Panel: Charles Max Wood

Guest: Michael Garrigan

This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with http://michaelgarrigan.com who is one of the podcast’s listeners. He is changing careers midway and has had many exciting careers in the past, such as being a professional chef, carpenter, repairman, and so on. Listen to today’s episode to hear Michael’s unique experience with programming and JavaScript.

In particular, we dive pretty deep on:

1:18 – Chuck: I started this show but interviewing guests and then opened up to listeners. Michael scheduled an interview and here we go! I find that his experience will be different than mine than others. We will be getting guests on here, but wanted this to be a well-rounded view within the community.

2:25 – Michael’s background! His experience is a mid-career change. To see the things that are intimidating and exciting.

3:16 – How did you get into programming?

3:23 – Michael: How do people talk to machines? What are the different computer languages out there? What do people prefer to use? The C programming language, I saw as the “grandfather” program. That’s the first thing I looked at. Then I was like, “what is going on?” I got a copy of the original K&R book and worked through that.

4:58 – Chuck: I did the C language in college. The Java that I was learning then was less complicated. How did you end up with JavaScript then?

5:26 – Guest: It was easy and you can just open up a console and it works. You want to see things happen visually when you program is great. It’s a great entry point. We started building things in React and how fun that is. I enjoy JavaScript in general.

6:11 – Chuck: What is your career transition?

6:18 – Guest: I have always been a craftsman and building things. I had a portion time I was a professional chef, which is the cold side like sausages and meats and cheeses, etc. I used to do a lot of ice carvings, too. Stopped that and opened a small business and repaired antique furniture for people. Wicker restoration. It was super cool because it was 100+ years old. To see what people did very well was enjoyable. Every few years I wanted to see how something worked, and that’s how I got into it. That was the gateway to something that was scary to something that made programs.

8:24 – Chuck: I was working in IT and wrote a system that managed updates across multiple servers. There is some automation I can do here, and it grew to something else. What made you switch? Were you were looking for something more lucrative?

9:01 – Michael: Main motivation I appreciate the logic behind it. I always build physical items. To build items that are non-physical is kind of different. Using logic to essentially put out a giant instruction sheet is fun.

9:52 – Chuck: At what point do you say I want to do a boot camp?

10:04 – Michael: I might to this as a career. Hobby level and going to work is definitely different. I could see myself getting up every day and going to meetings and talking about these topics and different issues. Coding day to day.

10:51 – Chuck: Who did you talk to who got you started?

10:57 – Guest: Things I read online and friends. They said get the basics behind programming. Languages come and go. Be able to learn quickly and learn the basics.

12:13 – Chuck: In NY city? It’s pricy to live there.

12:33 – Guest: Cost of living is much greater.

12:42 – Chuck: What was it like to go to a boot camp?

12:50 – Guest answers question.

14:30 – Advertisement – Get a Coder Job

15:11 – Chuck: What different projects have you worked on?

15:19 – Guest talks about his many different projects. Like senses.gov.

18:11 – Michael: Working on getting a job. I put together a portfolio and just graduated this past week.

19:38 – Charles: Anything that has been a huge challenge for you?

19:47 – Not really just one. I’ve done big projects in the past. Seeing that I can do them and sheer amount of work that I have put in. Not really too concerned. Only concern is that mid-30s any bias that is out there. I don’t think that will really affect me.

20:25 – Chuck: Yeah, it’s rally not age-bias.

20:55 – Michael: “Making your bones” is an expression in culinary school. That means that you put in the hours in the beginning to become a professional at it. So I have had transitioned several times and each time I had to make my bones and put in the time, so I am not looking forward to that for me right now, but...

21:43 – Chuck: Anything else?

21:51 – Guest: Meetups.

22:40 – Chuck: I have been putting time into making this book.

22:53 – Guest puts in his last comments.

24:00 – Chuck: Thinking about what I want DevChat TV to be. I have been thinking and writing the mission statement for DevChat TV.

25:14 – Chuck: It’s a big deal to get out of debt. My wife and I will be at the end of the year.

25:37 – Guest: Discipline not to spend money, and peer pressure.

25:48 – Picks!

25:57 – Advertisement for Digital Ocean!

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Charles

Michael Garrigan