Beyond Coding

Connect with Alyona Volkova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvol Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/jW3xmo27144 New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:25 - Echo-free chambers00:01:00 - Calming yourself down00:03:15 - Overthinking things with public speaking00:05:29 - Recognising yourself in footage00:06:34 - Receiving compliments00:09:29 - Actively self-reflecting00:12:10 - Different ways to retain information00:15:05 - It all started with photoshop00:17:49 - Alyona's first real job as a developer00:20:40 - Moving from developing to design00:22:38 - Love for software engineering and design00:25:33 - Developers and designers understanding each other00:28:00 - Patrick's experience working with designers00:29:16 - Creative developers00:32:54 - Alyona's journey with mentorship00:36:23 - Fulfilment in mentoring00:37:43 - Long-term mentoring relationships00:38:59 - Mentees having similar challenges00:40:20 - Understanding the thought process00:42:20 - The right mindset00:43:41 - How to be a great mentor?00:46:08 - Pair designing and co-creating00:47:47 - Copying designs to learn00:50:18 - Tutorials and knowledge retention00:51:48 - Continuous learning and improving in mentoring00:53:30 - Past, present, future00:55:15 - Crossing paths00:57:18 - Mentoring has changed Alyona01:01:29 - Rounding off

Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/KtJILlRIPOc New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:29 - How do you manage your own expectations00:02:41 - If you could change one thing from the past, what would that be?00:05:37 - What is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?00:07:33 - Why did you transition from ops to development?00:11:54 - Applying to a new role00:15:45 - What languages are you learning?00:16:19 - Rehydrating...00:16:32 - What does it mean when someone says: you'll learn this on the job?00:18:19 - How much time do you get to learn on the job?00:19:25 - What to learn and how to progress with CSS00:21:32 - How many projects should my portfolio include?00:24:38 - Should a startup have in-house or outsourced developers?00:27:43 - What traits differentiate good vs. great developers?00:31:04 - How do you conduct an interview for a junior frontend role?00:34:01 - Do you have any tips for senior developers?00:37:16 - What interview questions do you ask?00:40:47 - Thank you for your questions!! :)

Connect with Georges de Boeck: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesdeboeck Blinkist article (called it Blender, oops): https://uxplanet.org/how-solving-our-biggest-customer-complaint-at-blinkist-led-to-a-23-increase-in-conversion-b60ad514134b Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/M1EkMTauIBU New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:22 - Preshow baby talk00:01:43 - How Georges got interested behaviour00:03:23 - Wrong expectations00:06:40 - Behavioural experiments to increase conversion00:09:26 - Georges's guerilla experiment00:11:41 - Interviewing customers00:13:06 - Usability testing is difficult but valuable00:14:58 - Letting go of your own opinion00:16:00 - Your ideas might not be feasible00:17:12 - Do we have too many processes?00:18:26 - Boundaries make solutions more challenging00:20:39 - Optimizing what you already have00:21:50 - Becoming a specialist00:23:39 - It's impossible to cancel my Hello Fresh subscription00:26:08 - Conscious reputational damage00:27:43 - Georges will never be a customer of this telecom provider again00:30:08 - Mindset buying lottery tickets00:31:18 - Blinkist increased conversion by focussing on customer problems00:33:42 - Company USPs that are contradicting what other companies are doing00:35:45 - Getting customers hooked just works00:36:50 - Pokémon Sleep is genius00:38:07 - Pokemon Go and gaming the system00:39:03 - How to do microtransactions right00:41:26 - Smart game design, but unethical00:44:09 - Georges's weakness in buying books00:45:54 - Companies selling your data00:48:45 - City design to drive behaviour00:51:50 - Experiments that create habits00:54:21 - Helping people and not making money00:56:15 - Choosing not to choose00:58:24 - Patrick got all his wisdom teeth pulled00:59:31 - Maybe I should've thought this through more...01:00:15 - Dutch habit of not going to the doctor and dentist01:01:47 - Final thoughts

Connect with Carlos Kelkboom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-k-4016b8225 Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/6QfyY9ffz6M New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:23 - YouTube recommendation system00:02:15 - Innovation on YouTube00:03:37 - Starting up something new00:05:12 - Disrupting your own organisation00:07:08 - Big companies should invest in disruption continuously00:08:52 - The start of a project00:11:29 - How important is it to build this?00:13:24 - Building the system three times00:14:54 - complexity and first time right00:17:08 - All you need is disciplined engineers00:19:43 - Architects can do more harm than good00:21:50 - Smaller teams00:23:28 - Not every team needs Scrum00:24:33 - Let engineers commit and then leave them alone00:25:48 - Processes that are not helping us00:28:19 - Using the right tool for the job00:32:17 - Ownership is moving to developer teams00:32:56 - The spirit of software development00:35:08 - How would you build something from scratch?00:37:59 - Trust and predictability00:39:38 - Control and fear00:42:00 - The dna of a tech company00:44:19 - Why tech companies have a playground in their office00:44:49 - Getting and keeping developers in a flow state00:46:30 - Stop projects that are not working00:49:49 - Stopping is hard00:50:21 - Why games release when they do00:50:35 - Prove it works in 10 days00:51:52 - The fulfilment of delivering value to users00:53:18 - How great developers work00:55:14 - How you become a senior developer00:57:35 - Downtime and execution00:58:42 - The determination to continue01:01:01 - Empathy and nudging01:03:42 - Carlos might start a contrarian podcast01:06:02 - Rounding off

Connect with Lian Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-li https://twitter.com/lianmakesthings https://lianmakesthings.dev Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/tuIxuiG2MIY New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:25 - Reminiscing about older videos00:02:46 - Standing on stage00:04:22 - The impact of developer advocacy00:06:04 - Measuring your impact00:10:09 - Transitioning to developer advocacy00:12:19 - What to focus on as dev rel00:14:32 - Discussions and disagreements00:16:21 - Creating a shared understanding00:18:29 - Lian's career choices and progression00:21:21 - Consultancy mindset00:22:58 - Under-promise over-deliver00:24:02 - Starting over with dev rel?00:26:09 - Lian's burnout00:30:39 - Recovering from a burnout00:32:58 - Timeouts and routine00:34:58 - Sleep in your running shoes00:35:44 - Living in pajamas00:36:03 - Remote working00:36:44 - Tourists in Amsterdam00:38:02 - Building a community00:40:59 - Teams and communities00:42:00 - Giving your thing away00:43:13 - Micromanaging and letting go00:45:36 - Tribal leadership00:48:04 - Behaviour while being stressed00:49:40 - Self awareness and triggers00:50:07 - All tech problems are human problems

Connect with Raphael de Lio:  ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaeldelio⁠  ⁠https://raphaeldelio.medium.com⁠ ⁠ https://www.youtube.com/c/raphaeldelio⁠ Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/aF7Pcvn0CdI New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:23 - YouTube channels and making videos00:03:10 - Giving advice and downsides00:06:43 - How Raphael got into content creation00:09:11 - Sibling Influence00:09:41 - Pivoting to tech content00:13:20 - Making videos vs. writing00:14:40 - Interaction on Medium and YouTube00:17:46 - Medium is changing their monetisation model00:20:10 - Tech newsletters00:23:16 - How Raphael got into Redis00:25:51 - Show Your Work00:27:58 - Learning through content creation00:30:24 - Focussing on different technologies00:33:06 - Saying goodbye to Redis00:34:11 - Raphael is always working on something00:35:46 - Drive and productivity00:37:42 - Retirement and fulfilment00:40:03 - The 4-Hour Workweek00:43:09 - Burnout and creating routines00:44:39 - Unlimited holidays the right way00:46:25 - Creating a mobile app to learn physics00:49:02 - An app that translates any word to any language00:50:30 - Accountability and expectations00:52:04 - Opportunities and awkward situations00:54:22 - Rounding off

Alessandro Vozza, a professional in open source and developer relations, shares his journey from chemistry to tech in Amsterdam. He dives into the importance of sustainable open source and the role of community in shaping the future of software. The conversation explores optimism in the age of AI and its potential to enhance lives. Alessandro discusses the significance of public speaking, storytelling, and authenticity within tech meetups, emphasizing how these connections enrich both personal and professional growth.

Connect with Victoria Ous: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaous Connect with David Giron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgiron Additional links: https://www.codam.nl/en https://tumo.org Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/5lo6atmVjWQ New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:37 - Codam has no teachers00:01:29 - How Victoria got involved with Codam00:02:11 - David and the 42 Network00:03:42 - Codam's educational model00:05:57 - What if students get stuck?00:06:59 - Feedback from graduates00:08:47 - Learning to learn00:10:29 - What is the role of education?00:12:19 - Knowledge, soft skills and mental health00:14:51 - Fail as many times as you need00:16:23 - Educational choices have consequences00:17:33 - The Dutch educational system filters people00:18:49 - The impact of teachers00:19:50 - Patrick's cousin studies dentistry in Armenia00:21:03 - Onboarding in Codam College00:24:27 - How the educational model works00:28:19 - The final project: The Internship00:31:58 - Student performance after Codam00:34:17 - The challenges of not being accredited00:38:05 - Free education00:39:44 - How long is the educational journey?00:41:01 - Alumni00:42:56 - Working with organisations00:45:34 - Applying the model to other topics00:48:19 - Lowering the age requirement00:50:05 - Tumo and dream based education00:52:23 - AI disruption and the future of education00:55:58 - ChatGPT and Codam00:57:33 - Rounding off

Connect with Rustam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustama Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/gmcmBJOAzXI New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:20 - Twice as Fit00:03:04 - Saints & Stars gym00:04:45 - Best time to work out00:06:43 - Nervous in front of camera's00:09:45 - Progress over perfection00:10:45 - What makes a great team lead00:13:58 - The most stressful weekend in Russtam's life00:16:10 - Everyone makes mistakes00:17:51 - The importance of leadership00:18:44 - Code monkeys00:20:51 - People problems00:21:28 - Rustam is creating team lead case study videos00:22:28 - Patrick's biggest career fuck-up00:25:08 - Safe environments to learn and make mistakes00:26:15 - Big feeling of relief00:27:07 - High sense of ownership and responsibility00:28:05 - Worry, dread and shame00:29:49 - Rustam is a perfectionist00:30:48 - Mistakes make better software engineers00:32:22 - Leadership and perspective00:34:08 - Combining leadership and technology00:36:09 - Great tech/team leads00:38:19 - Brilliant jerks00:42:28 - Never split the difference00:45:05 - Negotiating with familiy00:47:19 - Finding common ground00:48:45 - The safest environment00:51:53 - Digesting audio books00:54:13 - Books have similar concepts00:56:34 - Rounding off

Connect with Sabyasachi:  https://sabyasachisengupta.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabyasachi-sengupta-6505b5b Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/CZSJrCBge74 New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!   Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode! OUTLINE:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:30 - How Saby got into public speaking00:05:27 - Brother dynamics00:07:41 - Learning from mistakes00:09:44 - Upbringing and how it affects us00:11:36 - Alex's magic power00:12:20 - Joining Toastmasters00:14:42 - Patrick has trouble starting00:15:24 - A typical Toastmasters journey00:16:19 - First time on a big stage00:18:29 - Preparing so much, you look unprepared00:19:56 - Reviewing your own work00:22:49 - Factors you can't control00:25:54 - Master of ceremonies00:28:40 - Being really good on stage00:32:49 - Patrick's thoughts on great speakers00:33:54 - Alone time after public speaking00:37:40 - What makes a great public speaker00:41:07 - How to move an audience00:44:30 - Leadership and public speaking00:46:12 - Rounding off