The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Lessons from 10k hours of programming (Remastered) (Interview)

Oct 17, 2024

Matt Rickard, a software developer known for his blog on 10,000 hours of programming, teams up with Kurt Mackey, CEO of Fly.io. They dive into the significance of dedicating substantial time to coding, sharing personal insights and experiences. The conversation highlights the challenges of public cloud deployments and introduces Fly.io as a solution. They also discuss lessons on software configuration, emotional ties developers have with their code, and the importance of community in mastering programming. Expect practical advice and engaging anecdotes!

01:23:19

Creator website

Episode guests

Kurt Mackey

Matt Rickard

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deliberate practice through 10,000 hours of coding is essential for mastering programming skills and gaining valuable insights from experience.

Simplifying deployment processes and reducing complexities in cloud services can significantly enhance developer productivity and encourage innovation.

Cross-collaboration across different programming communities can lead to improved software development practices by integrating best practices and innovations from various fields.

Deep dives

Reflection on Mastery through Practice

Deliberate practice in coding is essential for attaining mastery, often quantified as around 10,000 hours of writing code. This duration aligns with Malcolm Gladwell's assertion from 'Outliers' regarding achieving expertise in a skill. Matt Rickard’s own journey reflects over 15 years of programming experience, including extensive contributions to open source projects like Kubernetes. By documenting his insights, he aims to offer guidance on the mistakes he's made along the way, reinforcing the principle of learning from experience.

Intro

2min

Rethinking Public Clouds: Developer-Centric Solutions

3min

Mastery Through 10,000 Hours of Programming

5min

The Heptagon of Configuration: Navigating Software Flexibility

19min

Securing Open Source: Lessons from XZUtils

8min

Navigating Code Dependencies and Learning Practices

19min

Unlocking Universal One: Speech AI Innovation

5min

Emotional Connections and Code Practices

22min

Reflections on Mastering Software Development

2min

This week we’re going back in time to one of our top performing shows of all time where we talk with Matt Rickard about his blog post Reflections on 10,000 Hours of Programming. These reflections are about deliberately writing code for 10,000 hours. Most don’t apply to beginners. He was clear to mention that these reflections are purely about coding, not career advice or soft skills. If you count the reflections we cover on the show and be the first to comment the amount of reflections on this thread in Zulip, we’ll give you a coupon code to use for a 100% free t-shirt from the merch store. Good luck…

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Featuring:

Matt Rickard – Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
Jerod Santo – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

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