Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional
Are you a technology professional unsatisfied with your current role? Looking for a resource to help understand changing job functions, changing organizations, or gaining recognition and progression? The Nerd Journey podcast helps explore alternative roles, increase job satisfaction, and accelerate career progression. Each week, we uncover patterns of technical career progression by dissecting careers of guests and discussing different job roles they’ve held, or discussing relevant career topics. We’ve interviewed people in IT operations, sales engineering, technical marketing, product management, people management, network engineering, cybersecurity, software development, entrepreneurs, and more. We also discuss improving job satisfaction and accelerating career growth. We are John White and Nick Korte, two technologists with experience in IT operations and sales engineering who started this podcast in 2018. We release on Tuesdays, and can be found at https://nerd-journey.com.
Episodes
What would you do with a free pass to a tech conference? Julia Furst Morgado had to decide whether to attend KubeCon without ever having been to a tech conference. After deciding to attend, she came back from the conference with a new perspective and a job offer. While this looks easy on the surface, there’s much more to the story.
In episode 311 we’re joined by global technologist Julia Furs...
Finding a Better Way: Contracting, Independence, and a Consultant’s Reputation with David Klee (2/2)
Does a successful consulting career mean you should only work for yourself? David Klee insists you first need to become a skilled consultant with the right kind of reputation. In episode 310, part two of our focused discussion on the nuances of consulting, we dive into the realities—and the pros and cons—of contracting, working full-time for a consulting firm, and the independence of running ...
What does it mean to be a consultant? We’ve explored the consultant role as part of the career path of previous guests, but this episode kicks off a focused two-part discussion on the nuances of consulting. In this first part of the discussion, episode 309, returning guest David Klee shares practical insights for managing business travel, enhancing communication skills, and excelling in the c...
What does it mean to coach someone? Is that the same or different from being a people manager? Ramzi Marjaba is back to delve deep into the process of coaching. This week in episode 308, we discuss the roles of mentors, managers, coaches, and how their skills might overlap. Ramzi will share the reasons he is passionate about coaching others and the qualities of an effective coach. We also tal...
Is professional networking the same thing as sales? Does the thought of that make you cringe a little?
Ramzi Marjaba, our guest in episode 307, says sales skills are some of the most important skills we as technology professions need that no one talks about. Whether you are building professional connections or searching for a job, you are running a sales cycle.
Ramzi helps us understand the r...
Are layoffs top of mind for you right now? Brad Pinkston is a returning guest and someone who has experienced multiple layoff events in the tech industry from different seats.
In episode 306, Brad shares the story of getting laid off from a small startup. We’ll dissect how he processed that news and eventually returned to big company life. Then, looking at layoffs from a different lens, we ta...
What exactly is a technical alliance? Technology companies create alliance relationships to support product integration and to increase revenue by creating multiple avenues for selling a product. But as Brad Pinkston knows, alliance relationships between different companies can become quite complex.
This week in episode 305 we’re rejoined by Brad Pinkston to hear his story of pursuing a role ...
Are you trying to reach that next level in your career? Why do you want to get to the next level, and what is most important to you in doing that? If next level means next job level in your case, at some point there is no next level. What then?
Duncan Epping would encourage you not to set a goal based on an endpoint. This week in episode 304 we share Duncan’s career progression over time to C...
What would you do if your co-presenter for a breakout session at a large technology conference had to back out a couple of weeks before the event? One option is deliver the presentation yourself. That’s exactly what Duncan Epping did in this situation despite his crippling fear of public speaking at the time.
Duncan Epping is a Chief Technologist, a published author, a blogger, and someone wh...
How do you know when to stop doing something you love? Amy Lewis would say decisions like these require us to be intentional about putting something down so we can pick up something else.
Amy is an unapologetic marketer working in the tech industry, and she was once a Geek Whisperer. This week in episode 302 we explore the genesis of Amy’s involvement in The Geek Whisperers podcast. You’ll he...
Who knew leaving publishing might result in a career as a marketer in the tech industry? Amy Lewis was encouraged to pursue a role at Cisco by a career counselor who recognized her unique strengths. Now Amy refers to herself as an unapologetic marketer and a people person. On the soccer field and in her career, she is always a winger. She is focused more on the assist than scoring the goal.
I...
What can you learn from 300 episodes focused on career progression in technology? This week we’ll remind listeners of our show’s mission and share the origin story of the podcast. Listen closely for the lessons we’ve learned, the patterns we have seen in our discussions and guests, the feedback we want to hear from listeners like you, and some recommended episodes if you want to dive deeper i...
Recent episodes and tech industry layoff trends made us wonder – is there a connection between layoff events and burnout? And if there is, are there differences in how burnout shows up in people impacted by layoffs, in those who remain, and in leaders?
In episode 299 burnout expert, coach, keynote speaker, and podcaster Cait Donovan returns to help us connect the dots. We start by defin...
Technical managers are responsible for developing great engineers, right? Yes, but that is only part of the job. Technical managers should also be developing leaders on their team. But how exactly do you do that? It starts with delegating some leadership responsibility when you delegate work.
Tad Reeves, our guest in episode 298, returns to share his experience as a blogger, the progression f...
How can a technology become our focus area unexpectedly? For Tad Reeves, it started when he said yes to the right opportunity. After doing back-end systems work for hosting providers, working in web design and development, stints in contracting and consulting, and experience with web analytics platforms…content management systems seem like a logical next step in the progression.
Tad Reeves, o...
What do you love most about your job? Give that some thought before you answer. Have you forgotten what brought you into this industry in the first place?
Tad Reeves, our guest this week in episode 296, has been consistently reminded of the things he loves about technology throughout his career. Tad originally pursued mechanical engineering but made a change to graphic design. Soon he fell in...
How many questions should you ask before offering your opinion? If you’re working as a consultant in tech, Erik Gross would advise not offering your opinion until you have the full context of the problem to be solved and the organization you’re trying to help. Erik’s recommendations for being successful as a consultant follow a repeatable pattern. And just as the consultant needs context to b...
Entrepreneurs have no shortage of ideas. But how do they know if a new business idea is actually a good idea? Our guest this week would advise seeking fast feedback during the ideation process to save time, preserve energy, and remain focused on delivering value to your intended audience.
This week in episode 294 we’re rejoined by Erik Gross to discuss some of the lessons learned from his rec...
Are you solving the right problem? To get a specific outcome, the problem we need to solve is not always what we think it is. Abby Clobridge, the founder and lead consultant at FireOak Strategies, and her team perform detailed discovery with clients to ensure everyone is aligned to solve the right problem(s).
This week in episode 293 we discuss Abby’s transition to becoming a consultant and h...
What do you think the following jobs have in common? The answer will give you a hint about our guest this week!
- Doing statistical work for a market research firm
- Conducting research for a popular news network
- Architecting information flow and query optimization for websites
- Leading digitization initiatives for a university
- Becoming a consultant
- Owning a business
Abby Clobridge, our...
Popular Podcasts
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.