David has been a good friend and I've always enjoyed the content he's published. He's a man of many talents and now has a focus on taking control over digital anxiety. He has also started a podcast called "The Average Dev" with very insightful information, I recommend you give it a listen to after reading this great interview.
Hello Dave, for those that don't know, please introduce yourself. Who are you, and what do you do?
Hey Michael,
I’m a software engineer, and I’ve been in the game for over 10 years now. I primarily work with startups and other companies wanting to build internal products. Recently I’ve moved to more leadership roles, and I want to communicate great career advice and confidence in other developers.
You recently decided to teach others digital wellness. What made you decide this change in direction?
I used to find myself overusing my iPhone. I’d browse and browse, refresh all the feeds and it was horrible. It made my head feel spaced out all the time. I had to make a change and get away from screens when I wasn’t working since I was also spending 8+ hours a day on them coding. I’m militant about how I use technology now. It’s the most important thing to me with regards to tech that I control how I use it and not the other way around.
This has allowed me the focus to work on the things that matter to me, and that is communicating my story and learnt lessons from 8 years of self-employment to other people who are looking to start out. This has been hugely rewarding.
You also have a podcast called "The Average Dev". What are your thoughts behind the name, and what made you decide to create it?
The name clicked for me because we, as developers, are always exposed to people in our industry doing incredible things. Releasing the next CSS framework, launching a video course, making millions from it etc. It’s the Instagram of the dev world. It’s really easy to believe that this is what we’re all expected to do, but I fundamentally reject that idea since it is unhealthy and isn’t actually a realistic goal for everyone.
The Average Dev name just communicates that. I am just an average dev, but I’m one who wants to talk about my experiences.
Where can my audience find you?
I tweet about tips I’ve found and updates to my content output at @davzie, and you can sign up for email alerts or view my content at davidthorpe.dev
Thanks for having me, Michael!!
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