The Scrimba Podcast

🎙 About the episode

This is a rebroadcast of one of our most popular interviews. Meet Randall Kanna 🇺🇸! Randall is a software developer, lead product engineer, and the author of The Standout Developer.

Once upon a time, Randall learned the unsettling truth that almost everyone on her team earned more money than her. She mustered the courage to confront her boss and said, “Hey! Google is interested in me. I could go there, or you can give me the fair salary bump I deserve!” They obliged, and at that moment, Randall learned just how important it is to advocate yourself.

Randall wants you to have the best possible start to your tech career and joins the podcast to share what she’s learned about how to stand out and thrive in tech. Spoiler: It’s not just about your coding skills.

🔗 Connect with Randall

• 🐦 Twitter
• 🌐 Website
• 📄 LinkedIn

🧰 Resources mentioned

• 📕 The Standout Developer

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You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Spencer Dye 🇺🇸! Spencer is a new developer who recently got his first dev job! In the past, he was a designer, but before that, he studied to become a biologist, and then, an accountant! While moonlighting as a designer during his studies, he discovered Webflow, and from there, realized that development is... kind of fun?

In this episode, you'll hear how Spencer learned to code, kept up his motivation by practicing stoicism and filling in a habit tracker, and ultimately landed his first dev job after only five months since he decided to change careers. Alex and Spencer discuss whether you should focus on any job or only the jobs you like, why your background is your asset, and are your coding skills the only thing you should focus on. You'll hear how Spencer interviewed his interviewers and focused on making a human connection - which resulted in one of the shortest interview processes we've heard about on the pod!

Plus: YouTube recommendations, your tweets, and many words of encouragement.

🔗 Connect with Spencer

• 👨‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐 Website

⏰ Timestamps

• How Spencer went from computers to design to biology to accountancy, back to design, and eventually, into development (01:25)
• Before learning frontend, Spencer freelanced as a designer and worked with Webflow (03:03)
• Spencer dropped out of college and decided to learn development (03:44)
• How Spencer created his own curriculum and why he used a habit tracker (04:40)
• What challenges Spencer faced while learning to code (06:17)
• Nobody teaches problem-solving, but it's essential (06:51)
• It only took Spencer five months to learn to code at a hireable level (07:53)
• Community break! Here's what you've been tweeting and posting on LinkedIn (08:35)
• Interviewing is a skill (11:17)
• What's the benefit of focusing only on opportunities you find exciting (12:07)
• How stoicism helped Spencer during his job search (12:46)
• What Spencer found surprising during his job search (14:23)
• Why the job Spencer ended up getting had the most effortless interview process compared to the previous ones (15:06)
• Where does Spencer work now? (16:30)
• Did Spencer's previous experience in design help him in his new role? (16:56)
• Another advantage: Spencer interviewed his boss! (17:49)
• On transferable skills (18:18)
• Quick-fire questions: favorite frontend YouTube channels, future coding plans, and English breakfast tea (18:52)
• Why Spencer chose a career in coding (21:03)
• Webflow jobs vs. coding jobs (22:37)
• How Spencer got the job within five days of his first interview (24:29)
• Spencer's interview process and interviewing his interviewers (22:54)
• Focus on making a human connection! (26:47)
• Did Spencer have a tech interview? (29:35)
• Your coding skills are not the only thing (30:31)
• Why it's important to practice interviewing (32:45)
• Spencer's tip: Apply at the same company through multiple channels! (33:30)
• Closing advice: You will get better! Just focus on the smallest steps. (34:58)  

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Front-end Developer Career Path
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• freeCodeCamp 
• Everyday habit tracker
• Web Dev Simplified on YouTube
• DesignCourse on YouTube
• Traversy Media on YouTube

⭐️ Leave a Review

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You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Rizel Scarlett 🇺🇸! Rizel is a Developer Advocate at GitHub. She's also a career changer, software engineer, and community builder!

Rizel dropped out of psychology studies after running out of money. Then she went into IT support, then into coding, and then realized that, after working in an organization that teaches women and non-binary people of color to code, developer advocacy could be a great career for her!

In this episode, you will hear how Rizel learned to code, paved her own path, and knew when she needed to pivot. You'll learn why internships are cool and what to be on the lookout for if you're looking for your first opportunity. Rizel will also teach you why you need personal branding and how to do it even if you're an introvert - complete with step-by-step instructions on how to write a blog post, practice public speaking, or network.

🔗 Connect with Rizel

• 👩‍💼 Linkedin
• 🌐 Website
• 🐦 Twitter
• 👩‍🚀 GitHub

⏰ Timestamps

• Why Rizel switched from psychology to IT and, later, to coding (01:59)
• Was the transition to coding easy? (03:08)
• Rizel tried many different jobs. Here’s why that’s not a bad thing! (03:41)
• How Rizel approached learning to code (05:55)
• Community and camaraderie are important parts of learning to code (06:29)
• How Rizel decided to enroll in a bootcamp (07:50)
• On learning to code with your significant other (08:49)
• Thinking like a programmer comes with practice (09:34)
• Why Rizel pursued internships (10:44)
• Why connections are important (12:13)
• What was Rizel’s internship experience like (13:02)
• What should you look for in an internship or your first job? (13:47)
• Community break! Here’s what you’ve been tweeting (15:47)
• What juniors bring to the table (17:30)
• How Rizel discovered developer advocacy and got hired as a developer advocate at GitHub (18:45)
• What does a supportive manager do (20:46)
• How Rizel approaches personal branding (22:08)
• You can’t expect people to find you. The best person to advocate for you is you (23:31)
• How to work on your public speaking (24:36)
• How to work on your writing and how Rizel approaches writing blog posts (26:58)
• How to get involved with the community (31:18)
• Closing advice: it’s okay to switch your focus, take your time, and maintain a list of your wins! (35:11)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• How to support early career developers
• freeCodeCamp

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Emre Albayrak 🇹🇷!  Emre is a classical pianist from Turkey who decided to change careers, so he trained as a pilot! But then, the pandemic hit. Looking for something else to do (yet again), Emre discovered coding, tried it, and realized he enjoyed it! Only a year after starting to learn to code, Emre landed a job at an international IT company.

In this episode, Emre talks about his long and winding but also efficient path to becoming a developer. You'll hear how he learned to code, what resources he used, and how he approached his portfolio projects and job applications! You will probably learn something about keeping up your motivation and managing stage fright before your interviews.

🔗 Connect with Emre

• 👨‍💼 LinkedIn

⏰ Timestamps

• How Emre went from music to piloting to coding (02:06)
• Emre had a developer friend who encouraged him to focus on frontend, after writing his first code in Python (05:10)
• What resources did Emre use to learn to code? And how did he discover Scrimba? (07:06)
• Emre landed a job only a year after he started learning to code... and he completed the Career Path in the meantime! (08:10)
• Emre's job hunting strategy: it's all about your portfolio (09:19)
• The secret to getting a job quickly (10:45)
• Quickfire questions: Why doesn't Emre, a musician, listen to music while coding? Who are his favorite coding teachers? Who does he follow on YouTube?
• How Emre knew he was ready for job interviews? (15:24)
• Where does Emre work now? (16:01)
• Emre found the job posting on LinkedIn. Here's what happened next (18:12)
• Emre had to learn Redux for the test project (18:44)
• The interview was so successful that HR told Emre they would continue with him immediately! (19:32)
• The final stage of the interview was an English test! (20:05)
• How Emre felt when he found out he was hired (20:24)
• Community break! Here's what you tweeted since our previous episode. (20:55)
• Did Emre regret leaving musicology? (22:37)
• How Emre made sure to stay motivated during tougherr times)? (22:57)
• How Emre deals with the stage fright that hits right before job interviews and with the pain of being rejected for a job (24:28)
• Why does stage anxiety hit? (27:28)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Front-end Developer Career Path
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• freeCodeCamp 

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Saron Yitbarek 🇺🇸! Saron is a developer, entrepreneur, community builder, and the founder of CodeNewbie. Saron has been helping new developers break into tech for a decade, and in this episode, she distills her best and most sought-after advice!

Saron, who recently launched a new project called NewDevCareer.com, is a career changer herself - she first studied to become a doctor! In this interview, you will hear how she decided to make that change, why her first attempts at learning to code didn't work, and what she wishes she knew then. You will learn the ins and outs of different paths you can take to break into tech. You will get practical tips for creating deeper connections within your online community - and learn why they're important. Saron and Alex also discuss the right motivation to learn to code, why tech is fascinating, and how to decide what to learn first.

🔗 Connect with Saron

• 🧑‍💻 CodeNewbie
• 👩‍💼 Linkedin
• 🌐 Website
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• Saron’s road to becoming a developer: Originally, she studied to become a doctor and then worked as a journalist (01:31)
• How Saron got interested in tech after reading a book on Steve Jobs (03:32)
• How Saron approached learning to code and why that approach was wrong (05:43)
• Saron first joined startups working in sales and marketing and decided to try coding again out of frustration (08:03)
• Bootcamp, university, or a self-directed path? Here’s how Saron made that decision (09:38)
• The benefits of bootcamps… and coding communities (11:35)
• Community break! Jan the producer reads your tweets, reviews, and LinkedIn posts (13:21)
• How can an aspiring developer involve more in the community? (15:21)
• How to foster deeper connections online? (17:24)
• How important is consistency when learning to code? (19:21)
• Can anybody teach themselves coding? (20:23)
• What is the right motivation to become a developer? How much should you be passionate about coding? (22:00)
• What are a first-time developer’s biggest assets and why? (24:22)
• Is “passion” too strong of a word? Should you be passionate about coding? (27:15)
• The importance of mentoring juniors (28:53)
• Junior developers are an investment (30:45)
• What is newdevcareer.com? (32:22)
• Information is all around us, but we’re lacking action (36:42)
• What is the main problem new developers face? (38:38)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• CodeNewbie
• NewDevCareer.com
• Scrimba Podcast: Tech Layoffs Are Still Happening, and ChatGPT Can Code: How To Stay Ahead of the Curve as a New Developer, With Lane Wagner
• How to Be Great? Just Be Good, Repeatably

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Jamie Baker 🇬🇧! Jamie is a recently hired new developer who used to be a butcher. Recently, he took the plunge to leave his growing business and, at 38, start his first front-end developer job after only interviewing at one company!

This is a story of perseverance and knowing when to niche down. You will hear how Jamie started coding, why he loves CSS, and how he fell in love with Shopify. You will learn why you should be enthusiastic about the tech you're working with and why if you're sending too many resumes, that might mean you need a better strategy. Jamie also talks about his typical day as a developer working at Velstar, a Shopify agency,  why honesty and people skills matter, and why you shouldn't sleep on domain knowledge. There are also some fun quick-fire questions!

🔗 Connect with Jamie

• 👨‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐 The butcher shop

⏰ Timestamps

• How Jamie started learning CSS by hosting a football forum (01:54)
• How Jamie landed his first paid gig while knowing only CSS (03:16)
• How Jamie decided to go from a craft butcher shop owner to front-end developer (and discovered Scrimba) (04:33)
• Jamie learned to code alongside his day job (07:29)
• His butcher shop had a Shopify website, and Jamie loved it (08:01)
• Today, Jamie works in a Shopify agency (09:17)
• How Jamie decided to narrow down his focus on Shopify-related jobs (09:58)
• Community break! (11:32)
• How Jamie left his business and started a coding job at the age of 38 (13:11)
• The job Jamie got was the only job he applied for! (13:54)
• Jamie's personality and people skills played the biggest role when it came to him getting the job (14:29)
• Find what excites you! (18:44)
• Quick-fi e questions: Favorite coding courses? Is CSS a language? Why is everybody wearing headphones? (19:28)
• What Jamie's typical day at a Shopify agency looks like, and why you should put yourself in the shoes of the user (21:50)
• Why you should be honest with your prospective employers (23:27)
• Has the career change been worth it for Jamie? (17:00)
• Next week: Saron Yitbarek, the founder of CodeNewbie! (29:20)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Front-end Developer Career Path
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• Scrimba Podcast: Becoming a Standout Developer with Randall Kanna

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Lane Wagner 🇺🇸! Lane is an engineering manager and the founder of Boot.dev. In this episode, as an experienced leader and educator, Lane talks about the recent changes in the job market and what they mean for aspiring and established developers alike. With tech layoffs and  AI that can write code, how do you even stand out?

Lane and Alex discuss the future of the industry as well as the ongoing recession and why it seems to hit tech companies especially hard. You'll learn what's the main difference between a developer and an AI that can write code and how to focus on it. They also talk about different types of companies, how different paths require different strategies to break into tech, and why it's okay to change companies as that's the quickest way to learn and figure out what works for you..

🔗 Connect with Lane

• 👨‍💼Linkedin
• 🌐 Website
• 🐦 Twitter
• ✏️ Blog

⏰ Timestamps

• Why is the tech industry experiencing layoffs? (01:41)
• Do tech layoffs affect junior developers in the long run? (03:20)
• Why we are in a recession: the (tech) bubble created during the COVID pandemic burst (05:00)
• Why have big companies mostly hired seniors in the past three years (08:31)
• Should junior developers aim to work at smaller companies? (09:24)
• Getting a job requires different strategies for different types of companies (12:29)
• Changing jobs is okay! (16:06)
• Community break! (18:23)
• Get your first developer job ASAP because that's the quickest way to learn (20:36)
• AI can write code. Should developers be worried for their livelihoods? (22:37)
• The difference between ChatGPT and a junior developer (26:03)
• If your biggest selling point as a junior is what technologies you use, you're doing something wrong (30:21)
• What we can learn from the data available at layoffs.fyi (33:39)
• We can't control most things happening in the job market, but we can focus on the things we can control: Lane's advice for junior developers (35:21)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• boot.dev
• layoffs.fyi
• Blog post: What Do Tech Layoffs Mean for Budding Developers
• Scrimba Podcast: How to become a successful Junior Developer with Danny Thompson
• Scrimba Podcast: How to Use Twitter to Beat Your Social Anxiety and Land Your First Job, with Scrimba Student Trecia

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Matheus Pessoa 🇧🇷! Matheus is a recently hired new developer who landed his first junior developer job after only about a year of learning to code. To make this story even more awesome, the CTO of the company he now works at reached out to him!   

In this episode, you'll hear how Matheus approached learning to code with ADHD, how he chose front-end development as a career that blends his different interests, and how he ultimately landed his first dev job. You'll learn what's important when applying for jobs at startups (hint: it's not necessarily your tech knowledge, especially if you're a junior), whether you can apply for a position involving something you haven't learned yet, and how not to get stuck if everybody on your team is super young.

🔗 Connect with Matheus

• 👨‍💼 Linkedin
• 👨‍🚀 GitHub

⏰ Timestamps

• How Matheus decided to learn to code after studying statistics while being interested in visual arts (01:42)
• What projects did Matheus make to learn to code? (03:02)
• How Matheus decided to focus on becoming a front-end developer (04:32)
• How Matheus approached learning to code and navigated being self-taught while having ADHD (05:56)
• What's the job market like in Brazil, and when did Matheus start applying? (08:23)
• Community break! (09:35)
• The real challenge is finding the right cultural fit (11:37)
• Matheus found a job because the CTO of the company reached out to him! (12:06)
• Interviewing in reverse (14:43)
• What kind of technical skills were they looking for from a junior candidate? (15:47)
• What made Matheus stand out (16:10)
• What is more important: mission fit, tech, or communication skills?
• Matheus got an offer letter only five days after the interview! (18:22)
• What does a day of work look like for Matheus today? (20:08)
• Matheus works in a very young team. Here's why that's awesome and how to do with its shortcomings (20:41)
• Matheus's future career goals (21:55)
• What Matheus wishes he had known when he was starting out: Be patient! (22:38)
• Next week, Lane Wagner of Btalks about layoffs and what they mean for new developers (24:06)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Front-end Developer Career Path
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• Matheus' museum project
• Optimize Your LinkedIn Page with Danny Thompson
• Scrimba Podcast: How to Make Your LinkedIn Stand Out
• Scrimba Podcast: An Introvert's Guide to Networking (and Becoming Amazing at LinkedIn), with Stephanie Chiu from PayPal

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Mathias Biilmann 🇩🇰! Matt is CEO and Co-founder of Netlify, a cloud computing company you might have heard of. He's also a self-taught developer who was a music journalist in a past life! In this episode, he talks about bootstrapping a company, and hiring his first developers. He also talks about how he initially learned to code and, eventually, decided to change careers! Yes, this story will also take you to the time before everybody had Internet.

Matt will teach you how to best position yourself as a developer, and why companies in different stages of their development look for different things in their hires. Alex and Matt will discuss the current state of the job market and whether you should be worried about the potential for finding job opportunities. And on top of that, this episode is also about the fascinating story about the inception of a company we all know and love.

🔗 Connect with Matt

• 👨‍💼Linkedin
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• How Matt started fiddling with a Commodore 64 before becoming a developer was cool (02:07)
• How you would learn coding in the era before everybody was connected to the Internet (03:56)
• Matt pursued musicology, comparative literature, and cultural studies degrees and worked as a freelance music journalist! (05:40)
• How Matt kept coding as a hobby and decided to switch careers after meeting a girl from Spain (06:10)
• Matt’s first notable coding projects: a Sudoku game where you could challenge friends like in Wordle, and a procedurally generated space game (07:24)
• How Matt got his first developer job (09:29)
• Break: Here’s what our community is saying! (11:50)
• How Matt Biilmann went from being an employee to CTO to CEO (14:28)
• Matt had a hunch about the future of the web… And it turned out he was right! (17:04)
• What is Jamstack? (20:38)
• How much code does Matt write today, and how much did he use to write in Netlify’s early days? (23:32)
• What was Netlify looking for in the first developers they hired? (25:45)
• What kinds of developers do early-stage startups need? What are the differentiators between developers with similar backgrounds? (27:57)
• Break: Subscribe! (31:37)
• Why do companies still need to hire junior developers? (32:19)
• Are junior developers a good investment? (37:03)
• Why are there tech layoffs happening right now? (37:49)
• Should you be worried about the current state of the job market? (44:28)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Netlify
• Netlify Drop, formerly BitBalloon
• Jamstack
• Scrimba Podcast: How to Avoid Burnout, Improve Your Confidence and Keep Coding Fun, with Scrimba Student Sylvia

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏

🎙 About the episode

Meet Trecia Kat 🇿🇦! Trecia is a new developer from South Africa who originally wanted to work in healthcare. She eventually decided to study IT, but she dropped out of college when it turned out that online resources were better! Today she's a front-end developer. She got her feet wet in the world of Developer Advocacy, she beat her social anxiety, and she even spoke at a conference!

In this episode, you'll learn why passion doesn't mean you'll be great at something - and how to recognize what you can actually be great at. Trecia tells us how she learned to code, overcame her fear of interacting with people she doesn't know, and landed her first developer job. Twitter was essential for Trecia's journey - she will teach you how to use it to get out of your comfort zone and what Tech Twitter tropes to ignore. You will also hear about Trecia's DevRel internship at Strapi and how she ended up speaking at a conference by trying not to speak at a conference.

🔗 Connect with Trecia

• 👩‍💼Linkedin
• 🌐 Website
• 🌐 Blog
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• How Trecia decided to learn to code, and should you be passionate about coding to do so (01:27)
• Trecia wanted to work in healthcare but eventually decided to study IT (02:52)
• Why Trecia dropped out of her studies (06:42)
• How Trecia decided to pick up front-end when her cousin needed a website (9:30)
• Resources Trecia used to learn to code (11:18)
• Break: Here’s what you’ve tweeted about the podcast. (13:54)
• The biggest challenge Trecia faced was wanting to learn too many things at once (16:13)
• Tech Twitter is useful… but don’t believe everything you read (17:41)
• How Trecia grew her Twitter following (18:52)
• How Trecia used Twitter to fight her social anxiety and connect with the community (20:05)
• Trecia got her first freelance gig because of Twitter! (26:15)
• How Trecia learned about DevRel and got a DevRel internship (27:29)
• Ad break: Next week, it’s Netlify CEO Matt Biilmann! (30:03)
• On Trecia’s DevRel internship at Strapi (32:10)
• How Trecia spoke at the Next.js conference by trying too hard not to speak at a conference at all (33:36)
• Why Trecia decided to drop being a developer advocate for the time being and focus on becoming a better developer (34:34)
• What Trecia wishes she knew when she was starting out as a coder: focus on yourself and break out of your comfort zone (37:15)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• freeCodeCamp
• Learn Javascript for free on Scrimba
• Trecia at Next.JS
• Intro to artificial intelligence and Developer Relations with Pratim Bhosale
• Pratim Bhosale on Twitter
• TraversyMedia on Youtube
• Scrimba Podcast: How to get started in Developer Relations according to Head of Developer Relations Phil Leggetter

⭐️ Leave a Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review here and tell us who you want to see on the next podcast.

You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so they can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏