Work In Progress: Recent Episodes
Minh Pham
Software Engineering is a confusing trade. You code all day and speak the language of 1's and 0's to the machines that power our modern world. ...At least that's what you were told. In reality, engineering is a people practice and with that comes all the joys and frustrations of interacting with real people. Join two experienced software engineers as they share all the ups and downs that come with coding for a living. At the end of the day software often resembles the authors that write them, they're works in progress.
People are hard! Sometimes you end with the right folks, many other times you just don't. In this episode, Alan and Minh dive into what it's like to hire someone who didn't pan out the way you hoped. Everyone has a role to play, and its incredibly important people take that seriously in to avert disaster.
Has your current role not quite lived up to the expectations you thought it would? What are your options? In this episode, we explore some of them. Go for the jugular Earning the trust of your peers Be an agent of change Quit your job
Interviewing Common styles of technical interviews Those dang Trees Telling stories Genuine Curiosity Cat Meows :D
Topics that came up in this episode: Green field vs brown field projects Starting from scratch vs legacy Your code will be looked down upon by future engineers, and yourself Appreciate your product folks and those that drive company vision Mmm, spaghetti
Topics that came up in this episode: Leadership / Management as a career direction Forrest Gump and Expectations "Resources" School and how it colored our views on responsibilities Sisyphus and the boulder of software development
What is with the world now? Everything seems to be as insane as ever and today we just take a deep breath to chat about some of it. Back by popular demand - watercooler chat episode 2! We talk big tech, parler, gamestonks, and more! Note: We are not financial advisors, We just like the stock, 💎 🤲
From Engineer to Management. Many software engineers find themselves facing this very transition at some point in their career. Whether by choice or by necessity, its a decision not to be taken lightly. In this episode we talk to Bobby Morgan and his experiences going through that exact experience. Special Guest: Bobby Morgan.
Renewed discussions around Technology and it's intricate interaction with free speech has been spurred by recent events. Alan and I spend some time discussing the role that technology has within our evolving society, and what responsibility we have as the technologists that enable this new world. Note: We are not presenting any particular political party, affiliations, or view points - rather we take the perspective of humans tasked to build and contribute to the diverse ecosystem of technology that drives our modern world. We hope our discussion spurs some interesting thoughts for you!
Our guest this episode is Patrick Isaac who hosts his very own podcast: Learn Stuff by Patrick Isaac (https://learnstuffpodcast.sounder.fm/) Twitter: @_patrickisaac (https://twitter.com/_patrickisaac?lang=en) Instagram: @_patricisaac (https://www.instagram.com/_patrickisaac/?hl=en) He's an avid dancer, a life long learner, and a career switcher. We dive into his background, what made him who he is, and how he continues to live out his passions while also pivoting careers into tech. As an engineer, he's got fresh perspectives on the challenges of the field, and as a career switcher, he's got plenty of words of wisdom for fellow humans wondering if a professional switch is in their near future. Special Guest: Patrick Isaac.
What is Software Engineering? We break this down into: Software, and it's constituent science - computer science, and Engineering, which we define as the practice of applying science to solve problems. If you've ever wondered whether you'd enjoy a career in software or tech, this is the episode for you. We dive into common activities and not so commonly discussed paths that a prospective student might be able to look forward to. Some resources mentioned in the episode regarding trying software engineering, specifically, development: - https://www.learn-js.org/ - http://jsforcats.com/ - https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Developer-Practices-ebook/dp/B00JDMPOK2/ref=sr11
Please welcome the Work In Progress podcast's first guest: Jeff Weiss! Jeff comes to us from a storied career spanning over 20 years. In this episode, Jeff shares interviewing tips as well as his perspectives on what makes engineers successful. If you enjoyed his perspectives, Jeff is always open to sharing his wisdom. Tweet at us! WIP Podcast (https://twitter.com/_WIPPodcast) Jeff Weiss (https://twitter.com/JeffWeiss) Jeff's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffweiss/) Special Guests: .
For the last episode of the year, we're having a very frank watercooler chat about some of the thoughts and struggles we're still going through. It's a shorter episode, and we hope you enjoy a slightly different kind of conversation. This is the last episode we're publishing for the year - We'll be taking some time off to recharge creatively and episodes will resume in the first week of January. We've got brand new stuff lined up that we're super excited to share with you. Between now and then, hit us up on twitter (http://twitter.com/_WIPPodcast)! Let us know what you want to see! Referenced in the Episode: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555)
In any sort of endeavor, it's always worthwhile to stop and think about how you got to where you're at. In the industry, we have a process for this and it's called a Retrospective. While we don't necessarily go through a full-fledged retrospective process, Alan and I spend a bit of time thinking about the things that got us where we are with the show. On that topic, we want to thank everyone who's given us a listen and provided feedback. This learning process has been incredibly fun and rewarding, and the biggest factor of that is our listeners. Please continue to let us know what you enjoy and what you want to hear more of, but also let us know the ways we can improve. The show's always been a Work In Progress, and we, ourselves, are no different. Bonus: Spotify's Retro Toolkit (https://engineering.atspotify.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/12/retro-kit3.pdf) in case you want to conduct a retrospective of your own!
What's it really mean to be a mentor to someone? What should you look for in a good mentor? When do you know it's time to find one? While mentorship is commonly talked about in professional development, it can be quite a confusing topic. For one, how do you even know when you're ready to be a mentor? These questions and more can often muddy the waters for prospective learners and teachers alike. In this episode we explore what mentorship means to us and how we've experienced it in our lives. Furthermore, we share what we believe can lead to successful mentor/mentee relationships and ways to seek them out. In the episode, Minh refers to Simon Sinek's description of Mentorship - check out Simon's original comments below Simon Sinek: What Mentorship Really Means (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VngMzRhLYFs)
Start off on the right foot, and stay in the driver's seat! New starts can be really scary. You have new teammates, new processes, and brand new expectations. How do you navigate all that in order to be successful? How do you know you're doing the right things? How do you know you're succeeding? What if this is the first time you're working in this particular role? In this week's episode we cover all these questions and more as we take a look into how you can start off a brand new job - being in control. Additional Episode Notes: Alan's new job Checklist (https://gist.github.com/alnguyen/a008f84a151dc6de0695e0252b83d93c)
Burnout is a real problem. More and more young people are experiencing the fatigue and exhaustion associated burning out at their day jobs. In this episode we talk about what actions you can take to stave off burnout. More importantly, we discuss techniques and mindsets to have that can drastically change the makeup of your environment such that certain factors simply don't exist. Taking action is not meant to remove the responsibility of preventing burnout from your organization's leadership, but rather it is to give individuals a sense of capability in contributing to the positivity of their environments.
Burnout is one of the leading causes of employees leaving behind their old jobs. In this episode we talk about what burnout is, and share our own stories of burnout. We talk what causes it, why it affects everyone, and some early warning signs to keep an eye out for.
In this episode, we explore the idea of imposter syndrome, how it shows up, and how do we handle it? Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". We jump into a discussion about how this affects us as engineers and managers. As we discuss how to mitigate these feelings of uncertainty, we explore small things you can do immediately in order to make an impact for yourself and your teams and learn that feedback isn't to make you feel bad.
In this episode we start by exploring our own interviewing experiences lately. We jump into a discussion about business context and what it means to have to develop that for any given position. As we talk about the importance of business context we also touch on what it means to put effort towards curating that sort of context.
Start with Why We take a quick dive into motivations behind why we, Minh and Alan, decided to go into software. Like many, we came from humble beginnings and we share stories and perspectives of our own growth through this industry.
We're Alan Nguyen and Minh Pham - two software engineers who've got stories to tell and insights to share! Everywhere you look there's plenty of talk about the latest technology craze or heated debate over age-old "holy war" topics like spaces vs tabs. Instead of adding to that conversation, we're here to talk about the humans behind the machines, and the experiences they go through in this wild journey of engineering.
Senior Engineer commonly represents the goal for many a software engineer. Some view this as the official "point" at which you've made it. But what does that actually entail? What attributes go into achieving the Senior title? Are there consistencies between companies looking for seniors? We talk about our experiences with all these questions and more. If you felt we missed anything let us know!