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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:

Episode 024: Seeing Programming Where Other People Don’t with Felienne Hermans Mar 22, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “The Netherlands Invented Gay Marriage, So We Should Be Scared of Them Now!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:28 – Origin Story

03:17 – Programming Perspectives From People of Different Backgrounds; Teaching Adults vs Children

06:12 – Teaching Programming as a Language; Aha! Moments

Scratch Programming

12:26 – Identity and why do we so often use the phrase “not real programming”? What do we define as software? Tooling

Microsoft Excel

20:13 – Should everyone know programming? Why? What should they know/be able to do? (Digital Literacy)

28:27 – What is the programming equivalent of a library/librarian?

33:06 – Does STEM education make other forms of education obsolete? Why not?

35:15 – Things to Get Better at Programming Other Than Programming

48:58 – Fighting Against “Real” Programming and Being Hesitant to Let in Newcomers

50:40 – What can we do to help spread the knowledge?

Reflections:

Felienne: If people say they are programming, they are. Limit belittling and surprise. Do not contaminate others with what your own idea of programming is.

Jessica: Value on reading through code and forming a model of it.

Astrid: Thinking about programming as in thinking about writing.

Rein: Some programming does involved math, but it is not (for the most part) the math you hated in high school.

A Mathematician’s Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form by Paul Lockhart

Sam: You can be fluent at a very low level of proficiency and still be fluent.

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: Felienne Hermans.

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Episode 023: Politics and Software with Lorena Mesa Mar 15, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Hey! I Made a Bong Out of This Podcast!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:26 – Origin Story

Obama For America Campaign

05:46 – Politics and Software; Data Collection

Danah Boyd: Be Careful What You Code For

16:43 – Working in Python for Data Collection

19:46 – The Python Software Foundation (PSF)

23:55 – Communication and Organization Within Communities

MINSWAN: Matz is Nice So We Are Nice

Social Encounter Party

33:49 – Power Structures and Forming Relationships

36:39 – PSF Funding

Reflections:

Jessica: Each of our languages has a metalanguage that people use to talk about the language.

Sam: Needs more sleep

Astrid: Code can and should touch everything: What is it not doing that it should be doing?

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Coraline: Software is not neutral.

Rein: Software is inherently political. It is made for people by people. There’s no way it can’t be political.

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!

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Episode 022: You Are An Asset Mar 07, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Mob Programming” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

02:39 – Origin Stories From All!

Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour Workweek

12:37 – Work/Life Balance and Ideal Work Environments

Stockholm Syndrome

16:50 – Technical Interviews

20:41 – Computer Science Degrees: Are they worth it?

27:42 – Compulsions to Know: Contempt Culture

Aurynn Shaw: Contempt Culture

The Zens of Python and Ruby

34:12 – Gatekeeping in Tech

37:11 – Technical Interviews (Cont’d)

Pair Programming

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 Guests: Jacob Stoebel and Ryder Timberlake.

Sponsored By:

Soft Skills Engineering: If you’re looking for a hilarious podcast that focuses on issues that software developers face, such as getting fired, pay raises, strategies for pushing back on bad ideas, and even stock options, check out Soft Skills Engineering!

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Episode 021: Social Justice Warrioring and Codes of Conduct with Phil Sturgeon Feb 23, 2017

Show notes

00:28 – Welcome to Greater Than Code: The SJW Takeover

00:53 – Origin Story, Superpowers, and Bike Messengering

Build APIs You Won’t Hate

Had pesto chicken pasta for dinner, in honor of @philsturgeon’s interview on @greaterthancode today. 😋
— Sam Livingston-Gray (@geeksam) February 23, 2017

07:59 – Long-form Blogging (aka Rants)

08:50 – Codes of Conduct: Adoption, Enforcing, Conspiracy Theories

The Contributor Covenant

“Codes of Conducts are so full of slippery slope arguments, they could open a waterslide park.” @philsturgeon
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) February 23, 2017

17:40 – What it means to be a “Social Justice Warrior”, Tolerance, and “Being Nice”

Tolerance is not a moral precept

Coraline Ada Ehmke: On Opalgate

27:46 – False Reports vs Genuine Issues; Dogmatic Logic vs Empathy

Susan J. Fowler: Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber

Phil Sturgeon: Talking About Diversity: Marginalization

39:40 – Transitioning From a Men’s Rights Activist and Being a Good Ally

I Was a Men’s Rights Activist: One man’s journey from misogyny to feminism

Sarah Sharp Tweetstorm

“Being an ally isn’t a badge that you earn. Being an ally is a process and you’re going to fuck it up.” @CoralineAda
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) February 23, 2017

47:56 – PHP vs Ruby

Aurynn Shaw: Contempt Culture

Greater Than Code Episode 002: Avdi Grimm

Reflections:

Jessica: Turning confusion into something that assuages everyone else’s. Also, failing upwards: When something doesn’t work out, something better will.

“Being an ally isn’t a badge that you earn. Being an ally is a process and you’re going to fuck it up.” @CoralineAda
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) February 23, 2017

Sam: In tech we have tools for doing root cause analysis, and we’re really used to using those to figure out technical issues, but those very same tools can work for social issues as well. Try The 5 Whys on something that isn’t technical.

Coraline: Thinking about how to get past people’s visceral reactions against social justice issues and think about how to create better allies.

Phil: Start bookmarking things that are helpful.

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: Phil Sturgeon.

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Episode 020: Sexuality in Tech with Jenn Schiffer Feb 16, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Neon Abstract Podcast Erotica!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:15 – Origin Story

03:05 – Art

06:37 – Viewing Source and Learning How to Code

11:02 – Getting a Computer Science Degree

13:56 – Pixel Art, Sexuality in Tech, and Online Presence

@aphyr (Kyle Kingsbury)

Ashley Madison Data Breach

26:54 – How do potential employers react to your satire?

28:41 – CSS Perverts

36:03 – Vetting Potential Employers and Company Culture; Dealing with Toxic People

Takeaways:

Jessica: Everyone has something that they keep quiet about because they aren’t sure of the consequences.

Coraline: Being privileged enough to have the responsibility to be public and show people that it’s okay that they are who they are.

Astrid: You don’t have to separate your passions.

Jenn: We all need a space to feel uninhibited.

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: Jenn Schiffer.

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Episode 019: It’s Made of People! Feb 09, 2017

Show notes

01:11 – What it means to be a Senior Engineer When You Don’t Want to Go Into Management

05:07 – Generativity: The difference between your team’s output with you on it and your team’s output without you.

Gregor Hohpe: 37 Things One Architect Knows About IT Transformation

13:46 – The Job of An Architect

22:09 – What are the managers doing? “It is too much to ask for your manager to be your career mentor?”

Sam Gerstenzang: The Happy Demise of the 10X Engineer

Everything's an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford, et al.

Reflections:

Astrid: From Jessica’s perspective, what a software architect actually is supposed to be doing.

Sam: Everything's an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford, et al.

Coraline: I’m going to read ^ book.

Jessica: More surprise episodes!

Darin: Think less about me and more about the team around me. And I’m looking for a mentor!

Cheryl: Greater Than Code > Mission Taco

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!_T

Special Guests: Cheryl Shaefer and Darin Wilson.

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Episode 018: Growing Your Team and Mentorship with Cheryl Schaefer Feb 06, 2017

Show notes

Posted another patrons-only outtake from today's precall with @CherylGSchaefer! https://t.co/g4GZA9LWle
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) February 1, 2017

00:16 – Welcome to “Let’s Get this Ship on the Road!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:06 – Origin Story and Mentorship

Cheryl Gore Schaefer: Grow Your Team In 90 Days @ RubyConf 2016

Empowerment Through Mentorship

11:38 – Avoiding Burnout:

“How can I show up better as a Mentee? How can you keep yourself from giving up and washing out? When you find your skills have atrophied, how do you find the resolve to try again?” ~ Ariel Spear

23:41 – The Future of Tech Education

Sarah Mei Computer Science Education Tweetstorm

Sarah Mei People Who Apply for Opportunity Scholarships Tweetstorm

Reflections:

Cheryl: It’s valuable to have different viewpoints represented. Also, exposing people to fundamentals of tech is valuable as well.

Astrid: The RubyConf/RailsConf Opportunity Scholarships exist! Also, advice for mentees and mentors is the same.

Sam: Making a distinction between being a TA and being a mentor and giving the mentee ownership of their learning plan.

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: Cheryl Shaefer.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 017: Ruby Together with André Arko and Carina C. Zona Jan 31, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Cyberpunk Dystopia” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:45 – Origin Stories

Gay marriage: the database engineering perspective

André Arko: Falsehoods programmers believe

11:38 – Ruby Together; Membership and Benefits

22:06 – Ensuring the Future of Ruby

27:39 – Fair Pay and Getting Developers/Companies to Pay for Stuff

RethinkDB: why we failed

39:46 – How Does Bundler Work, Anyway? [blog post]

Andre Arko: How does Bundler work, anyway? @ RubyConf 2015

44:16 – Sharing and Reusing Code

52:26 – gemstash vs geminabox

Reflections:

Sam: Be a member-friend of Ruby Together!

Jessica: Ruby Together is an advancement in the software industry as a whole to form a trade organization that is a business related to supporting all businesses and people and making our software infrastructure maintainable.

Carina: OpenSSL is back to being insufficiently funded. Support other projects like Ruby Together too. See: Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure.

André: Hope that devs and companies that listen to this show with join Ruby Together.

Jay: It’s smart business for businesses to support organizations like Ruby Together. Software companies have large profit margins. Monies that would be spent on taxes can be put back into our community to support key infrastructure & tooling. My call to action is that our listeners support Ruby Together and get their companies to support Ruby Together and similar organizations.

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 Guests: André Arko and Carina C. Zona.

Sponsored By:

Atomist: Atomist is a platform purpose-built for delivering modern cloud-native applications. See atomist.com for more information!

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 016: Blogging is Shipping with Julia Evans Jan 23, 2017

Show notes

Intro music by Rod Johnson: Prelude in C# minor, commonly known as The Bells of Moscow.

01:07 – Welcome to “Anarcho-Suyndicalist Tech!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

02:03 – Writing Blog Posts: “Blogging is shipping.”

The Recurse Center

Adam Perry: Baby Steps: Slowly Porting musl to Rust

07:17 – How to Ask Good Questions

Eric Steven Raymond: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

The Google Effect

20:26 – Operations (Ops); Testing in Ops

"There's this exciting thing that happens when you run software, which is that stuff goes wrong in unexpected ways!" @b0rk @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) January 18, 2017

Ryan Kennedy: Fear Driven Development @ OSB 2015

Effective DevOps: Building a Culture of Collaboration, Affinity, and Tooling at Scale by Jennifer Davis and Katherine Daniels

Continuous Integration

38:42 – Zines & Drawings

Reflections:

Sam: Having concrete strategies for asking question more effectively.

Julia: If something is painful, then do it more often.

Jessica: If asking questions is scary, put some work into the question and then you can ask it with confidence and know you’re not wasting someone’s time.

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: Julia Evans.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 015: Zuri Hunter as Queen of Hackathons Jan 11, 2017

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Snowpocalypse!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:50 – Zuri’s Background and Origin Story

04:19 – Hackathons

Meet Zuri. The Queen of Hackathons.

16:37 – Overcoming Shyness

20:47 – Navigating the Channels of Your Career

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

27:07 – Developing Skills and Keeping up with New Technologies

AWS Certified Solutions Architect

33:31 – Hiring Practices; Culture Fit

Research: How Subtle Class Cues Can Backfire on Your Resume (“No Silver Bullet” for D&I)

Facebook’s Hiring Process Hinders Its Effort to Create a Diverse Workforce

An Imbalance; Casting a Wider Net to Attract Computing Women (“Dave-to-Girl Ratio”)

50:23 – Leading While Learning

Reflections:

Jessica: Helping others in small ways. #Micromentoring!

#micromentoring https://t.co/D51s0HoA8m
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) January 11, 2017

Coraline: Senior developers need to create opportunities for micromentorship.

Zuri: Periodically check in with new developers.

Astrid: Use hackathons as a way to try new things and to meet others who are already good at them.

Sam: Hang out at hackathons and the power of post-its!

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: Zuri Hunter.

Support Greater Than Code

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