Ways to see Kevin in action

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

Scrimba Course (Free) : https://scrimba.com/learn/spacetravel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinJPowell

-- AI Transcript --

00:00.00 developershangout Welcome to developers hangouts podcast today I am joined by Kevin powell kevin why don't you introduce yourself tell poopoo who you are and we'll start hanging out.

00:09.85 Kevin Yeah, thanks for having me so as you said my name's Kevin powell and I'm these days primarily a youtuber of all things and with sort of my my mission I guess is to help people fall in love with css which I primarily do over on my youtube channel and. Occasional blog posts and courses and other stuff too.

00:31.17 developershangout Yes, so I think we I already knew who you were before I joined the the youtube but discord that we're all in for developers I already knew who you were through your css tutorials. Um I remember I think it was probably like flex or. Some some variant of some sort of layout thing I was struggling with as everybody does um, can you tell me how you got in to because I know that you like sort of transition to this css tutorials like how did you end up 1 picking css as your like Niche. Um, and to how it's kept you going for this amount of time.

01:12.52 Kevin Yeah, so um, I started I'm I'm terrible at remembering timelines or exact timelines. Um, so at 1 point I was hired to be a teacher at the school I actually had gone to previously which was mostly a design school. Um. And they hired me there and then pretty much as I got hired the currlu at the school got changed for the program and they added to web classes and all it was like all these old school print teachers basically with a few people that had touch. You know they'd done like table base layouts and there was me and 1 other new teacher. Both had web experience and so we were quickly given the web classes and um it was 1 thing to know how to make a website and it's a very different thing to teach it and so I quickly learned that I knew a lot less than I thought I did. Um, and started at the time watching a lot of other channels and courses and doing other things less so to understand what was happening but just to see how people were teaching it and 1 of the channels at the time that I found was ah web devs web said wrong channel was dev tips with Travis and. I absolutely loved his channel for me. It was you know it was my way of sort of staying relevant because at 1 point it went past I was teaching like intro to html and css so it was really the basics and.

02:33.40 developershangout Right.

02:37.14 Kevin Since I wasn't working I was doing some freelance stuff on the side but I was doing a lot less actual coding so that was a fun way for me to sort of keep up keep up to date on that side of things a little bit too and it was I Really like what Travis did with the channel and then when he stopped the Channel I sort of was just fell back into the world of teaching. Intro to html and Css over and over and over again and was getting a little bit bored with it and decided to start making my own tutorials. Um I'd known for a while I wanted to make a Youtube Channel or had the idea to do it. It was always just more of as a Hobby project. So at 1 point.

02:59.41 developershangout Yep.

03:12.18 developershangout Yep.

03:12.98 Kevin Because all the work I was doing freelance at the time was with wordpress I actually recorded like 10 videos and edited them and uploaded them and never published them on wordpress content and I'm really happy I Never did.

03:22.16 developershangout Nice.

03:27.40 Kevin And it was probably about six months after that I decided instead of doing that to focus on just sort of html css with primarily turned into css from there and it was just because that's what I have always enjoyed and because it was a hobby project I just wanted to focus on that side of things instead of. You know it. It was just for me to sort of keep up-to-d date learn new things make sure that I see all the new things that are coming out and it sort of reinforced things that I was teaching in the class too. So that's sort of a a very long-winded answer to how I got started with it.

03:56.00 developershangout I Mean yeah, it's It's awesome to see people basically start their Youtube Channel as a way of either keeping up to date with a certain tech or stack of some nature or because they've had the itch to teach and you basically did both.

04:13.49 Kevin Yeah.

04:15.52 developershangout Which was you already had this teaching going on but you wanted to be better at being a teacher and you also had this thought of doing youtube as a hobby which has now turned into this huge thing that you do and and it's very successful. Um, and and people look at you and you know you've had to write. And do videos on how you're not the king of css because it's been thrown around a lot. Um, and yeah I'm glad I'm glad that that the success is and the enjoyment is still there because that's always the concern right? Is you do video content for a long time and and you see it a lot where. Youtubers get bored because you're doing the same thing every day like I make jamstack content every week and I'm lucky that I have a lot of breadth because the jamstacks quite wide but html and css is very to the point. It's very very specific stuff. So I'm glad that you're still.

05:06.41 Kevin You.

05:12.47 Kevin Yeah I think I got a little bit lucky with when I started my channel too just because Css is maturing very quickly right now and there's just so much That's coming out and it looks like it's only speeding up more and more so I don't think I'll run out of anything to talk about anytime soon.

05:12.71 developershangout Enjoying every minute of it.

05:22.19 developershangout Yep.

05:31.66 Kevin The way things are going. Um, and so yeah, and and ah you know in terms of I think I also got lucky just having you know I enjoyed doing it so that's why I made the channel. It was really a hobby. No 1 was watching at the beginning. But then there's not a lot of css content out there in general people seem to focus more on.

05:47.31 developershangout Yep, let me go back.

05:50.37 Kevin A lot of the the other things so I sort of found a spot that and I didn't have a lot of competition either which I think is why I sort of got more well-known within that. But for me, it's crazy that people you know I get and now I think I've learned a lot about Css and I get to focus on that so you know it does become my specialty. Um, but just you know the whole King of css thing like it's.

06:13.20 developershangout So now that the the Youtube channel is successful and even the courses are successful. Um, let's talk bigger picture like what's the future of Kevin powell. Industries I don't know. Ah what What's the plans. Yeah, what are what are we thinking.

06:31.00 Kevin So yeah, really good question that I'm trying to figure out now. Um I went full time with this about a year ago now I guess um, just because that's when yeah I guess I could say a year ago because. Or a year and a half ago um and it was at the time was okay, my courses are doing well enough that I can do it because Youtube is you know as successful as I'm doing there. It definitely isn't replacing my my full-time income by any means. Um, so it really does become more on the business side and because I started all of this as a hobby for me.

06:59.50 developershangout Absolutely right.

07:09.00 Kevin Um, that's what you know I just went with my name. That's what my you know it's the same youtube account or my google account that I had from two thousand and six or whatever so I just left my name on there and started putting up videos and it became my brand. Um, so it's sort of becoming this thing of like.

07:15.75 developershangout Yep.

07:26.21 Kevin You know maybe should have I have gone with a brand name rather than just myself or is there a way that I can sort of have like a course or like a set of courses or something that are a little bit. You know it's still me but where like it sort of falls into ah like a subbranch or something. Um, that I can build a brand around so I'm sort of thinking on that side of things a little bit just to try and have something that's not my name necessarily not that I think there's anything wrong with that. But there's a lot of other really awesome teachers that are out there and 1 thing that's been fun with specializing so much in Css and. Because I'm on Youtube people know me because for people who watch Youtube But if you go into the blog world. There's a lot of really talented people and that are doing css stuff as well and focusing on that. So as I'm getting to know them more. Um, it would be cool to like be able to feature other people's work and things like that. Um, and not just my own necessarily. Um I see it as 1 potential way to sort of grow as well and also help you know help those people grow Hopefully um and the other side I've been thinking about for a while is also having you know employees of some sort because I think that's.

08:35.45 developershangout Meeting.

08:40.17 Kevin I'm the type of person who likes doing everything myself. Yeah, so yeah, and yeah, so it's really hard for me to let go of anything. Um I know some people are like oh you, you know if you let go of the editing side of things like you could get a lot more done and I'm like yeah I I probably could. But.

08:41.83 developershangout Me too 100 percent

08:58.66 Kevin I don't I don't mind editing it's it's not a chore for me necessarily except when I'm doing a course where I'm doing the yeah the 1 bit.

09:02.20 developershangout Yes, yep I did that 1 Well I've done 1 course and it was just the amount of edit like the amount of editing you have to do versus a regular youtube video is like Twenty x and it and it's rough.

09:16.49 Kevin Yeah, yeah, so that becomes a bit of a chore but at the same time if I were to hand off my editing I wouldn't want to do it for a course because I want to make sure that's perfect. Um, yeah.

09:20.87 developershangout For sure.

09:26.20 developershangout Right? Yeah at least with Youtube you can get away with imperfections very easily. But yeah someone who pays for a course even a free course like there's a expectation that you're a level above what you could find on youtube.

09:40.61 Kevin Yeah, 100 percent and I think it's also like I think on youtube sometimes having I see some people have editors and like then you're getting like the b-roll coming in at times and you have other things that are helpful for engaging the audience that for me isn't my strongest.

09:49.50 developershangout Need there anything.

09:56.39 Kevin So like I could see even on that. Maybe it's beneficial on youtube but that's not really something you want in a course. So anyway, but I don't mind editing the Youtube video so it's 1 of those things where is it worth it for me I don't know um I have someone? Um, actually it's my mother-in-law's now helping me with my emails just to keep track in there because it started getting.

10:11.10 developershangout M.

10:15.63 Kevin Hard for me to keep up with everything that I was getting so it's a sort of flagging the important ones that are coming through and making sure that I'm reading the ones I I need to be and not the the sponsor requests that now. Luckily I'm at a point where I can say no to all my sponsor Anybody who wants to sponsor basically um because dealing with sponsors.

10:29.77 developershangout Awesome. Yeah, yeah, sponsors can can be fun and they can also be very Crushing. Um I've been lucky my last run of sponsors of all been really great people and like just basically given me free reign to say do whatever I want with my stuff. Um.

10:35.80 Kevin Isn't fun.

10:53.15 developershangout But I have had a few where they're like yeah we this is exactly what we want in a like it in a video can you just do this only and it's like why are you paying me to do it like you've already. You've scripted the whole video here like just do it just record it yourself and and put it on your own channel. Um, yeah I've had a few of those and and then I've ended up either parting ways or saying you know, ah fine I'll do it but I'm never going to work with this person again.

11:21.60 Kevin Yeah, and I've I've been pretty lucky with the sponsors I've had to in that it's been generally speaking very positive. Not like you know I've heard of horror stories of going back for edit after edit after edit which I haven't had to do but it's still just that you know.

11:31.62 developershangout Anything anything.

11:38.22 Kevin Back and forth a little bit. It seems like those videos always take longer to make um and so yeah, if I don't have to I won't or I also like now I do have a few things coming out short-term where we have sort of done some stuff but it's with people I know it's products that I know and use so like for that like.

11:40.19 developershangout Um, yep.

11:52.82 developershangout Right.

11:56.31 Kevin Just comes up in conversation with the person I don't mind doing that as much. Um and I think for me, it's also I don't like so I mean speaking of business side of things I hate selling things so doing those like so doing a sponsored bit already. It had to be something that I actually believed in I can't just do a sponsored bit for something I've never used.

12:05.30 developershangout Yeah, me too.

12:14.11 developershangout Um, yep, what.

12:16.10 Kevin Which is why I never did hosting companies just because I'm like I get five companies requesting me to do sponsored I can't use all of you guys like so um, yeah I was always a bit picky with it but now not having to worry about it helps quite a bit on that side. Um, but yeah, I'm trying to figure out ways that I can delegate my work but I'm I'm struggling with it because I don't know what to do and even you know, ah I've seen other people come up with a community manager type things or positions as well. Even if it's a smaller role So I've sort of been thinking about that because there's some things. Either I Just don't have time to do it or I get um you know sidetracked with other stuff or it sidetracks me thinking about these little things. Um, so it's something I'm really thinking about but I'm struggling at this point in in getting to that next step of how to actually implement.

13:01.10 developershangout Yep, so.

13:08.88 developershangout Yeah, I'm currently going through because obviously my channel's much more than yours I'm now going on there. The the the thought process of okay how do I build this brand bigger like we're about to hit five k subs which you know it's been. In the works like okay how does 5 k turn into 10 n k How does ten K turn into a hundred k etc and so I'm trying to plan that out right now and um, I'm going to probably end up enlisting my wife to do social media for me because she is 10 x better than I am at all that stuff I'm just like I don't know. Tweet this out sounds good and then move on um with no care and and yeah, it's it's a hard game people people really don't unless you're in the world. It's hard to understand but like thinking of a thumbnail or a title to a video that will make someone click is a like. It. It takes a long time sometimes to think of something that's worth clicking.

14:07.29 Kevin Yeah, that's definitely and for me, it's been an adjustment there as well. Just because yeah with it once it's sort of once I started thinking about maybe making the switch to full time that becomes a lot more important as well. Um, and that was it's It's a hard thing of of balancing. The.

14:20.67 developershangout Yep.

14:25.79 developershangout Yes.

14:26.32 Kevin How clickbaity is it versus? Um, but I think in the in the Discord and I think it's something that you hear a lot about is as long as you're like if somebody clicks even if it's 1 of those like you know you get to that gray zone or was it veritassium that made a video on it. Maybe even.

14:41.47 developershangout Yes, yep.

14:44.00 Kevin Right? Yeah, so you're in that like gray zone you're approaching clickbait but you're not crossing that you know you're teasing but you're providing you're actually yeah, you're providing the value and you're you're giving this the answer to the tease instead of just getting someone to click and misleading them and you know, especially when it comes to like more educational stuff. That's.

14:49.96 developershangout Valley. Yeah.

15:01.19 developershangout Yeah, yeah, yep, it is very hard in education where you're just like how can I make a click Bait title of learn how to use this cool piece of tech. It's like yeah okay that this not as easy as.

15:03.62 Kevin It's also hard to tease and how to do something.

15:20.75 developershangout You know, ah some other youtubers were like gaming or or any of those kind of channels where it's entertainment. It's very easy to Click Bait anything. But yeah, we have to We have a very thin line between being an educational channel that doesn't use clickbait and then not. And it's It's a hard line to to figure out. Ah but talking of you know work wise is all fun and games. You know I talk to you frequently and and a lot of people know you in the world. But what do you like to do when you're not. Making tutorials or worrying about business or growth and things like that like what do you do to to to kind of zone out wind down What what?? what? What is that.

16:04.42 Kevin Yeah I'm I'm somebody who does generally so I like learning new things. So I'll pick up something new and then once I sort of I'm deset at it I'll find something else to do which drives my wife absolutely insane. Um, but I've actually gone back the most recent 1 that I've gone back to is homebrewing.

16:10.39 developershangout Um.

16:22.33 developershangout So.

16:24.20 Kevin Um, so I actually had started doing it years ago. Um, just I'm I'm already I'm a fan of beer in general so it was something and my dad had sort of talked about it because my um, my dad's from England and back then he was you know as ah, a youth would.

16:34.21 developershangout Yep, update that.

16:42.64 Kevin Would do it So it sort of intrigued me the whole idea of it and so I did get into it. The issue at the time was I was very broke and so it's not a cheap Hobby necessarily. Ah so the equipment I had wasn't necessarily the best I was bottling which isn't.

16:50.72 developershangout Correct.

16:58.80 Kevin It's okay, but it's time consuming and then you have to wash a lot more equipment and everything. So just um I didn't so I must have done it for a good year and a half or so but it was just by the end I just got really tired of having to clean everything and again it wasn't really saving me money. So when you're you know, not rolling. Um, it makes it a little bit harder to justify the time commitment I had my my kids were young too. So it becomes you know it's a good 6 hour commitment to to do a full batch and with the kids and everything being young. It just took away from family time and everything. Um, but then it's something I always enjoyed doing. And so I decided more recently to get back into it but now with a bit more disposable income I switched I got a couple of kegs I built my own sort of keyser so like converted a freezer into ah a place to keep the kegs with taps and everything. Um.

17:43.90 developershangout Um, in your point.

17:54.64 Kevin And then started getting back into it now. So it's been. It's going pretty good I had to take a bit of a break for a few I guess a month and a half now just because I had we were doing um renovations in the backyard where I where I do the home brewing but that's finished and I actually have some yeast that's.

18:11.96 developershangout Awesome.

18:11.98 Kevin Um, propagating right now. So I'm growing growing a new little batch of yeast hopefully on Friday um, get ah, get a brew day in and that's the other advantage of doing this full time is I can sort of go. Okay, this Friday I'm not going to get as much work done ahead. All. I'll make myself a beer so I don't have to sacrifice the family time either which is nice.

18:30.92 developershangout Yeah, yeah, that's always nice that is 1 feature of being either a business owner slash or a full-time youtuber or you know in the freelance world where flex schedules exist for a reason and you can in you know. You can work a little harder today to take a little time tomorrow and it's not a huge deal. You're on your own schedule. You know that you need a video on this day and this day and this day and you need to be ahead and all those kinds of things. Um hope brei sounds fun. My dad used to home brew to like obviously being from the uk like it's a big thing. You know my. My parents did it and I think his dad did it too I've never really done it I thought about it a few times but you're right? It is a hobby that has expense to do right and enjoy.

19:16.53 Kevin Yeah, that's the thing is you can. It's the basics of it are super simple and you don't It doesn't have to be expensive but the product you'll create will probably not be very good and you won't want to keep doing it.

19:28.64 developershangout Um, right? yeah.

19:32.37 Kevin Um, so it's really because I mean the most important things seem to be when the beer is fermenting just to keep the temperatures. It keep the te in control because if it gets too warm which room temperature tends to be a bit too warm. It just creates like it can taste like rubbing alcohol or like or yeah, um, and you hear a lot of people.

19:48.19 developershangout Mm. Yum.

19:52.25 Kevin Try it or you can even do it just with like there's like the really simple things you can do when you first get started with it like the the starter kits you can buy were just the ingredients are sort of lower quality and so it just makes like a really boring beer even if you sort of nail it so people sort of you're making something that's not great.

19:58.30 developershangout Are.

20:11.52 Kevin And it's really time consuming to do it. It becomes something like why? why bother with it. Um, so it's a time commitment and it's a cost. There's an initial investment that definitely goes into it. Um, but since I I do enjoy beer. It does you know as long as I'm making things that I'm enjoying to drink and as you said it's a hobby so it's something that.

20:26.17 developershangout Right.

20:31.15 Kevin It's also fine like the the soft when I was originally doing it. The software I was using um to sort of do the recipe planning and to make sure everything was okay, um, was it. It was Fine. It was sort of an industry standard at the time but it was It was an older piece of Software. Ah, the new 1 that I got now that I got back into it like you can hook into their api and pull out different things in it and so you can sort of build your own thing. But even the app itself is is so well done and it's a pwa so you can you know link it with your phone really easily and really really well done on that side and then.

20:49.70 developershangout Oh awesome. Yep.

21:04.21 Kevin To be able to sort of tinker with and and get into that side and just all the data tracking you can do and it it really does become I guess like a lot of hobbies. It's 1 of those things that you get, you know you can go all in with it or you can just have it as sort of you know I just like the beer and that's it or you can really dive into the data and the research and all the different things that go with it. So.

21:15.87 developershangout Yep.

21:23.21 Kevin I'm the type of person who likes diving in pretty deep when I do get into it.

21:23.94 developershangout Yeah, that that's that's me too when I'm in a hobby like that's it I'm all in that's how Youtube started I was all in it was like I'm going to make this a hobby. It sounds like something fun to do and then you know. It's like oh I need a better camera like okay research camera time I need a better mike okay, let's find a but different mike that's better and then you know oh it's lighting and then it's like backdrops and you know all that fun stuff that comes along with with being in Youtube space and you know I've I've only been doing it. Just over I think it's 18 months now or maybe a bit maybe a bit longer I think it's about 18 months and like you know the investment is more than probably what I made the first year at least um, this year has been a bit more lucrative. But yeah, you know the first time you get Monetized is.

22:03.76 Kevin Yeah, yeah.

22:12.74 developershangout Ah, Thousand subscribers and four thousand watch hours which it never used to be like that. But that's still a lot of you know content and the monetization isn't fantastic. Um, you make your money in other places that's for sure. Um, yeah, absolutely yeah I I'm very much the same way all in or nothing and and.

22:21.24 Kevin Um, yeah.

22:32.24 developershangout You know Youtube was all in and now it's less of a hobby and more of a second job but I still love it every day and I'm not complaining so you said that you started exercising now. Um, which is orange theory which is is that canadian thing. Like I only ever hear canadian people talk about orange theory or maybe I'm just in like the south where they don't have orange theory I don't know. Um, yeah, get what? Yeah let's talk about that for a while.

22:59.20 Kevin Yeah, so for me exercise I know I should but it's really hard to actually do it and to get motivated I've tried regular gym memberships before and it doesn't work. My wife has been wanting to start exercising and she keeps bugging me so she's the 1 actually found the orange theory.

23:04.29 developershangout Here.

23:18.26 Kevin I don't know much about it other than the 1 I go to? um but I do know it's a chain of sort of a gym and it's everywhere and the only when I first went I was like it's going to be like any other gym and I'm not really going to ah do it and it's not for me. But I'll I'll humor my wife by going to like their free trial.

23:37.26 developershangout Yep yep.

23:37.91 Kevin Um, it's it's like a highintensity 1 hour session but it's because I'm not someone who likes exercising. It's good because it's in ah like a sort of a group setting where you're going between rowing treadmill and and free weights basically are like more on that side of things and you have it's almost like no them.

23:46.17 developershangout Um.

23:56.79 Kevin What are they called the cycling ones they have a name Anyway, you have like the coach in the room who's sort of like telling you the you know like the hit spin classes. Yeah, so it's a bit like that We have a coach who's saying like you know push Now you're pushing then slow down hit these goals things like that. Um, which I sort of need just to get me.

24:01.78 developershangout Um, oh yeah, yeah, spin classes.

24:16.30 Kevin Motivated and to actually push and you also have to book your classes ahead of time and so I have to you know you book it ahead and then you're it's on the calendar and then it sort of gets to that that day when you don't feel like going but you have to go because it's on the calendar and so I actually go.

24:31.66 developershangout Yep.

24:33.17 Kevin Because I know if I just put gym on the calendar and then it gets to that I'd be oh I could just record this video and I'll go to the gym after but you don't have that option. So for me I think the reason it actually works is because I just it's on my calendar I know I have to go or I lose that class and that's sort of the main reason that for me, it's.. It's actually motivating. Um I'm I'm not well I mean the last time I did a lot of exercise was when I was still in school and I did a lot of biking but it's because I would bike to get if it was a nice day I would just bike to go and so like it. It gave me a purpose like okay I'm not going to like I'm not going to go to bike to bike it just I'm not.

25:06.93 developershangout Yep.

25:12.39 Kevin But you know I'm not going to run to run and just if I'm running I'd like to be going somewhere ideally or then I wouldn't probably wouldn't want to run but um, so like it gave me then it was like okay I'm going to I'm in a bike and that's going to be sort of my thing but it's because I need to get to where I'm going. Um, so yeah I need that sort of. I'm not the type of person who's self-motivated enough for exercising and to actually take the time out of my calendar when I could be doing other things so having I need that motivation of having it booked and then I have to go type of thing like any other appointment.

25:42.76 developershangout Yeah that's a good way of doing it. It kind of forces your own hand instead of like just being like yeah I'm just gonna I'm gonna go every day or I'm gonna go 3 times a week whatever which you know that's how I work like I get up at 5 a m I either bike on my stationary bike in my house or I go to the gym and lift weights. And like I've been able to do that for you know, a long time and I'm lucky but like yeah I think my wife would benefit from that like it's on your calendar and you're already pre-booked in like if you don't go kind of thing you know that that style. Um. Versus like having the freedom to be like if I go later. It's fine like I am very rigid like it's get up at 5 a m I'm at the gym at 155 a m like and there's no option like there's nothing else I could be doing at 155 in the morning. So that's the only way I've ever managed to to keep that rigidity because I used to go in the afternoons. And I'd find an excuse I need to record this video or ah I need to do a bit more on this blog post before tomorrow and ah yeah, that doesn't really work. Um, when you you know, start putting on well wait or you don't feel healthy or you know like you start to notice things that you're like well that's weird that didn't used to happen.

26:39.35 Kevin More.

26:56.73 Kevin Yeah, yeah, and that's I guess the the fun of getting older too is the the the other aches and pains that come along with it that you yeah.

26:57.98 developershangout Ah, but yeah. Right? Yeah, if that part could slow down a little bit like you know I'd appreciate that a lot. Ah I just read someone tweeted today. Um, that there's a. It was saying I've come to the age where I can't drink caffeine after twelve now and I was like when does that happen because I'm concerned that it might just sneak up on me and he is like yeah, you'll just find yourself waking up at 2 a m with no excuse and that's when you know and I'm like oh god that when that day happens we're in deep trouble.

27:25.94 Kevin Yeah.

27:36.78 Kevin Yeah I'm like you on that I can I could have a coffee as I you know my yeah and I'm I'm fine. My wife if it's after lunch she can't and so but she's also like I enjoy coffee a lot but she's like always having coffee and now the the problem is it'd be like.

27:37.76 developershangout Ah. Go to bed. Yep.

27:55.83 Kevin 2 or 3 in a mike she's like let's make a pot and I'm like you really shouldn't and then if she does or we end up having some then I know I'm not sleeping either because she'll keep me up. Yeah.

28:03.71 developershangout Yep, yeah exactly she's awake. So now you're awake. Yep that perpetual cycle so you and I must be on the same path in life right now because I'm also itching for a new phone. And the pixel 6 just came always is coming out. Is it out this week ah yeah and I think it comes out to I think it starts delivering tomorrow. Whatever um, yeah I mean the same boat. Um I really want a new phone I really want the pix. All my wife has a 5 a and I have a iphone.

28:19.87 Kevin You can preorder right now. Yeah.

28:32.75 Kevin Um.

28:37.36 developershangout Because we had iphones at 1 point and I like to keep mind a bit longer. Ah yeah, what it? What do you think it are you thinking about doing it or ah yeah.

28:42.69 Kevin Ah I'm so close it's in my cart and I'm just like I don't know I have my I'm on the pixel 3 right now and so it's ah um, it's actually still really functional considering how old it is which is.

28:50.00 developershangout Oh okay, yep.

28:57.88 developershangout Me. So.

29:00.53 Kevin Ah, so I'm like that's a good sign right? You know, but do I need to upgrade then um I am running into some problems because ah, it's like the Usbc only and it's something's a little bit off. So if it's not pluged like I have to use wireless earphones I can't use like the plugin ones because they'll just.

29:16.20 developershangout Right? yes.

29:19.29 Kevin Like any top and it just disconnects. So it's unusable which whatever I have wiredless ones Anyway, Um, but then even for charging like sometimes it looks like it's charging. It goes off and then like oh it didn't actually charge. Um, you know I guess it got knocked or something but it's just like a little tap on the wire and it just disconnects it.

29:36.22 developershangout Um.

29:38.68 Kevin So other than that though, the phone's fine, but it also like I don't know I'm surprised I've kept this phone this long because I'm you I don't I'm not like the type that gets a new phone every year or anything but I do like new tech and phones are always fun to play with so I'm really really really debating it but we're just.

29:49.76 developershangout Yeah, yep.

29:58.22 Kevin We're spending a lot of money these days on other stuff around the house and everything and I'm just like it's not cheap by any means So I don't know I haven't I haven't hundred percent decided but I'm very on the fence and itching to get it.

30:09.25 developershangout Yeah I'm I'm in the same boat I'm like I don't normally get like new phones every year like we're not really that kind of people. Um I had the pixel 2 xl up until. Recently which is when my wife was like I want to go back to an iphone I was like that's fine like we haven't ball phoned in Forever. We can just buy them and if you don't like it. We can probably trade into an android phone at zero cost. Um, which is what happened so my wife just got the 5 a right before the 6 came out.

30:35.93 Kevin No.

30:43.29 developershangout Because she likes a smaller phone a lighter phone so she doesn't really need to worry too much and so she ended up trading in her iphone 12 mini and she ended up getting fifty dollars in credit because they traded up it worked out quite well.

30:46.15 Kevin The.

30:53.88 Kevin Nice.

30:59.21 developershangout And I'm looking right now and if I trade mine in I can get the exact cost of a pixel 6 and I'm like do I need a new phone right now and I'm like looking at it looks so shiny and new and new tech and I'm like I might have to end up. It may end up coming from the car into reality at some point. Pretty soon? Um, but yeah, like I've always been a real big fan of like the pixel phones they they do very well you know 1 that up. They update for such a long time I think it's like 2 years minimum that they say they'll continue to push updates for it. And then just the overall like quality of the product is is done really well. And yeah I think sooner or later it'll end up in my cart and I'll end up buying it and I'll be like oops it happened and then we'll just carry on like nothing happened. Um, but yeah.

31:49.82 Kevin Ah.

31:57.30 developershangout I I think once the Usb ports start to die. That's usually when I end up getting rid of mine if it doesn't have like I used I have never plugged this iphone in I've always just done the whole wireless charging thing just because I'm so paranoid that the port will die and then I won't have it. Um, but yeah, yeah, I'm i'm.

32:00.33 Kevin Yeah.

32:07.25 Kevin M.

32:16.66 developershangout Pretty excited about the the 6 at least recently.

32:18.38 Kevin Yeah, it doesn't help for me because I've been looking it up for a while. So now in like the home feed or whatever it is on my phone. It's just like half the article showing up or just talking about it and obviously I don't know it could just be Google's doing that on their own because they're trying to promote it I'm not sure but I definitely did look it up quite a bit so now like.

32:23.77 developershangout Yep.

32:31.71 developershangout Right.

32:37.52 Kevin Everything I'm seeing is just like if I look at my phone and I basically see an article on it. So it just makes me want to get it. Yeah like oh I was trying to forget about this. Don't keep showing it to me.

32:45.33 developershangout Ah, yeah, they they they do love to do that. They do love to do that? Um, talking about other Google products Stadia is that something that you own and you're using or something you're considering to what what's the what's the.

32:59.94 Kevin So I remember when it it first launched I was I was very skeptical of it and there was a lot of bad press that came out but the other day I was I don't I must have been on my phone I don't know something popped up saying because I'm a Youtube premium user I could get four months for free. So I was like well.

33:05.31 developershangout Me.

33:15.46 developershangout Yes, yep.

33:19.24 Kevin Why not? you know? so I jumped tried it out and I'm actually really impressed with it. Obviously it depends on the Bandwidth you have and stuff like that for a usable experience. But for me like I didn't buy any games through it but you get like the with the pro you get. Ah, bunch of free stuff. So some of them are older so I'm reliving my playing hit man which I haven't done in years I was like oh cool I can play the whole hit man series. Um and a few other things that sort of tweaked my interest a little bit so I've just been playing around with it. But even. Now even when I was looking at the pixel 6 I'm like do I get the controller to because then I could play on my phone and ah because I was I loaded up on my phone just to see what the experience would be like and if you don't have a controller obviously like they give you 1 of those on-screen overlays which are terrible but I was able to play like.

33:59.45 developershangout There you go.

34:11.35 developershangout Yep.

34:15.48 Kevin Ah, alea game on my phone and I'm like oh that's that's kind of impressive and kind of cool. So that's sort of got me thinking on that front now too and every now and then I've had like a little the quality of it will drop a smidge but then it bounces back up. So I think as long as you have the Bandwidth I don't know if they've fixed.

34:15.94 developershangout Wow.

34:34.10 Kevin Problems that they had early on or if I've just been lucky but I've been really impressed with the the whole experience of it.

34:38.98 developershangout Yeah I you remember when it launched I checked it out because I think they gave I remember it being something like ninety nine cents for the first 3 months if you didn't buy anything. It was like ninety nine cents first 3 months and I already had like a bunch of xbox controllers that.

34:51.69 Kevin That's right? yep.

34:57.81 developershangout Worked with it so I was like great I can use it and I remember it being pretty good. In fact, I did the beta test which was um Assassins creed odyssey and and it was like this hush hush like we're going to do a test. We haven't actually announced that it's called stadia or anything. And I was like this is amazing like I'm using this crappy laptop that I just happen to have downstairs that can't run anything and I'm playing this aaa game. And yeah, I'm on like fiber gig fiber. So yeah, you know I have the bandwidth. Um so I'm not too concerned about that. But. I was overly impressed and then I just you know I have a p s five and I have a gaming pc so for me, it's not as prevalent to to to get because I just have those consoles and I'm lucky. Um, but yeah I heard they've done a lot since since then a lot of improvement and yeah, hopefully they.

35:39.26 Kevin Um.

35:50.96 developershangout Don't just kill it off like everything else that after a while when they get bored. Hopefully they keep it for for a long time and um, it's a good I was gonna say it's a good testament that you're saying it's definitely seems to be good like even on a phone because ah like Xbox offers their Cloud service If you have an xbox.

35:56.36 Kevin Um, it is a ah.

36:10.50 developershangout And I can't even use that on anything like I try and use it and every and I have gig fiber so I'm 1 and 1 up and 1 down and like everything is just a garbled mess whenever I play it so like my concern my concern is people are like yeah stay here is terrible x was game past like clouding.

36:10.89 Kevin Um, and.

36:18.92 Kevin No well. Yeah.

36:29.42 developershangout Gaming is great and I'm like it is not great at all I cannot play anything on this at all it just I'll get like thirty seconds in and then it's just you know I'm playing cubes at that point with no sound. So so you talking about your renovations earlier. Um.

36:39.60 Kevin Right? Yep, Nice yeah.

36:48.96 developershangout And we talked for a while because we originally had scheduled this during the renovations. Um, yeah, you had some some fun I I understand they had some fun with their renovations.

37:00.45 Kevin Yeah, so I live in a townhouse condominium. So it's like you have the whole condominium association and everything but it's townhouses so they're like it's not a vertical. It's all horizontal with like walking paths between them. Um, and we were getting.

37:07.97 developershangout E e.

37:18.20 Kevin Our patio our back patio redone and that became a complete Well I mean the job itself was fine but the where where we happen to be is the far the where I Think. If not the farthest 1 of the farthest units from like the parking area and where there's actually access for any machinery to come in. Um, so the the guy that are the the team came in and obviously you're hiring professionals you assume they know what they're doing and they have to communicate with.

37:37.46 developershangout E.

37:49.89 Kevin Condo administration before starting anyway because you have to have everything approved the plans were approved. Ah, um, so we gave them all the contact information as well to the for the contractor see you assume that everything's been handled and everything' has been fine because you have approval from everybody and then.

37:54.16 developershangout Yep.

38:07.90 Kevin First there was there were the the the path. The walking paths are relatively narrow like it's really sidewalk width and so they had their their big thing to bring in all the gravel and everything which fit on the path but just barely, but it did look a little bit big so you had all the the nosy neighbors at the beginning were coming out and sort of criticizing that there was wheel marks here or they.

38:19.60 developershangout Yep.

38:28.00 Kevin Ruined a patch of brass there and we're like don't worry like we're aware that you know of everything that's going to happen there. Um, and then it just then they came to work on a weekend because they were behind schedule like I guess contractors tend to be and then so there's more people home and then.

38:40.56 developershangout Um, yep.

38:44.64 Kevin They ended up contacting the actual administration who came and were trying then said they couldn't be coming in through the path because they could cause structural damage somehow to the the path and what's under the path and it became like this five days of complete disaster. Um. But anyway at the in the end they found a way to come in um through a different way. They had to rip some bushes out and and come in a different way and the job got finally done and it looks good. Um, but even Beyond like the drama of the whole thing which was I mean it's. And became 1 of those things where people are making like this big dramatic event out of nothing basically ah, which is always frustrating to begin with. But if if anyone listening isn't in a condo you know beware there's positives to it all, but just anything that has to do with the administration tends to be a negative.

39:23.21 developershangout Yep.

39:37.45 Kevin Um, and it's a bit where a lot of units and stuff so it becomes ah a lot of people to deal with sometimes um but you also had everybody having their own opinions on everything that was happening.

39:49.85 developershangout Yep, yeah that I was going to say that's usually the problem is everybody has their own opinion. Ah.

39:52.55 Kevin Yeah, so we even had like this is this is probably the day after we had to cancel the last 1 just because they were putting. They had their machines into flatten all the the loose rock and stuff they were putting in so they hadn't laid any tiles yet.

40:06.81 developershangout Me.

40:08.83 Kevin They just they dug out their hole filled it in and then we're we're waiting for them to put the tiles in and there's 1 person passing by in the back saying that it's 2 inches too low and that the basement's going to flood and you know it's a 7 year old woman. First of all, what do you know about? you know what? they're doing. They haven't put any tiles in yet. It's just loose gravel everywhere like I don't know then I had my ah my my direct neighbor who's ah, a little bit bored so he likes to come and just chat with task when anytime anyone's outside and so he was.

40:28.17 developershangout Right.

40:36.59 developershangout Um.

40:40.16 Kevin Like at 1 point, the contractor came to talk to my wife and he's like is this guy your dad or something because like he'd be constantly going over and talking to the contractor about how to do different things that he was working on and like oh no, that should be like this or this should be like that He's like who is this guy like what's going on and it was just this constant brash of people coming by and. And giving us their opinions on something and it was just really frustrating.

41:00.11 developershangout I Imagine it's yeah we we live in ah an association so we don't live in like townhomes. But we're in an association and ah we just had somebody take over like the association and ah they they sent me a violation already. Were like you. Yeah you you need to? Well I think it was like you need to trim your bushes and or take out the weeds that are in the front yards and I'm like that's what you're concerned about of all the things wrong with where I live. That's the 1 thing and so I like red it. And I brought it inside and I was like really like I Really don't want to deal with this like I only live in an H a because I rent this place but bla blah and so I go outside and there's literally 3 tiny weeds of about you know, an inch high and I'm like that's what you're really. So I like just pick them out and put them back down on the ground and I'm like there we go cleaned up like I don't know why you have to be that concerned about you know this small tiny thing can we can we focus on Maybe the fact that people are parking cars in the street that I can't get out my driveway. Maybe that's more Important. Um.

42:03.40 Kevin Yeah.

42:12.23 Kevin Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing and it's I think that the the issue with this is. There's always everybody has their own opinion and in these organizations it seems to be that they all like voicing their opinion. Um, even you know without thinking ah too much about it. Sometimes.

42:14.50 developershangout But can't win him all.

42:28.74 developershangout Yeah.

42:30.56 Kevin It was even like even with us when when the grass was getting a bit ripped up on some of the corners which we were. You know we knew we would have to be dealt with and that's Fine. Um, but I came really really close like it. It became such a sticking point and there was just so many people talking to us about it. It came really close to writing an email. Ah, to the the association just to ask that we know it was our responsibility to fix that but does that mean and because some of the there was several people that were complaining to us about it who literally never watered their lawn once during the summer and just had dead grass and a little dead tree in front of their house.

42:54.68 developershangout Yep.

43:01.98 developershangout Right.

43:06.65 Kevin And as like so I don't mind paying to replace the little corners of like 6 inches of grass that got ripped up but does that mean that these people have to pay to resaw their entire lawn and plant a new tree and I was my wife's just like don't send it yet. See how things end and I was like.

43:15.39 developershangout Um, right? oh.

43:22.10 Kevin I was ready to but once once everybody sort of calmed down in the situation resolved I was like okay I'm I'm kind of glad I didn't send it but at the same time I was like though like you know it's great that you have these opinions but at least take care of your own stuff that if you want to complain about other people not taking care of it.

43:36.79 developershangout Yep, yeah, exactly exactly? yeah, it's all living living the association has its benefits. Don't get me wrong, but sometimes I just want to live in the woods somewhere where no 1 ne's gonna tell me what to do? Um, but.

43:43.99 Kevin Oh yeah, hundred percent. Yeah.

43:52.22 developershangout I'm also not close to shops then and my wife would probably kill me so we definitely can't do that 1 ah so yeah, ah I mean we're coming to the end of the show. Um, this is your time now to plug whatever you feel like Kevin please plug away anything you want to sell. Off youtube channels your course anything just saw you.

44:16.44 Kevin Yeah I guess I mean the the best thing to follow for anything would be my Youtube channel Just that's where most of my day-to-day content is um and other than that I did just put out a new free course with sccrimba. So.

44:30.24 developershangout Yes.

44:32.82 Kevin Ah, that could be a fun thing to check out. It's like a 6 hour free course where we dive in deep into css um, talk about css design systems other things like that I think it's pretty good. So I think that could be a fun 1 to check out. Plus it's free so that always helps.

44:48.21 developershangout Yep.

44:49.97 Kevin Um, and I mean that's probably the main things right now. The course that the the course that I last sold is currently closed because I want to revamp it and I'm revamping another course or redoing another course. So. Ah, in terms of actually giving me money. There's not very many options right now but that's a you know? So yeah, that mostly my Youtube or if any through my youtube you could also find my newsletter if you ever want to sort or my website to find my newsletter if you want to sort of keep up on a more regular basis.

45:21.65 developershangout Awesome! Yeah so I'll make sure to put all of those in the show notes I'll put link to your youtube channel and the sccrimba course which the sccrimba course is really good and everyone should just check it out if you've got a few spare hours floating around. Um. And then when he opens his actual pay course you should also pay for that because it's really good because I pay for the last 1 and it was awesome. Um, so yeah, ah, thanks for coming on the show. Kevin I really appreciate you coming and hanging out. Um, and yeah, everybody at home. Make sure you subscribe through your podcast feed of choice and until next time.

45:40.62 Kevin Thanks.

45:54.82 developershangout See ya.