Beyond Coding

Latest Episodes:

A Career as Tech Lead or Engineering Manager with Patrick Kua Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

Engineers can get promoted to leadership positions without knowing what is expected of them. It's less of the same and more of a sidestep.

Pat Kua and I discuss the tech lead and engineering manager roles and what makes a person effective being in that role. On top of that we give perspective for people interested in those positions.

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Pat Kua:
https://www.patkua.com
https://twitter.com/patkua
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patkua

Pat's newsletter:
https://levelup.patkua.com

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/QMS4anI_oJo

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:42 - Different problems in coaching CTOs
00:02:08 - Problems when it comes to team structure
00:03:47 - Coaching aspects
00:06:14 - The tech lead and engineering manager paths are sidesteps
00:08:21 - Mismatch in expectations
00:10:05 - Skills a tech lead requires
00:12:54 - Dealing with people
00:16:44 - Communication challenges
00:18:13 - When is the right time to step into a leadership position?
00:20:51 - Leadership positions are not for everyone
00:23:42 - Learning from others
00:26:21 - Relationship between tech lead and engineering manager
00:31:58 - Pitfall of splitting tech lead and engineering manager
00:34:27 - Conversations about roles and responsibilities
00:36:51 - Leadership teams
00:37:43 - Who is responsible for team effectiveness?
00:40:23 - Pat's favourite role in the past
00:43:47 - Figuring out what you like and dislike doing
00:44:46 - What do you want to do?
00:46:54 - Growth mindset

Diversity, Inclusion and Work Culture in Asia with Priska Burkard Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

A diverse work culture is what companies are striving for to gain an edge in innovation and to stand out as workplace environment. However, this is easier said than done.

Priska and I explore the diversity and inclusion she's seen in the Asian work culture in comparison to the European work culture. On top of that, she shares her advice to organisations in hiring and accommodating for a diverse work environment.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Priska Burkard:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/priskaburkard
https://techface.ch
https://twitter.com/pm_burkard

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/bTQ7ZWOZz8w

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:28 - Priska's experience in Asia
00:02:21 - Differences in the Asian work culture
00:06:04 - Education in Asia
00:06:37 - Diversity differences with Asia
00:11:20 - How organisations can grow to be more diverse
00:14:22 - Offering flexibility for your employees
00:17:47 - Transparent and honest work culture
00:18:35 - Diversity starts in hiring
00:23:25 - Opportunities for women vs. men
00:27:04 - Changing company culture
00:29:09 - Inclusion vs. deadlines
00:31:26 - Diversity from an outside perspective
00:37:01 - Organisations need to distinguish themselves
00:38:19 - How to grow your network
00:44:15 - Final thoughts

Mental Health Problems and Conference Talks with Stacy Cashmore Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

Mental health is often overlooked until it's too late. When that happens, it's a long way back to recovery.

Stacy Cashmore shares her story involving mental health problems and how trusting people and asking for help will lead you to a better state mentally.
Finding out what works for you and accommodating for yourself should not make you feel bad. It's completely healthy to look after and take care of your mental health.

My favourite quote:
"Everybody has mental health. Some people have mental health problems, but EVERYBODY has mental health and if you don't look after your mental health then you're going to get mental health problems"

Enjoy! 🎙

Connect with Stacy Cashmore:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacycash
https://twitter.com/Stacy_Cash
https://www.twitch.tv/stacyclouds

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/Yrd3RGEMb-Y

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:42 - Relistening to yourself
00:03:01 - Not recognising yourself on screen
00:05:24 - Speaking in front of a big audience
00:07:28 - Anxious before going on stage
00:09:27 - Struggling at work and at home
00:11:23 - Attending Techorama lead to Stacy's first conference talk
00:19:44 - Committing to do something
00:21:49 - Metal health issues from a young age
00:24:30 - Mentally and physically running out of steam
00:25:28 - Reaching out for help
00:28:38 - Taking care of your mental health
00:33:10 - How people want to be interacted with
00:36:02 - Acommodating for your mental health
00:37:53 - Taking care of yourself and saying no
00:41:25 - Stacy's therapist gave her an order
00:44:37 - The people that guard us from doing too much
00:46:41 - Not overstepping boundaries
00:48:41 - How to ask for help for your mental health
00:52:39 - Find what works for you
00:56:12 - Someone that can give you support

Q&A #1: Podcasting, Tech Layoffs and First Job as Developer & More with Patrick Akil Nov 23, 2022

Show notes

First of its kind on the beyond coding podcast, an episode with just me answering your questions.

Let me know if I should do more of these 💬

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/Q6VJg98ERoU

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:43 - Should I go for a master's degree in computer science?
00:02:35 - How do I get my first job in the tech market?
00:04:35 - Why don't you tweet more?
00:04:50 - How do new engineers entering the tech field cope with the recent layoffs from companies?
00:07:05 - Favorite podcast episode so far? :)
00:08:13 - Hi Patrick, would love to know what was the inspiration behind the podcast?
00:11:33 - Podcast names we didn't end up going with
00:12:19 - Back to how we created the podcast
00:17:59 - Committing to the podcast too quickly
00:19:20 - Curious to know what goes into creating a podcast episode
00:23:25 - When is person X coming on? :(
00:23:51 - What’s your favorite podcast?
00:25:24 - What’s it like being a guest on a podcast?
00:26:40 - What’s your take on hiring in tech?
00:28:53 - Do you hate your own voice?
00:29:56 - How did you get into software development?
00:40:05 - Wrapping up

Product, Relationships and Teamwork with Chiedza Muguti Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Product Leadership has always been a topic that I've found interesting and wanted to explore more of. Pair that together with the wonderful Chiedza Muguti and you have an amazing episode! 😊

She is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to product, leadership, teamwork and more! Had an amazing time learning from her and I finished this episode feeling energised and inspired.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Chiedza Muguti:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiedzamuguti
https://twitter.com/chiedzajm

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/i5t4PlGvYmI

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:29 - Product Leadership
00:04:56 - Challenges in inspiring people
00:06:51 - How to get comfortable when you're uncomfortable
00:09:45 - The effect of how you come across as leader
00:10:57 - Piling up emotions
00:13:56 - How to get effective teams
00:16:27 - Who is responsible for effective teams?
00:19:14 - How to manage deadlines and pressure
00:22:43 - When are things flashing amber?
00:26:19 - Moving from business analyst to product owner
00:32:27 - Familiarising yourself with a domain
00:36:16 - How to prioritise value as PO
00:41:16 - Challenging value and priority
00:44:22 - Not overcomplicating solutions
00:46:44 - technoloby problems are business problems
00:49:30 - Issues with big teams
00:54:39 - Investing in relationships
00:58:22 - Success is in your environment

Coaching, Listening and Leadership with Sumit Gupta Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

This episode is all about coaching and leadership. If you want to get better at either of those, this is the episode for you. 🙌
Sumit shares the value of having a personal coach, how listening is a gift and how each coaching skill is also a leadership skill.

My favourite learning is how he breaks down communication into different conversations. Doing so allows you to focus on which conversations are most challenging for you, and get better at having them.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Sumit Gupta:
https://linkedin.com/in/sumit4all
https://www.deployyourself.com
https://twitter.com/sumitgupta4all

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/iDVY07k9SNs

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:25 - Why Sumit coaches people?
00:02:21 - Sumit's journey with Entrepreneurship
00:03:59 - From creating software to helping people
00:08:27 - Realising you can do anything
00:10:29 - How to inspire and motivate
00:11:58 - The value of a personal coach
00:16:07 - How do you create a safe space?
00:20:07 - Leaders being open and vulnerable
00:24:05 - 100% transparency and openness
00:30:06 - Allowing others to contribute
00:32:15 - Gradually taking on leadership responsibilities
00:35:47 - Can leadership be learned or taught?
00:39:15 - No judgements and nothing is negative
00:42:54 - How do you get better at coaching?
00:44:43 - coaching and leadership skills
00:49:13 - Asking for help
00:51:21 - Leadership is about giving

Tech Startups, SaaS and Funding with Denise Edwards Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

Denise Edwards comes on to share how to find the right team, the right product, scale correctly, get funding and much more.

If you've ever had thoughts of starting your own business like me, I'm sure you will love this episode.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Denise Edwards:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardsdenise
https://twitter.com/deniseedwardsco
https://saaslaunch.io

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/-wavaCe3LDQ

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:36 - Giving presentations and growing
00:04:16 - From sales to owning a business
00:11:35 - Why B2B SaaS startups?
00:14:49 - How to find co-founders
00:17:58 - Hiring and forming a team
00:24:52 - When to stop building and start selling
00:27:48 - Incorporating feedback and fixing bugs
00:30:26 - Getting your first customers
00:33:14 - Why 90% of startups fail
00:35:48 - Falling in love with your own ideas
00:42:36 - How to scale your solution
00:48:24 - Hire just before it becomes a problem
00:52:16 - How to get funding
00:56:54 - Unnecessary spending in a startup
00:59:12 - Pitching to investors and who pitches?
01:04:37 - Don't be afraid to get help

From Ideas to Games and Products with Rosemary Lokhorst Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

“Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.”
- Mary Kay Ash

In my view, this still holds true. But how do you execute and turn an idea into a product, or even a game?
This episode with Rosemary Lokhorst covers exactly that.
What I admire about her is she doesn’t shy away from things she’s never done before, or things that have never been done before.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Rosemary Lokhorst
https://linkedin.com/in/lokhorst
https://twitter.com/lokhorstr
http://lokhorst.com

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/wveVo_CW2JM

Falling in Love with Web Development with Kyle Cook from Web Dev Simplified Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

If you’ve gone on YouTube and searched how to get stuff done in web development, chances are you’ve come across Kyle Cook from web dev simplified. He’s put up an incredible catalog of videos to simplify web development, for free.

What’s really cool is he started off teaching himself web development after falling in love with it. From there, his fundamental knowledge has grown through teaching others.

Some of the topics we cover this episode:
☑️ Kyle’s journey to web dev
☑️ Starting from scratch as developer
☑️ How Kyle’s YouTube channel came to be
☑️ The importance of core Javascript
☑️ The future of frontend development

Enjoy!🎙

Connect with Kyle Cook:
https://www.youtube.com/c/webdevsimplified
https://twitter.com/DevSimplified
https://courses.webdevsimplified.com

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/F7XGddoTxrA

Empowering and Enabling People, what Great Managers do with Nick van Meeteren Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

Great managers are those with a people first mindset.

They go through fire for their team,
allow people to make mistakes and grow,
and protect people from putting their work over their life and family.

Nick van Meeteren is one of those people and I had an incredible time learning from his view and mindset.

Enjoy 🎙

Connect with Nick van Meeteren:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickvanmeeteren

New episodes every Wednesday with our host 🎙Patrick Akil!
Big shoutout to Xebia for making this episode possible!

Full episode on YouTube ▶️
https://youtu.be/MiGJ9z1pFbM

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