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Learn to Code With Me

The Learn to Code With Me podcast, created by Laurence Bradford, is for aspiring techies and self-taught coders looking to transition into the tech industry. Want actionable insights on how you can get paid for your coding skills? Then you're in the right place!
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Now displaying: 2018
Dec 18, 2018

Laurence announces a short break and shares where you can follow her online in the meantime. She also shares the details of a free upcoming training called How To Close Your First Web Development Client In Under 90 Days.

Dec 11, 2018

Self-taught developer, speaker, and community builder Pauline Narvas discusses time management techniques, productivity, health and wellness and the role they in tech.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Dec 4, 2018

Co-founder of Dev.to Jess Lee discusses why tech is a great career choice for introverts and extroverts, and how introverts and extroverts can learn from each other.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Nov 27, 2018

Former blacksmith and farrier Josh Kemp talks about the obstacles he overcame on his way to becoming a developer (in just 9 months and 2 days).

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Nov 20, 2018

Career coach and founder of Career Rehab, Kanika Tolver, shares her advice for transitioning into tech later in life.


See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Nov 12, 2018

Rebecca Lima - the founder of Lieu - chats about how to overcome imposter syndrome and self-doubt when working in tech or in an environment where you're different to most people.


See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Nov 6, 2018

Interview Cake founder Parker Phinney discusses why you should build programming projects, how to come up with ideas, and how to use your projects to land a job in tech.


See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Oct 30, 2018

Former data scientist and CEO of Edlitera, Claudia Virlanuta, teaches us how to stay motivated to learn to code and overcome any obstacles in our way.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Oct 23, 2018

Writer and teacher David Clinton explains how to figure out which programming language to learn, the best way to learn it, and how many languages you should learn at once.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Oct 16, 2018

Team Treehouse's Chief Product Officer Londa Quisling talks us through the different kinds of tech jobs found within organizations. We also chat about how coding skills can help people in a “middle skill job”, and how to future-proof yourself in the world of tech.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Oct 9, 2018

Eileen Ho became a software engineer at LinkedIn after working as a math teacher for almost a decade. She discusses the fears she had about her new career, common stereotypes about working in tech, and what to consider before pursuing a career in tech.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode’s sponsors:

 

Oct 9, 2018

What’s changed at Learn to Code With Me since season 4 of the podcast and what’s coming up in season 5.

Mar 20, 2018

As the fourth season of the Learn to Code With Me podcast draws to a close, I share a few updates about the future of the podcast and Learn to Code With Me as a whole.

If you’re going to miss the show, here are a few things you can do:

  1. Sign up to get regular emails from me about exclusive discounts, my favorite tech tools, and my latest blog posts.
  2. Follow Learn to Code With Me on Facebook.
  3. Follow me on Twitter.
  4. Join my free Facebook group, Newbie Coder Warehouse.
  5. Leave a review of the show to let me know you'd like it back sooner rather than later!

Until next time...

 

 

Mar 13, 2018

Ashu Desai is the founder of Make School, a computer science college in Silicon Valley that trains students for careers in software development.

After a childhood in Singapore and Hong Kong, Ashu moved to Silicon Valley at age 10, where he was bitten by the tech bug. He has been building apps since age 16 after getting involved in the computer science program at his high school and self-teaching coding languages.

Ashu attended college for a year, but didn't find the focus practical enough, and dropped out to build his own projects. This experience is also what inspired him to found Make School, a product-based approach to learning that focuses on teaching real-world skills.

In our conversation, Ashu talks about the importance of a practical education, how Make School works, and tips for getting a job once you're ready.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

Mar 6, 2018

Elvis Chidera is a software developer who grew up in a rural part of Nigeria and taught himself how to code on a Nokia phone.

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis became curious about how websites were built and wanted to download games on his Nokia phone. That curiosity led him to coding tutorials, and he began using a simple notepad app to code.

Eventually he was able to save up enough for a laptop and begin freelancing, but before that, he managed to develop microedition apps using only his phone and Java.

Today, at the age of 19, Elvis is an Android developer at dot Learn, an MIT startup that builds educational apps for students in emerging markets like Africa. He has also worked on over 50 apps which collectively have millions of downloads from the Google Play store.

In this episode, listen to Elvis's story, his experiences programming on a phone, what he's  been doing career-wise, and what the future holds.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Feb 27, 2018

Chris Castiglione is the co-founder and CEO of One Month, a professor at Columbia University Business School, and a bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiast.

The classes Chris teaches focus on coding, digital literacy, and cryptocurrency. He also hosts a podcast and has written for several online publications, and is passionate about using education to inspire positive change in the world.

During his twenties, before founding One Month, Chris traveled the world working as a digital nomad, building websites and doing consulting. This is one of the things you'll hear him talk about in the episode!

When bitcoin and cryptocurrency caught his attention, he got excited about its potential. Now, he's teaching a course on it. Listen to the episode to hear Chris explain what crypto is, how he sees its future, what his course covers, and how to get involved.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Feb 20, 2018

Mike Tombor is learning to code while working full time at a health insurance company. He also has two kids and a fiancé.

Mike’s goal is to become a full-stack web developer and designer. As he learns, he shares his journey in Medium blog posts and at community meetups to help others balance their own life demands with their goals.

Learning to code while working full time (and raising kids) is no easy feat. In our conversation, Mike shares how he balances work, coding, and family. He also explains what drew him to tech, tricks for staying motivated and managing your time wisely, and how to build a supportive community during your journey.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

Feb 13, 2018

David Yang is the co-founder and lead instructor at Fullstack Academy, and has 17 years of programming experience.

The summer after graduating high school, David became the youngest software engineering intern to ever be accepted at Ernst and Young, and went on to earn bachelor's degrees in computer science and electrical engineering.

Before founding Fullstack, he worked as a software engineer at Microsoft and Yahoo, among other companies, and taught at Columbia University as an adjunct professor.

In our conversation, we talk about whether a coding bootcamp or college degree is the best choice for aspiring techies. He tells his own story, including what led him to create Fullstack, and gives advice on how to prepare for coding bootcamps, succeed, and impress employers after graduation.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Feb 6, 2018

David Venturi is a former chemical engineer who began pursuing a tech career in 2015 and found a passion in data.

Recently, David used online resources to create a personalized data science master's program, to help others learn data analysis in a well-structured way.

The program encompasses courses from top institutions including Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, and focuses on topics like machine learning, software engineering, and back-end development.

David also works at Udacity, where he creates and teaches his own courses on data analysis.

Today, we discuss the importance of going for your passions, how he came up with the idea of building a personalized master's program, how to teach yourself data science, and how to stay positive and disciplined while teaching yourself tech skills.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Jan 30, 2018

Vidya Srinivasan is an engineer, speaker, and singer, who works as a program manager at Microsoft and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science.

When she's not on the job, Vidya stays busy with tech-related volunteering and activities. She loves to hack-for-good, and has won multiple awards at the Microsoft One Week hackathons. She has been part of the Grace Hopper Conference leadership since 2014 and regularly speaks about tech at various conferences and presentations.

Vidya is also passionate about music and her family. She holds a degree in Indian classical music and performs with Seattle bands to raise funds for nonprofits. When she recently became a new mom, she added time with her daughter to her busy schedule--and carried on doing the other things she loves as well!

In our conversation, I speak with Vidya about how she's balanced her career and passions with her experiences of pregnancy and parenthood. She gives advice on juggling responsibilities, staying involved in activities, and being transparent with your colleagues and company while starting a family.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Jan 23, 2018

Allan Leinwand is the CTO at ServiceNow. Over his career, he has built a reputation for managing the world’s most demanding clouds.

In his role at ServiceNow, Allan is personally responsible for overseeing all technical aspects and guiding the long-term technology strategy for the company. He is involved in building and running the ServiceNow Enterprise Cloud--the second largest enterprise cloud computing environment on the planet.

During college, Allan knew he wanted to be involved in tech, though he wasn't sure in what specific capacity. His first post-graduation job was at HP, where he fell in love with computer science and networking. He then worked at Cisco, and now ServiceNow, where he has delved more into machine learning and cloud computing.

In our conversation, we talk about how Allan pursued a career in tech leadership, the difference between AI and machine learning, what to do if you want a career in machine learning or technical leadership, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

Jan 16, 2018

Lillian Pierson is a freelance data scientist for SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as a trainer, speaker, and coach for people who want to get into data science and analytics.

Before she got into data science, Lillian worked in engineering. However, her interest in the tech space began early: she started teaching herself basic code in sixth grade, and always enjoyed working with data. When she decided on a career change, data science was the natural choice.

Lillian is also the author of Data Science for Dummies and the founder of Data-Mania, the company through which she offers data training services to professionals seeking career advancement. She works remotely as much as possible, which allowed her to move overseas to Thailand, where she's currently living the island life with her family.

In today's episode, we discuss freelancing as a data scientist, how to manage remote work and travel, the importance of building your personal brand, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Jan 9, 2018

Bill Sourour is the founder of DevMastery.com, the founder and president of technology consulting firm Arcnovus, and a frequent consultant for the Canadian government.

Through DevMastery, Bill offers a weekly newsletter full of tips and resources to help developers program better and advance their careers. Bill has 20 years of experience as a programmer and architect, which he uses to help both individual developers and large organizations as a teacher and consultant.

Bill's secondary passion was for acting; after studying theatre at Concordia University, he balanced both pursuits for years until he decided to fully commit to his tech career.

In today's conversation, we talk about the early days of Bill's career balancing his tech and theatre passions, how he got into consulting and started a business, his advice for people who want to work freelance, his goals for helping developers with the DevMastery newsletter, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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Jan 2, 2018

Bridget Kromhout is a DevOps professional with a passion for giving back to her community.

In her professional working life so far, Bridget spent 15 years as an operations engineer, and now works at Microsoft as a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate.

Her spare time is full of tech-related and volunteer activities: she leads the worldwide conference organization Devopsdays, runs community tech events in her home city of Minneapolis, co-hosts the Arrested DevOps podcast, and frequently participates in tech conferences as both a speaker and committee member.

In our conversation, Bridget talks about how she worked her way through college, what the day-to-day of being a tech advocate looks like, her experiences attending, chairing, and speaking at tech conferences, and the various side projects she's involved in to do her part in helping others.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

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