January 12, 2023

The Case for Adopting TypeScript with Josh Goldberg

59 minutes

Many people dream about being their own boss, but there’s no clear rulebook that outlines how to get there. While self-employment seems glorious to some, it’s not for everyone. How does someone know when they are ready to take the step into the unknown, and how do they know if that choice will suit them?

Josh Goldberg, Open Source Developer and author of Learning TypeScript, built much of his coding career at Microsoft and Codecademy before taking the leap into full-time open source tooling in January 2022. Since then, he has published a book and expanded his networking by speaking at over 30 conferences, but he still has time to discuss coding languages and hiking in Arizona over a glass of whiskey.

In this episode, Josh talks to Chuck and Robbie about Typescript adoption, becoming a full-time open source developer, and the power of expanding your professional network.

Key Takeaways

[01:48] - An intro to Josh Goldberg.

[2:28] - A whiskey review - Barrell Armida Bourbon Whiskey.

[07:01] - Chuck, Robbie, and Josh’s whiskey rating.

[12:27] - Josh’s latest book, Learning TypeScript.

[21:27] - GraphQL vs. TypeScript.

[23:40] - Josh’s journey into TypeScript.

[27:18] - Josh’s thoughts on adding a type system directly to JavaScript.

[30:11] - The case for TypeScript adoption.

[34:20] - TypeScript conversion strategies and solutions from Codecademy.

[39:43] - Josh’s transition to full-time open source developer.

[42:27] - Josh’s advice for aspiring full-time open source developers.

[45:10] - Josh’s experience speaking at conferences as a developer advocate.

[57:50] - Josh’s closing remarks.

Quotes

[29:33] - “You have to iterate in public and learn from real world usage in order to get things right.” ~ Josh Goldberg

[31:14] - “If you’re trying to convince people to switch to TypeScript, you convince them based on the pain points they have and how TypeScript fits into them.” ~ Josh Goldberg

[42:27] - “There are a lot of people who are interested in going full-time open source. It’s a great place to be, but I wouldn’t recommend going into this without a lot of prior work. To build up your network, to get a full-time job in a development team that gives you mentorship and management that helps you grow that way so that you are well equipped to go into open source first.” ~ Josh Goldberg

Links

Josh Goldberg on LinkedIn

Josh Goldberg Website

Josh Goldberg Blog

Learning TypeScript

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Barrell Armida Bourbon Whiskey

TypeScript

JavaScript

PHP

GraphQL

C++

Adobe Photoshop

HTML

Flow