Tech lead, coach, author, and the person 500+ engineers called when they needed someone who actually got it.

Anemari Fiser burned out in a role she loved. And then she built something better. After a decade in tech - starting as a software engineer, becoming a tech lead at 26 (the youngest on her team, a detail she quietly kept to herself for years) - she left her full-time role, got her coaching certification, and built a practice that's now shaped 500+ engineers and 400+ tech leads across companies of all sizes.

Based in Barcelona and working globally, Anemari helps teams navigate the messy middle of tech leadership: the part where your title changes but nobody hands you the manual. She helps companies scale by empowering tech leads through leadership training, coaches tech professionals on performance and confidence, and frequently speaks at conferences about the lessons, challenges, and successes she’s encountered throughout that journey.

And most recently, she captured those lessons in her first book with O’Reilly Media, Leveling Up as a Tech Lead: Growing as a Technical, Project, and People Leader.

The title "tech lead" is used frequently and it means something different at every company. What stays consistent is the pressure: you're suddenly accountable for your team's technical outcomes, your people's growth, and the business side you may have ignored before.

Anemari has seen this story hundreds of times. She knows what actually helps. In this episode, she gets honest about hiding her age early in her career, what burnout really looks like when you love your work, and why motivation is the wrong thing to rely on - whether for writing a book or for growing as a leader.

In this episode, we'll talk about her path from software engineer to tech lead to full-time coach, navigating age and experience in tech, the one burnout strategy that actually works (redistribution), what a tech lead actually is and why every company answers differently, writing a technical book with O'Reilly and what consistency really requires, accountability as the real engine of progress, how AI is reshaping the tech lead role, and why intentional growth beats motivation every time.

Your call to action? → Make a plan for where you want to be and how you want to get there. Build small steps along the way because motivation is not what's going to keep you there. Consistency is.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Tech Leadership and Coaching

03:03 Navigating the Journey from Engineer to Tech Lead

05:50 The Impact of Age and Experience in Tech

09:13 Transitioning to Freelancing and Coaching

11:59 Understanding the Role of a Tech Lead

14:54 Burnout in the Tech Industry

18:02 The Writing Process of a Tech Leadership Book

21:12 The Importance of Accountability in Growth

23:52 Current Trends in Tech Leadership and AI

26:52 Final Thoughts on Intentional Growth

The Good Stuff - Links & More

• 📚 Leveling Up as a Tech Lead (book)
• 🎓 Soft Skills for Tech Leads (course)
• ✉️ Substack
• 🌐 Website
• 🔗 Anemari on LinkedIn

Anna Miller, founder of Outlier Mentors, on why your job search isn't a job search problem.

Anna Miller has coached over 100 engineers into roles at companies like Google and Amazon. She has 44,000+ LinkedIn followers who tune in for her straight talk on what actually works in today's job market. And she built Outlier Mentors, a career mentorship community, to fill the gap she kept seeing: engineers who are talented, hardworking, and completely unprepared for how  getting hired actually works.

Spoiler: it's not about blasting out applications.

Anna brings a no-nonsense, deeply human approach to job searching. She understands that the process is emotional, that rejection emails often mean nothing, and that the engineers who get hired aren't necessarily the most skilled, they're the ones who show up prepared, visible, and practiced.

Anna's network-first philosophy isn't just theory. It's built from years of watching engineers miss offers not because they weren't qualified, but because they treated the job search like a form submission instead of a human process. Getting the interview and passing the interview are two completely different skill sets, and most people never train for either one.

In this episode, we'll talk about how the tech hiring landscape has changed, why online visibility is the most underrated career skill, not taking rejection emails at face value, the difference between landing an interview and passing one, what Outlier Mentors actually does, the mentorship model from networking through offer, AI role play for interview prep, the emotional barrier that hold engineers back, and why recording yourself might be the highest-leverage thing you can do for your career.

Your call to action? → Record yourself speaking about something. Anything. If you do it, you will be a more successful person in life.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Career Mentorship in Tech

02:18 Navigating the Job Market: The Role of Networking

05:15 The Importance of Online Visibility

08:24 Understanding the Job Search Process

11:25 The Evolution of Interview Preparation

14:16 The Difference Between Landing and Passing Interviews

16:29 The Emotional Aspect of Job Searching

19:26 The Mentorship Model and Its Benefits

22:07 Innovations in Interview Preparation: AI Role Play

24:38 Final Thoughts on Communication and Self-Reflection

The Good Stuff - Links & More

Anna Miller, LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annamiller/

Outlier Mentors - https://outliermentorship.systeme.io/

From Navy Nuclear Reactors to 4,000+ Students: Why Fundamentals Still Beat AI

Erik Gross is the co-founder of the Tech Academy and author of The Uncommon Engineer. A Navy nuclear reactor operator turned sales professional turned software engineer, Erik couldn't find junior developers, so he built a school to train them.

In this episode, we talk about Erik's journey from programming on a Vic 20 at age 11, to operating nuclear reactors in the Navy, to co-founding one of the earliest coding bootcamps. We dig into why AI is a game changer for experienced developers but a potential crutch for beginners, the moment systems architecture "clicked" on a submarine in Idaho, how the Tech Academy bakes AI training into every bootcamp, job search tenacity, and Erik's upcoming book, The Uncommon Engineer.

Your call to action? → If you can read and do basic math, you can learn to code. Whatever method you choose, give it a shot.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Erik Gross

01:00 The Vic 20 and Learning to Code at 11

02:01 Inside the Computer: A Lesson from Dad

02:36 Navy Nuclear Power and Digital Circuitry

03:00 The Unexpected Tech Career in Sales

03:27 The Blunt Conversation That Changed Everything

04:31 Landing the First Tech Job

05:27 The Search for Junior Developers

05:56 How the First Coding Bootcamp Inspired the Tech Academy

06:36 Staying Current as a Working Developer

07:37 AI for New Developers vs. Experienced Engineers

09:26 Domain Expertise and Garbage In, Garbage Out

11:22 "Explain It Like I'm Five": Using AI to Learn

12:50 Principles Over Syntax

14:29 AI as a Companion, Not a Replacement

15:19 Why Claude is a Game Changer

16:33 AI in the Tech Academy Curriculum

17:56 The Current Tech Job Market

18:56 Tenacity in the Job Search

22:03 The Uncommon Engineer: Erik's New Book

22:26 The Submarine in the Desert

25:35 When Systems Architecture Clicks

29:02 One Takeaway: You Can Learn to Code

The Good Stuff: Links & More

• Erik Gross, LinkedIn
• The Tech Academy
• The Uncommon Engineer (coming soon!)
• Tool reference: Claude by Anthropic

Jaidie Vargas is a force of nature. She is a national speaker, Navy veteran, PhD student researching AI ethics, co-founder and executive director of Amigas in Tech, IT Director, and a mom.

What doesn't she do?!

She's a champion whose actions inspire women and particularly the Latina community to feel empowered and claim their seat at the table.

Jaidie's journey from IT in the Navy to cybersecurity leadership shows the power of asking her favorite question, "why not?" at every turn. She built a career by staying curious, communicating authentically, and bringing others along for the climb. Now, through Amigas in Tech, she's building a community with friends she once needed which offers salary negotiation workshops, civic engagement tools, and real resources beyond just panels.

Her PhD research focuses on AI ethical frameworks with a human-centric, community-first approach. She's making sure communities have a voice when data centers pop up and AI decisions get made because innovation without consideration of its effects isn't progress.

In this episode, we'll talk about finding community, Jaidie's path from IT in the Navy to cyber leadership, building Amigas in Tech from the ground up, researching AI ethics, why communication is the most critical soft skill, asking "why not?" to create opportunities, time management across multiple roles, the importance of allyship, and staying authentic when the world wants you to blend in.

Your call to action? → Keep on showing up, keep on making your voice heard, and seek micro or macro glimmers of joy and hope.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Jaidie Vargas

00:58 The Mission of Amigas in Tech

03:24 Jaidie's Journey into Tech

05:55 Researching AI Ethics

08:05 Lessons Learned in Tech

11:25 The Importance of Communication

11:49 Creating Opportunities in Tech

17:14 Future Aspirations and Community Impact

18:18 Navigating Life's Transitions

19:19 Time Management Strategies

21:31 The Mission of Amigas In Tech

22:55 Building Community and Allyship

25:43 Unexpected Success and Growth

27:53 Maintaining Passion and Avoiding Burnout

29:43 The Importance of Inclusivity

29:52 Personal Growth and Authenticity

32:20 Recap

The Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Amigas in Tech

Amigas in Tech socials: LinkedIn | Instagram | TikTok

chore: acknowledge the pause + appreciation

Welcome back. Or welcome for the first time. Either way, I'm so glad you're here!

Life happened and I wanted to recalibrate.

During that pause, so many people reached out. To check in. To say they missed the podcast. To ask if it was coming back.

Guess what? It is!

Thank you, truly, to all of the folks who reached out. 🙏

I am so grateful! 🥹

This version exists because of those messages and care. I want to keep learning together!

fix: infrastructure + ownership under the hood

One of the biggest changes is actually behind the scenes. Though you may notice it if you look at the site! The site and podcast have moved to fully-managed hosting. This gives me more control, flexibility, and sustainability long-term. Home base is still the same: wip-podcast.com.

I also added a new light! 💡Which is technically a hardware upgrade, but I wanted to listen to audience feedback!

feat: intro refresh

Per more audience feedback, you might notice a spoken intro instead of the pre-recording. The goal is to make the entry point a little cleaner. Think of it as a minor version bump, not a rewrite.

feat: episode recaps enabled

Another new feature per audience feedback I’m excited about is to end interview episodes with a short recap from me: a reflection. What I learned. What stuck. What I’m still thinking about after the conversation ended.

feat: experimentation mode enabled

This season is yet another experiment iteration. Let's try something new!

I’ll be testing new episode styles/different formats, and potentially new ways of having conversations. There may be a familiar face joining soon in a collaborative capacity or repeat guest(s). TBD - leaning into curiosity and iteration!

feat: support hooks added (totally optional)

I’ve also added a way to support the show if you’d like. You can drop something in the "tip jar" to help keep the mics on and cover the costs of software and tools that make the podcast possible. Visit ko-fi.com/wippodcast to support the show.

Totally optional. Very appreciated.

chore: things that haven’t changed

Some things are intentionally the same. This podcast is still a work in progress. We’re still figuring things out in public. Curiosity still beats certainty. And humans are still more interesting than hot takes.

bug: known issues

• I’m still learning in real time.
• This show will continue to evolve.
• Perfection is not on the roadmap.
• No fix scheduled.

Though these may be more features than bugs for this podcast. 😅

🚀 release: ship it

Thank you for being here, whether you’re new or a returning human. I very much appreciate you coming along for the journey!

Release notes updated.

I dubbed Joram Mutenge as a “trifecta” when it comes to the data profession. He is a data engineer, data analyst, and data scientist! As with many people, the route wasn’t a straight one, but suits him well once he learned to love the parts few enjoy and how to be safely creative within data.

To become as valuable as possible, Joram has spent time learning SQL, Python, and JavaScript. We discussed multiple tools and libraries along with how to approach a web-based visualization as opposed to a print visualization. He’s now also learning Rust!

One of his biggest recommendations for anyone trying to learn something new? It’s not random tutorials! Instead, consider a “curated” path of learning. When you invest some level of money into a course or something similar, you’re more likely to finish it because you’re also financially invested and you won’t waste as much time jumping around and trying to put the pieces together on your own.

In this episode, we’ll talk about Joram’s journey into data engineering, the differences between data engineering/analytics/science, various languages and tools he works with, data cleanliness, how to learn and using a curated learning path, and where we can focus energy to spend our time wisely.

Your call to action? → Useless things take just as much effort as useful things. Ask yourself: Is what I’m doing right now useful to what I’m trying to accomplish?

Chapters

00:00 Journey into Data Engineering

05:27 The Importance of Data Cleaning

10:14 The Trifecta of Data Roles

11:55 Thinking in Tables

15:53 Learning Paths and Curated Education

25:52 Embracing Rust in Data Engineering

32:27 Final Thoughts on Effort and Utility

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Joram’s blog

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Data-focused libraries & tools discussed:

D3

Apache ECharts

Matplotlib

Plotly

hvPlot

Pandas

Polars

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Grace Dees came into my life through networking with women in tech in Colorado as she worked to break into the cybersecurity field! Most recently she has worked with a startup as a Cybersecurity Business Analyst.

Between personal life changes and growing into this profession, she has learned a lot about setting boundaries in both small and big ways. Also, moving into a new-to-you field calls for time, grace, and self-reflection on what you need and want. For Grace, calendar and project management have been essential!

In this episode, we’ll talk about transitioning from the equine to tech industry, boundary-setting, preventing burnout, giving space to grow and learn, and moving forward and asking for help even when you’re scared.

Your call to action? → Do it scared. Do it nervous. It can be hard to keep going when you’re not confident, but it’s so worth it to reach out for help at your comfort level. There are plenty of resources out there and people who truly want you to succeed!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Grace Dees

01:43 Transitioning into Cybersecurity

03:38 Current Projects and Responsibilities

06:16 Navigating Burnout and Setting Boundaries

08:56 Learning and Adapting in a High-Demand Field

12:03 Building Confidence and Personal Agency

14:54 Overcoming Fear and Taking Action

17:51 Community Support and Resources

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Mara Kaela is a health coaching consultant who discovered her own health and wellness journey after a health crisis post-study abroad trip. Over years she’s asked questions, experimented, and iterated, learning along the way.

A UX course not only aided in her practice, but also got Mara thinking about new ways to approach goal-setting from a user flow perspective or building connection and relationships amongst a community!

Now, Mara is on a mission to improve community connections and relationships that will help the “conscious architects” support each other on their own journey to self-actualization. And she is on the lookout for others who might be interested to help: people with startup experience or venture capital funding, engineers, marketing and financial folks, and those who have experience with AI/machine learning.

In this episode, we’ll talk about finding a diet and lifestyle that work well for you, how UX can be applied in a bit of a unique way, her practice with Align Vegan and utilizing astrological charts and spirituality to create a “green print” for improving others’ lives, and her new project called the Starflower app, an AI-powered relational operating system designed to transform the search for a partner into a guided journey of self-actualization!

Your call to action? → We become the people that we spend the most time with. The more intentional we can be and the more tools we can have to nurture our relationships with those people that we do want to be around, he more satisfying our lives will be. It's okay to have an amazing, satisfying life!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Mara Kaela's Journey

02:09 Health Transformation and Dietary Choices

04:10 Parallels Between UX and Health Coaching

09:50 Align Vegan: A Unique Approach to Nutrition

12:10 The Starflower Project: Building a Community

18:12 Seeking Collaboration and Team Building

21:13 Research and Development for the App

25:05 Global Aspirations and Closing Thoughts

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

TikTok

Email Align Vegan

Mucusless Diet Healing System

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Keshia Coriolan is one amazing person: trilingual, traveler, latin dancing, Software Engineer / Technical Support Team Lead…what can’t she do?!

Her travels to Barcelona, Spain inspired a journey into learning the language of Catalan as well as a project she calls the Travel Diaries.

She’s also working to learn Rails! For the fall Keshia is organizing a Rails study group where they have varying skill levels and will work on projects with some accountability and camaraderie. Message her if you want in on that action!

Keshia started as a junior developer and almost didn’t stick with it. She’s since spent time working closely with customers and learning to dig into their issues to surface the “real” problem at hand and building up her communication skills.

Now, she’s seeking opportunities to get back into full-throttle engineering! The managerial path isn’t always the end goal for some folks. Sometimes they just want to solve puzzles!

Most importantly, though, Keshia shared her own experience navigating tech as a woman and minority in tech. It’s imperative we talk about it and help break the glass - even just a little - wherever we can.

In this episode, we’ll talk about language and traveling, Keshia’s Travel Diaries project, learning Rails + a study group, her experience in technical support and as a team lead, customer communication and problem solving, prepping for new roles, and being a woman and minority in tech - plus ways to become role models for the next generation.

Your call to action? → You belong here. Don’t be afraid. Sometimes you have to create your own support, but keep persevering! You still belong here.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Keshia Coriolan

06:33 The Birth of Travel Diaries App

12:34 Insights from Technical Support Engineering

18:26 Balancing Management and Technical Work

25:21 Navigating Customer Support Challenges

31:54 Transitioning Back to Engineering

49:28 Empowerment and Belonging in Tech

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Travel Diaries Loom overview

John Crickett’s Spotify client coding challenge

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

From a Commodore 64, to programming, to roles like QA and support, to DevOps, Nick Clark was hooked on tech since he was 7 years old.

If we can learn one thing from him, it’s to keep learning. He’s worked on (and currently working on) many different projects! If you feel yourself stagnating, it’s the perfect time to try something new.

In this episode, we’ll talk about Nick’s path into tech, current projects he’s working on including various DevOps techniques and tools, the challenges of using multiple tools across teams and projects, certification training and the value of certs, and diversifying yourself and for organizations.

Your call to action? → Lend a hand and help each other out so we can share and lift each other up!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Nick Clark's Journey

04:08 Exploring DevOps and CI/CD

06:47 The Role of Jenkins in Modern Development

09:45 Cloud Services and Multi-Provider Strategies

12:37 Building in Public: The GitHub Actions Project

14:44 Navigating Azure Certifications and Learning Paths

20:16 Navigating Certification Exams

22:48 The Value of Certifications vs. Experience

24:36 Exploring Career Paths in Tech

27:07 The Transition from Back-End to Front-End Development

27:53 Leveraging Tools for API Development

30:24 The Importance of Diversification in Projects

33:45 Implementing CI/CD Practices

35:05 The Power of Community and Collaboration

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

BuiltInPublic (discussed in Christin Martin’s episode v0.0.2)

v0.0.2 - Christin Martin

Renovate repo

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Kim Maida is the Senior Director of Developer Relations (DevRel) at FusionAuth, and a passionate advocate for educating others and leading tech users (usually developers) to success!

Lately she’s been working on a newer concept, architecture-driven authentication. It’s just another way that Kim is working to arm her team with knowledge as well as sharing with the wider community! Keeping app users safe is so important and anyone can use that knowledge regardless of the provider you’re using.

But, how much do users actually need to know? How deeply should DevRel go into sharing what’s inside the black box? There’s definitely a balance to strike.

In this episode, we’ll talk about DevRel (Developer Relations) and how it’s really about educating others, the pros and cons of self-hosted authentication as well as other aspects of this critical infrastructure, architecture-driven auth, the challenge of sharing information in a concise way versus deep dives for different audiences, and miniatures and artisan key caps! 🤩

Your call to action? → Choose to spend your time on things that you care about and you love; don't worry about spending a ton of time and energy learning things that won’t help you feel fulfilled…

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Developer Relations

03:26 Understanding DevRel: Its Pillars and Purpose

06:24 The Role of Education in Developer Relations

10:16 The Importance of User Experience in Auth

13:51 Architecture-Driven Auth: A New Approach

17:43 Bridging the Knowledge Gap in Identity

22:04 Balancing Depth and Accessibility in Documentation

27:47 Exploring Creative Hobbies Beyond Tech

28:01 The Art of Miniatures and Keycaps

31:12 Community Dynamics in Crafting

33:53 Sharing Knowledge: Tutorials and Accessibility

36:46 Balancing Passion and Profit in Crafting

37:55 Returning to Public Speaking and Conferences

39:43 Key Takeaways for Developers and Creators

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Architecture-driven auth demos:

- https://github.com/kmaida/auth-architecture (React)

- https://github.com/kmaida/auth-architecture-ng (Angular)

Vittorio Bertocci, who inspired Kim and so many others

Kim’s website (blog on auth and DevRel)

Miniatures/keycaps

YouTube playlist of auth shorts / talks

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Colin J Lacy started his tech journey in restaurant marketing - spoiler: he was bad at it - and began learning to code instead. He started as a self-taught developer and freelancer with HTML and CSS, then expanded into many languages like JavaScript, WordPress and PHP, Rails, Python, Golang and later moved away from frontend engineering altogether into cloud engineering and he “hasn’t looked back!” There was a need and he was ready to fill it.

Throughout his tenure, continuous learning has been a common theme. Colin has felt “late to the party” with loads and loads of resources for well-established languages and tools and now with the rise of AI, he’s in an “early to the party” learning stage with little to no resources. The experience is different, but also somehow not different at all. 🤔

It still takes time and patience to grasp some of the complicated things. And that is very normal.

In this episode, we’ll talk about the many languages Colin has experience with, cloud engineering/DevOps, continuous learning in the early morning, unique challenges with AI infrastructure and observability, MCP, his YouTube channel, platform engineering alongside data scientists, and open source!

Your call to action? → Start contributing to open source early and often. 🙌

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Colin J Lacy and His Journey

05:40 Transitioning into Cloud Engineering

10:41 The Challenges of Cloud Engineering

15:32 Exploring AI Infrastructure

20:03 Understanding MCP and Its Relevance

28:32 Platform Engineering for Data Scientists

32:43 Final Thoughts and Advice on Open Source Contributions

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

Colin’s YouTube channel

projectsveltos (open source project Colin mentioned)

Curious about the TypeScript moving to Go(lang) comments?

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

Brendan Schirmer is an Australian living in the UK who previously worked 10 years as a software engineer. Over time, he discovered a special touch communicating across technical and non-technical folks. Now, he’s shifted into coaching both with one-on-one clients and integrating to help entire teams under his business, “No BS Coaching.” (Get it? His initials + a cheeky statement on attitude! 😅)

With the help of his own coach, he’s made revisions to his approach in pricing and how he wants to show up as a coach. Through a series of small changes, Brendan has seen significant strides forward!

In this episode, we’ll talk about Brendan’s journey as a software engineer turned translator turned communication coach, async communication, sympathy and empathy, the two millimeter shift, how making small changes leads to big results, modeling the type of person you want to be, and - a bit surprisingly - weight loss.

Your call to action? → Consider how you communicate with others as well as yourself, and the tiny changes you can make moving forward if you want to see true change.

Chapters

02:59 Brendan's Journey from Engineering to Coaching

06:06 The Importance of Team Communication

09:00 Becoming a Translator for Teams

11:53 Async Communication and Team Culture

14:59 Empathy vs Sympathy in Communication

17:45 The Two Millimeter Shift Concept

22:42 The Power of Incremental Change

26:12 Setting Specific Goals for Transformation

29:13 Modeling Success: Learning from Others

30:58 Real-Life Examples of Two Millimeter Shifts

36:28 Communication as a Catalyst for Change

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

No BS Coaching

Example of 2mm Shift Concept from Tony Robbins

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

I’ve been following Christin’s journey on LinkedIn for a while now and it’s been truly inspiring to watch and get to know her.

Not only has she been openly engaging on LinkedIn, she also accidentally started a community. Leaning into the unexpected can have the most wonderful results!

In this episode, we’ll talk about starting a project with AI, expanding into object oriented programming and TypeScript, and Christin’s job search which inspired the BuiltInPublic project to encourage others to build publicly. What started as a way to stand out in this tough market turned into an open-source project with a team of people behind it!

We also talked a little about Anna Miller and I had a recent LinkedIn Live with her, too!

Your call to action? → Learn, build, get dopamine, and repeat. 🔄

PS Book Riot - Christin would be an awesome addition if you’re looking for a new developer on the team! 😉

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Christin Martin and Career Transition

03:32 Building a Social Media Platform for Developers

07:47 Inception of the 'BuiltInPublic' Project

13:00 Community and Collaboration in Open Source

14:23 Learning and Adapting in Tech

21:38 Navigating Job Search Challenges

24:44 Defining Career Aspirations

28:19 Interview Experiences and Insights

32:36 The Role of AI in Job Searching

34:21 Embracing Continuous Learning

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

LinkedIn

BuiltInPublic

Christin’s portfolio

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁

David Weiss is a good friend of mine and I am so pleased to have him as my first official guest in this new podcast adventure!

We met on LinkedIn about 2 years ago and bonded over being career changers and busy professionals who just can’t seem to stop working on side projects: newsletters, building apps, creating LinkedIn content, guest spots on podcasts and LinkedIn Lives, you name it.

In this episode, we’ll talk about fear, experimentation, and growth as we dive into the mindset of a consistent creator.

Your call to action? → Consider creation over consumption

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Work in Progress Podcast

01:51 David Weiss: Career Journey and Tech Background

04:33 Exploring Digital Products and Knowledge Sharing

09:09 Experimentation and Side Projects

12:08 Breaking Down Projects into Manageable Tasks

15:26 Collaboration and Seeking Feedback

19:23 Overcoming Fear of Rejection

27:37 Highlighting Current Projects and Future Aspirations

33:34 Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Create

All the Good Stuff - Links & More

* David’s LinkedIn

* Substack: Besides Code

* Interested in my guest post? 3 Habits That Helped Me Recover From Burnout and Stay Motivated

* LinkedIn Profile Checklist

* LinkedIn Content Kit (Notion)

* David’s LinkedIn Live Events

* Check out the Resume project!

Thanks & Gratitude 🙏

🎵 The background music in this episode was created by the amazing Sarah Garlock. You can also find Sarah @sarg_makes_beats on Instagram and TikTok!

🧪 Thank you also to David Weiss for being my podcast guinea pig and providing useful feedback prior to launch.

💖 Thank you to Doina Leovchin and Colette Molteni for your sharing your support. It means a lot to me!

🫂 And thank you to my partner, Matthew Weik, for sharing support as we follow our dreams and aspirations together over the last decade+.

Let’s Connect!

🎧 You can find this podcast episode and more at wip-podcast.com or wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

👩‍💻 I also write a Substack newsletter about things I’m learning at codeOutLoud. You can find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, or take a peek at what I’m up to at mindi.omg.lol.

Want to be - or recommend - a guest for the show?

Fill out or send this short Notion form to a friend to be considered for an upcoming episode! I’m looking for interesting people working ALL across the tech world! 😁