Burton Smith: Podcast Interview with Amish Munshi

How do you go from customer service to becoming a software engineer at Microsoft? Burton Smith did just that—and his journey is full of lessons on mindset, transformation, and staying curious.

Summary: In this inspiring episode of The Mainstreet Minds Podcast with Amish Munshi, we sit down with Burton Smith, a passionate technologist and open source advocate working at Microsoft. Burton shares his unconventional path into tech, starting from a sales support role, to becoming known as “the tech guy,” and ultimately leveling up into a software engineer role. His story is a masterclass in changing your frequency—adopting the mindset of the person you want to become.

We dive deep into:

• The power of perception and how Burton shifted his identity through action.

• The importance of curiosity and learning to "speak the language" of the environment you want to be in.

• What it’s like building design systems and web components at scale within Microsoft.

• The developer experience Burton is creating through his open-source toolkit.

• Why the future of tech is all about freeing developers to focus on what they do best.

From real-world barcode scanner integrations to musings on AI’s evolving role in software development, this episode covers a ton of ground for anyone navigating their own tech career.

Guest Info: Burton Smith is a software engineer at Microsoft and the creator of the Web Components Toolkit. He’s active in the open-source community and loves helping developers unlock their potential with better tools.

 

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