Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur
779 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsThis podcast is for aspiring entrepreneurs and technologists as well as those that want to become a designer and implementors of great software solutions. That includes solving problems through technology. We look at the whole skill set that makes a great developer. This includes tech skills, business and entrepreneurial skills, and life-hacking, so you have the time to get the job done while still enjoying life.
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Episodes
Project and Task Management Applications (Free and Low Cost)
September 14, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36.2 MBIn this episode, we look at some free and low-cost task management applications. Some of these do more and add on project management or even invoicing features. However, they do all help you keep track of the work you (and your team) need to get done. Many Excellent Options If you spend a few minutes and peruse the massive list of potential tools in this area from G2Crowd (see link below), then you will see there are almost too many options. When you need to find the best tool for you...
Software Patterns - The Abstract Factory
September 12, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MBIn this episode, we look at the Abstract Factory pattern. This is a creational pattern which means it has to do with creating and utilizing class instances. There is also a Factory pattern that will be covered later in the series. The Abstract Factory Defined It helps to start with the "Gang of Four" definition and then we will dig into that. Provides an interface for creating families of related or dependent objects without specifying their concrete classes. This may seem a bit ab...
AWS Storage Services - Low Cost Cloud Space
September 10, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.1 MBIn this episode, we take a look at the AWS storage services group. This includes some of the older services like S3 and elastic block storage. If you have not had a look at these offerings recently, then it is worth your time to get reacquainted with them. Fast to Slow Access One of the primary differences in storage types is how fast (or slow) the data can be accessed. The Simple Storage Service (S3) has become an almost ubiquitous service for websites and document storage platforms....
Financial and Accounting Applications (Free and Low Cost)
September 07, 2018 10:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBThis first episode of the season on free and low-cost tools looks at finance and accounting applications. I assume that these will not be the most fun and exciting applications we cover. However, they will be some of the most critical to any business. Accounting Applications For You As we go over the applications in this episode, it is essential for you to remember that the best tools will be the one that works the closest to your current processes. When you find yourself fighting aga...
A Look at Software Design Patterns
September 05, 2018 11:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MBThis season will take a look at the software design patterns that we should know. Each episode will dig into a pattern and how to implement it. Some of these will be very familiar, and some may open your mind to a whole new approach to software solutions. In this first episode of the season, we look at why patterns matter at all. Proper Object-Oriented Design Software design patterns are the next logical steps once you are comfortable with OOD. It is one thing to create objects to mo...
AWS - The Compute Family of Services
September 03, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBThis season (season 4) will cover the groups of services Amazon provides in their AWS offerings. Each episode will focus on a particular group and review the included services from a high level. We have created posts over the last year to go a little deeper into each service. However, this season will give you some great ideas on where to start and what they currently offer. The Virtual Machine We start our season with a focus on the "compute" family of services. These cover a few di...
Management By Walking Around - With Remote Teams
August 31, 2018 10:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBThere are a large number of management strategies that have been pushed over the years. The study and promotion of these approaches is a cottage industry unto itself. One of my favorite ideas is Management By Walking Around. This is a practice that works excellent for traditional office environments. However, it becomes a bit of a challenge when some or all of your team is remote. Casual Communication A key to management by walking around is the idea that you can get all you need fro...
Deadlines: A professional approach to the Side-Hustle
August 29, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MBWe have focused a lot on the fun part of a side-hustle. The goal is to enjoy our work as we pour more effort into our success. On the other hand, we need to have a professional approach to the side-hustle. It is not enough to say we are working on a side project. There has to be some effort, dare I say "hustle," that is included in your march to success. Deadlines, Not Soft Dates You have spent time and effort on planning out your side-hustle. This might include statements or promis...
Perseverance - A Critical Key To Success
August 27, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36.4 MBWhen we talk about skills that are important for success, some have a higher value than others. History has shown us that perseverance is one of those that is the most significant. Nearly every successful business was created by someone that experienced more than a few failures before that success. That ability to get up after getting knocked down is perseverance. Bound To Come Some Trouble There is a song lyric about life and the struggles we will see. There is "bound to come some t...
Planning For Fun and Recreation - The Meaningful Life
August 24, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MBI think that we all strive for a meaningful life. We do not want to breathe our last breath and look at missed opportunities. That concern goes beyond something as narrow as a focus on professional success. We all have an inner child that occasionally needs to come out and play. It is just the case that our inner child plays in different ways for each of us and as we age. A Meaningful Life Requires Intention All work and no play not only makes Jack a dull boy, but it also reduces our...
Cord-Cutting - Easier Than Ever
August 22, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBCord-cutting is one of the trends of the last decade or so that the Internet has led to. This is the situation where someone cuts the "cord" of cable or satellite television through a provider and manages their entertainment options. Better Than Ever Cord-cutting used to mean that you were mostly giving up visual entertainment other than movies. This option almost guaranteed that you would always be behind the curve in keeping up with the latest releases. Although this option was not ...
Side-hustle Arguments - Pros and Cons
August 20, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBThere are not a lot of articles that include side-hustle arguments. All of the ones I come across start from the position of any side-hustle being a good thing. Then, the story shows us how to embrace and succeed in that area. We are easily lured into seeing only positive side-hustle arguments as the end is examined without much regard for the journey. I think this sells us short on deciding how to live our life. Therefore, let's step back and determine whether all this extra work makes...
The Product Launch - Shipping Your Software Product
August 17, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 37 MBWe wrap up the season on building a small software product with tasks and recommendations for getting the product to a market. This is also called the product launch. Of course, what the market is can vary broadly for modern products. You might aim for getting a shrink-wrapped version of the product on a store shelf. However, that seems an almost pointless goal these days. Digital delivery and the related catalogs or stores are less expensive and easier goals to achieve. The Product P...
Completing Your Consulting Project
August 15, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBThis is the last episode in our consulting project side hustle series. We wrap up the season with a look at how to end our project and wrap it up (for now at least). As implied, we also look at moving on to the next project and making use of our success with a customer to grow to more work in the future. Final Delivery There should always be some sort of final release as part of completing a consulting project. This can be the form of releasing the source code to a customer or somethi...
Creating Commercial Software - Finishing Touches
August 13, 2018 10:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBOur goal has been to create a small commercial software product, and we are rapidly getting to the end of our journey. Creating commercial software does require us to do some additional work over something we build for personal use or even internal to our company. We are going to ask people to pay money for our application, and they will have a set of expectations we need to meet. A Fresh Install One of the easy to forget tasks we need to perform is a fresh install of our software. We...
Implementation Details - Wrapping up Our Software Product Creation
August 10, 2018 10:00 - 21 minutes - 28.9 MBIn this episode, we look at the final pieces we need to code as part of building our product. Many of these steps have already been taken partially, if not completely. However, it is always worthwhile to walk down a checklist of the details as we move towards code freeze. What is Code Freeze? The idea of freezing product development is one that provides a hard completion of the implementation phase. It is a way to avoid an endless cycle of enhancements and tweaks to "perfect" a produc...
Working The Project - Consulting Success
August 08, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36 MBWinning a project is only half the battle. For true consulting success, you must follow through with your plan and exceed expectations where possible. There is not a single approach that works for every project. However, there are some things you should touch on whether a job is a few hours or many years of work. Kick It Off An important piece of consulting success is setting expectations. These should be addressed at the very beginning of the project. Ideally, you set expectations ...
Building Out Your Application From a Demo
August 06, 2018 10:00 - 18 minutes - 25.3 MBIt is time for building out your application. You have a core engine for solving the main problem and a clickable demo to show off the user experience. Those provide the skeletal structure of our product. However, there is a lot of meat we need to add to those bones. Help Yourself Administration is a requirement for most applications. It may not be a requirement users will ever experience. However, you will likely make use of some sort of administrative activities as you implement a...
Create The User Experience - Building a Software Product
August 03, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 30.9 MBWe have worked on functionality in our application to this point. Now we can start to create a user experience, so those functions are accessible and intuitive. We will begin with a clickable demo that makes it easy to see how to navigate through the features. No Place Like Home Every application has a "home" or "start" page. This type of page is the one users see first in most cases. Accordingly, they tend to spend more time on it than any other screen. That makes this a critical p...
Landing a Project for Your Sidehustle
August 01, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBOur series on a consulting side hustle moves into landing a project. We have set the stage to present our services and "company." In this episode, we will look out how to use that positioning to find, apply for, and win a project. Stay Happy Early on, we will often take work that is not ideal. Our goal is building a series of reference projects and we are not able to be too picky. Nevertheless, the projects to take on for a side hustle should not be horrible. Look for projects that ...
General Case Problem-Solving – Implementation Steps
July 30, 2018 10:00 - 17 minutes - 23.7 MBIn the prior episode, we started out our coding of a solution for a specific case. Now we move on to the general case problem-solving code. Some of this work may have been completed in your general solution, but it is worth looking over these to craft the best solution. Input Parameters Our hard-coded solution did not need any parameters or even user input. However, as we move into the code for the general case problem-solving, we need to add those features. It is possible to skip the u...
Solving The Problem For a Simple Case - Implementation Steps
July 27, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBWe built a foundation for our application in the last episode. Now, we move into solving the problem that our customers will pay for. This step is just putting our plan on the computer and handling a single case. Our actions should be defined in our specification to the point that this is relatively easy. Document As You Go A way to approach this step is to start with comments, move to text/hard-coded output, and then to plug in the computations. When you follow this approach, the actio...
Setting Your Development Pricing
July 25, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 34.9 MBA challenge that we all face in our service offering is setting the development pricing. We know what our salary is and what we would like to earn. However, we also want to be fair in our pricing to both our customers and ourselves. In this episode, we look at the factors to consider in setting your rate as well as fixed bid factors. Rule Of Thumb For Rate It helps to start with a baseline. That is easy math. Take your salary and divide by 2000. That is roughly the hours we are expect...
Implementation First Steps - Creating Your Product
July 23, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 30.3 MBIn this episode, we get started on the implementation phase of our software product. We have a reasonably robust design documented from the tasks of the prior episodes. Thus, this should be an easy and natural next step. Your product vision at this point is solid and thought through. Start Simple These first steps of implementation will be used to create our foundation and development environment. Once this is complete, we will be ready to crank out some code and focus on our applicat...
Creating Our Test Scripts and Planning for Quality
July 20, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBTesting is an integral part of software development. It is critical for producing quality and an essential habit to develop early in your career. We will look at building test considerations into our product development process from the very beginning. This is an excellent way to keep the cost of fixing bugs down as we will catch them early in the process when they are easier to correct. Validating Data Garbage in, garbage out is something that rises to the level of a golden rule in s...
Building Your Service Offering and Resume
July 18, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MBOne of the first steps once we decide to do consulting as a side-hustle is to define our service offering. We have the option to be a general consultant and do at large coding or technical support. However, that is not an easy one to sell or even define. By its nature, a broad offering will limit your ability to speak directly to a customer's needs. Pick A Path Or A Few Start your offering thoughts with a favorite or ideal project to work on. This may be something you can do with you...
Creating a product specification and defining your environment
July 16, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.9 MBWe continue defining our product in this episode. Our prior episodes looked at the problem to solve, the solution, and general requirements. Now we can move on to the product specification and deciding on the environment we will use to create it. Design the application structure (core, data model, methods/functions, helpers, screens/output) Challenge: Create the specification from these decisions Choices, Choices, Choices The modern landscape provides a seemingly infinite combination o...
Creating Your Product Requirements
July 13, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MBIn this episode, we look at creating the product requirements for our side hustle software. Even though we have a lot of this information in our head, it is good practice to put it on paper. This exercise will help us think through our plan more thoroughly before we begin. It will also give us another experience in building out product requirements on our journey to become better developers. The Users It helps to think about the end users from the start. This is the audience for your...
The Kick Off For Online Consulting
July 11, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBThis episode kicks off a new season focused on how to launch your online consulting side hustle. The weekly episodes will walk you through making a plan, creating marketing materials, landing a customer, and then repeat business. Time to get started. Set Your Online Consulting Goals Any good business starts with a vision. You need to take this step even with your side hustle. Consider your goals, maybe even a vision statement for your side hustle. Your intentions may be to learn mor...
Creating a Small Software Product
July 09, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBThis episode starts a new series on creating a small software product. Our goal will be to create a passive income application that we can launch within a few months at most. We will get started on our new product immediately, so let's dive right in. Selecting A Problem Every good product solves a problem. That is where we will begin. Think of a problem that you deal with on a regular basis that could use a solution. This might be a familiar and repetitive task or something you do m...
The Snowball Effect of Passive Income
July 06, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36.5 MBThe ability to generate a passive income is a desire most of us have. We may not recognize it as such, but the desire to live without having to work seems universal. A challenge with this goal is that we often focus on completely being self-sufficient with our passive income. Although this is an understandable goal, it can be too big and cause us to lose hope in it as possible. Paid To Have Fun One alternative to being self-sufficient is to love what you do. When you get paid to do s...
Securing Your Systems - From The Business Point of View
July 04, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MBWhen you look at concerns that keep business owners up at night, a few show up over and over. One of these worries is the challenge of securing your systems. No one wants to be the company mentioned in the latest data breach. Unfortunately, security can be expensive. It is an open-ended goal that can allow for a lot of resources to be poured into it. Achieving the Minimum The first step in securing your systems should always be to get to the expected minimum level. The tasks require...
Key Considerations When Writing A Code Generator
July 02, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MBOf all the applications I have worked on over the years a code generator is the most challenging. Likewise, it is the most rewarding and painful sort of project. This is not something for the faint of heart. However, it is an incredible learning experience and often will help elevate you to that next level. Reinforce Best Practices Do not misunderstand me; a code generator can create some ugly code. However, building an application that creates source will often push you to best prac...
Building a Backlog of Tasks in Life to Be More Productive and Create Free Time
June 29, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBOur modern lives are full of work and tasks that can leave us exhausted at the end of the day. This hectic pace can often keep us from doing the things we enjoy. Never fear, in this episode, we look at ways to organize your week and day to create free time for the things we enjoy. Filling The Bucket The concept that is the basis for this approach is that of filling a bucket with ever smaller stones. Our tasks have size and time requirements. Thus, we have larger tasks that take big b...
Measuring Your Way To Improvement
June 27, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 34.3 MBWhen we plan our way to becoming better at anything we have to find a way to grade progress. Thus, measuring is a critical factor in improving our performance. We can try to achieve success with something that is not measured. However, how do we know when we have made an improvement or when we have gotten worse? Measuring Provides Our Pace We often talk about becoming better developers. In doing so, we assume that there are specific ways to measure our progress as a developer. These me...
Coding Standards - A Personal Approach
June 25, 2018 11:00 - 25 minutes - 35 MBMost of us were just getting started on our career when we were introduced to coding standards. These are common in the industry and more so where there are entry-level developers. Although the purpose of coding standards is often related to easing team development, there are far more benefits as well. Thus, you should create these for your improvement as well. Coding Standards As A Productivity Tool The first benefit you will get from a standard approach is a template for writing cod...
Master Remote Work Through Preparation and Planning
June 22, 2018 11:00 - 27 minutes - 38 MBThe Gig economy has many facets. One of the big positives for many people is the option of remote work. There is a freedom that comes from being able to get away from a desk and an office outside of the home. This goal is achievable. However, some planning is required to be productive while working remote and making this your regular routine. A Good Workspace We have discussed your workspace in a recent episode and touched on a home office. That is a good starting point, but remote...
Defining An MVP Properly for Your Goals
June 20, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33 MBWhen you need to create a minimum viable product (MVP) the process is not that different from designing any other product. However, the process is more challenging. The process requires tighter control over the scope of requirements through to deployment. This type of product is becoming a standard way to step towards funding and is worth closer examination. Why Create An MVP? As with any software product, the decision to create an MVP needs to be made. Thus, we need to look at whether ...
Development Language Certifications and Other Tech Certs
June 18, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 37 MBWe have looked at certifications before. However, now we go a little deeper in our final part of the development languages overview. The bulk of this episode focuses on development language certifications, and then we go back and look at some related to databases and other tech areas. Development Language Certifications as a Learning Method The best part about working on certifications is the experience and know-how they bring. A certification test is going to be wide-ranging in topic...
Use The Value of Steady Improvement to Achieve Big Goals
June 15, 2018 11:00 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBSlow and steady wins the race. This is a fact of life we are taught in grade school. Unfortunately, it is one that is easy to forget. Some goals and objectives seem too big for us to achieve them. However, we can use the approach of steady improvement to reach heights that seem unobtainable. Steady Improvement and Momentum The concept of momentum is one of the most important ones that come from steady improvement. Once we start to do even a little work on a task each week or day, it...
An Interview With the CMO of Freeeup.com
June 13, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBThis episode is the second in a two-part interview with Connor Gillivan of Freeeup.com (Part One is here). This time we look at his company and how they might be an excellent resource for you. That holds whether you are a provider or if you are looking for help. A Curated Model Conner describes their model and approaches far better than I. However, I will say that they have a different process for connecting workers and customers than many of the other sites. They vet their resources...
Development Language Families and Leveraging Them
June 11, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutes - 39.3 MBAs we continue our overview of IT and development languages, in particular, we examine the idea of development language families. This includes how those can impact our ability to quickly adapt to a new environment. Modern Development Language Families The good news about this concept is that the most popular modern languages fall into only a few categories of families. Thus, once you have even one or two under your belt, it can be a short trip to ramp up to a new language or environme...
Creating A Productive Workspace and The Happiness it Provides
June 08, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 34.5 MBYour job may dictate your workspace and environment. However, you likely have at least a little say in the way that space is configured. Also, your side hustle workspace or home office can be configured to your personal style and situation. Although it may seem minor, a productive workspace is important to your mental and physical health. A Productive Workspace Is Focused When you build a home office the area you use is a critical part of whether it can be productive or not. Distract...
Building a Personal Brand Across A Wide Range of Social Platforms
June 06, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 34.3 MBOne of the benefits of the popularity of social networks is that we can build a personal brand and reach a broad audience. We can open our target market up to the world and are not limited to our city, state, or country. It is tempting (and common) to have a presence on several platforms rather than restrict our reach. Yes, there is overlap, but why not reach as far as possible when these sites are free to use. A Consistent Voice The challenge with all of these social networking sites...
Creating and Pursing Your Career Roadmap
June 04, 2018 10:00 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MBJust like software, your professional development will go better with a solid plan. In this episode, we look at how to create a career roadmap and advance along the path. Every individual has their likes, desires, and needs for their professional development. We start with general technologies and platforms then proceed to look at some specifics and keeping your roadmap in mind. Creating the Career Roadmap The key to a good career roadmap is to cover areas of development in both gener...
Simplify Your Way To Happiness
June 01, 2018 10:00 - 26 minutes - 37 MBLife is busy and hectic. Our modern lives include not only a potentially overwhelming amount of responsibilities but copious amounts of "stuff." Thus, sometimes the burden of daily life causes stress and extra work. An excellent answer to this struggle is to simplify things wherever possible. When you have less to worry about there will be more free time and focus becomes almost automatic. Digital Simplification The flurry of apps, devices, and content subscriptions available to us m...
Mastering The Interview From Either Side of The Table
May 30, 2018 10:00 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MBThe interview process is a part of every facet of a business. This is no less a part of IT and technology-related jobs. In fact, the mobility of technology jobs and prevalence of short-term or part-time positions make mastering the interview critical for your career. In this episode, we cover some great ways to approach an interview. These will help whether you are looking for a new team member or a new position. An Interview is Selling IT workers rarely consider themselves good at s...
Modern Programming Language Types - An Overview
May 28, 2018 10:00 - 27 minutes - 37.8 MBIn this episode, we continue our overview of development languages with a focus on the types that exist. We looked at some of the core concepts in the first part of this series. The similarities (think dialects) among languages were also highlighted. At this point, we look at some specific ones and how there are programming language types that make some better than others for the tasks at hand. General Programming Language Types We start with the best known and most useful coding lang...
Productivity Tools For an Easier Life
May 25, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 34 MBWhen we think of productivity tools we tend to think about our work life. They do not tend to show up on our radar of ways to live an easier life. Buckle up because the Internet has brought us an incredible number of tools. These are for our day-to-day lives and not just our job. Automation and Communication The strength of the Internet and related applications is the ability to easily communicate and automate tasks. The advances in cloud computing, mobile devices, and software as a ...
Build Your Business With Simplification - A Streamlined Product Offering and Message
May 23, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 31 MBThere are businesses that make their mark as a one-stop shop for a broad range of needs. However, these are few and far between. The most successful companies have a story, a vision, and their product or service catalog a based on that brand. Therefore, it is worth looking at your offerings to look for ways to build your business by reducing offerings. Analysis Paralysis There have been studies done to show that more options can be a deterrent to conversions. A potential customer ma...