For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code. Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript. We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)
181: Normalcy Theater with Aaron Aldrich
02:04 - Aaron’s Superpower: Relating to people on any level because he has so many hobbies!
- Useful in DevRel
- Ending Up in Unexpected Places
- Trying New Things and Nerding Out
06:42 - Everything Has a Technical Aspect
- Music vs Computer Programming
- Computer Systems as Sociotechnical Systems
10:37 - Connecting High-Performing Resilient Teams
- Common Ground Within Teams
- Recovering From Failure
- Failover Conf by Gremlin
14:14 - Implementing Purposeful/Intentional Communication
- Team vs Individual Work
- Ken Mugrage - Keynote Speaker | Everything I need to know about DevOps I learned in The Marines
- Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by L. David Marquet
17:55 - Highlights from Failover Conf - (Videos not available)
19:45 - How did an actual virtual conference go since COVID-19?
- Slack Implementation
- Bots
- #Hallway-track channel
- Each Talk Had Its’ Own Q&A Channel
- Challenges
- People Interaction
- Breaktime
- Technical Difficulties
- Zoom Chat After the Conference
- Deserted Island DevOps
26:27 - The Impact of Having ADHD
- Advanced Forms of Coping Mechanisms
- Quality Time
- Struggling with ADHD During COVID-19
- Working From Home and Being Thrown Into Remote Work
- Juggling Meetings
- Maintaining Comradery
39:43 - Normalcy Theater: Maintaining a Sense That Everything is Fine (When It’s NOT.)
- Grief and Loss is Happening on a Global Level
- J. Paul Reed
- Shed Load
- Sacrificing Thoroughness: we are ALL overloaded
- Recruiting Resources
- Shifting Work and Time
- Showing Others Grace and Empathy
Reflections:
John: The idea of a software team plays at software just like a music group plays at instruments. (Twitter thread)
Carina: Everything has technical and human skills aspects.
Aaron: It’s okay to not be getting things done right now and to be taking the time that we need to take care of ourselves.
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Special Guest: Aaron Aldrich.
Sponsored By:
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