In this episode, Dan and Bekah are joined by Mike Rogers. Mike has had a long and successful career, but at one point he realized he no longer felt good or satisfied with where he was as a developer. He shared with us what he did to change course, and how he has learned to approach tending his career almost like a garden. About Mike Mike Rogers is a Ruby developer from the UK. He made the chat bots for Virtual Coffee, has an awesome Ruby Event Calendar, and loves Docker. mikerogers.io Twitter: m...
Aug 17, 2021•58 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode, Dan and Bekah talk to Ray Deck, a trained data scientist, occasional angel investor, and software entrepreneur, about finding the right career path through growth, learning, and motivation. We talk about the importance of trust and listening, and Ray drops a bunch of great resources to help everyone find their own path. About Ray Ray is a trained data scientist, occasional angel investor, and software entrepreneur. His 25-year career spans industries from law to finance. Most re...
Aug 10, 2021•57 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah talk to Kevin, a senior software consultant at Test Double and a coding career coach at his company Tap into Tech, about some of the most common challenges early-career developers face getting into tech and offers practical advice for working through those problems. We dive into visualization, personal support, and ways to change the interview process in tech. Kevin Truong is a senior software consultant at Test Double and a coding career coach at hi...
Aug 03, 2021•59 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah talk to Joan Marie Verba, a web developer, former astronomy teacher, and prolific science fiction writer, about her early days in tech using Fortran, and how refusal to accommodate her allergies has prevented her from having a lifelong career in tech. She shares the story of her recent job offer that actually turned out to be a scam that's being investigated by the FBI. But she's not done searching for her next place in tech. She's pushing past the c...
Jul 27, 2021•50 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In this episode, Dan and Bekah talk to Ayu about the impact of community, being a prolific blogger, and the very real challenge of burnout. Ayu's openness about the challenges of being a mom on the self-taught track into tech, isolation, and fears of not being good enough are the stories that we don't share enough of. Because when we share, we can all work through them together. Thank you, Ayu, for reminding us that it's ok to not be ok. About Ayu Adiati Originally from Indonesia and now based i...
Jul 20, 2021•50 min•Season 3Ep. 3
On this episode of the podcast, we talk to Abbey Perini, a full-stack web developer, about the impact building in public has had on her developer journey, what her experience as a recruiting admin taught her as she sent out 160 applications before landing her dev role, and how rehearsing before an interview can make a big impact. Links mentioned in the episode: Github: https://github.com/abbeyperini Indeed job rate checker Abbey's posts mentioned: CSS Animated Button with Offset Border Sheba Cou...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 2
In this episode of the podcast Bekah and Dan talk to Jono Yeong, a senior software engineer originally from Australia, but currently based in Seattle, USA, about how digital gardening leaves room for growth, allows you to develop what you enjoy, and is an investment in communication skills. We also talk about learning Elixir, the process he goes through as he's learning something new, and how he brings learning new things to what he's doing with Rails. Bonus: he even walks us through how to do a...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah wrap up season two by talking about what they've learned about community building over the last year and some lessons they've learned along the way. They talk about Virtual Coffee's mission to support its members, and how Virtual Coffee's unique approach presents both challenges and opportunities when it comes to finding tools and guidance as the community grows. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Direct financial supp...
Jun 01, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah talk with Sara McCombs. Sara is a software engineer and team lead at Aiera, and also one of the original organizers, and a current Community Maintainer, at Virtual Coffee. Sara shared her thoughts on how to think and talk about transferable skills, leveraging past experience to differentiate yourself, and the importance of embracing that past experience as part of your journey and strengths. She also talked about the impact of career changes, promoti...
May 25, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah talk with Nerando Johnson, a full stack developer looking for his next job, about running freeCodeCamp meetups in Atlanta, learning through hackathons (including that one time his team won the hackathon and donated the $40,000 in winnings to charity) and how his next endeavor should be socialization as a service for tech events. We also talk about the importance of having a solid support system and we laugh...a lot. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your suppo...
May 18, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Courtney Landau, a software engineer currently working at an early-stage startup in the Education Technology space. We talked about her experience with being quiet in tech with the constant push for self-marketing and how she learns new things. We also dive into her experience as a mentor, speaker, lightning talk team member, and the other roles she's played as part of Virtual Coffee. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Di...
May 11, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Tom Cudd, a systems architect and 20-year veteran in technology. We talked about his experiences with DevOps and how it has changed over the years, about psychological safety: what it means to Tom, and how important it is to build in to your team and workflows, and about the dangers of "hero culture" in the workplace. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Direct financial support will help us to continue serving the Virtual ...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Debra-Kaye Elliott, a self-taught frontend developer making her way through Frontend Masters Web Development Bootcamp, about what it's like to be on the self-taught developer journey, how she navigates imposter syndrome, and the lessons she's learned a long the way. She talks about the impact of being able to learn with support, choosing the resources that work best for you, and how blogging has been a part of her journey. Debra-Kaye Elliott is a Front ...
Apr 27, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode, Dan and Bekah talk to Glen McCallum, a Software engineer from Victoria, Canada who manages a team of 8 engineers for the 2nd largest independent book distributor in the US, about his unexpected career journey, the hard decisions he's had to make, and using open-source software with his artificial pancreas. Glen also talks about his near-death experience in his first IT job and the decision to move from Independent Contributor to Management. Glen McCallum is a Software engineer f...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah talk with Lucia Cercie, a Software Engineer, mom, and Arizona transplant, about the importance of having a growth-mindset, asking questions, and pair programming. We also talk about the power of community and feeling comfortable asking questions and asking for help. When she's not coding, Lucia likes to make her baby laugh. Lucia Cerchie is a software engineer from Phoenix, AZ. She spends a lot of time orbiting outside her comfort zone and when she's...
Apr 13, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this episode of the Virtual Coffee podcast, Dan and Bekah talk to Gant Laborde, an owner of Infinite Red, mentor, adjunct professor, published author, and award-winning speaker, about overcoming challenges, being authentic, and finding your voice. They share some of the struggles they've faced, talk about how practice can lead to growth, and the importance of recognizing your body's signals in the process. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Direct financial sup...
Apr 06, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Bekah switch things up. Since it's last episode of season one, they share a bit about their origin stories, when their paths connected, and how that led to where Virtual Coffee is today. They talk about the challenges of the last year, how Virtual Coffee has been a light during dark times, and how growing can be painful, but also the process that allows you to become more than you could've imagined. And they also drop some of their favorite Virtual Coffee ...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In this episode, Dan and Bekah talk to Kirk Shillingford, a software developer (and Community Maintainer at Virtual Coffee), who has been "haphazardly writing code for about seven years," about the importance of making mistakes and the growth that comes with it. We also talk about empathy being a key indicator of a senior developer and the importance of having a supportive community. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Direct financial support will help us to conti...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 8
In this episode, we talk to Colleen Schnettler about the challenges of being a woman in the workplace, the benefits of working for yourself, and building her own SaaS business. Colleen is a Ruby on Rails consultant, who recently launched her first product--simple file upload--a career changer, and a mom. Colleen talks about how difficult it is to learn to code; it will take time and commitment, but when you get there, it will all be worth it. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly va...
Feb 22, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 7
In this episode, we talk to Drew Clements about the challenges junior developers face, learning through building Protege.dev, and the importance of community support. Drew is a career transitioner, father of two, and full-time developer who spends his spare time building Protege.dev, the platform curated with remote jobs for junior developers. We also talk about approaches to problem-solving, when to ask questions, and using live-streaming as an accountability tool. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your ...
Feb 15, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In this episode, Bekah and Dan talk about mental health with Cameron Bardell, an iOS developer in the healthcare industry, and Rahat Chowdhury, a mental health start-up founder. We talk about how sometimes building a product to meet our own needs is a great place to start and the importance of prioritizing mental health, especially in a fast-paced industry like tech. We walk through our own experiences, how mental health recovery isn't linear, and how different approaches to mental health techno...
Feb 08, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this episode, Vic talks about Indie Hacking and gives us his take on when to ship, what to focus on, and the value of diverse opinions in your community. He also talks about treating life as a lot of drafts and about building things that you're passionate about as well as things that others find valuable. He cautions against the danger of survivorship bias, recognizing that it's difficult to find a path in indie hacking and that many of the popular voices have worked through challenges and no...
Feb 01, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In this episode, Dan and Bekah welcome Tori to talk about her journey through the interview process that included about 53 interviews, 430 applications, and a pandemic offer that ultimately led to her being ghosted by the company. She gives her tips and tricks, including recognizing that interviews are a two-way street; you should also be interviewing the companies that are interviewing you. She talks about the problems of technical interviewing, how she's hopeful that the industry can make chan...
Jan 25, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this episode, Marie Antons talks with Dan, Bekah, and Kirk about how she went from being a chef to a junior developer. With more and more developers coming into tech from non-traditional backgrounds, Marie shares her own unique story and how taking her past experience as a chef allowed her to understand coding in her own way. There are ingredients and steps to follow with recipes, and similarly, as you learn to code, you'll find what you need to get your code to work and the process you need ...
Jan 18, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Dan and Bekah welcome Nick Taylor (Senior Software Engineer at Forem/DEV) to talk about his journey into tech, open source, and the importance of community. Sponsor Virtual Coffee! Your support is incredibly valuable to us. Direct financial support will help us to continue serving the Virtual Coffee community. Please visit our sponsorship page on GitHub for more information - you can even sponsor an episode of the podcast! Virtual Coffee: Virtual Coffee: virtualcoffee.io Podcast Contact: podcast...
Jan 11, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This is the Virtual Coffee Podcast, hosted by Bekah Hawrot Weigel and Dan Ott. You'll find interviews with members of our community to learn more about their stories, who they are, how they found Virtual Coffee, and how it has influenced their lives as developers. We want to bring everything that's special about Virtual Coffee, the intimacy and the friendships we’ve built, and share that with everyone through the podcast. We’re always growing and learning together as a group, and there’s somethi...
Jan 04, 2021•3 min0
