables you to have fun, when you do success will follow.” (14.06) – Bert - “You learn a lot faster if you regularly switch between projects.” (17.18) – Bert - “Show interest in others and have empathy. When you truly connect with others, you achieve so much more.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Bert Jan Schrijver Bert Jan Schrijver is Chief Technical Officer at OpenValue in the Netherlands.  He focuses on Java, Continuous Delivery and DevOps.  And he is a Java Champion, JavaOneRockstar speaker and user group leader for the Dutch Java User Group.   He also loves to share his experiences by speaking at conferences, writing for the Dutch Java magazine and helping out Devoxx4Kids with teaching kids how to code.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Bert Jan Schrijver Bert Jan Schrijver can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/bjschrijver LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjschrijver/ Website: https://openvalue.nl/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Sarah Guthals. She is currently a Senior Program Manager for Microsoft, focused on education.  She received a PhD in Computer Science from UCSD in 2014. During graduate school, she co-founded ThoughtSTEM, a company that teaches children to code through software and courses. She is also author of a dozen technical books targeted at students and was recently named in Forbes 30 under 30 list and UCSD’s 40 under 40 alumni. In this episode, Phil and Sarah Guthals discuss why you need to review the direction your life and career is taking, every 6 months, or so. They also talk about imposter syndrome and how it damages everyone, rather than just you. Sarah explains why you need to tailor the work you do to fit in with your unique skill set, an approach that benefits everyone. She also shares a simple tip that will enable you to become more effective at negotiating pay and benefits packages.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (5.24) TOP CAREER TIP Check-in with yourself regularly. You need to remember you are a growing and evolving person. What worked for you six months ago may not be right for you now. Checking your goals and what you are doing regularly can be life-changing. Do this with all aspects of your life and you will become much happier.   (9.30) WORST CAREER MOMENT Sarah wasted 3 months working on an educational project that she knew, because of her experience, was not viable. Unfortunately, she had not realised that her new colleagues at Microsoft did not know everything she did about K12 education. So, when a solution she believed was not workable was suggested, she went along with it, instead of speaking up. She had made the classic mistake of feeling that the Microsoft team had to know more than she did. In reality, on this occasion, it was her that was the expert. Her feelings of being an imposter stopped her from speaking up, earlier. In that situation, she really was the expert.   (12.08) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Sarah’s first job was her career highlight. In that role, she realised she was not tied into one career trajectory. If she did not enjoy something she could simply switch direction. This realisation inspired her to make each job her own. She now tailors each role to fit in with her skillset. As a result, she is always working in a way she enjoys, which means she thrives.   (14.01) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Cloud availability means that all kinds of people can use tech to solve their problems and make their lives much easier. Everything people need to make things happen is far more accessible than ever before.   (16.52) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The fact that the IT community is a truly collaborative one is what drew her to a tech career. What’s the best career advice you received? – When negotiating wages, remember you are not asking the person in front of you for the money. You are asking for the company’s money. What’s the worst career advice you received? – If you get a PhD, you cannot work in the tech industry. What would you do if you started your career now? – Study other disciplines. Sarah explains why in the podcast. What are your current career objectives? – Integrating education into everything she works on. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Empathy, which is a skill that also enables you to become an effective communicator. How do you keep your own career energized? – Sarah sets herself goals and reviews them regularly. What do you do away from technology? – Sarah loves visiting Disneyland. She also enjoys movies and writing.   (21.22) FINAL CAREER TIP Remember that you are a whole person. It is not just about your career. Put yourself first and the rest will follow. Diverse experiences are critical when it comes to solving problems. So, it is good for everyone when you are yourself and take care of your personal needs.   BEST MOMENTS (9.07) – Sarah - “Regularly, review your goals and ask yourself if they are still worth the level of effort you are putting in.” (11.13) – Sarah - “Even if you feel like an imposter, speak up. Ask questions, you will learn and may teach others something too.” (12.48) – Sarah - “Work to make your role fit in better with your skills and strengths to become happier and more productive.” (17.18) – Sarah - “Wage negotiations are not personal. It is the company’s money you are asking for, not the person’s in front of you.” (19.43) – Sarah - “Developing empathy automatically leads to you becoming a better communicator.” (21.22) – Sarah - “Remember, you’re not just your career. You are a whole person.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – SARAH GUTHALS Sarah Guthals is currently a Senior Program Manager for Microsoft, focused on education.  She received a PhD in Computer Science from UCSD in 2014. During graduate school, she co-founded ThoughtSTEM, a company that teaches children to code through software and courses. She is also author of a dozen technical books targeted at students and was recently named in Forbes 30 under 30 list and UCSD’s 40 under 40 alumni.   CONTACT THE GUEST – SARAH GUTHALS Sarah Guthals can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahguthals LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sguthals/ Website: https://guthals.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Claudio Perrone. A well-known Lean & Agile management consultant, entrepreneur and start-up strategist.  He is a Fellow of the Lean Systems Society, the creative force behind A3 Thinker and the inventor of the PopcornFlow thinking model.   He has also been the driving force behind the design and development of several large scale solutions for global companies in the fields of e-learning, e-commerce, manufacturing and automation.     In this episode, Phil and Claudio discuss the PopcornFlow thinking way of working and how it drives faster change. He explains how to overcome the tendency to be zombie-like and always choose the default solution. They also speak about the importance of challenging yourself, so you stay marketable and discuss how this can be done.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (7.42) TOP CAREER TIP Grow claws like a tiger – stay sharp, always be learning and keep yourself marketable. Search out projects that keep you working on yourself. Never stand still.   In the podcast, Claudio shares how he learned this mindset and uses it to this very day.   (11.07) WORST CAREER MOMENT Many years ago, Claudio was part of a team that made a mistake that cost £3 million, a day, for 3 days. An error in the way they set up the servers and backups meant that they lost a ton of data. Fortunately, much of it was recovered, but, only because the sales team kept paper copies.   Claudio’s other low point was when he had to wrap up his joint business venture. Making talented people redundant felt particularly bad. But, the experience taught him to stop trading on assumptions and to avoid being proud and opinionated.     (15.04) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Taking an idea and turning it into an award-winning business was one of Claudio’s career highlights. His company provided breakthrough learning and performance solutions to numerous organizations. Being able to help people to recognise their potential and quickly unlock it was hugely rewarding.   (17.09) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T In terms of the technologies, Claudio sees everything becoming easier. As a result, we are able to be far more creative, ignite change and have a huge impact.    IT professionals have moved from being a necessary evil to a strategic force for change. The way we work is now more business-driven. It is an important change that is already making a positive difference.   (19.28) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Unlike many others, Claudio did not drift into the world of IT. He began working as a technical writer, then self-taught himself Visual Basic, without going to college. What’s the best career advice you received? – Go home. There is no need to work stupidly long hours. In fact, it is counter-productive. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Pace yourself. This is wise advice for many people, just not for Claudio. What would you do if you started your career now? – Move companies more. If you stay in one company too long, you will stagnate. What are your current career objectives? – Claudio wants to bring PopcornFlow to the world. He is currently bootstrapping a company and helping more people to learn to experiment. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being able to successfully negotiate change. The right solution for the wrong problem is the wrong solution. How do you keep your own career energized? – Every 5 weeks, Claudio launches a new start-up. They are all in different fields. Rarely going over the same ground twice keeps things fresh for him. What do you do away from technology? – Recently, Claudio has returned to music and drawing cartoons.   (32.53) FINAL CAREER TIP Stop fighting problems. Usually, to truly solve problems, you need to fight battles. The underlying issues need addressing.    If a company’s policies are no longer fit for purpose, they have to change. When the policies change, numerous problems automatically disappear. Impacting policies and driving change is something we are all capable of doing.   BEST MOMENTS (5.59) – Claudio - “Inertia is your enemy. Find ways to run little experiments. It is this that really changes the status quo.” (8.03) – Claudio - “Keep yourself marketable. Stay hungry, stay sharp and never stop learning.” (22.38) – Claudio - “It’s not only about what you do. What you learn by doing it is what matters.” (24.31) – Claudio - “Focus in on craftsmanship, learn your craft stay humble and be curious.” (34.26) – Claudio - “When company policy is restricting what you can achieve, step up. Get that policy changed.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Claudio Perrone Claudio Perrone is a well-known Lean & Agile management consultant, entrepreneur and start-up strategist.  He is a Fellow of the Lean Systems Society, the creative force behind A3 Thinker and the inventor of the PopcornFlow thinking model.   He has also been the driving force behind the design and development of several large scale solutions for global companies in the fields of e-learning, e-commerce, manufacturing and automation.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Claudio Perrone Claudio Perrone can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/agilesensei LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudioperrone/ Website: https://agilesensei.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Allen Holub.  An internationally recognised software architect and Agile-transformation consultant.  He’s worn every hat from CTO to grunt-programmer, and is an expert-level programmer in many languages.   He is also an international speaker and a widely published author, having written ten books and hundreds of articles.    In this episode, Phil and Allen discuss the unique challenges working as an independent throws up and how to cope with them. They also discuss the benefits that working this way bring.   They talk about why you need to seek advice from the right people. Then reveal two non-technical skills that will keep you organised and energize your career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (7.29) TOP CAREER TIP If you are working as a consultant, make sure you keep at least 6 months of cash to hand. Your income is going to fluctuate and you need to be able to cover your bills.   Social media marketing is important for consultants. Twitter works particularly well. It enables you to have proper conversations and gives lots of people the chance to get to know you a bit.   (9.36) WORST CAREER MOMENT Allen was once hired to work on a terrible piece of software. It was so bad that he was obliged to write to the CEO and say so. He knew he had done the right thing. But, three years later, he was still struggling to find work. Former members of that team kept getting him blackballed.   But, he does not regret doing it. Allen thinks it is important to be honest. When you are consistently honest people hear about it and know they can trust you.   (12.49) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Making a positive difference to how people work and helping them to achieve more, is very fulfilling. So, for Allen, each new success is a highlight.   Speaking at conferences has enabled him to reach thousands more people. In the podcast, Allen shares an effective way to push yourself out of your comfort zone. A method you can use to start public speaking and benefiting from doing so.     (15.49) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Allen says that for the I.T. industry the future is kind of interesting. However, he is concerned that we are starting to repeat past mistakes.   This is particularly the case when it comes to the Agile way of working. Many firms have tweaked it to the point where it is no longer Agile. Instead, they have more or less gone back to their previous inefficient ways of working. Allen explains why this has happened and touches on how issues like this can be rectified.     (19.10) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Wanting to make his own electronic instruments led to Allen becoming interested in I.T. What’s the best career advice you received? – Because Allen’s career has not been a traditional one, he has not received much career advice. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Allen is an introvert, so he finds it impossible to effectively apply the marketing advice created for him by extroverts. It just does not work for him. What would you do if you started your career now? – Allen says he probably would not pursue an IT career, again. He explains why, during the podcast. What are your current career objectives? – Allen’s current focus is on marketing himself. He is also planning to write another book. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Being able to write well. It helps you to stay organised and communicate effectively. How do you keep your own career energized? – Speaking at conferences helps Allen to energize his career. It keeps him interacting with others and learning. What do you do away from technology? – Allen is an artist, so he draws occasionally and still enjoys playing the piano.   (24.57) FINAL CAREER TIP Provided you can handle the uncertainty and cash flow issues, working as an independent is a great career choice. It insulates you from a lot of negativity and is an interesting and fulfilling way of working.   BEST MOMENTS (7.50) – Allen - “For consultants, cash flow is a constant problem. So, you need six months of cash sitting around.” (11.40) – Allen - “You’ve got to be honest. If you are not you can’t do a good job.” (14.33) – Allen - “There is no need to fear public speaking. After all, you are just talking to people who are basically like you.” (20.41) – Allen - “To be useful, advice has to be given by someone who knows you and understands your work.” (25.30) – Allen - “Working as an independent insulates you from a lot of the problems that are associated with our industry”     ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Allen Holub Allen Holub is an internationally recognised software architect and Agile-transformation consultant.  He’s worn every hat from CTO to grunt-programmer, and is an expert-level programmer in many languages.   He is also an international speaker and a widely published author, having written ten books and hundreds of articles.     CONTACT THE GUEST – Allen Holub Allen Holub can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/allenholub LinkedIn: https://twitter.com/allenholub Personal Website: https://holub.com/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Josh Doody. He helps software developers to get more high-quality job offers and negotiate higher salaries.  He is also the author of the book “Fearless Salary Negotiation”, a step-by-step guide to getting paid what you’re worth.   In this episode, Phil and Josh discuss the right way to negotiate high salaries. He shows the audience how a few simple language changes will turn you into a better negotiator and self advocate.   Josh explains how to avoid weakening your negotiation position by using a number when answering the question, how much do you want to make? He also reveals the IT sector in which his highest paid coaching clients are involved and explains why you may want to switch career direction.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.09) TOP CAREER TIP Always re-negotiate job offers, even if you think the offer is a really good one. Usually, you will have underestimated your value to that firm. They know this is likely to be the case. So, most firms, will only offer you what you consider to be a good salary, rather than what you are actually worth to them.   Josh also shares the best way to leverage the power you to get properly paid throughout your career. That includes when you move to new roles within a firm.  He also explains how to get your direct manager on your side.   (6.44) WORST CAREER MOMENT While Josh was still working for other people, he spent a year under a manager who had poor management skills. His manager had simply been promoted to the point where his salary level demanded that he had people report to him directly. This despite the fact he was not suitable for that role.   It was a situation that resulted in a very poor working environment. But, good came out of it. Josh realised that even if he left that firm, he could potentially find himself in the same situation again. It made him rethink his career and realise that he needed to find a way to work for himself.   (8.06) CAREER HIGHLIGHT At one point in his career, Josh got heavily involved in developing HR talent management and development software. This work was a highlight of his career.   He really enjoyed the creative process. Working on blue sky ideas, building systems people were actually able to use was engaging and exciting. Josh particularly liked being able to combine using his existing skills to the full while learning new ones.   (9.40) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Machine learning and AI are the top fields to work in. That will be the case for many years to come. Unsurprisingly, the people who have this type of experience are being extremely well paid, right now.   The future for IT is bright and very exciting. Over the past year, more of Josh’s clients have started to receive multiple work offers. Many have taken advantage of this fact and chosen to do the work that looks to be the most interesting and fulfilling. The role that offers the most opportunities for the future.   (13.37) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – The first time Josh used a DOS computer; he saw the magic and was immediately hooked. What’s the best career advice you received? – His first boss taught him to be more purposeful about the way he approached his work. Not to just focus on the financial reward. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Slow down, you are progressing too fast. What would you do if you started your career now? – Josh would focus on machine learning and AI. The work is fascinating and Josh’s clients who work in that field are earning big. What are your current career objectives? – In the short term, Josh’s focus is on offering good coaching services. But, he is an entrepreneur, so expects to, switch focus, at some point. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Diplomatic communication. This skill enables Josh to stand up for himself and his ideas without putting the other party off. During the podcast, he shares a clever language trick he uses to do that. How do you keep your own career energized? – Experimenting and trying new things in his business. Josh is not afraid to take risks. What do you do away from technology? – Josh has a close group of friends that he spends a lot of time with. He is also active in his community.   (23.39) FINAL CAREER TIP When a prospective employer asks you how much you expect to make, if they were to offer you the job, never reply with a number. Josh explains what to say instead, so you do not alienate the other person or weaken your negotiating position.   BEST MOMENTS (3.13) – Josh - “Always negotiate job offers, even if you think the offer is really good.” (3.52) – Josh - “Get your pay as high as you can at the beginning, using tactful negotiation techniques.” (16.57) – Josh - “Of the people I coach, the ones involved in AI are the ones that are making the big money.” (17.07) – Josh - “For the next 20 or 30 years, AI is going to be huge.” (24.39) – Josh - “Don’t be the one to name the first number in wage negotiation.” (24.41) – Josh - “The wage negotiation process starts in the interview. Not, when you are offered the job. ”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – JOSH DOODY My guest on today’s show helps software developers to get more high-quality job offers and negotiate higher salaries.  He is also the author of the book “Fearless Salary Negotiation”, a step-by-step guide to getting paid what you’re worth.   CONTACT THE GUEST – JOSH DOODY Josh Doody can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshDoody LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshdoody/ Personal Website: https://www.joshdoody.com Company Website: https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/ Coaching Page: https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/coach Article: https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/the-dreaded-salary-question/

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Rob Allen. He leads impactful, cohesive development teams from the ground up to solve thorny problems.  He turns wild-west-style engineering organisations into professional powerhouses by leading untested initiatives through to successful deployment and broader adoption.    In this episode, Phil and Rob Allen discuss why setting clear goals is essential. As well as how to work out what they should be and achieve them. They also discuss the benefits of learning to be inclusive, listen closely and be empathic in your work life. As well as touching on how and when to reassess things so that you become even more effective and grow your career.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (3.17) TOP CAREER TIP The best GPS system can’t help you if you do not have a destination in mind. Career-wise you need to know where you are going in order to plot a way of getting there.   Rob points out that setting good career goals is not necessarily about setting your sights on working for a specific company or role. In the podcast, he explains how to get to where you want to be in both your work and personal life.   (0.00) WORST CAREER MOMENT In 2010, Rob travelled with his wife, a professor, to a conference she was attending. The world in which his wife worked meant that they met up with the same people several times a year. So, over time, many of them had become friends. When Rob walked into the bar someone he knew well slapped the bar and said something like – here’s Rob Allen, often wrong, seldom in doubt. The guy had been drinking, but, that comment still stung.   Worse than that, when Rob thought about it, he realised there was quite a lot of truth in that observation. It was an awful moment, but it led to him changing his ways. He started to stay quiet and listen far more at meetings. When he had a question, he still asked it, but made sure it did not sound like he was offering an opinion. Changes that proved to be very beneficial. So, in the end, his worst career moment turned out to be his best moment.   In the podcast, Rob explains the changes he made and how he and everyone around him have been able to benefit as a result of them.   (12.59) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Rob believes that in the past 7 or 8 years, the IT industry has made real progress in terms of project and people management. These changes are having a profound and positive impact on the way we work and what we can achieve.     (14.37) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Rob reached a stage in his life where he desperately needed to make more money. So, he decided to put his HTML and CSS skills to use and began his IT career. What’s the best career advice you received? – Shut up. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Hang in there and just stick it out, management will make it better eventually. What would you do if you started your career now? – Rob, would start out by focusing more on data analytics and those kinds of technologies. What are your current career objectives? – Currently, Rob’s team is understaffed. So, his focus is improving the hiring process and improving the efficiency of the team. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Empathy, it helps you to see the other side of something and learn more from others. How do you keep your own career energized? – Rob is an active member of Rands Leadership Slack, a group of about 10,000 software people. The conversations within that community keep Rob engaged, learning and energized. What do you do away from technology? – Rob enjoys spending time with his family and is a huge fan of the video game Overwatch. He is also working to put together a stable of cars.   (18.53) FINAL CAREER TIP Having clear career goals is essential. In fact, you should set clear goals for all areas of your life.   BEST MOMENTS (4.15) – Rob - “Work out what you want to achieve in life and set your career goals accordingly.” (5.07) – Rob - “Before accepting a role, ask yourself how it fits in with your long-term objectives.” (9.03) – Rob - “Listen carefully in meetings and make it clear you are asking questions to grow your understanding rather than challenging things” (16.18) – Rob - “Software is a team sport. You need to get the people right for the software to be right.” (18.53) – Rob - “If you are looking to energize your career, having a goal is essential.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ROB ALLEN Rob Allen builds and leads impactful, cohesive development teams from the ground up to solve thorny problems.  He turns wild-west-style engineering organisations into professional powerhouses by leading untested initiatives through to successful deployment and broader adoption.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ROB ALLEN Rob Allen can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/robspages LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robspages/ Website: http://robspages.net/  

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Laurie Barth. She is a software engineer who started as a mathematician.   She currently works as a developer and consultant with Ten Mile Square Technologies in the Washington DC Metro area.   In this episode, Phil and Laurie Barth discuss how to use your previous skills and experience to succeed when taking on new roles. They also speak about how the background of those getting involved in the industry is becoming more diverse and the positive impact that is having.   During the podcast, they discuss how an empathetic approach to project management brings benefits for both the customer and the development team. As well as, talking about the opportunities working collaboratively as an IT community is creating.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.46) TOP CAREER TIP All of your skills are transferable. Your past experiences from your education and previous jobs will all be relevant in some way, even if it is not obvious how. So, when you start a new role, remember that you are always a bit further ahead than you think.   (6.10) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one point in her career, Laurie ended up working for the government. In that role, she was put in charge of managing a series of large technical problems. Unfortunately, despite being a manager, she was not given the authority to actually do anything to solve those issues. Fairly quickly, she realised she was in the wrong job and moved on.   As a result of this experience, if Laurie does not feel excited or engaged with what she is being asked to do, she quickly speaks up. At the company she is currently working for, every time she has done that, they have pivoted things enough to make things interesting again.   (8.09) CAREER HIGHLIGHT For Laurie, her first lead engineer role was a really exciting experience. When she took over, she quickly realised that some tension existed between the customer and the technical team. From the start, Laurie recognised that the client was not that interested in her technical prowess. They just wanted to know she had their back and would deliver good solutions. In response to this, Laurie decided to focus on understanding their problems and gaining their trust. Armed with that knowledge, she was able to act as an effective conduit between the customer and the technical team.   As a result, the project went from being one that was in trouble, to being one that was a huge success. By the end of it, everyone was really excited about what had been accomplished. An outcome few expected, which is part of the reason it is one of Laurie’s career highlights.   (9.59) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T It is good to see the industry moving away from the stereotype of coders in a basement, working apart from everyone else. Now, communities of developers are coming together online, at conferences, meetups and working on open source projects.   People are getting excited about the tech again and are being introduced to lots of new stuff. This collaborative culture is helping to move things forward at a far faster pace.   (11.13) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – A love of puzzles and maths. What’s the best career advice you received? – Your values and goals should always be in sync, not in conflict. What’s the worst career advice you received? – Never let a bad commute put you off of taking a great job. Terrible advice - a long, tiring, stressful commute can really mess up your quality of life. What would you do if you started your career now? – Laurie wishes she had recognised her coding abilities at a younger age. What are your current career objectives? – Laurie plans to do more technical writing and speaking. She is also enjoying playing around with the ECMO script syntax for JavaScript. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Writing. Technical writing is challenging, but it is a skill that is in demand and the work is interesting. How do you keep your own career energized? – Getting involved in various IT communities has enabled Laurie to connect with some incredible people. It has also exposed her to all kinds of interesting and new tech. What do you do away from technology? – Laurie plays a lot of board games, bakes whenever she can and loves TV and movies.   (15.42) FINAL CAREER TIP Build genuine relationships and help others. When you take that approach you become more valuable and a useful contributor to the IT industry.   BEST MOMENTS (5.24) – Laurie - “Even if you're starting from scratch, you're further ahead than you think.” (7.12) – Laurie - “If you don't feel engaged, while working on a project, speak up and change things up.” (10.36) – Laurie - “Get involved with IT communities to benefit from the growing collaborative culture.” (11.39) – Laurie - “Make sure your values and goals are always in sync, not in conflict.”  (14.38) – Laurie - “The IT industry is crying out for technical writers.” (16.02) – Laurie - “Help others and build genuine relationships to become a more valuable industry contributor.”    ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact   Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – LAURIE BARTH Laurie Barth is a software engineer who started as a mathematician.   She currently works as a developer and consultant with Ten Mile Square Technologies in the Washington DC Metro area.   After speaking at her first conference in 2017, she now regularly speaks about the technical challenges she has faced in her career.  And in her free time she involves herself in local technology groups, including facilitating a Girls Who Code club.   CONTACT THE GUEST – LAURIE BARTH Laurie Barth can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurieontech LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriebarth/ Website: https://laurieontech.com/

Arlene Andrews is a self-guided learner who has moved into the Quality Advocate section of the tech world with Lightning Fox. In this episode Phil and Arlene discuss the importance of continual learning, why you should do due diligence on a company before agreeing to join them and how the current diversity trend is impacting the way the tech industry works.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.10) TOP CAREER TIP Be curious and interested in everything. The more you know the easier it is to find interesting projects and people to work with.   (5.16) WORST CAREER MOMENT A start-up Arlene worked for is now being investigated for major fraud. The fraud took place around the time she left. The experience has taught her to be a little bit more cynical and to carry out more due diligence before accepting new positions or projects.   (6.33) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Working on a group project with the CodingBlocks Slack folks is currently Arlene’s career highlight. The idea came from the community and the CodingBlocks team decided to make it a reality. It is a large scale ongoing project that will help people across the world. Arlene is enjoying being part of something that is bigger than herself. It is enabling her to explore new tech and get over her imposter syndrome.   (8.14) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T The fact that people from all fields are now able to get involved in the IT industry is an exciting trend. It means that people are now able to make tech their 2nd career.  Arlene is self-educated, yet has still been able to have a successful IT career. Having people from different backgrounds involved in the industry is helping companies to see things from a different perspective. As a result, they are able to serve more people efficiently.   (10.20) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – At the time that Arlene was introduced to computing, things in were not going the way she wanted in the rest of her life. So, being able to get her VIC 20 computer to do what she told it was an utter delight. What’s the best career advice you received? – If something catches your interest, find out more and try using what you learn. What’s the worst career advice you received? – When Arlene entered college, she was told to become a secretary and get a job with a company she could stay with for life. These days, following that sort of path is no longer necessary, for anyone. What would you do if you started your career now? – Arlene jokes that she would have started her IT career 20 years earlier. What are your current career objectives? – This year, she is due to speak at a couple of conferences and is working on growing her blog. What’s your number one non-technical skill? Short story telling has taught Arlene how to engage her audience in fun yet effective ways. How do you keep your own career energized? – Giving back to the community keeps Arlene engaged and energized. She spends a lot of time on the developer focused slacks tracking down answers for people’s questions. What do you do away from technology? – Arlene enjoys writing, knitting and she tries to walk. But, the thing she enjoys most is being out with people seeing how they use and enjoy tech.   (18.00) FINAL CAREER TIP – Stay curious. Keep doing what you are doing, but be sure to expand to cover all of the bases and be ready for the future.   BEST MOMENTS (4.12) – Arlene - “Be interested in everything.” (11.52) – Arlene - “Just try it.” (12.48) – Arlene - “Don’t get locked into one way of looking at how to do things” (14.14) – Arlene - “Start your IT career young and start safely.” (17.59) – Arlene - “Stay curious and expand your knowledge to cover all of the bases.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community in Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ARLENE ANDREWS Arlene Andrews is a self-guided learner who has moved into the Quality Advocate section of the tech world with Lightning Fox. Having previously worked in a wide range of business operational roles she is now able to leverage her experiences of supporting customers in her new role.  She is also a fan of learning and has a passion for connecting people to resources that will foster improvements.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ARLENE ANDREWS Arlene Andrews can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArleneAndrews_1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlene-andrews-a02a7a107/ Website: https://arleneandrews.github.io/    

My guest on today’s show is a senior cloud advocate for Microsoft.  As a member of the Azure engineering team, he engages with the community and customers around the world to share his knowledge and collect feedback to improve the Azure platform.   Prior to working for Microsoft, he was a Lead Architect for a consulting and engineering company in Switzerland.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Thomas Maurer. He works for Microsoft as a senior cloud advocate. In that role, he engages with customers and the community to use the cloud to transform their businesses. He is part of the Azure engineering team. Thomas has been awarded the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Award, several times. He is also an accomplished public speaker and the author of two books. Over the years, he worked as a software and systems engineer for several companies. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was the Lead Architect for a Swiss engineering and consulting firm. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.15) – So, Thomas can you tell us a bit about your career before joining Microsoft. Thomas explains that he started his IT career straight after he left school. He began by working for a firm of consultants, then a service provider, before returning to consulting and engineering. He ended up working a lot with Visual Studio. So, when he got the chance to be a Microsoft Cloud Advocate he couldn’t resist saying yes. Thomas really enjoys the fact that the role keeps him close to the community, attending events, learning and helping others to do more. (4.18) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Thomas says it is very important to learn to stay positive. Things are bound to go wrong. Maintaining a positive attitude helps you to get through those times and make what you are working on a success. Over the years, Thomas has noticed that negativity attracts negative things. The mindset of the workforce has a huge impact on a company. Of course, at times, things get tough, but being optimistic keeps you going and takes you through it. (6.26) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Many years ago, Thomas spotted a job he really wanted. But, he just assumed he was not experienced enough to land the role, so he did not apply. Instead, he set his sights lower and joined another company. When he rang a friend to tell them about his new job, they thought he was crazy for taking it and told him that they could have helped him to land the job he really wanted. They said so in a nice way, but it was still a bit deflating. At that point, Thomas realized that not applying for his dream job was a mistake. It felt pretty bad, but he had said yes, so he started working for the other company. Only then did he realize how big a mistake he had made. They did not have the right type of projects for his skill set and what he wanted to learn. So, for a few months, his career progression slowed. Fortunately, not long afterwards, he was offered his dream job. But, he played things cool and told them he wanted to sleep on it. This gave him time to think and be certain that he was not making a mistake. In the morning, he took the job, which turned out to be one of the best decisions he has ever made. (10.30) – What was your best career moment? Of course, landing his dream job was a big moment. So, was getting his first Windows Insider MVP award, in 2012. He is especially proud of the fact that one of the chairmen nominated him. Thomas loves working with the community, speaking, blogging and helping others. But, it felt great to have his efforts recognized. Over the years, Thomas has won several MVPs and other awards. (14.39) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The never-ending variety of the projects you end up working on keeps things exciting and interesting. But, Thomas thinks the changes cloud computing has brought have been particularly exciting. Better still, there is more to come. He also sees machine learning, IoT, 5G and AI bringing in another wave of drastic changes. The list of new opportunities this tech opens up is endless. (16.52) – What drew you to a career in IT? It was Thomas’ love of gaming that laid the foundations for his IT career. Through it, he got into building his own computers and optimising the operating system. (17.30) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? The best career advice Thomas given was not to complain too much. Instead, work to make things better. (17.47) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Thomas to stretch the truth a bit. Thomas does not feel comfortable doing that. He believes that if you take that approach, in the end, people will lose trust in you. (18.19) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Thomas says he would become a data scientist, working with AI and machine learning. (18.50) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Of course, Thomas is focusing on adjusting to a different working environment. His role as a cloud advocate requires him to spend a lot of customers listening to their issues. So, at the moment, he is honing his listening skills. It is vital that he truly listens to what they are saying. If he fails to do this he cannot make the right decisions. (19.38) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Thomas feels that is his presentation skills. It was a tough skill for him to learn because he was a very shy person, but he is glad that he did. (20.26) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Being a person who wants to know it all helps to keep Thomas’ career energized. He finds being on the bleeding edge keeps him interested and engaged. (20.59) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Thomas enjoys running, playing badminton and going to the gym. They offer him the chance to completely switch off from work-related things.  (21.50) – Phil asks Thomas to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Never give up on the things that are important is Tomas’ parting piece of career advice. Not everything will come easily, but, in the end, you will get there. Good results, often require a lot of hard work and effort. BEST MOMENTS: (3.24) THOMAS – "Listen to your customers. Think about what’s on their minds, what is stopping them from succeeding." (4.41) THOMAS – "What's helped me a lot is staying positive." (6.19) THOMAS – "Enthusiasm is infectious."  (17.26) THOMAS – "Stop complaining. Instead, take action and make things better." (22.02) THOMAS – "Never give up. Be persistent and put in the practice to reach your goal." CONTACT THOMAS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThomasMaurer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasmaurer2/ Website: https://www.thomasmaurer.ch/

My guest on today’s show is Chief Architect at Headspring, author of MVC in Action books, an international speaker and a prolific OSS developer.  He is an expert in distributed systems, REST, messaging, domain-driven design and CQRS.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s podcast is Jimmy Bogard. He has a BSEE in Computer Engineering. But, he became a software developer and engineer. Jimmy worked for Icabob Design, VI Technology and Dell Inc in those roles. In 2008, he joined Headspring and, today, he is their Chief Architect. Jimmy is an expert in distributed systems, REST, domain-driven design, messaging and CQRS. He is also the author of the ASP.NET MVC in Action books, as well as a prolific OSS developer and public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.46) – So, Jimmy, could you tell us a little bit more around your background and your current role as chief architect at Headspring? Jimmy starts by explaining that he graduated with a computer engineering degree and kind of fell into an IT career, when he left university. In time, he landed a job at Headspring. (1.47) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? When he studied to become a computer engineer he was told that to succeed in that field you need to be continuously learning. He was told that he would need to reinvent himself every 5 or 10 years. It was a good habit to get into. When he moved into software he was already able to move from one technology to another fairly quickly. Jimmy says it is also important to stay in the know. That way you will be learning and growing in the right ways. In other words you have to become a T-shaped developer. That is to say you have a broad knowledge of a lot of subjects and technologies. But, have also taken the time to dive deep on at least one of them. (3.07) – What approach do you take when learning new technologies? Jimmy explains that the client’s needs drive the skills he learns. He focuses on learning those technologies that will help them to achieve their goals. You have to be careful not to dive in too deep. If you do that you spend too much time learning and not enough time working on the projects. To stop that from happening Jimmy periodically pauses and asks himself does this really matter? If the answer is no, he stops learning that tech or skill and focuses on something that is more relevant to what he is working on, at that moment. (4.11) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Years ago, Jimmy was working on a loyalty rewards project for a major retailer. He came up with what he thought was an important, but easy change to implement. For some reason, it went live not long before Black Friday, the busiest time of the year for the retailer. Unfortunately, a mistake slipped through. Jimmy had miss configured the dependency injection container in a way that registered some components twice. The net result was that everyone was awarded double reward points. Worse, nobody noticed the error for about 10 days. When the client asked him to check he did. But, he only ran the test locally. Not in the full environment. So, everything looked fine. In reality there was an issue. People were receiving a 10% off coupon via email. Followed shortly by an identical coupon giving them another 10% off, which they were not actually entitled to. The customers thought it was their lucky day, so did not complain. So, there were no emails from them saying there was an issue. Just a spike in the figures that was disguised by the fact this was all happening at the retailer’s busiest time. Eventually, Jimmy could see the issue and was able to fix it. But, he felt awful. The mistake was an expensive one. Understandably, the retailer did not want to take the coupons off of their customers. They were only able to revoke the duplicates that were attached to unopened emails. Naturally, changes were made to make sure something like that could not happen again. One of which is to track the key metrics and forecast what they should look like once any changes went live. Now, if they change up or down further than anticipated the system immediately flags it as a potential issue. This triggers extra tests to track down and solve any issues. (10.49) – What was your best career moment? Jimmy says that it is the things that he deliberately set out to achieve that he is proudest of. For example, building a system for a local county government in Texas, whose budget had just been slashed. For them, he took a 100% paper-based case file system and digitized it. They had tried off the shelf software, but none of it quite worked for them. When Jimmy presented his tailor-made solution to the team, he got a standing ovation. They like it that much. Better still, Jimmy was able to physically see what a difference his new system made. (13.52) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the work he and other IT professionals do makes it possible for companies to do things they could not before is exciting. Jimmy knows the work he and other IT professionals makes a huge difference to people. (15.10) are there any particular tech advancements you are attracted to? Jimmy’s interest lies in technologies that help people to get their jobs done faster. (16.20) – What drew you to a career in IT? When he graduated, there were not enough computer engineering jobs to go around in Texas. He realised he had to do something else and decided to get involved in software. After all, everyone needs software and it is constantly evolving. (16.57) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? About 12 or 13 years ago, his mentor suggested to Jimmy that he start a public blog. He did, and that was what sped up his progress in the IT industry. It is something Jimmy recommends others do too. He finds that writing things down chrysalises his thoughts about things. (19.02) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? When he and his fellow graduates spoke to their professor about the fact they could not find jobs, his professor suggested they all go to graduate school. Advice Jimmy did not follow. He did not want to spend even more time and money studying, especially because there was no guarantee it would improve his job prospects. (19.48) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jimmy says he would focus on finding good mentors from the start. Early in his career, he made the mistake of trying to emulate what the most popular and vocal developers were doing. But, his hero worship only took him so far. His mentors helped him far more. (20.47) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jimmy is working on his communication skills. He wants to be able to effectively communicate with, and influence, people who are high up in the structure of organizations. The more they understand, the better their IT-related decisions will be. He believes that this top-down approach will lead to fewer people working on projects that were flawed from the start and never see the light of day. (22.23) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? When we build something the customer does not like we all have a tendency to blame them. In reality, most of the time, both parties play a role in these types of failure. Usually, it comes down to bad communication. Over the years, Jimmy has honed his communication skills, which has helped him to get better results for his customers and build a successful career. So, he sees that as his number one non-technical skill. (23.45) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jimmy has found keeping on the move helps to energize his career. Working on projects that keep him learning is essential. That is part of the reason consulting is such a good fit for him. He finds that role to be particularly energizing. (26.46) – Phil asks Jimmy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. When Jimmy first started out he had a really bad case of imposter syndrome. He felt he could not match up to his heroes. The guys he followed and whose books he read. Around 2003, he attended a Java conference and was able to meet some of them. He went up to one of them and said something like I am happy to meet you, congratulated him on his work and told him that he was one of his heroes. The guy said thank you. But, he also said “we’re all just developers.” Basically, people trying to figure out what we’re doing and learn how to do things better. In short, all developers are novices, beginners who need to work together to figure things out. In the world of IT, you will rarely find one true expert. Things move too fast for that to happen. Nobody is an imposter, we are all still learning and everyone has something to contribute. BEST MOMENTS: (2.07) JIMMY – "Career-wise you have to reinvent yourself every five or 10 years." (2.28) JIMMY – “Make sure that you're always growing and expanding." (13.52) JIMMY – "It is exciting to know that the things we build enable our customers to do things they couldn’t before." (17.48) JIMMY – "Writing helps me to crystallize thoughts about things." (27.58) JIMMY – "Embrace your imposter syndrome. It's OK not to know exactly what you’re doing, because no one else does either." CONTACT JIMMY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbogard LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmybogard/ Website: https://jimmybogard.com/

My guest on today’s show is a JavaScript developer, consultant, author and, educator.  He is a huge proponent of the web as a mobile app platform and wants to help developers push it to the next level.  Henrik is also a conference speaker and has taught workshops for Frontend Masters and O’Reilly and author of the book Human JavaScript.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s I.T. Career Energizer podcast is Henrik Joreteg. He is an independent JavaScript Consultant, speaker, and trainer who is particularly interested in the intersection between web and machine learning. Henrik specializes in building Progressive Web Apps using tools like Redux and React/Preact. His consultancy work has led to him working on projects for firms like Microsoft, Starbucks, and Groove. Henrik is the author of the popular book Human JavaScript. He has also helped clients like AT&T, Ericsson, and Pacific Northwest National Labs build modern JavaScript applications KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.43) – Please expand on my introduction and tell us a bit more about yourself. Henrik explains that he has been involved in the IT industry for a while, so his career has been varied. Recently he has helped Starbucks with the architect of their progressive web app. He also now spends quite a bit of time consulting. Recently, he wrote and published the Human Redux Book, a kind of follow up to an earlier book he wrote. (1.53) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? You need to make sure that you are able to continue learning. If your current role is not allowing you to do this, you should move on. Continually pushing yourself out of your comfort zone a little ensures you continue to learn and stay relevant. It also builds confidence and turns you into a more attractive employee. As a result, finding well-paid work is never a problem. Be especially careful if you are working for a large company. While working for a firm like that, is all too easy to stagnate and not make an impact. In the long-term, doing this will harm your career and stop you from increasing your wage packet. At the very least, take on a side project that pushes you. Because you are doing them outside of the confines of your workplace you are free to explore and take your skills in new directions. (4.15) – Are your books an example of this? Yes, the first one Human JavaScript certainly was. At the time, Henrik had been working on a cutting edge app which included real-time asset tracking transposed over a map. Something nobody else was doing back then. So, he wanted to show the world what could be achieved by working with JavaScript slightly differently. Writing the book was a lot of work, but it pushed him to develop new skills. More importantly, because he gave the book away free, he was able to help other developers, from across the world, to break through and create exciting tools. (6.01) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Early in his career, Henrik had a job where he was not given enough work. So, he used some of his spare time to teach himself Python and work on a side project. Unfortunately, doing this got him in a bit of trouble. Henrik had built a Twitter bot that followed people on the platform. This activity got him added to a watch list. After about a month of monitoring him, he was called in and spoken to about his internet usage at work. They explained that his work was good, but they had concerns. Henrik was not impressed by the fact that they decided to monitor his activity instead of speaking to him and explaining the issue straight away. So, a month later he left. His other low point happened when he found himself working virtually around the clock on a collaborative project. At the time, his daughter was very young. So, she really needed his attention. But, he didn’t have any time free to spend with her. He hated being in that situation. At that point, he realized that things had to change. So, he started to take steps to get his work/life balance back. (9.18) – What was your best career moment? Developing and launching the Starbucks app has been a highlight. Both Google IO and Microsoft built their versions on the same day. Creating the SimpleWebRTC library was another highlight. He landed several talking gigs off the back of it. For example, speaking at dotJS, in Paris, where he spoke in front of 1000 people. (10.33) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact there is still so much to do and achieve is really exciting. Seeing people applying machine learning to old problems is particularly interesting. Henrik is especially interested in the intersection between web and machine learning. He has a lot of friends who are dentists and doctors. Henrik can see dozens of ways tech can be used to help them to work more efficiently. It is just one example of how much more there is still out there for IT professionals to do. (12.36) – What drew you to a career in IT? Henrik admits that he kind of fell into it. At university, he studied finance and entrepreneurship. When he came to start his own business, he realized that every interesting business idea he could think of was web-based. At the time, he had no money to hire developers, so realized he would need to learn how to do some of it himself. So he signed up for Lynda.com and watched the how to build applications with ColdFusion video. Armed with that information, he built his first web app. Then he landed a job with ESRI in Redmond and was lucky enough to work with the ColdFushion expert Louis Mohan. (15.34) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Keep learning, but try not to take yourself too seriously. Stay humble and your confidence will grow. In time you will realize that it is your ability to figure out what you need to learn to solve the problem that is your most important skill. (16.44) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? A lot of people have told him to follow his passion. Henrik does not believe this to be good advice. It is far more important to be doing work that has an impact and enables you to eventually achieve a high level of autonomy. (17.32) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Henrik would probably follow the same path. He would want to continue to be a generalist rather than a specialist. Henrik thinks that being able to handle a whole project is very beneficial. By taking this approach, you eventually find what you are good at. When you do, you can specialize and make that your passion. His advice is to take an entry level job, somewhere you can learn. A lot of small companies will give you the chance to get your hands on lots of stuff. Once you have learned everything you can, don’t be afraid to move on to the next opportunity. (19.12) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Henrik wants to be more autonomous. He is working to gain more control of his life. His aim is to earn good money, but, still have time to do other things, in particular, with his family. (20.30) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Henrik, having a general understanding of business has helped his career a lot. Being able to see things from the perspective of the end user is very beneficial. Understanding how organizations work and people think are both great soft skills to have as an IT professional. They ensure that the solutions you come up with are truly effective. (21.36) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Henrik works to make sure that he gives every project all he’s got. This approach gets the best results and helps to drive your career forward. (22.41) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? For many years, Henrik did nothing much outside of tech. But, for the past few years, he has worked to get back into enjoying outdoor activities. They have a boat and enjoy skiing and camping, as a family. (23.27) – Phil asks Henrik to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you are working as a consultant, don’t set yourself up as the expert. When you do that you hold yourself apart from your client. Your relationship with your client should be a collaborative one. It is important to become a part of their team. When you do that their problems become your problems. The issues you are there to solve. It also ensures that you stay aligned with the people you are there to help. BEST MOMENTS: (3.04) HENRIK – "Staying with a big company, when you're not actively learning and getting pushed, is an expensive mistake to make." (11.43) HENRIK – "There are so many cool problems to tackle." (11.45) HENRIK – "It's fascinating to see people applying new things like machine learning to old problems" (16.12) HENRIK – "Your confidence doesn't come from what you know; your confidence comes from your ability to figure out what you need to know." (20.52) HENRIK – "At the end of the day, every problem is a people problem." CONTACT HENRIK: Twitter: https://twitter.com/henrikjoreteg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrikjoreteg/ Website: https://joreteg.com/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a public speaker, blogger, and technical writer.  She has spoken at more than 40 conferences in three continents on a variety of topics.  She is also a Senior Developer Advocate for LaunchDarkly and she specializes in creating entire documentation suites for new companies.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on his IT Career Energizer podcast, today, is Heidi Waterhouse. She is an accomplished technical writer. Heidi has a talent for quickly understanding complex systems and creating clear and concise documentation. Heidi is also a well known public speaker and blogger. She has delivered talks at 40+ conferences, across three continents. Currently, she is working for LaunchDarkly as a Senior Developer Advocate. Her role there involves listening to current and potential clients to understand their needs and help the development team to meet and exceed them. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.37) – Can you perhaps tell us a little bit of why you got into public speaking blogging and technical writing as well? Heidi explains that it kind of happened by accident. While at university, she got mononucleosis and had to spend a semester at home. During her recovery, she was given a musical optical character recognition project to work on. She enjoyed the work so much that she wrote up a set of instructions. She wanted to make sure that others could make the magic happen and enjoy using the system to the extent she had. Heidi enjoyed doing that so much that, when she returned to university she changed her degree to technical writing. When she started working independently she got into public speaking. At first, because it was an effective way of promoting what she had to offer. She helped audiences to see that hiring a technical writer makes a lot of sense. In the end, it is far cheaper than paying an engineer to do it. They don’t really know how to tackle the task, so it takes them longer and the results are never good. (3.22) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Heidi’s biggest tip is that there is no such thing as a soft skill. All skills matter and are useful, especially people skills. Being able to get along with your co-workers and relate to your customers is just as important as quantifiable skills are. If you can’t do those things your career will stall. The same is true of communication skills. It does not matter how good a developer you are if you can’t explain why you deserve funding for an important project you won’t get it without the ability to communicate. (5.00) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Heidi has been fairly lucky in her career. But, she remembers not being able to get the Microsoft Security Bulletin (Patch Tuesday Bulletin) to compile. She could not leave it half done or deliver it late. But, it just would not compile. In the end, using git-bisect she was able to find the error in the XML. It was a stressful moment, there was no way she could not publish a document like that on time. Fortunately, she was able to get it done, but it was a close call. (6.44) – What was your best career moment? Heidi says that she feels like she keeps experiencing that best moment. Every time she gets on stage and speaks. She really enjoys getting people to think about things in a different way. In particular, when members of the audience come up to her afterward and ask for help with a problem. Of course, occasionally you fail to connect. But, most of the time, you make the connection and can see that you are helping, which feels great. (8.10) – Does the response you get from the audience vary depending on where you are in the world and who you are presenting to? Heidi says it does. For example, in the UK, fewer people approach her after the talk. Instead, she gets asked a lot of questions on Twitter. She has also noticed that Agile transformers can, as she puts it, “talk the hind legs off of a donkey”. (9.10) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Heidi looks forward to the day when most of the boring tasks will be automated out. She believes that the fact this is happening will lead to even more interesting and exciting IT careers. (10.59) – What drew you to a career in IT? Hiedi was an English major in university and was planning to become an English professor. But, when she was exposed to the world of IT she was fascinated by it. When she realized she could combine both interests and have an IT career she was hooked. She loves sitting in conferences learning new things. (11.49) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? People kept on telling her to ask for more cash. In the end, she listened and got over being shy about doing so. It was good advice. If you do so when you are offered the job, people readily agreed. They have already slotted you into their organization in their minds, so do not want you to slip through their fingers. (12.47) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Heidi not to do more than was absolutely necessary to get the job done. That was terrible advice. Heidi does not think you should kill yourself for a job. But, it is important to do a good job and take every opportunity you have to explore and learn. (13.56) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Heidi says that she would probably get into developer advocacy as soon as possible. For her personally, it is an ideal fit. She loves the fact that the role enables her to go out there and help people to find solutions to their problems without having to behave like a salesperson. It is always interesting to learn about the pain points of end users and take them back to the development team. She is endlessly surprised by the different and innovative ways users use the software and tools she shares with them. (15.00) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? This year, Heidi is looking forward to her keynote at Velocity, this November. Her other goal is to mentor and help more people, this year. She strongly believes that once you start to progress up the ladder, you should reach back and help others to follow you. (15.58) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being able to condense anything down into its essentials is a skill that has helped Heidi a great deal. She believes that if you can’t explain something to the proverbial five-year-old, you have probably not understood it properly. (16.30) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Going out and seeing how others do things, keeps Heidi energized. For example, she will attend talks on subjects she is not familiar with just to see how others do their presentations. Doing this keeps her fresh and enables her to pick up new ways of doing things. It also keeps her in touch with upcoming technologies. Right now, she is super interested in GraphQL, despite the fact that the company she is working for does not use it. (17.29) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Heidi is still working on developing interests outside of technology. For example, she has started to sew the dresses she wears for her conference speeches.  (18.11) – Phil asks Heidi to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. It is important to remember that your career is not your job. If you are not getting what you need out of the job you are doing, leave. Find another that does engage you and enable you to carry on learning. Things have changed from your parent’s days. Your company is not your family. If they had to make a choice between you and making more money, they will usually choose the latter.   BEST MOMENTS: (3.37) HEIDI – "There are no soft skills, just difficult skills that have to do with people."  (13.22) HEIDI – "Don’t be afraid to do more. If you're doing something interesting you will be learning something." (15.52) HEIDI – "The minute you climb up the ladder, you need to reach back down to help somebody else up." (16.15) HEIDI – "If you can't explain it to the proverbial five-year-old, you probably don't really understand it.” (18.15) HEIDI – "If you are not getting what you need out of a particular job, save your career, and leave.” CONTACT HEIDI: Twitter: https://twitter.com/wiredferret LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwaterhouse/ Website: https://heidiwaterhouse.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show helps developers to take a step up in their skill set with a focus on making complex topics approachable, regardless of skill level. He is a Microsoft MVP for .NET, has authored seven courses for Pluralsight and has delivered more than 300 technical presentations across the United States and Europe.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s I.T Career Energizer podcast is Jeremy Clark. Currently, his focus is on helping IT professionals to quickly improve their skills. He has authored several courses for Pluralsight, a platform that enables developers to assess their current skill levels and identify the right training path for them. Over the years, Jeremy Clark has delivered more than 300 technical presentations at conferences, throughout the world. He has also spent over 9 years of his career sharing his knowledge as a consultant and mentor. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.49) – Can you maybe tell us a little bit about some of the courses you've written for Pluralsight. To date, Jeremy has produced 7 courses for that platform. He wrote his C# Interfaces course, largely because as a new developer he struggled to understand what interfaces were. The same is true of his Practical Introduction to Dependency Injection course. Most people get introduced to dependency injection backwards. Typically, they get given an application that has a DI container and just left to try to figure things out themselves. Jeremy currently speaks at conferences on about 20 subjects. All of which he has struggled with, at some point. He finds helping others to get over the speed bumps he faced to be very rewarding. (2.33) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jeremy’s advice is to get involved with people in the industry as much as possible. Make it a goal to attend a meetup, or something similar, at least once a month. When you do that your world gets a lot bigger, really quickly. You learn so much. Often, you will find people working with the same tools as you, but using them in a different way. Or, you will come across developers who are doing similar work to you. But, are using tools you do not know much about. Either way, you get to learn a lot from them. Unfortunately, at the moment, Jeremy is not able to do this as much as he would like. The nearest meetups and user groups are at least an hour and a half drive away. So, he struggles to attend them regularly. But, to some extent, attending conferences fills in the gap for him. Attending and speaking at them means that he still gets to interact with others who are working in the industry. (5.16) What would you recommend to someone who cannot get to meetups, conferences or other physical events? Right now, there are not many effective virtual groups for people to join. But, that is something that Jeremy is trying to change. In the meantime, his recommendation is that people listen to podcasts as a way of learning. Live coding is good too. On twitch streaming, there is usually some interaction and you can follow individual coders. (6.55) Can you share with us your worst IT career moment and what you learned from that experience. Fortunately, Jeremy has not had any of those oh my goodness I’ve just deleted the production database moments. But, he has found himself working on projects where there are at least 3 layers of project managers sitting between you and the end user. That sort of project setup makes it is all but impossible to come up with something that meets the end users needs. You just can’t get close enough to them to find out what would actually be helpful. Everything gets filtered through layers of project managers and the important things are lost in translation. Usually, things get bogged down to the point where great solutions get left on the shelf. In the end, progress slows and the project gets cancelled. These days Jeremy recognizes those flawed projects and does not get involved. Instead, he focuses on working on things where he stands a good chance of having a positive impact. (9.20) – What was your best career moment? Jeremy’s biggest successes have come from his habit of getting to know what his end users needed. For example, he was in the office one day speaking to a group of administrative staff. While he was there chatting to them he ended up watching how they were working with the system. He noticed that they were spending quite a bit of time creating a report to print out to help them to carry out their job effectively. So, he said to them would it be helpful if I put a print screen on the admin screen. Of course, they said yes. It took him just 5 minutes to do it. Yet that simple change saved the admin team a huge amount of time and stress every single day. They had not thought to request the change because they had assumed it would take too long and cost too much to have it done. Every time Jeremy spends time working alongside the end users he finds that he is able to make a huge difference to how easy it is to get their job done. (13.44) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that we can change the world really easily is something Jeremy finds really exciting about the IT industry. (15.10) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? The idea of being able to automate tedious tasks is what first appealed to Jeremy. It all started while he was working as a hotel receptionist to pay his way through university. At the time, every week, the assistant manager spent hours putting the schedule together using Excel. It was a long and tedious task. There was a lot of cutting and pasting involved because she had to produce multiple sheets. One for management, another for the union and several others. Jeremy realized he could set things up so that she entered the information once and it populated all of the other formats automatically. Doing that made him realize he could get paid well for doing something similar in other workplaces. (16.27) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That advice came from David Neal. He has a great saying – You don’t have to ask permission to be awesome. It does not matter what approach you take to the job. As long as the results are awesome, your boss will be happy. For example, if you have a situation where test driving development will just take too long. Just get on with it and produce the software. Get it done and your manager will not care that you did not follow the test-driven development path. (17.18) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Jeremy to just do what he was paid to do. At the time he was working as a consultant. The person he was speaking to was of the opinion that he should just do what he was hired to do. Even if he could see that the company he was working for was heading in the wrong direction. This approach is not one Jeremy feels comfortable with. Instead, he likes to dig a little deeper and get a better understanding of what he is being asked to do and why. For example, on one job he asked to go into the field to see how the software he was working on was being put to work by the end-users. The project manager appreciated that approach. As a result of finding out about the customer's pain points were the rewrite was much better than it would have otherwise have been. As Jeremy says, people don’t hire him to be quiet and do what he is told. They hire him because they want to tap into his problem-solving skills. (18.44) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jeremy would get involved with other users as soon as possible. It is a good way to learn a lot and it is a fast way to build up your network. If you do that, finding your next role becomes a lot easier. (20.10) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jeremy is currently working in the training space, so his focus is there. He is doing a lot more conference work. Mostly because it is such an effective way to reach others. It feels great to stand up there, explain something and see the light bulbs go on. (21.11) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Understanding the business rather than just how to code has helped Jeremy’s career. Knowing what the business you are working in is doing makes a huge difference. Everything you produce is so much more relevant and effective. (22.18) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Periodically, Jeremy pauses and refocuses. He finds that keeps him grounded in reality. For example, now that he is in the training space he works to understand how ordinary developers see things. Doing this makes sure that the tools and training he produces are truly relevant to them. He thinks about how they are going to perceive and navigate what he produces. Jeremy constantly asks himself how can I make the world a better place? Right now, with the skill set he possesses that means producing great software for his end-users. (23.43) – What do you do away from technology? Jeremy reads a lot. Right now, he is especially interested in finding out how the brain works and mindfulness. He also enjoys hiking. (24.57) – Phil asks Jeremy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jeremy believes that everyone has something of value to share. From a fairly early stage in his IT career, he felt the urge to speak at conferences. But, he didn’t do it because he believed that he had nothing of value to share. Eventually, he realized that you do not have to be an expert to be able to share your knowledge with others. There is always someone on the path just behind you who can learn from what you know. BEST MOMENTS: (1.39) JEREMY – "Most people get introduced to dependency injection backwards." (3.29) JEREMY – "When you attend meetups, your world quickly gets a lot bigger." (17.16) JEREMY – "You don't need permission to be awesome." (21.00) JEREMY – "When I speak in front of 100 developers, I can impact them all. It is really rewarding." (25.41) JEREMY – "Help someone behind you on the path. Everyone has something useful to share." CONTACT JEREMY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremybytes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-clark-21a6822/ Website: http://www.jeremybytes.com/Default.aspx

My guest on today’s show is a Developer Advocate at Google working with the Chrome team to develop and promote web standards and developer tools.  Prior to Google he worked at Lanyrd on their mobile website and for the BBC on JavaScript libraries and standards. He says that he wants the web to do what native does best, and fast. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jake Archibald. He is a Developer Advocate at Google. Currently, he is working with the Chrome team developing and promoting innovative tools like squoosh.app. He is there to promote web standards and developer tools to all who will listen. Before beginning his career at Google he worked for the BBC developing their web services and JavaScript library and standards. Later he moved to Lanyrd. Today, he is a well-known conference speaker. Jake has delivered talks at JSConf.Asia, LDNWebPerf and SmashingConf London, to name a few. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.49) –Could you give us an understanding of what your current role with Google as a developer advocate is like? Jake starts out by explaining that it is a really varied role that changes from day to day. Last year, he was working on Squoosh.app, an image compression tool for the web. It uses codecs from C and Rust to compress images in the browser. Other times he works on web standards. He is also involved in fixing Chrome bugs. He sees is role as promoting the web rather than just Google services. When other browsers get things right they praise and promote them too. His aim is to help everyone to get more out of the web and working for Google has not constrained him at all he has been given the freedom to speak freely, which helps things to move forward faster. (3.50) Phil asks him to tell the audience about his work with the BBC, which was also all about web standards. Initially, Jake made web pages for TV shows. He then moved on to work on the BBC’s JavaScript library, which they use on pretty much every one of their pages. One of the biggest challenges he faced then, was keeping everything backward compatible. BBC policy meant that everything they produced had to be accessible using free tools, even older versions. Because, at the time, the newest version of Safari was a paid for tool, everything they built had to be compatible with the older version because it was still free. (5.41) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? The thing that made Jake successful was being in the right place at the right time. He feels there is an element of luck involved in everything. When he started out he knew very little about the web. But, within 2 years he had learned most of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. So, when the web exploded he was able to exploit that knowledge to the full. This was despite the fact that there were, and still are, gaps in his knowledge. Not knowing everything will not stop you from progressing in your IT career. So, don’t get hung up about it. Just maximize what you do with your current skills and keep on learning to succeed. (8.00) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? That happened early in his career. He was working for a large corporation looking after their site and intranet. One day the HR department asked him to take some of the job postings and install them on their intranet. It sounded easy but was far from it. The way their site worked with cookies made it very tricky to scrape the information, so it could be added to the intranet. At the time, he knew nothing about Perl. But, it was really the only solution. So, he had no choice but to work out how to do it. After a bit, he managed it and the team he was working with were really pleased. But, he realized they had zero understanding of what it had taken to achieve that result. At that point, he realized he had not found his dream job. In fact, it was going to be quite limiting, so he had no choice but to move on. That felt pretty bad. He was pretty disappointed. The other worst moment was when he broke the BBC’s iPlayer, their streaming service. He had not uploaded something properly. An error which, after two weeks, broke the corporation’s streaming service when a rarely used server was pulled into use. Only then did the error become apparent. He was blamed, despite the fact that it was a weakness in the deployment system that ultimately caused the issue. (13.58) – What was your best career moment? For Jake, being able to contribute to the HTML spec was a huge moment. The web will outlive him, so it feels good to be leaving a legacy, something which others will continue to benefit from. (15.45) – What excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? For Jake, the fact that the web and JavaScript are still growing is exciting. In 10 years it is going to look very different than it does now. We are going to be able to do so much more with it. (17.55) – What drew you to a career in IT? When Jake was given his first computer at about the age of 7, he was hooked. He loved programming stuff that resulted in immediate visual feedback. So, he fell in love with the web the moment he was introduced to it. (19.00) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? One of Jake’s first jobs was working for a UK retail chain called GAME. Weirdly, his then boss told him to “get out of retail as soon as possible.” He pointed out that the pay was awful and the job was rarely enjoyable. At the time, the job fitted in well with his studies, so he stayed. But, he took the advice to heart and was careful to make sure he did not follow a career path that led to him working in retail. (20.55) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Interestingly, that came from a deputy manager at GAME. He wanted him to go into retail management. Fortunately, his direct boss had already pointed out to him the pitfalls of that career path. So, Jake did not make the mistake of staying in retail. (21.19) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jake would make sure that he got a grounding in the basics. His career path meant he skipped a lot of the simpler stuff. Now, he is struggling a bit because of this. He wishes he had done more of a computer science based course. Instead of the multimedia orientated one he actually completed. (22.38) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jake’s primary objective is not to get promoted into misery. It is something that he has seen happen to others. It is all too easy to get taken further away from what you enjoy doing every time you get promoted. Plus, of course, every time you move up the ladder you end up with more responsibility. He would rather take a sideways move than end up doing something he does not enjoy. Right now, his focus is web performance. He thinks that a lot of the bundling tools have got things wrong. So, that is very much a focus. (24.07) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Becoming a confident speaker has made a huge difference to Jake’s career. One conference talk led to another until he started to become well know. When that happened, finding work became really easy. The thing he enjoys most about conferences is speaking to people after he has given his talk. Jake finds that he learns so much from those conversations. (27.00) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jake says that he embraces procrastination. The most important work he has done has happened when he has meandered away a bit from what he should have been doing. Giving yourself a little time to explore is a great way to get the creative process going and come up with something really different. It is a great way to break the cycle of boredom and re-energize yourself so you can get some of the more tedious stuff done. (29.13) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jake walks a lot, especially in the countryside. He finds it to be a good way to get away from things, take a bit of exercise, re-set and re-energize. (31.00) – Phil asks Jake to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. While at school his art teacher said to him “you get better with every painting that you paint.” Now, he realizes that is true of coding too. You need to practice to get good at it. If you are not developing the skills you want on the job. Take on small projects outside of the workplace to help you to do so. BEST MOMENTS: (2.35) JAKE – “I’m paid by Google to promote all things web." (5.50) JAKE – "Learn to be in the right place at the right time." (14.11) JAKE – "Contributing to the HTML spec was a huge moment for me." (16.36) JAKE – "In 10 years, we're going to look at the web now and think that looks so ancient." (22.40) JAKE – "Don’t get promoted into misery." (27.00) JAKE – "Embrace procrastination, as much as time allows." CONTACT JAKE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaffathecake GitHub: https://github.com/jakearchibald/ Website: https://jakearchibald.com/

My guest on today’s show is a Staff Operations Engineer from Zendesk.  He describes himself as a Linux systems geek with a passion for making systems serve great content.  And he is recognized as an expert in metrics and monitoring, about which speaks, as well as a featured panellist for the MonitoringScale Live community panel.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jeff Pierce. He has been working in the industry since 2003 when he started Coldflare Internet Services. Later, he moved into systems administration working for several firms. Jeff then changed direction a bit, taking up a role as a senior systems engineer for Apple in 2011. Then again when he started work as a DevOps Engineer for Krux Digital and a Senior DevOps Engineer for Change.org. After a few years working as a software and infrastructure engineer, he is now Staff Operations Engineer for Zendesk. He specializes in automating large clusters of Linux systems. Metrics and monitoring are his other passions. He is an expert in this field and regularly speaks on this subject. Jeff was also a featured panelist for the MontoringScale Live community panel. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.49) – Can I ask you to tell us more about the metrics and monitoring that you focus on and speak about? Jeff starts by pointing out the only way to do effective system administration is to have access to good software data. You need that data to be gathered automatically. Over the years, Jeff has focused on making sure companies are able to collect the data they need to be able to scale things and optimize what they are doing. (1.26) – So, you are following the principle – if you can’t measure it you can’t improve it. Jeff agrees but explains that it is a little more than that. He says if you can’t see what your system and software are doing, you are already broken. You just don’t know it yet. (1.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. Career Energizer audience? Jeff’s advice is not to share your salary with your new employer. This is because they will simply offer you a percentage over what you already earn. If you want to make sure that you are paid the market rate, keep your salary history to yourself. Let it be known that you want to be paid a certain percentage over the market rate and let them negotiate from there. In fact, in the US in Massachusetts employers are no longer allowed to ask future employees how much they earn. The authorities are recognizing that being able to do this gives firms a huge amount of power over prospective employees. Continuing to base what they pay on what previous employers is only making pay gaps worse. (4.16) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Interestingly, the experience Jeff shares turned out to be a combination of the best and the worst moment of his career. It happened when he was working for the petition site change.org. They help campaign groups and people to put pressure on government and corporations, using petitions, to literally drive change. About four years ago they were involved in using petitions to stop the dog eating festival in Yulin, China. The data involved was huge. So much so that it uncovered a bug in their Galera MariaDB Cluster. The error caused every node to go into data protection mode. When all your nodes go down like that you do not have a cluster anymore. Instead, you end up with four separate servers. In their case, there was also a fifth arbitral process in place to break ties. The nature of the problem meant that their 4th server was serving virtually the whole site while they worked on the bug. Fighting to keep the site online at a time when they were getting four times more traffic than normal was a challenge. There were other issues too. On the one hand, existing on a few hours sleep and working in a highly stressed environment, was awful. For any engineer that time spent fire-fighting keeping the system going knowing that you could not fix it yet, for five straight days, was a nightmare scenario. But, it was also one of the best times. The strength of the team he was working with shone through. Plus, he learned a huge amount from getting the system into working order. That learning carried on for weeks after as they forensically examined what had happened. He delved into areas of the system and technologies he had barely touched before.  (11.12) – What was your best career moment? Deploying the first piece of code he had a hand in writing into production was a real highlight for Jeff. He had just moved from the ops side to DevOps, so he knew it had the potential to make a big difference and help a lot of people because they were able to make it Open Source. For change.org having the ability to store the stats in Cassandra was very helpful. It is a no sequel database format, which means that it is highly scalable. Exactly what they needed, at the time, although now they have moved on to using DataDog. But, when Jeff wrote and deployed the code it was a step change. At this point, Jeff reminds the audience of the value of Open Sourcing something you wrote in terms of energizing your IT career. Being able to do this demonstrtes to a prospective employer that you are good at what you do. So, good that you are confident enough to put your work out there so others can use it. To this day, Jeff mentions it to hiring managers. They are still impressed by it. Coming up with a fresh idea and being able to take it to the point where it is available for general use proves you have a good skill set. Learning code is a lot like learning how to play the guitar. At first, you can only play one chord and you struggle with that. You think you are never going to get it. But, you persist and practice your chords. Before you know it you can play a song. (19.38) – What excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? To use a cliché “software is eating the world.” It is everywhere, which is really exciting because the possibilities are endless. Now, anyone can easily put a product out on the internet using the products Amazon provides. When Jeff was working in the field of systems administration you had one manager for every 50 servers minimum. Now AWS and Google Cloud are available, one person can manage huge scalable systems. Nowadays, nobody asks you what is the biggest environment you have managed? They just want to know that you are familiar enough with the software so you can run the system. Of course, this shift means that you do not need as many system administrators. But, fortunately, these days, as one door closes, others open up. No matter how smart the devices and tech are, end users will always need some sort of support. The robots that are used to automate tasks still need to be maintained. There will always be a geek working in the background. There are still plenty of opportunities for those who want to get involved in the industry. The list of possibilities is endless, which is also exciting. (23.34) – Phil comments on that the fact it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Jeff agrees this is exciting. Ten years ago he thought Linux branded zones which are sometimes called Solaris Containers would be huge. But, Docker came along and totally changed the landscape. Set up properly, with all of the right permissions in place it is safe to give junior system admins access. Plus, you can guarantee that everything will work once it goes into production. Even more surprising was seeing the GPU becoming big again. In the IT world, you can never be sure what will happen next. (25.32) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jeff has been a computer geek since he was a kid when his dad bought him a BC286 from ComputerLand. Jeff loved using it from the start. It had a 640k ram, 10 times more than they used to get to the moon. At the time, Bill Gates said that was all the ram anyone would ever need. When it broke it was too expensive to have it repaired. So, he learned how to do it himself. He loved solving puzzles, so when he realized he could do it for a living, he leaped at the chance. Jeff is on the spectrum, so without IT, he is not sure where he would be today. Being able to work in the industry opened up the chance for him to earn good money and find work easily. (26.06) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? It came from his dad who insisted that Jeff learn a trade. He was an auto mechanic. When he could no longer physically do the work, he switched to teaching auto mechanics. Jeff did not get much formal education. But, once he realized he wanted to work in IT he approached learning how to do it and building his career as if it were a trade. From the start, he realized that he would only master it if he practiced. Repairing someone’s PC is not dissimilar to fixing someone’s car. In both situations, the person handing it over to you does not really understand how it works. So, they have to trust you to do it for them. (27.38) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Jeff to stay at least a year with each company. There will be times when things will not be working out. In that situation, staying the year just does not make sense. If you are learning something and have no problems with the work environment, by all means, stay at least a year. If not, don’t be afraid to move on. Of course, during the interview, you will find that hiring managers will ask you why you left so soon. But, there is no need to be worried about that. Just be honest. For example, they just weren’t a good fit or I was just not learning anything there. It is best to prepare a good answer prior to the interview. Jeff was fired once. At the time, he was suffering from depression and it was affecting his work. He has been hired twice since then. In both interviews, he disclosed what had happened and still landed the jobs. (29.40) – If you were to begin your IT career again, in today’s world, what would you do? Jeff says he would go to a code boot camp. Some of the brightest people Jeff has worked with have done attended coding camps like Hack Reactor and Hackbright Academy. It is a great way to get into coding. Unless you are involved in developing leading-edge technologies like AI or neural networking you don’t really need a computer science degree. For many people, it turns out to be a waste of education. Even with a first class degree in all likelihood, your first job is going to be something like working on a mobile API or website. (32.44) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Phil is building his online presence back up by using social media. He is also planning to speak more again. But, top of his list is getting more involved in educating others. He wants to mentor more. Jeff only learned to code in 2011. So, he is still developing his DevOps skills. (34.42) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Jeff is autistic so he has had to actively learn people skills. For example, looking someone in the eye when having a conversation does not come naturally to him. In fact, he still can’t quite do it, but has learned that looking at someone’s forehead is close enough. Focusing on and honing these skills has enabled him to progress within the industry. Today, he is better than most people at things like navigating a crowd or public speaking. (37.40) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jeff finds taking on side projects keeps him energized. Often it is his non-IT interests that determine what he does next. For example, he is currently learning C# because that is what the Unity game engine uses. This feeds into his desire to start his own video games company. He is a big gaming fan and is especially proud of being listed on Marvel Heroes as a member of the senior technical operations staff. He does not like sitting on his laurels. Constantly challenging himself keeps him interested and energized. (41.37) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jeff plays the guitar and bass. He used to play in a punk band, but now mostly creates and records as a solo artist. Jeff is also a big video game fan who enjoys role-playing and strategy games. (43.07) – Phil asks Jeff to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Get a mentor, someone who can guide you and help you to work out what to do next. He also advises the I.T. Career Energizer audience not to be afraid to apply for jobs for which they are not fully qualified. Hiring managers do not expect you to have every single skill that is on the list. Jeff’s suggestion is to apply if you meet around half of them. He has never met the full criteria asked for, yet has still been hired many times. On your application spend time explaining why you are a good fit for the job in the cover note you provide. Often, you will land yourself an interview. Thirdly, Jeff explains that effective networking is key when it comes to developing a successful IT career. When you are looking for work, often, your network will introduce you to people who are hiring. BEST MOMENTS: (1.36) JEFF – "If you can’t see what your system and software are doing, you are already broken. You just don’t know it yet." (2.11) JEFF – "Never share your salary history with a new employer. Instead, ask for the market rate plus a percentage." (15.18) JEFF – "When you’re passionate about a project you do your best work." (21.58) JEFF – "End users always need technical support, no matter how smart the devices get." (22.27) JEFF – "You will always need the geek behind the scenes." (28.48) JEFF – "Don't stay in a situation that isn't good for you or for the company you are working for." (32.04) JEFF – "For the programming side of the industry, code school is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door. " (39.48) JEFF – "Don't get comfortable, keep seeking out something harder.”   CONTACT JEFF: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Th3Technomancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrpierce/ Website: https://almostinteresting.net

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a Senior Cloud Advocate for Microsoft.  He conducts “science experiment” Hackathons with industry-leading organizations to test theories and create Proof of Concepts utilizing Microsoft cloud services.   Previously he has been awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional 4 years running for evangelising mobility products and solutions through public speaking engagements and other efforts.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Anthony Bartolo. He has been working in the tech industry for just over two decades. Initially, he worked within the communications sector as an IT manager and a general manager. Later, he became an Applications Specialist, Partner Engagement Manager and B2B Sales Manager for an electronic learning provider. In 2013, he re-joined Microsoft in the role of VP, Business Developer. Within 3 months he became a Sr. Technology Evangelist. Today, he is a Sr. Cloud Advocate for Microsoft. Anthony is a Data & AI, IoT and Identity & Security specialist with a thirst for knowledge. For 4 years running, he was a recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award. Over the years, he has spoken at numerous conferences and has been involved in many significant projects. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – Can you give us a bit of an understanding of what your role as a senior cloud advocate is? Around 70% of the role is listening to those who are adopting Microsoft technology. The other 30% is sharing what is going on. What the advocate learns while listening to users is relayed back to the engineering team. Hackathons are a great way to learn how people are using the tools and what issues they have as well as what they would like. Anthony learns how it’s being governed, implemented and secure. As well as how the resources are being made available. Often, they also share ARM templates and best practices through GitHub.  (2.11) - Presumably, that involves subsequently talking about the hackathons and the results you're obtaining. Anthony confirms that is the case. He explains that the resources that have been created via hack quests are also frequently shared. He disseminates a lot of new information during public speaking engagements and via all kinds of tech forums. (2.41) - Prior to Microsoft, what were you doing? Before working for Microsoft, Anthony worked for Canada’s largest telecommunications company – Rogers Communications. Later, he worked helping customers to adopt the first iteration of smartphones into their tech infrastructure. At the time, those smartphones ran on Windows Mobile and they were using Server 2003 Service Pack Two. He was heavily involved in improving security for these devices. Prior to that, he was involved in doing something similar for PocketPC devices and Blackberry. (3.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Anthony’s advice to IT professionals is to make sure that they are part of the business. They need to have a seat at the table with the decision makers. This ensures that you understand the direction the business is moving in and have a say in what happens next. When you do that you become proactive instead of reactive. If someone proposes something you can weigh-in and help those who are around the table to understand how viable it is from a tech point of view. You can point out the pitfalls, come up with ways to move things forward and manage expectations. Instead of having to find a duct tape solution to implement something that was decided upon without your input you can come up with an elegant one and build that instead. (5.57) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the days of Server 2003, the company Anthony worked for ran into an issue because someone had found a way to store MP3’s on their server. Somehow they had managed to stash thousands of them away in the bin file. Naturally, the end result was that the server ran out of space. When that happened, nobody got their emails. At the time, everyone had access to everything. Surprisingly, there was only a single universal admin key which the whole team used. Eventually, using a traceroute they were able to find how the individual was getting access and close them down. But, it was a complete mess and very stressful. It starkly demonstrated just how vulnerable the systems were. Within 90 days they had come up with a security plan and had started to implement it. They were very lucky to have discovered the vulnerability the way they did. It could have been a lot worse. Someone could have easily gone in and stolen all kinds of information. Now, nothing like that would be possible. Security is a priority, although there is still room for improvement. For example, it is not uncommon for people in an IT department to share an admin key. This is the IT equivalent of leaving a key under the mat. Anthony goes on to talk about password management as an example. He explains that there should always be a proper audit trail in place for this process. Someone who wants to access that system should have to get a token from their manager. That token should only allow them into that part of the system and only for a limited amount of time, say 30 minutes. Putting this sort of system in place greatly improves security. He also points out that IT professionals have to be careful to follow the law when it comes to data security. Particularly when dealing with personal data. A lot of today’s security best practice came from the early days of mobile devices. Examples include the use of tokens to ID people and multi-factor authentication. Something that Anthony was involved in developing, at the time (11.33) – What was your best career moment? Anthony’s greatest hackathon success is designed to help with the problem of child exploitation and children going missing. One of the teams worked out a way to harness the power of Azure Functions to find missing kids. It includes the ability for a child to use the #hfm hashtag to immediately alert their parents and other carers that they are in trouble. Once triggered their whereabouts is captured and sent to those who can help them. Data that the police or parents may find helpful in seeing what is going on is also captured. Information like a recent photo, relevant social media data and location history are all instantly available to be shared with the police. If a child goes missing and cannot send the signal at a touch of a button the parent can also trigger this data aggregation and give it to the police. The technology was developed with the input of the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC). They work with the parents of the 45,000 children who go missing in Canada, every year. As well as assisting the authorities. The technology the hackathon team developed is very powerful. This is because, currently, 80% of the abductions that take place are initiated using social chat and messages. So, picking up and following the breadcrumbs that have been left on social platforms is a powerful way to narrow down what has happened and find the children quickly. Anthony and Pierre Roman were able to provide the knowledge to make the system secure and access to the infrastructure needed to run it. Working collaboratively with the developers, end customer and law enforcement provided a superb solution that ticked all of the boxes. It worked and importantly complied with all of the relevant privacy and security regulations. As a result, it was a solution that could actually be implemented. Plus, they were able to share it via GitHub. So, it is now being picked up and used throughout the world. Being involved in a successful project that is making such a huge difference is definitely a career highlight. It clearly demonstrates the power of collaborative working and the cloud.  (14.51) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the skills of IT professionals are so transferable is exciting. The Cloud is enabling us to accomplish so much more. Cloud technology makes everything possible. Organizations of all sizes now have the power to deploy their solutions globally. When it comes to tech the sky is the limit. It is amazing to see how quickly IT pros adapt to new technology. Take IoT security as an example. Not so long ago a consumer could buy a smart light bulb that could change color. It sounds great, but initially, if they installed that bulb into a fixture in an organization’s workplace that created a security risk. There was no meaningful security built into that device. Shadow IT was a huge issue. Today, people like Anthony are using the knowledge they built up to secure physical hardware to change that. Importantly, IT professionals are immediately picking up those solutions and running with them.  (17.00) – What drew you to a career in IT? Anthony blames the movie Back to the Future for giving him the tech bug. He was 13 when Doc Brown inspired him to come up with something new. From that point on he started to strip things down. He was forever imbedding motors in lego cars. Fairly, quickly that evolved into an interest in IT.  (18.01) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Don’t be a know it all, be a learn it all. There is no way you can ever know it all. When you attend events, make friends with others and learn from them. Anthony loves sharing what he knows at conferences. He always comes home having learned so much. Keeping an open mind and being interested in what others are doing is a great way to learn. Taking this approach is a great way to grow your IT career quickly.  (19.08) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Anthony that end users don’t count. They thought that IT professionals always knew best. The emergence of smart mobiles made it clear that way of working would never be viable. They gave the power back to the consumer. (19.55) – If you were to begin your IT career again, in today’s world, what would you do? When Anthony first started his career he just focused on learning about the products and tech. He had no interest in what the company was trying to accomplish. Anthony focused on learning about the products and the infrastructure, not the client’s needs. What they were trying to achieve. Now, he turns everything on its head. His initial focus is on the client’s and the end-users’ endgame. He sees everything far more holistically.  (21.17) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Anthony’s current focus is on engaging with IT professional audiences. He wants to know where their pain points are, what is working for them and what is not. One of his aims is to smooth the transition from physical architecture to the cloud. He and his team disseminate solutions for the issues that are discussed with them in many different ways. Including posting on ITOpsTalk.com and fielding questions at conferences. Understandably, the team can’t answer every question. But, that is not a negative thing because it gives them something meaningful to dig into and research. By taking this approach Anthony and his colleagues have learned loads. It is a great way to find out what IT professionals are thinking. All of that information is shared with engineering too. It helps them to understand and take account of the issues their end-customers are experiencing. This approach has changed things radically. Now everything is much easier to deploy. (22.56) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Before working in IT, Anthony was a car mechanic. Even today, the skills he learned doing that work stand him in good stead. It is where he picked up his problem-solving skills and first learned to take a methodical, logical approach to things. He was working as a mechanic when the first ECUs were introduced. Plugging the car into a laptop to work out what was wrong was a fascinating experience for him. He was able to fully appreciate what a big leap forward it was. (24.14) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Constantly learning about new things is something that Anthony finds energizing. He loves to dabble. At the moment it is IoT that he is enjoying the most. Recently he had the privilege of working on a project with the Canadian Coast Guard. Together they worked out how to get drones to spot lifejackets in the water when a ship is in distress. It is a difficult thing to achieve when the drone is a long way offshore with no connectivity. The drone has to be self-aware. It has to spot the life jacket then carry out a heat or iris scan. That data is then crunched to work out how close the individual is to hyperthermia, so the rescuers can prioritize their rescue efforts. All this needs to be done using tech that is small enough to fit on the device, the equivalent of a Raspberry Pi. (26.03) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Anthony is a keen quarter-mile competitor (drag racer). He regularly competes at the Cayuga track in Ontario. Recently, he has also taken up mountain biking, which he is really enjoying. Whenever he can he visits Huntington Beach in California. He loves surfing there. (26.38) – Phil asks Anthony to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Anthony’s advice is to never think that you should not be part of the conversation. For too long, IT departments have been seen only as a cost center. You need to grab your seat at the table, get involved and have a voice. It is vital that you understand the organization you are working for, as a whole. If you do not know where the business is going you will never come up with effective solutions. At the end of the day, you want to be an enabler of technology. Not just a one and a zero. You are not just a cost centre. Your work should be actively moving the business forward. BEST MOMENTS: (1.22) ANTHONY – "As a senior cloud advocate, my responsibility is 70% listening and 30% sharing." (4.48) ANTHONY – "Make sure you're part of the business. Get a seat at the table with the business decision makers." (17.49) ANTHONY – "If you can think it you can create it." (18.11) ANTHONY – "Don’t be a know it all. Be a learn it all." (20.32) ANTHONY – "Learn more about the why. Understand why you are implementing that type of tech." (26.53) ANTHONY – "Never think that you shouldn't be part of the conversation." CONTACT ANTHONY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/WirelessLife LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wirelesslife/ Website: https://www.itopstalk.com

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is an aspiring tech polymath, a coder, a speaker and a teacher.  She joined Atos’s rotational graduate scheme in 2016 under the Technical Consultancy Stream and was awarded Graduate of the Year in 2018.  She is also a Course Instructor for Code First: Girls.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s podcast is Shaquilla Johnson. She is just starting out on her IT career, yet she has already been able to have a big impact. In 2016, she joined Atos’ graduate scheme. Shaquilla went on to win the 2018 Graduate of the Year award. She is already speaking at conferences and running courses at Code First: Girls. Shaquilla is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and is currently taking more courses. For the past three years, she has been working on her own tech blog. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – I wanted to start by asking you about Code First: Girls. So, I understand you got a bit of a background in there before you went into the instruction side of things? Around 2015, while at university, Shaquilla took an introductory coding course through Code First: Girls. It was quite basic. But, still covered beginner’s web development, simple HTML, CSS, Get and UX design. It gave her a good insight into the world of tech and careers within that industry. At that point, Shaquilla realized that a career in tech was for her. So, she cancelled her audit and tax related applications and looked around for something IT related. She applied for a technical graduate scheme at a tech company that provided IT services. In 2016, she secured a place on the Atos graduate scheme. She has taken more courses and is now at the stage where she is able to volunteer and help others. Something she really enjoys doing. For her, paying it forward is important. (3.44) - So, do you take time out to do that? Shaquilla explains that she mainly works as an instructor in the evenings. Usually for 8 weeks at a time. Code First: Girls runs courses throughout the year. So, the instructors are able to fit when they volunteer to run the courses around the rest of their lives. (4.30) - I presume you're going to be sticking to that and continuing for a while. Shaquilla confirms she has no plans to stop working as a volunteer instructor. (5.19) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Her top career tip is to always remember that you are in control and act that way. Your managers, peers and mentors can all help you to progress. But, ultimately you are the one that is in control, the person that always has your best interests at heart. Occasionally, companies will lie to you to get you to work for them or things will not work out as expected for another reason. When that happens, you owe it to yourself to have a conversation to try to change things or move on. (6.55) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? There have been times when the morale of the team she has been working with was very low. Something that happens a lot when things are not going to plan. (8.27) – So, did you learn about how to deal with that stress? Shaquilla said she has been able to use those situations to learn more about handling stress. She is now more resilient and now understands how to use her mind to deal with the situation effectively. It has taught her to pause and rationalize what she is feeling, so she can find her way through the problem. (9.12) – What was your best career moment? your greatest success, so far. That was winning Graduate of the Year in 2018. The award came at the end of a packed 18 months. A period during which she was involved in several large projects and became an instructor at Code First: Codes. Her work during that time and winning that award has really opened doors for her. It has also helped her to grow her network. (10.34) – What excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there is always something new on the horizon is something Shaquilla finds exciting and stimulating. There is always something new to learn and understand. The fact that in a few years we will be using tech we have not even thought of now is really exciting. Shaquilla cannot wait to see how these things shape the world. Unlike many of us, Shaquilla is not afraid of change. She is not fearful of automation. It will change things drastically, but, there will be other techs we can use to create new products and solutions, things that will likely blow our minds. (13.57) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Shaquilla was drawn to IT in part because it is such a fast paced environment to work in. It is the industry that will lead us into the future. So, be authentic. (14.17) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Be yourself, your best self. If you try to create a persona and become a caricature, a fake version of yourself, people will easily see through you. (14.43) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? To date, Shaquilla does not think she has received any bad advice. Just things that she has felt were not relevant, or appropriate, for her personally. (15.07) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? When Shaquilla attended university, she decided to study physics. If she were to start again she would study computer science instead. (15.44) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? This year Shaquilla wants to do more technical speaking. To date, she has spoken mainly about career decision-related topics. She wants to start to deliver more technical speeches. To get there, she is broadening the work she is doing and actively looking for courses to take that will broaden her experience. (16.37) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Shaquilla says that is definitely empathy. Taking a caring approach is always best. Try to put yourself in that person’s shoes. Often, the reason you are not getting a positive response is nothing to do with what you are doing. Usually, there is something going on in the background of the other person’s life that you do not know about. Listening to and getting to know someone better helps you to build a better working relationship with them. It takes time but is well worth the effort. (17.33) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Seeking out new challenges keeps Shaquilla engaged and enthusiastic. She still finds doing this nerve-wracking. But, she does not let that stop her. Fairly quickly, she gets excited about trying something new. at which point it starts to become enjoyable. (18.14) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Shaquilla loves to cook, in particular, baking. She also enjoys eating out, trying new foods and drinks. Fortunately, she lives in London, so has access to an amazing range of cultures and food to try.  (18.42) – Phil asks Shaquilla to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Her advice is to never stop learning. The saying – we are all students of the school of life” is definitely true. BEST MOMENTS: (5.20) SHAQUILLA – "No one will look out for your career interests like you will." (6.00) SHAQUILLA – "At the end of the day, the best career decisions will come from you." (09.09) SHAQUILLA – "Once you get control of your mind, and learn to rationalize handling stressful situations becomes much easier.” (14.19) SHAQUILLA – “Be authentic, be yourself, be your best self." (18.07) SHAQUILLA – "You learn the most when you're kind of forced to make it work.” (18.49) SHAQUILLA – "Never stop learning." CONTACT SHAQUILLA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaquillaevelyn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaquillaevelynjohnson/ Website: https://shaquillaevelyn.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a software engineer working in Germany.  He has been working in the IT industry for seven years and has received multiple awards, including three from Microsoft.  He is also a keen photographer, a technology blogger and also has his own YouTube channel.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Energizer Podcast is the software engineer and MVP, Sibeesh Venu. He is currently working in Germany as a Full Stack Developer for medialesson GmbH. Despite having only been involved in the IT industry for seven years, Sibeesh is already a well-known tech writer and speaker. He has already become a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional three times. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.04) – So I really wanted to first ask you maybe if you could give us a little bit more about your background and tell us how you got into it. Sibeesh explains that when he left school he had no clear career direction in mind. So, on the recommendation of a friend, he went to engineering college. He got the qualification but had no job to go into. Sibeesh took a job at a local hotel. But, he soon realized the work was not for him and left after just 2 months. At that point, he decided to try IT, Sibeesh started by studying .NET. He moved to a new city and joined a startup company as an engineer. Later, he moved to Germany. (2.30) - How did you end up working in Germany? Sibeesh had always wanted to explore a new country. So, when he got the chance to work in Germany he made the move. (3.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Sibeesh says that it is important to always finish what you start, even if you find something really boring or very difficult you need to complete the project. That approach builds up your confidence fast and makes you more resilient. It teaches you that you are capable of pushing through regardless. (4.29) – Can you share with us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the past, Sibeesh has mistakenly joined companies where there was no place for his technical exposure or no chance to improve his knowledge. He ended up working with old languages in roles that offered him no job satisfaction. Sibeesh explains that you can only produce good work when you love what you are doing. His advice is not to waste valuable years doing a job you do not enjoy especially if it is one where you learn nothing new.  (5.34) – What was your best career moment? your greatest success. For the past six years, Sibeesh has been writing an award-winning tech blog. He has won the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award three times. An award that is given to someone who passionately shares what they know with the wider community. Winning this award brings many benefits. For example, MVP winners get early access to Microsoft products. They are also in direct communication with Microsoft and get to attend the annual MVP summit. (7.17) - Presumably by being a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, you get the opportunity as well to expand your network. Sibeesh agrees it has made networking a lot easier for him. Getting involved in meetups has also helped him to network more. (7.40) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The pace of change and the emergence of AI both excite Sibeesh. It is a challenging environment to work in because you can never be sure what is going to happen next. But, providing you keep your mind open and become a continuous learner you will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there. (8.47) – What attracted you to a career in IT? For Sibeesh it was simply the fact that his friend recommended that he give IT a try.  (9.15) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? One of Sibeesh’s mentors encouraged him to be a continual learner. Advice he took to heart and used to help him to quickly build a successful IT career. (9.30) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Sibeesh that “your job is important, not your satisfaction”. Sibeesh now understands that the opposite is true. Your satisfaction is more important than your job. If you are not satisfied in your work, you will achieve nothing. (10.04) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Sibeesh is passionate about and fascinated by the IoT movement. If he were to start his career again, that would be his focus. (10.38) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Sibeesh is working to make sure he stays within the MVP program. He is also working on building out an even stronger network. (10.58) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Writing is the non-IT skill that has advanced Sibeesh’s career the most. Blogging about whatever he learns has really paid dividends. (11.21) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Continuously learning helps to keep Sibeesh interested and motivated. He also finds being a mentor and mentee, at the same time, to be very energizing, career-wise. Being both sounds a bit strange, but Sibeesh has discovered that it really is possible to be both. (11.50) – Phil agrees, he says that it depends on where you are in relation to the other person in terms of knowledge. There is always going to be somebody ahead of you. But as you progress your career, there'll be more and more people that are at an earlier stage, which means that they can learn from you. (12.16) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Sibeesh has 2 YouTube channels which he spends quite a bit of time maintaining. On is IT related, but the other one is all about his experiences in Germany. He enjoys explaining to people how things work there. In particular, when he comes across something that is very different from what he is used to. Sibeesh is also a keen photographer. He enjoys taking photos and sharing his knowledge of that subject with others. (13.38) – Phil asks Sibeesh to share a parting piece of career advice with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. Sibeesh’s advice is to give back to the community. This helps you to build a strong network and motivates you to continue to learn. When it is time to change jobs the fact that you have done this will make things a lot easier. BEST MOMENTS: (3.33) SIBEESH – "Finishing what you start, no matter what, builds confidence and forces you to hone your skills." (5.07) SIBEESH – "You can do good work, only if you love it." (7.03) SIBEESH – "We live in a world where everything is changing. Yet, in the end, what matters is the people who know us and the people we know" (9.28) SIBEESH – "Keep learning, the one who stops learning is old." (10.03) SIBEESH – "Your satisfaction is more important than your job. If you are not satisfied you will achieve nothing." (11.31) SIBEESH – "I am a mentor and a mentee. A person can be both, at the same time."  (14.01) SIBEESH – "Giving it back to the community is the first step to building a strong network." CONTACT SIBEESH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sibeeshvenu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sibeeshvenu/ Website: https://twitter.com/sibeeshvenu

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a Developer Advocate for Google Cloud Platform.  This gives her the opportunity to do silly things with lots of computers and to help developers build cool stuff on all sorts of platforms.   Previously she has worked in a variety of software roles, from robotics with NASA to developer advocacy for Google Glass.  She is also passionate about education, especially on the subjects of technology and science.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jen Tong. She is currently working as a Developer Advocate for Google Cloud Platform. But, she started her career working on software. She has worked for NASA in the robotics field before working on Google Glass. Today, Jen works as a security advocate for Google Jen is passionate about astronomy. She has spent time coding for Project PANOPTES. That community project enables anyone to build a low-cost robotic telescope. She also enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.12) –  So Jen, just looking at your career history be very interesting to hear a little bit about the work you did with NASA with robotics and obviously more, more recently with Google Glass. Sadly, Jen was only with NASA for one summer. They were working on a robot that was to be part of the space station’s escape system. But, the project got canceled when NASA decided to take a different approach to the escape pod docking system. For the Google Glass project, Jen was mainly involved in building out the developer platforms. Her team’s aim was to make it as easy as possible for people to build applications for Glass. (2.32) – Can you give us a couple of examples? Some of the most interesting applications involved helping people with accessibility issues to find their way around the world. Developers with hearing and vision impairments were particularly active. They could see all sorts of possibilities for Google Glass. (3.04) - Do you feel that Google Glass has a bit of ahead of its time when it first came out? With emerging technology, it can take a while for it to find its place in the ecosystem. Jen is not involved in Google Glass, at the moment, but says that it appears to have found its place. (3.39) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? For years, Jen heard people saying that taking risks leads to great rewards and adventures. So she pushed herself and took risks. Sometimes things worked out well, other times, not so much. Initially, when things looked like they were moving in the wrong direction, Jen would hang in there. Now, she is not scared to quit. Her recommendation when going into something new is to review how things are going after a pre-set period of time. Then pause and ask yourself if the role really is for you. If it does not feel quite right, don’t be afraid to quit. Resist the temptation to give it one more month or another year.  (6.03) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Jen’s first IT related job was working for a semiconductor company as a process engineer. Her role was to split out the data for serial memory chips into a sequence of events. The job was not exciting, but she was learning a lot. More importantly, she was working with a fantastic team of people. She was only about 20 at the time, so their support was particularly important for Jen. But, when NASA offered a job it was too much to resist. She took the job. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be the dream job she thought it would be. She was no longer happy in her work life. That situation taught her the importance of periodically pausing and evaluating her career choices. Now, if she is not happy she moves on quickly. (8.10) – What was your best career moment? Working on Developer Relations of Google Glass was something Jen really enjoyed. At one hackathon they investigated how the glasses could be used by a team member who was completely blind. They came up with all sorts of viable applications. For example, placing QR codes on objects to warn of hazards. The glasses could pick up those codes and use the bone conducting speaker to discreetly notify the wearer of the danger. The visually impaired colleague they were working with could already see (feel) a lot of things using his cane. But, would occasionally walk into a low sign or something similar, because he had no way of knowing the objects were at his head height. The QR codes solved that problem.  (10.18) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that more people than ever before are learning to code is exciting. As people from different backgrounds get more involved in IT, a whole new ecosystem is opening up. (11.33) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jen got sucked into the world of IT partly because she wanted to be able to cheat on video games. A task that was not easy in the 80s and 90s. Without realizing it, her quest to complete more game levels lead to her reverse engineering the code. She did not have the source code but was able to make changes using the hex editor. (12.20) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Jen says the best advice she has received cannot really be summed up in one line. You need to recognize the two main styles of IT career and decide which one is right for you. Some people are suited to digging deep into a subject and becoming a specialist. That approach usually turns out to be very lucrative. In particular when you become one of the go-to people for that technology. But, it is not for everyone. Luckily, the other approach the journalist route also works. It is easier to find more opportunities and working in that way is enriching. (12.59) – On the flip side, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Again, Jen does not have a specific one-liner to share. But, comments that the idea that women are not good at tech is definitely not true. So, you should definitely not listen to that argument and let it hold you back. (13.30) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jen would take an emerging platform and find, new and innovative ways to apply it to business.  (13.54) - So you like the idea of using innovation for disruption? Jen likes the idea of using tech to do something new and unusual. Sometimes the emerging platform you choose will not become widely used. If that happens there is no need to be too concerned. Using new tech to solve real-life challenges is the best way to learn and make a difference. (14.40) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jen is pivoting towards working on making software safer and more secure. As software touches more areas of our lives security becomes an increasingly important issue.  (15.30) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Learning to express her ideas clearly, is a skill that has proved to be invaluable for Jen.  (15.54) - So communicating your ideas? How do you do that? Is it verbal, visual or a combination of all those things? Usually, it is a combination of the two. Jen is careful to empathize with the person or audience she is presenting or speaking to. This drives the format she uses. Sometimes a verbal presentation combined with a few slides will work best. Other times, designing a small game to demonstrate the issue and her solution works. It can be a good way to tease out more information about the problem from the customer or audience. (16.58) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jen finds teaching keeps her energized. She is lucky enough to be able to do this in both formal and informal settings. Jen particularly enjoys working with artists on installation art projects. They are always coming up with new ways to use technology. (17.39) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jen is very aware of the fact that working in tech is hard on the body. So, she is careful to take time out to do something fun and physical. For Jen, at the moment, that means ice hockey and aerial silks. She also enjoys wandering around cities exploring. (18.12) – Phil asks Jen to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Should you find yourself in a bad situation where you feel miserable change things. Don’t waste energy worrying about whose fault it is or how you got there. Instead, focus on getting out of that situation and learning from it. BEST MOMENTS: (4.29) JEN – "It is OK to quit." (10.18) JEN – "I always love it when people use tech in ways I didn't anticipate." (13.30) JEN – "Find an emerging platform and apply it to business areas that people aren't normally using it for." (15.47) JEN – "I can have the greatest ideas, but if I can't present them clearly they will stay stuck in my mind and not help anyone." (17.50) JEN – “I try to optimize my time away from technology by doing fun things that helped me stay fit." CONTACT JEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MimmingCodes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimming/ Website: https://mimming.com/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a world-class software practitioner and business coach, consultant, and trainer.   He is an author, keynote speaker and a globally recognized expert in software development and delivery improvement, particularly using Agile, Scrum and other Lean-Agile thinking and approaches.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Neil Killick. He is a Len/Agile software product development practitioner, who also coaches. Over the years, he had used Lean, Agile and Scrum working methods in most of his roles. Currently, he is working as a consultant with a focus on digital business and UX analysis. He works to foster great team practices and deliver software flawlessly. Neil is also an experienced keynote speaker. He has delivered talks at Agile events, across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – Can you please tell us about your involvement and focus on Agile, Scrum and so forth. How did you get into that? Right from the start of his programming career, Neil had naturally worked in a way that fitted in with Agile. So, when 15 years into his career he came across Agile principles adopting them was really easy for him. His interest in Agile coincided with him taking on a programming role in a Scrum team. So his interest in Agile and Scrum started around the same time. (2.35) - So do you see yourself as a bit of an evangelist when it comes to Agile and Scrum and Lean and so forth? At the start, that was probably the case. Naturally, Neil still writes about those topics and gets quite heavily involved in problem-solving for practitioners. Today, he is more of an advocate than an evangelist for those working methods.  (3.52) – When we were chatting earlier you also mentioned, it's about the outcome as much as anything else. Neil agrees that is true. He started his IT career with IBM, which meant that, right from the start, he was used to solving problems for customers. Neil has never simply implemented what was passed down the chain. He has always tried to first fully understand the problem his customer is trying to solve. When he started working in the IT industry programmers were expected to analyze the problem and come up with the solution before sitting down and starting to program. Ironically, the rise of Agile has resulted in developers being kept apart from customers. Business analysts look at the issue then tell the programmer what is needed. (4.56) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Neil’s advice is to experience as many ways of working, languages, and platforms as possible. You have to grow to stay relevant when working in the IT industry. He has moved around a lot in his career. The maximum time he has spent working anywhere is about 3 1/2 years. This approach has ensured he is always learning and never gets bored. His advice is for others to do the same. Or, if they do want to stay with a single company to step up and take on other roles. Simply, drifting along, doing the same thing is not going to be good for your career. Periodically, you need to pause, think about what you are doing and change things up as soon as your career starts to stall. That can easily happen without your realizing it. Often, it is not because of laziness on your part. Sometimes the needs of the business nudge you into this situation. Either way, it does not matter. You need to get out of that rut and keep on learning. (9.11) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Over the decades, Neil has worked in all sorts of businesses, including quite a few startups. For the most part, this has worked out well for him. But, he did make a serious mistake, at one point in his career and ended up working for a firm that lacked direction. They spent a lot of money on hiring the very best developers but kept on switching focus. As a result, Neil and his team would frequently be part way through a project only to be told to throw it all away and start again. This way of working was frustrating for everyone. Inevitably, it ended up creating a toxic work environment. The developers ended up never actually producing anything. This was because the leadership kept canceling things. But, somehow that was forgotten and the development teams started to be seen in a negative light. To solve the perceived “problem” a team of traditional project managers was bought in. Ten minutes into the first hands-on meeting, the Agile way of working was scrapped. Worse than that, the decision had clearly been made before the first meeting was held. Within a few minutes of the start of the meeting a Word document was produced which said in the first paragraph, Agile working was a waste of time. They moved to a task-oriented working method. This turned some team members into product owners. While some became testers and the rest wrote the code. Effectively the cross-functional team they once were was broken down into silos. Suddenly, they were people who worked independently of each other. They no longer had an overview of the entire project. Inevitably, they ended up butting heads rather than working as a cohesive whole, so productivity suffered even more. Fairly quickly, the firm stopped paying superannuation. Not long after that, salary payments stopped too. Yet, they were still hiring new personnel. Initially, they paid those new workers. All firms and projects have their ups and downs. But, for Neil, that situation was the worst experience of his career. If something similar were to happen now, Neil would be able to see it coming and move on before things got too bad. But, at the time, he was relatively young and new to the industry. These days, he can tell when management is hiding things from their workforce. So, can easily work out when it is time to move on. (15.16) – What was your best career moment? Neil has been working in the IT industry for 23 years and has been lucky enough to have quite a few great experiences. But, his favorite moment was when, in the early 2000s, he was part of a team that delivered one of the earliest viable trip planners. One that took into account traffic flows to provide accurate journey estimation times. He really enjoyed the field work. Getting out there to test routes to work out what data was relevant when working out trip times was fascinating. Many of the standards they came up with are still used today. Neil enjoyed the work and working with people who were smarter than him. It felt great to have complete autonomy and to be left to solve the problems as they saw fit. Without a work environment like that, they would not have been able to innovate as much as they did.  (19.02) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there are so many different roles available is what excites Neil the most about the IT industry. Technology now touches every part of every business. IT techs are no longer the weird geeks that work in the back office. They are there at the forefront of the business, working as part of every internal team. Nowadays, you learn about how the business works. You are no longer confined to sitting in the corner programming. It is a change that is also opening up the world of IT to more people. The industry is recognizing that diverse development teams make sense. So, men, women, young, old and people from all cultures are all valued and sought out by the industry. (22.55) – What drew you to a career in IT? When he was a kid, his dad bought Neil a BBC Microcomputer. He soon became proficient enough in BBC BASIC to write a snooker program. So, for Neil, pursuing a career in IT was a natural progression. It enabled him to follow his childhood passion. (23.52) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Neil says that when he became a program manager, a friend of his warned him not to accept too many meeting invites. He explained to Neil that he would be bombarded with invites, but, should resist the temptation to do what most people did and say yes to them all. It was vital that he made doing his job a priority. Neil has worked for dozens of firms and is surprised by how often attending meeting after meeting is worn as a badge of honor. It is not an efficient way of working. If you are in meetings most of the day, doing your job properly is impossible.  (25.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Neil explains that he would follow the advice that he gives to graduates and people who are looking for internships. People who are at that stage of their careers need to take on roles that expose them to as many experiences as possible. Once they start work, they need to identify people whose work you can follow and learn from. That does not necessarily mean sitting down and formally asking them to be your mentor. You just need to take an interest in what they are doing, how they work and ask plenty of questions to be able to learn from them. It is also important to get on with things and actually do the work. Doing is the only effective way to learn. You have to accept and be ready for the fact that, at first, you are going to suck at it. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. It is very important to accept that and not let it put you off. Failing or doing things badly, initially, is part of everyone’s growth journey. (30.22) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being empathetic is vital when you work in IT. Empathy enables you to put yourself into the shoes of the people you are working with and for. This is vital for success. Taking this approach ensures that you are giving people what they really need instead of simply following a set of instructions. You are constantly thinking about the impact what you are doing is having on your end customers. Empathy makes you a better colleague and manager. It enables you to create a work environment that is conducive to success. When you are empathetic with your workforce it ensures that you never push them too hard. That, in turn, means that everyone can work to the best of their ability and consistently produce exceptional results. Everyone can develop the skill of empathy. Neil believes humility is a useful skill to have too. But, he realizes that this is more of a personality trait than anything. So, developing it is not something everyone can do as easily as they can with empathy, (32.06) – Phil asks Neil to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Neil says that you need to be humble about what we know. It is all too easy to see yourself as an expert in something and end up dismissing other people’s view on things as a result. We all have a tendency to evangelize and try to change people’s minds to better fit in with our way of thinking and doing things. In the past, Neil has made this mistake. He, like many in the Agile community, has tended to think that if people are not working in the Agile way they are not working efficiently. Today, he realizes that thinking like that is not productive. Now, he is careful to sit down with an open mind, learn about how others work, so, he can see the merits and understand their approach. Looking at things in this way enables him to quickly identify how he can help to improve things. Those potential changes and improvements can then be discussed in a respectful way. Neil is very careful not to try to push people into working the way he does. He guides instead of simply telling. BEST MOMENTS: (3.47) NEIL – "I'm a big advocate of Agile thinking, Agile mindset and Agile ways of working." (6.29) NEIL – "Just immerse yourself in as many experiences as you can, in your career" (7.42) NEIL – "Keep looking and keep striving for growth." (17.46) NEIL – "Surround yourself by people who are smarter than you, because that's how you grow and learn new things." (25.26) NEIL – "Only accept meeting invites if it's very clear what the purpose is, and it's actually going to be a value add for them and for you." (26.45) NEIL – "The only way that we can get experiences in things is to actually just go and do it." (31.15) NEIL – "We need to be able to put ourselves in the shoes of other people in every aspect of our work." (35.23) NEIL – “Nowadays, the best traits are humility and empathy, because we are working with people. We are no longer just the geeks in the corner," CONTACT NEIL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/neil_killick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkillick/ Website: https://www.neilkillick.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show was an early pioneer of Web Standards, writing a best-selling book on the subject of CSS.  He then went on to found Clearleft, arguably the first dedicated UX consultancy in the UK.   He also set up dConstruct, the UK’s first digital design conference, and UX London, the country’s first dedicated UX conference.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Andy Budd is a renowned Design Leader and agency CEO. He started his IT career working as a designer. During his early career, Andy became a pioneer in the field of Web Standards. At that point, he published his first book – CSS Mastery. Over 14 years ago, he co-founded Clearleft, one of the UK’s first dedicated User Experience consultancies. In 2015, he set up the dConstruct conference, which was held for 10 years. It was the first design conference to be run, in the UK. He is also the founder and curator of Leading Design. That annual conference improves design leadership and management. Andy speaks at these and many other conferences that are held across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – The first thing I wanted to ask you really was about how you transitioned from the web standards and the CSS aspect or your IT work to founding Clearleft. Andy as a natural transition, and goes on to describe how it happened. He started his working life as a flash coder, creating games. From there, he discovered CSS. When he did he realized almost immediately that separation of presentation and content was the way to go. Baked into this were standards around accessibility and usability. Andy was an early adopter of web standards. He had the 3rd table list website in the UK. He got together with two other early standards geeks to found Clearleft. At the time he was already creating controlled vocabularies, working with information architecture, usability testing and much more besides. So, he was one of the first people, in the UK, to take care of user experience, rather than just making a site look pretty. For the first few years, it was hard to get clients. Nobody could understand why it took them twice as long to deliver a website and why the fees were higher. In time, that changed. Now, UX design is the norm. (4.48) – Phil comments that at the time Andy set up Clearleft, a lot of people would not have known much about UX. So, he asks Andy how big a part of educating people about education was to making Clearleft a success. Andy agrees educating potential clients about usability was important. But he goes on to say that the fact people had never really thought much about UX before was also a superpower. Nobody else was really doing it. As a result, as soon as firms began to wake up to the importance of UX Clearleft grew really quickly. This was especially the case when companies moved away from using websites solely for marketing. Once, they started to use their sites to sell things and transactions were involved the functionality of the website became far more important. (6.11) Phil asks if the introduction of new devices like iPads and SmartPhones has changed the approach to UX at all. Andy responds by saying that the tools have changed. But, the underpinning philosophy hasn’t really changed. The underlying problem-solving principles remain the same. However, the introduction of smartphones had an impact in another way. Mobile sites had to be slicker and better designed. At that point, a lot of companies woke up to how ugly, clunky and old-fashioned their main sites were. When they saw how good a website could look and what an effective sales tool that type of site was a lot of firms wanted to re-design their original websites. (7.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Andy explained that for him no single thing led to his success. His approach has to continually review what he is doing and make little course corrections. But, he does say that working in a company where you are not the best at what you do is a good idea. It ensures that you are continually challenged and stretched. You need to be a continual learner and have a beginner’s mindset. This ensures that you learn new tools. If you do not, your knowledge becomes stale. At some point, those tools are going to become obsolete. When that happens, you are stuck. (10.32) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Andy has been very lucky career-wise. So, could not think of anything he would categorize as a bad career moment (11.47) – What was your best career moment? Andy has had a lot of great moments in his career. His first speaking gig went really well, so that was a highlight. Meeting Jesse James Garrett from Adaptive Path was also a great career moment. He was sat next to him at a book signing at SXSW South by Southwest. His work has also led to him traveling the world, which Andy has clearly enjoyed doing. Plus, over the years, he has worked with some fantastic clients. Spending time in Copenhagen working with Nordic Region Banks was a highlight for Andy.  Working with Zappos was also exciting. (13.38) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Andy is fascinated by the rise of artificial intelligence. He believes that in the next decade or so, AI means that things are going to get really exciting. About two years ago, Andy realized he was a bit out of the loop when it comes to AI. Rather than read a bunch of books about it, he decided to pull a diverse group of people together to discuss where AI could take them. The result was really interesting. It is clear that the landscape is changing drastically. AI will lead to wide-scale automation. As that happens, jobs are going to disappear and be replaced by others. So, people are going to have 2 or 3, maybe 4, careers in a lifetime. That is why it is so important to be a continual learner. Some talk about there being a 4th industrial revolution. Regardless, these changes are going to create winners and losers, but it will also be exciting. Andy states that we are already moving away from hand coding using a traditional text interface. Coding is set to become more visual, with developers acting more like curators and editors than creators. (16.57) – What drew you to a career in IT? As a child, Andy enjoyed using the BBC Micro and Spectrum computers. While other kids were out playing football, he was learning to code. He thinks that his interest in sci-fi and love of reading gave him a curious mind, which is why he was drawn to all things tech. But, he did not realize that he could turn what he viewed as a hobby into a career. Nobody, in his family or circle, was involved in the IT industry. So, he was not exposed to the possibilities. After university, he did an aeronautical engineering degree. To do that he had to learn how to use CAD, which he really enjoyed and quickly became good at. Once he had finished his engineering degree, he went traveling for 6 to 7 years. During that time, he started to use internet cafes to communicate with friends at home and research his next destination. One day, while he was in one of these cafes he saw a guy building his own web page. He was creating a travel blog. Later, he met a web designer. He worked for 6 months and traveled for 6 months. Andy decided that he wanted to do the same. In 1999, he arrived back in the UK, bought a Pentium 486 and learned HTML and how to code. To do this he turned to several sources. One of which was a website called Ask Dr. Web, which was run by Jeffrey Zeldman. In time, he became a friend on Andy’s. It was him that inspired him to learn CSS, which eventually led Andy to where he is today. (21.25) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When Andy set up his IT business he read a book called E-Myth. It contained one great piece of advice which was to make sure that you are working on your business, not in it. That means you need to hire people to do the day to day tasks for you, so you can be free to grow your business. He also explains that you need to see your career as a journey. You have to see it as a business and treat it that way. (22.24) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? You need a business plan is no longer good advice. It is no longer necessary. (23.52) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Andy states that when he got started in the design industry the bar was much lower. The tools and sites were so basic that it was not that hard to compete. You could easily get in at the bottom end of the market building sites for local businesses. Now big providers like Shopify and SquareSpace make it possible for people to put together fantastic sites without employing a technical person. (26.52) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Andy’s focus is on helping others to unlock the power of the web. He is very appreciative of what IT pioneers have done to enable him to succeed. So, he wants to pay it forward and help others. (19.16) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Andy is a keen and experienced diver. In fact, he is a dive instructor. That role taught him the importance of becoming a good communicator. You are working in a dangerous environment, so you need to communicate effectively with your students. If you do not, it can be disastrous. Learning to be a good communicator has ended up helping his IT career in many different ways. (31.01) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Andy works as a servant leader. He is a boss who is very focused on helping others to energize and progress their careers. Taking that approach has had a positive impact on his career too. It helps to keep him motivated and keeps his team engaged and contributing. (31.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Andy’s IT role takes him all over the world. Whenever he can, he incorporates a bit of leisure time onto his business trips. Doing this provides him with the chance to continue to explore new countries and cultures. Andy also loves good food. So much so, that he has made it his mission to eat at every one of the top 50 restaurants in the world before he is 50. He is really enjoying completing that mission. He still dives a lot and has recently tried cave diving. Andy has also got into bouldering, which is indoor climbing. He says it is a lot more fun than going to the gym. Participating in the sport has virtually cured the RSI he has picked up from his constant mouse usage. This is because climbing stretches and strengthens the muscles in the hands and arms. More importantly, it works the opposite muscle groups from the ones used while working with a keyboard and mouse. Bouldering is very popular with the IT crowd. A lot of it is about problem-solving. Planning your route and working out what techniques and hacks to use is all part of the fun.  (36.02) – Phil asks Andy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you work in the design industry, you need a killer portfolio. A CV that shows career progression also helps. But, when someone is hiring a designer they want evidence of what you are able to do. If you are claiming to be a UX designer you have to demonstrate that fact. For example, when hiring, Andy wants to see photos from user research sessions, as well as interactive, paper-based and animated prototypes. If someone claims they can do information architecture, he wants to see sitemaps, content audits and controlled vocabularies. BEST MOMENTS: (4.34) ANDY – "These days, saying you’re a UX designer is like saying you breathe air or drink water. It’s just what all of us do." (5.45) ANDY – "Our clients quickly realized the benefits of not just making a pretty website, but making something that actually delivered business results." (8.27) ANDY – "It's always better to work in a company where you are not the best at the thing you do." (15.31) ANDY – "We're moving towards a kind of visual coding. I think we're moving much more towards being curators, and editors rather than creators" (22.53) ANDY – "It's important for you to be working on your business, not just in it."  (36.07) ANDY – "For the design industry, having a killer portfolio is everything." (37.34) ANDY – "A really good resume should be backed with a powerful portfolio that demonstrates that you can do these things."   CONTACT ANDY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/andybudd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/ Website: http://www.andybudd.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show set up a software company while studying for a Ph.D. in Plant Science.  He has since worked for a number of companies at Group IT Manager and CTO level as well as immersing himself in the world of Social Software acting as a Social Media consultant.   More recently he completed an almost eight-year stint leading Green Monk, the clean tech, energy and sustainability practice of industry analyst firm Red Monk, before joining SAP as Global Internet of Things Evangelist.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Tom Raftery is a well-known IT innovator. He became involved in the industry at a time when computers were still not widely used. Tom set up a business teaching early-adopters how to use the power of computers. Later, his firm moved into software, gaming and web development. After a while, Tom took that expertise and put it to use by working at CTO level for several businesses and organizations. In the early 2000s, he ran his own Social Media consultancy. He became SAP’s Global VP. Today, he is their Futurist and Innovation Evangelist. Tom is also an accomplished public speaker, an experienced teacher, and an IT consultant. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.17) – You obviously set up your first software company while you're doing your Ph.D.? First of all, did you complete your Ph.D.? And what was that software company you set up? Tom confirms that he was unable to complete his Ph.D. He got distracted when he realized what an IT career had to offer him. Interestingly, it all started when his biology professor insisted that everyone hand in their 3rd-year project in a digital format. At the time there was only one computer in the department. It was slow and you had to save everything to 51/4 inch floppy discs. The queue to use it was always a long one. Around the same time, he got a check from HMRC. He had worked in the UK for a couple of summers and ended up with a tax rebate. Rather than fritter the money away he bought a 2nd hand Mac and a Dummies book called the Mac Bible and learned how to use it. That was it, he was hooked. At that stage, completing his biology Ph.D. stopped being his priority. Instead, he asked the university if they would like him to provide computer training for the undergraduates. They said yes, and his IT career was born. He dropped his Ph.D. and set up a computer company called Zenith Solutions and worked on that full-time. At first, he offered training. But, eventually ended up creating bespoke software. They also built websites. In time, they moved into working at the front end with databases. The firm also produced a game written in wml for Nokia. It was the first mobile phone game to be developed in Ireland. His company was always ahead of the curve. Eventually, they merged with another company. At that point, he gained experience of converting a system on access to one that ran on a sequel server, which they then front-ended. Later he set up his own social media consultancy. Then set up a data center with a friend, which is still in existence today. Tom is very proud of the fact that it has one of the lowest latency connections from Europe to North America. In 2008, he moved to Spain and ended up working for Red Monk as an open source industry analyst. A job he clearly enjoyed. Later, he led their energy and sustainability practice, which is called Green Monk. In 2016, he blogged about the fact he was leaving and said he was interested in starting a new IT adventure. That is when Tesla and SAP both got in touch. He realized SAP was a better fit for him, so joined them. A decision which proved to be the right one for him. (9.49) - It sounds like your career history hasn't really been in one focused area you've moved about you've tried different things. Tom agrees. He gets bored if he stands still. So, is always looking forward and getting involved with new innovations. (10.44) – Do you travel a lot in your role as an evangelist? Tom agrees that he does. He has visited countries on almost every continent. But, his job has not taken him to central or southern America, yet. (12.06) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Tom’s advice is not to focus on a particular job or role that you want to do. The world is moving at a blindly fast rate. So, there is a good chance that by the time you have learned what you need to do that job it won’t be there. It may even have been automated away. Instead, you need to focus on learning as much as you can about a subject that interests you. Doing something you enjoy will keep you engaged, which means you will be better at it. This, in turn, makes it easier to find work. (13.37) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the 2000s, Ton was working for a network engineering company, in Dublin. Unfortunately, he managed to crash the network on a Friday afternoon. Nobody could go home until it was fixed. Fortunately, he was able to figure it out, but it was a very embarrassing mistake to make. He knows that if he had been better prepared that particular disaster would not have happened. So, he learned the importance of being prepared from that situation. (14.49) – What was your best career moment? Tom found it hard to choose just one thing. Getting a call from Elon Musk and being asked to become the voice of Tesla was clearly a big moment for him, despite the fact that, eventually he did not take the job. Tom explains in the recording why he ended up saying no to Tesla. (17.49) – Phil asks Tom what excites him about the IT industry. The fact that everything is being taken over by software means that soon there will not be any jobs that do not have an IT aspect to them. So, it is an exciting time to be involved in the industry. Recently, Tom spoke to two Volkswagen executives, while in Vienna. They said that they were moving away from being a company that makes moving parts to being one that consumes data and makes software. (20.00) – What drew you to a career in IT? Needing a computer to write his Ph.D. paper on, first got Tom interested in learning how to use a computer. When he realized he enjoyed working with computers and how powerful they were, he immediately started teaching others and switched his career focus to IT. (20.31) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Recently, a colleague of Tom’s advised him to get a mentor. Something he is looking into doing. Interestingly, he is also planning to start mentoring others, which he is also going to do. (21.17) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? While he was still at school his dad advised him to study commerce. Tom realized that a job selling things was not really for him, so, fortunately, he followed another route. (22.09) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Tom says he would be attracted to anything new and shiny. He would probably get involved in AI, IoT or blockchain. Fortunately, his new role means he is able to be involved in all of those things and much more besides. (22.35) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Tom’s main focus is getting better at what he is already doing and helping others to achieve success. With this objective in mind he has signed up for the SAP mentoring program. (22.56) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being a good communicator has helped Tom a lot. To be effective you need to have good communication skills. Being able to dynamically adjust what you are saying to suit your audience is important. Even when you speak at large events, you can still see the people in the first few rows. So, you know if what you are saying is on the mark or whether you need to change your approach slightly. A good communicator can do this when speaking live. (24.03) – Presumably, that is a skill that you have ended up developing over time. Tom agrees he actually started getting used to public speaking, at school. There he was a member of the debate team and at college, he did interview varsity debates. His dad was a university professor, a member of the European Parliament and the Irish Senate, so, he jokes that, being a good communicator is probably in his DNA. (24.36) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Tom makes sure that he keeps learning. His role as an innovation evangelist exposes him to the very latest tech, so there is always plenty of inspiration. (25.05) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Tom does not have many hobbies or interests outside of IT. But, he does enjoy walking his dogs and occasionally watches a Netflix series, particularly if there is a good science fiction one available. He describes them as being like “mental chewing gum”. It is interesting how a lot of what was featured in early sci-fi movies and shows have now become a reality. When he is not working, he listens to a lot of podcasts. But, even those are mainly IT related. (26.30) – Phil asks Tom to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Tom says it is important to follow your passion. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you really want to do something you will always produce good work. BEST MOMENTS: (13.06) TOM – "Don't concentrate on going for a particular job. That job may not exist, by the time you're ready for it" (13.41) TOM – "Do what you enjoy doing." (19.16) TOM – "Soon there will be no jobs that won't have the technical or IT aspect to them." (19.47) TOM – "The world is changing, and technology is changing the world enormously for the better."   (24.12) TOM – "When you're following your passion, that's what you will deliver on." CONTACT TOM: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomRaftery LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomraftery/ Website: https://tomraftery.com/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a full-time Python trainer.  In a given year, he teaches courses at companies in the United States, Europe, Israel, and China as well as to people around the world through his online courses.   He is a regular panelist on the Freelancers Show podcast, CTO of Rent Like a Champion and a published author, his most recent book being “Python Workout”.   He is also credited with having created one of the world’s first 100 websites just after graduating from MIT.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Reuven is an MIT graduate who started his IT career working as an engineer for Hewlett-Packard. But, he soon realized that web development was his passion. So, he became one of the first web application engineers Time Inc ever hired. From there, he went on to set up and lead a training company, take his PhD and found his consultancy firm. He is viewed as a Python expert, and is well-known for being instrumental in setting up the first newspaper on the World Wide Web. As well as providing face to face training, Reuven has created several online programming courses. Reuven is also a prolific IT writer and speaker. His latest book “Python Workout” is selling well and his online newsletter “Better developers” already has more than 12,000 subscribers. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – Could you tell us maybe a little bit about rent like a champion? I know it's not directly related to IT. But, it'd be good to know a little bit about it. Reuven explains that a while back he realized that college alumni were returning to their college town a few times a year to watch games. But, they struggled to find accommodation. Usually, this was because the towns were too small to sustain a hotel. So, he set up Rent Like a Champion, to fill that gap. The service he provides links homeowners and small businesses up with people who want to stay for a night or two to enjoy the odd game. It has been a great success. (2.37) –Phil asks Reuven to tell the audience more about the weekly IT newsletter he produces. Still Better Developers, has been running for about 2/3 years. Every Monday, subscribers are sent a new set of tips and programming practices. As the name suggests the magazine is set up to help developers to continually learn and improve the way they work. The newsletter covers Python in a lot of detail. But, things like how to grow your developer career and get the most out of working as a freelancer, are also covered. At the time of recording the podcast, that newsletter had 12,000 subscribers. (3.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Reuven’s advice is to focus on one thing. Something he did not do at the start of his career. His advice is to find that one thing that interests you and get a job doing it. Once you do that you can become a big fish in a small pond and will not spread yourself too thin. From there you can grow and learn new things. (4.57) – How long would you typically focus on one project? Reuven explains that it varies. You could do it for a few years, and then move on. Or, you could become a super expert and specialize in something like database optimization for 30 to 40 years. Reuven prefers to switch every 3 or 4 years. He started his career in web development but has also worked in general development, training and consulting. Every couple of years he asks himself what makes him happiest and focuses on learning more about and working in that area. He believes in the evolution approach to career growth rather than the revolution approach that so many people take. Initially, Reuven focused on Python, switched to Ruby and a few other languages. But, now that Python is so ridiculously popular again, he has switched his focus back to Python. (6.36) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. A long time ago, Reuven received a call from someone who had a problem with his Linux server. His network administrator had disappeared on him. So, Reuven agreed to help him. He finished up his day then pulled an all-nighter to sort this guy’s servers out. It was tough, but Reuven felt great when he finally got it all working again. The problem was that when he tried to bill the guy he got ignored. He persevered until eventually; the guy came back to him. Unfortunately, it was in the form of a fax telling Reuven he was not going to be paid. Worse than that, the guy said he was going to sue him for ruining his servers. At that point, Reuven realized that he had been conned. That negative experience taught Reuven to always check a customer out before agreeing to work for them. (9.12) – What was your best career moment? Reuven worked at MIT as an undergraduate. At the time, he was the editor in chief of the student newspaper. One of his fellow students came to him and told him about the work Tim Berners-Lee was doing on something new called the Worldwide Web. The moment Reuven saw it he was intrigued and wanted to get involved. So, he and a bunch of other students set to work learning HTML and creating a website. When they were done they emailed Tim Berners-Lee and he added their site to his list of 100 websites. This meant that their newspaper was the first one to go live on the World Wide Web. Naturally, there were lots of teething problems. Nobody had done it before, so there was no manual. But, it felt great to be part of creating the basic infrastructure that millions use today. (11.25) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Reuven loves the way working in IT ticks all of the boxes. You get paid well, do exciting things and are forced to learn and grow. He is very excited by the rate at which the industry is growing. Anything is possible. Machine learning, in particular, is drastically changing the way we work. The future for those working in the industry has never been brighter. IT is becoming more accessible every day, opening up the chance for everyone to get involved. (12.44) Are there any particular directions or technologies that interest you, or areas you believe we will be going? Complex languages like Python are perfect for the technology environment we are working in, at the moment. Computers are cheap, but, people are not. With Python, there is no steep learning curve. You no longer have to struggle to learn C++. Instead, you can use Ruby, Python or JavaScript to get to where you need to be much faster. This change is making the whole IT field much more accessible. You can very quickly get a well-paid and secure job. People are desperate to hire someone that can help them to analyze their data effectively. (14.20) – What drew you to a career in IT?  Even as a kid Reuven loved computers. He enjoyed exploring and seeing what he could do.  It was the fact he could have fun and still get paid that initially drew him to a career in IT. (15.22) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? At one point Reuven switched from providing training on his own to finding work through a training company. They were very good at marketing him, but, his wife advised him to leave them and switch back to working independently. He was not sure about doing that, but, he decided to give it a go. It turned out to be very good advice. From that point on, everything about his career improved. (16.14) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? A lawyer he knew once told Reuven to always say yes to his customers, regardless of what they ask for. For years, Reuven followed that advised. He learned new languages and platforms to deliver what the customer had asked for. Working like that forced him to learn new skills, which was a good thing. But there was a problem, a big one. With these new languages, he was barely scratching the surface. He was learning enough to get a specific job done, but, not much else. In the end, Reuven realized this was a bad way of working. He then re-focused and switched back to becoming an expert in one area. Reuven did not want to be a jack of all trades, master of none. (17.16) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Reuven said that, at the early stage of his career, he would work mainly for startups. This forces you to learn. Provided you switch firms every 3 to 5 years, you stay fresh and engaged in what you are doing. It also builds up your ability to handle change and unpredictability well. (18.21) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Even though Reuven’s training booked up for the next 6 to 9 months he is still looking to expand that side of his business. He is moving into the US and Europe to do that. Reuven also has several online courses, which is currently learning to market better. Right now, he is in the process of getting everything translated into Chinese, so he can start selling his courses there. (19.50) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Reuven feels that his communication skills are the ones that he has used most to move his career forward. Over the years, he has learned to communicate well in all mediums. He writes, speaks publically, makes videos and stands up in the classroom to teach. Every time, he does any one of those things he is using and honing his communication skills.  He is so grateful to his college professors who forced all of their students to learn the skill of writing. They were right when they said, “what you do isn't worth anything if you can't communicate effectively with other people.” A lot of other students resisted being taught how to write well, Reuven knuckled down and did as he was asked. Those skills have stood him in good stead. Reuven also talks about how learning to touch type has helped him.     (20.48) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Reuven finds keeping up with new stuff helps to keep him interested and energized. But, it is his students that provide the biggest push. Occasionally, one of them will ask him a question he does not know the answer to. It forces him to keep learning and to see things from a fresh perspective. (21.48) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Reuven’s family is, by far, the most important thing in his life. He has also enjoyed learning Chinese. After four and a half years, it feels fantastic to be able to jabber away in a different language. Although he jokes that his Chinese grammar, accent, and vocabulary are terrible. Reuven also loves to cook and travel. He is an avid reader too and enjoys crossword puzzles.  (22.49) – Phil asks Reuven to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. People in the IT industry have an amazing opportunity. You can choose your own path, do something you enjoy and get well paid for it. So, you need to take advantage of it. Also, don’t stand still, stay engaged and take the opportunity to learn more. BEST MOMENTS: (4.50) REUVEN – "Become a big fish in a small pond, rather than spreading yourself too thin." (5.30) REUVEN – "Every few years, I ask, what part of what I'm doing is making me happiest and has the greatest potential for the future" (12.20) REUVEN – "IT careers have never been brighter and never more accessible, than right now." (20.48) REUVEN – "What you do isn't worth anything if you can't communicate effectively with other people." (21.21) REUVEN – "A good question is one where the student does not know the answer. An excellent question is one where the teacher does not know the answer. " CONTACT REUVEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/reuvenmlerner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reuven/ Website: https://lerner.co.il/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a full-stack developer, having recently joined Test Double which is an agency of highly skilled developers on a mission to improve how the world writes software. Prior to Test Double, he spent a decade working for 1Password where he focused his efforts on browser extensions and web page filling features. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Jamie Phelps. He is a full-stack developer at TestDouble. A firm that is working to improve the way the world writes software and wrangles code. Prior to that Jamie worked for Pier 1, 1Password and ran his own IT consultancy company. His areas of expertise include Ruby, Typescript, JavaScript, Go, Swift, Objective-C, and several other languages. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – First, I want to ask you how you came to IT. You seem to have started your IT career a little later than average, so it would be interesting to hear how this transition happened. Jamie explains when he first attended university he studied music and religion. He went to graduate school to study the New Testament. When he went back to university to do his Ph.D. it dawned on him that he would probably be at school for another 3 to 5 years. During which time he would have to live very frugally, a realization that led to him switching to computer science. (2.12) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jamie’s most important piece of advice is to build a good network of people. Doing this stands you in good stead, especially later in your career. As you progress and become more senior the problems get bigger. So, it is always good to have people you can talk to. At some point, you will reach a stage where it is impossible to know absolutely everything. When that happens, you need a pool of experts you can trust and turn to for advice. (3.15) - How do you personally go about developing your network? Jamie mostly developed his network through Twitter. He also made a lot of connections while working at 1Password. Going to meetups and getting involved in IT communities have helped too. The people he met at these sorts of events shared his passion for the same tech. So, they were always there to back him up and help. Often, they had already faced and overcome the same or a very similar problem to the one he was facing. So, usually, he gets fast results when he consults with his trusted network. (4.53) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Fortunately, Jamie has not had a lot of bad career moments. But, he does remember one situation that made him feel bad. It happened when he was working for a firm that sold software. They realized that someone was using their website to see whether stolen credit cards were still active. Naturally, the moment the team realized they were being used in this way, they wanted to stop his activities. After a long weekend of time and effort, they finally managed to do so. But, it did not feel good to know that weaknesses in their system had played a role in helping someone to profit from his criminal activities. To make sure it did not happen again, they switched to a more robust payment provider. It taught Jamie that sometimes it is best to pay for an expert rather than always depend on your own abilities. (6.41) – So, in terms of what you learned from that, is it about making sure you select the right provider? What did you take away from that situation? Jamie explains that as well as looking for a good provider, in the first place, you need to periodically review your decisions. When they first set up their payment option it was the best that was available. But, eventually, they realized that the world had changed and that other providers now offered a far better option. You also need to be careful of the “not invented here” syndrome. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that something you write in-house is always going to be better than something an outside provider writes. In many cases, the opposite is true. (7.38) – What was your best career moment?  For Jamie that was writing a Rails program that later evolved into the Watchtower element of the 1password system. This software oversees user’s websites and tells them the moment a security breach is spotted. Jamie is very proud of building the first iteration of the system in Rails. He did it in response to the Heartbleed Bug, which hit in April 2014. It was a large SSL vulnerability that caused lots of damage. In response to the bug, 1Password asked Jamie to build something that would enable their clients to identify if their site had been hit by the bug. He is understandably proud of the fact that he was able to come up with the necessary system in just 3 days. (9.06) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Jamie is really excited by the advancements in language compilers. They have given rise to a lot more robust programming languages. These advancements have provided us languages that are a lot safer to use. They have enabled programmers to be much more productive. Both of which have made it possible to achieve so much more. (10.18) - Do you think that's a trend that will continue? Jamie believes that advancements in computing power combined with further compiler enhancements mean that things will continue to improve. (10.59) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jamie had planned to pursue a career in academia and become a college professor. But, the statistics showed that actually becoming a professor was going to be very difficult. Not only that, getting the qualifications he needed to attempt to do so, would mean living on a meager salary, for many years. So, he switched to computing. (11.39) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? It was not advice that was given to Jamie directly. In fact, it was something he heard on a friend’s podcast. On one show his friend advised his audience to ask themselves if they wanted 10 times more of what was happening right now. If, when you are looking at what you are doing in your career, the answer is no, it is probably time to make a change. Jamie has followed that advice and it has helped his career. (12.20) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? At the time Jamie received his worst career advice he was working for a large firm with downtown offices. So, when he said he was going to leave and work for 1software, a Canadian startup, virtually nobody had heard of, people advised him not to do it. Fortunately, he did not listen and that is when his IT career took off. (13.37) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jamie found this question hard to answer. He said that he does not really know what he would have done differently. This is because the positive directions his career has gone in have been largely accidental. So, he feels that if he had been able to make more informed decisions things may not have necessarily turned out as well as they have. (14.10) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Jamie is working at catching up with the world of Ruby on Rails. He is also developing his consulting and soft skills. (14.38) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? His ability to dig into documents, pull out the salient points and become productive quickly has really helped him in his IT career. Interestingly, these are the skills he learned while studying for the career in academia that he never pursued (15.16) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jamie finds that staying curious, keeps him interested, learning and moving forward. Sometimes the most mundane tasks lead to you learning about something really interesting and useful. For example, early in his career, he was working on a report that showed how many customers gave their phone number to the cashier. It was a pretty boring task. But, while doing it, he learned about The North American Numbering Plan (NANP). He was fascinated by how this organization that manages how the area codes and numbers for 24 North American countries works. (17.05) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jamie enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee. He also does a lot of camping, hiking, backpacking, and geocaching with his wife. (17.24) – Phil asks Jamie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jamie’s advice is to find products or companies that you really believe in to work on and with. BEST MOMENTS: (2.58) JAMIE – "Make sure that you've built up that network of folks that you can rely on for their expertise." (3.21) JAMIE – "I developed a lot of my network through Twitter." (9.51) JAMIE – "The advancements in the compiler technology have given us languages that are safer to use, and also allow us to be more productive." (14.55) JAMIE – "Being able to dig into documentation, figure out what's salient, and be productive quickly, in an unfamiliar environment are skills that have helped my IT career." (17.52) JAMIE – "I would always choose the company or the product that I believe in more than maybe a salary or a title." CONTACT JAMIE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jxpx777/ Website: http://www.jamiephelps.com  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show has spent most of her career in the software testing world, which led to her founding the Software Testing Club.  This evolved to become the Ministry of Testing which is a community of software testers that want to change, share and improve their craft. She says that she is a big believer in doing things ethically and that she’s fascinated by the world of community, marketing, tech, and software testing. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Rosie Sherry. She founded the Ministry of Testing, which has grown into a global community of testers. Up until now, most of her IT career has been spent working as a tester. She is also a founder of the Brighton Girl Geek Dinners and was, for several years, the community manager and co-director of The Werks Group. While there, she helped to set up co-working spaces and build the entrepreneur community in the Brighton area. In February, Rosie joined Indie Hackers as their community manager. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – So, Rosie, can you maybe tell us a little bit about why you started the Ministry of testing and what it is up to right now. Rosie explains that about 12 years ago, she realized that there was not much of a community out there for people who were involved in IT testing. So, she decided to fill the gap. Over time, the group she started turned into a huge global community. (1.54) - Do you align yourself to anything in particular, was this just a community that you decided to create? Rosie explains that she wanted to bring testers, from across the world, together. She also thought that it would be fun and never dreamed it would grow as big as it has. (2.35) – Presumably, you were getting good feedback from that. So it sort of grew organically, is that correct? Rosie confirms that it is completely organic. In 2007, it was a different world. Twitter had only just got going. (3.01) - You were telling me, just before we started recording, that you're potentially stepping a little bit away from the day to day running. Rosie confirms that she will be taking a step back. The Ministry of Testing is much bigger and does a lot more than Rosie envisioned when she set it up. So, the person running the Ministry of Testing has to be prepared to take on extra duties. For example, the members requested regular conferences. Rosie wants them to take place but does not want to be the one to organize and run them. She does not want to spend long periods of time away from her family. Traveling around the world running conferences is not for her. (4.20) - So you're in the process of potentially handing the reins over to somebody else. Rosie explains that she already has a CEO in place. They have been working together for about three years, and he has been on the board for 18 months. They have nearly reached the point where things can be run smoothly without her. She points out that she still owns the company. Therefore, it is her best interests for things to run well, so she will likely still contribute. (5.01) – Do you think you will keep your hand in? Maybe, still attend local meetups and conferences, or will you step away completely? Her plan is to continue to attend some local meetups. In fact, she was involved in running the last one in her hometown of Brighton. The chances are she will still continue to contribute to the group. (6.00) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Rosie’s advice is to build a good network and get involved in the community. That is what has driven her career. When she got started she had no qualifications. But, she networked and shared what she knew. Whenever she could, she helped the community. That included running a co-working space and helping to run a local geek girl meetup. In time, she became well known as a testing specialist. Her advice is to find a niche you like, dive in and meet people. Write blogs, listen to podcasts to cement what you learn and help others to learn too.  (8.10) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. When Rosie had her first child, at 24, everything changed for her. Her boss just started to ignore her. She found it really hard to find a job. In the end, she started to hide the fact that she had kids so she could find work more easily. Rosie no longer does that. She is proud of being a mother and the fact that she has a successful IT career and runs her own company while raising and homeschooling her 5 kids. So, now she never hides her family life from others. She wants to show people that mothers can do things in different ways and achieve a lot. (11.06) – What was your best career moment? The Ministry of Testing has been like one long career highlight. It feels fantastic to have changed the testing world for the better. (12.19) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there is so much choice and so many opportunities really excites Rosie. She is really looking forward to exploring, learning new tools and using them to help the community. Every facet of life is touched by technology. This means that there is a good chance that you will find an IT project that relates to the things that interest you. (13.53) – So, the opportunities are there, it's just a matter of deciding and going for it. Rosie agrees and explains that the trick is not to allow yourself to become overwhelmed by the level of choice. You need to explore a bit. When you do that you will usually end up going down an amazing career path. (14.50) – What drew you to a career in IT? Rosie was not sure what she wanted to do workwise. At the time her husband was a web developer. He helped her to get her first testing job, and the rest is history. (15.17) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Rosie says that you need to be yourself. If you want to succeed and stand out, you need to listen to who you are and what you want to be and do. (15.37) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told her to work like a man, work long hours. She now knows that letting your life become your work is wrong. No company should ever ask you to do that. You need a good work-life balance. (16.04) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Rosie says that she would write a lot more. She did run her own website. But, she did not keep it up to date, something that she now regrets. (16.22) – What are you currently focusing on in your tech career? Rosie is on the role of community manager for a website called Indie Hackers. It is a community where founders of bootstrapped companies come together to help each other. (17.00) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being nice and being kind. It is amazing what you can achieve when you do this and do not necessarily expect anything back. (17.15) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Rosie is always on the lookout for something new. She listens to a lot of podcasts and is a voracious reader. She is also careful not to let herself be sidetracked by the negative energy that is out there. (17.32) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Rosie’s family keeps her busy especially because she home schools her kids. She also enjoys running, which helps her to stay physically and mentally well.  (17.59) – Phil asks Rosie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. In the IT world, there is no need to let your qualifications define you. You can be anything you want to be. The actions you take are what will ultimately define you. Rosie also says that you should not look for excuses. It is up to you to decide what to do and to take action. BEST MOMENTS: (7.17) ROSIE – "Find a niche that they want to learn, dive in and meet people and write blogs, listen to podcasts" (15.25) ROSIE – "If you want to succeed, to stand out, you have to listen to who you are, what you want to be and what you want to do." (15.45) ROSIE – "It's wrong not to have that life-work balance." (17.08) ROSIE – "It is amazing what you can achieve by being kind and not expecting anything back from anyone." (18.05) ROSIE – "In the tech world, you can be anything you want to be." CONTACT ROSIE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosiesherry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosiesherry/ Personal Website: https://www.rosiesherry.com/ Website: https://www.ministryoftesting.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is Nicholas Walsh.  Nicholas is a Technical Evangelist for Amazon Web Services, working to empower developers everywhere and to create engaging educational content. Nicholas has worked to build developer tools across multiple organizations that power artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in applications.  Many moons ago he worked as a research assistant in the biotech space. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Nicholas Walsh. He is a Technical Evangelist for Amazon. In that role, he works to empower developers to put AWS products and tools to better use. He is currently focusing on AI and machine learning fields. Nicholas studied for a career in medicine. But, he switched to IT when he realized that he could do more good by working in the tech industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.12) – So, the first thing I wanted to ask you was how you moved from being a research assistant in biotech into the IT industry. Nicholas explains that, from an early age, he wanted to become a doctor. So, he majored in medicine. When he was doing the research element of his course, he noticed that he was enjoying the programming aspect of it, more than anything. Coding analytical scripts and automating data analysis. He was pretty good at it. He started to attend computer programming competitions called hackathons. Initially, he was worried that he was not going to be able to make a meaningful contribution at these events. But, he loved it. The first one he attended was on a biomedical theme. He stayed up for two nights coding. (2.32) – How long did it take you to move across fully into working in the IT field? For Nicholas, it was an iterative process. He gradually took on more of the coding responsibility on projects he was involved in. Nicholas joined a start-up in San Francisco as a data science intern. At that point, he knew that coding was for him. So, he identified the skills he needed and set about learning what he needed to know. Mostly by setting up projects for fun, getting involved in more hackathons and working with friends. He also stayed on for an extra year at school. That helped with the transition too, because it gave him a little more breathing space and enabled him to hone his data sciences and AI knowledge. (4.51) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Looking back at events and deciding whether a certain experience was positive or negative can be very beneficial. It is particularly important to do this when it comes to your career. Every now and again, you need to pause and ask yourself how happy you are with what you are doing. Career development should not be about throwing darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks. If you are not happy, it is very important to know why. This ensures you do not make similar errors, in the future. Periodic, honest reviews help you to move forward in your career. When asked by Phil to elaborate, Nicholas explains that doing this on a project by project basis is particularly helpful. If you are working on big projects, Nicholas’ advice is to pause every quarter and review where you are. For example, Nicholas was involved with an early startup that was building an AI, machine learning developer tools. Once the project was over, he asked himself what he had got out of that role and what itch that work had scratched. Doing that made him realize that he had always wanted to be involved with a project from the start. So, he would know what it was to shape things from the very start. It made him realize he had scratched that particular itch. So, when he moved on to his next role, he made sure it was different and addressed another of his career goals. His work with Amazon Web Services is all about fostering an existing community and achieving growth. (7.08) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Right at the start of his IT career, Nicholas represented Wolfram at conferences and hackathons. In that role, he came across someone who was very confrontational about the tech his firm used. They felt strongly that their way of doing things was better. Nicholas listened and tried to address their arguments and help them to understand the merits of the way his team did things. Unfortunately, despite trying to do so repeatedly he was unable to help that person. In the end, he realized he was never going to be able to convince them and had to walk away. Initially, it felt bad leaving things like that because he knew he could help them. But, it taught him the value of compromising and knowing when to cut your losses and move on. (8.30) – What was your best career moment? That happened when Nicholas was working for Datmo. One of their first customers had a really tight budget. They were rolling out an AI/machine learning model for computer vision application. Initially, it was hard to predict whether their budget would be big enough to complete the rollout. But, despite this, Nicholas and the rest of the Datmo team committed to the project. They doubled down, went back over the model and architecture and eventually got the monthly cost down from tens of thousands of dollars to below $5000, per month. It was a huge amount of work, but very fulfilling. The experience also set Nicholas up nicely for working at Amazon. For them, customer obsession is a core tenant. (9.43) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the work you do can have a huge impact on the lives of everyone is something that excites Nicholas. He likes solving problems and building things. The sky is really the limit. A good IT professional can get involved in any field or industry and make a positive difference. (10.48) - Do you feel that the way we solve problems now will change as technology evolves? Nicholas believes that the emergence of AI and machine learning is already changing the way we solve problems. It is now possible to look at x-rays and spot some potential issues. This has the potential to greatly improve things for medical professionals and patients. These processes and tasks are not likely to ever be completely automated. But, the tech will speed up the rate at which a lot of these types of tasks can be done. AI has the potential to make a radical difference for all kinds of fields, including telecommunications, air traffic control, and other critical areas. How fast that happens, remains to be seen. But, AI is definitely here to stay. (12.52) – What drew you to a career in IT? Nicholas has always enjoyed solving problems and building things. Initially, he was drawn to medicine. But, while studying for his medical degree he developed a passion for IT. He loved the idea of coding systems that made a difference and would outlive him. (13.39) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once told him to look two steps, rather than just one step ahead when considering what to do with his IT career. It was excellent advice. Nicholas explains that having two points on your career timeline pushes you to learn two skill sets, at the same time. There will be some overlap, but you will always be preparing yourself for two potential career paths. If one of them does not work out, you will be ready to pursue the other one. You do not have to stick rigidly to your two-step plan. If something changes, you can change what you plan to do next and maybe what you thought you wanted to do after that. (14.25) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once advised Nicholas to avoid conflict at all costs. You need to be authentic. It is not a good idea to stop yourself from expressing valid opinions just because you think others will disapprove. You have to be balanced about this. It is important not to be too vocal either. Instead, you need to find the middle ground. (15.28) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do?  Nicholas says he would have started his IT career earlier. He took programming classes when he was in high school. But, decided not to go on to study computer science, a decision that he now regrets. His computer teacher was really boring and they did nothing but sort algorithms. He also believes that it is important to develop good learning habits. You need to look at a career in IT as a long-term project and carry on learning. (16.36) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Nicholas is currently working on creating workshop content that distills difficult AI and machine learning concepts. He wants more people to understand them so they can start to leverage the power of AI and other technologies that AWS offers. Nicholas is using lots of different approaches to get the message across. He is using live video streams, fireside chats, and other formats to reach as many people as possible. Doing this is helping Nicholas to build his technical expertise as well as help others. This dovetails into another of his career focuses, which is to grow his understanding of more complex tech. In the long term, Nicholas wants to set up and run his own company. (18.04) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being resilient has really helped Nicholas. In the tech industry, things move fast, really fast. So, inevitably, you are going to get things wrong. When that happens, you need to be able to bounce back. It is important to learn fast and not be afraid to change direction. Nicholas says you cannot afford to be afraid of diving into something you know nothing about. Being able to quickly learn a new framework is essential. But, you have to know your limits. When deciding whether or not to take on a project, consider what you already know and what you will have to learn to be able to complete the work. This enables you to determine if the project is right for you. Nicholas has found that for him a 70/30 split is about right. He can usually cope with needing to learn new skills to complete around 30% of the tasks the project requires. Taking this approach ensures that he can keep on learning without feeling too stressed. (19.59) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Thankfully, Nicholas finds his work at AWS to be energizing. Hosting weekly shows for developers and getting out into the field and teaching workshops always provide him with a lift. Nicholas really enjoys getting direct feedback from customers and developers and taking it back to the service team. It feels great to play a direct role in improving their products. At AWS, there is never a dull day. (21.33) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Nicholas is a lifelong gamer. He finds it to be very relaxing and a great way to keep up with friends and family who are geographically scattered. Nicholas also enjoys working on restoring his car. He also plays a lot of volleyball, which helps to keep him fit. He believes that when you work in IT you need to do something physical to counter the fact that you spend a lot of the day sitting down. (23.20) – Phil asks Nicholas to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Nicholas’ parting piece of advice is to remember to reach back and help lift others up as well. Using Twitter is a great way to help people who are currently where you were, a few years ago. It is also a great place to network and grow your understanding of virtually anything. BEST MOMENTS: (5.06) Nicholas  – "Looking back and performing some sort of retrospective to understand why that experience was positive or negative, is extremely valuable." (5.21) Nicholas – "Career development is not like throwing darts at a dartboard trying to see what sticks." (8.40) Nicholas – "Understanding when to cut your losses is a very important skill." (12.34) Nicholas – "AI and machine learning are definitely here to stay." (16.21) Nicholas – "A career in IT is a marathon, not a sprint" (24.09) Nicholas – "Leverage Twitter, leverage the amazing tech community." CONTACT Nicholas: Twitter: https://twitter.com/thenickwalsh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenickwalsh/ Website: http://nwalsh.io/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a front end developer who has been writing code since he was 8 years old.  He enjoys people, code and talking to people about code. He now travels around the world encouraging, educating and empowering developers in the web development community. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on his show today is Tejas Kumar. He is a front-end developer who has been coding since the age of 8. Tejas has worked with a long list of front-end frameworks, programs and languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, React, and the Babel webpack. He is also a conference speaker who is working towards his goal of speaking at every JSConf, across the word. Tejas wants to educate and empower developers, in every corner of the globe. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – I would like to start by asking about your work traveling the world speaking to developers and empowering them. Tejas explains that he started doing this, June of last year, when he spoke at JSconf EU. His talk was well received and he really enjoyed it. So, he decided that he would like to speak at each of the JSconf events that are held worldwide. Tejas structures his talks as dialogue. He enjoys the conversation he has with his audience. Afterward he gets to carry that conversation on and talk to some really interesting people, from all walks of life. Everyone from web architects to traditional architects who design buildings. (2.25) - So in terms of the numbers of conferences, talks you've done, how many of you clocked up now? Last year, Tejas did 7 conferences in 6months.  But, that is nothing compared to his friend Sarah Vieira who spoke at 47, last year alone. His aim is to do an average of one a month, so he can maintain a reasonable work-life balance. (3.10) – Have you got any conferences coming up? There is one that had not yet been announced, at the time this recording was made. But, he also due to speak in September, at JSconf Budapest. (4.15) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Tejas says it is important to remember that IT professionals are working in an industry where feigning knowledge is the norm. He has noticed that in technical meetings, everyone, including himself, will just nod their heads and pretend that they fully understand what is going on. Tejas finds this sad. He points out that a culture in which people feel an overwhelming need to be right and are disinclined to ask questions is not a healthy one. There are also a few people who feel an overwhelming urge to constantly correct everyone. Often, these people publically pick others up about silly, unimportant things simply because they want to appear to be cleverer. They tend to think they are always right. People like that can end up putting those who are new to the industry. (7.54) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Unfortunately, at the start of his career Tejas was thrown in at the deep end. He was being asked to do a mid-level job despite the fact he had very little experience. Worse, his team leader was constantly critical of him. Despite this, Tejas toughed things out and became good at the job. So, much so that other companies were headhunting him. But, when he asked for a raise his CTO just laughed at him and said he was not worth it and nobody would pay him that sort of money. Naturally, he quit. Before asking for the raise he had been looking around to see what was available. So, he knew what he was asking for was reasonable and that he could get a job elsewhere. In other words he had leverage. So, when they said no, he was comfortable with just quitting and moving on. In fact, he had already been offered a job by a company he liked the look of. But, he was not sure he was qualified and experienced enough. So much so, that he wrote back and explained this to them. Fortunately, they were really positive. Their attitude was that he knew more than he thought and if he did not they were sure he could quickly fill any gaps in his knowledge. Even before the hiring was official his new boss demonstrated that he believed in Tejas. After working for a boss that constantly tore him down working for someone who built him up was very refreshing for Tejas. Quitting his previous post was the best thing Tejas has ever done. (10.35) – What has been your career highlight? Tejas responds by saying that he is actually currently living his career highlight. Every day feels like a new best day at his job. He works with a brilliant team, has a lot of freedom, can more or less choose what technology he works with and works on interesting projects. Tejas especially appreciates the fact that his team works smart. For example, they budgeted 2 days to build a feature. With the help of his team, he was able to build it in 15 minutes. Phil jokes that if he was Tejas’ boss he would probably be challenging his estimation process. This joke encourages him to share another career highlight. Tejas always has a good time at conferences and meets interesting people. But, being asked to speak at React Finland was extra special. It is non-profit, everyone stays in the same hotel and the atmosphere is great. (12.17) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the web is an on-exhaustible resource really excites Tejas. He grew up in Qatar, a country that is built on oil, which, unfortunately, is running out. So, Tejas appreciates working in an industry where there will always be work. Tejas is particularly pleased to see the serverless way of working coming to the fore. It is a simple way of working that means that things like IoT are now a reality. He is also to see the industry become more inclusive. People from every corner of the globe are getting involved and succeeding in the tech industry. They are many people from these countries becoming leaders in their field. People of color, women and non-binary people are all enjoying successful IT careers. (14.11) – What drew you to a career in IT? Tejas has a rare, dangerous and life-threatening illness. Even doing something relatively simple like climbing the stairs or lifting a backpack could kill him. He has ended up in the emergency room several times after doing something relatively minor. So, for Tejas sitting at a screen and writing is his only viable option. Fortunately, at the age of 8, Tejs discovered that he liked coding. He could not go to school or play outside, so he spent many hours playing around with HTML and coding. So, naturally, he got quite good at it. His mother did not expect him to live past 10th grade. So, it feels great to have achieved as much as he has. Tejas is understandably proud of what he has been able to do with his friend, especially the conference speaking. His message to the IT Energizer audience is – if I can do it, so can you. (16.08) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once warned Tejas not to believe the hype. The same people that are talking you up today may not do so tomorrow. It is very important not to base your identity on what people say about you. If you do that, you are basing your view of yourself on a very shaky foundation. (17.22) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Tejas to quit IT. They literally said you suck at IT, quit. Kill yourself. He knows that some of it must have been a joke. But, at the time, it did not feel that way. Naturally, he was very upset by this and thought maybe I do suck; maybe I will never be anything. It was a real low point for Tejas. (17.38) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Tejas thinks he would not actually do anything different. He would still start by learning and working with JavaScript. It is a really forgiving language, which makes it ideal for beginners. (18.15) – What are you currently focusing on in your IT career? Tejas is challenging himself to learn the operations side of things. For example, Kubernetes, he is also interested in learning more about back end development. (19.06) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Tejas says it is his ability to communicate and the fact that he enjoys public speaking. But, these skills have taken a lot of time and hard work to learn. As a child, he was badly bullied. Because he could not go to school or play outside it was hard to connect with people, he became socially awkward. He hated the fact that people did not like him. So, decided to do something about it. He went online and googled “how to make people like you” and read tons of books on the subject. It helped. Bit by bit Tejas learned how to put people at their ease and be good company. Today, being charming, considerate and a good communicator are all 2nd nature to him. (20.44) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? His job keeps him energized. He really loves the culture his company has, the team and the work he does. He can’t wait to go to work every day. Tejas gets head-hunted quite a lot, but he is so happy with his current company that he is not tempted by any of the offers. He feels energized every single day by the work he is currently doing. (21.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Tejas loves music, in particular, playing music. He has an album due out soon. Plus, right now, Tejas is busy planning his wedding. (22.25) – Phil asks Tejas to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. People matter more than code. He would even make the case that soft skills matter more than the hard ones do. BEST MOMENTS: (6.32) TEJAS – "CHECK TO SEE WHO SAID IT" (9.15) TEJAS – “I normally do not negotiate salary unless I have leverage." (10.00) TEJAS – "Developer jobs are in demand. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." (12.42) TEJAS – "The web is a non-exhaustible resource” (16.07) TEJAS – "There's nothing that can ultimately hold you back, if that’s your path."  () TEJAS – ""   CONTACT TEJAS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/tejaskumar_ Github: https://github.com/tejasq Website: https://www.tejaskumar.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is an internationally recognized author, speaker, blogger and sometimes teacher and consultant.  He has been working with the web since late 1993 and is recognized as an expert on the subjects of HTML, CSS and web standards.   He is currently a technical lead at non-profit organization Rebecca’s Gift and is also co-founder of An Event Apart, a web design conference for UX and front-end experts.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Eric Meyer. He has worked in the IT industry for more than 25 years. Today, he is a teacher, designer and consultant who is a recognized HTML, CSS and web standards expert. He also has a working understanding of XML, XSLT, JavaScript, and related technologies. Eric is also the technical lead for the non-profit organization Rebecca’s Gift and the co-founder of An Event Apart, an interactive conference targeted at designers, developers and front-end experts. He is also the author of several CSS books and the founder of the css-discuss mailing list, as well as a conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.14) – The very first thing I wanted to ask you about really was the non-profit organization Rebecca's gifs. Could you maybe give us some background about that organization and your involvement? Eric explains that his daughter, Rebecca, died from brain cancer, at the age of 6. One of the things that helped him, his wife, and his surviving children to recover was to go on a special trip together. A few months after Rebecca’s death they took a trip that the kids had kind of planned. It helped them a great deal. So, his wife decided to set up Rebecca’s Gift to help other families to do something similar. They help families, who have lost a child, to take their other children on a trip. It provides them with a chance to get away from everything and reconnect with each other. Eric is the chief technical officer for the organization. His wife takes the lead and Eric looks after the website and the technical side of things. (2.23) - Where can people find out about it? The website is http://rebeccasgift.org/. Eric goes on to explain that, currently, they are US-based. But, people can still go to the website, read about the organization and make a submission. (3.07) - So in terms of your other activities, An Event Apart is something else you're very much involved in. Could you maybe give us a bit of an insight into that? Around the turn of the millennium, he and Jeffrey Zaltzman were attending and speaking at a lot of conferences. Unfortunately, the content was not that great. It did not really speak to people like Eric and Jeffrey. They were designers as well as developers who were not interested in simply slamming out websites. Instead, they wanted to create sites that were user-friendly, forward compatible and accessible. None of the conference speakers shared information that was truly relevant to the way they worked and what they produced. So, they decided to remedy that situation. Eric and Jeffrey put together a one day show and took it around a few US cities. People liked it but often said that they wished it was for more than one day. Over time, they have been able to respond to that request and turn the An Event Apart into a 3-day interactive conference. The show is designed to enable developers to explore and for designers to find out more about development. Plus, of course, for those who already do both. They cover the entire spectrum, including UX and information architecture. It is not just about the cool stuff. The essentials like CSS Grid and Flexbox are also covered. (5.26) – How many cities do you expect to be arranging events for, this year? Eric says that by the end of the year they will have done the show in 6 cities. At the time of recording, the Seattle event was behind the team and the Boston event was next on the agenda. With Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco still to take place before the end of the year. (6.18) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Eric explains that there really are no gatekeepers. There is nobody in IT that can make or break your career. Nobody has the power to shut you out of web development. The only person that can stop you is yourself. (7.37) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Eric worked on the Y2K switch over. For a joke, he and another colleague decided to make the university webpage look like it was created in the 1900s when the clock struck midnight. They put together a page using typography from the era and included the message “as you can see the server thinks it is 1900.” They thought it would be fun, but they did not tell anyone what they were planning to do. The page went live, the press got hold of the story and all hell broke loose. This did not go down well with the administration. Eric’s boss was told to fire him. Worse his boss’ manager was told to fire him, as well. Fortunately, neither of those things happened. However, Eric still feels bad about inadvertently putting his boss’ job at risk. (10.00) – What was your best career moment? Eric went to Case Western Reserve University. While he was there two of his professors asked him to put two encyclopedias they had written online. It was a big project, which is really proud of managing. Now, anyone who is interested in the history of Cleveland, Ohio can access a huge body of material and do so for free. (12.40) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Eric is really excited about the way CSS Cascading Style Sheets is changing things and the rate at which it is growing. That is what is exciting him about the sector of the IT industry he works in. Looking at things more generally, the fact that people involved in the IT industry are starting to have a conversation about ethics is good to see. Mike Monterio has just published a book about design ethics in which he takes a strong stand. We need to think about the impact doing X can have, outside of the purpose we have built it for. Developers need to ask themselves how what they are creating can be abused. (15.25) – Do you think this will result in new roles within the IT industry? Eric hopes that one day we will see appointing a chief ethical officer becoming the norm. Dumping a load of data into a recursive neural network and hoping nothing goes wrong may be OK in a closed environment, as a way of exploring the possibilities. But, it is not OK to deploy that stuff to the public. You need something in place to make you pause, think about what could go wrong and decide if you should still proceed. (16.44) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Eric, initially, it was the fact that he could make good money. He had been using computers since he was 7, so getting into the IT industry was a natural progression. (17.31) – What is the best career advice you have ever received?  When Eric asked Jeff how he could get to be a conference speaker, he said: “write a book”. Eric did. After that landing speaking gigs was easy. Even if you do not want to be a conference speaker, it is still a good idea to write about what you know. You do not have to write a book to do that. Running a blog is just as an effective way to put yourself out there and let people know what you are about. Eric has known people to be hired because someone liked a blog post they wrote. (18.20) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? One of his managers, at the university, told him to “stop playing with that silly web stuff.” Fortunately, everyone ignored him and carried on learning and working with HTML. (18.49) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Eric says he would go to code school or get a degree in computer science. But the biggest thing he would do differently is to focus on finding work that really interested him. So, he could stay engaged enough to dive deep, truly understand things and share what he was learning. When he finally started sharing what he knew, his career took off. Today, he would get involved in GitHub, Medium, and Stack Overflow far more quickly and deeply. (20.02) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Eric wants to become a better leader. He is also teaching himself more JavaScript, he wants to make sure he can understand the emerging JavaScript technologies. (20.42) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being an effective communicator is Eric’s most important non-technical skill. He knows he is good at doing it in writing and he is working hard to become just as good face to face. For example, in training situations, when he can see from people’s faces that he has lost them a bit, he now doubles back and explains things differently. (21.26) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Eric finds that rotating through a stable of things that need his attention keeps him engaged and motivated. If he starts feeling a bit burned out, he switches track for a while. Doing something different re-energizes him, enabling him to switch back and start moving forward again. (22.13) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Eric enjoys carpentry. He started out doing what they call rough carpentry. For example, he built a coop for his chickens. Now he has some experience, he is getting into finer woodworking.  (23.10) – Phil asks Eric to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. When deciding what tech to learn next, think about what you want to do with it, not what you want to do in it. Ask yourself what interests you. For example, would you like to make servers run faster? Or do you want to connect people? Asking yourself what differences you want to make to the world will naturally point you in the right direction. It will make it easy for you to identify what technologies you need to learn. That is how he and Jeff ended up putting together the An Event Apart conference. They saw an issue, wanted to solve it, so, went out and learned what they needed to know to run their own conferences. When deciding what tech you will learn next, you need to take a similar approach. Learning something with a purpose is always a far more effective and interesting way to learn. BEST MOMENTS: (6.33) ERIC– "There's nobody in IT who can make or break your career other than yourself," (14.35) ERIC– "When people create things, they need to ask themselves, how could this be abused?” (18.26) ERIC– "I know people who have never written a book, but have been hired by somebody because of a blog post they wrote" (21.46) ERIC– "Communication, which people call a soft skill, is one of the hardest to master. It takes practice." CONTACT ERIC: Twitter: https://twitter.com/meyerweb   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meyerweb   Website: https://meyerweb.com/   Rebecca's Gift: http://rebeccasgift.org/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is currently a VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. He is a recognized industry expert on a variety of topics including digital transformation, social collaboration and online business models.  And in 2015 he was identified as one of the top 20 people most mentioned by IT leaders.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Dion Hinchliffe is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He is an internationally recognized thought leader, enterprise architect and IT specialist. Dion is also a keynote speaker and the co-author of the best-selling books, Web 2.0 Architectures and Social Business by Design. He is currently a VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.07) – Please tell us about the things you have been up to, particularly recently. Dion explains that he has always worked on large IT projects. For example, he worked as a lead architect for the Missile Defense Agency on their advance battle manager program. At the time, it was one of the biggest IT projects in the world. As a young man, he was chief architect for Rowe Price. Dion recommends that everyone try to work on a government IT project. He explains that dealing with the red tape, bureaucracy, long lists or requirements and politics really hones your skills. It is challenging, but by the end of it you are far better able to realize change and lead. More recently, Dion has been working with the CIO audience. His main focus is on helping them to apply technology strategically to modernize and transform their businesses. He develops digital strategies, ensures they work and guides firms through the implementation of them. Dion speaks and writes extensively about this and runs CIO workshops. Importantly, he follows up with the people who are implementing his strategies to see how things went. Using their feedback he is able to understand how well each strategy works and tweak them if necessary. (4.21) – Please tell us more about your speaking, blogging and writing. Dion explains that he sees himself as a storyteller who is working to fill a gap in the industry. He likes to go into detail and share in a way that ensures people can actually take action with what they learn from him. These days, people in the industry are more willing to share what they are doing. But, in a way, they are still quite secretive. Their case studies tend to be high level. People end up hydroplaning over the top of subjects they don’t really explain how they got something hard done. So, Dion has tried to break that habit. He writes long-form, detailed pieces that include diagrams to help people to fully understand what he is sharing. (5.29) presumably you get great feedback from doing that. Dion says that is the case. People especially appreciate his use of diagrams. It is something few people do. But, Dion discovered early on that the best way to sell an idea, especially an expensive one, is to use a visual. Somehow showing them a picture makes it real for them. (6.46) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? In IT your bedside manner really matters. You need to be able to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and communicate with them in a way that improves their understanding. It is important to remember that this is probably the first time they have been through a technology roll-out. Or, if they have done it before, it was a long time ago. So, the whole thing is completely new and alien to them. They are relying on you to show them the way. It is up to you to help them to understand the process, manage their expectations and make them feel comfortable. Looking at the situation through their eyes will really help you to do this effectively. You will be able to help them to see how their department will run once the technology is in place. When you become more empathetic your relationship with your customers improves drastically. They find it easier to trust you. So, it is far easier for you to convince them of the direction they should take. (8.42) - Is there anything in particular that you do to enable yourself to be in their shoes, as it were? Dion tries to think about the experiences they have gone through with IT departments. Doing this gives him an insight into what the customer is expecting. (9.15) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Dion used to run a boutique consulting firm. They specialized in performance optimization. Often, that means turning failed IT projects around. The first time they let one of their senior people to start an engagement. Unfortunately, the client called them and said they did not think things were going to work out. They did not feel they were a good fit. So, Dion had to let that person go. Basically, because they were no longer a good fit, which meant there was no work for them. It was very difficult for Dion to do this. (11.01) – What was your best career moment? While working on a large government project, Dion and his colleagues came up with a way to apply Agile working principles to a large distributed team. They found a way to do the stand-ups, the user stories and put together fast feedback loops. A way to ship code every week and show customers what they were doing despite the team being huge, fragmented and distributed. Getting there was tough. They had a lot of hard knocks. But, eventually, they were able to greatly speed up the pace at which the project moved forward. They still moved slower than most other agile teams, but it was a massive improvement on what had been happening before. Today, this way of working is common, but it was not back then, so successfully leading the way was exciting and a great achievement. (13.04) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that technology budgets are growing is exciting. It will enable companies to move forward at a much faster rate. This extra cash is opening up all sorts of possibilities for exciting, life-changing projects. So, working in IT is certainly not going to be boring. There is no longer any need for IT professionals to spend their life working as drones, in some back office. Unless, of course, that is what they want to do. Today, the IT team is likely to be involved in every aspect of the business. To touch every department and be an important and integral part of every team. If you are a cross-disciplinary technology specialist, now is a very exciting time to be working.    (14.21) - So why do you think that change from a predominantly maintenance function into more of a change delivery function has taken place? This is mainly because the statistics show that those firms that do not digitize will simply disappear. Firms have no choice but to change and they need IT professionals who can deliver that change. (15.04) – What drew you to a career in IT? As an 11-year-old Dion realized that with a computer you can create your own world with its own rules. He found that exciting, so just kept on learning and ended up following his passion and working in IT. (15.39) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That advice to try new things and push yourself out of your comfort zone is the best advice Dion was given. We all have a tendency to gravitate towards the technologies and platforms that we know. Those times when you try something that is completely unrelated are when you learn the most. It also really broadens your worldview. So, deliberately go out there and try something different. Getting into this habit has turned Dion into a novelty seeker and fueled a lot of his writing. (16.57) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? That advice came from his father. He had been around in the 50s. At that time, there ended up being a glut of engineers and was worried that the same thing would happen with tech professionals. As a result, he questioned whether it was wise for Dion to work in the industry. Fortunately, Dion did not see things in the same way as his father. He felt that the possibilities for tech were endless, which meant there would always be work for IT professionals. So far, he has turned out to be right. The tech industry has negative unemployment and will have for the foreseeable future. (17.41) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Dion says that he would probably learn more about business. He focused too much on the technology and not enough on how it would be used. If he had done so at an earlier stage, he feels his career would have progressed even faster. (18/17) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Dion says that he wants to write more. It is a hard task and finding the time to write can be difficult, but it is really rewarding. His aim is to publish three or four more notable books. Books that really unpack everything that he has learned in his career to date. One of them will definitely be about digital transformation. (18.54) – What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Dion that has almost certainly been his people skills. Most IT folks are not great with people, but the direction Dion’s career took forced him to develop good people skills. These days, being able to talk to customers is essential for most IT-related jobs. (19.50) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Being excited about new things creates momentum. It keeps you moving forward. (20.51) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Dion has 4-year-old twins, who keep him busy. He really enjoys spending time with them. When they are older, he is hoping to get back into rock climbing.  (21.32) – Phil asks Dion to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. In the past, people learned a technology and kept much of that knowledge to themselves. They set themselves up as the gatekeeper of that technology, so people would have to come to them for information. It was a way of creating and holding onto power. Today, setting your information free and sharing what you know is the way forward. When you do that, you get your knowledge working for you 24 hours a day. Even more people realize that you are the go-to person for that technology. They are able to understand how it works and how they can use it. That means that even more people look to you for understanding. Importantly, over time, others absorb your knowledge, explore the tech and become experts. They start to share the load. Sharing your knowledge gets you known and shows you in a favorable light. BEST MOMENTS: (2.05) DION – "I recommend anyone go through some government IT projects. You will learn so much." (4.20) DION – "Speed is really the biggest issue that IT departments and technical teams are having to cope with, right now." (7.03) DION – "It's absolutely critical to be able to put yourself in your customer's place." (13.03) DION – "People going into IT today are not going to be stuck as drones in the back office. Unless they want to be." (21.37) DION – "Learn to set your knowledge free and benefit from doing so." CONTACT DION: Twitter: https://twitter.com/dhinchcliffe   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhinchcliffe   Website: https://dionhinchcliffe.com

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a Principal Program Manager for Mobile Developer Tools at Microsoft.  He has been a .NET developer since 2005 working in a wide range of industries including game development, printer software and web services. Before becoming a Principal Program Manager he was a professional mobile developer and has been crafting apps since 2011. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: James Montemagno is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He is currently a Principle Program Manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Developer Tools division. James started his career working as a gaming developer. But, he has also worked on printer software and web services. For several years he was a Xamarin developer evangelist and is still involved in supporting those using the platform. He is also a .NET developer. James is well known for running numerous podcasts and being a prolific conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.20) – I want to start by talking to you about the fact that you are a prolific podcaster. Can you please start by telling us about that? James explains that quite early in his IT career he developed a passion for public speaking. He used to build home theatre PCs, which were also ideal for podcasting. So, he gave it a try. His experiment went really well and he realized that a podcast was a great way to have a long conversation with a friend. To make sure there is some structure to each podcast he calls his guest up about 30 minutes before the broadcast is due to start. They chat things through then go live for a further 30 minutes. Over the years, he has started a bunch of different podcasts, including Merge Conflict. He also does a podcast with his friend Michael out of New York called Nintendo Dispatch. There is also the Xamarin podcast and he frequently does them for Microsoft too. (2.59) – How did your interest in podcasting come about? In the beginning, it was just a technical challenge. Podcasts did not really exist, at that point in time. There was no Zencastr, no Audible, nor any podcast friendly equipment. So, he set about finding a way to make a podcast and share it. Once he figured out how to do it, he realized that he really enjoyed the podcasting process and things snowballed from there. (4.22) Do you enjoy conference speaking too? James explains that giving conference talks was a natural progression from his podcasting. The fact he became a developer advocate helped too. Public speaking became a regular part of his work life, so he quickly became good at and really comfortable with public speaking. A conference stage is a perfect platform for demonstrating what your tech can do for all kinds of people. Public speaking has enabled him to reach the world and tell them about the mobile development tools Microsoft has to offer. He also did a road show with another podcaster, visiting 10 or 15 cities together in an RV. Every other day, he delivered the same material and became very comfortable with public presentations. In the end, it did not matter if he was presenting to 10 or 10,000 people, he felt comfortable doing it. (5.59) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Two things are important. Firstly, try to do something that you love. Secondly, don’t try to change the world, early in your career. There really is no need to reinvent the wheel. At the start of his career, James was tasked with developing an app. He was asked to do everything, including designing it to coding it and doing the UX and UI work. At the time, he had only ever done coding. So, instead of reinventing everything he found out was already available and used as much of it as possible. For example, he checked out the design and UX of a few of the most popular Google, Microsoft and Apple apps and used the same approach. James points out that you need to also keep an eye on what is new and roll those evolving paradigms into the design of your application. (9.06) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Early in his career, he moved from Phoenix to Seattle to work for a startup. He worked really hard for about 7 months on their DVR management app. At times he was putting in 70 or 80 hours a week. So, when it was released he felt a great sense of relief. His boss told him not to read the reviews. He ignored that advice and was utterly crushed. Not all of the reviews were bad, but James was actually quite vulnerable at the time. He had just moved, was living in a tiny apartment, sleep-deprived and stressed out by the process of developing the app. As a result, reading some of the bad things that were said in the reviews tipped him over into a deep depression. Thankfully, his manager and friends were there for him and were able to help. Now, he does not read the reviews. (11.26) – What was your best career moment? James’ career highlight actually had nothing to do with his day job. During last year’s Seattle gift camp he did a mobile application workshop. James was aware that a lot of the non-profits in the city would be able to use mobile apps to solve some of their issues. So, he asked them what they needed. They came back with some great ideas. He enjoyed sitting down with a bunch of different people who were totally new to mobile development and showing them how to build the apps the non-profits needed. James was able to teach about 100 developers a new skill and solve a lot of problems for some of the city’s non-profits. They built an app for the Queensland Food Bank so that restaurants and food companies could tell them what they had available. In just 6 months they were able to collect 8 tons of food. For James having such a significant impact on people’s lives is his greatest achievement, to date. It was made even better by the fact that not everyone in the room was a developer. There were other professionals, for example, graphic designers, who also played a part in delivering the app and training. (14.52) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The way in which the industry is transforming and the lines between roles are becoming blurred is exciting. People are now able to get involved in everything if they want to do so. As a mobile developer, he is particularly excited by the sheer power of the new generation of smartphones. This combined with cloud computing is transformative. Foldable phones are also an interesting development. What is happening with augmented and mixed reality is also exciting. It enables us to craft truly new experiences. (17.24) – What drew you to a career in IT? James loves math. When he realized he could be a developer instead of an accountant he was so excited. He liked video games, so he started there. But, later he moved to desktop then mobile development. (18.30) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? James credits his college instructor Phil Miller for all of his success. He taught him C++, but more importantly, he told him to “never stop learning.” How you do it is up to you. But, for James actually doing is the best way to learn. He is always asking himself “what else can I learn?” If the company he is working for has a training budget, he takes advantage of it. Both parties benefit when you do that. He also attends as many conferences as possible. (20.04) – What is the worst career advice you have ever received? That advice came from his teachers. They just kept on telling him that there were only certain career paths he could follow. Fortunately, he recognized that this advice was flawed and went on to explore other ways he could use his skills to earn a living. James learned, early on, to challenge what others tell you. (20.17) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? If he could go back in time and offer himself advice when he had just graduated, he would say – “take more risks earlier and if you don’t love your job, leave”. For example, he spent 4 years working on printer software. He did actually enjoy it, but he should have moved on sooner. If he had been more of a risk taker he would have done so. When you see an opportunity, don’t be afraid to take it. (21.31) – As well as career objectives, what are you currently focusing on? He is helping his partner and planning their wedding. At a career level, James is focusing on building the best community around .NET development and Xamarin for mobile developers. (22.34) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Phil responds by saying that is being a good listener and speaker. It is important to allow others to speak, something a lot of people forget to do. His communications skills have defiantly helped him to grow his career faster. (23.50) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? James loves tinkering with the little gadgets that come out. Currently, he is fascinated by what some of his friends are doing with Arduino and Raspberry Pi. (24.43) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? James and his partner Heather love to travel. They enjoy getting to spend time together experiencing different cultures. When he is at home, he loves to cycle. He is also a big coffee fan. So much so that he roasts and grinds his own beans. (26.37) – Phil asks James to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. This is the same advice he was given – “take risks early in your career.” He also believes that it is important to stand up for what you believe in and the things you feel passionate about. James has also been careful to do things outside of his team. At Microsoft, he has nurtured a relationship with the marketing, development and several other teams. Even if you work at a small company, you can learn a lot from the other teams. BEST MOMENTS: (6.28) JAMES – "You do not need to reinvent everything. It's okay to take what has been done and re-craft that really well." (13.47) JAMES – "Get active in the community to have a really positive impact" (21.01) JAMES – "When you see an opportunity out there, don't feel like you shouldn't take that leap." (26.48) JAMES – "Stand up for what you believe in and what you're passionate about." (27.37) JAMES – “Even at a small company you can learn from the other teams." CONTACT JAMES: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesMontemagno LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmontemagno/ Website: https://montemagno.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a functional programming advocate.  He has worked in the IT industry for more than 15 years in a variety of roles including software support, development lead, project management and systems analysis. He is the co-founder of the Knoxville Functional Programmers group and is currently a senior consultant for Result Stack. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is a functional programming advocate called Reid Evans. He started his IT career 15 years ago, working mainly in software support. Since then he has moved on and worked as a development lead, a project manager and systems analyst. Today is a senior consultant for ResultStack. In 2017, he co-founded Functional Knox Inc. and is currently the president. The group supports a network of functional programmers by organizing meetups and via an annual conference. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.07) – So firstly, I wanted to pick up with you could you perhaps tell us a little bit about the Knoxville functional programmers group and what your involvement was with setting it up? Reid explains they have been operating as a hangout for 3 or 4 years. But, in 2018, they hosted their first conference, which was a great success. The 2019 conference was even bigger and even more successful with speakers traveling in from all over the US. (2.02) – Is this an annual event and why did you decide to set it up? Reid responds by explaining that both himself and the co-founder of the group Cameron Presley had been speaking at conferences for a while. They enjoyed doing it but found that they had to keep things fairly rudimentary to deal with the fact the audience had mixed skills. Both of them felt it would be beneficial to deliver talks that went a bit beyond the basics. So, they decided to address that gap and start their own group and conference. They wanted a place where people could come together and discuss things that were slightly outside of the mainstream. (2.54) Presumably, the focus is very much on functional programming? Yes, that is very much the case, but FuctionalKnox events are very diverse. For example, this year’s conference covered Haskell, Purescript, C#, Javascript, Typescript and much more besides, across 12 sessions. (3.38) – So, are you planning future events? Reid says yes, for sure. There is a lot of demand for this kind of conference. So, they will be arranging more. But, these events are not just for speakers with decades of experience. This year, 2 of the speakers had only just completed boot camp. It is clearly a form of education that works because they had a similar level of knowledge as someone who had been programming for years would have. Something Reid finds very encouraging. Becoming a programmer is now far more attainable. New people have not had to learn how to follow the traditional object-oriented way of working. Instead, they have gone straight into functional programming and been able to learn quickly because they have not had to unlearn other ways of working. (6.00) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Reid’s advice is not to let people put you into a singular box. You need to expand your horizons and learn more than one thing. If you do not, you stagnate and it is really easy for someone to replace you with another programmer who has more or less the same skill set as you. If you can move a JIRA ticket across the board, don’t stop there. Learn some design and UX patterns too. He also points out that becoming a good communicator is a good way to progress your career. It is something that sets you apart. (7.06) – Is this something you have done yourself? Reid explains that his path into development was an unusual one. For a while, he was technically a vice president of a small software support company. In that role, he started to do a bit of software writing. When he started programming, he was shocked to find that he was expected to simply take the ticket and move it across the board. Adding anything or making suggestions to improve things was generally not welcome. Basically, his bosses did not want him asking questions. Now, he works as a consultant he gets to go in and actively ask questions. It is the only way to find out what the problems actually are. Reid believes that without knowing why you are doing something it is all easy to get cynical about anything you are developing. When you feel like that you do not do good work. (8.44) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. That happened when Reid joined a team that had already been working on a huge project, for 10 years. It was massive. Reid, along with everyone else, spent months in a little cubical blindly creating their bits of code. Finally, it was delivered to the customer. Unsurprisingly, it was a total disaster. Basically, they ended up delivering a system that offered the customer virtually nothing new. The old system did everything the new system did. Worse, the new system took much longer to carry out each process than the old one did. It was stuffed full of needless code. At some point, people had got it into their heads that they could not ask questions. As a result, the project had drifted badly off course. When it comes to software design, you need to be able to ask the right questions to make sure you build the right solution. (11.27) – What was your best career moment? Reid could not nail down a specific highlight. But, he explains that he finds working with and helping others to be incredibly fulfilling. It feels great to be able to get someone who has been stuck for ages, unstuck. It is these micro wins that keep Reid engaged and happy working in the industry. In those situations, you have much more control than when you are working on some huge project. You can see that you have made a positive difference. (13.08) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Reid is very excited by the fact that functional programming opens up the opportunity for new developers to make a big impact at a very early stage in their careers. It is great to see enthusiastic new developers being inspired by the work they are doing. The fact that there are so many new languages emerging is also exciting. With so much choice, it is possible to quickly find a solution to practically any issue. Developers just need to be willing to let go and move on to something new, when the need arises. They should never let a single language define them. Fortunately, the more languages you learn the easier it becomes to learn the next one. Each new one you learn gets you thinking in a slightly different way. This makes you a much better programmer and improves your ability to find your way through any coding challenge. (15.53) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Reid was at music school and working as a cook. But, he wanted to quit. When he told his dad this, he invited him to work for him answering the phones at his software firm. Reid agreed and discovered that he loved the IT world. (16.36) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That is – “don't seek feedback from someone you wouldn't ask their advice? Reid wishes he had been told that early in his career. He feels he would have got a lot further if he had. (17.04) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Reid to follow the money and not worry about what type of work he was doing. The rationale was that there is plenty of time to enjoy yourself after work. In reality, that is terrible advice. It is all too easy to end up spending a significant percentage of your week doing something that makes you miserable. You need to find a job that pays enough, but, you also have to enjoy doing it. (18.31) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Reid would put himself through a boot camp. This despite the fact he has a bachelor’s degree. The environment in a good boot camp is great. You are surrounded by people striving to do the same as you. Plus, more importantly, the boot camp staff are highly motivated to help you to find a job. Following the boot camp route gets you out there really fast. The best way to learn anything is to do it rather than spend 4 years learning with relatively little doing. (19.29) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Reid says he loves helping people, so that is one of his focuses. His consulting work and FunctionalKnox role both feed into this objective. But, he is also moving into being a consultant for other consultants. He is having a great time doing that. (20.15) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your IT career? Reid jokes that is his superpower of asking dumb questions. Phil responds by saying there are no dumb questions, which Reid agrees with. Reid goes on to say that he has asked so many dumb questions in his life that he is no longer afraid of looking silly. As a consultant, one of his roles is asking questions. He has learned to preface them by saying – “this may be a dumb question, but...” He finds that this helps people to understand that he is asking questions to seek understanding, not as a way to quietly challenge them. (22.30) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Attending conferences and speaking to other programmers both keep him energized. Talking about things you are passionate about always feels great regardless of the platform you do it from. (23.02) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Reid says that he spends a lot of time with his family and also enjoys running and cycling. He describes himself as a suboptimal triathlete. Physical exercise enables him to unburden his mind, so he can start each workday feeling good and able to look at things from a fresh perspective. Running is particularly good for this. On a tempo run, after about 20 minutes he is able to switch off to the point where all he is thinking about is putting one foot in front of another one.  (24.41) – Phil asks Reid to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Reid’s advice is to find a place where you are respected. He goes on to point out that the easiest way to gain respect is to give it. When you do that your working relationships become a lot easier. BEST MOMENTS: (2.46) REID – "We wanted a place where people could come together and share ideas that were maybe slightly outside of the mainstream." (6.25) REID – "If you let people put you in a box, they will gladly do so." (10.44) REID – "You need to be able to ask the right questions to make sure you build the right solution.” (15.03) REID – "The more languages you learn, the easier it is to learn the next one." (16.47) REID – "Don't seek feedback from someone you wouldn't ask for advice?" (20.24) PHIL – "There are no dumb questions." CONTACT REID: Twitter: https://twitter.com/reidnevans LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidevans/ Website: https://medium.com/@reidev275

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show has been creating software for several decades.  He has trained developers around the world, led eXtreme programming projects for the US government and eBay, and introduced Lean and Agile concepts at Google, Guidewire Software and Apple. In 2017 he refocused on technical training and coaching, both in person and online. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ted M Young. He started programming at the age of 13. As an adult, he became a software engineer, working for eBay, Google, the US government, Guidewire Software, and Apple. While working for them he led eXtreme programming projects and introduced Lean and Agile working practices. Ted’s passion is coaching and training. In 2017, he refocused on this aspect of his IT career and became a technical trainer, consultant, and coding coach. Today, he teaches online as well as in person. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.08) – You have been working in software for several decades now. During that time, are there any highlights that you still draw on? Ted explains that his father was into the stock market, in particular, the technical analysis side of things. At 13, Ted wrote a program to draw his father’s analytical charts. Eventually, that program got sold to Dow Jones, who was, at the time, selling software packages. (2.14) – I bet your father was pleased. Ted replies that he was. My working on his program and newsletter made things far easier for him. (3.07) – So, you've moved more into technical training and coaching. Why did you choose to go down that path? A friend got Ted involved in coaching. At the time, he had a fairly rudimentary understanding of Java but knew more than most people. So, when his friend asked him to do some Java training, he was a bit reticent to start with. But, decided to give it a go. This was despite the fact that, back then, he was still painfully shy. In an effort to address Ted’s shyness his father sent him on a public speaking course. It did not help much and was an awful experience. But, when he delivered the training, he actually did really well. Mostly because of what he had learned on the course. The fact he was still learning Java himself meant that he had an innate empathy for his students. He was able to explain things in a way a total beginner could follow. After that, he was in demand as a teacher and coach. But, in 2000, he stopped his training work. Instead, he focused on working for big corporations like eBay and Google. But, 4 or 5 years ago he got involved in an intern program. While doing that he realized that he really missed teaching and mentoring. Fortunately, not long after that, a friend told him about a great job at Apple. They were looking for a consultant who was also able to carry out internal training. The role was a perfect fit for Ted and the pay was good. He enjoyed the job so much that when he decided to go independent he carried on offering training. (7.04) – How is working as an independent going for you? For Ted, it was a tricky transition. At first, he did not spend much time actively selling his services. As a result, he did not always have enough work. But, now he is marketing himself and building his brand more, things are going well. (7.53) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Ted’s advice is not to be afraid of moving company’s regularly. When you do that you learn faster and make more connections. A lot of the people he trains are graduates. Many of whom are working for large companies. Naturally, they ask him what they ask Ted for career advice. Things like how long should I stay here? Ted’s advice is for them to continue working with a big company for a while. This gives them the chance to get used to how large corporations work. Invaluable knowledge that they can use later in their career. After about 2 years, graduates need to move to another large company, which they should also aim to leave after a couple of years. This is the case even if they love what they are doing. The idea is to get 4 years of working for large firms on their resume, learn how large corporations operate and grow as a professional. With this foundation, it is easier to go on and do other things. Including working for a small company. Usually, when you take this approach, you can easily circle back and rejoin one of the big companies you previously worked for. This is also a relatively quick way to bump your salary up. Each switch will normally lead to you earning more. Saving some money at an early stage in your career is also a good idea. This gives you the freedom to say no to roles that are not a good fit for you. (9.32) – You mentioned the dynamics of working within a larger organization. Can you elaborate a little more on how this impacts your relationship with your team, co-workers and how you interact with the company? Ted starts by explaining that when you work for a big firm you have to rely on influence a bit more. You have to convince your managers as well as your team that your approach is the right one. The way you interface with other groups within the company is also more complex. You have to coordinate very closely with them. When you work for a larger firm you have to be very observant.  You need to be able to quickly pick up on the fact something is not going well so that you can take steps to correct the issue before it works its way up the chain of command. (10.47) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. That happened over 15 years ago when Ted was still working at eBay. At the time, the company was upgrading its website search facility. They had found a way to allow users to cut down the search results using product attributes. So, if someone wanted a digital camera that had a minimum of 4 megapixels the user would only be presented with products that met those criteria. Enabling people to find what they needed faster was key to improving sales. Now, most e-com sites have that facility. Fifteen years ago, it was a radical change. Initially, things went well, the new facility worked like a dream. Not perfect, but pretty good. But, for some reason, which Ted cannot fully remember, he wanted to change the way things were read and written from the database. At least for the work that was done internally. To achieve this they decided to use Java data objects, which was pretty new, at the time. Initially, the switch progressed quickly. They got about 70 to 80% through the library and project. At which point, things slowed. It began to feel like they were climbing a mountain. Despite working weekends, progress was slow and nobody could work out how much more work was to be done. It was impossible to tell when the task would be finished. Eventually, someone pulled the plug on the project. Ted was relieved, despite the fact that having a major project canceled was not a good situation to be in. This awful career moment taught Ted a lot about managing large changes. Now, if he had to do something similar, he would figure out a way to do it in stages. (16.22) – What was your best career moment? That happened not long after Ted joined Guidewire, in the late 2000s. In some of his previous roles, he had been using eXtreme programming and Agile techniques. Very quickly he realized that Guidewire would benefit from working in a similar way. So, he put that suggestion forward. His manager and the Dev manager were both keen to give it a try and let Ted take the lead in introducing Lean and Agile working techniques. A move that made a really positive difference to the way the teams worked. It felt great to be allowed to make a big change like that and even better to see it make such a positive difference. (18.40) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? When Ted started programming, information and support were both really hard to come by. Now, it does not matter what you need to know someone out there will have the information. Better still, they will want to share it with you and usually provide support. If you want to do something new it is surprisingly easy to find others who are able to help you to figure out how to do it. This is very exciting because now things progress at a much faster rate. (20.28) – So you feel the IT industry is more inclusive now? Ted explains that it is more than that. Now, you also have the critical mass needed to make things happen. (21.18) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Ted always loved coding and problem-solving. The fact he could be paid well for doing it was a bonus. (22.22) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Quite late in his career, someone said to Ted – “You should be a coach.” For Ted that was important advice, because it led to him doing work that he loves. (23.03) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Oddly, it came from his father who advised him to work for a financial firm. In a way, it was sound advice. The pay was good, there were plenty of financial firms operating in his area and Ted’s work with his father meant that he already had a good understanding of the industry. But, Ted is glad he did not take that advice. He has done quite a bit of training and coaching for financial firms and knows that type of working environment is not for him. (23.51) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ted says that he would probably challenge himself more. Instead of sidestepping things like working with databases and handling complex sequel he would face these things head on. In the end, digging deep into things you find hard, rather than finding ways around them, stands you in good stead. He also wishes he had learned C++ back in the day. (25.03) – Phil comments that it is hard to work out which language to learn. Ted agrees, but for him, it was more a case of taking the line of least resistance and relying too much on what he already knew. Today, he would periodically ask himself what he is avoiding. Then go out and find someone to help him to understand and work through those things. (25.33) – What objectives are you currently focusing on in your career? Ted wants to do more coaching, so that is one of his main focuses. But, he would also like to do more live stream coding. The fact that people can ask questions in live time makes it a very effective way to teach. It is good for others to see that people like him, who have been coding for decades, still have to look things up and can go down a rat hole. It helps them to realize that they are better than they think. To understand that even experienced professionals are still learning, as they go. (27.15) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ted says that he has always been naturally good at coming up with checklists and processes that work. He finds that doing this helps him to work more efficiently and not miss anything important. The ability to systemize things has helped him in all sorts of ways, during his IT career. (28.27) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Ted finds that live coding energizing. But, it is also tiring. Working, talking and explaining things for 3 straight hours can be mentally exhausting. But, it does give you a buzz. (29.16) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Ted is a distance runner. He lives in the Bay area, so he is always able to run in a beautiful environment, in a temperate climate. When he is running, he does not think about tech. He is not particularly competitive about his running. But, he does sort of compete with himself, which is why he tracks himself with his Apple watch.  (30.58) – Phil asks Ted to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Ted says that it is important to check for understanding. If you are teaching someone, try to get them to paraphrase what you have just explained to them. It is all too easy to lose someone who does not have the same level of familiarity with a subject as you do. His other piece of advice is not to be afraid to ask questions. You need to get past the awkwardness of doing that to be able to further your understanding. BEST MOMENTS: (5.25) TED – "When you're closer to the learning part, rather than being an expert, it makes it much easier to teach." (7.27) TED – "As an independent, you have to market and sell yourself." (15.41) TED – " Don’t bite off too much when you're completely in the dark about what's going on." (22.07) TED – "There's a certain joy in, especially for me today, sharing my knowledge." (25.21) TED – "Ask yourself what am I avoiding? What am I afraid of? Then find someone to help you to understand." CONTACT TED M. YOUNG: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jitterted LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedmyoung/ Website: https://tedmyoung.com

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show has worked in IT for over twenty years after failing to become a writer and divides his career into three parts.  The first third was spent building applications for the fast-paced online gambling industry. The second third was spent maturing that business, in the area of third line support and operations.  And the remainder of his time was spent working on container technology within the highly regulated financial sector. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Ian Miell. He is a developer, author, blogger, open source coder and conference speaker who has been working in the IT industry for nearly two decades. During that time he has held various positions at OpenBet and more recently moved into the financial sector. Working for Barclays as their Lead OpenShift Architect before moving to State Street to work as a VP, in late 2018. Ian is the co-author of Docker in Practice, Learn Bash the Hard Way and Learn Git the Hard Way. He is also a prolific blogger and international conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – First, can I ask you about why you transitioned from writing into working in IT? Ian explains that he studied history at university. As a student, he worked at The Times for a few weeks and enjoyed the experience. So, he thought he might like to be a journalist. However, he later realized that journalism wasn’t for him. He enjoyed the writing side of things, but not the pressure to simply churn out words. So, he gave up on journalism and went abroad to teach English and write a novel. But, he was unable to sell it. This was in the pre-internet era and Ian had no agent or publishing contracts, so the fact he could not get it published is not really surprising. That experience got writing out of his system, at least for a while. It was then that he decided to turn to an old passion of his – computers. Ever since he was a kid he had been fascinated by them. So, he did a conversion masters at Berkley College, London and started his IT career from there. (2.46) – But, you haven't necessarily left your writing skills behind. I believe you've subsequently written books, with a technology, slant to them. Ian agrees he has come full circle by co-authoring “Docker in Practice” for Manning Publications. It was very well received. He did a video on Docker for another publisher. The combination of these two things got his name known. At that point, his blog really took off. Now, he mainly writes for fun, covering anything that he is currently interested in. He has written a couple of books and self-published them. So, the writing side of his career has finally taken off. (4.02) – So, are you writing another book? Ian has a day job but he is still able to put aside time to write and help others to learn. He is due to do some live Bash training for O’Reilly, at the end of June. Ian also does some technical writing for various businesses. As well as updating his blog. So, right now, he does not really have the time to work on another book. But, he is learning about Terraform and waiting for the next version to come out. (4.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the audience? Ian says that you need to realize that you are a product. This is a fact whether you like it or not. Once you accept that and start to think about what you are selling to the market, your horizons start to open up. Ian spent 14 years working at the same company and never really got out there. He stuck to his comfort zone, which really held him back. A friend of his got him to read Ten-Day MBA, specifically the first chapter, which is all about marketing. That is when he realized that he was doing nothing at all to sell himself. At that point, he had no blog, never attended meet-ups. Effectively he was invisible to anyone who was not working with him directly. When he realized this, he started blogging, giving talks and generally putting himself out there. This helped him to focus his energy in the right direction. (6.23) – When was that? Ian says it was only about 7 years ago. When he wrote his first blog post, nobody cared. It was a bit disheartening. But, Ian managed to keep things in perspective. He recognized and took pleasure from the fact that he had actually produced something he could refer back, to in the future. This realization drove him on to do it again and again. He figured he had nothing to lose by sharing what he knew in as many ways as possible. However, Ian points out that it is not always easy. He still gets nervous when he has to stand up and talk. But, doing this opens up so many opportunities. For example, after one speech someone from Barclays offered him a drink. A year later he was working for them. There are a lot of talent spotters who attend events to recruit. So, giving talks can be a good way to find work. (9.21) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Ian explains that he was a little older than the average graduate, so felt he needed to catch up. As a result, he was quite driven and did well in his first job and quickly progressed to the point where he was asked to head up a technical team. For Ian, it was a big step up and something he really wanted. So, when, after about a year, his team had not been able to really deliver he was more than a bit disappointed. The whole experience knocked his confidence. But, after a while, he recognized that failing had actually taught him a lot. He realized that what he was trying to achieve was actually quite a cultural shift for the business. They had been making money one way, for a long time. So, when he tried to get them to try another way of turning a profit, there was a lot of resistance. For a lot of businesses, cultural change is a huge hurdle. (11.16) – Why do you think that is? At the time, the company he was working for built products, sold them, then bastardized them to fit in with what each client needed. Ian wanted them to move towards producing a range of products and selling them en masse to buyers without the bespoke element. This is a much simpler, manageable and profitable way to do business. But, people could not shift mentally from being a materials company to being a product producer. At the time, Ian did not have the experience to be able to effectively push back on that. (12.19) Phil had a similar experience. He worked for a firm that ended up supporting over a hundred variations of the same core product. In the end, the complexity of managing all of this outweighed the business benefit of offering such a tailored product. Ian says that is why, these days, we have product managers. Someone who is responsible for looking at requested changes and working out if they are financially viable. If they are not they should be telling the customer that the change is not possible, at least not yet. (13.49) – What did you take away from that experience? Ian now realizes that if senior management is not behind your idea it is best not to invest too much time into it. Without the right support, even the best ideas will fail. This experience and his time working with Barclays taught Ian that enterprises move slowly. Now, he realizes that if you want to effect change you have to work with the grain, be persistent and be patient. (15.06) – What was your best career moment? Successfully, setting up an effective knowledge base for a company that had a team of 50 live-time developers, working in different locations, was a big achievement for Ian. It got everyone working more efficiently and protected the £7millon worth of contracts the firm had, at the time. Getting this knowledgebase working properly saved the company a huge amount of money and greatly improved productivity. It also made for a happier team. Putting together the base knowledgebase was a mammoth task. It took Ian about 7 months to go through everything line by line, updating things and making sure all of the current issues were comprehensively covered. It then took a further 4 months for it to gain traction. That is when the benefits finally started to show through. (17.34) - Did you actually have to train people on how to use the knowledge base you created? Or was it very intuitive? Ian insisted on keeping the documents within Jira and making everything as simple as possible. Initially, there was some resistance to this approach because it was different from what had gone before. But, Ian stuck to his guns and once everyone realized it was easy to edit, flexible and truly real-time the resistance fell away. Everyone was allowed to contribute. If others did not like or could not follow the editing style they just had to speak up. Very quickly an effective standard for working with the new knowledgebase emerged. The fact everyone could contribute made a huge difference. It also helped the DevOps team. They had access too, so knew exactly what had been tried when a problem had to be escalated to them. He tried to do something similar at Barclays, but ultimately it failed. Ian just did not have the power or backing to get the use and updating of the knowledgebase enforced. Because it was not updated properly it quickly became out of date and was just as useless as the system it replaced. To implement a project you always need to the backing of management. (21.11) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that IT is going to become an even bigger part of our lives is exciting. Ian’s kids use computers almost constantly, throughout the day. This move towards making tech a ubiquitous part of our lives opens up all kinds of new opportunities for those working in the industry. Ian used to worry about becoming obsolete. Now, that notion seems absolutely crazy. (23.18) – What drew you to a career in IT? Ian had always like maths, logic, and computers. So, he chose a career in IT instead of one in the law. He especially liked the fact that he did not need to specialize to be able to work in the tech industry. (23.40) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Get organized is the best career advice Ian has been given. When he was about 30 he made a mistake at work. The error basically occurred because he had failed to track everything. So he read the book “Getting Things Done” and applied all of the principles to his life. That has freed his head up enough to get the things that have advanced his career, done. (24.14) Conversely, what's the worst career advice you've ever received? A CEO once told Ian that to pay the mortgage he needed to get promoted. Ian now realizes that is not true. On reflection, he thinks this was an example of poor incentive management. (24.39) – What drew you to a career in IT? Ian had always like maths, logic and computers. So, he chose a career in IT instead of one in the law. He especially liked the fact that he did not need to specialize to be able to work in the tech industry. (23.40) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Get organized is the best career advice Ian has been given. When he was about 30 he made a mistake at work. The error basically occurred because he had failed to track everything. So he read the book “Getting Things Done” and applied all of the principles to his life. That has freed his head up enough to get the things that have advanced his career, done. (24.14) Conversely what's the worst career advice you've ever received? A CEO once told Ian that to pay the mortgage he needed to get promoted. Ian now realizes that is simply not true. On reflection, he thinks this was an example of poor incentive management. (26.39) – Phil asks Ian to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Someone once told him to always choose the thing that makes him feel slightly uncomfortable when he is offered the opportunity to do two different things. Taking this approach leads to you expanding your horizons much more quickly. BEST MOMENTS: (3.42) IAN – "Now I write for fun. I write about whatever I'm interested in." (5.00) IAN – "You've got to realize that you are a product. Whether you like it or not, you're selling something within the market." (8.42) PHIL – “Standing up in front of people to give a talk and letting them know who you are is a good way of marketing yourself” (13.58) IAN – "If your strategy is not aligned with support from senior management, then your effort may well be wasted." (26.33) IAN – "Getting away from straight line thinking is really important." (26.54) IAN – “When you have a choice between two things to do. Choose the thing that makes you feel slightly and comfortable.” CONTACT IAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianmiell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-miell-694496/ Personal Website: https://zwischenzugs.com/ Company Website: https://ian.meirionconsulting.com/

GUEST BIO: Fran Buontempo is editor of the ACCU’s (Association of C and C++ Users) Overload magazine.  Fran has been programming in C++ for over a decade and also knows C# and Python.  Fran has also written a book about how to program your way out of a paper bag. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Fran Buontempo. She is a C and C++ expert who is the editor of the ACCU’s (Association of C and C++ Users) Overload magazine. Fran also works with C# and Python. She is a conference speaker, blogger, and author. Her first book, Genetic Algorithms and Machine Learning for Programmers (Pragmatic Programmers), has been well received. In it, she shares several ways to code your way out of a paper bag, as a fun way of providing an insight into emerging machine learning tech. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.53) – So firstly, I want to ask you about is your role as editor of the overload magazine? How long have you been doing that? Fran can’t remember exactly but she thinks it has been between 5 and 6 years. Becoming the editor happened slowly, almost by accident. Fran got involved with code critiques, writing book reviews and writing or editing one or two articles. So, when the editor stepped down she volunteered. (1.40) - In terms of the following of the magazine, what's its reach? It reaches a worldwide audience of around a thousand people. A magazine is produced each month. One month it is the member-only version. The next month a different version is published, which anyone can read. (2.38) In terms of your book, how did learning to program your way out of a paper bag come about? Fran was involved in interviewing candidates for a job. One interviewee was so bad that one of their colleagues said that they couldn’t “code their way out of a paper bag.” A throwaway comment that struck a chord with Fran and inspired her to dig deeper into machine learning and improve her skill set too. This led to her writing, her book, Genetic Algorithms and Machine Learning for Programmers (Pragmatic Programmers). In the book, she goes through several AI learning techniques using the example of escaping from a paper bag to illustrate what she was sharing. It was a great way to catch people’s attention and engage them. She was also able to include examples from some of the conference talks and articles she had written. (3.44) - So you're confident now that you can program your way out of a paper bag, presumably. Fran says yes, and she has the certificate to prove it. She gave her first talk at the ACCU conference on that very subject. For fun, she asked the audience to sign a certificate if they thought she had done well enough, which they did. (4.01) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience?  Fran’s advice is to start seeing imposter syndrome as a positive thing. You get the feeling you are not sure what you are talking about when you put your head above the parapet and do something that stretches you. Feeling like that helps you to identify the holes in your knowledge and fill them. So, that is a positive thing. At this stage, Phil points out that imposter syndrome is simply a different way to describe self-doubt. (5.07) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Very early in Fran’s IT career, she was in the registry at the command prompt and accidentally deleted Windows from a work laptop. She panicked, but it all worked out OK. Not long after she was working in a team of seven that was reduced to just two, overnight. The next day everything broke. Fortunately, Fran was able to sort things out fairly quickly. But, it was a bad situation to find herself in. (6.46) – What was your best career moment? For Fran, her career highlights have come about mainly from human interactions. Being able to mentor people is something she finds to be particularly exciting and fulfilling. It feels great to watch them grow. Being thanked by someone you have helped on somewhere like stack overflow also feels good. Positive feedback from conferences and book reviews, also give her a lift. Of course, the comments are not always positive. Sometimes people do not agree with you or see the value of what you are offering. When that happens, it is important to handle things in a Zen way. Use it as a learning opportunity and see if there is something you could have done better. (8.30) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The pace of innovation is exciting. It is especially good to see a new wave of young programmers becoming interested in C++. Version 11 has made a huge difference to how popular the language is, at the moment. Fran is also fascinated by what is happening with AI and machine learning. People are now achieving things that just 10 years ago would have been impossible. As new technologies emerge and advance, this is going to continue to happen, at an even faster rate (10.01) – What drew you to a career in IT? Fran responds that it was unemployment. As a teenager, she had done a little programming, using her Dad’s computer. But, she studied maths and philosophy at university. For 3 years she taught secondary school maths but ended up becoming unemployed. That is when she realized that she already had some of the skills she needed to work in the IT industry. So, she went to a local college and got a City and Guild qualification in C programming. It only took a few weeks to complete that course. Yet, that qualification was enough to land her an IT job. Fairly quickly, Fran learned C++. At which point, she was able to become far more productive. (11.31) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? One of her managers suggested that she join ACCU. That turned out to be great advice for Fran. Finding a group of like-minded people who are willing to help you makes a huge difference. (12.09) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Fran loves coding, so wants to carry on doing that. Climbing the promotional ladder usually leads to you having less time available to actually program which is not what she wants. So, for her, the advice to move into management is bad advice. It is something she has been asked to do several times. But, it is something she is not likely to want to do. (12.50) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? From the start, Fran would find a supportive group. Joining the ACCU made a huge difference to her. So, she would definitely do something like that early on. There is now plenty of good quality support available for anyone who uses or wants to learn how to use C++. (13.49) – What are your current career objectives? Recently, Fran has been daydreaming about retiring. But, she is currently fascinated with how AI can be used to speed up the programming process. At the recent ACCU conference, she demonstrated how to get AI to automatically generate FizzBuzz code. The code produced was pretty awful and it took ages to come out with the right tests. But, it did inspire her to try to do more things with AI. She is currently experimenting with genetic programming. AI has the potential to be used for all kinds of things, in particular, to create and help with test cases. Using AI you can dig deep and seek out numbers or strings that will fail the cases. Even established systems could benefit from being crash tested using AI. It could also be used for mutation testing. Fran thinks there is a lot of potential. (15.50) - What do you do to keep your own career energized? Fran finds that editing the Overload magazine keeps her energized. It makes it easier for her to stay up to date and pushes her to explore tech she would not otherwise notice. She also finds speaking at and attending conferences to be an energizing experience. Sitting back and listening is a much easier way to learn. Plus, you get to speak to the people delivering the talk afterward, which is a good way to learn more. (16.19) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Fran has a lot of interests outside of IT. She likes to do things that ground her. For example, she used to read dystopian cyberpunk sci-fi books as a way of switching off. These days, cooking, making bread, enjoying her garden and walking all help her to recharge her batteries (17.00) – Phil asks Fran to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. While listening to Mike Feathers, last year, at the Software Craftsmanship Conference Fran picked up a great piece of career advice. He reminded everyone that they have an amazing set of skills. Their abilities are in high demand. So, there is absolutely no reason to be unhappy in their career. If you are not happy, switch jobs or innovate. Coming up with a problem to solve and launching a start-up is always a possibility. It guarantees that you will be doing something that interests you BEST MOMENTS: (4.35) FRAN – "Imposter syndrome is really conscious incompetence from the four stages of learning." (7.53) FRAN – "You need to be quite Zen about how you read feedback." (8.15) PHIL – "For every extreme, ardent follower of yours, you're going to get somebody in the opposite end of the spectrum." (12.03) FRAN – "Finding a group of people who will help you is really important." (14.40) FRAN – "There's an overlap going on between the AI machine learning community and the tech community. If we talk to each other better, we can help each other out." (17.19) FRAN – "You have an amazing set of skills. So, you don't have to be unhappy in your career" CONTACT FRAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/fbuontempo LinkedIn: https://about.me/frances_buontempo Personal Website: https://about.me/frances_buontempo

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is the founder of Cloudskills.io, a technical advisor, author and a mentor for people ramping up on cloud technologies.  He has worked for tech giants Microsoft and Amazon and has founded two consulting companies of his own. And as well as having published four books and creating multiple online courses, he is often seen speaking from the stage at events around the world. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s Career IT show is Mike Pfeiffer. He is a 20 year IT veteran and entrepreneur. Over the years, Mike has worked for large companies like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. More recently, he founded Cloudskills.io consulting, with the aim of helping more people to take advantage of cloud technologies. Mike is passionate about teaching others and helping them to progress in their tech career. He runs his own blog and podcast, as well as providing training courses. Mike is the author of 4 tech books and a prolific conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.07) –   Can you please tell us more about your background and a bit about Cloudskills. Mike explains that he started Cloudskills.io after he left Amazon Web Services. At first, the team focused on consulting helping people to work out how to use the cloud and Azure. But, since then things have evolved and now they spend 70% of their time delivering cloud training. (1.53) - What was the attraction of cloud in particular for you? Mike saw that working in the cloud was the future, so wanted to get as deeply involved, as possible. It is important to see the big picture. To look up from the work you are doing, see what is going on and recognize when it is time to change direction. You need to give yourself the necessary leverage to be able to pivot when you want to. (31.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Mike’s main tip is to look at your career as a business or as some people do as a sport. There is a difference between your job and your career. Your job belongs to your employer, but your career belongs to you. Spending a little time off the job ramping up your knowledge and getting yourself known will always pay dividends. But, you have to work at it, so you can leverage the opportunities in the job market. (4.39) Do you think that is something that has changed in the job market? Or do you just think more of us have become aware of the need to do that? The fact that the lifespan of jobs is much smaller has lead to people having to be ready to change roles more often. So, being, open-minded, agile and moving with the times is essential. (5.29) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the past, Mike was a bit over ambitious. He had a tendency to take on too much. Once, due to pressure, he took on a development project for which he did not have enough time. His plan was to work on it over the weekends and in the evenings. That project burned up a lot of his time and energy. It turned out to be one of the worst career decisions he had ever made. (6.55) - Did you feel sort of obligated almost to say yes? It was early in Mike’s career, so he felt he could not turn down an opportunity. Plus, he did not fully appreciate how much work would be involved. (7.58) – What was your best career moment? About 10 years into his career, Mike started networking and working collaboratively. That change in approach that had a positive impact on his career. He began speaking at conferences, blogging and building up his social media profiles. Eventually, this led to book deals, paid speaking gigs, online courses and a much higher profile for Mike. Helping people who were coming up behind him has also been very beneficial. It was the catalyst for him starting his own business. (9.05) – Please tell us about the books you have written. Mike has already published 4 books. He is currently co-authoring a 5th. The first 4 books were all about shell scripting, specifically PowerShell. The one he is working on, at the moment, is related to Azure architecture and some of the certifications revolving around that. They are all available from Amazon. (9.49) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the possibilities and opportunities are endless is exciting. Cloud computing, has been and, will continue to be a great enabler. At the click of a button, any company can get the infrastructure they need for any project or idea, in place. So, all kinds of interesting business and job opportunities can now come to fruition. Mike is excited to see young people going straight into the IT business. Boot camps have made this possible for so many more people. (11.49) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Mike says that he kind of stumbled into it backward. Around 1998, he met up with an ex-colleague he knew from when he worked in the sales department, at a call center. She invited him to join her in tech support. At the time, he did not know much about computers. But, his phone and people skills were good and he was a fast learner. So, she felt that he would be a good fit. That is when Mike realized how huge the tech industry was. His peers were using the knowledge they had picked up in tech support to secure a range of tech qualifications. Some of them did not need to do any extra college training to get their certification. Mike decided to do the same. He worked day and night to educate himself and get the qualifications he needed to start his IT career properly. (13.34) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When he was working at Amazon, one of his mentors said – “don’t be a one trick pony”. Mike took that advice on board and has made sure that he diversified his portfolio. He sees a lot of people getting caught up in the day-to-day tasks and losing sight of the big picture, something he has been careful not to do himself. At one stage, Mike’s job formed a big part of his identity. He now understands that you should not let the job that you do define who you are. It is never a good idea to just label yourself based on your job. Saying oh I am a server guy or a database girl, is underselling yourself. In reality, you are a technologist. You need to keep an open mind and be willing to learn, to adapt. This enables you to stay marketable and remain agile. (15.42) – What is the worst piece of career advice you've ever received? Mike has heard people say – “stick to what you are good at”. In a way, that is good advice because it means you play to your strengths. But, it is all too easy to take things too far and limit yourself and get stuck in a rut. You need to play to your strengths. But, it is also important to build new skills. It might take you 6 months to get some traction and become proficient. But, once you do that you will be able to achieve so much more. (16.43) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Mike says he would be drawn to software or web development. The opportunities in these fields are huge. There are tons of jobs out there for web, DevOps and application engineers. But, to do well you need to have a solid grasp on the way the software works. Building that firm foundation will benefit your career, for many years to come. Mike says he would go from High School straight to a code boot camp. Once he had graduated he would then build a portfolio of applications and demo projects. This is not the right path for everyone. But, for some people, it is the best approach. (17.55) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Mike is in full business mode. His company is currently working on several ambitious projects. However, Mike is still working to stay on top of what is going on in tech. He is also building content, programs, and online courses. Mike is continuing to post YouTube videos and present his podcast. He is also keen to continue to lower the ladder down to others and help them to succeed. Over the years, he has found assisting others to be mutually beneficial. In fact, for Mike, getting into the habit of doing that has been a game changer. (20.06) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Good communication skills make a huge difference to how effective you are. For a lot of people that work in tech, these skills do not come naturally. It is all too easy for them to get into the habit of spending all day sitting in front of a screen coding and become introverted. If you do not learn to communicate effectively it is hard to get your ideas noticed and find interesting work. Good communication skills are essential. (21.58) - What do you do to keep your own career energized? Continuing to grow, learn new things and teach others is what keeps Mike energized and enthusiastic about his IT career. In the early days, figuring out how everything worked was what motivated him. Today, it is helping others and continuing to learn that keeps him energized the most. (23.27) - What do you do away from technology, in your spare time? Mike likes to keep moving. He lifts weights and does cardio workouts five or six times a week. For him, it is not just about physical fitness. Working out helps Mike to think clearly and get more done. Exercising in the morning sets him up for the day. He eats clean and really notices the difference if he goes off the rails and starts working 15 hour days, eating the wrong things and not exercising enough. When he does that, he soon gets grumpy and struggles to think straight. (24.53) – Phil asks Mike to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Mike’s advice is to trust your gut. Most people have good intuition. Listening to your gut will help you to spot what you should be doing next. It is also important to share what you know. Don’t allow fear of being criticized by others stop you from doing that. Imposter syndrome should not get in your way. Just share what you know. Start a podcast, record an online course, go to a meetup and contribute. You don’t have to be an expert. You just need to share what you already know. There is always someone who is one step behind you. So, you will always be able to help. BEST MOMENTS:  (3.52) MIKE – "Your job belongs to your employer. Your career is yours."  (14.02) MIKE – "Don't put all your eggs in one basket, don't align yourself to one particular technology" (17.31) MIKE – "I would go straight out of high school to a code boot camp." (21.13) MIKE – "Work on your ability to communicate with other people, and express your ideas, and work on your persuasion skills." (22.38) MIKE – “Continuing to always grow, learn new things and teach other people is really what keeps me energized.” CONTACT MIKE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/mike_pfeiffer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpfeiffer/ Personal Website: https://mikepfeiffer.ioor https://askmike.io Company Website: https://cloudskills.io/

GUEST BIO: Michal Spacek is a developer who builds breaks and tests web applications.  He has a specific interest in web application security and likes to pass on his knowledge and experience to others, having spoken at more than 100 conferences and events to date. Michal says that he is on a mission to teach web developers why and how to build secure and fast web applications. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Michal Spacek. He has been working in the IT industry for nearly two decades. Michal started his career as a web developer. But, has since taken on engineering roles in particular those related to web application security. He believes in sharing his knowledge with anyone who wants to listen. Over the years he has become a well-known conference speaker, teacher and mentor. Michal is passionate about turning the internet into a safer place.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.05) – So Michal, can you perhaps expand on that intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Michal explains that he works mainly from home. Right now he is combining freelancing with working on Report URI with Troy Hunt and Scott Helme. He is also breaking some sites. (2.10) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience?  Michal’s unique tip is – if you want to learn something, go teach it to others. It sounds a bit weird, but, works surprisingly well. The act of preparing for presentations and classes forces you to do your research, dig deep and learn. Having to present something makes you structure things logically, so you are less likely to skim over or miss something that is important. It also makes you think about it from several different perspectives. This is because you have to come up with the answers to the questions you are likely to be asked. Preparing for a presentation or class switches you from work to creative mode. This subtle change in perspective leads to you uncovering lots of little details that you would have otherwise missed.  Putting yourself under this sort of pressure is a great way to learn. Plus, anyone can do it. You do not have to be a trained teacher to pass your knowledge on to others. (3.28) Phil asks Michal if the fact that you have to put yourself into the mindset of your audience has an impact on the way you learn. Michal agrees that does happen. About 10 years ago, he became very active on a Czech development forum. During his time on there, he wrote about 20,000 emails and a similar number of replies. Doing this taught home to solve problems he did not have, at the time. Michal found that this really opened up his mind. People kept coming up with interesting questions that he had never thought to ask. Plus, of course, in the process, he learned how to use all kinds of tools he would not have otherwise touched. Later in his IT career, he found the knowledge that he had built up during his time on the forum to be invaluable. Often, if he had a problem he would be able to quickly find the solution using something he had uncovered while helping others.  (4.56) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. The incident that Michal feels the worst about occurred when he had the perfect job. Everything about the work was perfect, the team, the project, the way the company operated, the money...absolutely everything. Unfortunately, he had become distracted and started dropping the ball in. He would turn up late, not finish things and could not be relied upon. Michal had kind of drifted into these bad habits. So, did not realize there was an issue until a friend pointed out he had become reliable and asked if he was OK. That conversation opened Michal’s eyes to what he had been doing. The next day he quit the job he loved. It felt bad, but he wanted to make things right and to preserve some of the friendships he had with people who worked there. Now, every now and again, Michal pauses and does a reality check. He finds that doing this stops him from getting complacent and drifting into bad habits. (7.36) – What was your best career moment? For Michal that was when Scott Helme the founder of securityheaders.com and Report URI called him and asked him to work on a project. Scott is one of the world’s top security experts and researchers. So, getting asked to work with him was a big deal. (9.03) Phil asks Michal how he ended up being in a position to work for such an important IT figure. Michal explains that he started by following Scott on Twitter. Over time, he built up a rapport with him and made it clear that he would love to work with him on making the world a safer place, which is exactly what happened. (9.42) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that you can change the lives of millions of people just by writing code is very exciting. Your skin color, sex, religion education or world view does not matter. Regardless, of who you are you can bring about change. (10.26) – Is there any particular tech that you are especially excited about? Michal is pleased to see firms consulting their data properly. Using it to determine what direction to move in, what to do next. Making truly informed decisions. (11.21) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? For Michal, it was games. (11.30) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That advice came from his father. He said – Don’t you even dare to think that you actually know something. There is always something new to learn. So, make sure that you keep learning. The point at which you think that you actually know something is when you stop advancing. This is the case regardless of what you are doing. (12.10)  On the flip side, what is the worst piece of career advice you have ever received? When Michal left the job he was speaking about earlier, he shared the fact he was worried about what he would do next with one of his friends. Their advice was not to worry. They said someone was bound to get in touch and offer him a job. Unfortunately, that call never came. That experience taught Michal that he needed to create his own opportunities. (13.02) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Michal jokes that when something goes wrong with computers it is always related to DNS. So, he wishes he knew more about it. But, he is partly serious. Michal actually does recommend that people who are starting out in the business learn about DNS. (13.37) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Michal wants to make the internet a safer place. (14.17) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? The non-technical skills Michal values the most are his empathy, emotional intelligence and his habit of questioning reasons. (14.35) - What do you do away from your IT career to keep yourself energized? Five months ago Michal’s daughter was born. So, right now, his only focus, outside of work, is taking care of her. However, he finds receiving feedback from people about the work he has done in the past to be energizing. He enjoys knowing that he has written something worthwhile and made a positive difference in people’s lives. That lifts and energizes him. BEST MOMENTS: (2.25) MICHAL – "If you want to learn something, go and teach it." (10.04) MICHAL – "Nobody cares about your religion, skin color, education or world ideas. Through coding you can change the lives of millions." (11.43) MICHAL – "Don't you even dare to think that you actually know something? Always keep learning." (12.43) MICHAL – "You need to create opportunities for yourself and always be on the lookout for opportunities." (13.42) MICHAL – "I want to make the internet a safer place." CONTACT MICHAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/spazef0rze LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spaze/ Website: https://www.michalspacek.com

GUEST BIO: Sarah Withee is a polyglot software engineer, public speaker, teacher and mentor, and hardware and robot tinkerer.  She has a passion for technology and has had ever since she wrote her first computer programs in elementary school. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Sarah Withee. She has been programming all of her life, which has turned her into an accomplished polyglot software engineer. Sarah is a well-known conference speaker, mentor and teacher who is also a volunteer Girls Who Code instructor. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.01) – So, Sarah can I ask you to expand on that intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Sarah explains that she got into programming at a very early age. It was a passion that she pursued throughout her entire education, so it is not surprising that she ended up becoming a developer. Over the years, she has had many jobs, which has given her the chance to learn numerous programming languages. She loves learning new things, and working with a language she has never used does not faze her. (2.17) – How did you get into teaching and mentoring? and why did you choose to go down that path? Sarah did not plan to start teaching or mentoring. It kind of happened by accident. When she was an undergraduate in college, they split the C++ class into a lab and asked if she would act as a lab assistant. Sarah said yes, thinking she would be working alongside a teacher. Only to discover, too late, that she had to stand up there alone and deliver the class. At the time, she was very nervous and struggled with talking in front of people. But, she knew the language, had passed the classes and was actively using it. So, once she got past her initial nerves, things went well. Sarah found that she actually enjoyed sharing what she knew. In fact, she turned out to be a good teacher. If someone could not understand the book or the lecture, usually, she could come up with a way of explaining things. She ended up with some of the highest evaluations in the department. Her success in the classroom is what ultimately turned her into a conference speaker. Now speaking in public comes naturally to her. (4.30) – So, is your mentoring always one on one? A lot of the time it is, but, she also engages with people via social media platforms, like Twitter. She is especially keen to help others to develop the necessary confidence to be able to speak at conferences, to overcome their nerves, as she has. (5.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Sarah’s advice is to always be ready to try something new. Taking this approach is the main reason Sarah has been able to achieve so much. For example, she joined the robotics team at college without knowing anything about the subject. Pretty quickly, she figured things out and was able to start to contribute. (6.20) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? That happened when Sarah was still an intern. She wrote a piece of code and sent it up to her teammate to be checked. By then, she had been programming for a while, so it looked good and he told her to send it up. Sarah did that, but inadvertently pushed up a clip that her manager had not actually looked over. Unfortunately, one of the files was not attached, an oversight that ended up breaking the build. Whenever something failed, all 200+ developers were automatically sent an email to explain what had happened and whose code was involved. So, when the build Sarah was working on broke, naturally, one of these emails went out. Understandably, Sarah was deeply embarrassed, when this happened. Her teammates told her that it was something to be proud of. But, Sarah could not look at things in that way. It really sapped her confidence and she was not sure if a career in IT was for her. She felt even worse when the build broke again while she was in the process of fixing her original issue. (8.31) - What did you learn from that experience? It helped her to understand how important code reviews are. She goes through everything with a fine toothcomb, asking herself if anything is missing and making sure she has not left any redundant code in, by accident. Sarah also likes to get other people to review her code too. (9.12) – What was your best career moment? Sarah has had quite a few highlights. For example, this year, she spoke at an international conference for the first time, sharing how to work with the open source home assistant Mycroft. Sarah has already built up a reputation for learning new tech really quickly. So, today, she regularly gets approached to try out all kinds of interesting and new stuff. (10.31) How much of your success do you put down to the contribution you have made to the industry in terms of teaching, mentoring and sharing what you have learned? Sarah says that putting herself out there and being willing to help other people has definitely helped. (10.58) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that technology can now be used to quickly solve increasingly complex issues is something Sarah finds exciting. It is especially interesting to see the way big data is improving our understanding of the world. The fact that it is never difficult to find a new challenge is also very exciting. It is becoming easier to do work that you feel passionate about and make a real difference. (12.45) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Sarah, it was definitely programming as a kid. She loved the problem solving and the idea of making a rather dumb machine do really smart things. As a kid, she loved brain teasers. For her, programming was the ultimate brain teaser. (13.18) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Sarah says that was – take care of yourself. You need to learn to take a break, to switch off for a while. It is important to rest your mind as well as your body. (13.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Sarah says that she would spend a bit more time searching for her first job. She would make sure it was something that actually interested her even if that meant moving cities. The fact that she did not do this meant that her career had a rather slow start. (14.45) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Sarah is in between jobs. So, her main aim is to find an interesting and challenging job. She really enjoyed her last role, so is looking for something that measures up to that. The team she was working with was close-knit, empathetic and effective. So, she is looking to work in a similar environment. (16.07) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Having empathy for others and understanding what they need has helped her to become a better programmer. (17.14) – Phil asks Sarah to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Sarah’s advice is to seek out others that work in your field that are really good at what they do. That could be software development, management or other skill. If you do this when you are not sure about something you will always have someone knowledgeable to turn to. It will also give you the opportunity to help them too. BEST MOMENTS: (3.45) Sarah – "It came pretty naturally to share all the things I've loved about programming and about software development." (5.23) Sarah – "Always be willing to try new things." (12.59) Sarah – "I love problem-solving. I love saying like, how do you make this do that." (16.28) Sarah – "It's not about the tech …you make software to help people." CONTACT Sarah: Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekygirlsarah LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwithee/ Website: https://sarahwithee.com/  

GUEST BIO: Dave is a Software Developer who has been building web applications since using HTML tables for layout started to go out of style.  A background in classical design and computer systems technology has enabled him to roam between the worlds of design and development.  Dave hails from Ottawa, Canada where he works remotely for Test Double. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Dave Mosher.  He has a background in classic design and computer systems technology. Today, he works remotely for Test Double as a Software Developer. Dave has also held this position at Shopify and Pillar Technology. For several years, he ran his own consulting company DAVEMO. He specializes in producing high-performance front-end web architecture and is currently working on getting more deeply involved in coaching and mentoring. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.04) – So Dave, can I ask you to expand on that intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Dave started his IT career working as a designer. He started out just working with HTML and CSS. At first, he did a lot of desktop publishing work. But, he soon moved on to development, working with databases. (2.27) - How did you get into Test Double? When did that come about? Dave spent a few years working at a start-up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, doing Python app development on Google App Engine. During that time, he grew a lot and learned to wear lots of hats. That role ended and Dave found himself at a loose end. Around the same time, Kevin Baribeau, a fellow test dabbler, was also under-occupied. He got a job at a consultancy called Pillar Technology. So, Dave applied for a role there too and was hired as a remote consultant. During much of his time with Pillar Technology he worked directly with the guy who hired him, Justin Searls. He also came across Ted Kaufmann while working there. Within about two years, Justin and Ted left Pillar Technology and set up Test Double. Dave ended up working for them as a consultant and later as a full-time employee. It was Justin that helped him to learn TDD, how to write tests and introduced him to the realm of Agile software development. Dave says he learned more in the nine months he worked directly with Justin than he had in the previous five years. (4.53) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Dave’s advice is not to chase technology if you are not happy in your current role. In all likeliness a shiny new piece of technology is not going to solve your problems. If you start chasing after shiny tech it usually ends in disappointment. Ultimately, technology is not really the source of the challenge you are looking for. Solving people’s problems is what brings job satisfaction. You don’t need to be using the latest technology to do that.  Phil asks if he is saying that you need to avoid the shiny penny syndrome. Dave confirms that is the case. Chasing after the latest tech is a trap that a lot of newcomers fall into. They tend to underestimate the human factors of software development. (7.09) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Before joining Double Test full time, Dave took a job with Shopify. He wanted to get away from using JavaScript and learn to use Ruby on Rails. Overall, it was a good move. He learned a lot while working there. But, it was also where his worst career moment took place. At the time, he was refactoring their asset pipeline. It was really slow, taking five minutes to run, so Dave re-tooled it. He did a good job and got the run time down to about 20 seconds. So, they rushed his enhancement out to production. That was a mistake, a big one. They ended up taking down the whole of Shopify for about 15 minutes. At the time, there were around 80,000 websites running on the platform, so it was a big deal. This incident taught Dave that if you are making a change to a big platform you need to be especially careful before proceeding. You have to slow things down a bit and vet everything in every possible environment. It is also important to keep your QA and production environments as closely aligned as possible. At the time, Shopify had not succeeded in doing that. Dave and the people he was working with had been lured into a false sense of security. When the enhancement test went green in the QA environment they, understandably, assumed it would work in production. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. (11.10) – What was your best career moment? For Dave, that was when he first started working for Double Test. At the time they were working on a contract for a very large firm. Like most large corporations, the work environment was incredibly restrictive and inflexible. They had lots of standards in place and hoops to jump through. It was impossible to work fast because Dave and his colleagues had virtually no autonomy. However, they did find a way around this. Working with one of the firm’s developers, who did a lot of API work, they were able to build a shim and their own tooling. This enabled them to work in isolation at the front end with the angular piece and JavaScript. That meant that they could work much faster. For everyone involved in coming up with this solution it was a great technical triumph. But, Dave took the most pleasure from the fact that they had been able to help the team lead they were working with to gain confidence and excel. They invested a lot of time and energy into coaching him and giving him personal encouragement. This included teaching him people skills, for example, how to avoid confrontations and not become defensive. By the end of their time together he was a completely different person. So much so that he actually said “you guys changed my life.” (13.50) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the barrier to entry has been lowered significantly really excites Dave. Code boot camps are making the field of IT a lot more accessible. In particular those boot camps that have structured their courses so that you do not necessarily have to pay your tuition fees up front. Dave has also been involved in producing educational resources. He took what he was doing at work and replicated the processes via screencasts so that he could help and educate other people. It was wildly successful and Dave found that putting together the lessons helped to solidify his knowledge. So, the benefits were twofold. Both parties benefited. He has noticed that a lot more people are starting to do share their knowledge, recently, something he is very pleased to see. (17.10) – What drew you to a career in IT? Dave drifted into IT through design. But, to get involved in the back end he had to go back to school and complete a Computer Systems Technology diploma. It was the only way he could go from being a starving artist, so to speak, to making some real money. (17.36) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That advice came from Justin. He was struggling to convince Dave that test-driven development was the way to go. Dave, like most developers, was used to starting with the code first, then thinking about tests. Justin knew, from experience, that he was right. But, when Dave did not listen he did not continue to badger him. Instead, he let him go his own way and discover the painful way that he was wrong and Justin was right. Test-driven development did work best. This experience taught Dave the value of allowing yourself the freedom to fail. He learned how to use his pain as a motivator. He still remembers how going down the wrong path feels, so stops and thinks more before choosing a course of action. Dave is also more inclined to listen to others than he was when he first started his career. (18.54) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Dave says that he would probably spend a lot more time working with relational databases. If you want to specialize, being a database admin, and understanding the nuts and bolts of PostgreSQL or Postgres is a great approach, right now. He would also get a better handle on data modeling. Developers have a tendency to start without the data. As a result, all too often, they end up painting themselves into a corner pretty quickly. (19.56) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Dave wants to get more involved with mentoring. He wants to have more of an impact on people’s personal lives. Dave is currently figuring who the people in his community are so that he can make himself available to them and help others to level up. (20.39) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Dave, that is his musical abilities. He plays piano, drums, bass, and guitar. Dave finds playing to be a good creative outlet and has noticed that there is a lot of crossover between musicality and IT. While playing music, you learn to pick up on patterns and how to improvise. This skill set is useful for IT professionals as well as musicians. Playing music with others sharpens your ability to spot where they are going and follow them or add to what they are doing. These skills are also useful in the workplace. (22.18) – Phil asks Dave to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Dave’s parting piece of advice is - When you feel it's time to move on, reconsider. Usually, if you are at the end of your rope there will still be something you can do to reframe the engagement in a way that is positive. Adversity provides you with the chance to rise to the challenge and learn. So, when you are struggling, stop, think and see if you can solve the problem without necessarily changing companies. Only move on when you have considered things carefully and determined there is no way to fix the problem. BEST MOMENTS: (1.45) DAVE – "I was drawn to the web via the power of design." (3.05) DAVE – "Don't chase technology would be my number one career tip." (7.08) PHIL – "It's the right technology for the right solution as opposed to a specific technology." (10.45) DAVE – " Take a little bit more time than you think you need and try to vet all of the things that you're working on in every environment possible" (18.33) DAVE – "Allow yourself the freedom to fail." (22.23) DAVE – “When you feel like it's time to move on, reconsider.” CONTACT DAVE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmosher LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmosher/ Website: https://blog.davemo.com

GUEST BIO: Charity is CEO at honeycomb.io.  She is a former systems engineer and manager at Facebook, Parse and Linden Lab always seeming to end up responsible for databases.  Charity is also the co-author of O’Reilly’s Database Reliability Engineering and a regular conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Charity Majors. She started her career working as a systems engineer and manager for Linden Lab then Shopkick and Cloudmark Inc. Charity was the Infrastructure Tech Lead at Parse when they were taken over by Facebook. At that point, she became a Production Engineering Manager at Facebook. In 2016, she co-founded honeycomb.io. Today, she is CEO of this multi-node debugging tool provider. Charity is also the co-author of O’Reilly’s Database Reliability Engineering. She is also a prolific and well-known conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.02) – So Charity, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Charity explains that she is a classical piano performance major dropout. She grew up without a computer. But, she ended up spending a lot of time in the computer lab while at university because she had a crush on a boy. It was then that she realized that an IT career was well paid while most music majors did not make a lot of money. Charity has worked in Silicon Valley since she was 17. She built her career primarily by building the first incarnation of infrastructure for systems that are just gaining traction. When she gets bored she moves on and finds something else that is fresh and new to get to grips with. (2.07) – It sounds to me like your passion is to be at the beginning of the start-up. Charity describes herself as the person who comes in and makes everything regular and boring. She enjoys having some chaos to tame, which is why she likes being an early adopter. (2.36) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Charity’s advice is not to get fixated on following a traditional hierarchical career climbing path. Becoming a manager is not the only way to be successful in the IT field. If you want to simply carry on building things and progressively working on bigger and more complex projects, do that. Not everyone enjoys management. If you are one of those people, don’t let yourself be forced along that career path. Progressing along a technical route is just as valid as climbing the management ladder. (4.22) Phil agrees and comments that, in the past, climbing the management ladder was the only way to be seen as successful. But, that is starting to change with the technical path being recognized, as well. Charity agrees, but she thinks everyone needs to play a role in making sure both paths are valued. For example, when someone becomes a manager congratulate them on their career change instead of their promotion. Over the years, Charity has noticed that the most successful managers are those that see themselves as being in a supportive position rather than a dominating one. (5.24) – Phil says that is interesting given that you are now a CEO yourself. But, it sounds like you prefer to be hands on. Charity agrees that is true, up to a point. But, she does not spend as much time as she would like sat at a terminal doing stuff. This is because Charity deliberately took a step back to make sure she fulfils her role in full. When she was managing engineers, she was close enough to the code to be able to work productively alongside them. Now she is at the point where she is managing the managers she is just too far removed to carry on coding as well as managing. If she were to carry on doing that it would just be too disruptive for everyone. At the point she is at, straddling two different worlds rarely works. (6.49) – Can you share with us your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Charity’s worst moment came when Parse was acquired by Facebook. The announcement was made at an all-hands meeting where she burst into tears. Other members of the team did the same or greeted the news with stony silence. Everyone was in shock, nobody had seen it coming. Charity realized immediately that working for Facebook would change her life drastically. For example, her walk to work was about to become a 3 to 4-hour commute some days. Plus, at the time, she was not a big fan of Facebook and the way they worked. She nearly quit straightaway, but stuck it out and was able to buy herself a house. (8.44) - In terms of what you learned from that, is there anything you would do differently, now? Or do you have a different perspective on things? That situation did have a big effect on her. For example, she and Christina now run honeycomb with a lot more transparency. What happened at Parse came as a huge shock to everyone. There was no time to adjust to or prepare for this massive change. After that experience here and Christina decided to take the opposite approach. They are as open as possible. To date, they have twice considered acquisitions. On both occasions they told everyone what was going on. However, taking that approach does make things a little harder for their workforce. It means they are fully aware of the companies up and downs. (10.37) – What has been your best career moment? Charity is quite shy and introverted. So, public speaking is not something that comes naturally to her. In fact, she made a complete hash of her first important talk. She was really disgusted with herself and could not wait to get out of there. However, at the same time, she was determined to conquer her fear and become a good speaker. So, she accepted every single invitation she got and actively sought out opportunities. In addition, she went to her doctor and got a beta blocker prescription, so she could control the shaking. The fear was still there, but the prescription meant that she could physically deliver the speech. Within a couple of years, she did not need the pills. A couple of years later, she was able to improvise, deliver an ad hoc speech and feel fairly comfortable while doing so. She is, understandably, very proud of that fact. Conquering this fear and learning to have the confidence to speak in an ad hoc way has helped her career in several ways. Having more confidence and better communication and presentation skills is especially helpful in her current role as CEO. (14.02) – How often do you speak publicly now? Charity says more or less every week. When Honeycomb was first founded, she spent nearly 2 years giving talks and promoting the firm. Basically, she was the marketing team. (14.24) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Charity is excited that when it comes to treating employees as people the industry is starting to get things together. For the tech sector, this is a golden age of opportunity. There are more jobs than people. So, there is no need to suffer and stay somewhere that does not reward their people. If you do not respect your employer or like the culture, you don’t have to stay in that job. Finally, the industry is waking up to the fact that they need to be better at management and learning what makes people thrive in the workplace. For example, the days of the whiteboard coding interview are pretty much over. This high-pressure interview technique that has always been despised, so getting rid of it is a good thing. This is just one sign that the IT industry is moving in the right direction, management wise. Making these changes is far more important than the technical transformation we are also going through. The distributed team culture is great too. It is enabling people from anywhere to work together. This change means that parents, carers and people who are neurologically A-typical can all now access the workplace. (16.42) – What drew you to a career in IT? Charity explains that the money was a big draw, in part, because she grew up dirt poor. But, she also loved spending time at the university, so was motivated to study hard. She spent night after night scripting things and reading people’s bash history, teaching herself how to do Unix and loved it. (17.16) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Charity was once told to “save money”. It was excellent advice because it means she has the security to be able to walk away from something, at any moment if she needs to. (17.37) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Charity says she would go back and get a CS degree. She would have also focused on here software engineering skills a lot more, from the beginning of her career. She thinks if she had been lucky enough to have a good manager she would have been encouraged to develop those skills early on. In fact, you could add finding a good manager to the list of things she would have done differently. She wishes she had worked for someone who has a track record for shepherding junior engineers to a senior level. (18.39) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now Charity’s main focus is making sure honeycomb survives. She is working at ensuring that customers get the right product, so the money keeps coming in. As well as making sure that they gather feedback and act on it. (19.01) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Definitely public speaking, but, before that, it was writing. She relied on that skill heavily to ensure that she could communicate effectively. (19.35) – Phil asks Charity to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you come across something that is difficult, lean into the pain and learn how to get past it. But, be careful not to carry on pushing yourself for too long. If things are not changing and you are not making progress, you need to stop leaning into the pain. Carrying on pushing will wear you down and could lead to burn-out. BEST MOMENTS: (2.36) CHARITY– "I need a certain amount of chaos to tame." (6.26) CHARITY– "You need your full creative brain to be engaged in learning what is hard and new" (14.48) CHARITY– "For people who work in, or adjacent to IT, there's no excuse for suffering. There's so much opportunity out there." (15.09) CHARITY– "If you don't respect your employer, and don't think they're investing in the right, cultural changes and choices, don't stay," (19.20) CHARITY– "Just be good at communicating in some form"

GUEST BIO: Jessica Ivins is a user experience (UX) designer and faculty member at Center Centre, the UX design school in Chattanooga, TN, where she prepares students to be industry-ready, junior UX designers. Jessica dedicates much of her time to the UX community. She founded the Chattanooga UX Design Meetup. She publishes UX articles on her blog and on Medium. She also speaks internationally at conferences such as SXSW, Midwest UX, IA Summit, and UX Cambridge (UK). EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jessica Ivins. She started her IT career working as a web developer using mainly HTML and CSS. But, soon became interested in the UX field. Her design school prepares students to become truly industry-ready, junior UX designers. Jessica is the founder of the Chattanooga UX Design Meetup as well as a prolific international conference speaker. She also spends quite a lot of time sharing her knowledge via her blog, social media, and tech articles via the Medium platform. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – So Jessica, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jessica explains that, by trade, she is a UX designer. But, these days, her focus is teaching others to become industry-ready designers. To achieve this, she takes her students through an intensive two-year course. Once they have completed it, they are fully ready for the workplace. (2.00) - How long have you been focused on UX itself and how long have you been teaching other people? Her answer is since 2007, but Jessica explains that, before that, she was a front end web developer. A skill she still uses from time to time. She has been focusing on teaching since 2011/12. However, Jessica has been running regular workshops and attending meetups for far longer. (3.10) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jessica’s advice is to always be preparing yourself for your next job search, even if you are happy in your current role. That does not mean applying for jobs before you are ready to move on. Jessica’s advice is to constantly improve your reputation. It is important to portray yourself as a professional, at all times. That way when you need to find a new job, you will be in a good position to land the role you really want. Making a name for yourself within the industry makes any job search far easier. (4.10) - Do you have any examples of what you might do to get your profile out there? Jessica says you can dive deep and begin blogging. That works well. So, does writing a book or public speaking. For Jessica, it was speaking at conferences that gave her career a real boost. Attending networking events helps too. As does, maintaining a strong presence on social media. You just need to hang out and be active where others who work in your field spend time. For example, if you are a designer Dribble is a particularly good platform to participate in. You can also listen to podcasts or read articles written by experts who work in your field and reach to and thank them. Plus, maybe ask a question or share something with them. Do that regularly and you will stay on people’s radar. LinkedIn has great feeds that make it really easy to do this. If you do a few of these things you will end up with a good online presence. So, when an employer Googles your name they will be able to find up to date information about you. Someone who is known in the industry and has a good reputation will find it easier to land a good job. Phil particularly likes the suggestion that you provide positive feedback for articles and podcasts. He knows this is effective, especially when you submit your comment not long after the article or podcast has been published. (6.50) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. At one point, despite being inexperienced and in a junior position, Jessica was expected to complete senior level work. As a result, she ended up working on some high profile and demanding projects. Unfortunately, she did not have enough experience to do everything that was expected of her. It was a very unfair position to be in. Several other people who were involved in the project were in a similar situation. Unsurprisingly, fairly quickly, everyone involved became very frustrated. However, it did make her realize that she needed to become a better facilitator. She had to develop the skill to lead individuals and teams toward consensus. It helped her to realize that being able to rally the team was an essential skill. The difficult experience she had, early on in her career, taught her a skill she still relies on heavily, today. In the end, that experience is one of the things that ended up pushing her career forward. (9.00) – What was your best career moment? For Jessica, getting into public speaking has been a highlight of her career. But, it was not something she wanted to do. She resisted, but her boss pushed her to do it. At the time, her presentation skills were not great, something her boss saw as a big issue. When she finally gave in and, she started out by speaking locally, on a subject she was passionate about. It was nowhere near as scary as she thought it would be and her public speaking ended opening a lot of doors for her. For example, while speaking at one conference she met and got to know her current boss. (10.32) – When did you actually start public speaking and how many talks have you given and do you enjoy it? Jessica explains that she started to speak publically around 2011/12, and since then has delivered dozens of talks. However, she still gets butterflies, when she speaks publically. But, she has learned to manage them better, so they are not as bad as they used to be. (11.56) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The way in which technology is becoming so integrated with our day-to-day lives excites Jessica. The pace of integration means that there are always new and interesting problems to solve, especially when it comes to the user experience. (12.40) – What drew you to a career in IT? When Jessica was in college, taking a computer programming class was mandatory. At the time, she knew very little about computers, just how to use two pieces of software and handle emails. Naturally, she was nervous about taking the programming class. But, when she did, she loved it. So much so, that she nailed her first exam. She switched majors and ended up studying to become a web developer using HTML and CSS. That is when she knew for sure that an IT career was for her. The fact that she could make enough money to live comfortably was also a win. (14.30) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jessica says she would probably start by sharpening her self-learning skills. As a student, she had a conventional mindset. She thought the way to learn was to just go to class and do what your teacher told you. Now, she realizes that this conventional approach will only take you so far. In today’s world, you have to be really good at teaching yourself. It is the only way to remain marketable and knowledgeable enough to be really good at your job. (15.26) - Is that something you've built into a habit? Or is it something you plan out? For Jessica, it has become habitual. If you focus on learning and sharpen it as a skill, you'll get better at learning. You will learn faster and recognize which skills you need to focus on. (16.05) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jessica is working to improve her management skills for her next cohort of students. At Center Centre, they take a different approach to education. The environment in which the students are taught is more like a workplace than a classroom. Students report to Jessica or a faculty member and have regular one-on-one meetings. Projects are managed just like they would be in the workplace. It is a sound process which produces fully trained junior UX designers. Workers who are able to do the job, from the very first day with their new companies. Jessica is pleased with the way things have gone but is working to continually improve. That means striving to manage things even better than they are now. (17.07) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Jessica, that is having strong facilitation skills. Being able to run meetings and lead people towards consensus and achieving goals is an invaluable skill set. Jessica feels that the ability to do this is one of the things that sets her apart, in a good way. It has also helped her to be a good educator.   (17.46) – Phil asks Jessica to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jessica’s advice is to be intentional about how you portray yourself and make sure that you continually make small investments in your career. This will ensure that you are as ready as possible the next time you need a new job. At Center Centre, they work with students from day one to lay the groundwork for their getting a job, when they graduate, two-years later. They are encouraged to identify who they need to meet, the opportunities that will help their career and what else they can learn to boost their job worthiness. BEST MOMENTS: (3.28) JESSICA – "Lay the groundwork for your next job search now, even if you're happily employed" (8.07) JESSICA – "Public speaking opened up so many doors for me" (15.04) JESSICA – "You have to be good at seeking out new opportunities to learn, so you are marketable, hireable and knowledgeable enough to be effective at your job." (15.17) JESSICA – "If I could go back and talk to my earlier self, about the beginning of my career, I would definitely push myself to sharpen the skill of self-learning." (17.58) JESSICA – "Be intentional about how you portray yourself." CONTACT JESSICA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicaivins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaivins/ Website: http://jessicaivins.net

GUEST BIO: Ryan Levick is a developer advocate working in Berlin.  Ryan joined Microsoft as a result of its acquisition of Wunderlist in 2015.  Ryan has spent his career building apps on both the server and client side and exploring a wide range of open source technologies with a particular focus on functional programming.   Ryan has a passion for the Rust programming language, which he often writes about on Twitter and on his blog, and speaks about at conferences. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ryan Levick. He came late to programming, having worked in marketing, communications, and business. Despite this, after just a few years of programming, Microsoft asked them to join them as a senior engineer. They did so when they acquired 6Wunderkinder, which included Wunderlist, which Ryan was working as a backend engineer. Today, he is a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate. Over the years, he has used numerous languages, including, Ruby, Rails, Scala, Elixir, JavaScript and many others. He is currently learning and working with Rust. As well as working in the Cloud. Primarily, using Azure but he is also learning other competing cloud platforms. Ryan is also a conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.11) – So Ryan, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ryan explains that he studied marketing, so that is the sector he began working in, when he left university. Around that time, he moved to Berlin and joined a start-up called 6Wunderkinder. That was when he first started to learn to programme. In time, he became a full-time programmer for them working on their Wunderlist project. (1.41) - I don't know anything about 6Wunderkinder or Wunderlist, can you give us an overview of what they're about? It is a small company that focuses on building productivity software. In 2015, it was acquired by Microsoft, which is when Ryan secured the first of the 3 jobs he has had with Microsoft. (2.02) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Learn as much as you can and spread out in weird and strange directions. Even if what you are learning is not immediately useful, it may be one day. This will push you to explore areas of computer science and programming you would not have otherwise looked at. (2.45) – Is this something you do yourself? Yes, all the time. (3.04) – Do you focus on the strange and unusual? If yes, how do you do that? Ryan explains that he picks up on new trends all sorts of people are talking about, then explores as many of them as possible. Usually, even if something is not ready for real-time use there are still lessons to be learned from that technology. The trick is to learn about something, then generalize that knowledge. Doing this enables you to apply it elsewhere. He always stops and asks himself how he can apply what he has learned to real-time applications and his job. (4.31) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Ryan says he hesitates to say worst because his worst career moment actually turned out to be an amazing experience. Recently, he became the manager of a small team. A role he really enjoyed, but the problem was that running his team did not leave him enough time to be hands-on and continue to learn. As a result, he feels he can categorize this experience as his worst career moment. (5.29) – So, stepping away and being more managerial is not necessarily something you want in the future? Ryan explains that he was continuing to learn new skills. About people management, career growth and things like that. But, he found that he was not waking up in the morning wanting to rush to the office like he used to. Ryan thinks it is important to find things that make you feel enthusiastic and stick to doing them. (6.08) – What was your best career moment? Ryan says he has been lucky enough to have had quite a few career highlights. For example, it felt great when Microsoft took over 6Wunderkinder and offered him a job straight away. He had only been programming for a few years, yet was still asked to become a senior engineer for Microsoft. It proves that, in this industry, if you work hard you do not necessarily need a computer science degree to be able to succeed. (7.04) - So presumably, you were able to demonstrate your value to Microsoft? Ryan explains that he was able to do exactly that primarily by showing them that he looked for and recognized new angles. He did this primarily by not being afraid to ask the so-called dumb questions, the ones nobody else wanted to ask. It turns out that, most of the time, dumb questions are the right questions, (7.51) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that things can change almost literally overnight is something that Ryan finds exciting about working in the IT industry. A few months ago he started a new job as a Developer Advocate. Even in that short period of time, the role has already evolved and changed significantly. The pace of change is amazingly fast. So, you never stop learning, which is exciting. (8.40) – Is there any technology or direction that particularly interests you? At the moment, Ryan is fascinated by a technology called web assembly. It enables you to run programs in a very controlled way. Web Assembly has the potential to drastically change the world of IT. Including how things are done on servers, in web browsers, and on people’s computers. It is such a young technology that it is hard to tell what direction it will go in. (9.36) – A lot of companies now have Developer Advocates. How do you see that influencing the way in which people develop their careers? It is very important for companies that offer products and services to developers to build a strong and close relationship with them. One of Microsoft’s aims is to provide value to developers and other IT professionals. To give them the tools they need to succeed and change things for the better. In order to do that, Microsoft has developed the Azure platform, Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. But, it is not enough to simply deliver these tools. You need to be sure that they are what IT professionals actually need. If you do not have a constant dialogue with these people, there is no way that you can serve them well. So, Ryan feels that one of his key roles is to have an honest dialogue with them. To figure out what is working for them and what is not and take that feedback back to Microsoft. Phil finds that interesting because, to date, developer advocacy has not been explained to him in that way. Others who fulfill this role have described it more as an evangelical role. To Phil it sounded like it was all about sharing a company’s latest products and ideas with IT professionals, rather than acting as a two-way feedback channel. Ryan explains that he does both. He showcases their products and helps IT professionals to recognize and unlock their true potential. But, if something is not up to standard, he  also wants to hear about it. So, that he can make sure that the product is updated and improved. (12.05) – What drew you to a career in IT? Ryan says it was curiosity that led him into the IT sector. He remembers looking over his colleague's shoulder at Wunderlist, realizing he did not understand what they were typing on the screen and started wondering how everything works. So, decided to find out. When he peeled the first layer back he just ended up with even more questions. His curiosity drew him in deeper and deeper. Now he realizes you can never know everything about computers and technology. It is impossible to hold it all in your head. Something that excites and drives him on. (12.53) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Constantly put yourself in a position to learn the right skills. The skills that you think will be applicable to your future career. Don’t get into the position where you spend all of your time maintaining a legacy system or working on something that will only ever be used inside the company you work for. If you do that, finding and moving on to a new role will become very difficult. Make sure that you are always learning new transferable skills. (14.06) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ryan says he would definitely get involved in what he is doing now – developer relations. He really enjoys working in this field. In particular, having a legitimate excuse to spend all day speaking to people about things he feels passionate about. Things they are passionate about too. It is the perfect opportunity to be continually learning. Ryan prefers being out talking to people to just sitting in front of a screen in a dark room. That kind of IT career is not the one he wants. (15.18) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Ryan is focusing on growing his presence in the communities he cares most about. He is trying to become more t-shaped. That means continuing to maintain a wide breadth of knowledge while diving deep on one, maybe two, particular subjects. Right now, for Ryan, that means learning everything he can about cloud technology. That includes Azure of course. But, also his competitor’s technologies like AWS and Google’s cloud platform. He wants to make sure that when he needs to do so, he will have the right type of knowledge to easily switch to another job. Ryan is also working to grow his presence in the IT communities he is most interested in. That includes the Rust programming language community. He has been using this new language since late last year. (16.24) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Ryan, the ability to listen has been critical to his success. He has noticed that a lot of developers talk too much. They forget to take a step back and just listen. Even if you are an expert in your choosen field that does not mean that you cannot learn from other people. The technology sector is so big and varied that you will rarely be the smartest person in the room. There are always subjects about which others are more knowledgeable than you. It pays to take a step back and just listen and ask questions and grow your understanding. (17.48) – Phil asks Ryan to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Without wishing to sound like a broken record – don’t be afraid to explore. Find something you feel passionate about and dive deep into it. But, be sure to learn other things too. There is no harm in being a scatterbrain. If you believe you have covered a subject enough, don’t feel you have to stick with it forever. Instead, move on and learn something else. You will find that one set of knowledge feeds into your new subject. Ryan’s advice is to do as much as you can. Don’t worry about catching it all the first time around. Just explore, have fun and revisit it at a later date. BEST MOMENTS: (2.15) RYAN – "Try to learn as much as you possibly can and expand out into weird and strange directions." (5.23) RYAN – "If I'm not having fun at work, then I'm just not going to do as good of a job as I possibly can." (7.39) RYAN – "It turns out that most of the time the dumb questions are the right ones." (13.06) RYAN – "Constantly put yourself in the position to learn the right skills." (17.22) RYAN – "When you do talk, instead of talking at people, try to ask questions." CONTACT RYAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryan_levick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlevick/ Website: https://blog.ryanlevick.com/

Melissa Perri is a Product Management coach and consultant, and founder & CEO of Produx Labs.   She has trained organizations and teams on Product Management best practices and has spoken at more than 30 conferences in 14 different countries.  Melissa is also author of “Escaping the Build Trap” as well as launching her own school, Product Institute, in 2016. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Melissa Perri.  She is the CEO of Produx Labs, a Product Management consultancy, training, and coaching firm. In 2016, she started the Product Institute, which is a 10-week online course, which anyone can take. She also developed and taught the product management section for generalassemb.ly. Over the years, she has spoken at numerous conferences, including Mind the Product, QCon and Lean UX NYC. In 2018, her book “Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value” was published. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – So Melissa, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Melissa starts out by explaining that she works pretty much on a daily basis with the C suite of growth stage companies, mostly CEOs, Chief Product Officers, and CTOs. Her primary role is to help them to work out how to scale their organizations. It is a very fast paced environment, with new people are joining them every day. So, they need to standardize their procedures as much as possible. Melissa’s company, Produx Labs, also has a partnership with Insight Partners, a venture capitalist company. The rest of the time Melissa works with larger organizations helping them to transform the way they work. Her company works with the executive management team then moves on to training their product managers. This gives her the chance to get involved in solving interesting problems at all levels. (2.37) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Melissa’s advice is to always go somewhere you can find someone to teach you. Joining Google as an intern is much better than taking on the role of product manager at a startup. If you work for a well-established firm, they will be in a position to take you under their wing and teach you. (3.23) – So, do you have any specific advice for anybody who may be looking to get into product management? Getting into the field is still tricky. Right now, there is no clear path. If you have been working with an organization for a while you will likely be offered the role. Or a startup will be desperate to fill the position, so will hire you even if you have relatively little experience. Until now, that has been the fastest way into that particular role. Moving forwards, Melissa and a number of her colleagues, are trying to change that situation. They are working on setting up an apprenticeship path or associate pm model. But, right now, her recommendation is to find and follow one of the great product leaders. Choose someone you really admire, reach out to them and learn from them. The other route is to work in an adjacent field, for example, user research or UX. Once you are established, make it known that you want to learn more about the product side of things and take it from there. (4.35) - In terms of the evolution that's going on around product delivery, is the area of product management growing as well? Yes, it is probably one of the most in-demand jobs there is, at the moment. Yet, it is still hard to figure out how to break into this very well paid field of technology. (5.20) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. A few years ago, Melissa became the product manager for a marketing platform. She had some experience and had just started to teach others about the field. So, she was pretty confident she knew the right way of doing things. Unfortunately, her CEO did not see things her way. Like most founders, the CEO wanted things done their way. At the time, Melissa did not really have the skills to explain things in a way that would enable her to “bring them along on the journey”. She just butted heads with everyone and got upset when nobody appeared to be listening to the customers. It was a pretty awful experience. But, after 6 months she started to learn how to change her approach. Today, she always tries to see things from the other person’s perspective and adjust her approach accordingly. These days, she works hard to take people with her rather than try to push them down a certain path. She sells to them instead of using brute force. (7.49) – What was your best career moment? For Melissa that was when she had an epiphany moment, fairly early in her career. At the time she was working in a traditional work environment. The CEO would come up with an idea and ask the development team to build it, which, naturally is exactly what they would do. Nobody would stop and ask if that is really what the customer wanted. At the time, Melissa was learning about how to experiment with users as a way to better understand what they really wanted. The firm she was working for agreed to try some of these experiments. It proved to be a very good move indeed. For the first time, the CEO and the rest of the team had hard data that proved what the end customer wanted and what they did not. The CEO recognized the true value of doing things this way. Even though it meant his decisions were being questioned and challenged. It was these experiments that set Melissa on the successful product management career path she is now following. She was also able to position herself as a leader within the organization. Having access to the data made it much easier to have a frank and open discussion and make the right decisions. Often, the data made the argument for Melissa. (10.53) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the technology sector is becoming more dynamic is something Melissa welcomes and finds exciting. New roles are emerging. The creation of UX and UI managers, data analysts and engineers is making a huge difference to how effective developers and product managers can be. These changes are also enabling more people to get involved in the technology field. (11.50) – Are there any particular technologies that interest you or any particular direction that technology is going in? Melissa is particularly interested in the way ethics are starting to play a role in how products are developed. In the past, everyone’s time and energy went into solving the technical problems with very little consideration being given to the social ramifications of what they were doing. That is starting to change. (12.59) – What drew you to a career in IT? Melissa remembers her dad bringing home a magazine with Bill Gates on the front. It was then that her dad first encouraged her to become a computer programmer. She was very young, but it struck a cord. Her uncle worked for Microsoft and she knew she enjoyed playing with computers, so she was actually quite keen to follow her father’s advice. Melissa ended up studying to become an engineer. A lot of her friend’s got involved in the investment banking and financial side. But, she was always fascinated by the technical side of things and wanted to build the products rather than use them. (14.34) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When she graduated from college she sat in front of a panel and was asked what phase of her career she was on. Was she ready to learn or earn? The panel pointed out that she still did not know that much, so suggested that she might be better off taking positions that would help her to build up her knowledge quickly, at least at that stage of her career. It was very good advice. Even today she makes sure that she is learning continuously. She pushes herself to go in directions that push here to try and learn new things. (15.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Melissa left college and immediately started working for a major bank in a developer role. It was a very slow paced environment, so she learned very little. She did not have a mentor either. If she were to start her career again she would not dismiss the idea of getting a job where she could have a mentor, or maybe working for a startup. A role that would have pushed her and provided her with an outlet for the energy and enthusiasm every new developer has. (17.16) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Melissa is trying to learn more about domains she is not yet familiar with. For example, last year, she got involved in learning about pricing and packaging. She is also trying to get a seat on a company board. (18.14) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Executive presence is Melissa’s number on non-technical skill. If you want to get into leadership you need to work on your executive presence from day one. You need to be a good presenter and sway people with your ideas and data. It is very important to adapt your style to suit your audience, so you can reach them. (19.37) – Phil asks Melissa to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Once again, Melissa echoes her early advice, which is to go somewhere you can learn. BEST MOMENTS: (2.51) MELISSA – "Always go somewhere where you can learn from somebody who is already there." (4.38) MELISSA – "Product management is a growing field. It’s also one of the highest paid fields in the technology industry." (7.19) MELISSA – “Always try to approach it from the perspective of the other person." (14.52) MELISSA – "Are you ready to earn? Or are you ready to learn? Which phase of your career are you on? " (18.37) MELISSA – "If you want to get into leadership, the thing that you really need to hone and work on, from day one, is executive presence." CONTACT MELISSA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/lissijean LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajeanperri/ Website: https://melissaperri.com/

GUEST BIO: Maaret Pyhajarvi is an Engineering Manager for F-Secure leading a team while continuing with hands-on testing and programming.   In 2016, Maaret was awarded Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person and she has spoken at events in 25 countries delivering close to 400 sessions.  Maaret is also author of two books, Mob Programming Guidebook and Exploratory Testing.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Maaret Pyhajarvi. She is an Eng Manager, Tester, Polyglot Programmer, Conference Designer, Speaker and Author. For the past 25 years she has mainly worked in the testing field and has written two books on the subject. Her Mob Programming Guidebook and Exploratory Testing books are both very well regarded. Maaret received the Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person award, in 2016. She is a well-known conference speaker, who has delivered close to 400 sessions, in 25 countries. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – So Maaret, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Maaret explains that she has been working in the IT testing field, for about 25 years. But, it is only in the past couple of years that she has thought about and started to understand what motivates her and the role she is fulfilling in this industry. After someone who did not work in the industry asked her what she did for a living she realized that she is actually a feedback fairy. In other words, she finds problems and shares them with the developers in a way that enables them to fix the issue. Something that end-users cannot do, they can only really highlight problems, but do not have the tech knowledge to come up with possible solutions. (2.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Maaret’s advice is to remember that you can craft any job you are given into the job you want. Over the years, she has been crafting the way she works to better suit each of the companies she works with. Maaret likes to over deliver, to push the boundaries. People are often surprised by the tasks she carries out. They do not identify some of these things as being tester related. This is evidence that Maaret has been crafting her role into something that better suits her and provides the firms she works for with extra benefits. Phil asks her if she brings her personal values to her work. Maaret agrees that this is very much the case. In fact, she has changed the way she works so much that when she took on a management job just 6 months ago, she realized she had been basically filling that role for some time. If there is a job to do that she knows she is going to enjoy Maaret will usually volunteer or take the initiative and just get it done. It is not always necessary to ask for permission. You just need to be ready to apologize later if you misinterpret what needs to be done. But, usually, you get it right, so apologies are not needed. (4.08) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. That happened about 10 years ago. She was working as a contractor on the customer organization side and had overall responsibility for a multi-million euro project. Normally, she would have taken a hands-on approach. But, her then manager asked her to do things differently. They wanted her to focus on the metrics. She was assigned with tracking, preparing and explaining the progress of testing, at boardroom level. Helping the board to understand where the quality was bad, basically, preparing for these discussions. Naturally, that is what she did, barely touching the application itself. The system they were developing and testing had multiple customers. So, usually there were two other big contractors, representing two other user clients in the boardroom with her. One day, when a big decision was about to be made, at the door of the meeting room, these two people told her they could not come into the meeting. They said they were working for other clients who were considered to be direct competitors of this board’s firm. So, because of a conflict of interest they had to stay outside. This left Maaret handling the meeting. At the time, there were serious quality issues and a key decision had to be made. Naturally, Maaret struggled to explain things to the board at what was a critical point for the project. She had very little hands-on knowledge of the system and was thrown in at the deep end, at the very last moment. Unsurprisingly, the outcome of that meeting was not good. She was unable to win the argument, which resulted in her company losing a huge amount of money. For Maaret this was a real career low. (7.18) – What was your best career moment? Maaret is lucky enough to work in a fast-moving field, which provides her with career highlights on a regular basis. But, one of her biggest highlights was helping one of the companies she worked for to reduce their end-user problem rate. When she joined them their issue rate was 18%, which, by any standards, is extremely high. At the time, they were releasing every few weeks. Each time things were getting done at the very last minute. A chaotic way of working, so, unsurprisingly issues were still slipping through. In an effort to tackle this issue, they decided to move to daily releases, which really helped. Speeding up the process meant they were introducing smaller changes that were easier to test and track. As a result, there were far fewer end-user issues. Plus, if anything small slipped through it could usually be fixed very quickly. This speeded up release process meant that there was not enough time for problems to accumulate and become big enough to cause serious issues for end users. It is a way of working that she has introduced to her current company. Working like this is far better than waiting weeks, even months for a release. Something Maaret is quite relieved about.  She finds that having to work on a project for 6 months before a release drives her insane. (11.08) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the work she does has a big impact on people’s lives excites Maaret. These days, it is easier to work in a way that makes sure that what you create really does fill a need. She is also excited by the potential of today’s machine learning related technologies. Being able to work so much faster opens up a world of possibilities, things that were once impossible are now possible, easy even. (12.16) – What drew you to a career in IT? Maaret explained that she had wanted to become a chemist. But, she suffered from allergies. Her doctor advised her that working as a chemist would be too dangerous. So, Maaret looked into other possibilities and came across software development. The people involved in the industry seemed to be really nice and she enjoyed creating something useful while working in a team. (12.56) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? One of her bosses once reminded her that she did not have to be perfect. This was very good advice for Maaret. At the time, she was holding herself to a crazy high standard. So much so, that, at one stage, she felt like a complete failure. Fortunately, her boss helped her to realize that perfection is not necessary or expected. They showed her that she did add value and was good at her job. (13.19) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Maaret says she would probably follow the same career path. But, she would work differently. Instead of starting the testing process slowly using case studies, she advocates jumping straight into exploratory testing. In fact, she is now teaching 17-year-olds to work in that way. (14.01) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Maaret is figuring out how to multiply the impact of the R&D team by making them feel responsible without the presence of a product owner. (14.17) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Over the years, Maaret has developed the ability to break down illusions. To help others, and herself, to break free of conventional thinking and try to do things differently. To the extent that sometimes it is a good idea to try something even when you are fairly sure it will not work. Exploring all avenues is the best way to discover new things. (14.46) – Phil asks Maaret to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Her advice is to pay attention to your impact. You need to be hands-on and do some of the work. But, you should also be generative, helping others to multiply their impact. BEST MOMENTS: (2.25) MAARET – "Remember is that you can craft any job you're given into the job you want to have" (12.47) MAARET – "That feeling of achieving something in a in a group of people is will really draw me in and keeps drawing me in still." (14.27) MAARET – "Sometimes telling yourself to try things that you are sure don't work is the best thing you can do" (14.48) MAARET – “Pay attention to your impact.”   CONTACT MAARET: Twitter: https://twitter.com/maaretp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maaret/ Website: http://maaretp.com Blog: http://visible-quality.blogspot.fi

GUEST BIO: Beau is a technology Strategy Consultant and has been a professional polyglot programmer since 1998.  He hosts Astrocasts and is co-host of That Podcast.  Beau is an active open-sourcer, creator of Sculpin and helped to create Stack PHP.  He is also a serving Core Committee member for the PHP Framework Interoperability Group.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Beau Simensen who is currently working as a freelance Strategy Consultant. His main professional language is PHP, but he is actually a polyglot programmer. Beau is well known for being the host of the Astrocasts podcast and the co-host of the That podcast. He is also an experienced conference speaker and a serving Core Committee member for the PHP Framework Interoperability Group. Since 2012, he has been an active member of the Open Soured community. Beau is the creator Sculpin and played an important role in creating Stack PHP. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.48) – So Beau, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Beau explains that since 2012 he has been involved with the PHP community and working on open source projects. During that time he has spoken at many conferences and had a lot of fun doing so. PHP is his main professional language and Dev Ops his field. (1.49) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Beau wishes he had found people who encouraged and pushed him at an earlier stage in his career. Before 2012, he was basically working alone without any outside validation, guidance or encouragement. At times it was hard going. (2.31) - How would you encourage other people to go about doing that? There are lots of ways to do it but attending conferences and meetups is a particularly good approach. On occasion, coworkers will also be able to help out. But generally speaking people who you do not work directly with will be able to help you more effectively. (3.10) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Before he started programming, Beau worked for an ISP in a relatively big town in North Dakota. He was trying to solve a problem, possibly trying to stop a zombie process. Using some documentation he had found Beau ended up typing kill space dash one into the system. Unfortunately, he did that. At which point the entire bank of 100 modems went completely silent. His heart sank; he knew he had just crashed the entire system. It was a tough way to be reminded that actions have consequences. You have to be 100% sure you know what you are doing before taking action, especially when you are going to impact other people’s lives so much. (5.05) – What was your best career moment? For Beau that was the demo he did at wearables Dev Con in 2014. At the time he was involved in a project that was developing sensors in shoes. They wanted to integrate their sensors with Google Glass. That meant getting them to speak to each other via Bluetooth. But, the Bluetooth connection didn’t have the necessary networking stack to do so. You couldn’t actually get to an IP address. But, in the end, Beau did manage to figure things out and tether them together. He was sitting in the Google Glass meetup at the conference and on the spot decided to put together a short presentation about this little project. He spent just 15 minutes putting it together. Naturally, he was nervous, but he still delivered his demo and presentation. For a change, the demo actually worked and he was very well received, which felt great. It was a real career highlight for Beau. (7.48) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there is always stuff Beau does not know is something he finds exciting about the industry. He loves the fact he is constantly learning new things. Beau is especially excited to hear about new developers putting together amazing things simply by mashing their own code with existing stuff. In under a year, some people are already capable of  creating great things. For example, the person who has just put together an American Sign Language translator. They have just made it possible to play a video and have it translated and visually signed for the user. All of this without the program having to understand what the content is about, to begin with. (9.19) - Are there any particular technologies that are of interest to you? Beau explains that he is getting to a point where he is not as curious about the technologies anymore. He is more interested in everything else that goes around it, more the business side of things. Beau really likes figuring out what kind of outcomes people are looking for. Whether the solution is built using Rails, PHP or Node JS is not that important. What matters is that the outcome is right for the end users. Finding different ways to deploy code is what he is focused on, right now. (11.26) – What drew you to a career in IT? The fact that he could make money doing something that he loved is why Beau chose a career in IT. He had loved all things tech as a kid. His parents were very supportive of this, so he got deeply involved in HTML, deploying dial-up networks, all kinds of things. So, he knew he loved this sort of thing and was very happy to learn that he could make money doing it. (12.15) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? For Beau it was not advice as such. A friend of his once said to him who do you validate your ideas with? Beau realized he did not really have an answer for him. That conversation highlighted a blind spot for Beau. Within a year he had changed his approach. Now he asks others what they think and test what he is doing and where he is going a lot more. (13.06) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Beau says that he feels like he is starting over again, pretty frequently. His work as a freelance consultant means he is always doing something new, often, starting from scratch. If he were to start his career again he would still want to end up doing the same thing. But, he would probably get involved with the community, at an earlier stage. (13.37) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Beau is trying to gain a better understanding of the type of projects he wants to work on. When you are a freelancer it is all too easy to just grab whatever comes along. That is OK, but, at some stage you need to pause and start chasing the work that really interests you. (14.29) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Beau feels that listening is his best non-technical skill. It is certainly one he has been trying to develop more lately. Most programmers have a tendency not to want to spend a lot of time talking. They want someone to tell them what to do, then leave them alone while they do it. Beau is working to get away from being like that. He likes to sit down with people and help them to figure out what it is that they want. This is the best way to be sure that you are building the right thing. You need to be able to understand the underlying problem that they are trying to solve. If you do not do that you are going to end up building something that is nearly right, but not quite. Or worse, something that is nothing like what they want. Phil says that is certainly what used to happen with the traditional delivery approaches. (16.12) – Phil asks Beau to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Get connected is the most important piece of IT career advice Beau wants to share. Having peers and mentors you can bounce things off is hugely beneficial. They do not necessarily have to be actively looking at your code to be able to help you a great deal. Other people provide you with a fresh and diffeent perspective, which makes it easier for you to keep moving in the right direction. BEST MOMENTS: (2.29) BEAU – “I wish I'd learned earlier on how to find people that encourage and push me," (4.08) BEAU – “Actions have consequences so make sure you don't try to do things you aren't 100% sure about" (8.16) BEAU – “Every day I'm hearing about something new or interesting” (14.43) BEAU – "Listening is one of those skills where you can think that you're doing really well at it. Until you find out that you aren’t. " (16.20) BEAU – "Find peers and mentors, they do not have to be actively looking at your code to be able to help you.” CONTACTBEAU: Twitter: https://twitter.com/beausimensen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simensen/ Website: https://beausimensen.com/  

GUEST BIO: Nader  Dabit is a Developer Advocate for Amazon Web Services.  He specializes in helping teams to build and implement cross-platform applications more efficiently.  Nader is also author of the book “React Native in Action” and host of the “React Native Radio” podcast.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Nader Dabit. He is currently a Developer Advocate at AWS. Nader started his career as a front end web and software developer. Later, he moved into the field of consulting, focusing on providing in house training for clients like Amazon, American Express, Indeed and ClassPass. Over the years, he has worked with numerous languages and platforms. But, his specialist area is React Native. Nader is the creator of Reach Native Elements, the Host of React Native Radio and the author of React Native in Action. He is also an international speaker and an active open source contributor. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.54) – So Nader, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Nader responds by explaining that he has been a Developer Advocate with AWS for a little over a year. Before that, he worked on the front end. He then moved into consulting and training, working directly with the client. He is best known for his work with React Native. But, he is specifically interested in cross-platform application development. In particular, things like Ionic, Flutter and React Native. (2.13) – What drew you to Amazon? Nader explained that he liked their philosophy and was impressed with some of the products they were due to roll out. So, he was keen to jump on board. He was especially interested in the benefits of being able to build cross-platform using a single language. Plus, he realized that React Native was going to be important. So, he really wanted to get involved with that, as soon as possible. Taking the position he was offered with AWS was almost a no brainer. (3.00) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. Energizer career audience? Nader says that consistently creating and sharing new and original things has really helped him with his IT career. That can be in the form of blog posts, working on open source projects or building on something other people have done. Taking this approach draws attention to you as a developer. Positive attention, plus, it pushes you to learn at a faster rate. It forces you to dig deep. Phil concurs, he has noticed that the more you create the easier the creative process becomes. It is like exercising a muscle. (4.30) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. That happened when Nader started his programming career. He took a job in LA without meeting anyone from the company and moved there with his family. Unfortunately, just one month later they fired him. By then, Nader had sold the family home, moved all of their stuff to LA and taken on a lease. (5.30) – Are you able to go into why you felt it didn’t work? Nader thinks that, without realizing it, he had taken a job that he did not have the right level of experience for. It was his first IT job, so he misjudged what he was capable of, at that stage of his career. He was working with a phenomenal team, the best he had ever come across, so keeping up was just impossible. On the plus side, he learned a huge amount in the month he spent working with them. Applying what he had learned there helped him to find another job. He was working again within a month of being fired. (6.34) – I assume it changed your approach in terms of the way you look for and evaluate opportunities. Nader says it has. Now that he has a better understanding of his skill set, it is far easier for him to work out if he is a good fit for a particular role. (7.38) – What was your best career moment? Getting deeply involved in React Native from an early stage has been great for his career. He made sure he became well known in that field. Mostly, through blog posts, Nader demonstrated his in-depth knowledge of React Native and helped others to learn it. So, when a couple of years later it went mainstream and demand for training soared, Nader was in the perfect position to land some huge contracts. His first big contract was for Amazon. They bought his time for several weeks. It paid well and gave his career a big boost. If Nader had not dedicated himself to learning React Native and sharing his knowledge, he would not have been able to enjoy working in the very lucrative sector of consulting training. He went on to work with companies like Microsoft, American Express and Salesforce. (9.30) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the industry is now building things that are easy to scale means we can potentially reach millions, sometimes billions, of people with our tech. AWS is particularly good at doing this. Importantly, they are building tools that enable others to also scale what they are doing and improve the lives of thousands, millions even billions of people. (10.35) – Are there any particular areas of tech that excite you? The serverless space, there is huge growth in the managed services and functions as a service area. Being able to offload your day to day logic tasks is huge. It means that you do not have to rewrite things like authenticators or replicant databases multiple times. Instead, you can use a blueprint and really speed up the creative process. (11.53) – What drew you to a career in IT? Nader responds by saying futurism. When he started to learn how to code he found that he really liked it. That was the first time he had done something work-related that he actually enjoyed. But, it was the fact that he was working on things that would be used in the future that really attracted him to the tech sector. (12.33) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Say yes to opportunities that scare you. In the very beginning, following that advice got him into some hot water. But, it has also helped him to advance his career and really grow as a developer and as a person. For example, when he was asked to speak at a large event, he was not daunted. Getting into the habit of saying yes to all kinds of things when he was scared meant he was able to overcome any fear and grasp the bigger opportunities. The open source space is a great place to practice saying yes and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Most of the time, in that arena, if you make a mistake, people are not going to heavily criticize you. (13.35) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Nader was not keen on school, so did not get a full formal education. As a result, he admires people who were able to put themselves through university and have got a full computer science, or closely related degree. If he was starting out again, he would major in computer science. This is despite the fact that, these days, it is not absolutely necessary. (14.40) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Nader is broadening his understanding of cloud computing. In particular, working out what is going to happen in that field 5 to 10 years down the line. (15.40) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being social is an important non-technical skill. As a natural introvert, it was quite hard for Nader to acquire this skill. But, he forced himself to go to conferences, meetups and socialize. In time, he overcame his fears. Today, he finds talking to and connecting with people a lot easier. (16.48) – Phil asks Nader to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Nader’s advice is to get comfortable with transferring whatever you are thinking into the written word. It does not have to be perfect, spelling and grammar are not vitally important. Just learn to share what you think, feel and know in the written form. Doing this greatly improves your ability to communicate. This habit has actually gotten Nader a long way. Try to share what you know in different forums. Write GitHub documentation, blog posts, emails, use Twitter. Utilize every written format you can think of. The more you do the easier it will become. BEST MOMENTS: (3.00) NADER – "Consistently create things that are original or new." (4.13) PHIL – "On the creativity side of IT, the more you do the more creative you become." (11.36) NADER – "Saying yes to opportunities that scare you has no downside" (15.46) NADER – "Get out of your comfort zone." (17.48) NADER – "Become comfortable with just spilling your thoughts onto a page consistently." CONTACT NADER: Twitter: https://twitter.com/dabit3 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naderdabit/ Website: http://naderdabit.me/#/  

GUEST BIO: Rhia is a software engineer for a data-driven tech company where she creates backend software applications using C#, .NET, Python, AWS and a variety of other tech.   Rhia is an active member of Kansas City Women in Technology and she is passionate about encouraging underrepresented and underexposed communities to take advantage of the opportunities available in tech.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Rhia Dixon. She is a young software engineer, who is just starting her IT career. Yet, she has already done a lot within the industry. Rhia has already worked with C#, .NET, Python, AWS and several other languages and tech platforms. Recently, she delivered her first tech conference speech. She is also an active member of the Kansas City Women in Technology group. Rhia is passionate about encouraging underexposed communities to become more involved in the IT sector, so is actively looking for more ways to do that. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – So Rhia, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Rhia explained that she put herself through a boot camp to get started in the tech industry. She completed a full stack coding program to be able to start her career as a software engineer. Rhia did well and found her current position, while she was still studying. That job has her working mainly at the backend using C#, which has been a great way for her to cement and hone her skills. Importantly, this role has also enabled her to quickly branch out and work with other languages and platforms. (2.03) – Is there anything in particular that you enjoy about this role? The fact that she gets to touch all kinds of tech is something Rhia loves about her work. She really enjoys the fact that the team she works with has the autonomy to try out all kinds of new things. (2.51) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Rhia’s main tip is to learn to communicate well. Networking was how she landed her current role. It is also how she became more involved with Kansas City (KC) Women in Technology. Her advice is to put yourself out there and ask plenty of questions. It is the best way to get to understand what people do and how things fit together. (3.30) In terms of networking, how did you go about doing that? Attending meetups was encouraged in the boot camp, something Rhia took note of and did, right from the start. That is how she came across KC Women in Tech. In class, she was learning to code using React. But, the KC women were using Angular to do HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This opened her eyes to the fact that there are a lot of different techs and pushed her to try out new things. Through these meetups, she met business analysts, product owners, and people in dev adjacent roles. These experiences and connections sparked her interest in all kinds of other things. Rhia also started talking more to people she already knew and began to network with them and learn as much as she could from them too. (5.10) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Rhia has only been working in IT for about a year. As a result, her worst career moment is connected to missing out on a fantastic opportunity rather than a mistake she has made. At the boot camp, all students were required to research the IT industry in the city. During this process, Rhia came across a firm she really liked. They provided a fun work environment, had an ethos she liked and were offering work she would be qualified to do once she had finished boot camp. They even had an opening for a JavaScript developer. But, she still had 3 months to go at boot camp. So, despite the fact career services encouraged her to apply, she didn’t. Mostly because she just did not have the confidence to do so. Now, she realizes she should have just applied. After all, the worst thing that could have happened was that she did not get the job. (7.40) – So, I assume you would do things differently now. Rhia says that if she came across something she was only 20% qualified for, she would still apply. Often a lack of a certain skill is not a deal breaker. It is an approach that has already worked well for Rhia, although she is aware of the fact that she has a big personality helps too. She tends to stand out and be memorable, which seems to lead to people being very willing to give her a chance. (8.29) Phil asks Rhia if she is making the point that it is not always about technical skills. Often, it is also about what else you bring. Rhia says yes that’s it exactly. (8.47) – Please share a couple of your career highlights with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. About two months into her current role, a third party site did something and broke their system. It was a high-stress situation, but, it gave Rhia the chance to dig deep and see how stuff actually worked. For the first time, she had a high-level view. Unfortunately, everything had to be built up from scratch. Not ideal, but, for Rhia, this was actually a good thing. It enabled her to really connect the dots and understand what was going on behind the scenes. Being able to obtain mentorship from people for different things has also been a highlight. For example, she wanted to become a tech speaker. When she asked Jennifer Wadella, the founder of KC Women in Tech, for advice, she offered to mentor her. In February, Rhia was able to give her first tech talk, which was very well received. That event was another career highlight for Rhia. Phil comments that he likes to get an understanding of what is going on in the IT industry from all perspectives. So, it is really interesting to hear how someone like Rhia, who is new to the industry, is establishing herself in the sector. (12.10) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the industry is ever evolving is something Rhia enjoys. There is no need to get stuck doing the same thing. She is particularly excited about the way, and pace at which, the envelope is being continuously pushed. (13.28) – What drew you to a career in IT? Rhia realized a career in IT was a possibility when she saw a Facebook add for a boot camp. It looked exciting and like something she would enjoy doing, so she gave it a go. When she realized that building applications is a logical process, like solving a huge puzzle, she was hooked. The fact that it is also so creative, like composing music, is another plus. (14.14) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? By far the best advice Rhia ever got was to drop words like aspiring and junior from everything about me. She did as advised and removed them from her resume, LinkedIn, Twitter and business cards. Rather than call herself an aspiring or junior software engineer she took ownership of who she is instead of who she wants to be. Surprisingly, this simple change has made a huge difference. (14.55) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Rhia says she would learn Python first instead of starting with the frontend. (15.17) – Do you think you would have still gone through the boot camp? Would you recommend it as a way into the IT industry? Rhia says she would recommend boot camps. But, you have to remember that you get out of it what you put in. It is not possible to learn everything in such a short period of time, but, it is a good way to get started. (16.11) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Right now, Rhia is focusing on learning to write good tests. She wants to improve coding infrastructure standards. Her main aim is to make things more reliable. To achieve this goal, Rhia is working out how to log things and how to monitor application health. She believes taking this proactive approach will enable her to spot and deal with issues, at an earlier stage. (16.46) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Having good networking and organizational skills has proved to be very helpful to Rhia. Being well organized is helping her to write cleaner code. She is learning to write in a way that ensures she will be able to easily go back over it and enhance her code, in the future. After all, you cannot have a version 2.0 if you do not know what version 1.0 did. Rhia knows that she would not have made it so far, so fast, without her networking skills. So, that is also a non-technical skill that she is working on improving even more. (17.40) – Phil asks Rhia to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Rhia says – get out there and try everything that is available. That could be different languages or something that is not strictly IT related like finding out about different industries. For example, right now, Rhia is particularly interested in the parcel intelligence sector. It does not really matter what it is, expanding your reach will help you to figure out where to go next. BEST MOMENTS: (3.15) RHIA – "Go and talk to people and ask more questions, and just try to figure out how people fit into things and what they can do." (8.27) PHIL – "It's not just about your technical skills. It's about who you are and what else you bring" (12.49) RHIA – “I’m excited about the different horizons and the different envelopes that continue to be pushed" (17.50) RHIA – "Get out there and try all of the things that are available to you to try” (18.34) RHIA – “Expanding your reach is how you'll figure out where to go and what you even like to do.” CONTACT RHIA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFakeRiRi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhiadixon/ Website: http://www.rhiadixon.com/

GUEST BIO: Kyle Shevlin is a front end web developer and software engineer who specializes in JavaScript and React.   Kyle is also host of the Second Career Devs podcast where he talks to guests who became software engineers after a previous career.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Kyle Shevlin. Kyle specializes in working with JavaScript, React, Redux, GraphQL, Noda, Webpack, D3 and several others at the front end. Currently, he is working as a Senior Software Engineer for Webflow. Kyle is an Egghead.io instructor and is about to release a new JavaScript related course. He is also the host for the very popular Second Career Devs podcast, which is targeted at IT professionals who have previously worked in other industries. Kyle also speaks at conferences, meetups and regularly live streams on Twitch. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.57) – So Kyle, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Kyle explains that he is a software engineer at WebFlow. There he is working on democratizing software as well as expanding the world of visual development and website building. He also makes podcasts and enjoys spending too long on Twitter. Kyle is a good scratch golfer and at one time he was going to turn professional. But, things did not work out, which he is actually now quite glad about. Playing sport is a tough way to make a living, especially if you are not in the top 100. He jokes that he much prefers his cushy IT career. (2.28) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. Career Energizers audience? Kyle says it is important to be open to opportunity. Over the years, Kyle has taken advantage of opportunities that he was not really looking for. Taking chances has had a very positive impact on his life. However, Kyle is not suggesting you go into things blind. You still need to do a bit of research to make sure it is a genuine opportunity and is right for you. (3.22) – Phil comments that a lot of people are reluctant to take risks, so is interested to know how Kyle overcomes that tendency. Kyle responds by admitting that he is more risk averse than he would like to be. However, when his gut reaction is to hold back, he actively pauses and fully evaluates the situation. This helps him to respond differently, if it is appropriate to do so. A lot of the time it turns out to be fear that he does not have the ability that holds him back. Every time he has pushed himself to get past that fear, he succeeds. (4.24) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. A few years ago, when he was first hired his manager tasked him with stirring things up a bit. His manager wanted to mix things as a way of driving change, with the long term goal of producing a positive result for everyone. Unfortunately, a few weeks into the job Kyle’s manager was moved on. So, he no longer had their support. However, Kyle carried on with the task he had been given. Unfortunately, things did not work out well. He tried to push change without gaining trust and getting consensus first. This experience taught him that you need to pick the right time to make changes. If something needs changing, Kyle now pauses, takes stock, appraises the situation properly, identifies the priorities, and then proceeds. Most importantly of all, he builds trust before trying to implement change. (6.48) – What was your best career moment? For Kyle, this is a tricky question because he automatically thinks of the latest thing he has achieved as a highlight. Each new achievement still gives him a bit of a rush. Career-wise this is a good thing because it keeps him chasing the next accomplishment. Kyle believes that the fact he is always chasing that high is partly responsible for his success. For example, he is about to release a new course as a way of building on the work he has been doing with egghead.io. He knows from all of the feedback that what people have learned from him has made a positive difference to their lives. That great feeling has driven him on to produce more tutorials. (8.19) – Phil comments on the fact that feedback is great because it gives your energy levels a boost, feeds your passion and enthusiasm. This ends up pushing you towards your goals. Kyle agrees that this positive feedback loop is very beneficial. When people tell you your work is good, it pushes you on to produce something even better. (8.41) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that something new is always happening is one of the things Kyle finds exciting about the IT industry. In particular, how much the JavaScript ecosystem has grown and is still growing. It is particularly good to see the language being updated more frequently. Kyle is also excited to see more people getting involved in web development and software engineering through JavaScript. Code schools are attracting people from all walks of life. They bring lots of experience, energy and passion with them, which is beneficial for the IT industry as a whole. (10.22) – What drew you to a career in IT? Kyle really enjoys solving little problems. He has always been a fan of logic puzzles, crosswords and that sort of thing. In fact, as part of his philosophy degree, he studied logic. When he began to code, he was able to apply what he had learned about logic in a tangible way. In ways that make a positive difference in the world. (10.53) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once told Kyle to remember that you have two ears and one mouth. He likes to talk, so has had to learn to pause and really listen. (11.07) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Kyle says the only thing he would probably do differently is to skip grad school. Before starting his software engineer career, Kyle was a pastor. A job which led to him spending years studying for a theology masters. Now, he really wishes he had skipped his degree, discovered IT, and switched sooner. (12.22) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Kyle is focusing on making a good start at WebFlow. His past couple of jobs were not a good fit for him. But, he already knows the CEO and many members of the Webflow team well, so feels that he is finally in the right place. So, right now, he just wants to get stuck in and do a great job. (13.24) – So, are you planning to continue with your podcast? Kyle is planning to continue putting out a podcast every couple of weeks. (14.00) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Kyle has found that becoming more empathetic has really helped him. Trying to understand how others are feeling and what their needs are helps you to click with them. Over the years, he has realized that the times he has failed usually correlate to when he has been least empathetic. Phil agrees, he has noticed that more people in the IT sector are waking up to the need to be more empathetic. It is a change that is greatly benefiting the industry. (15.50) – Phil asks Kyle to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Kyle’s advice is to be vigilant about burnout. He suffered through this about a year ago. So, he wants people to be aware of the danger and take better care of themselves and set aside enough time to enjoy a healthy personal life. BEST MOMENTS: (2.40) KYLE – "Be open to opportunity." (4.16) KYLE – "Get more into the habit of taking that risk and saying yes, because that is the only way you're going to grow" (8.33) KYLE – "When you hear quality things about the work you're doing it encourage you to make even more quality work for them" (11.00) KYLE – "I'd studied logic and coding allows me to apply that logic in a very tangible way and make a change in the world" (13.22) KYLE – "Work happiness leads to life happiness, in my case." (15.00) PHIL- “Empathy is something that people need to consider almost daily when they interact with people.” CONTACT KYLE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyleshevlin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleshevlin/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleshevlin/

GUEST BIO: Sarah is a Cloud Solution Architect for Microsoft where she helps organizations with their Data Centre Transformations.  In recent years Sarah has started to focus and specialize in all things Cloud, especially Microsoft Azure.   Sarah is also a STEM Ambassador and likes to share her story in the hope that it will inspire the next generation to start a STEM career.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Sarah Lean, who has spent 15 years working as an IT professional. She is a Cloud Solution Architect for Microsoft, specifically working on Data Center Transformations. Sarah specializes in Microsoft, VMware, Veeam and Azure, but she has many other skills and is always adding more. She is a STEM Ambassador and founded the Glasgow Azure user group. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.08) – So Sarah, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Sarah starts by sharing the fact that she has been working in IT for about 15 years. She began her career working on a helpdesk doing really basic tasks like resetting passwords. From there, she worked up through more complex tasks. Over the years, she has touched virtually every technology. Currently, she is moving into working with the Cloud, specializing in helping companies to migrate their data across. (2.10) – Sarah started working for Microsoft about a year ago. Phil asked her what inspired that move. She says that she had always wanted to work for Microsoft and jokes that is her inner geek showing. Now that she has the right skill set she has been able to fulfill her ambition. (2.33) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Sarah’s advice is to “be authentic and learn to speak up”. It is important to share your opinion. That after all is why you have been invited to meetings or asked to work on projects. (3.40) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Sarah explains that, a while back, she was working with a manager she just did not get along with. They were polar opposites. This situation pushed her to change jobs for the wrong reasons and she ended up working for a company that was not a good fit for her. Basically, she found herself in an even worse situation than the one she had just left. But, it forced her to be proactive and turn the situation around. She learned to handle thing differently whenever she was struggling to work with someone. In the end, that negative episode turned out to be a growing experience for her. (4.56) – Phil asks Sarah what she now looks for when moving jobs. Sarah likes to work for supportive managers that inspire her. She also prefers flexible working and needs to be doing the type of work she enjoys. Phil understands this completely. He once made the mistake of accepting a job despite the fact that the interview went badly. That experience taught him to never ignore red flags. (6.29) – What was your best career moment? For Sarah that has been joining Microsoft. Something she has wanted to do from the moment she started using computers. Her skill enabled her to land her dream job. But, there was also an element of luck involved. She was referred by someone she met through the Glasgow Azure user group, that she founded 2 years ago. He worked for Microsoft. (7.16) – Where are you based? Sarah explains that she works mostly from home or customer sites, often, in Scotland and England. She loves the flexibility the job gives her. (7.46) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that no two days are the same is something Sarah finds exciting. This is especially the case now. The whole cloud first mentality has turned things on their head. Everything is evolving and progressing very quickly. Sarah really enjoys being able to continuously learn and try out new things. (8.43) – Clearly your focus is the Cloud, but is there any other area that particularly interests you? Sarah describes herself as a server hugger, but she is now getting more involved in DevOps. She is focusing on understanding the infrastructure as code and how to automate. (10.00) – What drew you to a career in IT? Sarah has always enjoyed computers. The fact that she can help people and share her knowledge is something she also enjoys. Her career in IT allows her to combine all of these passions, so, for her, it is the ideal career. (10.36) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Sarah says that is – “be yourself”. When she was younger she tried to follow in the footsteps of some of the people she worked with and admired. Unfortunately, that strategy led to her working in roles that she was not really suited for. (11.09) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Sarah would spend more time learning about networking. She has a good grasp of infrastructure, but often wishes her networking knowledge was even better. (11.53) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Sarah is currently focusing on filling in the gaps, learning more. This year, she particularly wants to secure some Linux certification. She also wants to become a more rounded person. (12.19) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Interestingly, Sarah’s secret skill is curling. She has been involved in the sport for around 20 years, now. Playing has taught her the importance of teamwork. As the captain (skip) she has to make decisions for the team. Often, these are split-second gut feeling decisions that define the game. So, you have to become a confident leader as well as be a good team member. The skills she has picked up while curling has definitely helped her to succeed in her IT career. (13.44) – Phil asks Sarah to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Sarah’s parting piece of advice is not to be afraid to pursue your dreams. You are good enough. It is important to recognize and deal properly with imposter syndrome. BEST MOMENTS: (1.40) SARAH – "I've probably touched every technology there is." (3.20) SARAH – "Be yourself. And don't be frightened to use your voice." (5.40) SARAH – “If you enjoy your work, it's not really work, it becomes like an extension of you" (8.18) SARAH – “I pick up new technologies, methodology and meet new people with different perspectives all the time." (14.00) SARAH – "Don't be afraid to go and pursue your dreams we are all worthy of those dreams.”

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is Matt Harrison.  Matt is an instructor on Python and Data Science material.  He has been co-chair of the Utah Python user group and has presented at conferences including PyCon, OSCon and OpenWest.  Matt is also an author of a number of books about Python, including the Treading on Python Series.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Matt Harrison is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He is a Python and Data Science Consultant who offers customized training to corporations and startups as well as consulting services through his company MetaSnake. Over the years, he has worked with a range of languages and platforms, including Pandas, Pylons, Django, CherryPy, Postgres, AWS, SQLAlchemy, SciKit Learn, and Matplotlib. Matt was the co-chair of the Utah Python user group as well as an author and public speaker. In 2012, he published his first Python book Treading on Python Volume 1: Foundations of Python. Since then, he has published several other books and is currently busy writing more. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.02) – So Matt, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Matt explains that he runs a small consulting and training company called MetaSnake. He works with businesses big and small and spends half his time speaking to very technical people teaching them Python and data science. Right now, he is working on three more books. (2.09) – Python is quite a theme, in your career, what made you choose that, in particular? The first language Matt learned was Perl. He used it for his first summer job, so became very comfortable with it.   Matt was lucky enough to work with a really smart guy. At the time, he was building on a model to pull out relevant terms for their corpus of text. The guy he was working with wanted to use Tcl to get the task done and Matt thought Perl would do a better job. So, they agreed to meet in the middle and use Python instead. At that time, it was a relatively new language. Within 3 days they had the proof of concept working. Python just gelled with him, unlike, Perl, C and Java, which he had mostly been using up to that point. (3.42) – Phil asks Matt to tell the audience more about his books, which Phil understands are mainly about Python. Matt explains that his book “Illustrated guide to Python 3” is for beginners. He has also written an intermediate book, one that covers the Pandas library and a few others. All of which are available on Amazon. (4.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Matt says his advice is to – get comfortable with being uncomfortable. When he was just starting out, his local Python meetup took place a couple of miles away from where he lived. But, he didn’t attend partly because it would take him outside of his comfort zone. A decision he regrets to this day. At the time, it was a very tight-knit group. Not attending meant that he ended up missing out on a lot of important interactions. Plus, he eventually ended up meeting everyone anyway. At the time he did not understand the power of interacting with others. If you want to further your career, you need to get away from your computer sometimes and mix with other people. (6.00) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. For Matt that was when he started his small vertical niche software company. A lot of firms let them liked the software. But very few of them decided to buy. In a surprising number of cases, this was because using the software would mean they would have to fire someone. A lot of the firms were small and employed family members, so they really did not want a piece of software to replace them. When Matt heard this he just said OK and moved on instead of trying another sales tactic. He knew he had a good product, but his lack of sales skills meant he could not close the deal. (8.20) – What was your best career moment? For Matt, that was when he wrote his first book in 2010. He wanted to reach more people with his training and realized he could do that as an author. His self-published book was a great success and opened a lot of doors for him. (10.00) – Phil asks if the process of writing books gets easier. Matt says yes, to a certain extent it does. Things do move faster once you have created a process that works for you. He now finds it easier to start typing and get in the flow. (10.59) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that a lot of companies are now waking up to the power of their data is exciting. There is a lot of low hanging fruit. As a result, you can make a huge difference and do so very quickly. (12.14) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Matt always enjoyed creating things. When he was younger, he attended a lot of art classes and thought he might end up being an artist. But, a family member encouraged him to take a programming course. Once he did, he realized that there is a lot of creativity involved in most areas of technology, including in the data science field. (13.23) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Matt says that he actually ignored the best piece of career advice he got. In 2004, he was advised to get a job at Google, but he didn’t. Fortunately, he did follow another great piece of advice, when he was told you need to network, he started doing exactly that. It is hard for a lot of programmers to network, because, by nature, many of them are introverts. In the IT world, you usually get good jobs, not because you interviewed well, but, because someone in the company knows you. So, learning to network is something everyone has to do. (14.33) – Phil points out that effective networking does not always have to happen face to face. There are plenty of online tools you can also use. Matt says that personally, he prefers face to face networking. However, he has seen people using Twitter and LinkedIn for job hunting. In fact, he tried it once and was contacted by about 40 people, so it can work. (15.43) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Matt is intrigued by the idea of taking the full-time, online immersive Computer Science courses offered by the Lambda School. They do not charge for their courses, at least not at first. Instead, you pay for your tuition once you get a job. Although, he goes on to say that he enjoyed his college experience. So, if he were to start again, he would probably still opt to attend Stanford and get a degree. His advice to someone who is just starting out would be to go and get a job at Google or somewhere similar. Work for a big company for a few years. Build up your connections and involve yourself in the community. Having a firm like Google on your resume is still something of a golden ticket. (18.40) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? For this year, Matt’s focus is growing MetaSnake. He really enjoys spending three or four days with a group of people who are motivated and excited to learn, so wants more clients. (19.53) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Matt likes to think of himself as creative. Fortunately, when it comes to machine learning and data exploration creativity is a great skill to have. (20.31) – Phil asks Matt to share a final piece of career advice with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. Matt’s advice is to look at where you are now. Then think about where you want to be a year and five years down the line. Ask yourself what you want to achieve. It could be publishing a book, speaking at conferences, or something else. Matt has found that desire and motivation have helped him to move his career forward. BEST MOMENTS: (4.30) MATT – "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable." (5.16) MATT – "The more I network and connect with people the more value I can bring to them and the more value they can bring to me." (11.46) MATT – "There is a lot of low hanging fruit that companies can take advantage of.” (13.51) MATT – "The best career advice I have seen is to network" (20.42) MATT – "Look hard at where you are and know where you want to be." CONTACT MATT: Twitter: https://twitter.com/__mharrison__ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/panela/ Website: https://www.metasnake.com/

GUEST BIO: Guillermo Rauch is the CEO and co-founder of ZEIT, a San Francisco company whose mission is to make cloud computing as easy and accessible as mobile computing. Prior to ZEIT, Guillermo was the CTO and co-founder of LearnBoost and Cloudup.  He’s also the creator of several popular Node.JS libraries. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Guillermo Rauch.  KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.59) – So Guillermo, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Guillermo starts by explaining that, for many years, he has been working in the open source space, creating libraries and projects. Some of which the audience will have used in one form or another. For example, a framework called MuTools, which laid the foundations for a component system. It later became deeply embedded in Facebook’s own JS initiatives. A lot of the MuTools team went on to work on React. People the audience probably sees every day on Twitter. After MuTools, Guillermo moved onto Node.js and started working with JavaScript. He used Node.js to create a universal platform of sorts. Today his company maintains Next.js, which is one of the most popular frameworks for universal React applications. It is what some of the largest internet properties, now utilize. For example, Tencent news in China, one of the most highly trafficked sites in the world, is powered by Next.js. Open source has been Guillermo’s key enabler for his career projects. He used it for Socket.io, mongoose and later for Next.js. When you create a project with Next.js you can deploy it to the cloud using just one command. Guillermo’s company provides you with a platform to host and scale any website or application server. You can innovate, create features, ship products and look after your customers without getting bogged down in anything else like configuring the server, leaving you free to grow your business. (4.19) – So, is this way of working gaining momentum? Or has it sort of evolved? How do you see it? Yes, cloud computing is definitely gaining momentum. With services like ZEIT you no longer have to understand the low-level details, like how virtual machines work, SSL or DNS. That is all taken care of for you. All users need to do is to focus on the code. It is far more user-friendly than the primitive cloud platforms are. (6.21) Phil says, over the last decade, this is an area that has evolved to the point where it is almost unrecognizable. Guillermo agrees and he thinks we are on the brink of a step change when it comes to the Cloud. He compares it to what happened with Blackberry and iPhone. For many years, it was only the business world that was using these devices to their full potential and recognizing the power of the apps. But, today, these devices are used by absolutely everyone. The same is happening with the cloud. As it becomes easier to use, more people are getting on board with it. (7.37) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Guillermo says he cares deeply about his end user, the customer. He wants them to have the best possible experience. Over the years, he has developed a way of ensuring that he does not lose focus on the end customer, during the development process. His advice is to know your latencies. Be aware of how fast data can be transferred and determine and choose the fastest route for the customer. You want them to have a great experience regardless of where they are in the world. Think about where your database, your code and your customers are. The information needs to travel at the fastest possible rate. If you look at the world through this lens you will end up building amazing things. The other latency figures you need to think about are the ones that relate to attention. Everything needs to appear to happen in real time. Things need to flow smoothly. You do not want a user to think that something has gone wrong and start pressing buttons. For example, if there is some avoidable lag, don’t put up a blank screen, use animation instead. (12.08) Phil asks if knowing these latencies can also help you to benchmark your application. To know for sure how efficient it is. Guillermo says using latencies ensures that you naturally think about things from the viewpoint of your customer. So, you may for example think that it is a good idea to get users to give you their email address or card details as quickly as possible. After all you want to be able to contact them again and make the sales transaction fast and seamless. But, asking them to do these things before you have explained the value of your product could be a bad idea. From their point of view, the act of keying in their email or credit card details slows them down and is super annoying when what they really need is more information from you. The chances are they will go elsewhere. Always see things from the end users perspective and deliver what they really want. (13.33) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Guillermo says that he has had a few. Interestingly, one of his worst career moments turned out to be a positive thing, at least in the long term. Guillermo created Socket.io when he was 17 or 18 years old. What he had created was a step change. This is evidenced by the fact that so many chat applications and firms like Trello and Microsoft used it to power real-time collaboration, documents and Office365. During development, Socket.io was very well received by everyone he showed it to, especially in San Francisco. Yet, when he released it to the world, the reaction was terrible. The comments were overwhelmingly negative. For example, one guy asked him why he was creating a socket library when they already existed online. Yet, sockets did not exist in web browsers, until Guillermo found a way to do it and published Socket.io. The negative reception was not what he was expecting. But, it turned out to be a revelation for Guillermo. He realized that the moment of creation is almost always a controversial one. It helped him to develop a thick skin, which you need to be able to plow through and carry on changing the Status Quo. (18.44) – What was your best career moment? Guillermo is always opening DevOps to see how something works. He is constantly backward engineering, especially when he comes across something that he enjoys using. Recently, he was on a Finnair flight using their Wi-Fi, which worked great. So, he decided to find out what was going on behind the scenes and was chuffed to see that they were using the technology he had developed. Software has no frontiers. Once you have created something, it can pop up anywhere. It is thrilling to see the work you have done making a difference in the world. (21.48) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? As CEO, Guillermo now spends a lot of his time building his team. Being able to welcome new people to the industry is really exciting. He is seeing a stream of talented newcomers coming through, people who are passionate, talented and ready to contribute. These people are real action takers, many of whom have changed careers and retrained. The fact that there are so many great tools available is also exciting. Now you can deploy things fast. Plus, these tools enable newcomers to become really proficient in the industry very quickly. Anyone in the world can deploy a website or application to the cloud in milliseconds. He is particularly excited about the community of developers based in Africa. Particularly in Nigeria, where a lot of the people he has been working with lately are based. Guillermo welcomes the fact that the industry is becoming more open and transparent. (25.40) – What drew you to a career in IT?  Guillermo always enjoyed using computers and backward engineering things to see how they worked. His curiosity drew him to an IT career and pushed him to succeed. (26.41) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Ignore the haters. He reads the comments but does not take them to heart. Instead, Guillermo looks at them objectively. He also does not associate his identity or ego with a particular technology or style of programming. Things are constantly changing anyway, so your identity needs to be fluid too. (27.39) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Guillermo says he would probably do it all again. Although doing that could be tricky because luck has also played a role in his career. Early on he joined a website where he got paid to do little tasks. For him, exposing his skills to the real world was a good move. He was advised to do that by a random person he met in a forum. Putting his work out there meant it got used and tested. If he had not come across that random person he would not have got into the habit of constantly testing and sharing his work, so soon. As a result, his work would not be as well known or widely used as it is today. (29.27) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Guillermo is focusing on mentoring as a way to maximize the impact he has on the future of IT and what it can do. He is reaching out to more regions of the world enabling people by showing them his network and ensuring they can use it easily. Guillermo goes on to explain the importance of planning when it comes to success. When creating his best products the majority of his time is spent on the planning and designing stage. The actual coding rarely takes as long. Talking to customers finding out about their pain points are, discussing things with your colleagues, going for a walk to mull things over in your mind are all just as important as the actual coding is. (23.12) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? By far that is his presentation skills. Guillermo explains that you need to sell what you create, in the same way a firm like Apple does. Steve Jobs once said that the best marketing is education. Teaching people about how to use your product and get the most out of it is vital if you want people to adopt it and get the most out of what you have created. People’s attention is divided, there are so many distractions. You have very little time to make an impact, which is part of the reason presentation skills are so vital. (35.06) – Phil asks Guillermo to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Guillermo’s advice is to always think outside of the box as much as possible. Step away from Twitter, Reddit and what is going on within the IT industry. Instead, look for inspiration in other industries, in other art forms. Make sure you do not become locked into the IT world. Also, don’t become a victim of your own process, constantly adapt. BEST MOMENTS: (03.41) GUILLERMO – "Open source has been the key enabler for my career projects." (19.56) GUILLERMO – “I always reverse engineer everything.” (24.02) GUILLERMO – "I’m excited about, you know, how quickly it is to become proficient in this industry" (31.52) GUILLERMO – "The real work happens when you're talking to customers to find out about their pain points" (35.17) GUILLERMO – "Think outside of the box as much as possible."   CONTACT GUILLERMO: Twitter: https://www.rauchg.com/ @rauchg Company Website: https://zeit.co/ Personal Website: https://www.rauchg.com/    

GUEST BIO: Richard Warburton is the co-founder of Opsian.com and maintainer of the Artio FIX Engine.  He’s worked as a developer in different areas including Developer Tools, HFT and Network Protocols. Richard wrote the book “Java 8 Lambdas” for O’Reilly and is also an experienced conference speaker, having spoken at dozens of events and sat on conference committees for some of the biggest conferences in Europe and the USA.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Richard Warburton. He is best known for his book “Java 8 Lambdas”, which was published by O’Reilly Media. Over the years, he has also spoken and numerous big tech conferences and sat on several conference committees. He is the co-founder of Opsian.com and maintainer of the Artio FIX Engine. His mainly freelance career has led to him working with numerous companies, in various roles. Richard has worked on HFT, Developer Tools and Network Protocols. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So Richard, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Richard starts by explaining that unlike most IT professionals he has always worked for himself or as a contractor. He enjoys the fact that working this way gives him more control over what he does and usually the direction of the projects he works on. For example, it has enabled him to run a company called Opsian with a friend. Their company helps people to understand and solve their performance problems by showing them what their software is actually doing. At the same time, he continues to work on various consulting engagements. Right now, a lot of his work is related to financial trading systems. (2.45) – Phil asks Richard what drew him to that particular area. Richard said that he had always been interested in working in sectors where he could push the technology envelope. That is certainly necessary for the financial trading sector. (3.48) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Richard’s advice is to always try to work with people who you can learn from. He has always tried to do that and has been lucky enough to work with and learn a lot from people like Martin Thompson, Martin Burgberg and Kirk Pepperdine. If you can’t work with great people you can learn from in your day job, just do it in the open source community instead. There are plenty of opportunities there. Richard has worked on a bunch of open source projects, which have really helped his career. Collaborating with others improves your habits, develops your philosophy and enables you to pick up new ways of working. You really grow as a professional when you work collaboratively. Phil agrees surrounding yourself with people who offer something different from you can be leveraged to move your career forward. (6.07) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. For Richard, that happened on the first day he started working for j.clarity. He wrote a piece of code, which looked fine and worked. But, when the CTO pulled it down and ran it on his laptop he got the blue screen of death, or at least the Mac OS equivalent. Not the first impression Richard had wanted to make. Fortunately, his CTO was very understanding about the situation. It was laughed off, solved and soon forgotten. That incident taught Richard how important it is to be working with supportive colleagues when things go wrong. They make sure that you are not overwhelmed by the problem, help you to resolve it, learn from it and move on to the next challenge. It also reminded him to bear in mind that code that works in one environment can easily fail in another one. You have to fully consider the other environments it may be run in before releasing it. Try to think about what can go wrong. Doing this enables you to produce a more robust piece of code. (10.56) – What was your best career moment? For Richard, getting his book published was definitely a highlight. Writing a book is a long-term project especially when you do it while working full-time as he did. At points, you lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. So, when you finally get it done it feels fantastic. (12.20) – Do people contact you a lot about your book? Richard says that when it was first published he did receive a fair amount of feedback both positive and negative. It always felt good when he heard from someone who had been able to use what they learned to solve a problem. (13.25) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there are so many opportunities in the IT sector is something Richard enjoys. Someone once said “software is eating the world”, and they were right. In one way it is a scary time to be living in. But, if you are working in the IT industry, it is also an amazing time to live through. Things change fast, often without us realizing it. For example, recently he visited Vienna with his family. Just 10 years ago, a trip like that would have had to have been planned in detail, well in advance. You would have needed a guide book, reservations and a stack of maps. Today, all you need is your Smartphone. Plus, GPS means you can’t really get lost. The fact that everything you do in IT potentially has a huge impact on people’s lives is part of the reason it is so interesting. (15.36) – What drew you to a career in IT? Since Richard was a kid, he has been interested in the way things work. His theory is that a lot of people who are working in software development played with Lego bricks as kids. Richard was attracted to the fact that coding allows you to create things while tinkering around, playing and experimenting. Of course, this is true of other fields too, for example, engineering. But, computers had always fascinated him. Partly because what you can do with them is so varied, almost unlimited. So, that is the career path he followed. (17.00) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Richard says for him it was not advice, as such, that helped him the most. He found that encouragement was what moved him forward. For example, a guy called Ben Evans encouraged him to speak at software conferences. Public speaking has played a big role in moving his career forward. For a long time, he regularly ran training to help people to code better using Java. He was heavily involved in meetups and workshops. Doing all of this has really helped to open doors for him. But, to do it, he needed a bit of encouragement. (18.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Right now, artificial intelligence is hot, so he would probably get involved with that. It is certainly an interesting and challenging field. (19.41) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, it is a business objective that Richard is focusing on. He wants to really grow his company and hire more people. So, he is currently honing some of the skills he already has and learning new ones. Including marketing skills, so he can better engage with the market place and share and explain what Opsian.com has to offer. (21.22) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Richard says public speaking has proved to be a very useful non-technical skill. It has put him in contact with a lot of people and helped him when he wanted to write, publish and market his book. (21.55) – Phil asks Richard to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Richard’s advice is to practice your writing skills. Written communication is still very important. You can’t achieve much on your own. So, you need to be able to communicate effectively. Written communication is still the main way we share complex information, so you need to be good at it. BEST MOMENTS: (3.32) RICHARD– "I've always been really keen on trying to find areas where you do get to push the envelope, technology wise" (3.52) RICHARD– "Try and work with people who you can learn things from.” (13.59) RICHARD– "It’s a scary time to be living through. But it's an amazing time to be living through if you're working in the IT industry." (15.58) RICHARD– “I have a big theory that a lot of people who are working in software played with Lego bricks when they were a kid." (23.01) RICHARD– "In order to achieve things with other people, you always need to be able to communicate with them. Written communication is such an underrated part of that skill” CONTACT RICHARD: Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardWarburto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-warburton-5b03613/ Website: https://www.opsian.com/  

GUEST BIO: Ruth Yakubu is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft and founder of PoshBeauty.com.  Ruth specializes in Java, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Data Platform and Cloud and has worked for companies such as Accenture, Warner Brothers and TicketMaster in software architectural design and programming.   Ruth has also been a speaker at several conferences including Devoxx, DeveloperWeek and TechSummit.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ruth Yakubu. She is a Senior Cloud Developer at Microsoft and founded PoshBeauty.com. Ruth started her IT career in 2001 as a Software Engineer for UNISYS, moving on to become a Manager and Software Engineer with Accenture before setting up PoshBeauty.com. Over the years, she has become a specialist in Java, AI, Advanced Analytics, Data Platform and the Cloud. She is also a well-known speaker who has spoken at large conferences including Devoxx, DeveloperWeek and TechSummit. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.11) – So Ruth, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ruth thanks Phil for his introduction and explains that he has summarized her career well. But, she goes on to speak a litter about her public speaking role. Her main aim with much of her public speaking is to get everyone energized about Azure technologies. To help people to see how to use it to solve their problems. Ruth also explains that she now works with a lot of startups. Helping them to solve their technology issues regardless of where they are on their journey to success. Microsoft has a lot to offer start-ups. For example, they can get up to 120,000 credits in the Agile cloud. Providing start-ups with somewhere to do their proof of concept work and build their businesses. There is a growing demand from startups for this type of help. They really benefit from and appreciate the fact that the Microsoft team circles back to check in and see how they are doing. A lot of entrepreneurs are not tech savvy, so having someone who can lead them through the options that are available is invaluable. They also need help in hiring developers and working out if they are actually using the best architecture. It is not uncommon for what is built originally not to be right for the business in the long-term, which means it has to be stripped down and re-built using the correct architecture. Ruth helps entrepreneurs to build things right the first time and avoid this costly mistake. Ruth and her team enable firms to identify the best tech option for them. This prevents them from wasting time and money trying to find their way while their competitors surge ahead. In many cases, they can also help B2B startups find new customers. Microsoft helping in this way results in more consumption, by the startups, of Microsoft’s products. So, it is very much in everyone’s interests for the startups to find clients and do well. (7.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? After 15 years in the industry, Ruth knows that it is vital to keep on learning. You have to keep up and stay relevant. Everyone has to do this, companies as well as individuals. For example, Amazon, with its AWS offering, is now moving from being a physical product seller to being a service provider. Microsoft is also constantly transforming itself. Today, they are one of the leading cloud providers. Very quickly Microsoft has gone from being mainly a software provider to offering a long list of IT services. To be able to stay relevant, you need to learn to track the market trends. If you don’t do that you will soon be left behind. (10.55) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Despite some warning signs during the interview, Ruth took a job mostly because it was well-paid. Inevitably, she quickly realized that she hated the job and had taken a wrong turn in her career. Up until that point she had followed her professor’s advice to only take job’s she loved and not to be tempted by the money. Fortunately, that happened early in her career, so she was soon able to get things back on track. (13.32) – What was your best career moment? Ruth has been lucky enough to experience several great moments in her career. But for her, founding PoshBeauty.com proved to be her pivotal moment. She was full of trepidation while she was building the business. But, she plowed forward and proved that the idea was sound. Building her own startup opened many doors for her and she uncovered talents and abilities she had no idea she possessed. She ran the company for 5 years, before stepping away and joining Microsoft. The whole experience taught her not to be afraid of stepping outside of her comfort zone. Facing your fears is the only way to move forward. When Ruth joined Microsoft, she had to push herself to conquer her fear of public speaking, so she could become a more effective Developer Advocate. The first time she spoke to a large crowd, she nearly passed out. But, today getting up in front of people, in large or small groups is much easier, something she has learned to enjoy doing. Plus, importantly it enables her to stand up and show others that look like her that working in IT is possible for them. Overcoming her fear has benefited her and others in many different ways. (18.04) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Not knowing what is going to happen next, keeps Ruth on the edge of her seat. Currently, she is particularly excited by what is happening in the field of AI. This tech is having an impact in so many interesting ways. For example, some firms are starting to use it to help them to make internal business decisions. There are more intelligent applications coming out in the form of bots and apps. We are getting to the stage where these apps can learn about you and what you need, then intuitively point out things that will help you in so many different ways. They are enhancing our lives and will do so far more in the future. (20.15) – What drew you to a career in IT? Ruth explained that she was supposed to work in the medical field. But, that was her parent's dream, not hers. Especially because she was good at computer science. When she saw her what her older brother was able to do using code she knew a career in IT was for her too. The problem was that, at the time, there were virtually no women working in the IT field. But, Ruth decided to just take a leap of faith and fight for what she wanted. (21.44) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Ruth’s favorite piece of advice was given to her by her mentor at Accenture who told her to go back and try new things. At first, she hated doing this. But, as the years progressed, she built up a huge pool of knowledge because she had pushed herself to try new things. (22.31) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ruth says she would trust her instincts and step out more. When she first started out she let the feeling that she was not quite good enough get in her way. If she were to start again, she would step out and find things she loved doing on her own rather than waiting for others to tell her what to pursue. She would also learn more languages. It is important not to be closed minded. To always be broadening your horizons. (23.50) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, her main aim is to help women involved in the STEM industries. The graduation rate of women in computer science has gone down. In 2015, 30% of graduates were women, but in 2017 only 16% were. Something Ruth finds very troubling. When she graduated only 5 women were on the stage. There were no females out there to vote count her graduation class. These two facts are pushing her to play a part in changing things for the better. She learned a huge amount from her start-up journey. So, she is also very focused on sharing that knowledge and advocating for entrepreneurs, so they can succeed. (23.57) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ruth’s secret weapon is humor and being easy going.  She has always cherished her teams and tried to get along with everyone, which she finds keeps things positive. She also treats everyone with respect regardless of how significant their role is perceived to be by others. (26.20) – Phil asks Ruth to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Ruth says it is important to remember that IT touches and impacts the lives of everyone. So, whatever you are working on always do it for the good. BEST MOMENTS: (5.46) RUTH – "Our goal is to help you build things right the first time and stay competitive" (8.15) RUTH – "You have to adapt and learn new things" (13.25) RUTH – "There are a lot of factors that you need to take into consideration, not just money when you're embarking on a new career." (16.17) RUTH – “The more you face your fears, and you conquer them, the better, once you’ve eliminated one handicap you can move on to conquer another one" (27.23) RUTH – “Enjoy the ride but always use IT for the good." CONTACT RUTH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ruthieyakubu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthyakubu/ Website: http://www.poshbeauty.com/

GUEST BIO: Fernando Cejas is a Developer Advocate at IBM having previously worked at SoundCloud and at Tuenti.  Over the past decade, Fernando has mainly worked as a Core Engineer and Tech Lead focused on Mobile Development.   Fernando describes himself as a nerdy geek and a strong believer of sharing, which he does by speaking at conferences, participating in communities and through his blog.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Fernando Cejas. Fernando is a Developer Advocate who is currently working at IBM. He has also spent time working at SoundCloud as a Mobile Core Engineer and, prior to that, at Flomio and Tuenti as a Mobile Software Engineer. Fernando is a huge fan of agile methodologies, programming, and tech in general. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and putting it to use by helping people to solve their problems. His urge to share what he knows has turned him into a prolific public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – So Fernando, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Fernando said that Phil’s intro was a good summary of his career. He also explained that he is also taking the time to share his knowledge. Mostly by giving talks at conferences, which he really enjoys. It provides him with the chance to help people to avoid some of the mistakes he has made. (2.16) – Can you share a unique IT tip with the career IT audience? Fernando says that it is important to share your knowledge. He knows that his sharing what he has learned, including as a result of failures, can help others from hitting their head against a brick wall. From experience, he has found that it is your failures that teach you the most. Phil agrees with the saying “you learn from your own mistakes.” But, he also says that it is better to learn from other people’s mistakes. So, you don’t make them yourself. (3.39) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Interestingly, that happened only five or six years ago when he was working for SoundCloud as an Android Developer. When he was asked to be the release captain for a project, during his first week, he said yes. In those days, there was no continuous integration environment. Releases were not automated they were done manually. By that time SoundCloud had about a hundred million users. Unfortunately, when Fernando shipped the release, he forgot to change the input. The application had worked on his phone, so he shipped it. But, he was in the development environment, not the production one. That environment consisted of two Mac minis serving the API in the content. Unsurprisingly, in the far bigger scale live environment, there were issues. This led to a 2-hour outage that affected millions of users. The CEO even rang him and asked why their core functionality – playing a song – was not working. Fortunately, the fix was easy. DevOps increased the instances of the development API, did some forwarding for the APIs and a few more technical things and it was fixed. But, the outage was a big deal. (7.37) – What did you learn from that experience? Avoid having manual steps in a process. Automate as much as you can. Fortunately, there was no finger pointing at SoundCloud. Something that Fernando was grateful for and thinks was very beneficial. They recognized that a weakness in the process was uncovered. Then they worked to fix that issue, so something similar could not happen again. The no blame culture allowed everyone to be totally honest and uncover the real issues. (9.16) – What was your best career moment? For Fernando that was the first time he gave a talk. He feels that is when he crossed the line from being introverted to being extroverted. After that, he was no longer afraid of starting a conversation. (10.50) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that tech is changing at such a rapid pace is something that excites Fernando. Recently, he has been doing some work on quantum computing and he believes that is going to change the world. This field has so much potential, they are so fast, which means any problem is solvable. Quantum computers are not likely to replace traditional computers, but they will be ready to complement them, in about five or six year’s time. These are the computers that will solve exponential problems. However, we will still need classical computers to feed the quantum ones. (12.41) – What drew you to a career in IT? Basically, it was curiosity that drew Fernando into the world of IT. He first started working with tech when he was 16 and was spending time at his local hospital gaining work experience. While there, he got sucked into creating and maintaining Ethernet networks. From there, he just kept trying things out starting with small things like hacking microprocessors to play games. (13.48) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Over the years, he has received lots of great career advice. But, for now, he is going to pick “Don’t be afraid of saying no.” If something is not possible, you have to say so as soon as possible. It does not matter who that person is or where they sit in an organization you must not be afraid to speak up. (14.34) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Fernando does not think he would do much differently. He would still start out by writing code. (15.14) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, he is focused on helping to solve people’s problems. He enjoys the fact that people are complex and are not predictable like computers are. The challenge of interacting with others and solving their problems is something he enjoys, so that is his focus. (15.41) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Because Fernando likes sitting down and working through issues with people he thinks that patience is his number one non-technical skill. He knows that non-technical skills like being honest, respecting others, communicating effectively and being humble are all invaluable when you work in the IT sector. (16.59) – Phil asks Fernando to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Fernando’s advice is not to be shy. Speak up and ask questions even if you think they may be a bit dumb. He also believes you should prioritize human values over technical knowledge. After all, computers are only a means to reach out to other people. BEST MOMENTS: (3.02) PHIL - "It is better to learn from other people's mistakes. So you don't make them yourself."  (7.43) FERNANDO – "Automate all things, manual steps should be avoided." (8.20) FERNANDO – "There was no finger pointing, we acted as a team here" (13.51) FERNANDO – "Don’t be afraid of saying no." (16.42) FERNANDO – "Respect, communication, honesty, and humility, I think those things are key." (17.43) FERNANDO – "Computers are only a means you reach out to people." CONTACT FERNANDO: Twitter: https://twitter.com/fernando_cejas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandocejas/ Website: https://fernandocejas.com/  

GUEST BIO: Jono is a digital strategist, marketing technologist and full-stack developer who currently manages special projects at Yoast.  He has nearly twenty years’ of experience in web development, SEO, analytics, brand and campaign strategy and much more.   Jono has worked with startups, agencies and international brands to fix websites, implement growth strategies, prepare for the future and win markets.   His previous roles have included principal consultant at Distilled, Head of SEO at twentysix and global head of digital and head of insight at Linkdex. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Jono Alderson is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He is a full-stack developer, marketing technologist and digital strategists who manages special projects at Yoast. Jono began his career, 20 years ago, building small websites using HTML. For several years, he applied his coding skills to the world of SEO. He educated himself to the point where he landed key roles at Uninid, Distilled, twentysix and became the head of insight, then head of digital at Lindex. Today, he codes in numerous languages, is an SEO and analytics specialist as well as a brand and campaign strategist. He is a passionate advocate and participant within the open source community. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.57) – So Jono, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself?  Jono explains that he started his IT career working out of his bedroom. There he built little websites using HTML. Over the following years, he dabbled and worked in a lot of different fields. He worked as a developer, got involved in SEO analytics and a lot more besides. Today, he still wears many hats. Right now, a significant percentage of his work focuses on optimizing for speed across all platforms, including the web, apps and more. He comments that recently, much of what he has been doing feels more like consultancy than web development. (2.24) – Why do you think you have ended up moving from a technical role into more of a consultancy role? Jono comments that he has actively tried to blend things together. He continues to code, mostly on personal projects, picking up a new skill or language as he goes. (2.54) – So, does that mean you are deliberately keeping your hand in? Jono says, yes absolutely. He wants to avoid becoming the disconnected marketer who knows just enough to be dangerous, but, not enough to be useful. (3.22) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. Career Energizer audience? Jono’s unique tip is to remember that you don’t have to ask permission to do better stuff. This is especially the case in areas like web development and SEO, which are both evolving at a phenomenal pace In those fields, it is open season for anybody and everybody. Basically, anybody can make a contribution. Nobody has created the next JavaScript library yet, but someone will, for sure. It could be virtually anyone that does it. Some areas like performance optimization, data and, privacy management are still in their infancy. They are examples of areas where nobody really cares about your background or job title. If you can contribute and are passionate about these things you can work in those areas knowing you will be welcomed. When you take that passion to the open source market you have a big impact. You can actually affect change, sometimes in a big way. Through this community, Jono has affected change on some huge platforms and technologies. These are tools that are used by tens of thousands, every day. In virtually every area, the industry is crying out for smart people to get involved. Jono points out that this is particularly the case right now in the WordPress world. There is a huge amount happening there, around technologies like AMP. Google is heavily involved in, and interested in, providing a faster web experience. So are very active in seeking ways to do so. But, there are not enough people involved in this field that have the right knowledge. This means that there is a huge opportunity for anyone who is prepared to study a little and acquire the necessary skills. (5.48) – Are there any ways you would recommend that people start thinking about what they might be able to do? Jono explained that his journey started by looking for the unknowns, the edges. For example, his involvement in technical SEO began with him being curious about what the best HTML practices were for search engine optimization. He started by digging around in places like Stack Overflow to see what others were doing and better understand what was already happening. Naturally, this led to him getting involved in the discussion and trying things out. He also started sharing his findings and his take on the situation. Without setting out to do so he had become involved in affecting change. Developing things that would, in time, become the standard.  (7.24) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. This happened when Jono went from working on small local business sites in his bedroom to working for an agency. His first job was to improve a firm’s website. To enable him to do that, he was given FTP access to the production server. So, he did as he had always done, signed in, identified the bugs fixed them and made some improvements. The problem was that there was a big difference between the way he worked with his direct local business clients and the way the agency did things. Differences he was not aware of at all. His previous clients paid him then simply trusted him to do what was needed. Basically, he had a free hand. Whereas, the agencies had a workflow process, that included apprising the client of the changes, prior to implementation. Plus, there were no backups for the site Jono had changed. Everything he had done had gone live without the site owner being aware of what was about to happen. Fortunately, the site owner did not go mad. However, he did have to put the site back to the way it was, which, oddly meant coding the bugs back in. For Jono, this was a huge learning moment. It taught him that you need to bring the client along with you. It is vital to build a strong relationship with them and use good storytelling skills to enable them to see what you see and agree to travel in the direction you are suggesting. You have to manage the people as much as the work.      (10.22) – Phil had a friend who ended his career overnight by rewriting the front end of something that was shared by multiple applications, without prior permission. Worse, this product was being worked on by about 100 other developers, at the time. (10.54) – What was your best career moment? Jono says that actually, he is living it right now. Working at Yoast is an absolute joy. Prior to this, he has done all kinds of other types of work and all of it has felt flawed. This is particularly the case with agency work, where you are always falling foul of the classic prioritization triangle. At Yoast, they are defining standards where none currently exist. Leading the way on things that impact a significant proportion of the web, in many cases solving problems nobody even knew existed. Plus, generally speaking, he can pick and choose what he works on. So, he is able to work on incredibly cool things. For example, right now, he is working on a way to enable any website developer to effectively implement schema.org markup.  (14.44) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there is no barrier to entry is very exciting. Plus, there is something new to learn, every day. Jono is proud of the way he has grown in the industry and knows that potentially anyone can do something similar. He dropped out of college and started out small by creating websites. Today, he can come up with an idea and develop it 100%, sorting out everything from the architecture and databases to the front end. Despite this, sometimes he still feels like he is falling behind. There is just so much to learn. Things like new workflow tools and CSS he wants to adopt. He knows that things are only going to get more interesting as IoT and digital assistants gather momentum. Consumer behavior is set to change drastically and do so at a global level. The possibilities are endless. (17.29) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Jono says the fact that the things he coded were tangible, inspired him to learn and do more within IT. For him, it has been a great way to create. In fact, the only way he can really do so because he cannot draw or paint to create physical art or make things with his hands. But, he can create something using his coding skills. (18.09) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Unfortunately, Jono can’t remember who gave him this advice. But, nonetheless, it has proved invaluable for him. He was taught to think in terms of “distance to perfect”. So, instead of doing what most firms do, which is to think in terms of what is the minimal viable product you first draw up plans for your perfect product. Taking this approach ensures that you always aim high.  Resources may mean that you cannot reach that level. But, thinking like this forces you to push beyond MVP. Inevitably, you end up creating better stuff and stretching yourself.  (19.29) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jono says his approach would probably not be radically different, although he does wish that he had got more formal training. He describes his coding as a bit sloppy and he would also have collaborated more with others. Jono feels that he would have progressed much faster if he had done so. (20.47) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jono says that he is atoning for many years of reinventing the wheel for businesses that are not necessarily having a meaningful impact on the world. So, he is focused on being involved in projects that are going to make a significant difference. To really make the world a better place. (21.46) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being a voracious reader of science fiction book helps Jono to recharge his batteries. But, more than that, they feed his imagination and help him to think differently, to think outside the box. This habit feeds into his work and has a positive effect. (22.43) – Phil asks Jono to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jono’s advice is not to settle for mediocrity. Conventional wisdom limits you far more than you realize. You are constantly told not to chase the shiny thing or expect perfection. In fact, you should be doing both of those things. When you do you will start to shape the landscape around you. You will have to win some arguments to get there and be patient. But, because you are pushing beyond what everyone else is doing you will be the one that makes a significant difference. Getting involved in Open Source is great for pushing you to come up with ideas and work collaboratively to make real change. Plus, of course, it is a great way to demonstrate your capabilities. To prove what you can do. There really is nothing stopping anyone from doing that. BEST MOMENTS: (3.26) JONO– "You don’t’ have to ask permission to do better stuff." (4.58) JONO– "These days, it is surprisingly easy to become a thought leader or a pioneer, an engineer who is shaping tomorrow." (9.36) JONO- "Storytelling and relationships with stakeholders and influencers is just as critical as the work itself." (11.46) JONO– "We’re defining standards at the cutting edge where no standards currently exist." (17.57) JONO– " Web development, SEO, CSS, PHP suddenly became my canvas." (23.59) JONO– "I'm relatively new to the open source space. But I've been astounded at just how it easy it is to contribute. " CONTACT JONO: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonoalderson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonoalderson/ Website: https://www.jonoalderson.com/

GUEST BIO: Jasmine Greenaway is a Cloud Developer Advocate for Microsoft.  She has been working as a .NET developer since late 2009 which has given her the opportunity to travel the world and make use of Visual Studio’s extensibility framework in an open source environment.  Jasmine also teaches at a local community college and co-organises BrooklynJS. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jasmine Greenaway. She has evolved her career as a web developer into an exciting life, full of opportunities and interest. Jasmine rarely says no to a chance to take her IT career in a new direction. As a result, today, she is a well-known public speaker, mentor and teacher. All of this is in addition to working as a Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft. She also co-organises BrooklynJS. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.57) – So Jasmine, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jasmine explains that after leaving university, she decided to move to New York. This was a good move for her because it helped grow her confidence and get past being shy. She started public speaking, while in New York. First, she gave really short, lightning talks. In time, she graduated to making 30-minute presentations. Today, she regularly speaks at IT conferences. After joining the GitHub team she was asked to speak at a conference about the GitHub Visual Studio project she was working on. That led to someone from Microsoft reaching out to her and offering her the Advocate position. Despite not being very familiar with Azure, at the time, she took the plunge, which turned out to be a great decision for everyone involved. When someone asked her to teach web development in a local Queens’ community college she said yes to that too. She has been doing it for 2 years now and really enjoys seeing her students grow. Her work there combined with her speaking and meetups have helped her to build up a great network of friends, colleagues and collaborators. (4.00) – What have you learned working in what must be quite an interesting environment? Jasmine said that often she is dealing with students who have never opened a text editor or seen an ID. In those situations, she has learned to go slow and recap regularly. Going from nothing to doing a full project in just four months is a big task, which can be overwhelming. So, students need to be led along the path to success carefully. Phil asks if her students feel a sense of accomplishment once they have completed the course. Jasmine, says yes that is definitely the case. In the end, a lot of her students thank her for taking the time to go back over things they were struggling with. She often sits down with students for one to ones, even as they start their IT careers. Often, they are really close to achieving their goals. All they need is a little advice or encouragement to get there.  (6.28) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jasmine says that it is important to be comfortable with what you know. Don’t let what you do not know, overwhelm you. Use what you have and recognize that you can easily learn the rest of what you need. It is all too easy to become overwhelmed and be too hard on yourself. Phil agrees that is very good advice and adds that breaking an objective down into smaller chunks makes things easier to understand. When you do that the task becomes far easier to achieve. Jasmine says that is the exact approach she uses when programming, especially if she has to learn something new to be able to complete the project.  (8.07) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Jasmine explained that at one point in her career she let imposter syndrome overwhelm her. At the time, she was working on a team where everyone, except her, was a senior developer. Fairly quickly, she began to feel she was not contributing and could not get anything right. Fortunately, someone took her aside and told her she was doing a good job. They also told her not to be afraid to ask for help. Once she started doing that everything was OK. To this day, she is thankful for that team for picking up on the fact that she was struggling and reaching out to her to let her know they were there to help. (9.25) – What did you learn from that experience? It taught Jasmine to believe in herself and her capabilities. In that situation, the only person that thought she was not capable was herself. Once she was convinced otherwise by the team Jasmine was able to make rapid progress.  (10.14) – What was your best career moment? Jasmine said that was the talk she gave in August 2018 with a co-worker. For fun, they decided to see if they could uncover the identity of the famous, but anonymous, horse.js using machine learning. The person who runs that Twitter account takes web development tweets and copies a sentence from them and tweets that back out again. Weirdly, this simple process produces some very amusing results. Because it is funny and quirky horse.js has a huge Twitter following. Jasmine and her co-worker used a combination of machine learning, data statistics and other methods to work out who horse.js is. At the latest JSConf they gave a presentation that explained how they did it. At the end, there was a pre-planned piece of pantomime, where the organizers would shoo them off of the stage before they could reveal who it was. Clearly, some in the audience thought they were going to uncover horse.js, which they definitely were not. They actually got booed off and ended up leaving the conference venue through the back entrance. Despite this, the project and speech were great fun for Jasmine. It gave her the chance to work collaboratively with her team using JavaScript. A language she rarely gets to work in. Plus, they produced a website about the process and the person they had concluded was horse.js agreed to having his name revealed on the site. Although he has still not confirmed or denied being horse.js. Basically, it was a fun project, that stretched Jasmine, helped her to gel with her team and become better known in the community. So, it has been a career highlight on many different levels. (14.00) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that if she wanted to try something else in the industry there are so many different paths she could take excites Jasmine. Her background is mostly software engineering, but she also now has her developer advocate and relations work to add into the mix. Jasmine especially enjoys being a part of a “choose your own adventure” style of team. If you are good at speaking, that can be your focus, while someone else might write a lot of code or seek out feedback from product teams. Jasmine is also excited by the fact that working for Microsoft automatically opens up all kinds of possibilities. She can easily move internally to try something different or take up an opportunity outside the business. She also enjoys the fact that the information you need to learn something new is now freely available. You just need to find a tutorial or blog post and get started.  (15.54) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Jasmine, her journey into IT started when she wanted to customize her GeoCities, Neopets and MySpace accounts. Making little sites for herself was the spark. The fact that she wanted to be a meteorologist also pusher her into the IT world. It was part of the reason she decided to minor in computer science. She liked it so much that she ended up switching her major. (16.52) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t you are not doing your job properly. Asking questions is tricky because you have to admit you don’t know something. But, it is essential. You end up feeling so much worse if you get things wrong because you did not seek clarification.  (17.21) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jasmine says she would probably get involved in the IT security field. Probably as a white hat hacker, right now, it is a really interesting sector to work in. (17.55) – What clear objective are you currently focusing on? Jasmine is now part of a fresh team that is focused on reaching out to the education community. Currently, she is looking for ways in which she can shine in this role. She is looking for ways to self-advocate and progress the team's objectives at the same time. (19.12) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career, so far? Being an effective communicator has been essential for Jasmine. She mostly works remotely, so has to be particularly careful to communicate well. It is essential to tailor what you are saying to take account of the audience you are speaking to. You have to adapt your approach to ensure that what you are saying is easy to digest and understand. Jasmine has found that getting involved in things like hobby channels has helped her with this. Sharing tips, suggestions, jokes and things in a casual setting has helped her to hone her communication skills. (20.58) – Phil asks Jasmine to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. She says it is the same as the advice she received – Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It is the only way to get the clarification you need to be able to move forward. If you do not get into this habit you will very likely stall. At first, you may feel embarrassed doing it. But, it is like a muscle. The more you do it the easier it gets. Phil says that he has also found this to be true. He has noticed that the more questions you ask the more confident you become, which is the opposite of what you might expect. BEST MOMENTS: (6.22) JASMINE – "Sometimes it's just, you know, one little thing that they just need to clear the air on to get them to where they need to be." (7.23) PHIL – "break down that objective into smaller chunks, so that it becomes easier to understand.” (14.23) JASMINE – "If I wanted to try something else in the industry, there are so many paths I can take." (16.54) JASMINE – "If you’re not asking questions, you’re not doing your job." (21.55) PHIL – "The more you ask questions, the more confident you get.”   CONTACT JASMINE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/paladique LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminegreenaway Github: https://github.com/paladique  

GUEST BIO: Keith is currently a member of the Platform Team at Okta working on Identity and Authentication APIs. Previously he was an early Developer Evangelist at Twilio and before that he worked on the Ultimate Geek Question at the Library of Congress.  Keith’s underlying goal is to get good technology into the hands of good people to do great things. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Keith Casey. For nearly two decades, he has been working in the IT industry.  During that time, he has worked as a systems developer, IT architect, technology officer, principal advisor and senior developer evangelist. He is now working for Okta as a member of their Platform Team, specifically on Identity and Authentication APIs. Keith is also a well-known public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.57) – So Keith, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Keith explains that his first job, after leaving college, was working at the Library of Congress, helping them to digitize everything. The lengths they go to capture every element of a piece of information is amazing. So, when people ask him how much data is held in the Library of Congress, he finds it impossible to give an accurate answer. Naturally, at this point, Phil asks him for the figure. Keith’s response is to explain, that when he got started there were no blogs, iTunes or any of the platforms that churn out a huge amount of information every day. Yet, it was estimated that the librarians would have had to catalog around 200 terabytes a day to have been able to keep pace with what was being produced, even back then. (2.28) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Keith’s top tip is to treat your career as an investment. Think about the long term, in the same way you would if you were investing in shares. So, when deciding if it is worth learning how to use a tool, think about how it will help you in both the short and the long term. By all means learn the tools you need to be able to do the job you are doing right now. But, make sure that you also pick up skills that you will be able to use for the next 5 to 10 years. (3.23) Phil agrees. He thinks there is too much short-termism, especially when it comes to learning programming languages. People tend to just learn what they need to get by on their current projects. But, fail to learn and understand the underlying principles.  (3.59) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. For Keith that was when he accidentally corrupted a huge news article database while working on an App for Associated Press, about 15 years ago. Fortunately, there was a backup. Unfortunately, it was 8 hours old. News happens continuously. So, even after the restoration, there were around 64,000 updates still missing. This was a tough way to learn not to do development work in production. (5.50) – What was your best career moment? For Keith that happened when he was working as a developer evangelist at Twilio developing the SMS API. As an evangelist, one of his key roles was to get out there and show that their stuff worked. Whenever possible, Keith and his colleagues would do a 5-minute demo in front of an audience. They would open an empty Vim file and build an application right there and then. Then use it to allow the people in the room to send them a text straight away. This demonstrated that their stuff really worked and was super quick and easy to use. For Keith these presentations gave him a huge lift. Seeing so many people’s eyes light up was amazing.  (7.38) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The pervasiveness of today’s tech is something that Keith finds exciting. It is everywhere and touches every aspect of our lives. No matter what your passion is, you can get involved in tech. For example, if you are interested in farming, there are self-driving tractors, data analysis, drones and all kinds of other things. Working in tech no longer means sitting behind a screen most of the time. You can go out and touch the real world and see how what you are doing affects everyone.  (8.39) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Keith it was the fact that it is a great way to pay the bills. Interestingly, his desire to succeed in tech was also partly driven by the fact that he is a theatre geek. He really enjoyed the fact that IT opened up new ways for him to get things done in the theatre. (9.01) – Can you give us an example of how you used your IT skills in the theatre? Keith explained that using basic trigonometry they were able to set up microphone arrays along the edge of the stage. This enabled them to get the lighting rig to figure out where an actor was on stage and automatically follow them with a spotlight. (9.29) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Keith says that has to be – “Help good people around you.” Do it without expecting anything back. Just help them because they are fantastic. Doing that has led to some really great things for Keith. Through this habit, he has developed several important personal and business relationships.  (10.02) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Keith says that he would probably go deeper into security, especially now that IoT is so big. For this to succeed, better security is essential. (10.32) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Actually, that is connected to what he was saying earlier about building up people around you.  He is currently working with an international startup accelerator program called TechStars. (11.00) – So, what sort of projects are involved in that? Keith explains it could be anything. But, he particularly likes getting involved with the ones that are for industries where the use of tech is still a fairly new thing. His focus tends to be on product market fit, especially for more technical products. (11.51) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being able to get up on stage and explain a concept from beginning to end has proved to be very useful. If you can do that, you will win 80% of all conversations, simply because most other people cannot explain in such an effective way. Plus the fact that you are a public speaker means that you automatically get a certain level of respect. Interestingly, Keith learned his presentation skills largely as a result of being a theatre geek. (12.25) – Is that a skill that has evolved and developed over time? Keith explains that he still actively works at it. In particular, he studies the old school comics like Richard Pryor and Steve Martin. They do the same thing again and again, yet still manage to keep their audiences engaged. (13.09) – Phil asks Keith to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Keith’s advice is not to be afraid to experiment. You do not necessarily have to restrict yourself to only learning things for which there is a pressing need.  Also, Keith says it is a good idea to learn through other people’s experience. BEST MOMENTS: (2.43) KEITH - "Treat your career as an investment." (3.25) PHIL –“I think there can be too much short-termism in terms of what people look out." (8.26) KEITH - "You don't have to just be behind a screen 24 seven, figuring how to build things.” (9.37) KEITH – “Help good people around you. You'll cross paths with fantastic people.” (13.33) KEITH - "Just go and learn things you will never be hurt by knowing more.” CONTACT KEITH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseysoftware LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseysoftware/

GUEST BIO: Matt Raible is a Developer Advocate at Okta and a Web Architect for Raible Designs, striving to find the best solutions for developing web applications.  He also writes a lot of technical blog posts on the Okta Developer Blog as well as articles for InfoQ.  Matt is a fan and developer of the JHipster project and he develops and maintains the JHipster Mini-Book and the Ionic JHipster Module. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Matt Raible. He is a skilled web developer who has been working in the industry since the early 90s. Matt is also the man behind the open source AppFuse project and the Okta Developer Blog. Currently, he is working as a Developer Advocate for Okta. He is also a well known public speaker and is deeply involved in the JHipster project. Matt maintains and develops the JHipster Mini-Book and the Ionic JHipster Module. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.02) – So Matt, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Matt explains that he has been working as a web developer since the early 90s. He had not planned to have a career in IT. In the early 2000s, he got into Java. By 2004 he was also involved in public speaking.  (1.44) – So, you obviously enjoy the web aspects of development. Is that something you deliberately pursued as the internet sort of exploded and expanded? Matt says yes, it was. In the early 2000s, he realized that it was best to be the guy who wrote the UI. Simply because that is what people see and are most aware of. He enjoyed doing the demos and getting the accolades, so he ended up focusing on UI development. (2.25) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Matt’s advice is to create a six-week plan of the things you want to accomplish. He has found following this advice to be very helpful, especially for his work as a developer advocate at Okta. Putting together a six-week plan keeps you on track and enables you to achieve a lot more. It is far more efficient than simply working week to week. He also finds it useful to do this for his personal life too.  (3.52) – Is it a rolling six-week plan? Matt revisits his plan on a weekly basis. He and his team also summarise what they have actually done each week. This information is published in an internal newsletter. (4.35) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Matt says that he has two he wants to share with the audience. Luckily, they are both turned into silver lining moments. In 2007, he was working for LinkedIn as a contractor. Helping them to select and set up an open source, Java web framework. Things went well and they asked him to create his own team. So, Matt asked some of his friends and former colleagues to join him. Two months after they started working together they were persuaded to go full-time. Yet, 6 months later they were all laid off.  That was in 2008, just as the downturn started. That time, the silver lining was that nobody was really enjoying the work they were doing because they had been switched from the front end to non-developer roles. Luckily, within a week, they were picked up by another organization where they became front end developers again. The 2nd moment occurred 5 years ago. For 19 years, Matt had been working as a consultant. During all that time, he never had any trouble in finding full-time work, filling a 40 hour week. Suddenly, he could only find a part-time gig. He found this hard. That is until he realized what a glorious thing having 20 spare hours a week was. At that point, he started doing more with his personal life and, as a result, became a happier person. (6.47) – What did you learn from those experiences? Matt says that the LinkedIn experience taught him not to be afraid to change jobs when he finds himself in a role where he is not using his skills. He really did not enjoy his last few months at LinkedIn because his new boss had moved him away from UI development into a nonproduction position. So, when LinkedIn let him go he was actually relieved.  (7.49) – What was your best career moment? Matt is lucky to have had quite a few career highlights. He particularly enjoyed seeing his open source project AppFuse take off. For about 2 years, he was spending about 30 hours a week interacting with users, learning and seeing hundreds benefit from this project. Unfortunately, there was a downside, his family life suffered as a result. (9.25) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Matt is excited by the fact that it is possible to take a relatively small amount of knowledge and do a lot with it. Being able to take something that you have taught yourself and turn it into a good career is fantastic. With IT, you can still do that, even these days. (10.22) – What drew you to a career in IT? Matt had studied Russian and International Business. But, when he spent the summer working in Russia he realized it was not for him. So, he decided to complete a 5th year and take a finance degree. Unfortunately, again, when it was time to find a job he struggled. There was work, but the pay was not very good. Around the same time, his friend who was doing a computer science degree was getting amazing offers. Three times what he was could land. So, Matt switched his focus to IT. (11.37) – Do you think that is still true, today? Matt says things are changing. When it comes to the finance industry, if you excel, you can actually get paid a lot more than you would working in the tech industry. The cool thing is that if you are curious, you can carry on learning and add to your skills. In time, you will end up earning even more and staying gainfully employed becomes very easy.  (12.18) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Around 2005, Matt was working as a consultant for a startup that was shutting down. While discussing what Matt was going to do next the CEO advised him to double his rate. That is exactly what he did, that year. Each year after that, he added 20% to it. (13.04) - Phil asked Matt if he was saying that you should make sure that you get paid what you are worth. Matt replies that you should always ask for more, because often you will discover that people are actually prepared to pay a much higher rate. (13.09) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Matt says that he would not change a thing. His career has enabled him to fulfill his dream of restoring his old Volkswagen bus, which has taken nearly 10 years. He has big plans for that bus.  (14.26) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Matt is where he wants to be with his career. But, he is working at getting better at drawing, so he can add more hand drawings to his blog. He is also planning to do more videos, screencasts and to get into recording meetups. (15.02) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Matt, the ability to speak publically has proved invaluable. (15.10) – How did you get into that? In 2004, a friend suggested he speak at ApacheCon. He decided to give it a go. Surprisingly, within 15-minutes of being on stage, his nerves evaporated and he felt at home. Even today, he gets very nervous before each talk, but once he gets started he feels comfortable, fairly quickly. The other non-technical thing that helps Matt is being an outdoorsman. Most days, he takes a walk or rides his bike. During these activities, he finds that he automatically settles a lot of things in his mind. Phil agrees that being outdoors is quite therapeutic. (16.32) – Phil asks Matt to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Matt says – “If you really want to get something done close off your email, you slack. Turn on some music and write some code.” Once you have eliminated distractions, you will be far more productive. BEST MOMENTS: (1.29) MATT – "I started developing web pages in HTML before Netscape even existed" (2.48) MATT – “Create a six-week plan of the things that you want to accomplish" (7.44) MATT – "If I'm not utilizing my skills, then maybe it's time finding another job." (12.10) MATT – "If you're curious, you can keep learning and keep improving yourself and keep gainfully employed." (13.15) MATT – “I wouldn't change a thing.”   (16.34) MATT – "Close your email, close your Slack, turn on some music and write some code." CONTACT MATT : Twitter: https://twitter.com/mraible @mraible LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mraible/ Website: https://raibledesigns.com

GUEST BIO: Joe is a Front End Engineer for Digital Air Strike in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Before his current role, Joe had worked as a Digital Marketing Manager while he continued to learn how to code in the evenings and at weekends.  Joe also creates video tutorials for egghead.io and helps to run a local meetup called Desert GraphQL. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Joe Previte. He is currently working for Digital Air Strike as a Front End Engineer. Previously, he was a Digital Marketing Manager and Web Developer. He is becoming well known for his video tutorials, which can be found on egghead.io. Joe also writes articles about coding, mainly on the subject of JavaScript. In particular, React, Node, Express, Redux and Gatsby. Recently, he has started to run a local meetup called DesertGraphQL. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So Joe, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Joe explains that when he is not busy working or creating video tutorials he writes articles about coding. For example, he has written articles for Twilio. He is a big fan of this cloud communication platform, which has a great API that enables you to build SMS, voice and messaging solutions. (1.47) – Can you please share a unique tip with the I.T. career audience? Joe’s unique piece of career advice is not to forget the power of patterns. When he was in college he studied languages and was able to use patterns to help him to quickly learn several of them. For example, 80% of Portuguese grammar is very similar to Spanish. His advice is to look for patterns when you are trying to learn something new. This particular learning method works really well for programming. Phil agrees taking this approach helps you to tap into the fact that understanding the foundations or the basics of a programming language is pretty much consistent across all the different ones. When learning Redux, Joe took a piece of code and studying it. He started by changing a few things at a time. In particular, things he was familiar with and thought were likely to be similar to other programs he had already worked with. This enabled him to see how it worked and try out more things that were likely to be the same. Doing this made it easier for him to abstract away the pattern. (4.16) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Joe has only been working in the industry for a couple of years. However, he has already been stung by taking someone’s word for something instead of getting it in writing. Someone offered him a front end internship that was supposed to transition into a full-time role. It meant moving from California back to Phoenix. The guy who ran the company said he could only pay him as a contractor. They agreed he would do 20 hours of paid work and 20 hours as a freelancer. He did this for two months. But, wanted to get an idea of the salary he could expect in the longer term, so asked. His boss said about 50k, which was OK with Joe. The plan was for his boss to put it in writing when he returned from New York. But, when he got back he changed his mind and actually only offered him 30k. For Joe, that was a real low point. (7.50) – Phil asks Joe to share his career highlight with the audience. Joe is a big fan of Twilio and is active in the community. So, he was delighted when Twilio inducted him into their “Doers Hall of Fame” in 2018. It was great to be recognized by the Twilio team as someone who had made a significant contribution. His Twilio superclass which he ran at a local meetup and online boot camp was very well received by those who took it. (10.32) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Even though he is relatively new to the industry Joe is excited by all of the new technologies and languages that are coming through. There is just so much available to learn that it can be hard to know what to study next. Joe is particularly interested in the potential of GraphQL. He has gone as far as organizing a local meetup group with his co-workers to take full advantage of this data query and manipulation language for APIs. Phil shares Joe’s enthusiasm for all of these new technologies. He notes that they are providing developers and engineers with the chance to broaden their horizons. (12.41) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Joe there were two things. He has always had a passion for building things. He would regularly come up with business ideas only to realize that he needed a developer to bring his idea to life. At the time, Joe did not have the necessary skills to do so. In the end he realized that if he wanted to build any of these businesses learning to code himself was the best way to do it. But, training was expensive. So, when he came across a free code camp he jumped at the chance and began his training. (13.30) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Joe was once told not to tell yourself you are not ready. You should let others do that. Another way of putting it is ‘don’t self-select’. If you see a job you would love to do, just apply for it. If you do not have all of the qualifications or experience being asked for, do not worry, apply anyway. The worst that can happen is that you do not get the call. On the other hand, you could get called in for an interview and land your dream job. Joe has got a couple of callbacks and interviews by applying regardless of what is asked for in the job advert. (14.40) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Joe explains that he would take a different approach to learning how to program. He would focus more on building projects instead of switching between resources or tutorials. The real learning happens when you apply what you have learned when you build a project that you care about. When you hit roadblocks you are motivated to push through them. This ensures that you learn more and take yourself to the next level. (15.22) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Joe’s main focus is trying to do more developer relations. He wants to create more of a name for himself within the community. Joe wants to get as many people as possible excited about learning new technologies and helping more of them to find the right resources. He would like to be a general tech developer evangelist. His aim is to be like Wes Bos or someone similar. Joe wants to become a content creator/teacher/educator over the course of the next 5 to 10 years. (16.27) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? In all the jobs Joe has done so far, good communication skills have proved invaluable. He also says it is important to learn to speak up sooner rather than later. For example, if you get stuck on a project the sooner you say so and explain the situation the faster you get unstuck and get things finished. (17.31) – Phil asks Joe to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Joe’s career advice is to help others. Tell others on social media that your door is always open and be there to answer people’s questions. Doing this benefits you as well as those who you are giving guidance to. You will be surprised by how much you learn along the way when trying to help others. BEST MOMENTS: (2.40) JOE– "When you are learning something new, look for the patterns." (9.58) PHIL– “Being recognized by another group or individual is always a great thing."  (13.49) JOE– "Don’t close doors before they have been opened." (15.09) JOE– "The real learning happens when you're building a project that you care about." (14.42) JOE– “When you are learning to code, focus more on building projects rather than switching between resources or tutorials" (16.17) PHIL – “The ability to then teach other people actually helps you yourself in terms of the way you learn.” CONTACT JOE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jsjoeio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjprevite/ Website: https://joeprevite.com

GUEST BIO: Julie Lerman is a Microsoft Regional director, Docker Captain and a long-time Microsoft MVP who now counts her years as a coder in decades.  She makes her living as a coach and consultant to software teams around the world. You can find Julie presenting on Entity Framework, Domain Driven Design and other topics at user groups and conferences around the world. Julie blogs at thedatafarm.com is the author of the highly acclaimed “Programming Entity Framework” books, the MSDN Magazine Data Points column and popular videos on Pluralsight.com. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Julie Lerman. She has had a long IT career, of more than 30 years, during which she has worked as a coder and coach. Since 1989, she has worked as an independent consultant. Over the years, she has led software teams in many different countries. She specializes in guiding teams towards re-thinking their software architecture and adapting it to fit in with modern practices. Julie has worked hard to share her knowledge with a wider audience. She has created in-depth training in the Pluralsight library and has written 4 highly acclaimed books about Entity Framework. Her blog, thedatafarm is also a great source of information for developers.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.58) – So Julie, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Julie explains that she spent the first 4 or 5 years of her career working mainly as a programmer for employers. But, about 30 years ago, she decided to go it alone. These days, she focuses mainly on coaching, consulting and mentoring. She uses her decades of IT experience to help all kinds of IT teams to progress. (2.26) – How did you get into coaching, Julie? It is something that just evolved. For many years, she had been teaching people through her sites, books and conference speeches. After a while, people asked her to provide training for their teams. She really enjoyed the process of sitting down with companies and going through their issues and working out how to address them. It is much more effective than public training. However, she does encourage the companies to go through her PluralSight videos, first. If, after doing that, they still have problems or concerns she sits down and helps them to solve their more complex issues. (3.43) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Julie’s most important piece of advice is to take responsibility for your career and further learning. Too many people get stuck in a rut. They just carry on doing the work they are familiar with. Over time, they end up being unaware of what is going on in the wider world. They have very little understanding of the new technologies and how they are being applied. You have to keep up with new developments to be able to make the most of your career. Phil reminds the audience that the company you are working for will only assist you in learning new skills, up to a point. Typically, they will only help you to take your career in a direction that suits the needs of the business. (5.14) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? For Julie her two worst career moments came when it was time for her to move on to bigger and better things. In both cases, her employers got very angry with her. They both tried to persuade her to stay by offering her a little extra money or the promotion she should have already earned, but not been given. In both cases, she felt that what they were offering was ‘too little, too late’. So, she said thank you, but no. That is when they got really angry and aggressive. In both cases, she had to deal with the men who had been almost father figures to her losing their tempers and berating her just for leaving. For someone in their 20s this was an extremely unpleasant situation. (7.21) – Did you take anything away from that experience, in particular? Julie says that it taught her to trust her instincts. These experiences also made her realize that she had more gumption than she thought. She just stood there and sucked it up, did not argue back and moved peacefully on into a better role. (8.28) – Phil asks Julie about her best career moment, her greatest success. The moment Julie’s first book was delivered to her home and she held it in her hands was a highlight. She felt so proud of what she had achieved. But, Julie is lucky enough to regularly experience smaller moments that also make her feel proud. For example, when she is able to help a developer to understand something they have struggled with.  Another example is when she suggests a little tweak that ends up making a tremendous difference and benefiting lots of people. (9.58) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that things are so open-ended right now is something that excites Julie about the IT industry. Things are opening up in new directions all of the time. Thanks to IoT, machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data. The easy availability and effectiveness of this tech are freeing people up to use their talents in new and exciting ways. You no longer have to worry about a long list of little details, when developing. Now, you can focus on the code knowing that the deployment and infrastructure is not an issue. Cloud computing has made things so much easier. It is just one example of how new technology is freeing up developers to achieve more. (12.24) – What drew you to a career in IT? Julie fell into her IT career by accident. When she started college, her plan was to become a chemical engineer. While there she took a programming class. She realized she was something of a natural, so got involved in IT instead of chemistry. (12.59) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once told her to “praise publically, criticize privately”, which is advice that Julie is careful to follow. (13.23) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? That is something that Julie has never really thought about before. It is not really in her nature to plan like that. But, she does wish that she had more time to get more deeply involved in machine learning. She also knows that she would still want to be involved in the back end. (14.17) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Julie is focused on continuing to learn, to make sure that she stays relevant. She is working to make sure that she pushes herself out of her comfort zone without constantly jumping from one thing to another. Looking for opportunities to share what she learns is helping to do this and cement her knowledge. (15.42) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Julie says that her liberal arts degree has proved to be surprisingly helpful. Taking the course, gave her a head for broad thinking and thinking outside the box. It helped her to develop her creative thinking. These are skills that she has found invaluable during her IT career. (16.19) – Phil asks Julie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you find yourself stuck on a problem, walk away from your computer. Take the dog for a walk or something similar to break the negative cycle. When you do that you can be lucky and find that the solution has been there all the time floating around your head. You mentally go through everything again. Usually, that is when you work out what it is you have missed or a few other things you can do to fix the problem. All you need to do is to give your brain a chance to relax to get a fresh perspective. BEST MOMENTS: (4.14) JULIE – "Take responsibility for your own career and further learning.” (10.16) JULIE – "Things are really opening up in new directions, with IoT, machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data." (11.49) JULIE – "Cloud platforms are enabling developers to do that much more and explore that much further." (14.43) JULIE – "It’s really important for me to stay relevant. In order to do that, I need to keep learning" (16.41) JULIE – "When I am really stuck on a problem, I find walking away from the computer helps so much." CONTACT JULIE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/julielerman Website: https://thedatafarm.com    

GUEST BIO: Lauren Lee is a Technical Product Manager at Go Daddy where she gets to evangelize a platform team that optimizes the engineering process for developers.  Lauren helps teams to adopt a framework that makes prioritizing Machine Learning, experimentation, personalization and mobile-first development simple. EPISODE DESCRIPTION:         Phil’s guest on today’s show is Lauren Lee. Lauren started her IT career later than most. After spending 7 years working as a teacher she secured a place at the Ada Developers Academy. From there she has gone on to work for Amazon as a software development engineer and secure her current role at GoDaddy as a technical product manager. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.59) – So, Lauren, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Lauren explains that for 7 years she was a teacher. But, she quit her job and attended a coding program at Ada Developers Academy. It was an intensive tuition-free course that takes 11 months to complete. Students spend 6 months in the classroom, followed by a 5-month paid industry internship. The academy specializes in helping women and gender diverse people to start a successful career in the tech industry. From there, she became a software engineer at Amazon and has recently transitioned to a technical product management role with GoDaddy. Lauren describes her main function as being to act as a bridge between the engineer, designers, marketers and the end users. (1.52) - Phil asks Lauren how she ended up working for GoDaddy. Lauren explained that they are a sponsor company for the developer’s academy. Everyone Lauren knew that worked for them said that they were excellent employers that offered a truly inclusive culture. So, when she needed a job she chose to interview with them. Right now, Lauren is working on the website building side of things, helping small business owners to succeed. (2.58) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Lauren says it is important to understand the power of communication and be an empathetic educator. Her work as a teacher demonstrated to her that people communicate in different ways. Lauren has found that bearing this in mind has also helped her to be more effective in her IT career. As a teacher, she learned to be an empathetic educator who adapted the way she taught to the needs of her students. Today, it is not hard for her to adapt her way of communicating to suit the audience she is speaking to. Getting into the mindset of the people you are talking to is a good habit. It helps you to think about things from different perspectives. (5.12) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. For Lauren that was when, during a whiteboarding interview, a tear ran down her face. It was a humbling moment, despite the fact that she did in fact land the job. So, Lauren is pleased to see companies trying to move away from relying on whiteboarding interviews. They are beginning to realize that not everyone does well when asked to explain things using a whiteboard. Some freeze up, others get flustered and virtually everyone feels nervous when put in that situation. As a result, it is very easy to dismiss someone who actually does have the talent and skills that your organization needs. Phil finds this point particularly interesting because very few people talk about the interview part of landing an IT job. He has noticed that when it comes to interviews most of us create a lot of extra stress for ourselves. We turn the interview into the be all and end all. When, in fact, it is just a one-off event. (8.05) – Phil asks Lauren what her best career moment was. For Lauren, that was getting into the Ada Developer Academy. She was particularly proud to make it through the tough selection process. The moment she pushed her first feature into production is another highlight that springs to mind. However, for her speaking at conferences has become her real passion. She started out small, but has now graduated to the larger events. Lauren particularly enjoys being involved in these collaborative learning experiences. She loves finding new ways to engage with and help these larger technical communities through her work as a presenter. (9.56) – How did you get into conference speaking? As a student, Lauren attended a Ruby conference. It was a great experience, so very quickly she decided to put herself out there and start speaking and contributing. (10.29) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Lauren is excited by the fact that there are now so many opportunities for women within this industry. The industry is definitely becoming more inclusive and moving towards a point where everyone is represented and can be successful working in IT. But, it is important that each of us plays our part in pushing this process along. We all need to become mentors, advocates and allies. There are some great organizations out there that are doing exactly that. Ada is just one example. There is also Chick Tech and Girls Who Code. Importantly, other underrepresented groups are now also getting help. For example, organizations like Unloop are helping ex-prisoners to get involved in the IT industry. (13.09) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Lauren was partly drawn to the industry because she wanted to play a part in bridging the gender gap that exists in IT. She also wanted her students to see her taking a risk and succeeding at changing her life drastically. The fact that you have to be a continuous learner to keep pace with the rate of change is also something that drew her to the IT industry. She enjoys being continually pushed her to continually improve. (14.20) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Know when to walk away from the bug in your code. If you are blocked you will just get frustrated and in all likelihood not solve the problem either. Stepping away for a bit enables you to approach the problem from a different angle. It is important not to let the imposter syndrome creep in. Self-doubt can end up paralyzing you completely. The truth is that, in time, you will learn to solve your problem. You will get there. Problems are learning experiences. (15.54) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Lauren says she probably would not do anything differently. She does not regret the fact that she spent 7 years teaching before starting her IT career. It has enabled her to bring something a little different to the table. (17.10) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Lauren is focusing on creation over consumption. She has stopped scrolling through Twitter and other platforms berating herself about all the stuff she does not know. Instead, she is being selective and purposeful about what she consumes and how she spends her time. (18.04) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Having a growth mindset has really helped Lauren to move her career forward. Not knowing everything does not intimidate her. It inspires her to dive in and learn. She also sees these situations as opportunities to reach out to others, learn from and connect with them Phil agrees that mindset is a healthy one for IT professionals to have. After all, everyone has been in a position where they do not know something, at some point in their careers. (19.07) – Phil asks Lauren to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Lauren’s advice is to those who are new to the industry is to attend meetups. Lean into the things you do not understand, get a mentor, study hard and continue to do so until it makes sense. For those who have been working in the industry for a long time, her advice is to tap into the power of volunteering. She finishes her response by urging everyone to be advocates for those that are underrepresented in the IT industry. BEST MOMENTS: (3.56) LAUREN – “People learn and communicate in a myriad of different ways.” (4.03) LAUREN – “There's so much value in thinking about problems from creative and new perspectives" (7.34) PHIL – "Often, for interviews, you create the stress yourself by putting too much expectation on yourself" (9.11) LAUREN – "Conferences offer that opportunity to bring individuals together to participate in collaborative learning and foster a greater sense of community" (14.28) LAUREN – "Sometimes you've got to walk away from the bug in your code, or whatever problem you have, especially if you are blocked." (18.16) LAUREN – “I’m not intimidated by not knowing everything.” CONTACT LAUREN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoLoCoding @LoLoCoding LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-lee-ande/

GUEST BIO: Ali Spittel is a self-taught software engineer who has the job of teaching other people how to code at General Assembly DC’s Web Development Immersive program.  Before that she was a software engineer at Optimus.  Ali also blogs about code and her life as a developer. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Ali Spittel is Phil’s guest on today’s show. In Jan 2019, she became a Software Engineer and Developer Advocate for the DEV Community. Prior to this, she spent nearly 2 years teaching others to code as a Lead Instructor for General Assembly DC. Ali started her IT career working as a software engineer. Currently, she is Director of the DC Chapter of Women Who Code. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.00) – So Ali, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ali explains that she started her career as a software engineer, focusing on the stack. Mostly working on data visualization and processing applications. Later, she became a full-time coding teacher at General Assembly. Recently, she has taken on a new hybrid role as a software engineer developer advocate for Dev.to. (1.52) Phil asked her how she had ended up in that particular role. For Ali landing the role was a natural progression. She was already well known within the community, had experience of teaching, public speaking and writing. She had also worked as a software developer. So, when the role came up she realized that she ticked all of the boxes and tried to land the job. The fact that, for a while, she had been an active member on the platform and was good friends with some of the DEV people also helped. Interestingly, much of the material she published on Dev.to came from her blog. Cross-posting like this enabled her blog to gain traction and led to the DEV team to work on special projects with them. (1.52) – Phil asks Ali how she ended up teaching code. Ali explains that she was a guest lecturer at the General Assembly. She was also heavily involved with the coding community. Plus, even in college she had written a lot of content. A habit that gets you used to crunching down what you are learning and representing it in a way that is easier for others to understand. Basically, teaching, so for her becoming an actual teacher was natural. (3.24) Phil asks Ali how her new role came about. Again, that happened largely because she had decided to share what she was learning. She did that mainly through her blog, which she had never thought would amount to much. At one point she stumbled upon the DEV website and started to cross-post her work. Gradually, her blog posts gained traction. She also did a couple of one-off projects for DEV and some workshops. So, when a position came along she was a natural fit. (4.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the audience? Ali’s advice is to find ways to teach others what you are learning. Doing so benefits you and others in many different ways. Firstly, you become a resource for others. You also make some great connections and really bond with those who are learning from you. Later, you are able to learn from them and ask them from advice about areas you have yet to explore. Teaching enables you to establish yourself as an expert in your field. This in turn increases the rate at which your content is shared and makes it far easier to find work. Working out how to explain something to others is also a great way to solidify your own knowledge. It was especially helpful for Ali because she was largely self-taught. She knew what to do, but, not necessarily why it had to be done that way. Repeatedly, going over the curriculum deepened her own IT knowledge. She also found that her students came up with questions that made her think about things in different ways. This drives you on and pushes you to dig deep. There are so many different ways to teach. It is not just about standing up in a classroom. These days, you end up doing it through public speaking, online, as a mentor, in the workplace and in many other ways. (7.28) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Ali’s worst moment actually happened while she was still studying. She fell in love with coding and decided to take a double major in computer science. But, for some reason, when she started taking the C++ course, things did not gel for her. It did not matter how many hours she worked at it she just could not get good results. After struggling through for a long time, she admitted defeat and gave up, which was a real low point for her. Luckily, she ended up falling back into it about six or seven months later. It turned out that taking a break was what she had needed. When she came back to coding again it all clicked and she was able to pursue a career that she really enjoys. That experience taught her that learning is a roller coaster. There are peaks and valleys, sometimes the valleys seem to go on forever. When that happens, it is important not to become disheartened. Instead, take a short break and come back to it with a fresh perspective. (9.44) – Phil asks Ali about her best career moment. For Ali, seeing her students succeed is what she enjoys the most. She knows that, over the years, she has helped thousands of people to learn what they need to know to build cool things. (10.44) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that what we can build using tech is limitless is very cool and exciting. Programming touches everything we touch. It really is a part of every aspect of our lives.  (12.10) – What drew you to a career in IT? Really, this happened by accident when she ended up taking a computer science class as an extra credit hour. She loved it, got hooked on Python and went from there. (12.55) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Always be learning. Keep staying on top of all of the new things that are coming out. Also, don’t be afraid of breaking things, that is inevitable when you are learning. (13.34) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ali says that she really wishes she had been introduced to programming earlier and in a fun way. It would have been really cool to learn how to code in a low-pressure environment instead of an academic setting. (14.16) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Ali’s new role means that she will need to get back into coding. Moving back into writing production code is going to be a big transition for her. She will also need to step up her public speaking and writing and get more involved in community outreach. So, right now, most of her energy is focused on settling into her new role and excelling at it. (14.58) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ali has found that having strong people skills has really helped her to progress. For example, having good relationships with others in the industry has made finding work far easier for her. Often, she has been able to land jobs without having to go a formal application process. This is part of the reason she recommends that people take the time to attend a range of events. Doing so develops your people skills and makes it really easy to connect with others. (16.31) – Phil asks Ali to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Ali says her advice is– start teaching. Just start off in a small way and go from there. Speak at a meetup, write one blog post or send out a tweet that teaches people something. It does not matter what it is, just get started. BEST MOMENTS: (5.40) ALI – “When you teach, people start looking at your content and sharing it and seeing you as somebody that is really knowledgeable" (6.44) ALI – "Teaching has been incredibly pivotal for me, career-wise, for so many reasons." (9.29) ALI – "Learning is such a roller coaster. There are so many peaks and valleys in it" (11.39) PHIL – "As the industry matures, even more, the problems that we are able to solve are much more complex" (13.03) ALI – "It’s so important in our field in general, to always be furthering your own knowledge, and staying on top of the new things.” CONTACT ALI: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ASpittel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aspittel/ Website: https://www.alispit.tel

GUEST BIO: Chris has worked as a lead developer on some of the largest web projects and is currently a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft.  He is also the author of several JavaScript books and the Developer Evangelism book as well as being a regular presenter at conferences. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Chris Heilmann.  Over the years, has worked as an HTML and web developer on some of the largest web projects. He has worked for netdecisions, Agilisys, Yahoo UK and Mozilla. Today, he is a Senior Program Manager Developer and Evangelist, at Microsoft. Chris is also an author who has written mainly about JavaScript. But, he is best known for his Developer Evangelism book and for his conference speaking. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.00) – So Chris, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Chris starts off by explaining that he did not take the normal route into an IT career. He did not go to university. His IT journey started with him writing games for the Commodore 64 and other early computers. After leaving school, he became a journalist and newscaster. In 1986, he discovered the internet and was immediately hooked. Fairly quickly, he was able to bring his two passions of tech and journalism together. Almost immediately, Chris could see the internet was going to help him and his colleagues to easily publish on a worldwide. He says that he was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. (2.25) - So, presumably your background in journalism has helped you in terms of other things you have done. For example, writing your books and public speaking. Chris agrees, he says his journalism skills were a great help when he started blogging. He found that his experience of writing for radio translated particularly well when writing for an online audience. When writing for the radio you have to ensure that every sentence makes perfect sense. Usually, people are doing other things while listening to the radio, for example, driving. So, they cannot focus 100% on what you are saying. The clearer you are the more likely you are to keep their attention and really get through to them. It is the same when people are reading your stuff online. You rarely have their full attention. We all tend to skim through things, so every sentence has to clearly make its point. This ability to make a point effectively and hold the attention of the audience has also been very useful when it comes to public speaking. His work as a journalist also helped Chris to adapt his message to suit the audience. (3.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Chris says that being flexible is vital. He has moved to several different countries to pursue his career. If you are willing and able to be flexible there are a lot of opportunities available in the IT world. For example, You need to be prepared to work at strange hours sometimes. Doing so opens up the opportunity to collaborate with people from across the world. Being flexible enables you to put yourself in the right place at the right time, more often. Chris also thinks it is important to be prepared to physically travel so that you can work with others from across the world. Even though we have the internet you tend to get far more done when you spend time working with people face to face. (5.05) – Can you tell us what your worst career moment was? And what you learned from that experience. For Chris, his worse career moment was when the UK office of a company he was working for was shut. When that happened, basically, all of the talented people they had pulled together over 10 years were scattered to the winds. The team he was working with was very talented and worked quickly. They achieved more than the Silicon Valley team did in far less time. Yet, they still closed the office and asked everyone to move to the USA. Some people went and just stayed with the firm for the 2 years they neede for the visa. Then, naturally, they left for better offers. Chris felt that this action showed an incredible lack of insight on the part of the company. It led to all of that talent being lost just because they were geographically in the wrong place. Plus, naturally, a lot of the people were bitter. Many left in anger, which is a bad idea, especially in IT. Even today, it is quite a small world. Chris says that the best approach is to take the high ground. Don’t bad mouth the company to others. The chances are you are going to come across these people again, in the future. (7.00) – Phil asks Chris about their best career moment was. Chris has had lots of great moments. He really enjoys the fact that a small change on the front end can make such a huge positive difference for users. It is also nice when you build up your reputation to the point where finding a new job becomes almost automatic. Chris also gets pleasure from seeing the careers of others he has worked with flourish. (9.18) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that computers are taking over more is something that really excites Chris. This is despite the fact that AI is set to cut into the amount of work that will be available for him. Currently, he sees too many security issues slipping through the net because the code has been written by people who are basically bored with their job. In the future, much of that boring work will be done by computers. AI machines will be great at finding and fixing malicious code and debugging. They will be far faster at it than humans are. This will free developers up to become even more creative and innovative. However, for this to happen quickly the industry needs more data scientists. We need people who can see the patterns and teach machines to recognize them too. He points out that a lot of code has been written already. It is just that much of it has not been shared yet. The open source movement is helping to sort that out. As a result we are now moving forward at a far faster rate. Chris is also excited by the fact that new roles are constantly being created within the IT industry. There are dozens of exciting and interesting jobs that simply did not exist a few years ago. (12.20) – What drew you to a career in IT? Chris explains that he has always loved computers, so when he saw the chance to make working with them a part of his daily life he lept at it. He was also drawn to the sector because he realized he would be able to help people to overcome their fear of working with computers. His work on the front end was helping people to tap into this new technology and achieve more, something he really enjoyed doing. (12.51) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That was – don’t forget to network within your company, especially when you first join. Get to know the people and their problems. Help others and do everything you can to get departments to talk to each other. Get to know other communicators within that business. Doing all of this helps you to understand your company and find your place within it. Taking this approach ensures that you will always have a backup plan. If your fantastic boss suddenly leaves and your new one is awful, you will be able to quickly move to another job. Plus, when you play a role in getting something difficult fixed you are going to quickly be seen as a valuable employee. So, staying there long-term becomes a viable option. Provided, of course, that is what you want to do. (14.31) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Nowadays, having a proper IT degree is a good thing. Chris knows that he was lucky to end up working in the IT field without a relevant degree. He says that the degree he would take now would be data science. Chris also thinks he would start out by working for smaller startups. He says that this enables you to focus on one project and see it through. This hones your skills and helps you to learn how to turn what you are working on into a success. He also says that he would not go into gaming. It is really hard to become successful in that field now. Nowadays, there is a huge pool or pre-done stuff you can draw upon to get things done quickly. You no longer need to know how to code everything from scratch. So, Chris would also focus on maximizing the potential of this. He would familiarize himself with the various components and frameworks that are available and learn how to use them to get things done fast. (16.49) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Chris’ main objective is to move up and start building a team again. He wants to have team members who can replicate what he is doing right now, so he can focus on working with just a few clients. (17.48) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Chris finds that he uses his communication skills a lot. It is important to know how to talk to people. It also helps you to recognize when not to pursue something. Just because you have identified the perfect solution does not mean that you should insist on developing it right there and then. Sometimes you have to think of the needs of the project, chunk up your knowledge and put together something that works for now, to move things forward. Then, perhaps circle back later to push your idea and get it implemented.[[ (18.59) – Phil asks Chris to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Make sure you stay interested in the job you are doing. Don’t do a boring job or one that you do not like, just for the money. If you do that, you are setting yourself up for failure. You have to find something that challenges you as well. If you are hiring people, always hire someone who is better than you. When you do, you open up the opportunity for you to delegate to them. They get to develop and you are freed up to do something else. In time, they become able to replace you, by which point you will be ready to move on, anyway. You should not be afraid of the people that work for you. BEST MOMENTS: (3.57) CHRIS – “Being flexible in your time and being flexible to actually work across the world is something that a lot of people still have problems with. IT is not a 9 to 5 job." (9.26) CHRIS – "I'm actually very excited that computers are taking over more and more." (9.54) CHRIS – "We should not be bored by writing software. Computers should actually be good enough to write most of the code for themselves." (13.00) CHRIS – “When you join a new company network inside the company." (16.47) CHRIS – "We are reusing 90% of the time what other people have been doing." CONTACT CHRIS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/codepo8 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianheilmann/ Website: https://christianheilmann.com/

GUEST BIO: Jennifer Bland is a Senior Software Engineer, Speaker, Author, host and Google Developers Expert.  She is on the leadership team for Women Who Code Atlanta and she runs the websites in5days.tech and codeprep.io which provide technical training on JavaScript topics.  Jennifer is also the host of the CodePrep podcast. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Jennifer Bland is Phil’s guest on today’s show. She is one of Google’s Web Technologies Developers Experts, who has had a long tech career. Over the years, she has been a developer, consultant and project manager. Now she works as a senior software engineer for Stanley Black and Decker. But, Jennifer also spends a lot of time and energy working in the community enabling under-represented groups to become successful in IT. She is a well-known speaker, podcast host and author, as well as a trainer. Via her two websites in5days.tech and codeprep.io she provides technical training for JavaScript related topics KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – So Jennifer, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jennifer starts by explaining that she is, currently, a senior software engineer for Stanley Black and Decker in Atlanta. She is very proud of being a member of one of the most active Women Who Code chapters in the world. Fairly recently, Jennifer has started to provide technical training for others. (1.55) – How did you get involved with Women Who Code? Jennifer discovered them while preparing to attend her first coding boot camp. In preparation, she needed to complete 6 weeks of pre-course material. To get the work done she attended one of Women Who Code’s Coding Jams. From then on she just kept attending their events and meetings. Today, she is on the Leadership Committee for Women Who Code Atlanta. (2.57) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jenifer says that is - “create a public presence”, something that is really easy to do using the internet. It could be as simple as creating your own twitter account and tweeting about tech. Blogging, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook can all work too. Attending meetups and conferences is a good idea too. You can easily record a few videos while you are there and post them. When you do that, people will start seeking you out at these events. Normally, you will also start to be invited to speak. (4.48) – You mentioned Twitter, are there any other platforms you would recommend? – LinkedIn is an important one. It creates an opportunity for you to write articles and share them worldwide. Pinterest and Instagram can also work although they are more geared towards sharing content via pictures. YouTube is excellent too. (5.39) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. For Jennifer it was not a single moment. It was a 6-month process that she went through. Basically, she had joined a company without working out what the work environment would be first. The company had reached out to her as a result of her public presence and offered her a great salary and benefits package. Initially, she said no. But, a few months later they asked again and she said yes. That meant leaving a company she was happy working at. Unfortunately, that was a big mistake. The work environment at her new firm was incredibly poor for the entire 6 months she stayed there. (7.18) how do you go about assessing the work environment in advance? Jennifer starts simply by googling them and talking to people who are already working there. She also tries to reach out and find out what their turnover rate is like. High turnover is a big red flag. (8.09) – Phil asks Jennifer what her best career moment was. Jennifer says that it was becoming a Google Developers expert, at the end of last year. Being one of the few picked out of a field of hundreds of thousands of developers was a huge achievement. To gain the award you genuinely have to be an industry leader and someone who contributes significantly to the community. Plus, to apply someone who is already a Google Developer expert has to nominate you. Then you go through multiple layers of interviews. Here in the USA, there are only 16 Web Technologies Google Developers. So, it feels especially good to be one of them. (10.11) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Jennifer finds the pace of change to be very exciting. She reflects on the fact that she graduated before IBM introduced the PC and got her MBA before the internet became available. So, she has seen huge changes. This frenetic pace of change means that new doors are opening, all the time. As a result, an IT career is highly rewarding. (11.20) – Phil shares her enthusiasm for the rate of change. He goes on to ask Jennifer what she feels about the way in which the devices and software we are using is evolving so much. Jennifer agrees this is exciting too. In fact, the thirst for new devices is helping to drive change within the industry. The fact that people want Alexa style devices to do more, self-driving cars and other devices are pushing developers into new territory. (12.35) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jennifer explained that the first time she was drawn to an IT career it was using the Commodore 64 that piqued her interest. She spent months putting it together and learning how to do it. That is what got her into programming. At the age of 51, she retired and had not planned to return to work. But, she picked up a discounted JavaScript programming book in a bookstore. She read it and could not resist putting what she was learning into action. Once again, she fell in love with programming and decided to come out of retirement. (14.19) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? For Jennifer, that was, invest in yourself. In particular, invest in learning the skills that enable you to continually learn new things. The world of tech changes at a very fast pace, which means that you have to keep up. You need to be able to learn new languages fast, and be able to adapt to fresh implementation and working methods. You need to be able to ride the waves of change. (15.42) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jennifer says she would focus on honing her ability to learn tech skills as fast as possible. Coding boot camps are an excellent way to do exactly that. You can learn to code in 3 to 6 months instead of spending 4 years getting a college degree. Taking the boot camp route also means that you avoid building up 50 to 100K in student debts. After just 6 months of participating in a camp you can get a job. Within a year, you will have created a brand new career and be about 3 years ahead of your peers. (17.14) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Jennifer is focusing on try to get as many women and underrepresented groups into tech over the next 4 years, or so. Then she thinks she will retire again. She wants to help these groups of people to have the skills to earn good money. Working in IT makes it easy to find relatively secure employment, something that these demographic groups desperately need. (18.11) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Jennifer that is easy. The ability to network easily has helped her enormously. It has opened many doors for her, which has, in turn, enabled her to open doors for many others. For example, she was able to give the resume of a lady she met at Women Who Code to her manager. That woman still works there today. That networking moment benefited everyone involved, for many years. (19.38) – Phil asks Jennifer to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jennifer says that if you want to work in the IT industry, you have to accept the fact that you are going to have to change jobs a lot. Very few successful IT professionals stay in a role for more than 5 years. To progress, you need to create the opportunities, which, most of the time means being willing to move to another company. BEST MOMENTS: (3.24) JENNIFER – "Take the time to create your own public presence. It will benefit you so much in the long run." (14.23) JENNIFER – "Invest in learning the skills that will allow you to learn these new technologies that are coming out." (15.21) JENNIFER – "Invest in yourself, this will enable you to ride the waves of change to new and secure better opportunities for yourself."  (16.32) JENNIFER – "If you complete a six-month coding boot camp, you can get a job." (17.07) JENNIFER – "I would definitely focus on learning tech skills as quickly and efficiently as I possibly could." CONTACT JENNIFER: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ratracegrad @ratracegrad LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ratracegrad/ Personal Website: https://www.jenniferbland.com/ Company Website: https://www.codeprep.io/ and https://www.in5days.tech

GUEST BIO: Jen Bunk is a career coach for tech managers, helping them to upgrade their teams, careers, paychecks and lives. Jen is also the host of the People Stack podcast, where she interviews authors, coaches and leaders of tech companies from around the world. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Jen Bunk. Her path into the world of IT was a long one. She started out working in the academic world. Today, she helps tech managers to upgrade their careers. She teaches them how to share what they are doing and the value that adds effectively. That is in a way that quickly leads to promotion, bigger paychecks and a better work-life balance. Her advice is tailored to fit in with the career objectives of each of the people she helps. Jen is the host of the People Stack podcast for which she interviews career coaches, authors and tech leaders, for around the globe. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.56) – So Jen, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jen starts by saying how cool it is for her to be interviewed rather than being the one doing the interviewing. She explains that she is a career coach for technical managers. That means that she helps engineering managers, IT managers, technical project and product managers and others. Occasionally, she will work with data analytics specialists or science team leaders too. She helps these people to upgrade their careers. To get a promotion, move fields get a raise and a lot more besides. Her aim is to help them to do this without having to work ridiculously long hours to achieve this. (2.46) – Do the people you work with have different career objectives? Jen says yes, everyone has a unique story. So, they have different goals and career paths that they want to follow. But, there is one thing that ties them all together. They all feel that they are stuck in their career. Usually, they have worked hard to try to progress, but not been able to do so. Others are doing OK, but are having to work ridiculous hours to achieve what they want or stay in their roles. Most of her clients are middle management. Typically, she is working with the people who directly lead the tech teams. (4.03) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? If you want to upgrade your career, it is not enough to be excellent, and strive to be the best and continually add value. That is only part of it. You need to evangelize that excellence; essentially you have to become good at self-promotion. Jen calls it self promotion on steroids. You need to let others know what you are doing and how it is benefiting the organization you work for. (5.13) - So, do you have any specific suggestions of how people should go about doing that themselves? Jen says that this type of self-promotion has to be done carefully. First, you have to get comfortable with the fact that you are going to have to promote yourself. Self-promotion is something that makes a lot of people squirm. What you need to do to get started depends on the circumstances you are in. If you are not doing any self-promoting you need to ask yourself why that is and work out how to get started. Whereas, if you are already doing it and it is not working you would need to take a different approach. Perhaps you would need to communicate more clearly or share what you are doing in other arenas. There is no one size fits all answer. (6.29) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Jen explains that in her former life, she was a college professor. About 10 years into her career, she applied for promotion and tenure. A move that is not uncommon, often, the two go hand in hand. The process of gaining tenure and getting promoted is a long one that typically takes about a year. It involves working with and being assessed by various departments at different levels. For example, working with the Dean of the College, as you go through each level you are assessed. This process starts at the department level. So, initially it is your colleagues, people you work with every day that consider your applications. Unfortunately, at this stage, the department committee told her they were happy to support her for tenure, but not for promotion. Naturally, Jen was shocked and angry. It was a real ‘what just happened to me moment?’ Getting through the meeting was a trial. She could not work out why her colleagues had made that decision. In the end, both the Dean and the provost supported and recommended her. So, ultimately she got tenure and promotion. It was not a great experience, but it was one that Jen learned from. Only then did she realize that the Dean knew what she was doing so could understand the value she was adding. But, importantly, the people she worked with every day did not. The result of that situation was nearly disastrous. (10.03) – Presumably you have taken what you learned from that experience and applied it to your coaching career. Jen says yes definitely. That is where her ‘evangelizing your excellence’ message came from. Her anger at her colleagues turned to understanding when she realized she had not made sure they knew what she was contributing. It was a hard lesson to learn, but a learning moment that means she can be very effective at stopping others from continuing to make a similar mistake. (11.20) – Phil asks Jen what their best career moment was. For Jen, that has been being able to grow her coaching business at an astonishing rate. After just 3 years in business, they reached the 6 figure turnover point. This was a huge achievement in an industry where most coaches typically turnover between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum. It is an achievement that shows what they are doing is effective. Her clients are getting amazing results. (12.20) – Phil says I assume you get some great career stories from the people you are working with. Jen agrees and explains that she is now sharing more of them. At first it felt a little weird, after all these are personal stories. But, she has found that when people are doing great they really want to share their experience with others. (13.00) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact it is always changing is what excites Jen the most about the industry. The other day, her husband was talking to their nine-year-old son about what he wants to do when he is older. He ended up explaining that neither of the jobs his parents do now and love doing did not even exist when they were kids. Within the IT industry, new careers are constantly emerging. Phil agrees and reminds the audience that this ever-changing landscape means that there are always plenty of opportunities for progress. (14.25) – What drew you to a career in IT? Even in the 80s, Jen loved tech. Her brother got a computer for Christmas. Jen wanted to play on it all the time. So, now she works in the industry she feels like she has come home somehow. (15.12) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? That would be – take extreme ownership of your career. Make sure you are always in the driver’s seat. Phil agrees the days where the firm you worked for automatically helped you to learn more and progress your career are long gone. (15.42) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Interestingly, Jen would not do anything differently. She has enjoyed everything she has done, so would do it all again. (16.11) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? In terms of her own career, Jen is building a million dollar business. To do this she will be pulling in other entrepreneur friends. The foundations of this have already been laid with the formation of the Two Comma Club. So, she is switching from fulfilling day to day functions and taking on more of a CEO role. Being the person who sets the strategic vision and leading the way. But, she still plans to do some coaching. Jen wants to continue to have direct access to clients. Phil summarizes this as becoming the person who works on the business rather than in the business. (17.38) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being a good writer has proved important. But, for Jen her most important non-technical skill has been good time management. It has enabled her to be as effective as possible. (17.45) – Phil asks Jen to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you want to progress your career, you have to take true ownership of it.  When it comes to our careers many of us act like we are the pawns in a game of chess rather than the player. All too often we sit there waiting for opportunities to come along. Instead we should be acting like the player and be the one who makes things happen. You can, and should, be the one to move the pieces around the board. A client once told her that he felt like he was wearing a pair of golden handcuffs. He was making a lot of money and a great position, but, he did not really like where he worked. Plus, he was working 60 hours a week.  So, Jen asked him – who put those golden handcuffs on? Of course, it was him, which was great news because it meant that he could take them off. Phil says that is a great analogy. All you need to do to take them off is to realize that you have the key. BEST MOMENTS: (4.17) JEN – "It's not enough to simply be excellent, and strive to be the best and continually add value.” (4.58) JEN – “Building the excellence and the evangelist excellence coming together is what leads to career upgrading."  (15.16) JEN – "Take extreme ownership, it's your career. It's no one else's. You're in the driver's seat." (18.19) JEN – "I like to make sure that every moment is used as effectively and efficiently as possible" (19.49) JEN – "It can be really hard to realize that I'm the one who put myself in this situation. But I can get myself out because I'm the player, not just a pawn." CONTACT JEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBunky @JBunky LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenbunk/ Company Website: https://thepeoplestack.com Personal Website: https://jenbunk.com

GUEST BIO: Antonio Leiva is an experienced software engineer, trainer and speaker who specializes in Android development.  Antonio is also the author of the book “Kotlin for Android Developers”. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Antonio Leiva.  He started his IT career as a software developer. Fairly quickly he focused on Android development. When JetBrains released their Java replacement Kotlin to the open-source community, Antonio saw the potential and immersed himself in the new language. Today, he is a well known Kotlin specialist and teacher. His book “Kotlin for Android Developers” is a go-to resource for many. To date, around 7,000 copies have sold. Antonio offers certificated Kotlin training for Android developers and engineers. He is also now offering a hands-on mentoring service. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.45) – So Antonio, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Antonio starts by explaining that he has been working as a software developer for more than 10 years. A lot of that time has been spent working with Android. For the last 4 years, he has been learning about and using Kotlin, which has been designed and developed by JetBrains and open-source contributors. This very new language enabled Android developers to overcome the issue of having to work with a very old version of Java. Antonio got involved during the very early developments stages. Once he understood the value of Kotlin, he decided to write a book about it. This was despite the fact that, at the time, it was still not clear whether the language would succeed or not. His gamble paid off. Today, Kotlin is an official language. Nowadays, his main goal is to help Android developers to boost their careers. But, he is also heavily involved in helping companies to migrate from Java to Kotlin. (2.48) – Is Kotlin a language that is growing in popularity? Antonio says yes it is. The language was designed by JetBrains who had already successfully launched dozens of other programming languages and tool, including IntelliJ IDEA. They are very successful, but they were becoming frustrated with Java. It was just no longer powerful enough to enable them to do what they needed to do and push things forward. So, they designed Kotlin, to solve this problem. The fact that Kotlin is open-source has really helped it to develop and grow in popularity fast, especially within the Android community. Plus, Google decided a couple of years ago to support it as a separate language for developing Android apps. That made a big difference to how popular it was. (4.12) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Antonio’s advice is to remember that you do not necessarily follow what others are doing. You need to sit down, work out what you want, identify your values and what is important to you and make a plan that fits in with that. If you want to be close to your family, it might be beneficial to seek out employment that allows you to work from home. There is a tendency for young developers to work hard to emulate their heroes who work at places like Facebook and Google. They assume that is what they want, only to find, after a lot of hard work, that is not the case. You need to follow a career path that fits in with you and who you are. (5.51) At this point, Phil points out the importance of regularly reviewing that plan to make sure that it is a good fit. (6.11) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. So far, Antonio has not had any terrible moments in his career. He has only experienced the usual blips, the two or three things that happen to everyone, for example, releasing something that won’t run. However, there was an incident that did have a negative impact on Antonio. The fact that English is not his first language has made things more difficult for him. He has missed out on some opportunities. On one occasion it got in the way of him landing a job that he was a perfect fit for.  That really knocked his confidence and he began to really suffer from the imposter syndrome. He even thought about stopping the work he was doing in English and changing to only helping developers in his mother tongue, Spanish. Luckily, Antonio realized that doing that would stop him from achieving his goal of helping as many people as possible to move their careers forward. (7.45) – Phil asks Antonio what his best career moment has been, so far. Antonio thinks that was deciding to write his book. That decision has led to some amazing things. It has opened doors for him, created opportunities. Most importantly, it has helped him to build a community around himself. Publishing his book has freed him up to work on his own projects and create his own business. In addition, writing that book has exposed his knowledge to the world and given him a special place in the community. Plus, as many others have said before him, “teaching others is the best way to learn”. It forces you to truly master a subject. (9.13) – Phil asks Antonio how many copies of Kotlin For Android Developers have been sold or circulated, so far. Antonio thinks between 6 and 7,000 copies. (9.31) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Antonio enjoys the fact that we cannot really tell what is going to happen in the next 5 to 10 years. That pushes us to continually learn and develop, which is great for self-improvement. It forces you out of your comfort zone every few years. So, working in IT is never boring, it is exciting. (10.27) – Phil asks Antonio if there is anything specific in the mobile field that Antonio sees changing or something that particularly interests him.  Antonio believes that soon, we will be able to write something once and be able to publish it to everyone regardless of the platform they are on, at the touch of a button. (11.23) – What drew you to a career in IT? Antonio got involved in the world of IT largely by accident. He had no idea what degree he wanted to take, so he decided to try computer science. Despite never having written a line of code in his life, he enjoyed it. (12.03) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? His mentor recently reminded him that when you choose your career you do it so that you can live the life you want. Therefore, you should not be continuously looking at how others are managing their careers and try to copy them exactly. It is important to be your own person. You have different needs and priorities, so you may need to take a different path than others have. (13.17) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Antonio says that from the very start he would blog and network. He knows if he had done so from the moment he started studying for his degree he would have ramped up his understanding of the subject. (13.53) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Antonio’s main focus is growing his business and turning his project into a success. He is also planning some new training to turn Android developers into engineers. (14.36) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Antonio believes that knowing himself well has really helped him to progress HHHYYY. He says that knowing what your fears and strengths are and what holds you back will enable you to unleash your power. Learning to feel happy with his life no matter what, without worrying about what others think or needing their approval has also helped Antonio. But, that is something that did not come naturally for him. (15.28) – Phil asks Antonio to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Antonio’s advice is not to push yourself too hard, so that you can enjoy the journey. Help and learn from everyone, doing so will make it far easier for you to find your way. BEST MOMENTS: (02.13) Antonio – "My main goal nowadays is to help other Android developers to boost their careers." (5.25) Antonio – "Think about your future, about what you really want to achieve, and then build up a plan based on that. Check your values and what is most important to you." (8.51) Antonio – "Teaching others is the best way to learn." (9.53) Antonio – "The only thing we know for sure is that we need to learn new things and to adapt to new circumstances. That is really great for self-improvement." (15.37) Antonio – “Don't push yourself too hard and enjoy the journey. Try to help and learn from everyone.” CONTACT ANTONIO: Twitter: https://twitter.com/lime_cl @lime_cl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniolg/ Website: https://antonioleiva.com/

GUEST BIO: Dr. Sue Black is an award-winning Computer Scientist, Technology Evangelist and Digital Skills Expert.  She is a professor in the department of Computer Science at Durham University, a government advisor, thought leader, writer and public speaker. Sue was awarded an OBE for services to technology in the 2016 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Dr. Sue Black. She has worked in the IT field for nearly 25 years, primarily in education-related roles. However, she has also been heavily involved in other projects and roles. For example, she is a UK Government advisor, a technology columnist for The Guardian, the founder of techmums. Up until 2011 she ran the campaign to save Bletchley Park. Sue is currently a Professor of Computer and Technology Evangelist for Durham University. In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to technology and, in 2017, won the Social Impact Abie Award. She is also a well-known tech conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So Sue, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Sue explains that she left school at 16 but did not go back into education until she was 26, when she took a maths course. From there, she became a full-time student. She left university with a PhD in software engineering. From there she became a full-time lecturer at senior, then principle, level. Fairly quickly, she became the head of department at the University of Westminster. In November 2018, she became the Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist at Durham University, her dream job. Sue, mentions that she has” done a few things outside of that”, which is actually a bit of an understatement. She is and has been heavily involved with a wide range of tech projects and initiatives. (2.07) – What particularly excited you about working in the field of education? The fact that education changed Sue’s life so much has been a big inspiration for Sue. When she took her maths course she was a 26-year-old single mum. She had realized that if she went back to work she could not even earn enough to pay for childcare. This realization led her to go back into education. Plus, she has always had a curious mind and loved learning. She loves learning and really enjoys helping people to understand the world of technology. Sue finds it to be a wonderful thing. (3.28) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience, something that perhaps they should know? Twenty-one years ago Sue set up a network for women in technology. Chairing that group taught Sue the true value of connecting with other people. She knew it was important, but, over the years has seen just how effective it is. When you talk to people you like and who you share similar or connected interests with, a whole new world opens up. Of course, you talk to each other about what you are doing, discuss ideas and get feedback. But, something else also happens. Your work starts to become known. If you are networking with people within your company as well as outside the understanding of what you do and your true value increases. Getting a promotion becomes a lot easier. Plus, importantly, networking helps you to make good friends. (4.53) – Please, tell us about your worst career moment and what you learned from that experience. When Sue was doing her PhD, she hadn’t backed up things properly and ended up losing 3 months worth of work. Naturally, she was devastated. She was also too embarrassed to tell anyone. It took her close on a month to come to terms with what she had done and a further 2 months to catch up. The whole experience shook her and it was several more months before she was able to get properly up to speed. That was a harsh way to learn the importance of backing things up. Now that everything is in the cloud Sue says that you do not have to worry so much. You just have to remember to set up anything stand up like Word to save every 30 seconds or so. (6.39) – Phil asks Sue to share her greatest career moment. Winning the Social Impact Abie Award from the technical women’s community at Grace Hopper Celebration was Sue’s greatest moment. As a computer pioneer Grace Hopper is definitely someone to look up to, so it was a great honor to be chosen. Giving a speech to 17,000, mainly female, computer science graduates from across the world was an amazing experience. It gave Sue the chance to share a bit of her story, the struggles as well as the success. The sheer scale of the event and the fact that most of the attendees were women who were involved in tech was just amazing. (8.44) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Sue really enjoys the way tech is becoming involved in absolutely everything we do. As a result, technology skills are going to become increasingly valuable. It frustrates her that more people do not consider an IT career. Technology careers are not just about sitting there coding all day. There are so many other roles to fill. There is a place for everyone within the technology sector. So, everyone should be doing their best to learn as many tech skills as possible. There is already a skills shortage. This means that there are jobs available for anyone who is even a little bit tech savvy. Sue is also excited about the way in which tech connects everyone together. When she was working on the Bletchley Park project it was Twitter and social media that sparked the necessary interest to keep things on track and complete the project. Twitter enabled Sue to instantly find everyone who was interested in Bletchley Park and engage with them. Twitter is an incredible way to find like-minded people. (11.24) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Sue says for her it was probably money. When she was deciding on which degree to take she had the choice of math or computer science. At the time, her priority was earning enough to support her and her three kids. So, taking computer science was the most sensible option. (11.54) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Sue said that was – “Go for promotion”. Apply any time you get a chance, after all what is the worst thing that can happen when you do so? (12.24) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Sue says that she has always regretted not becoming a stack developer. A role she could not consider doing now, because she feels that she no longer has the energy for it. But, if she were starting over again, as a younger person, that is what she would want to do. (12.44) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Sue wants to change the world with technology. Right now, her focus is helping people who have come from a disadvantaged background, as she did. That is why she has set up her social enterprise, techmums. Sue wants to empower people through technology. She is also interested in becoming a University Vice Chancellor. Fulfilling that personal ambition is something she is also working towards. (13.31) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Sue says being able to chat with people and make friends has really helped her throughout her career. When she was doing her PhD her supervisor told her she had to network. At the time, that was the last thing Sue wanted to do. In fact, she was scared of doing it. But, she pushed herself to follow that advice. Now, she believes that is the thing that has made the biggest positive difference to her career. Talking to people, finding out what they do helps you to find common interests so that you can connect and collaborate. Networking has negative connotations, but, when done properly it should not have those. If you are genuinely interested in others and happy to share what you are doing getting to know people can only be a positive thing. (14.41) Phil says you make a good point about networking. Really, we need to find a different word for it to get away from the negativity surrounding it. Sue agrees. For her networking is primarily about friendship. She remembers sitting alone at conferences not knowing a soul. It took a lot for her to say Hi and talk to others about what they were up to. But, when she did good things happened. Some of those people have been her friends for two decades now. (15.25) – Phil asks Sue to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Sue’s advice is to do a job that you love. But, bear in mind that it can take a while to get to the point where you enjoy every aspect of your job. It has taken Sue many years to gradually work her way into her dream job. But, with perseverance it can be done. BEST MOMENTS: (3.17) SUE– "Seeing that kind of light bulb moment when someone actually gets something that you're talking about is just a wonderful thing." (9.12) SUE– "Technology skills are just going to become more and more valuable" (9.44) SUE– "Everyone should be doing their best to learn as many tech skills as possible" (10.29) SUE– "For finding likeminded people Twitter is just incredible" (13.57) SUE– "Over my 25-year career, the thing that's made the biggest difference is just going and chatting to people.” (15.25) SUE – “If you work doing something that you really enjoy doing, you're going to do well.” CONTACT SUE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dr_Black @Dr_Black LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueblack/ Website: https://sueblack.co.uk

GUEST BIO: Shannon is an Application Developer at Lifion by ADP.  However before she became a full-time Application Developer Shannon was an actress. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Shannon Kendall is Phil’s guest on today’s I.T. Career Energizer show. She has taken an unusual path into the world of IT. Prior to becoming an Application Developer, 7 years ago, she was an actress. She is currently working at Lifion by ADP. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.45 ) – So Shannon, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Shannon explains that she came from a very technical family, but did not believe that a career in IT was for her. Instead, she followed her passion and became an actress. Shannon did well and was proud of her work. But, she realised that she did not find it particularly fulfilling. At times, she had to take boring acting jobs to pay her bills. One day, while looking at Instagram she found out that a friend and fellow actress was learning to code. Very soon after that her friend posted a photo of herself giving a speech at a tech conference in Thailand. This inspired Shannon to consider a change of career too. She took a few online JavaScript tutorials and enjoyed them. Almost immediately, Shannon realised that she had some natural ability for coding. She was good at recognising patterns and solving problems in innovative ways. Even as a child, she had a creative streak and was always investigating different ways to get things done. (4.16) – Have you been able to bring anything from your acting career to your IT work? Shannon says yes, she has. As an actress, she learned to be good at taking direction and handling rejection. Plus, working collaboratively within a team was something she did every day. She has found all of those skills useful in her new IT career. (6.10) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Shannon says that it is important to get comfortable with not knowing everything and be willing to get things wrong. When you work in tech, you are never going to feel totally ready. Things move at a fast pace, so you have to be comfortable with learning as you go. In fact, if you do end up feeling totally ready you can be pretty sure that you are not pushing yourself enough. It is important not to let your fear of being wrong hold you back. You have to learn to put yourself into challenging situations. For example, not long after Shannon started her career she was put in charge of a complex project. At the time, she was worried she was not ready, but her manager persuaded her that she could do it. It turned out her manager was right. All of the team members knew that she was new to IT, so they and her manager were very supportive. As a result, she benefited from their guidance and was allowed to learn as she went. Everyone benefited from the fresh perspective and different leadership style she brought to the team. The project was a big success. Phil agrees that it is important to stretch yourself, but, pointed out that you also need to be careful not to take things too far. If you do this you will avoid getting in too much above your head and failing. (8.18) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. This is a tricky question for Shannon because she has only been working in the industry for 7 years. So, she jokes that she has not yet had the chance to fail spectacularly. However, Shannon admits that she hates those times when she gets stuck for two or three days on a bug. When that happens, she starts feeling that she is letting the team down. This is despite the fact that the more experienced developers repeatedly tell her it isn’t an issue and that it happens to everyone. (10.19) – Phil asks Shannon what their best career moment was. Shannon said that happened after she had been working in the industry for around about a year. At that time, she was working with a team that came up with some new architecture. Getting the project ready in time was not easy, partly because it was so innovative. So, the team ended up having to work late into the night to get things ready for the demo. They were very tired, but incredibly proud of their work, which was really well received by the senior team. During that presentation, Shannon realized that despite being new to the industry she had already been involved in something special. The work she had done on that project was going to make a positive difference and carry on doing so for years to come. It was the first time in her working life that she had felt that way. The first time she had made a real difference. (13.13) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Shannon is excited by the fact that the IT industry is becoming increasingly diverse. For example, everyone on her current team, apart from her project manager is a woman. She believes that this diversity will lead to the development of better products. In the tech industry, collaboration is essential. The fact that people from different backgrounds and perspectives are now working so closely together it is bound to result in new, different and interesting solutions. Now is an especially good time for women to get involved in tech. The industry needs good multi-taskers which is one of the reasons female developers are in such high demand. Shannon also likes the relative job security the IT field has to offer, at the moment. There is huge demand, so securing well-paid work is not hard. (16.57) – What drew you to a career in IT? Interestingly, it was Shannon’s science teacher who set off a series of events that would lead to her working in IT. If anyone in Shannon’s science class had finished their work early, they were allowed to complete a logic puzzle to gain extra credits. Shannon really enjoyed doing them. That is when she fell in love with problem-solving and learned to look at things in a logical way. Without realizing it she was learning the skills that would later prove to be invaluable for her work as a developer. (18.16) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once said to Shannon that she did not realize how skilled she was. At the time, she was working as an actress, and in restaurants. For years, she did not understand what they meant. But, later she began to realize that she really had developed quite a broad skill set, without really knowing that she was doing so. Skills that she uses to this day, for example, her waiting experience makes it easy for her to interact with all kinds of people in many different situations. Shanon says that “No matter what, you have skills that you can draw upon”. (19.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Shannon says she would not be so hard on herself. She is a bit of a perfectionist and a people pleaser. As a result, she holds herself to a high standard and rarely gives herself enough credit. So, if she were to start her IT career again, she would not beat herself up so much. She would not have tried to force herself down the career path of becoming a developer advocate like her friend who was also an actress. Instead, she would recognize straight away that she had to do what made her happy. Shannon believes that if she had done that she would have progressed faster and settled into the IT industry quicker than she has done. (22.03) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Since Shannon knows that she wants to be a leader in tech she is looking for opportunities that will take her closer to that goal. (24.13) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? As an actress Shannon got used to being put into strange or stressful situations and being expected to keep her cool and still perform. This is a skill she has found to be very useful in her IT career. (26.06) – Phil asks Shannon to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Shannon’s advice is to “stay open to opportunity.” She thinks it is important not to judge what you are doing now based off of something you think you will need for the future. Shannon feels she has made this mistake herself and it has caused her to waste a lot of time and energy. In a fast moving industry trying to predict where things will go in the future is pointless. It is much better to apply yourself to what you are doing now and go with the flow, when it comes to the future. She also shared the fact that she likes to keep track of any little tricks she picks up by noting them down on a spreadsheet. Shannon also does the same with her mistakes. For example, if her team points out she has missed a step, she notes it down. So that the next time she is going through the development process she remembers to get it done without any prompting from her team. BEST MOMENTS: (5.38) Shannon – "I always like making things with people because I enjoy the give and take." (6.30) Shannon – "A lot of what holds me back is my fear of being wrong, or this sense that I'm not ready." (16.09) Shannon – "It’s just about your ability to solve problems, and communicate and work with others." (17.44) Shannon – “When I decided to try coding, for the first time, it very much felt like I was solving logic puzzles again.” (19.28) Shannon – “No matter what, you have a skill set that you can draw upon, that will be an asset into any field you go into” (27.11) Shannon – “You need to make that checklist and improve it and follow it.” CONTACT Shannon: Twitter: https://twitter.com/snkendall_ @snkendall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonkendall-/ Website: https://github.com/snkendall

GUEST BIO: Anne-Marie is a software tester, trainer and coach with a reputation of excellence and passion for the craft of software testing.  An electronic engineer by trade, software testing chose her when she started testing protocols against European standards. Anne-Marie has developed software testing courses and lectured at the University of Technology, Sydney. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Anne-Marie Charrett. She is currently running her own software testing, training and coaching business. By trade, she is an electronic engineer, who, early in her career became interested in testing protocols, which she has been doing for the past 20 years. Anne-Marie is also a coach, trainer and Software Test Consultant. She is also a well-known conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.01) – So Anne-Marie, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Anne-Marie explains that when she left university, it was not her intention to become involved in software testing. However, at the time, there was growing interest in protocols and making sure that they conformed to European standards, something that Anne-Marie was drawn to. Anne-Marie got used to testing each layer to make sure that it conformed to the standard. But, she soon realised that this was not an indication of quality. She recognised the fact that things had to work together properly for the system or software to be deemed as truly fit for purpose. The realisation that testers had to dive deeper and go beyond whether the software meets a standard and check that it does its job drove her to become a software tester. From there, becoming a software engineer was a natural progression. (3.17) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Over the course of her career, Anne-Marie has learned to follow the advice – “don’t be nice, but do be kind.” She goes on to explain what she means by that. She says that you need to work smart. To do what is right for your career and the project that you are working on. So, sometimes you have to push to get things done and stand up for what you know has to be done. But, you can still do that in a kind way. She went on to add that you need to think strategically about your career and how you get things done in the workplace. This is something Anne-Marie thinks Angie Jones does particularly well. (3.17) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Years ago, Anne-Marie moved from managing a team of 30 testers to leading 250 engineers. For her, it was a big change. She was working in a very different environment with people who thought and worked in a different way. Her new team needed to be motivated differently. Unfortunately, Anne-Marie did not fully realize this until it was too late. Anne-Marie had taken a very similar approach as she did when she was running her testing team. Making sure that everyone understood the big picture. What the end customer wanted, how the developers worked as well as what the system needed to do. Her band of 30 loyal testers had happily followed her and thrived when she had managed them in this way. The engineers were not as comfortable with this approach. They were far more empirical. For them, it was facts and figures that motivated them. So, things did not go well. However, she learned a lot from this experience, including the fact that there is a difference between leadership and management. She also realized that you need to communicate your value, even when you have not been asked to do so directly. If you produce software you have something solid to show for your efforts. With testing, it is not as easy to demonstrate how you contribute. It also taught her to think and talk about quality engineering in terms of business outcomes. This helps the person you are speaking with to understand the contribution you are making to the company’s bottom line. Anne-Marie explains that you have to adapt your message to fit in with that person’s role. For example, the finance guys will be more interested in how much the new software saves the company than they would be in the fact it will make someone’s job easier. (10.10) – Phil asks Anne-Marie to share her best career moment. Anne-Marie’s most rewarding experience has been running her own company. She has really enjoyed creating a space in which talented people can work, thrive and discover skills that they never knew they had. Anne-Marie is also really proud of SpeakEasy, which she set up with Fiona Charles. This initiative pairs up those who want to speak at conferences with mentors. The majority of IT conference speakers are still men, something Anne-Marie and Fiona wanted to play a part in changing. As a result, most of the people they help are women or those from minority groups. It has been a huge success. Plenty of experienced speakers have come forward to be mentors and they have helped lots of people. Plus, many conference organizers have agreed to leave a few slots free specifically for SpeakEasy participants, which has been a great help.  (15.03) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the industry has woken up to the importance of diversity is something that Anne-Marie sees as a big positive. Diversity will lead to more ideas and different solutions. (16.39) – What drew you to a career in IT, Anne-Marie? Like many people of her generation Anne-Marie had a Commodore 64, which sparked her interest in IT. But, not necessarily in the same way it did for many others. Like most kids, she found learning to program interesting. But, what really fascinated her was how the computer itself worked. She wanted to find out enough to dismantle her Commodore 64 and find out. (17.37) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Anne-Marie said that it was a something her Dad told her – Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. People love giving advice. When you ask someone for advice you are laying the foundation for a strong relationship, as well as benefiting from their experience.  (18.52) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Anne-Marie says that she would get involved in Site Reliability Engineering, from the start. Learning how to design and set up systems in the most optimal way is fascinating. For someone who loves looking at the big picture and working to push quality levels up, as much as Anne-Marie does, the SRE sector is a perfect fit. (19.30) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Anne-Marie wants to scale her business. Fortunately, she has a good partner who is helping her to learn the skills she needs to be able to do this. (20.18) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being able to ask the right questions has proved to be an invaluable skill for Anne-Marie. She says that most of the time, smart people already have the answers to their problems. Usually, all they need is to be asked the right questions, something that Anne-Marie is very good at doing. (21.13) – Phil asks Anne-Marie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Anne-Marie’s advice is to “never let people put you in a box.” Instead, set your own boundaries and work out ways to gradually push beyond them. BEST MOMENTS: (7.44) Anne-Marie – “I learned the importance of communication. You need to communicate your value, even if nobody's asked for that.” (9.06) Anne-Marie – “Now, I talk about quality engineering in terms of business outcomes, “ (14.31) Anne-Marie – “People are interested in personal experiences. People are interested in how you approached a problem and solved it.” (17.41) Anne-Marie – “Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. People love giving advice.” (20.50) Anne-Marie – “By probing and asking thoughtful questions, often, the answers evolve out of that conversation." CONTACT Anne-Marie: Twitter: https://twitter.com/charrett @charrett LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/testingtimes Website: https://annemariecharrett.com

GUEST BIO: Nina Zakharenko is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate at Microsoft, focusing on Python. Before joining Microsoft, she was a Software Engineer with over a decade of experience writing software for companies like Reddit, Meetup, and HBO. In her spare time, she enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and tinkering with wearable electronics from her home base in Portland, OR. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: My guest on today’s show is Nina Zakharenko. She is a Senior Cloud Developer Advocate for Microsoft. Nina is also a well-known conference speaker who covers many technical subjects. Although Python is her area of expertise. Before joining Microsoft, Nina spent a decade writing software for a range of companies, including Reddit, Meetup, HBO and several PayPal subsidiaries. She has also run several JavaScript, Jquery and Git workshops for Girl Develop It. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.07) – So Nina, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Nina describes herself as a “newly minted Developer Advocate”. For the 10 years preceding her joining Microsoft, Nina worked as a software engineer. About 5 years ago, she started giving conference speeches, for fun. She really enjoyed it, so took things more seriously. Today, she is a regular conference speaker. (1.40) – How many conferences talks have you given? Nina says that she has lost count, but it’s a lot. She has spoken in Russia, Prague, Scotland and given several keynote speeches. (2.03) Phil asks Nina if she speaks on a range of different subjects or if she mostly repeats the same speech. Nina explains that she speaks about a range of IT subjects. For example, technical debt and how to develop excellent code review processes. However, the bulk of the speeches she delivers are related to Python, which is really her area of expertise. (2.25) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Nina’s ultimate career tip is to focus on doing one thing, at a time. New things in tech come and go, so keeping up with everything is very challenging. The trick is to find one thing that you feel passionate about and stick with it. If you do not, you will end up being pulled in all directions. Nina’s passion is Python. As soon as she started focusing on it and getting involved in that community her career flourished and really took off. (3.23) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Nina has found that her worst career moments occurred when she is following the money instead of her passion. For example, one of the startups she was working for was taken over. Overnight, everything changed. Nina did not feel 100% comfortable with the ethics of the new company and did not share their leadership values. So, she was no longer happy working there. But, she tried to make it through to the four year cliff period, so that she could secure her share options. This decision ended up being a big mistake. Basically, she burned out. So, she had to leave before the four years were up, without her shares. Of course, it meant that she was a bit poorer. But, it was the right decision. Overnight, she felt happier and soon landed another job, one which she really enjoyed. It is important to understand yourself. To know what you want to get out of your job. Nina’s advice is to find a job that offers you the right balance for you. (5.08) – Phil asks Nina what her best career moment was. Nina says that was probably when she gave her first talk in front of a big audience of about 400, at PyCon.   She was shaking throughout her speech. Despite this, she was able to deliver a great talk. After giving that first speech, Nina realized that people were really interested in her experiences and what she had to say. One of Nina’s ambitions is to give the keynote speech at PyCon. (7.42) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Nina likes the fact that in the IT field there are lots of opportunities for those who want to act as mentors, far more than in other industries. This is a good thing for everyone. It means that those that want to mentor can, while those that want to learn can do so easily, which is great for the future of the industry. (9.08) – Phil says that, over the past decade or so, he has noticed big changes in this area. The industry is far more open and inclusive than it used to be. People are now more commutative and ready to respond positively when they are asked for help or advice. (9.32) – What drew you to a career in IT? Nina has always wanted to be a software engineer. At 11 years old, she said exactly that in one of her school essays. Curiously, it was her dislike of the band Hanson that motivated her to build her first website. She learned HTML, just so she could put together her anti-Hanson site. (10.44) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Nina says she was once told not to think of her career as being something that is attached to a specific workplace. If you are not getting what you need from your current work all you need to do is to move onto something else. When you work in the IT industry, there is no need to let your career stagnate. (11.21) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Nina says that if she were to start out again, she would make sure that she started her career working in a field that she felt passionate about. Her first job was in the finance sector writing enterprise applications, which she never really enjoyed doing. If you have multiple offers take the time to choose wisely. Choose the place that is going to help you to stay passionate about what you are doing. Don’t just throw a dart and see where it sticks. (12.27) – What objectives are you currently focusing on? Right now, it is becoming a better developer advocate that is driving Nina on. She comments that at first she thought she already had all of the skills she needed for her new role. Now, she knows there is more for her to learn, something that she is very keen to do. Currently, she is focusing on her customers and making sure that they have the best possible experience. (13.18) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career?  Nina says that her ability to take hard or complex problems and break things down into easy steps so that anyone can understand it has proved invaluable. She uses this skill when she writes and when she puts together her videos or speeches. Without this ability, it would have been possible for her to have helped so many people to experience that ‘aha moment’. (13.50) Phil asks Nina if she structures her delivery in a particular way. For example, selling the big idea first then drilling down to the detail. Nina says yes in a way that is what she does. She likes to add a little bit of mystique into her conference talks. If she can, she takes her audience in one direction then switches things up part way through. She finds that doing so holds their attention and turns what are sometimes quite dry subjects into something that is a little more interesting. (14.21) – Phil asks Nina to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Nina’s parting piece of career advice is to “trust your gut.” If something catches your attention or excites you, listen to your gut rather than just your logical mind. We like to think of ourselves as being logical beings. But, in reality, we are mostly driven by our emotions. BEST MOMENTS: (2.35) NINA – "Focus on doing one thing well, at a time." (3.34) NINA – “My worst IT career moments came when I was trying to follow the money instead of following my passion." (9.09) NINA – “I think the openness and the sort of inclusiveness within the IT industry have certainly grown over the last decade." (11.11) NINA – "If you feel like your career is stagnating, it's okay to look around." (14.55) PHIL – “We think we're logical. But when it boils down to it, we're all emotionally driven" CONTACT NINA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nnja @nnja LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninaz Website: https://www.nnja.io

GUEST BIO: Ian Massingham is a Technical Evangelist at Amazon Web Services and has been working with cloud computing technologies since 2008.  Ian has around 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, covering operations and engineering within hosting, telecommunications and cloud service providers.  Ian has a particular interest in the development of Connected Device and IoT applications. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Ian Massingham. Ian has already had a long IT career and is still enjoying getting involved in new fields and pushing the boundaries. He started his career by working for a hosting and internet company that is credited with opening up the UK market. Ian and his team used their telecommunications and coding experience to provide fast and affordable internet services to thousands of UK homeowners. Over the years, Ian has worked as an engineer, developer, manager and leader. Today, he leads Technical and Developer Evangelism for Amazon Web Services. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.58) – So Ian, can I ask you to expand on that brief intro and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ian starts by elaborating on the scale, scope and reach of his AWS role. He is responsible for educating software developers and technical end users of AWS on a global scale. Plus, of course customers who are not yet users of the service. Helping them to see how they can use the platform to improve what they are currently doing and use it for new projects. (1.57) – Does that mean that you have to travel a lot? Ian responds by saying yes. He has to attend a lot of different kinds of events and provide support for team members, right across the globe. Plus, he is a prolific speaker in his own right, which also entails a lot of travel. (2.25) – Phil asks Ian to elaborate on the amount of public speaking work he does. Speaking is a big part of his role as the Director of AWS Evangelism. In fact, his whole team spends a lot of time making presentations. When they recruit new members they look for people who are capable of connecting with software developers across the full range of skill levels. (3.05) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Like many developers he went from being an individual contributor to a manager, then a leader and senior leadership roles. However, unlike most other IT professionals he has periodically taken a step back and worked as an individual contributor again. This slightly unusual approach has really borne fruit. It has helped him to develop all kinds of new skills and deepen his understanding of the latest technologies and how they are deployed. (4.09) – Phil asks if taking this approach refreshes his existing skills as well. Ian says absolutely. When he first joined Amazon Web Services, in 2013, his tech skills were getting rusty. He had just spent several years in a leadership role in which he did not really do any developing. So, when he joined AWS he took the opportunity to spend a bit of time working as an individual contributor, technology evangelist. He really enjoyed reawakening and refreshing his skills, while he got up to speed with cloud computing. It enabled him to familiarize himself with the AWS way of working and their product range. Those three and half years took him into a lot of new areas. (5.18) Phil says that it sounds like Ian enjoys keeping his hand in from a technical perspective. Ian agrees, that is true, which is one of the reasons he enjoys working for AWS so much. Recently, they invested in AI and machine learning services. Just last year, they announced some robotics services. There is also Ground Station - a service for people who want to download data from their satellite infrastructure. So, there is plenty going on within the company that enables Ian to indulge his passion for new technologies.  (6.11) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? Ian says his worst moment was not a single incident, more of a challenging period in his career. Back in the 90s, he worked for a small hosting and internet access startup. They provided hosting, mainly for businesses like Channel 4 and the Dixon stores group. At the time, most companies did not have a website, so this was actually quite exciting work. In 1998, the Dixons group asked them to set up and run their new Freeserve internet service. It was an innovative service that grew at a phenomenal rate. At the time, everyone was still using dial-up. There was no cloud computing either. So, every time a customer signed up they needed server space and the company was constantly running more telecommunications links to the building. Unsurprisingly, Ian and everyone else at the company ended up working ridiculous hours. It was an exciting time that opened up all kinds of opportunities for Ian, but it was also very stressful. (9.14) Was there anything in particular that you learned from that experience? One of the things Ian learned from the experience was how to recruit. The phenomenal rate at which the company grew meant that Ian was constantly recruiting new staff. It was a relatively new business which still had a startup mentality, so everything was very fluid. Recruiting the right people at a fast enough rate was a challenge, especially because the roles were so blurred. There was a lot going on, which meant people just had to muck in to get everything done. In that situation getting the onboarding right proved critical. New staff needed to have the right support. Without it they could not settle in quickly and become viable members of the team. It was also important from a retention point of view. Even today, when it comes to recruitment, Ian’s focus is on getting the onboarding process right. He knows from experience with the right support new people quickly ramp up to full capacity and are far less likely to leave after just a few months. Making sure that people feel like they have got the right kind of support around them is really important in leadership. (10.44) – Phil asks Ian what his best career moment was. Again, for Ian it was not a single moment, more a period in his career that he has found to be fulfilling. Right now, he is particularly enjoying the rate at which AWS is innovating and introducing new services. For example, in 2017, they introduced 1400 new services and features. This astonishing rate of change ensures that Ian gets to talk to people about a huge range of services, technologies and innovations. He is also lucky enough to be able to find out, first hand, how people are using these new services and features. All of which he enjoys and loves speaking about. In the past year alone, he has run sessions about the application of AI and machine learning. He also delivered the keynote speech at an O’Rilley AI conference, in London. In April, he gave the closing keynote speech at a major AWS summit that was held in Singapore. At that event, he got to live demo a chatbot. During his presentation, the audience interacted with chatbots using text and Facebook Messenger. The really cool thing about the whole experience was that Ian was the one who had written and deployed the code being used. Naturally, that experience is one that he views as a career highlight. He has also really enjoyed building out the AWS team. Seeing people that he has recruited grow and go on to bigger and better things is something that Ian takes a lot of pleasure from. (13.12) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Ian knows that the services AWS provides are going to free up organizations, so that they can focus their cash and time on being truly innovative. There is not going to be a need for the next generation of developers to spend their early career doing repetitive tasks. For example, in the 90s Ian’s team would spend every Monday provisioning infrastructure. Now, that same task can be done with just a few clicks using the AWS console. Freeing up people’s time in this way is going to have a hugely positive impact. It will leave developers free to be more creative and truly innovate. This means that all kinds of problems can be solved using the vast range of technologies that are now available. (15.22) – What drew you to a career in IT? To answer that one Ian has to go right back to when he was a child. Back then, his father ran a training program for teachers. He produced all of the written training materials using a hand-cranked duplicating machine. At the time, photocopiers were too big and expensive for small organizations to own and run. So, when he discovered he could computerize things, he did. Ian witnessed the way this transformed his father’s business. That in turn sparked his interest in IT. At school he got involved in technology in every way he could. So, it was only natural for him to study computer science at university. (17.09) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Ian says he would not call it advice as such, more encouragement, which he listened to. While he was working for Planet Online, they were taken over by a telecommunications firm. For Ian, this meant a change in direction, a big one. His new boss saw something in him, so set about persuading him to get involved in the process of finding, assessing and acquiring other telecoms firms. In that role he had to deal with the CEOs of some very large companies, something Ian did not think he was equipped to handle. It was his boss who persuaded him that he could and he was right. In that role, Ian grew in confidence and acquired a whole new skill set. (18.27) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Ian says that he would focus on software rather than infrastructure. Now that infrastructure is an area of diminishing impact. Today, it is all about software. He would seek to learn a range of languages and become a true software engineer rather than just a developer. Having the ability to jump across different programming languages and a strong understanding of the foundations would be his aim. Ian believes anyone that is new to the industry will succeed if they take this approach. (19.45) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Ian main task, right now, is growing his team. In fact, that is one of the reasons he wanted to join Phil for his podcast. Currently, he is recruiting for all kinds of roles, positions he is very keen to fill. He is currently hiring managers and specialist evangelists for various domains. So, his immediate goal is to fill those positions, which are available in AWS offices across the world. Ian will also be focusing on a couple of other AWS projects that are yet to be announced. He will also be hiring for those, a bit later in the year (20.36) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ian says for him the ability to communicate has proved invaluable. Being able to listen properly and understand what the customer wants and distil it down to its essential has really helped him in his career. Ian points out that you also need to be an effective outbound communicator. It is very important to maintain high standards of public communication and to be able to adapt your message to suit your audience. (21.51) – Phil asks Ian to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. “Don’t be afraid to try out new things.” Apply for new roles even if you do not have all of the qualifications and experience asked for. Ian says that when AWS recruits, the specification they come up with is more of a wish list than anything else. They really don’t expect to find many candidates that tick all of the boxes. That is the case for most organizations. So, it is always worth just applying for roles that you think might be just a little bit beyond you. BEST MOMENTS: (4.48) IAN – "It was a great opportunity to come back to software development, and rediscover some of the more technical aspects” ( 10.32) PHIL – "I think the onboarding process and just embedding people into a team, making them feel part of what's happening, is vital." (11.09) IAN – “In 2017, we released over 1400 new services and features. That's a huge beat rate of new innovation. " (12.48) IAN – “It’s really awesome to see the talent that you've bought into the organization progressing through the senior IT levels." (15.03) IAN – “As software continues to evolve, the services will get more and more sophisticated," (21.45) IAN – “Those are really important skills in my view, communications inbound and outbound.” CONTACT IAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanMmmm @IanMmmm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imassingham

GUEST BIO: Kristina Balaam is a security intelligence engineer at Lookout where she reverse engineers mobile malware. Prior to Lookout, she worked as an application security engineer at Shopify focusing mostly on Android mobile security and is currently pursuing an MSc. in Information Security Engineering. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Kristina Balaam. Currently she is working as a security intelligence engineer for Lookout, which specializes in mobile security. Kristina’s main role there is to reverse engineer malware. In the preceding years Kristina has worked for Shopify, Resolution and DropDot in a range of application development roles. She is currently studying for an MSc. in Information Security Engineering. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So, Kristina, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Kristina explains that her days are mostly spent searching out malicious apps on Android and iOS, which she then reverse engineers. At times, she is also involved in tracing them back to malicious actors and trying to work out what their motivation is and classifying malware for the industry. (1.46) – Phil asks her what happens to the information she is collating. Kristina explains that Lookout is an endpoint security company. This means that they focus on post perimeter security. So, most of what they uncover is shared with application developers, with the aim of enabling them to build secure applications. In addition, her findings are used to continually improve Lookout’s range of security products, which includes Lookout for Work and the Lookout client option. (2.51)  – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Kristina shares something that she discovered fairly late in her career. When she started out, she did not understand just how vital being visible was when it comes to career progression. Blogging, speaking at conferences and social media are all great ways to share what you are passionate about. When you share in these ways the chances of your landing work in a field that really interests you are greatly improved. (3.53) Phil asks her how important social media has been for her in terms of engagement and whether there has been a particular platform that she benefits from more than the others. Surprisingly, Kristina is finding Instagram to be an effective social media platform. The IT community is surprisingly active there. Lots of people are sharing caption photos for their latest blog posts, so it is a great way of getting noticed. (4.38) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment?  Kristina’s worst IT moment happened during her final year at university. Her plan was to be a game developer. So, she was thrilled when she, along with her fellow students, she was given the chance to develop a short game and present it to the board of Ubisoft. The students were split into teams and given six weeks to build their games using Unreal Engine. Unfortunately, one week before the presentation, two members of her team members dropped out. Worse, it turned out that they had not done much while they had been around. Most of the tasks they had been assigned were nowhere near being completed. The remaining members of the team had to pull 3 or 4 all-nighters to try to catch things up, so that they had something to present. In the end, Kristina’s team had a game to present. But, two minutes into their presentation the game failed and they could not get it started again. For Kristina this was devastating. Basically, all of their hard work had been for nothing. (6.56) – What did you learn from that experience? At the time, Kristina thought she had blown any chance of getting hired and that her dream of becoming a game developer was in tatters. In reality this was not the case. Every member of her team ended up being offered jobs by that company, something which taught her not to dramatize this type of situation. It turned out that their failed presentation was not the big deal they all thought it was. There were no long-term negative consequences for them. It also taught her the importance of being prepared for things to go wrong. She explains that she is not suggesting that people should be pessimistic, rather that they be realistic about what can go wrong and try to be prepared for those eventualities. (8.35) – Phil asks Kristina what her best career moment was. Kristina says that landing the job that she has now has definitely been a highlight. From the moment she got involved with security work, Kristina knew that she wanted to become a malware researcher. But, she knew that landing a role like that was a long way off because she did not have the relevant qualifications. However, she worked hard to fill the skill gap. She read as much as she could about malware research. When she decided to take her masters, she made sure that she looked at courses that were strongly related to malware research. The net result is that she landed her dream role far sooner than she expected despite the fact that she had relatively little experience. (10.53) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? For Kristina the fact that you can do any type of work you want is exciting. It is relatively easy to change disciplines and get involved in something new. There is so much variety with new technologies coming along all of the time, so finding something you like and are good at is not hard. (12.01) – Are there any areas that are particularly inspiring to you, at the moment? Kristina is very interested in the way that malware authors adapt their approach to keep pace with what people like her. Naturally, she wants to keep people safe, but she also finds working in this semi-combative environment to be exciting. There is always something new and interesting to uncover in the world of malware research. For example, someone has recently developed malware that does not launch until it detects that the device owner is on the move. This is a new and innovative way of getting around traditional malware detection techniques. (13.20) – What drew you to a career in IT, Kristina? As a child, Kristina really enjoyed playing video games and was never far from her computer. When she was about 9 she began to learn HTML and JavaScript simply because she wanted to customize a website called Neopets. That was when she fell in love with coding. (14.02) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Kristina said her dad told her not to be afraid to network. That piece of advice has proved to be invaluable throughout her career. Although, like Phil, to begin with, when her confidence levels were not high, she found networking to be very hard to do. (14.20) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Kristina said she would jump right into information security. (14.17) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Kristina is doing all she can to grow her skills. She also wants to speak at more conferences and publish some new research. (15.11) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Kristina has found her ability to communicate effectively to be invaluable.  It helps here to manage potentially difficult social situations within teams and organizations. (15.48) – Phil asks Kristina to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Kristina’s advice is not to be afraid to jump into an area that interests you. The industry is evolving so quickly that it really does not matter much if you do not have lots of experience. Everyone is continuously learning anyway, so you are not going to be the only one who is working to acquire new skills. Usually, you will get a warm welcome from those already working in the field. They want people to share their passion, so are normally only too happy to help you to learn and grow. BEST MOMENTS: (10.35) KRISTINA – "It took a lot of focus and dedication and work, but it ended up being really rewarding." (11.47) KRISTINA – "There really is something for everyone and anyone with an interest in computers, software or technology in general." (14.13) KRISTINA – "Do not be afraid to network, networking can actually be incredibly valuable." (16.00) KRISTINA – "Do not be afraid to jump into something that interests you, even if you don't feel like you have very much experience in it." CONTACT KRISTINA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/KristinaElise LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kebalaam/ Website: http://www.about.me/kristinaelise

GUEST BIO: Brian Okken is a lead software engineer for Rohde & Schwarz.  He is also the author of “Python Testing with pytest” from Pragmatic, host of the “Test & Code” Podcast and Co-host of the “Python Bytes” Podcast and has spoken at PNSQC and PyCon US. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: My guest on today’s show is Brian Okken. He is currently the lead software engineer for Rohde & Schwarz. His background is in R&D, testing and measurement. When it comes to programming languages, he is something of a Python expert. Brian is the author of “Python Testing with pytest” and the host of the very popular “Test & Code” podcast, he also co-hosts “Python Bytes”. Brian is passionate about sharing his knowledge. So, he teaches and regularly speaks publicly at conferences like PyCon and PNSQC. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.00) – So Brian, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Brian explains that he still describes himself as a software engineer. But, in reality, for the past 10 to 15 years, he has been mostly involved with automated testing. (1.21) – How did you get into automated testing? Brian explains that it was not a planned transition. It was a requirement within the test equipment industry. Those that work in that field spend a lot of time carrying out automated and regression testing on the code and instruments.  (2.10) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Brian’s key piece of advice is to align yourself with the goals of whoever you are working for. He also advises developers to know their value and understand what it is that they contribute to the companies they work for. Once you know that, you are in a position to make sure that you more than cover the cost of your salary. Periodically asking yourself – If this was my money, would I be happy to continue to pay my salary? is a good habit to get into. (3.21) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Brian explains that one of the things he enjoys doing is honing processes, so that he can streamline the work, as much as possible. On one project he realized that if he could automate the byte and the register settings from an FPGA to the software he would save the team a lot of time and hassle. So, he set about working out how to do this. However, he did not tell anyone, including his manager, that he had taken on this extra task. Unfortunately, he got sucked in and ended up spending too much time on this side project. Naturally, his output fell, which made it look like he was not contributing to the team, as he should. Naturally, his manager was not happy. He felt that Brian was not doing the work he had been asked to do. On the other hand, Brian was disappointed and frustrated because nobody seemed to appreciate the importance of what he was trying to achieve. All in all it ended up being quite a negative situation. Brian’s advice is not to forget about process improvement completely, because t is important. But, he said that once it starts to take up more than 10% of your time, you need to let your manager knows what you are trying to achieve and how much time it is taking up.  (5.11) – Phil asks Brian what his best career moment was. The highlight of Brian’s career, so far, has been his involvement in pytest and publishing his book. It was really cool getting it published. But, Brian also found that writing the book honed and deepened his skills. (5.24) – So, has that been beneficial for your career? Brian agrees that it has. While writing the book he found himself consulting and working with the core contributors. The writing process made him network more. (6.58) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and career? Brian says there are so many things that excite him that it is hard to pick one thing. But, it is probably the way in which the industry is changing how it is teaching the next generation of engineers. (7.43) – Is there a particular area that interests you, technologies you feel have a real future? Brian thinks the way in which schools are finding ways to teach programming at an earlier age is exciting. However, Brian would like to see the question - How do you know it will work and continue to work? being asked and answered more in educational settings. Developers need to have a better understanding of how things work to be able to design and build more robust applications and systems.  (8.44) Phil comments that, in the UK, that is certainly still an issue. Many of the degree courses leave the subject of testing right to the end of the course and the subject is rarely covered in much depth. (9.33) – What first attracted you to a career in IT, Brian? As a child, Brian had a combination games system. It had built-in games but you could also type in some simple programs to create new games like Lunar Lander. Of course, it did not work right away, so you had to figure out where you had gone wrong. When he got it working, he went back and tweaked it, for example by trying to increase acceleration. That is when he got the programming bug. It was an experience that stayed with him. He entered college as a fine art major, but switched to computer science at university. (10.50) Phil asks Brian to clarify why he made the decision to switch. Brian explains that there was a financial element to doing so. He realized that he would have less difficulty in paying back his student loan if he were able to find work in the IT field. (11.10 ) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Brian uncovered a great piece of career advice while reading a book called Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others. After reading that book, Brian understood that he needed to be spending at least 80% of his time creating value for the company he was working for. (12.02) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Brian says that he would not dismiss the idea of a career in web design and building, which is what he did when he first started out. He learned HTML and how to work with Perl, but veered away from building sites. At the time, he just assumed that most websites would end up being auto-built. Today, he understands that he may have missed out a bit as a result of that decision. So, now, he is learning PHP and getting into building the Python version of websites. (13.14 ) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Brian is focusing on broadening his reach. He likes to teach and has got a lot to share with the community. (13.46) – OK, but do you have any thoughts on writing and conference speaking? Brian, says yes. He loves speaking, despite the fact he still finds doing it at conferences terrifying. But, he is a bit of a homebody and very much a family person, so he is not that keen on travelling. Despite this, he thinks he will end up travelling and speaking more in the near future. (14.25) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Brian says that is listening to people and being able to empathize with them. Phil agrees with this. He has noticed that many of us are too busy thinking about what we are going to say to be able to really listen to the other person. Brian says it is all too easy not to listen properly. He knows it is something he still needs to work on, something he discovered while listening to his own podcasts. He picked up on the fact that sometimes he was asking questions that his interviewee had already answered, which was a sure sign that he was not listening properly. (15.19) – Phil asks Brian to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Brian says he wants to encourage people to teach. The act of writing things down or trying to explain them to someone else makes everything clearer in your own mind. Plus, it ensures that you get feedback from others, which enables you to recognize when you are wrong and learn from it. He is particularly keen to see more IT professionals writing personal blogs. BEST MOMENTS: (2.34 ) BRIAN – "Align yourself with the goals of whoever you're working for." (2.46 ) BRIAN – “Always try to be more valuable than the sticker price of your salary. " (5.49 ) BRIAN – "The process of writing the book made me an expert. " (14.30) BRIAN – "Learn how to listen to people. Really listen to their answers and empathize." ( 15.51) PHIL – "I think getting your message out there and telling people what you do and what you've learned is valuable " CONTACT BRIAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianokken @brianokken LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/okken Blog: https://pythontesting.net/ Book: https://amzn.to/2QnzvUv Podcast: https://pythonbytes.fm/ Podcast: https://testandcode.com/

GUEST BIO: Asim Hussain is a developer, trainer, published author and conference speaker. He has worked for companies including the European Space Agency, Google and others. In January, he became Microsoft’s EMEA Lead for Regional Developer Advocacy. Asim is also Director of CodeCraft TV, providing online content, courses and training on JavaScript, Angular and general Web Development. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Asim Hussain. He is a well-known conference speaker, mentor and author, who has been working in the industry for nearly 20 years. Asim started his career working for the European Space Agency. Over the years, he has worked across many different industries using a range of languages including C++, Java, Python and JavaScript. Today, he is Microsoft’s EMEA Lead for Regional Developer Advocacy. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­(1.05) – So Asim, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Asim explains that he has been working in the IT industry for about 19 years. Over that time, he has worked in many different sectors, using a range of languages. Right now, he is the lead developer advocate for the EMEA region, at Microsoft. This is a recent promotion that he is both excited and nervous about. Asim explains that his new role enables him to continue with his teaching and educational work. This is a passion of his, which led to the creation of CodeCraft.tv. He began teaching online about 4 years ago, when he released about 6 courses that mainly covered working with JavaScript. He is part way through open-sourcing them. Asim is now a big believer in open source education. It brings benefits to the teacher as well as the students. (3.11) – So, why did you go into advocacy and development courses? Asim explained he got the bug when he was listening to a podcast in the car. While listening to it the speaker said something that was totally wrong about a subject Asim knew a lot about. Naturally, this frustrated him, but also motivated Asim to get out there and share his knowledge. That day, the idea for his first course was born. (4.28) – Phil asks Asim to share a unique IT career tip. Asim says that it is very important to be public about what you are doing. From the very start of your IT journey, share what you are learning and your experiences. Asim believes that if, for the past 19 years, he had consistently written a blog article per week his blog would now be more valuable than his house. When you look at someone who is well-known and respected in the industry, you will usually find out that they have been blogging, for many years. For the first year, you will be writing in a vacuum, so will get very little value from doing it. But, if you persist it will become an invaluable asset. Fairly quickly, it will start to grow at a very fast rate. (5.57) – Phil asks Asim to share his worst career moment with the audience and explain what he learned from that situation. The biggest mistake Asim made was when he was working in the finance industry. At that time,  he had a dual role. He was responsible for developing new systems, but, also had to keep the existing one running smoothly. To do this, he had two terminals open, one for development, the other for the production server. He would multitask. Running tests on new software on one terminal, while monitoring and maintaining the live system on the other. For the most part, this approach worked really well. However, one day, it led to near disaster. At the time, he smoked, so would regularly pop out for a cigarette. One day, he did exactly that. Before he left the office, he typed make into what he thought was his development terminal and left. Unfortunately, Asim had typed make into the wrong terminal. So, he had inadvertently started a job on the production server. That process consumed 100% of the CPU’s power and left the traders unable to do their job. Worse than that, it was just as the markets were about to close. For the bank’s trader’s this was a disaster. Closing is always a crazy busy and critical time of the day. They were unable to close their trades. Potentially, the company could have lost tens of thousands because of Asim’s simple mistake. Fortunately, the opposite happened. The trades they had been unable to close ended up making the bank money. Naturally, that episode reminded Asim of the need to be careful, at all times. (8.16) – Phil asks Asim what his best career moment has been, so far. For Asim, his biggest successes have come along recently. For example, getting involved in public speaking has been a highlight. This has led to so many other good things for Asim, including the chance to join Microsoft, in a role that he really enjoys. Writing his first book has also been a highlight. He released it for free, which was nerve-racking, especially when you consider that it took him 3 months to write. However, giving it away turned out to be a great approach. It really got him noticed and led to even more speaking opportunities. Asim says that releasing his book for free has been his biggest career win, to date. He really enjoys people coming up to him and thanking him for not charging for his book. In particular those from a developing country who tell him they could not have afforded to learn what he taught in that book any other way. (11.34) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The pace of change is both exciting and terrifying. On the one hand, you are constantly worried about being relevant. But, at the same time the possibilities this fast-paced change brings is exciting. Asim started with C++, moved onto Java, then Python. Today, he is using mostly JavaScript. There is plenty of variety when you work in IT. Right now, the intersection between machine learning and JavaScript is a particularly interesting field. There are enough different roles and challenges to keep you occupied for the rest of your career. With the added benefit that if you were to do something else, you would very likely still be able to use your machine learning JavaScript interface knowledge. (13.54) – What drew you to a career in IT, Asim? For Asim, it all started when he was a child. His sister studied computer science, so he started playing with her computer. At first, he just played the game. But, soon completed it and got bored. So, he put the BASIC tape in, read the manual, and started programming. As children, Asim and his brother set up a web agency. So, it was only natural for him to pick an IT-related degree subject. (16.06) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Asim says that is probably – admit your mistakes, something that he learned at the European Space Agency. When something goes wrong in space, that is it, you have potentially just wasted a couple of billion dollars. So, for the space industry, it is vital that people admit when they have made a mistake and do so straight away. It means that the problem can be sorted out before it is too late. It is important to own up to problems, as well as mistakes. The moment you do that, the solution starts to become apparent. Asim went on to say that he trusts people who admit their mistakes more than he does those who say they never make them. Usually, they are either hiding them, or are simply not doing enough, just playing it safe. (17.30) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Asim explains when he was younger; he followed the money, when he should have been paying attention to his brand. Today, he would work first on developing and improving his personal brand. That stays with you and benefits you forever, unlike the money which you usually end up wasting anyway. (18.14) – Phil asks Asim what career objectives he is currently focusing on. Right now, his new role at Microsoft is Asim’s main focus. His plan is to help to drive some thought leadership into the advocacy space. In particular, he wants to build genuinely strong connections between developers, across the world. Asim also wants to change the emotional response people have towards Microsoft. On a personal level, he wants to achieve these things by using more empathy and authentic connections. His aim is to come up with something that is truly innovative. (19.40) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Asim says being able to explain things to others has helped him throughout his career. Being able to put himself in other people’s shoes and understand how they work helps him to find the right language and mediums to use when sorting out bugs or developing something new. Good communication skills help you with many different aspects of your career. For example, when you have to make a presentation, perhaps to sell a new product, it is not hard to find the right language. Learning to think through somebody else’s eyes is very beneficial. The more you do it, the easier it gets. (21.45) – Phil asks Asim to share a final piece of career advice. When it comes to your career, do not over think things. It is all too easy to become overwhelmed by the fact there are so many different paths you can take. Don’t let that happen, just pick one and do that. If you find you don’t like it, that is not a problem, you can easily change direction. BEST MOMENTS: (4.56) Asim – "Be very, very public about what it is that you do." (5.21) Asim – "If I was writing a blog article a week, when I was 20, I think my blog would be worth more than my house today." (10.32) Asim – "Releasing that book for free, and out in the open was, I would say, the biggest win." (11.53) Asim – "What's exciting about this field is also terrifying about this field, which is that everything changes all the time." (13.04) Asim – "The intersection between machine learning and JavaScript is a very interesting field." (17.00) Asim – "Admit your mistakes, own up to problems. Once you own up to them, you own up to the solution as well." (18.05) Asim – "Always pick your personal brand, because that is worth a lot more to you, and it will stay with you." CONTACT ASIM: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jawache LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jawache/ Website: https://codecraft.tv  

GUEST BIO: Charlie Gerard is a Software Developer at ThoughtWorks in Sydney.  She is passionate about Creative Technologies, Creative Coding, Hardware and the Internet of Things. Charlie is also a mentor at General Assembly, building projects using Arduino and other devices and writes tutorials to share what she has learned. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Charlie Gerard. For the past few years, Charlie has been working to provide all kinds of companies with better software. She is also a mentor at the General Assembly. There, she provides support to both amateur and professional developers. In her spare time, she experiments and collaborates with others to try out new concepts, often using Arduino. Right now, she is diving deep into their VR browser and uncovering the possibilities it brings. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.45) – So Charlie, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Charlie explains that by day she works as a software developer building websites and applications. But, at night she likes to explore technology. So, she spends much of his free time building prototypes with Arduino and is currently experimenting with their VR browser. Basically, she is interested in anything that is going on within the IT industry. (1.42) – How long have you been doing this? Charlie explains that she has been a developer for about four and a half years. Before that, she worked in marketing as a project manager. (1.58) – Phil asks Charlie for a unique IT career tip. Charlie said she was once told not to let people know that you are good at something you do not really want to do. If you do, there is a real danger that you will be stuck doing tasks that you really don’t enjoy. For example, she once made the mistake of letting people know she is good at CSS. Now, people tend to ask her to complete that part of a project. But, that is the last thing she wants. She already has a good level of competency with CSS. So, she really wants to be doing other things, so that she can grow as a developer and progress her career. (3.16) – Phil says that reminds him of learning to say no. Charlie agrees that is important too. (3.42) – Charlie is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Years ago, she was due to give her first conference speech. So, she worked hard to clear her desk, the night before the big day. She did that so that she would have a little time to get herself ready for her important event. So, when she woke up to find 20 fresh tasks waiting on her board, her heart sank. Her initial reaction was that she had no choice but to deal with them. However, instead she decided not to do so. Instead, she checked that none of the tasks was urgent and left them sitting there undone, for half a day.   Doing this ended up empowering her. Fairly soon, after this incident, she told the company she worked for that her 70+ hours workload was not reasonable. It was this situation that taught her that sometimes you have to say no. She realized that furthering her career and making time for her life was important, as well. (5.54) – Phil asks Charlie what her best career moment was. Charlie says that it was delivering her first conference speech. Speaking at a conference was an especially big achievement for Charlie, because she is a very shy person. So, giving a speech in front of so many people was something she never expected to be able to do. (6.50) – Is it something that you would recommend that other people try? Charlie’s response is, yes. The challenge of speaking publically teaches you a lot about yourself. It is scary to get on stage, but, also exciting. Once you are up there you forget your fear. Even if things are not perfect the audience usually stays with you. They want you to succeed, so they are always supportive. Public speaking is something that Charlie intends to do more of. She has learned a lot from her first conference speech, including skills that she is finding helpful in the workplace. Plus, public speaking is really good for anyone’s personal brand. (8.17) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The wealth of possibilities that new technology offers us excites Charlie the most. In particular, machine learning, it will simplify the interaction between humans and computers. In time, it will be the technology adapting to the human being, rather than the other way around. Eventually, there will be virtually no learning curve. (8.56) – Are there any particular technologies that you are finding interesting? Charlie says that the field of neurotechnology is one that fascinates her. Currently, she is at the very early stages of learning about this technology and that she is sharing what she learns as she goes. For this technology, the possibilities are huge. Phil agrees, and says that with so much new technology being available it is impossible for us to know where it is going to take us. (9.35) – What drew you to a career in IT? Charlie explains that her journey started when she was working as a project manager. After a while, she wanted to be able to help her development team. To begin with, she planned just to learn how to upload some of the work her team did. But, once she started coding she realized that this skill would enable here to bring any idea to life. Charlie now understood the power of coding, so wanted to learn more. (10.10) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? A friend of Charlie’s once told her to remember that “If you don’t do it, somebody else will.” Over time, she has used that advice on several occasions. She finds that thinking like that pushes her to just get on and tackle things, even if she feels slightly scared. (10.59) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Charlie started her IT training and career by attending boot camps. There she learned how to solve problems and do so quickly. But, she missed out on learning the fundamentals. As a result, she still does not know how everything works, which is frustrating. (11.39) – Phil asks Charlie what she is currently focusing on in her IT career. Right now, Charlie wants to grow her technical knowledge. She plans to switch from working mainly on the front end to doing some back end work. Ideally, Charlie wants to understand how an entire system works and fits together. (12.24) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Charlie says that is definitely communication. As a consultant, she spends a lot of time talking to clients. So, she has to be able to help them understand why certain things are not possible. However, she believes that being a good communicator is an essential skill for everyone. After all, everything we do is achieved through teamwork, so good communication is extremely important. (13.12) – Phil asks Charlie to share a final piece of career advice. Charlie says that it is important to be able to network. Becoming a good networker ensures that you gain an understanding of what others are working on. It also enables you to uncover new technologies that are of interest to you and sometimes spot opportunities. Plus, networking helps to build your personal brand. BEST MOMENTS: (2.24) CHARLIE – “Never let people know you're good at something you don't want to do.” (7.05) CHARLIE – “You're scared to be on stage. But once you're there, the excitement of sharing what you know, takes over.” (10.00) CHARLIE – “Once I started coding, I got really interested in being able to bring any idea to life.” (10.32) CHARLIE – “If you don’t do it, somebody else will.” (13.08) CHARLIE – “Everything we build is through teamwork. So, good communication is essential.” CONTACT CHARLIE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/devdevcharlie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliegerard/ Website: charliegerard.github.io

GUEST BIO: Scott Tolinski is a Senior Web Developer for Team Detroit and formerly a web applications developer for The University of Michigan. Additionally Scott is a freelance web designer and developer, and provides private training and consultancy on various web topics.  Scott is also co-creator of Level Up Tutorials, providing free training to developers looking to learn something new. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Scott Tolinski is Phil’s guest on today’s I.T. Career Energizer podcast. He is a former Team Detroit developer who also worked for The University of Michigan as an applications developer. For several years he was a Senior Developer with Q LTD. Today, Scott runs his own web development teaching company. In 2012, he started Level Up Tutorials alongside Ben Schaaf. Today, Scott runs the business and has turned it into the go-to learning resource for developers. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – So Scott, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Scott starts out by explaining that he actually left Team Detroit, a while ago, but has not yet updated his website to reflect that fact. He is now working full time on Level Up Tutorials. That means recording, editing, producing and coding between 20 and 25 videos per month. As well as, updating and maintaining the actual website. Scott describes his website as being - a magazine for coding tutorials. Scott also produces a twice weekly web development podcast called Syntax, with Wes Bos. They approach the subject of web development from the point of view of teachers. The podcasts offer effective web development lessons in a format that is easy for everyone to access and use anywhere. (2.34) – Phil asks Scott for a unique IT career tip. Scott’s advice is to never be afraid of new opportunities. It was his dad that made him realize the benefits of trying something new and fresh. His dad had taken advantage of each new opportunity and been very successful. So, Scott decided to do the same, even if a new opportunity seems scary, he will usually say yes and dive in. Most of the time, this approach pays off. On the rare occasion that it doesn’t, Scott quickly faces up to his mistake and moves on to something else. Leaving his job to become a full-time entrepreneur was scary, challenging and quite stressful. But, Scott does not regret a minute of it and would do the same again. (4.29) – Phil agrees that you should never let fear of the unknown stop you from making a change. He quoted Richard Branson who said – “Work hard, take your chances, and seize opportunities when they present themselves. Don't give in to the fear and self-doubt and instead find ways to make it happen. Those who are bold have a higher chance of being rewarded," (5.03) – Scott says that is exactly what he does. If it is a big thing, he just says yes. Later, he figures everything out. But, he points out that if it is not a big thing, you need to say no. If you do not, those little opportunities just end up getting in your way. (5.17) – At this point, Scott is asked to share his worst career moment. Scott explained that he once had the perfect job. Everything was great, the company, the work and the people he was working with, he loved it. But, he got tempted and took another job. Basically, because it was a little bit more big time and, of course, there was a pay bump. He soon realized that the grass was not greener in his new role. The projects were bad and the designers not as experienced. Plus, they were using outdated techniques and the management team did not really care much about the work. Often, Scott was getting his part of the project completed months ahead of schedule. Yet, when that happened, the management team didn’t give him any meaningful work to fill in the gap. However, this situation was not all bad. Scott legitimately ended up with a lot of free time on his hands. So, he was able to learn a lot of new things. He learned Backbone, Angular and Ember. After six months, he was able to take all of that knowledge and land a really sweet gig. (7.57) – What else did you learn from that experience? Scott said that it gave him a different perspective on work in general. It made him think about the type of people he wanted to work with and the kinds of projects he wanted to be involved in. That experience taught him not to just settle. Instead, he searches out exciting projects and ensures that he will be working with a good team. (8.56) – Phil asks Scott what his best career moment was. Scott says that it was probably quitting his job and working for himself. He feels particularly good about being able to provide for his family off the back of something that he created. Interestingly, it was not his intention to earn his living from his tutorial work. At first, he just posted his work to YouTube. It came as a big surprise to learn that he could translate that into a business that paid enough for him to be able to take care of his family. Not being a born entrepreneur means that, for Scott, learning to run his own company was a steep learning curve. But, he is, understandably, proud of what he has achieved with Level Up Tutorials. (10.59) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers, in particular? Scott finds the fact that it is so much easier to deliver the functionality that users really want to be exciting. In the past, adding something like live chat to a website would have been challenging and time-consuming. Today, it is easy and it can all be done really quickly. This frees you up to be more creative and opens up a world of possibilities for the client and their customers. Scott is excited by the fact that things will continue to evolve and get easier. (13.00) - Phil says that he is also excited about this. The ease with which web development can be done, these days, makes it possible to deliver truly appropriate solutions and do so quickly. (13.16) – Scott goes on to highlight the ease with which you can create efficient sites. For example, using React, you can now build blisteringly fast static sites. This is particularly important for people who live in parts of the world that have a slow internet connection. (14.08) – What drew you to a career in IT? Scott first got interested in IT when he wanted to add a flash intro to his band’s website. He fell in love with the problem-solving process and realized it was a great outlet for his flair for design. (14.47) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Scott says it is probably the advice he mentioned at the start of the show – take every good opportunity that is presented to you. He uses his intuition to guide him in terms of what is exciting and finds that listening to his gut is the best way to work out whether to say yes or not. (15.31) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? When Scott went to college he had a long list of interests and things he wanted to do. He had a passion for music and was interested in graphic design and becoming a motion graphics artist. It was great to have so many interests. But, it meant that he lacked focus. So, if he were to start his IT career again, he would be sure to focus on just doing that, instead of spreading himself too thinly. (16.35) – Phil asks Scott what he is currently focusing on. Right now, Scott is working on getting better at delegating and communicating. He has a small team which he wants to grow, so that he can work more efficiently. His plan is to become more of a leader and step away a bit from being the developer of the site. (17.26) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Scott it has been having a student mentality. Being open to learning has enabled Scott to stay ahead of developments. A fact that ensures what he teaches is never out of date. (18.27) – Phil asks Scott to share a final piece of career advice. Scott explains that he did not follow a typical career path into IT. In fact, his first few jobs had nothing to do with the industry. Plus, he does not have a computer science degree. However, he would not let this stop him from working in IT. His parting piece of advice is not to let where you are today hold you back. Become a good student, learn and keep on pushing forwards to secure the job you really want. BEST MOMENTS: (2.55) Scott – “I haven't ever been afraid of new opportunities, when they present themselves.” (5.03) Scott – “If it's a big thing, I almost always say yes, and figure it out later.” (12.20) Scott – “Two years down the line, what kind of experiences am I going to be able to give people that I couldn't give them right now.” (18.01) Scott – “My number one non-technical skill is my ability or drive to want to continue to grow myself and my abilities as a developer.” (18.53) Scott – “Do not let whatever your current situation is hold you back from where you want to be” CONTACT SCOTT: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stolinski LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stolinski/ Website: www.scotttolinski.com

GUEST BIO: Sonia Cuff helps companies to change business processes to successfully adopt new technologies the right way and to achieve great business results.  Sonia has been awarded Most Valuable Professional by Microsoft in multiple categories and is also an online writer, trainer and speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Sonia Cuff. Sonia has been working in the IT industry since 1995, in various roles and was awarded the Most Valuable Professional by Microsoft. For many years, Sonia ran her own business which helped all kinds of businesses to adopt new technology. She is a conference speaker, blogger and author. Today, she works for Microsoft as a cloud advocate. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­ (1.02) – So Sonia, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Sonia explains that when she got started in IT, she had to learn everything on the job. In those days she was working on Office 365 and productivity and went on to get involved in virtual CIO consulting, as well. Last year, she joined Microsoft and is now one of their Cloud advocates. In that role she is involved in working with IT communities, helping them to figure out how to make their lives easier. Primarily by showing them how to run the stuff they normally do in a hybrid or cloud scenario. It is a role that she really enjoys. (2.28) –Phil asks Sonia to tell the audience more about her developer advocacy work which is a part of this role. Sonia explains that Microsoft has been running an advocacy program for some years now. They have been reaching out to developers regardless of what language they work with. Their approach is to go to wherever people are programming rather than just stick to working with Microsoft user groups. Her team focuses on interacting with these communities and getting feedback. They want to learn what’s tripping developers up and how Microsoft’s products can be improved. This information is then fed directly back to product engineering. It enables them to improve their products. Importantly, it also identifies new products that need to be developed. Developer advocates take feedback and inspiration from numerous sources including conferences, talks and blogs. (4.43) – Phil asks if that role has given her a new perspective on software development. Sonia says that it has and that she is noticing a lot of common threads between different areas. (5.16) – Phil asks Sonia for a unique IT career tip. Sonia comments that the further she has gotten into her career the more she has realized that the simple things are true. For her “always be learning” is the tip that sticks in her mind. She has tried to do exactly that and feels that taking that approach has really paid dividends for her career. Sonia is not a programmer, but does not let that stop her from working to understand as much as possible. Today, she still can’t write code from scratch, but knows enough to be able to look at something like PowerShell script and understand what it does. Even after 20 years, Sonia still finds herself having to learn new things from scratch. But, she feels comfortable with that. In fact, that is why she loves working in the industry. She enjoys being challenged and the fact that she is always being challenged and learning. (7.00) – Sonia is asked to share her worst career moment with the audience. Sonia starts by explaining that she ended up turning her worst career moment into a talk, which she delivered at Microsoft Ignite, Florida, last year. Her worst moment happened when she was spreading herself too thin. She was so stretched that she seriously considered jumping on a plane, leaving the country and not telling anyone where she had gone, including her family. She knows that she is far from the only IT professional to find themselves reaching breaking point emotionally and mentally, like that. Sonia has also realized that talking about this experience is important because it can help the IT community as a whole. (8.15) – Phil asked what she learned from that situation. Sonia explained that, these days, she ensures that she makes her colleagues and manager aware of her workload. In the IT industry, there is a get things done, no matter what it takes culture, which can sometimes be detrimental and put people under too much pressure. She is also careful to make time for important things outside of work. For example, going to the gym or walking the dog. These two activities help her to switch off from tech, clear her head and get the beneficial endorphins flowing. Basically, doing this helps her to get the work-life balance right. Sonia does not believe you can achieve perfect work-life balance every week. But, you do need to strive to do so over the long term. Inevitably, you will find yourself under pressure some weeks. But, you must make sure that does not go on so long that you do not get time to unwind and take care of your personal life. Phil agrees he has found it to be more about integration. He describes it as being about how you fit all of the pieces of your life together and make it work for you. (10.28) – Phil asks Sonia to share her best career moment. Right now, that was getting the chance to give her speech at Microsoft Ignite. When Sonia gave her talk, the response was extremely positive. She had people coming up to her straight afterwards, in the corridor and talking to her on social media. From there, things have really snowballed. She has travelled to Australia, the USA and head office to talk to different groups about mental health in IT. Microsoft’s response to the issue of mental health problems has been very positive. They have taken it on board and are clearly passionate about helping. The fact that so much has come out of giving just one speech is fantastic. Currently, it is Sonia’s career highlight. Landing her dream job at Microsoft is her second best moment. She still gets a buzz from arriving at a Microsoft office and discovering that her blue badge lets her in the door. It thrills her every time. (12.43) – Phil says that he believes that companies like Microsoft now understand that mental health issues are a problem within the industry. They are taking this more seriously. Sonia agrees, but, thinks some firms are still struggling to reach out to employees and ask them what do we need to do to support you? The problem is that these sorts of conversations still have not been normalized. Also, there is still some stigma surrounding the subject. People need to feel that they can share the fact that they have had a bad week and are under stress with their colleagues. Most people do not do this. Mostly because they feel that they will get a black mark against them for admitting that they are struggling. This is why Sonia believes that it is not enough for the company owners and management to change. Individuals need to do so too. The culture has to be changed one person at a time. Everyone has to be supportive and be open about their issues too. (14.33) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Sonia really enjoys the fact that things are always changing, even more so than years ago. She feels that the pace of change has accelerated, drastically. This is especially the case when it comes to Cloud platforms. Today, the platform owners are very much in control. As a result, they can change things whenever they want and do so as often as they want. Sonia says that she is looking forward to seeing more self-healing systems. She believes that in the not too distant future AI will remove a lot of the more mundane tasks. (16.31) – What drew you to a career in IT? Sonia’s path into IT was far from typical, it certainly was not planned. One day, she was asked if she wanted to join the IT department. The guy she was seeing at the time was located there at the time. She ended up saying yes, and discovered she had an aptitude for the work, the rest is history. (16.51) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Strangely, the best career advice Sonia has ever been given was “pace yourself”. It is good to be enthusiastic about your work, but you need to make space for the rest of your life too. (17.24) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Sonia jokes that she kind of feels like she is starting her IT career again, because she is learning so much new stuff, at the moment. But, she goes on to say that she would probably focus on PowerShell and automation, if she was brand new to IT. (17.42) – Phil asks Sonia what new objectives she is focusing on. Sonia is currently trying to work out how to have the most positive impact on the IT community. Currently, she is trying to measure whether blogging, engaging in forums, social media or public speaking is best. (18.09) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Sonia feels that being a parent has helped her the most. This is because you have to deal with the fact your kids do not always want to do what you want them to. So, you have to find ways of persuading them. That means taking the time to explain things to them and you have to be able to do so in a way that they can understand. Being a parent hones all kinds of skills that come in handy for your career. (18.42) – Phil asks Sonia to share a final piece of career advice. Sonia says that you should remember that IT is a big industry. There are so many things you could be doing, within the sector. So, there is no need to be afraid to dip your toe into a different area. There is nothing stopping you from experimenting and changing direction, to see what fits. BEST MOMENTS: (5.26) SONIA – “The further on you get down your career; you realize that the simple things are true.” (6.51) SONIA – “You need to get comfortable with the fact there's there will always be things that you don't know. And that's an exciting part of the industry.” (12.47) PHIL – “Mental health is something that's gaining more visibility. And I think companies such as Microsoft presumably are, taking it more seriously” (19.15) SONIA – “Don't be afraid to dip your toe into a slightly different area of tech, even within the infrastructure area. Just see what fits.” CONTACT SONIA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoniaCuff LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniacuff/ Website: www.soniacuff.com  

GUEST BIO:           Pamela is an astronomer, writer and science communicator focused on using new media to engage people in learning and doing science.  Her most well-known project is Astronomy Cast, a podcast that she co-hosts with Fraser Cain. She is also part of numerous science programs on Twitch.tv and has made appearances on a variety of television shows including The Universe and Strange Evidence. Dr Gay also combines her astronomy and computer science background to define new approaches to astronomy that engage citizen scientists, and she leads a team chasing the holy grail of using machine learning to map other worlds. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s podcast is Dr Pamela Gay.  She is an astronomer, who also has strong IT skills which she uses to solve all kinds of science-related problems. Her focus is on getting as many people involved with and feeling enthusiastic about astronomy. She is a citizen scientist leader, advocate and enabler. Her specialist IT areas include big data management, web design, mass communication and cloud utilization. She is also a science writer and presenter as well as a podcaster, blogger and public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.21) – So Pamela, can you expand on that introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Pamela explains that at the most fundamental level she is someone who loves astronomy and playing on the internet. Basically, she is always seeking out ways to combine those two things. Dr Gay is a member of the first PC generation. The first wave of children for whom access to a computer and the internet was a possibility. She has used a computer all of her life. Her experience of them goes right back to the days of cassette drives. She learned to type at the same time as she was learning to use crayons. Her whole life, she has been discovering new ways to use the internet and has been stealing them and using them in pursuit of astronomy. Today, she has found like-minded people and is working with them to engage as many people as possible in the field. They are finding ways to get people to chat about all kinds of things. For example, getting people to work together to map actual new worlds in player groups, using the freeware application, Discord. (2.44) – Phil asks Pamela whether she set out to combine astronomy with her interest in computers and the internet. Pamela responds by describing it as an “accident”. When she started at Michigan State University she had planned to go into international science policy. Mostly because she was listening too much to people who were telling her she could not be an astrophysicist, basically, because she was a girl. In the end, she switched from taking a humanities major to astrophysics. Her international science policy goal had already led her to attend astronomy classes. While attending them she realised that astronomy was for her, so she switched her major. The fact that she had already taken so many AP classes gave her a bunch of credits. A fact that freed up enough free time for her to be able to take computer science classes as well. That is how she realised she had a natural aptitude for software development. At the time, that meant she had to get involved in the Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) fields to be able to put her talent to use. IT as a career was not yet a standalone thing. Over the years, she has continued to tinker in those two fields, using them to solve problems. For example, programming software to solve the math equations she did not have enough knowledge to complete herself, or to program a telescope to change position without manual intervention. (4.55) – Phil comments that it sounds as if the two passions complement, almost fuel, each other. This is something Pamela agrees with. In fact, she went on to say that is an understatement. In the field of astronomy, all of the data is digital and there are vast quantities of it. So, using software is the only way to make sense of it. As a result, most astronomers try hard to teach themselves programming. Almost inevitably they end up having to hire an undergraduate to get it done. So, Pamela finds her software abilities to be invaluable. Her computer classes thought her the fundamentals and gave her the necessary foundation to be able to continually grow her knowledge. For her programming is now a natural language. Whereas, for those who are self-taught it tends to remain a second language they continually grapple with. (6.29) – Phil asks Pamela for a unique IT career tip. “Be extremely curious.” If you see a way to try something, don’t wait, just do it, especially if it does not cost anything to do. If you wait someone else will figure it out and you will not get any of the credit for that new thing you just worked out how to do. (7.13) – Pamela is asked to share her worst career moment with the audience. She said that was probably when she was interviewing a student for a position on her team. He turned out not to be a suitable candidate. His answers to some of her questions were just awful, laughable, in fact. So much so that Pamela had problems holding things together and staying professional. The thing that made this incident so bad was the fact that Pamela and her team worked in an open office space. There was no properly closed-off room which she could use to conduct the interview. So, the entire staff could hear much of what was being said. For Pamela the whole experience was very awkward and one she would not want to experience again. (9.51) – Phil asks Pamela what her best career moment was. For Pamela this is not a moment as such. It is something that she has learned over time that she feels has helped her and her team the most. Fairly early on, Pamela realized the value of not trying to push everyone into working the same way. She learned to trust her team to do a good job and to be as accommodating as possible. Collaborative working has been the key to her success. Being able to build a diverse, constantly evolving team, composed of individuals with disparate skill sets has been essential. However, the fact that the members of the team are so diverse means that she has had to learn to recognize and take account of their different needs. For example, introverts do their best work alone. They have the skill set to sit down focus and get tedious things done. But, they may want to do this at home or in a closed office so they are not disturbed. Whereas, this would drive an extrovert mad. They need to interact with others. Recognizing this and allowing them the time to go out and mix with people and turn to them into volunteers is good for both them and the project. She is also careful to move with the times, particularly when it comes to communication. Not so long ago the team communicated mainly through Google Hangouts. But, as soon as they realized that most of their volunteers were on Discord, they moved to that application, instead. Pamela is also accommodating when it comes to her staff’s equipment preferences. For example, she will quite happily pay for a gaming chair if a member of her team feels more comfortable using one. (12.36) – Phil commented that it sounds like Pamela is using different tools, depending on the person involved.  Pamela says that is definitely the case. She comments that good people are hard to find. So, when she finds a good team member, she will bend over backwards to make sure that they stay. (13.24) – Pamela what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? For Pamela it is the future of AR. She is looking forward to a time when she can wear something small that will turn her office wall into something that is the equivalent of a giant 4k monitor. She wants her workspace tools to be with her at all times. To, at the tap of a button, be able to type on a virtual screen. She is really looking forward to seeing more fluid and comfortable ways of working. (14.46) – Pamela was one of the people who was given Google Glass to wear and test, so Phil asked her why she thought that product had to be shelved. In particular, whether she thought that it was because the technology was just too ahead of its time. Pamela explained that one of the biggest issues with Google Glass was the fact that people did not want to be around wearers. Mostly because they were afraid of their day to day life being recorded of their personal space being invaded. To succeed, future AR devices need to focus on augmenting, adding something to the lives of wearers, rather than capturing what they do in life. The other problem was the tiny screen. It was so small that even something simple like reading a tweet was not easy. Smartwatches are already doing a better job of that. (16.19) – What drew you to a career in IT, Pamela? It was definitely the fact that IT enabled her to easily interact with other people who loved astronomy. She loves the way she has gone from being able to share a page of astronomy jokes online, to being able to use the web to get ordinary people excited about space exploration. Those relatively simple things have enabled us to build up the knowledge we need to do so much more. For example, enable the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to locate a rock on an asteroid, pick it up and bring it back to us. (18.15) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Pamela said it was – “Keep your friends close, keep your women friends closest.” She has found this to be very good advice. People who are like you, who live similar lives, have more or less the same family responsibilities are the ones who truly understand your struggles. They are your most effective mentors and are the ones that can give you advice that actually works and helps you to get a good work-life balance. (19.48) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Pamela said she would probably sit down with those that had defined machine learning. Instead of trying to learn things from scratch she would focus on interacting with those people who had already figured things out, so that she could realize her vision faster. (20.41) – Phil asks Pamela what career objectives she is currently focusing on. Pamela said that she is trying to learn to be a better manager. In particular, she is trying to empower others more and not get in the way of her team getting things done. She is also fighting the urge to do day to day tasks herself. For example, to recognize that coding is no longer her job and that she has to let someone else do it now that she is the manager. (22.05) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Her best non-IT skill is being able to write in an engaging way, so that people want to read what she writes. To be able to do this, Pamela has had to learn to share her enthusiasm, so that she is more engaging. (22.56) – Phil asks Pamela to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Pamela says that it is important to be true to yourself. If you are a nerd, don’t be afraid to be open about that. Don’t just talk about the work you are doing on social media. Share your passions as well. Doing so opens up the channels of communication to more people. It can open all sorts of doors for you. For example, one conversation that started out being about Battlestar Galactica ended up leading to a speaking conversation. You never know where things will lead,so be engaging, be human and be approachable. It will really help you to network. BEST MOMENTS: (2.08) PAMELA – “My whole life, I've been seeing cool new interesting ways to use the internet and stealing them ruthlessly in the pursuit of astronomy.”  (6.57) PAMELA – “If you wait, you may not be the one who gets credit for that great new thing that you just figured out how to do.” (12.06) PAMELA – “Communications is best done in the places where people are most comfortable.”  (23.06) PAMELA – “Be true to yourself when you're communicating. If you're a nerd, let your nerd flag fly.”     CONTACT PAMELA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/starstryder @starstryder LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/starstryder/ Website: https://www.starstryder.com/

GUEST BIO: Corey Quinn has been an engineering manager, a public speaker and an advocate for cloud strategies.  He now specializes in helping companies control and cost optimize their AWS cloud footprint without disrupting the engineers using it. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Corey Quinn, who is a cloud economist, consultant, business owner, blogger and podcaster. His early career was spent as a system administrator. He later moved into DevOps. Today, he is a consultant who specializes in creating cost-optimized AWS cloud solutions that work efficiently, despite the fact that the cost of running them has been cut drastically. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (00.28) – So Corey, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself. Corey explains that he is a cloud economist. He started as an assistant systems administrator, which is the equivalent of an SRE, doing both individual contributor work and managing teams. But, for the last couple of years he has run his own AWS consultancy company. His main service is fixing the huge AWS bills that many companies end up with. More recently, he has become for his Last Week in AWS newsletter, which pulls together what is happening in the Amazon cloud ecosystem. At this point gives an important tip. Making fun of giant companies will make you less employable than you think. He also runs the Screaming in the Cloud podcast. (2.09) – Phil asks Corey for a unique IT career tip, one the audience probably does not already know. Corey says it is important not to lose sight of how valuable you are to the business. Being able to understand and prove your true value will really help the next time there are layoffs. So, it is wise to get into the habit of tracking that type of data. (3.16) – Phil asks how someone who cannot easily visualize their monetary value to the people they work for and how they would go about evaluating their true worth. Corey says that the best way he has found to do that is to speak to people within the company and outside about his role. Doing this has enabled him to get some perspective. He has been able to see how they think his type of role benefits a business and how it adds value. Finding a mentor helps too, they will also provide insight into this. You can also ask your boss how the company realizes the benefit of having you there. Don’t be afraid of asking this question. Doing so enables you to better understand your role and be able to fill it more effectively. It stops you from focusing on things the company does not ascribe much value to. Things they are not really interested in your taking care of for them. (4.48) – Corey is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Corey has a reoccurring moment. He has been “let go” several times and being fired never feels good, especially when you don’t see it coming. Over the years, Corey has been let go five or six times. Usually, because he was misaligned with what the business found valuable. He was just not focusing on what they wanted to have done. However, in some cases, it was a cultural mismatch that led to him being fired. Being let go hurts and can make you feel like you are a loser, even though you are not. But, on the flip side you usually end up feeling relieved, liberated even. (6.52) – Phil asks Corey if being fired has become any easier, over the years. Corey explains that it has gotten easier in that he knows what to do next. But, emotionally it is still hard. This is despite the fact that he knows every job comes to an end, at some point. In reality, you are either going to leave, because you are no longer a good fit, or your company is going to let you go, for the same reason. It is a fact of life. Besides which if you are no longer a good fit, continuing to work for that company is not good for you or your employer. Despite that, being told you have been fired is still painful. (7.53) - Have you ever experienced a situation where perhaps the company has moved on and the role that you're performing is no longer as valuable as it was previously? In Corey’s case, this has usually happened because the role has shifted radically. This has definitely been the case when he has joined a company during its early days. What a firm needs doing during start-up is very different from what they require once they are fully up and running. Corey enjoys fixing problems and turning things around. But, once everything is settled and he has to switch to take care of mundane day-to-day tasks he quickly gets bored. When that happens, it is best for him to move on quickly. (9.12) – Phil asks Corey what his best career moment was. For Corey that has definitely been helping a friend of his to grow her career. Over the years, she has regularly sought advice from him. Today, she credits him with some of her success. Corey gets more of a sense of achievement from having helped her than he does from saving companies large sums of money or help them to recover from problems. (10.28) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the barrier of entry is lowering is exciting. Now, anyone with a credit card and ten bucks can implement their business idea in the cloud. They can easily set up a test lab at home. You no longer have to spend a fortune like Corey did, years ago, when setting up a simple mail server meant buying lots of expensive equipment. (11.39) – Phil agrees he is seeing more companies use the cloud as their long-term IT solution. Business owners seem to be far less concern about potential security issues. He asks Corey if he has seen the same thing happening. Corey he agrees, but explains that he occasionally comes across firms who are worried about data security. But, when he reminds them that the tax authorities, banks and other big organizations use the technology, most understand that the risk is low. Typically, they decide to make the change and move to the cloud. (13.17) – What first attracted you to a career in IT, Corey? At one time, Corey worked as an IT recruiter. Eventually, he got tired of placing people in roles he knew he could do a better job of. So, 14 years ago, he figured he would give IT a try and significantly increase the amount he was earning. He certainly earned more, with the added bonus that he really enjoyed the work. (13.41) – What is the best career advice you have received? “Talk less, listen more”. It is something Corey still struggles with doing. But, he is working at developing this skill and is getting better at listening. After all, “nobody ever listens themselves into having to apologize.” (14.33) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Corey says that would be continuing to grow his business. Currently, he is focusing on marketing and sales. Unfortunately, he no longer has the time to code much. (15.18) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Corey it is storytelling. Telling a story about something in a way that resonates with your audience is a great skill to have. That is the case whether you are trying to convince a client, one of your peers or a colleague, of something. You have to engage with them in a way that resonates. When you learn to do that, it automatically becomes easier to speak publically, put together podcasts and participate at meetups. (16.30) – Phil asks Corey to share a final piece of career advice. Every three months, pull up your resume and update it. Add what you have done for the past three months and think about what you want to add the next time you review your resume. If you find that you have nothing to add for the last three months, work out why that is. Make sure that you don’t stall your career. The last thing you need is to end up working for a company for 15years, yet only gain one year of experience. It is all easy to slip into the tap of doing the same thing year in, year out and end up stagnating. Reviewing your resume every three months will ensure that you are always intentional with your career choices. BEST MOMENTS: (1.38) COREY – “First career tip don’t make fun of giant companies. It makes you less employable than you'd think.” (2.19) COREY – “Make sure you don't lose sight of the business value that you provide to your employer” (10.12) COREY – “Saving clients, large piles of money, sort of pales in comparison to having helped someone develop in their career.” (15.20) COREY – “Regardless of what it is you're doing, you need to be able to tell a story about it in a way that resonates with the business.” (16.13) PHIL “Stories are a fantastic way to communicate ideas and really communicate the solutions as well.” CONTACT COREY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig @QuinnyPig LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coquinn/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coquinn/

GUEST BIO: Ruth is an award-nominated digital artist, web consultant, keynote speaker and writer with 15 years of experience in the digital industry.  Ruth is a Google Development Expert, having worked for companies such as O2 and BSkyB and with clients including the BBC, NBC and Heineken. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Ruth John is Phil’s guest on today’s I.T. Energizer show. For the past 15 years, she has worked in the digital design and development field. Ruth has worked for start-ups, creative agencies and media companies as well as in the telecommunications sector. She specializes in data visualization, animation, audio and 3D. Ruth is also a technical writer and a regular conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­(0.57) – So Ruth, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Ruth explains that currently she is a self-employed consultant. She specializes in helping companies to build or document creative development. Usually, she ends up filling in skill gaps for her clients, especially when it comes to audio, animation and visualization. (1.32) – OK, so what led you into that particular avenue? Ruth explains that while working for agencies on front end development projects, she ended up filling a range of skill gaps. One of which was design. Despite the fact that her focus was research and development, she ended having to use her creative skills a lot. It was this that made her realize that she had a flair for design and the creative side of IT and that she enjoyed that kind of work. (1.53) – Phil asks Ruth for a unique IT career tip. Ruth’s number one tip is not to be afraid to turn work down. Sometimes it is because she sees red flags, other times it is because the job is not fully suited to her skill set. She is especially cautious if it looks like the project has not been spec’d properly or is underfunded. Phil asks her if that is something she has had to learn from experience. Ruth said yes. When you are self-employed getting the balance right is tricky because you’ve still got your bills to pay. This fact makes it harder to learn to say no and will mean that occasionally you will have to say yes even when the role is not a perfect fit for you. (3.57) – Ruth is asked to share her worst career moment. Like quite a few IT professionals, Ruth has made the classic mistake of deleting a production database. Of course, that was a serious mistake, but one that was relatively easily rectified because they had a proper backup. Throughout the early part of her career Ruth experienced sexism. In one office, every morning when she walked into the office they shouted boobs at her. A pretty awful environment for her to work in, but that job did not last long. Fortunately, things are getting better now for female IT workers. The other negative situation that sticks in Ruth’s mind was landing a very well paid job only to then discover that the working environment was toxic. Plus, the team was not great. That was a very low point for Ruth. Sadly, it meant that her best career moment was rolled up with her worst one. (5.09) – Can you explain how your worst career experience rolled into your best moment. Ruth said that she left that job. It was a difficult decision for her to leave such a well-paid role, but doing so was extremely liberating. (5.45) – So, have you learned anything from that particular experience in terms of who you choose to work with? Ruth explained that it gave her a better understanding of when to say no and when to say yes to a project. For example, she recently took on a project that was slightly underfunded. She did so because it gave her the chance to work with someone she already knew and trusted. It turned out to be a great decision. (7.28) – Do you see the trend of applying multiple technologies to one problem continuing? Or do you think that it is going to go the other way? Ruth said that she hopes multiple technologies will continue to be used. Having options helps people to be innovative, dig deeper and come up with interesting solutions. (6.44) – Ok, Ruth what is it about the future of the IT industry and careers that excites you, in particular. Ruth is excited by how creative IT is getting, especially at the front end where she works. You can now build anything using CSS or JavaScript, even something quite abstract. (8.48) – What first attracted you to IT, Ruth? Ruth confesses that when she first left university she was not attracted to a career in IT, at all. Her entertainment technology degree was similar to media studies, but, with the focus being on technology. For example, music technology, 3D and film animation. During her course, she did a year of Java programming and hated it. But, despite that, she applied for and landed a job as a web developer and ended up enjoying it. (9.38) – So, there must have been something that kept you going in terms of wanting to continue to work in the industry? Ruth agrees and thinks that it was seeing 3D artists and video editors at work. That made her realize that they were stuck in a dark room all day. Whereas as a developer, she got to move around, experience more and get involved in all kinds of projects. (10.34) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Ruth has recently read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and found it refreshing to hear someone recognize the fact that “having it all” is not really possible. Currently, Ruth is focused on her career, but definitely feels the social pressure to get married and have children. (11.38) – If you were to begin your IT career again, now, what would you do? Ruth says she would have more confidence in her own abilities. She really wishes she had worked an environment that had instilled that in her. (12.18) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Because this is Ruth’s 2nd year as a consultant, this year’s target is to make more money. In 2018, she has not quite hit most of her targets. She does not really set goals as such. Instead she has people she wants to work with and projects she wants to be involved in. (13.27) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Ruth teaches coding to adults. In that role, patience is an essential skill. The course is an intensive one, so there is a lot for the students to take in. Naturally, most of them struggle with various aspects of what they are learning. Getting students through this phase requires a lot of patience, so you get good at it. In time, you realize that this skill is actually very helpful in all aspects of your life. (14.13) – Phil says that he has also noticed that everyone learns in a different way. Something that has helped him to realize the importance of adapting what you say and how you say it to suit the person or people you are speaking to. Ruth agrees, and comments that in every class you end up with different kinds of learners. So, you have to think on your feet and adapt the way you teach to enable them to complete the course successfully. (14.50) – Do you incorporate all of those into the way you teach? Ruth does, she also takes advice from her mother and sister. Both of them are ex-teachers. (15.19) – Phil asks Ruth to share a final piece of career advice. Her advice is to find likeminded people. A while back Ruth was nominated for an award for an article she wrote. It was about a really random subject – doing audio video visualizations using web technologies. Not long after the nomination, a guy who was doing something similar got in touch with her. They collaborated for a while. In the end they formed a bit of a collective of people doing using similar technology to create music, control lighting rigs and that sort of thing. Over the years, these people have been really helpful, in many different ways. BEST MOMENTS: (2.20) RUTH – “I actually turn a lot of work back or just say no, off the bat, just because I see a lot of red flags.” (6.59) RUTH – “Front end technologies, like CSS and JavaScript have exploded so much over the past 5 to 10 years that you can quite easily build anything you want with them now.” (13.20) RUTH – “I like to think about projects that I would like to work on, or people that I'd like to work with.” (15.26) RUTH – “Find like-minded people.”   CONTACT RUTH:   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rumyra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthjohn/ Website: https://www.ruthjohn.com

GUEST BIO: David Linthicum is the Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte Consulting and was recently named the #1 cloud influencer in a report by Apollo Research.  David is an experienced CTO and CEO as well as an author of multiple books on computing.  He has also presented at more than 500 conferences, has published more than 5,000 articles and has a weekly podcast on cloud computing. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today’s guest on the IT Career Energizer podcast is David Linthicum.  In 2016, he was named the #1 cloud influencer. He has been working in the IT industry for more than 30 years. During that time, he has headed up his own business and headed up 4 successful publicly traded companies as CEO. He is a top thought leader in the cloud computing sector, so his services as a speaker are in great demand. David has shared his knowledge widely, writing over 5,000 articles and 13 books. He also continues to host a weekly podcast. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­(1.07) – So David, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? David explains that he is currently the Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte Consulting. During the past 30 years, he has run his own firm and been the CEO of four publicly traded companies. All of which were all sold. He is always looking ahead. Working out what problems we will be solving and identifying how we are going to be doing that. (1.46) – Is there anything in particular that sort of motivates you, that gives you the drive in terms of what you focus on in IT? Helping people is a huge driver for David. He enjoys helping people to leverage computing properly, to grow their businesses change directions when they want and produce great services and products. Seeing people who work with him, read his books, listen to his podcasts and books succeed, is something that David gets a kick out of. (3.00) – David, can you maybe share a career tip, perhaps one that the audience doesn’t know and should. David’s most important piece of advice is to be willing to self learn. In his experience, they are the ones who become truly successful. They are the people who think in terms of where things are going and acquire the skills needed for the future. Often, they become interested in a particular subject and immerse themselves in it and become passionate about the subject. When they do this they automatically become great employees. David also explained that it is important to be passionate about what you do. If you do not enjoy or get excited about your work, it is time to look for a new career. (4.09) – So, you have touched on self-motivation, do you have any particular approaches that you use yourself? Being able to see the benefit of what your doing is a big motivator. Knowing that you are making a difference will push you out of your comfort zone a bit. But, doing so will ensure that you grow and gain recognition for your efforts. Sometimes the reward may be a long way down the road. For example, it took a couple of years for David to see and truly understand the positive impact his first book had on people. You need to figure out what it is that you find rewarding and seek out those projects that are likely to work best for you. Taking this approach will help to keep you motivated. (5.21) – David is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Like most people, David made mistakes when he was young and just starting out. He started his career working for MOBIL OIL, as their Computer Services Technical Director. David had a system that he wanted to build. One that he thought would add value, but he was not listening to anyone else. As a result, he ended up building an elaborate system that virtually nobody used. That experience taught David that you have to test the value of your ideas. You need to weigh up the opinions of the target users, your peers and consider the market too. Combined they will provide you with the data points you need to make sure that you are building the right stuff. (6.26) – So how do you do things differently, now? Do you have any particular tips? David’s main tip is to look at the market and what it is going to do in the future. Don’t simply read the analyst reports and use your feelings or opinion to do this. Instead, use all of the data points that you can find. You need to look at the facts to figure out where the market is going. What technology are people using? How are they leveraging the technology? What do they want to do with it next? You need to figure out where the ball is going to be kicked to next, to recognize the upcoming trends. David has been very successful at doing that in the past 20 years, especially when it comes to cloud computing. All he did was to do the research, gather the data, put it in a line and determine what the facts said. It is not magic, you just have to take the time to do that. (7.51) – Phil asks David what his best career moment was. David’s biggest success was AI, specifically enterprise application integration. He saw the need for this in the mid-90s and understood that AI had the potential to integrate legacy data from all of the various systems. David immersed himself in the subject and wrote many articles about it. He also wrote a book called Enterprise Application Integration. But, he could not get it published. Everyone kept on saying no and did not understand the potential of his solution. It wasn’t until people started coming out of client-server and understood middleware that they recognized the value of what David was saying. Once the book was published, things went crazy and David’s ideas were widely adopted and implemented across the world. Today, it is still one of the best selling IT books in the world, having sold 20,000 plus copies and been translated into 21 languages. But, getting there took great perseverance on David’s part. Having to fight so hard for his concept pushed him hard and fast ramping up his level of competence to a level far above his expectations of himself. (10.14) – Phil says people should be able to relate to the approach that David took. Setting themselves a sort of mission is definitely a good way to progress a career. David comments that people typically start out by doing this in an incremental fashion. Even little successes are seen as big successes by your mind. They are something that you automatically build upon. So, something as simple as getting an idea implemented at work gives you the confidence to set bigger missions for yourself. Phil agrees he has also seen what a positive impact relatively small wins have on a person’s confidence levels. That in turn has a significant impact on career progression. David goes on to say that is why you need to learn to get around the failures and move on. Every successful person has failed many times. (11.47) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? David’s response was the fact that we are going to end up automating a lot more. We are going to be solving the last mile problem. It is finally going to be possible to leverage AI to do many of the mundane tasks we have no chance of completing. This will increase IT’s reach and value to businesses. The work they will be able to do will have far more than monetary value. IoT and the digital economies will start to take off. David thinks that when board directors start to recognize that is happening, he will enter the most exciting phase of his career. (13.08) – Phil shares the fact that a lot of his guests see things the same way David does. They are also noticing that IT is moving towards being the core of what their firms do rather than just being merely a support service. David elaborates on this further. He can see innovative companies leveraging systems and tools to create disruptive technology. To drastically change the markets they are working in. More people are capitalizing on these new markets, creating new products and ways of doing things. Momentum is increasing. If you are innovative and creative you are going to own the market. Those that do not do this will simply fall by the wayside. (14.35) – What drew you to a career in IT, David? From a very age David was building and programming computers. He owned the Timex Sinclair, a Commodore 64 and pet based computers. David loved the fact that they could make our lives better. You could say that he started his career at 12, when he got his first computer. That is when he became a self-learner. (15.44) – What is the best career advice you were given? David was once told to “listen to everyone”. Unless you do that, you are not going to get the 360-degree view. David ensures that he talks to everyone, even people who are low in the organization. They all have something relevant to share. Some of these ideas have changed the business pattern. (17.03) – If you were to begin your IT career again, what would you do? David said he would start by getting directly involved in architecture. The ability to understand the strategic nature of IT is vital. You need to get above the weeds to see the whole picture, so you can produce something that works for everyone. To do this, you need to almost go from the top, down. This is because learning about how everything joins together is far harder to do when you have to go from the bottom to the top. (18.28) – Phil asks David what career objectives he has. David said that he feels he has already achieved everything he wanted to do in his career. In fact, he was planning to retire, write some books, do a little consulting and volunteer after SVP sold. But, that changed when the Deloitte job came along. His current role enables him to continue to do what he loves, which is to help people to solve issues by leveraging technology. Over the years, David has been involved with hundreds of enterprises. So, he is now able to act almost as a doctor would. Now, he has the ability to speak with people and diagnose the issues their organizations have. Then provide them with the solutions, which they then go on and implement. (20.49) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For David, that is communication. When he first started work he struggled greatly with this. He was dyslexic and was also not a good verbal communicator. However, with hard work, he became a successful writer and conference speaker. He has honed his communication skills throughout his career. (21.53) – Phil asks David to share a final piece of career advice. It sounds like a cliché, but the best advice he received to find work that he was passionate about. A great piece of advice that his father gave him. BEST MOMENTS: (2.40) DAVID – “I get a kick out of people who I work for being successful.” (4.36) DAVID – “If you're going to become somebody who's very much self-motivated, you kind of have to get into the work and reward kind of way of doing it.” (6.44) DAVID - “The market doesn't care about your opinion. So, ultimately, we have to look at what the facts are, where the markets going, what technology people are leveraging.” (7.33) DAVID – “The secret is that there's no secret and there's just a lot of hard work that comes into you understanding where things are going.” (11.29) DAVID - “Every successful person out there, I mean, to a person, has failed many times. And the reality is that they learn from the failure, they move on, and they build upon it.” (12.26) DAVID -  “ITs reach within the value of the enterprise is going to be a lot more, you know, than just a simple cost centre.” (13.18) PHIL-  “Some companies are more than now technology companies that have a business, if you see what I mean, rather than a business for the technology supporting function.” CONTACT DAVID: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidLinthicum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlinthicum/ Website: https://davidlinthicum.com

GUEST BIO: Dan is a software test engineer and founder of The Test Doctor.  Dan enjoys running workshops and speaking, especially in the technical testing and security space and likes to help others to become better testers by attending events, blogging and giving training. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest today is Dan Billing. He has been involved in the IT testing sector, for much of his career, specialising in security. Dan is the founder of The Test Doctor and a leading member of the testing community. His workshops are well-attended and he is a popular conference speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­(0.58) – So, Dan, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Dan says he is now based in the southeast of England. Initially, he trained to be a teacher, but changed his mind and after briefly working in an AOL call centre, he kind of floated into testing. But, the foundations for his career were really laid when he was a child. He started out by programming his ZX Spectrum and Commodore Omega. Dan has always been fascinated by how people use and interact with applications and products. (3.15) – Phil asks Dan for a unique IT career tip. Dan says his biggest tip is to learn to understand and alleviate risk. Understanding what your clients and members of your team feel the risks are is a good way to do this. However, it is not just the technical risks that you need to understand. It is important to keep an eye on the well-being of your team too. First, check that it is a healthy team. Identify any blockers and manage them to negate the negative impact they tend to have. Also, look out for anything that may affect your team’s ability to work efficiently. For example, does your team have enough room to work in? Can they work flexibly enough to be able to take care of family responsibilities and maintain a good work life balance? Asking yourself these sorts of questions will help you to see where things could go wrong. Looking out for the wellbeing of your team, being empathetic and communicating effectively all reduce the risk of the team not being able to gel or burning out. (5.49) – Dan is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Dan explained that happened very early in his testing career. Basically, he lost his temper with a member of his team. At the time, he was not familiar with Agile working practices and was not good at communicating. Plus, the software was not sufficiently developed to allow him to test it properly. All of this led to him becoming increasingly frustrated, until, eventually he lost his temper with one of the developers. Clearly, that was not good for anyone. However, that event taught him to own up to mistakes, learn from them and not let them stop him from moving forward. By its very nature the tester role is one that can lead to conflict. After all, a big part of their role is to be a professional critic. So, for testers, learning how to highlight the issues in a way that is positive is important. Testers need to ask the right questions at the right time and in the right way and do so without being rude. That early negative incident taught Dan to take a more empathetic approach to his work. When he is testing, he thinks about the various software engineers. How they work and what they are trying to achieve, so that he can tailor his feedback to be as useful to them as possible. Naturally, he is also thinking about the product owner, the customer, and the end users. The system needs to meet the customer’s spec and be user-friendly. However, at this point, Dan points out that quality assurance and testing are not the same things. (11.04) – Phil asks Dan to tell him about his career highlight. Dan says that the most rewarding work he has done is when the team he has been a part of has achieved something good. For example, on a recent project the team had struggled to deliver on two or three sprints. So, when they did gel, hit their stride and achieve they were elated, Dan included. For him those moments where everyone successfully pulls together and achieves are his career highlights. From a project point of view, the naval charting systems job he worked on, when he first started working as a freelancer, was a highlight. Being part of a team delivering charts that keep people safe at sea was a great feeling. Landing his first keynote speech also felt great. (14.46) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Dan is excited by the challenges, in particular, the ones that are unique to the UK. With Brexit nearly upon us the IT industry is potentially facing having to operate in a very different environment. The UK IT community is going to have to adapt quickly to the changes that Brexit brings, whatever they may be. In all likelihood, their customer base will change significantly. For example, it is highly likely that UK firms will find themselves with more non-EU clients. These clients will likely approach things differently, something UK-based developers will have to adapt to. Drastic change always brings big challenges, which makes for an interesting work environment. At a global level, one of the biggest challenges facing the IT community is recruitment. To deliver products that work, you need the end customer, or user base, to be represented with the development team. Attracting the right people to the industry is a big challenge that must be met. A diverse workforce is essential, so the way recruitment is done has got to evolve. IT has the potential to solve a lot of the world’s most important issues. The products we develop can play a role in stopping things like climate change, famine and conflicts. Dan is hugely interested in, and excited by, the potential IT has to literally change the world. (21.59) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? When Dan was training to be a teacher, he realized that he was good at supporting his colleagues and students. In particular, when it came to anything computer related tasks. He really enjoyed that, especially when he was working on projects to make day-to-day teaching admin tasks easier. So, when he realized that teaching was not for him, he thought he would try IT instead. Right from the start, he enjoyed the work, so decided to make that his new career. (22.36) – What is the best career advice you were given? Dan said that he picked it up from a TED talk given by Karen Elazari, an Israeli born cyber security analyst. It was titled “Hackers: the Internet’s immune system”. During her speech, Karen pointed out that without hackers flaws with applications would remain in place. When hackers publish their research they let the world know about those issues, which pushes developers to solve them. Listening to this talk flipped the way Dan thought about security problems and has led to him becoming a more effective tester. (26.46) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Dan said he would want to gain more coding experience. He feels that doing so would help him to become a far better tester. Dan says that, right from the start, he would hone his people skills, so he would be a better colleague. (27.47) – Phil asks Dan what he is currently focusing on. Right now, Dan is working on better understanding his client’s needs and frustrations. He is also learning how to juggle the needs of several clients, at once, in a more effective way. Dan is also putting time aside, to reflect and review everything, each day. This is his way of ensuring that he stays on track and achieves his goals. He is also working on becoming a more concise communicator. Part of that process is preparing better for presentations, meetings and interviews. (29.05) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Dan has recognized that being a good communicator is crucial. Most of the problems you find in an organization are down to failures in communication. He feels that it is important to be able to recognize the non-verbal signals and learn how to be a good listener. Dan points out that a lot of IT people are on the autistic spectrum. So, you need to bear this in mind and adapt the way you communicate to take account of this. So, Dan feels that being a good communicator is his most important non-technical skill. (31.08) – Phil asks Dan to share a final piece of career advice. Dan’s advice is to pursue your passion and explore what interests you. It is all too easy to spend all of your time working. You need interests outside of your work to relieve the stress and a way to feed your curiosity, so that you carry on learning. BEST MOMENTS: (7.18) DAN – “Where we make mistakes, we need to be able to own up to them and get past them and understand them and why they happened.” (10.29) DAN – “Quality assurance and testing are related. They aren't the same thing.” (18.15) DAN – “We need to recognize that diversity is important not only in skill, but also in our workplace as well.” (31.15) DAN “Pursue your passions, do it with vigour. Take time to explore what you are interested in.” CONTACT DAN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheTestDoctor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbilling/ Website: https://thetestdoctor.co.uk/

GUEST BIO: Cal has worked with PHP and MySQL on Linux, OSX and Windows.  He has worked on a variety of projects ranging in size from simple web pages to multi-million dollar web applications. Cal is also a conference speaker as well as the author of several books including “Culture of Respect” and “Uncle Cal’s Career Advice To Developers”. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Cal Evans. Cal has had a long and successful IT career. He started by working as a developer and programmer using PHP, MySQL, OSX and Windows. But, most of his career has been spent building and running development teams. Cal is a well-known conference speaker and the author of 11 IT career and programming related books. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So Cal, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Cal explains that he got into software development pre-internet. His first computer was a Commodore 64. So, he has been coding for 35 years now, and he loves it. (1.54) – Is there any particular thing that keeps you engaged so that you stay on top of things? Cal said that he is a creative person, yet, he often introduces himself as “a man of many skills, but few talents.” He has found success by focusing on those relatively few talents. Perhaps his strongest talent is the ability to break a problem down into its component parts. A skill that is essential for successful software development. (2.43) – Phil asks Cal to share a unique IT career tip, one that listeners may not already be aware of. This tip comes directly from Cal’s book - Uncle Cal’s Career Advice for Developers. He says that it is important to remember that the job will never love you back. These days, companies work hard to keep their developers with them, in particular startups. They do all sorts of things, regularly host parties, provide lunch at the desk and a long list of other things to keep their developers happy. But, at the end of the day, you will always find that the company is not as committed to you as you are to them. (3.44) – Phil agrees and says that you always have to “look after your own interests.” Cal agrees, he sees so many developers working themselves to death for the sake of their companies. Unfortunately, if a startup goes belly up it is the developers and workers are the ones that end up losing out the most. Typically, the founders will walk away with something while everyone else is left high and dry. Cal says, that as a result, you need to be realistic about what the relationship is. Basically, you are exchanging your time and talent for money. As soon as you run out of either of those the company will be finished with you and move on to someone else. It is OK to be committed to doing a good job, but it is not wise to overdo things and burn yourself out. (5.26) – Cal is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Cal explains that circa 1999 he was managing three teams. They were working on a big Oracle and Java application. At that time, most of his work was related to the medical field, big contracts that involved a lot of money. One day, he received a text message that said the production database was down. Naturally, the outage was having a huge negative impact, so Cal went in to sort out the issue. When he got there he discovered that one of his young developers has accidentally deleted the data mix. The team restored everything, within the hour, using the backup. But, it was a costly mistake. During the debrief, Cal was asked if he was going to fire the young man who was responsible. Cal said no. The ways he saw it was that he had just paid out a lot of money for that developer to learn a tough lesson. The last thing Cal wanted was for that young man to end up putting that newly acquired knowledge to use working for another employer. (7.52) – What was the most important thing you learned from that incident? Cal said it taught him the importance of being able to stand back and not interfere. He understood that as a director his main role in that situation was to keep communication flowing. He had to make sure that everyone knew what was going on, to give his team the time and space they needed to be able to work uninterrupted. Cal recognized and acknowledged that, in this situation, they had more expertise than him. So, he was willing to take care of the menial sounding task of sending out an update, every 15 minutes, via email. There was no Facebook or Twitter back then, so this was the most efficient way to keep everyone in the loop. (8.59) – Phil asks Cal what his best career moment was. To date, that would be running the Zend training and certification division. When Cal first got involved it was very early days for PHP. Yet the training material was already woefully out of date. As the scripting language, and the way it was used, changed the training had not been updated He upgraded the certification and all of the training. Very quickly, they went from the training being about 18 months out of date to everything being 100% current. Trainers would update the files each day if necessary to make sure the next session was as relevant as possible. This approach enabled the trainers to lead the way when it came to what was covered in the course. As a result, each wave of new students was learning and using best practice. It was the trainers that had the power. Cal describes himself as just the shepherd for this project. It was all about “investing in his people.” Giving them what they need and getting out of their way. (11.53) – Phil says that the last part, “getting out their way”, is absolutely key. Cal says that is definitely the case. Yet, it is still something that very few managers or directors are prepared to do. They have a tendency to overestimate their own skills. Some seem to believe that only they can do it, which is just so wrong. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan – the greatest leaders are not the ones that do the greatest things. They are the ones that enable others to do the greatest things. This is certainly important to remember when you are leading and managing an IT team. (12.47) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Cal started out by saying that, personally, he is scared and went on to describe himself as a dinosaur. But, he is also excited for the kids that are coming up behind him. The pace of change and the tools that are available to the new generation of developers means the possibilities are endless.  (15.42) – What drew you to a career in IT, Cal? When Cal was about 14, he went for a sleepover with a friend that had a new computer. His friend showed him the code he used and Cal was hooked from that point on. (16.29) – What is the best career advice you were given? He received that advice from Marcus Whitney. Marcus was the guy who started the first PHP Podcast, in 2005. Later, it was acquired by PHP Architect. Something that Marcus now regrets. This is the case, despite the fact that he has since branched out and is now involved in other industries. Cal said that Marcus’ experience with this has made him realize the importance of hanging onto and nurturing every part of your brand. He actively works not to allow any element of his brand to die off or slip away from him. (17.16) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Cal said he would now focus on the back end and middleware. He said that he would start out by working with Circles. (17.48) – Phil asks Cal what he is currently focusing on in his career. Right now, Cal is concentrating on building the next generation of IT managers and leaders. This is a badly neglected area of the industry. For example, Starbucks spends more on training a barista than they do on training developers to be IT leaders. Across the industry, developers get virtually no management training. It is assumed that they will have acquired the skills they need to manage people without any formal training, which is rarely the case. (18.50) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Cal joked that it is singing, but goes on to say that it is reading. He reads or listens to 3 or 4 books a month. This habit has helped him to uncover all kinds of inspirational gems. (19.32) – Phil asks Cal to share a final piece of career advice. Cal says “the computer should be more afraid of you than you are of it”. With persistence you can solve any problem. He once spent 36 hours sorting out a file server that would not turn on or turn off properly. Much of that time was spent on the phone speaking to Dell and trying out their suggested solutions. In the end, they worked out that the processor chip had overheated, which had flicked a piece off. Installing a new one solved the problem. (21.29) Phil commented that sort of failure is a rare occurrence. Cal agreed, but commented that it just goes to show that weird things do happen. So, you have to be tenacious and learn how to learn other things quickly. You also need to have a passion for programming. If you do not, you will not last long working in the IT field. BEST MOMENTS: (2.33) CAL – “One of the talents that I seem to have is seeing a problem and being able to break it down into its components.” (3.26) CAL – “The job won't love you back. The company will never be as committed to you as they want you to be committed to them.” (4.48) CAL – “Remember that you are trading time for money, time and talent for money. As soon as you run out of time and talent, they will no longer give you money.” (11.47) – CAL – “It's all about is investing in your people, giving them the power to do what's necessary and then getting out of their way.” (19.44) – CAL - “The computer should be more afraid of you than you are of it. You will solve the problem. It just takes persistence.” CONTACT CAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalEvans LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calevans/ Website: https://blog.calevans.com/ Book: https://leanpub.com/cultureofrespect Book: https://leanpub.com/uncle-cals-career-advice

GUEST BIO: - My guest on today’s show is Emma Wedekind. She is a Software Engineer working on GoToMeeting. In February this year Emma quit her job as a Front-End Developer at IBM, sold everything, and moved from Austin, Texas to Karlsruhe, Germany. Emma enjoys blogging about her career and technology and is an avid reader. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest today is Emma Wedekind. She got her B.S. in computer science at Siena College and also studied at City University, London. Emma is a multi-discipline software engineer who also has a flair for, and experience, of design. Her career started at IBM where she worked as part of the IBM Spectrum Control and Suite teams as accessibility lead. Later, she became the front-end developer for IBM’s Quantum computing initiative and went on to design and launched that network’s website. In 2018, she joined LogMeIn as a software engineer, working out of their German office. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­(0.55) – Phil asks Emma to tell the audience a bit more about herself? Emma explains that she got her computer science bachelor’s degree, in 2015. During her internship for IBM, she worked on automating the installation of a web server application using z/OS in Python. This led to her working on the IBM Spectrum Control, enterprise storage system, as a full-time employee. Emma was soon invited to join the Vice President of systems and transformation’s design team. In that role she worked on numerous projects including quantum computing. For that role she worked as a developer. During that time she worked on prototyping and created the quantum network site. In the early part of 2017, she quit, moved to Germany and started working for LogMeIn, as a software engineer. (2.33) – Phil asks Emma how her new role is going and whether she has noticed any cultural differences between the two companies. Emma says she loves it and is learning lots of new skills. When it comes to working culture, the biggest difference has been the fact that in Germany the work-life balance is a lot better. When hometime comes, you are genuinely finished for the day. She has also noticed quite a few structural and logistical differences. But, this is probably more to do with the fact that LogMeIn is a much smaller company. Emma feels that working for a small company has enabled her to make more of a difference. (3.55) – Phil asks Emma for a unique IT career tip. Emma’s top tip is to find your niche. For her that is design and accessibility. She also points out that, in IT, there is no “one path fits all”. For example, not every successful developer has a degree in computer science. Her first manager at IBM was an English graduate. Interestingly, a lot of very successful engineers have musical backgrounds. Emma has noticed that there is a duality between those who are involved in the arts and music and many roles within the IT field. (6.13) – At this point, Emma is asked to share her worst career moment with the audience. That happened while Emma was building the IBM quantum network site. Unfortunately, the night before the website was due to go live she was asked to make some fairly big changes to it. Somewhere along the line there had been a failure in communication with marketing. This resulted in these last-minute changes being necessary. To get the site up and running on schedule Emma had to spend some of her family holiday time sorting things out. This unfortunate experience taught her that good communication is key to a project’s success. Emma also spoke about the fact that in many workplaces engineering still sits in a kind of silo. Something that Emma feels needs to be challenged and dealt with because it is a barrier to effective communication. (8.19) – Phil asks Emma what her best career moment was. Interestingly, it was the release of the IBM quantum computing network website. Emma said that it felt good to build something from scratch, using technology that she had never used before. Emma is particularly proud of the fact she was able to take her worst moment and turned it into a career highlight. (9.50) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the industry is so volatile is very exciting. It is impossible to get bored when you are working in a field that is always changing. There is no limit to what you can build. You can learn anything and there is always someone willing to help you. Phil agrees that is exciting. But points out that anyone who wants to work in the industry needs to be prepared for the fact that constant change is something they are going to have to deal with. Emma says for her getting used to this constant state of flux has not been easy. Her personality means that change can make her feel uncomfortable. But, over the years, she has been able to learn to get “comfortable with being uncomfortable.” (11.14) – What drew you to a career in IT? Both of her parents worked for IBM, so they encouraged her to look at engineering. But, Emma rebelled. She wanted to be an obstetrician, but gave up on that idea when she realized that she was terrible at biology and chemistry. So, she switched her degree from biology to actuarial science. During that time she took an introduction to computer science course. On that course she learned how to convert binary to hexadecimal. It was that lesson that sparked her interest in IT engineering and set her on her current career path. (12.24) – What is the best career advice you were given? Definitely, “be consistent”. Emma had a blog, but not many people were reading it, but a colleague encouraged her not to give up. He explained that if she posted consistently and used social media to share her posts and took the time to respond to reader’s feedback, success would come. It worked. She stopped worrying about how many followers she had and opened herself up to the possibility of growth. Soon after she did that, the success did come. (13.43) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Emma says she would have gotten involved with the dev community, at a far earlier stage. She feels that had she done so, she would have found her career focus, a lot quicker. Her advice is to get involved in conversations on social media and read several IT blogs. Doing this will keep you interested and feeling passionate about your IT career. (14.39) – Phil asks Emma what she is currently focusing on in her career. Right now, it is the UX engineer concept that she is working on the most. A UX engineer is a developer that sits between engineering and design pulling the two together into a harmonious team. They help to create a harmonious team that works in a consistent and effective way. A UX engineer will typically have experience of working in both fields. It is an interesting role, but is not yet a well-trodden career path. Emma is currently working to spread the word and encourage more companies to employ people in these roles. (15.41) – Phil said that he would be interested to know how that goes. Emma responded by explaining that a good UX engineer will create a comprehensive component library for use from the very start of the project. When that is put together properly, everyone benefits greatly. To do this successfully, the UX engineer needs to work with the design team and the developers to produce the components the project needs. (16.33) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Emma’s response is – communication, in particular being able to articulate your thoughts concisely, during a discussion. It is also important to realize that a big part of communication is listening. (17.37) – Phil asks Emma to share a final piece of career advice. Emma does so by encouraging everyone to push through the hard times. It is particularly important to be aware of the imposter syndrome, but don’t let that feeling overwhelm you. When you just push through those times you will experience them less frequently, learn, grow and achieve more. BEST MOMENTS: (4.03) – EMMA – “My biggest tip is to find your niche.” (4.59) – EMMA – “Just because your career doesn't follow the same path as someone else does not mean it's not successful. So, there's no one path fits all.” (8.38) – EMMA – “I'm definitely a proponent of trying to turn your negative experiences into positive ones.”  (14.32) – EMMA – “It's going to be a lot easier for you to be passionate about it. If you see others excited about the field you are working in.” (17.20) – EMMA – “Communication is something that we take for granted. We need to be better about articulating what are the things that we need for this project to be successful.” CONTACT EMMA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmmaWedekind LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmawedekind/ Website: https://codingcoach.io/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is Katrina Clokie.Katrina leads a team of around 100 testers as a Test Practice Manager in Wellington, New Zealand.  Katrina is also an active contributor to the international testing community as the author of “A Practical Guide to Testing in DevOps”, an international keynote speaker, a co-founder of the WeTest New Zealand Testing community, the founder of Testing Trapeze magazine as well as being a frequent blogger and tweeter. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Katrina Clokie is Phil’s guest, on this week’s podcast. Like so many IT professionals, she started her career as a developer. After several years filling various roles she moved into the field of testing. Katrina is the co-founder of WeTest a New Zealand testing community. She regularly speaks at conferences and is the founder of the Testing Trapeze magazine and the author of “A Practical Guide to Testing in DevOps”. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (1.01) – So, Katrina, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Katrina started her career after completing a computing and mathematical science degree. She majored in software engineering and started her full-time IT career, 10 years ago, by working in development. But, for a while she moved from sector to sector, finally, settling on testing as her field. Katrina is currently moving more into coaching and management within the testing domain. (2.04) – What made you switch from development to testing? Katrina explains that she found developing to be quite an isolated role. A way of working that she does not really enjoy. So, she switched to being a solution delivery engineer. The job gave her the chance to travel and work closely with others, something that appealed to her, at the time. She worked across Central and Latin America and Asia carrying out Telco network installs. Katrina had to test the installs as well as physically put them in place. She found the detective work involved in tracking down the root cause of any issues to be interesting, so decided that testing would be her new focus. (4.38) – Phil asks Katrina for a unique IT career tip. Katrina’s tip relates to finding new opportunities within IT. She points out that there is no need to pigeonhole yourself, something that most people tend to do. It is easier than you think to move into new disciplines within the IT industry. (6.13) – Phil agrees, but wonders if Katrina has any more tips to help people to identify where the opportunities lie. Katrina’s advice is to be constantly on the lookout for new opportunities within the organization you work for. When you see something a little different, that interests you, go and speak to some of the people who are currently filling that role or working in a similar field. If possible also talk to the person who is doing the recruiting, before, you edit your CV and apply for it. Taking this approach will give you a much deeper understanding of the types of roles that are available. If your application fails, don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. This will help you to improve your approach for your next application. (7.30) – Katrina is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. She explained that happened when she was working for a mobile service provider, in Uruguay. They had a big problem. People were double-dipping on their mobile top up codes. Basically, one person was buying $20 worth of credit, entering that code into their phone, and then sharing it with their friends. Their friends were then also getting $20 worth of calls, but without paying anything. Naturally, the company wanted the development team to solve the problem quickly. For Katrina, as a new team member, working under so much pressure was particularly difficult. But it was a situation that she learned a lot from. In particular, she saw how effective distributed communication could be when senior people conducted themselves in the proper way. It taught Katrina the importance of effective communication. A skill set that Katrina noted is, sadly, not taught as part of a computer science degree. (10.49) – Phil asks Katrina what her best career moment was. Katrina said that setting up and seeing WeTest succeed has been her career highlight, to date. She set this software testing community up with Aaron Hodder, in 2012. Just 6 years later they have been able to reach 500 testers and now run conferences in both Wellington and Auckland. The conferences have already attracted international speakers. WeTest has grown fast and is now influencing the conversations happening throughout the testing community in New Zealand. (11.54) – Phil asks what excites Katrina about the future of the IT industry. Katrina says the technology is exciting, as is the way the community is tooling and developing systems using it. It is clear that this new wave of technology is going to have a drastic impact on society, this is also exciting. But, Katrina is also very interested in the ethics, social science and philosophy of this exciting state of affairs. She is pleased to see the development community becoming more mindful of the impact their work is going to have on the way people earn their income and live day-to-day. (14.00) - Phil says that, in June, he had April Wensel on the podcast. She spoke about her compassionate coding philosophy and the work she was doing to spread this way of thinking and working. He went on to state that the movement is definitely gaining momentum, right now. (14.33) – What drew you to a career in IT? Katrina said that, initially, it was the money that attracted her. She saw an advert in a local newspaper for a web developer and was stunned to learn that they earned six figures. So, she cut that advert out and put it on the desk she used while studying for High School. Her aim was to land a job like that. To get there, she initially enrolled for an E-Commerce degree, but soon switched to pure computer science because she found that to be so interesting. (15.42) – What is the best career advice you were given? One of Katrina’s mentors is a CEO of a shipping company. She explained to Katrina how to present her skills in a way that management, who are usually non-technical, could understand. With her help, Katrina learned how to effectively demonstrate what she could contribute and help them to understand the true value she could bring to the company. (16.38) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Katrina said she would probably still end up taking the developer route into IT. She commented that is still what most students still do despite the fact they could be training for so many other IT disciplines and roles. (17.22) – Phil asks Katrina what career objectives she is currently focusing on. Katrina explained that she is planning another lateral movement to make sure that her role continues to be varied and interesting. She has just picked up a product owner role. This is allowing her to develop new skills in terms of product management thinking and tooling. She is also creating and leading a new delivery team. This is enabling her to learn more about communicating with business stakeholders from a product perspective rather than a technical one. (18.25) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Katrina feels that developing clear and empathetic communication skills has really helped her career progression. Using this type of communication creates an environment where everyone works together in a more harmonious way. (19.05) – Phil asks Katrina to share a parting piece of career advice. Katrina says that when you get started, landing that first role can be difficult. So, you have to learn to “keep going.” Don’t be demotivated by rejection. Instead, try to seek feedback and alter your approach when applying for the next role. BEST MOMENTS:  (7.16) KATARINA  – “ I think more people should look broadly and also do a little bit of research, I guess about what those broader options are because we pigeonhole ourselves. But it's, it's largely us who do that.” (10.15) KATARINA – “Communication isn't something that's really emphasized when you do a computer science degree. Yet it's something that's so important.” (16.20) KATARINA – “She gave me some really good tips around presenting my skills in a way that management could relate to and understand.” (16.48) KATARINA – “I still think it's quite hard for students to see a route into IT, that's not through development.” CONTACT KATARINA CLOKIE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/katrina_tester LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-clokie/ Blog: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-clokie/

GUEST BIO: Lee Byron is helping to lead web engineering at Robinhood having previously worked for Facebook for nearly ten years.  He is also an open source contributor and was a co-creator of GraphQL whilst at Facebook, which is an open source data query and manipulation language for APIs. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Lee Byron.  He spent the first 10 years of his career working at Facebook. While there he developed several new tools, mainly for mobile. His work at Facebook led to Lee co-creating GraphQL. In 2018, he left and joined Robinhood. There, he is helping to lead web engineering and fulfill the company’s mission of democratizing access to America’s financial services. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.03) – So Lee, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Lee explains that he spent 10 years at Facebook, where he started out as a data scientist. Eventually, becoming a product designer working on Facebook Mobile, then on Front End Engineering, this led to him co-creating GraphQL. Lee has now moved on to Robinhood helping them to democratize finance by solving some of their technical challenges. (2.04) Phil speculates that Lee must have seen a big difference between the cultures of Facebook and Robinhood. Lee agrees, but explains that there were also quite a few similarities. When he first joined Facebook there were only around 400 people working there. Right now Robinhood is a similar size, with around 250 people. Both companies are very product orientated. They both “lend trust to the team” and transparency levels are high. Facebook held weekly Q&A sessions where people like Mark Zuckerburg gave a roundup about the important things that were happening then took questions. Often, answering quite tough questions. A process that makes sure that the tough conversations are had, Robinhood does something similar. (4.06) – Phil asks Lee for a unique IT career tip. Lee says he always looks for the overlap between two different skill sets. When you do that, it is possible to find a way into something new and can begin to solve problems in that field. He has very little formal training. Instead, he learns by doing. Lee has progressed mostly by seeing a problem, finding the end of the thread and pulling on it. This process leads him through the underlying issues and pushes him to find a solution to each of them, which, eventually, solves the overall problem. Over time, he has learned to get past his feelings of being an imposter because he has no formal training. Lee now realizes that when he is working with people who are smarter than him, that is a good thing. He can still contribute and, importantly, learn from everyone else, at the same time. (5.54) – Lee is asked to share his worst career moment and what he learned from it. Lee said that while at Facebook he bet big on HTML and the web platform as a way to do mobile development. They built a mobile website version that had a higher level of functionality than the existing app did. The mobile website worked extremely well on touch devices on Android and iOS. All in all, they reasoned, the site was well received and worked. So, they doubled down on that way of doing things. When it was time to build the iOS and Android apps out they did it in a similar way. Basically, the apps were glorified web browsers loading pages. At the time, this seemed like the right approach. After all iOS had mobile Safari and Android had their own browser. It seemed logical that these would be developed over time and continues to get better. Unfortunately, the opposite happened they got buggier. As a result, the functionality of the mobile site lagged further and further behind the desktop version of Facebook. In the end, they had to change direction. At that stage, Mark Zuckerburg stated that focusing on HTML5 had been a mistake. Naturally, for Lee, this was hard to hear. But, the good thing about the whole incident is that they went on to put together an API to enable native iOS and Android apps to be developed. That in turn, led Lee and his team, to create GraphQL. One of the things he is most proud of. (11.52) – Phil asked Lee if he now does anything differently to ensure that he will not pick the wrong technology, again. Lee explains that, nowadays, when working on a project he pauses at regular intervals and asks whether the choices he is making are still the right ones. Technology moves at a fast rate, so doing this is essential. In 2009, building a high-quality mobile website made a lot of sense for Facebook. But, by 2011, user habits had shifted significantly. People were now using their mobile phones far more than they were using touchscreen tablets and similar devices. That was the point at which Lee and his team should have switched from developing the mobile website to developing full iOS and Android apps. Instead, they doubled down on the work they had already done, which was a mistake.  (14.25) – Phil asks Lee what his best career moment was. For Lee, that was the open sourcing of GraphQL and building that community. GraphQL was written in Hack a dialect of PHP that was developed by Facebook. The language was open source, but still not widely used, so Lee was not sure about open sourcing GraphQL. The other problem was that GraphQL had evolved over 3 years, so it was not a crisp, clean tool. Fortunately, despite these issues, the Relay team still pushed to share GraphQL. Relay is a piece of software that ties React together with GraphQL. People in the open source community were really interested in Relay and wanted to build data-rich tools for Facebook, using it. So, the Relay team wanted to talk more publically about GraphQL more. In the end, everyone agreed to make it public. So, Lee’s team went through every item explaining what it was for and how it worked alongside and listed that information alongside the appropriate piece of pseudo code to produce an in-depth specification. Then they built a JavaScript library, so that everything could be more widely understood. They also built a new version of Graphical using JavaScript. Finally, they open sourced all of this. It was extremely well received. Within 6 months, the community had replicated everything in nine different languages, including Ruby, Android, iOS and Python. Naturally, for Lee and his team this was very gratifying, a real highlight of his career. (21.56) – Phil asks Lee what excites him about the future of the IT industry. The fact that so many technologies are becoming democratized is something that Lee finds exciting. He is especially excited to see this happening with technologies like AI. He predicts that within the next 10 years we will be using machine learning in ways that are currently unimaginable to us. He is also excited by the fact that we are finding effective ways to collaborate and work remotely. This change means that regardless of where a developer lives they will have the chance to work on all kinds of projects. As a result, everyone will have more IT career opportunities. (25.13) – What drew you to a career in IT? Lee was always interested in computers, but art, architecture and design were his passions. Lee had built websites in High School and found it really boring, so he really did not want to do that. But, when it was time to find work the financial crisis was in full swing. So, there was not that much work around. Luckily, through a personal connection, he got taken on as an intern at The New York Times. It was in the data graphics department, work that turned out to be very interesting. One day, the head of data science from Facebook contacted him and offered him the chance to work for them. But, he was not sure. At the time, social media was not that big and Facebook was still at the startup stage. Plus, the role would have had him working on building a website. But, when he talked to them, he was impressed. So, he took the job. Lee was supposed to be mostly helping the data science team, to interact with the press and explain what they were learning to the rest of the company. But, he was not kept busy enough just doing those tasks. So, he started doing small jobs for the design team.  In time, he was asked to join them full-time. At first, he said no. But, when he was given a bigger mobile related project to work on, he was inspired and started working in design full-time. (29.34) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Lee said it was – “back up and look at the big picture.” This does not come naturally to Lee. But, every time he has made the effort to follow this advice, he has been able to pick up major issues. Spotting them sooner rather than later created the chance for him to fix things. If he had not stepped back, he would never have spotted those issues. (31.32) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Lee thinks he would probably have ended up doing something totally different. Just because he would have seen something interesting and gone off and explored it. Right now, the intersection between machine learning and the interesting new things that are happening in technology and education particularly interests Lee. He would love to work on the design of interactive exhibits and educational tools to produce exhibits and educational materials that are truly immersive. (34.13) – Phil asks Lee what he is currently focusing on, in his career. Right now, Lee’s main focus is helping Robinhood to grow. He believes that their mission is genuinely important. Finances and financial services are extremely complicated, even for someone like him, who is a bit of a nerd and a spreadsheet fiend. He really wants to be involved in demystifying things for ordinary people, so they can make the best decisions. Once they understand the options and how to access them they can invest and borrow without having to pay over the odds to do so. (36.44) – What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your IT career? Having a good understanding of how people interact with things has always helped Lee. This is a skill that he began learning, during his design studies. A lot of the principles that he learned then apply equally to digital and physical products. (38.18) – Phil asks Lee to share a final piece of career advice. Lee reiterates what he said earlier. He said that finding the overlap between skills and chasing that is what has helped him in his career. When you do that, one thing leads to another and it is easier for you to step into what are sometimes very different roles. BEST MOMENTS: (4.15) LEE – “The thing that has helped me the most is looking for the overlap between two different skill sets.” (5.09) LEE – “Learn to get over imposter syndrome.” (14.08) LEE – “Just spend a month or so just evaluating technologies before you move forward.” (22.58) LEE  – “I think 10 years from now, a lot of the software that we write will use machine learning in fascinating ways.” (39.38) LEE – “If you can find two things that you're good at that you don't think are related to each other, figure out where they overlap. There's almost always something really interesting there.” CONTACT LEE BYRON: Twitter: https://twitter.com/leeb Github: https://github.com/leebyron

GUEST BIO: Simon Maple is the Director of Developer Relations at Snyk, a Java Champion since 2014 and was a JavaOneRockstar speaker in 2014 and 2017.  Simon is also a Duke’s Choice award winner, the founder and organizer of Virtual JUG, co-leader of the London Java Community and a regular conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Simon Maple. He is a developer advocate who spent 20 years working with IBM and is now involved with start-ups. Simon is well known for setting up vJUG, the Virtual Java User Group, which now has 16,000 members. He is also the co-leader of the London Java Community and a Java Champion. On a regular basis, Simon presents at major conferences, including, Devooxx Fr and UK, JavaOne, JavaZone, JAX, JavaLand and many more. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­(1.02) – So Simon, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Simon started his career as a developer for IBM, 20 years ago. After 10 years, he moved into what IBM called technical evangelism, which is also known as developer advocacy. It was a big change. Suddenly, he had to do public speaking, customer engagement and blogging. Developer advocacy, for Simon, is all about helping developers with the day to day issues that they have. He does this in many different ways. Mostly, by introducing tools and techniques that can be used to make things easier for the developer. Part of his role is to educate developers about different issues, for example security. (2.50) Do you find that there are certain subjects that people ask questions about more than others? Simon says that is more to do with the number of questions people ask rather than specific topics. When a developer has the confidence to start asking you more questions, you know you have hit the right level in terms of the information you are giving out as an advocate. If you overwhelm people they clam up because they are having trouble keeping up. Give them too little information and they find it impossible to piece things together and understand what you are trying to say. When you get the balance right, you know because the conversation flows and the questions come. People will talk more about topics that interest them or that resonate with them. Also, after speaking about a topic a few times you will pick up on the questions that most people want to be answered. (4.22) – Phil asks Simon for a unique IT career tip. Simon explains that his role is basically to communicate something to someone. Over the years, he has learned that it is important to share the information your audience wants to consume. This is the case whether you are talking to one person or a thousand, or more. When you empathize with the person you are speaking to, you naturally adjust what you say and make it as relevant to the audience as possible. Empathy will also help you to change the way you say things, so that it easier for them to digest the information you are sharing. When you do that, regardless of what your role is, you will progress in your career. (6.26) – Simon is asked to share his worst career moment with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. For Simon this was more of a personal situation rather than a professional one. As humans it is hard to keep up with all of the social pressure that comes with change. The developer world moves very quickly. You are doing your job in a certain way following a known path. Suddenly, Agile comes along and everything moves far faster. Testing has to be done in 2 weeks. Then you have to take on DevOps and SecOps as well as your main role of developing. Basically, the work keeps on being piled onto your plate. In that situation, it is all too easy to take on too much too quickly. When you do that, you burn out physically and mentally. That has happened to Simon twice, which put him in a bad place and stopped his career in its tracks. He is now careful about what he takes on and has got into the habit of prioritizing things properly.  Simon has found that taking things out of his head and feeding them into a “to do” type tool helps him a lot. He finds that getting everything out of his head and into the tool enables him to concentrate once again on his work. Phil described it as removing clutter from his brain. (9.23) – Phil asks Simon what his best career moment was. Simon feels that the best inventions come about when someone is trying to solve a problem. His best career moment came about because Simon was struggling to see enough of his family and still fulfill all of his work responsibilities. He wanted to attend the London Java group events, they were very beneficial, but he was very short on time. So, he came up with the idea of setting up a virtual Java group. At the time, this way of bringing people together was very rarely done. Now user groups stream their events so everyone can benefit, regardless of where they are in the world. Today, the virtual community that he set up, vJUG has 16,000 members. It has helped tens of thousands of people to collaborate and become more successful. His work with the group has helped Simon to become well-known something which has greatly helped his career. He thinks that setting up and running the group is the main reason he got the Java Champion award. (12.23) – Phil asks what excites Simon about the future of the industry and IT careers. Simon finds the pace of change exciting, because it represents an incredible learning opportunity. Although, the pace of change means that just learning technical skills is no longer enough. Every developer now needs to develop additional skill sets to ensure they can keep up and remain relevant. (14.44) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Simon’s dad was a developer, so he gave Simon a book on C and the rest was history. He was hooked. (15.02) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Simon said always ask questions. There are no stupid questions and the sooner you ask them the less likely you are to think it is a stupid question. (15.18) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Simon says he would have taken something like a computer science and cybernetics or AI degree instead of pure computer science. He would still choose to work in software development, but would move more quickly from working for a large company to joining a startup. (16.01) – Phil asks Simon what he is currently focusing on. Right now, Simon is learning how to grow high performing teams and ensure that each individual in them reaches their full potential. So, that they can grow and so can the team. (16.32) – What is the No. 1 non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Simon says the way he has learned to communicate with others has really helped him to progress. When you are happy and friendly people enjoy talking to you, which means that you can learn more. (17.05) – Phil asks Simon to share a final piece of career advice. Never look at what you want to be in 10 to 15 years. Instead, make sure you enjoy what you are doing and who you are working with. If you are not happy, do not be frightened to follow your gut and change your career. BEST MOMENTS: (5.19) SIMON – “Always make sure that the information that you’re giving is the information that person wants to actually consume.” (9.44) SIMON - “The best kind of inventions come from problems or issues.” (15.08) SIMON – “The earlier you ask a question the less likely it will be that you will think it’s a stupid question.” (17.35) SIMON – “Always make sure that you’re enjoying the job you are doing.” CONTACT SIMON MAPLE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sjmaple LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonmaple/ Website: https://www.devangelist.blogspot.com

GUEST BIO: Lisa is a software tester who enjoys sharing her experiences and learning from others.  She is also the co-author of “More Agile Testing: Learning Journeys for the Whole Team” and “Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Agile Testers and Agile Teams”.  And in 2012 Lisa was voted the most influential agile testing professional person. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Lisa Crispin. She has spent much of her career working within the testing sphere. Today, she is also an author, public speaker and trainer. Lisa is the co-author of several books including Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Agile Testers and Agile Teams. In 2012, she was voted as the Most Influential Agile Testing Professional Person. She is currently working with mabl who specialize in automated regression testing services. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.02) – So Lisa, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Lisa explains that she has been involved in the industry for a long time, so has seen a lot of change. She is currently working with mabl out of Boston, a start-up that provides an innovative automated testing service. But, Lisa does a lot of other things too. For example, with Janet Gregory she has written books and put together a video course. Lisa also said that she likes to spend her free time looking after her donkeys, who are still adapting to the move from Colorado to Vermont. (2.12) – Phil asks Lisa for a unique IT career tip. Lisa’s biggest tip is to ask questions. It helps you to learn and lets others know that you like to learn. It also helps the person answering the questions to think. As a tester that is 2nd nature for Lisa, but she knows this is not the case for everyone. (3.04) – Phil comments that a lot of people who are new to the industry are concerned about asking questions because they are afraid that it shows a lack of knowledge. Do you see that often? Lisa says yes people want to come across as confident and accentuate what they know. But, as a tester you have to ask questions. Doing that is the only way to uncover the unknown unknowns. That only happens when you ask the right questions. Lisa explains that testers have to be big picture people. They have to keep the end user in mind at all times, which their role as tester allows them to do because they are not focused on the code. (4.07) – Lisa is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. Lisa explains that some years ago a company tracked her down, told her they were admirers of her work and offered her a job. She was flattered and intrigued, but still did her due diligence, after which she accepted the job. But, on the first day they did something that was not in line with her values. She knew immediately she had made a mistake, but pushed that feeling aside and carried on working with them. Within 6 months she ended up leaving and, fortunately, going back to her old job. (6.02) – Phil asks Lisa what would she do differently now. Lisa said there were no warning signs before she started the job, but, now she would listen to her gut. She would pause and ask herself why she felt that way. Often your subconscious is telling you something important, so it is best to pay attention to those feelings. If she had done that, she would have left that unsuitable job straight away. (6.35) – Phil asks Lisa what her best career moment was. Lisa starts by sharing the fact that helping people is something she loves, so being able to do that is a big plus, for her. She was also lucky enough to spend many years working for a company that valued, respected and trusted their IT team. The team was great they really gelled. Importantly, the IT team was involved in many business decisions and they had significant input into what tools they developed for the firm. (9.00) – Phil asks what excites Lisa about the future for the IT industry. As a tester Lisa can see the need and benefits of using machine learning for testing. So, that excites her and she is currently learning as much as she can about it. AI has the potential to take on the burden of much of the boring tedious work, which frees up our time to do more with our brains and intuition. (10.24) – What drew you to a career in IT, Lisa? Basically, it was the fact that she needed a job and wanted to move to Austin. She saw an advert for programmer trainees, took the aptitude test. They wanted people with business knowledge to work on accounting and payroll systems. Knowledge Lisa had because she had formally worked a government job. (11.22) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Lisa says that came from one of her line managers. He explained that a good leader makes sure people know what they and their team are contributing. She feels that this is part of the reason she has had such a successful career. The role of testers is not well understood and what they contribute can easily be overlooked. It is important tok how to get around that issue so that you and your team are properly recognized and rewarded. Phil agrees, he has also noticed that it is hard for testers to demonstrate their contribution. (13.01) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Lisa says she would actually stick with testing and helping others. (13.32) – Phil asks Lisa what career objectives she is currently focusing on. She believes that she has a great future as a testing advocate. The way she likes to work and her experience means that she is able to reach out to both the testers and the people who use their services and draw them together. She has a deep understanding of both worlds and is a good connector. Lisa also enjoys helping people to learn, so that will be one of her focuses. So, she will carry on with her blog and public speaking. (14.41) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Lisa thinks it is probably her leadership skills. From an early stage she knew she wanted to manage. So, Lisa has always worked to hone those skills. Interestingly, she pointed out that you can be a leader regardless of what your title is. You just need to be willing to be a change agent and show the way to make things better. (15.44) – Phil asks Lisa to share a final piece of career advice. Be brave and push yourself out of your comfort zone. Lisa is a shy person, so often has to do things that make her feel a little uneasy. So, she works within her comfort zone for a while to build up the energy she needs while working outside of her comfort zone, so that she can get important things done. She also points out that you need to overcome your fear of asking for help. After all, not asking for help when you need it can easily lead to a disaster. BEST MOMENTS:  (2.37) LISA – “My biggest tip is going to be to ask questions, you know, learn and show that you'd like to learn and learn what you need to learn about.” (5.58) LISA – “"We all learn from failure. There's no real failure, right? Just learning moments." (10.06) LISA – “I think AI just has a lot of potential to help us put more of the boring, tedious repetitive work on two machines, and free up our time to use our human brains and senses and intuition.” (11.36) LISA – “An important part of leadership is making sure that people know what you contributed, and what your team contributed, you had to make that visible.” CONTACT LISA CRISPIN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisacrispin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-crispin-88420a/ Website: https://www.lisacrispin.com

GUEST BIO: Bruno is a Java Developer and Open Source Evangelist at Summa Technologies and a Cloud Expert at Tools Cloud. He is the creator of Code 4 Life, helping Java developers to improve their careers and work on cool projects with great people. Bruno is also founder and organizer of SouJava, the Brazilian Java Users Society, which is one of the world’s largest Java User Groups, as well as a founder of the Worldwide Java User Groups Community where he has helped in the creation of hundreds of Java User Groups worldwide. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Bruno Souza is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He has a passion for helping other developers to progress their careers and for the Java language. Bruno is the founder and organizer of the Brazilian Java User Society. He has helped to set up hundreds of other Java Users Groups, across the world. Bruno is the creator of Code4.Life. This project enables developers to work together to become better developers. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.11) – So Bruno, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Bruno responds by saying that for most of his time in IT he has been helping other developers to develop their own careers. He has done this in many ways. That includes creating user groups, working with them on complicated projects and finding innovative solutions. He helps them to become good enough to be able to easily break into working on all of the coolest projects. Those challenging projects push them to continue to improve and become even better developers. Thus, a positive feedback loop is established. (2.25) – Phil asks Bruno for a unique IT career tip that the audience perhaps doesn’t know, but should.  Bruno explains that developers tend to value their technical skills above anything else. This is understandable. After all, without the technical skills you cannot get into the game. But, Bruno has said that being able to communicate and share what you know is just as important. You need to be able to present and write well to be able to work on interesting projects. You need to communicate to people what you do, what you are good at. If you do not do that you cannot be in the running. It is also important to share. Sharing is the fastest and best way to improve your career prospect. Plus, when you share you get more clarity yourself. It is especially good to speak. Speaking out loud helps you to reorder and clarify your thoughts. That is why the rubber duck debugging technique works so well. (5.43) – Bruno is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. That happened when Bruno was working on what he thought was a cool project. The big innovative company he was working for, at the time, wanted to do all kinds of new stuff. It seemed exciting, but turned out to be a nightmare. The customer was all over the place. Every five minutes things were changing. There was no communication and a lack of honesty. Things were so bad that he did not want to get up and go to work in the morning. Like a lot of developers he put up with that situation. Now, he realizes there was no need for him to do that. Bruno says that developers need to learn how to say no. To stand up when they know something is not right. Should you not be listened to and things don’t improve there is no reason for you to stay. After all, there are plenty of other cool projects you could be working on. (9.35) – Phil asks Bruno what his best career moment was. Bruno explained that his dad insisted that he did not work while he was at university. His father was an engineer and he had tried to juggle work with attending university. For him, that did not work out well. It ended up taking him far longer to finish his studies, so he did not want Bruno to make the same mistake. But, Bruno knew he needed to work to consolidate what he was learning. Naturally, he and his father got into a huge shouting match about whether he should work while studying at university. In the middle of it Bruno got a call from a friend telling him there was a job at Sun Microsystems that was his if he wanted it. He told his dad. Immediately, his dad stopped yelling and sat down to help Bruno to complete his resume. He landed that job and has always appreciated the way his dad put his feelings aside and helped him to start his career. It is one of the reasons Bruno works so hard to help others to move their careers forward. Every time one of the hundreds he has helped shares details of their success with Bruno he gets a boost. For him these occasions are the highlights of his career. (13.39) – Phil asks what excites Bruno about the future for the IT industry. Bruno is very excited to see developers taking responsibility, stepping up and leading. The fact that people are now doing this means that there is a brighter future for everyone. He is also pleased to see fewer developers simply relying on their companies to provide ongoing training for them. Instead, people are taking the initiative. They are going out and learning what they need to progress their careers. It is also exciting to see people volunteering via OpenSource and community projects. The fact that there are so many people doing things is making a huge difference to the future. (17.05) – What drew you to a career in IT, Bruno? When Bruno was 8 his father got him a computer. Bruno loved the fact he could change the source code. He worked out how to do it, so that he would win. He loved the fact that you could beat everyone by just using your brain. (17.32) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Bruno starts by telling the audience a story about his life. At one stage, Bruno wanted to develop a product and sell it. So, he told his boss he was leaving. But, his boss advised Bruno to stop and think for a bit. He pointed out that Bruno had a lot of free time in his life. Time that he could potentially use to work on his project to make sure that his business idea was sound. It was wise advice, which helped Bruno to realize that your career is not necessarily all about what you do in your work life. What you do in your free time matters too. Potentially, you can also use your free time to help you to progress. Over the years, he has learned a lot and honed his skills while volunteering and running user workshops. (18.46) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Bruno says he would start by getting involved in an OpenSource project that is related to something he loves to do or felt passionate about. Working on a project like that is a great way to hone your skills and become a really good developer. Once you get to that stage, you will be in a strong position and should be good enough to secure roles working on interesting paid projects. With most OpenSource projects nobody is going to say I am not going to hire you because you are not good enough. (19.59) – Phil asks Bruno what he is focusing on at the moment. Until recently, Bruno has been splitting his time between being a technical person running his company and helping people to progress their careers. Practically all of his mentoring, workshops, blogging and public speaking have had to be done in the evenings, during lunchtimes or at weekends. In the near future, Bruno plans to switch things around, so that most of his time is spent on showing developers how to gain more skills and progress their careers. (21.28) – What is your most important non-technical skill? The one that has helped you the most in your IT career. Bruno says that is easy – “sharing what I know.” He discovered the power of doing this by accident. It all started when his boss needed someone to talk to a reporter about Java. Fortunately, Bruno knew something about the subject, so was able to help. After that, if the company needed someone to speak about Java, they would turn to Bruno. It took a while for him to get good at these presentations. But, when he did, his career really took off. If he had not been prepared to share what he knew this would not have happened. (22.51) – Phil asks Bruno to share a final piece of career advice. He said – “go share”.  Anything you know is shareable. Even if you are a beginner share what you are doing. Tell people how you are getting started and what it is like to become a developer, right now. Any knowledge is shareable, so you do not have to learn something new before you start sharing. BEST MOMENTS: (4.01) BRUNO – “Learning how to communicate well, that can make such a huge difference.” (4.11) BRUNO – “The one thing that is guaranteed that will actually get you improving your career is if you start sharing now. Go share to a blog post, go share to social media, go share to presentations, go share to open source.” (14.54) BRUNO – “Growing your career is your responsibility.” (18.23) BRUNO – “It's not only about doing things at work. We can use the love that we have, the passion that we have, for a lot of other things outside of working time.” (19.27) BRUNO – “Open source helps you eliminate the chicken and egg problem, because you can start working on an amazing project.” (21.15) BRUNO – “So, you know, helping people to become leaders of their life, of their project, of their companies. If I can help a little bit to improve the computer industry by doing this, I'm all for it.” CONTACT BRUNO SOUZA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/brjavaman @brjavaman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brjavaman/ Blog: https://code4.life/blog/author/bruno

GUEST BIO: Eric Vanderburg is a cybersecurity leader, consultant, author and thought leader.  He is Vice President of Cybersecurity at TCDI and Vice Chairman of the board of directors for the Technology Ministry Network. Eris is a continual learner who has earned more than 40 technology and security certifications and he has a strong desire to share technology insights with the community.  He also the author of several books, a frequent writer of articles a regular presenter at conferences, seminars and other events. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Eric Vanderburg who is a leader in the cybersecurity field. He is a consultant, author and thought leader who leads the cybersecurity consulting team at TCDI. Eric is also the Vice Chairman of the board of directors for the Technology Ministry Network. This not for profit organization equips those involved in the ministry with technology tools. He is also a part of the advisory boards for several colleges. Eric has earned 40+ technology and security certifications. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – So Eric, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Eric goes on to describe himself as a creative guy who worked at a college and created a curriculum for others to teach different programs. In time, he got into consulting, so has ended up working for lots of different companies. Over the years, he has been able to find some really interesting solutions for all kinds of problems. (1.53) – So, how did you find your way into cybersecurity, in particular? Eric explains that he has always found himself asking – “How could this system be broken or how could someone misuse it?” He became fascinated with trying to work out ways to defend against the ideas that he came up with. Basically, his curiosity led him down his cybersecurity career path. (2.43) – Phil asks Eric for a unique IT career tip. Eric’s biggest tip is to seize those opportunities that will stretch you. It is important to get outside of your comfort zone. Eric often finds himself working outside of his comfort zone. If he had to wait until he had learned things 100%, he believes he would always be the “laggard at the end.” IT moves so quickly, so you really have to push yourself in order to keep up. If you do not do that, you miss out on many opportunities. (3.52) – Phil comments that many of us forget to be on the lookout for opportunities, as a result they pass us by. Eric agrees. (4.03) – Eric can you maybe share with us your worst IT moment and what you learned from that. Eric’s worst experience taught him to keep life in balance. A few years ago, everything was going really well. His business was growing as was his social presence. Yet, he was still able to spend time with his family and help his community. Everything was moving along well, the only problem was he did not have any buffer built in. So, when someone in the family got sick he had no choice but to put other things on the backburner. Fairly quickly, things that were not urgent started to become critical, deadlines were missed. So, he had to hand things over to others. At that point, Eric realized the importance of not maxing out your time. You need to leave a little breathing space so you can cope with change in your life and have some time available to take advantage of great opportunities, when you come across them. (5.41) – Phil asks Eric to tell the group about his best career moment. Eric starts by stating that – any great achievement requires a lot of work. For example, he is really proud of his first book. Eric had to dig deep to write about storage. A subject he thought he understood, until he started writing about it. At which point, all sorts of questions popped into his mind. Questions that he discovered were not being fully answered. So, he felt compelled to dig a little deeper and provide true answers to those questions. He took the extra steps necessary to do so. This included calling companies up and getting down to the nitty-gritty and solidifying his knowledge. It felt really good when he finished that book. His next two books were a lot easier because he knew the process. (8.04) – Phil asks Eric what excites him about the future for the IT industry and careers. IT is a part of every element of our lives. All of that needs development, support and security. So, there are plenty of opportunities for IT professionals.The way technology is hooking into and interfacing with real life makes now a particularly interesting time to be involved in the industry. (9.12) – Are there any directions or technologies that are of particular interest to you? Eric has always been interested in virtual reality. But, now, it is augmented reality and IoT that fascinates him. The potential applications for these technologies are almost endless. (9.41) – What drew you to a career in IT? Eric says he has always been interested in computers. He used to read the manuals and fix the neighbors computers, so it was natural for him to get involved in IT. (10.31) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Eric says that came from his father. He told him that your integrity is everything and that you should never compromise. If you do you may gain something in the short term, but, it will always come back to bite you in the end. This is especially the case now. Everyone is connected, so we are all exposed to an extremely high level of scrutiny. (11.07) – If you were to begin your IT career again, now, what would you do? Eric says he would not focus on the things he is working on now. Instead, he would probably research the human/computer interaction and the ethics of technology’s impact on us as humans. (11.46) – Phil asks Eric what objectives he is focusing on in his career, at the moment. Eric says that right now he wants to “empower the next generation.” He is heavily involved in information sharing via social media, blogging and public speaking. Plus, he is giving those that work for him more opportunities to challenge themselves. (12.25) – What is the one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Eric says it is probably his ability to organize. It has helped him to put the right pieces in place to succeed. He is continually improving his internal processes. (13.07) – Phil asks Eric to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Eric encourages everyone to seize opportunities, stretch themselves and always be learning. BEST MOMENTS: (2.54) ERIC – “Seize the opportunities that are going to stretch you as an individual.” (5.30) PHIL – “So, you'd recommend not maxing out your time? Making sure you got an element of flexibility available for anything that does come up.” (10.43) ERIC – “Your integrity is everything, never compromise it. Gains that might seem worth it in the short term, will always come back to bite you.” (11.55) ERIC – “I'm kind of at this stage of my career where I'm trying to empower the next generation.” (13.15) ERIC – “Everybody can teach you something. S,o be humble enough to learn and be excited about what you do.” CONTACT ERIC VANDERBURG: Twitter: https://twitter.com/evanderburg @evanderburg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanderburg/ Website: https://securitythinkingcap.com/

GUEST BIO: Adam Bien is a freelance architect and developer with a focus on Java.  He has written several books including “Real World Java EE Patterns – Rethinking Best Practices”.  Adam is also a Java Champion and was Java Developer of the Year in 2010.  He is also a regular conference speaker and three times a year he organizes Java related workshops at Munich Airport. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Adam Bien. Having worked with JDK 1.0, EJB, JavaFX, J2EE, and Java EE from launch onwards he has a phenomenal understanding of the language. He knows Java inside out and is a leader in the field. Adam regularly shares his knowledge by organizing workshops, speaking at conferences as well as writing books, articles and updating his blog. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – So Adam, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Adam said that originally he wanted to learn multiple programming languages, work a bit and enjoy life. However, things did not work out that way. The demand was so high that he ended up sticking with Java. Even after 22 years, he still enjoys working with this language. (1.55) – Phil asks if he has plans to switch to a different technology or will he stick to Java.  Adam says with Java, it is impossible to learn everything. He just keeps diving deeper. But, he is also doing a lot with JavaScript. He jokes that to learn both Java and JavaScript you would need at least two lives. (2.29) – Phil asks Adam for a unique IT career tip. Adam advises everyone to develop their own strategy. Not anything huge like - “I would like to take over the world, in 10 years time.” It has to be something logical. For example Adam has been working to make development simple for the clients he works with. He uses standards, which makes it possible for his clients to use other consultants. Adam has found that his clients really like this approach. It is one of the reasons they like working with him. (3.30) – Phil asks when you talk about standards are you thinking of different ways of working and models as well as industry standards? Yes, says Adam. The availability of Java’s quasi-standards like JCB Java community process, Java EE and Java SE are partly behind the language’s longevity. While lots of other technologies and frameworks have come and gone, Java has remained in use and popular. Sticking with the standard means users can stay up to date using just incremental learning. Building on what they already know to learn to use the new Java innovations. There is no paradigm change needed. Understandably, clients like that because having to migrate to new technologies is always hard and bad for business. (4.33) – Adam is asked to share his worst career moment and what he learned from it. Adam says that surprisingly he has not had any really bad career experiences. He did have one funny experience though. During the rollout of Java 6 or 7 he was due to speak about it at two Sun Microsystems locations, on two different dates. Somehow the dates got muddled up. So, Adam ended up in the wrong city on the first date, which was a funny rather than bad career moment. Although, Adam did say that when his server goes down things can get a bit crazy. Everything is on there, including his website, so he gets hundreds of emails asking him if he realizes he is no longer on the internet. (5.58) – Phil asks Adam what his best career moment was. Adam runs something called Taskforces. For example, if a system dies in production and the issue cannot be resolved, Adam pulls together the relevant people to get things up and going again. During that process there is the often the chance to spring clean the system and make it stronger than it was before. It is a rare opportunity. If a system is running you would never dare to refactor it and rebuild it from the ground up. When a system is broken, you can do so. After all, you cannot make it much worse. (7.02) – Phil asks Adam what excites him about the future of the IT industry and IT careers. Adam says that the fact that there is always something new to learn excites him. He also finds it interesting how technologies cycle. Adam has spotted the fact that “everything repeats every 10 years.” This pattern means that provided you do not forget things you are always ahead of the game. For example, JavaScript is becoming more and more like Java. So, now because Adam knows Java really well switching between it and JavaScript is actually very easy for him. He also enjoys the fact that in IT when you teach someone you inevitably end up learning more yourself. (8.54) – What drew you to a career in IT? Adam is not 100% sure why he followed this career path. But, he has always been a fan of Sci-Fi and he saw computers as being related to that. For him computers have always been magical things. When he got his Spectrum computer you could not do much with it, but Adam became obsessed with making it do more. He became fascinated by it. (10.44) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Adam starts by sharing something he has learned in his career, rather than a piece of advice he has been given. He says that if something interests him, he just learns it and does not worry about how he is going to use and apply that knowledge. Usually, he finds that a few months, sometimes years, down the line he needs what he has learned to move a project forward. So, his advice is to “learn to enjoy learning.” Adam has found that this Meta strategy leads to success. Adam also advises developers to learn presentation and political skills. You need to explain clearly why your technological solution is good for business. After all, your clients are really only interested in the outcome not the technology. (12.25) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Adam says personally he would not change much. (13.03) – What career objectives do you currently have? Adam says he wants to make sure that he will still be programming in his 90s. Something that he feels will be good for his brain. He is working to ensure that he does not get swallowed up by business matters so that he can continue to program regularly. (13.52) – What’s your number 1 non-technical skill? The one that has helped you the most in your IT career. Adam says he feels that it is important to stay healthy. (14.29) – Adam can you share a parting piece of career advice with the I.T. Energizer Audience?  Yes – “Stay interested and enjoy life by being productive.” Also, carry on learning and challenging yourself. This stops you from getting bored and it helps you to stay successful. Adam also says that you should try to keep things simple. Always minimize the amount of technology and code you use to solve a business problem. That way everyone can understand and maintain it. BEST MOMENTS: (2.06) ADAM – “If you try to learn JavaScript and Java I think you will need at least two lives.” (4.26) ADAM – “I stick with a standard. So I didn't have to learn a lot, do just incremental learning all the time.” (7.30) ADAM – “If I try to teach someone about what I learned, you learn even more.” (9.25) ADAM – “Everything else was boring. But a computer was something from another world.” (11.57) ADAM – “You should be able to explain in simple words, why what they are doing is good for the business. And not just from a technological perspective, because no client is interested in technology.” (14.59) ADAM – “The learning is the most exciting thing which will keep your successful.”   CONTACT ADAM BIEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamBien @AdamBien Website: http://adambien.blog/roller/abien/

GUEST BIO: Dave is a computer programmer and was an original signatory and author of The Manifesto For Agile Software Development.  He has also co-authored several books, including “The Pragmatic Programmer”, and was a co-founder of the Pragmatic Bookshelf. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Dave Thomas is Phil’s guest on today’s show. He is a well-known programmer who works in numerous programming languages, in particular, Elixir, Ruby and agility. Dave is one of the original signatories and author of The Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Over the years, Dave has published several other books and is a trainer. Currently, he is also an Adjunct Professor at the Southern Methodist University. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.45) – So, Dave, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Dave says that fundamentally he is a programmer. For the past 45 years he has enjoyed coding and has done it practically every day. Most of the other things, he does really just to make a living. For example, he published more books when things crashed in the early 2000s. Even then, he spent time writing the various bits of infrastructure, he just could not stay away from the code. (3.08) – Are you still involved in the pragmatic? Dave says that about 18 months ago, with Andy’s agreement, he stepped back a bit on the day-to-day stuff. He had other things he wanted to investigate and basically did not have enough time to do so. Right now, he is almost like a Victorian gentleman scientist exploring things on his own. But, he has spent about a year shuttling from one thing to another. He is now focused again. (4.21) – Phil asks Dave to share a unique IT career tip. We work in the fastest changing industry that ever existed, so you need to keep up. You can’t know everything, but you can look at what is coming up and pick a few things that are likely to make it. Then spend a bit of time learning and researching those. (5.20) – A lot of people say my employer does not give me time to do that. Dave’s response is that is not your employer’s job. It is your career - you need to invest in yourself. If you do not, you and your skills will slowly become irrelevant as new technology replaces what you are good at. (6.11) – Dave is asked to share his worst career moment and what he learned from that experience. After 45 years, Dave has understandably had quite a few bad career moments. At least, things that felt bad at the time. But, usually he learned a lot from those situations. So, in the end, many of those experiences turned out to be positive ones. When you are working in such a malleable format it is very easy to mess things up. However, with a bit of discipline and patience, it is also very easy to fix the problem. (7.29) – Phil asks Dave what his best career moment was. Dave explained that, like most people, he has a need to create. So, when he finds his “software expressing me” he gets a lift. A great example of this is the Prestel videotext system, from the 1970s. Dave was involved in writing a front end so that people could find flight availability and book them via travel agents. One day, Dave was walking down a High Street, looked in a travel agents window and saw his software running. Seeing that brought home the fact that what he was doing really was making a difference. (9.53) – Dave explained that whenever he publishes a book, he also goes to a bookstore to see it on the shelf. Seeing a physical manifestation of your work helps you to fully appreciate what you have achieved and is very fulfilling. (11.11) – So, Dave what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers in IT in particular? For Dave the fact that in IT you are shaping the world, literally. You cannot do much, these days, without IT. We can do great things with IT, which is exciting. In the very near future our coding will become part of the fabric of life. Now we code things that mainly happen via a screen or browser. In the future, our work will become an ambient background to people’s lives. That is a phenomenal responsibility, but incredibly empowering. (13.31) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? When Dave did his A-levels he took them a year earlier, so had no work to do at school. Fortunately, he was not allowed to simply leave. Instead, his school sent him across the road to take the first-ever A-level UK programming classes. They were using Basic, with a teletype paper tape punch, but Dave was captivated by the work. He had planned to study math, instead he studies software at university and begun his IT career. (15.31) – What is the best career advice you were given? Dave’s first job was working for a startup. They were asked to produce a coupon compiler, by a client. The director of that company had quite a bit of technical understanding, but there were some important gaps in his knowledge. So, at some point in the meeting Dave said – “No, you’re wrong. That’s not right” blah, blah. There was a deathly silence. At which point his boss stepped in and moved things along. Afterward the meeting he apologized. But, his boss said “No it’s OK, you did the right thing, just not in the right way.” That incident stayed with him. It made Dave realize that we should not be saying yes all the time. Instead, we have to find a way of saying no without putting people’s backs up. (16.43) – If you were to start your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Dave replied “It depends”, but he would probably not go to college or university. Instead, he would look for a company that ran a good apprenticeship scheme and join. He would then spend 5 to 10 years flitting across different areas. At that point, he would reflect on those years and work out the thing that he enjoyed the most and work in that field. Phil agreed that was a good approach. People tend to forget that taking a job is not a lifetime commitment. In the early days, it is probably only an 18-month commitment. Nobody expects any more from you, so it makes sense to take advantage of that fact and move around until you find something you love doing. (19.15) – Phil asks Dave what he is currently focusing on for his career. Dave says “changing the world”, kind of. Right now, he has two main aims. Firstly, he wants to encapsulate and share what he has learned. He is on the board of a company that teaches genuine software skills to 8 to 14-year-olds. These days, coding literacy is as important as any foreign language. The other objective is to simplify software development. Things do not have to be anywhere near as complicated as they are now. Dave believes we can make software development far easier and is working on doing exactly that. (21.25) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Dave says that enjoying learning has helped him tremendously. Being able to move across industries and learn your client’s jobs, how they work and what their problems are all helps you to build software that solves the real problem, rather than just meeting the spec. (22.46) – Phil asks Dave to share a final piece of career advice. Dave says that you need to “remember to make it fun.” You need to look forward to going to work, at least most of the time. If you feel that way you will do a good job. BEST MOMENTS: (3.06) DAVE – “You just can't keep me away from the code.” (3.39) DAVE – “I've been almost like a Victorian gentlemen scientist for the last two years, just exploring stuff on my own.” (5.38) DAVE – “The most important tip is to invest in yourself. To keep yourself current, spend some time and a little bit of money on a personal level, just to make sure that you're still relevant.” (7.24) DAVE – “I honestly think it's an important thing to learn that if you break it, you can fix it.” (9.54) PHIL – “I think seeing what you produce in action is self-fulfilling, in some ways.” (13.07) DAVE – “The most exciting thing to look forward to is a future where we can really genuinely make the world better.” CONTACT DAVE THOMAS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/pragdave @pragdave LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-thomas-53aa1057/ Website: https://pragprog.com/

GUEST BIO: Trisha Gee is a developer advocate at JetBrains, where she gets to share all the interesting things she’s constantly discovering.  Trisha has developed Java applications for a range of industries and for companies of all sizes.  Trisha has expertise in Java high-performance systems, is passionate about enabling developer productivity and dabbles with open source development. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest today is Trisha Gee. She works as a developer advocate for Jet Brains. Her goal is to help developers to make their lives easier and become more productive. Trisha spreads the word about how to do this using live training, social media and public speaking. Her expertise is in Java high-performance systems. She is the leader of Seville’s Java User and Monod user groups as well as being a key member of the London groups. Trisha is a Java Champion and a MongoDB Master. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.04) – So Trisha, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? She responds by saying she is interested in everything and has been a developer for 20 years. Trisha has always resisted has always had broad interests, so has never stuck to just one discipline. As a developer advocate she talks directly with her company’s developers about products, languages or frameworks that can be useful to them. Basically, she helps them to quickly get to grips with them. She enjoys the fact that, this role requires her to teach, present and write as well as use her technical knowledge. (2.10) – Phil comments that hiring a developer advocate is becoming more common. Trisha agrees that is the case. In particular enterprises like banks are starting to hire them. They have APIs that need to be widely used. Developers need to be able to easily incorporate them into what they are doing. In the past, difficult to read, official documentation was used to communicate with developers. Documentation that does not fit in with the way developers think. Today, there are developer advocates, like Trisha, who are able to quickly bridge that communication gap. (3.12) – Phil asks Trisha for a unique IT career tip. Trisha’s advice is to learn communication skills as well as technical ones. Being able to listen properly and answer questions in a clear and understandable way is extremely important. If you want to become an architect or lead communication becomes even more vital. (4.20) –Trisha is asked to share her worst career moment with the audience. Trisha said that happened when she typed rm -rf in the wrong directory. It is a mistake that a lot of people make, just not in production or a huge 8 level live testing environment, which is what Trisha was working on at the time. Trisha thought she was in directory level 6, in fact she was higher up, so ended up trashing multiple directories. Just before Christmas lunch. The testers were in the middle of testing in every one of these environments. As a result, they were not in a consistent state. So, restoring from backups would have been too hit and miss. She had to ask the testers they would need to do some of the tests again. It taught her the value of owning your mistakes. She quickly explained what she had done and how it could be fixed. Once she had done that, everyone was OK about the situation and the problem got fixed faster. (6.42) – Phil asks Trisha what her career highlight has been. Going from being a developer to a developer advocate has been Trisha’s career highlight. Becoming a public speaker was her first step along that rewarding path. But taking that step happened in a slightly unusual way. At a conference, she met Martin Fowler and mentioned the fact there were not enough female speakers. His response was “you can change that.” You are an articulate woman, so you can speak at conferences and play a part in solving the problem. Trisha had planned to do exactly that, but was thinking of it more as a long term goal. Martin had made her understand that she could get started immediately. So, when her boss asked her to co-present with him at JavaOne, she just did it. The rest is history, at that moment she started participating in showing developers the way forward. (9.00) – How much practice did you have before you stood up on stage for the first time? For that speech, she did not get any specific practice in. She had seen her boss, Martin Thompson, present that speech before and she had been blogging about it. So, he knew that she could do it on the fly. They just went through the slides and she watched the earlier version. But, Trisha does not do that now. She always practices the entire speech, several times. (9.59) – Phil asks Trisha what excites her about the future of the IT industry and careers in IT. Trisha says the broadness of the field. You can be doing anything, solving any problem. Trisha expressed the wish to see the IT industry become more diverse. Improving the diversity should be done, but it will also bring many benefits. It will spark off different ways of working together and solving problems. (12.10) – What drew you to a career in IT? She started programming when she was 9 or 10. She liked the idea of typing something into a machine and getting it to do more or less what she had intended. Also, the fact you can constantly enhance and tweak things appeals. Being able to discover something new simply by looking at it from a different angle and trying a few things is also something she enjoyed about IT. (12.59) – Phil asks Trisha if programming was what she planned to do when she left school. Surprisingly, Trisha said no. In her teenage years, she more or less stopped programming. But, studied math, physics and computer science at A level because she wanted to do astrophysics, go to Mars and join NASA. However, she realized that physics was really just lots of different types of math. With computing the computer does the math for you. Leaving you free to think about how the user can benefit from what you are doing. For her, physics was just too abstract. Computer programming appealed much more. (14.34) – What is the best career advice you were given? Trisha does not feel she has received career advice, as such. But, she has had great mentors, people who have helped her to progress along her chosen path. (15.08) – If you were to begin your IT career again, now, what would you do? Trisha says she would focus on machine learning. At university, she studied AI as well as computer science. But, when she graduated, practical AI was really just a pipe dream. (16.12) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Currently, she is asking herself what next? There is a possibility that she will be thinking a bit more strategically, perhaps leading other developer advocates. Or, she may turn her attention to deploying to the Cloud, DevOps and Docker, because, so far, she has not really covered those areas. But, whatever she does, she really wants to make a difference to the lives of developers. She wants to reach as many developers as possible and help them to be more effective and move forward. (18.23) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Trisha said writing, which has pushed her to sit down and work things out then share it with others. (19.16) – Phil asks Trisha to share a final piece of career advice. Trisha says it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by the fact there is so much you have to learn. It is always going to be like that. Even the most experienced people do not know everything. Things are constantly changing, so everyone in the industry has to continuously learn. You need to become with the fact that you are just going to have to learn stuff on the job. BEST MOMENTS: (3.21) TRISHA – “Don't just focus on the technical skills,” (3.45) TRISHA – “If you're able to listen to answers and listen to concerns from your users, it will make you a better developer.” (6.16) TRISHA – “You have to own your mistakes,” (11.02) TRISHA  – “I think if we improve the diversity, it is just going to become much more interesting and much more exciting, as we get different ideas from people with different backgrounds.” (11.48) TRISHA – “When you fix something for one set of people, you actually make it better for everyone.” (19.06) TRISHA – “The ability to take technical ideas and write them down in it in a useful, readable way, has probably been the best skill that I've got that isn't coding.” CONTACT TRISHA GEE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/trisha_gee @trisha_gee LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishagee/ Website: http://trishagee.github.io/

GUEST BIO: Jess Dodson is a Windows Administrator living in Queensland, Australia.  Jess describes herself as a Microsoft fan girl and for the past couple of years she has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.  Jess is also keen to pass on information to others that is technically relevant, as well as other useful information for those in system administration. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Jess Dodson is Phil’s guest on today’s show. She has been supporting, managing and administering Active Directory & Windows Servers platforms. Her work has enabled her to become a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. She specializes in Windows Server Operating Systems, Active Directory, Group Policy, File and Print, OS Lifecycle management, information & account security services. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (0.58) – So Jess, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jess explains that, after 15 years in the industry, she is now focusing more on Active Directory identity and security. In Australia, she is also heavily involved with the IT Professional Association. Their aim is to advance the practice of Information Technology as a profession. Currently, they are working to increase visibility and demonstrating the fact that the profession is not as boring as people make it out to be. She uses social media to convince people to give working in the administration side of IT, a go. Rather than automatically pursue a career on the developer side of things. (2,15) – Phil wants to know if Jess has noticed a big difference in the operational side of the companies she has worked for. So far, Jess has only worked for two organizations. A university and government department and she have found that they work in a very similar way on the organization side, but she is aware that in the corporate world culture differences are definitely there. (3.20) – Phil asks Jess for a unique IT career tip. Jess’ number one tip is that getting into IT and enjoying the career you want isn’t a straight line. There is no you get this degree to get this specific job path, in the IT industry. The best approach is to do what works for you. For some people, that is getting a degree, for others it means going straight from school into a mundane IT job and starting at the bottom of the ladder. You just need to do what works for you. (4.35) – Jess is asked to share her worst career moment and what she learned from that experience. She goes onto share two experiences, because she could not decide which of them was worst. The first one was when she did some live testing on her employee’s production website and wiped it out. They were able to restore it, from backup, but it was a hard way to learn never to do any testing on a production website. The 2nd one happened when she needed to delete a production server from her employee’s Windows Update server. A server that had been decommissioned so did not need updates. But, instead of deleting just that server, she deleted the entire production server group. More than 500 servers could not receive Windows update. This happened the day before the production patches were due to be deployed. Jess realized her mistake within seconds. The delete computer and delete group buttons were side by side and she knew instantly that she had hit the wrong one. For Jess, the lesson from that unfortunate mistake was to admit your mistakes immediately. She turned to a close colleague who had some experience in scripting and together they were able to fix the problem within an hour. If she had not admitted it, she would have had to fix it manually, which would have taken all night. Working as a team the problem was solved really quickly. (7.25) – Phil asks Jess what her best career moment was. She says it was speaking at Microsoft Ignite in Australia in 2013. She had never spoken publically before, so was very pleased when her speech was voted the third best of the conference. If you want to hear it you can do so here. Her speech was all about Active Directory & Domain Security, Administration & Maintenance and is called Righting the Right Rights. (8.26) – Phil asks how Jess practiced for her talk at Microsoft Ignite. She said she went online and did some research about technical speaking and followed the advice to practice 10 times the amount of time you are due to speak for. Jess has gone on to speak at Microsoft Ignite three more times and she may be speaking at the big Ignite conference that is on tour and coming to Sydney in February 2019. (9.51) – Phil asks what excites Jess about the future of the IT industry. The fact that everything changes so fast, is something that Jess finds exciting. You have to be really good at learning and keeping up. The shift into a whole range of areas that were not even thought of 10 years ago is really exciting. She also likes the fact that security is becoming increasingly important. (11.01) – Are there any other technologies that are of interest to you outside of your general remit? Jess explains that she just loves what she does so much that she is really focused on the Microsoft sphere of technology stack. (11.40) – Phil wants to know what brand of phone Jess uses. It is an Android model and jokes that she is a Google fangirl as well as a Microsoft one. (12.11) – What drew you to a career in IT, Jess? She explains that her dad was a systems engineer. From a very young age she wanted to be like her dad, which, naturally, meant a career in IT. (12.27) – What is the best career advice you were given? Stand up for what you know is right. Find a way to convince your managers or, if you need to, go around them especially if it is related to security. (12.53) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? If she were to start again Jess would focus on the cloud and brush up on her coding and scripting skills. (13.09) – Phil asks Jess what career objectives she currently has. Right now, Jess is focusing on Azure, Microsoft’s Cloud solution. As well as moving more into the security and identity space. (13.35) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your IT career, so far? Her response is people skills. Your network of people is a crucial asset. You need people you can rely on, so you need to “find your tribe.” (14.11) – Phil asks Jess to share a final piece of career advice. She says “love what you do”. You cannot just do this job to pay the bills. You need to be realistic and realize that it is not always possible to “do what you love”. Sometimes you are going to end up having to learn to “love what you do”. Taking this approach ensures that you get the most out of whatever situation you find yourself in and do a good job. BEST MOMENTS: (4.03) JESS – “Every person that I've ever met in IT has completely different ways that they've gotten into the industry. So, follow the path that works for you.” (7.17) JESS – “One person can get some things done. But as a team, you can get so much more done if you work together.” (11.01) PHIL – “Security is definitely going to be a hot topic over the next 10 15 years” (13.00) JESS – “Starting from now, focus on the cloud. Focus very heavily on the cloud. (13.47) JESS – “The network of people that you know, and that you can call on, it's your number one asset. You need a tribe to rely on.” CONTACT JESS DODSON: Twitter: https://twitter.com/girlgerms LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrdodson/ Website: https://girl-germs.com/

GUEST BIO: Rob Lambert began his career as a tester, creating The Social Tester blog before moving into Engineering Management.  He likes to share his experiences and the lessons he has learned in the hope that others won’t repeat common errors.  Rob is also an occasional speaker, an author and a podcaster. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on his show, today, is Rob Lambert. He began his IT career working in the field of testing. He spent years building an agile team and coming up with a process that reduced release cycles from years to weeks. A way of working that is now used across the world. These days, he runs his own consultancy company. His focus is on helping managers and leaders to find the right people, retain them and develop their skills further. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­(1.00) – So Rob, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Rob explained that he started his IT career by testing software. But, he always wanted to get involved in the creative industries by writing books and making films. It was that desire which led to him starting his blog and took him on his publishing and public speaking journey. He is kept very busy by his three kids and the demands of his work, but still finds the time to write his blog and publish a book every couple of years.  When it comes to writing, Rob takes a disciplined approach. Every day, he just takes himself away, shuts off everything else and writes solidly for an hour. Usually, he produces 500 to 1000 words. Over the course of six months to a year, that adds up to at least one book. (3.01) – Phil asks Rob for a unique IT career tip. Rob says that one of the things he teaches is learning to “trade your freedoms wisely”. Before you join an organization you need to stop and think about what freedoms you are trading to work for them. Organizations place all kinds of restrictions on you. They have rules you have to follow. Things like what you wear, where you work, which platforms you can work on, rigid processes you have to follow. All kinds of things, we never think about. If you end up working in an environment you hate on projects that bore you using clunky tools and processes, inevitably, you will feel frustrated. Think about your principles and values too. Rob and others involved in IT HR are seeing a lot of people burn out. Often, it is not because they are working long hours. It is usually because they are working for a firm that does not share their values and principles. (5.06) – So, evaluating your right decision before you make a commitment? Rob says “Yeah, I think so.” Sometimes he goes into some less than stellar organizations and finds some really talented people, who could do a lot better. Yet they stay. Usually, it is because their most important freedoms are being met. Perhaps it is the salary, the fact the location is right for them, the team is good or that the projects they work on are interesting. Phil sums it up by saying it sounds like you need to find a fair balance between your values and the company you work for. Rob agrees, but says that sometimes that is not possible. In that situation working for yourself can be the right solution. (6.45) – Rob is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. A few years back, Rob got obsessed with wanting to earn more money. It led to him switching jobs. The interview was carried out in a swish, glamorous environment, but because the job was with The Ministry of Defense he did not get to see the actual office he would be working in. When he did, his heart sank. It was in a terrible state of repair, ceiling tiles falling off, holes in the wall. Nothing was happening, everyone was playing solitaire. It was awful - within 8 days he upped and left. Luckily, the next gig he found was perfect for him. (9.08) – Phil asks Rob what he learned from that experience. Rob said, it taught him to never be driven by money alone. It is never enough compensation for doing an awful job. He also advises you not to take a job without seeing the workspace you will be working out of first. His third tip is to think carefully about the freedoms you will have to give up. (10.27) – Phil asks Rob what his best career moment was. Rob is most proud of his time at NewVoiceMedia. While there he and that team took release rollout lead times down from 14 months to basically weekly releases. During his time there, they went from being a startup to employing 120 people and hired some of the best people in the industry. Employee retention and engagement was high and finding new colleagues was not hard. With hard but effective work, everything fell into place and the company was recently acquired. (12.18) – Phil asks Rob whether there are things he has taken forward from that experience. Rob says it taught him how to become a manager. Across those 7 or 8 years he interviewed about 400 people and discovered his talent for HR and building successful teams. Those are the skills that have taken him to where he is today. (13.28) – Phil asks what excites Rob about the future for the IT industry. The fact that companies are moving towards respecting their employees more is a promising sign. Firms are looking more at people’s individual strengths and allowing them to expand their skills and fulfill traditional roles in different ways. It is an environment that encourages people to thrive. It enables people to grow and carry the businesses forward at the same time. (15.13) – What drew you to a career in IT? Rob was studying media science at university at a time when the internet was in its infancy. He was learning to take complex scientific subjects and working out ways to share them using the media with ordinary people. At the time, the internet did not seem important to him. Rob ended up doing all kinds of mundane jobs while at uni, for example, working in a snack factory. When he left university somehow he ended up as a software tester. That was it, suddenly, Rob found himself in the world of IT and he enjoyed it so much that he made it his career, (16.19) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Interestingly, for Rob that advice came from a book rather than a person. The book is called Growing a Business by Paul Hawken. It was written in the 80s and is basically about setting up and running a mail order company. But, the book is packed with great general advice that is still relevant today. The thing that caught Rob’s eye was the quote “a good business has interesting problems and a bad business has boring ones.” Now, when he looks for his next job he asks himself if the problems he will be solving will be boring or interesting. It is a great way to make sure he only works for the right types of companies. (17.09) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Rob says that he would do pretty much the same. But, he would have learned a technical skill and how to communicate well, at an earlier point in his career. If you are a technical person with good communication skills finding good work is really easy. (17.57) – Phil asks Rob what he is currently focusing on. Rob responded by saying that he is working on growing his management and consulting business. He is also working on his training arm by running more workshops and courses (18.38) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Rob’s response was – “without a doubt, good communication skills”, which are essential. To help the IT Career Energizer audience to learn these skills, Rob shared a link to his book “10 Behaviors of Effective Employees”, which you can download for free, from this page. (19.10) – Phil agrees, he says that sometimes we forget that communication is a two-way process. We tend to think about communication only from our own perspective. Not the other person’s. Rob agreed, no matter what you think you have done if the other person still does not understand. You have definitely not communicated effectively.  (19.47) – Phil asks Rob to share a final piece of career advice. Rob says it is really important to treat people, like people. Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. If you are a manager build the type of team that you would personally enjoy working in. BEST MOMENTS: (2.29) ROB – “I just write, and in that one hour a day, you maybe get, I don't know, 500 to a 1000 words out. Over the course of six months to a year, you've got yourself a book.” (3.59) ROB – “You have to be very careful about how you choose to trade your freedoms.” (9.17) ROB – “Don't ever be driven just by money alone. Because, you know what, it never compensates for what can be an awful job in an awful environment.” (17.40) ROB – “Our industry is sadly lacking very technical people who can communicate and articulate with nontechnical people.” (19.15) PHIL – “Sometimes we forget, the communication is a two-way thing.” (20.04) ROB – “You're never more than, you know, two or three LinkedIn connections away from someone who may or may not have worked with you in the past.” CONTACT ROB LAMBERT: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rob_Lambert @Rob_Lambert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlambert/ Website: http://cultivatedmanagement.com/

GUEST BIO: Phil Burgess is an independent consultant who helps companies to implement software applications and systems that support their business objectives.  Phil has worked for independent software houses as well as large corporate companies across industry sectors including finance, utilities, legal and fine art. In 2017, Phil launched the I.T. Career Energizer podcast with the goal of helping others to start, develop and grow successful careers in tech. PRESENTER BIO: John Sonmez is a software developer who founded SimpleProgrammer.com to help software developers and other technical professionals advance their careers and to live happier lives.  John is author of the best-selling books “Soft Skills: The Developer’s Life Manual” and “The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide” as well as host of the Simple Programmer podcast.’ EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today’s episode of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast is the 100th in the series, so it is a bit different, something special. Today, it is Phil Burgess himself who is being interviewed by John Sonmez. Phil first got involved in the IT industry in the mid-90s. He has developed and implemented new systems across numerous industries. Today, his focus is on helping others to develop their IT careers. He does so for everyone from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­(00.31) – Phil starts, by introducing John Sonmez,  who was his very first podcast guest. Today, it is John who is going to be asking the questions and Phil who will be answering them. (1.32) – John starts by congratulating Phil on his 100th episode. A remarkable achievement, especially when you consider that most podcasters only record around 7 episodes before giving up. John thanks Phil for inspiring so many in the coding and development industry. (3.24) – In true I.T. Career Energizer podcast tradition, John asks Phil to share a unique career tip. Phil says that it is vital to look at your plans and goals, so that you can understand where your career is going. He encourages people to put together a five-year plan. Of course, no IT career is linear and the industry moves fast. So, the plan is just a guide to give you some direction and a way of recognizing where you are. Setting a guiding goal will help you to navigate through the ever-changing world of IT. Particularly, when you regularly review and tweak your plan. Phil explains that pairing a long-term plan with short-term goals is especially helpful. Short-term goals like learning a language, taking on a public speaking engagement, attending more conferences or writing articles are all helpful. Setting goals like these will help you to identify the best ways to grow your skills, network and ultimately move your career forward. (5.24) – At this point, Phil is asked to share his worst career moment. For Phil 4 or 5 years into his career he attended a meeting with senior management and a director. The project was not going well, so the director was trying to motivate everyone and identify the issues. At one point, the director asked a technical question that had clearly been fed to him. When Phil answered it became apparent that the director had no real understanding of the issue, so could not really follow the response. Instead of seeking more understanding, the director tried to belittle Phil in front of about 15 senior managers. It felt terrible. But, it taught Phil the importance of understanding your audience. John says he has had a few similar experiences. It reminds him of one of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, one of which is “never outshine the master”. (8.25) – How about your career highlight? For Phil being able to help others with their careers is the thing he enjoys the most.  Running the podcast has enabled him to do this for more people, so for him this has been a career highlight. He has also enjoyed meeting and speaking to so many great professionals. As well as getting feedback from his audience and answering their questions. (11.18) – John asks Phil to share one thing that excites him about the future of a career in IT. Phil says the fact that the possibilities are limitless is the most exciting thing. He went on to say that “the genie is out of the bottle”. In the future, there will be opportunities that we cannot even conceive of right now. John concurs, for example, the idea of a driverless car would have been inconceivable up until a few years ago. Phil commented on the fact that technology touches every aspect of our lives and moves really fast. He goes on to speak about the amazing rate at which the motor car replaced the horse-drawn carriage. In just over a decade, a New York City road went from having one car and dozens of horses on it, in a photo, to being full of Model T. Fords. A strong example of just how fast technology changes our lives. (13.19) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Phil explains that at university he did a building survey course, something that had nothing to do with technology, whatsoever. As part of the course he was introduced to AutoCAD which was running on Unix systems. For him, it was fascinating. By the time he left university, he was torn between pursuing an IT career working in the building surveyor field. Phil did not know what to do, so he took a local job with a pharmaceutical company. Fortunately, they were in the process of implementing a brand new system that a small software house had built for them. Phil got involved and off the back of that he was offered work by the software firm. That was it, Phil had officially commenced his IT career. (14.50) – What is the best career advice you were given? Phil paraphrased the best piece of advice he has received, so far, by saying - “It's all about the delivery of the message and be able to bring your message to life.” Someone he has worked for, a few times, explained to him that he needed to use stories and examples to add color to the message you are delivering. You have to make it come alive to catch people’s attention and help them to understand and recognize the importance of your message. (15.49) – If you were to start your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Says he would be trying out as many things as he can before settling on something more specific. In particular, he would attend as many conferences as possible, listening, learning and evaluating. He also said that he would focus more on solving problems rather than the actual technology used. (16.31) – What career objectives are you focusing on? Phil wants to grow his reach and influence so that he can help as many people as possible. He is also keen to finish his first book and get it published. Phil also says he wants to make sure that he keeps his podcast going strong. (17.20) – What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your career? Listening is Phil’s number one non-technical skill. Really listening, rather than simply waiting for the break in the conversation, so you can make your point. Actually, hearing, absorbing and understanding what the other person is trying to say, then, taking the time to think before giving your response. (18.23) – John asks Phil for a parting piece of advice. Phil says you need to remember that “it’s your career.” Of course, you need to achieve the appraisal goals set out by the company you work for. But, you also need to make sure that what you achieve your own goals. It is up to you to progress your career, to learn what you need to know and make sure that you work on the right projects. BEST MOMENTS: (1.05) JOHN – “The IT industry is growing fast and going through a heap of challenges and it won't get better by accident. Thank you so much for playing your part.” (4.21) PHIL – “People need to set maybe a five-year plan in place, in terms of where they're going.” (6.49) PHIL – “Understand your audience when you're actually responding to things like questions.” (8.57) PHIL – “I'm quite keen to empower people.” (17.37) PHIL – “The ability to actually listen and think about what you're hearing before responding, is a really good skill to develop.” (19.25) PHIL – “Think about what you want. Take ownership and responsibility of your own career.” CONTACT PHIL BURGESS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilTechCareer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess/ Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com  

GUEST BIO: Lorna is on the Developer Relations team for Nextmo. Before that, she was a developer advocate for IBM Cloud Data Services which meant that she got paid to play with and talk about open source database technologies.  Lorna is also the author of the books “PHP Web Services” and “PHP Master” as well as being a regular conference speaker and writer. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest today is Lorna Mitchell.  She has a software engineering background and has worked as a developer advocate for IBM Cloud Data Services. Today, she works for Nexmo as part of the Developer Relations team. Lorna is also the author of two, very well received, books about PHP. She describes herself as being at her happiest when her GitHub graph is green. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(0.99) – Phil asks Lorna to tell the audience a bit more about herself? Lorna replies that Phil has pretty much covered everything with his introduction. (1.38) – Phil asks Lorna for a unique IT career tip. Lorna says here advice is to write things down. When you write something down, you process it in a different way. If you explain something to someone else you have to gain a deep understanding yourself. When you write a blog post you come to better understand the topic. Plus, once you publish, you get feedback and become known for being interested in that topic. As a result, you learn more. That continues, over the years. People know you are interested in the subject so start to share what they know too. This expands your knowledge even more. Plus, when you publish what you write online, people often leave insightful and helpful comments. (4.07) – Lorna is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. Lorna was once fired, which was a horrifying experience. She was left wondering how to pay the bills. Plus, Lorna was already having doubts that a software engineering career was for her. But, at the time, she had no other skills. So, she ended up having to take an IT related job even though she was reluctant to do so. As it turns out, she was very lucky. That job was a stepping stone to great things. It led to her speaking at conferences and becoming recognized for the code that she writes. She came really close to giving up a career that she now loves. Lorna comments that she has noticed a lot of people who are new to the industry wanting to give up. At the start, it is hard to find a company that has the resources and budget to allow you to do a really good job. It is all too easy to become disheartened and give up what is actually a great career once you gain enough experience to move on and secure a role with a good company. (6.15 – Phil asks Lorna what her best career moment has been. For Lorna, that was getting published by O’Reilly. It gave her an amazing sense of achievement. Plus, people started to listen more to her, which enabled her to help even more people. (7.29) – Would you write another book? Lorna replied that she definitely will when she can fit it in. Right now, she is working full-time, so that could be tricky. She wrote her other two books when she was a freelancer. (8.16) – Phil asks what excites Lorna about the future for the IT industry. For Lorna the fact that tech is everywhere and constantly changing is exciting. It means that she is always working on something fresh and new and learning about all kinds of industries. (9.40) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Lorna, working in IT was not the original plan. She was good at math and physics and has a degree in electronic engineering, so she never saw a future in IT for herself. While studying for her degree, she did a little bit of coding and really enjoyed the experience. So, when someone offered her a job in IT, building games, she took it. From there she was hooked. (10.40) – What is the best career advice you were given? At one stage, Lorna had an awful job. She knew that potentially she could get out of it by working as a freelancer. But, she was hesitant to take that step. So, a friend, who also worked in IT, said to her “Lorna, what’s the worst that can happen?” When she looked at things from that perspective, she realized it was actually the right move for her and she became a successful freelancer. Now, if she is finding it tough to make a career related decision, she asks herself “What’s the worst that could happen?”  This helps her to make up her mind and continue to move forward. (11.35) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Lorna would not change a lot. She says it is good to take a lot of different jobs to build up your experience and broaden your horizons. However, Lorna wishes she had got involved in open source at an earlier stage. Working on these projects enables you to build a big skill set and do so fast. You will learn everything from coding to project management skills as well as how to interact with and work well with others. (13.02) – Phil asks Lorna what she is currently focusing on at the moment. Lorna says for her career objectives are a really difficult thing to think about. She is still progressing by moving from one interesting project to another. It is an approach that seems to work for her. (14.14) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Lorna, being able to write well and explain things in writing is an incredibly important skill. She has pretty much always worked remotely, so has needed to be able to explain things in writing and do so in an understandable way. There has rarely been someone available to physically look over her shoulder and spot the problem. So, she has to be able to explain it concisely to them in writing. (15.17) – Phil asks Lorna to share a final piece of career advice. Where ever you are or whatever you do make sure that you participate. If you attend a conference or working group, ask a question. Hang around afterward for a chat. Get involved. You do not necessarily have to give a speech or write something to be able to participate. In online communities and on blog posts share a comment. This will really help you to find your peer group, to belong and grow. BEST MOMENTS:  (3.09)   - LORNA – “You should write things down. The rewards and the echoes of that action have been amazing for me in my career.” (11.57)  - LORNA – “I had a variety of different jobs early on. And I think that's a really good grounding.” (15.30)   - LORNA - “Wherever you are, and whatever you do. My advice is to participate.” (16.29)   - LORNA – “Keep doing what you're doing and sharing what you do. Choose who you amplify and the content that you share and you will find your peer group.” CONTACT LORNA MITCHELL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/lornajane LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lornajane/ Website: https://lornajane.net  

GUEST BIO: Vicky Brasseur has spent most of her 20 years in the tech industry leading software development departments and teams, and providing technical management and leadership consulting to small and medium-sized businesses. Vicky is also a Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, a winner of open source awards for contribution and a regular speaker at open source conferences. This year, has seen the publication of Vicky’s book “Forge Your Future with Open Source”, which I’m sure we will be talking about during the show. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today, Phil’s guest is Vicky Brasseur who is an award-winning open source contributor and author. She has been working in the IT industry for 20+ years. During that time, she has worked on numerous open source projects, which have led to the development of industry-leading software. Work she now combines with her writing, public speaking and consultancy engagements. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.16) – So Vicky, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Vicky responds by explaining that for many years she spent a lot of time doing business management stuff. But, today she mostly helps companies to understand how to contribute to and release free and open source software. She shows how to do so in a way that is both good for their bottom line and the community. (1.45) – Phil asks to share with the audience some of the benefits of using open source. For a company, there are many benefits. It removes the need to continually invent the wheel. There are millions of wheels you can use instead of wasting time and resources writing all of that code yourself. Companies can get up and running much faster using open source. (2.39) – Phil asks Vicky for a unique IT career tip. Vicky’s advice is to get involved in developing free and open source software. Doing so enables you to gain a lot of new skills and experience. Plus, it greatly improves your public and open portfolio. Importantly, you do not have to be a programmer to get involved in open source. There are many skills required to develop free and open source software, so virtually anyone can make a contribution and benefit by doing so. (3.40) Phil asks Vicky to share the best way to get involved if you are new to open source project. Vicky explains that there are lots of options, which is why she wrote a book on the subject. But, generally speaking she recommends that you pause for a moment and think about what your professional and personal goals are. It is important to work on something that interests you and will help you to grow. You could for example get involved in developing open source software for your favorite hobby. If you want to become more proficient in JavaScript and you like woodworking, go out and find a project that ticks both of those boxes. (4.53) – Vicky is asked to share her worst IT career moment. That happened when Vicky ended up working for a poorly run startup. Vicky felt she ended up in that position because she had not asked the right questions at the interview stage. It reminded her that finding a new job is a two-way street. A job seeker should be interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Vicky now has a set of questions that she asks every single interviewer. This enables her to compare the companies in a logical way. She finds that the way they respond is very telling. Often, it is what they do not say rather than what they do that is very telling. (7.25) – Phil asks Vicky what her best career moment was. For Vicky being asked by Pragmatic to write a book about a subject she is really passionate about has been amazing. Getting paid to work on free and open source software is also a highlight. But, the best thing for Vicky is helping companies to see the benefit of bridging the gap between corporate and community interests. To see that it is in everyone’s interest to work in this way. (8.44) – Can you tell us a little more about your book, “Forge Your Future with Open Source”. Has it been published yet? Vicky says yes, but she has not seen the physical book yet. On the evening of the podcast recording, she was hosting an unboxing party to reveal the book to her friends, colleagues and family. Her book is all about how an individual can contribute to free and open source software. The book explains what it is, why it matters and what copyright is. It covers licensing, intellectual property how to interact with everyone effectively. Plus, more complex issues like how to take something you may have developed in the workplace and legally share it with a wider community. (11.26) – Phil asks what excites Vicky about the future for the IT industry. Vicky is really pleased to see the IT industry opening up. Over the years, the industry has been too insular. It is great to see more diversity. Diverse teams come up with better ideas and work more efficiently. The fact that IT is becoming more inclusive is exciting and will greatly benefit everyone. (13.23) – What drew you to a career in IT? Vicky responded by saying “I love pushing buttons,” She loves computers and the process of creating something out of nothing, literally by just pushing the right buttons. (14.00) – What is the best career advice you were given? Vicky answered by saying “You can get out.” If you are in a bad situation, you don’t have to stay there. Even if you cannot leave immediately, you can start to change your situation. There are tons of people who are going to treat you better and probably pay you better. So, if you are in a bad situation, work to get out of it. (14.38) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? For Vicky that is a hard question to answer. There would be things she could change, but, she is actually pretty happy with how things have gone. (15.37) – Phil asks Vicky what she is currently focusing on. Vicky finds freelancing exhausting, so she wants to work for a company that will pay her full-time for her open source related management skills. Lots of companies have open source offices. She is hoping to work for one of those and do so for several years. So that she can get to see some projects through to the end. (16.36) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? For Vicky it is listening, communicating and writing. Documenting how you do things is a force multiplier. When you write things down, you can share it with any number of people. Vicky suggests that the audience check out the writing tips shared at the “All Things Open” conference by Jen Wike Huger from Red Hat.  Her speech notes are available here. (18.06) – Phil asks Vicky to share a final piece of career advice. Don’t rely on your manager to move your career forward. It is something a good manager will help you with, but you cannot rely on them to do so. You need to sit down and think about where you want to go and take steps to get there. Start slow -baby steps are still steps, provided you take the action, you will progress. BEST MOMENTS:  (1.45) VICKY  – “We get that very good balance and that beneficial cycle of the corporate contributions and the community  benefit, all at once.” (3.39) VICKY - “You can move your career forward by contributing to free and open source software.” (6.34) PHIL – “When you go for an interview, make sure that you find out as much as you can about that company before you commit to joining them.” (12.20) VICKY – “The studies show that communities and projects and teams that are more diverse, are also much more innovative.” (17.28) VICKY -“I can have an idea, and I can tell it to you, and then it disappears. But if I write it down, I can share it with any number of people.” (18.13) VICKY - "You have the power. It is within your power to move your career forward. But you have to take the time to think about it." CONTACT VICKY BRASSEUR: Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmbrasseur @vmbrasseur LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vmbrasseur/ Website: https://www.vmbrasseur.com/

GUEST BIO: Annyce Davis is a software developer and an Android Google Developer Expert which means she spends a lot of time developing videos, blog posts and conference talks.  She has also created several courses for Caster, O’Reilly and LinkedIn Learning.  Annyce is currently the software lead for mobile development at Off Grid Electric, a social impact startup. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Annyce Davis.  She has already had a varied career. Annyce spent 7 years working at the Washington Post setting up their online content offering and user re-engagement initiatives. During that time, she used Python, Hive and several other tools to get the job done. She was part of the team that created PostTV Android. Today, she is an Android Google Developer Expert working for the social impact start-up Off Grid Electric. Annyce has also created numerous courses, a teacher and public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.03) – So Annyce, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Annyce explains to Phil that when she is not programming she is busy settling her family into European life. The company that she works for recently moved their headquarters from Tanzania to the Netherlands. (1.57) – Phil asks Annyce to share a unique IT career tip with the audience. Annyce’s tip is to find a way to teach regardless of what you do within the tech industry. Doing that enables you to make a positive difference in the life of others and “sound down” whatever you teach within yourself. (2.32) – Phil asks Annyce to share more about what she gets out of teaching. She says it really helps her to hone her own expertise and make things firmer in her own mind. It pushes her to learn more and deepen her own understanding of a subject. If she has a complicated concept, she has to break it down so someone else can understand it too. This requires research, a process that deepens her understanding of the subject. (3.53) – Annyce is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. Several years ago, Annyce had just completed a complicated project and was expecting to be promoted. But, that did not happen for her. Yet, other colleagues, some of whom had started after her, were promoted. At the time, she felt very down, but, learned several lessons from the experience. The first was the need to speak up. If you do not do that you can easily be overlooked. Make sure that your manager knows your goals and that you constantly check your progress towards them. Also, remember that “work is not school” you have to “advocate for yourself”. Let everyone know what it is that you contribute to ensure that you advance in your career. (5.12) – Phil asks how else that experience has changed the way Annyce works. She explains that teaching keeps you visible and helps you to vocalize what it is you know and contribute. It enables you to interact with a lot of people. You become a force for positive change within your own organization and help people across multiple departments. Understanding the need to promote yourself has helped her to understand the value of being a teacher within your organization. (5.41) – Phil asks Annyce what her best career moment, so far. Annyce said that recording her first LinkedIn Learning course was a big highlight. She recorded in front of a green screen in a real studio. It was surreal and made her feel like a celebrity. Amazingly, it all started with the little step of going online and sharing a few tips. When Phil asked if she gets much feedback from her course, Annyce said yes, loads. She really loves people coming up to her at conferences and thanking her for what she taught them. (7.27) – Phil asks what excites Annyce about the future for the IT industry and careers in IT, in particular. She is both excited by and worried about how reliant we are on Open Source software. Not that long ago, most companies would not let you use Open Source code. Now, we actively look for it before we build something from scratch. It is exciting because you can get things done quickly. But, it is scary too. If it breaks there is not always an easy path to resolution. (8.28) - Do you see opportunities maybe evolving as a result of open source? Yes, definitely. It does not matter where you are in the world you can work with so many smart people and learn from them. (9.07) – What drew you to a career in IT, Annyce? One day, Annyce was playing with her favorite game, when her teacher told her that if she became a programmer, she could make games too. She did, in fact, create a word game for Android. (9.50) – What is the best career advice you were given? Annyce’s unofficial mentor told her about “the rule of thirds”. Basically, whatever you put out into the world falls into one of 3 buckets. One-third of people will appreciate it, one third will ignore it and one third will totally ignore it. You need to take whatever feedback you get and put it in one of those three buckets. Doing this ensures you do not become distracted and can continue to move forward and achieve your goals. Phil agrees and shares the fact that he has also received similar advice.   (10.48) – If you were to start your IT career again, now, what would you do? Annyce says she would change jobs every three years. She is very loyal to her current company, but also realizes that staying in one place is potentially holding her back, in some ways. In tech, there is always another challenge in another place. (11.19) – Phil asks Annyce what she is currently focusing on at the moment. Annyce is currently building a small team. She is focusing on being a great manager, who programs. Rather than a great programmer who manages, so she is focusing on improving her management skills. (11.49) – What is the non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being able to explain complex things in simple terms, it is a skill that helps you to work with all kinds of people. (12.09) – Do you vary the way you communicate depending on who you are talking to? Yes, absolutely. While teaching middle school for a year, she learned different teaching methods. Now, Annyce definitely considers her audience when she teaches. (12.58) – Phil asks Annyce to share a final piece of career advice. Annyce says, just teach, and share what you know. Start small and watch your career grow as you help others to learn. BEST MOMENTS:  (2.13) ANNYCE – “Whatever you do in the tech industry, you should try to find a way to teach it.” (4.57) ANNYCE – “Work is not school. So, you don't just get an A, because you worked hard, you have to really advocate for yourself.” (5.28) ANNYCE – “Be seen, be vocal be visible, and to share what you know, with the community, because it also helps people internally in your own company.” (13.02) ANNYCE – “Share what you know with others and just watch your career grow.” CONTACT Annyce Davis: Twitter: https://twitter.com/brwngrldev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annycedavis/ Website: http://adavis.info/

GUEST BIO: Chris is the author of the award-winning Wahl Network Blog and host of the Datanauts podcast. Chris focuses on creating content that revolves around virtualization, automation, infrastructure and evangelizing products and services that benefit the technology community.  He is also co-author of “Networking for VMware Administrators”, has published hundreds of articles and a conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: The guest on today’s show is Chris Wahl who has been working in the IT  industry for over two decades.  He is the host of the Datanauts podcast and the author of the Wahl Network Blog, both of which have won awards. His focus is on using his experience to give others the expertise they need to create the data centres of the future. Chris specializes in workflow automation and building operational excellence and the successful adoption and integration of new technology. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.07) – So Chris, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Chris said that he spent most of his career rising through the ranks. Three years ago, he set up Rubrik, which is already a market leader in Cloud Data Management. He now runs a fairly large team. The change from individual contributor to a full-time kind of manager has been a blast. (1.45) – Did you make the decision to change in terms of moving more into a management role? Chris said, yes, kind of. But, he tends to gravitate towards new things that push him to learn. For him, it is an effective way of managing the “imposter syndrome” that most of us experience. He also realized that if he continued to work as an individual how much he could achieve would be limited. On your own you can only get so much done. With a team you can build in more capacity to get things done, move the technology forwards and complete large projects. Chris has found that creating a team has enabled him to pursue some passion projects. (2.34) – Phil asks Chris for a unique IT career tip. Chris explains that it is important to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It ensures you continue to learn to keep up with the fast pace of technology. Chris has what he calls a “fear compass”. When he finds something that makes him go wow and take a step back initially, he usually dives in instead of backing away. You cannot afford to become stagnant or stale. (4.18) – Chris is asked to share his worst career moment. For Chris that happened early on. He was working for an IT shop that had a call centre type of operation to assist customers and keep the business running. One day Chris did an update and rolled it out without thoroughly testing it. Unfortunately, he had accidentally put a wild card in the script which nuked everyone’s system 32 folders. Leading to the operating system failing. On that day, 200 terminals went down. Chris could have tried to sweep his mistake under the carpet. But, he didn’t. Instead he was transparent, which enabled him and his team to get things back up and running as normal, very quickly. He felt really guilty about it. But, since then he has never broken the “test first” rule, which has helped him to deliver excellent solutions and propel his career forwards. (7.95) – Phil asks Chris what his best career moment was. Chris says that moment goes in tandem with his worst IT experience. On another job, a client asks him to do an upgrade at 11 am on a Wednesday. One of the busiest times of the week, so he warns them this is not a good idea and documents the fact. Yet, they insist he does it and everything goes down. Immediately, Chris was surrounded by the whole team, very upset and all panicking. Despite the pressure Chris was able to remain cool and quickly solve the problem. His worst career moment had helped him to understand the importance of remaining calm at moments of crisis and give him the chance to practice that skill. So, he was ready and able to deliver his best career moment. (9.26) – Phil wants to know what excites Chris about the future of the IT industry. Chris says the fact that the way we deal with IT is changing to a more collaborative way of working is exciting and important. Chris calls it the DevOps blend. He also likes the fact that everything is becoming more workflow and process driven. It is also good to see automation being utilized more. (11.19) – Phil asks Chris what drew you to a career in IT. Chris was only about 3 or 4 when he started playing computer games. He was programming by the time he was 8. He said that IT chose him rather than him choosing it. (12.18) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Surround yourself with the right people and success will follow. Positive people who challenge you and are great to work with will always drive you forwards. (13.04) – Phil asks Chris if he has ever been involved in Masterminds. Chris says not exactly. But, whether he is working on a project, attending a conference or something else he always seeks out the experts. Often, he ends up working collaboratively with them. (13.47) – If you were to start your IT career again, what would you do? Chris jokes that he would have invested heavily in Apple stock. Refreshingly, Chris does not think he would change much in the way he approaches his career decisions. (14.30) – Phil asks Chris what he is currently focusing on in his career. Chris is no longer getting heavily involved in the engineering aspect of IT. Instead, he is now focusing more on what the greater architecture of IT looks like. He is working to understand how to make this technology more accessible, so normal people can deliver this stuff. So, recently, he has been attending a lot of Gartner events and analyst conferences. (16.22) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill, Chris? Writing, the ability to take something that is complicated and make it simple enough for most people to understand is a great skill. Communication is key. There is no point in producing something fantastic, if you unable to share it with others. (17.19) – Phil asks Chris to share a few final words of IT career advice. Don’t focus too much on the details, if you do you will just spin your wheels. Stop fixating on which cloud to learn, get your feet wet, learn and pivot later if you need to. BEST MOMENTS:  (3.41) CHRIS – “Standing still means you're just gonna be brought down. You have to constantly keep moving and finding that fear factor.” (3.47) PHIL – “It’s a case of challenging yourself to be able to grow and move forward” (10.21) CHRIS – “I really liked that we're blending those two worlds and gathering a lot of the great practices that the dev world has done and applying that to ops.” (12.25) CHRIS – “Surround yourself with great people, and successfully follow." (16.31) CHRIS – “As I've grown my career, I've realized that everything boils down to communication.” (17.11) CHRIS – “Learning how to extract ideas from your head and put it into a consumable format is such a huge skill”    CONTACT CHRIS WAHL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisWahl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wahlchris/ Website: http://wahlnetwork.com/

GUEST BIO: Denise is a web design and development industry veteran and author of the book The CSS Detective Guide which is about troubleshooting CSS code.  Denise is also founder & CEO of The Creative Dose, helping individuals to unleash their creativity by banishing their inner critic and hacking their creative brains, as well as being a regular speaker at conferences around the world. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today, Phil’s guest is Denise Jacobs.  She has been working in the IT industry since 1996. Over that time, she has been a developer, designer, writer, speaker and mentor. Right now, her focus is on teaching, in particular helping others to recognize and overcome self-doubt. A positive step that frees developers and programmers to be more creative and excel at what they do. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.08) – So Denise, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Denise explained that she started web design when the web was really young in 1996. She worked for Microsoft and several other companies. In the end, she realized that what she really liked doing was teaching. So, she started teaching web design and development at Seattle Central Community College. When she moved to Miami she worked at a software company that produced a CMS. That experience made her realize she really wanted to work for herself. She also started speaking at conferences, around the same time, in 2009, she was asked to write a book. The CSS Detective Guide was a big success. Writing it and speaking about it got Denise more interested in the creative process. So, she started to talk publically about that side of IT work. Her latest book is about silencing your inner critic, so you can unlock your creativity and get into a flow state so that you can do your best work. (4.47) - Do you feel that writing the original book was that reason for getting into this more creative area? Denise explained that it was really the catalyst. The process of writing the book made Denise realize that she had crippling self-doubt. She was always seeking validation, questioning her developer and writing ability. Worrying about how she was perceived. Writing the book got Denise to the stage where she was finally felt comfortable with her work. (7.48) – Phil asks Denise for a unique IT career tip. Denise’s advice is to “be your brilliance” – tune into what you do well and focus on that. Unfortunately, we rarely recognize that we are good at something, especially if it is really easy for us to do. She gave the example of a gymnast. They will think nothing of balancing on a beam and not really think about the fact that doing that requires a good sense of balance. Yet, the fact that they have an excellent sense of balance, something which is obvious everyone else. To identify their brilliance, Denise advises people to - “think back to the last time that you did something that was so enjoyable that you lost time.” If you were so consumed that you forgot to eat or use the bathroom you were, likely, in a flow state and working in one of your areas of brilliance. (9.50) – Denise is asked to share her worst career moment by Phil. In one job Denise was singled out by one of her managers for “special treatment”, but, not in a good way. The company had a flexible working policy. Yet, her manager bullied her into coming in before 9 am and staying late. For Denise it was an awful time. It did not matter how many sacrifices she made her efforts were not recognized. Instead, she was demeaned. For example, one of her project managers was an introvert, so she ended up picking up the slack quite a bit. Effectively she became the de-facto manager. Despite assuming all of the stress and much of the physical work, when presents were handed out to everyone on that time all she got was a joke gift of a date ball. That was it; Denise saw the light and took a step back. (14.08) – Phil asks Denise what her best career moment was. For Denise becoming a public speaker has turned out to be a highlight. It has opened up a whole new world for her and enabled her to meet and help so many wonderful people. (15.36) – Phil asks Denise what excites her about the future of the IT careers. The opportunities are huge. Recently, an HR manager told her that a lot of positions are going unfilled. So, there is plenty of work available. More importantly, there is room for innovation and creativity. The possibilities and opportunities are huge. (16.32) – What drew you to a career in IT? Actually, Denise fell into an IT career by accident. While working at the University of Washington, she realized that the website was not getting updated. So, she sought out the person who was responsible for the website and discovered they were no longer keen to work on it. So, Denise learned HTML and a few other skills and took over. That was the beginning of her IT career. (18.10) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Denise says it is important to surround yourself with people who are ahead of you. She called them “opportunity models”, people that can help you to recognize the possibilities and opportunities. (18.42) – If you were to start your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Denise said that she would still focus on learning and teaching what she knows. She believes that is the fastest way to learn more and grow your community. (19.17) – Phil asks Denise what she is currently focusing on.  Right now, Denise is working to grow her reach and provide value. She has a lot of information to share that she has been too busy to get out there. So, over the next year, her plan is to share a lot more content. (20.08) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? Denise picked out two things. Firstly, being able to write well and communicate effectively. Secondly, her design skills, which enables her to make her content visually appealing and engaging. (20.43) – Phil asks Denise to share a few final words of advice with the IT Career Energizer audience. Denise says it is vital not to let your self-doubt get in your way. You need to be able to identify when you are suffering from imposter syndrome, procrastinating, worrying about being judged or doubting yourself. That is the first step to breaking through those negative thoughts and dealing effectively with them. There are tools you can use to hack your thought patterns, so you stop holding yourself back. BEST MOMENTS: (4.25) DENISE – “It’s about silencing the voice of self-doubt, so that you can actually unlock your creativity and then get to the point where you're doing your best work.” (7.16) DENISE  – “Negative self-talk is the number one barrier to success.” (7.35) DENISE – “Creativity is really just about solving problems.” (8.01) DENISE – “Be your brilliance. Tune into what it is that you do well and really do that.” (15.43) DENISE – “The number of positions that go unfilled is ridiculously high because there aren't enough people who actually have the skills.” CONTACT DENISE JACOBS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/denisejacobs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniserjacobs/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisejacobs/ Website: http://denisejacobs.com

GUEST BIO: Joe Birch is an Android Engineer, working as part of the Android team at Buffer.  He is passionate about coding and loves creating robust, polished and exciting projects for mobile, the web, TV, wearables and whatever the latest thing is.  Joe is also a keen writer and public speaker, enabling him to share his learnings and experiences with others. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Joe Birch. Currently, he is working as a Senior Android Engineer at Buffer. He also spends a lot of time at Caster.IO sharing his knowledge as an Android Instructor. Joe has also worked as a content manager for Eroski and as a freelance photographer. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.02) – So Joe, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Joe explained that he is also a Google Developer expert for Android and that he loves playing with anything technology related. Phil noted that Joe’s current role provides him with a nice balance. In that role he is able to continue to develop his skills as an Android developer as well as explore new tech. (1.42) – Phil asks Joe for a unique IT career tip. Joe believes that sharing what he has learned is helping him to continue to learn new things. At first, he was reluctant to speak publicly and share what he knows in writing. Like many developers, he was afraid that people may not think he was good enough or what he was saying was right. He was worried about being trolled and having to deal with a lot of negative comments. In reality, the opposite is true. He believes that putting yourself out there is a great way to further your IT career. It is especially good for networking. (2.54) – At this point, Joe is asked to share his worst career moment. About 3 years ago Joe wanted to make a big change at the company he worked for. In an effort to achieve that change, he ended up spending virtually every waking moment online. He believed that he had to be constantly online to be able to advance in his career. In reality, that is not necessary. Joe did not burn out completely, but, it did have a negative effect on his well-being. (3.56) – Phil asks Joe if this experience has lead to him changing his approach. The answer is yes, he balances work out with running and keeping fit. He goes to the gym before going on his laptop and makes time to read and does not work right up until he goes to bed. (5.01) – Phil asks Joe what his best career moment was. He says that when he gave his first public speech, the fact that it was a success significantly boosted his confidence and opened several doors for him. It gave him the speech bug and really helped him to build a name for himself. If he wants to learn a new technology, he will apply to give a speech about it. That pushes him to really dive in and learn everything he can about that new technology. (7.03) – Phil wants to know what excites Joe about the future of the IT industry. For Joe, it is the pace of change. You know that there is always going to be something new to explore. Just look at Android, to start with it was just phones. Now there is Android TV, Android Things and Google Home, with more in the pipeline. (8.24) – What drew you to a career in IT? Joe studied computer science at university, but he was not sure exactly what he wanted to do. For his final project, he created an App. The thrill of seeing people download and use it is what hooked him and made him pursue a career in IT. (9.14) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? At Joe’s last job his boss had a chat with him about the fact that it is not necessary to “know everything”. He helped Joe to realize that he was getting caught up in the latest things instead of focusing. His boss wanted him to stop being so distracted and focus in on the things he enjoyed and was passionate about. (10.06) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right, now, what would you do? Joe says it is important to network right from the start. He used to attend conferences, but never spoke to many people. This was largely due to a lack of confidence. (10.51) – Phil asks Joe what he is currently focusing on his career. Joe explains that for about two years now, he has wanted to write a book. He is in the process of trying to make that a reality. Joe also has several side projects on the go, some of which he has been working on for a while. Right now, he is focusing on actually getting them finished. (11.38) – What’s the most important non-technical skill that has helped you in your career? The ability to say no has really helped Joe to focus on what he really wants to do. Joe has noticed that for a lot of developers saying no is really hard. Phil agrees, he says it is a combination of not wanting to miss out and feeling the need to please everyone. “The risk is that you just say yes to everything.” (12.51) – Phil asks Joe to share a few final words of career advice. Joe’s advice is to learn new things and share what you know. Put it out there, get feedback and take action. BEST MOMENTS: (2.15) JOE – “That held me back from sharing things. And in turn, I think that also held me back from learning new things.” (5.10) JOE – “Giving my first talk was a massive confidence boost for me and really opened up a lot more doors.” (7.41) JOE – “I know there's always gonna be something new for me to engage with and play with.” (13.11) JOE – “Just get stuck in and show what you're doing, even if someone's already written about it.” CONTACT JOE BIRCH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/hitherejoe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-birch-80392157/ Website: https://hitherejoe.com Medium: https://medium.com/hitherejoe

GUEST BIO: Randall Hunt is a Senior Technical Evangelist and Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services.  Randall spends most of his time building demos and writing about new services and launches on the AWS News Blog. Python is his favourite programming language but he can sometimes be found in the dark realm of C++. Prior to working at AWS, Randall launched rockets at NASA and SpaceX but he found his programming passion at MongoDB. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Randall Hunt. He started his career working as a physicist for NASA and SpaceX. He is now working at Amazon Web Services. His favourite programming language is Python, but he also works with C++. Over the years, he has worked in several different verticals, so he has a lot of business and technical experience. Randall helps developers to maximize their productivity in the cloud, especially at conferences and similar events. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.16) – So Randall, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Randall studied physics and a little computer science at Western Carolina University. He did a kind of internship at NASA and whilst there realized that software engineers earned a lot more than physicists. So, he switched careers. Randall had been programming as a side hustle, since he was about 12 or 13. But, he only officially started his IT career in 2010. (2.15) – Phil asks Randall for a unique IT career tip. Randall has worked for a lot of startups. He said that he definitely left a lot of money on the table with his first few jobs because of 90-day expiration window clauses. So, he recommends that people learn about contracts, so that they can make an informed decision before signing one. (3.00) – Randall can you tell us about your worst IT career moment and what you learned from it. Randall answered this by sharing a particularly frustrating experience with the audience. It happened while he was working at SpaceX. The launch process involved the system going through a series of checks prior to the launch. But, there was an outage. Randall and the other engineers knew the cause of the issue and how to fix it, but the stakeholders took a lot of convincing. It taught Randall the importance of earning the trust of the stakeholders and the need to communicate effectively. (6.53) – Phil asks Randall what his best career moment was. Randall enjoys the AWS re:Invent event. Every year, it gets better. For him it is great to see how customers are using the technology to do everything from cure cancer to build electric scooters. There is a huge range of really interesting and cool things going on. (8.20) – Phil asks Randall what excites him about the future of the IT industry. AI is going to have a big impact on how we code. Intellisense style autocomplete features in IDEs are already available. So, we are not far off the point where you will be able to ask your computer to build a simulation using a simple command and a few basic parameters. Then, just leave it to “intuit the program”, including any of the defaults or variables. There will be savvy business folks who will learn just enough code to be able to use these systems. Many of the mundane tasks will disappear, leaving people free to focus on more exciting differentiated stuff. That is part of what the SaaS movement is all about. Businesses that use it are freed up to focus on innovating and growing. (10.06) – What drew you to a career in IT? For Randall it was the money. When he saw an intern earning 9k a month Randall was stunned and realized that a career in IT was the way to go. (10.30) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? “Think about where you want to be in five years and work backwards.” (10.56) – If you were to start your IT career again, right, now, what would you do? Randall said he would get involved in AI and study it academically and pragmatically. (11.16) – Phil asks what career objectives are you currently focusing on? Randall would like to do more live coding and live streaming on Twitch. He wants to focus on sharing his expertise and making it more accessible for everyone. He is also planning to scale up his outreach, so that he can take on more speaking engagements, which he will record. He wants them to be more accessible and interactive. (11.55) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? Randall has an understanding of how startups and convertible notes work. This gives him a better understanding of what the stakeholders are trying to achieve and how they are getting it done. Being able to read profit and loss statements and understand what resources are available really helps you to make viable decisions. Having a little bit of business savvy is a very useful skill. (12.37) – Phil asks Randall to share a few final words of career advice. He responds by saying “Ignore that 90-day exercise window in any start-up contract that you sign.” BEST MOMENTS:  (2.48) RANDALL – “I definitely left a lot of money on the table... because I had no idea how to do contracts (5.42) RANDALL – “The only reason we write code is to communicate.” (6.06) PHIL – “The other important thing about communications, is making sure that you tailor it for the person who's receiving it.” (10.34) RANDALL – “Think about where you want to be in five years and work backwards.” (10.49) RANDALL – “Don't focus on short-term gains, you know, use long-term thinking.” CONTACT RANDALL HUNT: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrhunt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrhunt/ AWS Profile: https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/evangelists/randall-hunt/ AWS Blog: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/author/randhunt/

GUEST BIO: Eric Lippert is a programmer who builds tools for other programmers.  He’s worked on Visual Basic, JavaScript and C# at Microsoft, designed code analyzers at Coverity, and is now working on a variety of programming language design problems at Facebook. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Eric Lippert. His career has been a long and varied one. He was a Principal Developer at Microsoft and a member of the C# language design team. Eric was also involved in the design and implementation of VBScript, JScript, Windows Script Host and Visual Studio Tools for Office. Over the years, Eric has published and edited numerous programming books and is now working at Facebook. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (01.00)­­­ – Phil asks Eric to expand on his brief introduction. Eric said that he studied computer science and maths at the University of Waterloo. There they run a co-operative education system where you study for 4 months and work for 4. He was an intern at Wacom and Microsoft. When he left Microsoft he went to work at Coverity. He is now working on developer tools at Facebook. (3.39) – Phil asks Eric for a unique IT career tip. When Eric was a young developer at Microsoft his manager told him to “find a source of questions and learn to answer them”. He put that advice to work straight away and read every question in the JavaScript group. If someone asked a question that related to his area that he did not know the answer to, he would go away and find out. That taught him to answer queries concisely, which in turn honed his own knowledge. (5.54) – Can you tell us about your worst IT career moment and what you learned from the experience? Eric says it was probably the morning he woke up to the headline “Worst Security Flaw Ever Found in Internet Explorer”. Eric had worked on the piece of code that was involved in the issue. At first, he thought that he may have made the error. It turned out that his code had been changed and that change had not been properly reviewed, so the potential weakness was not found. The security flaw was nowhere near as serious as reported by the press. It would have required a virtually impossible hack to be executed in order to take advantage of the flaw. After that, a much stronger culture of code reviews was put into place. (9.17) – Phil says to Eric - Can you maybe take us through your career highlights or greatest success? Eric says there were two. The first was his work on a new version of VisualStudio. They met the completion target date and every single planned feature was included in the release. His other highlight was being involved in the “from scratch” C sharp rewrite. That massive project was also successfully completed and shipped. C sharp now has over 5 million lines of code, it is truly huge. (14.42) – Looking to the future Phil wants to know what excites Eric about the IT industry. Eric says it is the fact that we have still only really scratched the surface. There are so many features that can still be added to the various languages. For example, we can take features from programming languages and add them to production languages which would immediately raise the bar. We want to be able to write programs that can reason naturally about all kinds of probabilistic things and we are getting there. There is still a ton of stuff to do in the programming languages and tools space. (17.43) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Eric started programming before he owned a computer. He would write them out on paper and type them into the school’s Commodore PET. He had intended to study either mathematics or physics. But, he soon realized that he was not good at physics. He was much better at computer programming and enjoyed it, plus he could work while studying IT. (19.22) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Eric reiterated the advice to find a source of questions and answer them. But, he added that it was important to learn how to write well. Learn how to be concise and convince people that you’ve written correct code. To do that you need to write convincingly. (20.29) if you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Eric says he would study statistics. Much of the machine learning and probabilistic programming is about understanding statistics. With differential programming there is even calculus involved, something Eric never expected to see. (21.27) – What objectives are you focusing on now Eric? He responded by saying, "Building cutting-edge tools and helping real developers to get real stuff done". The same focus he had at the start of his career. (21.30) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? Being able to communicate effectively, it is crucial. (22.57) - Eric, can you share a parting piece of career advice with the IT Career Energizer audience. Know your tools. I get pitched features for tools and programming languages that already exist. It shows that a lot of people do not know their tools well. It also indicates that the tools are not as discoverable as they should be. Users need to dig in and understand them better and tool providers need to make their tools more discoverable. BEST MOMENTS:  (2.18) ERIC – “I have a keyboard on my desk that is older than my intern.” (4.09) ERIC – “Find a source of questions and learn to answer them”  (9.27) ERIC – “I want to ship actual code that solves actual developer’s problems” (14.34) ERIC – “It’s immensely satisfying to build something really, really big that actually works.” (17.25) ERIC – “Every time you build a tool, you magnify your impact across the entire industry.” (20.54) ERIC - “So much of machine learning and probabilistic programming is about understanding statistical concepts.” CONTACT ERIC LIPPET: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericlippert @ericlippert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-lippert-a3893485/ Website: https://ericlippert.com

GUEST BIO: Stefan Tilkov is a co-founder and principal consultant at INNOQ, a technology consulting company with offices in Germany and Switzerland. He has been involved in the design of large-scale, distributed systems for more than two decades, using a variety of technologies and tools. He has authored numerous articles and a book and is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s show is Stefan Tilkov who is a co-founder of, and the principal consultant, at INNOQ, a leading technology consulting company. Stefan and his team design large-scale distributed systems. Over the years, he has worked with numerous programming languages including C++ and CORBA over J2EE/Java EE and Web Services to REST and Ruby on Rail and several others. He is also a published writer who frequently speaks at conferences across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.00) – So Stefan, you can I ask you to expand on that brief summary and tell us a little bit about yourself? Stefan said that Phil had covered what he had done over most of the past 20 years. Today, Stefan rarely gets the chance to program anymore. But, he does get the chance to do many other things that he enjoys. Particularly, consulting with clients and talking to them about architecture and the design of systems. A lot of his time is also taken up with the company management stuff. When he can, he still does some of the technical work. (1.54) – Phil asks Stefan for a unique IT career tip. Quite early in his career Stefan started public speaking. He feels that doing this has benefitted him greatly. It has helped him with client engagement, with meetings and with negotiations. The fact that he is very used to talking to people in his career makes all of these situations far easier. (3.38) – Stefan is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Interestingly, it is related to public speaking. Early in his career he was working on a project where C++ was used. Things had worked out so that he was the only one on the team who knew anything about that language. So, when the project manager was unable to make a client meeting, Stefan was the only person with enough knowledge to be able to make the presentation. But, he was very new to the world of work and had not had any time to prepare. Unsurprisingly, he completely “bombed” and felt really awful about it for quite a few days. (5.09) – So, moving away from your worst moment, can you maybe talk about your IT career, highlight or greatest success. Strangely, that happened when Stefan was working on a project that went completely wrong. It was a disaster on every level. Everybody had given up a little on the project. But, various members of the business, including Stefan, pulled together and were able to turn the project around. The client was surprised they had managed to do so and went on to use it for a decade or so. Stefan felt better about this project than ones he has worked on where everything has gone smoothly from the start. (7.09) – Phil asks Stefan what it is about the future of the IT industry that excites him. Stefan says there has never been a better time to be involved in IT. Since around 2008/9 the industry has gotten progressively more interesting. Technology now touches and influences every part of your life. Everyone is talking about it and understands how important it is. Right now, IT professionals influence so many things and are able to work in a much more connected fashion. Stefan would not trade his IT job for any other. (8.59) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Stefan said it was the amazing discovery that he was able to tell the machine what to do. He started using computers at age 10 or 11. At the time, computers were very rudimentary. Stefan loved the challenge of having to figure absolutely everything out from scratch. For him learning new things was like a detective story. Phil commented that he often forgets that, in the early 90s, when you bought a computer, there was nothing on it. (10.43) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Early on someone encouraged Stefan to write documentation, proposals and to explain what he was doing in writing. Later he went on to write articles and books. Writing is an important piece of the puzzle. Being able to express your thoughts clearly is vital. (11.35) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Stefan said I would look for fun stuff to play with. Building things is fun, so, if you have the time, play and learn. Use your skills to do things for yourself, friends, your community and maybe help society or do some open source work. Not everything you work on needs to be commercial and about making money. (12.40) – Phil asks Stefan what career objectives he is currently focusing on. Right now Stefan is focused on the company. Along with his colleagues he is working to maintain a healthy company culture as the company continues to grow at a fast rate. (13.24) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? Being able to speak English and communicate effectively in that language has helped Stefan in his career. (14.26) – Phil asks Stefan to share a few final words of career advice. Stefan says to make sure that you are having fun. The IT industry is one of the few in which you can have fun, so if you are not enjoying your job, look for a new one. BEST MOMENTS: (2.56) STEFAN – “Try to get into speaking and then getting yourself into situations that may feel uncomfortable at first, but actually help you a lot in getting your ideas across.” (7.19) STEFAN – “There's never been a better time to be in this industry.” (12.08) STEFAN – “Start playing out, playing with stuff and build things for your own purposes, for your friends, for your community, maybe do some open source stuff.” (14.52) STEFAN – “If you're in this industry and are not having fun, then you should probably switch your job.” CONTACT STEFAN TILKOV: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/stilkov @stilkov LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefantilkov/ Website: https://www.innoq.com/en/staff/stefan-tilkov/

GUEST BIO: Kelsey Hightower has worn every hat possible throughout his career in tech, and enjoys leadership roles focused on making things happen and shipping software. Kelsey is a strong open source advocate focused on building simple tools that make people smile as well as an occasional conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode Phil speaks to Kelsey Hightower, who is known in the industry as an innovator who makes things happen. He strongly believes in the power of the community, so works on bringing people and motivating them to produce products that truly work. He is currently working on the GoogleCloud project and is a popular technical workshop speaker and teacher, who believes in and advocates the use of Open Source products. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (00.59) – So Kelsey, you can I ask you to expand on that brief summary and tell us a little bit about yourself? Kelsey explains that he has been in tech for about 14 years with various companies including Puppet Labs and Chrome OS. He is currently working at Google making sure that all elements of the Google Cloud work together. Kelsey says he is working on the computer side of the house, on everything from Kubernetes to the Google service platform. He now describes himself as a generalist. Phil described Kelsey’s role as creating “seamless integration from a user perspective” (2.00) – Phil asks Kelsey for a unique IT career tip. Surprisingly, Kelsey’s tip is to “write it down”. In IT we tend to do things on the fly. Often, we do this because we are trying to minimize outage time. Sometimes it is because we want to implement change and feel we need to move quickly to keep everyone on board. Operating like this means that, often, we do not come up with the right solution. In the long-term this can turn out to be a big problem. It is important to stop, sit down and capture all the facts and consider the pros and cons of your proposed solution. You also need discuss the idea with others. For this a document acts as a great reference point. It also enables you to look back and understand why you made the decisions you did. (3.25) – Phil asks - Do you see that as an iterative process, as well? Kelsey agrees often these projects can span many years. Over that time, things will change so the objective or goal can also evolve. But, that document you created captures the current situation. It does not mean that you should never change your opinions and the direction you take. (4.24) – Phil asks - do you see it as a problem in IT generally that people don’t necessarily think too far ahead in terms of what the future might look like? In IT people tend not to take the time to document why things are done the way they are. Plus, they do not always work to push things forward. When someone asks them to change, their immediate response is that “it is not possible”. But, when you ask them to explain why the change is not viable, they do not really know. They just know that things have always been done that way and can be resistant to change. (5.31) – Kelsey is asked to share his worst career moment with the audience. For Kelsey it was the moment that he realized that to be able to make progress on a project you have to convince people that things need to happen. The realization put out a flame for him. Prior to that, he believed that he could just make things happen. He was a bit disappointed to realize that he had to overcome people’s resistance to get things done. But, he soon adjusted and learned to do both. So, in the end his worst career moment resulted in a positive change for Kelsey. (7.10) – Phil asks Kelsey what his best career moment was. Kelsey explained it was the day he first spoke publically at a meetup in Georgia Tech. He did a lot of preparation for that event, so that he could make his points concisely and take the entire audience, including the newcomers, with him. It went really well and he got great feedback. That day inspired him and set the scene for the rest of his IT career. Today, he enjoys seeing the light bulbs going on as the audience “gets it”.   (10.11) – Phil asks Kelsey what excites him about the future of the IT industry. Kelsey responds “the potential”. Today, it is possible for a newcomer or new business to come along and use some of the existing systems to get what needs to be done. They do not have to worry about legacy systems and integrations. It is possible to install a modern system that just works and takes care of the basic functions, leaving the new firm to focus on growing their business.   (11.55) – What attracted you to a career in IT? When Kelsey started his IT career, you did not need a college degree and you could earn very good money. Both of these facts attracted him to the field. Working in IT is a great way to connect with others, make a difference and be rewarded financially for your efforts. (12.46) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Definitely, “write it down.” If you believe something is the solution write down why you think that is the case. Doing so allows you to see things clearly and makes it easier for others to consider your proposal and challenge it if necessary. This greatly improves your ability to identify and implement the right solution for the situation. (13.48) – If you were to start your IT career again, right, now, what would you do?  Kelsey said that it is important to understand that the fundamentals are more important than the products. If you dive deep and learn the fundamentals of a product you can operate well in most environments. Phil summed it up by saying the technologies may not last but the fundamentals are always of value. (15.05) – Phil asks Kelsey what he is currently focusing on. Kelsey says he is just working on being a little better every day.  Each day he pauses and spends a little time analyzing what happened and how he can improve. He is also focused on building up his technical ability and becoming a real expert in certain areas. Kelsey is now willing to go deep. He is not just taking the “happy path” and learning what can be done with his chosen technologies he is also studying its limitations, so he can recognize when not to use it. (16.22) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? Kelsey says his genuine positivity keeps him excited about the projects he is working on and what he is learning. He is able to pass that positivity on to others, which motivates them. Making people feel good about themselves inspires them and pushes them to be more effective. (17.19) – Phil asks Kelsey to share a few final words of career advice. In IT you need to push yourself, to think outside of the box and over deliver. Kelsey explained that he has come across people who just take a task and do exactly the task. They do not look beyond it and never ask themselves if they could come up with something even better than what is being asked for. As a result, they stagnate and do not really grow. They end up spending 15 years in a role, but only accrue the equivalent of one year’s experience. Don’t be afraid to “automate yourself out of a job”, there will always be more work to do, better work. You need to be creative and innovative when you work in IT not just someone who blindly does a list of tasks. BEST MOMENTS:  (5.22) KELSEY –"Noone is really sure why the process exists. There's no clear place with the processes defined, so we know how to improve it. I think that's one of the biggest problems we see today."   (6.49) KELSEY - "A lot of cases, you would actually spend more time doing the convincing than the actual solution takes." (9.09) KELSEY - "You can see the light bulb go off for some people for the very first time and you know that those communication skills are working." (9.53) KELSEY - “You have to learn how to create the light bulb moment for yourself before you can create them for other people." (15.05) - Phil – “The technologies won't last but the fundamentals are always of value.” (15.18) KELSEY – “Just be a bit wiser every day.” CONTACT KELSEY HIGHTOWER: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelseyhightower @kelseyhightower

KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.02) – So Tim, can I ask you to expand on some of those things and tell us a little bit about yourself? Since Tim was a boy he has had a fascination with all things tech. This is part of the reason he is now a generalist with a deep understanding of everything from the hardware to the software. Over the past couple of years, he has focused on the public cloud, in particular Microsoft Azure. (1.50) – Phil asks Tim for a unique IT career tip. Tim explains that developing the ability to organize your thoughts and present them clearly is very important. Public speaking ensures that you learn and practice those critical skills. (3.06) –Tim is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Fortunately, Tim’s worst IT career moment has a silver lining. Tim has always been a teacher as well as an IT professional. So, when he was in the running for an IT directorship in a local private High School he focused on securing that role. But, the school changed its mind and decided not to go in that direction. This was a big blow and very depressing. But, the experience taught him the need to keep the prospect of a future position in context. IT moves at the speed of light, so you need to take a flexible and agile approach to your career. (6.00) – Phil asks Tim to tell everyone about his career highlight, his greatest success. That happened when Tim was speaking at a big conference about WireShark. The audience was a big one and they were eager. So, eager in fact that some of them were applying what he was telling them immediately. There was even a group of programmers from one company who were instant messaging his troubleshooting advice back to their datacenter. That experience demonstrated to Tim the importance and practical value of the technical education he was providing. It was great to see people developing their careers, live, right there in front of him. (7.50) – Phil wants to know what excites Tim about the future of the IT industry and careers. Tim loves the fact that industry work can now be done from anywhere. There is no longer to spend ages in a car traveling or to work in a data center. Cloud computing is definitely the future anyone involved in IT cannot avoid working with cloud computing. However, it is a little worrying that newcomers are not likely to be able to do any actual cabling. Tim’s experience of interfacing with the hardware has helped him to develop software-defined networks that work properly. (9.00) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Puzzle solving and the fact that you become a perpetual student, there is always something new to learn. Tim was inquisitive from an early age, so for him IT was the perfect fit. (9.55) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Tim said his grandfather told him “if you're doing work that you would do even if you weren't getting paid for it, then you found your right career.” It was a good piece of advice and one of the reasons Tim continues to work in tech and information. (11.38) - If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Tim says that is tricky because today’s IT industry is very different than when he started. He sometimes wishes he had majored in computer science. He advises someone entering the field today to survey as many different disciplines as possible. Then whittle down where their interests and aptitude lie. (12.20) – Phil asks Tim what he is currently focusing on. Tim is still creating Microsoft Azure training and doing consultancy work when he wants to do so. Tim is also doing his best to give back to the IT community, by talking at workshops, mentoring, teaching and attending meetups. (12.58) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? For Tim it is public speaking. There are plenty of ways to learn this skill and it is well worth taking the time to do so. Being confident and able to be concise and persuasive will help you with job interviews, pitching ideas and selling your case. (14.03) – Phil asks Tim to share a few final words of career advice. Unless you enjoy the work, Tim advises considering another career. IT requires a lot of time and effort, so it is not something you want to be doing if you do not enjoy it. BEST MOMENTS: (2.33) TIM – “The ability to organize your thoughts and present your thoughts clearly is going to carry your career.” (4.46) TIM – “It’s important to be that flexible and agile in your approach to your career.” (10.03) TIM – “If you're doing work that you would do even if you weren't getting paid for it, then you found your right career.” – Tim’s grandfather.” (14.00) TIM – “You really can't go wrong with by honing your public speaking skills.” (14.09) TIM – “In information technology careers, you're never going to be hurting for work.” CONTACT TIM WARNER: Website: https://www.techtrainertim.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TechTrainerTim

GUEST BIO: Simona Cotin is a Developer Advocate for Microsoft and an Angular enthusiast.  She is passionate about knowledge sharing and has mentored at workshops for Women Who Code and NgGirls, and is also co-organiser of the JavaScript London meetup. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today, Phil is speaking to Simona Cotin a Developer Advocate for Microsoft. She is a passionate mentor in the NgGirls, codebar and Women Who Code workshops. Over the years, she has hacked all kinds of projects in Delphi, C/C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript, Lisp and is still learning new languages. She has a passion for working with Angular. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(1.00) – So Simona, can I ask you to expand on that brief summary and tell us a little bit about yourself? Simona explained that her job at Microsoft was to make sure that they build “great developer experiences in the cloud for web developers.” She is also passionate about teaching, so is a regular mentor at several workshops. One of which, codebar she recommends everyone checks out. This group is working to make tech more diverse and bring people from different backgrounds together. (2.21) – Phil asks Simona for a unique IT career tip. Simona says get out there share your knowledge. Try to contribute to open source projects and be active in local communities and on social media. (3.17) – If you were talking to someone who was just starting their IT career, what would you recommend to them as the easiest way to begin? Simona recommends finding some of the projects you are passionate about and diving deep into those. Follow the project and creators on GitHub and Twitter. Also, use meetup.com to find local meetups and attend. (3.54) – Phil asks what her worst IT career moment has been? – Simona says – “I’ve been lucky enough not to have been in such a position”. For her all of the teams she has worked on have had a positive impact on her career. However, she does regret not finding a mentor while she was at university. Had she done so she would not have taken a job (her first one) which meant that she was working on a desktop project when it was the web that she was passionate about, at the time. (5.38) – What has been your best career moment,? For Simona it is the job that she has right now. She is working on a great team. Everyone on her team is a superstar. Working with them is enabling her to learn a lot and have an impact on the products that are shaping the way we write software. (7.05) – Phil asks what excites you about the future of the IT industry? All the hard problems we are solving now and in the future excite Simona. For example, how self-driving cars will make our commute much simpler and less risky or the way in which AI is improving workplace safety. How technology will help us to build a more sustainable environment. She encourages everyone working in IT to focus on the problem that they are solving rather than the tech that they are using. (8.43) – What attracted you to a career in IT? Simona loves mathematics and was not really good at anything to do with literature. This fact narrowed down her options so she felt she had to focus on economics. While doing that she learned about computer science and algorithms. Basically, she “fell in love with algorithms.” (9.11) – What is the best career advice you have been given? – Embrace failure. Simona explained that she came from a culture of “perfection and shaming failure”. But, she realizes now that there is “no growth without failure”. Phil agrees most seasoned developers feel that they learn more from projects that do not go well than those that are easy. (9.48) – If you were to begin your career again, what would you focus on? Simona said she would focus on machine learning because we can solve so many interesting problems using it. (10.05) – Phil asks Simona what she is currently focusing on, currently. Simona said that she is focusing more on machine learning and understanding how to use it to solve problems. She is also working on connecting to communities and using her Azure work to have an impact. (10.31) – What's the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your career so far? Being a huge fan of people and being a good communicator has helped Simona throughout her career. (10.41) – Phil asks Simona to share a few final words of career advice. Simona’s advice is to never stop learning and building things. Have fun, be meaningful and intentional about what you do. BEST MOMENTS: (2.57) Simona – "I think we can all equally benefit from just putting ourselves out there." (5.16) Simona - "During university I would find someone to mentor me, I would find someone to chat about my passions, chat about what are the opportunities for me out there." (8.07) Simona – “Focus as much as you can on the problem that you are solving as opposed to the tech that they're using." (8.09) Phil - "The technology is the means to the end. It's the problems that need solving that are the important part of it." (9.15) Simona - “Embrace failure…There is no growth without failure." (10.54) Simona - "Never stop learning and building stuff. Just enjoy yourself, have fun and while you're doing that maybe solve some interesting problem." CONTACT: Simona Cotin Twitter: https:///www.twitter.com/simona_cotin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simona-cotin-2ba8747/  

GUEST BIO: In this episode Phil talks to Wes Bos. Wes is a Fullstack web developer and designer who spends most of his time working with JavaScript, CSS3 and HTML5.  Wes is also a lead instructor at HackerYou, an instructor for Ladies Learning Code and a regular conference speaker on everything from Front End Dev to ServerSide JavaScript. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (1.00) – Phil asked Wes to tell the audience a bit more about himself? Wes says he has been a Fullstack web developer for about 10 years now. He spends most of his time writing JavaScript. Mostly React on the frontend and Node.js on the backend. He also builds web development courses and has been running his own podcast for about a year now, which is regularly in the iTunes top 40.  (1.53) – Phil asks Wes for a unique IT career tip. Wes starts by saying that for his whole career he has been teaching people how to learn code. Over the years, he has noticed that most people become frustrated with their rate of progress. They want to know what the secret code is in order to understand things. I always tell them that there is no secret. Repetition is what you need to learn. You have to keep putting in the time and just build stuff. Developers need a continual learning mindset and they have to put what they learn into practice. (3.40) –Wes is asked to share his worst career moment. Wes explained that this happened when he was working for an oil and gas company. At the time, he was earning great money. It was a 4-month summer co-op deal, which was fortunate, because Wes hated it. For him, that time was his career low point. However, the experience taught him that he was far better off running his own business. That is what he has done and it is working out really well for him. (5.12) So, has your focus been courses as much as anything else? Wes, says yes, but not only courses. He has continued working as a freelancer to ensure that he stays sharp. But, right now, most of his income comes from his courses and teaching work. (5.53) – Can you take us through your career highlights or greatest successes. Wes ran a blog and wrote a book about Sublime Text. At times he doubted anyone would read it. However, when he finally published it, within a month he had been paid way more for his time than he would have had he used that time to work as a freelancer. It was a good feeling. (7.04) – Phil wants to know what excites Wes about the future for the IT industry and careers. Wes finds it amazing how fast things are developing. He likes the way an ordinary person, a regular developer, can radically change things. That is exciting, so is the fact that industry moves so quickly. It means that anyone can start learning now and be at the forefront quickly if they are prepared to apply themselves. (8.38) - Are there any particular technologies or languages or anything like that, that you think right now are the ones to look at? For Wes it is learning JavaScript and things like TypeScript. Ordinary people can learn how to use it and within 3 or 4 years be doing amazing things with it. (9.28) – What first attracted you to a career in IT? Wes’s dad worked in IT, so they were the first kids on the block to have a computer, followed by the internet. He got used to, and liked, being at the cutting edge of everything and he loved computers. For him a career in IT was a natural progression. (9.57) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Wes tells Phil it was “double your rates”. He tried it and it worked. This enabled him to work part-time on client work and still have enough money and time to spend on other interests. (10.46) – If you were to begin your career again, right now, what would you do? Wes said he would start by spending a lot of time on YouTube just soaking in much as he could. (11.28) – Phil asks Wes what career objectives he is currently focusing on. Wes says he has always “optimized for happiness” and still does today. He is currently able to spend as much time as he wants with his kids, take holidays whenever he needs to, and he feels happy with what he produces. So, his focus is on maintaining that freedom, staying happy. (12.35) – What’s the number one non-technical skill that has helped you in your career, so far? Wes says funnily enough it is writing. He sees himself as a terrible writer who is always making grammar and spelling mistakes. However, he can convey what he needs or wants to be done, in succinct emails, which is a great skill to have. He is also able to write good copy for marketing websites, which is also useful. (13.41) – Phil asks Wes to share a parting piece of career advice with the audience. Wes says – “Just go out there and start. Start doing it rather than sitting around pontificating about it.” BEST MOMENTS: (2.30) WES - "I always tell people, there's no formation without repetition." (3.36) PHIL - "Learning is only balanced by the doing. That's the vital ingredient from my point of view." (3.40) WES - "You definitely have to have a mindset of like a forever learner and you should always be picking up new skills" (7.31) WES – “Technology that you're able to put into just a regular web developers hands or a regular IT person's hands is super powerful" (12.22) WES - "If you really work at it, you can do it from anywhere and you can you can make your own rules." (14.00) WES - "You're going to get where you want to be by actually putting in the time and building that skill whatever it is that you want." CONTACT WES BOS: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wesbos @wesbos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbos/ Website: https://www.wesbos.com    

GUEST BIO: Jon Skeet is a Staff Software Engineer at Google, working from the London office on the Google Cloud Client Libraries for .NET. He's probably better known for his contributions on Stack Overflow and his book, C# in Depth. Jon is married to Holly Webb, a prolific children's author, and they have three children together. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode Phil interviews Jon Skeet who is a senior software engineer for Google. He is the author behind C# in Depth, a book that made him something of a C# legend. Jon is also a well-known Stack Overflow contributor who has a reputation for providing descriptive answers that solve the toughest challenges. Some go as far as calling him “the Chuck Norris of programming”. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (1.00) – So Jon, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? In response, Jon explains that he is a big fan of working from home. So, he does not spend very much time at Google’s London headquarters. Instead he works out of a high tech, air-conditioned shed, complete with an ice-cream maker and surround-sound. Jon is a feminist, a Methodist and a local preacher who has a passion for musical theatre. (2.03) – Phil asks Jon for a unique IT career tip, something the audience should know. Jon replies that it is important to remember that “you will make far quicker progress in the long run, if you take one step at a time. Work through the problem in a structured way using a language you are really familiar with. If you are learning a new language, start by doing really simple things. But, don’t be afraid to “step into the dark” to try something totally new. Just do so consciously and accept that failing, at first, is fine. You will learn a lot that way. Spend most of your time working in a familiar way and try just one new thing at a time, so that you are always making progress. (4.14) Phil asks if Jon would describe that as a sort of incremental process. Jon said yes, “it is really don’t run before you can walk.” (4.38) – Phil asks Jon to share his worst career moment and what he learned from it. For Jon his low-point was not directly related to coding or a technical issue. He was working on a product launch with a looming deadline. As a result, he ended up working very odd hours to get the job done. Instead of arriving at the station at his normal time of 6.45 he was getting there at about 3.30am. He was compensating a bit by going home a little earlier than normal but he was actually working long hours. Plus, even though he was going to bed earlier he was not sleeping well. People were telling him he did not look well, so he was clearly stretched. But, he carried on working that way, until one morning he was mugged. The mugging probably would not have happened if there were more people around. Being mugged stopped Jon in his tracks and he realized that he needed to take more care of himself. He decided to stop putting in a lot of hours at the wrong times of the day. He no longer pushed himself so hard or let others do it to him.  Jon realized that he had to take care of himself. (7.18) – Phil wants to know what Jon’s best career moment was. Jon starts by explaining that he is proud of helping thousands of people and being at the top of Stack Overflow as well as his book and software. But, his career highlights have come while talking with other people. For example, in June, Jon spent several days talking with and teaching alongside a lead designer on C#. During that collaboration he learned a huge amount about why C# is designed the way it is. Talking and working with others teaches him a lot and is very fulfilling.  (9.18) – Phil asks what excites Jon about the future of IT. To some extent for Jon it is how little we know about it. “We are now in an age where when you go to university half of the jobs the student take up don’t exist yet.” The fact that we cannot really tell what tech is going to look like in 10 years time is exciting. Potentially, a whole area that nobody is even considering now could easily come to the fore. (10.56) – What drew you to a career in IT, Jon? From the age of 8 Jon played games on a ZX Spectrum 48K. Eventually, he started programming on the Spectrum. For his first project, he created a logo interpreter. He was motivated to do so because the BBC microcomputer at school had one. His innocence meant that he did not know that you could not implement the code yourself. So, he did not see that so-called impossible barrier. As a result, he just kept working at it until he got it done. By age 9 or 10 he was in love with programming. (12.32) – What is the best career advice you were given? “Be good at one thing” – make sure that there is one thing that you are really comfortable in. It is good to have several strings to your bow. But, be the go-to person for at least one topic or discipline. (13.36) – If you were to start your IT career again, what would you do? Jon said that because things are changing so quickly he has no idea. It would depend on what would hook him. “I am a big fan of doing something that you are interested in for whatever reason you’re interested.” He explained why this is so important using an example.  Someone could be inspired to help out in a soup kitchen and while there wonder if they can automate the rota. That leads to working out what the best way to organize it is. This in turn leads to them falling into all kinds of optimization things. Suddenly, you are having fun developing and optimizing things and you become an inspired developer.  (15.29) – Phil asks Jon what career objectives Jon currently focusing on. Jon’s response is “Having a good time.” He has never chased money or power. Instead, he has chased having a good life. Right now, he enjoys writing in C#. Jon also relishes the fact that he can work from home and spend plenty of time with his family, which he loves doing. (16.52) – What is your most important non-technical skill? Jon’s short answer is “empathy and compassion”. We have done a great job of solving the problems of straight white men, because that is the demographic of most software developers. That needs to change. We need to solve the problems of the people that are not represented in the software community. Jon is finding that being a novice feminist is changing the way he works. Feminism is all about seeing things from multiple perspectives. It teaches you that people’s problems and challenges are different, so they need to be answered and solved in different ways. (18.24) – Phil asks Jon to share some final career advice. Jon’s reply is– “really just focus on your life, think about what is genuinely important to you and pursue that.” That might mean switching from IT to solving an environmental issue you believe you can solve. If you think you can make a difference, just do it. You only have one life. BEST MOMENTS:  (2.20) JON – “You will make far quicker progress in the long run, if you take one step at a time.” (2.55) JON – “If you are learning a new language, start with really simple things, just so that you feel familiar in the language,” (6.59) JON – “I was just putting in lots of hours and the wrong hours, and you've got to take care of yourself, basically.” (9.20) JON – “It's really the people I've worked with that have provided the highlights rather than the code I’ve written.”  (13.42) JON – “Have a balance between knowing plenty of things to just as much as you need, but have one thing that you're the expert on.” (17.32) JON – “The ability to look at the world from other people's perspectives is absolutely crucial for software.” CONTACT JON SKEET: Blog: blog.jonskeet.uk Blog: codeblog.jonskeet.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonskeet @jonskeet  

GUEST BIO: Justin is co-founder of Test Double, an agency of highly skilled developers on a mission to fix what’s broken in software.  As well as running Test Double, Justin is also an occasional conference speaker. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Today, Phil is talking to Justin Searls who is the co-founder of Test Double. An agency that embeds their developers into businesses to deliver the software they really need. Their approach includes refactoring legacy code, where appropriate, and mentoring the clients they work with. Justin is also an occasional public speaker. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (0.41) – Phil asked Justin to share a bit more information about himself. Justin responded by saying that he is a lifetime consultant, so has worked on many different projects. As a result, he deeply understands how software teams fail. This, in part, inspired him to start Test Double. He realized that he needed to hire developers who were passionate, positive. People who were happy to act as teachers and mentors while fixing company’s software issues. (2.37) – Phil asks Justin to share a unique career tip. Justin explains that following your passions all of the time was not necessarily a good idea, at least in the long-term. He explained that when speaking at universities most students say they want to be games developers. This is understandable, but the market is flooded with games developers. So, many of those who go ahead and follow what they love end up being paid relatively low wages. When Justin started out he resisted the temptation to just do things he liked. He focused on JavaScript testing. At the time only a few other people were doing that. So, they ended up with an almost unique, highly sought-after skill set. Justin focused on what people needed more than what he wanted, which led to a successful career. (5.39) – Justin is asked about his worst career moment. For Justin that happened when he was working for a major financial institution. Many of their transactions had to be confirmed and recorded in writing, so they received around 40,000 pieces of mail every day. It all had to be opened and processed manually. Justin was a key part of the team that put together an OCR style system that would capture all of that data and improve the efficiency of the mail system. On the night of the handover, all of the servers went down. Justin had no internet and because the phones were VOIP no way of communicating with anyone. It turns out a cleaner had knocked a fire extinguisher over in the server room, which pressed the cut out button. It took the firm days to get the old system back online. Then they still had to go through the process of moving to the new system. It was a disaster. That experience showed Justin how important continuous delivery is when switching to new systems. Taking an incremental approach when you can is far safer and more efficient in the long run. (8.56) – Phil asks Justin to share a career highlight. Justin explained that Double Test now employs 40 people all of whom work remotely. Most of them rarely meet each other. However, every now and again they get together at a mentor retreat with their plus ones. Seeing them all together like that, the first time, made him realize that he had played a role in creating a group of people who all respected and cared for each other and were able to pull together as an effective team. For Justin, that was a truly joyful moment, a career highlight. (10.55) – Phil wants to know what excites Justin about the future for the IT industry. Justin starts by saying if you were to ask a group of business leaders about who would be coding in 10 years you would get conflicting answers. Half would say everyone, while the rest would say nobody. He suspects that both sides are right to some extent. Some things will be done automatically, but everyone will end up at least tinkering with code. For example, the Siri shortcuts that have recently been released will allow users to create their own custom workflows. The future of coding is going to be different, which is exciting and brings all kinds of opportunities. (15.36) – Phil asked Justin what drew him to a career in IT. Justin got the bug at a young age. On a school vacation his luggage was lost, which meant that he did not have the clothing he needed to be able to spend time outside. So, he was stuck indoors with just what was in his backpack. That happened to be his homework and a graphing calculator. Using this tiny handheld computer he started to program simple games. That was it, Justin had the IT bug. At that point he realized that coding opened up untold (17.25) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Justin says he was advised to live below his means for as long as possible as a student and after qualifying. He did it for a long time and saved up a lot of money. Doing this gives you the financial freedom to move jobs whenever you want. There is no need to be stuck in a bad job or one where you are not growing your skills. Financial safety is liberating. It makes you a better developer, you are not timid and afraid to speak up or share an idea.  He also said that it is important to work on as a consultant, so you can gain experience, expand your horizons and be a well-rounded developer. (19.53) – If you were to start your career now, what would you do differently? Justin said that he would probably have progressed his career at a slower pace.  He also said he would network more with people who were not from the same race, background, sex or socioeconomic class as him. The fact that he did not make an extra effort to do this at the start of his career meant that he inadvertently ended up with a firm made up almost entirely of straight white men. It is important to attend more meet-ups that include people who are different from you and have a different view of the world. (21.54) – Phil asks Justin what career objectives he is currently focusing on. When Justin and Todd founded Test Double they had to take on roles they had never trained for. Gradually, they are recruiting people to take over some of those processes. Most of the marketing and sales responsibility fell to Justin. So, currently they are developing a marketing and sales funnel that can be handed over and run successfully by someone else. (23.25) – What non-technical skill has helped you in your career so far? Justin said his liberal arts education coursework exposed him to a wide range of subjects. Having to study world religion, philosophy, history, political science and other subjects, helped to make him a more rounded  and curious person. It contributed to his being good at analyzing complex algorithms. Having to absorb such an eclectic mix of information, while studying, made it easier for him to look at things from many different perspectives at once. (24.51) – Phil asks Justin to share a few final words of career advice. For Justin taking time out to observe and really think is important. Being able to control your attention and stay focused is a tremendously marketable skill. He recommends that people read Deep Work by Cal Newport and Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey to learn more about why that is and learn how to build that skill. BEST MOMENTS: (1.22) Justin - "Humans are nothing if not pattern recognition machines. You know, before there was machine learning there was learning, learning." (8.57) Justin - Speaking about implementing new projects Justin said - "If you just like let all that fear uncertainty about pile up into this big two-year event, all you're going to end up with is like, you know, a gigantic pizza party and a lot of pain." (10.55) Justin - "We have, like, mobilized effectively, a very healthy team of people who are then able to go and make other teams more healthy." (16.53) - Justin - "I just saw this tremendous potential for magic for making a computer do what I wanted it to do by dint of just spending enough time in a very tight feedback loop." (19.00) Justin - "If you are financially independent paycheck to paycheck on that job, not just disappearing, you're going to act from a defensive crouch that is more conservative." CONTACT JUSTIN SEARLS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/searls @searls LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/searls/ Website: https://www.testdouble.com

Today, Phil chats with James Shore. James teaches, writes and consults on Agile development processes. He is a recipient of the Agile Alliance’s Gordon Pask Award for Contributions to Agile Practice, co-creator of the Agile Fluency Model, and co-author of “The Art of Agile Development”. James has also been named as one of “the most influential people in Agile” by InfoQ. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(0.31) – Phil started by asking James to tell everyone a bit more about himself. James explained that he started his I.T. career as a programmer. In 1999, he was introduced to what was known as Extreme Programming (XP), which is the most prominent of the Agile software development methodologies. At first, James was not convinced, but when he tried it, he was hooked. So much so, that he decided he could not work any other way. At the time, he could not find anybody else working the XP way, so he decided to teach the method himself. That is how he became an Agile consultant. (2.45) – Phil and James discuss the fact that Agile is not new. It has been around for just over 20 years now and the movement is really gathering pace. However, James does point out that “a lot of what people call Agile is not really Agile.” The quality of implementation varies quite a bit. (3.26) – Phil asks James to share a unique IT career tip. James responded by saying you need to “make a point of understanding the business impact of what you're doing." He went on to remind everyone that a typical software team costs circa $1 million to run. A cost that has to be covered by the value the team adds to the business. He highlighted the fact that a 5% improvement in a team’s performance is worth at least $50,000. When you ask for something to improve efficiency remember to make the business case and explain the cost savings clearly. (4.44) – Phil asked James to share a business experience from which he learned something important. For James that happened 20 years ago. At the time he was working for the firm that provided the robots used by Intel to move silicone around on its chip production line. James was part of a team who worked on a distributed system that had multiple services running on different computers. Each service worked in its own environment, but when they hooked it all up the problems began. At the time, the waterfall or phase gate development method was the norm for software development. It was supposed to be a flawless development process. But, in reality, it was not. That project and several others James worked on that followed the standard “waterfall” method were disasters. At that point, James realized the futility of a development method that tried to predict everything in advance, lock things down and come up with the entire design. He also saw how dangerous it was to wait to the very end to validate the work and make the biggest decisions. It was then he understood the flaws of the way development was managed 20 years ago. It was this experience that helped him to recognize the true value of Agile development methods when he was introduced to them. (8.51) – Phil asks what James considered to be his best career moment. James explained that about two years ago he consulted for a start-up that had just gone public and had growing pains. They had 40 teams, so keeping tabs on what they were all doing was impossible. Plus, there was a lot of interdependency between teams, so everything took forever. James discovered that waiting around for another team to do something was causing 95% of the delays. On one project, during a 3-month period, only 3 or 4 days of real work could be done. This stop-start, multitasking way of working, was terrible for focus too. James minimized the teams and got the firm to start by working on the smallest projects that added value, first. These changes minimized the amount of inter-team dependency and got everyone working together and actually delivering working projects fast. He also encouraged teams to solve more of their problems internally. The net result of his changes was that they reduced the delays from 95% to 0%. Most MMFs were completed in just a week or two. The company thrived and grew very quickly. (12.49) – Phil wants to know what excites James about the future for the IT industry. James explains that the fact the industry is so young is exciting because it means change is possible and can happen quickly. Agile is the exact opposite of the Waterfall way of working, yet in less than 20 years people have adopted this new way of working. That is a 180-degree change. In an older industry that just would not happen. In I.T you can suggest new ideas and people will actually be willing to try them.  (15.05) – What is the best career advice you have been given? James responded with three words “be well-rounded”. (15.11) Phil asks if you were to begin your I.T. career again, right now, what would you do? James says that he would focus on networking and finding a mentor. (15.20) – Phil asks James what he is focusing on, right now. James says he is really focused on his business The Agile Fluency project. (15.29) – What is your most important non-technical skill, the one that has helped you the most in your career, so far? James says my “curiosity, flexibility, and a desire and willingness to experiment.” (15.40) – Phil asks James to share a final piece of career advice. James says that if you are working somewhere that does not enable you to do your best work you should try to change that from within. If you discover that is not possible, you need to move on and work for another organization. BEST MOMENTS:  (3.13) - James - “A lot of what people call Agile is not really Agile.” "The actual implementation tends to vary in quality by quite a bit." (3.25) - James - "One of the most valuable things that you can do for your career is to make a point of understanding the business impact of what you're doing." (11.50) - James - "We went from 95% delay for most teams we got it down to zero delays, no delay at all." (12.12) - James - "It's a big cultural mindset change. And making that sort of change requires making sure that everybody's involved and understands how they benefit from this change." (13.15) - James - "Every single company of any size whatsoever needs software. Anybody that's larger than tiny needs custom software." (13.25) - James - "It's a young industry. It's open to new ideas and ways of working." (13.37) - James - "Best practices, at the time, was waterfall, which is basically the exact opposite of agile and now 20 years later, agile has taken over the world." (16.08) - James - "Don't put up with mediocrity. Don't put up with a lousy work environment, just because it's got a great salary."   CONTACT JAMES SHORE:   Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-shore-7475b6/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/jamesshore@jamesshore Website – www.agilefluency.org Personal Website – www.jamesshore.com  

GUEST BIO: Michael Kennedy is known best for being a Python expert. He is a Python Software Foundation fellow. His two podcasts Talk Python to Me and Python Bytes are well regarded, as are his developer training courses. Michael has been working in the developer field for more than 20 years and has spoken at numerous conferences including NDC and DevWeek. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode, Phil interviews Python Specialist Michael Kennedy. He is the host of Python Bytes and Talk Python to Me. Michael is also the founder of Talk Python training and a fellow of the Python Software Foundation. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (0.59) – Phil asked Michael to tell the audience a bit more about himself? In response, Michael explained that when he started his work life he focused on the science sector. While working on his maths PhD, he discovered programming. He said, “It just really connected with me”. That was 20 years ago, yet every day he feels a little bit more excited than he was the day before. With IT you are always learning, which is exciting.  (2.05) – Phil asks Michael for a unique IT career tip. Michael started by saying that it is important to remember that “small things add up”.  He said, we often overestimate what we can accomplish in a week, but massively underestimate what can be done in a couple of years. He pointed out that you need to carry on learning to progress. He also explained that it is important to realize that in the IT world there are no longer gatekeepers. The days when you had to ask permission from somewhere like IBM or Oracle to be accepted into the IT world are gone. Today, you are in control. “You no longer have to ask permission to be part of this, excel and be a leader, you just have to want it”If you want to do something all you have to do is to work gradually towards doing it. (4.13) – Michael was asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. Michael said that happened while he was working for DARPA, which is an advanced US government research facility. He was working on a secret project that used software to pull together the efforts of several companies and organizations. Unfortunately, the software did not work properly, so needed debugging. Under normal circumstances that would be a tedious task, but not a huge problem. But, for this project, his main partner was a man from the UK and he did not have the necessary security clearance to attend the meetings where the issues were discussed. He could not be in the room. Someone had to summarize what the problems were and he had to use that information to debug the software. Very stressful. (6.55) Phil asked “did you learn anything particular from this situation?” Michael said, yes, we should have tested more and used a technical person who could have physical access to the thing we were working on. (7.23) – On the flipside, Phil asks Michael what his best career moment was. Michael explained that he started working as a developer and enjoyed that work. But, it was starting to teach programming and developer skills that has been the highlight of his career, so far. (11.14) – Phil wants to know what excites Michael about the future for the IT industry. The fact that it is relatively easy for new people to enter the field and learn is something that Michael finds exciting. Students no longer have to hope that they can work it out from a book because there is plenty of support available. (11.14) – What drew you to a career in IT? Michael enjoys the fact you actually get to build things, rather than just working with theories. He enjoys the debate involved in developing a product and being able to press the button and find out if what you have done actually works. (12.10) – What is the best career advice you have been given? Because Michael was self-taught he said that he did not get much IT career advice from mentors and teachers. But, after speaking to others working in the field, he thinks that the most important piece of advice he can share is “just take action.” He said, “Even if you go the wrong way you will learn enough that you actually learn more about what the right way is.” (13.38) – Phil asks what approach Michael would take if he were to start his IT career again, right now. Michael says he would have been more selective and strategic when it came to choosing the projects he worked on. He feels that this would have made things easier for him. (14.30) – Phil asks what career objective Michael is currently focusing on. Michael said “I'm really focused on trying to inspire and inform developers”. The fundamental goal of his podcasts is to make people aware of new things that they should be interested in. He is working to make it easier for people to learn Python and develop successful IT careers. (15.33) – What would you consider to be your most important non-technical skill? For Michael, learning to speak publically had been especially beneficial. The urge to share helped him to overcome his fear and communicate better. (16.36) – Phil asks Michael to share a few final words of career advice. Michael said – “every day, think about where you want to put your energy and really what you want” That may mean taking a job for 5 years with Google, so that you can learn the skills you need to build your own product. Whatever you need to do to achieve your dreams, just go ahead and do it. BEST MOMENTS: (1.30) Michael - "Every day, I'm just a little more excited than I was the day before about it. It's great." (2.00) Michael - "We often overestimate what we can accomplish in a week, but massively underestimate what can be done in a couple of years." (3.38) Michael - "You no longer have to ask permission to be part of this and excel and be a leader  you just have to want it." (3.45) Phil - "I think the opportunity is there. And it's up to the individual to take the opportunity." (10.40) Michael - "Because so much stuff is new you don't have to do it for 20 years to be an expert" (13.20) Michael - Just take action. He said, “Even if you go the wrong way you will learn enough that you actually learn more about what the right way is.” (18.00) Michael - "Every day, think about where you want to put your energy and really what you want." CONTACT MICHAEL KENNEDY: Website: http://michaelckennedy.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mkennedy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkennedy/ Podcasts: https://talkpython.fm https://pythonbytes.fm.  

In this episode Phil’s guest is Kevin L Jackson, who is a senior information technologist specializing in information technology solutions that meet critical business and mission operational requirements.  Kevin is founder and CEO of Gov Cloud Network. He is also a published author and a regular speaker.  Over the years, he has worked with many different companies including IBM, JPMorgan Chase &Co, and the SENTEL Corporation. He also enjoyed a 15-year US Navy career as a pilot and aeronautical engineer. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(0.52) – Phil asks Kevin to tell everyone a little more about himself. Kevin explains that his IT career began while he was serving in the Navy. For 10 years he was a carrier pilot but, later, he trained as an aerospace engineer. In that role he worked on Low Earth Orbit Systems, which are used to deliver vital information to the Navy and Marine Corps. His work as an aeronautical engineer gradually led him into the IT sector. This was before the modern internet existed. Instead he worked with the early packet-switching network The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) and HoTMetal one of the earliest HTML authoring software packages. (4.21) – Phil asks Kevin if he has a unique career tip to share. Kevin’s advice is – "Don't do a job unless you have a personal goal in doing it, unless at the end of your timeframe and that job, you're going to attain a goal that you want." (5.18) – Phil then asks Kevin what you should do if you lose enthusiasm for a project part way through. Kevin explains you need to remember that everything in life is connected. While completing that job you will inevitably learn new skills that will benefit you in the future. Every year, Kevin imagines where he wants to be in five years and works out how what he has learned in the previous year can be used to get him to where he wants to be. (6.10) – Phil points out that every career has its ups and downs. The path to success is not a linear one. (6.40) – Phil asks Kevin to share his worse IT career moment. Kevin went on to talk about the fear he felt when he lost a job because the firm he was working for went out of business. It was an experience that demonstrated to him the importance of building a true career and believing in himself. The fact that he had done this enabled him to fall back on his network and quickly identify his next step. (7.50) – Phil then wanted to know about Kevin’s career highlight. When he left the military, Kevin worked on the New Horizon spacecraft for NASA, which travelled to Pluto and photographed it. Working on this project was his career highlight. But, unusually, it took him 10 years to realize this was the case. The spacecraft took 10 years to reach the planet and for Kevin’s work to bear fruit. Only at that point did he really understand that he had worked on something that the whole of humanity could benefit from. (10.11) – Phil asked Kevin to tell everyone what it is about the future of the IT industry and careers that excites him. For Kevin the fact that IT is now a business driver rather than just a “must do” task is exciting. Information Technology is now seen as an enabler. Technology is now pushing the pace of business change. (12.06) – What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Surprisingly, Kevin said it came from The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Simply put it is “know thy self”. (12.36) – Phil asked Kevin what he would do if he were to start his IT career again. Kevin said he would focus on the application of the technology rather than the details of the information technology. He explained that you need to understand how and why stuff works. (13.22) – What are you focusing on now Kevin? Building a strong network is an important aspect of any successful career. Kevin explained that connecting with others, understanding their thoughts and exchanging ideas all help to bring your own thoughts and ideas into sharper focus. Doing this has really helped Kevin to accelerate his career. (14.33) – Phil asked Kevin, What is your number one non-technical skill? Kevin explained that writing was something he struggled with for many years. He did not really see it as an important or relevant skill for him. When he started to write his blog he began to find writing much easier and found that doing it drastically improved his ability to communicate. (15.49) – Kevin shares a last piece of career advice by explaining that it is important not to underestimate the power of social media connections. They are crucial. BEST MOMENTS: (4.32)  Kevin - "The best thing to do for any career is to do something you love. If you're not doing something that you enjoy, you won't be good at it." (6.10) Phil - "Using what you've learned, what you've taken on board over the recent period to understand where you might be able to go in the future." (6.19) Kevin - "You're always doing a course correction in your career. Don't expect to be right at the very beginning. You don't know enough to be right." (6.32) Phil - "A lot of people think about careers as being linear, and they're not at all They take all sorts of routes and paths and ups and downs." (7.58) Kevin - "A lot of highlights in your life come from things that you don't expect." (10.18) Kevin - "IT is no longer just something you have to do to be in business, it drives business, it creates new business models." (12.10) Kevin - "The best career advice actually came from a book, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and it was basically - know thy self." (13.29) Kevin - "Your career is really mostly about your network and the network, in today's world, is mostly not a physical network. It's a virtual network." CONTACT KEVIN L JACKSON: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjackson/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson @kevin_jackson Personal Website - http://kevinljackson.blogspot.com/ Company Website - http://www.govcloudnetwork.com/

In this episode, Phil talks to Michael Bolton, a consulting software tester and testing teacher who helps people to solve testing problems that they didn’t realize they could solve. Michael is also the co-author of Rapid Software Testing, a methodology and mindset for testing software expertly and credibly in uncertain conditions and under extreme time pressure. Michael has more than 25 years of experience testing, developing, managing and writing about software. And for almost 20 years he has led DevelopSense, a Toronto-based testing and development consultancy. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­(2.00) – Phil asks Michael to tell everyone a bit more about himself. Michael explains that he is – “in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with the state of software, in the state of testing.” But that he knew this was not necessarily a bad thing because a state of dissatisfaction leads to a desire to change things for the better. Software testers need to help people to identify the problems that represent risks to their businesses. They need to be good critics and to be able to fully understand the value and importance of small things. (3.46) – Phil asks for a unique career tip. Michael says that IT specialists need to have a reputation for “excellence, for good work, for competency and for ethics.” You need to work closely with others and be willing to put yourself out there. It is important to express your thoughts and feelings and be prepared to share your experiences, good and bad. You should not be reticent to “expose yourself”. He went onto say: “That's how we come to a better world. We get to that by explaining our experience to each other.” (6.07) – Phil asks to hear about his worst career moment and what Michael learned from it. For Michael, this happened many years ago when he was working as a program manager on a memory management system. The package did not work as well as was anticipated. Unfortunately, at first, he and the team did not acknowledge the problem fully. He said: “The big mistake I made was looking for circumstances in which the product would work successfully.” Luckily Larry, the development manager, did fully recognize the seriousness of the issue and encouraged the team to actually tackle the problem. This experience made Michael realize that “a focus on the problem rather than a focus on success is the path to success.” From that point Michael refocused his attention on testing and awareness of the product and pricing. (11.13) – Phil asks Michael to share a career highlight. For Michael this is a tricky question to answer. No one project stood out. But he explained that he felt he had achieved the most when he was able to thoroughly examine the product and gain a deep understanding of it. When he was given the time to do that, he was able to work with the client more effectively. Together they were always able to identify those bugs that really needed fixing and avoid wasting time sorting out those that could easily be “lived with”. (14.00) – Phil wants to know what things about the future of IT Michael finds particularly interesting or exciting. Michael responds by saying: “I would like to see the application of a little bit more skepticism and a little bit more nuance in our enthusiasm for new technologies we've seen over the last seven years.” He went on to explain that while these innovations could bring us together they could also drive us apart. So he wants to see us be “a little bit more sober, a little bit more reflective in our embrace of new technologies.” He believes that it is the best way to be prepared to deal with problems which can and do arise when things change. (16.36) – Phil asks, “what first attracted you to a career in IT?” Michael previously worked in the theatre, so the prospect of a steady income was what first attracted him to the IT field. For many years he had worked for companies as a full time employee before becoming an independent contractor. Once involved in the IT world he became fascinated by “figuring out how these machines work and what makes them not work.” He relishes the chance to “create beautiful and amazing things”. (18.47) – Phil says - what is the best career advice you've ever received? Michael quickly responds by saying “your CV must be focused on solving the problem for the hiring manager.” It should not be an elaborate list of where you worked. This sound advice influences most areas of Michael’s work. When he works on a project he asks himself repeatedly – “What is the problem that the person hiring me is trying to address?” This habit keeps him on track and ensures he does not try to contribute things that do not actually solve the problem at hand. (21.10) – Phil asks, if you were to begin your IT career again, what would you do? “I would focus on diversity.” Working in many different places, in various roles and on a range of projects has served Michael well. (22.57) - What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Michael says - “I'm currently focusing on trying to develop my reach.” Michael wants to influence as many different IT team members as possible. He wants everyone from the project manager to the coder and testers to work closer together. Michael is currently reaching out beyond the testers who currently make up his main audience. (24.25) – Phil’s next question is - What non-technical skill has helped you most in your career? To which Michael said: “Being able to structure a good piece of writing, being able to structure a talk, being able to organize material so that I can get an idea across.” He also feels that - being able to apply critical thinking to an argument, identify objections and address them is a great skill to have. (26.45) – Lastly, Phil says - Do you have any final career advice? Michael replies, yes, “Follow your likes, your inclinations, and your temperament.” “Don’t struggle against the current. Take note of what you are thinking and feeling.” Do what interests you. But, be sure to challenge yourself and do something a little different every now and again. Don’t be afraid to contact people irrespective of how prestigious they are or how busy you think they are. Get in touch with someone who interests you to ask for advice and ask questions. When you do that, you trigger reflection in them. Michael finds answering people’s questions helps him to learn. Phil finished the podcast by asking Michael how people could get in touch with him (details below). BEST MOMENTS: (2.33) Michael – I agree with Alan Cooper who suggested – “Every bit of improvement in the world, and in the way things happen, starts with grumpiness, starts with dissatisfaction with the state of things.” (4.19) Michael – “Your reputation is the only thing. It’s important to have a reputation for excellence, for good work for competency and for ethics.” (9.19) Michael – “A focus on the problem rather than a focus on success is the path to success. We become successful by recognizing things that we have to fix things that we have to get better at things that we are not as good as it could be.” (10.04) Michael – “Turning $1 into $2 is practically impossible. But turning a million dollars into $2 million is practically inevitable.” (18.26) Michael – “I found it really interesting to see how little tiny decisions on little tiny pieces of data can allow us to see a video or be interviewed over a long distance.” (19.38) Michael – “When you write a CV, the CV must be focused on solving the problem for the hiring manager.” CONTACT MICHAEL BOLTON: Website: www.developsense.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bolton-08847/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelbolton @MichaelBolton Email: [email protected] Skype: michael.a.bolton

  EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode, Phil talks to software developer Kent Beck, director of Three Rivers Institute (TRI) and author of multiple programming books. Kent shares his thoughts on how he looks at software development, the value of community and the untapped potential of engineering talent that exists in different areas of the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: ­­­ (1.39) - Phil opens by asking Kent to expand on the introduction and tell everyone a bit more about himself. Kent explains that for the last 7 years he has been working at Facebook. His main focus, while there, was on the engineering culture. During those 7 years, he did a lot of writing, coaching and educating. As well as studying the culture as a whole. (2.18) - Phil asks Kent to share a unique career tip. Kent says: “It's easy to treat software development as a production process where there's some functionality and the more quickly you can produce it, the better you are and I think that that's it's an understandable mistake but a fairly large mistake.” “I prefer to look at software development as a learning process that throws off running software as a by-product. If you do that, you'll learn to do your job better and better, over time, and those improvements compound on each other.” (3.15) - Phil asked Kent to share his worst IT moment and what he learned from that experience. Kent said it was the first time he was fired. He went on to explain he was not paying enough attention to the feedback by saying: “I thought here's the job. I'm doing this job. That was much more important to me then what the team as a whole was trying to accomplish and I did my job as I saw it. It just wasn't what the person signing the checks cared about.” (4.09) - From then on, Kent has made a point of really listening and also making sure he is communicating effectively. He said: “So you’ll hear me, if I give a talk with question and answer, I almost always will say ‘Does that answer your question?’” (5.00) - Phil asks Kent about his career highlight or greatest success. Kent said – “Right at the beginning of my career, I stumbled into a relationship with Ward Cunningham, who would go on to invent the wiki. And it was really a mentor-student relationship, at first”. He explained how working with Ward gave him confidence in his abilities and reinforced, in his mind, the need to value his ideas. As well reinforcing the importance of listening to others. (6.43) - Phil asks if Kent felt it was the foundation of many of the things he went on to do subsequently. Kent said he thought it was. For example, “This habit of checking in started very much with the work that I did with Ward. So we would spend a few hours maybe programming something. And then we would go have a coffee and talk about not just the content that we'd worked on, but the process that we'd used for it.” Regularly checking in enabled them to pick up on little details at each stage. For example, something as simple as the fact that they had used 4 keystrokes for a process prompted them to ask can we make it 3? They optimized everything from the micro stuff all the way up to how does this fit into society. (7.39) - Phil asks what excites Kent the most about the future of the IT industry and careers in IT. Kent responds saying that 'things are going to definitely radically change'. He expands this statement by explaining that there's unbelievably good engineering talent in Africa which may lead to large-scale collaborations. Kent then states that "we're going to have to find ways of having finer-grain commits and quicker path to production, better feedback from production; but also we’re going to have to confront some of the limitations of the social structures that we’ve built around programming. (09.44) – Kent went on to say that things have the potential to change a lot but also the potential to stagnate if people become complacent. (9.55) – Phil asks Kent whether or not he thinks the trend of diversity will continue. Kent says, “I think the world has big problems, engineers and software engineers can be part of addressing those problems. We don't have near enough engineers to throw away five sixths of the world's engineering talent just because it happens to be female or have melanin in its skin.” (10.31) - What first attracted you to a career in IT? (10.41) – “My dad was an electrical engineer, and then a programmer. And when he gave me my first book about BASIC, it was like remembering. It was not like learning. It was just like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s how that works.” (11.00) – Phil asked - So you felt you found the logic behind it quite straightforward? It just worked with the way you think? Kent said yes and explained he took a microprocessor manual and just read it repeatedly until he remembered it. Even though he did not completely understand it. He knew that he just had to continue to work hard and expand his knowledge. (11.34) – What is the best career advice you ever received? Kent replied: “Um, I'm not much of an advice taker." (12.09) - If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Kent's reply was to: “Treat it as a learning process. Act as if you haven't graduated from school. This is just your next class and you're going to treat it as a learning process and when the class is over and you've learned the lessons, you're going to go to a different class.” The more diverse your learning, the more cross-fertilization happens. (12.55) - What career objectives are you currently focusing on yourself? (13.35) – “My focus is on longer-term relationships, especially with large scale software development. I think that's, that's something I have now a lot of experience with, and I have some ideas that aren't widely shared. So that's a focus. I'm also going to do individual coaching because I receive the benefits of that as a young engineer.” (14.13) – “It's much more highly leveraged to produce better engineers, than any amount of code that you could write.” He is also experimenting, so he can learn whether he has more leverage with an audience of geeks or business owners. (14.43) - What's the number one non technical skill that has helped you in your career so far? (14.57) – “I come to a place of compassion more quickly than a lot of people seem to. So if somebody is doing something that doesn't make any sense to me, I'll get annoyed just like anybody else. But pretty quickly I start to try to see the situation from their perspective. And I think that's a powerful habit.” “It is helpful for me to be able to see the situation from the other person’s perspective.” (15.54) - Can you share a parting piece of career advice with the IT Career Energizer audience. "Learning works better in a community" (16.29) – What’s the best way to connect with you? Kent says that his website is provides information about what he’s up to, what he’s written recently and where he’ll be speaking. (17.21) – Phil reminds the audience of the upcoming changes to the podcasts and the timescales for those changes.   BEST MOMENTS: (3.00) – “Even a small change in learning trajectory can result in a large change in productive capacity”. (3.57) – “I did my job as I saw it. It just wasn't what the person signing the check cared about.” (Don’t forget to really listen to the client and the team) (7.50) – “Things are definitely going to change radically. There's a huge pool of unbelievably good engineering talent in Africa that hasn't been tapped.” (8.35) – “The pull request, code review, merge, deploy model I think is starting to run out of steam.” (9.34) – “We're going to have to find ways of building and maintaining teams and teamwork across a greater variety of thinking styles and cultural backgrounds.” (16.01) – “Learning works better in a community. I learn faster, I learn better if I share that learning experience with somebody else.”   GUEST BIO: Kent Beck is the founder and director of Three Rivers Institute (TRI). His career has combined the practice of software development with reflection, innovation and communication. His contributions to software development include “Patterns For Software”, “The Rediscovery of Test-First Programming” and “Extreme Programming”. Kent has also authored multiple books, including “Test Driven Development By Example” and “Extreme Programming Explained”.   CONTACT THE GUEST - KENT BECK: Website: www.kentbeck.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/KentBeck @KentBeck LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentbeck/ Books: https://www.amazon.com/Test-Driven-Development-Kent-Beck/dp/0321146530 https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658   CONTACT THE HOST - PHIL BURGESS: Website: www.itcareerenergizer.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilTechCareer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess/ Email: [email protected]  

In today’s episode Phil chats with Spencer Schneidenbach. Spencer is a software engineer and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, specialising in ASP.NET, C#, JavaScript and Angular JS. Spencer is passionate about software engineering, sharing his knowledge within the community and is a regular speaker at conferences and user groups. Spencer tells us why it’s important to be able to experiment and why we should not undervalue the value of networking. Spencer also shares his worst career moment as well as some of his career highlights and talks about a few of the things that excite him about the future of the industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS: [1.23] Phil asks Spencer to expand on the opening introduction. Spencer says that his interests lie in software engineering and architecture, and community involvement. He is currently a chief architect for a company called Ryvit who build integration software for the accounting and construction industries. [2.02] Phil asks Spencer for a unique career tip. Spencer talks about his very first development job where he was given room to experiment. If you have the ability to learn you should experiment with different things. It will help you to get started and to figure out what you love to do. [3.01] Spencer provides a second piece of career advice saying that you should focus in on the needs of the business and of the people within the business. It will help become not just a good I.T. professional but a good all round professional and put you ahead of those who only focus on the technical aspect. [4.11] Phil asks Spencer to share the story of his worst I.T. career moment. Spencer describes an early lesson in deployment which was of an anti-virus software package. Spencer pushed the software update out to fifty nodes thinking, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Five minutes later the accounting department were reporting that their computers were running slow. Spencer identified that something about the update was using up all the CPU time preventing users from getting any work done. Spencer learnt that everything you do has an impact in some way and that he should have started small, with one or two computers. [6.39] Phil moves the conversation on, asking Spencer about his greatest I.T. career success. Spencer responds saying that his current position is his greatest success. Spencer talks about his involvement in the creation of a product which continues to be used and is making money for the company. Spencer also talks about updating another software package to use Angular JS rather than web forms. It was rebuilt, from the ground up, making it easier for the end user and resulted in an increase in sales and bookings for the company. [10.37] Phil then asks Spencer what excites him about the future of the I.T. industry and careers in I.T. Spencer talks about machine learning and artificial intelligence saying that they are deep topics that have a lot of implications for the future. [12.12] Phil begins the reveal round and starts by asking Spencer what attracted him to a career in I.T. Spencer says that he grew up around computers and loved technology. But remembers saying, as a kid, “I don’t see myself working with computers as a career.” However Spencer fell into an I.T. career by accident when someone said “Doesn’t Spencer know something about computers?” [13.24] Phil then asks Spencer what has been the best career advice he has received. Spencer talks about the power of building relationships over that of building technical solutions. Get to know people on a personal level and what they care about. [14.14] Phil asks Spencer what he would do if he was starting his career again in today’s world. Spencer says that he would probably do the same again. The only thing he may have done differently is learn some algorithmic stuff earlier. [15.41] Phil follows up by asking Spencer about his current career objectives and Spencer says that he feels that he is working in the role he wants so his only goal is to continue to provide business value. [16.41] Phil continues, asking Spencer what non-technical skill has made the difference to his career. Spencer says that he believes it is empathy and being able to put himself in other people’s shoes. [17.59] Phil asks Spencer for a parting piece of career advice. Spencer says that we should not undervalue the value of networking. Go to meetups, talk to the attendees and the speakers. Get to know them and be willing to engage. ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences. CONTACT THE HOST Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess     ABOUT THE GUEST Spencer Schneidenbach is a software engineer and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, specialising in ASP.NET, C#, JavaScript and Angular JS. CONTACT SPENCER SCHNEIDENBACH Twitter: https://twitter.com/schneidenbach @schneidenbach Website: scheids.net LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sschneidenbach/

In today’s episode, Phil chats with Andy Hunt. Andy is a programmer turned consultant, author and publisher. He’s authored a dozen books including the best-selling “The Pragmatic Programmer,” and was one of the 17 authors of the Agile Manifesto and founders of the Agile Alliance. He also co-founded the pragmatic bookshelf, publishing award-winning and critically acclaimed books for software developers. Andy shares his story about why he chose I.T as his career and reveals his best and worst experiences in the I.T world. Listen to his career tips and advice. There is a lot to learn from Andy that will help you to become the best that you can be. KEY TAKEAWAYS: [1:21] Phil asks Andy to expand upon the brief introduction provided. Andy shares the story of how he had a real interest in radio electronics at that time. He says that he was very interested in early computers with the S100 BUS and CPM. He recalls that he loved how programming lets you go in and create your own world which, for Andy, is still the most exciting aspect of it. Andy says that programming was easier and much more self-contained back then. The programming world is a very different place than it used to be. [2:41] Phil requests for Andy to share a unique career tip for the I.T Career Energizer audience, one that the audience should know but don’t. Andy excitedly answers that he’ll give two tips. He talks about his 2008 book “Pragmatic Thinking and Learning”, the thesis being that the two things you do more than anything else as a programmer are learning and communication. We communicate with the machine. We communicate with each other, and to end users to gather requirements, to learn requirements. Besides the tech stacks and the latest language of the day, you’re learning how the evolving system behave, you’re learning how your team behaves, and you’re learning how the end users work and what they expect, what the market demands. So, we’re all about learning in communication. Those are the important things. [3:42] Andy’s first tip is to never stop learning. When you come across something unfamiliar, a term you don’t know, a framework you’ve never heard of, a new language, look it up, Google’s right there. It’s on your phone. It’s right on your screen. Take the 5 seconds when something you’re unfamiliar with comes up and see what it is. Look into it. Look more into it if it’s something interesting or something that you might have to work with. So, always take that extra step and pursue the unfamiliar. That’s part one. [4:16] Andy says that this second tip makes the biggest difference for people who are successful. Always write down your ideas. Carry something with you always where you can jot down a quick note. It doesn’t have to be electronic. It might even be better if it’s not. Use an App on your phone, send yourself a voicemail. Andy says that he found out that most of the processes in the brain are asynchronous. You get interesting ideas or the seeds of great ideas randomly and usually when you’re not at a computer and not at work. So you need something with you to jot them down because you won’t remember it later. And then, when you have a chance later, when you’re at the computer, when you’re working, whatever, follow up on it. Make a note somewhere else more permanently. That’s really key to capturing the great ideas that you have but most people just loose. And Phil totally agrees with the idea. [6:54] Phil asks about Andy’s worst career moment and what he has learned from it. Andy recalls a story from early in his career when, between the time of being interviewed and starting the job, his interviewer had been fired and the position eliminated. Andy was therefore assigned to a different group. It was an awful place to work and within a year the company went out of business which made an impact on him. The myth of working for a big company and having stability is just a myth. You’re not stable with a big company. You’re not necessarily stable with a small startup either. So, in terms of career preparation, you really can’t count on the organization being there for you for any number of reasons. Later on, during Andy’s consultant career phase, one project that he rather enjoyed and he had a good time at. It was very clear from their practices and what they were doing on the project that they were going to fail. Andy made his report, talked to the boss and said, “Okay, here’s the problem. This is what you need to fix.” They said, “Thank you very much.” and didn’t change a thing. They lost $14 million. That was a lot of what inspired Andy to get on the early train of lightweight methods which was when the term ‘agile’ was coined. Andy then provides some insight into the Agile Manifesto. [12:34] Phil asks about Andy’s career greatest success. Andy recalls one of his projects which was highly successful. It was replace a debit card transaction system. In fact, that’s the project where Andy met his partner Dave Thomas. They wrote “The Pragmatic Programmer” together and founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf. He recalls that it was one of those insane projects where it was just the two of them. The key was that they had access to an on-site customer who knew the existing system inside and out. They got the project done and the system was subsequently the preferred solution when the company merged with other companies. Andy and Dave’s system did what it was supposed to do and did it better than the other companies solutions that cost a lot more money and had been written by large teams. [15:46] Phil asks Andy about the future of the industry and careers in IT. Andy says that he is amazed when he watches his nephews and nieces, toddler age, navigating an iPad and buying apps. The idea that being able to learn at an early age how computers work and how to create and adapt software yourself, that’s critical. Because if you don’t take that next step and learn how to manipulate this world, you’ll be powerless in the future. He adds that he thinks we’ve barely scratched the surface of technology. [18:42] Phil asks what first attracted Andy to a career in IT? Andy recalls when he was at a radio shack, it was in the 70’s, and there was a book about microcomputers. Andy thought that it was fascinating and as cool as any science fiction he had ever read. The author was convinced that this is going to happen in the future. It wet Andy’s appetite and he started from there. [18:54] Phil asks what the best advice Andy has ever received. Andy says don’t focus solely on the technology because the tech comes and goes. And the companies behind the tech come and go. Andy says that people are much harder to program and deal with than with computers, but this is the world we now live in. This is what you’ve got to learn to do. If you focus solely on the tech, you’re going to get steamrolled. [23:15] Phil then asks Andy what he would do if he had to begin his IT career again right now. Andy says that it would be AI, genetic algorithms, machine learning, that whole world. [24:59] Phil asks Andy what objectives he is currently focusing on and Andy says that it’s retirement and going out with a bang. He wants to come up with something interesting. [25:22] Phil then asks Andy what has been the number one non-technical skill that has helped him in his career so far. Andy thinks that all non-technical skills are critical. The sort of basics such as continuous learning and reading voraciously. Read everything you get your hands on. Write to remember. Take note and summarize. Write it in your own words. The act of writing stuff down like that really helps wire it in and to cement it in your memory. Do user group talks or write a blog if you don’t like talking in front of people. Talk to people at work, such as brown bag lunches. Be an advocate for the stuff that you’ve discovered, that you’re passionate about and that’s interesting. [26:37] Phil asks Andy for a parting piece of career advice. Andy thinks that the number one piece of advice is to realize that you’re never done and that you’ve never made it. If you’ve learned some great framework, some great language, don’t stop there. The technology, the methodology that you used in the last project that was so successful might not work at all in the next project. That could be a completely different context. You might need completely different tools. So, the number one thing is to be prepared for that and to be ready to learn something completely different all the time. BEST MOMENTS [18:00] Andy: “Turbo Pascal when it came out was brilliant. It was 79 bucks and it included an IDE and a multi-pass compiler, and it was like, “Oh my God that genius.” At the time that was a real breakthrough. These days you can get the hardware and any language you’ve ever heard of and just download it. So I think that’s pretty exciting and pretty remarkable and I think we’ve barely scratched the surface of where we can go with that.” “The stuff you learn in college you probably will not use much more than the first couple of years out in the world just because things change. So the tech comes and goes, and that’s fine. You need to know the basics. You need to understand how it all works at the lowest level.” “The hard part is that the tech keeps improving, but people are still people, and we are deeply flawed creatures. We are not like these brilliant computers that we work with. We have got major cognitive processing issues.” “You have to remember that whatever you think of the pace of change at the moment, this is the slowest that the pace of change will ever be because it is ever increasing. So as bad as it is now, this is slower. It’s going to be slightly faster tomorrow and slightly faster the day after that, on and on and on and on. So if you want to keep up, you have to keep going.” ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences. CONTACT THE HOST Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess     ABOUT THE GUEST Andy is a programmer turned consultant, author and publisher. He’s authored a dozen books including the best-selling The Pragmatic Programmer, was one of the 17 authors of the Agile Manifesto and founders of the Agile Alliance and co-founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf, publishing award-winning, critically-acclaimed books for software developers. CONTACT ANDY HUNT Andy’s Website – www.toolshed.com Twitter – https://twitter.com/PragmaticAndy @PragmaticAndy LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pragmaticandy/ The Pragmatic Programmer – www.pragprog.com Andy’s Latest Sci-fi book – www.conglommora.com Software Methodologies – www.growsmethod.com  

Guest Bio: Jeff Atwood is an experienced software developer with a particular interest in the human side of software development.  In 2004 Jeff started the blog “Coding Horror” which led to him founding Stack Overflow and subsequently the Stack Exchange network, now one of the 150 largest sites on the internet.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil chats with Stack Overflow Founder and writer of the blog “Coding Horror”, Jeff Atwood. Jeff shares his career journey from starting his blog to founding Stack Overflow and starting his latest project, Discourse. Jeff recalls his experience way back on how hard it was to get hold of resources about programming, unlike today. Aside from these, Jeff also stresses how important it is to hone your communication skills – whether it be through writing or networking face-to-face with people. Discover how important this is and how it can help you to grow your career.   Key Takeaways:   (1.02) Phil opens the show by asking Jeff to share a little more about his career journey. Jeff emphasizes that a huge part of his career is coloured by his blog “Coding Horror.” Jeff shares how he started his blog in 2004 as an open research notebook. He adds that his writings are still accruing benefits for him so he advises that you also make your work public.   (4.10) Phil highlights the technological changes that have happened since Jeff started his blog. It’s all about portability and smartphones right now. Jeff agrees and adds that the speed of conversation is moving forward rapidly. There’s lesser long-form writing which he considers not to be a bad thing. He also recognizes that information is digested more through images than words.   (6.28) Phil then asks Jeff for a unique career tip. Jeff’s primary advice is to take into account the people you’re working with. He says that you should make sure that your team is better than you. You should not be the smartest or best person at your job. He adds that any programming job today is navigating the waters of and interacting with other people in the IT industry.   (8.54) Phil and Jeff talk about Jeff’s worst IT career moment. Jeff talks about pre-internet times when it was hard to find people that you can actually learn from. All his IT failures were due to limitations in being able to learn and grow. He says that programmers nowadays are lucky to be living in a hyperconnected world where resources and mentors can be found easily.   (12.21) Jeff says that meeting his hero Clay Shirky was his career highlight. Jeff claims that him building Stack Overflow has been greatly influenced by the writings of Clay Shirky about the human interactions in programming. Stack Overflow is really about one working programmer helping another working programmer.   (16:29) Phil proceeds to ask Jeff’s take on the future of IT. Jeff agrees that a programmer is needed in building and fixing things. But he says that he’s got mixed feelings about how we perceive it as essential for everyone. Some people are just interested in how they optimize the use of computers and tech, in general. And, that’s what all programmers should consider.   (19.20) Moving onto the Reveal Round, Phil first asks what attracted Jeff to start an IT career. Jeff answers that it’s about being a kid living in the world without control. And the only thing he considers he can control is a computer. It’s not just entertainment he gets but he also learns from it.   (20.45) Phil then asks about the best career advice Jeff ever received. Jeff advises that whenever you’re at a crossroads and you have to make a decision, you should choose the option that scares you. He adds that if there is no fear, then you’re not really challenging yourself.   (22.02) When Jeff was asked what he’d change if he was to start his IT career again right now, he answered that he’d choose to start 15 years earlier than when he started. There’s so much information that he thinks he could use and it’s accessible to everyone.   (23.44) Phil wants to know about Jeff’s career objectives. Jeff shares that he’s currently working on Discourse. This is very different from the Q&A platform of Stack Overflow. Discourse concentrates on a more social kind of interaction between users. As Jeff puts it, “It’s a tool for not letting online discourse devolve into the howling of wolves.” And unlike Stack Overflow, Discourse is open-source.   [26:34] Phil then continues the conversation asking about Jeff’s non-technical skill and which one has helped his career the most. Jeff quickly answers that it’s his writing skills. Practicing your writing skills will help you in the grand scheme of things. He says that even Stack Overflow hones good writing skills. The best answers are always those which are clear and concise.   [28:07] Finally, Jeff shares his parting career advice for the IT Career Energizer audience. He reiterates his original advice to challenge yourself and to pick things that scare you a bit. Once you’re exploring difficult scenarios, you’re honing your skills.   Best Takeaways: (03:39) Jeff: "The really endearing lesson for me is do a lot of your work in public because you gain tremendous benefit from that."   (06.56) "If you're at a job where you feel like, “I'm the smartest person at this job,” then that's a bad job... You should not be the smartest person at your job. If you are, you need to reconsider where you're going rapidly."   (10.56) "All my earliest IT career fails were really about being in isolation and just not knowing what I’m supposed to be doing."   (18.04) "The job of programmers is to make sure we don't need that many programmers."   Contact Jeff Atwood: Discourse: https://www.discourse.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/codinghorror/ Blog: https://blog.codinghorror.com/

DESCRIPTION Welcome to episode 76 of the I.T. Career Energizer, a weekly podcast where your host Phil Burgess chats with inspiring I.T. professionals, consultants and experts from around the world. On today's episode Phil interviews founder of HashiCorp, creator of Vagrant, Packer, Serf, Consul, Terraform, Vault, and Nomad, Mitchell Hashimoto. Mitchell is a passionate engineer and professional speaker whose goal is to make the best DevOps tools in the world. Mitchell is also an O’Reilly author and a top Github user in terms of followers, activity and contributions. To find out more about the podcast visit itcareerenergizer.com And remember to “Subscribe” to get new episodes automatically downloaded to your device KEY TAKEAWAYS (00.59) Phil introduces Mitchell and asks him to tell us more about himself and his I.T career. Mitchell eagerly responds to state that for the last 6 years he has been hyper-focused on building out Hashicorp and the open source tools around it. He names DevOp tools such as Vagrant, Packer, Serf, Consul, Terraform, Vault, and Nomad to give context to his focus. (01.47) Phil asks Mitchell to share a unique career tip with the audience. Mitchell gives the advice of time. He mentions that you should always schedule time, not to go on holiday but to try new things related to what you're trying to achieve. In Mitchell’s case this is exploring new cloud based tools to see how they work and how to maintain them in real life projects. Mitchell mentions that by taking this time you can become inspired and keep abreast of the latest technology and this can help in your job (03.13) After hearing Mitchell’s advice, Phil asks if he feels that this helps him stay motivated and enthused by what he does. Mitchell responds saying that this time away can keep you innovative and up-to-date with the latest trends (05.53) As a result of hearing Mitchell's worst mistake in his career, Phil asks him to share with the audience his career highlight. Mitchell says that a change in thinking came about with the development of 'Vault' a secrets management tool. It's different to other management tools and now has lots of adoption in businesses and fortune 500 companies (07.07) Phil asks Mitchell to share with the audience what excites him about the I.T industry. Mitchell says that I.T infrastructure is being viewed more and more as disposable machines and as a result it improves stability and makes everything more resilient (09:48) Phil begins the Reveal Round and asks Mitchell what first attracted him to a career in I.T? Mitchell says that he has always gotten a kick out of watching things work the way they are supposed to. Mitchell saw I.T as an opportunity to automate vast fleets of servers to do things for him (12:38) Phil asks Mitchell to share his career objectives, that he's currently focusing on? Mitchell says he is continuing to work on HashiCorp and to continue building confidence in the I.T industry and better integrate Vault and Terraform into more complete packages (16:37) Finally Phil asks Mitchell to share a last piece of advice with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. Mitchell responds to say, focus on automation as we’re nowhere near the limit. There’s no future without automation and anytime that you are doing a manual task consider how it could be automated BEST MOMENTS (03.09) "Find time to step away from being in the trenches to motivate and inspire yourself” (05.20) "It was misconfigured checks on our IP server that caused no traffic to be sent to the ad server" (06.45) Mitchell Hashimoto mentions that; "Google made an announcement without telling Hashicorp of their integration with Vault" (06:58) Speaking about 'Vault' Mitchell states that "The thing I'm most proud of is not it's success, it's a different way of thinking" (10.21) "What attracted me to I.T was the huge automation problem waiting to be solved (10.28) "The best career advice I've received is to 'do everything' don't focus on one thing and be the best at it, it's the time to do everything and understand what you really love" (17.10) Mitchell confidently states that; “those that have dedicated themselves to automation are wildly successful” ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences. CONTACT THE HOST Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess     ABOUT THE GUEST Mitchell Hashimoto is best known as the creator of Vagrant, Packer, Terraform and Consul. Mitchell is the founder of HashiCorp, an open-source software company based in San Francisco, California. HashiCorp provides open source tools and commercial products that enable developers, operators and security professionals to provision, secure, run and connect distributed application infrastructure CONTACT THE GUEST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellh/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mitchellh @mitchellh Website: https://www.hashicorp.com/

Guest Bio: Sam is a software developer who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He started his software development journey with C and later Objective-C creating Apps for iOS.  Sam is also a keen blogger and writes a blog series called “Junior Dev Diaries” where he talks about what he’s learnt in the first few years of his career.  In addition to blogging, Sam is an improv actor, public speaker, writer and future thinker.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil talks with software developer Sam Jarman about everything from his early days as a high school student developing his interest in I.T., handling lack of recognition as a junior, how to control your emotions and communicate effectively in a team environment, the exciting future for the growing I.T. industry, dreams of becoming a senior developer and how sporting wisdom can apply to software development teams.   Key Takeaways: (1.14) Phil opens by asking Sam to share a bit about himself.  Sam tells of his blog series, Junior Dev Diaries which documents and captures the lessons he's learned in his career, to help others avoid the pain.  Sam shares that he's been "doing IOS apps since high school", where he had 10 to 15 apps in the App Store before going to university and has been dabbling ever since. Sam says he joined the BNZ Bank's IOS team in New Zealand seven months ago, to work on their IOS app. He says it's been "pretty fun" going back to IOS full time. Sam says he performs Improv shows on the weekend in Wellington and while it's different to coding there are similarities, "there's a fair bit of making it up as you go along, which is a good skill in life, I think." (3.16) When Phil asks Sam for a unique career tip, Sam says that in programming, your code shouldn't be thought of as for yourself now, but for your team or yourself later. It doesn't have to be perfect, or bug free, it just has to be understandable. It makes you think about code structure and quality and the asset you're adding to the business environment.  (4.39) Phil asks Sam to share the story of his worst career moment and what he learned from that experience. Sam shares what he calls the "low point" in his career, when he was working at a startup and he was very negative and defensive in a team meeting and towards a new hire. He says he learned how to control his emotions and communicate more effectively in a team. (7.46) When Phil asks Sam whether he's changed his approach to be more open minded and collaborative, Sam expresses that the difficulty as a junior, is that it takes three to four years to be able to say something with confidence and experience behind it. (8.54) Phil asks Sam to share his I.T. career highlight or greatest success so far. Sam was recently named New Zealand's Young I.T.  Professional of the Year by the Institute of I.T.  Professionals in New Zealand, where he was recognised for his blogging and work at the startup. (11.57) Phil asks Sam what excites him about the future of the I.T.  industry and careers in I.T. Sam says the most exciting thing is that there's so many people entering the industry, there's a lot to be taught to and learn from new developers. Sam predicts that there's also going to be exciting opportunities in technical leadership in 5-10 years’ time.  Sam's also excited about technology, artificial intelligence and an API-driven world. Sam says I.T. is a growing, new industry and isn't going to go away. (15.15) Phil moves into the Reveal Round and asks Sam what attracted him to a career in I.T. Sam reveals that the "bug first hit me" in Year 9 when he had the opportunity to build a website and discovered programming with the help of the school's I.T. support person. (17.40) Phil asks Sam for the best career advice he's ever received. Sam says developing empathy for other developers and for your team, understanding other people's wants and needs is something a lot of people need to work on. (18.13) Career-wise, Phil asks Sam what he'd do if he could do it again. Sam says he would learn Python from scratch, Ruby or JavaScript and more website front-end development, because it's visual and you can get fast feedback on what you're doing. (19.21) On the topic of career objectives, Sam says he'd like to transition to a Senior Developer, become a better developer and help others improve. (20.38) Phil raises the subject of non-technical skills and what has helped Sam in his career so far. Sam says with self-awareness, things become simpler.  (22.19) Finally, on sharing his parting piece of career advice, Sam says the codes or languages or tools or technologies you write don't really matter as they're always changing. What's important is that you have to learn how to learn. He says, develop your "soft skills", being a developer is a team sport, it can be handy to apply sporting wisdom to teams in software development.   Best Moments: (11.16) Sam “I think feedback's career food and I absolutely love it and when people have no feedback for me, I get almost a little bit upset and I'm like, ‘Ooh are you sure there's nothing I can do better?’ Like I'm sure there's always something to work on…” (11.30) Phil says no matter how long you work in the industry there's always something new to learn. Sam agrees and uses the analogy of keeping fit. “You don't just run every day for six months and then you're fit the rest your life. I think you have to keep working on it and I love it, I love that process…” (14.05) Sam says the I.T. industry has a lot of work to do to support new talent and make sure that under-represented groups are getting into the industry, “Because diversity of thought is important.”   (22:34) Sam “…And I think it's that's really key and I'll say it again you don't have to know everything but you have to know how to know anything and that'll help you kind of approach in new piece of technology and spot the patterns in it that are similar to what you already know or were spot things that you need to go figure out.”   Contact Sam Jarman: Website: https://www.samjarman.co.nz Twitter: https://twitter.com/samjarman @samjarman  

Welcome to the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. In today’s episode, your host Phil Burgess interviews curator of JavaScript January, vice president of developer relations and product marketing for Kickbox and developer advocate Emily Freeman.   After many years of ghostwriting Emily made the choice to switch careers to software engineering. Learn more about her journey on today's episode.   KEY TAKEAWAYS from Phil Burgess (05.53) It’s all about branding and positioning and it’s similar to brand/self-marketing (08:16) There’s a lot to be said for the changes in the way I.T. is delivered these days, unfortunately some corporates still follow a traditional waterfall approach, handing the process off to a series of individuals, resulting in friction and communication failure. (13.14) The reveal round: Phil asks Emily some quick-fire questions. Q1. Phil: What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? Emily: The problems and the ability to think abstractly, I love the idea of being a tenacious problem solver. Q2. Phil: What is the best career advice you’ve ever received? Emily: To be you; when you are your authentic self, you are your best self. Q3. Phil: If you were to begin your I.T. career again right now what would you do? Emily: I would rewind back to school and learn more about ‘true computer science’. You can learn the CS fundamentals in a fun way. Q4. Phil: What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Emily: Growth and moving towards the next challenge. My biggest objective would be to solve increasingly bigger problems. Q5: Phil: What’s the number one non-technical skills that’s helped you in your I.T. career so far? Emily: Absolutely my writing, I put so much practice into writing and it’s really helped. The best writing is conversational, authentic and written the way you speak. Q6. Phil: Can you share a parting piece of advice with the audience? Emily: What I tell everyone is, if you have to choose between becoming better at something or promoting yourself, I would choose promoting yourself. You don’t have a lot of time and the people that are ‘experts’ aren’t the most technical, they’re just the most visible. KEY TAKEAWAYS from Emily Freeman (01.06) Phil asks Emily to tell us a little bit more about herself. Emily welcomes the audience and shares in more detail her career story. Emily found a career in ghostwriting and runs a freelance copywriting business called EditingEmily (@EditingEmily). After moving into engineering her background in writing has been significantly helpful, and now Emily has been an individual contributor in Java and is currently a ‘Developer Advocate’.   (02.34) Phil responds to Emily’s career background, asking her to explain what her role as a ‘Developer Advocate’ is? Emily replies, by stating that the role is relatively new to the industry and that it involves getting intelligent developer users to use API’s. It’s a mix between engineering and marketing and it can be described as the connection between engineering, marketing and product to ensure the wishes of the community are communicated to the company. Emily summarizes by saying “It’s a very interesting role and no two days are the same”   (04.41) Phil asks Emily to share a unique career tip, that the audience might not know and should? Emily responds quickly to say that “It doesn’t matter who you know, it matters who knows you”. Emily recalls a previous life lesson that explains that you can blend your professional and personal life together, to help your career move forward. And when an opportunity comes up, you want to be the name that pops into someone’s head. Emily goes on to say that by acknowledging self-promotion and personal branding we can highlight what we do well. (06:38) Phil asks Emily to tell us what her worst career I.T. moment was and what she learnt from the experience. Emily replies to say that in her first job as a developer, it was like an accelerator into finding out everything that was wrong in the industry. The setup of the engineering department was very old school and the developers didn’t have production access etc. That set up creates a great deal of personal conflict. (11.20) Phil asks Emily to explain what she is most excited about in the I.T. industry. Emily passionately responds to say that our technology is evolving so much faster than our brains. The biggest problems that we’re facing right now is that we’re human. It’s our fear, our patterns of behavior, our brain functions and our limitations because of that. As a result I.T. is an exciting area that is overcoming this, removing the decision process errors and choice ability so that people can do what they do best, and engineer. BEST MOMENTS - Emily states that her writing background has significantly helped her in her engineering career. - The aim of the Developer Advocate role is to speak marketing to engineering and vice versa, because a lot of the time these two things miss each other. - I feel uniquely blessed that I can talk at conferences and be a voice of the industry ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences. CONTACT THE HOST Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilTechCareer @PhilTechCareer Website: www.itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess   CONTACT THE GUEST Twitter: https://twitter.com/EditingEmily  Website: www.emilyfreeman.io

Guest Bio: Gojko is a partner at Neuri Consulting. He is the winner of several awards, including the 2016 European Software Testing Outstanding Achievement Award and the Jolt Award for his book, Specification by Example. Gojko is also a frequent speaker at software development conferences.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil chats with Gojko Adzic about experiencing the joy of coding and programming, but also recognizing the importance of seeing the big picture when it comes to projects. Gojka highlights this by advising people work “close to the money” to gain a better understanding of how customers use the products he makes, and how his first startup went bankrupt when he got too wrapped up in tracking technical effort instead of product value. Still, he says he can’t imagine doing anything other than working in IT.   Key Takeaways:   (1.00) Phil kicks off the interview by asking Gojko more about himself. Gojko talks about writing books, how he got his start developing software, but he always wanted to do more than just “sitting in a development box,” as he puts it. He prefers working on projects end-to-end.   (3.21) Phil follows up by asking Gojka for a unique career tip people might now know. Gojka answers with the advice: “stay as close to the money as possible.” He goes on to say that he feels like today, IT is often extremely divorced from the customers and users that they are actually making things for. It becomes hard to tell if your work is having an actual impact. Staying close to the money means making sure that the things you do serve a purpose.   (7.45) Phil moves on, asking Gojka about the worst experience of his IT career, and Gojka jokes that it’s difficult to pick the “worst.” He says the one that made him feel the worst but was the most important learning experience came when he was a CTO of a startup and that they were good at the technical side of things but had no idea how to calculate value and properly run a business and so they went bankrupt. He was way too focused on measuring effort and not value.   (13.06) Phil switches things up and asks Gojka about his greatest career success so far, and he says that he hopes he hasn’t made his greatest success yes. But he’s very proud of a project called Mind Map and that it has helped him rediscover the joy of coding.   (15.00) Phil then asks Gojka what excites him the most about the future of the IT industry, and he says software specifically is the closest thing to magic there is, and that it’s incredible that people can make something that has such a huge impact on the real world, essentially out of thin air.   (15.50) Phil starts the Reveal Round by asking Gojka what motivated him to pursue a career in IT, to which he answers that he never wanted to do anything else, quite literally from the age of six onwards.   (17.01) Next, Phil asks Gojka for the best career advice he’s ever received. Gojka says it’s probably something he read in one of The Pragmatic Programmer books, which was: “don’t say no, offer options.” Instead of saying that something isn’t possible, try to come up with options for things you CAN do instead.   (18.10) Phil then questions Gojka as to what he would do if he were to begin his IT career all over again now, and Gojka answers that he never really wanted to do anything different, but that he would try to switch jobs faster to learn as much as possible about as many different things as he could.   (19.01) On the subject of current career objectives, Gojka talks about writing a new book that’s actually about a technique that can be used to solve the problem of his worst career moment.   (20.03) Phil asks what non-tech skill Gojka has found the most useful during his career, and he responds that he doesn’t really differentiate between what’s technical and non-technical, but that the idea of selling value and not time was a non-tech thing he learned that has made a major impact on his career.   (21.31) Phil wraps things up by asking Gojka for any parting words of advice for the listeners and he advises people to not waste time working on things that they don’t really care about or find important and that they should be able to work on creating things that bring them joy.   Best Moments:   (1.15) Gojko: “I tend to write books to download the stuff in my brain so I can leave more spare capacity for new things.”   (5.48) Gojko: “My career advice for people starting here would be to figure out where the money is and stay as close as possible to that because that just cuts through the whole bullshit that most people shouldn’t really care about.”   (7.24) Phil: “I think it’s all about what the end purpose is, rather than the actual solution that gets you there.”   (12.50) Gojka: “IT’s really nice as an industry because you can make stupid mistakes and learn from them and then kind of pull yourself up.”   (14.48) Gojka: “If people feel that their work is dull they should build their own product.”   (21.56) Gojka: “You can spend a lot of time building stupid systems nobody cares about and you shouldn’t be wasting your life on that. Programming should be a joyful activity.”   Contact Gojko Adzic: Blog: www.gojko.net LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gojko/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gojkoadzic @gojkoadzic Latest Book: https://www.amazon.com/Humans-Vs-Computers-Gojko- Adzic/dp/0993088147    

Guest Bio: Chloe Condon is a former musical theater actress and Hackbright Academy graduate. She is now a developer evangelist for Sentry. She’s passionate about bring people from non-traditional backgrounds into the world of tech, and in February of this year, Chloe was named one of the “200+ Thought Leaders in Crypto and Blockchain.” And yet, she claims to know absolutely nothing about them.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil interviews Chloe Condon, an engineer who has written many articles on her experiences as both a woman in the tech industry and also someone coming from a very non-traditional background in musical theater. Chloe talks with Phil about the ways her theater experience has proved to be an advantage, whether it’s speaking confidently at conferences or creating more entertaining and engaging events for meetups. She also stresses the importance of speaking up for yourself and continuously learning new things.   Key Takeaways: (1.02) Phil kicks the interview off by asking Chloe more about herself, and she refers to the joke at the end of her bio, saying that she frequently writes about her experiences as a woman in tech from a non-traditional background. However, she found out that her name had been copy-pasted into an article about the best people to speak at conferences about Crypto and Blockchain, and that she really doesn’t know anything about these topics.   (2.42) Phil asks Chloe to share a unique career tip, and she says the biggest tip she can think of is to be authentic and real about yourself and your background, talking about how she was worried about not fitting in as an engineer, but that her background has actually helped her in the tech industry, including public speaking and event planning.   (4.00) Phil then asks Chloe to describe her worst IT career moment and what it taught her. Chloe replies that one of her lowest moments came when she was working in tech but before she was an engineer. She worked in various admin roles after college to try and support her theater career. She felt very invisible at her job and that the work she was doing was being taken for granted. This has taught her to always be appreciative and supportive to everyone she works with.   (7.15) Phil shifts things over to Chloe’s greatest career success so far, and she talks about publishing an article called, “What It’s Like to Be a Woman at a Tech Conference,” and the experience of coming from the female-dominated profession of theater to the much more male-dominated world of tech. People responded really well to it because it gave men insight into how isolating it could be to be a woman in tech, and also Chloe has received very positive international recognition for it.   (10.20) Chloe goes on to add that when she’s at conferences and gets asked if she’s enjoying being there with her husband and being able to respond that actually, she’s the keynote speaker, it can feel equal parts good and upsetting.   (10.47) Phil continues the interview with the question of what excites Chloe the most about the future of the IT industry. She says that, broadly, the tech industry is exciting because everything’s always changing and there are always new things to learn. Specifically, she’s excited about developing mobile apps and also machine learning. It’s an interesting time in technology to see how we interact with machines.   (12.08) Phil moves things into the Reveal Round, beginning with why Chloe started working in IT. She says that it began with wanting to learn a new skill that was so different than what she had been learning as a theater major and that technology has always fascinated her.   (12.29) On the topic of best career advice she’s received, Chloe re-emphasizes the importance of being yourself and bringing your background and perspective into the industry. She also says some very good advice she got as a woman in IT was to not be afraid to speak up and let herself be heard.   (13.05) Next, Phil asks Chloe what she would do if she were to start her whole career over from scratch, to which she replies tongue-in-cheek that she would not get a theater degree and instead teach herself to code online and take her tuition money and buy a house with it.   (13.39) Phil then asks Chloe to talk a bit about her current career objectives, which are focusing on mobile development and enjoying getting creative with a smaller design space and what applications she can make in it.   (14.10) When asked about the most useful non-tech skill that’s helped her in her career, Chloe refers back to earlier in the interview, mentioning that her theater background has given her an advantage when it comes to both public speaking and event planning to make tech meetups more fun and entertaining.   (16.21) Finally, Phil closes things out by asking Chloe for any parting words of career advice for the listeners, and she says that it’s never too late to learn a new skill, whether it’s changing from musical theater to coding or just feeling pigeonholed into a particular language or job title. There’s plenty of time and room within the industry to do something new.   (17.55) Chloe adds on that in the performing arts, you can work hard and put effort in and there will always be things out of your control that can keep you from succeeding, down to not having the right hair color, whereas, in technology, you can put in 110% knowing that you will get it back.   Best Moments: (2.50) Chloe: “My unique career tip would be to be as authentic and real as you can, regarding not only your brand but just your background.”   (6.34) Chloe: “My rule of thumb is to be nice and supportive and mentor and lift up everyone that you work with.”    (9.24) Chloe: “It feels really wonderful to be recognized for work and to look back at my life two years ago and go ‘Wow! I actually do have a voice in a community, this is really cool!’”   (11.05) Chloe: “It’s so exciting to me that in this industry, everything is always changing. There’s always new technologies, there’s always new things to learn, so you’re not stuck in one particular field or industry or expertise.”   (15.15) Chloe: “I think it’s just proof that diverse perspective is so important in technology.” Phil: “Definitely, it can be a bit dry and staid at times, so yes, a bit of energy is what it requires.”   Contact Chloe Condon: https://twitter.com/ChloeCondon @ChloeCondon https://www.instagram.com/gitforked/?hl=en @gitforked    

Guest Bio: Jennifer is a JavaScript developer, international speaker, foodie, fitness geek and community organiser, most well known for her work creating innovative and highly sought-after programs for women in technology. Jennifer is also the founder of Kansas City Women in Technology, an organisation aimed at growing the number of women in technology careers in Kansas City. And, amongst other things, Jennifer is Missouri’s Coolest Woman, according to Pure Wow.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil sits down with Jennifer Wadella to talk about how she entered the IT industry, women in IT in general, and what to do when you find yourself in a negative work environment. Jennifer also talks about self-motivation, and that you don’t necessarily have to find inspiration in other people, but can focus on your own personal growth and skills and have faith in yourself to be able to improve and succeed.   Key Takeaways: (1.13) Phil begins by asking Jennifer to tell the listeners a bit more about herself. Jennifer says that she’s been a nerd her entire life, and while she liked being among nerds, she really didn’t see much in the way of women nerds and has made one of her missions to get more women involved in IT.   (1.38) Phil says he’s seen a lot of progress on that front, with more women entering the industry and Jennifer agrees, laughing while recalling that while at the last Kansas City Developer Con, there were so many women that there was a line for the ladies bathroom, which was a first.   (2.08) Phil moves along, asking Jennifer if she has a unique career tip that she’d like to share, and she talks about how she often hears people talking about being stuck in terrible job environments with terrible bosses and that because people in IT love their craft and what they do, they’ll stay in these jobs they hate. She advises people in those situations to not waste time in leaving to find a place where they can be happy doing the work they love. Phil strongly agrees that a good work environment is extremely important.   (3.01) Phil then asks Jennifer to speak about the worst experience in her IT career and what she learned from it. Jennifer replies that during one of her first jobs out of college, she had a boss that was a poor leader who would give her projects without much direction, and when she compiled reports on how long the project would take and the resources it would need, he didn’t like her answers, cornering her alone in the office to yell at her about how she was “a bad person with a bad work ethic.”   (3.45) Jennifer continues, saying that this was one of the lowest moments of her career, but it taught her to stand up for herself in the future and to understand and value her self-worth. The story at least has a happy ending, as she was able to get a new job just three days after updating her resume to leave that one.   (5.02) Phil takes that opportunity to ask Jennifer about her greatest success in her IT career. Jennifer talks about being a web developer right when things were expanding with JavaScript frameworks and single-page applications. As she learned JavaScript, she felt like she was struggling compared to other, more experienced people. But one day one of them came to her with a framework question and she was able to help them, and it gave her confidence and motivation to keep moving forward in her career. Phil agrees that this is often a turning point for people in their career.   (6.31) Phil asks Jennifer what she finds most exciting about the future of IT, and she answers that people are drawn to IT because they like problem-solving and that right now it feels to her like there’s no cap on what technology people can come up with to solve problems. Specifically, she’s excited about the possibilities of advancements in IoT.   (7.58) Phil moves into the Reveal Round, beginning with why Jennifer started working in IT. She says that, like many, she fell into IT a bit on accident. She was a graphic designer but couldn’t find work. In the meantime, she was building websites mostly for fun and realized it could be a career, and she was attracted to the creative side and creating something from nothing.   (8.33) Phil asks Jennifer for the best career advice she’s ever gotten, and she tells him that she had a mentor tell her not make herself fit a job, but to make the job fit her and not to try to force yourself to fit a mould.   (9.03) Phil then switches gears and asks Jennifer what she would do if she had to begin her IT career all over again right now, and she replies half-jokingly, “start younger.”   (9.32) As to her current career objectives, Jennifer says that she has been focusing on public speaking at international conferences and being at a place where she can “be a happy little code monkey.”   (10.05) Phil asks Jennifer’s opinion on what has been the most helpful non-tech skill to have in her career so far, and she answers that for her, it’s a tie between leadership skills and faith in herself and her ability to grow and always be improving.   (10.45) Phil brings things to a close by asking Jennifer for some parting words of advice for the audience, and she replies with the motto, “work hard and understand that there are no limits.” She adds that there is no cap on what you can learn and that you should focus on yourself and your own growth and not what other people are doing.   Best Moments: (1.16) Jennifer: “I’ve been a nerd my entire life, and when I got into a career in technology, it was nice to be surrounded by other nerds. But one thing was lacking and that was female nerds. So that’s kind of the origin of me creating Kansas City Women in Technology.”   (2.35) Jennifer: “If your day job isn’t making you happy and is making you miserable, my advice would be to go find something that makes your heart sing. You’re lucky enough to love writing code, do it somewhere where you’re gonna love doing it.” Phil: “I think you’re absolutely right. I think if you don’t find fulfilment and enjoyment within your career, it’s time to think about what you’re doing.”   (3.45) Jennifer: “That was one of the lowest moments because it was a really big assault against my character, but it was a really good life lesson of understanding how to stand up for myself and how to value my self-worth.”   (5.50) Jennifer: “It was kind of an amazing moment for me to realize, ‘I can do this, I can be a really successful developer,’ and just because I started out behind doesn’t mean I can’t come out ahead.” Phil: “It can be quite self-inspiring, when people come to you for advice and knowledge and so forth and you realize that you’re actually able to provide that support and input.”   (8.58) Jennifer: “If you can find a way to bring your own unique skill set to the table, you’re gonna be way more successful that way.”   (11.10) Jennifer: “Find ways that work for you to learn and grow. Don’t look at what everybody else is doing, don’t try and emulate or be exactly like other thought leaders you see. Focus on yourself, what works for you, and the unique skills you have to share.”   Contact Jennifer Wadella: Website: www.jenniferwadella.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/likeOMGitsFEDAY @likeOMGitsFEDAY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wadella-7985b46/  

Guest Bio: Dylan is a software architect, conference speaker, and musician. He designs APIs and distributed systems based on Microsoft .Net and he also helps to run the London .Net User Group.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil talks with software architect Dylan Beattie about everything from understanding that software is not always the solution to a problem, avoiding getting burnt out, how writing websites can eventually get you speaking at conferences halfway around the world, and the future of tech will involve difficult lessons about community interaction and a greater shift towards user-inclusivity. Dylan also talks about finding the fun in IT, even the uninteresting parts, and why he’s glad he chose a career in IT over one playing guitar.   Key Takeaways:   (1.05) Phil opens by asking Dylan to tell a bit more about himself, with Dylan recounting his early days as a webmaster and that he got into IT purely because he thought it was fun and then learned that he could make a career out of it, and is currently working as a CTO at Skills Matter.   (2.50) When Phil asks Dylan for a unique career tip, he tells a story about how senior manager at a company he was working at had asked him to create a secure digital storage system for some sensitive documents. After learning that they only had 30 or 40 documents to store, Dylan advised them to just use a safe instead, offering up the tip that even when you’re a software developer, software is not going to be the solution to every problem.   (5.11)Phil then asks Dylan to share the worst moment in his career in IT and Dylan explains that he’s never had a specific worst moment, but several “worst periods” where he was getting burnt out working too hard on projects that he didn’t really care about. He recalls struggling with companies that were more concerned with a big picture vision than a clear roadmap of steps, milestones or deliverables necessary to get there.   (8.14)Phil changes tack to ask about career highlights and Dylan discusses starting out going to user groups and community events to listen and learn new things and that, before long, he was the one giving the talks at this events, eventually moving up to conferences and keynote speeches in other countries.   (9.25) Dylan specifically recalls going with a group to speak at  a conference in Ukraine and going to the chance to go to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and marveling at how strange it was that his particular career journey had allowed him to experience this, finishing by saying, “The highlights are the things which are unexpected.”   (10.35) When Phil asks Dylan’s opinion of what’s the most exciting thing about the future of IT, he and Dylan recall the massive impact smartphones have had on how software interacts with the world and that back in the 1990s, no one could have even conceived of it. Dylan says that he thinks that another, similar paradigm shift will happen soon, involving how we think about online communities and interactions.   (13.52) Dylan also talks about a shift towards making things not only more user accessible, but more generally inclusive, and that software development needs to catch up with that movement, joking that, “We think we can solve anything by making the fonts bigger.”   (15.54) From there, Phil moves into the Reveal Round, asking Dylan why he started working in IT, to which he reiterates that he always thought it was fun and was interested in the potential of machines and making them better, and then realized he could get paid to do that.   (17.22) On the subject of the best career advice that he’s ever received, Dylan remembers initially wanting to be a professional guitar player, only to have a local guitarist he looked up to tell him not to play for a living. He says that playing is something you do because you love it and if you make it your job then you’ll have to do it even when you don’t feel like it and you’ll grow to hate it.   (18.41) Dylan contrasts this with the career in IT that he pursued instead, saying that in tech, even when you don’t want to do something, there’s usually a compensating factor, like if a problem is boring, finding the solution might be interesting, or vice versa.   (19.34) Phil asks Dylan what he would do differently if he was just now leaving university to start a career in IT, and Dylan says he’d be at a bit of a loss because he has had the luxury of having software development complexity grow along with him and now things are much more technical and specialized.   (22.54) Phil then asks Dylan about his current career objectives, and Dylan is at a loss for an answer and instead talks about Rockstar, a new programming language he created as part of a joke that recently went viral in the online dev community. Dylan jokingly says that he’d like to make refining Rockstar a career objective and be able to go to conferences with stickers and branded swag just as a laugh.   (25.10) Phil’s asks Dylan about what he thinks is the most useful non-tech skill to have, and he says that he thinks communication is incredibly important and that the two big parts of that are writing well and be able to comfortably speak up and share ideas. But he adds that these skills are so tied-in with the job that they don’t really count as “non-tech” and changes his answer to being able to make good coffee.   (26.07) Finally, Phil asks Dylan for some parting words of advice for the listeners, and he talks about not being afraid to explore other job opportunities out of fear that you won’t be able to find another job as good as the one you currently have. He adds that he wishes that there a healthier and more natural way to change careers than the way recruitment currently works.   Best Moments:   (4.43) Phil: “So, almost trying to provide a solution and then find a problem that will fit that solution.” Dylan: “Yeah, trying to find an excuse to do something cool with hardware...we get hard problems to solve that actually matter, this is not one of them.”   (9.45) Dylan: “I got here because I started writing web pages and then started talking about it and now we’re here inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in the former Soviet Union. This is completely unexpected.”   (11.06) Dylan: “Microsoft’s mantra in the 80s and early 90s used to be ‘a computer on every desktop.’ They weren’t even thinking that nobody was going to care about desktops anymore because the computer would literally be a thing in their pocket that had started out as a telephone and evolved superpowers.”   (15.44) Dylan: “Even the most daring things we can think to dream at the moment can be completely turned on their hand within the next ten years, and who knows where that’s gonna lead.”   (20.32) Dylan: “Find a problem you care about and don’t worry too much about the software you’re using to solve it.”   Contact Dylan Beattie: Website: www.dylanbeattie.net Twitter: https://twitter.com/dylanbeattie @dylanbeattie GitHub: www.github.com/dylanbeattie YouTube: www.youtube.com/dylanbeattie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanbeattie/  

Guest Bio: Ben is a technologist working in the Office of the CTO at Confluent Inc (the company behind Apache Kafka), where he has worked on a wide range of projects, from implementing the latest version of Kafka’s replication protocol through to developing strategies for streaming applications. Before Confluent, Ben led the design and build of a company-wide data platform for a large financial institution, as well as working on a number of early service-oriented systems, both in finance and at Thoughtworks.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil sits down with Ben Stopford to discuss different kinds of career progress, the future of streaming data between different applications, and the importance of a healthy and positive work environment. Ben also touches on the benefits of learning everything you can from more experienced co-workers, and the power of motivation.   Key Takeaways: (1.02) Phil starts off the episode by asking Ben a bit more about himself. Ben reveals that, unlike most people in the IT profession, he did not study computer science in school but physics instead. He further elaborates that the majority of what he sees as the second phase of his career has been spent working on improving application streaming platforms.   (2.06) When Phil asks for a unique career tip, Ben emphasizes that it’s important to remember that there’s more than one way to progress in your career and that people shouldn’t feel pressured to try to“climb the corporate ladder” by taking management positions that really don’t suit them. He reiterates that you gain influence through respect and that you don’t have to be in management to achieve respect, just be someone who adds value.   (4.36) In answering Phil’s questions about his worst experience working in IT, Ben thinks back to his first job at an investment bank, where he had a boss who was extremely difficult to deal with and would scream at Ben and other employees. This prompted Ben to make a rule to never work for anyone he doesn’t like, and he advises that if a job isn’t right and makes you feel terrible, then it isn’t worth staying at, which Phil completely agrees with.   (6.30) Phil takes a lighter turn asking Ben about his favorite successes, to which Ben replies that he feels a major highlight of his career was forming a team at a different financial institution to find a way to increase its tech efficiency and how the different services of the company shared data. Ben says that it felt like they were on a mission and that it was productive and innovative work.   (8.46) Phil asks Ben what excites him the most about the future of IT and, like many other guests, he’s most excited at how quickly the future is changing and that being in IT means being at the heart of that change. He points out that the future his one-year-old daughter will live in isn’t going to look like anything that came before it and that thinking about it “keeps him up at night,” to which he quickly adds “in a good way!”   (10.45) As they enter Phil’s rapid-fire Reveal Round, Ben sheepishly admits that he started working in IT for the money and that, while he did enjoy being a physicist for a while, it wasn’t making him enough money to survive on.   (11.20) Phil changes tack and asks about the best career advice Ben has ever received. Ben responds that the best advice he ever got was on dealing with difficult workplace situations by taking emotion out of the equation and sticking only to facts. He says that this helps defuse tension but is a lot easier to do in an email than in person.   (12.46) When Phil asks what Ben would do if he was starting his IT career over right now, Ben replies that first, he would start out learning computer science instead of physics, and he would make a point to work at a place that does pair programming so he could soak up as much fundamental knowledge as possible from the more experienced people around him.   (14.28) Phil asks Ben about his current career objectives, to which he affirms that he’s still on his mission to find better and more efficient ways of moving data between different applications.   (15.40) On the subject of the non-tech skill he finds the most useful, Ben brings up something called the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is sort of assuming the worst of people, like that the person who cut you off in traffic is just a jerk instead of someone who might be experiencing an emergency. Ben says that fighting against that urge and thinking more about why people do the things they do instead of making assumptions gives you a more balanced view of the world.   (16.56) To finish things off, Phil asks Ben for any parting words of advice for the listeners. Ben’s advice is to recognize that motivation doesn’t always last, so make the most of it when you have it and to capitalize on feelings of desire and motivation as much as possible.   Best Moments: (3.15) “Autonomy comes, really, from the respect that other people will have for you. If you add value to a company then you tend to get given autonomy.”   (6.08) “Probably nothing affects your life more than the relationship you have with your colleagues and your boss, so that’s definitely worth investing in. And if it’s not right, just cut it. Cut it early.”   (9.52) “Today we’re able to build these much more integrated systems which work on much larger datasets. We have this whole field of heavyweight data technologies and streaming technologies that allow many different applications to coordinate that really wasn’t possible before.”   (14.06) “Go somewhere where you can have a formative experience to learn software engineering techniques, which you kind of have to learn from other people, or through experimentation yourself. But it's a lot easier if you pair with people who know what they’re doing and have been doing it for 20 years.”   (17.05) “Motivation is probably your most precious commodity.”   Contact Ben Stopford: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/benstopford/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/benstopford @benstopford Website - http://www.benstopford.com/

Guest Bio: Daniel Bryant is a technology specialist with expertise in the design, development, and deployment of enterprise-grade software applications and platforms.  Daniel also excels in leading teams that build these systems, and regularly shares his knowledge by presenting at international conferences and writing for well-known technology websites.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil talks with Daniel Bryant about the benefits of working in a variety of areas across IT and business and how it can help you figure out the work you’re best at and will enjoy the most, as well as just taking in a wide range of new experiences. Daniel also stresses the importance of a strong and supportive community of peers, as well as the need to make sure your foundational learning is a priority.     Key Takeaways:   (1.24) Phil opens things up by asking Daniel to tell a little more about himself and what he does. Daniel explains that he actually started his career as an academic but fell in love with consulting while working on his Ph.D., emphasizing that academia was all theoretical and that he wanted to actually build things.   (4.37) Phil asks for Daniel for a career tip and Daniel recommends trying many different things, explaining how he’s worked on everything from coding to racking and stacking servers as well as on hiring teams and in positions of leadership. He says that all these different things helped him learn to empathize with people in all areas of business and IT as well as helping him discover what kind of work he enjoys most and is best at.   (5.31) Dan admits that while there is a comfortable level of stability in doing just one thing, you’re unlikely to find something you are both good at and enjoy on the first try, and that the different jobs someone does, the roles they play, and the people they meet will have a huge impact on shaping them as a person.   (6.47) Phil follows up by asking Daniel about his worst IT experiences, to which Daniel replies that he thinks his biggest mistakes include not doing due diligence in learning more about a company before signing up to work there, as he has found himself at several companies whose values did not line up with his own. In that same vein, he goes on to say that he has a problem with not thinking ahead and rolling into new positions or jobs without fully considering whether or not it’s the best idea.   (9.50) Phil then switches things up by asking Daniel to talk about what successes he has experienced. Daniel describes joining communities of people with shared interests and career paths and getting involved with them, specifically citing the London Java Community as a group that has provided him with friends, mentors, and career opportunities.   (13.16) When Phil asks Daniel what he finds exciting about the future of IT, he responds that it would be easier for him to list what DOESN’T excite him, since almost everything these days involves computers and technology and there are so many ways to be a part of it. In particular, though, he is excited to see developments in AI and augmenting human abilities with machines.   (15.08) Then, Phil enters the rapid-fire question round, with Daniel explaining that he was first attracted to a career in IT because he loved building things and wanted to help people and that the best career advice he ever received was to find mentors and to be a mentor.   (15.26) Daniel goes on to say that if he had to begin his IT career over again now, that he would nearly the same things that he already does, but with more of a focus on AI, and that his current career objective involves learning more business-specific skills so that he can help organizations solve both tech and business problems. Daniel also tells Phil that public speaking and writing have been the most useful non-tech skills he’s ever learned.   (16.12) Finally, Phil asks Daniel for some parting words of advice, which are to learn the fundamentals. Daniel reiterates that variety and learning lots of different things is important and useful, but advises to not skimp on making sure you know the basics and not to get too distracted by exciting new things to learn that you don’t get the fundamentals down.   Best Moments:   (4.08) Phil: “You certainly seem to be quite diverse in the things you do.” Daniel: “One of my sort of founding values, I guess, is I always enjoy learning and I kind of want to know everything.”   (5.31) Daniel: “There is a sort of stability with doing one thing, but what're the chances that we actually find something we like and are good at first off?”   (6.33) Daniel: “The world is genuinely a massive place and there’s so many different things we can do. I think having some of those experiences and conversations will help you find your niche.”   (14.48) Daniel: “Technology impacts politics, it impacts the markets, it impacts social stuff we do. What’s not to love?”   (17.21) Daniel: “Learn many different things, talk to many different people, read many different books, but be conscious of ‘are you learning fundamentals or are you learning the latest hotness?’ and try and mix in a bunch of those things.”   Contact Daniel Bryant Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbryantuk/ Website: https://www.infoq.com/profile/Daniel-Bryant Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielbryantuk Github: https://github.com/danielbryantuk  

Guest Bio: Dan North is the originator of Behaviour-Driven Development and Deliberate Discovery.  He has been coaching, coding, and consulting for over 25 years and uses his knowledge to help CIOs, businesses, and software teams to deliver quickly and successfully.  Dan is also a frequent speaker at conferences and has contributed to a number of books, including 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know.   Episode Description: In this episode, Dan shares his excitement on how wide open the field of IT remains, and that it continues to be powered by a strong sense of innovation and creativity. He also talks with Phil about the benefits of choosing your own path, the value of diversity, and the importance of empathy.   Key Takeaways:   (1.22) Phil starts things off asking Dan to tell us more about himself and what he’s working on. Dan talks about how’s been working independently for almost six years now and that one of the downsides of being independent is having to run the actual business as well as do the work and that it takes up time that he would like to spend on book-writing. He adds that he also recently became a father and has less disposable time than ever before “and I couldn’t be happier about it.”   (4.19) Phil then asks Dan to share a unique career tip, to which Dan responds first with the fact that IT as an industry is barely into its second generation and that this can be immensely freeing because it means the industry hasn’t become stuck in a rut of making people do things a certain way. He says that because of this, even people who are new to the business have just as much a chance of making their ideas successful as people who have been in the business for many years.   (8.09) Dan then brings things back around by saying that the best tip he can think to give is for people just starting out in the industry to not “institutionalize themselves” and keep questioning and thinking of better ways to do things because everyone is just “making this up.”   (9.02) Dan continues this line of thought by saying that even if he had been asked as recently as ten years ago, he could not have possibly predicted where we would be today in terms of technology and what would be “hot and exciting.” He also says he can’t wait to see what keyboards finally get replaced with.   (10.41) Phil asks Dan about his worst IT career moment, and Dan tells a story about the second “real” job he ever had, where he was the senior software engineer for a database marketing business. He describes that there was one single database that essentially did everything for the company and that he, by typing something in the wrong terminal, accidentally shut down, along with the entire server. Dan says that rather than punish or fire him, that his boss instead told him that he was going to learn about database restores, and they manually restored the database all night.   (15.59) Phil moves on to asking about career successes, and Dan replies that he actually has a hard time thinking of what’s been the highlight of his career because he’s still learning and growing and that he has not had a very straightforward career path. Dan continues that rather he’s always just gone after opportunities as they appeared or based on what interested him and that even things he’s proud of, such as the first time he was a keynote speaker at a conference, happened essentially by accident. He emphasizes not getting too hung up on having a rigid career plan, as it can lead to you missing out on interesting experiences and opportunities.   (19.04) When Phil asks what excites Dan most about the future of IT, he reiterates that what excites him the most is that he has no idea what the future of IT will look like. Apart from that, he says that the strong shift towards more diversity in the field of IT excites him very much because it means opening up a much larger talent pool of different viewpoints, life experiences, and ways of thinking.   (22.41) On the topic of the best career advice that he’d ever received, Dan responds that it was actually advice from a friend in the context of relationship problems he was having and that it was to “never settle for second best.” Dan adds that it has translated into every part of his life, such as looking at jobs and asking himself if he’s just taking a job because it’s there and settling.   (24.35) On that note, Phil asks Dan about his current career objectives, to which Dan says that mostly he’s just trying to find interesting people and interesting challenges before adding that he’s tinkering with an idea for finding a better way to locate people for jobs that are good at working on teams in a way that gets people excited and motivated and can grow a team. Phil notes that people with these qualities are hard to find but easy to spot.   (28.16) Upon being asked about the non-technical skill that he has found the most useful, Dan mentions listening as a “powerful non-technical skill,” before adding that he also thinks that sharing information and empathy are both incredibly important as well.    (31.04) Lastly, Phil asks Dan if he has any final words of advice for someone starting a career in IT. Dan advises that someone should always do the best they can at whatever job they happen to be doing. He says that even if it feels like a pointless task if you always do your best someone is going to recognize that.   Best Moments:   (6.51) Dan: “So my big unique career tip would be to just be aware that we’re making this up. This isn’t just Imposter Syndrome...it’s literally, the things we’re doing, no one knew about earlier.”   (8.09) Dan: “Don’t institutionalize yourself, we are making this up.”   (8.12) Phil: “I think any new career or technology is gonna go through those learning pains as well. If nobody’s been there and done it before, it’s all new, by definition.”   (18.03) Dan: “I’d say the only deliberate career move I’ve made was going independent just five and a half years ago...and I had no idea what I was gonna do or where it was gonna go...and I’m still not entirely sure what I want to be when I grow up. But I’m having some adventures, and I’m working with some really interesting organizations.”   (30.32) Dan: “As a developer, understanding who you’re building software for is massive. As a manager, understanding that if you have a struggling team, you don’t have a struggling team you have a system of work that presents as a struggling team, so you need to go fix the system of work. It’s understanding the interconnectedness of things.”   (31.04) Dan: “Whatever you’re doing, do it the best that you can, even if it’s a thing that you think sucks, even if you don’t see the point of it.”    Contact Dan North LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannorth/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tastapod @tastapod Website: https://dannorth.net/ Contributor to Book: https://www.amazon.com/Things-Every-Programmer-Should-Know/dp/0596809484    

Guest Bio: Shawn Rakowski is a seasoned software developer with Gullview Technologies out of Brainerd Minnesota, where he specializes in delivering full stack .NET solutions. Shawn is also a husband, father, conference speaker, blogger, former podcaster, aspiring entrepreneur, and game dev hobbyist.   Episode Description: In this episode, Shawn explains the value of taking time for personal creative projects to challenge yourself and create a more diverse portfolio and skills set. Shawn also talks about the dangers of second-guessing yourself, as well as the importance of always pushing yourself to learn more and gain new experiences.   Key Takeaways: (1.31) Phil opens the interview by asking Shawn to tell the listeners a bit more about himself. Shawn says that he’s been working in software development for about a decade, generally working in e-commerce and distribution, but has been recently focusing more on speaking about game development at conferences, including Codemash this past January.   (2.37) Phil then asks Shawn for a “unique career tip,” to which Shawn responds with the advice that anyone doing software development should make a point to spend time developing games or other side projects. He explains that games, in particular, are very useful for teaching developers new ways to learn and adapt and that they can be combined with different disciplines like music, art, physics or math.   (4.08) Shawn goes on to illustrate how games also provide a tangible product for developers to add to their portfolios. Shawn also tells Phil about “game jam” events where the participants have to build a game in just a couple days. Game jam events are useful because the time constraints force you to be creative, and there’s usually a prompt to follow, which solves the problem of not being able to come up with an idea.    (5.41) Phil notes that game development seems like it would make you think differently about problems and solutions, and Shawn agrees that game dev offers complexities that you would not typically encounter in your regular  IT or developer day job. Because of this, devoting time to game dev can also help you challenge yourself and make you a better developer overall.   (7.28) Phil asks Shawn about what he considers the worst IT moment of his career and what he learned from it. Shawn talks about working at a job where he didn’t like the culture of the office and felt like he didn’t fit. While he did leave that job for a remote one, he was convinced to come back on the grounds that management had changed and things were better, only to find that this was not the case. Shawn says the main thing he learned was to trust his feelings and to move on and don’t look back rather than stay unhappy at a bad job that might change.   (11.00) Phil changes gears and asks Shawn to share any highlights of his IT career. Shawn relates a story about how he developed his first indie game for Xbox Live and that, while it did not make him much money and was “kind of a terrible game, creating it pushed him to learn command patterns, object-oriented programming, C# (Sharp), and .NET. Now he works with .NET for a living and owes it to developing that terrible Xbox Live game.   (14.47) Phil and Shawn discuss the future of IT, with Shawn mentioning the book Developer Hegemony by Erik Dietrich, positing that we are moving more towards independent IT and development firms with small, specialized teams that can be brought into major organizations to solve problems.   (16.7) Phil starts the “Real Round,” asking Shawn what got him into IT. According to Shawn, LAN parties were his first introduction to computer technology but that he was actually going to school for a philosophy degree before falling in love with computer science.   (17.49) Next Phil asks Shawn for the best career advice he’s ever received. Shawn says it wasn’t just career advice but life advice from a guest on his podcast who recommended he look into meditation and mindfulness as a way to handle the feelings stress and frustration at being stuck at his old job. Learning to be more conscious of his feelings and rationalize them has improved his mindset when it comes to both work and life.   (19.41) Shawn tells Phil that if he were starting his IT career now, he would skip college and jump straight into programming and learning on the job. Shawn also mentions that he would make it a point to look into functional programming, stating that it’s a better way to compose software and that, as it is on the far end of the adoption curve, now is the best time to become familiar with it.   (22.22) On the subject of the most helpful nontechnical skill to have, Shawn says that it’s being fearless about stepping outside your comfort zone in regards to things like public speaking, podcasting, and not stopping yourself because you’re worried you’ll make a mistake or that someone is better than you. Shawn and Phil both emphasize the value of new experiences.   (23.24) Finally, Phil asks Shawn for some parting advice for a career in IT, and Shawn recommends joining a “mastermind group,” which is a group of like-minded people trying to reach the same goals that regularly meet up to help hold each other accountable as well as provide support, advice, and fresh ideas. Phil agrees and says that he’s in a podcast mastermind group as well.    Best Moments: (3.29) Shawn: “I’ve come to find that developing games opens you up to a lot of other disciplines and artistic endeavors that you can kind of combine with software development, which is something that I think is good for the soul and can be very, very good for your career.” (5.41) Phil: “It [game development] seems quite different in terms of the mindset of the people who do it and the way they think about solutions.” (7.10) Shawn: “I think games are a great domain for developing because they challenge you in ways that you don’t normally get challenged at your day job.” (10.29) Shawn: “When you find that you and a place no longer fit together, it’s best to just cut it and go forward and move on.” (19.27) Shawn: “I’m able to capture those feelings that I’m having and those thoughts I’m having and pinpoint them and realize that they’re not exactly true and realize that I can rationalize and get over things like fear, anger, and emotions like that.” (23.06) Phil: “It’s taking yourself out of your comfort zone, it’s new experiences, isn’t it really?” Shawn: “Yeah, being willing to embrace those new experiences and realize that those are important and paramount to your growth and just overall to your happiness.”  Contact Shawn Rakowski Twitter: @shwany Website: www.mylifeforthecode.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srakowski/

Welcome to episode #065 of the I.T. Career Energiser, a weekly podcast where your host Phil Burgess chats with inspiring I.T. professionals, consultants and experts from around the world. To find out more about the podcast visit itcareerenergizer.com And remember to Subscribe to get new episodes automatically downloaded to your device. In today’s episode, Phil chats with featured guest, Nicki Watt. Nicki is an experienced software engineer and consultant and is currently the Chief Technical Officer at OpenCredo. She can be seen speaking at various conferences and is also co-author of the graph database book "Neo4j in Action”.  

In today’s episode, Phil chats with featured guest, Gualtiero Bazzana. Gualtiero is past president of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board, more commonly known as the ISTQB(r). He is also president of the ITA-STQB, the Italian chapter of ISTQB(r) and Southern Europe regional director of Alten, which is a technology and engineering group operating world-wide. KEY TAKEAWAYS (01.26) Gualtiero begins by explaining more about his responsibilities as Regional Director of the technology and engineering consultancy Alten. Gualtiero goes on to tell us about his passion for not-for-profit organisation ISTQB(r). (02.27) Gualtiero tells us how he is a family man with three children and that he has a great passion for skiing (02.51) Gualtiero says that his main priority is his role as regional director of Alten and his voluntary work for ISTQB is a secondary priority. (03.46) Gualtiero says that I.T. is in an exceptional moment in time, with a lot of opportunities. He goes on to say that we should all embrace change and take risks so that you can live without regret. Gualtiero reasons that we should take the USA’s approach to a career in I.T and act more aggressively and be positive. (06:23) Gualtiero says that the worst moment in his I.T. career was when he lost his biggest client, one that generated over 50% of the company’s income. Gualtiero explains that he felt a social responsibility for the staff he had hired and for the company that had just purchased his company. From the experience Gualtiero learnt two vital lessons: 1. Always surround yourself with good guys, and you’ll be able to work out a solution. 2. Always think about risk management. Don’t rely heavily on one source of income for your business. (10.16) Gualtiero talks about his career highlight by stating that he is proud to have been voted for two terms president of ISTQB(r), an organisation that spans many countries and cultures. He goes on to state that it is important to recognise the short term results of people, but to also look at their potential. (12:13) Gualtiero states that a career in I.T. is an ever changing learning curve. There are always new challenges as the industry evolves. He says that if you are enthusiastic about I.T. you will never be bored as there are opportunities for technical people, analytical people and those that want to be managers.   BEST MOMENTS (13:58) The Reveal Round: Phil: “What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?” Gualtiero: “For sure, the fact I get to work with cutting-edge technologies.” Phil: “What is the best career advice you have ever received?” Gualtiero: “It’s not really career advice, it’s life advice. Be always fair with the people around you, with colleagues, customers and suppliers. The world is big and small at the same time, it’s important to stay connected.” Phil: “If you were to begin your I.T. career again, what would you do differently?” Gualtiero: “I am so happy, I would do exactly what I've done again. Start working for a well-positioned consultancy company, which gives you the idea to experience different things. You have to see what’s around so that you can choose what you want to do.” Phil: “What career objectives are you currently focusing on?” Gualtiero: “I’m 52, so in the I.T. domain I’m close to being a dinosaur. But I try to be young, so my objectives are to develop the career path of the best people working with me, and to try to keep a good balance between work and life.” Phil: “What’s the number one (non-technical) skill that has helped you so far?” Gualtiero: “Constancy of purpose, if you want to be the best you need to work intensively. But also the ability to be open-minded changes.” Phil: “Gualtiero, can you share a parting piece of advice with the audience?” Gualtiero: “I think that the I.T. industry is a land of opportunities, for everybody. We can get so close to how the world is changing. We get to see the impact our projects have on life, on telecommunications, on banking and e-commerce. Phil: What’s the best way we can find out more about you? Gualtiero: “You can find me on LinkedIn” https://www.linkedin.com/in/gualtiero-bazzana-ba61828/   ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences. CONTACT THE HOST Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess     ABOUT THE GUEST Gualtiero Bazzana is past president of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board, more commonly known as the ISTQB(r). He is also president of the ITA-STQB, the Italian chapter of ISTQB(r) and Southern Europe regional director of Alten, which is a technology and engineering group operating world-wide. CONTACT THE GUEST LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gualtiero-bazzana-ba61828/ Company website – www.alten.com ISTQB – www.istqb.org ISTQB (Italy) – www.ita-stqb.org

Welcome to the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast In this episode Phil Burgess talks to Phil Lew who is C.E.O and President of XBOSoft, a leading provider of software quality engineering services. Phil has 25 years of experience in the software industry and has an interesting and solid view of how you should conduct yourself in pursuit of finding the correct career. During those 25 years he has experienced frustration at his own progress before finding his own career path. KEY TAKEAWAYS from Phil Lew (01.23) Phil Lew begins by telling us about his passion for cycling, and how he enjoyed racing. However as he has matured he now mainly goes on cycling tours. Cycling to him is a metaphor for life and Phil says it is not always the strongest that win, but the person who applies the right amount of efforts at the right time. Phil says he thinks this outlook applies to our lives as well as our careers. Phil also has a passion for travel and has travelled to 70 countries within the last 6 years. (02.49) Phil Lew discusses the benefits of mentors and explains that he feels he could have broadened his mentoring network when he was younger. He tells us that he thinks and believes that a lot of people are the same, that if we keep our heads down and work hard we will get on in our careers. However, Phil makes it clear that it does not always work out that way. He tells us that he really did not get enough career advice early in his career. (05.54) Phil Lew goes on to tell us what excites him about the future. He deliberates that the I.T. field is so broad that there are many ways a person can get into the industry, which excites him. He quotes Mark Anderson saying “software is eating the world” Phil Lew thinks” that software is becoming the world”. He demonstrates this using the example of a remote control for a garage door and the software that you can use to control your garage door through your phone. Phil Lew says the field of software in I.T. companies is broadening. You can enter into this field from any number of places which is also exciting. (09.06) The best career advice Phil Lew has received was to pursue communication and public speaking skills. These skills have helped him throughout his career. He advises that no matter what kind of ideas you have, no matter how great they are, if you cannot communicate them, they are not worth very much. Referring to engineers he goes on to tell us that most do not have those skills (10.34) Phil Lew has career objectives that are very clear. They are aligned to his company’s objectives, to be successful and to train others to grow the company enabling him to focus on strategies for the company.  He believes that managers and executives need to grow people in their roles to progress within the company, and take the Managers/Executives places so they, the managers, may grow themselves. KEY TAKEAWAYS from Phil Burgess (03.03) Phil Burgess agrees with Phil Lew that mentoring is important in your career and to get that earlier on in your career is vital. We need to seek out mentors that are right for us. (07.16) Phil Burgess has the same opinion as Phil Lew with regard to people working in I.T. and how working within the industry is changing the dynamics. It is important to be able to relate to people at the front end of the business. BEST MOMENTS Phil Lew reasons that knowing values and understanding value, for example, knowing your own value and your skills will help you to be responsive to what you can get out of the market place. Phil Lew has a perceptive view of companies that do not implement software in their solutions; he fears that they will get left behind if they do not incorporate software into their plans for the future. This means that there are a lot of opportunities to get into these companies and help them out. Phil Lew says that software is the future of our economy. He started out with a Business Major then switched to an Engineering Major because he felt strongly that it was the future. He also advises to pursue communication; Phil says that this really helped him with his career as well as his public speaking skills. ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide anybody wanting to start, develop and grow a career in I.T. by inviting successful I.T. professionals, consultants, and experts to share their advice, career tips and experiences.   CONTACT THE HOST Website: www.itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philburgess ABOUT THE GUEST Phil Lew is the Chief Executive Officer and President of XBOSoft.  He is a keen cyclist and traveler, enjoying visiting some 70 countries in the last 6 years. His career has included selling companies that he grew and nurtured. Phil has been in the industry for 25 years. CONTACT THE GUEST Website: www.xbosoft.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/philiplew

DESCRIPTION Welcome to The IT Career Energizer. Phil Burgess introduces his guest April Wensel by telling us April is an international speaker and the founder of Compassionate Coding a social enterprise bringing emotional intelligence and social consciousness to the software industry. April is also a mentor and a keen advocate of diversity and inclusiveness in the industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS Phil Burgess starts the interview with April Wensel by asking her to expand on his summery and telling us a little bit more about herself. April tell us she has been working as a software engineer both in an individual capacity as a contributor and in an engineering team. She solves a lot of problems within the industry around human beings. This is why she started Compassionate Coding to inspire people to care about human beings and the people they are building the software for. In addition to these qualities she reveals to us that she is a Vegan which enabled her to bring compassion to the industry. Phil continues with the theme by asking April how she sees compassion having a bearing on how software is developed.  April looks at it from a very rational angle that when the software product is being designed, firstly, the goal is to alleviate suffering in someone’s life, and secondly how we actually go about building the software. She says we want to minimize suffering for the developers and anyone else on the team. Phil asks April “Can you perhaps tell us a unique career tip?” April discusses with Phil the benefits of identifying core values, and for her, personal filters, she advises, people should slow down and filter out some of the noises you hear in the industry. Phil agrees that identifying your core values is essential and a very good point and that if you establish what they are early, and what you want to do with your career as you mature, opinions will change but they are essential if you want a career in IT. Phil enquires of April about her worst IT moments and learning from that experience.  April tells us about a job she loved and how she was upset on ethical grounds regarding how the company was progressing, she also tells us what happened to her.  Phil shares with April an interview he did with David J Anderson ,and David made the point April was making, that in your career you have to make the choices between your job and what is ethically correct. Phil asks April about her career highlight or greatest success. April outlines how her view of compassionate coding spreading through the technical community has given her personal satisfaction. April had seen the lack of concern in human beings and knew she wanted to do something on her own.  When she receives messages from people implementing or  taking on board her ethics she says it light’s her up inside. April informs us that if we are looking to have a career in IT we need to have more that coding skills.  We need to be able to manage our time well, able to communicate our ideas in an effective way, and work well with others. April assures us that the industry is not as it always was perhaps being shut away in a basement on our own, but that IT is now in this modern landscape and communication skills are going to become more important. BEST MOMENTS April tells us “I’ve matured I am not excited by technology for technology’s sake, for me the most exciting is social entrepreneurs in technology companies April explains “we are able to apply all the techniques established and apply them to social problems” Phil asks April about non technical skills. April believes listening is a very important skill to have in the industry especially when dealing with non-technical staff. “Ignore any advice that does not resonate with your core values “April says when Phil asks her to share any parting piece of advice April discusses what happened when she had to leave the company she loved working for over ethical issues. April says it was a problem with the culture of the company and its ethics.  Her advice is “definitely leave when you know it’s time to leave” ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide aspirants start and grow in their career by inviting successful professionals, consultants, and experts in the I.T. CONTACT THE HOST Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/philburgess ABOUT THE GUEST April Wensel's career has taken her along a path of success to founding her own business of Compassionate Coding.  Her ethics and practices within Compassionate Coding centre around her belief that we should leave this world better than we found it, and that software companies need to care about human life with compassion.  April believes that software technology should be used to help social problems as well as helping humans. April is a vegan, passionate about animal rights, and believes we should strive towards a more peaceful world. CONTACT THE GUEST Website: www.compassionatecoding.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aprilwensel Twitter: https://twitter.com/aprilwensel

DESCRIPTION Welcome to the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. In this episode Phil Burgess has Sandro Mancuso as his guest. Sandro is an international and inspiring I.T. consultant, a speaker who is the co- founder of Codurance and the founder of The London Craftmanship Community. Sandro is the author of The Software Craftsman. It can be appreciated that Sandro Mancuso with 22 years experience in software gives sound advice to all who are looking to succeed in whatever field they work in. KEY TAKEAWAYS Phil Burgess starts the interview asking Sandro to tell us about his career. Sandro, who is Brazilian, started at the age of 11 years when his father bought him a TK85 2X. He discovered he could type games and codes which helped him decide that was the path he wanted to take at university.  He also wanted to come to London as he knew at that time it was the hub of I.T. software. He advices us to separate our career from our job and goes on to explain how to approach this. Phil asks Sandro to tell us about his worst I.T. experience, Sandro describes to us about working in the year 2007 and 2008 when all the apps were being planned he tells us how he was employed by a company who did not listen to advice and subsequently the system went down on numerous occasions. He reminds us that software is everywhere and that it is a discipline on its own. BEST MOMENTS Sandro was working with someone he admired greatly and wanted to impress him, he was given a task which he worked on as quickly as possible to achieve a good impression, when he took it to the person he admired that person destroyed the code and deleted it. The person he so admired gave him this advice “how it is done is as important as getting it done”. Phil asks for a parting piece of advice.  Sandro’s advice is” do not let anyone else control you career” He advises “Don’t blame companies if they do not create some space for you to learn, your career is your responsibility”   ABOUT THE HOST Phil Burgess, an I.T. consultant, mentor, and coach, is the creator and host of I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. His podcast continues to inspire, assist and guide aspirants start and grow in their career by inviting successful professionals, consultants, and experts in the I.T. CONTACT METHOD Website: itcareerenergizer.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/philburgess ABOUT THE GUEST Sandro Mancuso is an Author and founder of the London Software Craftsmanship Community.  He is co- founder of Codurance and has worked for startups, software houses, product companies, international consultancy companies and investment banks. His professional aspiration is to raise the bar of the software industry by helping developers become better at, and care more about their craft. CONTACT METHOD Website: https://codurance.com/blog/author/sandro-mancuso/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandromancuso/ Twitter: @sandromancuso

Today’s episode should be very interesting not only for I.T. enthusiasts but also for everyone else who wants to upscale their game in their career. Our guest today is Jeremy Likness, a cloud developer advocate for Microsoft and he has one great piece of advice for you – be comfortable selling yourself! Jeremy’s career has spanned over 20 years which he says has mostly focused on communicating with clients and customers. And, he proves that it really made a difference in his career when he started changing how he packaged himself to relay his knowledge and skills easily. These ups and downs made him brave enough to take risks, learn on his own and be determined about his goals. He made connections along the way and his goal is to empower other developers to be their best. Start listening to learn more about Jeremy’s career advice! To find out more about this episode visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e60  

Bill Wagner is one of the world’s foremost C# developers and a member of the ECMA C# Standards Committee. He is currently with Microsoft, working on the .NET Core Content Team. Bill is also an author, blogger and creator of learning materials for developers interested in the C# language and .NET Core. In this episode Bill Wagner tells us why we should only take advice from people who have relevant experience in what we want to do. Bill also provides helpful insights into his own use of mind mapping in progressing his career and why you should not waste your time on doing things that you don’t enjoy. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e59

Adda Birnir is founder and CEO of Skillcrush, an online tech education company that helps students make a career change into tech. Prior to founding Skillcrush, Adda worked as a developer, building web applications for companies such as the New York Times and ProPublica. In this episode Adda Birnir tells us why we must always be thinking about our customer’s problems and how we can solve them. Adda also talks about her transition into a tech career from a liberal arts degree and how it inspired her to start her company, Skillcrush. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e58

Hadi Hariri leads the Developer Advocacy team at Jet Brains and spends as much time as he can writing code. He has authored a couple of books, a few courses and has been speaking at regular events for over 15 years. In this episode Hadi tells us why we should always dedicate time to continue to learning new things and why persistence and consistency can pay off. Hadi also talks about our self-imposed limitations and his thoughts about the future of machine learning. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e57

Dave Fancher has been building software for more than a decade. He is the owner of Achiiv Solutions as well as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, a Pluralsight author and author of “The Book of F#”. Dave is also active within the software development community and has spoken at numerous events throughout the United States. In this episode Dave Fancher tells us why we need to keep our own best interests in mind and that you need to be cognizant of potential burnout. Dave also talks about personality types and the perils of poor communication. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e56

Monica Beckwith is an independent performance consultant and trainer optimizing customer applications and systems running the Java Virtual Machine. Monica is also a regular speaker at conferences and is co-author of the ‘Java Performance Companion’. In this episode Monica Beckwith tells us why we need to be proactive when opportunities present themselves and how you can avoid getting lost in large organisations. Monica also talks about challenges in her own career and why you should never give up on yourself. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e55

Dan Wahlin is founder of the Wahlin Group which provides consulting and training services on Web technologies such as JavaScript, jQuery and SharePoint. He is also one of the top authors at Pluralsight and has published several courses covering a range of technologies. As well as being a Microsoft Regional Director and a regular speaker at conferences and user groups. In this episode Dan Wahlin tells us why we need to be honest and respectful of others and why those that continue to learn differentiate themselves from those that don’t. Dan also talks about the opportunities within technology careers and the importance of exercising your mind as well as your body. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e54

Gene Kim has been researching high-performing technology organizations since 1999. He’s a multiple award-winning CTO, Tripwire founder, co-author of The DevOps Handbook, The Phoenix Project, and Visible Ops. Gene is also a DevOps Researcher and is passionate about IT operations, security and compliance, and how IT organizations successfully transform from "good to great”. In this episode Gene Kim tells us why we need to surround ourselves with the best people in our field and why he believes the best days of software engineering are ahead of us, not behind us. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e53

Jeff Patton is an independent consultant, providing training, coaching and consulting services. He has designed and developed software for the past 20 years on a wide variety of projects from on-line aircraft parts ordering to electronic medical records. Jeff has also authored numerous articles, essays and, most recently, a book, “User Story Mapping”. In this episode Jeff Patton tells us why we need to spend time with the people who will use the software we deliver. Jeff also talks about the future of I.T. jobs and why you need to find that one thing that you’re passionate about. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e52

David McGimpsey is UK-born and Australian raised. David has been in Information Technology since 1992, when he started working as an IT assistant, crawling around on the floor fixing hardware. Shortly afterward, following a literal stroke; and a stroke of luck; David got the opportunity to travel the world, managing the IT systems of a marketing firm. Today, David is a communication skills trainer, based in Japan, and has just released his first book. In this episode David McGimpsey tells us why you should always ask questions to confirm your understanding. David also discusses the importance of continuing to develop your communication skills and why you shouldn’t rely solely on your education. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e51

Phil Japikse is an international speaker, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and a passionate member of the developer community. He has been developing software for over 30 years and has been heavily involved in the Agile community since 2005. Phil is also a published author with LinkedIn learning as well as co-author of the book “C# and the .NET 4.6 Framework”. In this episode Phil Japikse tells us why we should seek out situations where we are the least knowledgeable person in the room. Phil also talks about involving the right people when designing and developing software and the importance of being polite and respectful to others. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e50

Duncan Hunter is a Software Architect based in Brisbane Australia. He spends most of his time building enterprise web applications on top of Angular and ASP.NET. Duncan is also a mentor at firebootcamp.com helping developers get up to speed with Angular and frontend best practices. In this episode Duncan tells us why it’s important to find the people you want to be like and how knowing what you’re passionate about makes it easier to say “No” to things that aren’t of interest to you. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e49

Troy lives on the Gold Coast in Australia. He is a Microsoft Regional Director, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and a Pluralsight author on web security and other technologies. Troy also travels the world speaking at events and training technology professionals on how to build more secure software. In this episode Troy Hunt tells us why it’s important for us to have an online brand or profile and how you should start if you don’t have one. Troy also talks about independence and why a passion for what you do will make your life a lot happier. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e48

Chuck Wood is a developer, podcaster, speaker and the CEO of Devchat.tv. He’s host of several popular tech podcasts including Javascript Jabber and Ruby Rogues as well as being an independent software consultant with a focus on Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JQuery, Prototype.js and other web technologies. In this episode Chuck Wood talks about working freelance within the I.T. industry and why relationships are key to the success of projects and teams. Chuck also tells us that we need to be true to who we are and what we care about. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e47

Phil Haack works at GitHub bringing the power of social coding to .NET and Windows developers. Prior to GitHub Phil worked at Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager shipping software such as ASP.NET MVC and NuGet. Phil is also a co-author of the ASP.NET MVC series of books as well as a regular speaker at conferences around the world. In this episode Phil Haack tells us why we need to be prepared to have difficult conversations and why this can help your career. Phil also talks about the importance of taking care when writing code and why you should test your code carefully. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e46  

Christian is a Chief Architect of cloud applications at Red Hat and is well known in the community for being an author, frequent blogger, speaker, open-source enthusiast and committer on various open-source projects. Christian has spent time at web-scale companies and now helps companies create and deploy large-scale, resilient, distributed architectures - many of what we now call Microservices. He enjoys mentoring, training and leading teams to be successful with distributed systems concepts, microservices, devops, and cloud-native application design. In this episode Christian Posta tells us why the ability to learn is of higher value than what you know, why you shouldn’t be afraid to introduce new concepts, new technologies or question the way you did things in the past. And why companies recognise that I.T. is their greatest differentiator. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e45

Barbara Carkenord has designed, written and taught hundreds of classes in software design, project management, business analysis, software testing and communications skills. As an early member of the International Institute of Business Analysis, Barbara worked on the development of a worldwide standard for business analysis, the BABOK Guide. Barbara is also an author of several books including “Seven Steps To Mastering Business Analysis”. In this episode Barbara Carkenord tells us why we need to have the integrity to be honest and why this can be challenging when working in software development. Barbara also shares her worst career moment, what she learnt from that experience and why you need to keep challenging yourself to try different things. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e44

Suzanne Robertson is a principal and founder of the Atlantic Systems Guild. She is co-author of Mastering the Requirements Process, a guide for practitioners on finding requirements and writing them so that all stakeholders understand them. Suzanne is also a member of the IEEE and the British Computer Society as well as a regular speaker at conferences and universities. In this episode Suzanne Robertson explains why you should not expect people to tell you what they need from a software system. Suzanne also discusses how software engineering can benefit from disciplines outside of the I.T. and technology field and why you should open your mind to a future of possibilities. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e43

Rex Black is president of RBCS. He is a testing leader, providing consulting, training and expert services. Rex has helped clients, from small start-ups to Fortune 20 global enterprises, apply testing best practice in a wide variety of development lifecycles. Rex is also a prolific author having written fourteen books and dozens of articles over the past 20 years as well as being a past president of both the ISTQB and the ASTQB. In this episode Rex Black tells us why Software Testers are having to become more technically skilled and why the I.T. industry is interesting, inspiring and scary, all at the same time. Rex also talks about his career experiences and the pace of change in technologies, methodologies and expectations. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e42

David J Anderson is the Chairman of Lean Kanban Inc, a management training, events and publishing business which licenses its brand and franchises its events and training classes globally. David began his career as a games developer in the early 1980s and has worked at companies including IBM, Sprint, Motorola and Microsoft. He is also author of several books including the best-selling Kanban - Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business. In this episode David tells us why we need to have Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose, and that you need to be prepared to fire your boss. David also discusses the career decisions you may have to make between being professional & ethical and keeping your job as well as the importance of sociology in the I.T. industry. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e41

Simon Brown is an independent consultant specialising in software architecture. He is author of the book “Software Architecture for Developers” and creator of the C4 software architecture model. Simon is also an award winning speaker, presenting at conferences, meetups and organisations around the world. In this episode Simon Brown tells us why we can’t afford to stop learning and what we need to be doing to ensure that we don’t. Simon also explains why we need to be selective in what we choose to learn about in detail and why anyone can make an impact in the I.T. industry. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e40

Brian P Hogan is a web developer, teacher, book editor and musician. He is also author of several books including, “Exercises For Programmers”. Brian is currently a Technical Editor at Digital Ocean and is also a development editor at the Pragmatic Programmers as well as a panellist on the Ruby Rogues podcast. In this episode Brian tells us why software development is mostly about people and that it’s about solving problems. Brian also talks about making the most of opportunities to engage with smart people, why the answer is always ‘No’ unless you say ‘Yes’, and why just having a backup of your data is not enough. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e39

Scott Allen has more than 25 years of commercial software development experience across a wide range of technologies. He has successfully delivered software products for embedded, Windows and web platforms. Scott is also a Pluralsight course creator, a host on the podcast Herding Code, a published author and a conference speaker. In this episode K. Scott Allen talks about the importance of having your own brand and being able to differentiate yourself from others. Scott also tells us why obstacles can provide great learning experiences and why he believes that cloud technology provides innovation and opportunity. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e38

Ted Neward is an industry professional with over 20 years’ experience. He speaks at conferences all over the world and writes regularly for a variety of publications across the Java, .NET and other ecosystems. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, two sons, dog, four cats, eight laptops, seven tablets, nine phones, and a rather large utility bill. In this episode Ted talks about psychology and philosophy in I.T. and why empathy, sympathy and compassion will help you in your career. Ted also tells us why failures provide great lessons and why he believes technology has become embedded into western society. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e37

In this first episode of 2018 Phil Burgess takes a look back at the first eight months of the IT Career Energizer podcast and talks about how the podcast came about. Phil also looks forward to what you can expect from the podcast in 2018, describing some of the changes and additions planned for the show.

Jay Miller has been a system administrator for the military and in the private sector since 2008. He actively participates in several online communities, learning to develop in different languages such as JavaScript and Python. Jay’s involvement in these communities led him to host the CodeNewbie Saturday discussions and eventually to starting the Productivity In Tech podcast. In this episode Jay talks about finding the one thing that you’re good at and why you should become the subject matter expert of it. Jay tells us why we should be selective when opportunities present themselves and the consequences of making the wrong choice. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e36

Kent C Dodds is a full stack JavaScript engineer at PayPal whom he represents on the TC39, which is the committee that evolves JavaScript. Kent is actively involved in the open source community with over 100 published npm packages and a contributor on many more. He is also an Egghead.io instructor, Frontend Masters instructor and Google Developer Expert. Kent is happily married and the father of four kids. He likes code, cares about craft, design, tools and architecture. In this episode Kent tells us that there’s no shortcut to gaining experience and you should try to learn, build and teach to develop your skills. Kent also talks about why building a social media following can benefit your career and why you should always be kind and considerate to others. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e35

Hans Eckman is an experienced Business Analyst who provides leadership and consulting to rapidly evolving companies. This includes helping in the development of disruptive programmes and products that drive innovation and process improvement. Hans is also an experienced conference speaker having given over 50 presentations in the U.S. and Canada. In this episode Hans tells us why it’s people and processes that determine the success of I.T. projects and why it’s your responsibility to market and to promote your uniqueness and your value. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e34

Heather Downing is a passionate coder and entrepreneur. She is also an international technical speaker and co-host of the YouTube channel “The Hello World Show”. She also likes to encourage those with non-traditional backgrounds to enter the world of software development and is an advocate of women in tech. In this episode Heather talks about how she started her career in I.T. and why you should consider becoming a thought leader in your field, even early on in your career. Heather also discusses the importance of asking for help and the consequences of not doing so as well as why a career in I.T. is great for anyone who likes to be challenged.# To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e33

Cory House is a Pluralsight author, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Software Architect, international speaker and principal at React JS Consulting. He has trained over 10,000 software developers at conferences and businesses worldwide on clean coding practices, front-end development, testing and software architecture. Cory currently specializes in JavaScript and front-end development using React. In this episode Cory talks about the impact that public speaking has had on his career progression and why multi-tasking can result in failure. Cory tells us about an unexpected success and why you shouldn’t be trying to do it all. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e32

Rob Conery has been working in the technology field since 1998 as a DBA and then a web developer, originally with a focus on Microsoft ASP.NET. Rob is also author of The Imposter’s Handbook, which is a compendium of skills and concepts for any self-taught programmer. In this episode Rob talks about his career in IT, sharing his worst career moment and greatest successes. Rob also discusses why you should consider going where others haven’t been before, why an IT career needs to be fun and why you need to listen to yourself. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e31

Steve Smith is an entrepreneur and software developer with a passion for building quality software as effectively as possible. He provides mentoring and training workshops for teams with the desire to improve. Steve has been recognised as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for over 10 consecutive years and is a frequent speaker at software developer conferences and events.

Stewart Noakes has been an I.T. consultant since the mid 90s. In 2000 Stewart set up TCL, an independent software testing consultancy, growing the company to around 150 employees. TCL was subsequently acquired by Qualitest in 2012. Stewart has since used his entrepreneurial experience to help both new and established organisations to innovate and change. In this episode Stewart tells us that we need to be able to identify the gap between where we are in our career now and where we want to get to. Stewart also explains why you need to be flexible and open minded as your career progresses as well as why staying relevant is so important. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e29

Eoin Woods is a professionally qualified technical architect with over twenty years’ experience in the capital markets and software product domains. Eoin is a regular conference speaker as well as a published author, which includes being co-author of the book “Software Systems Architecture” and Chief Technical Officer at Endava. In this episode Eoin tells us why our skills have both a software engineering and a commercial value. Eoin also talks about the unpredictability of future technologies and why Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain excite him. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e28

Emily Atkinson is a software engineer and Managing Director of DevelopHer, formerly Girls In Tech UK.  Emily is passionate about encouraging others to learn more and has an interest in the crossover with tech and education.  She is also a regular speaker at events and workshops. In this episode Emily talks about the importance of having a career development plan and how it will help to propel your career forward.  Emily also tells us why we need to be continually challenged and why you shouldn’t get too comfortable in your job. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e27

Visit itcareerenergizer.com for complete show notes of every episode El Mehdi Marhoum is the Co-President and Co-Founder of benel Solutions.  He describes himself as an entrepreneur and lifelong hacker, and an expert in developing and architecting scalable and innovative software solutions.  Prior to founding benel Solutions El Medhi was an Enterprise Solutions Architect having started out as a Software Engineer. In this episode El Mehdi tells us why I.T. professionals need to be patient when learning new skills as technology evolves.  He also talks about the importance of clearly defining and agreeing tasks with your manager before you carry them out. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e26

Will Bushee has been involved in technology startups his entire career. As a leading expert on web harvesting, he runs BrightPlanet and has 8 US patents on Deep Web harvesting. He is also author of “Wired for Coding,” a guide for IT students on how to stand out from the crowd and land their first job. In this episode Will Bushee discusses why I.T. professionals need to be good speakers and how it can benefit your career. Will also talks about the importance of conducting yourself professionally when discussing other companies with colleagues and acquaintances. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e25

Ryland Leyton is a Certified Business Analyst Professional having worked in the I.T. industry since the late 90s. Ryland is also a conference speaker and an agile coach for the International Institute of Business Analysis as well as author of the book “The Agile Business Analyst: Moving From Waterfall To Agile”. In this episode Ryland talks about the continued popularity of agile, how business need to adapt to new ways of working and why none of your experiences are ever wasted. Ryland also discusses the importance of not being perceived as over confident. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e24

Kevin Beaver has more than 28 years of experience in I.T., the last 22 years of which have been dedicated to computer and information security.  Kevin is author or co-author of a dozen information security books including the best-selling Hacking For Dummies, Hacking Wireless Networks For Dummies and the Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance.  As well as a prolific writer, Kevin is also creator and author of the Security On Wheels information security audio programs. In this episode Kevin talks about the need for non-technical skills and the importance of communication.  Kevin also talks about how writing “Hacking For Dummies” has helped his career and why you should get yourself known for what you do. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e23

Thomas LaRock is a Head Geek at SolarWinds and a Microsoft Certified Master, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, VMware vExpert, and former Microsoft Certified Trainer. Thomas has over 20 years’ experience in the I.T. industry in roles such as programmer, developer, analyst and database administrator. In this episode Thomas explains why people don’t care about effort or how difficult something is to achieve.  Thomas also talks about the importance of being a generalist even when you are a specialist in one particular area of I.T. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e22

David Rael describes himself as a dad, problem solver, software creator and productivity expert.  David is also host of the podcast Developer On Fire which he started in 2015 as a way of stepping outside of his comfort zone. In this episode David talks about the need to take action and providing value.  David also discusses the importance of family and why you should continually test your understanding as you learn new things. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e21.

Laurence Bradford is the creator of Learn To Code With Me, helping people to get ahead in their careers and ultimately find more fulfilment in their lives. Laurence has developed a passion for education and specialises in product education and product management in the EdTech industry. In this episode Laurence talks about how you can reverse engineer your job hunt, why you shouldn’t try to learn multiple coding languages at the same time and why machine learning, artificial intelligence and data science have great potential. Laurence also talks about her blog and podcast, Learn To Code With Me. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e20.

Paul Rayment is a seasoned I.T. professional having worked in the I.T. industry for more than 20 years. Paul is currently a senior project manager for Wilson Legal Solutions, who provide independent advice and consultancy to law firms in partnership with I.T. solution providers in the legal sector. In this episode Paul talks about his I.T. career journey and how motivation and hard work are essential for success. Paul also discusses the importance of being positive and professional as well as the need to learn from both your triumphs and disasters. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e19.

Robert C Martin (Uncle Bob) has been a software professional since 1970 and has worked in various capacities on hundreds of software projects. In 2001 Robert initiated the meeting of the group that created Agile Software Development from Extreme Programming techniques. Robert is also author of several books on programming and is a regular speaker at international conferences and trade shows. In this episode Robert talks about the maturity of the I.T. industry, why continual learning is so important to your career and why the needs of the business are more important than technology and tools. Robert also discusses the influence that I.T. has on everyday lives and why he believes the industry requires regulation of standards and ethics. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e18.

Paul Gerrard is an internationally renowned and award-winning software engineering consultant, author and coach. He is also host of the Assurance Leadership Forum for senior assurance and testing practitioners as well as being a popular keynote speaker. In this episode Paul talks about why bad experiences are good experiences, why you should under promise and over deliver as well as why you should volunteer for unusual activities. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e17

Cory Lebson has been a user experience consultant for over 20 years with a primary focus on user research & evaluation and UX training.  Cory is also author of “The UX Careers Handbook” and is a LinkedIn Learning instructor as well as a frequent writer and speaker on UX methods and career related topics. In this episode Cory talks about the impact of miscommunication, why leadership is not the only career path and why you should always be prepared for change. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e16

Kevlin Henney is a published author and is editor of the book “97 Things Every Programmer Should Know”.  He is also a presenter and consultant on software development and has been a keynote speaker at a number of conferences. In this episode Kevlin talks about how technology connects everything together, the organisation of information and why there is always something useful to take from every experience.  Kevlin also discusses why he believes I.T. is where all the exciting things are happening. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e15

Andrew Bettany is an experienced IT trainer specialising in Microsoft technologies and social media campaign strategy.  Previously Andrew grew the IT Academy at the University of York before deciding to focus on other opportunities such as consulting, authoring and freelance training. In this episode Andrew talks about the importance of being focused and of commitment as well as making the most of your time.  Andrew also explains why you need to be constantly willing to learn and why being able to sell yourself is such an important skill to have. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e14

Robin Fischer began his career as a Microsoft Systems Engineer at DLP Technologies.  In 1999 Robin purchased DLP Technologies from then owner Lee Penn and in 2010 he sold the company to NetGain Technologies.  Robin is now Engineering Manager at NetGain Technologies ensuring successful project planning and implementation. In this episode Robin discusses how he started out in a different profession before moving into I.T. and some of the lessons he has learnt along the way.  Robin also talks about the importance of business need over the benefits of technology and why self-education is so important to your career.  To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e13

Gale Stafford is an experienced I.T. consultant and author of several books including “Getting Started in the Information Technology Field: With or Without a Technical Degree”.  Gale is now an independent management advisor who helps clients improve their organisational performance. In this episode Gale talks about how your beliefs influence your career and how your beliefs affect your ability to learn new skills.  Gale also discusses how I.T. plays a part in almost all strategic initiatives and why you should commit to lifelong learning. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e12

Michael is a business advisor who helps tech leaders to develop their business skills.  He is also author of the book “Career Advancing Secrets For Tech Leaders”.  Michael says that his passion is to help ambitious Tech Leaders to completely “upgrade” to a new mindset. In this episode Michael talks about why you should treat your I.T. career like a business and why you need to focus on solving problems and removing your client’s pains.  Michael also talks about how to deal with managers and why you need to understand how businesses work. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e11

Amongst many things Darlene Brown is a Business Process Analyst. Other strings to Darlene’s bow include keynoting speaking, facilitation of leadership training workshops and personal development coaching. Darlene says that her primary purpose is “empowering others to increase their confidence and self-belief”. In this episode Darlene talks about different aspects of her 25 year I.T. career journey and how we should all embrace technology such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Darlene also discusses how technology is evolving and that there is always opportunity for technology to be better and to improve. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e10

Mark Robinson is a senior software consultant having fulfilled roles such as a developer, tester, team leader and project leader.  He is currently based in the Netherlands and has presented at TEDx Eindhoven on presentations skills. In this episode Mark talks about the importance of family and relationships, how to evaluate whether or not your current role is a good fit for you and why you need to build your talent stack.  Mark also talks about the way software is evolving and how companies such as Uber and Airbnb are changing the world we live in. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e9

Jeremy Schifeling is the founder and CEO of Break Into Tech which helps non-coders land tech jobs.  Previously he has worked for companies such as Apple and LinkedIn, having started out his career as a Kindergarten teacher.  However Jeremy’s still a teacher at heart so he’s now dedicated his career to helping others succeed in the same way that he has. In this episode Jeremy talks about how to break into a career in information technology and the importance of knowing your own value and what you can contribute to a company before you join.  Jeremy also provides advice on how to evaluate whether or not a company is the right employer for you and why he believes I.T. is such a great industry in which to build a successful career. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e8

Matt Robson is the Director of Consultancy and Solutions Delivery at Testing Solutions Group (TSG) which is a specialist I.T. and business change assurance services provider.  In addition to his I.T. career Matt has, and continues to be, involved with the British Army. In this episode Matt talks about his academic background and his journey into a career in Information Technology, sharing his experiences and insights.  In particular Matt discusses faults, fears and failures and how we should learn to embrace them, using himself as the example. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e7

Matthew Moran is an experienced Project Manager, Application Developer, Business Analyst and Chief Information Officer (CIO). He is author of the book “Building Your IT Career: A Complete Toolkit for a Dynamic Career in Any Economy” and also a songwriter and performer which he often incorporates into his presentations.

Maddie Field is the Head of Business Sustainability and Innovation at FDM Group which is an information technology (I.T.) services provider renowned for its unique Graduate and Ex-Forces Programmes. Maddie is instrumental in FDM’s goal of creating and inspiring exciting careers that shape the future of digital.

Don Crawley is the author of seven books for IT professionals, including the Accidental Administrator series of Cisco and Linux configuration guides and The Compassionate Geek, the IT customer service book. He’s a lifetime geek, having been involved with technology since the 1970s. He’s also the owner of soundtraining.net, the Seattle-based IT training firm.

Jonathan Moss is an experienced transformation and change professional who helps companies implement fit for purpose solutions for their businesses. Over the past few years Jonathan has led large business and technology change programmes for household name clients such as Rolls Royce and Christie’s.

John Sonmez is a software developer who founded SimpleProgrammer.com to help software developers and other technical professionals advance their careers and to live happier lives.  John is also author of the best-selling book “Soft Skills: The Developer’s Life Manual” and hosts the Simple Programmer podcast.

Laura Brandenburg is an internationally-recognized leader known for helping mid-career professionals start business analysis careers and is the author of the best-selling book, “How to Start a Business Analyst Career”.  Laura brings more than a decade of experience in the business analysis profession, filling such diverse roles as a full-time business analyst, consultant, and hiring manager. She brings all of these perspectives into her writing, presenting, coaching, and training to help others find transferable business analysis skills, expand their business analysis experience, and start business analysis careers with confidence.

Phil Burgess introduces the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast, providing insight into what listeners can expect from the podcast over the coming weeks and months.  He also talks about the way he found his way into a career in information technology and why he’s decided to start the podcast.