Refactor (🇺🇸)

You can find Tobias Zwingmann's new O'Reilly book here :

• https://www.aipoweredbi.com/

After coming in contact with developers, Alex Morton (@alexlsaltt) decided to quit her job and become a self-taught software engineer. While learning the skills, she patiently and steadily built a personal brand that led her to land her first job at Orbit, a promising startup. Today, she is even mentoring early-career developers through The Collab Lab.

Things she said that resonates with me:

"I want to get to the root of the problem and try to fix it"

"There are fewer girls going into technical paths in Europe than in India."

"Genre biases are ingrained in people, they just don't realize it."

"Men are aggressive, I cannot be aggressive, I have my own qualities and i want to move that way"

"Women are scrutinized much more than men"

"Women are scrutinized much more than men"

Ryan is Software engineering Manager at Netflix. Dive into Netflix company culture, Freedom and Responsibility, feedback, ownership, and much more. You can find Ryan on Twitter https://twitter.com/burgessdryan 

Joe Karlsson is a software engineer who's turned into devrel at MongoDB. What are exactly DevRel and Developer Advocacy?  How is he able to funnel his craziness into his job? How does he see his mission and what is so special about his job? Joe tells us also about community building at MongoDB and what's at stake in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Listen up!

 Today we meet Andrew Hedges, Founder of The Collab Lab, and currently Engineering Manager at Zapier.
After briefly reviewing his great career, we dive into his volunteer work at The Collab Lab and his passionate commitment to help early-career developers and promote diversity in tech.
He also shares with us valuable insights gained from his extensive experience of remote working and distributed teams. Take a listen for a genuine and refreshing take on subjects that matters!

Today, let's meet Espree Devora, aka the Girl who Gets it Done. She is a speaker, author, founder, and podcast host (WomenInTech and WeAreLaTech).

Espree talked about her passion for code and sports when she was a kid, her parents that were both entrepreneurs, how she found resources and strengths to start her first company, her beginnings in the tech industry, her struggles, her routine to keep mental and physical health, her way to stay productive, how she founded ZexSports - a social network around sports -, the Impostor Syndrome, the role of communities and networks in the tech world, the difference between the L.A, S.F and Miami tech scenes, how she facilitates meaningful connections and advices to do so, WeAreLATech 'Experience' Club, offline experiences, gender and diversity openness.

Discover his inspiring and insightful story!

Today, let's meet Roy Derks, Manager Engineering at Vandebron, Amsterdam.

During his Bachelor of Science Economics and Business Economics / Geography at Utrecht University, he founded MovieMarkt, a peer-to-peer marketplace that relied on the circular economy by allowing users to trade their used DVDs and Blu-Rays for free.

He then became Technical Product Manager for Wundershift for 2 years. Right after he co-founded his project SwitchBay, a user-to-user marketplace of used consumer electronics, he was hired as Senior Software Developer for the City of Amsterdam. May 2020, he became Lead Mobile Developer at Checkgesprek.nl by Chatback Company. And then in August, he found his new home at Vandebron as Manager Engineering.

Roy talks about his self-taught path to programming, the Impostor syndrome, his bootcamp initiative to teach code to refugees, his experience as a book writer (co-author of Fullstack GraphQL and author of React Projects), a speaker, how he prepares his talks, the importance of personal branding and investing in ourselves, his many travels in 2019, but also the dynamism and thriving ecosystem in Amsterdam, his passion for Open Source, the impact of COVID-19 on his work, and his goals for 2021.

Discover his inspiring and insightful story!

Today, let's meet Stacie Taylor, Frontend Engineer at Zapier.

After a Bachelor of Communication, she became an International Teller at Wells Fargo, then Account Manager for Social High Rise, a small Social Media agency where she evolved as Product Manager for 3 years. Stacie then became Director of Account Management Processes for 7 years in this agency, after being hired at Zapier a year and a half from now, as Customer Champion first, then as Frontend Engineer.

She talks about her path to Tech, her life balance as a mom, The Collab Lab initiative, a collaborative, remote project practice for early career web developers. But also discrimination as a woman, how to live with the Impostor syndrome, role models and mentors, how to make tech more diverse and inclusive, how Zapier and the Silicon Valley adapted to COVID-19, her greatest achievement, her preferred languages/frameworks, the need for time off to avoid burnout, and more!

Discover her inspiring and insightful story!