#146 From Failing Programming Class to Senior Software Engineer with Tadas Petra
Oct 18, 2024
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Tadas Petra is a Senior Developer Advocate at Agora.io with a vibrant journey from embedded development to crafting mobile apps. He shares his experience as an immigrant from Lithuania, highlighting resilience and the value of adaptability. Tadas discusses the creative aspects of software development, the advantages of using Flutter, and the nuanced differences between mobile and web applications. He also reflects on his transition to YouTube and creating educational content, emphasizing community engagement and quality learning in tech.
Tadas Petra shares how his family's immigration journey shaped his resilience and values, teaching him the importance of perseverance and adaptability in life and career.
The conversation emphasizes the significance of continuous learning and not fearing failure, highlighting how personal growth stems from engaging in challenging environments.
Tadas discusses his transition to developer advocacy and content creation, showcasing how blending teaching with technology can enhance both personal skills and community engagement.
Deep dives
Embracing Learning and Growth
The conversation highlights the importance of not fearing the perception of looking foolish in front of others, stressing that personal growth comes from continuous learning. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about his family's tough immigration experience, which provides perspective on the trivial nature of workplace insecurities. This mindset facilitates a willingness to engage and inquire, even in challenging environments. The emphasis is placed on the idea that most people, including colleagues and supervisors, are generally supportive and willing to assist those eager to learn.
Tadis's Journey from Immigrant to Engineer
Tadis Petra's background as an immigrant from Lithuania to the U.S. at a young age is discussed, reflecting on the initial challenges faced by his family. After enduring a difficult transition with limited resources and language barriers, his family's story evolved into one of resilience and eventual success, symbolized by their move to a better neighborhood and his father's hard work as a handyman. These experiences have greatly influenced Tadis's personal and professional values, highlighting the importance of perseverance and adaptability. The discussion reveals how such formative years helped shape Tadis into a proactive learner and developer.
Navigating Education and Career Choices
Tadis illustrates the typical educational pathway he took, culminating in a degree in computer engineering. He discusses how his academic journey included fluctuating between different engineering disciplines but ultimately led him to computer engineering, spurred by his interest in math and technology. Tadis emphasizes the significance of making economical choices regarding education, choosing a more affordable university while still securing quality education. This pragmatic approach significantly reduced his financial burden and paved the way for his subsequent success in the tech industry.
First Job Experiences and Learning Under Pressure
The transition from academia to his first job at Navistar introduced Tadis to the realities of engineering in a rigorous environment. He recounts how he had to quickly adapt to writing C code, despite having minimal coding knowledge before beginning the job. The rigorous review processes in place for safety-critical software provided scant room for error, highlighting the importance of thorough testing and meticulous attention to detail. This foundational experience taught him critical skills and instilled a strong work ethic that has served him well throughout his career.
The Evolution to Developer Advocate
Tadis's pivot to a role as a developer advocate intertwined his passion for teaching with technology, positioning him to engage with others while continuing to grow his own skill set. He discusses how making instructional videos initially emerged as a creative outlet, allowing him to contribute to the Flutter community while deepening his own knowledge. Embracing the role of a developer advocate allowed him to merge his entertainment and technical insights, supporting new developers as they navigate their careers. This career shift exemplifies the value of adaptability and pursuing opportunities that resonate with personal passions.
Seeking Balance Between Curiosity and Practicality
The discussion touches on the importance of balancing curiosity with focus in a fast-changing tech landscape. Tadis acknowledges his tendency to chase new tools and frameworks, sometimes leading him down convoluted paths instead of focusing on mastering key technologies. He recognizes the joy that comes from building and creating but stresses that clarity is crucial to effectively leveraging such diverse interests. This understanding reinforces the idea that while experimentation and exploration are vital, harnessing one's curiosity towards meaningful output ultimately yields the best results.
On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Tadas Petra. He's a software engineer and a Senior Developer Advocate at Agora.io. After learning embedded development in university, he switched to building mobile apps. He's gone on to build dozens of mobile apps and create tutorials to help other devs learn Flutter and other mobile dev tools.
We talk about: - Immigrating to Chicago from Lithuania - The Computer Engineering he studied in school, and how it's different from building consumer mobile apps - His transition from Senior Dev to YouTube creator to Developer Advocacy - The overlap between mobile dev and web dev, and what he's learned from each
Can you guess what song I'm playing in the intro?
Also, I want to thank the 10,943 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
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Links we talk about during our conversation:
Tadas's History of freeCodeCamp video (20 minute watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5n1-hD-x5g
Tadas's video about how to control the lights in your house with Flutter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eib_62D-kSA
Tadas's course platform for learning cross platform app development with Flutter: https://www.hungrimind.com/
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