The Scrimba Podcast

🎙 About the episode

Meet Caitlyn Greffly 🇺🇸! She's a career changer, developer career mentor, and the author of The Bootamper's Companion, a book of tips she wishes she had known when she was breaking into tech. In her past life, she was a psychologist working in beer. After changing careers at 31, Caitlyn is nowadays a full-stack software engineer with a passion for frontend.

In her book, Caitlyn shares resources, advice, and approaches to help you stand out and find a job. In this interview, she does the same! You'll hear how she decided to become a developer and chose a path to get there. You'll learn why you shouldn't be intimidated by your more experienced colleagues, and why struggling is essential. Caitlyn and Alex also discuss how employers can help juniors grow and how new developers can figure out if an employer is right for them.

🔗 Connect with Caitlyn

• 👩‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐  Website
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• How Caitlyn ended up in programming after studying psychology and working in beer (01:37)
• Becoming a coder as a woman in a male-dominated industry (03:03)
• Did Caitlyn have any exposure to coding before attending a bootcamp? (04:39)
• How Caitlyn knew she was ready for a career change (05:59)
• The bootcamp landscape in 2019 and why Caitlyn chose that instead of a self-directed route (08:35)
• How Caitlyn found a bootcamp that worked for her life circumstances (10:06)
• Ad break: We had a bootcamp mentor on the show! (13:04)
• What Caitlyn found more challenging - coding itself or maintaining positivity and motivation (15:08)
• The importance of struggling and what to do when you struggle (18:17)
• Why you should time box (21:22)
• Caitlyn’s book, The Bootcamper’s Companion (21:54)
• How Caitlyn got her first developer job (25:02)
• On being front of mind and building a community (26:49)
• The thing that had the biggest impact on Caitlyn’s journey - how one tweet resulted in her hanging out with Scott Hanselman! (29:17)
• How to get yourself out there as a new developer… if you’re an introvert (32:46)
• Caitlyn’s experience interviewing (35:45)
• Are interview processes a necessary evil? (40:28)
• Don’t forget to interview the company! (42:42)
• Did Caitlyn feel like she was starting from scratch, changing careers at 31? (46:58)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Scrimba Podcast: Bootcamp Mentor Hussien Khayoon: Careers Come in Three Stages, and Here’s How To Navigate Them
• Scrimba Podcast: How to become a successful Junior Developer with Scott Hanselman from Microsoft
• Book: The Bootamper's Companion by Caitlyn Greffly
• Scrimba's Discord server!
• Thinkful

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🎙 About the episode

Meet Michael Robards 🇺🇸! Michael is a career changer whose path to becoming a developer was a long and winding one: he was a business analyst and a personal trainer; he worked front of house and managed restaurants; he studied biology and worked in customer service. Eventually, he got a developer job at Coca-Cola!

In this episode, Michael shares his story and his approach to learning and getting a job. He did a lot of things right, and he's also a proof that it's never too late for a carreer change. Michael and Alex also talk about imposter syndrome, difficulties of learning to code while having a full-time job, differences between big and small companies, and why having to keep on learning is a great thing about working in tech.

🔗 Connect with Michael

• 👨‍💼LinkedIn

⏰ Timestamps

• Michael's long and winding path to becoming a developer (01:44)
• Why Michael thought becoming a software developer wasn't right for him (08:17)
• How Michael commited to learning to code - and did that on company time, at least at first (09:04)
• On learning to code while having a full-time job (11:56)
• How Coca-Cola helped Michael on his coding journey (12:45)
• Ad break: We had a lot of career changers on the podcast. Here's one of them! Plus how to support us, and who's on next week (it's Caitlyn Greffly)!
• Is there anything Michael would've done differently? (17:43)
• Why did it take four and a half years for Michael to get a software job at Coke? (20:31)
• What does it look like to be hired internally? (22:57)
• How to fight imposter syndrome? (25:12)
• What kind of a coworker does a junior developer need? (27:32)
• Why you should do things at your own pace and choose your employers wisely (28:35)
• Michael's career goals (31:01)
• Keep on learning! (31:47)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Some of the career changers we interviewed: Chris, Silvia, Theo, Wemerson
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• Grow with Google
• The Frontend Developer Career Path
• Codecademy
• Freecodecamp

⭐️ Leave a Review

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🎙 About the episode

Meet Madison Kanna 🇺🇸! She's a front-end developer and a creator of a coding book club. She's also a college dropout, a master networker, and a former homeschooler. In this episode, you'll learn about her fascinating journey and get a lot of good, actionable advice!

Madison will teach you how to figure out what you are actually interested in and how to keep pursuing it. You'll learn about her journey to becoming a developer and how being homeschooled helped her in the early days of her coding career.

Also in this episode: Why do companies want juniors with experience, and what did Madison do to go around it? Do you get any better at personal branding if you get a domain with your name at the age of nine? Why is it important to work on production code? How to stand out if you don't have a degree?

Madison also shares how a single tweet turned being laid off into the best experience of her life!

🔗 Connect with Madison 

• 👩🏼‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐  Website
• 🐦 Twitter
• 👩‍🚀 Github

⏰ Timestamps

• How Madison dropped out of college and decided to learn to code (01:28)
• Do you need a college degree? (02:50)
• What's it like being homeschooled, and did it help Madison teach herself development? (04:11)
• How to avoid burnout as you're learning to code? (06:20)
• How to tackle projects as a self-taught developer? (08:09)
• How to follow your curiosity? (11:48)
• What was Madison's goal? (14:07)
• When should you start applying for jobs? Also, MOMS! (15:37)
• Madison and her sister, Randall, both became developers. Were their parents an influence there? (18:40)
• Madison's approach to personal branding and history of blogging (21:26)
• How Madison created her first tech opportunity - and why it was an unpaid apprenticeship (24:25)
• Why do companies want juniors with experience (26:44)
• How to get the experience needed for your first tech job (28:28)
• Why you should work on production code (29:28)
• Should you go easy on yourself or keep grinding? (31:50)
• Recently, Madison got laid off! But one tweet changed everything. A.K.A. Here's why you need to build community (37:04)
• Should you interview even when you're happy at your job? (44:38)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Scrimba Podcast: From Doctor to Developer, with Jefferson Tang
• Scrimba Podcast: Becoming a Standout Developer with Randall Kanna
• Book: Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Blog post: Why I'm Glad I Grew Up Playing Neopets

⭐️ 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 Rían Errity 🇮🇪! He's a Scrimba student who started learning to code as a child. Today, he studies Computer Science and Language, a study program that marries his interest in linguistics with his passion for computing. He has also recently completed an internship with Microsoft!

In this interview, Rían talks about his love for computers, growing up with Linux, how he ended up choosing his study program (hint: there was YouTube involved), and whether he actually needs a CS degree. Alex and Rían discuss what self-taught developers might be missing out on compared to developers who are learning to code at a university and what universities could learn from bootcamps and online platforms like Scrimba. You'll also hear all about Rían's internship at Microsoft and learn about his journey from Dublin, where he was competing with 16.000 candidates, to former Skype offices in Tallinn, Estonia!

This episode is jam-packed with actionable advice, but it also brings you an exciting story brimming with enthusiasm!

🔗 Connect with Rían 

• 👨‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐  Website
• 👨‍🚀 Github
• 🤖 Rían#6500 at the Scrimba Discord

⏰Timestamps

• How Rían became a programmer: it started with growing up with Linux (02:00)
• What is CoderDojo (02:45)
• Why programming appealed to Rían as a child (04:01)
• On Lubuntu and Minecraft (05:42)
• How Rían chose his study program (by watching Tom Scott) (06:26)
• Computer Science and Language (08:37)
• Do universities give you more in-depth knowledge? (12:34)
• Teaching children how to code as another way of learning (14:17)
• Ad break: If you like the show - share it! And mention Alex on Twitter. Next week, it's Madison Kanna! We already interviewed her older sister (and the link for that episode is below, under Resources).
• What are self-taught developers missing out on compared to the ones coming out of a university? Do self-taught developers have a hidden advantage? (16:58)
• How do you test programming at a university? (20:11)
• Has math been important to Rían as a developer? (21:54)
• How Rían got an internship at Microsoft (23:42)
• Are Microsoft internships attainable to self-taught developers? (26:38)
• How Rían had to compete with 16.000 people and eventually ended up at the old Skype headquarters in Estonia (28:58)
• Does Microsoft care about technical skills or culture fit? (32:48)
• Rían's interview process for a Microsoft internship (35:24)
• What is the difference between coding and programming? (37:37)
• How Rían thought the offer from Microsoft was a spam email (38:40)
• More on Microsoft's interviews (39:49)
• What does being an intern at Microsoft look like? (41:17)
• Rían's advice to anybody who's just starting to learn how to code (45:18)
• Easy apply! (46:40)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• CoderDojo
• Tom Scott and Computerphile on YouTube
• Scrimba Podcast: Becoming a Standout Developer with Randall Kanna
• Scrimba's Discord community 

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🎙 About the episode

Meet Mike Chen 🇺🇸! Mike is a self-taught developer who worked at Yahoo, Google, and Airbnb, before becoming a CTO and co-founder of Motivo. Nowadays, he also helps other coders succeed. In this episode, you'll find out what it was like to work at Google and what are the pros and cons of working in a big tech company. You'll learn how to stand out as a new developer without a degree and why you should (not) idealize Silicon Valley.

Ultimately, Mike will tell us why tech is cool (if you have a passion for it), as well as how we should go about putting in our work wisely and why it is worth it. He will also reveal what motivates him to teach and mentor other developers!

🔗 Connect with Mike

• 👨‍💼 Linkedin
• 🐦 Twitter
• 🌐  Website
• 👨‍🚀 Github

⏰ Timestamps

• How Mike went from studying biochemistry to becoming a developer and eventually worked at Google (01:45) 
• Paul Irish: Tools, not rules (04:19)
• Has the way big tech companies hire changed since Mike broke into the industry? (07:12)
• How were the front-end roles at Google structured back then? (08:36)
• Ad break: How to support us + Next week: Rian Errity, who's doing a lot of cool stuff (11:15)
• How big is Google's infrastructure, actually? (12:55)
• Mike's experience at Google and the benefits of working at a big tech company (14:22)
• Why working in big tech ultimately didn't work for Mike (16:01)
• Why do hiring managers like people with big companies on their resumes (17:15)
• You have to figure out what you want out of a tech job (20:15)
• The best way to demystify Silicon Valley is to be in Silicon Valley (21:41)
• Career advice for new developers: How can they stand out if they don't have a degree and haven't worked at Google? (23:09)
• Why you should have a demonstrable track record (26:35)
• Losing your passion is normal over time; here's what to do first (27:34)
• What did Mike have to give up on to learn to code and change careers? (30:09)
• In tech, it pays off to put in more work, but not any kind of work (31:59)
• What motivates Mike to help other developers (36:08) 

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Mock Junior Front End Web Developer Interview with Mike Chen and Silvia
• 8 essential career tips for new web developers
• Paul Irish's blog

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🎙 About the episode

Meet Vikas Jyani 🇮🇳! He studied fine arts before discovering coding and realizing that web development is what can combine his eye for design and interest in tech.

In this episode, you'll hear about Vikas's approach to learning and job hunting and why he thinks remote work might still not be optimal for a junior. He talks about life-changing advice he got from a senior developer when he saw Vikas was burning out, recognizing red flags in job offers, and, eventually, how he tripled his salary within a year from getting his first job!

You will also learn more about India. Specifically, its job market and education, differences between big and small cities, and why a hybrid approach to work, combining remote work and going to an office, might not work there.

🔗 Connect with Vikas

• 👨🏽‍💼 Linkedin
• 🌐  Portfolio
• 🤖 Vick_Pro#6327 on the Scrimba Discord

⏰ Timestamps

• How Vikas started coding after studying fine art and also discovered Scrimba (01:37)
• Job opportunities vs. the population in India (05:00)
• How Vikas got out of tutorial hell (07:33)
• How Vikas decided to get into React (09:04)
• Ad break: We did an episode with Bob Ziroll! Next week, an episode with Mike Chen! Also: how you can support us if you like what we're doing. (10:34)
• Vikas's approach to applying for jobs (13:21)
• How positive feedback from a hiring manager who couldn't hire him helped Vikas keep going (14:31)
• Vikas even turned down an offer because he recognized shady practices! (16:15)
• How Vikas got a job offer when he thought he failed a trial assignment (17:27)
• A senior developer recognized Vikas was burning out and gave him life-changing advice (20:40) 
• As a junior, should you go for a remote or office job? (21:54)
• Would a hybrid approach to working work out in India? (26:16)
• How Vikas tripled his junior salary (27:18) 

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• The Frontend Developer Career Path
• Scrimba's Discord Community
• Scrimba Podcast with Bob Ziroll

⭐️ 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 Hussien Khayoon 🇨🇦! Hussien is a Full-stack engineer with almost a decade of experience. Currently, he works as a Staff Software Engineer at Shopify. He is also a Bootcamp Mentor at Springboard, and, as you can guess, he's very passionate about helping new developers land on their feet. In this episode, Hussien will be your mentor.

Hussien and Alex will help you feel confident and teach you a couple of things that can help you land your first coding job. They explain why is the interview process at big tech companies as complicated as it is and tell you what you do about it. Hussien shares his approach to both interviewing and being interviewed, as well as his take on bootcamps vs. universities. By the end of the show, you'll hopefully feel more inspired to learn to code, start applying for jobs, and navigate your new role - or at least figure out how to assess if you need to study more.

🔗 Connect with Hussien

• 👨🏽‍💼 Linkedin
• 🐦 Twitter
• 📹 Youtube

⏰ Timestamps

• How Hussien started coding - it wasn't without struggle (01:29)
• What's the difference between solving a math problem and a coding problem? (04:31)
• The problem with the way coding is taught at universities (06:02)
• Is there any prestige in getting a degree? (08:20)
• Programming is vast: do you have to know everything? (12:40)
• Elitism and gatekeeping in the coding community (15:48) 
• Is learning to code similar to learning a language? (17:38)
• Interview processes at big companies: why are they the way they are? (18:13)
• Does LeetCode make you a better developer? (22:36)
• Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and learning to code (23:09)
• Are big tech companies doing interviews right? (24:55)
• Coding is just half the job (25:59)
• What a mentoring session is about (30:00)
• Companies are changing the way they hire + Hussien's approach to being interviewed (33:37)
• What do coding students need (35:49)
• Why do companies hire people who aren't perfect yet? (39:09)
• Your career has three stages (42:03)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Free report: 4 Tips to Get your FIRST Coding Job Faster
• Hussien's course: Get Your First Coding Job
• Scrimba Podcast: This Scrimba Student Battled Depression and Landed a Job at Amazon After 1000 LeetCode Challenges

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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 Khaidem Sandip Singha 🇺🇸! He's a Scrimba student from Assam, India, who recently got a job at Amazon! 🎉 Originally, he studied civil engineering before realizing he was more interested in coding. In this episode, you'll hear how he learned to code, battled depression, and reverse-engineered a path to a FANG company.

You will also learn about his approach to problem-solving and the benefits of practicing on LeetCode - not many students we interviewed did that, but Khaidem completed one thousand challenges! He also shares some details about Amazon's interview process and his approach to keeping up motivation.

🔗 Connect with Khaidem

• 👨‍💼 Linkedin
• 👩‍🚀 GitHub
• 🌐  LeetCode profile

⏰ Timestamps

• How Khaidem went from civil engineering to learning to code (01:41)
• Chasing coding certificates or mastering the basics - what is more important for landing your first developer job? (03:20)
• How Khaidem reverse-engineered the path to a FANG company (04:33)
• Should you do LeetCode (06:01)
• The importance of consistency and persistency (07:16)
• Why Khaidem focused on LeetCode (08:34)
• Try different frameworks, but then specialize (12:09)
• Khaidem's approach to problem-solving (13:57)
• How Khaidem started his job search while suffering from depression (17:47)
• Khaidem's first jobs and how he knew he was overqualified (21:41)
• How Khaidem discovered Scrimba around Javascriptmas 2020 (23:15)
• Why Khaidem benefited from the Scrimba community (24:15)
• How Khaidem applied for Amazon (25:15)
• Amazon's interview process (27:18)
• How Khaidem got an offer, and why it's important to keep up motivation (30:03)
• Why you shouldn't give up (31:42)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Udacity Intro to Programming Nanodegree
• Bob Ziroll's React courses
• LeetCode
• Scrimba Podcast: A Teacher's Job Is Never Done: Get Your Hands on the Keyboard with Bob Ziroll
• Scrimba Podcast: Talent Alone Is Not Enough: How Theo Changed Careers at 49 
• Scrimba Discord community

⭐️ 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 Bob Ziroll 🇺🇸! Bob is Scrimba's Head of Education and one of the Internet's favorite React teachers. In a past life, Bob worked in marketing before enrolling into a bootcamp, where he eventually became a teacher and Director of Education. In this podcast, you'll learn about his coding story and teaching philosophy, but also about the early days of Scrimba!

Bob and Alex discuss career change, Sunday scaries, and finding the right learning path for you. You'll find out how much work goes into creating a quality coding course, what's the difference between courses and YouTube videos, and why it's sometimes better to learn things more slowly. Bob also talks about how he pushed the limits of the Scrimba platform, how it perfectly lent itself to a successful approach to pedagogy, and shares a wealth of good advice for everybody currently learning to code.

🔗 Connect with Bob

• 👨🏼‍💼 Linkedin
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• How Bob went from coding, to advertising, to coding again (via V School)(01:56)
• Why Bob got interested in advertising, and ended up with Sunday scaries (04:43)
• How Bob realized he was interested in teaching and making a bootcamp better (07:12)
• Is there a selfish aspect to teaching? (09:13)
• What does it take to make a Scrimba course? And how is the approach different when compared to YouTube? (11:51)
• How Bob discovered Scrimba and ended up recording his first Scrimba course (13:19)
• Bob's first React course gained traction... How did he look at the stats? (16:27)
• React is always evolving and a teacher's job is never done: Bob made more courses and here's in what order to watch them (19:54)
• What happens if you release a course and something immediately changes? (21:10)
• Pushing the limits of Scrimba's platform and Bob's approach to pedagogy (23:02)
• The importance of practice when learning to code (and otherwise) (25:16)
• Do not cram! (26:53)
• There's no reason to drink from a firehose (29:19)
• Making a students' knowledge sharp, vs broad (32:32)
• Quick-fire questions: lofi beats, electric cars, how not to disappoint Cassidy Williams (34:55)
• Remix meetup (38:33)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Bob's courses on Scrimba
• Lofi beats on Spotify
• Centered app
• Learn and Understand Node JS by Antony Alicea
• Scrimba Podcast - Quincy Larson: Why Learning To Code as an Adult Might Be Easier Than You Think
• Scrimba Podcast - Ace the job interview with Cassidy Williams
• Scrimba Podcast - Be a Librarian, Not an Encyclopedia of Code: How To Learn (and Teach) Better, With Guil Hernandez
• Scrimba Podcast - Intentional career building with Kent C. Dodds
• Bob's Remix meetup lightning talk

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🎙 About the episode

Meet Chris McCoy 🇺🇸! He's a pastor who did odd jobs on the side. But he was always interested in coding! Somewhere between working retail and doing food delivery, he realized he needed something more stimulating. Nine months later, he landed not one but two job offers as a junior developer!

Chris CRUSHED it on LinkedIn, even though he never liked social media: in this episode, he shares his approach to posting and being actively present on the platform. You can use it both to learn and to connect with people working in the industry, and that's exactly what Chris did. Spoiler alert: it doesn't have to be complicated.

You'll also learn more about internships: Chris landed one, which turned out to be pretty cool! What do companies look for in an intern? Should you become one,  and how? He also shares how he approached learning to code and found a balance between learning and work. Chris and Alex also discuss what you can learn from odd jobs.

Sadly, you won't learn the recipe for Chick-fil-A. But it does make an appearance in this episode :)

🔗 Connect with Chris

• 👨🏼‍💼 Linkedin

⏰ Timestamps

• How Chris decided to become a developer (01:51)
• Can you still learn something from odd jobs that have nothing to do with coding? (03:19)
• How Chris chose to learn to code and found support in his community (04:35)
• Balancing work, learning, and being a pastor: how Chris did it (06:28)
• How Chris discovered Scrimba (09:16)
• It's okay not to know everything about development (12:08)
• Why you need real-world examples when learning a new skill (12:57)
• Did Chris complete Scrimba's Career Path or get a job before he managed to? (14:14)
• When and how did Chris start applying for jobs? (16:31)
• How Chris created a LinkedIn profile and started crushing it (17:31)
• How to be genuinely present on LinkedIn and use the platform to connect (18:33)
• Chris's approach to writing LinkedIn posts (21:36)
• How adding Scrimba to his education connected Chris to a recruiter (21:51)
• Can an internship be... good? (24:41)
• What does a company expect from an intern, and what did Chris do about it (27:05)
• Working with other interns and the higher-ups (30:02)
• How Chris compared to the other interns in his group (32:38)
• How Chris's internship turned into a job (34:33)
• In the end, Chris had not one but two job offers! How did he pick one? (36:17)
• The hard work paid off (37:49)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• The Frontend Developer Career Path

⭐️ 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 🙏