Today we talk about avoiding a state of constant yellow alert. Signs you may be in a constant state of alert: Audit your texts, emails, etc for constant "urgent" language. How often are you on alert? Check your diet, relationships, etc - is your work putting these things in a stressed state? If you feel like you must always be connected to some kind of messaging system (email, Slack, texts, etc), this may point to a problem Mentioned on the show: @MartinFowler's tweet "Living in a Code Yellow Wo...
Oct 05, 2015•17 min•Ep. 137
Today I talk with Gregg Pollack and Carlos Souza from Codeschool! Codeschool.com JavaScript.com Ruby5 AMA with Mike Bostock D3.js Mapping caps-lock to control tmux Screen Hack Hands Envy Labs Today's episode is brought to you by Spec !...
Oct 02, 2015•29 min•Ep. 136
Today I talk with Gregg Pollack and Carlos Souza from Codeschool! Codeschool.com JavaScript.com Ruby5 5 Minutes of JavaScript iOS Bytes If you are a fan of iOS Bytes, check out Little Bites of Cocoa, too! Front-end Five Courses page on Codeschool Team Treehouse List of free programming books Gregg Pollack's Founder's Talk Delicio.us Envy Labs Today's episode is brought to you by Spec !...
Sep 30, 2015•23 min•Ep. 135
In today's episode, I underline the importance of failure to the learning process, and then we discuss why failure should be destigmatized and looked at more in depth. Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com! Head over to Hired.com/developertea and you could receive 5 or more job offers in a given week! Learning about Learning Strategies for Learning from Failure (HBR) Learning from Failure (white paper) When we learn from failure, and when we don't Strategies for Learning from Failure Many th...
Sep 28, 2015•19 min•Ep. 134
In today's episode, we talk about the flawed process we use in the development industry for hiring. Mentioned: Code Complete Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!
Sep 25, 2015•12 min•Ep. 133
In this second part of my interview with Cap Watkins, we discuss the coexistence of specialization and generalization. If you enjoy Developer Tea, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on iTunes! Click here to leave a review now! Links: Make sure you listen to the first part of the interview on Spec.fm! "Why Designers Really Should Learn to Code" (on Cap's blog) "Should Engineers Design?" (also on Cap's blog) "The Lie I Tell New Hires" (Cap's blog. No kidding.) Sass vs SCSS Bas...
Sep 23, 2015•49 min•Ep. 132
In today's episode, I had a chance to talk with Cap Watkins, the VP of Design at Buzzfeed, about quite a few things - most importantly, collaboration. @cap Cap Watkins's blog "Low-cal calzone zone" React, and CSS in your JS @developertea "I have still not used the Digital Crown to scroll on the Apple Watch since the first day." Basecamp Hello Web App Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm ! Head over to Spec.fm for tons of amazing content, created specifically for developers and designers ...
Sep 21, 2015•57 min•Ep. 131
In today's episode, we're talking about ways to avoid false dichotomies. Decisive "The Infinite Toolset" - article about why we shouldn't switch toolsets too often. @DeveloperTea Spec.fm Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com Visit hired.com/developertea today and you could receive 5 or more job offers each week!...
Sep 18, 2015•14 min•Ep. 130
Today's episode is a short discussion on automation. We'll explore some helpful ways to look at automation that help make it more than simply scripting repeatable steps. Zapier IFTTT Rails generator documentation Gulp JS Babel James Clear Focus (app) Discussion on Useful Defaults Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit! If you enjoyed this episode and want to know when t...
Sep 16, 2015•16 min•Ep. 129
In today's episode, I interview Eric Elliott. Eric is a JavaScript developer and author with a lot of knowledge to share! Be sure to check out JavaScript Scene to read Eric's writing. One of Eric's personal site @_ericelliott How to build a High Velocity Development Team Eric's High Velocity Development Team Course Programming JavaScript Applications (book) Learn JavaScript Universal App Development (book, in progress) Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm ! Check out Spec for a constant ...
Sep 14, 2015•57 min•Ep. 128
Today, I talk about a particular framework for making decisions. The framework presents a specific dichotomy between concreteness and subjectivity. Types of decisions: Essential decisions Concrete input with subjective output Subjective input with concrete output Subjective input with subjective output "Trivial" decisions The paradox we have to deal with is that a lot of non-trivial outcomes come from decisions that fall on the subjective end of the scale. It is necessary for us to move these tr...
Sep 11, 2015•18 min•Ep. 127
Today, I discuss listener Pubudu's questions about how to find energy and enjoyment in his work, and how to stop procrastinating. Mentioned on the show: @HealthyProg The Healthy Programmer Get Up and Code Pomodoro Technique Thorough discussion on Pomodoro from a programmer Kent Beck Pomodoro proof Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com Visit hired.com/developertea today and you could receive 5 or more job offers each week!...
Sep 09, 2015•18 min•Ep. 126
In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Sahar. Remote (37 Signals / Bsecamp The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod In this episode, I cover the concept of " The Minimum Viable Day " as well! Today's Sponsor is: Digital Ocean Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit! If you enjoyed this episode and want to know when the latest episode has gone live, subscribe to th...
Sep 07, 2015•22 min•Ep. 125
In today's episode we talk about a message passing paradigm for programming. We'll discuss the concept of message passing as a lens for understanding everything we do in programming. Avdi Grimm (@avdi) Alan Kay's Email about Object Oriented Programming Smalltalk Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm - podcasts and content for designers and developers!...
Sep 04, 2015•10 min•Ep. 124
Today, we talk about closures and private object methods. Spec.fm Closures in JavaScript (Mozilla) Private methods in Ruby (documentation) Private :attr_accessor Private members in Java Closures: Elixir vs. Ruby vs. JavaScript Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm - brand new podcasts and content for developers and designers!...
Sep 02, 2015•11 min•Ep. 123
In today's episode, I'll talk about choosing the best tool vs. choosing the right tool for a job. Stopping assumptions about faster being better or using a specific language for a specific project isn't easy. We'll identify the difference between objective measures and subjective measures of a given language, and give you two challenges to help you evaluate your toolset. If you have a particular question you'd like me to answer or you'd like to get more involved in the developer community check ...
Aug 31, 2015•10 min•Ep. 122
In today's episode I review decorator and facade patterns. I'll go over strengths, weaknesses, similarities and difference between decorator and facade patterns and give tips on determining when to use one or the other. Today's Sponsor is: Digital Ocean Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit! If you enjoyed this episode and want to know when the latest episode has gone ...
Aug 28, 2015•11 min•Ep. 121
Today's listener question is about working on side projects in the same space as your day job. Simon, who wrote into Developer Tea via email asks, "How do I transition from working on my side project in the morning, to working at my day job, in the same space?" This episode, I review three red flag scenarios, and routines to help segment your day so you balance side project and day job effectively. Useful Default Concepts Thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest Harvest is a time tracking tool built f...
Aug 26, 2015•22 min•Ep. 120
Today's episode is about repeating yourself, and knowing when to repeat yourself and when not to. This episode was inspired by Sandy Metz . One of Sandy's teachings is to repeat yourself until you understand your code. It is much better to have repeated code than to have complex code. As a developer, it is your responsibility to decide if your code is better suited to be duplicated or complex. This episode goes against the grain of the DRY methodology, but I challenge you to question everything....
Aug 24, 2015•14 min•Ep. 119
Today I'm going to be sharing the simple perspective shift that helped me understand how valuable programming is. In this episode, I'll go over how to shift your thinking from time in relation to money to value in relation to money. I'll go over problem solving improvements, and proposal writing language to help you make that shift in mindset from time to value pricing. Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get st...
Aug 21, 2015•11 min•Ep. 118
In today's episode we to continue or discussion on The Twelve-Factor App . Specifically reviewing the importance of dependencies and config . In this episode we'll go over manifest files, node modules, gitignore , and keeping your code in the safest state. Special thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest Harvest is your time tracking tool built for understanding where your time is going. You can start a timer right from issues in JIRA or GitHub without searching for your timesheet, and turn that right...
Aug 19, 2015•13 min•Ep. 117
This week, I'm going to go dig into a few of Heroku's Twelve-Factor Application Model . Today's episode will be focused around codebase also known as a repository. We'll talk about understanding codebase, implementing techniques and deploying. I'd like to note that you can implement this model on any deployment platform, not just Heroku. There's even a way to create a Heroku like docker on Digital Ocean. It's called Dokku. Today's Show is brought to you by: Hired Hired is a free, no obligation r...
Aug 17, 2015•15 min•Ep. 116
In today's episode I'll dig into mutable states and go over two things you can do to get away from relying on external states so you can read and test methods. Be sure to check out Sandy Metz's 2015 Railconf talk "nothing is something" on why conditional statements make code more difficult to reason. Special thanks to Today's sponsor: Code School Code School is an online learning destination for existing and aspiring developers that teaches through entertaining content. Visit www.CodeSchool.com/...
Aug 15, 2015•11 min•Ep. 115
In today's episode, I talk about the importance of stopping assumptions in their tracks by reading manuals. I'll go over documentation, and tips to get you started on the fundamentals of manual reading. Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit! I hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next time, Enjoy...
Aug 12, 2015•15 min•Ep. 114
In today's episode, I talk about intentional problem solving and challenge listeners to stop reaching for the quickest answer and instead experience the problem. During today's episode I provide some tips to help build your experimentation techniques so you can find a solution without automatically defaulting to Google or Stack Overflow first. If you participated in this challenge. I would love to hear about your experience. To share your story, email me at developertea@gmail.com, write to me th...
Aug 10, 2015•14 min•Ep. 113
In today's episode I respond to a listener question that came in from Dhruv, who asks, "What should a beginner like me work on?" Aside from being a better coder, where should you expand your knowledge? If you have a question that you'd like me to explore you can write to me via Twitter @developertea or through the Developer Tea contact form . Don't forget to leave a review on iTunes . If you love the show let me know and if you think there's an area we need to improve tell me that too. Shout out...
Aug 07, 2015•22 min•Ep. 112
On Today's episode, I talk about making a good first impression. How can we engineer memorable moments that will create a positive impact on how people will remember your product or service? We don't have to be experts, but as developers we do need to be mindful of what it means to create a good user experience. As an example, I refer in this episode to Image Magic and their lack of good user experience. Special thanks to today's sponsor: Hired Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job ...
Aug 05, 2015•13 min•Ep. 111
In today's episode I review why focus is so important to coding by diving into the Solid Principles developed by Robert C. Martin also known as "Uncle Bob" and the importance of the Single Responsibility Principle : A class should have one, and only one, reason to change. Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code " DEVELOPER TEA " at the checkout after you create your account to get...
Aug 03, 2015•10 min•Ep. 110
Today's episode, I answer a listener question from Janus, who focuses primarily on User Experience and Design. Janus asks, How much code should I know before handing it to a developer? Programming isn't easy. Hard work ethic pays off. To answer this question, I turn to the experts, and a 9 step framework for checking your code. Thank you, Janus for your question. If you have a question that you'd like to have discussed on the show write me through my contact form or via twitter: @developertea . ...
Jul 31, 2015•22 min•Ep. 109
Strengths and skills are two different things, but when should you learn a new skill or improve a current skill? During today's episode, I'll talk about what strengths can help you recognize which skills to become a master at, how your current resources can help, and the importance of investing time in relationships. Additional Reading Mentioned: Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham If you'd like to leave a review of Developer Tea, visit our iTunes page. I appreciate your feedback. ...
Jul 29, 2015•18 min•Ep. 108
