Dev Sounds Podcast

Dev Sounds Podcast

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Dev Sounds Podcast episodes

  • Team Bonding

    In a remote work world, it's a little more challenging to feel connected to your co-workers. Dave and Nana discuss how important team bonding is and successful team bonding activities (like Fika). 

    47 min
  • Getting into management
    Dave interviews Nana about what success looks like as an Engineering Manager. Nana goes into what the 4 pillars that orient her work, if she still has time to write code, metrics for measuring progress, prioritizing, and much more.
    Resources:
    Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule by Paul Graham
    Presentations Episode - Dev Sounds Podcast
    Management books:
    The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
    Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble and Gene Kim
    49 min
  • Problem Solving

    Have you ever gotten frustrated with yourself while trying to solve a programming problem? Dave and Nana talk about all things problem solving: debugging tips, rituals and habits to help you get out of a bad headspace, getting into a “flow” state (via the Breakout Principle), and more. This conversation is inspired by Dave’s blog post: https://www.scraggo.com/programming-with-more-ease/

    50 min
  • Book Club: Think Like a Rocket Scientist

    In this episode, we discuss the book: Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life by Ozan Varol. We saw lots of ways to apply what we learned in the book to software engineering and life.

    Author link:

    https://ozanvarol.com/books/

    A quick summary:

    “Through engaging stories to illustrate key concepts, Varol shares how to Launch, Accelerate, and Achieve. In Launch, he explores the topics of embracing uncertainty, reasoning from first principles, and thinking creatively. In Accelerate, he discusses how we can improve our abilities to solve problems. In Achieve, we learn how to respond to the flip-side outcomes of failure and success.”

    credit: https://mentalpivot.com/book-notes-think-like-a-rocket-scientist-by-ozan-varol/

    48 min
  • Presentations

    Dave and Nana talk about their experiences giving presentations, and share tips along the way!

    Where to give talks:

    • Meeting with colleague(s)
    • Tech Talk at your company
    • Lunch n' Learn at your company
    • Educational institutions like coding bootcamps
    • Meetups like the CodePen meetup
    • Streaming online as a Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc event
    • Record and post on YouTube. After, promote through your blog or social media

      • Resources:

      • Visualization for Presentation class - Kelogg - Prof. Steven Franconeri
      • Situation Complication Resolution framework
      • Tech Talk - How I'd Improve My Capstone Project (a Dave presentation)
        • 56 min
      • Our Myers Briggs Types

        Dave and Nana take the 16personalities.com test to discover their Myers Briggs Type Indicators.

        Want to discover your 5 letters? Take the test here.

        Learn more about Myers Briggs personality theory:

        • https://www.16personalities.com/
        • https://www.16personalities.com/articles/our-theory
        • https://www.16personalities.com/articles/tactics-judging-vs-prospecting
        • https://www.16personalities.com/articles/identity-assertive-vs-turbulent


          • 58 min
        • Journaling

          Dave and Nana discuss the ways they reflect on life via journaling. 

          The article we talked about: https://www.dickiebush.com/articles/My-10-go-to-reflection-questions

          Resources for journaling:

          • Notebooks
          • Spreadsheets
          • Blogging
          • Hero’s journal: https://theherosjournal.co/
          • The anti-Anxiety notebook: https://shop.therapynotebooks.com/products/the-anti-anxiety-therapy-notebook-retail
          • Cornell note-taking applied to journaling: Leave room in the margin for notes. Leave room at the bottom for summarizing the entry.
          • Dave's command line question app: https://github.com/scraggo/question-prompter/
            • 40 min
          • Interviews

            Dave and Nana talk about interviewing in the software engineering field.

            Discussion points:

            • How to navigate technical interview sessions
            • Etiquette dos and donts as interviewees and interviewers
            • Ensuring a candidate performs their best
            • Managing nerves as interviewees and interviewers
            • Being objective as an interviewer

              • Resources:

              • https://www.evanjones.ca/software-job-search-advice.html
              • https://weekendchai.com/a-comprehensive-guide-to-the-software-engineering-interview-process-2021/
              • https://nojvek.substack.com/p/how-to-make-coding-interviews-better
                • 35 min
              • Working from home, 1 year later

                Dave and Nana reminisce about their work from home year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

                Some tips to adjust transitioning from office to remote:

                • Establish your workspace to minimize distractions
                • Have structure in your day to self manage productivity and focus
                • Prioritize mental health and physical well being
                • Communicate intentionally and share expectations

                  • Our home office gear:

                  • Sit or stand while working: FLEXISPOT Height Adjustable Standing Desk Converter 35"
                  • Microphone: Blue Yeti USB Mic
                    • 1 hr 8 min
                  • Resumes

                    Dave and Nana talk about creating effective resumes in the software engineering field.

                    Discussion points:

                    • How to properly include "soft" skills (and what to leave out)
                    • The ill-effects of inconsistencies in font/layout
                    • What experiences are essential to list and which ones aren't
                    • When it's acceptable to be longer than one page
                    • Why you should use simple language instead of highfalutin words from a thesaurus
                    • What a CV is and why you should create one
                    • How to tailor your resume to the job you’re applying to
                    • and more!

                      • References:

                      • https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-a-resume-that-works/
                      • https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/11/25/how-to-write-an-effective-developer-resume-advice-from-a-hiring-manager/
                        • 27 min

                      About Dev Sounds Podcast

                      From the publisher's feed

                      We’re Nana and Dave, both software developers living in Illinois, and our common focus is thriving in the tech industry. We also enjoy talking about lots of other things like music, mental health, and…