I.t. Career Energizer: Phil Burgess Chats With Robert C Martin, John Sonmez, David Rael And Other Successful It Professionals

Guest Bio: Jennifer is a JavaScript developer, international speaker, foodie, fitness geek and community organiser, most well known for her work creating innovative and highly sought-after programs for women in technology. Jennifer is also the founder of Kansas City Women in Technology, an organisation aimed at growing the number of women in technology careers in Kansas City. And, amongst other things, Jennifer is Missouri’s Coolest Woman, according to Pure Wow.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil sits down with Jennifer Wadella to talk about how she entered the IT industry, women in IT in general, and what to do when you find yourself in a negative work environment. Jennifer also talks about self-motivation, and that you don’t necessarily have to find inspiration in other people, but can focus on your own personal growth and skills and have faith in yourself to be able to improve and succeed.   Key Takeaways: (1.13) Phil begins by asking Jennifer to tell the listeners a bit more about herself. Jenni

Guest Bio: Dylan is a software architect, conference speaker, and musician. He designs APIs and distributed systems based on Microsoft .Net and he also helps to run the London .Net User Group.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil talks with software architect Dylan Beattie about everything from understanding that software is not always the solution to a problem, avoiding getting burnt out, how writing websites can eventually get you speaking at conferences halfway around the world, and the future of tech will involve difficult lessons about community interaction and a greater shift towards user-inclusivity. Dylan also talks about finding the fun in IT, even the uninteresting parts, and why he’s glad he chose a career in IT over one playing guitar.   Key Takeaways:   (1.05) Phil opens by asking Dylan to tell a bit more about himself, with Dylan recounting his early days as a webmaster and that he got into IT purely because he thought it was fun and then learned that he could make a career out of it, an

Guest Bio: Ben is a technologist working in the Office of the CTO at Confluent Inc (the company behind Apache Kafka), where he has worked on a wide range of projects, from implementing the latest version of Kafka’s replication protocol through to developing strategies for streaming applications. Before Confluent, Ben led the design and build of a company-wide data platform for a large financial institution, as well as working on a number of early service-oriented systems, both in finance and at Thoughtworks.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil sits down with Ben Stopford to discuss different kinds of career progress, the future of streaming data between different applications, and the importance of a healthy and positive work environment. Ben also touches on the benefits of learning everything you can from more experienced co-workers, and the power of motivation.   Key Takeaways: (1.02) Phil starts off the episode by asking Ben a bit more about himself. Ben reveals that, unlike most people in the IT

Guest Bio: Daniel Bryant is a technology specialist with expertise in the design, development, and deployment of enterprise-grade software applications and platforms.  Daniel also excels in leading teams that build these systems, and regularly shares his knowledge by presenting at international conferences and writing for well-known technology websites.   Episode Description: In this episode, Phil talks with Daniel Bryant about the benefits of working in a variety of areas across IT and business and how it can help you figure out the work you’re best at and will enjoy the most, as well as just taking in a wide range of new experiences. Daniel also stresses the importance of a strong and supportive community of peers, as well as the need to make sure your foundational learning is a priority.     Key Takeaways:   (1.24) Phil opens things up by asking Daniel to tell a little more about himself and what he does. Daniel explains that he actually started his career as an academic but fell in love with consulting wh

Guest Bio: Dan North is the originator of Behaviour-Driven Development and Deliberate Discovery.  He has been coaching, coding, and consulting for over 25 years and uses his knowledge to help CIOs, businesses, and software teams to deliver quickly and successfully.  Dan is also a frequent speaker at conferences and has contributed to a number of books, including 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know.   Episode Description: In this episode, Dan shares his excitement on how wide open the field of IT remains, and that it continues to be powered by a strong sense of innovation and creativity. He also talks with Phil about the benefits of choosing your own path, the value of diversity, and the importance of empathy.   Key Takeaways:   (1.22) Phil starts things off asking Dan to tell us more about himself and what he’s working on. Dan talks about how’s been working independently for almost six years now and that one of the downsides of being independent is having to run the actual business as well as do the work a

Guest Bio: Shawn Rakowski is a seasoned software developer with Gullview Technologies out of Brainerd Minnesota, where he specializes in delivering full stack .NET solutions. Shawn is also a husband, father, conference speaker, blogger, former podcaster, aspiring entrepreneur, and game dev hobbyist.   Episode Description: In this episode, Shawn explains the value of taking time for personal creative projects to challenge yourself and create a more diverse portfolio and skills set. Shawn also talks about the dangers of second-guessing yourself, as well as the importance of always pushing yourself to learn more and gain new experiences.   Key Takeaways: (1.31) Phil opens the interview by asking Shawn to tell the listeners a bit more about himself. Shawn says that he’s been working in software development for about a decade, generally working in e-commerce and distribution, but has been recently focusing more on speaking about game development at conferences, including Codemash this past January.   (2.37) Phil t

Welcome to episode #065 of the I.T. Career Energiser, a weekly podcast where your host Phil Burgess chats with inspiring I.T. professionals, consultants and experts from around the world. To find out more about the podcast visit itcareerenergizer.com And remember to Subscribe to get new episodes automatically downloaded to your device. In today’s episode, Phil chats with featured guest, Nicki Watt. Nicki is an experienced software engineer and consultant and is currently the Chief Technical Officer at OpenCredo. She can be seen speaking at various conferences and is also co-author of the graph database book "Neo4j in Action”.  

In today’s episode, Phil chats with featured guest, Gualtiero Bazzana. Gualtiero is past president of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board, more commonly known as the ISTQB(r). He is also president of the ITA-STQB, the Italian chapter of ISTQB(r) and Southern Europe regional director of Alten, which is a technology and engineering group operating world-wide. KEY TAKEAWAYS (01.26) Gualtiero begins by explaining more about his responsibilities as Regional Director of the technology and engineering consultancy Alten. Gualtiero goes on to tell us about his passion for not-for-profit organisation ISTQB(r). (02.27) Gualtiero tells us how he is a family man with three children and that he has a great passion for skiing (02.51) Gualtiero says that his main priority is his role as regional director of Alten and his voluntary work for ISTQB is a secondary priority. (03.46) Gualtiero says that I.T. is in an exceptional moment in time, with a lot of opportunities. He goes on to say that we should all

Welcome to the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast In this episode Phil Burgess talks to Phil Lew who is C.E.O and President of XBOSoft, a leading provider of software quality engineering services. Phil has 25 years of experience in the software industry and has an interesting and solid view of how you should conduct yourself in pursuit of finding the correct career. During those 25 years he has experienced frustration at his own progress before finding his own career path. KEY TAKEAWAYS from Phil Lew (01.23) Phil Lew begins by telling us about his passion for cycling, and how he enjoyed racing. However as he has matured he now mainly goes on cycling tours. Cycling to him is a metaphor for life and Phil says it is not always the strongest that win, but the person who applies the right amount of efforts at the right time. Phil says he thinks this outlook applies to our lives as well as our careers. Phil also has a passion for travel and has travelled to 70 countries within the last 6 years. (02.49) Phil Lew discuss

DESCRIPTION Welcome to The IT Career Energizer. Phil Burgess introduces his guest April Wensel by telling us April is an international speaker and the founder of Compassionate Coding a social enterprise bringing emotional intelligence and social consciousness to the software industry. April is also a mentor and a keen advocate of diversity and inclusiveness in the industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS Phil Burgess starts the interview with April Wensel by asking her to expand on his summery and telling us a little bit more about herself. April tell us she has been working as a software engineer both in an individual capacity as a contributor and in an engineering team. She solves a lot of problems within the industry around human beings. This is why she started Compassionate Coding to inspire people to care about human beings and the people they are building the software for. In addition to these qualities she reveals to us that she is a Vegan which enabled her to bring compassion to the industry. Phil continues with the t

DESCRIPTION Welcome to the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast. In this episode Phil Burgess has Sandro Mancuso as his guest. Sandro is an international and inspiring I.T. consultant, a speaker who is the co- founder of Codurance and the founder of The London Craftmanship Community. Sandro is the author of The Software Craftsman. It can be appreciated that Sandro Mancuso with 22 years experience in software gives sound advice to all who are looking to succeed in whatever field they work in. KEY TAKEAWAYS Phil Burgess starts the interview asking Sandro to tell us about his career. Sandro, who is Brazilian, started at the age of 11 years when his father bought him a TK85 2X. He discovered he could type games and codes which helped him decide that was the path he wanted to take at university.  He also wanted to come to London as he knew at that time it was the hub of I.T. software. He advices us to separate our career from our job and goes on to explain how to approach this. Phil asks Sandro to tell us about his wors

Today’s episode should be very interesting not only for I.T. enthusiasts but also for everyone else who wants to upscale their game in their career. Our guest today is Jeremy Likness, a cloud developer advocate for Microsoft and he has one great piece of advice for you – be comfortable selling yourself! Jeremy’s career has spanned over 20 years which he says has mostly focused on communicating with clients and customers. And, he proves that it really made a difference in his career when he started changing how he packaged himself to relay his knowledge and skills easily. These ups and downs made him brave enough to take risks, learn on his own and be determined about his goals. He made connections along the way and his goal is to empower other developers to be their best. Start listening to learn more about Jeremy’s career advice! To find out more about this episode visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e60  

Bill Wagner is one of the world’s foremost C# developers and a member of the ECMA C# Standards Committee. He is currently with Microsoft, working on the .NET Core Content Team. Bill is also an author, blogger and creator of learning materials for developers interested in the C# language and .NET Core. In this episode Bill Wagner tells us why we should only take advice from people who have relevant experience in what we want to do. Bill also provides helpful insights into his own use of mind mapping in progressing his career and why you should not waste your time on doing things that you don’t enjoy. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e59

Adda Birnir is founder and CEO of Skillcrush, an online tech education company that helps students make a career change into tech. Prior to founding Skillcrush, Adda worked as a developer, building web applications for companies such as the New York Times and ProPublica. In this episode Adda Birnir tells us why we must always be thinking about our customer’s problems and how we can solve them. Adda also talks about her transition into a tech career from a liberal arts degree and how it inspired her to start her company, Skillcrush. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e58

Hadi Hariri leads the Developer Advocacy team at Jet Brains and spends as much time as he can writing code. He has authored a couple of books, a few courses and has been speaking at regular events for over 15 years. In this episode Hadi tells us why we should always dedicate time to continue to learning new things and why persistence and consistency can pay off. Hadi also talks about our self-imposed limitations and his thoughts about the future of machine learning. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e57

Dave Fancher has been building software for more than a decade. He is the owner of Achiiv Solutions as well as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, a Pluralsight author and author of “The Book of F#”. Dave is also active within the software development community and has spoken at numerous events throughout the United States. In this episode Dave Fancher tells us why we need to keep our own best interests in mind and that you need to be cognizant of potential burnout. Dave also talks about personality types and the perils of poor communication. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e56

Monica Beckwith is an independent performance consultant and trainer optimizing customer applications and systems running the Java Virtual Machine. Monica is also a regular speaker at conferences and is co-author of the ‘Java Performance Companion’. In this episode Monica Beckwith tells us why we need to be proactive when opportunities present themselves and how you can avoid getting lost in large organisations. Monica also talks about challenges in her own career and why you should never give up on yourself. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e55

Dan Wahlin is founder of the Wahlin Group which provides consulting and training services on Web technologies such as JavaScript, jQuery and SharePoint. He is also one of the top authors at Pluralsight and has published several courses covering a range of technologies. As well as being a Microsoft Regional Director and a regular speaker at conferences and user groups. In this episode Dan Wahlin tells us why we need to be honest and respectful of others and why those that continue to learn differentiate themselves from those that don’t. Dan also talks about the opportunities within technology careers and the importance of exercising your mind as well as your body. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e54

Gene Kim has been researching high-performing technology organizations since 1999. He’s a multiple award-winning CTO, Tripwire founder, co-author of The DevOps Handbook, The Phoenix Project, and Visible Ops. Gene is also a DevOps Researcher and is passionate about IT operations, security and compliance, and how IT organizations successfully transform from "good to great”. In this episode Gene Kim tells us why we need to surround ourselves with the best people in our field and why he believes the best days of software engineering are ahead of us, not behind us. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e53

Jeff Patton is an independent consultant, providing training, coaching and consulting services. He has designed and developed software for the past 20 years on a wide variety of projects from on-line aircraft parts ordering to electronic medical records. Jeff has also authored numerous articles, essays and, most recently, a book, “User Story Mapping”. In this episode Jeff Patton tells us why we need to spend time with the people who will use the software we deliver. Jeff also talks about the future of I.T. jobs and why you need to find that one thing that you’re passionate about. To find out more about this episode, visit the show notes page at www.itcareerenergizer.com/e52