Career Development Roundtable: Getting Great Work in Tech

Iteration Season 06E09 - Release July 22nd 2019

A weekly podcast about programming, development, and design through the lens of amazing books, chapter-by-chapter.
Roundtable: Getting a Job in Tech

Between books - Discussion about career development in tech

Guest: John Rivera - Link?

John S to lead discussion -
Where do you work now? What do you do?
John S: Run an agency, we are a small team of remote developers, we do mobile apps and web apps.
John R: Just started working on Amazon photos mobile app for the prints feature team, I do cross-platform mobile development primarily using React Native. But I’ve also gotten to do my fair share of project management with ChefSteps, and am seeking to pursue that at Amazon
JP: Opendoor
Where did you start? Where were you before tech?
5mins each on origin story
John S: Dabbled in design + web for ever — I was working in the corporate world a job I didn’t love but I was successful. Stepped back and switched careers at November 2015 - switched career at 25
John R: I worked at uhaul and albertsons as a meat clerk. Started things off by saving up for a bootcamp. Did freelance.
JP: MySpace layouts in 9th grade, 13-14 years ago. Then web design until about 2015
What’s been a key practice or tool in moving your career forward?
John R: Networking, Diving deep, embracing things that aren’t in my domain
John S: Consistency, Keeping up with friendships (networking), Blogging, pushing outside comfort zone.
How do you balance getting work done now vs ongoing learning?
John S: Use new tools and techniques in the day to day
John R:
JP: Being proactive with code review and looking to senior engineers
How do you get a good Job in tech?
John S: Network, publishing, making your work visible, random blog post from 2016
John R:
JP: I got my job from meetups

What would you have told yourself 3 years ago?
John S: Consistency, life is a marathon not a sprint. Keep stretching yourself outside comfort zone. Focus on less, go deeper on less things.
John R:
JP: Take breaks, you won’t forget how to code if you take a day off

CLOSE - no picks

John R - Where can people find you?

Episode source