Chats with Kent C. Dodds

Latest Episodes:

Reinventing API Design, Testing, and Mocking: An Interview with Artem Zakharchenko Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

In the podcast, Artem Zakharchenko, a software engineer specializing in APIs, delves into his journey shifting from his job to focus on open-source contributions, notably the Mock Service Worker library. He emphasizes the importance of efficient testing in software development and his commitment to enhancing his knowledge and the tools he develops, such as adding WebSocket support to MSW. His upcoming workshop at the Epic Web Conference will cover the essentials of automated testing and writing assertions, encouraging developer participation in a discussion on testing challenges to foster a collaborative learning environment.

Watch this episode.

Meet Artem at Epic Web Conf.

Guest: Artem Zakharchenko

Twitter: @kettanaito
GitHub: @kettanaito
Website: kettanaito.com

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic Web: epicweb.dev

Local First Architecture and Side Projects with Alex Anderson Feb 12, 2024

Show notes

Web developer Alex Anderson speaks with Kent about his side project, Thorium, an open-source spaceship bridge simulator game designed for science education, which also encapsulates the principles of Local First architecture. Anderson elaborates on the advantages of Local First design in ensuring direct data access and enhancing web syncing, all while balancing privacy with user experience. A specific focus is given to integrating Local First architecture with a Remix app to enable seamless online and offline app functionality. Additionally, the conversation touches on the personal joys and communal aspects of baking, showcasing the human side of tech experts engaged in pioneering web development and community-driven projects.

Watch this episode.

Meet Alex at Epic Web Conf.

Guest: Alex Anderson

Twitter: @ralex1993
GitHub: @alexanderson1993
Website: ralexanderson.com

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic Web: epicweb.dev

Exploring the Power of CSS Custom Properties with Adam Argyle Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

In this insightful conversation with Kent, Chrome team's CSS and UI expert Adam Argyle delves into the transformative power of CSS custom properties in web development. Likening them to a basil leaf that elevates a meal, Adam teases his upcoming talk at Epic WebConf, promising to elaborate further on the subject. He spotlights current innovations in Chrome and CSS that include color variants, automated designer interactions, and dynamic features such as view transitions and scroll-driven animations. These developments not only enrich web design but also advocate for progressive enhancement to ensure a captivating and interactive user experience. Adam's expertise offers a valuable resource for staying abreast of the evolving landscape of CSS and web design.

Watch this episode.

Meet Adam at Epic Web Conf.

Guest: Adam Argyle

Twitter: @argyleink
GitHub: @argyleink
Website: nerdy.dev

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic Web: epicweb.dev

Introducing Season 5 of Chats with Kent Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

Kent C. Dodds introduces Season 5 of "Chats with Kent," highlighting its unique focus on the speakers of the upcoming Epic WebConf 2024 on April 11th. This season aims to familiarize listeners with the conference speakers through 10-15 minute intros, offering insights into their backgrounds and what they'll be discussing. Kent encourages both attending the conference in person for a richer experience and utilizing the available live stream for those unable to attend. This season serves as a platform for listeners to engage with the content and speakers, whether they plan to participate in-person or online.

Meet at Epic Web Conf.

Guest: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic Web: epicweb.dev

Tiger Abrodi Chats About Advancing Your Skills Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

The path of teaching yourself to code isn't for the faint of heart. It takes consistency, discipline, and the ability to recognize you're actually making progress. Tutorials are an excellent tool, but they are also a trap.

If all you do are tutorials, retaining the skills you learn is going to be extremely difficult. Without applying those skills they aren't going to become ingrained, and you aren't going to see how they're used in context. You also won't make progress if you aren't being consistent. Without consistency, your skills will fade and when you start coding again you'll have to relearn things instead of advancing on to more advanced topics.

In this episode, Tiger Abrodi chats about how he uses projects, habits, and self-assessment to consistently advance his skills as a programmer.

Homework

Take 20 minutes to do a little self-evaluation and assess how well your professional growth as a developer is going.
Write down some specific habits that you want to develop to help you with your goals

Guest: Tiger Abrodi

Twitter: @TAbrodi
GitHub: @tigerabrodi
Website: tigerabrodi.tech

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

Jhey Tompkins Chats About Building Awesome Demos Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

It's easy to become entrenched in what you already know how to do. You might have a fun project idea that requires creating really awesome CSS animations, and it might seem out of reach if you haven't done anything like that before. But getting through that mental block is an extremely rewarding experience. You gain technical skills and improve your general problem-solving abilities.

If you've ever struggled with side-projects, check out this episode where you'll learn how Jhey Tompkins never seems to run out of things to build and get his expert advice on how he problem solves.

Homework

Start keeping a list of every random idea that you have. Use the list for project inspiration

Resources

@beesandbombs - cool animations

Guest: Jhey Tompkins

Twitter: @jh3yy
GitHub: @jh3y
Website: jhey.dev

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

Mark Dalgleish Chats About Vanilla Extract Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

There is a diverse range of philosophies when it comes to CSS. Settling on something that fits the needs of your team and application can be a real challenge. Mark Dalgleish, the co-creator of CSS Modules, has been working on an option that might make that choice less of a challenge!

Vanilla Extract is kind of like "CSS-modules in TypeScript", allowing you to write CSS in your TypeScript, with locally scoped variables, and generate static CSS files on runtime. If you're interested in getting a deeper look, as well hear more about design systems, CSS in JS, and CSS Modules, check out this episode!

Homework

Follow along with this blog post - Use CSS Variables instead of React Context
Check out Vanilla Extract

Resources

Guest: Mark Dalgleish

Twitter: @markdalgleish
GitHub: @markdalgleish

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

Scott Moss Chats About Time Management Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Scott Moss is a retired Navy Veteran who made the career change into software engineering after becoming a father. His journey wasn't an easy one, and as a dad, he had to learn many lessons in work-life balance.

For us developers who have kids, his struggle is one that almost all of us can relate to. This industry has an extremely high ceiling, and there is a culture of grinding every day after work in order to make it big. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking "this is what is best for my family", you have to ask yourself is it worth the sacrifice of losing that time with your kids, and are you doing it for them or are you doing it for yourself?

Though it doesn't have to be all or nothing in either direction. There are strategies you can put into place that will allow you to reach your goals in both your work and family life. But it's going to require self-awareness, emotional availability, and good time management.

So check out this episode If you want to hear more about Scott's story and get advice on making family life work while still succeeding in your career!

Homework

Sit down and record every single minute of your day for the next week. At the end of the week review and see the time that you wasted on things that add no value to the goals.

Guest: Scott Moss

Twitter: @scotups
GitHub: @Hendrixer

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

Josh Comeau Chats About Gaining a Reputation Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Whether you know it or not, we all have a "personal brand". It's the summary of the part of yourself that you present to the public. And while there are negative connotations to the term, it doesn't have to be that way.

Building a personal brand for yourself is a very useful tool for cultivating a community of like-minded people. But it's not a quick process, and it's not something that you can hack if you want the real thing. In this episode, Josh Comeau chats about how he grew a community and reputation around CSS, and how the lessons he learned can apply to you.

Homework

Take an hour to draft a blog post in markdown without worrying about how you are going to build your website.

Resources

Guest: Josh Comeau

Twitter: @JoshWComeau
GitHub: @joshwcomeau
Website: joshwcomeau.com

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

Josh Comeau Chats About Effective Learning Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Constantly learning is something that we all have to do as developers. If you're a JavaScript developer then chances are CSS is something that hasn't been easy to learn for you. It doesn't have the error messages JS does and when things go wrong you can have no idea what's even happening.

Well in this episode Josh Comeau gives us some effective strategies to not only learn CSS, but to learn any library, language, framework, etc that you might want to know!

Homework

After solving a problem you were stuck on, take about 10 minutes to dive in deeper to understand why it worked the way it did and why your solution fixed it

Resources

Guest: Josh Comeau

Twitter: @JoshWComeau
GitHub: @joshwcomeau
Website: joshwcomeau.com

Host: Kent C. Dodds

Website: kentcdodds.com
Twitter: @kentcdodds
GitHub: @kentcdodds
YouTube: Kent C. Dodds
Epic React: epicreact.dev

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