The Mentoring Developers Podcast

How Zain Mustafa Built a Tech Company from Scratch | Mentoring Developers | Episode 97

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 16:09:00 -0400

Guest Bio: Zain Mustafa is the CEO of Geeks of Kolachi, a forward-thinking software development agency. With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, Zain has led numerous successful projects, specialising in web and mobile application development. His expertise spans across full-stack development, UI/UX design, and digital transformation, making him a versatile leader in the field. Under his leadership, Geeks of Kolachi has become known for delivering innovative, high-quality solutions.

Introduction to Zain Mustafa

Arsalan introduces the guest, Zain Mustafa, founder of a tech company started from freelancing.

Growing from Freelancer to Employer

Discussion about Zain expanding his team from freelancing to dozens of employees.

Zain's Greetings and Gratitude

Zain expresses his appreciation for the opportunity to be on the show.

The Catalyst for Diving into Tech

Arsalan asks Zain about the moment he decided to pursue a career in technology.

Early Love for Computers and First Coding Experience

Zain shares how modifying games like Grand Theft Auto ignited his interest in coding.

Choosing Between Cricket and Coding

Zain discusses his decision to focus on programming over a potential cricket career.

Do You Need a Computer Science Degree?

Conversation about the necessity of formal education in starting a tech career.

The Importance of Community in Learning

The value of learning alongside others and building a supportive network.

Working Remotely vs. In-Person Collaboration

Arsalan and Zain discuss the pros and cons of remote work and personal space.

Adapting to Hybrid Work Models Post-COVID

How companies are balancing remote and in-office work in a post-pandemic world.

Managing Remote Work Challenges at Home

Strategies for setting up effective home workspaces despite family and space constraints.

Blurring Lines Between Work and Personal Life

Arsalan shares experiences of extended work hours and lack of boundaries while working from home.

The Need for Social Interaction

Zain talks about an employee's desire to return to the office for human interaction.

Starting Geeks of Kolachi: Overcoming Early Challenges

Zain recounts the struggles faced when launching his company and pivoting strategies.

Transition from Training to Development Services

The shift from running a bootcamp to focusing on development due to financial constraints.

Scaling the Company During COVID

How Geeks of Kolachi grew from 8 to 30 employees amid the pandemic.

Embracing Entrepreneurship Over Technical Roles

Discussion on shifting focus from coding to managing and growing the business.

Building a Client Base Through Referrals

The role of client relationships and referrals in business growth.

Establishing a Sales Team

The realization of needing a sales team and learning from peers to structure it.

The Power of Online Presence

How maintaining an online profile can lead to unexpected job and business opportunities.

Exciting Projects: AI-Powered Relocation Expert

Zain describes working on an AI-driven platform to help users find optimal countries for relocation.

Collaborating with Industry Leaders on the Audi Project

Insights into developing virtual showrooms for Audi using Unreal Engine.

Balancing Passion Projects and Business Needs

The importance of guiding clients honestly, even if it means turning down projects.

Diverse Clientele: Startups to Fortune 500

Geeks of Kolachi's experience working with a range of clients across industries.

Technical Evolution and Focus on AI

Zain's journey from working with Angular to diving into AI and LLMs.

AI's Impact Across Industries

Discussion on how AI is revolutionizing various sectors and the surge in related projects.

The Democratization of AI

The accessibility of AI tools like ChatGPT to the general public.

Advice for Aspiring Developers

Zain emphasizes the importance of focused learning and community engagement.

Cultivating Curiosity in Development

Encouraging developers to remain curious and continuously explore new ideas.

Services Offered by Geeks of Kolachi

Overview of the company's capabilities, including 24/7 availability and team structure.

How to Connect with Zain and Geeks of Kolachi

Contact information and social media presence for those interested in collaboration.

Closing Remarks and Resources

Final thoughts from Arsalan and information on where to find episode notes and links.

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 96

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 12:00:00 -0400

INTRO

Stan is a goal-oriented professional with a historical record of providing IT project leadership, architectural solutions, and Agile/Scrum expertise to drive project initiatives. He has proven experience in leveraging internet and intranet, client and server, web development, and consumer-facing RIA application expertise to lead software development projects and technical transformations for diverse global clients. He is a demonstrated subject matter expert in Agile/Scrum, holding certifications as a Certified Agile/Scrum Master, Developer, and Trainer. He successfully streamlines project initiatives by practicing risk management, promoting Agile/Scrum adoption, and enhancing cross-functional stakeholder communications to achieve project objectives. Through the utilization of the off-shore delivery model, he can effectively lower resource costs for clients’ major projects. Furthermore, He is highly skilled at devising elegant technical solutions for challenging architectural problems.

Stan’s Bio:

“Stan boasts extensive experience with Agile/Scrum since 2006, taking on roles like Agile Coach, Solution Architect, and Scrum Master across 10+ significant projects. He’s adept at offering technical leadership, and Scrum Master responsibilities, and has conducted East Coast client assessments to determine their readiness for transitioning to an Agile/Scrum setup

List of topics

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:40 – What you do in Microsoft

00:03:55 – Microscope is free but not cheap

00:05:20 – How destinations work in Microsoft

00:09:10 -Why did you choose this field

00:11:40 -What was your first job

00:13:48 -Who did you manage being in tech

00:17:06 -Did you experienced mentorship

00:21:10 -You have to respect people’s time

00:22:00 – What do you see in someone to consider for your team, how do you manage people

00:26:00 -How some can get into the Microsoft

00:30:40 – How we can find him

00:31:45 – How you can get in touch with us

Important Links

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/stanley.d.chatman/

Scrum.org: https://www.scrum.org/stanley-chatman

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanchatman/?trk=public_profile_browsemap

LINKS

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xmSi1ytopsssR1i3kKveg

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 94

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:12:32 -0400

INTRO

“Richard Campbell spanned the computing industry both on the hardware and software sides, development, and operations. He was a co-founder of Strangeloop Networks and was on the board of directors of Telerik. Now he is the founder and chairman of Humanitarian Toolbox, Richard is also the host of two podcasts: .NET Rocks! and RunAs Radio.”

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ui2XmQgqvL0

Richard’s Bio:

BIO

Richard Campbell wrote his first line of code in 1977. His career has spanned the computing industry both on the hardware and software sides, development, and operations. He was a co-founder of Strangeloop Networks, acquired by Radware in 2013, and was on the board of directors of Telerik which was acquired by Progress Software in 2014. Today he is a consultant and advisor to a number of successful technology firms and is the founder and chairman of Humanitarian Toolbox, a public charity that builds open-source software for disaster relief. Richard is also the host of two podcasts: .NET Rocks! and RunAs Radio.

Episode Highlights and Show Notes:

List of topics

00:00 – Introduction
03:16 – Starting the courier

07:01 – Way of Success in tech

07:55 – The importance of degree

11:56 -Best job opportunities.

14:46 – Struggle faced in the first job

17:48 – Bootcamp

21:54 – What struggles you faced in the beginning

23:00 – What’s your position now

24:10 – What is android

25:48 – Number 1 problem

29:50 – A lesson to take from him

31:55 – Who do you work many hours?

32:45 – Why you chose Android?

38:56 – What are you doing right now?

41:23 – My biggest problem

42:15 – Biggest opportunities

43:00 – How to get in touch with you

Important Links

Github: https://shady-selim.github.io/

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ShadySelimTube

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xmSi1ytopsssR1i3kKveg

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 93

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:00:00 -0400

“Shady Selim is the first Android Software Advocate in the Middle East. He is a Leading Mobile Developer of Android. He is a Google Speaker and AngelHack Ambassador. He is a Group Member of Flutter Egypt. He is a Leader of GDG & Kotlin Programming Languages”

YouTube: https://youtu.be/qZY-LEzWfMI

Shady’s Bio:

Shady Selim’s career background includes mobile development, project management, and development advocate experience, with a history of successfully leading global teams on high-profile projects for industry giants such as IBM and Facebook. I am highly skilled as a team lead, development manager, and CTO, and I hold an M.Sc. in Business Information Technology from Middlesex University and an MBA from Cairo University. I am knowledgeable in many industry technologies including Android, Windows Phone 8x, iOS, Java, Kotlin, ASP .NET, Swift, jQuery, Angular JS, and JavaScript to develop application and design concepts.

Episode Highlights:

List of topics

00:00 – Introduction
03:16 – Starting the courier
07:01 – Way of Success in Tech
07:55 – The importance of degree
11:56 -Best job opportunities.
14:46 – Struggle faced in the first job
17:48 – Bootcamp
21:54 – What struggles you faced in the beginning
23:00 – What’s your position now
24:10 – What is android
25:48 – Number 1 problem
29:50 – A lesson to take from him
31:55 – Who do you work many hours?
32:45 – Why you chose Android?
38:56 – What are you doing right now?
41:23 – My biggest problem
42:15 – Biggest opportunities
43:00 – How to get in touch with you
..

Important Links

Github: https://shady-selim.github.io/

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ShadySelimTube

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xmSi1ytopsssR1i3kKveg

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 92

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 12:00:00 -0400

Guy Royse is a software developer with more than 25 years of programming experience and has been a part of a government program to teach computer programming to prisoners to enable them to live a normal and happy life after their prison terms. Now he goes out into developer communities and helps others build great software through cutting-edge technology solutions. He has much wisdom to share and we’re privileged to have him as our guest in this episode. Here we go

YouTube: https://youtu.be/PGKIda7uZsA

Guy’s Bio:

Guy works for Redis Labs as a Developer Advocate. Combining his decades of experience in writing software with a passion for sharing what he has learned, Guy goes out into developer communities and helps others build great software.

Episode Highlights :

List of topics

0:38 -Went to prison to teach programming and software development.
2:00 -People are going to get off prison surely one day, when they come out we don’t want them to go back in.
2:47 – There is a great demand for developers in the world.
3:53 – If you’re making 40000 Dollars a year from a job, out of the prison that is a really great job out of the prison.
3:51 – It was really cool going into prison.
4:44 – Prisoners while doing programming, they think they are not in prison for a while.
5:06 – My father spend time in prison and I got my other family members to spend time in prison.
5:46 – I never feel safe there, which I think is interesting.
7:52 – I am being running software for about 25 years.
9:00 – Which languages you are teaching?
9:27 – We teach Java, and I came and started teaching Java script
12:30 – Government decides to recycle all the PCs.
17:20 – I was in the fifth standard and I decided to be a programmer.
24:45 – I learn Pascal.
28:10 – In 1944 it was really hard to get a job as a developer.
32:46 – I will say Do have anything to stand out among the people.
37:42 – When I am hiring a person, I care about three things, 1. Can you do things, 2. Will you do the thing, 3. Will you play well than the other?
39:44 – Jack of all trades and master of noon is often times better than master of one.
53:15 – Teaching is the best way to learn.
57:12 – Getting started is the most important thing

GUEST Links:

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/guyroyse

Twitter: https://twitter.com/guyroyse

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/guyroyse

Website: http://guyroyse.com/

Redis: https://redis.io/

Redis commands: https://redis.io/commands

RediSearch: https://oss.redislabs.com/redisearch/

Redis Cloud: https://redislabs.com/try-free/

Redis University Videos: https://www.youtube.com/redisuniversity

Free courses: https://university.redislabs.comYouTube Channel: https://www.

Youtube.com/channel/UC4xmSi1ytopsssR1i3kKveg

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 91

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 13:00:00 -0400

Greg started his career in data science after not getting a proper job with his Ph.D. degree in physics. He joined a Data Science bootcamp and then got a job as a Data Scientist. Watch this interesting interview as he describes his experience.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/vbSbKGwCUcA

Greg’s Bio:

Greg Damico is a Lecturer in Data Science at the Flatiron School and has been working there since March 2019. He hails originally from Columbus, OH, but has been in Seattle since 2013. He has an extensive background in academia and has taught and studied various subjects in addition to data science at a number of schools both in the Midwest and on the West Coast. He turned to data science for good in 2016. He is passionate about data science because of its ever-growing role in our daily lives, and he is passionate about education because of the way it empowers people to change their lives.

Episode Highlights

Audio Transcription

Episode Announcement:

You’re listening to Mentoring Developers, Episode 91, Let’s go.

Intro:

Welcome to Mentoring Developers, the podcast for new and aspiring software developers, where we discuss your struggles, anxieties, and career choices. And now, here’s your host, Arsalan Ahmed.

Guest Biot:

In this episode of Mentoring Developers, I’ll be talking to Greg D’Amico. Greg is a lecturer in data science at the Flatiron School, and he’s been there for a long time. This interview was recorded in 2021. He’s originally from the Midwest in Ohio. He’s been settled out West in Seattle. So he has experience in both the Midwest and the West Coast.He’s taught everywhere.His passion is data science. And today we’ll be talking to him about data science, about.Flat Iron.School and other boot camps, and what it’s like to be in a boot camp as a mentor, as.A teacher. Also as a student. I think that this is a great little interview for people who are interested in boot camps, who are interested in data science, and who’s interested to see. what it’s like to be in a boot camp and learning data science.Especially from the point of view of a person that’s on the other side of the aisle.I Think you’re going to enjoy this. Let’s get ready and get started.

Arsalan Ahmed:

How are you doing, Greg?

Greg D’Amico:

I’m doing well, Arslan. Thanks for having me on the show.

Arsalan Ahmed:

How did you decide to become a data scientist?

Greg D’Amico:

It turned out to be a very significant letter for me. I was in philosophy graduate school. I did finish my PhD, but I wasn’t finding the work that I wanted after that was done. It’s very difficult in academia to get the high power job that a lot of people are looking for. I moved to Seattle and after I got to Seattle, I decided that I wanted to go back to school. I did have an old physics degree rusting on my shelf somewhere. I thought, Well, I’ve got some math skills. I think I could go do this applied mathematics program at the University of Washington. Shortly after I started that, an old friend of mine from philosophy grad school, Mike, said, Hey, have you studied any R? I started looking into it and I thought, Wow, this R language looks really cool. I don’t have a lot of programming background. I’ve done a little bit here and there. But I started looking into R. I took a course on R. I realized immediately its potential for data analysis and data science. That was my entry. I started reading a bunch of things about data science. I jumped into a boot camp for data science.Before long, I had finished a boot camp and I was able to land a job teaching at flight iron school in data science. That was my entry into the tech world. It’s never too late to start. It’s never too late to jump into tech. I think sometimes people are scared to make that transition. Obviously, I meet a lot of people teaching a boot camp in data science who are scared. They’re making these large career changes. They’ve been doing one thing and they’re thinking, Well, data science seems like something I could do. Maybe my background is quite different and I’m scared to do it, but I feel like I’ve got a chance. They really do. There’s a lot you can learn in a short time. There are lots of resources about R, lots of resources about Python. Python is actually the language of choice at Flat Iron, so I work mostly in Python these days. But it’s one step at a time. There’s always a lot to learn, but you don’t have to learn a lot to be able to make some cool things, to be able to start on some cool projects. Once you can do that, well, then you can get in touch with other people who are working on things.You can share ideas, you can share your own work, and then you’re right there in the community.

Arsalan Ahmed:

A question that a lot of our listeners would have right now is, is it really that useful, data science? Why should I learn it?How did you decide to become a data scientist?

Greg D’Amico:

I think data science has arisen largely because of lots of technological improvements to do with data. We are now incredibly good at storing data, at producing data, at having accurate data recordings. You can look online and find stats about exactly how much data is produced every day. I think it’s on the order of quintillions of bytes or something like that, just huge amounts of data. Lots of companies have their own data these days to worry about. Amazon, for example, part of the reason that Amazon is successful is they have lots and lots and lots of data about their customers, about the things that they’ve bought, about other things that they’ve bought, about Here’s a bunch of things that people just like you have bought. Maybe you’re interested in that, too. If you have access to a bunch of data about your customers and you can access it quickly, then that proves its business value pretty quickly. I think of data science as having an immediate business angel, but there’s also this technological aspect to it. It’s just as all of these technologies have gotten better, it’s natural that we have a lot of data. We have to have some understanding of how we can store that data, how we can access it, how we can share it, all that stuff.Data science itself as a discipline, certainly, it helps to have some understanding of things like databases and where data lives and how to access it and so on. But it’s also a bit of coding, it’s a bit of mathematics, it’s a bit of statistics. When we do our boot camps, we try to cover all those bases, at least a little bit.

Arsalan Ahmed:

What does it take to be a data scientist? Can anyone be a data scientist? Do you need some certain skills, certain aptitudes? What do you think?

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

What I want to know about Data science is that data science is a separate discipline in its own right. And you’re talking about using data to get some results, get some meaningful results out of the data. So if, for instance, you’re a university and you have data about your students, the students themselves, the courses that they register for, how frequently they do it, and which semester, which course is more popular. If you wanted to say, I want to predict next fall, what are the courses that might actually exceed capacity, where I may need to have an extra teacher to teach this course because there’s so much demand, but I need to know ahead of time so I could schedule it. That’s a thing. So your data goes into some data warehouse where it’s stored in some structure, maybe tables that are probably not normalized would mean I would expect them to be lots and lots of columns and everything in there so you don’t have to do lots of joins because that’s faster to read. And then you would be able to actually ask your system some intelligent questions and it answers it. That’s one aspect that I can think of. The other one is, Hey, Mr.Data Scientist, I have these 100 terabytes of data. Go give me some insights. I don’t know what I’m looking for.Which way is it falling here, this data science?

Greg D’Amico:

I think it’s both things I think very often you know I think about data science very often as trying to solve problems with data you know and those problems can take lots of forms often they’re you know sometimes they’re just straightforwardly Financial things like how can our business make more money you know um and sometimes they’re really more investigative things like you know I’ve got a bunch of customers and I want to do some sort of customer segmentation because I want to you know have a sort of targeted marketing campaign I want you know some ads to go to some people who are likely to pay attention to those ads from other ads to go to other people who are likelier to pay attention to that sort of advertising you know so there are lots of different problems but very often what’s happening is the data scientists will build some sort of model some sort of predictor and you’re right very often the data that you start with has some sort of tabular form right maybe I’ve got a bunch of columns of data and a bunch of rows rows will represent one record one observation you know One customer maybe or one house up for sale Maybe and you know each of the columns will be some feature about each of those records you know so if I’ve got a bunch of houses for sale maybe I’ve got a column that represents number of bedrooms or a feature of my rows is you know students at a college then maybe one of my columns is you know grades for a particular quarter or something like that so the general idea is I’ve got all phase columns and one of my columns is sort of privileged one of my columns is the thing that I’m trying to predict the thing that I’m trying to model right and I’m going to use all my other columns all the information that I have there to try to make accurate predictions about what’s in the the column of Interest if I’ve got thousands of rows or millions of rows then it’s very difficult for a human being to sort of you know pick up on the patterns that might be there but a computer is really fast right if I just show a computer well here are the values that I get for these rows in these particular columns and here are the values that I get for the column of Interest and then I say okay now here are some rows that you haven’t seen before and they have these values in these columns what do you think it’s likely to have in the column of interest you know and the computer sort of builds a model and then is able to use that model to make predictions on the Unseen data that that is new and then you can sort of evaluate that model is it good is it accurate and so on that sort of thing is is very often what’s at the heart of a lot of data science problems okay

Arsalan Ahmed:

So if I have to build that model so some piece of software has to do that so are you as a data scientist are you writing custom code just start from scratch and just start building a model or do you use a tool and maybe script.

Greg D’Amico:

It a little bit there are lots of tools I think you know I think really python is as is probably the number one language right now for data science and much of the reason for that has to do with the fact that there are lots of well first of all it’s open source so it’s open source project lots of people contributing and there are lots of tools lots of libraries that you can just import into your own workspace that already do lots of really cool data science things right so if I want to build a you know a random forest model well there are random Forest tools that I can just import right into my own workspace introduce them to my own particular data and they’ll build predictions for me you know straight out of the box and I don’t have to sort of create the model from scratch and so because of all these different libraries that are available on python really powerful flexible tool and you can get models up and running with really just a few lines of code because of all the work that’s already been done.

Arsalan Ahmed:

That’s great yeah python is is a great language for beginners but also for for people who are doing data science but I wonder why python because I don’t know what python is doing that is so different than say Ruby or Java there must be something maybe there’s there’s some built-in libraries that do certain things I’m assuming some some math functions that others don’t.

Greg D’Amico:

Yeah I think that’s right um so for example there are certain libraries of python that we introduced to our students in the first week because they will use them all the time um so for example there’s a package called numpy numerical python right and it’s basically a tool for scientific computer it’s a tool for doing you know sophisticated mathematics but it’s really fast right you can do sort of these vectorized operations you can add arrays together lightning quick you can multiply them you can do if you want to you can do scientific notation if you want to you can do complex numbers you can do trigonometry you can do all sorts of stuff another tool is pandas and pandas is the name I think comes from something like panel data and it used to be this sort of object type kind of called a panel it’s not really used much anymore but anyway really powerful tool for manipulating tables of data the sort of technical term in pandas is a data Frame data frame is just a basically just a big table of data and lots of really powerful tools for manipulating them quickly adding columns is you know just a line multiplying a column by a number is just a line of code adding columns together whatever you want to do filtering your data you know I’m only interested in you know rows that have this value and so on just really fast through adorable.

Arsalan Ahmed:

Really good yeah no I can imagine there is a reason why everybody is gravitating towards python either you can do really good websites MVC websites in Python you could start off as your first programming language and it’s easy enough but it has these Advanced features like this numerical Library you’re referring to yeah that’s good and the good news is it’s all free if you want to get started it’s free to get started and the libraries are probably also free this is this is the beauty of this open source ecosystem okay that’s all good but what kind of jobs can I do because my because if I’m thinking if someone is listening right now and they’re thinking okay that sounds interesting but complicated and I don’t want to commit to something where I may not see the return so what’s the return here what kind of jobs are available in what kind of experience they need to have.

Greg D’Amico:

Yeah it’s a good question I so um you know because data science is still relatively young I think there are lots of job titles that might be relevant um so most obviously things like data analysts data scientists but maybe also business analysts maybe also data engineer maybe also you know quantitative researcher or something like that statistician applied statistician machine learning engineer right so there are lots of different titles that are available I think any boot camp that’s where the salt should at least prepare students for a data analyst role and if you’re tackling a data analyst role probably you’re looking at a healthy amount of data visualization a healthy amount of interacting with databases using SQL maybe some maybe some non-sql databases as well too if you have some unstructured data uh but you know all that stuff I think is really Within Reach it’s a matter of learning the fundamentals of some of these tools which you know I think you can do in 15 weeks you know If you’re sort of dedicated to the study of these things you know learning the fundamentals can go a long way and you can do it pretty fast

Arsalan Ahmed:

Episode 90

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 13:00:00 -0400

“Kim started her software engineering career during the pandemic from scratch. She lost her job and started learning code from a bootcamp. In 4 months she got a job as a software engineer. Watch as she describes her experience.

Kim Luu:

BIO:

My whole life’s purpose is to be helpful to other people. Originally, that desire led me to pursue a career in hospitality, where I could directly impact the one-to-one consumer experience through her attention to detail, clear communication, and forward thinking. After moving to the US, I regained touch with my innate curiosity. Through the perspectives of new friends I’ve made in the US, I realize that I had long ago shut off a valuable part of my mind – one that was more about seeking and exploring. But this led me to a career crossroads.

I started looking into other options, harkening back to her childhood self, when her desire for answers sent her on interesting rabbit trails that led to even more questions. I was always looking for things and asking questions and making things that were crafty. I started thinking, what can bring me that sort of excitement again?

A friend suggested me try coding but I brushed off the idea at first because I’d never worked with computers in any serious way.

Then one day, I decided to try it on a whim, taught myself some Javascript and enrolled to Hack Reactor’s immersive program. I realized that with software engineering, I can make an even bigger impact because the world is changing so fast, only software can keep up.

After the bootcamp, I landed her current job as a Software Engineer at Intellivision Entertainment, a company whose mission is to unite people through affordable, family-friendly entertainment. work on the infrastructure cloud team, doing backend work to build out services for consumers. I have a lot of autonomy on the job, but simultaneously feels like part of a passionate, supportive team with mentors and coworkers all working together toward common goals.

Episode Transcription:

Intro: This is the mentoring developer’s podcast. Episode 90. Welcome to mentoring developers. The podcast for new and aspiring software developers where we discuss your struggles anxieties and career choices. And now here’s your host Arsalan, Ahmed. In this episode of mentoring developers,

Guest Bio: I’ll be talking to Kim. Lou, I think you’re going to love listening to, and hearing her story because Kim embodies everything. We talked about everything we’re about on this platform mentoring developers. So, if you’re a new developer, you want to be a developer, or you are a girl, or if you’re an immigrant, or, if you’re somebody who doesn’t have any background in Tech and you don’t know, a lot of people That can guide you in sort of help, you should listen to this episode. Kim came from the hospitality industry and she was also not born in the US. But after she moved to America she decided that she needed to have a fresh start. She loved helping people. So She got into a code, bootcamp coding boot camp. Folks, he went in there for, I guess, a few months, maybe three or four months but within four months of joining in the middle of this covid pandemic she found a job. She found a job, it’s a struggle look obviously. All first jobs are going to be a struggle, but she made it and she learned enough to get her foot in the door, which is Really the most important thing until it’s the neck. The next most important thing is to get your second job and your third job. And finally, establishing yourself and getting the first job is the hardest part. She did it. And now she is a software engineer, in television entertainment, been the company’s amazing. It’s a startup company that is doing some amazing things. We’re gonna pick this conversation from the time that she just started her new job. I think it was a month into it. This is in 2020. And now it’s 2021. So she has been doing this for a while and I checked up on her and she’s still doing great. So this is going to be a great episode for you if you’re not sure if you got it, if you can make it then.

New updates about the style of the Podcast:

Yeah. Listen to this episode. Oh, and if you have been a long-time listener of mentoring developers, your lord is the format is a little bit different. So is going to be some White’s over questions and we’re gonna cut right to her answers, keep it short and simple or we’re trying this new thing out and hope you like it. All right, we’re also on YouTube now and we’re on Spotify, we’re on iTunes, and Google podcast, and apple podcast, and everywhere you get Podcast. So check us out on all these platforms. All right, let’s go. Let’s get started.

Kim Luu: Hi, I’m good. Thank you for having me.

Arsalan Ahmed: Alright, let me ask you a few questions. So tell us the story of how you got your first job during the covid pandemic.

Kim Luu: So the beginning of the bent pandemic, I lost my job because like all the hospitality and just to show employer-employee I was thinking about becoming a software engineer for a long time, but I didn’t have that encouragement to switch. Mike I just still feel like I will waste it on my own, for my effort, to what I already have pursued at the time. But my dependent happen and I lost my job. And I was thinking, I have to do my time to do something, and I was thinking, should I taught myself how to cope? And I was thinking, how can I do that? I could use Like, on my free platform, YouTube tutorials, or whatever to talk myself to take myself, but I feel like I’m looking better in a class environment. So we’re thinking, do I want to do a four-year degree in some University? And then I went to YouTube and I try to talk to myself. I try to teach myself a little bit and I found out that there’s something called bootcamp coding that you can learn how to code in three months and I found out there are a few of them that really good.So, I taught myself a little bit of squid to pass the interview into the boot camp. And then from there, I went into the program and thinnest it. And after two months after the boot camp, I got my first job.

Arsalan Ahmed: Wow, that’s an incredible story. Was it like going to a demanding coding boot? Well, we work really hard in the boot camp,

Kim Luu: We work sick days a week, 11 hours a day and we learn all those things to amend from compelling nothing. I didn’t even know what a parameter is, what a function is, or what a conditional statement is. I have nothing didn’t know anything and after three months, I can create a full stack application and that is just amazing to me during The Bootcamp, The Pack reactor really have a really good program but they don’t Hold Your Hand a lot. Do you have to learn a lot yourself and what they call it? They teach you to be a tournament and that is the most beneficial of a hack reactor to me. Because after that, I will have to learn things myself. But that is also the hardest thing is that from no background from know nothing about soft engineering. I have to cut a dick into the dig it out myself and learn myself based on whatever I was provided in the boot camp.

Arsalan Ahmed: Which Technologies were you taught in your boot camp?

Kim Luu: So, for the back end, And database, we learn SQL database or NoSQL database SQL database. We learn my SQL or post cacique or NoSQL in MongoDB. Mostly MongoDB for NoSQL from the server. We mostly Express server and in the front and we use React and I really like reaction in because it’s just really easy to work with and really They are two weeks in the cold for now. But in my job right now, I’m worth more in the back end, which creates servers and databases. Aw, F and that stuff. And I really miss working with React and the front end and seeing what the result came out. How the website looks like,

Arsalan Ahmed: How did you approach looking for your first job out of bootcamp?

Kim Luu: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, back to what you talk about, But the third job I plan on to be picky on my first job at all. I just want a job. Even if they don’t pay me, I was willing to work with for start-up which is share, that they gave me or whatever they gave me, but for the new boot camp grad or new people. Into entering into this software engineer Bill don’t be afraid and don’t be picky with your first job because if you learn something, if you want to learn something and learn from the guy and we can do whatever you want to work on their project I actually my first job is great and I love every bit of it. My company is in Astoria but I’m happy to start at work because I can learn. I can work on different parts of the project that taught those teeth me a lot and work with a lot of good, senior software engineers that you were really good at mentoring and great to work with at this company.

Arsalan Ahmed: What is the cost of going to a really good coding bootcamp like hack react?

Kim Luu: Yeah. hack reactor cough. I think about eighteen thousand dollars but do you can do they have a Financial option or can you do a share? They call an income share program where you only pay back the tuition after you get a job and they have to be a minimum payment of sixty thousand dollars a year. So, you have to know to Do a little bit of JavaScript before and you have to do the interview to play a technical interview with any company later to get a job. So, to get into a program, you have to do the technical interview and if they accept you, you can go between the Financial options that they provide

Arsalan Ahmed: Where the classes are virtual during the pandemic, or In person?

Kim Luu: Yes, it’s all both Shelley to lose zoom and it’s actually better like that because if I was happy if I Have to admit to the boot camp campers then it will be like two hours of the day that I have to Camille on this on the arrow, but I can do that to our to get some rest. Or to thank God or to keep coding because I need a lot of time to learn that’s our thing because it’s only three months and we work from. So the class starts from 9:00 to 8:00 p.m. but we actually walked past that APM to whatever time that we can fix that bug. That we can pass that problem. So that wrap is really intense for three months but it will be worth it. It’s it, if you really want it, I really recommend going to boot camp to buy a hack, reactor. Because for me, I not only learned technical skills. I learned a lot of talk to you in there too like pair programming and after that, they have a really good job placement program for you also talk to You about like making material, like, resume cover letters. Give you a few programs, and a few projects that you can put on your resume as on your LinkedIn. But if you like to work in my room, I mean that you’ll be yourself exploring things and learning. when the new technology of all whatever framework that you like is not a problem either and just in this symmetry really is exploring things in addition to classes at Simon’s. Do boot camps, and offer guidance and mentoring. And if they do, what does it look like? Yes. So they have. Yeah. So they have the resident. The mental is there to help you if you get stuck, we usually do pair programming during the day.So like it’s not only me on this project but I work with somebody and we would go out brainstorming, options throughout our ideas. And what if we do this, what I would do that? And if we get stuck for too long, then we can submit a ticket for somebody to jump in to help and it’s always good to try to learn it yourself. First, try to think about it really carefully. Try to use whatever source at that, you can like the internet YouTube or whatever you can use for you to submit a ticket to somebody, coming to help you. And that is also, what would look like when you get a real job, you will have to figure out yourself first before you come in and ask some senior engineer to help you out.

Arsalan Ahmed: One of the things that I think is on the minds of a lot of listeners is, how hard is it to be accepted. Or is it hard at all to be accepted as a software engineer without many years of experience and education? Just going through a boot camp.

Kim Luu: Well, I don’t, I really don’t. They asked me a lot of questions about, why I wanted to be a software engineer. Why I switched my career and do I like it or whatever like that? And it’s not surprising to me because I am in my resume and my LinkedIn shows that I don’t have any. Any background in computer science. And I just started, like, six months ago, four months ago, actually, and then but it is not a problem for them, actually, because The matter that the thing that matters most is that I have the ability to learn, and I have the attitude of the right attitude to work with this company and to be a part of a team. So they didn’t really expect much. I don’t think they expect much of my technical skills. But they did think that I could be a good asset to the team wagon. I can learn and evolve in my career later.

Arsalan Ahmed: How did you prepare for your first interviews? Get your first job.

Kim Luu: Yeah, this is interesting because of the jaw payment program from hack reactor. I learn a lot of things I did a lot of lead Coast problems and I learned all those things like they all do interview process like first, they would do in a phone interview and then the phone and then like a small coding problem and then they will do a bigger calling problem and then they will want. You to talk about like take-home problem or talk about your project, whatever like that. But because this company is a start-up, they didn’t really follow that pattern at all. The first interview lay on the first into the UI into it, with engineers in the and I ever watches the invitation which is 15. In minutes. So I thought it was just a phone screen when they get to know each other, you know but it wasn’t, they asked multiple question technical questions and all those things, and turn out. I did pretty good and I got to the second interview. This time was with Fi engineers. And this time they want me to talk about one of the Projects on my resume so I talking about it and show them my code. I was thinking before I got into the interview this time they definitely gonna make me do some kind of legal program problem, but they didn’t. And it turns out that the project that I’m working on a really close to what the job requirement was. So They make a decision to move me forward to the next interview, which is with the feel,And after the interview with the CEO about that job,

Arsalan Ahmed: Did you find it overwhelming? In your first job when you started right out of a coding bootcamp opposed to going to college and Rigorous training putting bootcamp is sort of a shortcut but it has some advantages and disadvantages. it was it overwhelming a job?

Kim Luu: It was really overwhelming. Well, this is during the pandemic. So we own work at home, work from home and it’s just a little bit different onboarding process because I didn’t go to work. And so we met up on zoom on a zoom call and my supervisor SI me to attack. I’m Gera the day before that, and I will looking at it and I was like, Oh my God. What is it? What? I freaked out and then they gave me a tour of the code base and I just said don’t I didn’t think I can do this. I was like, should I quit right now to save my face? And it’s a, it’s a really it’s a that my first size here is a server and my supervisor’s car showed me that he already will another server that was can look into it. And kind of learn and could copy something and then just need to modify some stuff. And at first, it just even though I know that they were already something that I can start from. But first I should I have to like to read through that code Bay and understand everything that only cost me like. That one really took me like two days or three days to do that and now I’m done I have to put on that all my configuration for the court to what? Probably for the test? What properties? And that takes a little bit more and but after one weekI starts to take it in and start to get used to the code base and everything. And after a week and a half, I finished that project, that Tascam jela, and that feel, who that feels great.

Arsalan Ahmed: It is hard when you’re starting, especially, especially when you’re a new developer. You can through a coding bootcamp, but didn’t get easy after the first week or so as a new developer in your first job.

Kim Luu: No, actually. Well the second thing that I got it sighs, I was a little trickier because I don’t have any like format to follow anymore. I have to kind of buy it myself and still I feel like learning right now and it’s great to have a good team that always be willing to answer your question. And as a new software engineer, I feel like if you’re afraid, Sometimes, but, but I have to tell myself every day that is good to ask questions and don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t ask questions then there’s no way that you can learn. And I’m so, yeah, I’m so grateful to work with a team where my senior engineer always be very helpful and always be willing to answer my questions.

Arsalan Ahmed: All right. So how long have you been working at your first job?

Kim Luu: It’s actually only a month. Yeah, one month.

Arsalan Ahmed: Is there anything at all? That you’re really passionate about

Kim Luu: my passion right now. I don’t really do anything to say coding. I’m still new. So I try to spend a lot of our and engaged, to get things done because I know that would be evaluated based on how fast I can do things, but I’m still learning. So, I try to spend a lot of hours a day, to figure out what I’m doing now and the fact that I’m going to stick with my career for the rest of my life. Probably. Yeah. So I would really do encoding right now. That’s my one thing right now.

Arsalan Ahmed: All right, Kim. So if people want to get in touch with you, how can they do that?

Kim Luu: Oh, they can go to my LinkedIn can Kima h, l uu and yeah, if you need any advice, if you need, if you have any question, begin kid needs someone to talk to if you and the early stage of learning up switching careers. Yeah, hit me up and I’ll answer your question.

Arsalan Ahmed:...

Episode 89 – Burton on design systems and KickStand-UI

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0400

We discuss why UI design systems are important and how can they help you. Also, Burton gives us a demo of Kickstand UI – a design system he created. Watch the video to see how it can consistently help you make usable and accessible websites.

YouTube Demo: https://youtu.be/n-tuU-PlTvE

Burton’s Bio:

Burton Smith is a senior software engineer at Bunzl North America where he works with internal business stakeholders and external customers to build digital solutions.

He is the creator of the Clarion style framework for design systems (projectclarion.com) as well as Kickstand UI which is a design system based on web components that can be used everywhere (kickstand-ui.com).

In his free time, he loves spending time with his wife and three daughters, practicing martial arts, jamming on his ukulele, and learning new things (usually about software engineering).

Important Links

Burton Smith’s Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stuffbreaker

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burton-smith-48132a34/

E-Mailing: burton@breakstuff.io

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xmSi1ytopsssR1i3kKveg

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 88 – Burton Smith: How To Breakthrough In Tech

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0400

How do you sneak into a career in software development? Surely, you need a Computer Science degree and certifications to land a great job? Not quite – according to Burton Smith.

Burton stumbled into software development but was it a mere coincidence? Listen in as we discuss how he got his start and how new and aspiring developers can handle the myriad curve balls thrown at them.

So what has all that got to do with Albert Einstein? The answer to that riddle is found in Episode 88!

Burton Smith’s Bio:

Burton Smith is a senior software engineer at Bunzl North America where he works with internal business stakeholders and external customers to build digital solutions.

He is the creator of the Clarion style framework for design systems (projectclarion.com) as well as Kickstand UI which is a design system based on web components that can be used everywhere (kickstand-ui.com).

In his free time, he loves spending time with his wife and three daughters, practicing martial arts, jamming on his ukulele, and learning new things (usually about software engineering).

List of topics

We discuss:

What got Burton into the tech industry?

A quote that inspired him to change his perspective.

What drew him towards technology?

How to apply Einstein’s philosophy in your daily life.

What does it take to get better at anything?

Why it is important to surround yourself with things related to the tech industry

Imposter syndrome is still prevalent in the tech/software industry.

How imposter syndrome affects newcomers

Why GitHub is a great platform for newbies

Why work-life balance is important and how you should find it.

How you should communicate with your co-workers.

About the upcoming tutorial video.

Burton Smith’s Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stuffbreaker

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burton-smith-48132a34/

E-Mailing: burton@breakstuff.io

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 87 – Rocky Lhotka: How to be successful in tech

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 25 May 2021 08:00:00 -0400

Discover how Rocky Lhotka got his start as a software developer without a computer and went on to become a tech CTO. In this amazing story of resilience, Rocky shows us the path for the rest of us to follow. What a remarkable story!

Rocky’s Bio:

Rockford Lhotka is CTO at Cognizant Softvision and is the creator of the open-source CSLA .NET development framework. He is the author of numerous books and regularly speaks at major conferences around the world. Rockford is a member of the Microsoft Regional Director and MVP programs. Magenic (https://magenic.com) helps you deliver your digital products to market faster. For more information go to http://lhotka.net.

Episode Highlights and Show Notes:

List of topics

Rocky’s origin story – what got him into the software industry?

What drives Rocky?

What problems do new software developers face?

Rocky’s college experience

What you need to keep in mind while in college.

Internship tips

How to build a killer resume while in college

What Rocky looks for when hiring new developers

What skills you need as a software consultant

Type of companies to avoid when looking for a new job

Why finding a good mentor and role model is important

New technology vs Old Technology

Rocky offers additional pointers to new and aspiring developers

Rocky’s Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RockyLhotka

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rockylhotka

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rockfordlhotka

Website: https://lhotka.net/

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 86 – Career Advice From A Bootcamp Instructor!

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 18 May 2021 08:00:00 -0400

Matt Eland, a Bootcamp instructor, gives new and aspiring software developers great career advice and shares his struggles and triumphs in his fascinating journey towards professional and personal fulfillment.

List of topics

Intro

We discuss why we love computers and how it’s a creative escape

How Code schools give you targeted information and don’t leave you in messy student debt

The opportunity inherent in the software industry

What challenges new coders are facing and why imposter syndrome is common in the software industry

What are employers looking for and how to sell yourself

How to convince someone to hire you

How to get started in software development

How software is eating everything

Why a coding bootcamp may be better than a 4-year college degree

What college won’t teach you

Matt’s Bio:

Matt Eland is committed to helping people achieve greater things through programming. After over three decades of coding Matt put away his mechanical keyboard and made teaching his primary job as he looks to help others grow through his role as an Instructor at Tech Elevator. Matt specializes in .NET and JavaScript technologies and has been working extensively with .NET since beta 2 back in 2001 and with JavaScript and TypeScript “since they were fun”. Matt currently helps lead the Central Ohio .NET Developer Group (CONDG) and is an active speaker in the community. Matt’s current side project, Side.dev, can be described as a free web-based social project management application for developers. Side.dev is intended as a way of encouraging new developers to gain momentum by sharing progress on their side projects, finding an encouraging community, and learn new technologies which may be beneficial to them. Side.dev is in active development and will hit closed alpha on December 18th. You can get in touch with Matt via Twitter at @IntegerMan, LinkedIn, or E-Mailing admin@Side.dev

Matt’s Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/integerman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/MattEland

E-Mailing: admin@Side.dev

YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/matteland

Thanks for Listening!

Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts.

If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on the website.

You can subscribe to Mentoring Developers via iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

Episode 85 – Oscar wins the battle!

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 09:30:00 -0400
Oscar’s Bio: Oscar is a Mexican-born Chicago-raised Software Engineer with experience in supply chain management. He has an obsession with fountain pens and making sure everyone feels safe. Oscar has a passion for helping folks of underrepresented communities break into tech and support them throughout their career. He currently fulfills this passion by helping organize […]

Episode 84 – Sara is on a ROLL! | Mentoring Developers | #GirlsWhoCode | #React.js #HowToSucceed

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:30:00 -0400
In this exciting episode of Mentoring Developers, I talk to my friend, Sara. Her story and career progression is inspirational especially for women and people who come into technology from other professions. Get ready for this amazing no-holds-barred discussion about women in technology. Share your thoughts in comments! Sara’s Bio: Sara Inés Calderón is a […]

Episode 83 – Rob does Android and you can too!

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 08:30:01 -0400
Rob is thriving as a freelancer and he will show you the how and why of freelancing in software and why that might be a good choice for you if you are a new or aspiring software engineer. We’ll learn the crazy story about him giving up the chance to be part of a startup […]

Episode 82 – How do you even break into a software career | Mentoring Developers | Newbie Developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 10:00:09 -0400
How hard is it to switch careers and be accepted as a legitimate software engineer? Will you be considered an imposter? Tune in to this episode to find out! We discuss with Kevin Schwartz his career-switching journey into software and the ways he may have stumbled and fumbled and finally found his way. For show […]

Episode 80 – Greg Thomas shows you how to move up the tech ladder

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 09:00:15 -0400
Leave a comment with your career level to get the chance to win a copy of Code Your Way Up for free. Watch this episode on YouTube here. Greg’s Bio: Greg Thomas has been writing code, leading projects, breaking builds or developing and launching products – all while amassing an impressive wealth of experience as a […]

Episode 79 – Matt Darby (reloaded)

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 09:00:32 -0400
In this episode, Arsalan talks to Matt Darby from Columbus Ruby Brigade and Rackspace about his journey into software development and how he feels about the idea of structured mentorship for new and aspiring developers. Matt’s Bio: Matt has developed on the web for 17 years. He can configure pools of servers, architect and develop […]

Episode 78 – Panel Discussion – Which languages and frameworks should you choose in 2021 as a new developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 09:00:34 -0400
Have you been wondering what technologies you should invest your time in as we approach 2021 in the middle of a global deadly pandemic? Listen to this panel discussion to get our thoughts on that and share your thoughts with us in comments and email! Find the episode on YouTube here. Warner’s Bio Warner Moore […]

Epidode 81 – CSS vs. SASS vs. LESS : Kevin Mack shows us how to navigate between these and beyond!

Arsalan Ahmed — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 15:40:53 -0400
[/shadowbox] Kevin and Arsalan discuss the different options available to software developers to style their web pages. CSS is great for browsers to interpret and machines are great at using it but is there an easier, more intuitive way of describing the look and feel for a user interface? Certainly! There are many preprocessing tools […]

Episode 77 – Covid 19 and life in a startup

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:00:21 -0400
Thanks for Listening! Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts. If you found this episode useful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family. You can also listen directly and give your feedback on […]

Episode 76 – Noah wears many hats – How does he do it?

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 06:00:01 -0400
How do you become a successful entrepreneur in a few a short years? How do you become the CTO of a startup company? How do you find success against all odds. Let’s talk to Noah Labhart who is showing us the way. Watch this episode on YouTube. Show Notes and Important Links Noah’s Blog Code […]

Episode 75 – How to identify and dismantle discrimination in the workplace

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 05:00:50 -0400
Let’s face it, people. Discrimination at an average workplace is an actual thing that happens – a lot! It comes in subtle flavors and shows up in unusual places. There is a way to nip this in the bud if we know where to look. Listen to Marie Watts as she opens up about her […]

Episode 74 – Sparkbox Apprenticeship Panel

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 05:50:43 -0400
It’s rare for new software developers to enroll in a good apprenticeship program that teaches them the ropes in a relatively stress-free environment. Listen in as Arsalan talks to Ryan Cromwell and the ApprenticesTM about the good and the bad of software development apprenticeships. Thanks for Listening! Do you have some feedback or some advice […]

Episode 73 – These kid coders are cool!

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 05:50:13 -0400
Timothy’s Bio: Timothy Amadi is 10 years old and loves coding. He has built his own apps from the ground up including an eCommerce application, a blog application and even his very own version of Twitter. He also has an app that he is introducing to schools to help kids learn how to spell in […]

Episode 72 – New Beginnings!

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 05:00:35 -0400
A New Beginning! Hi There! So it’s been a while since I last wrote to you! My apologies. I had been traveling and also working on various projects. To be honest, the time-off really helped me focus so I hope everything is going great for you and you are looking forward to the rest of […]

Episode 71 – Ross The Music Teacher Is Now A Coder?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 05:00:06 -0400
Ross’ Bio: Ross Trottier attended CU Boulder as a Classical Guitar Performance Major under the virtuoso Jonathan Leathewood, where he received the highest marks for theoretical studies. He currently resides in Colorado Springs, where he teaches and performs full time. Additionally, when he isn’t teaching and working with his music students, Ross is coding a game-based music […]

Episode 70 – How to start when you are clueless about technologies?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 05:00:15 -0400
Richard’s Bio: Richard is the co-founder and CEO of Kronick Enterprises, a passive income website development company. 70% of all the websites the company has produced currently receive thousands of daily visitors via organic search results. He has experience with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress. In August of 2018, Richard decided to become a software engineer […]

Episode 69 – Mauro Chojrin from Standup Comedy to Coding Success

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 05:00:31 -0400
Mauro’s Bio: Mauro is a PHP trainer and consultant from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He’s been teaching programming since 1997. He has learned several different languages and technologies along the way and has been working as a professional web developer since 2003. Mauro has worked for different-sized companies, acting as an architect, a technical leader, and a […]

Episode 68 – Richard Kronick on Paving the Path to a Coding Career

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 05:01:09 -0400
Richard’s Bio: Richard is the co-founder and CEO of Kronick Enterprises, a passive income website development company. 70% of all the websites the company has produced currently receive thousands of daily visitors via organic search results. He has experience with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress. In August of 2018, Richard decided to become a software […]

Episode 67 – Jeremy Clark on Creating Your Own Success

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 05:00:17 -0400
Jeremy’s Bio: Jeremy Clark makes developers better. By drawing on over 15 years of experience in application development, he helps developers take a step up in their skillset with a focus on making complex topics approachable regardless of skill level. He is a Microsoft MVP for .NET, and he has authored seven courses for Pluralsight, […]

Episode 66 – Damian Brady on the Rise to Cloud Developer Advocacy

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:00:29 -0400
Damian’s Bio: Damian is a Cloud Developer Advocate specializing in DevOps. After spending a year in Toronto, Canada, he returned to Australia – the land of the dangerous creatures and beautiful beaches – in 2018. Formerly a dev at Octopus Deploy and a Microsoft MVP, he has a background in software development and consulting in a broad […]

Episode 65 – Regular expression mastery with Reuven Lerner

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 06:00:29 -0400
Regular expressions – those mysterious creatures we love to hate – now cower in a corner as you stand victorious! Here is your tale of regular expression mastery. Listen in! Reuven’s Bio: Reuven teaches Python and data science to companies around the world. He has written two eBooks, “Practice Makes Python” and “Practice Makes Regexp,” […]

Episode 64 – How Holly helps

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 05:40:28 -0400
Holly has learned a great deal about mentorship as both mentee and mentor during her time in the tech field. In episode 64, she shares that knowledge with you and Mentoring Developers Co-host, Sara Ines Calderon. Be sure to listen in for all the juicy details. Holly’s Bio: Holly has over a decade’s experience in […]

Episode 63- David Gatti on Development Setups and Environments

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 05:50:52 -0400
David Gatti and Arsalan Ahmed are back with a discussion you won’t want to miss! David and Arsalan share their deepest secrets on which products work best and why they like them and use them over some of the others. Be sure to listen in to episode 63 and hear what they have to say. […]

Episode 62 – Kelly Karsnia and the power of determination

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 06:00:05 -0400
Kelly began her career as a customer service representative. She spent time in a call center, seated behind one of a gazillion cubicles answering call after call in technical customer service for a travel and transportation company. While many people in this line of work are happy moving up the corporate ladder to become a […]

Episode 61: Fernando Hönig on AWS and Cloud Computing for Spanish Speakers

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 05:45:50 -0400
Meet our next guest, Fernando Hönig. Fernando is originally from Argentina and fully understands the challenges that Spanish-speakers around the world face in the IT industry when trying to learn new information and ultimately get ahead. He has found a way to give back to the Spanish community through his AWS program and social media channels. […]

Episode 60: Allan Kelly on Agile Development and what’s wrong with it

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 30 May 2017 05:00:01 -0400
Meet our next guest, Allan Kelly. Allan began his career as a software developer but quickly moved into consulting. He has authored several books on software development and shares his love of tech and how to be more efficient in software development with others in the industry. Listen in to episode 60 and hear his […]

Episode 59 – How software developers can make the Web secure

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 09 May 2017 06:30:30 -0400
Special guest, David Gatti has returned to Mentoring Developers. This time, he discusses the importance of internet security and what he has to say may surprise you. Don’t miss episode 59! Arsalan and David talk about usernames, passwords, and the importance of proper authentication. Say hello to David on Twitter! David Gatti’s Bio: David Gatti […]

Episode 58 – Carlos is as Carlos does

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 07:00:07 -0400
From the TI 84 calculator to music and back to tech, Carlos has done it all. Although music still tugs at his heartstrings, the overwhelming desire to code has been seeded there for years as well. But, Carlos never before considered tech as a potential for a career, until recently when he took a chance […]

Episode 57: How to Sell Yourself and Find Work

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 04:00:30 -0400
Returning to talk more about selling yourself and finding work in software development is David Gatti. David comes from a varied and global background in tech and more. Now, he’s here to confirm what’s true and what’s false about what you really need to do to get into tech. If you’re ready to hear more […]

Episode 56 – Working remotely overseas and loving it – with David Gatti

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 05:00:37 -0400
Our guest in this episode is a jet-setting remote developer David Gatti. David appeared on the show as part of a panel back in episode 31. Now he’s back and he has something special to share. David works as a remote software developer from outside the US and he is here in episode 56 to tell us […]

Episode 55 – How Leslie Chose The Right Code School

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 04:05:43 -0400
Meet Leslie Pajuelo! She comes from a background that combines computer science with geology. But Leslie wasn’t happy with her job. She wanted something more, something exciting, and something creative. She wanted to create software and realized that the fastest way to get there was through a code school or a coding boot camp. Nothing […]

Episode 54 – Creating Software Development from Chemistry

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 04:00:23 -0400
Meet Ken Luk. Ken graduated with a degree in biology and worked as an industrial chemist full time. But like many of us, his former job lacked the excitement and creativity that he so desired. In one fell swoop, Ken left his job and traveled halfway across the country to attend a coding bootcamp, where […]

Episode 53 – Poverty vs. Dedication – The Man With A Mission

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 05:00:07 -0400
Meet our next guest, Andre Witt. Andre grew up in an area where the school did the best they could, but the hope upon finishing high school was to simply be able to gain a two-year college education and find a trade. That was not enough for Andre. He aspired to so much more. And […]

Episode 52 – Code School Vs. 4-Year College

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 05:00:20 -0400
The decision to learn to code is a big one and often a life-changing one. While you could opt to get a formal education at a local college or university, obtaining your degree in computer science is likely going to take you two to four years. Do you really want to wait that long? Another […]

Episode 51 – How to go from software boot camp student to instructor in no time

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 03:58:09 -0400
Meet our next guest, Adriana Castaneda. Adriana was initially taking a different career path. She was a biology major who had her sights on going into medical research, but something happened that changed her course. Her sister was a DeVry University student and Adriana accompanied her to some tech meetups. It didn’t take long before curiosity […]

Episode 50 – From Educator to Developer to Entrepreneur

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 04:57:58 -0400
Listen in to episode 50 as Arsalan and Quincy discuss how Free Code Camp came to be and how you can benefit from this wonderful resource. Don’t forget to sign up for Arsalan Ahmed’s Five Steps to Success as a Software Developer email series to guide you on your coding journey. Quincy Larson’s Bio: Quincy […]

Episode 49 – How Liz made it big as a new developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 05:00:48 -0400
Our next guest is Liz Rush and while Liz has only been coding for the last few years, she has become an expert at branding herself, which has turned out quite well for her and even opened up new opportunities. Listen in to episode 49 of Mentoring Developers as Arsalan Ahmed and Liz Rush discuss […]

Episode 48 – What’s more exciting – Working on aircraft or software?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 04:00:37 -0400
Amanda began her journey as a college student, but like most students, you need outside funding to complete your education. Amanda met this challenge by joining the military, specifically, the U.S. Air Force where she spends her time working on aircraft. In her free time, Amanda is pursuing her education in software development through an […]

Episode 47 – Can you be more than just a developer?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 05:14:13 -0400
Meet returning special guest, Kevin Mack. Kevin was last on the show back in episode 26 and now he has returned to share further insight into the many career choices that are available when you get into tech. Kevin went from being a UX practitioner to getting involved in digital solutions, sales, and the creative […]

Episode 46 – Is DevOps a good career for me?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 03:00:09 -0400
Episode Highlights and Show Notes: Arsalan: This episode of Mentoring Developers is dedicated to all the wonderful listeners, the community of listeners, as well as all of your struggles and triumphs. I really enjoy making these episodes. It’s a lot of fun talking to developers, mentors, and everyone associated with this industry. We really are trying […]

Episode 45 – Needs and News with Sara

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 03:00:58 -0400
Arsalan and Sara have chosen three articles that highlight today’s episode. They will talk about the content of the article versus the facts and statistics behind it. After all, how and where you get your information is just as important as the information itself. A well-informed developer can reap the rewards of staying on top […]

Episode 44 – How to get a great job as a developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 23 Aug 2016 03:00:01 -0400
Meet Cassandra Ferris. Cassandra is not a developer. Nor is she a consultant. Cassandra is a recruiter. Now, recruiters, at least in the tech industry, have in some cases gained a bad rap, but don’t let that stop you from listening in. Cassandra has a unique background and history that is very interesting. Have you […]

Episode 43 – This girl rocks : Teacher, Entrepreneur, Angie

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 04:00:33 -0400
Our next guest, Angie Carrillo, was in that very situation and took a unique stance to complete her project. Angie has an interesting story to tell. She had no prior knowledge of coding but wanted to do something very unique and special. But, completing her objective required the use of code. Since there was no […]

Episode 42 – Can software testing be a good career for you?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 03:00:23 -0400
Meet Jennifer Cable, software manual tester extraordinaire. Jennifer came from a background blended in fine arts and graphic design in the newspaper field. With news now available online, Jennifer soon discovered that a change in career field was in order for her and her family to thrive financially. Listen in to episode 42 to find […]

Episode 41 – 5 Steps To Success As a Software Developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 05:00:30 -0400
Do you find yourself scratching your head trying to figure out how to break into the next higher sphere and make considerably more money without sacrificing family time? Does it seem that everyone else seems to have this “development” thing figured out but you have been left in the lurch? If this is you, read […]

Episode 40 : About to get fired, how Marcus redeemed himself

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 04:00:32 -0400
Meet our next guest, Marcus Blankenship. Marcus began his career with some formal education but was never able to finish the degree. Yet, he used the knowledge and skills that he gained to learn how to learn programming languages, and you can too. Marcus’ experience provides for a unique story because he experienced some serious struggles […]

Episode 39: Rerun: Is a Computer Science degree necessary to succeed as a developer?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 03:00:39 -0400
We learn from a junior developer, Pavlo Grijincu, how to quickly ramp up our skills to get our first job. Is it necessary to have a Computer Science degree to get our first job as a Software Engineer? Where do we go to equip ourselves with the technical and soft skills to make it big […]

Episode 38 – How much money can you make after going to a code school?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 03:00:07 -0400
Our guest for episode 38 is Gregorio Rojas and he is an instructor and founder of the Sabio Learn to Code boot camp. Gregorio began his career in the sports management industry but soon decided that a change was needed. Now, he is here to give us all the juicy details of his story and how […]

Episode 37 – Charles Max Wood on getting ahead as a developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 03:04:56 -0400
Charles Max Wood entered the field of technology at the age of 26. He has worked as a developer in different situations and now works freelance. Since becoming a freelance developer, Charles hasn’t looked back. He runs several podcasts, is writing a book and a course, and much more. Charles comes to us in this […]

Episode 36 – How to pick a programming language to learn for new developers – Part 2

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 03:04:45 -0400
David Molina’s Bio: Dave Molina is the founder of Operation Code, an organization that helps army veterans become coders. Dave came on the show to discuss coding boot camps, the military, software education, and what it’s like to become a civilian technologist after spending years in the army. Reuven Lerner’s Bio: Reuven created one of […]

Episode 35 – How Rachel became a champion for girls in technology and started a movement

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 31 May 2016 03:38:33 -0400
Rachel Ober is helping to pave the way for women of technology everywhere. Rachel began with her loves of art, technology, and cognitive thinking and married the three together. Rachel’s love of technology soon leads her to a form a movement that helps support and educate women across the country. Listen in to Arsalan and […]

Episode 34 – How Angelo Mandato, a PHP developer, founded a podcast hosting startup

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 24 May 2016 03:34:54 -0400
Angelo went from software developing to becoming a founder and CIO of a podcasting technology and community. After spending some time working with C++ and discovering the many benefits that PHP has to offer, Angelo changed gears and the rest soon became history. As with most of our podcasts, Arsalan and Angelo discuss how he […]

Episode 33 – Panel Discussion on building a great team

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 17 May 2016 03:04:16 -0400
In the end, you ultimately must find what works best for you and your team. So, if you’d like a little insight on this hot topic, step right over and listen in. Feel free to leave us a comment afterward if you’d like. We’d love to hear from you. Edward Stull’s Bio: Edward Stull is […]

Episode 32 – How a new Colombian developer found his dream in San Francisco

Arsalan Ahmed — Wed, 11 May 2016 05:22:07 -0400
David Silva’s Bio: David is currently a front-end developer at Doctor on Demand, a telemedicine company in San Francisco. Originally from Colombia, he has been in love with computers and programming from an early age and has worked as a programmer for the past 8 years. Episode Highlights and Show Notes: Arsalan: Hi everyone. Today I have […]

Episode 31 – Panel discussion on choosing the right programming language to learn

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 03 May 2016 05:11:39 -0400
Episode 31 discusses all these questions and more. So, if you are new to the IT field or looking into how to get your start, listen in as Arsalan and his panel of experts consider the best beginner languages. Episode 31 experts include Fernando Paredes, David Gatti, Sara Ines Calderon, and David Silva, bringing you […]

Episode 30 – Do mentorship and training programs really work for a new mom?

Arsalan Ahmed — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 04:40:30 -0400
One of the best ways to grow is by obtaining a mentor or going through additional training. Sometimes, that may include both. But, is either method for everyone and do both have a proven track record of success? Episode 30 of Mentoring Developers covers all this and more. Special guest, Jennifer Kelly offers her expert […]

Episode 29 – How to get your dream SECOND job as a software developer

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 05:16:45 -0400
In episode 29 of Mentoring Developers, special guest, Sara Ines Calderon is back to explore the many ways to get noticed and land that job you’ve been dreaming of. So, get ready, get set, and give a listen in as Arsalan and Sara tell all. Sara’s Bio: Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer […]

Episode 28 – How Dmitry Sharkov nurtures and mentors test engineers

Arsalan Ahmed — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 20:08:42 -0400
There is an increasing need out there for test engineers and people who can wear two hats at once: software developing and test engineering. So, just what is a test engineer mentorship all about? Listen in to episode 28 of Mentoring Developers to learn more. Dmitry’s Bio: Dmitry Sharkov is a software creator, fitness instructor, […]

Episode 27 – Jess Chadwick shows us how to succeed without a Computer Science degree

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 05:18:40 -0400
Jess’s Bio: Jess Chadwick is a software developer and technologist with over fifteen years of development experience ranging from embedded devices in start-ups to enterprise-scale solutions in Fortune 25s. He is an ASPInsider and a magazine and book author with O’Reilly publishing, as well as several courses on Lynda.com including Up and Running with ASP.NET […]

Episode 26 – Kevin Mack on UI, UX, and mentoring new developers

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 01:00:02 -0400
Kevin’s Bio: Kevin Mack is a developer, designer, and consultant. His area of focus is on creating user interfaces and experiences for large-scaling websites. Kevin is also a co-founder and co-organizer of The Columbus Web Group where he actively participates in growing and educating the community centered around design, development, best practices and standards for […]

Episode 25: What can developers learn from UX – with Edward Stull

Arsalan Ahmed — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 17:23:17 -0400
Edward’s Bio: Edward Stull works as a user experience (UX) designer and researcher in Columbus, Ohio. He has held positions in large traditional agencies, mid-size system integration firms, small design studios, as well as a one-person consulting practice. He has worn many hats during his career. Thus, his background grants an uncommon perspective into how […]

Episode 24 : Sarah Mei (second interview)

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:46:12 -0400
Sarah’s Bio: Sarah is a Ruby and JavaScript developer based in San Francisco, California. As the Chief Consultant at DevMynd Software, she spends most of her time pairing with her clients’ developers, helping level up their team. Her particular areas of interest are Object-Oriented Programming, service refactorings, growing teams, and inter-developer dynamics. She has written about my experiences pair programming and […]

Episode 23: How to hire and build great teams

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 05:24:09 -0400
Happy Learning! Arsalan: Today, on our discussion panel we have Jeff Johnson and Edward Stull. I’m really excited about this discussion panel because it’s going to be about building a team and doing the hiring, but from two different perspectives. Jeff is on an upward trajectory but is still fairly new to the industry. Jeff […]

Episode 22 – Sarah Mei

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 03:00:48 -0400
Sarah’s Bio: Sarah is a Ruby and JavaScript developer based in San Francisco, California. As the Chief Consultant at DevMynd Software, she spends most of her time pairing with her clients’ developers, helping level up their team. Her particular areas of interest are Object-Oriented Programming, service refactorings, growing teams, and inter-developer dynamics. She has written about my experiences pair programming and […]

Episode 21 – How to find a mentor

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:19:30 -0400
Listen to Episode 21 of the Mentoring Developers podcast to see what our panelists have to say about all the above questions and more. You might find nuggets of wisdom and advice to carry you forward in your career. Happy Learning! Thanks for Listening! Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or […]

Episode 20 – Glenn Block is a fan of the mentoring culture

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 04:00:30 -0400
Glenn’s Bio: By day Glenn Block works at Splunk making it easier for developers to work with Big Data as he drives the development of Splunk’s Dev platform. By night, Glenn is an active maintainer and contributor of several OSS projects including scripts (https://github.com/scriptcs/scri…). He is a polyglot with his most recent favorite language being […]

Episode 19 – What’s it like to be a guest on Mentoring Developers? Sarah Mei special!

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 05:00:37 -0400
Hello dear listeners! I’m your host Arsalan and I am really glad you could join me in Episode 19. This episode will be different from the first 18 episodes and we will look back at the way the podcast has gone in 2015 and where it’s going in 2016. Please let me know if you […]

Episode 18 – A woman who codes is a woman who rocks

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 13:00:00 -0400
Sara’s Bio: Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD. Episode Transcript and Show Notes: Arsalan: Today we have Sara Ines Calderon with us. How are you doing today? Sara: Hi. I’m doing well. Thank you so much for having me. Arsalan: It’s exciting to […]

Episode 17 – Brad Arner

Arsalan Ahmed — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 05:15:38 -0400
Brad’s Bio: Brad Arner is a entrepreneur and software developer who focuses on early-stage application development and business model generation. At the time of the interview, he was the VP of Engineer at Capstory, a startup based in Columbus, OH. His eclectic background has landed him in Iraq, Africa, Europe and elsewhere and afforded him many […]

Episode 16 – Jared Faris

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 05:00:57 -0400
Jared’s Bio: Jared is a Microsoft MVP and the Director of Technology Services at HMB, an IT services company based out of Columbus, OH. His focus is on building great development teams through training, mentoring, and prodigious amounts of caffeine. He’s spent years building web applications with cloud and mobile experience. Jared is a cofounder […]

Episode 15 – How Jeff Johnson went from being an apprentice to working for Microsoft

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 05:00:06 -0400
Jeff’s Bio: Jeff Johnson is a Seattle based engineer passionate about the craft and the end user. He has been a startup CTO, Program Manager, and most recently Software Engineer working on Microsoft Office Graphics. Originally from Ohio and earning a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois Tech in Chicago, Jeff has been […]

Episode 14 – Reuven Lerner on launching your software development career

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 05:00:18 -0400
Get advice from Reuven and Arsalan about starting and growing your career as a software engineer as well as hiring new developers. Reuven Lerner’s Bio: Reuven created one of the first 100 Web sites in the world just after graduating from MIT’s computer science department. Today, Reuven spends most of his time training programmers at companies […]

Episode 13 – Why would someone get a PhD in Learning Sciences? Meet Dr. Reuven Lerner

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 05:00:21 -0400
We all know that a solid education is crucial to get a push up in life, but it is not always necessary for software development. In fact, few go further than a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. If you’ve ever wondered what the future holds for a higher degree, this podcast is for you. Arsalan will […]

Episode 12 – Tracy Lee

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 05:00:47 -0400
Is it possible to jump into software development without any formal education or prior coding experience? Find out in Episode 12. Tracy’s Bio: Tracy’s passion for JavaScript began with the love of a Tomster, the emberJS mascot. She loves the ember framework, the concept of convention over configuration, and the easy to use ember-cli. Tracy […]

Darrel Miller – part 2

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 05:00:40 -0400
Darrel’s Bio: Darrel is an API Evangelist for Microsoft. He has been building distributed business applications on the Microsoft platform for more than 20 years. He is an active member of the .NET community and OSS contributor. Please say hi to Darrel on Twitter. Episode Highlights and Show Notes: Darrel: I have been in the […]

Darrel Miller – Always About The People

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:30:42 -0400
Darrel’s Bio: Darrel is an API Evangelist for Microsoft. He has been building distributed business applications on the Microsoft platform for more than 20 years. He is an active member of the .NET community and OSS contributor. Please say hi to Darrel on Twitter. Episode Highlights and Show Notes: Darrel: I have been in the […]

David Ihnen likes to diversify his skills

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 05:00:54 -0400
So how does a senior developer keep his skills and interests diversified? Listen to David Ihnen from Cincinnati who is passionate about software development. Thanks for Listening! Do you have some feedback or some advice for us or our audience? Please give us a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher and share your thoughts. If you […]

Kasey and Divya reveal how to succeed as an apprentice

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 04:09:41 -0400
This episode concludes the interview that started in the previous episode of Mentoring Developers. Kasey’s Bio: I’m Kasey Bonifacio and I’m a developer at Sparkbox where I started out as an apprentice. I’m passionate about web development and love constantly learning new ways to make the web more awesome. When I can pry myself away […]

What it’s like to be in a formal mentorship program

Arsalan Ahmed — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 03:36:09 -0400
This interview will be concluded in the next episode of Mentoring Developers. Kasey’s Bio: I’m Kasey Bonifacio and I’m a developer at Sparkbox where I started out as an apprentice. I’m passionate about web development and love constantly learning new ways to make the web more awesome. When I can pry myself away from the […]

Sage advice to new developers from a mentor

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 05:00:59 -0400
Ryan’s Bio: Ryan Cromwell is a coder by trade with over 10 years of experience delivering solutions ranging from real-time customer loyalty systems and elegant user experiences to streamlined statistical process control software. Having worked with passionate, high-performing Agile teams, Ryan ventured into the world of Scrum.org training and Agile coaching to replicate those amazing […]

Is a Computer Science degree necessary to succeed as a developer?

Arsalan Ahmed — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:00:51 -0400
Pavlo’s Bio: Pavlo Grijincu is currently a junior developer at Listrak, where he has been for three years. He graduated from Millersville University in 2012 with a BS in Computer Science, ending an official educational career in computer science that began in high school. Now he gets his education through books, code camps, and pre-recorded […]

How Hauwa Yousef fought imposter syndrome to start a company

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:38:16 -0400
Hauwa’s Bio: Hauwa is a Montana State University graduate and technology enthusiast with an obsession for entrepreneurship. Also an avid world traveler, Hauwa’s direct experience “DropTripping” items across countries for those in dire need serves as her primary motivation and inspiration in seeing to DropTrip’s success. Episode Highlights and Show Notes: Hauwa: My programming career […]

Derick Bailey is actually not on fire

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 07:30:31 -0400
Derick’s Bio: Derick Bailey is a developer, entrepreneur, author, speaker and technology leader in central Texas (north of Austin). He’s been a professional developer since the late 90’s and has been writing code since the late 80’s. In his spare time, he gets called a spamming marketer by people on Twitter, and blurts out all […]

Jay Bobo wants you to meet new people and tackle challenges

Arsalan Ahmed — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 07:30:15 -0400
Jay’s Bio: Jay Bobo is a software engineer & serial entrepreneur. He has 10+ years of experience in product development and strategy working with companies such as Microsoft (MSN), Nike-Pacific, State Farm and Coca-Cola. He currently works in healthcare building meaningful products for physicians, pharmacists and patients alike. Find him on Twitter @jaybobo Episode Highlights […]

Matt Darby wants you to keep your head up

Arsalan Ahmed — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 22:34:08 -0400
Matt’s Bio: Matt has developed on the web for 17 years. He can configure pools of servers, architect and develop the applications on those servers, and make it all look good (and run). He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science and he leads the Columbus Ruby Brigade. He has launched projects for folks from […]

The Mentoring Developers Podcast

How Zain Mustafa Built a Tech Company from Scratch | Mentoring Developers | Episode 97

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 96

Stan’s Bio:

List of topics

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 94

Richard’s Bio:

Episode Highlights and Show Notes:

List of topics

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 93

Shady’s Bio:

Episode Highlights:

List of topics

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 92

Guy’s Bio:

Episode Highlights :

List of topics

GUEST Links:

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 91

Greg’s Bio:

Episode Highlights

Audio Transcription

Episode Announcement:

Intro:

Guest Biot:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Greg D’Amico:

Arsalan Ahmed:

Episode 90

Kim Luu:

Episode Transcription:

Episode 89 – Burton on design systems and KickStand-UI

YouTube Demo: https://youtu.be/n-tuU-PlTvE

Burton’s Bio:

Important Links

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 88 – Burton Smith: How To Breakthrough In Tech

Burton Smith’s Bio:

List of topics

We discuss:

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 87 – Rocky Lhotka: How to be successful in tech

Rocky’s Bio:

Episode Highlights and Show Notes:

List of topics

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 86 – Career Advice From A Bootcamp Instructor!

List of topics

Matt’s Bio:

Thanks for Listening!

Episode 85 – Oscar wins the battle!

Episode 84 – Sara is on a ROLL! | Mentoring Developers | #GirlsWhoCode | #React.js #HowToSucceed

Episode 83 – Rob does Android and you can too!

Episode 82 – How do you even break into a software career | Mentoring Developers | Newbie Developer

Episode 80 – Greg Thomas shows you how to move up the tech ladder

Episode 79 – Matt Darby (reloaded)

Episode 78 – Panel Discussion – Which languages and frameworks should you choose in 2021 as a new developer

Epidode 81 – CSS vs. SASS vs. LESS : Kevin Mack shows us how to navigate between these and beyond!

Episode 77 – Covid 19 and life in a startup

Episode 76 – Noah wears many hats – How does he do it?

Episode 75 – How to identify and dismantle discrimination in the workplace