Lydia Guarino's guest appearances

Lydia Guarino

The Frontside Podcast

Real World Ember

Noel Rappin

Steve Klabnik

Chris Martin

Jeff Wilson

Sam Selikoff

Toran Billups

Allison McMillan

Robert Jackson

Shane Wilson

Saron Yitbarek

Kyle Simpson

Joe Beda

Michael Coté

Mike North

Ben Lesh

OwlTail

052: Emberitas with Lydia Guarino and Shannon Byrne

We talk dev bootcamps, how architecture design school is like programming, how sales can help you be a better programmer, and the importance of mentorship.  The Frontside  A consultancy specializing in Ember and Rails Not just code! Helps larger companies figure out their development workflow Runs Ember meetup in Austin Created several open source projects like x-select and ember-impagination   ember-impagination Helps with infinite scroll Frontside Podcast episode about the technical parts: https://frontsidethepodcast.simplecast.fm/33   Past life #1: architect been a developer for a couple years, a couple careers before that architecture design degree from UT but oops, no architect jobs in 2008 What you learn in design school: how to break nebulous problems down into smaller more actionable components This is remarkably similar to software development process, minus the syntax Phase called “programming" A Pattern Language book   Past life #2: Salesperson Everyone should work in sales, for the communication skills Your work will not speak for itself: you have to express them She’s often asked (as a programmer) to be the communication layer between tech and business   Talking to customers Talk to customers before you build them a solution Talk about their motivation and priorities before you talk about the technical details Customers usually don’t know what they want!  You must draw it out of them. Get the first draft from them in writing Dissect and categorize requirements, give them priority levels, send it back to them   Workflow Start out with the big picture, then work iteratively building out small pieces of it Start with completing one small piece, taking it through the whole process (“tracer bullet”) After each piece, re-evaluate big picture plan.   Road to Dev Career Rose to level of connection between devs and business Really wanted to have the power to build stuff herself instead of waiting Most of dev bootcamp cohort were either entrepreneurs or people in tech who wanted to specialize in programming (Jeffrey started in order to program his science machine (and make a math game))   Dev Bootcamp Value is skills + network + stamp of approval Community and accountability a big positive In first cohort of Maker Square Covered a LOT in 10 weeks- Ruby, Rails, Javascript, dev tools Training in git and github valuable because you can start in on someone’s development cycle easily They’re now doing just Javascript, and sharing curriculum with Hack Reactor Turing School (a 9-month bootcamp) has done something similar and split up their Rails/Ember curriculum into two separate courses After dev bootcamp you’re hirable, but there’s still a lot to learn.   Jobs after bootcamp Employee #3 at tiny startup Was only person working in Ember, so not much mentorship- trial by fire Second job at Communication Service for the Deaf Good mentoring there, lots of growth Now working at The Frontside The Frontside (I can personally attest) has excellent mentoring “Climbing the mentoring ladder”- need to work side by side with devs who are more senior than you (and willing to teach)   The Frontside is hiring!!!  Pre-existing skills are a plus, but culture fit is a must Culture: Community, open source, learning, sharing, proactive, fun-loving   Sponsored by EmberScreencasts.com

We talk dev bootcamps, how architecture design school is like programming, how sales can help you be a better programmer, and the importance of mentorship. <ul> <li><a href="http://frontside.io/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Frontside</a> <ul> <li>A consultancy specializing in Ember and Rails</li> <li>Not just code! Helps larger companies figure out their development workflow</li> <li>Runs Ember meetup in Austin</li> <li>Created several open source projects like x-select and ember-impagination</li> </ul> </li> <li>ember-impagination <ul> <li>Helps with infinite scroll</li> <li>Frontside Podcast episode about the technical parts: <a href="https://frontsidethepodcast.simplecast.fm/33" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://frontsidethepodcast.simplecast.fm/33</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Past life #1: architect <ul> <li>been a developer for a couple years, a couple careers before that</li> <li>architecture design degree from UT</li> <li>but oops, no architect jobs in 2008</li> <li>What you learn in design school: how to break nebulous problems down into smaller more actionable components</li> <li>This is remarkably similar to software development process, minus the syntax</li> <li>Phase called “programming"</li> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Pattern Language book</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Past life #2: Salesperson <ul> <li>Everyone should work in sales, for the communication skills</li> <li>Your work will not speak for itself: you have to express them</li> <li>She’s often asked (as a programmer) to be the communication layer between tech and business</li> </ul> </li> <li>Talking to customers <ul> <li>Talk to customers before you build them a solution</li> <li>Talk about their motivation and priorities before you talk about the technical details</li> <li>Customers usually don’t know what they want! You must draw it out of them.</li> <li>Get the first draft from them in writing</li> <li>Dissect and categorize requirements, give them priority levels, send it back to them</li> </ul> </li> <li>Workflow <ul> <li>Start out with the big picture, then work iteratively building out small pieces of it</li> <li>Start with completing one small piece, taking it through the whole process (“tracer bullet”)</li> <li>After each piece, re-evaluate big picture plan.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Road to Dev Career <ul> <li>Rose to level of connection between devs and business</li> <li>Really wanted to have the power to build stuff herself instead of waiting</li> <li>Most of dev bootcamp cohort were either entrepreneurs or people in tech who wanted to specialize in programming</li> <li>(Jeffrey started in order to program his science machine (and make a math game))</li> </ul> </li> <li>Dev Bootcamp <ul> <li>Value is skills + network + stamp of approval</li> <li>Community and accountability a big positive</li> <li>In first cohort of Maker Square</li> <li>Covered a LOT in 10 weeks- Ruby, Rails, Javascript, dev tools</li> <li>Training in git and github valuable because you can start in on someone’s development cycle easily</li> <li>They’re now doing just Javascript, and sharing curriculum with Hack Reactor</li> <li>Turing School (a 9-month bootcamp) has done something similar and split up their Rails/Ember curriculum into two separate courses</li> <li>After dev bootcamp you’re hirable, but there’s still a lot to learn.</li> </ul> </li> <li>Jobs after bootcamp <ul> <li>Employee #3 at tiny startup</li> <li>Was only person working in Ember, so not much mentorship- trial by fire</li> <li>Second job at <a href="http://www.csd.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Communication Service for the Deaf</a></li> <li>Good mentoring there, lots of growth</li> <li>Now working at The Frontside</li> <li>The Frontside (I can personally attest) has excellent mentoring</li> <li>“Climbing the mentoring ladder”- need to work side by side with devs who are more senior than you (and willing to teach)</li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="http://frontside.io/contact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Frontside is hiring!!!</a> <ul> <li>Pre-existing skills are a plus, but culture fit is a must</li> <li>Culture: Community, open source, learning, sharing, proactive, fun-loving</li> </ul> </li> <li>Sponsored by <a href="https://www.emberscreencasts.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">EmberScreencasts.com</a></li></ul>

Past Life Architect: Lydia Guarino at The Frontside