Pybites Podcast

Welcome back to the Pybites podcast.

Today Julian's shares a personal story of something that happened to his 6 year old son at school. It made us pause and reflect also linking it to the workplace.

We also share an important coding / scratch-your-own-itch win and talk about books we're currently reading: Architecture Patterns with Python and The Internet of Money.

Hope you enjoy this episode and reach out to us for any feedback or requests.

Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.

In this podcast episode Bob interviews Alex Wulff and Russell Helmstedter from Ventura Unified School District.

These guys are doing something really special for their students: they integrate math, computer science, Python and physical objects into a practical, holistic and super engaging learning experience.

In our interview we dive into their curriculum, the backstory how they built it out, what drives them, and much more.

We also discuss how they leverage our platform in the classroom (mentioned certificate wall / Pybites demo) and other entrepreneurial initiatives to prepare students better (the stuff we'd have loved to have learned at that age wow!) and how they mentor other teachers as well.

We hope you enjoy this episode and that it inspires you to become a better teacher and always think critically how we can better train the next generation of programmers.

If you like this episode you should totally connect with them as well, they make it easy to do so (thanks guys!)

Alex
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.stembassadors.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-wulff-402a54149
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ideas2bits2atoms/
- Facebook (Stembassadors is Alex’s non-profit): https://www.facebook.com/STEMbassadors2017

Russell:
- Work email: [email protected]
- Personal: [email protected]
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RHelmstedter
- On Pybites Slack: https://pybit.es/community -> @Russell Helmstedter

Today we discuss how detrimental it is to compare yourself to others, be it on social media, in the workplace or just life in general.

What does this have to do with Python developers? A lot actually. Comparing yourself seriously increases anxiety and imposter syndrome so we hope this episode gives some perspective. If you fall into this trap, we also hope it helps you get out of it so that the only person you compare yourself to is yourself.

Bonus: a bit of an introvert / extrovert reflection discussion.

What we're reading:
- Bob: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
- Julian: The Insider's Guide to Culture Change: Creating a Workplace That Delivers, Grows, and Adapts

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We hope you enjoy this episode and if there are things you'd like us to discuss, we're only one email a way: [email protected]

Thanks for listening and please give us an upvote or like. We don't know the podcast app algorithms, but we're sure it will help get this content out to more Pythonistas, developers and IT people that can benefit from it.

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As per our ad segment, to talk about your Python journey and career book us in for a 30 min chat here. 

We've helped ~ 100 Pythonistas 1:1 by now and they seriously boosted their skills and confidence which they apply on a daily basis to obtain greater career opportunities and give back to the community.

Sometimes we feel like we need to put up a façade, especially in front of our leaders. Showing up as your authentic self is so important though and the benefits are immense.

In this episode, Hannah Kook, a Senior Communications Manager at AWS, shares her story and tips on what it is to be your authentic self at work.

• If you muster up the confidence to step into the ring, people will see that you have unique super powers and traits that your competition doesn't.
• If you hold yourself back you're not giving people the opportunity to see why you're at the table.
• There's more that you can offer if you double-down on your super powers.
• It doesn't matter what meeting you're in, there's nothing wrong with being your authentic self. Having the confidence to embrace it and do it is key.
• Focusing on your superpowers helps you take focus away from what you feel are your shortcomings.
• Being your authentic self earns trust!
• When you show up authentically it has a ripple effect and allows others to do the same.

Hannah's Actionable Tips to being your authentic self:

• First, look inward. You need to know the strengths that make you uniquely you.
• Second, ask others that you trust to validate what your strengths are.
• Third, show up and speak up! You've got this! You're the expert at your strengths, you can do it, don't back down, be yourself.
• Four, be ready for discomfort. It's not going to feel amazing the first time and that's FINE. Just keep doing the work and you'll get stronger and better at it.
• Five, YOUV'E GOT THIS (again!).

References:

• The Memo - https://www.mindaharts.com/thememo

Where you can find Hannah:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahkook/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kookiezh

Welcome back to the Pybites podcast. This week we had the pleasure of interviewing Jesse Brink about his transformation from school teacher to professional software developer.

In this interview he shares valuable insights what he did to get there. There was the technical part, but there were also strong marketing and mindset components we dig into.

We hope you enjoy this episode and leave us a rating and/or review if you do. It will help grow the show, get this content out to more people that might benefit from it - thanks!

You can reach out to Jesse on our Slack. You can find more information about PDM here and if interested you can set up a call with us here.

In this episode we introduce our new logo and share the backstory how it came about and its meaning.

We think it better aligns with our mission of creating well-rounded developers and growing people's careers.

What we're currently reading:
- Bob: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (+ on reading list: The Nineties: A Book)
- Julian: Create Space: How to manage time and find focus, productivity and success

Have a good weekend and thanks for your support.

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If you're interested in seriously improving your Python, developer and mindset skills, in just 10 weeks, check out our PDM program.

Today we have Thomas Gaigher (creator of pypyr) back on the show to talk about debugging.

We hit on various important areas:
- Visualization.
- The debugging process.
- Tracking and tracing.
- Preventative measures.

We even unexpectedly (and interestingly) spoke about design patterns.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Mentioned resources:
- A debugging tale PyBites article
- Thomas' first appearance on the podcast

Books mentioned:
- Metropolitan novel
- Design patterns (Gang of Four)

Reach out to Thomas:
- Twitter
- PyBites Slack

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Are you serious about taking your Python career to the next level?

Our PDM program takes you from scripter to proficient Pythonista in just 10 weeks.

You'll become an effective developer that writes robust software and knows how to market those skills well.

Does that sound appealing to you? If so, book us in for a chat and we'll see how PDM would look for you, based on your individual needs and goals ...

In this episode we talk about The Great Resignation and the responsibility of companies and employees to seek improvement in this regard. It might be a bit soapboxy, but it's an important trend we wanted to cover on our podcast. We hope it's helpful.

Books mentioned:
- Writing Solid Code
- Search Inside Yourself

(Btw these links go to our PyBites Books app, a nice and simple way to track your reading.)

Interested in taking your Python career to the next level? We provide coaching that will get you to your goals faster. To learn how we do that, book us in for a chat. 

This week we have Tim Gallati on our podcast to talk about his Python journey and a very interesting search database he developed: QuietLinks.com

We discuss the problem his solution solves, the stack it uses, and some of the challenges he faced when developing this app.

He talks about the importance having an MVP (Minimal Viable Product), which is in line with our philosophy of shipping soon and often.

Check out QuietLinks here and connect with Tim on LinkedIn or Slack.

Mentioned infinite scroll YouTube video.

This podcast episode is based on this article.

Additional resources:
- 10 Tips to Write Better Functions in Python
- Linting tools: flake8, black and pre-commit on which we have a training: Increase Python code quality with pre-commit
- Mentioned Vim plugin I use to disallow save if there are syntax errors
- Two exception handling articles: 7 Tips to Improve Your Error Handling in Python and Errors should never pass silently
- Not mentioned but relevant for the namespaces part: When to Write Classes in Python And Why it Matters
- Useful Python Built-in Functions [Beginner / Intermediate]
- Idiomatic Python: EAFP versus LBYL
- Zen of Python (or type "import this" in the REPL) / PEP8
- A great book in this context is Uncle Bob's Clean Code.

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Thanks for listening. If you struggle with this, check out our PDM coaching program where we can significantly increase your Python and developer skills in 10 weeks.