

Ladybug Podcast
Emma Bostian, Kelly Vaughn
Back after a two-year hiatus, engineering leaders Emma Bostian and Kelly Vaughn return for Season 7 of the Ladybug Podcast, giving you a deep dive into all things engineering leadership.
With nearly 1 million total listens, Ladybug Podcast covers tech, career, and code, bringing unique viewpoints from a variety of guests and co-hosts.
Check out our website!
With nearly 1 million total listens, Ladybug Podcast covers tech, career, and code, bringing unique viewpoints from a variety of guests and co-hosts.
Check out our website!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 25, 2019 • 49min
Speaking At Conferences
Have you ever watched or attended a conference and been in awe of the speakers? How do they know so much information? How do they prepare a talk? How do they even get the courage to speak in the first place and what is that process like?
In this episode we’ll delve into all things conference talks. This is a very special episode because it’s our last episode this season. We’ve decided to release our podcast in seasons, which gives us more time to plan out our episodes and schedule guests ahead of time. We’ll be taking the month of December off and will be back with brand new episodes in January.
Show Notes
Our speaking experience - 1:31
What can I speak about? - 8:03
What is a CFP? - 11:51
Benefits of speaking - 17:22
Drawback of speaking - 19:53
Speaker fees - 24:19
Preparing your talk - 32:19
Speaking advice - 39:27
How do I get started? - 46:04
For full show notes, visit our website

Nov 18, 2019 • 33min
Web Performance
Today we’re talking about web performance. Did you know that 40% of users abandon sites that take more than 3s to load? Turns out making your sites fast is pretty important! In this episode we’ll talk about what web performance is, why we should care, and we’ll give you tips for optimizing performance and measuring it.
Show Notes
What is web performance? - 1:18
Why should I care about performance? - 3:48
The cost of JavaScript - 6:59
What should I be measuring? - 14:02
Performance tools - 17:46
Performance-improving methods - 19:40
Progressive web apps - 26:49
For full show notes, check out our website.

Nov 11, 2019 • 28min
Debugging 101
How often have you encountered a problem and struggled to figure out where to start? Or maybe you aren’t super familiar with the browser tools available to debug your JavaScript code. So today we’ve brought on a special guest, Rebecca Hill, to help us learn about the world of debugging.
Show Notes
Who are you? - 1:12
How did you learn so much about debugging? - 2:00
Basic debugging steps - 3:12
Is debugging language agnostic? - 6:21
Why don't we teach debugging? - 9:36
Different types of debugging - 13:45
Common debugging mistakes - 17:09
Testing - 19:39
Browser features for debugging - 20:50
Tips for new developers - 22:40
Which browser is best for debugging? - 24:55
Where can you learn more? - 26:08
For full show notes, visit our website

Nov 4, 2019 • 39min
Working Remotely
In recent years, working remotely has become a more popular office perk not only among startups but enterprise businesses as well. Some companies even ONLY work remotely. In this week's episode, we'll discuss our experiences working remotely, the pros and cons from an employer and employee standpoint, and provide some advice on whether or not working remotely is a good fit for you.
Show Notes
What does it mean to work remotely? - 1:36
What is our experience working remotely? - 2:34
Pros & cons - 7:08
What makes a successful remote work experience? - 21:05
Should you work remotely as your first job? - 27:11
Personality traits for a healthy remote work experience - 31:35
Tips for working remotely - 33:31
For full show notes, check out our website.

Oct 28, 2019 • 35min
Shopify & E-Commerce
If you’ve ever seen Kelly’s Twitter account then you’ve probably heard of Shopify, an E-commerce platform that gives you everything you need to sell online. This week we’re talking to JML, CTO at Shopify, and we’re giving you all the details.
Show notes
Who are you and what is your role at Shopify? - 1:05
What does a typical day at Shopify look like? - 1:41
What was your path in tech? - 3:36
What is Shopify & e-commerce in general? - 7:44
What makes Shopify different from competitors? - 12:41
Why should developers pay attention to Shopify? - 13:42
What are your favorite things that have been built by Shopify? - 22:09
How has Shopify's design system, Polaris, changed development? - 24:28
What tech stack do you recommend focusing on for new Shopify developers? - 30:06
What does the day in the life of a Shopify developer look like? - 31:01
For full show notes and transcript, check out our website

Oct 21, 2019 • 32min
All About Technical Portfolios
This week we're talking all things portfolios. What can a portfolio do for you? How can you build one? Do you even need a portfolio to be successful? This week we'll delve into the world of portfolios.
Show Notes
What is a technical portfolio? - 1:16
Do we have portfolios? - 8:13
Why would you want a portfolio? - 8:21
How do you build a portfolio as a backend developer? - 17:06
What can you put in your portfolio? - 18:11
What if I'm bad at design? - 20:26
What should developers focus on when building a portfolio? - 23:15
Fun portfolio examples - 25:24
Wins - 29:18
For full show notes, visit our website.

Oct 14, 2019 • 51min
React, Vue, && Angular, OH MY!
You've probably heard about some of the JavaScript frameworks that dominate the front end ecosystem. And this week's podcast we'll be discussing the pros and cons of JavaScript frameworks, go into detail about React, Vue, and Angular, and discuss tools and resources for how you can get started with these frameworks.
Difference between a library & a framework - 1:04
Do we even need a framework? - 4:37
Pros & cons of using frameworks - 13:25
Popularity of different frameworks - 16:54
React - 25:31
Vue.js - 34:14
Angular - 39:34
Which framework is right for me? - 44:23
Evolution & speed of frontend development - 45:44
Learning these frameworks - 47:31
For the full show notes, check out our website.

Oct 10, 2019 • 21min
Hacktoberfest Pt. 2
October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. We're talking with Shannon Crabill about what open source is, how to get involved with Hacktoberfest, and tips & tricks for maintaining open source projects.
Show Notes
Who is Shannon? - 1:17
What is open source? - 4:19
How did you get involved in Hacktoberfest? - 4:55
What is it like to maintain an open source project? - 6:27
Tips && tricks for people wanting to work on maintaining an open source project - 7:35
How to contribute to Hacktoberfest projects? - 8:54
Advice for beginners getting started in open source - 11:51
How do you find projects to contribute to? - 13:09
Hard parts of open source - 14:30
Best parts of open source - 15:38
How to gain confidence to contribute - 16:52
Advice to someone beginning their coding journey - 18:06
For the full show notes, head over to our website!

Oct 7, 2019 • 27min
Hacktoberfest Pt. 1
October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. Hacktoberfest is an awesome event where you can get involved in open source whether it's your first time contributing or you're a seasoned pro.
In this episode we'll discuss what Hacktoberfest is, how you can start contributing to open source, and with our special guests Peter and Jess from Dev, we'll talk about how you can maintain your own open source project.
For full show notes, check out our website.

Sep 30, 2019 • 40min
Design Systems
Design systems are in the world around us from the signs on the side of the highway to the setup of a grocery store and our products are no exception. But what exactly our design systems and how do we build them? In this episode, we'll take a look at the foundations of design systems, the benefits and drawbacks, and the process for creating one from the ground up.
1:23 What are design systems?
2:58 Emma's experience with design systems
3:52 Ali's experience with design systems
4:41 Kelly's experience with design systems
5:00 Do you need a design system and who are design systems for?
7:46 Benefits of design systems
11:11 Drawbacks of design systems and team structure
13:11 How do you measure success?
14:24 Challenges of building a design system
15:34 How to build a design system
18:19 Styling components
19:03 Documentation tools
21:09 Style guides
23:42 Why design systems fail
25:08 Who builds design systems
29:20 Tools for building design systems
32:54 Notable people in design systems
36:54 Wins
For the full show notes and links to the speakers, check out our website!


