Human Side of Dev

Andrew Schmelyun is a senior software engineer who has been working with PHP for 12 years, and has created a number of courses and interesting (and unexpected) projects. He talks about his journey into web development, how content creation was an unexpected path in his career, and the importance of standing out in the tech industry.

Andrew:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/aschmelyun
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aschmelyun...

Ben Holmes is a core maintainer of Astro, and well known for his short whiteboard videos on web topics. Ben talks about his journey in web development. He talks about his early experience with giving talks about web development and his open source project Slinkity, and how these led him to the position he has now on the Astro core team. He also shares some insights on how to create engaging content for YouTube or other platforms.

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Chris Ferdinandi is a software developer, mentor, and JavaScript advocate in the United States. He originally started his career working in HR, and discovered a drive to switch careers through a request from his boss.

Chris discusses the hiring process and job search, and how developers can tune their resumes and tactics to have a better chance of landing the job their looking for. We also discuss red flags to watch out for, and so...

Dustin Goodman is an engineering manager at This Dot Labs, located in the United States. We talk about how Dustin began his journey in programming with a gaming community, then dove into learning multiple languages via school and work to find his own path. We also explore Dustin's management experience, and what led him to this place in his career. Dustin also shares some tips for managers for being better managers and how to h...

Blake Thomas is the Director of Engineer at NoRedInk, located in the United States. We talk about how Blake got into programming, and the path that led him from learning to code to a management position in an education tech company. We also talk tips for being a successful manager, and some suggestions on how to interview for your next position.

• https://www.williamury.com/books/getting-to-yes/
• https://www.levels.fyi/

B...

Eddie Freeman is a senior software engineer at Streem in the United States. We talk about his love of storytelling through tabletop roleplaying games, and writing, then explore how he got into working in mobile app development. We also explore time that he spent learning and teaching about programming, both to coworkers and kids approaching the concepts for the first time.

• https://www.codepath.org/
• https://code.org/
• https:...

Rho Oof is a developer who has spent most of her career exploring ways to make things work, sometimes in unexpected ways. We talk about how her interests have led to making different technologies work together, and how that has served her in her career. We also discuss ways that she has approached different programming languages in order to learn them, and exactly how many she has tried out. We wrap up discussing a tool Rho created...

Ben Myers is a web developer and accessibility advocate in the United States, and host of the Some Antics Dev channel on Twitch. We talk about how they began as a developer and got started in both documentation and accessibility, and why these topics matter to all developers. We also talk about the importance and impact of accessibility to users. Finally, we discuss finding a supportive community, and starting a Twitch channel dedi...

Daniel Roe is a software engineer and maintainer of the Nuxt framework in England. He entered the world of open source by founding a startup and needing to build out the tools they used to support their clients, and ended up contributing to Nuxt and eventually being hired by them. We talk about open source, speaking at conferences, imposter syndrome, and how to approach contributing to open source projects as a contributor and main...

Star Richardson is a senior software engineer in the United States, and began her journey as a developer during the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. We talk about her journey into tech, what resources she used to learn the basics, what projects she worked on, and how she got her first job working as a software engineer. 

• https://www.replicated.com/
• https://www.w3schools.com/
• https://pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50-int...

Alex Anderson is a web developer in the United States, and developer of the space simulator Thorium and Thorium Nova. We talk about how Alex explores different technologies, learning about different topics and their applications, and uses that to determine what technology should be used for various projects both at work and for fun. We then explore how Thorium began, and see how this process was used to modernize an application use...

Luiz Oliveira is an engineer from Brazil and former game developer who has been working on creating resources for newer developers in Portuguese. We discuss how he entered the tech industry, his path through game development, and the resources he's made to help teach those interested in development. We also talk about the impact of social media on mental health, and how it can also be useful (or used well) to talk about current eve...

There's a lot to talk about in software development. New frameworks, new techniques, new methods of delivering apps to users. New tools we need to learn in order to keep on top of our profession.

But there's more to being a developer than knowing how to code. There's a human aspect to software development, a story that each of us brings with us to the code. A reason we picked up coding, and why we keep doing it.

Each individual has...