Software engineering Q&A

On today's show, Amir Muntasser, a director of development, talks to us about his route into development and how he manages a large team. We discuss the challenges of sizeable tech departments, his hands on coding skills, and upcoming advancements and technologies that he's really excited about. Amir also shares some valuable tips for job seekers on how to impress hiring firms, and what newcomers can really do to land a role as a front end developer.

Danai Nanou is a UI developer specialising in CSS and its architecture. Originally from Greece, she's lived in the UK for many years, moving from retail into software engineering through a part-time course and a coding bootcamp. She found her passion in the styling layer of front-end apps, taking on some large scale CSS migrations, implementing the ITCSS methodology to help add some key structure to the code base, and ultimately pursuing a passion for well-structured, maintainable, predicable CSS. Danai talks about the pitfalls of CSS frameworks, dives into her love of the cascade and how CSS should be embraced not feared. She also walks us through her personal challenges in leaving an unfulfilling career to move into the world of software engineering and how she leveraged networking to land herself a junior dev role.

Joe has been a developer for over 12 years, currently working as a senior engineer at KFC (sadly no free chicken available!). He started out in his 20's from a recommended web design course. From there he's moved from financial start ups and a leading ticketing company, to AND Digital working as a software engineering consultant. Joseph's been all-in with FE from the beginning working through jQuery, to Angular JS, to React and Next.js, and trying out things like Astro and Svelte. In this episode, he and I talk about Joseph's love of CSS, his embracing of modern frameworks and libraries, such as Astro and Next. We also discuss the possibility of React being put out to pasture and has React had its heyday?

We're taking a break from the usual guests for just this episode to answer some community questions sent in from our listeners and other social media outlets. We'll be running a full-length Q&A including: Do you do eye exercises or something for your eyes What do you think the future holds for the software development industry? What is your favourite piece of tech from the last 20 years (tool, language, framework etc) and why? What is the best piece of advice you have been given? Are you scared that AI will replace your job?! ...and more!

We're joined by Tom Riglar from Moropo, an automated testing start up dedicated to helping you test your mobile apps and products. Tom co-founded a million pound agency, Morrow, and talks about his journey into tech from the humble days of HTML and some ecommerce work, through to starting and running two successful agencies. We also talk about the importance of testing your apps and how they can ultimately produce better products.

Simeron Taak is a fulltime freelancer specialising in web design and development. She's had a great route into tech following a family background of graphic design. Simeron shares her passion for technology, talks about her route into development, design qualifications, and the challenges that freelance life brings with it. We also delve into coding bootcamps vs. degrees, and Simeron's experience with both of these approaches to learning web skills.

On this episode we're joined by Anthony Main, founder of The Distance, a top 5 mobile app development agency in York. Anthony talks to us about his journey into tech from a CS degree to running a successful development agency for over 15 years! We chat about changes in technology and business over that 15 years, how remote work is here to stay and why businesses need to adapt, as well as the importance of fostering a solid culture. We also get some valuable advice from an agency owner on how someone can get started in a career in app development and what makes good job applications stand out.

In this kick off episode of our fourth season we're joined by Daniel Merriman, an engineering manager from York. Daniel talks about his route into tech via social sciences, the impact of sociology and the human element of tech that's sometimes forgotten, and the ethics of development and tech.

After being recommended as a guest to the show by several twitter peeps, we’re so pleased to welcome Matt Studdert. Matt is a fellow UK developer and founder of the hugely popular Frontend Mentor, a coding skills levelling up platform used by close to 100,000 people to hone their skills in front end development. Matt hails from a background in fitness and personal training and made the leap to dev life, and shares a passion for helping others get into development. He’s going to share his story and give us some tips on how and where to start with learning to be a developer.

Today’s show features not one but two whole guests! Brian Rinaldi, a developer advocate at StepZen, and Raymond Camden a lead developer evangelist working at HERE, a location technology company.  This Jamstack-loving pair have co-authored a book called The Jamstack Book, which is published by Manning and dives deep into the Jamstack and helps you build up a portfolio of Jamstack-architectured sites including a full-blown e-commerce store. They're sharing their love of all things Jamstack and how you can get started by using their shiny new book!