December 12, 2024 • 36 mins
Sebastian Nunez, a promising talent with Dominican roots, uncovers his vibrant tech journey from the Dominican Republic to his current role as a software engineering intern at Google. His path is illuminated by his passion for TypeScript and the allure of the bustling tech scene at Chelsea Market. As Sebastian takes us through his experiences, listeners gain insight into how his upbringing and education at Florida International University's esteemed engineering program have shaped his career aspirations and opportunities.
Join us as we promise an exploration of the critical skills and supplemental education needed to thrive in the competitive field of computer science. Sebastian's story is a testament to the power of platforms like LeetCode in acing technical interviews and the unexpected real-world applications of foundational knowledge. Dive into his current project at Google, where he tackles complex data structures like n-ary trees, revealing how his education and practical experiences converge in exciting ways.
Take a closer look at the evolving landscape of CI/CD pipelines and the indispensable role of TypeScript in front-end development. Sebastian's aspirations to advance within the tech industry are interwoven with the transformative experiences provided by programs like CodePath. Through his journey, we emphasize the vibrant tech community in Miami, shedding light on the dynamic environment and the significance of networking and practical skills in paving a successful career path. Tune in for insider insights and a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the tech hustle with our special guest, Sebastian Nunez.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Currently a software engineering intern at Google.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Growing up.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do,
literally not know a singlething about coding.
I love TypeScript.
I mean it's a great language,definitely tricky when you get
to like the complicated types,but on average, way better than
JavaScript.
But yeah, the cool thing aboutChelsea Market is that you know
you have the market downstairsbut everything above is pretty
much Google owned, so mostpeople, I think it's definitely
(00:29):
interesting to think about, likepeople are just doing the
everyday stuff and then theyhave like all these engineers on
top of it, you know right, noteven knowing right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, exactly, that's cool.
Actually, last night was thefirst time I was back on twitter
for one whole year.
So I've been boycotting twitterfor one year, since they
changed the name to x, and now,you know, all I'm thinking about
is twitter in my back of mymind, so I can't get the name
out of my head.
Is this the type of job thatyou want, like full-time?
Absolutely welcome, welcome,welcome.
(01:02):
Yeah, what up d hustle,whathustle, what up player.
Guess where we at my man, theBig Apple.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The Big Apple.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
NYC.
Stand up, we out here.
I can't believe we've made itall the way from San Francisco
to New York City.
And big shout outs to everybodythat we've had a pleasure of
hanging out with, especiallysome family.
We had some family time right,yeah, yeah, we did with uh,
especially some family we hadsome family time.
Yeah, yeah, we did, yeah, yeah.
All those florentinos, yeah,all those dominicans, I mean,
they had me.
I was overwhelmed.
(01:28):
Now I'm just playing.
I love each and every one ofthem.
We'll shout them out throughoutthe show.
But today we have a specialguest.
We got uh, it's somebody thatlow-key.
When I first met him, I knew hewas gonna be hitting stars he.
He's somebody that, when youlook at his journey, you're
gonna have to follow along,because he got some gems and,
yeah, his start may actuallymention something in the
(01:49):
caribbean too.
But let's give a big round ofapplause for sebastian nunez.
Welcome to the stage, sebastian.
What's?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
up man.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Thank you let me give him a real, a real introduction
.
Let's see welcome, welcome,sebastian, welcome to the tech
hustle.
This segment here is calledbackstage, with bobby d and um,
as mentioned in terms of all theshow prep.
Uh, the main focus here is tohighlight your journey, um, and
(02:16):
definitely introduce ouraudience to some of the people
that I've had a pleasure of youknow, encountering, mentoring,
teaching, having conversationswith and seeing how high you're
climbing on this ladder man,congratulations.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Welcome, thank you.
Thank you, it's awesome to behere.
Thank you for the opportunity.
I'm excited for ourconversation.
Yeah, for sure.
Shout out to Sebastian Nunezyes.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
From New York City.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and D-Houseis going to hold us down in the
cut indefinitely.
Let's just kick the story rightoff.
Tell us where you're from, howit all got here and we get to
where you're working at rightnow, because you're doing big
things.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, speaking of Dominicans, I'm Dominican
myself.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh, look you see.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
If y'all were only here to see how excited he was
to hear another.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Dominican, I'm excited to see somebody from my
country.
Let's go, stop playing aroundFinally.
Let's do it.
Let's do it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, but I'm Dominican Born there.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Came to the US.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
When I was 11 years old, moved straight to Cleveland
, ohio, that's more or less whatI had my upbringing.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Cleveland, ohio.
That's a little, that's adifference.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Next thing you know he's telling me he's a LeBron
James fan.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh, don't worry about that.
Don't worry about that.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
He is he didn't say nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Shout, I mean who?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
isn't to be honest.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So Ohio.
What's up in Ohio, though?
Family there.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, my aunt.
She's the first person thatkind of migrated here and she
lived there for 25 years rightbefore us, so it was kind of a
natural place for us to land.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, yeah, and then you found yourself where else
after Ohio.
Yeah, so I lived in Ohio prettymuch from middle school all the
way up to high school, when Igraduated high school, I
actually moved to miami now hego from dominican republic to
ohio right and then can find hisway back to miami, which is
basically extension of thecaribbean right.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
What you say, yeah yeah, yeah, it was, uh, mostly
my mom.
She wanted to move to miami.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We have some other family there yeah and, uh, she
was kind of tired of the coldand I was like that's usually
what it does big shout out tomom thank you for getting it out
of there, everywhere out, yeah.
So what's up in miami?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
well, you, you went to school up there or down there
, rather yes, I'm currentlystudying computer science at fiu
, so go panthers out there bigshout out to fiu.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, that's, that's by far one of the best
engineering programs we have inthis nation.
Like seriously, I've talked toa lot of students around the
country that go to differentschools and FIU is definitely at
the top of the list in myopinion.
Big shout out to FIU, shout outto FIU.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
So studying computer science.
So how did you get intocomputer science or engineering
like that?
Yeah, so studying computerscience.
So how did you get intocomputer science or engineering
like that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So I started it kind of in high school I you know,
growing up I didn't really knowexactly what I wanted to do when
I graduated.
But kind of at some point afriend of mine he was like oh,
you should maybe take thiscomputer science course.
It kind of he saw what I wasgood at science, math.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
He was like sure.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I literally did not know a single thing about coding
or anything like that.
So I took that intro tocomputer science course in like
my junior year and then I likedit, um, really liked everything
about it actually, specificallykind of the more like javascript
front and development side ofthings.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Ah, that's what you're sitting at.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, yeah yeah, at this point I would come on some
more on the full stack level,but it was a great place to
start.
The following year I took aJava class, AP Computer Science
A.
I had a great instructorCrushed it and then after that I
was like I want to do this.
I did my research and I waslike, yeah, I'm down for it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's what's up.
Congratulations on that, andthe cool thing is that you
actually found some passionbehind it and joy right Rather
than oh, I want to get into this, I can make a billion-dollar
type stuff, but versus like, hey, I actually really like this.
And then, being a front-enddeveloper with JavaScript,
you've got to be really, in myopinion, like artistic a little
(05:57):
bit, because you're reallyputting together the visual of
the Internet and putting it allin code, which is really cool.
So JavaScript was your firstprogramming language.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, yeah, javascript was kind of my
introduction to programming.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Then Java and then kind of.
Those have been my twostrengths.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No Python, no Python.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Oh yeah, I think Python right now is probably my
favorite programming language.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Oh, let's give a big, big round of applause for
Python.
He said it's one of yourfavorite programmers.
Yes, a big, big round ofapplause for python.
He said uh, it's one of yourfavorite programs, one of my
favorite programming languagesalso.
Um, it's very phonic in the waythat it's written and read and
there's so many libraries thatyou can do everything and then
you know over time it justbecomes easier to manage because
it's not uh, so many construct,so many like uh.
(06:39):
Object oriented program can becool, but sometimes it just gets
a little confusing, especiallywith java and how uh it could
get stacked up.
But in general they're allgreat programming languages.
But if python is something youwant to learn, develop python,
go go find out.
You'll see what I'm talkingabout, definitely.
So, fiu.
So tell me a little bit aboutfiu.
So, uh, are you in the initinit program out there?
(07:01):
Don't they have like an init?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
yes, yeah, yeah, and it actually that's kind of how I
was introduced more into theinternship world and like how to
actually break into tech,because kind of my first year,
two years, of computer science Ididn't really understand, since
my family, you know, doesn'thave any tech experience.
I'm like first generationcollege student, yeah, um, and
specifically in tech, um, Isigned up it was called, uh,
(07:23):
epsilon, pi, epsilon up at thetime and they have really
amazing programs um, a lot ofpreparation for, you know,
technical interviews as well asjust like building projects,
yeah, where that's where I gotmy real introduction to like
what it actually takes to get aninternship and, you know,
hopefully get a job yeah, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, we'll talk about that because he's already
checked off a few boxes aroundinternships and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Let me interject real quick.
What's up?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
kid it seems like you're the first generation in
IT.
I don't know if you had thatsame experience as me.
Did you get phone calls thatsay my TV's not working?
Can you connect all that stuff?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I still do oh man, because I get that a lot.
Ay, oh man, because I get thata lot.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Ay, mijo, come over here.
Yo no se que yo hice, you know,yada, yada, yada, I'm like.
All you have to do is hit thisbutton.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And it's working.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, yeah, even now, recently, we're like I just
want to make sure it's not justme.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, Even recently with, like, the Crowd keys to
everything right, so true, sotrue, and and d's right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's like, uh, as soon as they hear you say
anything about computers, it'slike literally anything that
plugs into the wall.
You're supposed to know how itworks and and you can fix it.
So, uh, next time, tell them yo.
If it's some javascript orsomething like that or css html,
then I could probably jump in.
But yeah, yeah, you're gonnahave that for the rest of your
career or rest of your life.
That's what's up.
(08:46):
So, talking about internshipsand more or less getting close
to where we first encounteredeach other, tell me a little bit
about the Intuit program andhow that really got you prepared
for internships in the realworld.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, yeah.
So I would say that they had agreat build program.
Essentially it's a semester ofbuilding projects with a team of
fellow students, maybe peoplewho have done internships lead,
but yeah, throughout kind ofthat semester I also learned
about CodePath, which has alsobeen kind of a huge catalyst for
me.
I've taken I think like four orfive courses from them and
(09:26):
between those two and CodePath,like it's a really good duo to
prepare you for pretty muchanything in tech.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, let's just give a big shout out to CodePath.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What up CodePath?
What up Kelsey?
What up Geneva?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Geneva in the house.
What up, what up, what up,catalina?
We see y'all, all the wholeteam I'm gonna be missing a few
people the whole career center.
Big shout out to CodePath.
So you say, in the combinationof both of these, uh and I like
to label as supplementaleducation or supplemental things
that you have to do to reallyget yourself, uh, ahead of the
your peers, because there's alot of y'all coming out with
(09:52):
computer science, fiu has agreat campus, a great, you know,
student body, so you know youstill have that competition even
at your own school, and addingthese supplemental education
things always give you thatupper hand, uh.
So big shout outs to you, man,I'm really piecing that together
because, thank you, uh, I thinkthat really did open up an
opportunity for you to intern ata really cool company.
I mean, I don't want to say itout loud, but I'll, I'll let you
(10:14):
batch and mention it.
So were you interning this thissummer?
yeah, yeah, I'm currently aself-engineering intern at
google oh, pause, pause, let himsay it again because he's
getting a little nervous.
Say it with your chest outplayer.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So I'm currently interning at Google.
That's what's up.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's what's up.
That's what's up and yo thisopportunity in terms of
interning at Google and reallygetting a chance to be exposed
to it.
How has that changed yourperspective of computer science
and all that?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, I think I was definitely kind of thought I was
here, but it's a different typeof beast, especially with, like
, the big tech and corporateworld in general.
But it's been fun.
I've been learning a lot,definitely had a lot of support,
you know, within my teammanagement and even outside from
CodePath.
I was talking to Catalinapretty much like every two weeks
leading up to internships anddoing check-ins to make sure
(11:07):
that I have a strategy and aplan going into everything.
So it's been great, amazing.
I mean pretty much everythingthat I expected plus more.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh, that's what's up, big shout outs to this
internship, and one of the coolthings that I like about the
opportunity that you have isthat you're getting real
exposure to it not just like hey, this is what it's going to be
like, or could be like.
No, this is actually what it islike exactly.
And I have a question for youbecause, um, in our industry,
unfortunately, we use this uhservice or tool um to measure
(11:35):
proficiency for potential umcandidates which is called lead
code.
Yes, uh, but my question is ishow much lead coding have you
been doing in terms of your roleat Twitter, and how much does
it really apply?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Not at Google.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Look at me.
I'm over here trying to getthis guy an internship.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah , yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I'm sorry, internship at Google.
I apologize, but how?
How has lead code really playeda role in any of that?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I think honestly, the code is pretty much the only
way that I think you can offsetthe amount of luck you need
within an interview setting.
Because, I feel as though a lotof the time in these interviews
it's all pretty much luck,depending on the question that
you get, the interview that youget.
But by doing LeetCode andpreparing for these interviews
specifically kind of the45-minute technical questions,
(12:25):
the more you do you can kind ofoffset the amount of luck
because you've seen more of thequestions, more of the patterns.
Yeah, yeah, and it doesn'trequire you know to know
everything, but a lot of leakcode for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, for sure.
Now, in your day-to-day, interms of your role, do you
actually solving those type ofthing problems, or are you going
to be doing different type ofthings?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, I think actually, surprisingly, within
the project that I'm doing now,there's actually a lot of data
structures that I didn't think Iwould use day to day.
Specifically now I'm usingin-area trees, a lot of typical
hash map sets, things like that,but trees I didn't really
expect, because I'm doing avisualization of non-linear
release pipelines, things likethat, so I didn't really expect
(13:01):
it.
But it's definitely a greatfoundation to have to really
understand those data structures.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, data structure is definitely one of those
things that you don't reallyunderstand how it all comes
together, unless you're doing aproject and a use case for it.
Storing data, storing userinformation, manipulating it so
you can access it in other ways.
But hey, I'm grateful to hearthat all these skills are
playing out and um very muchfavorable for you.
So you mentioned a little bitabout the project you're working
(13:29):
on, so tell us a little bitabout what you're working on at
twitter.
Lord, what's wrong with me?
Like you know what it is, andthen I'll tell y'all what it is
that's not what it is d.
actually, last night was thefirst time I was back on twitter
for one whole year, so I'vebeen boycotting Twitter for one
year, since they changed thename to X, and now, you know,
(13:49):
all I'm thinking about isTwitter in the back of my mind,
so I can't get the name out ofmy head.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Give it to your girl, Thanks D.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
That's for the next one that happens.
That's for the next one.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
But anyways, come on, bro, come on, man.
I'm messing with Sebastian.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
No, it's okay, sebastian gots it.
It's just me.
But Google in general, tell usa little bit about the projects
you're working on this summer.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, it's mainly one project.
I guess I'm doing kind of asupplementary thing now, but
they have.
You know I'm within the CICDspace, specifically more on the
continuous deployment side.
Essentially that's everythingfrom after you submit your code
or run through the test, youactually have to deploy it out
in the world, essentiallythroughout the entire world,
(14:30):
different locations.
They have already an automatedsystem to get these candidates
released, whatever.
But there's actually arequirement now to have
non-linear release pipelineswhere you it's not just like,
okay, it goes to the early stageand pre-prod and then prod.
It may be required that youhave multiple pre-prods.
Maybe one specifically could befor Europe because they have
(14:52):
different privacy requirements.
Yeah, that's kind of the ideawhere you have this kind of tree
structure of dependencies thathave kind of independent
promotion schedules anddifferent rates of release.
Essentially, that's what's up,so yeah it's centered around
that giving users information tobe able to do it.
Shout out to.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sebastian, that right there, in terms of what I
always feel like CICD, is likeright in the middle before all
the work you're doing in termsof dev to actually getting in
this production right.
And as long as you have aneffective tool or service to
help you deploy, it usuallystreamlines the process.
And then it definitely soundscool in terms of being able to
(15:32):
you know parallel deployments indifferent regions, percentage
wise probably.
You said pre-production, testdevelopment and then in
production.
Like having a cool tool likethat definitely makes life
easier for developers, andthat's usually the role of those
teams specifically arounddeveloper.
What do they call them?
Like developer advocates orpeople that are just focusing on
(15:54):
helping developers get theircode into production as quickly
as possible.
That's really cool.
Now, are you doing anything onthe cloud infrastructure side
after the deploy, or just theCIDCD pipeline itself?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
No infrastructure, mostly just like developing kind
of visuals for differentengineers to be able to
understand what's going on.
Oh yeah, you're a front-endengineer, are?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
you using TypeScript at all.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Oh yeah, a lot of TypeScript, a lot of TypeScript.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So how do you feel about TypeScript though?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I think it's great.
I mean, I've had to actuallywith a different project that
I'm doing now it's more oflegacy UI and that's in
JavaScript and using likeAngularJS, which is like really
old, whereas what I'm doing nowmostly it's Angular 2.
But yeah, I love TypeScript.
I mean it's a great language.
Definitely tricky when you getto like the complicated types,
(16:41):
but on average it's way betterthan JavaScript.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And that's always good to hear as these new
programming languages are comingout to supplement what we've
already been customized to use.
Still have some of that sameflavor, taste, but definitely
adds a new you know, seasoningto it or a way of writing code
or developing or deploying.
So that's, that's big ups.
Uh, would you say thattypescript is going to be like
the new front radar and in termsof like those you know, people
(17:06):
that are interested in gettinginto tech or they're already in
tech.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Uh, thinking about, you know, learning another
programming language yeah, Ithink I guess if between like
front end and back end, if youwant to go back, mostly java,
like you know, the back ends I'musing, it's all java yeah um,
and then front end definitelytypescript.
I mean it's definitely the wayto go by far.
Uh, just everything usestypescript, pretty much Like any
company that I've worked atuses.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
TypeScript as a baseline.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So definitely learn.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
TypeScript.
That's a nugget right there.
There's definitely anopportunity for you all to catch
this, because I've heardsomething Sebastian says is that
places that you've interviewedtalked with or done some work
with.
they are looking for that skillset, typescript Even though,
yeah, you can learn it as you go, but it'd be great to have
projects to be able to showcasethat for sure, for sure, now in
(17:54):
terms of like, uh, other thingsabout google, or tell me like
one, one cool thing that's interms of just your experience
there, you know, visiting andbeing in that work environment
and stuff like that yeah, Ithink definitely the office
space is something that shockedme.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I had been to previous like Google offices,
but in New York, specifically,given kind of the constraints in
space they essentially have,like the main building, it's
like this massive 16-floor blocklike a whole width and then a
whole block the other way thatused to be, like the Port
Authority building, and thenbesides that, there's also a
really cool one which I work at.
(18:28):
It's called Chelsea Market.
Have you been to Chelsea Market?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, we actually walked that way.
We were heading towards Pier 57.
Yeah, Pier 57.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Pier 57, another one of the buildings.
But yeah, the cool thing aboutChelsea Market is that you have
the market downstairs, buteverything above is pretty much
Google-owned.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So most people I think it's definitely
interesting to think about likepeople are just doing the
everyday stuff and then theyhave like all these engineers on
top of them.
You know right, not?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
even knowing right.
Yes, exactly, that's cool,that's cool doors.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
There's a whole bunch of gates yeah everybody.
It's like um, what is it?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
uh, what do you call?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
it.
It's like a monitor, I guess inthe beginning.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, people go up.
I think it's a big route.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think you it's like a monitor, I guess in the
beginning, yeah, people go up.
I think it's a big route.
I think you guys had like afamily friends day.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Oh, when we went there.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, it was midweek last week when we went to Pier
57.
There was two separateentrances, one for us to go to
the market and then one for theGoogle entrance and they had
like a bunch of kids and parentsthere.
So I was like, oh, they'reprobably doing like a bring your
kids, a bring your family towork day type stuff, which is
always really cool when you workin these.
You know Silicon Valley, youknow tech startups or companies
(19:35):
as established as Google and,yeah, man, office spaces in
terms of their locations.
We were actually out inMountain View the other day too,
so we got to see their campusout there and I tell you, tell
you, man, yeah, y'all definitelygoogle uh making an investments
in the workspace but alsocreating an environment for you
to be creative, because Iguarantee you, that really helps
amplify your creation.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
That does that does that give you that vibe yeah, I
mean, I'm somebody who more orless works out out of my
computer pretty much the samesize as what you have there, um,
so that's one of the benefits.
I don't need like anothermonitor.
Some people have like twomonitors so they're always just
stuck to their desk but I'vekind of developed a workflow
around just my computer so I canjust go sit around wherever
actually.
Go out to one of the top floorsor out on the balcony and just
(20:17):
think relax, do some work yeahyeah, yeah, that creative space
is something that when I workedat Twitter.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
that's the only time I'm using the right word.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay, at Twitter.
That's the only time I'm usingthe right word.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That really just helped me.
You know, be creative Because,like you said, it wasn't like I
was tied down to a cubicle,which is a normal Fortune 500
type thing, or even this spacehere, this area, I have to be
here.
I used to go to the cafe andevery Tuesday at four o'clock
I'm there, you know, chilling,and everybody knew that was my
chill spot.
It ultimately became a way thatpeople really was able to
(20:50):
mingle and connect with peopleoutside of just a normal
day-to-day um and I used to dolike development type stuff,
like hey, if I'm working on aproject with another team, I'd
like yo come to this spot atthis time.
We're going to be chilling here, we're going to be working on
this and it just made life somuch more um easier for me to
like get my creativity out, soI'm happy, happy to hear you
really experiencing that.
(21:10):
That's what's up.
That's what's up Now.
You know you're interning atGoogle.
I always say that internshipsare like is this the type of job
that you want, right?
So my first question is is thisthe type of job that you want?
Like full time.
Absolutely full-time,absolutely, I love that, I love
(21:33):
that right.
And then just putting that outthere in the universe is like
what are your plans, what areyour goals?
What is, uh, the future lookinglike for you?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
yeah, I mean, I'm about ready to graduate from fiu
, so I'm hoping to finish strongwith the internship.
Um, I have one more semester ofclasses left, so, whether it's,
you know pretty much, my goalright now is graduating in
december and, uh, get afull-time job and then keep
working at it.
Right, but yeah, surprisingwith like everything, all the
timelines.
(21:58):
It's kind of crazy where I'mdoing the internship now but
like full-time recruiting hasalready started, so I'm doing
like applications yeah, and allthis stuff while working, so
definitely interesting stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You see how he's doing it.
Listen to it.
That's the hustle.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Say it to them again, because they didn't hear so
yeah, usually you have to becareful with the kind of
recruiting timelines because alot of the time they start
pretty much a year ahead of time.
So, yeah, you have to stay ontop of things Well.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
first of all, congratulations on graduating.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Thank you.
I on top of things.
Well, first of all,congratulations on graduating.
Thank you, I'm excited.
So you're already there, don't?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
worry about it.
And second, and second.
You don't have a second.
I got a second for him.
You want to give him?
the second, yeah, the second oneDoing your thing, player Out
here in these streets manKilling it in these streets and
these opportunities, and got tostay on this hustle and you got
(22:52):
to be ready to go soon as thebell rings.
You got to be the first one inline, um, and one thing that I
would say you know thisopportunity before you leave,
and letting them know, like I'mlooking for a full-time
opportunity, right, and my workspeaks for it, um, and yeah, I'm
trying to, you know, getsomething before I even leave,
type stuff.
So I always do want toencourage you, you know, with
your managers, your mentor, um,and whatever that management
chain over there, just toemphasize you know your interest
in making this a full-timeopportunity, because I've had
too many times people leave andthen they send me a message hey,
(23:12):
I do want to work there and I'mlike, but when you was here you
didn't say that, like we didn'teven know.
I thought you wanted to go seesome other places.
But, hey, it happens.
It happens Now in terms of like, let's say, the calendar out
five, ten years from now.
Well, where do you feel likeyou're going to be at?
Well, what are you aspiring toand what are you, like you know,
working towards?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
yeah, um, I think long term well, even initially I
kind of thought that at somepoint I wanted to go into the
more of the product managementside.
Um, so I saw more or less justlike doing development, maybe
like five, seven years, and thenmove over to more of the
product slash management side.
But right now I'm happy whereI'm at.
I've definitely even gotten toexperience where, as a dev, you
(23:54):
get a lot of kind of what's theword that I'm looking for
Responsibilities, just ingeneral.
So you don't have to just becoding away a task that somebody
gives you.
You can actually go and seekout scope, seek out features,
and then, of course, you have toget them validated, maybe
through like UX research, thingslike that.
But as a dev, you actually geta lot of opportunities to do
(24:17):
product side things just likeorganization, which I like.
So I'm very happy.
So five years out, I see myselfprobably like a senior software
engineer.
Oh, look at my guy Put itmanifested.
There we go.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There we go, working towards staff already, so yeah,
that's what's up and you areright, that's one thing.
As you're going in your career,just always keep an eye out for
opportunities because you mightfind passion in other lanes,
such as product, because I'veseen, known a lot of software
engineers that have transitionedin the product because they
really want to be like close tothe client to see what they're
(24:49):
doing and help influence theimplementation or features that
are being developed.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
No-transcript moving and just run towards it.
I don't know if you know but healready graduated in my book.
He's already got it right.
He's already having thecelebrations, the parades and
everything he's already got itright.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He's already having the celebrations, the parades
and everything he's.
You already booked the flightsto dr.
Oh man, that is awesome, thatis awesome.
So yeah, so, uh, in general, uh, the last thing that I want to
mention to you, because Idefinitely want to bring them
back up, is code path, um, andjust really just quickly want to
uh give them a space hear, youknow you talk about your
(25:48):
experience with the program anddefinitely just reiterating some
of the stuff that you mentionedearlier.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got involved in CoPath
and definitely the results ofyou know, supporting or using
their services to get where youare now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So I got introduced to CoPaththrough INIT.
Essentially a lot of the peoplethat I was working on in the
project.
They were talking about takingclasses with them.
So you know, it was kind oflate, like summer and fall
season, so I didn't actually getthe chance to sign up for like
a class right away, so I had tomore or less just like put
myself on the wait list.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
As soon as.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I got that email that wait list opened, sign up.
It was, I believe, an, anAndroid development course.
So I've actually kind of doneit all.
To be honest, I've done likeAndroid course, ios, technical
interview prep and the webdevelopment track.
So I definitely got a lot ofexperience and it's been really
(26:40):
great to just have theopportunity to experiment with
different things.
But, yeah, besides that, I alsodid the ICP program.
Icp, yeah, that's a really goodprogram Over the summer.
I had a lot of greatopportunities to network,
specifically because I thinkthat's one of the most important
things now with kind of how themarkets are.
They're very competitive, sothe one thing you can do is kind
(27:01):
of network and look out foropportunities.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Always Stay on the hustle.
Yeah, yeah, stay on the hustle.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
But yeah, through that I was able to build a
network, talk to differentpeople and up until now it's
been working really great.
I got even the opportunity tomeet Michael, ceo of Copath.
Yeah yeah, through arecognition through Miami-Dade
County.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
What up, Michael Ellis?
You come up to the podcastplaying.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, it was actually , I did not expect that at all.
Like I felt like I met acelebrity and we were just like
at this event, which was reallyawesome and I think in general,
just like the Miami community isreally booming as far as tech
goes, which is really excitingto see.
I want to see more companies inMiami Because you know, a lot
of the time like, let's say, nowI graduate, I'm looking for
opportunities elsewhere a lot ofthe time because there's not
(27:44):
that many jobs specificallywithin Miami or tech companies.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
So and we up in Palm Beach.
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
We're up in West Palm Beach.
Oh OK, we're a little bit northof Miami, less than 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Oh, that's where we're holding it down at.
That's awesome, that's awesome,so yeah we definitely want to
see South Florida come up too,and I guess our first encounter
was one of a CodePath event.
I guess they did a cafecitomeet and greet with the career
coaches and stuff like that, andI did a workshop, yes, to kind
of give you all some game on,you know, technical interviewing
and stuff like that.
What do you thought about thatexperience?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I thought that it was very eye opening.
In a sense, I'm waiting for himbecause it was.
These were like my early days,like up until that point I'd
never had like a technicalinterview before.
I didn't know anything aboutleetcode, um.
So it was kind of eye-openingto see that these questions,
like they, have a method to them.
It's not just like oh, I'm notthat smart because I can't solve
(28:39):
it, you can't solve it becauseyou haven't maybe seen the
pattern before you don't knowthe data structure.
So it's a matter of going outand learning.
So that's kind of what Irealized that there's a lot to
learn.
Um, and specifically, just like, what do I have to focus on?
That I'm lacking now becauseI've always been kind of good at
the you know, programming andmaking your java code.
Um, just like courses in generalyeah um, but specifically to
(29:00):
get a tech giant job, you need alot of legal preparation.
That's not typical within aclassroom setting and that's
also another thing that's reallybeneficial about CoolPath is
having the ability to work onreal-life kind of projects and
skills that are not necessarilyfocused on during school.
I felt like a lot of thecourses give you a foundational
(29:22):
and kind of background courses,give you a foundational and kind
of um background knowledge thatyou need, but not like maybe
necessarily the specific skillsto get a job or work at a job.
So yeah, that's been reallygreat yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure
.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Big shout outs to cold pad and that's what I
always talk to my mentees andcohorts over there is like the
practical knowledge is what youget, not just theoretical, right
, um, and even the projectsyou're working at school.
I need you to do somethingthat's real world, like real.
Like not just build atic-tac-toe and they want to get
a hundred thousand dollar job,and I'm like yo.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
How does that happen?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I can build a tic-tac-toe too, right.
But once you start to, you know, build applications, actually
build apis, build a front end,connect that together, stored in
the, maybe have to add cachingas soon as you start to do those
building blocks.
That's where the leveling upcomes.
So it's always good to beassociated with organizations
that are doing that supplementalstuff.
(30:13):
And, yeah, big shout-outs toCodePath again.
I just wanted to make sure thatwe give them a quick shout-out.
Now we are getting close to theend of the podcast segment here
, but there is an opportunityfor you to ask me any questions
that you may have, and I don'tknow if I have put that in the
sheet or not, but if you do haveany questions.
Being backstage with Bobby D,you know it's an open book here,
so let me know if you have anyquestions on the top of your
(30:34):
mind.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, I guess now that, since you've been
mentioning Twitter all this time, you said that at the beginning
that you had kind of boycottedtwitter.
Yeah, yeah, and it'sinteresting to see kind of what
the different dynamics have beenwith like all the layoffs you
know, in twitter specifically,but outside, um, so where do you
see kind of tech going with allthese layoffs?
You have any advice for?
(30:56):
People that are maybestruggling, uh, to get a job, or
just starting to think aboutgetting a job.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
That's a great question.
First of all, it's Twitter 1.0.
So that's the one that Irepresent.
Twitter X I don't even knowwhat that is, but yeah, so it is
definitely something that's aneye-opener, because I've been in
this game since about 2002.
And I've seen the rollercoaster ups and downs of the
tech industry.
(31:22):
So when I got right into theindustry it was like right after
the tech bubble.
So the bubble happened in 99,2000.
Everything is dropping in termsof opportunities and I slid
right in there with a jobstarting at the bottom, working
at the help desk.
more or less servicing callspeople resetting passwords to
creating accounts and stuff likethat.
So I had to literally downplaymy skill sets a little bit so
(31:46):
that I can get an opportunity.
So that's something that Ithink a lot of people may be
running into, especially thesenior engineers that are being
laid off, is that they'redownskilling and taking all the
junior jobs now you get what I'msaying.
So now y'all newer people ornewer engineers coming into the
field don't have access, becausethose opportunities are taken
up from people that have toshift.
I also see that the marketitself.
(32:09):
Whenever I go to job listings,they're always looking for
senior staff engineers, and I'mlike yo, what the heck is going
on here?
And what I'm really noticing isthat the market is shifting in
terms of the type of candidatesthat they're looking for and the
actual skill set you need tobring to the table.
With that said, this market isgoing to be an opportunity for
(32:29):
you to number one, be upscaling,so you're going to have to
learn more than just oneprogramming language, and when I
heard you say TypeScript, I'mlike yes.
Or you're finding out all ofthese things that these
companies are using, becausethose are the things you're
going to have to upscale so thatyou can be more marketable, and
because those are the thingsyou're going to have to upskill
so that you can be moremarketable.
And then number two is apply,apply, apply.
Even if the job says VP ofengineering and you need a PhD,
(32:51):
apply.
My thought process is if theycall me, hey, that's, all I need
is a phone call.
We'll talk about why I appliedfor the job and all that stuff.
You're going to have to be onthis hustle even more.
You're going to have to lean onyour network, linkedin.
If to have to be on this hustleeven more, you're going to have
to lean on your network,linkedin.
If you're not on linkedin, youbetter be on linkedin.
And, in general, it's going tobe, uh, really tough for you to
catch these opportunities, likethey did 2020 compared to now.
(33:11):
So you got to be on it.
Um, the opportunities are there,because I still see the job
listings.
It's just that, um, therequirements are going to be a
little bit higher, so you'regoing to have to do more to be
seen.
Um, I'm I'm hoping that, uh,the graduates that are hearing
this conversation and those thatare just getting the tech
really just understand that, hey, it's not you in terms of you
don't have the ability.
(33:32):
You just got to show your workmore.
You got to show your abilitymore so that you can be seen um
and stay on the hustle um, buthey, the roller coaster right
there's down and then there's anup, and eventually we'll be
back up to the top.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So that's my opinion.
That was a great answer.
Honestly, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
You need to say Twitter after that, right?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
No, no, wow bro, wow, my fingers are twitching.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
He's twitchy over there.
Anything else come to mind?
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I guess when you were talking one thing
specifically about like applying, applying, applying, which has
been kind of my strategy as well, is that you may apply to a job
that maybe may not fit you dueto like your graduation day or
things like that.
But even I have experiencewhere the recruit is like oh,
you don't apply for this one,but this one that I have open
works better, so you kind of getredirected that way.
(34:20):
Facts.
So yeah, I think that's one ofthe best strategies right now.
Just apply as much as you canLook out for any opportunity.
It doesn't matter what thecompany is, even if you don't
want to work for them.
Maybe you get an interview andit's good practice.
Facts.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So yeah, big shout-out to you, sebastian,
giving out real knowledge outhere.
Real knowledge, real knowledge.
Well, I want to first of allsay thank you so much for
pulling up and hanging out withus.
D-hustle you going to cue upthe music kid?
Yeah, definitely, let's see.
Oh, my guy.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
And the other thing is that you don't know is my
wife is Dominican.
Oh, she is, oh yeah, oh, that'sawesome, so you know, I'm a
bachata merengue, all you know.
When I go to the parties.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
they're looking for me.
See D-Hustle and his moves thathe's making.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
He's feeling himself.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, you know.
But you know what YouTube isgoing to kill us on this right
here.
Yeah, we'll see.
Cut it out, cut it out.
We're still going to play it, Idon't care.
But yo, sebastian, again, wereally do appreciate you pulling
up to the Tech Hustle backstagewith Bobby D.
How did you enjoy your time,man?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
I thought amazing.
I mean, I didn't know what toexpect, but everything was
flowing.
So I appreciate you giving methe opportunity to come out.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Of course, man and keep hustling.
Keep on it.
Tell FIU I said what's up.
Tell Google I said what's up.
Tell them.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I've been calling them on Twitter for a little bit
, but whatever, that only oncertain days, especially when
I'm back on it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
But seriously, thank you so much for pulling up.
We're traveling the country, soyou'll definitely be seeing
some more of this.
Let me close it out with theaudience right before we leave.
Turn it up even more D-Hustle.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Turn it up.
Turn it up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yo, thank you all so much for tuning in to our next
episode.
Here at the Tech HustleBackstage with Bobby D, we had
our guest Sebastian, and let metell you, if you didn't catch it
, press that rewind button,listen for that special sound.
What's that special sound?
D-hustle Hold on, that's notthe one.
That's not the one.
D-hustle guys Is set up for usAlways.
(36:16):
We really do Appreciate y'allpulling up.
Catch us in our next episodeComing up soon, because we got a
few more guests.
Currently a software engineering intern at Google.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Growing up.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do,
literally not know a singlething about coding.
I love TypeScript.
I mean it's a great language,definitely tricky when you get
to like the complicated types,but on average, way better than
JavaScript.
But yeah, the cool thing aboutChelsea Market is that you know
you have the market downstairsbut everything above is pretty
much Google owned, so mostpeople, I think it's definitely
(00:29):
interesting to think about, likepeople are just doing the
everyday stuff and then theyhave like all these engineers on
top of it, you know right, noteven knowing right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, exactly, that's cool.
Actually, last night was thefirst time I was back on twitter
for one whole year.
So I've been boycotting twitterfor one year, since they
changed the name to x, and now,you know, all I'm thinking about
is twitter in my back of mymind, so I can't get the name
out of my head.
Is this the type of job thatyou want, like full-time?
Absolutely welcome, welcome,welcome.
(01:02):
Yeah, what up d hustle,whathustle, what up player.
Guess where we at my man, theBig Apple.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
The Big Apple.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
NYC.
Stand up, we out here.
I can't believe we've made itall the way from San Francisco
to New York City.
And big shout outs to everybodythat we've had a pleasure of
hanging out with, especiallysome family.
We had some family time right,yeah, yeah, we did with uh,
especially some family we hadsome family time.
Yeah, yeah, we did, yeah, yeah.
All those florentinos, yeah,all those dominicans, I mean,
they had me.
I was overwhelmed.
(01:28):
Now I'm just playing.
I love each and every one ofthem.
We'll shout them out throughoutthe show.
But today we have a specialguest.
We got uh, it's somebody thatlow-key.
When I first met him, I knew hewas gonna be hitting stars he.
He's somebody that, when youlook at his journey, you're
gonna have to follow along,because he got some gems and,
yeah, his start may actuallymention something in the
(01:49):
caribbean too.
But let's give a big round ofapplause for sebastian nunez.
Welcome to the stage, sebastian.
What's?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
up man.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Thank you let me give him a real, a real introduction
.
Let's see welcome, welcome,sebastian, welcome to the tech
hustle.
This segment here is calledbackstage, with bobby d and um,
as mentioned in terms of all theshow prep.
Uh, the main focus here is tohighlight your journey, um, and
(02:16):
definitely introduce ouraudience to some of the people
that I've had a pleasure of youknow, encountering, mentoring,
teaching, having conversationswith and seeing how high you're
climbing on this ladder man,congratulations.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Welcome, thank you.
Thank you, it's awesome to behere.
Thank you for the opportunity.
I'm excited for ourconversation.
Yeah, for sure.
Shout out to Sebastian Nunezyes.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
From New York City.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and D-Houseis going to hold us down in the
cut indefinitely.
Let's just kick the story rightoff.
Tell us where you're from, howit all got here and we get to
where you're working at rightnow, because you're doing big
things.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, speaking of Dominicans, I'm Dominican
myself.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh, look you see.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
If y'all were only here to see how excited he was
to hear another.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Dominican, I'm excited to see somebody from my
country.
Let's go, stop playing aroundFinally.
Let's do it.
Let's do it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, but I'm Dominican Born there.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Came to the US.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
When I was 11 years old, moved straight to Cleveland
, ohio, that's more or less whatI had my upbringing.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Cleveland, ohio.
That's a little, that's adifference.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Next thing you know he's telling me he's a LeBron
James fan.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh, don't worry about that.
Don't worry about that.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
He is he didn't say nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Shout, I mean who?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
isn't to be honest.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So Ohio.
What's up in Ohio, though?
Family there.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, my aunt.
She's the first person thatkind of migrated here and she
lived there for 25 years rightbefore us, so it was kind of a
natural place for us to land.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, yeah, and then you found yourself where else
after Ohio.
Yeah, so I lived in Ohio prettymuch from middle school all the
way up to high school, when Igraduated high school, I
actually moved to miami now hego from dominican republic to
ohio right and then can find hisway back to miami, which is
basically extension of thecaribbean right.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
What you say, yeah yeah, yeah, it was, uh, mostly
my mom.
She wanted to move to miami.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We have some other family there yeah and, uh, she
was kind of tired of the coldand I was like that's usually
what it does big shout out tomom thank you for getting it out
of there, everywhere out, yeah.
So what's up in miami?
Speaker 1 (04:14):
well, you, you went to school up there or down there
, rather yes, I'm currentlystudying computer science at fiu
, so go panthers out there bigshout out to fiu.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, that's, that's by far one of the best
engineering programs we have inthis nation.
Like seriously, I've talked toa lot of students around the
country that go to differentschools and FIU is definitely at
the top of the list in myopinion.
Big shout out to FIU, shout outto FIU.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
So studying computer science.
So how did you get intocomputer science or engineering
like that?
Yeah, so studying computerscience.
So how did you get intocomputer science or engineering
like that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So I started it kind of in high school I you know,
growing up I didn't really knowexactly what I wanted to do when
I graduated.
But kind of at some point afriend of mine he was like oh,
you should maybe take thiscomputer science course.
It kind of he saw what I wasgood at science, math.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
He was like sure.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
I literally did not know a single thing about coding
or anything like that.
So I took that intro tocomputer science course in like
my junior year and then I likedit, um, really liked everything
about it actually, specificallykind of the more like javascript
front and development side ofthings.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Ah, that's what you're sitting at.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, yeah yeah, at this point I would come on some
more on the full stack level,but it was a great place to
start.
The following year I took aJava class, AP Computer Science
A.
I had a great instructorCrushed it and then after that I
was like I want to do this.
I did my research and I waslike, yeah, I'm down for it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's what's up.
Congratulations on that, andthe cool thing is that you
actually found some passionbehind it and joy right Rather
than oh, I want to get into this, I can make a billion-dollar
type stuff, but versus like, hey, I actually really like this.
And then, being a front-enddeveloper with JavaScript,
you've got to be really, in myopinion, like artistic a little
(05:57):
bit, because you're reallyputting together the visual of
the Internet and putting it allin code, which is really cool.
So JavaScript was your firstprogramming language.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, yeah, javascript was kind of my
introduction to programming.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Then Java and then kind of.
Those have been my twostrengths.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
No Python, no Python.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Oh yeah, I think Python right now is probably my
favorite programming language.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Oh, let's give a big, big round of applause for
Python.
He said it's one of yourfavorite programmers.
Yes, a big, big round ofapplause for python.
He said uh, it's one of yourfavorite programs, one of my
favorite programming languagesalso.
Um, it's very phonic in the waythat it's written and read and
there's so many libraries thatyou can do everything and then
you know over time it justbecomes easier to manage because
it's not uh, so many construct,so many like uh.
(06:39):
Object oriented program can becool, but sometimes it just gets
a little confusing, especiallywith java and how uh it could
get stacked up.
But in general they're allgreat programming languages.
But if python is something youwant to learn, develop python,
go go find out.
You'll see what I'm talkingabout, definitely.
So, fiu.
So tell me a little bit aboutfiu.
So, uh, are you in the initinit program out there?
(07:01):
Don't they have like an init?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
yes, yeah, yeah, and it actually that's kind of how I
was introduced more into theinternship world and like how to
actually break into tech,because kind of my first year,
two years, of computer science Ididn't really understand, since
my family, you know, doesn'thave any tech experience.
I'm like first generationcollege student, yeah, um, and
specifically in tech, um, Isigned up it was called, uh,
(07:23):
epsilon, pi, epsilon up at thetime and they have really
amazing programs um, a lot ofpreparation for, you know,
technical interviews as well asjust like building projects,
yeah, where that's where I gotmy real introduction to like
what it actually takes to get aninternship and, you know,
hopefully get a job yeah, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, we'll talk about that because he's already
checked off a few boxes aroundinternships and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Let me interject real quick.
What's up?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
kid it seems like you're the first generation in
IT.
I don't know if you had thatsame experience as me.
Did you get phone calls thatsay my TV's not working?
Can you connect all that stuff?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I still do oh man, because I get that a lot.
Ay, oh man, because I get thata lot.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Ay, mijo, come over here.
Yo no se que yo hice, you know,yada, yada, yada, I'm like.
All you have to do is hit thisbutton.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
And it's working.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, yeah, even now, recently, we're like I just
want to make sure it's not justme.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, Even recently with, like, the Crowd keys to
everything right, so true, sotrue, and and d's right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
It's like, uh, as soon as they hear you say
anything about computers, it'slike literally anything that
plugs into the wall.
You're supposed to know how itworks and and you can fix it.
So, uh, next time, tell them yo.
If it's some javascript orsomething like that or css html,
then I could probably jump in.
But yeah, yeah, you're gonnahave that for the rest of your
career or rest of your life.
That's what's up.
(08:46):
So, talking about internshipsand more or less getting close
to where we first encounteredeach other, tell me a little bit
about the Intuit program andhow that really got you prepared
for internships in the realworld.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, yeah.
So I would say that they had agreat build program.
Essentially it's a semester ofbuilding projects with a team of
fellow students, maybe peoplewho have done internships lead,
but yeah, throughout kind ofthat semester I also learned
about CodePath, which has alsobeen kind of a huge catalyst for
me.
I've taken I think like four orfive courses from them and
(09:26):
between those two and CodePath,like it's a really good duo to
prepare you for pretty muchanything in tech.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Yeah, let's just give a big shout out to CodePath.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
What up CodePath?
What up Kelsey?
What up Geneva?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Geneva in the house.
What up, what up, what up,catalina?
We see y'all, all the wholeteam I'm gonna be missing a few
people the whole career center.
Big shout out to CodePath.
So you say, in the combinationof both of these, uh and I like
to label as supplementaleducation or supplemental things
that you have to do to reallyget yourself, uh, ahead of the
your peers, because there's alot of y'all coming out with
(09:52):
computer science, fiu has agreat campus, a great, you know,
student body, so you know youstill have that competition even
at your own school, and addingthese supplemental education
things always give you thatupper hand, uh.
So big shout outs to you, man,I'm really piecing that together
because, thank you, uh, I thinkthat really did open up an
opportunity for you to intern ata really cool company.
I mean, I don't want to say itout loud, but I'll, I'll let you
(10:14):
batch and mention it.
So were you interning this thissummer?
yeah, yeah, I'm currently aself-engineering intern at
google oh, pause, pause, let himsay it again because he's
getting a little nervous.
Say it with your chest outplayer.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So I'm currently interning at Google.
That's what's up.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's what's up.
That's what's up and yo thisopportunity in terms of
interning at Google and reallygetting a chance to be exposed
to it.
How has that changed yourperspective of computer science
and all that?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, I think I was definitely kind of thought I was
here, but it's a different typeof beast, especially with, like
, the big tech and corporateworld in general.
But it's been fun.
I've been learning a lot,definitely had a lot of support,
you know, within my teammanagement and even outside from
CodePath.
I was talking to Catalinapretty much like every two weeks
leading up to internships anddoing check-ins to make sure
(11:07):
that I have a strategy and aplan going into everything.
So it's been great, amazing.
I mean pretty much everythingthat I expected plus more.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Oh, that's what's up, big shout outs to this
internship, and one of the coolthings that I like about the
opportunity that you have isthat you're getting real
exposure to it not just like hey, this is what it's going to be
like, or could be like.
No, this is actually what it islike exactly.
And I have a question for youbecause, um, in our industry,
unfortunately, we use this uhservice or tool um to measure
(11:35):
proficiency for potential umcandidates which is called lead
code.
Yes, uh, but my question is ishow much lead coding have you
been doing in terms of your roleat Twitter, and how much does
it really apply?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Not at Google.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Look at me.
I'm over here trying to getthis guy an internship.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah , yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I'm sorry, internship at Google.
I apologize, but how?
How has lead code really playeda role in any of that?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I think honestly, the code is pretty much the only
way that I think you can offsetthe amount of luck you need
within an interview setting.
Because, I feel as though a lotof the time in these interviews
it's all pretty much luck,depending on the question that
you get, the interview that youget.
But by doing LeetCode andpreparing for these interviews
specifically kind of the45-minute technical questions,
(12:25):
the more you do you can kind ofoffset the amount of luck
because you've seen more of thequestions, more of the patterns.
Yeah, yeah, and it doesn'trequire you know to know
everything, but a lot of leakcode for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, for sure.
Now, in your day-to-day, interms of your role, do you
actually solving those type ofthing problems, or are you going
to be doing different type ofthings?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, I think actually, surprisingly, within
the project that I'm doing now,there's actually a lot of data
structures that I didn't think Iwould use day to day.
Specifically now I'm usingin-area trees, a lot of typical
hash map sets, things like that,but trees I didn't really
expect, because I'm doing avisualization of non-linear
release pipelines, things likethat, so I didn't really expect
(13:01):
it.
But it's definitely a greatfoundation to have to really
understand those data structures.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, data structure is definitely one of those
things that you don't reallyunderstand how it all comes
together, unless you're doing aproject and a use case for it.
Storing data, storing userinformation, manipulating it so
you can access it in other ways.
But hey, I'm grateful to hearthat all these skills are
playing out and um very muchfavorable for you.
So you mentioned a little bitabout the project you're working
(13:29):
on, so tell us a little bitabout what you're working on at
twitter.
Lord, what's wrong with me?
Like you know what it is, andthen I'll tell y'all what it is
that's not what it is d.
actually, last night was thefirst time I was back on twitter
for one whole year, so I'vebeen boycotting Twitter for one
year, since they changed thename to X, and now, you know,
(13:49):
all I'm thinking about isTwitter in the back of my mind,
so I can't get the name out ofmy head.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Give it to your girl, Thanks D.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
That's for the next one that happens.
That's for the next one.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
But anyways, come on, bro, come on, man.
I'm messing with Sebastian.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
No, it's okay, sebastian gots it.
It's just me.
But Google in general, tell usa little bit about the projects
you're working on this summer.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, it's mainly one project.
I guess I'm doing kind of asupplementary thing now, but
they have.
You know I'm within the CICDspace, specifically more on the
continuous deployment side.
Essentially that's everythingfrom after you submit your code
or run through the test, youactually have to deploy it out
in the world, essentiallythroughout the entire world,
(14:30):
different locations.
They have already an automatedsystem to get these candidates
released, whatever.
But there's actually arequirement now to have
non-linear release pipelineswhere you it's not just like,
okay, it goes to the early stageand pre-prod and then prod.
It may be required that youhave multiple pre-prods.
Maybe one specifically could befor Europe because they have
(14:52):
different privacy requirements.
Yeah, that's kind of the ideawhere you have this kind of tree
structure of dependencies thathave kind of independent
promotion schedules anddifferent rates of release.
Essentially, that's what's up,so yeah it's centered around
that giving users information tobe able to do it.
Shout out to.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sebastian, that right there, in terms of what I
always feel like CICD, is likeright in the middle before all
the work you're doing in termsof dev to actually getting in
this production right.
And as long as you have aneffective tool or service to
help you deploy, it usuallystreamlines the process.
And then it definitely soundscool in terms of being able to
(15:32):
you know parallel deployments indifferent regions, percentage
wise probably.
You said pre-production, testdevelopment and then in
production.
Like having a cool tool likethat definitely makes life
easier for developers, andthat's usually the role of those
teams specifically arounddeveloper.
What do they call them?
Like developer advocates orpeople that are just focusing on
(15:54):
helping developers get theircode into production as quickly
as possible.
That's really cool.
Now, are you doing anything onthe cloud infrastructure side
after the deploy, or just theCIDCD pipeline itself?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
No infrastructure, mostly just like developing kind
of visuals for differentengineers to be able to
understand what's going on.
Oh yeah, you're a front-endengineer, are?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
you using TypeScript at all.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Oh yeah, a lot of TypeScript, a lot of TypeScript.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So how do you feel about TypeScript though?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I think it's great.
I mean, I've had to actuallywith a different project that
I'm doing now it's more oflegacy UI and that's in
JavaScript and using likeAngularJS, which is like really
old, whereas what I'm doing nowmostly it's Angular 2.
But yeah, I love TypeScript.
I mean it's a great language.
Definitely tricky when you getto like the complicated types,
(16:41):
but on average it's way betterthan JavaScript.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And that's always good to hear as these new
programming languages are comingout to supplement what we've
already been customized to use.
Still have some of that sameflavor, taste, but definitely
adds a new you know, seasoningto it or a way of writing code
or developing or deploying.
So that's, that's big ups.
Uh, would you say thattypescript is going to be like
the new front radar and in termsof like those you know, people
(17:06):
that are interested in gettinginto tech or they're already in
tech.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Uh, thinking about, you know, learning another
programming language yeah, Ithink I guess if between like
front end and back end, if youwant to go back, mostly java,
like you know, the back ends I'musing, it's all java yeah um,
and then front end definitelytypescript.
I mean it's definitely the wayto go by far.
Uh, just everything usestypescript, pretty much Like any
company that I've worked atuses.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
TypeScript as a baseline.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
So definitely learn.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
TypeScript.
That's a nugget right there.
There's definitely anopportunity for you all to catch
this, because I've heardsomething Sebastian says is that
places that you've interviewedtalked with or done some work
with.
they are looking for that skillset, typescript Even though,
yeah, you can learn it as you go, but it'd be great to have
projects to be able to showcasethat for sure, for sure, now in
(17:54):
terms of like, uh, other thingsabout google, or tell me like
one, one cool thing that's interms of just your experience
there, you know, visiting andbeing in that work environment
and stuff like that yeah, Ithink definitely the office
space is something that shockedme.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I had been to previous like Google offices,
but in New York, specifically,given kind of the constraints in
space they essentially have,like the main building, it's
like this massive 16-floor blocklike a whole width and then a
whole block the other way thatused to be, like the Port
Authority building, and thenbesides that, there's also a
really cool one which I work at.
(18:28):
It's called Chelsea Market.
Have you been to Chelsea Market?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, we actually walked that way.
We were heading towards Pier 57.
Yeah, Pier 57.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Pier 57, another one of the buildings.
But yeah, the cool thing aboutChelsea Market is that you have
the market downstairs, buteverything above is pretty much
Google-owned.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So most people I think it's definitely
interesting to think about likepeople are just doing the
everyday stuff and then theyhave like all these engineers on
top of them.
You know right, not?
Speaker 1 (18:56):
even knowing right.
Yes, exactly, that's cool,that's cool doors.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
There's a whole bunch of gates yeah everybody.
It's like um, what is it?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
uh, what do you call?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
it.
It's like a monitor, I guess inthe beginning.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, people go up.
I think it's a big route.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I think you it's like a monitor, I guess in the
beginning, yeah, people go up.
I think it's a big route.
I think you guys had like afamily friends day.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Oh, when we went there.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, it was midweek last week when we went to Pier
57.
There was two separateentrances, one for us to go to
the market and then one for theGoogle entrance and they had
like a bunch of kids and parentsthere.
So I was like, oh, they'reprobably doing like a bring your
kids, a bring your family towork day type stuff, which is
always really cool when you workin these.
You know Silicon Valley, youknow tech startups or companies
(19:35):
as established as Google and,yeah, man, office spaces in
terms of their locations.
We were actually out inMountain View the other day too,
so we got to see their campusout there and I tell you, tell
you, man, yeah, y'all definitelygoogle uh making an investments
in the workspace but alsocreating an environment for you
to be creative, because Iguarantee you, that really helps
amplify your creation.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
That does that does that give you that vibe yeah, I
mean, I'm somebody who more orless works out out of my
computer pretty much the samesize as what you have there, um,
so that's one of the benefits.
I don't need like anothermonitor.
Some people have like twomonitors so they're always just
stuck to their desk but I'vekind of developed a workflow
around just my computer so I canjust go sit around wherever
actually.
Go out to one of the top floorsor out on the balcony and just
(20:17):
think relax, do some work yeahyeah, yeah, that creative space
is something that when I workedat Twitter.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
that's the only time I'm using the right word.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Okay, at Twitter.
That's the only time I'm usingthe right word.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That really just helped me.
You know, be creative Because,like you said, it wasn't like I
was tied down to a cubicle,which is a normal Fortune 500
type thing, or even this spacehere, this area, I have to be
here.
I used to go to the cafe andevery Tuesday at four o'clock
I'm there, you know, chilling,and everybody knew that was my
chill spot.
It ultimately became a way thatpeople really was able to
(20:50):
mingle and connect with peopleoutside of just a normal
day-to-day um and I used to dolike development type stuff,
like hey, if I'm working on aproject with another team, I'd
like yo come to this spot atthis time.
We're going to be chilling here, we're going to be working on
this and it just made life somuch more um easier for me to
like get my creativity out, soI'm happy, happy to hear you
really experiencing that.
(21:10):
That's what's up.
That's what's up Now.
You know you're interning atGoogle.
I always say that internshipsare like is this the type of job
that you want, right?
So my first question is is thisthe type of job that you want?
Like full time.
Absolutely full-time,absolutely, I love that, I love
(21:33):
that right.
And then just putting that outthere in the universe is like
what are your plans, what areyour goals?
What is, uh, the future lookinglike for you?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
yeah, I mean, I'm about ready to graduate from fiu
, so I'm hoping to finish strongwith the internship.
Um, I have one more semester ofclasses left, so, whether it's,
you know pretty much, my goalright now is graduating in
december and, uh, get afull-time job and then keep
working at it.
Right, but yeah, surprisingwith like everything, all the
timelines.
(21:58):
It's kind of crazy where I'mdoing the internship now but
like full-time recruiting hasalready started, so I'm doing
like applications yeah, and allthis stuff while working, so
definitely interesting stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You see how he's doing it.
Listen to it.
That's the hustle.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Say it to them again, because they didn't hear so
yeah, usually you have to becareful with the kind of
recruiting timelines because alot of the time they start
pretty much a year ahead of time.
So, yeah, you have to stay ontop of things Well.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
first of all, congratulations on graduating.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Thank you.
I on top of things.
Well, first of all,congratulations on graduating.
Thank you, I'm excited.
So you're already there, don't?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
worry about it.
And second, and second.
You don't have a second.
I got a second for him.
You want to give him?
the second, yeah, the second oneDoing your thing, player Out
here in these streets manKilling it in these streets and
these opportunities, and got tostay on this hustle and you got
(22:52):
to be ready to go soon as thebell rings.
You got to be the first one inline, um, and one thing that I
would say you know thisopportunity before you leave,
and letting them know, like I'mlooking for a full-time
opportunity, right, and my workspeaks for it, um, and yeah, I'm
trying to, you know, getsomething before I even leave,
type stuff.
So I always do want toencourage you, you know, with
your managers, your mentor, um,and whatever that management
chain over there, just toemphasize you know your interest
in making this a full-timeopportunity, because I've had
too many times people leave andthen they send me a message hey,
(23:12):
I do want to work there and I'mlike, but when you was here you
didn't say that, like we didn'teven know.
I thought you wanted to go seesome other places.
But, hey, it happens.
It happens Now in terms of like, let's say, the calendar out
five, ten years from now.
Well, where do you feel likeyou're going to be at?
Well, what are you aspiring toand what are you, like you know,
working towards?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
yeah, um, I think long term well, even initially I
kind of thought that at somepoint I wanted to go into the
more of the product managementside.
Um, so I saw more or less justlike doing development, maybe
like five, seven years, and thenmove over to more of the
product slash management side.
But right now I'm happy whereI'm at.
I've definitely even gotten toexperience where, as a dev, you
(23:54):
get a lot of kind of what's theword that I'm looking for
Responsibilities, just ingeneral.
So you don't have to just becoding away a task that somebody
gives you.
You can actually go and seekout scope, seek out features,
and then, of course, you have toget them validated, maybe
through like UX research, thingslike that.
But as a dev, you actually geta lot of opportunities to do
(24:17):
product side things just likeorganization, which I like.
So I'm very happy.
So five years out, I see myselfprobably like a senior software
engineer.
Oh, look at my guy Put itmanifested.
There we go.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There we go, working towards staff already, so yeah,
that's what's up and you areright, that's one thing.
As you're going in your career,just always keep an eye out for
opportunities because you mightfind passion in other lanes,
such as product, because I'veseen, known a lot of software
engineers that have transitionedin the product because they
really want to be like close tothe client to see what they're
(24:49):
doing and help influence theimplementation or features that
are being developed.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
No-transcript moving and just run towards it.
I don't know if you know but healready graduated in my book.
He's already got it right.
He's already having thecelebrations, the parades and
everything he's already got itright.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
He's already having the celebrations, the parades
and everything he's.
You already booked the flightsto dr.
Oh man, that is awesome, thatis awesome.
So yeah, so, uh, in general, uh, the last thing that I want to
mention to you, because Idefinitely want to bring them
back up, is code path, um, andjust really just quickly want to
uh give them a space hear, youknow you talk about your
(25:48):
experience with the program anddefinitely just reiterating some
of the stuff that you mentionedearlier.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got involved in CoPath
and definitely the results ofyou know, supporting or using
their services to get where youare now.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, yeah.
So I got introduced to CoPaththrough INIT.
Essentially a lot of the peoplethat I was working on in the
project.
They were talking about takingclasses with them.
So you know, it was kind oflate, like summer and fall
season, so I didn't actually getthe chance to sign up for like
a class right away, so I had tomore or less just like put
myself on the wait list.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
As soon as.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I got that email that wait list opened, sign up.
It was, I believe, an, anAndroid development course.
So I've actually kind of doneit all.
To be honest, I've done likeAndroid course, ios, technical
interview prep and the webdevelopment track.
So I definitely got a lot ofexperience and it's been really
(26:40):
great to just have theopportunity to experiment with
different things.
But, yeah, besides that, I alsodid the ICP program.
Icp, yeah, that's a really goodprogram Over the summer.
I had a lot of greatopportunities to network,
specifically because I thinkthat's one of the most important
things now with kind of how themarkets are.
They're very competitive, sothe one thing you can do is kind
(27:01):
of network and look out foropportunities.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Always Stay on the hustle.
Yeah, yeah, stay on the hustle.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
But yeah, through that I was able to build a
network, talk to differentpeople and up until now it's
been working really great.
I got even the opportunity tomeet Michael, ceo of Copath.
Yeah yeah, through arecognition through Miami-Dade
County.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
What up, Michael Ellis?
You come up to the podcastplaying.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Yeah, it was actually , I did not expect that at all.
Like I felt like I met acelebrity and we were just like
at this event, which was reallyawesome and I think in general,
just like the Miami community isreally booming as far as tech
goes, which is really excitingto see.
I want to see more companies inMiami Because you know, a lot
of the time like, let's say, nowI graduate, I'm looking for
opportunities elsewhere a lot ofthe time because there's not
(27:44):
that many jobs specificallywithin Miami or tech companies.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
So and we up in Palm Beach.
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
We're up in West Palm Beach.
Oh OK, we're a little bit northof Miami, less than 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Oh, that's where we're holding it down at.
That's awesome, that's awesome,so yeah we definitely want to
see South Florida come up too,and I guess our first encounter
was one of a CodePath event.
I guess they did a cafecitomeet and greet with the career
coaches and stuff like that, andI did a workshop, yes, to kind
of give you all some game on,you know, technical interviewing
and stuff like that.
What do you thought about thatexperience?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I thought that it was very eye opening.
In a sense, I'm waiting for himbecause it was.
These were like my early days,like up until that point I'd
never had like a technicalinterview before.
I didn't know anything aboutleetcode, um.
So it was kind of eye-openingto see that these questions,
like they, have a method to them.
It's not just like oh, I'm notthat smart because I can't solve
(28:39):
it, you can't solve it becauseyou haven't maybe seen the
pattern before you don't knowthe data structure.
So it's a matter of going outand learning.
So that's kind of what Irealized that there's a lot to
learn.
Um, and specifically, just like, what do I have to focus on?
That I'm lacking now becauseI've always been kind of good at
the you know, programming andmaking your java code.
Um, just like courses in generalyeah um, but specifically to
(29:00):
get a tech giant job, you need alot of legal preparation.
That's not typical within aclassroom setting and that's
also another thing that's reallybeneficial about CoolPath is
having the ability to work onreal-life kind of projects and
skills that are not necessarilyfocused on during school.
I felt like a lot of thecourses give you a foundational
(29:22):
and kind of background courses,give you a foundational and kind
of um background knowledge thatyou need, but not like maybe
necessarily the specific skillsto get a job or work at a job.
So yeah, that's been reallygreat yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure
.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Big shout outs to cold pad and that's what I
always talk to my mentees andcohorts over there is like the
practical knowledge is what youget, not just theoretical, right
, um, and even the projectsyou're working at school.
I need you to do somethingthat's real world, like real.
Like not just build atic-tac-toe and they want to get
a hundred thousand dollar job,and I'm like yo.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
How does that happen?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
I can build a tic-tac-toe too, right.
But once you start to, you know, build applications, actually
build apis, build a front end,connect that together, stored in
the, maybe have to add cachingas soon as you start to do those
building blocks.
That's where the leveling upcomes.
So it's always good to beassociated with organizations
that are doing that supplementalstuff.
(30:13):
And, yeah, big shout-outs toCodePath again.
I just wanted to make sure thatwe give them a quick shout-out.
Now we are getting close to theend of the podcast segment here
, but there is an opportunityfor you to ask me any questions
that you may have, and I don'tknow if I have put that in the
sheet or not, but if you do haveany questions.
Being backstage with Bobby D,you know it's an open book here,
so let me know if you have anyquestions on the top of your
(30:34):
mind.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, I guess now that, since you've been
mentioning Twitter all this time, you said that at the beginning
that you had kind of boycottedtwitter.
Yeah, yeah, and it'sinteresting to see kind of what
the different dynamics have beenwith like all the layoffs you
know, in twitter specifically,but outside, um, so where do you
see kind of tech going with allthese layoffs?
You have any advice for?
(30:56):
People that are maybestruggling, uh, to get a job, or
just starting to think aboutgetting a job.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
That's a great question.
First of all, it's Twitter 1.0.
So that's the one that Irepresent.
Twitter X I don't even knowwhat that is, but yeah, so it is
definitely something that's aneye-opener, because I've been in
this game since about 2002.
And I've seen the rollercoaster ups and downs of the
tech industry.
(31:22):
So when I got right into theindustry it was like right after
the tech bubble.
So the bubble happened in 99,2000.
Everything is dropping in termsof opportunities and I slid
right in there with a jobstarting at the bottom, working
at the help desk.
more or less servicing callspeople resetting passwords to
creating accounts and stuff likethat.
So I had to literally downplaymy skill sets a little bit so
(31:46):
that I can get an opportunity.
So that's something that Ithink a lot of people may be
running into, especially thesenior engineers that are being
laid off, is that they'redownskilling and taking all the
junior jobs now you get what I'msaying.
So now y'all newer people ornewer engineers coming into the
field don't have access, becausethose opportunities are taken
up from people that have toshift.
I also see that the marketitself.
(32:09):
Whenever I go to job listings,they're always looking for
senior staff engineers, and I'mlike yo, what the heck is going
on here?
And what I'm really noticing isthat the market is shifting in
terms of the type of candidatesthat they're looking for and the
actual skill set you need tobring to the table.
With that said, this market isgoing to be an opportunity for
(32:29):
you to number one, be upscaling,so you're going to have to
learn more than just oneprogramming language, and when I
heard you say TypeScript, I'mlike yes.
Or you're finding out all ofthese things that these
companies are using, becausethose are the things you're
going to have to upscale so thatyou can be more marketable, and
because those are the thingsyou're going to have to upskill
so that you can be moremarketable.
And then number two is apply,apply, apply.
Even if the job says VP ofengineering and you need a PhD,
(32:51):
apply.
My thought process is if theycall me, hey, that's, all I need
is a phone call.
We'll talk about why I appliedfor the job and all that stuff.
You're going to have to be onthis hustle even more.
You're going to have to lean onyour network, linkedin.
If to have to be on this hustleeven more, you're going to have
to lean on your network,linkedin.
If you're not on linkedin, youbetter be on linkedin.
And, in general, it's going tobe, uh, really tough for you to
catch these opportunities, likethey did 2020 compared to now.
(33:11):
So you got to be on it.
Um, the opportunities are there,because I still see the job
listings.
It's just that, um, therequirements are going to be a
little bit higher, so you'regoing to have to do more to be
seen.
Um, I'm I'm hoping that, uh,the graduates that are hearing
this conversation and those thatare just getting the tech
really just understand that, hey, it's not you in terms of you
don't have the ability.
(33:32):
You just got to show your workmore.
You got to show your abilitymore so that you can be seen um
and stay on the hustle um, buthey, the roller coaster right
there's down and then there's anup, and eventually we'll be
back up to the top.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
So that's my opinion.
That was a great answer.
Honestly, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
You need to say Twitter after that, right?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
No, no, wow bro, wow, my fingers are twitching.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
He's twitchy over there.
Anything else come to mind?
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I guess when you were talking one thing
specifically about like applying, applying, applying, which has
been kind of my strategy as well, is that you may apply to a job
that maybe may not fit you dueto like your graduation day or
things like that.
But even I have experiencewhere the recruit is like oh,
you don't apply for this one,but this one that I have open
works better, so you kind of getredirected that way.
(34:20):
Facts.
So yeah, I think that's one ofthe best strategies right now.
Just apply as much as you canLook out for any opportunity.
It doesn't matter what thecompany is, even if you don't
want to work for them.
Maybe you get an interview andit's good practice.
Facts.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So yeah, big shout-out to you, sebastian,
giving out real knowledge outhere.
Real knowledge, real knowledge.
Well, I want to first of allsay thank you so much for
pulling up and hanging out withus.
D-hustle you going to cue upthe music kid?
Yeah, definitely, let's see.
Oh, my guy.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
And the other thing is that you don't know is my
wife is Dominican.
Oh, she is, oh yeah, oh, that'sawesome, so you know, I'm a
bachata merengue, all you know.
When I go to the parties.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
they're looking for me.
See D-Hustle and his moves thathe's making.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
He's feeling himself.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, you know.
But you know what YouTube isgoing to kill us on this right
here.
Yeah, we'll see.
Cut it out, cut it out.
We're still going to play it, Idon't care.
But yo, sebastian, again, wereally do appreciate you pulling
up to the Tech Hustle backstagewith Bobby D.
How did you enjoy your time,man?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
I thought amazing.
I mean, I didn't know what toexpect, but everything was
flowing.
So I appreciate you giving methe opportunity to come out.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Of course, man and keep hustling.
Keep on it.
Tell FIU I said what's up.
Tell Google I said what's up.
Tell them.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I've been calling them on Twitter for a little bit
, but whatever, that only oncertain days, especially when
I'm back on it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
But seriously, thank you so much for pulling up.
We're traveling the country, soyou'll definitely be seeing
some more of this.
Let me close it out with theaudience right before we leave.
Turn it up even more D-Hustle.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Turn it up.
Turn it up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Yo, thank you all so much for tuning in to our next
episode.
Here at the Tech HustleBackstage with Bobby D, we had
our guest Sebastian, and let metell you, if you didn't catch it
, press that rewind button,listen for that special sound.
What's that special sound?
D-hustle Hold on, that's notthe one.
That's not the one.
D-hustle guys Is set up for usAlways.
(36:16):
We really do Appreciate y'allpulling up.
Catch us in our next episodeComing up soon, because we got a
few more guests.
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