We're taking a short break to focus on solo projects! Randall is launching CrowdFox.io soon and Swyx is launching his personal podcast . General format Sheldon Hull "I rarely listen to podcasts because of how much wasted time there is. I've been listening through all you and Randall do and it's super useful and interesting. absolutely incredible job. Cheers and thank you" Michael Gee "I have gained a ton of value from your informative and concise podcast Career Chats so thank you & keep up t...
Jan 14, 2021•6 min•Ep. 19
Randall interviews Swyx about how you can get a job as a developer advocate Show Links https://www.keyvalues.com/blog/what-exactly-do-developer-advocates-do https://www.samjulien.com/devrel-book-links https://alexlakatos.com/avocados/2020/11/24/building-first-year-devrel-program/ https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/developer-love/ https://twitter.com/swyx/status/1340105489133182981?s=20 Speaker Links - Randall ( @randallkanna ): The Standout Developer , The Standout Career - Swyx ( @swyx )...
Jan 06, 2021•17 min•Ep. 18
We believe in systems over goals. Swyx and Randall love goals and we talk about how you can actually achieve your goals and how you can create a process to follow through. So many people set 'wishes' and they don't actually set goals because you're not creating a process to follow through. If you don't create the process, the goal won't happen. People overestimate how much they can get done in one year and they underestimate how much they can get done in 12 weeks. When you're looking for a job, ...
Dec 30, 2020•9 min•Ep. 15
It's difficult knowing when it's time to leave a company. Sometimes we get 'stuck' and we don't want to leave. Interviewing isn't fun either! 1. When you get an offer you can’t refuse - My $200 million mistake 2. When you aren’t learning anymore /too comfortable 3. When you dread going to work (or watching the clock) 4. When you aren't aligned with company values /when there is no trust - KeyValues.com - (our episode on Ethics isn't published yet) - The Speed of Trust 5. When there’s someone abo...
Dec 23, 2020•13 min•Ep. 14
Philip Kiely joins Swyx and Randall to talk about CS degrees, the myths around getting a CS degree and how to be successful in college. - "Institute of Technology" vs "Liberal Arts" - Hackathons to set yourself apart - Writing externally to gain credibility - Grad school? not needed - except for visas, research Links MIT's Missing Semester: https://missing.csail.mit.edu/ The Craft of Writing Effectively: https://www.robincussol.com/the-craft-of-writing-effectively-summary/ Georgia Tech OMSCS: ht...
Dec 16, 2020•24 min•Ep. 17
This week we have another guest interview with the multi-talented Forrest Brazeal ( site , twitter , newsletter ) who is one of the most passionate cloud advocates in the world. Definitely check out A Cloud Guru's Cloud Resume Challenge if you or someone you know is interested in getting into the cloud, and stay for his hot takes on mid-century children's literature! 0:00 - Intro & Background 1:55 - Cloud Resume Challenge - a child of the pandemic - https://twitter.com/forrestbrazeal/status/...
Dec 11, 2020•32 min•Ep. 13
What happens after you go past Senior? Will Larson, CTO of Calm, has been interviewing Staff-plus engineers across the industry for his new book, Staff Engineering. This is our first full-length interview podcast episode! If you enjoyed it, please help us share with a friend and let us know your feedback! (Links at bottom) ---- 1:00 Why research Staff Engineering? Most bigcos make up their ladders as they go along, or cargo cult from FB/Google. We have to separate management from leadership. 4:3...
Dec 02, 2020•41 min•Ep. 12
Swyx and Randall talk about how they've stayed consistent while writing books and working multiple jobs. Every day you're not consistent is a zero day. I was sitting and waiting for motivation to strike and it would rarely happen. Don't just be accountable to yourself; be accountable to others, make public commitments even if no one sees them. If you want consistency, be with consistent people. - Call to Action: Read the Motivation Myth and share it with a friend! - Discuss this episode and give...
Nov 18, 2020•10 min•Ep. 11
Personal growth has an algorithm and we can consciously pick better ones. Don't tell yourself you can't learn faster and get a promotion faster. https://www.swyx.io/big-l-notation/ Swyx borrows the idea of Big O notation to discuss how you can't let titles or expectations hold you back in your growth. - Call to Action: Break down the Big L of someone you admire and tell them. - Discuss this episode and give feedback!...
Nov 13, 2020•11 min•Ep. 10
Oh, so you mean I don't have to be dumb? Our first guest episode! Swyx chats with Will Johnson about how having the right Mindset and Grit can help change your career. - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Tweet - Book: Mindset: the New Psychology of Success - Book: Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance - Will's Blogpost - How I Switched Careers Into Tech With No Degree In My Mid 30's - Follow Will on Twitter - Call to Action: Do something that scares you. - Discuss...
Nov 04, 2020•10 min•Ep. 9
We're discussing emailing a company and pitching yourself for the job you want. Randall did this recently! If you're not getting rejected twice, three times a week, you're probably not pushing yourself to where you should be. Our natural state is to avoid rejection. This isn't just a cold email. No one likes the email where they think this person could have just emails this to ten other people. Gumroad gig announcement tweet CALL TO ACTION Get rejected on something this week. If you're not getti...
Oct 28, 2020•8 min•Ep. 8
Randall discusses how to do the research to make sure you pick the right bootcamp! Go out there and try to code email as many people as you can and find out about the bootcamp Read every blog, post, and tweet you can find about the bootcamp Links How I got a job two weeks after my coding bootcamp Want a job in Silicon Valley? Stay away from coding bootcamps Coding House Review Course Report...
Oct 21, 2020•10 min•Ep. 7
Swyx discusses the four Learning Gears for people Learning in Public - Explorers : indulge your curiosity without goals. Episodic notes to self, low public commitment. - Settler : You don't know things that others already know. Run up the learning curve. Make Open Source Knowledge for others like you. - Connector : You know what others don't. Teach to learn! Put yourself out there - Talks, blog, newsletters, videos, workshop. Regular nontrivial output. Easy to get paid to learn in public here. W...
Oct 16, 2020•10 min•Ep. 6
Randall discusses her Twitter presence and how she went from 300 to 30k+ followers in the last year. Find the intersection of what interests your audience and what you have credibility on It's not all about followers. It's about building that meaningful relationship and taking that off Twitter! Give a lot before you ask! Links - Daniel Vassallo's Twitter Course. - Randall's Free CS Degree Tweet - Randall's Frontend Developer Tweet - Randall's Resume Review Tweet - Giveaways - Daniel Vassallo on ...
Oct 07, 2020•10 min•Ep. 5
We've been trained to learn in private our entire lives. Today, we talk about why you should learn in public. Quote 1: "The schooling systems teach us to learn in private our entire lives. "Let's all study for this test". "Let's all try to do better than our peers". We train people to learn in private. The rules of the game for school prepare you very poorly for the rules of real life. " Quote 2: " Make the thing you wish you had found , document what you did, and the problems that you solved. T...
Sep 30, 2020•12 min•Ep. 4
When faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, break it down. Quote 1 " Stop worrying if you can get something done. Instead, break your problem down into many small problems. And choose just one to tackle. " - Pieter Levels' MAKE book Quote 2 " Try to build your idea with HTML and CSS and JavaScript and see how far you get. Just Google every single thing you don't know. Start with "how to make a HTML page" Then "how to make text colored in HTML". Then “how to make a button in HTML” ." Note...
Sep 21, 2020•7 min•Ep. 3
Being lucky is a skill you can develop. https://www.swyx.io/writing/create_luck/ 1. Binary Luck 2. Luck Surface Area: https://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/increasing-your-luck-surface-area - Fixed vs Growth Mindset: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/ 3. Four Kinds of Luck : https://pmarchive.com/luck_and_the_entrepreneur.html - Active - Accidental - Magnetic (Do something interesting and people will be interested https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1256784770387685376 ...
Sep 21, 2020•10 min•Ep. 2
Embrace the uncomfortable, in order to grow. https://sive.rs/uncomf How do you get the energy to force yourself to get through the uncomfortable? - Does Homeschooling help you be more self directed? - No Zero Days: https://medium.com/hackernoon/no-zero-days-my-path-from-code-newbie-to-full-stack-developer-in-12-months-214122a8948f - The Resistance (from War of Art): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_(creativity) - The One Thing: https://www.the1thing.com/ What's something good that has co...
Sep 21, 2020•9 min•Ep. 1
