The Scrimba Podcast - podcast cover

The Scrimba Podcast

Alex Bookerscrimba.com
Learn from inspiring developers about how they found meaningful and fulfilling work that that also pays them well. On The Scrimba Podcast, you'll hear motivational advice and job-hunting strategies from developers who've been exactly where you are now. We talk to developers about their challenges, learnings, and switching industries in the hopes of inspiring YOU. This is the podcast that provides the inspiration, tools, and roadmaps to move from where you are to work that matters to you and uniquely fits your strengths and talents.
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Episodes

End of Season One, and a Message from Alex Booker

So this is goodbye. But do not unsubscribe! It's the end of what will now be known as Season One of the Scrimba podcast! And Alex Booker is stepping down as its host. Over the past 160+ episodes, we have helped you learn to code and land your first job in tech. If you've missed any episodes, now is the time to go and listen to them. If you're new to the show, just start listening from the very beginning! The archive isn't going anywhere, and we aimed to create an evergreen podcast where you can ...

Jan 16, 20259 min

Why Open Source Can Be the Perfect Place for New Developers – and How to Get Started, with Deb Goodkin from the FreeBSD Foundation

Meet Deb Goodkin! Deb is the Executive Director of the FreeBSD Foundation. The Foundation supports the FreeBSD project and community. FreeBSD is a powerful open-source operating system known for its reliability and security and used by companies like Netflix to power their servers and networks. With a strong background in engineering, Deb is passionate about open-source technology, and after this episode, you might become passionate about it, too! In this episode of the Scrimba podcast, you'll l...

Sep 19, 202443 min

Tangible Benefits: Why AI Is Here to Stay and How New Developers Can Find the Right Balance, with Sam Julien from Writer

Meet Sam Julien 🇺🇸! Sam is a director of Developer Relations at Writer , a teacher, and the author of Getting Started in Developer Relations . He loves helping people level up their developer advocacy or web development jobs. Recently, he became interested in AI engineering. And in this episode, you'll find out why you should, too! Sam will teach you how to differentiate passing fads from the tech that's here to stay, how to stay future-proof, and why it's still important to learn the basics. ...

Sep 05, 202445 min

Learn to Advocate for Yourself with Developer Advocate Rizel Scarlett

Meet Rizel Scarlett 🇺🇸! Rizel is a Staff Developer Advocate at TBD. She's also a career changer, software engineer, and community builder! Rizel dropped out of psychology studies after running out of money. Then she went into IT support, then into coding, and then realized that, after working in an organization that teaches women and non-binary people of color to code, developer advocacy could be a great career for her! In this episode, you will hear how Rizel learned to code, paved her own pa...

Jul 17, 202437 min

Career Progression Decoded: Angie Jones' Expert Tips for Entering the Tech Industry and Forging Your Unique Path

Meet Angie Jones 🇺🇸! Angie is a veteran software developer currently working as a global Developer Relations executive at TBD. Before that, she worked as an automation engineer at Twitter and as a software engineer and master inventor at IBM (where she worked for nine years)! Angie is also a teacher and an international keynote speaker who has authored 27 patents. In this episode, Angie takes us through her career path, from falling in love with coding through automation engineering to eventua...

Jul 10, 202442 min

Scrimba v2 is Here! Create Your Own Scrims, Use the Advanced Code Editor, and Learn Coding the Right Way, with Per Borgen

Scrimba v2 is here! And you probably already know this if you've visited our website recently. Scrimba cofounder and CEO Per Borgen 🇳🇴 is joining us to reveal what this update is all about. You might have noticed the redesign - but the update is not just on the surface. Scrimba has been rewritten from the ground up to support further development, and you can already enjoy a lot of new features. The platform is no longer a closed platform, which means you can make your own scrims, create and fo...

Jul 03, 202431 min

The Four Stages of Interviewing: How to Conquer the Hiring Process Step by Step, with Ryan Talbert

Meet Ryan Talbert 🇺🇸! Ryan studied entrepreneurship and had an idea for an app. To build it, he hired a developer who scammed him and used his server for phishing! But that was also the best thing that could've happened: Today, Ryan is a developer, passionate about JavaScript, and helping other career switchers break into tech. Oh, and he wrote a book ! In this episode, Ryan shares his story and many things he's learned along the way. Ryan will teach you how to break the process of applying an...

Jun 13, 202443 min

What's New in React 19 (and What That Means for You), with Dev Agrawal

Meet Dev Agrawal 🇮🇳🇺🇸! Dev is a software developer, developer advocate, content creator, and A React expert deeply ingrained in the React community. The last time he was on the show, we tried to find an answer to the question of whether we should still be learning React in 2024 - the community was divided! Today, we’re talking about React 19. React 19 is the latest version of React, introducing some amazing new features! Key features include the new React Compiler, which automates performanc...

Jun 06, 202440 min

The Secret to a Meaningful Portfolio: Solve a Real-world Problem, with Scrimba Student Kevin

Meet Kevin Tanzyl! Originally from New Zealand, Kevin moved to Japan to become an English teacher. But after a while, he felt like he hit a plateau. Kevin then tried coding, and after a sting in the infamous tutorial hell, he discovered Scrimba. While learning to code, he made a React app for English teachers, which is still used in Japanese schools! This game-changing portfolio project for Kevin caught the eye of employers and recruiters alike. Within a couple of months, Kevin got his first dev...

May 29, 202435 min

"No" Is Always Guaranteed... So Strive for a "Yes", with the Coding Mermaid Monica Fidalgo

Meet Monica Fidalgo 🇵🇹! Monica is a front-end product engineer at Cloudflare, an advocate for new developers and women in tech, as well as a teacher, mentor, and resume reviewer. Her path to tech wasn’t straightforward: she originally studied marine biology and was a licensed scuba diver! Monica's life took a dramatic turn when she was involved in a serious car accident that temporarily left her unable to walk. After months of recovery, she was even able to run again! However, her recovery mad...

May 22, 202443 min

Senior Software Engineer at Netflix, Shaundai Person: Here's How to Sell Yourself (and Believe in the Product 😉)

Meet Shaundai Person 🇺🇸! Shaundai is a senior software engineer at Netflix, but she hasn't always been a coder. She studied entrepreneurship and had a long, successful career in sales. After a decade in sales and running her own business, Shaundai discovered coding through customizing her business's Shopify website. Shaundai realized she was ready for a career change to something she felt more passionate about. She also learned that you don't have to go back to school to become a software engi...

May 16, 202450 min

Creator of #100DaysOfCode, Alex Kallaway: Here's How to Embrace Discomfort for Growth

Meet Alex Kallaway 🇷🇺🇨🇦! Alex is a Lead Full-Stack Developer, but he hasn't always been a coder. First, he was a violinist; then, he was interested in having a business; he worked in product management and digital marketing. At one point, he was determined to become a developer and was looking for a way to accelerate his learning, and he thought of a coding challenge you might have heard of. Believe it or not, Alex created #100DaysOfCode just for himself - he never thought it would become so...

May 08, 202448 min

What to Do If Nobody's Hiring (and How to Slide Into Their DMs When They Do), with Rachel Nabors

Meet Rachel Lee Nabors 🇺🇸🇬🇧! They are an award-winning cartoonist who transitioned to become a developer with a passion for teaching the world how to code. Rachel has worked at major tech companies such as Microsoft, AWS, and Meta. At Meta, they were a pivotal contributor to react.dev, the award-winning version of React documentation. Rachel is also the author of the Tech Career Survival Guide, a series of Substack essays that may or may not become a book. In these essays, they teach readers...

May 01, 202449 min

This is How Companies Think About Hiring, with Dominik Piątek

Meet Dominik Piątek 🇵🇱🇬🇧! Dominik moved to the UK from Poland in search of career opportunities. He worked odd jobs, acquired a varied set of skills, and became a partner in a digital agency at the age of 23. That's where he got interested in front-end development, and more than a decade later, Dom is still in London. He's a staff developer who has also led cross-functional teams, worked with complex JavaScript applications and multiple times served as a tech lead. Dominik interviewed Alex f...

Apr 24, 202448 min

The Safe Exit: How to Quit Your Job the Right Way, with Ian Douglas

Meet Ian Douglas 🇺🇸🇨🇦! Developer, DevRel, Tech Educator, Career Coach, and author of The Tech Interview Guide , Ian Douglas, has been coding professionally since 1996. During that time, he worked at seventeen different companies! So, he probably knows a thing or two about how to transition companies in the most productive and secure way. Whether you're a new or more experienced developer, sooner or later, the time will come to change companies. How can you be sure it's time to quit your job?...

Apr 17, 202447 min

Early WhatsApp Engineer Jean Lee: Keep Trying New Things in Tech!

Meet Jean Lee! She was the nineteenth engineer at WhatsApp (that was even before it got acquired by Facebook!) and then worked at Meta as an engineering manager for six years after the acquisition. She helped set up WhatsApp's London office and also worked on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her coding journey didn't start there - she discovered tech almost by chance after her family moved to California. She wanted to study art - but after taking art courses at her university, she realized that...

Apr 10, 202443 min

How Not to Be Afraid of Git, with O'Reilly Author Anna Skoulikari

✨Use this link for a free month of O'Reilly Learning and read Anna's book and any other resource on the platform! ✨ Meet Anna Skoulikari! She's a UX designer turned front-end developer, senior technical writer, and the author of " Learning Git " - a book published by O'Reilly Media that teaches Git in a simple, visual, and tangible manner so that you can build a solid mental model of how it all works. Anna started teaching Git because she had to understand it herself. It's powerful but not the m...

Apr 03, 202444 min

The (Not so) Hidden Benefits of Talking about Code, with Scrimba Bootcamp Lead Micha

✨Use this link for a 20% discount on the Scrimba bootcamp! ✨ Meet Michaella Rodriguez! If you're already in the Scrimba Discord community, you probably know her. If not, she's a career changer who discovered Scrimba while learning, like many; she was active in the Scrimba community when Guil recruited the first-ever code reviewers for our bootcamp. Now, she's a bootcamp lead at Scrimba. And no, she never thought she would be a coder - but a friend made her try it. Yes, Micha and Alex do talk abo...

Mar 28, 202436 min

Neurodiversity in Tech and Why We Should Care About It, with Parul Singh

Meet Parul Singh 🇬🇧! Parul is a Tech Careers & Neurodiversity Consultant, ADHD advocate, board member at Manchester Tech Festival, Public Speaker, and a former recruitment marketing partner and tech recruiter. The last time she was on the show, she gave us advice on how to stand out and land a role in tech. Today, we're talking about neurodiversity! What does it mean, why do we need it, why do tech companies seem to attract neurodivergent talent, and how can we create a more inclusive work...

Mar 22, 202446 min

The Only Thing Worth Investing in Is Yourself, with Scrimba Student Özge

Meet Özge Ahras 🇹🇷! Özge studied computer enigneering, but felt her coding skills weren't up to par. She yearned to transition into frontend development and explore cutting-edge technologies, but the company she had spent eight years in was relying on vanilla javascript. Eventually, she discovered Scrimba, back in the day before the Frontend Career Path even existed. Can you imagine? Özge fell in love with Scrimba's pedagogy and enrolled in the Path. But the journey wasn't without its challeng...

Mar 13, 202431 min

How to Figure Out What You Want to Do, with Scrimba Student Amy

Meet Amy Posten 🇺🇸! Amy was a veterinary technician for fifteen years before she decided to switch careers. First, she discovered freeCodeCamp while on maternity leave. Later, she joined a premium bootcamp but didn't feel quite ready to apply for coding jobs afterward, so she turned to Scrimba to polish her skills. Nowadays, she's a front-end engineer and instructor. In this episode, you'll learn how to figure out what kind of job you want and what was a small change in her job-hunting approac...

Mar 05, 202444 min

Slow Down to Speed Up: Teacher-Turned-Developer Chris on Successful Adult Learning and Landing his Dream Role

Meet Chris Webster 🇬🇧! Chris is a full-stack developer based in Reading. In a past life, he taught Mandarin to both children and adults and obtained a master's degree in education. If you're guessing that this episode is about pedagogy, maintaining your mindset, and learning hacks, you're on the right track. When Chris decided to switch careers, he enrolled in a premium London boot camp. Was it worth the money? Or the time? In this episode, Chris lays out the differences between a boot camp an...

Feb 23, 202442 min

The State of React (and Should You Still Learn It in 2024), with Dev Agrawal

Meet Dev Agrawal 🇮🇳🇺🇸! With a name like that, how could he not become a developer? He's a software developer, developer advocate, and content creator. Moreover, he's a React expert deeply ingrained in the React community. That's why we invited him onto the show to shed light on the current state of affairs! You've probably noticed certain discontent surrounding React recently. A basic React app has become significantly more complex. It has been quite some time since there has been a signific...

Feb 08, 202441 min

Everybody's Doing Their Best... Even Tech Recruiters (and This Is How to Get Their Attention), with Parul Singh

Meet Parul Singh 🇬🇧! Parul is a Tech Careers & Neurodiversity Consultant, ADHD advocate, board member at Manchester Tech Festival, Public Speaker, and a former recruitment marketing partner and tech recruiter. If you're familiar with the topic of neurodiversity in tech, you've probably come across her name. In this episode, we're speaking with Parul because her advice on how to stand out and land a role in tech is anything but ordinary. This episode contains refreshingly unique and honest ...

Jan 31, 202439 min

The Making of an Industry: The Rise of AI Engineering, with Swyx

Meet Shawn Wang (Swyx) 🇺🇸! Swyx is a developer, writer, and startup advisor. If you listen to our show regularly, you know him as the biggest advocate for learning in public ! Today, he's the founder of smol.ai and a podcast host and teacher at Latent Space . Last summer, Swyx wrote a blog post titled The Rise of the AI Engineer , which quickly went viral. In this episode, Swyx will revisit that blog post to see if anything changed. You will learn why AI engineers are a thing, the differences ...

Jan 24, 202437 min

Passions, Skills, Environment, and Compensation: Career Coach Adam Broda's Framework for Navigating Today's Job Market

Meet Adam Broda 🇺🇸! Adam is a tech lead and career coach who helps career changers break into tech. He did the same - after a decade of working in aerospace engineering at Boeing, Adam now works at Amazon! Through his coaching business, Broda Coaching , Adam aids career transitioners in constructing personalized job search strategies. In this episode, Adam unveils the four pillars of his framework: identifying your passions, skills, desired environment, and needed compensation. Alex and Adam a...

Jan 17, 202443 min

Effective Living for Better Coding: From Retail to Software Engineering with Scrimba Student Cassie

🎙 About the episode Meet Cassie Lewis 🇺🇸! Cassie has a fine arts degree, which turned out to be too fancy for the real world. After working in different fields, from photography to retail, she got interested in coding - and it turned out to be just the right fit with how her mind works! Cassie is fueled by curiosity, creativity, and challenges. And learning to code alongside a day job was certainly a challenge. Two years into her learning path, Cassie realized she had hit a wall. In an attemp...

Jan 10, 202438 min

Who's Afraid of AI Agents? The Future of Automation, with Bob Ziroll

🎙 About the episode Meet Bob Ziroll 🇺🇸! Bob is Scrimba's Head of Education and one of the Internet's favorite React teachers. His latest course is on AI, but don't worry, there's React... I mean, ReAct in AI as well! In the previous three episodes, we defined an AI engineer and demystified their tools. We explored foundation models and discussed how to personalize them through retrieval augmented generation and fine-tuning. We also delved into various use cases for incorporating AI models int...

Jan 03, 202438 min

What Is Retrieval-Augmented Generation and How to Make AI Work for You, with Guil Hernandez

🎙 About the episode Meet Guil Hernandez 🇺🇸! He is a developer and educator with over 15 years of experience in tech. He's also a Scrimba teacher who is a part of the team bringing you the AI Engineer Path , and in this episode, he's helping us understand retrieval-augmented generation. In the previous episode, Tom Chant helped us understand the world of AI models. Today, Guil will further teach us how these models work under the hood. AI models don't understand the world like we do. When we i...

Dec 20, 202326 min

Demystifying AI: What Are Foundation Models (and How to Use Them), with Tom Chant

Meet Tom Chant 🇬🇧! Tom is a Scrimba instructor who is a part of our in-house team that brought you a brand new career path available on Scrimba.com - the AI engineer Path. In this episode, we're diving into the world of AI foundation models: what are they, how do they work, and how can you use them to build front-end applications that you, until recently, couldn't even think of unless you were a big company with loads of resources. AI is fundamentally changing the features and user experience ...

Dec 13, 202349 min
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