Pursuit Podcast artwork

Pursuit Podcast

77 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratings

The Pursuit Podcast offers advice and new perspectives on getting things done in tech through half hour conversations with tech's great thinkers each week. Want to learn to code? Land that great new job? Learn about how to manage your new reports? We've got you covered. This weekly podcast and carefully curated resources aims to leave you inspired and prepared to tackle that cool new thing.

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Episodes

Learning to Code While Blind: Parham Doustdar

February 13, 2018 09:36 - 26 minutes - 30.5 MB

Learning a new skill can be a daunting task, with programming being especially tricky. But what can you do when most learning materials and tools aren't accessible to you? Blind backend developer Parham Doustdar joins us to talk about how he taught himself to program, the challenges he faced and his advice for other visually impaired developers. We also look at the ways educational resources and programming as a whole can be made more accessible, opening up technology to eager new learners a...

Learning to Code: Quincy Larson and FreeCodeCamp.org

February 06, 2018 07:46 - 32 minutes - 36.9 MB

For people learning programming languages for the first time moving beyond in browser tutorials can be a major hurdle to success. Quincy Larson joins us to look at his free, open source learning platform FreeCodeCamp.org and talks us through the challenges he faced founding the project. We also look at common challenges to learners and how the tech industry can better support new coders.

Writing a Tech Book: Tracy Osborn

January 30, 2018 11:59 - 35 minutes - 40.7 MB

As part of our series looking at working for yourself, the founder of WeddingLovely and publisher of the popular Hello Web Books series Tracy Osborn joins us to talk about balancing writing a book while working for yourself. Tracy talks us through the logistics of writing, publishing and marketing a book in detail while sharing how she balances running her own business alongside her writing.

Freelancing Long Term: Remy Sharp

January 23, 2018 14:09 - 30 minutes - 34.8 MB

Thinking about getting into freelancing and wondering what the long term impacts of working for yourself might be? Or perhaps you've been working for yourself for some time and want to see how your experiences stack up? Battle-scarred veteran freelancer Remy Sharp of Left Logic joins us to talk about the challenges of working for yourself long term. We'll look at isolation, avoidance and motivation, offering tips and tricks to help you do more.

Pivoting: Kim Crayton

January 16, 2018 07:38 - 28 minutes - 32.3 MB

One of the hardest parts of working for yourself can be moving on from an idea or project you love. This week, internationally renowned speaker and consultant Kim Crayton joins us to talk about her moves through several industries into technology, onto conference stages around the world and her most recent pivot into business skills consulting.

Managing Your Time: Rachel Andrew

January 09, 2018 10:41 - 26 minutes - 30.3 MB

Want to start working for yourself but not sure how to fit it all into a workday? Or you're already working for yourself and want to better manage your busy schedule? Expert consultant, internationally recognized speaker and co-founder of Perch CMS Rachel Andrew joins us to talk about being busy, fitting it all in and work/life balance.

Contracting: Sara Soueidan

January 02, 2018 10:29 - 33 minutes - 38.4 MB

Ever wanted to quit your job and work for yourself, on projects of your choosing? International speaker, trainer, consultant and front end expert Sara Soueidan joins us to talk about the benefits and challenges of becoming a contractor. We'll look at contracting advice born of her experiences that you can apply to your escape from the rat race or just to learn more about tech contracting.

Walking Away From Your Open Source Project: John Resig

December 26, 2017 08:00 - 25 minutes - 29.5 MB

Ever wonder how to walk away from the open source project you've built, loved and maintained? John Resig, the creator of jQuery, joins us to talk about how to say goodbye. We'll look at what leaving your project feels like, how to do it in a healthy way and what moving on can bring to your life.

Maintaining Open Source Projects: Dan Abramov

December 19, 2017 09:17 - 27 minutes - 31.8 MB

Dan Abramov a maintainer and of the popular React JavaScript library joins us to talk about the challenges and rewards of maintaining a popular open source project. He offers insights into the way the Facbook react team works to support React and respond to user needs, while offering you advice for your own large or small open source projects.

Getting into tech via Open Source: Vaishali Thakkar

December 12, 2017 11:10 - 24 minutes - 33.5 MB

Love open source? Looking to break into the tech industry? Oracle's Vaishali Thakkar joins us to talk about how you can leverage your open source involvement to find work in the tech industry. We'll look at programs like Rails Girls Summer of Code and Outreachy that could be able to pay you as you upskill intro the industry alongside Vaishali's own professional journey.

Getting into Open Source: Nadia Odunayo

December 05, 2017 09:28 - 30 minutes - 35.2 MB

Ever wondered how to take that first step into open source? Nadia Odunayo joins us to talk about 24 Pull Requests, her work with open source and speakerline.io, her project to make public speaking more accessible. We'll look at what newbies need to know, as well as how open source projects friendlier and more welcoming for folks new to open source.

Making Your Passion Project Pay: Suw Charman-Anderson

November 28, 2017 08:03 - 31 minutes - 42.7 MB

Love your side project, but still need to pay the bills? This week we talk with Suw of Ada Lovelace Day She talks us through the process of experimenting to find what works and monetizing your projects to become stable, income producing work. Learn more about her work with findingada.com and share in the learnings from her path to make her passion for inclusive representation her full time job.

Navigating Tech Bureaucracy: Terence Eden

November 21, 2017 10:56 - 32 minutes - 37.7 MB

Bureaucracy can be soul destroying. Finding ways to navigate (or even to subvert) it before it destroys you is the only way forward. Terence Eden talks us though his battle with the Unicode Consortium as part of a bid to have new emoji/characters added. Did he succeed? Did he survive? Listen to find out.

Writing and Accessibility: Ashley Bischoff

November 14, 2017 10:58 - 28 minutes - 32.7 MB

Ashley Bischoff joins us this week to look at accessibility in writing for the web and across technology. Writing in ways that can be easily understood by readers and users of varying literacy skill levels, from different language backgrounds and cognitive challenges allows as many people as possible to share your vision and access what you’ve built. We’ll examine techniques and tooling for writing accessibly, including bit.ly.com/readabilityanalyzer Ashley can be found on the web at handc...

Tech Without A Degree: Harry Roberts

November 07, 2017 10:50 - 34 minutes - 48 MB

International speaker, consultant and lauded CSS expert Harry Roberts joins us to talk about his experiences in entering the tech industry without a degree. He talks us through the value of blogging as a way to build an audience, the challenges of getting into the tech industry and more.

Management Skills with Davide Casali

October 31, 2017 16:23 - 23 minutes - 26.6 MB

Ever wondered if you have the skills to make the jump into management? We're joined by Davide Casali of Automattic to learn about the skills and motivations a good manager bring to their team. Davide is a speaker, writer, mentor and technologist of many talents currently working to design better product experiences. You can find more of Davide's wisdom at https://intenseminimalism.com/

The Founder Experience: Safia Abdalla

October 24, 2017 11:39 - 27 minutes - 38 MB

This episode we're joined by international speaker, open source maven and startup founder Safia Abdalla. She walks us through her experiences founding and running Tanmu Labs and the challenges behind delivering Zarf, her subscription content platform. Safia offers her advice for new and hopeful startup founders, looking at work/life balance, user feedback and more.

Tips and Tricks for Public Speaking: Andrew Lightheart

October 17, 2017 10:40 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MB

Last week we talked about writing and researching a talk to get you onto a tech conference stage. This episode we're joined by speaking coach and leadership consultant Andrew Lightheart to talk about his work and how to confidently get through your first talk. Andrew walks us through what makes a great talk and small hacks to make your talk pop on stage as well as looking at leadership, coaching and the pressures of writing a book. If you wanted more of Andrew's advice his book on speaking sk...

Public Speaking in Tech: Stuart Langridge

October 10, 2017 10:40 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MB

Ever wanted to get on stage and share what you know with the world? Guest Stuart Langridge joins us to talk about writing, researching and giving your first talk. We look at the value of meetups and local community events in your speaking career, how to get up on that first conference stage and how to stay cool up there. Stuart is a web expert, writer, consultant and podcaster based in the UK. Our next episode will look at tips and tricks for giving a great talk once you've gotten to that big...

Tech Without a Degree: Katie Cunningham

October 03, 2017 10:35 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MB

Katie is the Last Nerd Standing (CTO) at a startup that focuses on language and education. She spoke with us about dropping out of college, working as a NASA contractor and becoming a CTO. Katie offers a perspective on getting into and staying in tech without a degree based on incredible talent, great timing and hard work. When she's not coding or trying to remember what the heck a gerund is, she knits, sews, and writes fantasy novels that will probably never see the light of day. She lives i...

Tech Without A Degree: Alvaro Videla

September 25, 2017 09:58 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MB

Alvaro Videla works with Migros, one of Switzerland's largest supermarket chains. Originally from the countryside in Uruguay, Alvaro self taught himself development skills while selling food door to door. With the help of friends, family and his own determination he overcame a series of challenges to become a developer in the capital. He's continued to grow and learn, authoring books on RabbitMQ and being a leading developer, speaker and one of tech's best loved thinkers. You can read more ab...

Tech Without a Degree: Thayer Prime

September 18, 2017 09:27 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MB

This episode we look at another profile of a technologist who got into the digital technology industry without a degree. Thayer Prime is a self-taught programmer, who now works in organisational design and digital technology recruitment with her company Team Prime. She joined us to talk about her journey into tech, recruitment and more.In this episode we talked about getting into the digital technology industry without a degree, best practise ideas for hiring processes and found out about Tha...

Working with recruiters featuring Hannah Mitchell

August 22, 2017 17:07 - 26 minutes - 30.5 MB

A look at how to select great recruiters and avoid the sleazeballs when jobhunting in tech with guest Hannah Mitchell from Technical Team Solutions.

Developer Relations, what is it and how do I get in?

August 15, 2017 11:54 - 37 minutes - 26.1 MB

Bruce Lawson and Jessica Rose talk about developer relations. What is developer relations, how you can break into the industry and the pain points contextualized within Bruce's story of working in developer relations.

Planning Your Own Tech Event

August 04, 2017 12:40 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MB

A look at the challenges and rewards of running your own tech events from Mike Elsmore, the founder of the Hackference conference and hackathon.

Tech Without a Degree: Apprenticeship Perspective

July 26, 2017 08:36 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MB

A look at Tanja Lichtensteiger's experiences getting into technology as an apprentice without a university degree as well as her current work as a tech lead.

Building Great Junior Portfolio Sites

July 03, 2017 00:00 - 43 minutes - 50.4 MB

Jessica Rose and Steven Pitchford look at what a great portfolio site for junior developers needs and look at some fantastic examples of existing sites.

Why get into tech?

June 29, 2017 14:05 - 34 minutes - 39.5 MB

Noted Afrofuturist Florence Okoye and Ed-tech darling Nadeem Shabir talk about their motivations in entering the technology industry and the path they travelled into the industry. Advice and cautions, warnings and rewards of getting into the tech industry, alongside the question of you need a degree to work in tech.

Guests

Dan Abramov
1 Episode
John Resig
1 Episode
Nadia Odunayo
1 Episode
Saron Yitbarek
1 Episode
Vaidehi Joshi
1 Episode

Twitter Mentions

@handcoding 1 Episode
@biz4socialchg 1 Episode
@rem 1 Episode
@mathnskating 1 Episode