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Working Code

Working Code

Adam Tuttle, Ben Nadel, Carol Hamilton, Tim Cunningham

1 Creator

1 Creator

Water-cooler conversation about web-development. We want to entertain, inspire, and motivate you -- or to put it another way, make your coding career more enjoyable.

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Top 10 Working Code Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Working Code episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Working Code for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Working Code episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Working Code - 167: Everyone Likes Their Own Brand
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02/28/24 • 54 min

The first duty in life is to assume a pose. What the second is, no one has yet discovered. - Oscar Wilde

You may never think about it or even be aware of it; but, you have a personal brand. A brand is not something you can opt into or out of. It simply exists. The only choice that you have is how you manage - or choose not to manage - your brand in relation to other people. On today's show, we talk about our own personal brands; how they can help us; how they sometimes hurt us; and, how the goals of brand-building can change over time.

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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1 Listener

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Your hosts

Adam Tuttle -- Twitter, Website

Ben Nadel -- Twitter, Website

Carol Hamilton -- Twitter

Tim Cunningham -- Twitter

Follow the show! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter & Instagram. New episodes weekly on Wednesday.

Triumphs & Fails

  • Carol's Triumph: Her college freshman son, majoring in computer science, called mom to ask for comp-sci help!
  • Ben's Fail: R&D effort exposed that he doesn't remember how to start a new project any more.
  • Tim's Triumph: He turned in the paperwork to get his team their raises on time.
  • Adam's Triumph: Testing on a new platform for his giant application has reached 100%, and a looming deadline may actually be met.

Notes & Links

  • We are not medical professionals! If you need help, talk to your primary care physician.
  • Sisyphus
  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
  • Adam's waterproof Bluetooth shower speaker recommendation. This one isn't particularly special. There are dozens of different cheap Chinese speakers that look just like it. He's had three over the years, but they're all plenty decent.
  • The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino
  • TED Talk: Your elusive creative genius by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.
  • Chuck Close: Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will - through work - bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great "art idea". And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don't have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you'll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.

Black Lives Matter

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Working Code - 166: What's "Onboarded" to You?
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02/21/24 • 58 min

On today's show, we respond to a listener question from Kamil Maraz:

I have started a Developer experience initiative in our company. We started with a survey, which led to many 1-on-1 meetings; and, one thing that came up a few times was onboarding. Long story short: it's not ideal. I was wondering if this topic could be an inspiration for one of the episodes. For example what is an onboarded colleague to you?; do you care about time to first commit?; what does the onboarding process in your company look like? And so on. As I say often, in our company we love our users, and our developers should get the same treatment. Often the journey starts with onboarding. Thank you for hearing me out.

We love the fact that Kamil is taking an iterative product mindset; and, is trying to apply those same principles to the company, treating engineers as the recipients of the product experience.

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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Working Code - 001: Adam's Secret Shame
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12/16/20 • 68 min

Your hosts

Adam Tuttle -- Twitter, Website

Ben Nadel -- Twitter, Website

Carol Hamilton -- Twitter

Tim Cunningham -- Twitter

Follow the show! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter & Instagram. New episodes weekly on Wednesday.

Triumphs & Fails

  • Adam's Triumph: His team realized that they could write a tool that would log, per controller method, how many times it had been run, whether or not it threw exceptions, and some performance stats, which is reducing the pain of transitioning app server platforms without a comprehensive test suite. They're currently at 90% tested!
  • Carol's Fail: Having just started a new job, she thought she would make a good first impression by bringing down the production site!
  • Tim's Triumph+Fail: A product he's been working on developing in secret for FOUR years is finally going to see the light of the day... just not through his years of persistence trying to push it past the finish line.
  • Ben's Triumph+Fail: A R&D project failed to get any traction, but on the plus side he got to delete thousands of lines of code!

Notes & Links

  • The VS Code plugin that Adam couldn't think of is Git Lens
  • Cargo Cult Programming
  • CFML ("ColdFusion Markup Language") a.k.a. ColdFusion is a web-dev language and app server that the four of us have some shared history with. Lucee is its open source alternative engine.
  • Spoiler alert: You can write awful code in every language!
  • "Life with chapters" is a concept stolen from the No Dumb Questions podcast, which is fantastic, and a huge inspiration for Working Code. If you don't already listen, give them a shot!
  • There are a variety of different ways people prefer to learn, but teaching a concept is the best way to help yourself find your weak spots.
  • Never compare your beginning to someone else's middle!
  • The Martian is a fantastic movie and a better book; and yes, the audiobook was narrated by Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek fame.
  • GraphQL is an interesting new(ish) idea in the world of web API's.
  • "The right tool for the job"? NOPE. The right tool for the job, for the team, at that particular point in time. You heard it here second!

Black Lives Matter

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Working Code - 182: Coffee Talk and Catching Up
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06/12/24 • 21 min

On today's show, Tim and Carol share personal updates while Adam and Ben are away. Carol discusses her challenging workday involving a difficult rebase and adjusting to a new routine after moving to Texas.

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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Working Code - 149: Margin For Error
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10/18/23 • 28 min

In this episode, Adam and Tim talk about margin for error in various aspects of software development, business and our personal lives.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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Working Code - 006: Hopes for 2021
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01/20/21 • 57 min

Oxford Dictionary included "doomscrolling" in their "word of the year" report for 2020; we're all feeling pandemic fatigue; many people still believe in wide-spread election fraud; the Georgia senate race was a nail-biter; and - oh yeah - we recorded this show the day after the storming of the United States capitol building.

It's all been more-than-a-bit surreal.

But, in the face of such physically and emotionally trying times, we look forward to a new year of possibility. Whether it's taking control of our finances, finding ways to be more active, building up our personal brand, or becoming the blacksmiths that we always knew we could be, the crew shares their personal and professional / technical goals for this burgeoning new year. As the Phoenix rose from the ashes, so too - we hope - 2021 will rise from the smoldering dumpster fire of 2020.

We'd also like to give a huge shout-out and thank you to Monte Chan for being our first Patreon supporter! You are a beautiful, beautiful person; and we hope to make you proud!

Triumphs & Fails

  • Adam's Triumph - With 2020 just behind us, the Georgia Senate run-off keeping us on the edge of our seats, the insurrection, and plenty of "doomscrolling", he managed to kick off 2021 with a somewhat productive week. He's reminded of a quote from Cory Doctorow's latest book: "I'm not OK, but I'm going to be OK. I'm coping, but I have a lot to cope with."
  • Ben's Triumph - Coming off the two-week "deployment freeze" at work, he managed to rebase, merge, and deploy the 20-something small git branches that he had amassed over the holiday. It took a few days, but everything went swimmingly!
  • Carol's Triumph - She accidentally discovered her son (16yo) and his best friend listening to our podcast; and, they loved it! Woot woot! We are totes connecting with the youths!
  • Tim's Triumph - In the aftermath of the insurrection and storming of the US capitol building, he managed to not curl up in a ball and rock back-and-forth in the corner. Given the context, this was a pretty momentous effort.

Notes & Links

  • Cory Doctorow - science fiction author, activist and journalist.
  • You Need a Budget - award-winning software that teaches you how to manage your money.
  • Mark Drew - a rather amazing chap from the CFML and web programming world.
  • Devil Forge - full-service metal melting and blacksmithing tools supply company.
  • Max Cunningham - YouTube channel, blacksmith and forge enthusiasm.
  • Forged in Fire - reality show featuring world-class bladesmiths re-creating historical edged weapons in a cutthroat competition.
  • Alec Steele - blacksmith and YouTube star.
  • Primitive Technology: Forge Blower - awesome YouTube video in which a guy "invents" the force blower using primitive tooling.
  • AlumnIQ - world-class software for alumni and donor engagement.
  • Brad Frost: Atomic Design - book about building design systems.
  • Material Design - design system and general design platform by Google.
  • Angular.js - modern application framework for building Single Page Applications (SPA) from Google.
  • Storybook - an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, Angular, and more.
  • Helios - design system used at InVision.
  • async / await - modern JavaScript technique for making asynchronous code read like synchronous code...
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Working Code - 159: No Effort December Returns
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12/27/23 • 58 min

After a stressful year, we happily ease into another round of "No Effort December" in which the conversations flow without concern or constraint. Carol is excited to go ice skating for the first time in her life. Tim is trying to teach his kids about financial literacy. Ben shares his limited ability to fantasize. And Adam wonders why his computer gets so sticky.

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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Working Code - 136: Words, Do They Matter?
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07/19/23 • 46 min

Words aren't just the tools that we use to describe the world around us - they are rich layers of abstraction that carry our cultural histories, our education, and our social norms on their shoulders. When we have a shared understanding of a what a word or turn-of-phrase means, our ability to communicate with each other is robust and unparalleled. But, when our differences our great, we end up talking past each other and going around in circles. Words aren't just effective, they're magical. Take, for example, a simple analogy: "It's the movie JAWS, but with cats!" — this will immediately conjure up entire worlds within the mind of the listener. So, do words matter? You bet your donkey they do!

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

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Working Code - 172: Building Your Own Standard Library
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04/03/24 • 64 min

In a world where many programmers instinctively reach for an existing solution in "user land", Ben poses the question: is there value in building out and maintaining your own standard library? This would be the collection of commonly-used functions and classes that you enjoy using; and, which are tailored to your use-cases and programming paradigms. Doing so would be a vibrant mixture of pragmatism, vanity, ego, efficiency, and compensation. But, would it ultimately be a net befit?

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday.

And, if you're feeling the love, support us on Patreon.

With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

Full show notes and transcript here.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Working Code have?

Working Code currently has 202 episodes available.

What topics does Working Code cover?

The podcast is about Podcasts and Technology.

What is the most popular episode on Working Code?

The episode title '167: Everyone Likes Their Own Brand' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Working Code?

The average episode length on Working Code is 55 minutes.

How often are episodes of Working Code released?

Episodes of Working Code are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Working Code?

The first episode of Working Code was released on Dec 9, 2020.

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