SELECT*: Your Resource for Innovative Tech & Developer Topics Hosted by HarperDB

SELECT*: Your Resource for Innovative Tech & Developer Topics Hosted by HarperDB

by Margo McCabe

Education Technology

Season 1

Journey Into Tech, Creative Side Projects, & JavaScript w/ Charlie Gerard

In this episode, we chat with Charlie Gerard, Senior Front-End Developer at Netlify. Charlie started on the Product team at Netlify and is more recently doing a rotation on the Developer Experience team. She shares a bit about her journey into tech, including how a background in marketing helped her get to where she is today. We also discuss creative side projects, JavaScript, remote work, staying motivated, and general tips for other devs. Such a fun chat! As a GoogleDevExpert & Mozilla Tech Speaker, Charlie is an Author, Speaker & Creative Technologist mostly tinkering w/ JavaScript. Find her on Twitter: @devdevcharlie

The Intersection of Technology, Activism, & Open Source w/ Zoë Knox

In episode 13, we chat with Zoë Knox, an Open Sourceress and Head of Engineering at OpenNMS, about the intersection between technology and activism. Zoë talks about how tech can connect people across the world, shares tips for devs working to get to a similar place, and talks a bit about her hacking / side projects (hint: imagine a fully open source operating system that's Mac compatible). We also discuss distributed systems, and even touch a bit on parenting in the modern world! "Technology is not good or evil, it's just a tool. How we use it is what matters." -Zoë A veteran of software development and management, Zoë Knox is currently the head of engineering at The OpenNMS Group (https://opennms.com), principal developer of airyxOS (https://airyx.org), and an LGBTQ+ rights activist. She is passionate about open source, privacy, human rights, and the ability of technology to improve the world. Zoë lives with her family in Ottawa, Canada. Find Zoë on Twitter: @thatzoek

What's the Big Deal with Custom Functions? With HarperDB VP of Product, Jaxon Repp

Margo asks HarperDB's VP of Product, Jaxon Repp, all about HarperDB's new Custom Functions feature and what it means for HarperDB users. The product team has put a LOT of work into getting the latest HarperDB release (3.1) out, to say the least, and now Jaxon has a chance to share a bit about why it's is so exciting! Custom Functions essentially combine serverless functions with the underlying database, collapsing the stack into a single solution with the ability to define custom API endpoints that have direct access to HarperDB core operations. Listen now to learn more, or check out Custom Functions to see for yourself: https://harperdb.io/docs/custom-functions/

From Consulting to Sr. Engineer & Everything in Between w/ Laurie Barth

SELECT* Episode 11 features another interesting chat with a well-known dev in the community, Laurie Barth. Laurie is a Senior Software Engineer at Netflix. You can also find her creating content and educating the technology industry as an egghead instructor, member of the TC39 Educators committee, and technical blogger. She shares insights into how she went from consulting to where she is today, including pivotal decisions and tips along the way. Laurie knows the industry inside and out and is sure to have some advice no matter where you are in your journey! Follow Laurie on Twitter: @laurieontech Follow HarperDB on Twitter: @harperdbio

Thoughts on HarperDB & Industry 4.0 from a Director of Innovation

In this special episode, Margo chats with Ron Lewis, a friend (and fan) of HarperDB. Ron is the Director of Innovation, Engineering, & Integration at Lumen Technologies. With a diverse background in innovative tech, data science, and security, Ron has some interesting insights to share - to say the least! Questions covered in this episode: 1- What initially drew you to HarperDB? 2- You focus a lot on disruptive technologies - do you see HarperDB as disruptive? What other technologies are super disruptive right now? 3- What do you mean when you say you don't necessarily use HarperDB as a database? 4- Talk a bit about 4th industrial revolution technologies (Industry 4.0), what does it mean to you? 5- Predictions for the future when it comes to innovative technologies?

Everything You Need to Know About Service Workers w/ Pato

What do you know about service workers? Pato talks about increasing the UX with customer engagement strategies including segments, push notifications, service workers, SEO, etc. We touch on how to know if you need service workers, and when and how to get started. Pato also shares a bit about his developer journey and talks about why he's passionate about PWA's (progressive web apps). Patricio (Pato) Vargas works with the dev community as a Sr. Developer Advocate at OneSignal and GDE on Web Technologies. You can find him helping others by writing articles, mentoring, giving talks, and answering questions on StackOverflow. Follow Pato on Twitter Follow HarperDB on Twitter

Life as a Hashnode Advocate w/ Edidiong Asikpo

In this episode, we hear from Edidiong Asikpo, a software developer, content creator, and Hashnode Developer Advocate based in Nigeria. We touched on a little of everything! Edidiong shares her interesting journey into tech, touches on Hashnode now and what's to come, developer advocacy tips, the growing developer community in Nigeria, positive takeaways from the pandemic, and tips for software devs general. Edidiong Asikpo is Frontend Developer and Content Creator who currently works as a Developer Advocate at Hashnode. She has given over 50+ talks at various tech conferences/meetups worldwide and played a significant role in building 3 of the most impactful developer communities in Africa. Edidiong writes technical articles about web development, blogging for developers, soft skills, and Open Source contributions on her blog. Edidiong was so fun to chat with and super inspiring! Listen now wherever you access your podcasts. (And if you haven't already, check out the HarperDB + Hashnode Joint Hackathon happening this month: https://townhall.hashnode.com/announcing-harperdb-hackathon-on-hashnode Edidiong's Twitter HarperDB's Twitter

Building Content & Community w/ James Quick

This episode features James Q. Quick, a JavaScript Developer, Speaker, Content Creator, and Dev Advocate. James has interesting insights into the world of developer advocacy and content creation. As a well-established resource in the tech community, he shares tips from personal experience on reaching a wide audience and growing your community - even when starting from square one. We also talk about James's work at Auth0 and security in general, as well as topics like the Jamstack and tech to get excited about right now. James is a developer, speaker, and teacher with a passion for Web Development. He is a Developer Advocate at Auth0 and has over 7 years of experience in Advocacy and Software Development. In his spare time, he runs a YouTube channel, plays co-ed soccer with his wife, spends time with his dogs, and can solve a Rubik's cube in under a minute. (He also has a new podcast called Compressed.fm!) Follow James on Twitter

Developer Advocacy, Navigating Tech, & Frontend Dev w/ Debbie O'Brien

In SELECT* episode 6, Margo chats with Debbie O'Brien, a Head Developer Advocate for Bit.dev and Nuxt.js ambassador with 10+ years of experience in frontend development. Debbie talks about her interesting journey into tech and across numerous roles, from leading a dev team into dev advocacy, and more! She shares a bit about her initial career shift and learning to code in just nine months, learning JavaScript, and then getting into Nuxt and React. Debbie shares insightful tips for people trying to get into similar Dev Advocacy roles and talks about the technology she's excited about this year. With such a wide range of experience and skills, you can definitely learn a thing or two from Debbie. (She also earned a GitHub Stars Award for all of her community work in 2020, is a Microsoft MVP, and a Google Dev Expert!) --- Debbie's Twitter HarperDB's Twitter SHOW LESS

Leadership Advice from a Senior Netflix Engineer - Jem Young

In SELECT* episode 5, Margo chats with Jem Young, Senior Software Engineer at Netflix. Jem started out at Netflix in UI and is now in backend/infrastructure. He shares a bit about what it's like working at a tech giant, imposter syndrome, the importance of communication in engineering, and tips for being a leader including what it's like managing an engineering team. Jem is inspiring, knowledgeable, and super easy to talk to! @JemYoung Jem Young is a tall engineer at Netflix who loves dogs, reading, and clean code. He really enjoys working across the stack but his true passion lies in JavaScript and building a clean user experience. He believes that empathy is the key to building an effective UI and when he’s not at the gym or chasing his cat, you can find him hassling other engineers to write more tests.

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