The freeCodeCamp Podcast

On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with UX designer and musician Andi Galpern about how she creates engaging and unique experiences in the tech world. Andi shares stories about past jobs, how she started her company, her favorite moments from events she's produced, and how to break into the design market. Andi grew up in Florida and was first and foremost a musician at heart. Once she decided that she needed a plan other than becoming a rockstar, she picked up and moved across country to the Bay Area. After attending various tech events and taking photos, she started making connections and growing a network. In between regular jobs, she was trying to learn more about design - but couldn't find any meetups or events that fit the bill. So she started creating her own. And they were successful. After a while, she founded her company, Cascade SF, with the goal of helping other designers, product managers, and engineers learn more, meet other people in the community, and help each other out. As her strategy and process changed, so did her events. "I used to only get big name speakers. But now that I'm in control of the content, I help designers, product managers, and people in tech tell their stories. I help them design a program so they can share their knowledge and we can create more people like them. So it's more about creating new leaders, and creating content the industry needs." Andi kept learning more and more about different facets of design, and she shared many insights she gained along the way. "The product design process is holistic and a lot like life. We don't have to have all the answers, we just have to be willing to watch people try things out and grow and learn. There are no mistakes, there are only hypotheses and data and making decisions." Once her events grew large enough, and she started holding after work conferences, she realized the importance of a new skill: asking for what she wanted. "Asking for what you need or want can be really scary. But sometimes you're pleasantly surprised - you get a response back. You never really know unless you ask. But organizing a successful event requires much more than that. For Andi, it's all about the quality of the content. She does her research, figures out what people want, and then puts it all together. "Great design is about content first, so it's about comprehension. Make sure the purpose of the event is clear. You can continue to keep tweaking your design until everyone gets it immediately. You just have to distill it down into your one core message." "A big part of UX design is just making things simpler and more usable so people can enjoy their lives more." Now, hundreds of events and conferences later, she's running Cascade, working as a content strategist for growth at Adobe, volunteering with various organizations, dabbling back in photography and music, and dreaming of expanding her brand to different cities. In this episode, Andi shares advice on how to put on a successful tech event, how to survive the job interview process, and how to learn all sorts of design skills. We discuss challenges she's faced, solutions she's created, and why she loves pinball so much, among many other things. Find Andi on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/andigalpern Find Abbey on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/abbeyrenn

In this week's podcast episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with Harry Wolff, an engineering manager at MongoDB in New York City. Harry has been in the world of tech for over a decade, holding jobs in various startups before ending up at Mongo. They discuss his journey to his current managerial role, what it's like to work at Mongo, how to start a meetup, and dos and don't for migrating from legacy codebases. Harry started his tech career working for startups. He liked the excitement, he liked learning new things, and he liked showing off his skills. After working for a few startups, he stumbled upon a position at MongoDB. One short week after beginning the interview process, he was in. The decision to leave his previous job was easier than he expected, and he reflected on the reasons he made the change: "For me, it was a matter of taking what I could from my job at the time, but knowing when it was time to move on. One of the ways you know it's time to leave is when the company's getting more out of you than you're getting out of the company." Once Harry was settled in at Mongo, he got right to work. After a couple years as an engineer working on various projects, he achieved one of his major goals and became a manager. Harry and I discussed his relatively new position in detail, and while he's still figuring things out, he has some valuable insights into his transition. "One of the most difficult things about being a manager is that there's no easy way to evaluate the success of your day. There are no milestones to say you've accomplished a lot. You might have a eureka! moment where you figure something out, but you're definitely living in the grey a lot more. Because it's people - they change by the day and hour and minute." But one of the best things for Harry is how much he gets to learn - constantly, from many different people, and about many different things. In addition to reading about new programming languages, discussing what's new in the JavaScript ecosystem in his podcast, and making every effort to stay on top of new tech, Harry has learned more nuanced skills as well. "One hard skill I needed to learn was being assertive and truthful when I needed to be. Most humans prefer that uncomfortable situations just resolve themselves...but if you wait six months [to deal with something], it becomes a dealbreaker." In addition to managing his team, working on his podcast, YouTube channel, and blog, and reading programming handbooks for fun, Harry has been working to update MongoDB's tech stack and move away from their legacy codebase. In the process, he's developed some insights into such migrations. "You have to have a good reason for doing it. And part of this is scolding my former self who would say 'yeah, just do it!' But having learned more, you need to have a good reason. For us, it's more maintainable, less error-prone, and better for recruiting." "But don't rewrite everything - that's seldom the right answer. Occasionally there are exceptions, but they're exceptions." When Harry isn't working or creating content, he hangs out with his wife and new son in New York. He encourages people getting into tech to keep at it and not get discouraged.        "Never give up. Just keep hustling. Take with a grain of salt the            feedback you get from companies and have confidence in what            you do and don't know. And stay humble. It's hard but you have          to just want it and keep hustling and stay curious." Find Harry on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hswolff Find Abbey on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/abbeyrenn

This week, I got to chat with Briana Swift, who used to teach music to elementary school children. She loved teaching and loved her job, but realized it wasn't what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. So she started looking around for what might be the next steps, and started learning about the world of tech. After going to a number of meetups and looking around online for various free resources, she stumbled upon freeCodeCamp. Over the course of a couple years, she got her full-stack certification while sharing videos of herself learning various concepts. When she started looking for a job, she experienced what so many new developers experience: rejection and frustration. She had to adapt, learn how to learn, and keep trying. But one day, after attending a random meetup, someone drew her attention to a role at GitHub that seemed tailor-made for her skill set. Doubting that she'd get through the interview process, she applied anyway - and got the job. She identifies a few of the skills that helped her get the job: "On the one hand, it was the actual skills I learned [before working at GitHub]. But on the other hand it was the mindset. Because even if I'd learned everything perfectly 2-3 years ago, it was such a different ecosystem out there now. Knowing how to search the documentation or find the answer or Google to get what you need - I don't think that will ever go out of style." Three and a half years later, she's worked her way up through a couple different roles at GitHub and couldn't be happier with her job. She's learned how work with a diverse and passionate team, she's learned how to stand up for herself, and she's come to appreciate how much soft skills matter. "Anything that's a technical thing can be learned. But working with a bunch of really smart, passionate people can be challenging because they're so passionate. And I think navigating that and trying to meet people where they are while still getting the best work done that I can is something I'll be working on for the rest of my life." One thing she emphasizes again and again throughout our chat was not being afraid to ask questions and have confidence in yourself: "Ask questions even if you think it's gonna make you look dumb. Sometimes no one else is asking because they want to look smart. But on the other hand, trust yourself - don't let anyone convince you that you don't know something if you've done your research. You can be the person who asks dumb questions and the person who's an expert on something at the same time." In this episode, we discuss how she transitioned into tech, how she learned all the skills she needed to work at GitHub - and how she continues to learn, what she does to support diversity in her tech community, and how she stays fueled up and motivated day to day. She's gained a lot of insight on creativity, and shared her perspective on staying creative: "Creativity is like a body of water. And if you let yourself become like a pond, where nothing's coming in, then nothing's gonna go out. If you want something to go out, you have to have new experiences, new things going in." Briana also offers advice on learning to code, asking questions, achieving balance in your life, and being a good team member, among many other things. Find Briana on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/brianamarie132 Find Abbey on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/abbeyrenn

In this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with software developer and freelancer Kyle Prinsloo who lives and works in South Africa. Kyle knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue a career in business. He launched websites with his brother, worked various jobs, and eventually gained experience in marketing and tech. Although he had a job he enjoyed working for people he respected, he wanted more from his work and life. He wanted to marry his now wife, and he wanted to be his own boss. So he started doing some freelancing work on the side. Little by little, as he built relationships with clients and gained more experience, his portfolio grew and he started making more from his side business than from his regular job. So he decided to make a change. In this podcast, you'll learn how he launched his business and educational website, how he prices his services, and how he advises others to become successful freelancers as well. Kyle offers actionable tips on gaining experience, shares anecdotes from his own journey, and discusses how he balances his many responsibilities. You can connect with Kyle on Instagram. Check out his website here.

In this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with software developer and army veteran Jami Gibbs about her journey into tech. Jami was born and raised in the Chicago area, and her first encounter with programming was in high school. While majoring in English in college, she joined the National Guard and did several tours overseas. During her time in the army, she came back to the world of tech and started learning more about coding. After leaving the military and finishing her English degree, she realized she wanted to switch careers and commit to becoming a software developer. She taught herself most of what she knows, supplemented it with a boot camp, and got her first job working on WordPress themes. Through building a number of side projects, enhancing her skills, and working her way up to other tech jobs, Jami reached her current position as a software engineer in Chicago. When she's not spending all her free time coding, she runs races, enjoys the Chicago craft beer scene, and roots for the Chicago Bears. In this episode, Jami discusses the hiring process, what it was like getting a tech job in her 30s, how her time in the army helped during the job hunt, and more. Find Jami on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/JamiGibbs Find Abbey on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/abbeyrenn  

On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with London-based software engineer Linh about how she left the field of biochemical engineering, taught herself to code, struggled to get her first dev job, and now gets to work at LEGO. Linh moved to England when she was 11 years old. She spoke no English, but quickly learned and settled into her life there. She became fascinated with cosmetics and wanted to learn how to create them, so she decided to study biomedical and biochemical engineering in college - she even got her Master's degree in the subject. But something didn't feel right - she didn't have the passion for it she thought she had. So she looked elsewhere. After briefly considering banking, and teaching for a bit, she stumbled into the world of tech through one of London's many fintech meetups. As she started to learn more and meet more people, she realized she'd found her new passion: coding. So she decided to teach herself to code...and the rest is history. Just kidding - but you'll have to listen to find out what comes next :) In this episode of the podcast, you'll learn all about how Linh taught herself to code, how she persevered through a long job search and got her first (and second and third) dev job, what exciting projects she's working on at LEGO, and how she'd advise anyone wanting to break into tech to go about it. Find Linh on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/pinglinh

On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with developer and wearer of many hats Princiya about how she changed careers, moved to Berlin, and worked her way up to a lead role. Princiya grew up in India and studied computer science in school - like many of her family members and friends. She even taught some computer science and web development classes at the university level, but missed coding. So she decided to get back into it. After working at a startup and starting to speak at conferences, Princiya took a trip to Berlin that changed her life. The community was welcoming, she made some great connections, and ended up applying to and getting a job there soon after. Princiya now works at a startup in Berlin where she's also in charge of the recruitment process. She's a maintainer at Firefox Dev Tools, a Mozilla Tech Speaker, and an active and enthusiastic mentor. She attends many local meetups in her community and strongly believes in giving back to the groups that helped her get her start in her new city. In this episode, Princiya shares how she worked her way up to a lead role, why she believes the hiring process needs to change - and how she wants to change it - and how she's building healthy and productive relationships within her team and organization. She also discusses why she loves being a mentor, how communities can help young developers, and why she believes in the therapeutic power of doing the dishes - among many other things. When she's not helping her team work better together or working on her latest conference talk, she loves to cook and explore Berlin's food scene.     Connect with Princiya on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/princi_ya  

On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with front-end developer Joe Previte who lives and works in Arizona. Joe shares the story of how he made the tough decision to leave grad school, how he discovered coding, and how he stays motivated and continues to learn.

CS50 is the most popular course at Harvard, and hundreds of thousands of people have taken the free online version of the course as well. We recently posted the lectures for the course on freeCodeCamp's YouTube channel - including the CS50 game development course - all free and commercial-free. During this interview, David Malan and Colton Ogden talk about how they got into technology. They share tips for how to effectively learn computer science, and some advice for teachers and community leaders as well. Colton shares one of his favorite game development hacks, and David tell us the story behind the CS50 catchphrase: "this is CS50" Follow CS50 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cs50 Subscribe to the CS50 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cs50-podcast/id1459708246 Test out CS50's Integrated Development Environment: https://ide.cs50.io/ And CS50's Sandbox: https://sandbox.cs50.io/ The article Colton mentions about Resident Evil 2 on N64 (PDF): https://twvideo01.ubm-us.net/o1/vault/GD_Mag_Archives/GDM_September_2000.pdf The Steve Ballmer CS50 guest lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lhlKF6MECs And Steve Ballmer's sales pitch of CS50 itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El2mr5aS8y0 Fun fact: Brian Kernighan, whom David mentions as the CS50 teacher who preceded him, is also the co-creator of the C programming language. He's even has his own card in freeCodeCamp Programmer Playing Cards: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/introducing-programmer-playing-cards-d3eeeffe9a11/

In this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Abbey chats with Greek developer and designer Eleftheria Batsou about her passion for creating content and how she balances work, school, travel, and personal time. Eleftheria moved around a lot when she was young, but settled in Thessaloniki in northern Greece as a teenager. When she had to decide which track to take in school, she picked technology, science, and math. It turned out to be a good decision! After bouncing around a bit and completing some internships, Eleftheria found a place that suited her. She learned to code by supplementing her education with free online resources (like freeCodeCamp!), leveled up her skills by completing numerous challenges like #100DaysofCode, and realized she had a passion for design as well as front-end development. Today, she works as a developer, she's getting her Master's degree in design, she attends numerous conferences throughout Europe - and speaks at many of them - and she has a growing YouTube channel. She also has a blog where she shares all kinds of tips, tutorials, and bits of knowledge for beginning developers. When she's not busy juggling her many tasks, she likes to workout to clear her head and hang out with her friends.   Find Eleftheria on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BatsouElef Visit her website here: eleftheriabatsou.com