Stay ConnectedBack after a two-year hiatus, engineering leaders Emma Bostian and Kelly Vaughn return for Season 7 of the Ladybug Podcast, giving you a deep dive into all things engineering leadership.
With nearly 1 million total listens, Ladybug Podcast covers tech, career, and code, bringing unique viewpoints from a variety of guests and co-hosts.
Copyright: © Copyright 2024
What is a typical day in the life like for a software engineer? To close out Season 6, we thought it’d be a great idea to give you some insight into our workdays, as we all have very different roles and are in different stages of our careers.
APIs are part of our daily roles as software developers, but what are they? What different types are there? And how can you design a good one?
The definition of Agile is the ability to create and respond to change. Ultimately dealing with and succeeding in an uncertain or turbulent environment. I think we can all say with confidence that in the world of software development, being agile and agreeable to change helps you learn faster, connect with others better, and makes coding more fun.
Today we are talking about the agile framework of software developers, its significance in the workplace and the familiar steps an agile process takes to go from a project’s concept, to the physical minimum viable product.
Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language. It’s a general-purpose programming language designed to let app developers: write once, run anywhere. Today we’re diving into the world of Java.
Whether you’re looking to start your own side business or create a lifelong career, the process of starting a new business can be overwhelming. This week on the podcast we’re discussing how to start your own business. We’ll dig deep into setting you up for success from the beginning and then answer the most common questions I receive about building and scaling your business.
If you have data for your application, you’ve probably used a database to store it. There are so many types of databases, NoSQL, SQL, graph, etc. Let's learn about their benefits and how to use them!
It’s easy to overlook documentation when building an application, but documentation can make or break a consumer’s experience. Today we’re diving into the world of documentation to discuss what it takes to write good documentation, the ethics of documentation, and some popular tools you can use to get started.
Here is this week's transcript.
TypeScript is an open-source programming language built on JavaScript that provides static type definitions. It has taken the front-end development community by storm over the past few years and today we’re going to give you a beginner-level rundown on the language.
What is it about sitting down building a good study plan that... kinda sucks? Is it the planning? The execution? The Time commitment? Are we committing to learn too much? Regardless of this answer, today we’re sitting down to talk about how to better prepare to learn, how to execute a study plan to meet your goals, build better habits to help you learn and some of our own experiences learning how to learn.
Welcome back to the 6th season of the Ladybug Podcast!! In this episode, we’ll be chatting about choosing a tech stack for your project is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as an engineer. It will determine many aspects of your app, from development speed, to scalability, to the cost to run it. We’ll talk about how to choose technologies from two angles: one from an individual developer’s perspective: how do you decide what to learn? And the second from an architectural perspective: how do you decide what technologies to use for your project?
You studied a bunch, landed the interview, passed the whiteboarding exercises, nailed the behavioral interview, and finally got the job. Congratulations on your new position! So now what? Today we’re sharing some of our experiences to help your job transition happen smoothly. Let’s get into it.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/70-so-you-got-a-job.md
React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces and is one of the most widely used libraries to date. Last season we discussed the basics of React and today we’re going to dive into the more advanced aspects of the library. Let’s get started.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/69-intermediate-react.md
2020 was one of the biggest years in the history of e-commerce. In fact, the pandemic spurred such a growth in e-commerce that the industry as a whole moved forward about 10 years in 3 months’ time. Whether you’re interested in starting your own store or learning how to develop for e-commerce, this week on the podcast we’re breaking it all down for you.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/68-ecommerce.md
Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communication through the use of code so only those for whom the information is intended can read and process it. Cryptography is used for many things from online banking to GitHub commits. Today we’ll dive into the basics of cryptography. Let’s get started!
We got this note about RSA private/public keys from a listener:
"The point of having public and private keys is that the public key can only encrypt a message, and only the private key can decrypt the message. So the public key is safe for anyone to have, since you can’t use it to read anyone else’s message. The private key needs to stay private so only you can read messages encrypted by the public key"
Thanks for the clarification, Brad!
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/67-cryptography.md
It’s no secret that a major perk to working in development is the salary. Developers are often paid higher than the average salary, and as you move up in a company, you can see significant growth in your income. We all know financial literacy is often skipped in early education, which is why this week we’re talking all things financial planning with our special guest, Shannon Lee Simmons, to teach you what you need to know about managing your finances as a high earner.
[10:57] What benchmarks exist for net worth? Should we care? Where should you keep your money? How much should be kept in cash vs. investments?
[19:14] How should you balance your lifestyle with wealth building? How do you recommend avoiding lifestyle creep but on the flip side, how do you make sure you’re allowing yourself to enjoy your money while also saving for the future?
[23:09] We have an international audience so without getting too specific about different types of retirement accounts, what general advice can you give to those looking to save for retirement? When is the right time to see a financial advisor
[28:27] What are your thoughts of the FIRE movement?
[36:04] Do you have any thoughts/ advice to any of these Wall Street Bets people investing in GME stocks? What tools do you recommend to people to help manage their finances?
[41:42] Shoutouts
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/66-personal-finance.md
You may have heard about the Cloud and thought, what do the fluffy things in the sky have to do with computers? Today’s episode is all about what the cloud is, how you can use it, and common cloud services.
https://shopify.engineering/performance-testing-shopify Explain the Cloud Like I'm 10: https://www.amazon.com/Explain-Cloud-Like-Im-10-ebook/dp/B0765C4SNR
97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Know - https://www.amazon.com/Things-Every-Cloud-Engineer-Should/dp/1492076732
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/65-cloud-101.md
Last season we discussed the broader topic of creating digital content. This week on the podcast we’re doing a deeper dive into e-books: our experience with writing and releasing them, the tools you need to write your own ebook, and best practices for marketing and selling your book.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/64-ebooks.md
There are a bunch of people you’ll work with as a software engineer -- many will be other developers, but many have other jobs as well. In this episode we’ll talk about the other people you may work with: the designers, project managers, marketers, and more and how to best work with them. Let’s dive in.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/63-non-dev-jobs.md
It’s more important than ever to build secure web applications, but many developers forget to account for web security. In this episode, we’re joined by Tailor Herrarte, an Infosec Engineer, Cybersecurity Career consultant, beauty ambassador & content creator who goes by the moniker The Digital Empress. Today we're discussing types of web security, the dangers of lacking said security and a few things you can do to keep your site secure. Let’s get started.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/62-security.md
Coding bootcamps aim to help students gain the skills they need to land their first job in web development in months instead of years. Today we’ll be diving into some of the benefits and drawbacks of coding bootcamps, and we’ll explore our personal experiences learning from them and teaching at them.
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/61-bootcamps.md
One of the hottest new technologies in the frontend ecosystem is Next.js. Why is it so awesome? And what can you use it for? In this episode we’ll be talking all about it.
01:45 - What is Next.js 7:05 - What are some of its benefits 23:09 - SSG vs. SSR 27:38 - Routing 38:17 - Shoutouts
https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/60-nextjs.md
Season 5 is finally here and we are so excited to kick it off with a new host, Sidney! We have finally said goodbye to 2020, so what can we expect to be the new trends, the hip tech. We can't predict the future but we can tell you our predictions for trends in 2021.
Normally, we talk about frontend development -- but there’s so many other niches within programming out there. Today we’re going to talk about Python what it’s used for, why it’s great, and how it’s different than JavaScript.
01:16 - Our experiences with Python 03:37 - What is Python? 15:50 - What is it used for? 23:37 - How is it different from JavaScript? 32:35 - Resources for learning more 34:15 - Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts, e-books, and online courses are all types of digital content. If you’ve ever wondered how you can get started creating digital content of your own, then look no further. Today we’re joined by Sidney Buckner, a Software Engineer and YouTuber, to discuss how we got started creating digital content, how much you can make from publishing content, and more! Let’s get started.
03:00 - What kinds of content do we create? 06:08 - Pros of creating digital content 14:19 - Cons of creating digital content 19:01 - Online courses 24:27 - YouTube 37:38 - E-books 41:17 - Blogs + podcasts 44:17 - How to monetize your digital content 47:13 - Shoutouts
[](https://github.com/ladybug-podcast/ladybug-website/blob/master/transcripts/57-digital-content.md)Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
If you often find your days spiraling out of control, you’re not alone! Ensuring you have a productive workday isn’t always easy. There are many ways you can structure your day, and everyone has a different method that works best for them.
This week on the podcast we’re giving you a rundown of our favorite productivity hacks you can use to improve your everyday life, both at work and at home. Let’s dig in!
2:30 - Take care of your physical and mental health
11:33 - Scheduling your day and week
15:46 - Prioritizing your work
21:40 - Motivation
28:04 - Communication
37:13 - Taking notes & to-do lists
39:48 - Forming habits
41:59 - Batching
43:11 - Balancing work and life
45:20 - Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Git is both simple and complex. You can usually get through your workday by memorizing a few commands, but under the hood there’s so much more to it. Today we will dive deep into Git with a special guest, Monica Powell. Let’s dive in!
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Did you know that over one-third of the world’s workforce freelances at least part-time? As freelancing becomes more popular, you may be considering giving the freelance lifestyle a shot. This week on the podcast we’re giving you an introduction to freelancing, from establishing your rates and building a portfolio to finding your first freelance client and managing the project. We close with some final tips, including how to avoid scope creep and how to take time off as a freelancer.
01:40 What is freelancing? 06:28 Benefits of freelancing 10:06 How to establish your rates 13:59 Building a portfolio 20:34 Finding your first client 38:53 The project management process 51:24 Parting tips 53:56 Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Accessibility is the process of creating applications that are usable by everyone, especially focusing on those with disabilities. As web developers, it’s important that we design and build our applications to be usable by everyone, so in today’s episode, we’re joined by Wendy Fox, the design systems lead at LogMeIn, to discuss nine common pitfalls of application accessibility and what you can do to fix them.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Have you ever worked on a team comprised of people from all over the world and wondered why you were having difficulty communicating and getting work done? That’s because every culture has their own way of communicating. Today we’ll chat about how different cultures communicate, give negative feedback, make decisions, and perceive time in the hopes that you can improve your team collaboration.
01:20 Does talking about culture cause us to stereotype? 10:00 Communicating 16:54 Evaluating 26:41 Deciding 27:38 Trusting 39:56 Scheduling 44:57 Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
React is a frontend library that is in super high demand in the industry. But, it can be difficult to get up and running with. Today we’ll talk about with React: why it’s so great, how data flows, and the gotchas we encountered when learning it. Let’s get started!
02:15 What is React?
06:35 Framework vs. Library
10:43 Why is it helpful?
12:32 What is a component?
22:52 React's lifecycle
25:47 Data in React
36:34 JSX
37:24 Setting up a React app
43:34 Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
What’s the difference between a junior and senior developer? While there’s no distinct measure from one title to the next, you can measure your progress in three areas: knowledge, coding, and communication. This week on the podcast we’re doing a deep dive into the progression from junior to senior dev.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Today we’re talking about everyone’s favorite programming language: HTML! Hypertext Markup Language is the structure of a web page and while it’s not necessarily the hardest syntax to learn, it’s vital to your web applications.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Have you ever dreamed about selling everything you owned and moving across the world to begin a new life? In this episode we’re chatting with Rachel Nabors, an American abroad on the React Core team in London. We’ll chat about the pros and cons of moving abroad as well as the logistics. Let’s get started!
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
There’s a classic interview question: what happens when you type a URL into the browser? To answer this question, we need to explore how the internet works. In this episode, our first of season 4, we’ll dive into URLs, DNS, basic networking, and how the browser works.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Systems design interviews are becoming more and more prevalent and can indicate your ability to work with complex systems. Many engineers struggle with the systems design interviews as a result of their inexperience developing large-scale systems.
Today we’ll teach you some of the foundational elements of systems design so you can nail your next interview.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Have you ever written code to add a new feature that ended up breaking an existing feature? Or, have you ever written code that works in one scenario but breaks in a bunch of others? I think we can all admit to this as developers!
Well, this is where testing shines -- we write code to test our other code so we immediately get warned if our code breaks something else! OR doesn’t work in every scenario. In this episode, we’ll talk about a bunch of types of testing and why they’re helpful. Let’s dive in.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
One niche in development that we have no experience with is building mobile apps. Luckily, today we have an expert to teach us all about it: Timirah James who is the founder of TechniGal LA and a developer evangelist.
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
Micro-interactions are small animations that delight our users and they are changing the way we design and build our applications. Micro-interactions have many benefits like enhancing perceived performance, indicating state change, and drawing users’ attention to something on the page. Today we’ll dive into micro-interactions and the animation libraries you can use to build them.
02:25 - What are micro-interactions? 05:48 - Why are they important? 10:55 - How do we build one? 29:07 - Animation libraries 33:16 - Shoutouts
Here is the transcript for this week's episode.
We’ve talked a lot about interviewing and getting hired in tech from the engineering perspective, and today we’re going to build on that. We have a special guest, Hilliary Turnipseed, the founder of Hill Street Strategies to talk about hiring from the recruiting perspective. She specializes in hiring and maintaining diverse teams.
We also want to give a big shoutout to Black Girls Code, if you're able to, please donate!
01:13 - Tell us about yourself! 08:37 - Tell us about Hill Street Strategies 23:12 - What advice would you give to someone who is looking to get their first role in tech? 35:09 - You focus a lot on hiring a diverse tech workforce, what advice would you give to a company trying to diversify their hiring? 42:42 - You are super involved with the DC tech community, why is that involvement so important to you? 48:48 - Where can people find you online? 50:06 - Shoutouts
Rise by Jasmin Pierre & Jonathan Thompson Aweh Support Founder Mental Wealth
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table
Hilliary's website Hilliary's LinkedIn Hilliary's Twitter
Human Design Chart Basic Concepts Explained of 4 Types
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Louisville police entered the apartment of Breonna Taylor and Kenneth Walker using a battering ram to force open the door. Breonna Taylor was shot at least eight times and pronounced dead at the scene. No drugs were found in the apartment. June 5th would have been Breonna’s 27th birthday.
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed face down in the street. And for the past week and a half protest have been held throughout the world demanding justice for not just George Floyd, but all Black people murdered from police brutality.
Police brutality is not new. It has been happening for many years as the result of systemic racism, and it must be stopped. Too many Black lives have been stolen at the hands of white police officers who walk away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Today we’re joined by Jocelyn Harper, host of the Git Cute Podcast to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and to learn more about how you can get involved.
For the month of May we read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. "Outliers" examines the factors which contribute to high-levels of success and while we often attribute success to circumstance today we’ll discuss our thoughts to see if we agree.
1:08 - What does it mean to be successful? 6:12 - How does privilege play into success? 22:12 - Practical intelligence versus analytical intelligence 30:52 - Our thoughts on the book
We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here!
Today we're talking about routing and switching, starting with layer 1 of the OSI model. Let's dig in. JUST KIDDING I know nothing about that kind of networking, but we ARE talking about networking today!
Networking is a great opportunity to meet new people in the same industry, learn new skills, and develop your career. This week we’re talking all things networking: why we network, how to network, and what to do if you’re really not that into networking. Let’s jump in!
Developer community is centered around the idea of nurturing and amplifying community voices within a company and the head of developer community is responsible for leading this effort. Today we’re joined by Kim Maida, Head of Developer Relations and Community at Gatsby. We’ll discuss what her job entails, the ins and outs of developer advocacy, advice for someone looking to get into this field, and more.
2:34 - Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 3:27 - What does it mean to be the head of developer relations and community? 6:38 - What is devrel/dev advocacy? 10:45 - Do the skills vary between these 4 roles? What do you need to know? 13:25 - How can you build empathy into your content? 16:40 - Do you need to be a software engineer first? 19:32 - What is your advice for someone looking to get into your field? 24:55 - What’s your advice for becoming a better dev advocate? 29:56 - Where do you see the field going in the near future? How does the current COVID situation impact your day to day? 36:33 - Shoutouts
We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here!
JavaScript is notorious for being one of the most popular, yet also one of the most despised programming languages to learn, so today we’re covering some of the intermediate and advanced JavaScript concepts! We’ll discuss convoluted topics like generators, prototypal inheritance, and the rendering engine.
Knowing intermediate JavaScript concepts like the call stack, context, scope, the prototype chain, higher order functions, async programming, and the event loop is invaluable and will help with learning frameworks. The fundamentals won't change even if the ecosystem does.
03:24 - Functional Programming vs OOP 06:28 - Prototypal inheritance 20:34 - Higher order functions 25:54 - Callback functions 27:10 - Closures 27:46 - Scope + Context 31:12 - Iterators & Generators 34:26 - Rendering engine 37:54 - Call Stack 40:33 - Event loop 43:39 - Throttle and debounce 46:21 - Asynchronous programming 52:09 - Hoisting 54:44 - Primitive vs reference 56:59 - Debugging 58:48 - Shoutouts
Welcome to season 3 of the LB podcast. This season we’ll cover topics ranging from advanced JavaScript to networking. We’ll chat about Git & GitHub, making money outside your 9-5 job, and many more topics.
For our first episode of this new season, we’ll be reminiscing about our coding history and discussing some advice we wished we had when learning to code ranging from asking more questions to negotiating job offers.
01:50 - Our stories 09:29 - Find a community 10:43 - Take breaks - you don’t have to code all the time 13:36 - Ask questions 16:50 - Overcome imposter syndrome 18:09 - Sharing your learning journey can help not only yourself but others too 20:24 - Surround yourself with people who support you 21:33 - Don’t get stuck in the cycle of tutorials 23:28 - Get comfortable with being uncomfortable 25:02 - Ask for feedback early and often 26:23 - Stop being such a perfectionist 28:06 - Document your learning journey 30:00 - Learn how to Google 31:45 - Different ways to learn 32:32 - Try to be honest w/ ur manager 34:42 - Celebrate your small wins 35:20 - Interview to challenge yourself 36:54 - Talk to people who have your dream job 38:04 - Negotiate offers 40:20 - You can be a people person in tech 41:40 - Don’t fall into shiny object syndrome 42:21 - You belong in the industry
We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here!
There are so many ways to learn to code, and so many things to know. Today we’ll give our perspectives on different paths you can take. Whether you’re looking for your first dev job or you’re looking to advance your web development knowledge, we’ll be covering a ton of different options for you.
01:50 - What did we know before getting our first jobs?
06:40 - T-shaped knowledge
08:38 - HTML
14:07 - CSS
18:24 - JavaScript
25:00 - Backend
31:00- How the web works
32:15 - Testing
37:13 - Tooling
43:46 - Git
46:12 - Terminal
47:12 - Design patterns
48:26 - Data structures & algorithms
49:07 - How to level up
Read more on our site
On our podcast, we talk a LOT about what to learn as a developer. But today we’re switching gears and talking about HOW to actually learn all this information. We’ll discuss the concept of metacognition, or how we learn and retain information as well as some strategies for making the process easier.
This week we have a super exciting episode, we’re chatting with Courtland Allen, the founder of Indie Hackers. We’re going to talk about what indie hacking is, how to get started with it, and his advice for gaining traction with indie products. Let’s get started!
This week we’re giving you all the details about our computer setups including our hardware preferences, browsers, desktop software, code editor and CLI settings, and top productivity tools. We’ll also tell you some of our miscellaneous preferences like most used emoji and current desktop photo.
1:43 - What is the flow of the technical interview process
6:50 - The salary conversation
15:25 - Behavioral questions
27:32 - Interview prep strategies
34:17 - Red flags
45:17 - Shoutouts
Transcript
We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here.
In one of our previous episodes, we talked about different jobs within tech, one of which is engineering management. Today we’re joined by the wonderful Amal Hussein, engineering manager at NPM and we’re going to chat more in-depth about her career path.
1:27 - Tell us about yourself
3:10 - Last fall you transitioned into a new role as an Engineering Manager at NPM. How did you make that leap?
5:38 - What does your day to day schedule look like?
8:32 - What’s the hardest thing about being a manager?
13:37 - Hands on vs. hands off management style
17:01- How long have you been in engineering management?
18:33 - What’s the best thing about being a manager?
21:49 - Do you think someone should be an engineer prior to being a manager?
30:15 - Do you still write code?
33:13 - Do you have any book recommendations for management?
36:53 - How do you build personal relationships w/ employees while working remotely?
42:13 - Advice for those looking to become an engineering manager
46:44 - Where can we find you online?
Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognized or valued. If any of this sounds familiar, chances are that you're a woman.
This month for the Ladybug Podcast book club we read Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men by Caroline Criado-Pérez. In this episode we’ll discuss our thoughts on the book, what shocked us, what felt a bit forced, and have a discussion about gender bias in the world around us.
Programming interviews are terrifying. There’s so much to learn and nobody enjoys answering technical questions in front of a complete stranger.
In this episode, we’ll dive into the frontend technical interview and give some tips and tricks for nailing it.
2:06 - Our experiences with technical interviews
3:36 - The interview process
14:15 - Phone screens
20:32 - Take home challenges
34:43 - In-person interviews
46:08 - Resources to get better at interviewing
49:00 - Shoutouts
Whether you’re seeking your first developer job or you’re looking to move to a new company, your resume is the first thing employers will see. Having a strong resume is what sets you apart from the competition. In this week’s episode we’re discussing all things resume-building, including what’s important to include, what can be skipped, and best practices for creating your resume.
1:24 - What do our resumes look like?
3:40 - CVs vs. Resumes
12:20 - Resume design
17:09 - What if I don’t have formal computer science education?
23:44 - Should you have an objective or a summary?
25:00 - Should you put references on there?
29:02 - How can I create a resume?
35:57 - Using social media and personal portfolio to back up your resume
37:57 - Shoutouts
This week we’re talking all things game development! Joining us today is Arianna Rudawski, a software engineer with a super cool job. We’ll be discussing what a career in game development is like, the skills needed to become a game developer, and advice for getting into game development.
Computer science concepts like data structures and algorithms can be super intimidating, especially if you’re cramming the night before an interview.
In this episode, we’ll discuss common algorithms and data structures and give you some tips for your next whiteboarding challenge.
01:44 - Our experience with data structures and algorithms
05:00 - What are algorithms?
06:17 - What is Big O notation?
13:57 - Sorting algorithms
17:55 - Graph traversal
19:20 - Searching algorithms
20:04 - What are data structures
23:05 - Arrays
26:03 - Linked Lists
29:15 - Sets
30:22 - Objects, maps, heaps
34:50 - Binary Trees
35:47 - Stacks and queues
40:08 - Graphs
41:00 - Common interview questions
43:27 - Tips for interviews and where to learn more
We're so excited for the first-ever Ladybug Podcast book club episode! This is a bonus episode which will occur at the end of each month. This month we’re discussing Atomic Habits by James Clear.
If you want to follow along you can check out our Goodreads group and ladybug.dev/books.
0:36 - Our thoughts on the book
04:15 - The importance of habits
06:16 - Systems vs. Goals
08:01 - Layers of behavioral change
09:58 - Stages of habit formation
13:43 - Steps of breaking a bad habit
15:52 - Habit stacking
17:40 - Reward systems
22:00 - What makes habits attractive
28:49 - Our ratings of the book
Every day we see companies market to us with a specific brand voice, and we can recognize the differences from one brand to the next. But what about personal brands? You as a person are a brand - it’s how you portray yourself on the internet and how others perceive you. I’m a brand, Emma’s a brand, Ali’s a brand. We’re all our own unique representations of ourselves. This week we’re discussing what it means to have your own personal brand and everything you need to know about building and managing your brand.
1:43 - What is a personal brand?
8:21 - Why would you want to build a brand?
11:10 - What are the benefits of having a personal brand?
13:29 - Who in tech has done a really good job of branding themselves?
15:29 - How did we build our brands?
18:03 - What platforms can you use to build a brand?
22:55 - The downsides of social media branding.
28:32 - How to build an audience.
32:08 - What we’re excited about in 2020.
One of the biggest things that developers struggle with is design. It’s easy to look at an application and know that it looks terrible, but hard to explain why.
This episode we’re joined by Steve Schoger, co-author of the hugely popular Refactoring UI. We’ll learn some design tips and dive into the story behind the book as well as his other projects Hero Patterns and Hero Icons.
1:40 - Who are you? Tell us a bit more about your coding/design journey.
10:22 - What is your typical day-to-day?
15:40 - What are Hero Patterns and Hero Icons?
21:25 - What is Refactoring UI?
31:40 - What area of design do you think developers struggle the most with?
34:11 - What are the differences between UX design and visual design?
36:56 - Design tips for developers.
41:40 - Where to find Steve online.
We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here!
To kick off our new season and a new year, this week we’ll be discussing 20 tips to start off strong in 2020. From mentorship to debugging to strategizing your learning, we'll give you all the advice you need for starting the year off right!
0:32 - 1. Challenge yourself to do something new.
04:30 - 2. Do a little bit each day.
07:03 - 3. Track your wins.
09:30 - 4. Get comfortable with failure.
12:08 - 5. Don't compare yourself to others.
16:28 - 6. Find a community.
19:24 - 7. People can be assholes, that's on them not you.
21:50 - 8. Find a mentor.
25:05 - 9. Take time to learn keyboard shortcuts.
30:30 - 10. Create your toolbox.
34:45 - 11. Learn how to debug.
38:30 - 12. Figure out how to stay up to date.
40:37 - 13. Overcome shiny object syndrome.
44:14 - 14. Pick one skill at a time to work on and learn it until you feel comfortable.
46:50 - 15. Decide if you want to be vertical or horizontal in knowledge.
50:09 - 16. Identify your learning style.
52:18 - 17. Take breaks.
54:29 - 18. Prioritize your values.
57:48 - 19. Use your powers for good.
59:33 - 20. Don’t forget that working in this field is a massive privilege.
01:02:59 - Shoutouts of the week
Have you ever watched or attended a conference and been in awe of the speakers? How do they know so much information? How do they prepare a talk? How do they even get the courage to speak in the first place and what is that process like?
In this episode we’ll delve into all things conference talks. This is a very special episode because it’s our last episode this season. We’ve decided to release our podcast in seasons, which gives us more time to plan out our episodes and schedule guests ahead of time. We’ll be taking the month of December off and will be back with brand new episodes in January.
For full show notes, visit our website
Today we’re talking about web performance. Did you know that 40% of users abandon sites that take more than 3s to load? Turns out making your sites fast is pretty important! In this episode we’ll talk about what web performance is, why we should care, and we’ll give you tips for optimizing performance and measuring it.
For full show notes, check out our website.
How often have you encountered a problem and struggled to figure out where to start? Or maybe you aren’t super familiar with the browser tools available to debug your JavaScript code. So today we’ve brought on a special guest, Rebecca Hill, to help us learn about the world of debugging.
For full show notes, visit our website
In recent years, working remotely has become a more popular office perk not only among startups but enterprise businesses as well. Some companies even ONLY work remotely. In this week's episode, we'll discuss our experiences working remotely, the pros and cons from an employer and employee standpoint, and provide some advice on whether or not working remotely is a good fit for you.
For full show notes, check out our website.
If you’ve ever seen Kelly’s Twitter account then you’ve probably heard of Shopify, an E-commerce platform that gives you everything you need to sell online. This week we’re talking to JML, CTO at Shopify, and we’re giving you all the details.
Who are you and what is your role at Shopify? - 1:05
What does a typical day at Shopify look like? - 1:41
What was your path in tech? - 3:36
What is Shopify & e-commerce in general? - 7:44
What makes Shopify different from competitors? - 12:41
Why should developers pay attention to Shopify? - 13:42
What are your favorite things that have been built by Shopify? - 22:09
How has Shopify's design system, Polaris, changed development? - 24:28
What tech stack do you recommend focusing on for new Shopify developers? - 30:06
What does the day in the life of a Shopify developer look like? - 31:01
For full show notes and transcript, check out our website
This week we're talking all things portfolios. What can a portfolio do for you? How can you build one? Do you even need a portfolio to be successful? This week we'll delve into the world of portfolios.
What is a technical portfolio? - 1:16
Do we have portfolios? - 8:13
Why would you want a portfolio? - 8:21
How do you build a portfolio as a backend developer? - 17:06
What can you put in your portfolio? - 18:11
What if I'm bad at design? - 20:26
What should developers focus on when building a portfolio? - 23:15
Fun portfolio examples - 25:24
Wins - 29:18
For full show notes, visit our website.
You've probably heard about some of the JavaScript frameworks that dominate the front end ecosystem. And this week's podcast we'll be discussing the pros and cons of JavaScript frameworks, go into detail about React, Vue, and Angular, and discuss tools and resources for how you can get started with these frameworks.
Difference between a library & a framework - 1:04 Do we even need a framework? - 4:37 Pros & cons of using frameworks - 13:25 Popularity of different frameworks - 16:54 React - 25:31 Vue.js - 34:14 Angular - 39:34 Which framework is right for me? - 44:23 Evolution & speed of frontend development - 45:44 Learning these frameworks - 47:31
For the full show notes, check out our website.
October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. We're talking with Shannon Crabill about what open source is, how to get involved with Hacktoberfest, and tips & tricks for maintaining open source projects.
For the full show notes, head over to our website!
October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. Hacktoberfest is an awesome event where you can get involved in open source whether it's your first time contributing or you're a seasoned pro.
In this episode we'll discuss what Hacktoberfest is, how you can start contributing to open source, and with our special guests Peter and Jess from Dev, we'll talk about how you can maintain your own open source project.
For full show notes, check out our website.
Design systems are in the world around us from the signs on the side of the highway to the setup of a grocery store and our products are no exception. But what exactly our design systems and how do we build them? In this episode, we'll take a look at the foundations of design systems, the benefits and drawbacks, and the process for creating one from the ground up.
1:23 What are design systems? 2:58 Emma's experience with design systems 3:52 Ali's experience with design systems 4:41 Kelly's experience with design systems 5:00 Do you need a design system and who are design systems for? 7:46 Benefits of design systems 11:11 Drawbacks of design systems and team structure 13:11 How do you measure success? 14:24 Challenges of building a design system 15:34 How to build a design system 18:19 Styling components 19:03 Documentation tools 21:09 Style guides 23:42 Why design systems fail 25:08 Who builds design systems 29:20 Tools for building design systems 32:54 Notable people in design systems 36:54 Wins
For the full show notes and links to the speakers, check out our website!
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an effective teacher in the tech industry? Well wonder no more!
We had the pleasure of chatting with Angie Jones, Senior Developer Advocate at Applitools and Director at Test Automation University about her experience as a teacher. Angie talks to us about her teaching and learning styles and shares some advice for those looking to get into the world of teaching.
In this episode, we discussed how to teach to multiple skill levels, common misconceptions about being a teacher, and much more!
For the full show notes and links to the speakers, check out our website!
GraphQL has taken this industry by storm, but what is it exactly? In this special episode of the Ladybug Podcast we’ve invited 14 GraphQL experts from the community to educate us on all things GraphQL!
2:00 - What Is GraphQL? (Erin Fox)
8:21 - Benefits Of GraphQL (Akshar Takle)
11:19 - History Of GraphQL (Brian Douglas)
14:01 - Syntax (Chris Biscardi)
17:01 - Schemas (Kurt Kemple)
20:02 - Variables (Swyx)
24:24 - Fragments (Emma Wedekind)
25:36 - Directives (Jon Wong)
32:10 - Toolkit (Alan Johnson)
38:49 - React Hooks & GraphQL (Shruti Kapoor)
46:13 - GraphQL vs. REST (Chantastic)
49:20 - When NOT To Use GraphQL (Zach Lendon)
54:37 - Useful Tools For Learning/Using GraphQL (Manjula Dube)
1:01:27 - Making GraphQL Development Easier With Hasura (Rajoshi Ghosh)
1:05:06 - Wins!
For the full show notes and links to the speakers, check out our website!
There are so many different paths your career can follow in the tech industry. There's frontend, backend, or even full-stack development. You could also be a software engineer, quality assurance engineer, UX engineer, manager, developer advocate, or something else entirely!
For full show notes and resources for today's episode, check out the episode page on our website
Today we are doing a deep dive about entrepreneurship with our in house business owner, Kelly! Everyone can benefit from thinking entrepreneurially, even people who don’t want to start their own business. We’re going to ask Kelly about all the things that we are curious about and scare us about entrepreneurship.
Check out full show notes and resources for today's episode, check out the episode page on our website
In our first part of our CSS episode, we discussed the foundations. In this special bonus episode we'll continue the conversation by covering some more in-depth areas of CSS, like layouts with Grid and Flexbox, animations, media queries, naming conventions, pre-processors, and frameworks.
Read the full shownotes and transcripts on our site: ladybug.dev/css-part-2
We all know that Peter Griffin Family Guy gif of him unable to work some blinds. This gif is always associated with the frustrations of CSS. Something changes, then something breaks. Why do people have these issues? How can you improve your CSS skills? What are the key concepts that you need to understand to write clean, maintainable styles?
In this episode, we'll talk all about the nuances of CSS -- what it is, how it works, and how to get better at it.
Read the full shownotes and transcripts at our site: ladybug.dev/css-part-1
Have you ever been scared to contribute to a conversation or publish a blog post because you were worried you weren’t qualified enough? Wondered how you got to the point you’re at in your career because you feel you don’t belong? Or that you’re a fraud? You’re not alone!
In this episode, we discuss how we have experienced impostor syndrome and our personal strategies for combatting it.
0:36 How have we experienced Impostor Syndrome
21:21 Impostor Syndrome as a Business Owner
21:55 Impostor Syndrome pushing us to be better
24:40 Combatting Impostor Syndrome
37:24 WINS
Additional Links:
Check out the full shownotes and transcripts on our site!
In this episode, we're getting to know the ladybug hosts, both on technical and non-technical topics. Listen in to learn about our favorite tech stacks, our biggest career milestones, favorite books, and more.
Be sure to review the show notes on our website for links to all resources we discuss. We also have full transcripts listed there!
The landscape of technologies you can learn in the development world can be overwhelming if you don't know where to go next. In this episode, we discuss the technologies we're most excited about. From CSS to GraphQL, Django to WebAssembly, and design to augmented reality - we cover it all.
Be sure to review the show notes on our website for links to all resources we discuss.
One of the most popular outlets for programmers is through blogging. In this episode, we discuss why each of us got into blogging, the pros and cons of starting your own blog, and tips on how to make your blog a success.
View the show notes and a full transcript at ladybug.dev.
Side projects are an excellent way to express yourself creatively and build up your tech stack. But how do you find time to work on your side project when you have a full-time job and other responsibilities at home? In this episode, we discuss our personal side projects, along with some useful strategies for giving your side projects the attention they deserve.
View the show notes and a full transcript at ladybug.dev.
There are several different ways you can learn how to code. In this episode, we discuss computer science degrees, bootcamps, and self-directed learning. Each has benefits and have brought a lot of people into the world of programming. Each also has challenges.
We all have had unique paths to programming, so we'll incorporate our experiences and observations.
Visit ladybug.dev for the full transcript and show notes!
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