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)
167: Clarity of Thought with Ted M. Young
01:20 - Ted’s Superpower: Translating things for people to understand better.
02:49 - Coding on a Live Stream
- Curiosity is Useful and Dangerous
- Comparing Coding to Puzzles
07:13 - Research is a Drug
- Finding Answers is Gratifying
- Current Reading Infects Daily Thought
- Anders Ericsson
10:45 - Connecting the Academic Idea of Expertise to Everyday Context
- Worked Examples
- Memory Limits
- Gaining a Solid Foundation for Training Purposes
- The Path of Decision-making
16:50 - Code Reviews
- Learning About Decisions Made Along the Way
- Pair Programming and Mob Programming
- Externalizing Your Thinking
- Curse of Knowledge
19:41 - Recording Yourself Coding/Learning Something New
- Gaining Empathy
- Improving Documentation and Communication
21:56 - Live Streaming as an Introvert
- What Other People Get Out of It
- Seeing People Struggle and Being Able to Help
- We All Get Lost
- Building Community
- Being Comfortable Showing Frustration
29:41 - The Difference Between Training and Live Coding
- Suz Hinton
- Accountability in Live Coding
- Privilege
35:35 - Applying Research to TDD Teaching Technique
- James Shore
- The Thinking Part and the Predictive Aspect
- It’s Not About the Test Failing, It’s About Validating Your Mental Model
- Retrieval Practice
- Formative and Summative Assessments
- Spaced Repetition
- AnkiApp
- The Purpose of Patterns
48:27 - Human Learning
- Stop Teaching People What They Know and Find Out What They Don’t Know
Reflections:
Jamey: ‘Predictions’ in TDD - Having more succinct language for things in your head strengthens understanding.
Artemis: The concept of strengthening and muscle. If we can work deliberately on strengthening these muscles then in the moments of our everyday work we can improve the quality of our day to day decisions.
Ted: An aspect of expertise is you start connecting more things. We have to find a place for the ‘why.’
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Special Guest: Ted M. Young.