CodeNewbie

Latest Episodes:

S6:E4 - Why do I need to test my code? (Jonas Nicklas) Nov 05, 2018

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If you're new to testing, the idea of writing tests for code that you wrote might sound strange. You just wrote it, so, theoretically, you should know what it does, right? But with a growing codebase and lots of people touching the code, implementing your piece of software might come with some unexpected side effects! Jonas explains why testing is so important, how to get started, and what it was like to write Capybara, the very popular testing framework.

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Jonas Nicklas

Jonas is a freelance developer from Gothenburg, Sweden, and the author of several well-known open source projects, including the acceptance testing framework Capybara.

S6:E3 - What’s it like to code for NASA? (Jesslyn Tannady) Oct 29, 2018

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Jesslyn worked with NASA to build an app for astronauts. She and a small team used augmented reality to create a navigation tool, much like Google Maps for space. Building it meant learning new tools, even traveling to a volcano to test it out. But most of what she built, she learned on the job. She tells us how she did it, what she's learned about leveling up in a short amount of time, and how she got started on her coding journey.

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Jesslyn Tannady

Jesslyn works at Ctrl-labs on technology that allows you to control computers and robots using your brain. In a past life, she organised hackathons (wellesleyhacks.org) and developed augmented reality navigation tools for Mars astronauts at NASA BASALT.

S6:E2 - From librarian to developer (Hayley Swimelar) Oct 22, 2018

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Hayley works with storage software. But before that job, she had no idea what storage software even was. In fact, at the time, she was a librarian working towards becoming a web developer. Then one day, she visited a booth at OSCON, a huge conference on open source, where she met the company that would end up hiring her for her first technical role in storage software. She talks about what it was like to transition from librarian to developer, and gives us an intro to the world of storage software.

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Hayley Swimelar

Hayley is a software engineer living in sunny Portland, Oregon. Originally trained as a librarian, she found new opportunities by learning how to code.

S6:E1 - How do you build a database? (Jeff Nelson) Oct 15, 2018

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Jeff is an executive at two very different tech companies, but data is at the heart of both. He describes how he uses data to make apps better and smarter, how he got started in the world of data, and how he built a database of his own.

Jeff Nelson

Jeff is the founder and CEO of Cinchapi, a data discovery and analytics platform. He is also Co-Founder and CTO at Blavity, a tech media company that has a global community of diverse content creators.

S5:E8 - From musician to developer (Chad Fowler) Sep 24, 2018

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Chad Fowler is an author, developer, speaker, and investor. He's been a CTO, he founded Ruby Central, the non-profit behind RubyConf and RailsConf, and is a recognizable tech figure, particularly in the Ruby community. But before he knew what code was, he was a professional musician. He shares how he switched careers without a computer science degree and how he's ended up with such an incredible tech career. He also shares how he's managed his bipolar disorder over the years, and how mental health has affected him and his career.

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Chad Fowler

Chad Fowler leads Developer Advocacy at Microsoft. He is also an author, speaker and has started and co-organized a couple of Ruby-related conferences including The International Ruby Conference and RailsConf.

S5:E7 - What's an Indie Hacker? (Courtland Allen) Sep 17, 2018

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Courtland Allen has built up a community of Indie Hackers, people who want to make money by selling products they build themselves. But how do you become an Indie Hacker? And how good of a coder do you need to be to become an Indie Hacker full time? Courtland shares lessons he's gathered over the years on what it takes to live off of your own product and how you can do it too. He also gives us his take on some popular tech business topics.

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Courtland Allen

Courtland Allen is a software engineer, designer, podcast host, MIT graduate, and Y Combinator alum. In 2016, he created IndieHackers.com, a community of developers who've come together to help each other build successful businesses.

S5:E6 - How do you build a robot in JavaScript? (Rachel White) Sep 10, 2018

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Rachel spends her free time building robots, creating hardware art, and making silicone molds of her friends' faces. She got her start with NodeBots, a beginner-friendly way of creating hardware projects using JavaScript. Rachel shares how she was first introduced to the hardware world, breaks down what a simple hardware project looks like, and tells us what it was like to be one of the first beta users of Twitch.tv, back when it was called Justin.tv.

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Rachel White

Rachel White is a technologist, artist, and pretend-cyborg who is currently the Developer Experience Lead at American Express, member of the Node.js Community Committee, and co-host of the Changelog podcast JSParty.

S5:E5 - How to figure out what’s next in your coding career (Jarvis Johnson) Sep 03, 2018

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Jarvis recently went from engineer to engineering manager, taking his career down a whole new path. He talks about how he thinks about his career, what different tech career paths look like, and why, although being a developer can be wonderful, it may not be everything you think it'll be.

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Jarvis Johnson

Jarvis is an Engineering Manager at Patreon, Youtuber, and co-host of the comedy podcast about feelings, Sad Boyz.

S5:E4 - Learning to code with technical books (Katel LeDû) Aug 27, 2018

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With so many different ways to learn to code, how do you pick? And where do technical books fit into your learning curriculum? Katel LeDû is the CEO of A Book Apart, a company that produces short technical books. She shares how to get the most out of a coding book, the benefits of reading technical books, and how she went from a career in photography to running a technical publishing house.

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Katel LeDû

Katel LeDû is the CEO of A Book Apart, where she helps passionate tech community members become successful authors. She also cohosts No, You Go, a podcast about being ambitious and giving—and getting—support along the way.

S5:E3 - From teacher to developer (Dan Piston) Aug 20, 2018

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Dan decided he wanted to get into tech, so he looked for a new job. And he found one! But it wasn't exactly the coding job he was hoping for. In fact, it would be about five years before Dan landed that dream coding job. He shares how he navigated the many ups and downs of becoming a developer, and what helped him persevere.

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Dan Piston

Dan Piston is a Software Developer at Kroll Bond Rating Agency. He loves all things Linux and soccer related. In his spare time he is raising two amazing boys or trying to pick up some new skills to help him further down his tech journey.