Talking Code
24 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 8 years ago - ★★★★★ - 72 ratingsThe Talking Code podcast contains short expert interviews that help you decode what developers are saying. We help non-technical founders, designers, project managers, or anyone who needs a 30,000 foot view of how to run a successful software company.
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Episodes
How to Become an Effective Junior Developer
October 20, 2015 07:00 - 43 minutes - 29.8 MBLouisa Barrett of Haught Codeworks tells us about how to become an effective junior developer. We also speak in depth about how to become a better teacher. Here's what to listen for: 01:54 - Who is a junior developer? 02:59 - How did you go from going to an art school to wanting to learn about code? 06:43 - How long did it take to become a junior developer? 08:14 - How comfortable were you when you first started working out of bootcamp? 09:16 - How well do you feel that the dev bootcam...
Making the Most of Your Analytics
October 13, 2015 07:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBDiana Smith of Segment tells us how to get the most out of our analytics tools. In the pursuit of trying to be data-driven, we have been conditioned to track everything. Diana tells us why this can be dangerous if we want to draw useful insights from our data. Here's what to listen for: 00:49 - What specifically are we talking about when we are talking about analytics in this context? 01:55 - What is the difference between user path and funnel tracking? 03:10 - Are there tools similar to...
How to Deliver a Successful User Experience
September 22, 2015 07:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBSarah Doody, a UX designer, consultant, and writer, tells us how to build products with great user experiences. We will hear why user experience is far more important than design. Here's what to listen for: 00:46 - What is Sarah’s background in UX (User Experience)? 03:09 - What is the distinction between the experience and the interface? 05:53 - How do you create the ideal team at a startup? 10:53 - What is the distinction between experiential design and visual design? 13:14 - Which c...
How to Launch Products in Under Two Weeks
September 15, 2015 07:00Mubashar Iqbal, the #1 product maker on ProductHunt, tells us about how he launches products that people use in weeks, not months. Here's what to listen for: 00:57 - What is Mubashar’s Background? 02:11 - What does being the most featured maker on Product Hunt mean? 03:25 - What helped you to become #1 and have so many products features on Product Hunt? 05:22 - What does the “featured” product distinction mean? 06:27 - What was important in different products that ended up making them ...
Going from Junior to Senior Developer
August 25, 2015 07:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBBen Orenstein of Upcase tells us how to go from a junior to a senior developer. He reveals a number of things senior developers do that junior developers don't. Here's what to listen for: 02:34 - Would a degree in computer science benefit somebody who is interested in starting programming? 03:23 - How do you convince people that getting a computer science degree isn’t necessary? 08:41 - What is the path from zero to junior developer? 14:16 - How do you define what a junior developer is?...
Using Data to Make Informed Product Decisions
August 18, 2015 07:00 - 43 minutes - 29.7 MBLincoln Ritter, director of engineering at Animoto, shares how they use data to make more informed product decisions. Here's what to listen for: 02:01 What can we do with data? 04:21 Why should a company care about data and trends? 08:02 How can you become more data-driven? 12:28 How can you get more people involved in caring about data? 16:41 What are the tradeoffs when it comes to agility in software development? 18:29 How do you combat paralysis and help people on your team underst...
How to Do Information Architecture
August 11, 2015 07:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBAbby Covert, author of How to Make Sense of Any Mess, teaches us about information architecture, a subject she strongly feels is a core life skill. She's seen people get fired over language and informs us that – quite obviously in hindsight – architecture is less expensive than design. Here's what to listen for: 00:44 What is information architecture? 01:52 How is information architecture used specifically in building software? 04:25 Is information architecture synonymous with customer d...
Product Design and User Experience
August 04, 2015 07:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBSven Lenaerts joins us to share his expertise on product design and user experience. This conversation includes some thoughts on MVPs, when to hire a designer, and what a product person really does. Here's what to listen for: 00:46 What do you do as a product designer and UI/UX designer? 04:18 What should I figure out before I talk to a designer or developer about building a product? 07:01 What things can I do inexpensively that are lower-risk to see if building an app is the right solu...
Modern Web Architecture Fundamentals
July 28, 2015 07:00 - 55 minutes - 38.1 MBJames Ward shares how the hosting landscape has changed for web applications over the years and how you can avoid some of his middle-of-the-night pager nightmares. Here's what to listen for: 00:47 What are the differences between hosting services? 05:19 What is a sysadmin? 07:14 What is the advantage of having people or a service do system administration for you? 09:23 What are some things that Heroku does for you that a lower-level server won’t? 13:36 Given all the choices out there, ...
The Rise of the Data Scientist
July 21, 2015 07:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MBJonathan Cornelissen tells us about DataCamp, the need for data scientists, and how to become one yourself. We also learn about some popular languages and libraries for analyzing data. Here's what to listen for: 00:43 What is the story behind DataCamp? 02:06 What is data science? 02:52 What kind of xdata is out there that can be analyzed? 04:46 Do I need a scientific or statistical background to work with data science? 05:26 Does DataCamp help establish a theoretical background? 06:21...
How to Do User Story Mapping
July 14, 2015 07:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBJeff Patton, author of User Story Mapping, teaches us how to map user stories by focusing on the user's journey to an outcome. He shares his opinion on the notorious "MVP" and how he helped Gary Levitt build his MVP with Mad Mimi. Here's what to listen for: 00:49 What is a user story? 02:07 What does a user story look like? 02:57 When people refer to user stories do they mean the documentation around the conversations they’ve had? 03:44 Why is just having stories written down in a docum...
How to Keep Code Quality High
July 07, 2015 07:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBMichael Bernstein of Code Climate explains how to monitor your code's quality with static analysis. He tells us how you can maintain or improve quality over time, and what you can do to fix poor code. Here's what to listen for: 00:44 What is high quality code? 02:06 What is code that’s easy to read? 04:12 What is overly clever code? 06:44 What is the danger of overly clever code? 07:30 Is code able to document itself? 09:47 When do developers read code? 10:40 Why do people spend more...
Why Your First Developer is Critical
June 30, 2015 07:00 - 48 minutes - 33.5 MBAnthony Thomas tells us how he made the leap from manufacturing to starting a tech team at Sticker Mule. He explains why your first developer is so critical to your founding team. Here's what to listen for: 00:51 What was your background prior to starting Sticker Mule? 01:39 What was the drive to go from manufacturing into starting Sticker Mule? 03:13 Did you see other companies doing what you wanted to do? 04:02 What was your co-founder’s background? 06:09 Did you start your company a...
Building Modern Web Applications
June 23, 2015 07:00 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBTom Dale tells us about building modern web applications that are becoming increasingly like native apps. We discuss JavaScript frameworks like Ember and the future of the web. Here's what to listen for: 00:43 What is the difference between websites and web applications? 03:05 What is a single page web application? 07:39 How is the web different today with client-side interactivity? 10:21 What changes in the way the web works have paved the way for better web apps? 14:30 What do you se...
How to Fix Errors Quickly
June 16, 2015 07:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBDavid Cramer tells us how to catch and fix critical errors that can affect your bottom line. We also discuss the key differences between exceptions and bugs, and how to handle errors gracefully. Here's what to listen for: 00:43 What is an exception? 01:21 What’s the difference between an exception and a bug? 01:56 What might a developer do to cause an exception? 02:30 What is the user’s experience when an exception occurs? 04:32 Do exceptions mean developers aren’t writing code well? ...
When and How to Outsource Your Software Development
June 09, 2015 07:00 - 48 minutes - 33.4 MBRandy Rayess tells us when and how you should outsource development of your software, how to reduce your risk, and the way your team should think about feature prioritization. Here's what to listen for: 00:52 Why do companies outsource software development? 02:10 What’s the difference between companies that have technology as their core product and “tech-enabled” companies? 05:17 What should you look for in an outsourced development team? 08:03 Why are tools important to you? 09:19 Do ...
How to Email Your Users at Critical Moments
June 02, 2015 07:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBBrad Van Vugt and Matt Harris talk about transactional emails – how to send your users emails they'll act on at critical moments in your application's lifecycle. Here's what to listen for: 00:49 What is a transactional email and how is this different from a regular email? 01:26 Can you give me some examples of transactions? 01:56 How does a transactional email work? 02:49 Do you have some examples of what times transactional emails get sent? 03:53 Are transactional emails more personal...
Stop Treating Email Like the Web
May 26, 2015 07:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBJustine Jordan explains how your company should treat email, the difference between designing for email and the web, and what you can do to up your open rates. Here's what to listen for: 00:44 How are most people reading email today? 02:46 What are most companies doing to send email? 04:23 What’s the distinction between transactional and marketing email companies? 06:58 What are the downsides of building your own email platform? 08:35 What are the differences between Mailchimp and Mand...
How To Do Quality Assurance Testing
May 19, 2015 07:00 - 46 minutes - 32.3 MBFred Stevens-Smith of Rainforest explains the need for quality assurance testing and how to actually do it in the resource constrained environment of a startup. Here's what to listen for: 4:06 What is quality assurance testing? 5:19 What are the main differences between an automated test and a QA test? 7:11 For those of us that have automated tests, do I still need QA tests run by hand? 11:41 What is the difference between an integration test and a unit test? 14:48 What is the Document...
Finding Your Technical Co-Founder
May 12, 2015 07:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MBJordan Gal of CartHook talks about how he found his technical co-founder, how he de-risked his app before building it, and the tension between business and technology requirements. Here's what to listen for: 2:17 How did CartHook get started? 4:04 How did you find your technical co-founder? 6:55 What stage was CartHook at when you looked for your technical founder? 8:06 What convinced you that you needed to work with someone in-house? 11:35 How was your relationship structured? 14:01 ...
How to Fix the Developer Talent Shortage
May 05, 2015 07:00 - 37 minutes - 26.1 MBDave Hoover on coding bootcamps and how immersive learning environments are helping to fix the developer talent shortage. Plus: should you learn to code? Here's what to listen for: 0:44 Why are software developers in such short supply? 3:01 How do developer boot camps help solve the talent shortage? 6:28 How do you onboard junior talent? 8:11 Should I go to a coding school? 11:45 How long does it take to become proficient as a software developer? 15:43 Should I learn how to code as a ...
How to Build Meaningful Products
April 28, 2015 18:15 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBBasecamp's Ryan Singer on the difference between UI and UX, how to build meaningful solutions for problems and people, and what it means to "scratch the itch." Here's what to listen for: 0:40 What is user interface (UI) design? 3:14 Is focusing on user experience (UX) a distraction? 5:04 Who on the team is most responsible for UX? 5:49 Where should a person with just an idea begin? 6:59 How can a non-technical person judge design deliverables? 10:44 Are there any intermediate delivera...
Stop Designing Your Software Upfront
April 21, 2015 16:07 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBHere's what to listen for: 0:54 What is object-oriented programming and what is procedural programming? 5:28 What is object-oriented design? 8:44 Should I plan out all my code in advance? 15:21 What makes for good software? 19:52 What is technical debt? 28:58 What is cargo culting? 32:29 What rules should programmers follow? 34:11 Who is code written for? 36:50 How can I support the technical people on my team?
How to Ship Well-Tested Software Faster
April 14, 2015 12:51 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBFlorian Motlik on how testing and validation using the continuous integration and deployment model results in manageable, quality software. Here's what to listen for: 0:52 What is continuous integration? 4:37 What is source control? 7:50 What is automated testing? 18:59 What is high-level testing and what is low-level testing? 25:26 How can we invest in testing and testing infrastructure? 32:52 How should we try and test? 37:22 Where do you draw the line on what you shouldn't test? ...