Exponential Growth - How to Break Into Tech

John Crickett is a software engineer, content creator and coach to thousands of junior developers. In this conversation he shares his personal journey into tech, as well as the origin story for his free resource: https://codingchallenges.fyi.

Chapters:

(00:31) Introduction

(04:23) First Tech Job - Dawn of the Internet

(07:40) Then & Now - Rapid Advancement in Tech

(10:44) The Importance of Soft Skills

(14:00) Transitioning From IC to Management, and Back

(27:36) Becoming VP of Engineering

(35:32) Working with AI

(38:50) Special Guest Appearance - Eddie!

(40:15) Advice for Being "Made Redundant"

(48:11) Content Creation & CodingChallenges.fyi

John's Links:

Jade Wilson is a Software Developer at Microsoft, based in the United Kingdom. Although she studied Computer Science in college, Jade's initial onramp into tech was anything but a walk in the park.

In addition to dealing with discrimination early on, Jade discusses the hardships of balancing job searches, becoming and growing as a developer, and parenting. She also shares her views on empowering women in tech, and shares the importance of overcoming self-doubt, encouraging persistence and confidently express oneself.

Chapters:

(00:45) Intro

(04:56) College Studies

(11:05) First Interviews & Landing Her First Job

(20:57) Working through problems

(25:40) Getting recruited by Microsoft

(36:34) Biggest Struggles Being Remote

(41:51) Empowering Women in Tech

(45:13) A Day in the Life at Microsoft

(55:07) Experience with Azure Cloud

(59:17) Using AI Tools

(01:02:48) Content Creation

(01:11:45) Hot Seat

Jade's Links:

Mckenzie Noel is a software developer at Winsupply. Not that long ago, she was teaching horseback riding lessons to children. In this conversation we learn about how she pivoted into a tech adjacent role, and then becoming a developer.

Chapters:

(00:46) Intro

(04:19) Horses

(07:14) An Opportunity Presents Itself: Winsupply

(14:35) Discovering a Passion for Programming

(21:14) Tech Elevator

(25:34) Lessons Learned / Advice

(43:08) LinkedIn, and Networking

(48:37) Hotseat

Mckenzie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mckenzie-noel/

A 9 year analytics veteran of Amazon and Expedia, Kirsten Lum led dozens of leaders across core applied science, economics, as well as experience instrumentation and data architecture at global scale.

Today, Kirsten oversees all aspects of data science, product, and engineering at Storytellers AI, a company she cofounded.

In this conversation, Kirsten shares her personal journey into tech, as well as many nuggets of wisdom she's collected over the past decade.

Fun fact: Kirsten was was selected for Amazon's top tier leadership program (500 out of ~1,500,000 employees worldwide selected each year).

Chapters:

(00:36) Intro

(02:32) Kirsten's Early Story

(08:30) Getting Out of the Freezer

(11:42) Shots on Goal: Landing a Role at a Startup

(17:03) Being Humble and Teachable

(27:09) The Resume: 2-Part Framework

(34:41) Expedia to Amazon (2nd Crisis)

(42:48) "Licorice Jelly Beans"

(46:02) Amazon to Storytellers (3rd Crisis)

(58:10) Hiring - What She Looks For

(01:02:44) Hot Seat Questions

Kirsten's Links:

Oshri Cohen is a Canadian businessman, self-taught developer, former founder and executive at multiple startups. Today he serves the role of Fractional-CTO to multiple businesses, a model he has popularized in North America.

In this conversation Oshri shares his journey into tech, making (and losing) millions early in his career, and gives his unique perspective on traditional education, software development, business and more.

Chapters:

(00:41) Intro

(03:19) Learning to Code - The Vigilante Period

(10:11) Failing Traditional School & Early Dev Jobs

(23:34) Making Millions and Losing it All

(30:26) Climbing to CTO

(36:39) The Fractional CTO is Born

(48:23) Hot Seat Questions

Oshri's Links & Mentioned Resources:

- Oshri's Personal Site: https://www.oshricohen.me/

- Oshri's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oshricohen/

- Mage AI: https://www.mage.ai/

James Reagan learned to code in his late thirties, doubling his salary and landing a role as a Software Engineer at Accenture.

He previously served in the Marine Corps, and also contracted as an archaeologist for almost half a decade.

James shares his journey into tech, battling physical and mental setbacks, finding mentorship and community, and creating content that eventually translated into warm job leads.

Chapters:

(00:46) Intro

(01:58) Early Education & Experience

(06:15) Year in Ireland

(08:46) Archeology to Marine Corps

(13:12) Physical and Mental Struggles

(17:31) Marine Corps to Programming

(22:09) Becoming Intentional

(26:46) Vets Who Code, and Finding Mentorship

(32:19) Hack Reactor, Networking and Interviews

(44:56) Landing the Job & Doubling his Salary

(49:52) Using Generative AI

(52:05) Hot Seat Questions

James' Links:

- Personal Site: https://jpreagan.com/

- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jpreagan_

- Front End Masters: https://frontendmasters.com/

- Vets Who Code: https://vetswhocode.io/

- Hack Reactor Bootcamp: https://www.galvanize.com/

Erik Andersen is a Senior Engineer at Yum Brands. He's also a volunteer and advocate for junior developers everywhere, as well as a co-organizer for the Dallas Software Developers meetup group.

In this conversation Erik shares his journey into tech, along with the tips, tricks and lessons learned along the way.

Chapters:

(01:00) Intro

(01:44) Erik's Journey into Tech

(07:32) Story time: Erik's Initial Job Search

(11:28) Traditional Education and 4.0 Students

(16:12) What would Erik do Different?

(19:21) First Jobs and Internships

(22:18) How to Stand Out

(27:26) Thoughts on Data Structures & Algorithms

(32:13) Working for Consultancies

(38:58) Developer to Manager, and Back Again

(40:43) Growing from a Junior to a Senior Developer

(43:31) Content Creation

(47:53) Hot Seat Questions

In this episode I summarize the Microsoft Leap Software Engineering Program, which is open at the time of this video.

I also discuss the status of the next cohort of LinkedIn REACH engineers, and share several internships that are open now or in the near future, including:

Ramiro Berrelleza is the founder of Okteto, a company that prides itself on allowing teams deploy cloud environments with a single click.

Before founding Okteto, Ramiro worked at Microsoft, alongside Satya Nadella before he became CEO. He would go on to work at ElasticBox and Atlassian.

In our conversation Ramiro shares what makes non-traditional candidates unique, what he looks for when hiring them and why a startup might not be the right choice for a recent bootcamp graduate.

Chapters:

(01:46) Growing up in Mexico

(07:02) Mindset on Moving to America

(10:27) Message to Career Changers

(12:20) Working with Satya Nadella at Microsoft

(18:50) Working at Startups vs. Big Companies

(32:17) Founding Okteto

(42:10) What Okteto looks for when hiring

(47:57) Hot seat questions

- Website: https://www.okteto.com/

- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramiroberrelleza/

- Twitter/X: @rberrelleza @oktetohq

Coleman Escue landed a full time role as a software developer in one of the toughest job markets in recent memory.

His path was anything but conventional:

Rather than view his path as a set of unrelated experiences, Coleman realized he was accumulating skills.

In time, he would leverage those skills to pierce a veil of early rejection and setbacks, landing a dream role as a professional developer.

Chapters:

(0:00) Preview

(01:05) Coleman's Intro

(06:28) Ministry School

(12:05) Pastor Interviews vs. Technical Interviews

(18:55) Discovering Programing

(20:20) Becoming an Electrician

(25:37) Transferrable Skills & Per Scholas Bootcamp Deepdive

(35:10) The Job Hunt

(42:35) Landing the Job

(47:50) Hot Seat Questions

(51:53) Parting Words

- Coleman's LinkedIn Profile

- Per Scholas, the Bootcamp Coleman attended.