Greater Than Code - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Greater Than Code — Software How-To
Greater Than Code

For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code.
Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript.
We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)

Latest Episodes:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

On this day in Paris in 1948, the United Nations issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that sets out the fundamental rights and privileges of all people and all nations. In honor of the anniversary of this document, the panelists of Greater Than Code have come together to share their reading of the document with all of you.

Support Greater Than Code

159: Bias in AI with Lauren Maffeo Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

02:26 - Lauren’s Superpower: Remembering Useful Yet Sentimental Facts About People

03:57 - Lauren’s Professional Background

07:35 - Bias in the Downsides of AI

Automation vs. Augmentation
Meredith Broussard

11:15 - Media and AI/How the Media Affects People’s Perception of AI

14:32 - Concerns of Small and Midsize Businesses Pertaining to AI

18:37 - How to Mitigate Bias in AI

22:23 - Ethics in AI

Loomis v. Wisconsin

25:39 - Defining Bias in AI

32:04 - Fairness vs. Accuracy in Algorithms

38:30 - Preventing Bias in AI Resources

41:00 - Working Remotely

Proactively Communicating
Setting Boundaries

50:45 - Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Slack
Aubrey Blanche, Atlassian

Reflections:

John: Lauren talking about the work she’s doing to pre-educate people so they can prevent themselves from getting in trouble even before they build their models.

Chanté: It’s not enough to just be doing this internally. Bias happens in all shapes, sizes, and forms and it’s important to recognize that.

Jacob: In a biased society we can’t expect completely unbiased data; therefore we can’t train an algorithm on the theoretical equitable world that we want to create. There will always be a trace of the bias we have now.

Lauren: The first step is acknowledging the bias exists in the first place.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps,LLC.
To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Lauren Maffeo.

Sponsored By:

SideTrak: SideTrak is an ultra-portable USB monitor that attaches to the back of your laptop for a more productive workday whether you are home, at the office, in a coffee shop, or on-the-go! Anyone who works with two screens knows just how tedious multitasking and referencing documents can be on a laptop. SideTrak allows you to combine the portability of a laptop and the productivity of a dual monitor setup. Studies show that you are 24% more productive and can save 4+ hours a week working with two screens. Imagine what you can accomplish with all that extra time! I love my SideTrak portable monitor. It's a must-have and super easy to use. For 10% off, visit sidetrak.com/discount/GREATERTHANCODE Promo Code: greaterthancode

Support Greater Than Code

158: Exploring Company Values with Ariel Caplan Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

01:22 - Ariel’s Superpower: Extreme Irritability

How to Address What is Irritating You

07:30 - Accessibility Needs - Learning What Irritates Others

Disability Simulation in the Workplace
Hot-Keys vs. Mouse Use

16:05 - Rabbinical School

Learning to Ask Complex Questions
Edge Cases

20:30 - Developing Company/Corporate Values

Purpose of Company Values
Revisiting the Values
When to Remove a Value
Wording of Values
Aspirational Values
The Right Time to Put Values into Writing

Reflections:

John: Using the process of establishing and/or revising values as a way of pulling in the experience of marginalized people in the company.

Jamey: Think about who your values put pressure on.

Jacob: Balance between whether values should be aspirational or should they be a reflection of things that people in the company have already internalized.

Ariel: Aspirational vs. Reflective values and when is the right time for each. Also, there is a point of giving too much weight to the values.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Ariel Caplan.

Sponsored By:

SideTrak: SideTrak is an ultra-portable USB monitor that attaches to the back of your laptop for a more productive workday whether you are home, at the office, in a coffee shop, or on-the-go! Anyone who works with two screens knows just how tedious multitasking and referencing documents can be on a laptop. SideTrak allows you to combine the portability of a laptop and the productivity of a dual monitor setup. Studies show that you are 24% more productive and can save 4+ hours a week working with two screens. Imagine what you can accomplish with all that extra time! I love my SideTrak portable monitor. It's a must-have and super easy to use. For 10% off, visit sidetrak.com/discount/GREATERTHANCODE Promo Code: greaterthancode

Support Greater Than Code

157: Reinventing Education with Willem Larsen Nov 20, 2019

Show notes

01:12 - Willem’s Superpower: Meta

02:20 - Accelerated Community Learning

Self-Sustaining Communities

12:45 - Reimagining the Education System

Unschooling
Open-Space
Systems of Privilege
Jordan Fink @buildsoil

24:20 - Stages of Human Life

Age Segregation in School
Storytelling of Culture

41:10 - The Thermodynamics of Emotion Symposium

57:01 - Listening to What the Community Needs

The Fall of Civilizations Podcast

Reflections:

Jacob: Local communities can surely agree on and find really innovative ways they can provide for each other.

Arty: The magic can only happen with the existing system being out of the way and space being created for the people with the spaces and the people with the programs to work together around the shared interest.

Willem: Our culture has all these impediments to navigating complex systems in wise ways. We should get out of the way of people we have more power than and listen to the system and provide resources to the system.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Willem Larsen.

Support Greater Than Code

156: Authenticity in Interviewing with James Edward Gray II Nov 13, 2019

Show notes

01:30 - James’ Superpower: Spending time chasing his daughter and her robots around. Helping with her robotics club at school.

02:37 - “Just Be Yourself” is Terrible Advice

03:50 - What Are You Trying to Accomplish in the Interview

06:00 - Be Authentic: Which Parts of Yourself to Show

Be a Strong Communicator
Be an Avid Learner
Don’t be a Jerk

07:25 - Turn Your Interviewers into Your Advocates

12:42 - Technical Interviews

Saying “I Don’t Know” is OK

16:00 Interviewee as the Interviewer

Make Sure You Want to Work Here
Answer Questions Honestly

18:53 - Prepare for Common Interview Questions

Rephrasing Weakness

23:34 - Intrinsic Motivation

Mastery by Robert Greene

29:29 - Storytelling in the Interview

Being Confident in Your Accomplishments
Interviewers Explain Why You Are Asking the Question

37:15 - Management Techniques

45:00 - Why Technical Interviews are Challenging

Cracking the Coding Interview

Reflections:

John: Setting the context for being approachable as an interviewer is important.

Rein: Some of this advice works all the time, and some of this advice only works when you have been able to develop a personal connection with the interviewer/interviewee.

James: Think about if this is a place you want to work while interviewing.

Avdi: Turning your interviewer into your advocate can help them also be able to tell you if this place will be a good fit for you.

Jessica: It’s not just about being able to interview well as the interviewee, but we need to choose a company that can interview well too. Ask your personal contacts about what it is like to work at a certain company.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: James Edward Gray.

Support Greater Than Code

155: Ethical Open Source with Don Goodman-Wilson Nov 06, 2019

Show notes

01:10 - Don’s Superpower: He is a generalist. He has lots of skills he can bring together in one place.

02:25 - Ethics and Open Source

Open Source is Broken
OSI
How Can we Make Sure Our Code isn’t Weaponized

08:34 - Consequentialism vs Contractualism

18:15 - The Paradox of Tolerance/Paradox of Openness

19:15 - Is Licensing the Right Mechanism for Bringing Ethics into Open Source

23:40 - Enforceability of Open Source Licenses

28:40 - Compensation as an Ethical Consideration

34:30 - Quantifying the Value the Open Source Software Gives

38:24 - Empowering People Who Participate in Open Source

It’s OK to Question Authority
Not Everyone Has the Privilege to Participate in Open Source
Ethics in Open Source Licenses

48:31 Tierney Cyren @bitandbang

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Don Goodman-Wilson.

Support Greater Than Code

154: Filtering Your Brain with Ambreen Hasan Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

01:12 - Ambreen’s Non-Technical Superpower: She is Very Good at Zoning People Out

Learning necessary information from conversations

03:20 - Ambreen’s Technical Superpower: Any Challenge She is Given She Will Try to Just Do It

Comfort with Uncertainty

06:03 - Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

It’s OK to Not Know Everything
Using Resources to Your Advantage

08:40 - Ambreen’s Hobbies Outside of Software

10:10 - Thinking About Things in a Molecular Way

Taking Chunks at a Time When Learning Something New
Breaking Down Big Concepts into Small Things You Can Learn
Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

13:45 - Ambreen’s Journey to Software Engineering

C++
Turning a Love Into a Career
Ruby, Rails, Go, Docker

20:30 - Self-Advocating for New Work Experience

22:00 - Empathy in Engineering

Reflections:

John: Intentionally recognizing uncomfortable learning situations and be okay with it.

Jacob: Your emotional state does matter at work and we as professionals need to recognize that this has relevance to one’s ability to do work.

Arty: It is important to help others to be able to come out of their comfort zone and be ok with not knowing everything.

Ambreen: Likes Jacob’s idea of being productively lost, but there is progress being made. There are many different styles of learning.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Ambreen Hasan.

Support Greater Than Code

153: Your Favorite Philosopher Is You with Mannah Kallon Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

01:16 - Mannah’s Superpower: He is Comfortable in His Own Skin

Being Yourself

02:17 - Assessing Identity and Evaluating Sense of Self in New Culture

What a Philosopher is

03:42 - Quoting Beyoncé and Using the B Word

Who Takes Offense?
Is Everyone Given the Same Consideration?

06:25 - Moments of Self Doubt When Someone Doesn’t Believe You

Simone de Beauvoir
Addressing Terms of Identity with Conversation
Botham Jean, Forgiveness, and Role Reversal

09:14 - Empathy

Who is Your Favorite Philosopher
Having the Ability to Consider and Alternative Viewpoint

11:22 - Retaliation is a Thing

16:33 - How to Deal With Coming Across a Viewpoint You Don’t Think Has Merit

It is Healthy to Have a Level of Empathy for Your Enemies
Assigning Value to Situations

18:56 - The Supreme Court Voting on Protections

Systemic Hatred
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

23:23 - Origins of Thoughts and Root Causes

28:57 - Recognizing Privilege

Rowena Chiu: Opinion | 'Harvey Weinstein Told Me He Liked Chinese Girls …

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Mannah Kallon.

Support Greater Than Code

152: Embracing Mathematics with Philip Wadler Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

02:35 - Philip’s Superpower: Being Not Afraid of Mathematics

04:07 - Programming Language Foundations in Agda

Propositions as Types

Software Foundations by Benjamin C. Pierce

The Coq Proof Assistant

15:32 - Using a Proof Assistant

22:57 - Human Creativity + Insight

30:02 - Specifications

Use of Formal Methods at Amazon Web Services

The Evolution of Testing Methodology at AWS: From Status Quo to Formal Methods with TLA+

How Amazon web services uses formal methods

35:25 - How To Translate Abstract Concepts So Practitioners Can Use Them

Reflections:

Rein: The way we are taught math makes us hate it.

Jess: There’s a difference between learning the foundations of programming and learning the skills of programming

Chanté: How do we make conversations like this more accessible?

Jacob: Ways of getting quick and seamless feedback as you are writing a program.

Joint Cognitive Systems: Foundations of Cognitive Systems Engineering

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!

Special Guest: Philip Wadler.

Sponsored By:

PagerDuty: This episode is brought to you by PagerDuty. In an always-on world, teams trust PagerDuty to help them deliver a perfect digital experience to their customers every time. With PagerDuty, teams spend less time reacting to incidents and more time building for the future. From digital disruptors to Fortune 500 companies, over 12,000 businesses rely on PagerDuty to identify issues and opportunities in real time and bring together the right people to fix problems faster and prevent them from happening again. We’re like the central nervous system for a company’s digital operations. We can analyze digital signals from virtually any software enabled system, and help you intelligently pinpoint issues like outages, as well as capitalize on opportunities, while empowering teams to take the right, real time action. To see how companies like GE, Vodafone, Box and American Eagle Outfitters rely on PagerDuty to continuously improve their digital operations visit PagerDuty.com.

Support Greater Than Code

Special Edition: Becoming an Elder & the "Stage Two" of Life Oct 15, 2019

Show notes

There's a point in life, somewhere around the halfway mark, where the reality check hits -- you're going to die. There's a future without you in it. There's a new generation of children growing up, learning their way through the world, and humanity will keep moving forward without you.

On one hand, this is depressing. Everyday, we go through the motions. Everyday, we play the game. And suddenly, it all seems so meaningless.
The characteristic period of "mid-life crisis" starts with falling into a pit of nihilistic despair, and a quest to answer the most basic existential questions.

Does anything really matter? Who am I? What do I live for?

On the other side of these questions, something magical happens.

The finiteness of Life is also what gives it meaning. Every breath is something to cherish. Every joyful memory is a gift. And right now, in this moment, we have the opportunity to live and be, whoever it is we want to be.

Who are your heroes? Who do you admire?

What character do you want to play?

How can you use your special gifts to lift the people around you?

Like a cacoon-shattering phase change, a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, we become an Elder, a steward, and a leader that works on behalf of the children of our future.

This audio clip is a conversation between Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team & Arty Starr about the journey of becoming an Elder, and why Arty decided to change her name.

If you want a bit more backstory, you can also check out this thread:

this is great stuff! Artemis is a badass.
— Miko Matsumura ㋡ (@mikojava) October 13, 2019

Support Greater Than Code

Related Podcasts