I gained weight quickly from programming and needed help with weight loss early in my career.

I took part in the corporate events that provided unhealthy food because it was “there”…

I was accepted easier by my coworkers because I would eat the same fatty and high calorie meals that they chose…

And I fell into emotional eating, because the stress of software development was depleting my diet of nutrients.

So I started to tell myself “losing weight is vanity – I’m not one of THOSE people“.

But in this episode, I share my personal story of weight loss after ballooning up to over 210 pounds.

I hope my story helps someone else out there who is struggling with the lifestyle of programmers that can make it hard to stay in shape.

Corporate culture won’t always make it easy – but you’re worth it!

There is hope for you – losing weight is not impossible, but you’ve got to stand your ground!

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Too many companies and agile coaches keep the secret of scrum from people!

When agile methods of software development were first brought on the scene, they led to abuse.

Managers “cherry picked” the practices that gave them more control, but software products didn’t actually get any better!

In fact, when you ask most programmers or other software professionals Scrum seems to add MORE pressure and problems.

In this episode, I share the secret of Scrum. If your company doesn’t know this secret, you’re wasting your time because the word “agile” means NOTHING!

If you don’t understand why scrum doesn’t work, I hope this episode offers some insight.

Using a sprint in scrum can cause more problems than it’s worth – without the right mindset to learn from failure.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Are you on a project with a software leader who’s a narcissist, and criticizes everything you do?

Did they treat you like a “rockstar” developer at first, but now it seems like you can never please them?

Working under a narcissist can be one of the most frustrating experiences in your software development career.

In this episode, I share some key traits and behaviors to look for in identifying if you’re working under one. Though people can exhibit several of these traits and NOT be a narcissist, if you see a pattern of several of these behaviors – BEWARE.

I hope this information helps you identify whether you’re being abused emotionally – and cope until you’re able to get out.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Ever get the feeling the software project you’re on clashes with your personality?

Does the way people work together seem very different than you?

Have you had a great experience on one project, only to start enough and feel miserable?

If this has ever happened to you, I hope today’s episode helps you avoid this. Depending on the stage of a software product’s life cycle, you may or may not be the right fit for a team. This has nothing to do with the programming technology stack, operations procedures, or software development process. It has more to do with your goals and preferences at this single moment in your career.

I explain how the early, growth, and sunset stages of a typical software product’s profit life cycle impact your happiness.

Armed with this information, you can make the best decision in your software development career and hopefully find the perfect software project.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

I hear a common complaint that programming has gotten harder over the years.

The more years I spent in software development, I fell into getting frustrated and blaming other people, or the technology.

But I realized that I was a big part of the problem – though it was hard to admit.

In this episode, I share some things I didn’t realize at first that I was doing to make my job harder than it needed to be.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Do you have a feeling that the software product you’re working on is reaching its end of life?

Every software product goes through a sunset stage as part of its life cycle.

This is a natural progression of your software business, but it needs to be handled carefully.

In this episode, I share some considerations your development team can apply to navigate this stage better.

If you want to ensure that your software development career keeps moving forward, you need to understand this stage of the life cycle.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Have you seen the signs that your software company is profiting and may have reached market fit?

The way teams work together needs to change when a software product reaches this critical point in its life cycle.

That doesn’t mean innovation stops, but a focus on moving towards partnering and stability of technology becomes increased.

In this episode, I share some insights I’ve had about how software teams can go about navigating this difficult phase in the life cycle of a software product.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Why do software companies try to innovate under a culture of fear? Does the software company you work at frustrate people with a focus on cost savings over GROWTH?

In this episode, I share some critical insights to how many companies strangle innovation by managing to fear!

Armed with this information, you can stop feeling like a cog in a wheel – and help the culture at your software company improve.

If you’ve had agile coaches, DevOps experts, and other “gurus” try to help your company and it still feels like a pressure cooker – this might be why!

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Are you concerned that your software company isn’t setup for growth?

In working with over 30 companies, I’ve come across many that don’t understand the software business life cycle.

This episode offers some essential information you can use to understand how your company is being managed.

The foundation I provide here can help you determine where in the life cycle of your software products the team you might be working on is at.

This will help you make better decisions about technology and software processes – and I’ll expand on it in future episodes.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Have you solved programming problems easier when “in the zone” or “flow state”?

If you’ve experienced this, once achieved it’s hard to work any other way.

In this episode, I want to share some strategies you can use to avoid getting interrupted.

These will also help you get into the flow state more often so you can enjoy productive and creative sessions of work regularly.

If you follow the tips in this episode, you can help others understand why getting into a flow state is more important than letting others interrupt you at will while programming.

It will take setting expectations and creating healthy boundaries for yourself, but can result in breakthroughs in efficiency and your enjoyment of software development.

Avoiding interruptions can make one of the biggest differences to your satisfaction over your tech career, whether you’re a software developer or a consultant.

Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube. 

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com