IT Career Energizer

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a software engineer working in Germany.  He has been working in the IT industry for seven years and has received multiple awards, including three from Microsoft.  He is also a keen photographer, a technology blogger and also has his own YouTube channel.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Energizer Podcast is the software engineer and MVP, Sibeesh Venu. He is currently working in Germany as a Full Stack Developer for medialesson GmbH. Despite having only been involved in the IT industry for seven years, Sibeesh is already a well-known tech writer and speaker. He has already become a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional three times. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.04) – So I really wanted to first ask you maybe if you could give us a little bit more about your background and tell us how you got into it. Sibeesh explains that when he left school he had no clear career direction in mind. So, on the recommendation of a friend, he went to engineering college. He got the qualification but had no job to go into. Sibeesh took a job at a local hotel. But, he soon realized the work was not for him and left after just 2 months. At that point, he decided to try IT, Sibeesh started by studying .NET. He moved to a new city and joined a startup company as an engineer. Later, he moved to Germany. (2.30) - How did you end up working in Germany? Sibeesh had always wanted to explore a new country. So, when he got the chance to work in Germany he made the move. (3.14) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Sibeesh says that it is important to always finish what you start, even if you find something really boring or very difficult you need to complete the project. That approach builds up your confidence fast and makes you more resilient. It teaches you that you are capable of pushing through regardless. (4.29) – Can you share with us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the past, Sibeesh has mistakenly joined companies where there was no place for his technical exposure or no chance to improve his knowledge. He ended up working with old languages in roles that offered him no job satisfaction. Sibeesh explains that you can only produce good work when you love what you are doing. His advice is not to waste valuable years doing a job you do not enjoy especially if it is one where you learn nothing new.  (5.34) – What was your best career moment? your greatest success. For the past six years, Sibeesh has been writing an award-winning tech blog. He has won the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award three times. An award that is given to someone who passionately shares what they know with the wider community. Winning this award brings many benefits. For example, MVP winners get early access to Microsoft products. They are also in direct communication with Microsoft and get to attend the annual MVP summit. (7.17) - Presumably by being a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, you get the opportunity as well to expand your network. Sibeesh agrees it has made networking a lot easier for him. Getting involved in meetups has also helped him to network more. (7.40) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The pace of change and the emergence of AI both excite Sibeesh. It is a challenging environment to work in because you can never be sure what is going to happen next. But, providing you keep your mind open and become a continuous learner you will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there. (8.47) – What attracted you to a career in IT? For Sibeesh it was simply the fact that his friend recommended that he give IT a try.  (9.15) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? One of Sibeesh’s mentors encouraged him to be a continual learner. Advice he took to heart and used to help him to quickly build a successful IT career. (9.30) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Sibeesh that “your job is important, not your satisfaction”. Sibeesh now understands that the opposite is true. Your satisfaction is more important than your job. If you are not satisfied in your work, you will achieve nothing. (10.04) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Sibeesh is passionate about and fascinated by the IoT movement. If he were to start his career again, that would be his focus. (10.38) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Sibeesh is working to make sure he stays within the MVP program. He is also working on building out an even stronger network. (10.58) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Writing is the non-IT skill that has advanced Sibeesh’s career the most. Blogging about whatever he learns has really paid dividends. (11.21) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Continuously learning helps to keep Sibeesh interested and motivated. He also finds being a mentor and mentee, at the same time, to be very energizing, career-wise. Being both sounds a bit strange, but Sibeesh has discovered that it really is possible to be both. (11.50) – Phil agrees, he says that it depends on where you are in relation to the other person in terms of knowledge. There is always going to be somebody ahead of you. But as you progress your career, there'll be more and more people that are at an earlier stage, which means that they can learn from you. (12.16) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Sibeesh has 2 YouTube channels which he spends quite a bit of time maintaining. On is IT related, but the other one is all about his experiences in Germany. He enjoys explaining to people how things work there. In particular, when he comes across something that is very different from what he is used to. Sibeesh is also a keen photographer. He enjoys taking photos and sharing his knowledge of that subject with others. (13.38) – Phil asks Sibeesh to share a parting piece of career advice with the I.T. Career Energizer audience. Sibeesh’s advice is to give back to the community. This helps you to build a strong network and motivates you to continue to learn. When it is time to change jobs the fact that you have done this will make things a lot easier. BEST MOMENTS: (3.33) SIBEESH – "Finishing what you start, no matter what, builds confidence and forces you to hone your skills." (5.07) SIBEESH – "You can do good work, only if you love it." (7.03) SIBEESH – "We live in a world where everything is changing. Yet, in the end, what matters is the people who know us and the people we know" (9.28) SIBEESH – "Keep learning, the one who stops learning is old." (10.03) SIBEESH – "Your satisfaction is more important than your job. If you are not satisfied you will achieve nothing." (11.31) SIBEESH – "I am a mentor and a mentee. A person can be both, at the same time."  (14.01) SIBEESH – "Giving it back to the community is the first step to building a strong network." CONTACT SIBEESH: Twitter: https://twitter.com/sibeeshvenu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sibeeshvenu/ Website: https://twitter.com/sibeeshvenu

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a Developer Advocate for Google Cloud Platform.  This gives her the opportunity to do silly things with lots of computers and to help developers build cool stuff on all sorts of platforms.   Previously she has worked in a variety of software roles, from robotics with NASA to developer advocacy for Google Glass.  She is also passionate about education, especially on the subjects of technology and science.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Jen Tong. She is currently working as a Developer Advocate for Google Cloud Platform. But, she started her career working on software. She has worked for NASA in the robotics field before working on Google Glass. Today, Jen works as a security advocate for Google Jen is passionate about astronomy. She has spent time coding for Project PANOPTES. That community project enables anyone to build a low-cost robotic telescope. She also enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.12) –  So Jen, just looking at your career history be very interesting to hear a little bit about the work you did with NASA with robotics and obviously more, more recently with Google Glass. Sadly, Jen was only with NASA for one summer. They were working on a robot that was to be part of the space station’s escape system. But, the project got canceled when NASA decided to take a different approach to the escape pod docking system. For the Google Glass project, Jen was mainly involved in building out the developer platforms. Her team’s aim was to make it as easy as possible for people to build applications for Glass. (2.32) – Can you give us a couple of examples? Some of the most interesting applications involved helping people with accessibility issues to find their way around the world. Developers with hearing and vision impairments were particularly active. They could see all sorts of possibilities for Google Glass. (3.04) - Do you feel that Google Glass has a bit of ahead of its time when it first came out? With emerging technology, it can take a while for it to find its place in the ecosystem. Jen is not involved in Google Glass, at the moment, but says that it appears to have found its place. (3.39) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? For years, Jen heard people saying that taking risks leads to great rewards and adventures. So she pushed herself and took risks. Sometimes things worked out well, other times, not so much. Initially, when things looked like they were moving in the wrong direction, Jen would hang in there. Now, she is not scared to quit. Her recommendation when going into something new is to review how things are going after a pre-set period of time. Then pause and ask yourself if the role really is for you. If it does not feel quite right, don’t be afraid to quit. Resist the temptation to give it one more month or another year.  (6.03) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Jen’s first IT related job was working for a semiconductor company as a process engineer. Her role was to split out the data for serial memory chips into a sequence of events. The job was not exciting, but she was learning a lot. More importantly, she was working with a fantastic team of people. She was only about 20 at the time, so their support was particularly important for Jen. But, when NASA offered a job it was too much to resist. She took the job. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be the dream job she thought it would be. She was no longer happy in her work life. That situation taught her the importance of periodically pausing and evaluating her career choices. Now, if she is not happy she moves on quickly. (8.10) – What was your best career moment? Working on Developer Relations of Google Glass was something Jen really enjoyed. At one hackathon they investigated how the glasses could be used by a team member who was completely blind. They came up with all sorts of viable applications. For example, placing QR codes on objects to warn of hazards. The glasses could pick up those codes and use the bone conducting speaker to discreetly notify the wearer of the danger. The visually impaired colleague they were working with could already see (feel) a lot of things using his cane. But, would occasionally walk into a low sign or something similar, because he had no way of knowing the objects were at his head height. The QR codes solved that problem.  (10.18) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that more people than ever before are learning to code is exciting. As people from different backgrounds get more involved in IT, a whole new ecosystem is opening up. (11.33) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jen got sucked into the world of IT partly because she wanted to be able to cheat on video games. A task that was not easy in the 80s and 90s. Without realizing it, her quest to complete more game levels lead to her reverse engineering the code. She did not have the source code but was able to make changes using the hex editor. (12.20) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Jen says the best advice she has received cannot really be summed up in one line. You need to recognize the two main styles of IT career and decide which one is right for you. Some people are suited to digging deep into a subject and becoming a specialist. That approach usually turns out to be very lucrative. In particular when you become one of the go-to people for that technology. But, it is not for everyone. Luckily, the other approach the journalist route also works. It is easier to find more opportunities and working in that way is enriching. (12.59) – On the flip side, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Again, Jen does not have a specific one-liner to share. But, comments that the idea that women are not good at tech is definitely not true. So, you should definitely not listen to that argument and let it hold you back. (13.30) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jen would take an emerging platform and find, new and innovative ways to apply it to business.  (13.54) - So you like the idea of using innovation for disruption? Jen likes the idea of using tech to do something new and unusual. Sometimes the emerging platform you choose will not become widely used. If that happens there is no need to be too concerned. Using new tech to solve real-life challenges is the best way to learn and make a difference. (14.40) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Jen is pivoting towards working on making software safer and more secure. As software touches more areas of our lives security becomes an increasingly important issue.  (15.30) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Learning to express her ideas clearly, is a skill that has proved to be invaluable for Jen.  (15.54) - So communicating your ideas? How do you do that? Is it verbal, visual or a combination of all those things? Usually, it is a combination of the two. Jen is careful to empathize with the person or audience she is presenting or speaking to. This drives the format she uses. Sometimes a verbal presentation combined with a few slides will work best. Other times, designing a small game to demonstrate the issue and her solution works. It can be a good way to tease out more information about the problem from the customer or audience. (16.58) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jen finds teaching keeps her energized. She is lucky enough to be able to do this in both formal and informal settings. Jen particularly enjoys working with artists on installation art projects. They are always coming up with new ways to use technology. (17.39) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jen is very aware of the fact that working in tech is hard on the body. So, she is careful to take time out to do something fun and physical. For Jen, at the moment, that means ice hockey and aerial silks. She also enjoys wandering around cities exploring. (18.12) – Phil asks Jen to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Should you find yourself in a bad situation where you feel miserable change things. Don’t waste energy worrying about whose fault it is or how you got there. Instead, focus on getting out of that situation and learning from it. BEST MOMENTS: (4.29) JEN – "It is OK to quit." (10.18) JEN – "I always love it when people use tech in ways I didn't anticipate." (13.30) JEN – "Find an emerging platform and apply it to business areas that people aren't normally using it for." (15.47) JEN – "I can have the greatest ideas, but if I can't present them clearly they will stay stuck in my mind and not help anyone." (17.50) JEN – “I try to optimize my time away from technology by doing fun things that helped me stay fit." CONTACT JEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MimmingCodes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimming/ Website: https://mimming.com/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a world-class software practitioner and business coach, consultant, and trainer.   He is an author, keynote speaker and a globally recognized expert in software development and delivery improvement, particularly using Agile, Scrum and other Lean-Agile thinking and approaches.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Neil Killick. He is a Len/Agile software product development practitioner, who also coaches. Over the years, he had used Lean, Agile and Scrum working methods in most of his roles. Currently, he is working as a consultant with a focus on digital business and UX analysis. He works to foster great team practices and deliver software flawlessly. Neil is also an experienced keynote speaker. He has delivered talks at Agile events, across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – Can you please tell us about your involvement and focus on Agile, Scrum and so forth. How did you get into that? Right from the start of his programming career, Neil had naturally worked in a way that fitted in with Agile. So, when 15 years into his career he came across Agile principles adopting them was really easy for him. His interest in Agile coincided with him taking on a programming role in a Scrum team. So his interest in Agile and Scrum started around the same time. (2.35) - So do you see yourself as a bit of an evangelist when it comes to Agile and Scrum and Lean and so forth? At the start, that was probably the case. Naturally, Neil still writes about those topics and gets quite heavily involved in problem-solving for practitioners. Today, he is more of an advocate than an evangelist for those working methods.  (3.52) – When we were chatting earlier you also mentioned, it's about the outcome as much as anything else. Neil agrees that is true. He started his IT career with IBM, which meant that, right from the start, he was used to solving problems for customers. Neil has never simply implemented what was passed down the chain. He has always tried to first fully understand the problem his customer is trying to solve. When he started working in the IT industry programmers were expected to analyze the problem and come up with the solution before sitting down and starting to program. Ironically, the rise of Agile has resulted in developers being kept apart from customers. Business analysts look at the issue then tell the programmer what is needed. (4.56) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Neil’s advice is to experience as many ways of working, languages, and platforms as possible. You have to grow to stay relevant when working in the IT industry. He has moved around a lot in his career. The maximum time he has spent working anywhere is about 3 1/2 years. This approach has ensured he is always learning and never gets bored. His advice is for others to do the same. Or, if they do want to stay with a single company to step up and take on other roles. Simply, drifting along, doing the same thing is not going to be good for your career. Periodically, you need to pause, think about what you are doing and change things up as soon as your career starts to stall. That can easily happen without your realizing it. Often, it is not because of laziness on your part. Sometimes the needs of the business nudge you into this situation. Either way, it does not matter. You need to get out of that rut and keep on learning. (9.11) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Over the decades, Neil has worked in all sorts of businesses, including quite a few startups. For the most part, this has worked out well for him. But, he did make a serious mistake, at one point in his career and ended up working for a firm that lacked direction. They spent a lot of money on hiring the very best developers but kept on switching focus. As a result, Neil and his team would frequently be part way through a project only to be told to throw it all away and start again. This way of working was frustrating for everyone. Inevitably, it ended up creating a toxic work environment. The developers ended up never actually producing anything. This was because the leadership kept canceling things. But, somehow that was forgotten and the development teams started to be seen in a negative light. To solve the perceived “problem” a team of traditional project managers was bought in. Ten minutes into the first hands-on meeting, the Agile way of working was scrapped. Worse than that, the decision had clearly been made before the first meeting was held. Within a few minutes of the start of the meeting a Word document was produced which said in the first paragraph, Agile working was a waste of time. They moved to a task-oriented working method. This turned some team members into product owners. While some became testers and the rest wrote the code. Effectively the cross-functional team they once were was broken down into silos. Suddenly, they were people who worked independently of each other. They no longer had an overview of the entire project. Inevitably, they ended up butting heads rather than working as a cohesive whole, so productivity suffered even more. Fairly quickly, the firm stopped paying superannuation. Not long after that, salary payments stopped too. Yet, they were still hiring new personnel. Initially, they paid those new workers. All firms and projects have their ups and downs. But, for Neil, that situation was the worst experience of his career. If something similar were to happen now, Neil would be able to see it coming and move on before things got too bad. But, at the time, he was relatively young and new to the industry. These days, he can tell when management is hiding things from their workforce. So, can easily work out when it is time to move on. (15.16) – What was your best career moment? Neil has been working in the IT industry for 23 years and has been lucky enough to have quite a few great experiences. But, his favorite moment was when, in the early 2000s, he was part of a team that delivered one of the earliest viable trip planners. One that took into account traffic flows to provide accurate journey estimation times. He really enjoyed the field work. Getting out there to test routes to work out what data was relevant when working out trip times was fascinating. Many of the standards they came up with are still used today. Neil enjoyed the work and working with people who were smarter than him. It felt great to have complete autonomy and to be left to solve the problems as they saw fit. Without a work environment like that, they would not have been able to innovate as much as they did.  (19.02) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there are so many different roles available is what excites Neil the most about the IT industry. Technology now touches every part of every business. IT techs are no longer the weird geeks that work in the back office. They are there at the forefront of the business, working as part of every internal team. Nowadays, you learn about how the business works. You are no longer confined to sitting in the corner programming. It is a change that is also opening up the world of IT to more people. The industry is recognizing that diverse development teams make sense. So, men, women, young, old and people from all cultures are all valued and sought out by the industry. (22.55) – What drew you to a career in IT? When he was a kid, his dad bought Neil a BBC Microcomputer. He soon became proficient enough in BBC BASIC to write a snooker program. So, for Neil, pursuing a career in IT was a natural progression. It enabled him to follow his childhood passion. (23.52) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Neil says that when he became a program manager, a friend of his warned him not to accept too many meeting invites. He explained to Neil that he would be bombarded with invites, but, should resist the temptation to do what most people did and say yes to them all. It was vital that he made doing his job a priority. Neil has worked for dozens of firms and is surprised by how often attending meeting after meeting is worn as a badge of honor. It is not an efficient way of working. If you are in meetings most of the day, doing your job properly is impossible.  (25.45) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Neil explains that he would follow the advice that he gives to graduates and people who are looking for internships. People who are at that stage of their careers need to take on roles that expose them to as many experiences as possible. Once they start work, they need to identify people whose work you can follow and learn from. That does not necessarily mean sitting down and formally asking them to be your mentor. You just need to take an interest in what they are doing, how they work and ask plenty of questions to be able to learn from them. It is also important to get on with things and actually do the work. Doing is the only effective way to learn. You have to accept and be ready for the fact that, at first, you are going to suck at it. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. It is very important to accept that and not let it put you off. Failing or doing things badly, initially, is part of everyone’s growth journey. (30.22) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being empathetic is vital when you work in IT. Empathy enables you to put yourself into the shoes of the people you are working with and for. This is vital for success. Taking this approach ensures that you are giving people what they really need instead of simply following a set of instructions. You are constantly thinking about the impact what you are doing is having on your end customers. Empathy makes you a better colleague and manager. It enables you to create a work environment that is conducive to success. When you are empathetic with your workforce it ensures that you never push them too hard. That, in turn, means that everyone can work to the best of their ability and consistently produce exceptional results. Everyone can develop the skill of empathy. Neil believes humility is a useful skill to have too. But, he realizes that this is more of a personality trait than anything. So, developing it is not something everyone can do as easily as they can with empathy, (32.06) – Phil asks Neil to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Neil says that you need to be humble about what we know. It is all too easy to see yourself as an expert in something and end up dismissing other people’s view on things as a result. We all have a tendency to evangelize and try to change people’s minds to better fit in with our way of thinking and doing things. In the past, Neil has made this mistake. He, like many in the Agile community, has tended to think that if people are not working in the Agile way they are not working efficiently. Today, he realizes that thinking like that is not productive. Now, he is careful to sit down with an open mind, learn about how others work, so, he can see the merits and understand their approach. Looking at things in this way enables him to quickly identify how he can help to improve things. Those potential changes and improvements can then be discussed in a respectful way. Neil is very careful not to try to push people into working the way he does. He guides instead of simply telling. BEST MOMENTS: (3.47) NEIL – "I'm a big advocate of Agile thinking, Agile mindset and Agile ways of working." (6.29) NEIL – "Just immerse yourself in as many experiences as you can, in your career" (7.42) NEIL – "Keep looking and keep striving for growth." (17.46) NEIL – "Surround yourself by people who are smarter than you, because that's how you grow and learn new things." (25.26) NEIL – "Only accept meeting invites if it's very clear what the purpose is, and it's actually going to be a value add for them and for you." (26.45) NEIL – "The only way that we can get experiences in things is to actually just go and do it." (31.15) NEIL – "We need to be able to put ourselves in the shoes of other people in every aspect of our work." (35.23) NEIL – “Nowadays, the best traits are humility and empathy, because we are working with people. We are no longer just the geeks in the corner," CONTACT NEIL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/neil_killick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkillick/ Website: https://www.neilkillick.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show was an early pioneer of Web Standards, writing a best-selling book on the subject of CSS.  He then went on to found Clearleft, arguably the first dedicated UX consultancy in the UK.   He also set up dConstruct, the UK’s first digital design conference, and UX London, the country’s first dedicated UX conference.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Andy Budd is a renowned Design Leader and agency CEO. He started his IT career working as a designer. During his early career, Andy became a pioneer in the field of Web Standards. At that point, he published his first book – CSS Mastery. Over 14 years ago, he co-founded Clearleft, one of the UK’s first dedicated User Experience consultancies. In 2015, he set up the dConstruct conference, which was held for 10 years. It was the first design conference to be run, in the UK. He is also the founder and curator of Leading Design. That annual conference improves design leadership and management. Andy speaks at these and many other conferences that are held across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – The first thing I wanted to ask you really was about how you transitioned from the web standards and the CSS aspect or your IT work to founding Clearleft. Andy as a natural transition, and goes on to describe how it happened. He started his working life as a flash coder, creating games. From there, he discovered CSS. When he did he realized almost immediately that separation of presentation and content was the way to go. Baked into this were standards around accessibility and usability. Andy was an early adopter of web standards. He had the 3rd table list website in the UK. He got together with two other early standards geeks to found Clearleft. At the time he was already creating controlled vocabularies, working with information architecture, usability testing and much more besides. So, he was one of the first people, in the UK, to take care of user experience, rather than just making a site look pretty. For the first few years, it was hard to get clients. Nobody could understand why it took them twice as long to deliver a website and why the fees were higher. In time, that changed. Now, UX design is the norm. (4.48) – Phil comments that at the time Andy set up Clearleft, a lot of people would not have known much about UX. So, he asks Andy how big a part of educating people about education was to making Clearleft a success. Andy agrees educating potential clients about usability was important. But he goes on to say that the fact people had never really thought much about UX before was also a superpower. Nobody else was really doing it. As a result, as soon as firms began to wake up to the importance of UX Clearleft grew really quickly. This was especially the case when companies moved away from using websites solely for marketing. Once, they started to use their sites to sell things and transactions were involved the functionality of the website became far more important. (6.11) Phil asks if the introduction of new devices like iPads and SmartPhones has changed the approach to UX at all. Andy responds by saying that the tools have changed. But, the underpinning philosophy hasn’t really changed. The underlying problem-solving principles remain the same. However, the introduction of smartphones had an impact in another way. Mobile sites had to be slicker and better designed. At that point, a lot of companies woke up to how ugly, clunky and old-fashioned their main sites were. When they saw how good a website could look and what an effective sales tool that type of site was a lot of firms wanted to re-design their original websites. (7.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Andy explained that for him no single thing led to his success. His approach has to continually review what he is doing and make little course corrections. But, he does say that working in a company where you are not the best at what you do is a good idea. It ensures that you are continually challenged and stretched. You need to be a continual learner and have a beginner’s mindset. This ensures that you learn new tools. If you do not, your knowledge becomes stale. At some point, those tools are going to become obsolete. When that happens, you are stuck. (10.32) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Andy has been very lucky career-wise. So, could not think of anything he would categorize as a bad career moment (11.47) – What was your best career moment? Andy has had a lot of great moments in his career. His first speaking gig went really well, so that was a highlight. Meeting Jesse James Garrett from Adaptive Path was also a great career moment. He was sat next to him at a book signing at SXSW South by Southwest. His work has also led to him traveling the world, which Andy has clearly enjoyed doing. Plus, over the years, he has worked with some fantastic clients. Spending time in Copenhagen working with Nordic Region Banks was a highlight for Andy.  Working with Zappos was also exciting. (13.38) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Andy is fascinated by the rise of artificial intelligence. He believes that in the next decade or so, AI means that things are going to get really exciting. About two years ago, Andy realized he was a bit out of the loop when it comes to AI. Rather than read a bunch of books about it, he decided to pull a diverse group of people together to discuss where AI could take them. The result was really interesting. It is clear that the landscape is changing drastically. AI will lead to wide-scale automation. As that happens, jobs are going to disappear and be replaced by others. So, people are going to have 2 or 3, maybe 4, careers in a lifetime. That is why it is so important to be a continual learner. Some talk about there being a 4th industrial revolution. Regardless, these changes are going to create winners and losers, but it will also be exciting. Andy states that we are already moving away from hand coding using a traditional text interface. Coding is set to become more visual, with developers acting more like curators and editors than creators. (16.57) – What drew you to a career in IT? As a child, Andy enjoyed using the BBC Micro and Spectrum computers. While other kids were out playing football, he was learning to code. He thinks that his interest in sci-fi and love of reading gave him a curious mind, which is why he was drawn to all things tech. But, he did not realize that he could turn what he viewed as a hobby into a career. Nobody, in his family or circle, was involved in the IT industry. So, he was not exposed to the possibilities. After university, he did an aeronautical engineering degree. To do that he had to learn how to use CAD, which he really enjoyed and quickly became good at. Once he had finished his engineering degree, he went traveling for 6 to 7 years. During that time, he started to use internet cafes to communicate with friends at home and research his next destination. One day, while he was in one of these cafes he saw a guy building his own web page. He was creating a travel blog. Later, he met a web designer. He worked for 6 months and traveled for 6 months. Andy decided that he wanted to do the same. In 1999, he arrived back in the UK, bought a Pentium 486 and learned HTML and how to code. To do this he turned to several sources. One of which was a website called Ask Dr. Web, which was run by Jeffrey Zeldman. In time, he became a friend on Andy’s. It was him that inspired him to learn CSS, which eventually led Andy to where he is today. (21.25) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When Andy set up his IT business he read a book called E-Myth. It contained one great piece of advice which was to make sure that you are working on your business, not in it. That means you need to hire people to do the day to day tasks for you, so you can be free to grow your business. He also explains that you need to see your career as a journey. You have to see it as a business and treat it that way. (22.24) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? You need a business plan is no longer good advice. It is no longer necessary. (23.52) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Andy states that when he got started in the design industry the bar was much lower. The tools and sites were so basic that it was not that hard to compete. You could easily get in at the bottom end of the market building sites for local businesses. Now big providers like Shopify and SquareSpace make it possible for people to put together fantastic sites without employing a technical person. (26.52) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Andy’s focus is on helping others to unlock the power of the web. He is very appreciative of what IT pioneers have done to enable him to succeed. So, he wants to pay it forward and help others. (19.16) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Andy is a keen and experienced diver. In fact, he is a dive instructor. That role taught him the importance of becoming a good communicator. You are working in a dangerous environment, so you need to communicate effectively with your students. If you do not, it can be disastrous. Learning to be a good communicator has ended up helping his IT career in many different ways. (31.01) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Andy works as a servant leader. He is a boss who is very focused on helping others to energize and progress their careers. Taking that approach has had a positive impact on his career too. It helps to keep him motivated and keeps his team engaged and contributing. (31.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Andy’s IT role takes him all over the world. Whenever he can, he incorporates a bit of leisure time onto his business trips. Doing this provides him with the chance to continue to explore new countries and cultures. Andy also loves good food. So much so, that he has made it his mission to eat at every one of the top 50 restaurants in the world before he is 50. He is really enjoying completing that mission. He still dives a lot and has recently tried cave diving. Andy has also got into bouldering, which is indoor climbing. He says it is a lot more fun than going to the gym. Participating in the sport has virtually cured the RSI he has picked up from his constant mouse usage. This is because climbing stretches and strengthens the muscles in the hands and arms. More importantly, it works the opposite muscle groups from the ones used while working with a keyboard and mouse. Bouldering is very popular with the IT crowd. A lot of it is about problem-solving. Planning your route and working out what techniques and hacks to use is all part of the fun.  (36.02) – Phil asks Andy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you work in the design industry, you need a killer portfolio. A CV that shows career progression also helps. But, when someone is hiring a designer they want evidence of what you are able to do. If you are claiming to be a UX designer you have to demonstrate that fact. For example, when hiring, Andy wants to see photos from user research sessions, as well as interactive, paper-based and animated prototypes. If someone claims they can do information architecture, he wants to see sitemaps, content audits and controlled vocabularies. BEST MOMENTS: (4.34) ANDY – "These days, saying you’re a UX designer is like saying you breathe air or drink water. It’s just what all of us do." (5.45) ANDY – "Our clients quickly realized the benefits of not just making a pretty website, but making something that actually delivered business results." (8.27) ANDY – "It's always better to work in a company where you are not the best at the thing you do." (15.31) ANDY – "We're moving towards a kind of visual coding. I think we're moving much more towards being curators, and editors rather than creators" (22.53) ANDY – "It's important for you to be working on your business, not just in it."  (36.07) ANDY – "For the design industry, having a killer portfolio is everything." (37.34) ANDY – "A really good resume should be backed with a powerful portfolio that demonstrates that you can do these things."   CONTACT ANDY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/andybudd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/ Website: http://www.andybudd.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show set up a software company while studying for a Ph.D. in Plant Science.  He has since worked for a number of companies at Group IT Manager and CTO level as well as immersing himself in the world of Social Software acting as a Social Media consultant.   More recently he completed an almost eight-year stint leading Green Monk, the clean tech, energy and sustainability practice of industry analyst firm Red Monk, before joining SAP as Global Internet of Things Evangelist.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Tom Raftery is a well-known IT innovator. He became involved in the industry at a time when computers were still not widely used. Tom set up a business teaching early-adopters how to use the power of computers. Later, his firm moved into software, gaming and web development. After a while, Tom took that expertise and put it to use by working at CTO level for several businesses and organizations. In the early 2000s, he ran his own Social Media consultancy. He became SAP’s Global VP. Today, he is their Futurist and Innovation Evangelist. Tom is also an accomplished public speaker, an experienced teacher, and an IT consultant. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.17) – You obviously set up your first software company while you're doing your Ph.D.? First of all, did you complete your Ph.D.? And what was that software company you set up? Tom confirms that he was unable to complete his Ph.D. He got distracted when he realized what an IT career had to offer him. Interestingly, it all started when his biology professor insisted that everyone hand in their 3rd-year project in a digital format. At the time there was only one computer in the department. It was slow and you had to save everything to 51/4 inch floppy discs. The queue to use it was always a long one. Around the same time, he got a check from HMRC. He had worked in the UK for a couple of summers and ended up with a tax rebate. Rather than fritter the money away he bought a 2nd hand Mac and a Dummies book called the Mac Bible and learned how to use it. That was it, he was hooked. At that stage, completing his biology Ph.D. stopped being his priority. Instead, he asked the university if they would like him to provide computer training for the undergraduates. They said yes, and his IT career was born. He dropped his Ph.D. and set up a computer company called Zenith Solutions and worked on that full-time. At first, he offered training. But, eventually ended up creating bespoke software. They also built websites. In time, they moved into working at the front end with databases. The firm also produced a game written in wml for Nokia. It was the first mobile phone game to be developed in Ireland. His company was always ahead of the curve. Eventually, they merged with another company. At that point, he gained experience of converting a system on access to one that ran on a sequel server, which they then front-ended. Later he set up his own social media consultancy. Then set up a data center with a friend, which is still in existence today. Tom is very proud of the fact that it has one of the lowest latency connections from Europe to North America. In 2008, he moved to Spain and ended up working for Red Monk as an open source industry analyst. A job he clearly enjoyed. Later, he led their energy and sustainability practice, which is called Green Monk. In 2016, he blogged about the fact he was leaving and said he was interested in starting a new IT adventure. That is when Tesla and SAP both got in touch. He realized SAP was a better fit for him, so joined them. A decision which proved to be the right one for him. (9.49) - It sounds like your career history hasn't really been in one focused area you've moved about you've tried different things. Tom agrees. He gets bored if he stands still. So, is always looking forward and getting involved with new innovations. (10.44) – Do you travel a lot in your role as an evangelist? Tom agrees that he does. He has visited countries on almost every continent. But, his job has not taken him to central or southern America, yet. (12.06) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Tom’s advice is not to focus on a particular job or role that you want to do. The world is moving at a blindly fast rate. So, there is a good chance that by the time you have learned what you need to do that job it won’t be there. It may even have been automated away. Instead, you need to focus on learning as much as you can about a subject that interests you. Doing something you enjoy will keep you engaged, which means you will be better at it. This, in turn, makes it easier to find work. (13.37) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. In the 2000s, Ton was working for a network engineering company, in Dublin. Unfortunately, he managed to crash the network on a Friday afternoon. Nobody could go home until it was fixed. Fortunately, he was able to figure it out, but it was a very embarrassing mistake to make. He knows that if he had been better prepared that particular disaster would not have happened. So, he learned the importance of being prepared from that situation. (14.49) – What was your best career moment? Tom found it hard to choose just one thing. Getting a call from Elon Musk and being asked to become the voice of Tesla was clearly a big moment for him, despite the fact that, eventually he did not take the job. Tom explains in the recording why he ended up saying no to Tesla. (17.49) – Phil asks Tom what excites him about the IT industry. The fact that everything is being taken over by software means that soon there will not be any jobs that do not have an IT aspect to them. So, it is an exciting time to be involved in the industry. Recently, Tom spoke to two Volkswagen executives, while in Vienna. They said that they were moving away from being a company that makes moving parts to being one that consumes data and makes software. (20.00) – What drew you to a career in IT? Needing a computer to write his Ph.D. paper on, first got Tom interested in learning how to use a computer. When he realized he enjoyed working with computers and how powerful they were, he immediately started teaching others and switched his career focus to IT. (20.31) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Recently, a colleague of Tom’s advised him to get a mentor. Something he is looking into doing. Interestingly, he is also planning to start mentoring others, which he is also going to do. (21.17) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? While he was still at school his dad advised him to study commerce. Tom realized that a job selling things was not really for him, so, fortunately, he followed another route. (22.09) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Tom says he would be attracted to anything new and shiny. He would probably get involved in AI, IoT or blockchain. Fortunately, his new role means he is able to be involved in all of those things and much more besides. (22.35) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Tom’s main focus is getting better at what he is already doing and helping others to achieve success. With this objective in mind he has signed up for the SAP mentoring program. (22.56) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being a good communicator has helped Tom a lot. To be effective you need to have good communication skills. Being able to dynamically adjust what you are saying to suit your audience is important. Even when you speak at large events, you can still see the people in the first few rows. So, you know if what you are saying is on the mark or whether you need to change your approach slightly. A good communicator can do this when speaking live. (24.03) – Presumably, that is a skill that you have ended up developing over time. Tom agrees he actually started getting used to public speaking, at school. There he was a member of the debate team and at college, he did interview varsity debates. His dad was a university professor, a member of the European Parliament and the Irish Senate, so, he jokes that, being a good communicator is probably in his DNA. (24.36) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Tom makes sure that he keeps learning. His role as an innovation evangelist exposes him to the very latest tech, so there is always plenty of inspiration. (25.05) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Tom does not have many hobbies or interests outside of IT. But, he does enjoy walking his dogs and occasionally watches a Netflix series, particularly if there is a good science fiction one available. He describes them as being like “mental chewing gum”. It is interesting how a lot of what was featured in early sci-fi movies and shows have now become a reality. When he is not working, he listens to a lot of podcasts. But, even those are mainly IT related. (26.30) – Phil asks Tom to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Tom says it is important to follow your passion. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you really want to do something you will always produce good work. BEST MOMENTS: (13.06) TOM – "Don't concentrate on going for a particular job. That job may not exist, by the time you're ready for it" (13.41) TOM – "Do what you enjoy doing." (19.16) TOM – "Soon there will be no jobs that won't have the technical or IT aspect to them." (19.47) TOM – "The world is changing, and technology is changing the world enormously for the better."   (24.12) TOM – "When you're following your passion, that's what you will deliver on." CONTACT TOM: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomRaftery LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomraftery/ Website: https://tomraftery.com/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a full-time Python trainer.  In a given year, he teaches courses at companies in the United States, Europe, Israel, and China as well as to people around the world through his online courses.   He is a regular panelist on the Freelancers Show podcast, CTO of Rent Like a Champion and a published author, his most recent book being “Python Workout”.   He is also credited with having created one of the world’s first 100 websites just after graduating from MIT.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Reuven is an MIT graduate who started his IT career working as an engineer for Hewlett-Packard. But, he soon realized that web development was his passion. So, he became one of the first web application engineers Time Inc ever hired. From there, he went on to set up and lead a training company, take his PhD and found his consultancy firm. He is viewed as a Python expert, and is well-known for being instrumental in setting up the first newspaper on the World Wide Web. As well as providing face to face training, Reuven has created several online programming courses. Reuven is also a prolific IT writer and speaker. His latest book “Python Workout” is selling well and his online newsletter “Better developers” already has more than 12,000 subscribers. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – Could you tell us maybe a little bit about rent like a champion? I know it's not directly related to IT. But, it'd be good to know a little bit about it. Reuven explains that a while back he realized that college alumni were returning to their college town a few times a year to watch games. But, they struggled to find accommodation. Usually, this was because the towns were too small to sustain a hotel. So, he set up Rent Like a Champion, to fill that gap. The service he provides links homeowners and small businesses up with people who want to stay for a night or two to enjoy the odd game. It has been a great success. (2.37) –Phil asks Reuven to tell the audience more about the weekly IT newsletter he produces. Still Better Developers, has been running for about 2/3 years. Every Monday, subscribers are sent a new set of tips and programming practices. As the name suggests the magazine is set up to help developers to continually learn and improve the way they work. The newsletter covers Python in a lot of detail. But, things like how to grow your developer career and get the most out of working as a freelancer, are also covered. At the time of recording the podcast, that newsletter had 12,000 subscribers. (3.45) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Reuven’s advice is to focus on one thing. Something he did not do at the start of his career. His advice is to find that one thing that interests you and get a job doing it. Once you do that you can become a big fish in a small pond and will not spread yourself too thin. From there you can grow and learn new things. (4.57) – How long would you typically focus on one project? Reuven explains that it varies. You could do it for a few years, and then move on. Or, you could become a super expert and specialize in something like database optimization for 30 to 40 years. Reuven prefers to switch every 3 or 4 years. He started his career in web development but has also worked in general development, training and consulting. Every couple of years he asks himself what makes him happiest and focuses on learning more about and working in that area. He believes in the evolution approach to career growth rather than the revolution approach that so many people take. Initially, Reuven focused on Python, switched to Ruby and a few other languages. But, now that Python is so ridiculously popular again, he has switched his focus back to Python. (6.36) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. A long time ago, Reuven received a call from someone who had a problem with his Linux server. His network administrator had disappeared on him. So, Reuven agreed to help him. He finished up his day then pulled an all-nighter to sort this guy’s servers out. It was tough, but Reuven felt great when he finally got it all working again. The problem was that when he tried to bill the guy he got ignored. He persevered until eventually; the guy came back to him. Unfortunately, it was in the form of a fax telling Reuven he was not going to be paid. Worse than that, the guy said he was going to sue him for ruining his servers. At that point, Reuven realized that he had been conned. That negative experience taught Reuven to always check a customer out before agreeing to work for them. (9.12) – What was your best career moment? Reuven worked at MIT as an undergraduate. At the time, he was the editor in chief of the student newspaper. One of his fellow students came to him and told him about the work Tim Berners-Lee was doing on something new called the Worldwide Web. The moment Reuven saw it he was intrigued and wanted to get involved. So, he and a bunch of other students set to work learning HTML and creating a website. When they were done they emailed Tim Berners-Lee and he added their site to his list of 100 websites. This meant that their newspaper was the first one to go live on the World Wide Web. Naturally, there were lots of teething problems. Nobody had done it before, so there was no manual. But, it felt great to be part of creating the basic infrastructure that millions use today. (11.25) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Reuven loves the way working in IT ticks all of the boxes. You get paid well, do exciting things and are forced to learn and grow. He is very excited by the rate at which the industry is growing. Anything is possible. Machine learning, in particular, is drastically changing the way we work. The future for those working in the industry has never been brighter. IT is becoming more accessible every day, opening up the chance for everyone to get involved. (12.44) Are there any particular directions or technologies that interest you, or areas you believe we will be going? Complex languages like Python are perfect for the technology environment we are working in, at the moment. Computers are cheap, but, people are not. With Python, there is no steep learning curve. You no longer have to struggle to learn C++. Instead, you can use Ruby, Python or JavaScript to get to where you need to be much faster. This change is making the whole IT field much more accessible. You can very quickly get a well-paid and secure job. People are desperate to hire someone that can help them to analyze their data effectively. (14.20) – What drew you to a career in IT?  Even as a kid Reuven loved computers. He enjoyed exploring and seeing what he could do.  It was the fact he could have fun and still get paid that initially drew him to a career in IT. (15.22) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? At one point Reuven switched from providing training on his own to finding work through a training company. They were very good at marketing him, but, his wife advised him to leave them and switch back to working independently. He was not sure about doing that, but, he decided to give it a go. It turned out to be very good advice. From that point on, everything about his career improved. (16.14) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? A lawyer he knew once told Reuven to always say yes to his customers, regardless of what they ask for. For years, Reuven followed that advised. He learned new languages and platforms to deliver what the customer had asked for. Working like that forced him to learn new skills, which was a good thing. But there was a problem, a big one. With these new languages, he was barely scratching the surface. He was learning enough to get a specific job done, but, not much else. In the end, Reuven realized this was a bad way of working. He then re-focused and switched back to becoming an expert in one area. Reuven did not want to be a jack of all trades, master of none. (17.16) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Reuven said that, at the early stage of his career, he would work mainly for startups. This forces you to learn. Provided you switch firms every 3 to 5 years, you stay fresh and engaged in what you are doing. It also builds up your ability to handle change and unpredictability well. (18.21) – What career objectives are you currently focusing on? Even though Reuven’s training booked up for the next 6 to 9 months he is still looking to expand that side of his business. He is moving into the US and Europe to do that. Reuven also has several online courses, which is currently learning to market better. Right now, he is in the process of getting everything translated into Chinese, so he can start selling his courses there. (19.50) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Reuven feels that his communication skills are the ones that he has used most to move his career forward. Over the years, he has learned to communicate well in all mediums. He writes, speaks publically, makes videos and stands up in the classroom to teach. Every time, he does any one of those things he is using and honing his communication skills.  He is so grateful to his college professors who forced all of their students to learn the skill of writing. They were right when they said, “what you do isn't worth anything if you can't communicate effectively with other people.” A lot of other students resisted being taught how to write well, Reuven knuckled down and did as he was asked. Those skills have stood him in good stead. Reuven also talks about how learning to touch type has helped him.     (20.48) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Reuven finds keeping up with new stuff helps to keep him interested and energized. But, it is his students that provide the biggest push. Occasionally, one of them will ask him a question he does not know the answer to. It forces him to keep learning and to see things from a fresh perspective. (21.48) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Reuven’s family is, by far, the most important thing in his life. He has also enjoyed learning Chinese. After four and a half years, it feels fantastic to be able to jabber away in a different language. Although he jokes that his Chinese grammar, accent, and vocabulary are terrible. Reuven also loves to cook and travel. He is an avid reader too and enjoys crossword puzzles.  (22.49) – Phil asks Reuven to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. People in the IT industry have an amazing opportunity. You can choose your own path, do something you enjoy and get well paid for it. So, you need to take advantage of it. Also, don’t stand still, stay engaged and take the opportunity to learn more. BEST MOMENTS: (4.50) REUVEN – "Become a big fish in a small pond, rather than spreading yourself too thin." (5.30) REUVEN – "Every few years, I ask, what part of what I'm doing is making me happiest and has the greatest potential for the future" (12.20) REUVEN – "IT careers have never been brighter and never more accessible, than right now." (20.48) REUVEN – "What you do isn't worth anything if you can't communicate effectively with other people." (21.21) REUVEN – "A good question is one where the student does not know the answer. An excellent question is one where the teacher does not know the answer. " CONTACT REUVEN: Twitter: https://twitter.com/reuvenmlerner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reuven/ Website: https://lerner.co.il/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a full-stack developer, having recently joined Test Double which is an agency of highly skilled developers on a mission to improve how the world writes software. Prior to Test Double, he spent a decade working for 1Password where he focused his efforts on browser extensions and web page filling features. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Jamie Phelps. He is a full-stack developer at TestDouble. A firm that is working to improve the way the world writes software and wrangles code. Prior to that Jamie worked for Pier 1, 1Password and ran his own IT consultancy company. His areas of expertise include Ruby, Typescript, JavaScript, Go, Swift, Objective-C, and several other languages. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.06) – First, I want to ask you how you came to IT. You seem to have started your IT career a little later than average, so it would be interesting to hear how this transition happened. Jamie explains when he first attended university he studied music and religion. He went to graduate school to study the New Testament. When he went back to university to do his Ph.D. it dawned on him that he would probably be at school for another 3 to 5 years. During which time he would have to live very frugally, a realization that led to him switching to computer science. (2.12) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Jamie’s most important piece of advice is to build a good network of people. Doing this stands you in good stead, especially later in your career. As you progress and become more senior the problems get bigger. So, it is always good to have people you can talk to. At some point, you will reach a stage where it is impossible to know absolutely everything. When that happens, you need a pool of experts you can trust and turn to for advice. (3.15) - How do you personally go about developing your network? Jamie mostly developed his network through Twitter. He also made a lot of connections while working at 1Password. Going to meetups and getting involved in IT communities have helped too. The people he met at these sorts of events shared his passion for the same tech. So, they were always there to back him up and help. Often, they had already faced and overcome the same or a very similar problem to the one he was facing. So, usually, he gets fast results when he consults with his trusted network. (4.53) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Fortunately, Jamie has not had a lot of bad career moments. But, he does remember one situation that made him feel bad. It happened when he was working for a firm that sold software. They realized that someone was using their website to see whether stolen credit cards were still active. Naturally, the moment the team realized they were being used in this way, they wanted to stop his activities. After a long weekend of time and effort, they finally managed to do so. But, it did not feel good to know that weaknesses in their system had played a role in helping someone to profit from his criminal activities. To make sure it did not happen again, they switched to a more robust payment provider. It taught Jamie that sometimes it is best to pay for an expert rather than always depend on your own abilities. (6.41) – So, in terms of what you learned from that, is it about making sure you select the right provider? What did you take away from that situation? Jamie explains that as well as looking for a good provider, in the first place, you need to periodically review your decisions. When they first set up their payment option it was the best that was available. But, eventually, they realized that the world had changed and that other providers now offered a far better option. You also need to be careful of the “not invented here” syndrome. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that something you write in-house is always going to be better than something an outside provider writes. In many cases, the opposite is true. (7.38) – What was your best career moment?  For Jamie that was writing a Rails program that later evolved into the Watchtower element of the 1password system. This software oversees user’s websites and tells them the moment a security breach is spotted. Jamie is very proud of building the first iteration of the system in Rails. He did it in response to the Heartbleed Bug, which hit in April 2014. It was a large SSL vulnerability that caused lots of damage. In response to the bug, 1Password asked Jamie to build something that would enable their clients to identify if their site had been hit by the bug. He is understandably proud of the fact that he was able to come up with the necessary system in just 3 days. (9.06) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Jamie is really excited by the advancements in language compilers. They have given rise to a lot more robust programming languages. These advancements have provided us languages that are a lot safer to use. They have enabled programmers to be much more productive. Both of which have made it possible to achieve so much more. (10.18) - Do you think that's a trend that will continue? Jamie believes that advancements in computing power combined with further compiler enhancements mean that things will continue to improve. (10.59) – What drew you to a career in IT? Jamie had planned to pursue a career in academia and become a college professor. But, the statistics showed that actually becoming a professor was going to be very difficult. Not only that, getting the qualifications he needed to attempt to do so, would mean living on a meager salary, for many years. So, he switched to computing. (11.39) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? It was not advice that was given to Jamie directly. In fact, it was something he heard on a friend’s podcast. On one show his friend advised his audience to ask themselves if they wanted 10 times more of what was happening right now. If, when you are looking at what you are doing in your career, the answer is no, it is probably time to make a change. Jamie has followed that advice and it has helped his career. (12.20) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? At the time Jamie received his worst career advice he was working for a large firm with downtown offices. So, when he said he was going to leave and work for 1software, a Canadian startup, virtually nobody had heard of, people advised him not to do it. Fortunately, he did not listen and that is when his IT career took off. (13.37) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Jamie found this question hard to answer. He said that he does not really know what he would have done differently. This is because the positive directions his career has gone in have been largely accidental. So, he feels that if he had been able to make more informed decisions things may not have necessarily turned out as well as they have. (14.10) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Right now, Jamie is working at catching up with the world of Ruby on Rails. He is also developing his consulting and soft skills. (14.38) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? His ability to dig into documents, pull out the salient points and become productive quickly has really helped him in his IT career. Interestingly, these are the skills he learned while studying for the career in academia that he never pursued (15.16) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Jamie finds that staying curious, keeps him interested, learning and moving forward. Sometimes the most mundane tasks lead to you learning about something really interesting and useful. For example, early in his career, he was working on a report that showed how many customers gave their phone number to the cashier. It was a pretty boring task. But, while doing it, he learned about The North American Numbering Plan (NANP). He was fascinated by how this organization that manages how the area codes and numbers for 24 North American countries works. (17.05) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Jamie enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee. He also does a lot of camping, hiking, backpacking, and geocaching with his wife. (17.24) – Phil asks Jamie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Jamie’s advice is to find products or companies that you really believe in to work on and with. BEST MOMENTS: (2.58) JAMIE – "Make sure that you've built up that network of folks that you can rely on for their expertise." (3.21) JAMIE – "I developed a lot of my network through Twitter." (9.51) JAMIE – "The advancements in the compiler technology have given us languages that are safer to use, and also allow us to be more productive." (14.55) JAMIE – "Being able to dig into documentation, figure out what's salient, and be productive quickly, in an unfamiliar environment are skills that have helped my IT career." (17.52) JAMIE – "I would always choose the company or the product that I believe in more than maybe a salary or a title." CONTACT JAMIE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jxpx777/ Website: http://www.jamiephelps.com  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show has spent most of her career in the software testing world, which led to her founding the Software Testing Club.  This evolved to become the Ministry of Testing which is a community of software testers that want to change, share and improve their craft. She says that she is a big believer in doing things ethically and that she’s fascinated by the world of community, marketing, tech, and software testing. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Rosie Sherry. She founded the Ministry of Testing, which has grown into a global community of testers. Up until now, most of her IT career has been spent working as a tester. She is also a founder of the Brighton Girl Geek Dinners and was, for several years, the community manager and co-director of The Werks Group. While there, she helped to set up co-working spaces and build the entrepreneur community in the Brighton area. In February, Rosie joined Indie Hackers as their community manager. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – So, Rosie, can you maybe tell us a little bit about why you started the Ministry of testing and what it is up to right now. Rosie explains that about 12 years ago, she realized that there was not much of a community out there for people who were involved in IT testing. So, she decided to fill the gap. Over time, the group she started turned into a huge global community. (1.54) - Do you align yourself to anything in particular, was this just a community that you decided to create? Rosie explains that she wanted to bring testers, from across the world, together. She also thought that it would be fun and never dreamed it would grow as big as it has. (2.35) – Presumably, you were getting good feedback from that. So it sort of grew organically, is that correct? Rosie confirms that it is completely organic. In 2007, it was a different world. Twitter had only just got going. (3.01) - You were telling me, just before we started recording, that you're potentially stepping a little bit away from the day to day running. Rosie confirms that she will be taking a step back. The Ministry of Testing is much bigger and does a lot more than Rosie envisioned when she set it up. So, the person running the Ministry of Testing has to be prepared to take on extra duties. For example, the members requested regular conferences. Rosie wants them to take place but does not want to be the one to organize and run them. She does not want to spend long periods of time away from her family. Traveling around the world running conferences is not for her. (4.20) - So you're in the process of potentially handing the reins over to somebody else. Rosie explains that she already has a CEO in place. They have been working together for about three years, and he has been on the board for 18 months. They have nearly reached the point where things can be run smoothly without her. She points out that she still owns the company. Therefore, it is her best interests for things to run well, so she will likely still contribute. (5.01) – Do you think you will keep your hand in? Maybe, still attend local meetups and conferences, or will you step away completely? Her plan is to continue to attend some local meetups. In fact, she was involved in running the last one in her hometown of Brighton. The chances are she will still continue to contribute to the group. (6.00) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Rosie’s advice is to build a good network and get involved in the community. That is what has driven her career. When she got started she had no qualifications. But, she networked and shared what she knew. Whenever she could, she helped the community. That included running a co-working space and helping to run a local geek girl meetup. In time, she became well known as a testing specialist. Her advice is to find a niche you like, dive in and meet people. Write blogs, listen to podcasts to cement what you learn and help others to learn too.  (8.10) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. When Rosie had her first child, at 24, everything changed for her. Her boss just started to ignore her. She found it really hard to find a job. In the end, she started to hide the fact that she had kids so she could find work more easily. Rosie no longer does that. She is proud of being a mother and the fact that she has a successful IT career and runs her own company while raising and homeschooling her 5 kids. So, now she never hides her family life from others. She wants to show people that mothers can do things in different ways and achieve a lot. (11.06) – What was your best career moment? The Ministry of Testing has been like one long career highlight. It feels fantastic to have changed the testing world for the better. (12.19) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that there is so much choice and so many opportunities really excites Rosie. She is really looking forward to exploring, learning new tools and using them to help the community. Every facet of life is touched by technology. This means that there is a good chance that you will find an IT project that relates to the things that interest you. (13.53) – So, the opportunities are there, it's just a matter of deciding and going for it. Rosie agrees and explains that the trick is not to allow yourself to become overwhelmed by the level of choice. You need to explore a bit. When you do that you will usually end up going down an amazing career path. (14.50) – What drew you to a career in IT? Rosie was not sure what she wanted to do workwise. At the time her husband was a web developer. He helped her to get her first testing job, and the rest is history. (15.17) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Rosie says that you need to be yourself. If you want to succeed and stand out, you need to listen to who you are and what you want to be and do. (15.37) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told her to work like a man, work long hours. She now knows that letting your life become your work is wrong. No company should ever ask you to do that. You need a good work-life balance. (16.04) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Rosie says that she would write a lot more. She did run her own website. But, she did not keep it up to date, something that she now regrets. (16.22) – What are you currently focusing on in your tech career? Rosie is on the role of community manager for a website called Indie Hackers. It is a community where founders of bootstrapped companies come together to help each other. (17.00) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being nice and being kind. It is amazing what you can achieve when you do this and do not necessarily expect anything back. (17.15) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Rosie is always on the lookout for something new. She listens to a lot of podcasts and is a voracious reader. She is also careful not to let herself be sidetracked by the negative energy that is out there. (17.32) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Rosie’s family keeps her busy especially because she home schools her kids. She also enjoys running, which helps her to stay physically and mentally well.  (17.59) – Phil asks Rosie to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. In the IT world, there is no need to let your qualifications define you. You can be anything you want to be. The actions you take are what will ultimately define you. Rosie also says that you should not look for excuses. It is up to you to decide what to do and to take action. BEST MOMENTS: (7.17) ROSIE – "Find a niche that they want to learn, dive in and meet people and write blogs, listen to podcasts" (15.25) ROSIE – "If you want to succeed, to stand out, you have to listen to who you are, what you want to be and what you want to do." (15.45) ROSIE – "It's wrong not to have that life-work balance." (17.08) ROSIE – "It is amazing what you can achieve by being kind and not expecting anything back from anyone." (18.05) ROSIE – "In the tech world, you can be anything you want to be." CONTACT ROSIE: Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosiesherry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosiesherry/ Personal Website: https://www.rosiesherry.com/ Website: https://www.ministryoftesting.com/

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is Nicholas Walsh.  Nicholas is a Technical Evangelist for Amazon Web Services, working to empower developers everywhere and to create engaging educational content. Nicholas has worked to build developer tools across multiple organizations that power artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities in applications.  Many moons ago he worked as a research assistant in the biotech space. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on today’s IT Career Energizer podcast is Nicholas Walsh. He is a Technical Evangelist for Amazon. In that role, he works to empower developers to put AWS products and tools to better use. He is currently focusing on AI and machine learning fields. Nicholas studied for a career in medicine. But, he switched to IT when he realized that he could do more good by working in the tech industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.12) – So, the first thing I wanted to ask you was how you moved from being a research assistant in biotech into the IT industry. Nicholas explains that, from an early age, he wanted to become a doctor. So, he majored in medicine. When he was doing the research element of his course, he noticed that he was enjoying the programming aspect of it, more than anything. Coding analytical scripts and automating data analysis. He was pretty good at it. He started to attend computer programming competitions called hackathons. Initially, he was worried that he was not going to be able to make a meaningful contribution at these events. But, he loved it. The first one he attended was on a biomedical theme. He stayed up for two nights coding. (2.32) – How long did it take you to move across fully into working in the IT field? For Nicholas, it was an iterative process. He gradually took on more of the coding responsibility on projects he was involved in. Nicholas joined a start-up in San Francisco as a data science intern. At that point, he knew that coding was for him. So, he identified the skills he needed and set about learning what he needed to know. Mostly by setting up projects for fun, getting involved in more hackathons and working with friends. He also stayed on for an extra year at school. That helped with the transition too, because it gave him a little more breathing space and enabled him to hone his data sciences and AI knowledge. (4.51) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Looking back at events and deciding whether a certain experience was positive or negative can be very beneficial. It is particularly important to do this when it comes to your career. Every now and again, you need to pause and ask yourself how happy you are with what you are doing. Career development should not be about throwing darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks. If you are not happy, it is very important to know why. This ensures you do not make similar errors, in the future. Periodic, honest reviews help you to move forward in your career. When asked by Phil to elaborate, Nicholas explains that doing this on a project by project basis is particularly helpful. If you are working on big projects, Nicholas’ advice is to pause every quarter and review where you are. For example, Nicholas was involved with an early startup that was building an AI, machine learning developer tools. Once the project was over, he asked himself what he had got out of that role and what itch that work had scratched. Doing that made him realize that he had always wanted to be involved with a project from the start. So, he would know what it was to shape things from the very start. It made him realize he had scratched that particular itch. So, when he moved on to his next role, he made sure it was different and addressed another of his career goals. His work with Amazon Web Services is all about fostering an existing community and achieving growth. (7.08) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Right at the start of his IT career, Nicholas represented Wolfram at conferences and hackathons. In that role, he came across someone who was very confrontational about the tech his firm used. They felt strongly that their way of doing things was better. Nicholas listened and tried to address their arguments and help them to understand the merits of the way his team did things. Unfortunately, despite trying to do so repeatedly he was unable to help that person. In the end, he realized he was never going to be able to convince them and had to walk away. Initially, it felt bad leaving things like that because he knew he could help them. But, it taught him the value of compromising and knowing when to cut your losses and move on. (8.30) – What was your best career moment? That happened when Nicholas was working for Datmo. One of their first customers had a really tight budget. They were rolling out an AI/machine learning model for computer vision application. Initially, it was hard to predict whether their budget would be big enough to complete the rollout. But, despite this, Nicholas and the rest of the Datmo team committed to the project. They doubled down, went back over the model and architecture and eventually got the monthly cost down from tens of thousands of dollars to below $5000, per month. It was a huge amount of work, but very fulfilling. The experience also set Nicholas up nicely for working at Amazon. For them, customer obsession is a core tenant. (9.43) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the work you do can have a huge impact on the lives of everyone is something that excites Nicholas. He likes solving problems and building things. The sky is really the limit. A good IT professional can get involved in any field or industry and make a positive difference. (10.48) - Do you feel that the way we solve problems now will change as technology evolves? Nicholas believes that the emergence of AI and machine learning is already changing the way we solve problems. It is now possible to look at x-rays and spot some potential issues. This has the potential to greatly improve things for medical professionals and patients. These processes and tasks are not likely to ever be completely automated. But, the tech will speed up the rate at which a lot of these types of tasks can be done. AI has the potential to make a radical difference for all kinds of fields, including telecommunications, air traffic control, and other critical areas. How fast that happens, remains to be seen. But, AI is definitely here to stay. (12.52) – What drew you to a career in IT? Nicholas has always enjoyed solving problems and building things. Initially, he was drawn to medicine. But, while studying for his medical degree he developed a passion for IT. He loved the idea of coding systems that made a difference and would outlive him. (13.39) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once told him to look two steps, rather than just one step ahead when considering what to do with his IT career. It was excellent advice. Nicholas explains that having two points on your career timeline pushes you to learn two skill sets, at the same time. There will be some overlap, but you will always be preparing yourself for two potential career paths. If one of them does not work out, you will be ready to pursue the other one. You do not have to stick rigidly to your two-step plan. If something changes, you can change what you plan to do next and maybe what you thought you wanted to do after that. (14.25) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once advised Nicholas to avoid conflict at all costs. You need to be authentic. It is not a good idea to stop yourself from expressing valid opinions just because you think others will disapprove. You have to be balanced about this. It is important not to be too vocal either. Instead, you need to find the middle ground. (15.28) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do?  Nicholas says he would have started his IT career earlier. He took programming classes when he was in high school. But, decided not to go on to study computer science, a decision that he now regrets. His computer teacher was really boring and they did nothing but sort algorithms. He also believes that it is important to develop good learning habits. You need to look at a career in IT as a long-term project and carry on learning. (16.36) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Nicholas is currently working on creating workshop content that distills difficult AI and machine learning concepts. He wants more people to understand them so they can start to leverage the power of AI and other technologies that AWS offers. Nicholas is using lots of different approaches to get the message across. He is using live video streams, fireside chats, and other formats to reach as many people as possible. Doing this is helping Nicholas to build his technical expertise as well as help others. This dovetails into another of his career focuses, which is to grow his understanding of more complex tech. In the long term, Nicholas wants to set up and run his own company. (18.04) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Being resilient has really helped Nicholas. In the tech industry, things move fast, really fast. So, inevitably, you are going to get things wrong. When that happens, you need to be able to bounce back. It is important to learn fast and not be afraid to change direction. Nicholas says you cannot afford to be afraid of diving into something you know nothing about. Being able to quickly learn a new framework is essential. But, you have to know your limits. When deciding whether or not to take on a project, consider what you already know and what you will have to learn to be able to complete the work. This enables you to determine if the project is right for you. Nicholas has found that for him a 70/30 split is about right. He can usually cope with needing to learn new skills to complete around 30% of the tasks the project requires. Taking this approach ensures that he can keep on learning without feeling too stressed. (19.59) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Thankfully, Nicholas finds his work at AWS to be energizing. Hosting weekly shows for developers and getting out into the field and teaching workshops always provide him with a lift. Nicholas really enjoys getting direct feedback from customers and developers and taking it back to the service team. It feels great to play a direct role in improving their products. At AWS, there is never a dull day. (21.33) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Nicholas is a lifelong gamer. He finds it to be very relaxing and a great way to keep up with friends and family who are geographically scattered. Nicholas also enjoys working on restoring his car. He also plays a lot of volleyball, which helps to keep him fit. He believes that when you work in IT you need to do something physical to counter the fact that you spend a lot of the day sitting down. (23.20) – Phil asks Nicholas to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. Nicholas’ parting piece of advice is to remember to reach back and help lift others up as well. Using Twitter is a great way to help people who are currently where you were, a few years ago. It is also a great place to network and grow your understanding of virtually anything. BEST MOMENTS: (5.06) Nicholas  – "Looking back and performing some sort of retrospective to understand why that experience was positive or negative, is extremely valuable." (5.21) Nicholas – "Career development is not like throwing darts at a dartboard trying to see what sticks." (8.40) Nicholas – "Understanding when to cut your losses is a very important skill." (12.34) Nicholas – "AI and machine learning are definitely here to stay." (16.21) Nicholas – "A career in IT is a marathon, not a sprint" (24.09) Nicholas – "Leverage Twitter, leverage the amazing tech community." CONTACT Nicholas: Twitter: https://twitter.com/thenickwalsh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenickwalsh/ Website: http://nwalsh.io/  

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show is a front end developer who has been writing code since he was 8 years old.  He enjoys people, code and talking to people about code. He now travels around the world encouraging, educating and empowering developers in the web development community. EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Phil’s guest on his show today is Tejas Kumar. He is a front-end developer who has been coding since the age of 8. Tejas has worked with a long list of front-end frameworks, programs and languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, React, and the Babel webpack. He is also a conference speaker who is working towards his goal of speaking at every JSConf, across the word. Tejas wants to educate and empower developers, in every corner of the globe. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.10) – I would like to start by asking about your work traveling the world speaking to developers and empowering them. Tejas explains that he started doing this, June of last year, when he spoke at JSconf EU. His talk was well received and he really enjoyed it. So, he decided that he would like to speak at each of the JSconf events that are held worldwide. Tejas structures his talks as dialogue. He enjoys the conversation he has with his audience. Afterward he gets to carry that conversation on and talk to some really interesting people, from all walks of life. Everyone from web architects to traditional architects who design buildings. (2.25) - So in terms of the numbers of conferences, talks you've done, how many of you clocked up now? Last year, Tejas did 7 conferences in 6months.  But, that is nothing compared to his friend Sarah Vieira who spoke at 47, last year alone. His aim is to do an average of one a month, so he can maintain a reasonable work-life balance. (3.10) – Have you got any conferences coming up? There is one that had not yet been announced, at the time this recording was made. But, he also due to speak in September, at JSconf Budapest. (4.15) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Tejas says it is important to remember that IT professionals are working in an industry where feigning knowledge is the norm. He has noticed that in technical meetings, everyone, including himself, will just nod their heads and pretend that they fully understand what is going on. Tejas finds this sad. He points out that a culture in which people feel an overwhelming need to be right and are disinclined to ask questions is not a healthy one. There are also a few people who feel an overwhelming urge to constantly correct everyone. Often, these people publically pick others up about silly, unimportant things simply because they want to appear to be cleverer. They tend to think they are always right. People like that can end up putting those who are new to the industry. (7.54) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Unfortunately, at the start of his career Tejas was thrown in at the deep end. He was being asked to do a mid-level job despite the fact he had very little experience. Worse, his team leader was constantly critical of him. Despite this, Tejas toughed things out and became good at the job. So, much so that other companies were headhunting him. But, when he asked for a raise his CTO just laughed at him and said he was not worth it and nobody would pay him that sort of money. Naturally, he quit. Before asking for the raise he had been looking around to see what was available. So, he knew what he was asking for was reasonable and that he could get a job elsewhere. In other words he had leverage. So, when they said no, he was comfortable with just quitting and moving on. In fact, he had already been offered a job by a company he liked the look of. But, he was not sure he was qualified and experienced enough. So much so, that he wrote back and explained this to them. Fortunately, they were really positive. Their attitude was that he knew more than he thought and if he did not they were sure he could quickly fill any gaps in his knowledge. Even before the hiring was official his new boss demonstrated that he believed in Tejas. After working for a boss that constantly tore him down working for someone who built him up was very refreshing for Tejas. Quitting his previous post was the best thing Tejas has ever done. (10.35) – What has been your career highlight? Tejas responds by saying that he is actually currently living his career highlight. Every day feels like a new best day at his job. He works with a brilliant team, has a lot of freedom, can more or less choose what technology he works with and works on interesting projects. Tejas especially appreciates the fact that his team works smart. For example, they budgeted 2 days to build a feature. With the help of his team, he was able to build it in 15 minutes. Phil jokes that if he was Tejas’ boss he would probably be challenging his estimation process. This joke encourages him to share another career highlight. Tejas always has a good time at conferences and meets interesting people. But, being asked to speak at React Finland was extra special. It is non-profit, everyone stays in the same hotel and the atmosphere is great. (12.17) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? The fact that the web is an on-exhaustible resource really excites Tejas. He grew up in Qatar, a country that is built on oil, which, unfortunately, is running out. So, Tejas appreciates working in an industry where there will always be work. Tejas is particularly pleased to see the serverless way of working coming to the fore. It is a simple way of working that means that things like IoT are now a reality. He is also to see the industry become more inclusive. People from every corner of the globe are getting involved and succeeding in the tech industry. They are many people from these countries becoming leaders in their field. People of color, women and non-binary people are all enjoying successful IT careers. (14.11) – What drew you to a career in IT? Tejas has a rare, dangerous and life-threatening illness. Even doing something relatively simple like climbing the stairs or lifting a backpack could kill him. He has ended up in the emergency room several times after doing something relatively minor. So, for Tejas sitting at a screen and writing is his only viable option. Fortunately, at the age of 8, Tejs discovered that he liked coding. He could not go to school or play outside, so he spent many hours playing around with HTML and coding. So, naturally, he got quite good at it. His mother did not expect him to live past 10th grade. So, it feels great to have achieved as much as he has. Tejas is understandably proud of what he has been able to do with his friend, especially the conference speaking. His message to the IT Energizer audience is – if I can do it, so can you. (16.08) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? Someone once warned Tejas not to believe the hype. The same people that are talking you up today may not do so tomorrow. It is very important not to base your identity on what people say about you. If you do that, you are basing your view of yourself on a very shaky foundation. (17.22) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? Someone once told Tejas to quit IT. They literally said you suck at IT, quit. Kill yourself. He knows that some of it must have been a joke. But, at the time, it did not feel that way. Naturally, he was very upset by this and thought maybe I do suck; maybe I will never be anything. It was a real low point for Tejas. (17.38) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Tejas thinks he would not actually do anything different. He would still start by learning and working with JavaScript. It is a really forgiving language, which makes it ideal for beginners. (18.15) – What are you currently focusing on in your IT career? Tejas is challenging himself to learn the operations side of things. For example, Kubernetes, he is also interested in learning more about back end development. (19.06) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Tejas says it is his ability to communicate and the fact that he enjoys public speaking. But, these skills have taken a lot of time and hard work to learn. As a child, he was badly bullied. Because he could not go to school or play outside it was hard to connect with people, he became socially awkward. He hated the fact that people did not like him. So, decided to do something about it. He went online and googled “how to make people like you” and read tons of books on the subject. It helped. Bit by bit Tejas learned how to put people at their ease and be good company. Today, being charming, considerate and a good communicator are all 2nd nature to him. (20.44) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? His job keeps him energized. He really loves the culture his company has, the team and the work he does. He can’t wait to go to work every day. Tejas gets head-hunted quite a lot, but he is so happy with his current company that he is not tempted by any of the offers. He feels energized every single day by the work he is currently doing. (21.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Tejas loves music, in particular, playing music. He has an album due out soon. Plus, right now, Tejas is busy planning his wedding. (22.25) – Phil asks Tejas to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. People matter more than code. He would even make the case that soft skills matter more than the hard ones do. BEST MOMENTS: (6.32) TEJAS – "CHECK TO SEE WHO SAID IT" (9.15) TEJAS – “I normally do not negotiate salary unless I have leverage." (10.00) TEJAS – "Developer jobs are in demand. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." (12.42) TEJAS – "The web is a non-exhaustible resource” (16.07) TEJAS – "There's nothing that can ultimately hold you back, if that’s your path."  () TEJAS – ""   CONTACT TEJAS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/tejaskumar_ Github: https://github.com/tejasq Website: https://www.tejaskumar.com/