Pybites Podcast

Whether you like it or not we are emotional species so you have to manage your motivation, it's not a given!In this week's podcast we feature two segments from our productivity course: motivation and procrastination.We teach you various techniques to keep your motivation high:- Desire breathes motivation.- Go back to your goals regularly.- Visualise your future self.- Get an accountability partner.- Respect your bio (sleep, diet, exercise).- Work with people that are one or two steps ahead of you.Then we talk about the Procrastination monster that ruins that good momentum you built up.In this section we see why procrastination happens:- We procrastinate on things that make us feel uncomfortable.- It will affect our long term success and you might not realise it instantly, e.g. eat unhealthily one day and nothing happens, do it for 10 years and it will cause disaster.- The good news though is that procrastination can be beaten:Focus on the longer term goals, remember why they’re important to you:- Every step you take now will pay dividends later (what’s the opportunity cost of not doing it?)- Build the habit of doing just a little bit of hard work before the pleasure (use the Pomodoro technique)- Eat the “ugliest frog” first (Brian Tracy) or do some “easy” work to gain momentum.- Control your environment and work / life balance (when at work, work, when at play, play)Enjoy and if you struggle with productivity yourself, check out our course which sole aim is to win you time back, every single day:http://pybit.es/productivityHere is what Rev. Kelly Smith has to say about the course:The productivity course is a great help because it focuses on cross-discipline skills. We all face the same struggles with distractions, motivation, procrastination, and wanting to get things just right, i.e. perfectionism. You have the opportunity to learn from Bob and Julian who have studied respected authors on productivity. What they do in the course is condense what they have learned and applied successfully to their own lives, and share it with you in a series of warm, friendly, and concise videos.I highly recommend the course. If you are looking to accomplish more, or perhaps aren’t sure what your next steps are in work, or you just want to be home with your wife and kids. Check it out, there is some wonderful and practical wisdom that benefits not just programmers, but people from all walks of life.Finally here is mentioned Pybites podcast reading list:  https://pybitesbooks.com/lists/pybites-podcast

This week we talk about a "taboo" topic: the pursuit of chasing the bigger paycheque. We reflect on the (hidden) cost of this and what to take into consideration. As usual, we also share some cool wins and books we're reading. Join our Facebook group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/pybites- Live training coming in a few weeks ...What we're reading: Create Space, Blockchain Revolution,  Refactoring 2nd ed, Brief Answers to the Big Questions (Here is a complete reading list of all books we've mentioned on the podcast)And a special shout-out to Brian Okken's Python Testing with pytest, Second Edition which we reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed. Great work Brian!Thanks for listening, for any feedback email us at info@pybit.es

To hear the latest from Pybites, subscribe to our friends list here:https://pybit.es/friends/In this episode we tell the story about Pybites CMS, our new powertool we use to better streamline our business.We tell why we built it, how it was an opportunity for Julian to brush up his coding skills, how we applied the PDM philosophy of learning by building, scratching your own itch.Join our Facebook group here (live training coming soon!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/pybitesAnd if you want to take your Python and dev skills to the next level, check out our PDM coaching program here: https://pybit.es/catalogue/the-pdm-program/We could not find the mentioned article about shipping fast, but we certainly have spoken about this before, here are some additional resources: https://pybit.es/pareto/https://www.pybitespodcast.com/1501156/9135351-040-ship-your-codehttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6925359287103844352/Thanks for listening, for any feedback email us at info@pybit.es

To hear the latest from Pybites, subscribe to our friends list here:https://pybit.es/friends/How much deep work do you get done on a typical work day?In our case, we thought plenty.It turns out that lately it's been less and less.As the authors of Practical Productivity with PyBites this came as quite a shock!But as you'll learn in this episode, productivity is insidious.You can be well on track with your goals, focus and habits, but then gradually, things start to slide, and before you know it you're completely off-track.In this episode we talk about how we became aware of this and provide you with some tips to help you get back on track, that is how to increase your daily amount of deep work.Mentioned resources:- Create Space book- Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule - Paul Graham - Deep work book by Cal Newport (a staple! Also check out his other books) - Insightful article: The Importance of Deep Work & The 30-Hour Method for learning a new skill- Our productivity course: very practical, tailored to the effective developer but also generic enough (< 4 hours you'll have a framework to keep your productivity high)Thanks for listening.---Lastly, apart from Slack we're also building an exciting community on Facebook where we'll soon provide some LIVE developer mindset training, join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pybites

Welcome back to the Pybites podcast. Today Julian's shares a personal story of something that happened to his 6 year old son at school. It made us pause and reflect also linking it to the workplace. We also share an important coding / scratch-your-own-itch win and talk about books we're currently reading: Architecture Patterns with Python and The Internet of Money.Hope you enjoy this episode and reach out to us for any feedback or requests.Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.

In this podcast episode Bob interviews Alex Wulff and Russell Helmstedter from Ventura Unified School District.These guys are doing something really special for their students: they integrate math, computer science, Python and physical objects into a practical, holistic and super engaging learning experience.In our interview we dive into their curriculum, the backstory how they built it out, what drives them, and much more.We also discuss how they leverage our platform in the classroom (mentioned certificate wall / Pybites demo) and other entrepreneurial initiatives to prepare students better (the stuff we'd have loved to have learned at that age wow!) and how they mentor other teachers as well.We hope you enjoy this episode and that it inspires you to become a better teacher and always think critically how we can better train the next generation of programmers.If you like this episode you should totally connect with them as well, they make it easy to do so (thanks guys!)Alex- Email: alex.wulff@venturausd.org- Website: https://www.stembassadors.net/- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-wulff-402a54149- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ideas2bits2atoms/- Facebook (Stembassadors is Alex’s non-profit): https://www.facebook.com/STEMbassadors2017Russell:- Work email: russell.helmstedter@venturausd.org- Personal: rhelmstedter@gmail.com- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RHelmstedter- On Pybites Slack: https://pybit.es/community -> @Russell Helmstedter

Today we discuss how detrimental it is to compare yourself to others, be it on social media, in the workplace or just life in general.What does this have to do with Python developers? A lot actually. Comparing yourself seriously increases anxiety and imposter syndrome so we hope this episode gives some perspective. If you fall into this trap, we also hope it helps you get out of it so that the only person you compare yourself to is yourself.Bonus: a bit of an introvert / extrovert reflection discussion.What we're reading:- Bob: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Julian: The Insider's Guide to Culture Change: Creating a Workplace That Delivers, Grows, and Adapts---We hope you enjoy this episode and if there are things you'd like us to discuss, we're only one email a way: support@pybit.esThanks for listening and please give us an upvote or like. We don't know the podcast app algorithms, but we're sure it will help get this content out to more Pythonistas, developers and IT people that can benefit from it.---As per our ad segment, to talk about your Python journey and career book us in for a 30 min chat here. We've helped ~ 100 Pythonistas 1:1 by now and they seriously boosted their skills and confidence which they apply on a daily basis to obtain greater career opportunities and give back to the community.

Sometimes we feel like we need to put up a façade, especially in front of our leaders. Showing up as your authentic self is so important though and the benefits are immense.In this episode, Hannah Kook, a Senior Communications Manager at AWS, shares her story and tips on what it is to be your authentic self at work.If you muster up the confidence to step into the ring, people will see that you have unique super powers and traits that your competition doesn't.If you hold yourself back you're not giving people the opportunity to see why you're at the table.There's more that you can offer if you double-down on your super powers.It doesn't matter what meeting you're in, there's nothing wrong with being your authentic self. Having the confidence to embrace it and do it is key.Focusing on your superpowers helps you take focus away from what you feel are your shortcomings.Being your authentic self earns trust!When you show up authentically it has a ripple effect and allows others to do the same.Hannah's Actionable Tips to being your authentic self:First, look inward. You need to know the strengths that make you uniquely you.Second, ask others that you trust to validate what your strengths are.Third, show up and speak up! You've got this! You're the expert at your strengths, you can do it, don't back down, be yourself.Four, be ready for discomfort. It's not going to feel amazing the first time and that's FINE. Just keep doing the work and you'll get stronger and better at it.Five, YOUV'E GOT THIS (again!).References:The Memo - https://www.mindaharts.com/thememoWhere you can find Hannah:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahkook/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kookiezh

Welcome back to the Pybites podcast. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Jesse Brink about his transformation from school teacher to professional software developer. In this interview he shares valuable insights what he did to get there. There was the technical part, but there were also strong marketing and mindset components we dig into.We hope you enjoy this episode and leave us a rating and/or review if you do. It will help grow the show, get this content out to more people that might benefit from it - thanks!You can reach out to Jesse on our Slack. You can find more information about PDM here and if interested you can set up a call with us here.

In this episode we introduce our new logo and share the backstory how it came about and its meaning. We think it better aligns with our mission of creating well-rounded developers and growing people's careers. What we're currently reading:- Bob: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (+ on reading list: The Nineties: A Book)- Julian: Create Space: How to manage time and find focus, productivity and successHave a good weekend and thanks for your support.---If you're interested in seriously improving your Python, developer and mindset skills, in just 10 weeks, check out our PDM program.