106: Taking Up Space with Laurie Barth

Greater Than Code

• Episode: 106: Taking Up Space with Laurie Barth
• Website: Greater Than Code
• Feed URL: https://www.greaterthancode.com/feed/podcast
• Duration: 00:58:50
• Published: 2018-11-21 06:00

In this episode, Laurie Barth talks about why it’s good to be a timesuck (aka taking up space and demanding the attention that you need from others), refining interviewing and hiring processes, whether learning is a skill or a mindset, and overcoming demoralization and overwhelm. This episode is sponsored by Crickstart. They make organic cricket protein bars, gourmet crackers, and fruit smoothie mixes made with organically farmed crickets and other delicious wholesome ingredients. Visit crickstart.com and get 20% off with promo code GREATERTHANCODE! Panelists: Jamey Hampton | John K. Sawers Special Guest: Laurie Barth: @laurieontech | laurieontech.com | Girls Who Code | Ten Mile Square Show Notes: 01:20 – Laurie’s Superpower: Being a Timesuck Impostor Syndrome 08:44 – Interviewing and Hiring Developers Effectively 12:24 – Creating False Negatives: Turning Down Candidates Prematurely 18:11 – Interviewing: Working With Existing Codebases and Asking Questions About Values RailsConf 2018: The Code-Free Developer Interview by Pete Holiday 22:59 – How ^^ Advice Pertains to Different Sized Companies 25:54 – Getting the Entire Team Involved in Hiring Processes: People First, Technology Second 29:05 – YOU CAN USE GOOGLE!!! (It’s Not Cheating!) 33:55 – Coding: Smartness vs Patience; Coming From Non-Coding Backgrounds (and why it’s a good thing!) Set Design: Putting the "Art" in "Architecture" by Betsy Haibel 45:14 – Learning: Skill or Mindset? / Overcoming Demoralization and Overwhelm Everything Is Broken, and It's OK - John Sawers 49:43 – Keeping a Developer Journal and Dealing with Past Development Baggage Reflections: Laurie: Check out the talks we’ve linked to! Also, working together to make our industry not just accessible, but livable, enjoyable, and exciting. Jamey: Refining the interviewing and hiring process and thinking about how we evaluate the people we talk to. John: Take up space and demand the attention that you need. Want to help keep us a weekly show, buy and ship you swag, and bring us to conferences near you? Support us via Patreon! Or tell your organization to send sponsorship inquiries to [email protected]. Are you Greater Than Code? Submit guest blog posts to [email protected] Please leave us a review on iTunes! This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode. To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks! Transcript: JAMEY:  Hello, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. You're listening to Episode 106 of Greater Than Code. I'm Jamey Hampton and I'm here with my friend and fellow panelist, John K Sawers. JOHN:  Thank you, Jamey and I'm here to induce our guest, Laurie Barth. Laurie is a software engineer who started as a mathematician. Depending on the day, she can be found using any number of technologies to solve from different languages to frameworks to other support groups. She currently works as a developer and consultant with Ten Mile Square Technologies in the DC Metro area. In 2017, a local first-year conference was soliciting speakers to talk about Legacy system replacement. As a female engineer, Laurie wanted to give more diverse speakers on the stage and decided to submit a talk based on the large and varied legacy systems that she had worked with over the years. From there, she was bit by the speaking bug. Now, Laurie travels around, speaking about a variety of technical challenges she has faced in her career. In her free time, she involves herself in local technology groups, including facilitating the Girls Who Code Club,