About the show
The Tech Done Right podcast is a show by and for people who care about what they build. We don't just build software, we build teams, companies, careers, and communities.
Each episode features host Noel Rappin talking to interesting people in the tech community about building something the right way. We’re not just going to give you our thoughts on the topic, but tools, processes, or references that you can use immediately to build better software and communities.
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Episodes
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Episode 24: Ruby Tapas and Avoiding Code with Avdi Grimm
November 15th, 2017 | 41 mins 50 secs
career, developer, learning
Avdi Grimm has been creating the RubyTapas screencast series for five years. In this episode Avdi and I talk about why he decided to do RubyTapas, and what makes a good episode. We also talk about the resources that helped us when we were learning to code. Then Avdi talks about his experience building the RubyTapas web site and explains how sometimes avoiding code can be the best business decision of all.
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Episode 23: Live Panel: Hiring Developers in (and out of) Health Care
November 1st, 2017 | 1 hr 20 mins
health, hiring
Hiring and retaining developers is hard. If you are in the health care industry, and require some specialized knowledge it's even harder. Joining the show for a live panel discussion are Lia James, Branding and Talent Consultant at Human Predictions, Liz Vellojin, Strategic Lead at Outcome Health, and Mark Yoon, Director of Talent at Table XI. Whether or not you work in health care, you'll find advice on your recruiting process from how to meet candidates, how to filter resumes, how to evaluate candidates, and how to keep your team.
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Episode 22: Nonviolent Conversation with Nadia Odunayo
October 18th, 2017 | 41 mins 6 secs
communication, d_and_i
Do you have interactions with co-workers where one or both of you get angry and defensive, and everybody ends up frustrated? Today we talk to Nadia Odunayo about "Nonviolent Communication", a way to communicate that honestly addresses issues, explaining how you feel without harming the other person, and getting everybody to the point where they feel better about the situation and have a clear path to move forward. Nadia gives examples of how she uses nonviolent communication in her day-to-day life, and she tries to coach me to improve my own skills. By focusing on communication your needs and not assuming anything about others, you can make difficult discussions less difficult.
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Episode 21: How Set Design Can Inform Software Architecture With Betsy Haibel
October 4th, 2017 | 41 mins 29 secs
architect, communication, developer
Any profession that requires you to hit a budget and a deadline while balancing the project vision with practical logistics has a lot to say to software architects and project managers. Betsy Haibel was a professional theatrical set designer before becoming a software developer and architect, and we talk about how set design is like and not like software design. Not only do we talk about favorite shows, we also give you practical advice for designing your project.
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Episode 20: Developer Bootcamps and Computing Education with Jeff Casimir and Mark Guzdial
September 20th, 2017 | 51 mins 32 secs
developer, learning
How do people learn computing? Who learns best from traditional computer science education and who from bootcamps? How can we teach people who are not developers but who need to learn some programming to do their jobs? Jeff Casimir, the founder of Turing academy, and Georgia Tech's Mark Guzdial, one of the founders of the International Computing Education Research conference, join Noel to answer these questions and also explain why Excel is both the best and the worst thing in the world.
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Episode 19: Navigating the JavaScript World: A Panel Discussion
September 6th, 2017 | 1 hr 5 mins
developer, javascript
How do professional JavaScript programmers choose new tools or evaluate frameworks? What are the most important concepts in JavaScript development these days? This panel discussion was recorded live on Aug 24, 2017 with Zach Briggs, Trek Glowacki, Melanie Sumner, and Marques Woodson. Learn about their biggest JavaScript career battles and what resources they use to keep up to date.
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Episode 18: Agile UX Product Design with Yana Carstens and Jeff Patton
August 23rd, 2017 | 39 mins 24 secs
agile, design, ux
Agile practices help you build software. UX design helps you build the right software. Teams often struggle integrating UX design into agile practice. In this episode, Jeff Patton, author of User Story Mapping, and UX Designer Yana Carstens talk about the importance of bringing UX design together with development and how to bring your team from unconscious competence to conscious competence.
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Episode 17: The Elm Programming Language With Corey Haines
August 9th, 2017 | 45 mins 30 secs
dev, languages
Want to build great front-end apps without having to deal with the entire JavaScript ecosystem? Corey Haines joins the show to talk about Elm, a front-end language and framework that is type safe, has great build tools, and a full-fledged MVC framework to create client interactions with less hassle. Corey has been using Elm to build the site for his company, Hearken, and talks about why he picked it, and what has made Elm a success for them.
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Episode 16: Open Source: The Big Picture with Nadia Eghbal
July 26th, 2017 | 36 mins 58 secs
developer, open source
The Internet runs on Open Source. Open Source runs on maintainers and contributors. Is that sustainable? We talk to Nadia Eghbal about her work documenting and analyzing the Open Source ecosystem. How did we get here, and how did GitHub change Open Source? Nadia answers why Open Source makes economic sense, and discusses what can make projects more sustainable (hint: it's not just money).
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Episode 15: Agile Teams and Escaping Velocity with Doc Norton and Claire Podulka
July 12th, 2017 | 44 mins 35 secs
agile, communication, management
How can you tell whether an agile software team is successful? Many teams use a single measure: velocity. Doc Norton, author of Escape Velocity, and Claire Podulka join the show to discuss why velocity is not a useful measure: it doesn't explain the problems with an unsuccessful team, and successful teams probably don't need it. We discuss the problems with velocity, what to use instead, and get on soapboxes for our least favorite agile anti-patterns.
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Episode 14: From Idea To Company With Maci Peterson and Alicia Drucker
June 28th, 2017 | 40 mins 43 secs
business, product
How does an idea become a pitch become a company? Join Maci Peterson, founder of the startup On Second Thought, and Alicia Drucker, from Table XI, to discuss how a bad text can lead to a good pitch and then a funded startup. How hard is it to break into Silicon Valley if you don't match the expected image of an entrepreneur? Maci discusses how diversity and inclusivity improved her startup business.
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Episode 13: Livable Code With Sarah Mei
June 14th, 2017 | 41 mins 38 secs
career, communication, developer
Is your code the kind of cluttered house you might find on a reality TV show? Or the kind of sleek, minimalist house you might find in a architectural magazine? Neither one sounds like a place you could comfortably live. Sarah Mei joins the podcast to talk about Livable Code, what makes a codebase livable, how to negotiate tension between junior and senior developers and how Rails deals with developer happiness.
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Episode 12: Managing For Career Development with Claire Lew and Dan Hodos
May 31st, 2017 | 36 mins 43 secs
career, communication
How can you get honest feedback from co-workers, even when you are their manager? How can you support your team's career growth and support them as they improve their skills? Claire Lew, the CEO of Know your Company, and Dan Hodos, Table XI's Director of Operations, join Noel to discuss why listening is the most important thing you can do when getting feedback, how specific questions can break the "fine" reflex, how sticky notes can help with career growth, and the one thing you should never do in a one-on-one meeting.
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Episode 11: Avoiding Legacy Code with Michael Feathers
May 17th, 2017 | 41 mins
code, developer, testing
What makes a code base go bad and become "Legacy Code"? Can teams avoid writing bad code? Michael Feathers, author of Working Effectively With Legacy Code joins Tech Done Right to talk about technical debt, how communication can prevent bad coding practices, why coding problems are never just about code, and what it's like to go around the world seeing the worst code messes ever written.
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Episode 10: Design Sprints with Kai Haley and Zeke Binion
May 10th, 2017 | 44 mins 43 secs
design, design sprint
Do you have a product that needs improvement, or a process to define? Is your team looking for a way to generate and test new ideas quickly? The Design Sprint process, created at Google, is a structured way to explore a problem, create a solution, and get user feedback, all in five days or less. Join Kai Haley (@kaihaley), who teaches sprint facilitation at Google, and Zeke Binion (@ebinion), who has run many sprints, as they show Noel Rappin (@noelrap) how to use Design Sprints.
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Episode 9: Conference Speaking and Diverse Perspectives with Carina C. Zona and Mark Yoon
April 26th, 2017 | 46 mins 40 secs
conference, d_and_i, speaking
Want to start speaking at conferences? We go over how to get your first conference acceptance, then how to become a better speaker over time. For conference organizers, we also discuss how to find the best speakers from a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences. Carina C. Zona (@cczona) and Mark Yoon (@wimyoon) join Noel Rappin (@noelrap) on this episode of Tech Done Right.