Greater Than Code

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

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 014: Cancel All Negativity with Ra’Shaun Stovall (Snuggs) Jan 04, 2017

Show notes

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

00:42 – Snuggs’ Background and Origin Story

NYC.rb

Ruby on Rails Link Slack Community

Ra’Shaun Stovall: Why Is Open Source So Closed? @ RubyConf 2016

04:41 – Getting Involved in Meetups and Building the Ruby Community

09:08 – Teaching/Mentoring New Developers

OH: In order to make Rails jobs be a thing in the future, you develop Rails people.
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) January 4, 2017

12:13 – Hurdling the Massive Casm that is Between “Junior” and “Senior” Developers

Google Image Result for https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c6bc90e4b050924635d114/t/59d7def4f5e231512a015838/1507319545508/marketoonist-content.png
null

In-person Mentorship
Teaching from Jr. Dev Mistakes
Incentivize Hiring Jr. Devs
Pair Programming Nights and on Open Source
Pull Request Review — Closely
Closer Connections Between Junior and Senior Developers

33:09 – Teaching How to be a Developer: Are “seniors” really the “juniors”?

Id, Ego and Super-ego

Occam’s Razor

38:11 – The Best Ways for Juniors and Seniors to Work Together

C.A.N.: Cancel All Negativity

43:13 – What can hiring managers do?

48:34 – What can senior developers do?

Reflections:

Astrid: Being accountable is paying homage to those who helped you get where you are.

Jessica: Your students can make you a good teacher by showing you the solutions you never would have thought of.

Snuggs: Check out Ruby Together and grab yourself some Bitcoins!

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: Ra’Shaun Stovall.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 013: Religion in Tech with Audrey Eschright of The Recompiler Mag Dec 30, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Lucky Episode 13!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:10 – Audrey’s Background and Origin Story

Stumptown Syndicate

Citizen Code of Conduct

Free Geek

10:37 – The Recompiler

The Responsible Communication Style Guide

16:24 – Community Organization; Tech Community Biases

Calagator

The Agile Manifesto

The Overton Window

25:55 – Accessibility in Community Spaces

Open Source Bridge

28:49 – Religion and Social Justice in Tech

Unitarianism

34:37 – Labor Organization

#talkpay by Lauren Voswinkel

Distributed Denial of Women

National General Strike

Fight for $15

Reflections:

Astrid: Making space for others.

Coraline: Tech workers face the same challenges that workers in other industries have.

Sam: Importance of spiritual awareness in communities.

Audrey: Go talk to a coworker. Ask a question about work environment and how things get done at your 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.

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

Special Guest: Audrey Eschright.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 012: Vets Who Code with Jerome Hardaway Dec 21, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “It’s Made of People!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

02:17 – Jerome’s Background and Origin Story

General Assembly

09:30 – Vets Who Code: Funding, Technology Stack, Curriculum, and Students

18:19 – Vets Who Code Student Experience

20:00 – Obstacles Veterans Face Getting Into Tech

Location
Network

“Your goal is to only get 1% better every day and the funny thing about 1% is that your 1% changes every day.” @JeromeHardaway
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) December 21, 2016

Jacob Oakley: Learning Code with Kids

29:04 – Making the Tech Community More Welcoming to Veterans

33:37 – What should people in the tech community NOT do?

Don’t Assume
Recognize Women Veterans

36:55 – Getting Involved with Vets Who Code

38:09 – Evaluating Opportunities

Reflections:

Astrid: Addressing emotional intelligence and increasing 1% each day.

Jessica: Using Ruby on Rails is a valuable resource for teaching people how to code.

Coraline: Time is life and life is also time. Don’t be married to the tool, be married to the problem.

Jerome: Be “Greater Than Code” and ask questions about people.

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.

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

Special Guest: Jerome Hardaway.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 011: Introducing Art Into STEM Education with Amy Wibowo Dec 14, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Trapped in a BinarySort!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:21 – “STEAM” Education

02:36 – Getting Involved in Technology and Being a Maker

05:33 – Making a Zine and Making it (and other things) Inclusive

Books With Pictures

[Kickstarter] BubbleSort Zines 2.0: moar computer science zines!

14:03 – Passion for Sailor Moon and How it Relates to Teams and Friendship

18:21 – Introducing Art Into STEM

Amy Wibowo: Sweaters as a Service – Adventures in Machine Knitting @ Madison+ Ruby

This Long-Lost Nintendo Knitting Machine Would Have Let You Make Sweaters With Your NES

25:36 – Making Websites as a Full-time Career

28:22 – Human-computer Interaction (HCI) Research

Reflections:

Astrid: Pay more attention to the hobbies that you have. You might be able to build a career out of it!

Sam: Seeking inspiration in other forms of art.

Coraline: Art gives us empathy for other people’s experiences.

Jessica: Art is not an alternative to technology. It is an integral part to doing technology well.

Amy: Art as admitting you don’t know everything and wanting to create a little bit of alternate reality that other people can look into and understand.

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.

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

Special Guest: Amy Wibowo.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 010: Citizen Cybersecurity with Jesse Pollak Dec 07, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “Who’s Line of Code is it Anywhere?…” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

01:37 – Getting Started with Computer-ing & Security

PGP = Pretty Good Privacy

Filippo Valsorda: I’m giving up on PGP

09:28 – Clef and Two-factor Authentication (2FA)

12:33 – Citizen Cybersecurity Due to the Rise of Mass Surveillance

Quincy Larson: How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour

Signal by Whisper Systems

17:27 – Evaluating Service Providers

Tor

As devs, we have the opportunity to make software and tools more secure and more private or less secure and less private.” - @jessepollak
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) December 8, 2016

22:29 – Password Managers and Encrypting Data at Rest (Security by Default)

1Password

LastPass

Noah Zoschke: Encryption at Rest (Convox Article)

25:30 – Tools and Resources

NaCl: Networking and Cryptography library (“Salt”)

Bouncy Castle

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

28:20 – Two-factor Authentication, Yubico

32:58 – Putting Trust in Security and the Organizations That Provide It; Centralization

38:06 – Developer Unions

42:58 – “Citizens are buying a lot of IoT devices that are being used for DDoS attacks. As citizens, are we responsible to some extent for them occurring regardless of our technical ability at the time of purchase?” – Yiorgos (George) Adamopoulos; What about retailers?

47:56 – “What are your thoughts on “benevolent” malware that looks for vulnerable devices and patches them without asking for permission from the device’s owner?” – Wesley Ellis

Reflections:

Jesse: We as a society have a responsibility to look after the people on the edges, and look after the people who don’t have the tools or don’t have the resources to do security themselves.

Mandy: Learning about security is important, even for a newbie.

Jay: We can’t just build the thing, we have to make sure that it’s usable and we have to make sure that beyond the fact that it works, that it’s going to be adopted by people and that it’s meaningful and helpful.

Sam: “Stop calling me a consumer. I am neither a gaping a mouth nor an open wallet. I am a citizen interacting in a community.” – Jeme Brelin

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.

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

Special Guest: Jesse Pollak.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 009: Living with Disability with Travis B. Hartwell Nov 30, 2016

Show notes

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

01:25 – Travis’ Superhero Origin Story

Retinitis Pigmentosa

Achondroplasia

09:00 – Explaining a Disability and Limitations to Others

The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino

14:25 – Supporting Someone with a Disability

19:56 – “Are you noticing your disabilities misrepresenting you in some ways?” – James Edward Gray II / Accessibility

re: Accessibility “We need to have diverse people working for us so we can bring up, ‘Hey! This thing is an issue!’” @travisbhartwell
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) November 30, 2016

Do they all look like me? Do they all think like me? If they do, you’re probably not getting the perspective that you need @travisbhartwell
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) November 30, 2016

30:29 – “I have a Buddhist friend with Marfan syndrome who has told me that the knowledge he could die at any time has been tremendously beneficial to his practice, and I sometimes wonder if I wouldn’t be a shallow asshole if I didn’t have my own stuff I’m dealing with. On that note, I’d be curious if you have any thoughts on how your disability and health challenges have positively impacted your life?” – Ryder Timberlake

32:10 – Coping Mechanisms and Defining Yourself By Your Work (Question from Craig Buchek)

34:20 – “What’s a non-programming hobby you’re into?” – Ben Hamill

36:10 – “What’s one thing you wish unknown strangers you encounter in public knew about you?” – James Edward Gray II

Stella Young: I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much

Reflections:

Astrid: Being cognizant if there’s a way to make your own code and applications more accessible to others.

Coraline: Thinking about The Spoon Theory and how it’s been appropriated by the activist community.

Mandy: Have empathy for both yourself and others, find your community, and disability is different for everyone.

Travis: Gaining empathy for other people to help other people gain empathy for other people.

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.

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

Special Guest: Travis B. Hartwell.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 008: 99 Bottles of OOP with Sandi Metz and Katrina Owen Nov 21, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to “99 Bottles of Podcasts!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

99 Bottles of OOP by Sandi Metz and Katrina Owen

01:31 – Collaboration on the Book

Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby by Sandi Metz

People who like me call me disciplined & meticulous
People who don't call me anal & pedantic
It's the same thing. @kytrinyx @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) November 21, 2016

14:56 – Audience: Who is this book for?

99 Bottles of Beer Exercise

21:06 – The DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) Principle; Duplication and Replication

DRYing too hard: "people encapsulate the pieces that are identical, though they don't represent a complete idea." @kytrinyx @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) November 21, 2016

29:21 – Code Review and Naming Things

30:40 – “In what ways is it 99 Bottles a richer kata than fizz buzz?” – Benjamin Fleischer

32:53 – “The 99 Bottles book seems to document all the trade-offs we’ve been implicitly making. Could this possibly be a first step in automating those decisions? i.e.: Might we take those now-explicit rules and partially automate the process of programming?” – Craig Buchek

34:47 – Llewellyn Falco: “Sparrow Decks”

Kathy Sierra
Philip Kellman

39:57 – “what non-Ruby technologies are you interested in right now?” – Darin Wilson

The more people involved in a project
the less important the code becomes
and more important the interactions.@kytrinyx @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) November 21, 2016

“Code is easy; people are hard. If you want to get things done, you have to get good at people.” - @sandimetz
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) November 21, 2016

45:00 – Sandi’s Unique Approach to Teaching

47:53 – Speaking at Conferences

Listening is not how people learn.
We learn by doing.
To help someone learn-by-doing, ask them questions.@sandimetz @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) November 21, 2016

Reflections:

Coraline: Inspiration to return to work on her book about empathy. Also, exploring whether that visual interpretation of code is the shape of code in the abstract or the shape of the code that’s written on-screen.

Sandi: Controversy around the notion that duplication is better than the wrong abstraction.

Katrina: We are humans and we have ideas and sharing those ideas makes us visible to other humans. It is also incredibly important and impactful to speak.

Jessica: Development of relationships and partnerships with someone who will push you.

Sam: Helping people realize things on their own is greater than telling them the answer. Also, practicing better self-control in coding and mentoring.

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.

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

Special Guests: Katrina Owen and Sandi Metz.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 007: Overcoming Adversity and Battling Unconscious Bias with Neem Serra Nov 09, 2016

Show notes

00:16 – Welcome to Greater Than Code

02:02 – Neem Serra Introduction

Neem Serra: “From Babies to Software Development”

03:23 – 2016 Election Thoughts, Fears, and Aspirations; Importance of Ally Support

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The Other America”

14:51 – Overcoming Adversity and Getting Into Science

Genomics

26:27 – Switching from Science to Programming and Getting a Job

Software Carpentry

National Society of Black Engineers

HandsUp United

Project Euler

33:53 – Volunteering and Being Empathetic and Inclusive

"I feel like most of my job some days is helping people try to be empathetic. Nobody gives me a raise for that."@TeamNeem @greaterthancode
— Jessica Kerr (@jessitron) November 9, 2016

47:36 – Battling Unconscious Bias

55:17 – Programming in Swift

Swift Playgrounds Demo with a Twist

Reflections:

Astrid: Push through.

Jessica: Programming gives you power. Also, we love you, David Brady.

Coraline: Individual actions matter. Be allies to people who are facing discrimination or oppression.

Neem: Small acts of kindness matter.

The Techies Project

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.

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

Special Guest: Neem Serra.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 006: Getting Technology Into the Hands of Children with David Bock Nov 02, 2016

Show notes

00:17 – Welcome to “PC Principal Shit!” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”

00:35 – David Bock Introduction and “Smoked Pork” Discussion

04:56 – Teaching Kids Computer Science Concepts

TEALS: Computer Science in Every High School

12:50 – Being Scientifically Literate

Neil deGrasse Tyson YouTube Video

14:13 – Gender and Peer Pressure Dynamics

On @greaterthancode with @bokmann. He had a student who realized "Oh! Computers aren't smart! They're just dumb, really really fast!" :D
— Sam Livingston-Gray (@geeksam) November 2, 2016

22:13 – Curriculum and Good Teaching Languages

C.A.M.S: Coding at Middle School

Scratch

23:16 – Games as an Entry Point for Programming

Minecraft

34:00 – “K-12 is pretty broad age range. How do you tailor the curriculum for different ages? Do you find that there are things you can teach to older kids that definitely don’t work with younger kids?” — Darin Wilson

36:17 – Understanding Abstract Thought

What’s Going on in There? by Lise Eliot

37:19 – “How do you handle multiple skill levels? Specifically, what can you do to set a culture where kids who know a little more won’t intimidate those who are completely new?” — Jacob Stoebel

Project Euler

CodingBat

40:51 – Getting Equipment and Resources Into the Hands of Students; “How do you deal with equipment? Not every kid rolls up with Arch Linux installed on their Macbook Air, presumably.” — Ben Hamill

Code Virginia

45:12 – Tablets vs Computer Learning and Resources; Computer Science vs Computational Thinking

35:56 – Getting Involved with Teaching Kids Technology … but Taking Care to Avoid Burnout

Reflections:

Mandy: Sharing today’s resources with kids who are interested. If you’re in South Central Pennsylvania, please reach out!

Sam: Resources for where to go and where to get started.

Coraline: Reflecting on privilege and thinking about how to get equipment into underprivileged kids’ hands.

Dave: One of the best ways to learn is to teach.

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.

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

Special Guest: Dave Bock.

Support Greater Than Code

Episode 005: Learning New Languages with James Edward Gray II Oct 27, 2016

Show notes

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

01:00 – James Edward Gray II’s Introduction

02:03 – #CastleGraySkull

“It’s hard to find a castle in a good school district.” ~ David Brady

07:59 – Interviewing

James Edward Gray II: Implementing the LHC on a Whiteboard @ RailsConf 2016

(Slides) ^{^}

Engineering Interviews: Grading Rubric

15:14 – Transparency; Giving Honest Feedback

Joe Mastey: Hiring Developers, with Science! @ RailsConf 2016

20:08 – Working with Elixir

James Edward Gray II: The Most Object-Oriented Language

28:13 – Functional Programming vs Object-Oriented Programming

32:47 – Learning New Languages

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt

37:33 – “What is the best way to approach learning a new language?” ~ Nate Vick

exercism.io

41:39 – “What's going on with Codalyzed? Are any new videos on the way? Related: the first video discussed "less code"; has your focus on it changed as you've moved into new languages and their ecosystems?” ~ Trevor Bramble

Greg Young: The Art of Destroying Software
Reflections:

David: Read the core documentation. (Module: Enumerable)

Jay: Next steps for beginners: Barry Swartz: The Paradox of Choice TED Talk; Get social.

Sam: It’s time to expand my brain again and learn a new language(s)!

Coraline: Inspiration to go learn a new language as well. ^{^}

James: I am privileged to have the best friends on the Internet and have these discussions.

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.

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

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Google Image Result for https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c6bc90e4b050924635d114/t/59d7def4f5e231512a015838/1507319545508/marketoonist-content.png

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected