208: Developing Software at Startups with Jason Roberts

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This is the original story of how Uber was built … this is a fascinating story. You don’t want to miss this. Donn talks to Jason Roberts. Jason was chosen to be Uber’s CTO when the company was in its infancy (but didn’t accept the offer). Jason shares the story of developing the code that eventually ran Uber from a couple of cars to a highly distributed system with an impressive amount of rides.

We talk about building what is needed when it’s needed, the tools that he chose to build Uber’s platform on. Early startup learnings, and how Uber originally ran on PHP before he chose to move it to Node.js.

Jason shares his story of how he met Travis (Uber’s CEO who took it from a small company to a huge international corporation), how they built the systems, and team and much more. You’ll learn how networking, working on interesting things, and seizing the moment and luck played into him landing his role at Uber.

Finally, we wrap up by chatting a bit about how being a generalist in an early-stage startup is beneficial (vs being a specialist).

Find Jason online here

Contact

@fragmentedcast or our Youtube channel

@donnfelker and donnfelker (on Instagram)

Consulting for Mobile Developers (Donn’s YouTube)

kaushikgopal (on YouTube) or blog.kaush.co or @kaushikgopal

Disclaimer: Many of the links we share to products are affiliate links. They help support the production of Fragmented. Thank you for your support.

207: How to Optimize Your Home Office

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In this episode, Donn outlines how you can optimize your home office so that you look, sound, and perform the best that you can. From audio to video, to your body, and everything beyond, it’s covered here.

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In this episode, Donn outlines how you can optimize your home office so that you look, sound, and perform the best that you can. From audio to video, to your body, and everything beyond, it’s covered here.

Donn talks about everything you can do to improve your home office. From microphones, lighting, and webcams for your video calls to chairs, standing desks, and more. This episode has all the links below for all the products discussed.

Take even 20% of the recommendations and apply them to your home office and you’ll see a drastic difference in your productivity and happiness in your home office.

Links to Items Discussed

Microphones

Boom arms for Mics

Webcams

Docking Hub

Lighting

Headphones

JVC Xtreme-Xplosivs Wired Earbuds – Donn’s Go to

Sony MDR-7506 Professional Headphone

Audio Technical M20x

No, I don’t use Bluetooth headsets at work, though many do. If they work for you, you might want to check out the Audio Technica ATHM50XBT’s or the Bose Quiet Comfort 35’s

Chairs

Standing Desk

Anti-Fatigue Mats

Monitor and Monitor Arms

Keyboard

Mouse

Air Quality

Focus Music

Mobility, Desk Ergo, and Back Pain Resources

Contact

@fragmentedcast or our Youtube channel

@donnfelker and donnfelker (on Instagram)

Consulting for Mobile Developers (Donn’s YouTube)

kaushikgopal (on YouTube) or blog.kaush.co or @kaushikgopal

Disclaimer: Many of the links are affiliate links. They help suppor the production of Fragmented. Thank you for your support.

206: DevOps for Developers with Will Button

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In this episode, Donn talks with DevOps expert, Will Button about everything DevOps-related. If you’re ever wondered how and what DevOps is, then listen in.

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Will walks you through the definition of DevOps and how it’s used in a company. You’ll learn the 20% of DevOps you should know that will get you 80% of the benefit. You’ll also learn about a bunch of automation technology that will help you and your team level up your environments so that you can become super efficient in your day-to-day engineering activities.
 
In this episode, Donn talks about the best way to learn a new technology from the ground up. Want to learn something new?  This episode is for you.

You’ll learn Donn’s proven 5-step methodology for learning new technology. This is the same method Donn has used for over 2 decades of learning new technology. We hope it helps you.  

Find Will Online

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205: How to Learn New Technologies

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In this episode, Donn talks about the best way to learn a new technology from the ground up. Want to learn something new?  This episode is for you.

You’ll learn Donn’s proven 5-step methodology for learning new technology. This is the same method Donn has used for over 2 decades of learning new technology. We hope it helps you.

Shownotes

The 5 Steps:

  1. Choose a Simple Problem Domain (Note Taking app or Calorie/Protein Tracker)
  2. Do not worry about best practices
  3. Start Small, then go smaller: Super tiny nibbles of work
  4. Build Something Ugly and just “Get it working”
  5. Don’t Conflate Technologies if you don’t have to. Keep it simple.

Donn’s Free 9+ Hour Kotlin Course

Watch the entire course here, for free

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