I’ve never heard someone talk bad about hackathons. Everyone loves it.

The projects that’ve been built during hackathons have even been the start of a company, of something big.

But what about hackathons make people like it so much. Is it the people, the format, the culture?

Sashrika Kaur comes on to discuss all these things and more!

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Sashrika Kaur:

https://linkedin.com/in/sashrika-kaur

https://twitter.com/sashrikakaur

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/L5TFtJet-Ic

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:29 - Sashrika moving to London

00:02:37 - Friendships across the world

00:03:09 - How Sashrika got involved in Major League Hacking

00:05:51 - Innovation Days vs. hackathons

00:09:13 - People love hackathons

00:13:36 - A focus on collaboration

00:15:04 - Building things from scratch

00:18:14 - The perfect duration of a hackathon

00:20:07 - hackathon skills that translate to your career

00:23:47 - The benefit of reading code

00:25:05 - Competitiveness in developing software

00:27:01 - Personal insecurities in hackathons

00:32:21 - It's about the outcomes

00:32:57 - Good vs. great hackathons

00:37:16 - Why the term "hacker"?

00:39:57 - Optimal team sizes

00:41:49 - What do you become a hackathon coach?

00:44:04 - Why Sashrika works in big tech

00:48:23 - Balancing the workload

00:51:41 - More or less hackathons?

00:55:21 - Go to hackathons!

Andrew comes on to share his love for blogging and knowledge sharing in general. Especially with regards to teaching. Whether it’s in tech, or anywhere else, it’s incredibly rewarding and fulfilling to see people grow and overcome challenges with your guidance. 

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Andrew: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devhammer

https://twitter.com/devhammer

https://devhammer.net

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/APPp7jZMZrA

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

Andreas Prins comes on to share the pivot and journey he’s gone through with StackState, a product company. My biggest takeaway is how much more effective you can be by solving one problem, and solving it really well. By maintaining focus on a single use case, things become simpler and more clear. Both from a customer perspective, as well as from the teams that build the product.

“If you need 6 web pages to explain what you do, you might want to rethink your solution”

One of my favourite quotes from the episode. 

It was a real pleasure to learn from his journey and I hope it’s a good listen as well :)

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Andreas Prins:

https://linkedin.com/in/andreasprins

https://twitter.com/andreasprins

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/ojJZ4ijWq0I

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:28 - The day to day of Andreas
00:01:14 - Market Research
00:02:31 - Taking ideas from open source
00:03:45 - What problem is StackState solving?
00:06:45 - How has StackState evolved?
00:09:46 - Building the right thing
00:12:55 - Engineers adopting solutions
00:16:17 - Breadth vs. depth
00:17:54 - Feedback from the engineering team and customers
00:20:26 - Who talks to customers?
00:21:55 - Pitfalls of technical founders
00:25:49 - Super focus on one problem
00:27:20 - Getting great engagement at demo's
00:30:30 - Processing feedback
00:32:51 - Understanding the big picture
00:35:56 - Entrepreneurial mindset
00:37:41 - Entrepreneurial environments
00:40:18 - Open core and building a community
00:45:52 - Not accepting the status quo
00:47:29 - Outro

Insecurities, everyone has them, but not everyone deals with them the same. And interestingly enough, behaviour and insecurities can originate from experiences you’ve had as a child.

This is one of the many takeaways I had from chatting with Alex Østergaard on this episode. 

With an interest in coaching myself, it was a real pleasure to learn from his perspective and how he does things. Active listening, zero judgement and self-compassion being a few ingredients to his success. 

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Alex Østergaard: 

https://linkedin.com/in/alex-life-coach

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/u5xkR267WfA

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:38 - Patrick's managers

00:01:42 - Resources to help with coaching

00:03:27 - How to build up trust

00:04:40 - No Judgement

00:06:03 - Criticism and drive

00:06:48 - Self-compassion

00:09:04 - Feeling of being not good enough

00:12:55 - Self-care

00:15:36 - Getting out of a slope

00:18:09 - Control how you feel

00:20:55 - Alex's LinkedIn profile is amazing

00:21:48 - Big Tech Tunnel Vision

00:24:18 - Toxic relationship with your company

00:25:50 - Weight of gold

00:26:47 - Fulfilment vs. compensation

00:28:52 - Self doubt and trusting yourself

00:32:38 - Patrick's past insecurities joining Xebia

00:35:38 - None of us know what we're doing

00:36:24 - What people think of you

00:38:26 - Fear of judgement

00:39:19 - Judgement from the podcast

00:40:30 - Asking for help

00:41:41 - 5 types of imposter syndrome

00:43:28 - Pride

00:45:37 - Behaviour explained through the past

00:47:30 - No one is to blame

00:49:00 - It's not right or wrong

Managing your mind. It’s not something I thought you could do, or would need to do. But after chatting with Reiner Kraft, I think doing so can have a profound impact on bringing focus and increasing performance. 

Reiner shares his journey of becoming aware of mindfulness to now helping others to manage their minds with data and through coaching. 

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Reiner Kraft:

https://linkedin.com/in/reiner

https://www.themindfulleader.net

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3uuWfXcVNWOG1g59f9520Q

Epigenetics:

https://www.epigenetikpraxis.de

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:25 - Work Culture USA VS EU

00:00:25 - Career path

00:01:32 - Changing Your Work environment

00:02:31 - Stress & Mindfulness

00:04:06 - Working culture in Europe

00:07:25 - Pressure at work

00:12:56 - A state of flow

00:17:04 - Measuring present awareness

00:20:05 - Becoming more mindful

00:27:46 - Mental work vs. physical work

00:32:59 - Growing up and focusing

00:37:56 - Influence of technology on body and mind

00:43:39 - Performance of the mind and body

00:49:44 - Changing your lifestyle

00:54:39 - Outro

We're back with another Q&A episode! 🙌

Tons of great questions and a very special guest jumps in here and there as well!

The man with many names, my friend and producer: Roald Willemsen

🎙Enjoy! 🤗

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/srJp0N9_iLc

New episodes every Wednesday with me 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:47 - If you could start your career over what would you do differently?
00:05:00 - How valuable did you find the podcast in terms of personal development and giving back to the community?
00:05:07 - Personal Development
00:10:07 - Giving back to the community
00:11:49 - What’s next for the podcast?
00:13:05 - Patrick Akil Podcast
00:14:55 - Are you a native English speaker?
00:17:33 - How much do you work remote and how much do you go to the office?
00:20:31 - If you couldn’t do the podcast anymore what would you do?
00:22:17 - How does a new software engineer make themselves valuable as an employee in this era of AI and machine learning?
00:27:12 - As a software engineer, what is the one thing you'll never actually want to do?
00:29:23 - Who or what has inspired you in your career?
00:33:53 - How would your 10 year old self react to what you are doing now?
00:35:14 - What do you remember most about your first job?
00:43:53 - Outro

Our 100th episode special with Jason Lengstorf!

It's been a while since we've done an in-person episode, but Jason happened to be in the neighbourhood, so we made it happen 🙌

We had a blast and kept rolling longer than usual with exciting discussions on various topics 🚀

Thank you so much for tuning in for this milestone episode, I truly appreciate your support! 🤗

https://www.jason.af

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlengstorf

https://twitter.com/jlengstorf

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnty0z0pNRDgnuoirYXnC5A

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/RNW7S9U7VkA

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

Big shoutout to ⁠Xebia⁠ for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:37 - Live podcasts
00:01:48 - In person podcasts
00:03:15 - Public speaking
00:05:28 - Finding your topic
00:07:21 - Preventing a burnout
00:11:48 - Work-life balance
00:15:01 - Creative outlets
00:16:38 - Different ways to consume information
00:19:41 - Authenticity and integrity
00:22:35 - Relationships throughout your career
00:25:23 - Type of work and the scale of the organisation
00:31:27 - Mapping out your core values
00:36:10 - Understanding the politics of an organization
00:39:57 - The challenges with big organisations
00:42:37 - Strategically levering relationships
00:44:45 - Stress and weird behaviour
00:48:37 - Big picture thinking
00:52:22 - Outcomes vs output
00:57:00 - Culture and marketing
01:04:08 - Engaging media
01:15:48 - Company cultures
01:19:43 - Changing perception
01:23:48 - Amazing USPs
01:32:32 - Customer value
01:37:54 - Come build with me
01:41:36 - Streaming in front of people
01:47:27 - Riding the waves
01:50:17 - Big thank you!

What started out as a passion project turned into a full-fledged global organization for Vanessa Sanyauke. She shares how to level up in your career, set realistic expectations and how she started

a side hustle which later became her main hustle. 

What really stuck with me is how far hard work and dedication can bring you, but not without sacrifice.

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Vanessa Sanyauke:

https://www.vanessasanyauke.com

https://linkedin.com/in/vanessa-chiedza-sanyauke-9b41171a

https://twitter.com/vanessasanyauke

https://www.girlstalklondon.com

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/NFALtI3_vcA

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:32 - Remote working internationally
00:01:58 - Working from the office
00:02:28 - Raising investment
00:03:14 - Controlling your nerves while pitching
00:03:59 - Minorities and the chance of getting funded
00:04:31 - Day to day Business
00:05:48 - Running a global organisation
00:06:57 - Challenges of running a global organisation
00:09:12 - Remote working vs in-person working
00:10:10 - Building a community
00:13:01 - Ethics around picking your sponsorships
00:15:43 - Building a network
00:17:13 - Companies and networking
00:19:13 - Starting your career
00:22:23 - Talking with people
00:23:23 - Leveling up in your career
00:24:49 - Working for yourself
00:27:31 - Starting a side hustle
00:29:12 - Preventing a burnout
00:33:03 - How to say NO?
00:36:26 - Invest in yourself
00:39:38 - Work ethic
00:44:04 - Outro

Forrest Knight shares how his perspective towards ChatGPT has shifted as we discuss the benefits of having AI as a team member, its place in a team, and the tasks that AI can handle.

Next to that we cover the benefits of working in a team in comparison to working on personal projects, the value of creating, and the differences between learning from research and experience.

You’ll really like this one!

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Forrest Knight:

https://youtube.com/c/@fknight 

https://twitter.com/forrestpknight

https://www.linkedin.com/in/forrestpknight

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!  

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:28 - ChatGPT
00:02:10 - Coding with ChatGPT
00:03:04 - What kind of tool is ChatGPT?
00:09:00 - ChatGPT as Team Member
00:10:08 - AI's Place in the Team
00:12:35 - Tasks for AI
00:17:07 - Research in Content Creation
00:21:04 - Coding outside of work
00:27:39 - Benefits of working in a team
00:31:19 - Asking for help inside a team
00:36:09 - Scheduling Research
00:41:22 - Working by yourself VS working in a Team
00:43:49 - Changing Workflows
00:48:22 - Research, experience and learning
00:49:27 - The Value of Creating
00:51:59 - Don't be afraid of AI
00:53:13 - Outro

Milan Milanović shares his structured approach to personal development. A fundamental aspect of that is personal goals. He explains why setting the right goals is crucial for success, and how to sustainably achieve them over time.