Tech Podcasts have caught my fancy since some time - I have had no exposure to podcasts before this, but now it has become a crux of a place where I get majority of insights about anything tech and its ancillary stuff. Just as people may read blogs / tweets for their fair dose of opinions, i listen to podcasts.
I have tonnes of time during my commute to work, so can really cover a lot of ground in lot less a time.
And let me tell you - It is just great to listen to lives and experiences of other programmers, given my inclination towards biographies :P
Giant Robots
I got my first dose of podcasts from stumbling upon Giant Robots podcast and started listening to its past episodes.
Giant Robots is hosted by a very humble Ben Oreinstien of thoughtbot where he interviews programmers, tech industry notables from all over - they share their experiences, opinions, their love and their hate for technology and programming, some foresight on where technology is headed, and human interactions, passions, hopes in this giant field.
Ben does a really great job by just following the flow of the discussion and asking the right questions at the moment rather than follow a script - which leads to more natural discovery of interviewee’s thought-process.
You can take away something or the other from each episode - be it the personality that may inspire you, be it the tidbits, nuggets and experiences that may intrigue you. And you can act upon it right right away and level up.
Unfortunately they have changed the format of the podcast since sometime and they don’t do programmer / technical content anymore. And hence I give them a miss these days.
What they are actually into these days in product development / customer development strategies if that is what you piques you.
Which beautify leads us to my favorite podcast of the moment…
The Bike Shed
This is a podcast from same house as Giant Robots - thoughtbot inc., it is hosted by Sean Griffin and Derek Prior who are very very knowledgeable in the web world - especially with an emphasis on Ruby on Rails, Rust and JavaScript.
They show themselves as some random dudes discussing on day to day programming - but they have tonnes of experience and know ins and outs of the stuff they are talk. They both are open source contributors, Sean being in Rails core team, Derek maintains Clearance gem and contributes to a galaxy of projects.
It is just great to hear that candid discussion which Derek and Sean seem to magically conjure, not caring about the fact that they are on air. Very comfortable in their pants to blurt out their opinions. Keep up that good work folks!
Developer on Fire
Developer on Fire is hosted byDave Rael and it is a interview series where programmers are called on and are asked a fix set of questions. I have used those questions while interviewing potential hires, it has lead to very interesting discussions. Thanks Dave for such a set of questions!
I will leave here the questions Dave uses:
- Let us have some background on you
- When you sit down to code, what is it that means delivering value for you
- What has been your biggest failure
- What has been your biggest success
- Where do you see technology area heading in next 5 years
- What are 3 things you may suggest to create value
The podcast provides a spectacular look on the journey of programmers - what they have seen through the years, lessons learnt and what they see to be the future of programming. All tidbits essential for forming your own opinions and hone your thought-processes.
Thats all for now, i will updating this list as I find exciting podcasts.