July 23, 2016

Crossing The Streams - Talk Python with Michael Kennedy

1 hour 17 minutes

Summary

The same week that we released our first episode of Podcast.__init__, Michael Kennedy was publishing the very first episode of Talk Python To Me. The years long drought of podcasts about Python has been quenched with a veritable flood of quality content as we have both continued to deliver the stories of the wonderful people who make our community such a wonderful place. This week we interviewed Michael about what inspired him to get started, his process and experience as Talk Python continues to evolve, and how that has led him to create online training courses alongside the podcast. He also interviewed us, so check out this weeks episode of Talk Python To Me for a mirror image of this show!

Brief Introduction

Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.

I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at pythonpodcast.com

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Join our community! Visit discourse.pythonpodcast.com for your opportunity to find out about upcoming guests, suggest questions, and propose show ideas.

Your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti

Today we’re interviewing Michael Kennedy about his work with Talk Python to Me, another podcast about Python and its community, and on-demand Python trainings. Michael has also offered to give away one of each of his Python courses to our listeners. If you would like the chance to win, then sign up for our newsletter at pythonpodcast.com, or our forum at discourse.pythonpodcast.com. If you want to double your chances, then sign up for both!

Interview with Michael Kennedy

Introductions

How did you get into programming?

How did you get introduced to Python? (Chris)

What is the craziest piece of software you’ve ever written? – Tobias

You’ve taken some pretty drastic steps around Python and your career lately. What inspired you to do that and how’s it going?(yes, quit my job, focus only on podcast and online courses).

You are basically self-taught as a developer, how did you get into this teaching / mentor role?

Why did you first get started with Talk Python to Me? – Tobias

Did you know when you started that it would turn into a full-time endeavor? – Tobias

For a while there weren’t any podcasts available that focused on Python and now we’re each producing one. What’s it like to run a successful podcast? – Tobias

What have been your most popular episodes? Tell us a bit about each – Tobias

In your excellent episode with Kate Heddleston you talked about how we tend to bash other programming languages. We’ve done a fair bit of Java bashing here. How can we help get ourselves and others in our community out of this bad habit? – Chris

How do you select the guests and topics for your show? – Tobias

What topics do you have planned for the next few episodes?

How do you prepare the questions for each episode? – Tobias

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned from the podcasting experience?

What do you wish you did differently and how are you looking to improve? – Tobias

I had a great time hanging out with you at PyCon this year. What was your impression of the conference?

What were your favorite sessions and do you have any shows scheduled to follow up on them? – Tobias

Your sites are 100% “hand-crafted” as they say. Can you give us a look inside? What are the moving parts in there?

So you stirred things up with Stitcher this week. What’s up with that?

Can you recommend some podcasts? What’s in your playlist?

Final call to action?

Keep In Touch

Twitter

Podcast

Web

Github

Picks

Tobias

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Lego Brickumentary

Hashicorp Consul

Chris

Yarn

Apple Magic Mouse 2

Remembering Stonewall

Michael

PyPI

passlib

Python 2016 Youtube Channel

K Lars Lohn – Closing Keynote

Links

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Trello

Recommended podcasts:

Test and Code Podcast

Partially Derivative

Exponent Podcast

Mixergy

Startup Podcast (season 1 & 2)

Away from the keyboard

Developer On Fire

Michael’s courses:

Python Jumpstart by Building 10 Apps

Write Pythonic Code Like a Seasoned Developer

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA

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By Tobias Macey

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