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
Further Your Career Through a Higher Degree
January 24, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.2 MBA higher degree in my mind is anything beyond a high school diploma. These days, that diploma is almost always a minimum requirement for a technology job. There are just too many applicants that have that and more. A Higher Degree Sets a Baseline A degree is a great way to raise the ceiling for your career, but it also is a way to lift the floor. In fact, a college degree can be a path to avoiding some steps of the ladder climbing required in any career. These rungs may be skipping out ...
Certifications and Improving Your Value
January 22, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBExperience is the number one asset you can bring to your job. A close second is a degree and certifications. There are situations where a decision is required between a degree (or higher degree) or technical certification. It turns out that certifications are often a better deal and a quicker payoff than that advanced degree. Certifications Require Time and Money The value of a certificate in any technology is that it shows a minimum level of knowledge. Much like a degree, this allows f...
Charity - Better To Give Than Receive
January 19, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.5 MBWe have all heard that it is better to give than receive. However, instead of taking it at face value, this is something worth looking at deeper. In this episode, we look at how to live a life we love and passing that along to others through giving. Charity Is More Than Money The first thing to consider is that money is just one way we can give. There also may be a number of ways you want to give back. A charity is not the only avenue. There are all sorts of causes and ways to help oth...
Accounting For The Entrepreneur
January 17, 2018 11:00 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MBAccounting may not be the most exciting part of a business, but it is an integral part of success. We primarily keep score for our business based on how it generates revenue. More importantly, a company needs to gain a profit on that income. When we do not track the ins and outs of our funds, we are more likely to have more going out than in. Accounting As A Means of Protecting Ourselves When a business is a means to pay our salary or those of others then revenue and profit is seen as cr...
Common Sense System Security We Can All Implement
January 15, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MBSystem security is a big business. We see hackers in the news all the time, and no one wants to be the next victim that has to admit to a breach. This allows security firms to charge top dollar for their services and consultation. However, there are a lot of simple and inexpensive steps we can take to dramatically reduce the odds of being the next victim System Security Through Smart Procedures The first thing to consider is that most security breaches come about through human error. Th...
Finding Your Rhythm For Better Productivity
January 12, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBWe have looked at a few ways to improve productivity through the early podcast episodes. However, we have only touched on the idea of rhythm and how it can make or break us. Habits are hard to break, whether good or bad and those are the things that drive our natural rhythm Know When You Are At Your Best The first step in getting productive is to determine what works for you. There are some variations each of us can embrace. Unfortunately, what works for you, may cause me all sorts of p...
Excellent Resources For Brand Design
January 10, 2018 11:00 - 25 minutes - 35.3 MBI have to admit that the Develpreneur icon and banners are not designed by me. I used a site called 99 Designs for this work. I have a few skills and none of them are brand design. Thus, I outsourced that work so I could have something that was effective. Brand Design: Play To Your Strengths Many (maybe even most) of us have passable design skills at best. We are visionaries or technicians, but not very good at creating appealing artwork. There is no shame in this. We all have our str...
Version Control - The Key To Modern Development
January 08, 2018 11:00 - 28 minutes - 38.5 MBWhen best practices are considered for development, version control has become a normal facet of any modern coding. Many integrated development environments now include integration to some version control by default. In fact, Git is often assumed as the tool of choice. That being said, we still need to use these tools properly. Version Control Requires Regular Usage The most common failing I find with new developers is a lack of actually using the tool correctly. Although committing cod...
Burnout and How To Avoid It While Staying Productive
January 05, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MBBurnout is a big stumbling block to productivity. It is a bit like clinical depression where you are not sure it is coming, but when it hits, recovery is painful. In this episode, we look at some of the signs of burnout and even some warning signs. However, we do not stop there. We also look at ways to stay productive, push hard, and still avoid burnout. Burnout Comes in Many Forms There are many ways that burnout will appear. It may be a lack of getting up in the morning and a constant...
Business Communication - Critical For Success
January 03, 2018 11:00 - 28 minutes - 38.5 MBOf all the skills I have learned, business communication has paid the greatest dividends. This is not a difficult skill to learn. However, practice, experience, and honest feedback are the key ingredients to become a master. Business Communication - Short and Sweet The old phrase "short and sweet" is a great way to sum up what I have learned. The audience for any business communication (email, documents, presentations, etc.) value time and clarity. They start with the assumption that yo...
The Value of Varied Development Environments
January 01, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 34.2 MBWhen we get serious about development we have to use enterprise tools. These include version control, defect tracking, change management, and multiple development environments. These development environments range from pure development to testing, staging, and finally production. In this episode, we explore how to build and use each of these. Development Environments Cover the Full SDLC A good series of environments will address the various areas of the software development lifecycle....
Sleeping Well In a Busy World
December 29, 2017 11:00 - 31 minutes - 43.1 MBWe all have busy lives. That is just a part of modern life. However, those of us in the develpreneur world can have it even worse. Sleeping well can be quite a challenge when you are facing deadlines and always trying to push for that next goal. Nevertheless, sleep is a critical factor in health and even long-term productivity so let's look at ways to get some rest without sacrificing productivity. Sleeping Well Vs. Sleep Hacking Sleep hacking is a popular topic among those that value p...
Development Language Families
December 25, 2017 11:00 - 28 minutes - 39 MBAcross the hundreds of programming languages, there are some similarities. These even fall into types of development language families. When you are looking at how to expand your technical skills these complementary languages can speed your growth. The key is to start with fundamentals and use those to grow to less common problems that are solved with code. Start With a Good Foundation The key to rapid learning and mastering of languages is to start with core or general purpose languages...
Staying Healthy and Exercise for The Insanely Busy
December 22, 2017 11:00 - 22 minutes - 31.4 MBWe have a full schedule and are always busy. That is no excuse for skipping exercise. In fact, staying healthy is a critical key to success. In this episode, we look at some ways to keep your body healthy. Better yet, how to do this without sacrificing too much of that all-important resource: time. Staying Healthy is About Habits We have seen how success in any area is best predicted by good habits. Health is no different. When we are intentional about our health, we can find ways to ...
Underpromise and Overdeliver for Long-term Success
December 20, 2017 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBThere is an old saying that we should underpromise and overdeliver. This may seem obvious to us, but it is worth considering in our career and business. In fact, this approach is one of the best recipes for success in both your individual career and that of your company or employer. Underpromise and Overdeliver to Separate from Competition There are many ways to appeal to customers, but this concept is not often put forward. The underlying message follows these lines, but it is rarely st...
Databases - An Overview and Introduction
December 18, 2017 11:00 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MBLike any area of technology, there is a lot to know about databases. We are not going to cover all of them. In this episode, we will look at popular modern databases and keep to a non-technical overview. Databases Come In Many Types There are many database solutions available on the market. These range from the familiar relational databases to lesser-used ones like object databases. Each of these has its own set of strengths and weaknesses to be assessed for your needs. The only way to...
Automation and Batching Tasks for Improved Productivity
December 15, 2017 11:00 - 27 minutes - 37.5 MBIt may be my background in technology, but I find automation to be the greatest way to improve productivity. This time-saving mechanism is not new either. We can look back a hundred years to see where assembly lines and automation allowed us to progress rapidly. In fact, computers are made for automation. Automation is Not Just Technology Even though computers have given us a wealth of automation options, there are low tech methods available as well. At its essence, automation is the co...
Finding Work and Getting Paid For Your Skills
December 13, 2017 11:00 - 26 minutes - 35.8 MBThere are many ways to monetize the work we have been discussing. For example, advertising is a typical avenue for a revenue stream. However, it does not have a high likelihood of being substantial in most cases. Instead, offer a product or service to generate real revenue quickly. The problem is that finding work is easier said than done. Never fear, here are a few suggestions to get you started. Finding Work on the Internet The Internet is an excellent resource for finding work. The...
Learning Development Languages
December 11, 2017 11:00 - 25 minutes - 34.8 MBThe primary communication method and tool of a developer is code. There are hundreds of such languages in use. Thus, learning development languages is an essential part of a development career. No matter when you started developing there were languages that existed, and new ones pop up each year. This situation only gets more complicated when you consider frameworks and libraries for many of these platforms. Learning Development Languages is Never Ending A true developer is always going...
Focus is the Key To Success (and Maybe Happiness)
December 08, 2017 11:00 - 27 minutes - 38 MBWe live in a world full of distractions. That fact does not go away just because we have a goal or focus. In fact, those little distractions can be harder to identify when they are in line with our primary goal. These are the small time wasters and productivity thieves that hide as helpers. Focus Must Be Guarded Any entrepreneur lives with a steady stream of new ideas. However, too many of us underestimate our natural creative state. In fact, we all are creatives to some extent and hav...
Build Your Customer Base
December 06, 2017 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBWhether you are just getting started or your business is decades old, customers are critical to success. In fact, without your customer base, there is no business. So let's look at some ways to build loyalty and grow your core of customers. A Strong Customer Base When we look at a customer base, we look beyond the numbers. A core of 100 purchasers of your product is better when they are loyal customers and not one-time buyers. Thus, we have to provide an experience and build a relations...
An Introduction to AWS and the Free Tier
December 04, 2017 11:00 - 28 minutes - 39.6 MBAny good developer has to start with an environment for their work. These requirements can be an expensive obstacle to overcome. However, Amazon has made their extensive network and resources available to all of us. There is a cost, of course, but it is easy to scale. They even have a free tier of services. Your Personal Data Center The suite of services provided by Amazon called Amazon Web Services is often called AWS. These offerings cover dozens of needs of modern developers. Bette...
Determine Your Why For A Life of Contentment
December 01, 2017 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.3 MBThere are many measures of success. Fame and fortune often top this list. However, when you think about it, a life of contentment is the real measure of success. Once we reach this conclusion we need to dig into what makes us content. This is our personal key to happiness. Contentment Comes From Your "Why" The are many ways to achieve contentment. However, anyone that is truly content has found and addressed the "why" in their life. This goal may be a happy family, financial security,...
Business Development - Work On Your Business, Not In It
November 29, 2017 11:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBAny good business generates revenue. However, this fact can impede growth. The desire to work hard and increase revenue can be a tactical decision that ignores good strategy. In this episode, we look at some steps you can take to keep yourself from losing the big picture. Strong Companies Require Business Development The problem with strong revenue is that it is a short-term value. I can sell a million dollars worth of product in one day. However, that does mean I will ever sell even $...
Technical Improvement Through Baby Steps
November 27, 2017 11:00 - 28 minutes - 39.7 MBOur focus on technology can make improvement appear to be impossible. The industry is moving at an incredible pace so keeping up is hard enough. Thus, getting head is too much to ask. We have found that technical improvement while staying current is not impossible. It just requires us to keep a steady pace of improvement. Technical Improvement Requires Steady Use The challenge in growing our skills is to stay current in our existing skills while still learning new things. When we are i...
Living Better - An Overview of the Life Hacking Series
November 24, 2017 11:00 - 17 minutes - 23.7 MBOur efforts to become a better developer and entrepreneur are only valuable if they lead to living better. Therefore, we cannot limit our discussions to just those two topics. In this series, we will look at how to work better. Also, we will explore how to accomplish that without sacrificing a fulfilling life. Living Better is Our Ultimate goal The worst thing I can imagine is if someone follows our blog and podcast, is successful, but has an empty life. The goals of skills and success ...
An Introduction to the Business-Focused Episodes
November 22, 2017 11:00 - 17 minutes - 24.4 MBBecoming a better developer requires us to understand the business side of our solutions. Therefore, this series of topics is highly valuable. They also help our goal of becoming a better entrepreneur. This first episode provides an overview of what to expect from the business-focused category. Why Business-Focused? One of the big complaints about developers is a lack of building solutions for the "real world." Thus, we want to spend time looking at how to tie our latest technical advan...
An Introduction To the Developer Focused Episodes
November 20, 2017 11:00 - 17 minutes - 24.1 MBWe will start the tech track of episodes with an overview of what topics to expect. This discussion also helps tie our past blog post articles into these upcoming podcast episodes. We want to set a suitable destination as we embark on this journey. Thus, this too looks at what we think makes for a better developer. Be A Better Developer We start from ground zero. However, it will not hurt to try out our Launching an Internet Business series of tutorials. The tutorials ask for only a...
An Overview of the Develpreneur Podcast
November 14, 2017 04:56 - 18 minutes - 24.8 MBThe Podcast Overview This episode starts us on our journey to become a better developer. We look at the planned release schedule and structure along with why this podcast came into being. The episodes will cover three main topics that make up a great developer. These are technical skills, entrepreneurial drive, and life-hacking/life balance tips and tricks. We have a busy road ahead so this provides a high-level overview. The next three episodes will involve going more deeply into the to...