E31 - Distributed Systems at Shopify with Ahmad Alhour

Donia shares her experiences transitioning from quality assurance to software development, working in the aerospace industry, and moving to startups. She discusses the challenges and benefits of working in highly regulated environments versus more agile startups. Donia also talks about her involvement in open source projects, public speaking at tech conferences, and co-authoring a book on Go programming. She offers valuable insights on career growth, embracing new opportunities, and the importance of continuous learning in the tech industry. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Resources & References 📕 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Donia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donia-chaiehloudj/ Donia's book (Learn Go with Pocket-Sized Projects): https://www.manning.com/books/learn-go-with-pocket-sized-projects ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Chapters 🕐  ▬▬▬▬▬▬ 00:00 - Introduction and career transition 04:03 - Experience working in aerospace industry 16:24 - Transition to startups and different work environments 24:38 - Testing and deployment in startups 30:20 - Agile methodologies in different work environments 35:35 - Contributing to open source projects 39:53 - Public speaking experiences 43:38 - Writing a book on Go programming 50:56 - Career advice and final thoughts

Staff software engineer Ahmad joined me to share insights from designing complex systems at Shopify. We discussed distributed systems, managing technology landscapes, testing strategies, flexible architectures, leadership skills, understanding roles, and optimizing teams. Key takeaways involve tackling uncertainty, tailoring methods to teams versus rigid recipes, testing guiding principles over metrics, solving business challenges, and incrementally converging on solutions via hypothesis testing.

Nader is a fascinating character, he's a software engineer, entrepreneur, and a creator currently building in what once was one of the most hyped segments of the tech industry. I wanted to chat with Nader to unpack his thoughts and ideas about Web 3.0, more specifically the blockchain, cryptocurrencies and social networking protocols.

There are very few developers who have not seen Kamran's software engineering roadmaps! Kamran has, single handedly, created a revolution in the industry by introducing simple to follow technical roadmaps published to https://roadmap.sh/ In this episode we dive into Kamran's journey creating roadmap.sh, his thoughts on technical education, his experience transitioning from professional services companies to product companies and more. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support this podcast 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⁠Become a member of the channel⁠ ⁠Patreon exclusive perks⁠ ⁠1 time support⁠

Edward Thomson is a fantastic software engineer, he’s currently the maintainer of libgit2: a pure C implementation of the git core methods provided as a linkable library with a solid API. libgit2 powers GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps and many other products. Ed is also a product manager at Vercel where he leads the compute, storage, and network products. We talked about building libgit2, the challenges of open source, the most difficult technical challenged Ed has worked on, edge computing and more... I say it about all my guests, because it was true and it still is. This is an episode you don’t want to miss. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support this podcast 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⁠Become a member of the channel⁠ ⁠Patreon exclusive perks⁠ ⁠1 time support⁠

What the glich podcast is all about

Simon Willison is the creator of Datasette, an open source tool for exploring and publishing data. Prior to becoming an independent open source developer, Simon was an engineering director at Eventbrite. Simon joined Eventbrite through their acquisition of Lanyrd, a Y Combinator funded company he co-founded in 2010. He is a co-creator of the Django Web Framework, and has been blogging about web development and programming since 2002. In this episode, we explored the history of Django, we discussed the challenges of maintaining and monetising popular open source projects, and the security problems of large language models. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support this podcast 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⁠Become a member of the channel⁠ ⁠Patreon exclusive perks⁠ ⁠1 time support⁠

Interviewing can be a challenging process, and companies do not always make it easy. The opportunities available to you can vary greatly depending on market conditions, demand for software engineers, and the capabilities of tech recruiters, among many other factors. In this episode, I interview Alla Pavlova, a tech and art talent recruiter at Riot Games. We discuss the interview process from start to finish, including building job descriptions and negotiating salaries. We also delve into hiring company expectations and tactics that candidates can use to find opportunities in other countries. If you're starting your career, looking to relocate, or seeking a new opportunity, you won't want to miss this episode! ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support the channel 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Patreon: https://glich.stream/patreon Buy me a coffee: https://glich.stream/coffee_shop

Neurodiversity refers to the variance of neurological differences, behaviours and brain functions within the human population. The concept of neurodiversity has become controversial, with some individuals and groups advocating for acceptance and accommodations while others criticise it. In my chat with Shea we debunked the stereotypes and explored the impact that autism has on his career as a software engineer and CTO at his startup Mentra. I learned a lot from Shea as I’m sure you will too! ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support the channel 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Every little bit helps ✨ - Join the journey on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/glich_stream - 1 time support: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/glich.stream

This episode provides an in-depth look into the world of contracting and freelancing, and we share our background and experience in the field. Zac and I discuss why companies may be risk averse in hiring and how startups can compete for talent in a hot market. We also covers practical aspects of contracting such as how many years of experience are needed and how to generate leads, and tips for those who want to start freelancing. We also address important concerns for contractors such as how to navigate uncertain times and prepare for retirement. ▬▬▬▬▬▬ Support the channel 💜 ▬▬▬▬▬▬  Every little bit helps ✨ - Join the journey on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/glich_stream  - 1 time support: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/glich.stream