We're Emma Bostian, Sidney Buckner, Kelly Vaughn, and Ali Spittel - four seasoned software developers working in different sectors. Since there's a major lack of technical podcasts out there, we've decided to start one. Just kidding -- there's already a ton! But, we wanted to add our voices to the space and share our experiences and advice. We'll have great discussions around how to start coding, the hot technologies right now, how to get your first developer job, and more! Check out our website!
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Level up with JavaScript
JavaScript is notorious for being one of the most popular, yet also one of the most despised programming languages to learn, so today we’re covering some of the intermediate and advanced JavaScript concepts! We’ll discuss convoluted topics like generators, prototypal inheritance, and the rendering engine. Knowing intermediate JavaScript concepts like the call stack, context, scope, the prototype chain, higher order functions, async programming, and the event loop is invaluable and will help with learning frameworks. The fundamentals won't change even if the ecosystem does. Show notes 03:24 - Functional Programming vs OOP 06:28 - Prototypal inheritance 20:34 - Higher order functions 25:54 - Callback functions 27:10 - Closures 27:46 - Scope + Context 31:12 - Iterators & Generators 34:26 - Rendering engine 37:54 - Call Stack 40:33 - Event loop 43:39 - Throttle and debounce 46:21 - Asynchronous programming 52:09 - Hoisting 54:44 - Primitive vs reference 56:59 - Debugging 58:48 - Shoutouts Resources Functional Programming vs OOP Lydia Halle’s blog post on the prototype chain Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby Ali's What is Functional Programming? What Tamagotchis Can Teach You About ES6 Generators - Jenn Creighton CodeNewbie: How do Browsers Work? What the heck is the event loop anyway? - Philip Roberts Throttling and debouncing Debugging Episode
Advice to our Past Selves
Welcome to season 3 of the LB podcast. This season we’ll cover topics ranging from advanced JavaScript to networking. We’ll chat about Git & GitHub, making money outside your 9-5 job, and many more topics. For our first episode of this new season, we’ll be reminiscing about our coding history and discussing some advice we wished we had when learning to code ranging from asking more questions to negotiating job offers. Show notes 01:50 - Our stories 09:29 - Find a community 10:43 - Take breaks - you don’t have to code all the time 13:36 - Ask questions 16:50 - Overcome imposter syndrome 18:09 - Sharing your learning journey can help not only yourself but others too 20:24 - Surround yourself with people who support you 21:33 - Don’t get stuck in the cycle of tutorials 23:28 - Get comfortable with being uncomfortable 25:02 - Ask for feedback early and often 26:23 - Stop being such a perfectionist 28:06 - Document your learning journey 30:00 - Learn how to Google 31:45 - Different ways to learn 32:32 - Try to be honest w/ ur manager 34:42 - Celebrate your small wins 35:20 - Interview to challenge yourself 36:54 - Talk to people who have your dream job 38:04 - Negotiate offers 40:20 - You can be a people person in tech 41:40 - Don’t fall into shiny object syndrome 42:21 - You belong in the industry Resources Learning How to Learn episode Byteconf React Keynote FreeCodeCamp Moving Past Tutorials Cacher Stay Home Take Care Transcript We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here!
Web Developer Learning Path
There are so many ways to learn to code, and so many things to know. Today we’ll give our perspectives on different paths you can take. Whether you’re looking for your first dev job or you’re looking to advance your web development knowledge, we’ll be covering a ton of different options for you. 01:50 - What did we know before getting our first jobs? 06:40 - T-shaped knowledge 08:38 - HTML 14:07 - CSS 18:24 - JavaScript 25:00 - Backend 31:00- How the web works 32:15 - Testing 37:13 - Tooling 43:46 - Git 46:12 - Terminal 47:12 - Design patterns 48:26 - Data structures & algorithms 49:07 - How to level up Read more on our site
Learning How to Learn
On our podcast, we talk a LOT about what to learn as a developer. But today we’re switching gears and talking about HOW to actually learn all this information. We’ll discuss the concept of metacognition, or how we learn and retain information as well as some strategies for making the process easier.
Indie Hacking
This week we have a super exciting episode, we’re chatting with Courtland Allen, the founder of Indie Hackers. We’re going to talk about what indie hacking is, how to get started with it, and his advice for gaining traction with indie products. Let’s get started!
What's on Our Computers?
This week we’re giving you all the details about our computer setups including our hardware preferences, browsers, desktop software, code editor and CLI settings, and top productivity tools. We’ll also tell you some of our miscellaneous preferences like most used emoji and current desktop photo.
Behavioral Interviews
Show notes 1:43 - What is the flow of the technical interview process 6:50 - The salary conversation 15:25 - Behavioral questions 27:32 - Interview prep strategies 34:17 - Red flags 45:17 - Shoutouts Resources Star technique Data structures & algorithms episode Frontend interview episode The Culture Map Levels.fyi Thread on Negotiating Radical Candor Adam Grant podcast Andrew Certain Brotopia Bad Blood Society 6 Transcript We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here.
Engineering Management
In one of our previous episodes, we talked about different jobs within tech, one of which is engineering management. Today we’re joined by the wonderful Amal Hussein, engineering manager at NPM and we’re going to chat more in-depth about her career path. 1:27 - Tell us about yourself 3:10 - Last fall you transitioned into a new role as an Engineering Manager at NPM. How did you make that leap? 5:38 - What does your day to day schedule look like? 8:32 - What’s the hardest thing about being a manager? 13:37 - Hands on vs. hands off management style 17:01- How long have you been in engineering management? 18:33 - What’s the best thing about being a manager? 21:49 - Do you think someone should be an engineer prior to being a manager? 30:15 - Do you still write code? 33:13 - Do you have any book recommendations for management? 36:53 - How do you build personal relationships w/ employees while working remotely? 42:13 - Advice for those looking to become an engineering manager 46:44 - Where can we find you online?
Invisible Women
Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognized or valued. If any of this sounds familiar, chances are that you're a woman. This month for the Ladybug Podcast book club we read Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men by Caroline Criado-Pérez. In this episode we’ll discuss our thoughts on the book, what shocked us, what felt a bit forced, and have a discussion about gender bias in the world around us.
Frontend Interviews
Programming interviews are terrifying. There’s so much to learn and nobody enjoys answering technical questions in front of a complete stranger. In this episode, we’ll dive into the frontend technical interview and give some tips and tricks for nailing it. 2:06 - Our experiences with technical interviews 3:36 - The interview process 14:15 - Phone screens 20:32 - Take home challenges 34:43 - In-person interviews 46:08 - Resources to get better at interviewing 49:00 - Shoutouts
Building a Resume
Whether you’re seeking your first developer job or you’re looking to move to a new company, your resume is the first thing employers will see. Having a strong resume is what sets you apart from the competition. In this week’s episode we’re discussing all things resume-building, including what’s important to include, what can be skipped, and best practices for creating your resume. 1:24 - What do our resumes look like? 3:40 - CVs vs. Resumes 12:20 - Resume design 17:09 - What if I don’t have formal computer science education? 23:44 - Should you have an objective or a summary? 25:00 - Should you put references on there? 29:02 - How can I create a resume? 35:57 - Using social media and personal portfolio to back up your resume 37:57 - Shoutouts
Game Development
This week we’re talking all things game development! Joining us today is Arianna Rudawski, a software engineer with a super cool job. We’ll be discussing what a career in game development is like, the skills needed to become a game developer, and advice for getting into game development.
Data Structures and Algorithms
Computer science concepts like data structures and algorithms can be super intimidating, especially if you’re cramming the night before an interview. In this episode, we’ll discuss common algorithms and data structures and give you some tips for your next whiteboarding challenge. 01:44 - Our experience with data structures and algorithms 05:00 - What are algorithms? 06:17 - What is Big O notation? 13:57 - Sorting algorithms 17:55 - Graph traversal 19:20 - Searching algorithms 20:04 - What are data structures 23:05 - Arrays 26:03 - Linked Lists 29:15 - Sets 30:22 - Objects, maps, heaps 34:50 - Binary Trees 35:47 - Stacks and queues 40:08 - Graphs 41:00 - Common interview questions 43:27 - Tips for interviews and where to learn more
Book Club: Atomic Habits
We're so excited for the first-ever Ladybug Podcast book club episode! This is a bonus episode which will occur at the end of each month. This month we’re discussing Atomic Habits by James Clear. If you want to follow along you can check out our Goodreads group and ladybug.dev/books. 0:36 - Our thoughts on the book 04:15 - The importance of habits 06:16 - Systems vs. Goals 08:01 - Layers of behavioral change 09:58 - Stages of habit formation 13:43 - Steps of breaking a bad habit 15:52 - Habit stacking 17:40 - Reward systems 22:00 - What makes habits attractive 28:49 - Our ratings of the book
Personal Branding
Every day we see companies market to us with a specific brand voice, and we can recognize the differences from one brand to the next. But what about personal brands? You as a person are a brand - it’s how you portray yourself on the internet and how others perceive you. I’m a brand, Emma’s a brand, Ali’s a brand. We’re all our own unique representations of ourselves. This week we’re discussing what it means to have your own personal brand and everything you need to know about building and managing your brand. 1:43 - What is a personal brand? 8:21 - Why would you want to build a brand? 11:10 - What are the benefits of having a personal brand? 13:29 - Who in tech has done a really good job of branding themselves? 15:29 - How did we build our brands? 18:03 - What platforms can you use to build a brand? 22:55 - The downsides of social media branding. 28:32 - How to build an audience. 32:08 - What we’re excited about in 2020.