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)
154: Filtering Your Brain with Ambreen Hasan
01:12 - Ambreen’s Non-Technical Superpower: She is Very Good at Zoning People Out
- Learning necessary information from conversations
03:20 - Ambreen’s Technical Superpower: Any Challenge She is Given She Will Try to Just Do It
- Comfort with Uncertainty
06:03 - Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset
- It’s OK to Not Know Everything
- Using Resources to Your Advantage
08:40 - Ambreen’s Hobbies Outside of Software
10:10 - Thinking About Things in a Molecular Way
- Taking Chunks at a Time When Learning Something New
- Breaking Down Big Concepts into Small Things You Can Learn
- Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
13:45 - Ambreen’s Journey to Software Engineering
- C++
- Turning a Love Into a Career
- Ruby, Rails, Go, Docker
20:30 - Self-Advocating for New Work Experience
22:00 - Empathy in Engineering
Reflections:
John: Intentionally recognizing uncomfortable learning situations and be okay with it.
Jacob: Your emotional state does matter at work and we as professionals need to recognize that this has relevance to one’s ability to do work.
Arty: It is important to help others to be able to come out of their comfort zone and be ok with not knowing everything.
Ambreen: Likes Jacob’s idea of being productively lost, but there is progress being made. There are many different styles of learning.
This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode
To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.
Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks!
Special Guest: Ambreen Hasan.