The "Senior" Junior Engineer

EPISODE SUMMARY 

This week I got the chance to interview a long-time friend, Techie, and designer Juan Carlos. Hailing from the great state of Nebraska, Juan graduated from Creighton University in 2017 with his Bachelors in CS, before moving out to the Bay area to "grab a slice of the tech industry" and begin his career as a Software Engineer at GE. Following GE, Juan moved to Apple and has since landed the title of Lead UI Engineer. Juan currently works remotely from his hometown of Omaha while keeping himself very busy with his many side hustles and projects. 

In this episode, we dig deep into how educational inequity, income inequality, and privilege impacts access to and within the tech industry. We dive into frugal living, and how to chart a path toward "retiring early". 

EPISODE NOTES 

• Making the transition from fine arts to CS
• What it's like moving from the midwest out to Silicon Valley
• Tech and startup culture, how to navigate it without losing your mind
• Navigating the pressure and imposture syndrome as a new dev at a tech giant

• The importance of education - specifically CS & Technology 
  • How to leverage exp. in the tech space to impact low-income, marginalized communities.
  • Being the person that says "You can do this" is the gateway for people who might not even know that this career path is an opportunity they can pursue.

• Living off your investments by living frugally and sticking to a plan.
  • It's not about getting rich quick schemes, it's about intentionality
• The Fire movement (Financial Independence Retire Early) - you have enough money in investments that you can live off these investments
• How the experience as a software engineer has influenced his approach to saving and investing
• How to balance all of competing priorities as a leader, entrepreneur, mentor/coach

Three biggest takeaways
 

1. These things (tech, code, etc.) are built by people who are no smarter than you are. you are good enough, you'll figure it out.
2. Read a lot more! Documentation, code, supplementary resources. Don't beat yourself up.
3. beware of the hustle culture, burnout is real. The late nights and the "grind". Take care of yourself.

Featuring

Juan Carlos — Twitter, Github, Linkedin, Website, Youtube

Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Medium

Links

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast
• Del Rio Cuisine - Juan's family's catering business
• Mio Ts - Juan's T-shirt printing company
• The seven steps to financial independence

 

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Sandhills Development's Director of Technology, Chris Klosowski. Hailing from the Phoenix Metro, Chris shares his non-traditional path into engineering via a JR engineering program w/ GoDaddy, through his transition to Sandhills development where he helped grow and shape the team to what it is today. In this episode we discuss what it was like growing the team and culture at Sandhills and what it takes to make the transition from IC to Manager in the software world.

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• What you learn about the importance of team/ mentorship/management on growth during the "Jr" stage of your career.
• How to know when to "cut ties" & move on from a role?
• What to consider when looking at making a transition; It's what's important to you.
• IC vs Leadership → How to decide which path to take. (how do you measure your own success on a daily basis).
• Being the person that helps facilitate success for your team members.
• How being a father has impacted his role/work.
• Managing your time and defining priorities
• How to "Build a company around people, not code"?
• go-to methods of keeping yourself on task, and productive in the midst of distraction

• Take a transition role if possible - Take a "tech lead" role, leadership without the "responsibilities"
• Spend some time talking to someone you really trust, get their perspective on your career, and leveraging your skills in the best way possible. Have those hard conversations with someone who can give a third party perspective
• "It's not for everyone", find what makes you happy and pursue that. You don't have to "climb" the ladder. That's ok.

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast
• A manager's path
• Leaders eat last
• How becoming a parent has made me a better developer
• History of Sandhills Development
   
  
  

This week I got to speak with Achilles & Paris, LLC's CEO, and Coach Laran Evans. Laran, a veteran in the industry has taken his experience across small scrappy startups to large silicon valley megacorps. to start coaching "experts" on how to become better leaders and mentors. In this episode, we walk through Laran's career journey and dive deep into what makes a great leader. Listen this week to get some insights on how to continue growing past that "Senior" title and get better at working with the people around you. 

• Management, relationships, and navigating people as a software engineer.
• Is a degree in CS Worth it?
• How can a company/team/engineer start planning releases further out in advance?
• What was your experience stepping into management/leadership for the first time?

• what does it take to effectively "navigate people politics" as a software engineer?
• leveraging the opportunity potential in today's technological landscape

• "DISC" - a behavior methodology. Adapt behaviors based on communication style.
• pace and priority, the keys to how things get done.
• The Platinum Rule: Treat others as they want to be treated.
• How to become an effective leader. Leadership as a parallel skillset.
• Common behavioral patterns that limit or inhibit engineer's growth

Three biggest takeaways

1. Empathy for others, being flexible, and understanding where others are coming from
2. Never stop learning! Figure out what learning looks like for you.
3. "if you don't know where you're headed any old road will do". Have a plan.

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast
• Get coaching - Achilles and Paris

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast

1. What was the first project or moment you realized "This is what I want to do"?
2. What's something you thought would get easier but hasn't?
3. What are some of the tools and practiced you've used to navigate the challenge of remote work?
4. What does a typical day look like for you?
5. How has your previous career impacted your career as a software engineer?
6. What has surprised you from doing the Senior Junior Engineer Podcast?
7. How do you acquire essential non-technical skills?
8. What's a book or resource that has influenced you most?

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast
• Loom - Video / Screen recording software
• Krisp - Audio filtering software
• The four hour work week - Tim Ferris

EPISODE SUMMARY 

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast

This week I got the chance to speak with 20+ year veteran in the industry, Warner Onstine. Hailing from Dallas, TX, Warner is the founder and owner at coffee in code out. Has worked at large companies like Intuit, founded his own startup, now works as a remote freelance contractor while also building his own learning platform, "30-minute projects"
 
EPISODE NOTES

• Managing engineers
  • Be the "shield" for your engineers, protect them from bad policies or things that would prevent your team from being as effective as they could be.
  • Identify where your team members want to go one day, it helps his team members bring their best & builds trust amongst the team.
  • Connecting people benefits everyone in the long run
  • Learning to step back, trust your team members to execute on your vision. But, you have to be able to effectively communicate that vision to the team.
• stay up to date in an industry that is constantly changing by subscribing to mailing lists, scan to see what's "hot" and what is starting to get traction.
• "Be so good they can't ignore you" - Why "follow your passion" is bad advice.
  • find what you're passionate about what you're already doing. Get better at those
  • Find where you want to get better, focus on growing those skills
• How to finally get your side project finished
  • Code every day! - Read the article below
  • Create a 4-6 wk deliverability plan with goals
  • break the project down into 30 min chunks
  • keep an engineering journal
• Three biggest takeaways
  • Do a side project and see it to completion.
  • Blog, write something, a youtube channel, express your ideas and engage with other developers. Blogging forces you to do written communication and express them in a way that others can understand
  • Don't be defensive, try not to have an ego about your own work. If someone comes to ask a question & you feel like they're attacking you, remember they are talking about the work and not you. Assume optimistic intent.

Featuring
Warner Onstine — Twitter, Github, Linkedin, Coffee In Code Out
Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn

Links

• 30 minute projects - Code in coffee out
• Use this link to get 30% off of the 30-minute project course
• Aggregated list to keep up with the industry - Warner Onstine
• so good they can't ignore you - Cal Newport.
• "What I liked about 'so good they can't ignore you' and other ramblings - Warner Onstine
• Write code everyday - John Resig

EPISODE SUMMARY

In today's episode, I got the chance to sit down with my friend and Stride's CTO, Alex Kuzmin. Alex has been in software formally for almost 10 years but his intro into the world of software started long before that when he began hacking some of his favorite games as a kid. Alex started his professional career in hardware, then moved to android and eventually to Unity where he began working in game development. Most recently Alex has been working as co-founder and CTO of his own company, Stride.

EPISODE NOTES

• microcontrollers & working with assembly language
• Working remotely before it was "popular" in 2014
• learning how to code when English isn't your first language
• Knowing your limits when exploring new avenues of study.
• deciding to pick up his life and move to Taiwan & the experience of building a company from the ground up while in a foreign country
• the challenges of being a technical co-founder
• the importance of delegation to empower your team for success
• important career milestones: 
  • Great leadership that taught how to review code and support other developers in their coding - the importance of mentorship.
  • making architectural decisions for a team - the importance of a larger perspective
  • expanding his scope via conferences
• Three biggest takeaways 
  • Find someone to mentor you - ask them to review your code, pick their brain, learn from them
  • Do personal projects - it's really about finding something that keeps you excited and exploring. It pushes you to learn your craft. Find problems in your life that you can solve with your code
  • Try at least once to build a full-stack project - It will give you a better appreciation for the challenges each "side" will face.

Featuring

Alex Kuzmin — Twitter, Github, Linkedin, Website, Stride

Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Medium

Links

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode, I interview Johnson Hsieh, a friend of mine who made the conscious decision to leave his job as a software engineer to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Before leaving his software career, Johnson obtained his undergrad and masters in CS from USC then went on to work for some of the biggest names in tech, landing internships at Semantic and Google, joining the team at Amazon for a year, and finally landing at Tinder.

In this interview, Johnson reflects on his experience as a "cog in the machine" at these tech giants and how his personal exploration into the meaning of work lead him to quit his job and pursue a life of learning and personal development.

EPISODE NOTES

Three takeaways

1. Ask a lot of questions.
2. Spend time thinking about your "why."
3. Enjoy the journey; life is about the journey, not the destination.

Featuring

Johnson Hsieh — Github, Linkedin, Medium, Facebook, Email

Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Medium

Links

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Sign up to be on the podcast
• Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions
• The Secretary problem

On this special episode of the Senior Junior engineer podcast, I was given the chance to appear as a guest on FM101.7 KLWN, my hometown radio station in Lawrence KS. During this interview, I talked a bit about how it has been working async and remote in Taiwan as a software engineer. I also share my crazy journey into the world of software engineering and what I learned along the way. I hope you enjoy it!

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• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• KLWN - Radio for grownups

EPISODE SUMMARY

Today I got the chance to chat with Austin Adamson, a software engineer at PING golf. Austin has been in the industry for 8 years as a software engineer and is currently a mid level engineer at PING, working primarily on API architecture, DB design. Our conversation covered a wide range of topics, including:

• The importance of mental health & finding the right team
• Empathy in team member & team leader
• Figure out what you don't know, don't accept just being comfortable in your own domain. Best way to grow is to continue looking for growth opportunities outside of your immediate focus.

Three biggest take aways from our conversation

• Eager to learn what you don't know
• Work for people and not money, make career moves that are good for you mentally
• Strive for balance, work/life but how you define the life portion is insanely personal to you.

Featuring

Austin Adamson — Twitter, Github, Linkedin,

Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Medium

Links

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.
• Dare to lead - Brene Brown
• Start with why - Simon Sinek

EPISODE SUMMARY

In today's episode, I have a conversation with another non-traditional convert into the world of software engineering, my Co-worker Ian Lituchy. Ian shares his journey from Electrical engineering to running a food truck startup and eventually to his current role as a Software Engineer at Apostrophe. Ian share's how he uses Software as a tool to impact people and find fulfillment.

EPISODE NOTES

On today's episode Ian and I discuss a wide range of topics;

• Product driven Software development to have a larger impact on people.
• Focusing on outcomes
• The importance of having a growth mindset
• Keeping a "learning" journal as a reference to fast track your continuous growth.
• How being thrown into challenging situations can help grow your confidence and abilities
• Key take aways: 
  1. learn from your failures, don't dwell too much on the what ifs
  2. Believe in your self and that you can do anything, learn how to ask the right question
  3. Always learn as much as you can, regardless of what you're doing.

News!

I am doing an AMA episode! Send me your questions.

Featuring

Ian Lituchy — Github, Linkedin, Website, [email protected]

Andrew Locke — Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Medium

Links

• Ask me anything - If you have any questions, let me know! I'll do an episode where I answer your questions.