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Interviews with Developers at PyCon
9:03 with Michael PoleyTime for another field trip! PyCon, the annual Python conference is just up the street! Let's go chat with some Pythonistas!
Learn more
- PyCon
- PyLadies
- Chuck E. Cheese (the E. stands for Entertainment!!!)
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Hi, I'm Craig.
0:00
Welcome to the Treehouse show.
0:01
The Treehouse show is our weekly
conversation with the Treehouse community.
0:02
[MUSIC]
0:08
The annual Python conference,
PyCon is happening right now in Portland.
0:10
What do you say we go on a field trip?
0:14
No permission slip required.
0:16
Let's go chat with some Pythonistas.
0:18
Hi, can I get your name please?
0:21
>> My name is Kojo Adresa.
0:22
>> Thursday Bram, B-R-A-M
>> My name is Atul.
0:24
>> Leo.
0:26
>> Hal.
>> Svesden.
0:27
>> Jamal Mitchell.
0:28
>> My name is Yulan Lin.
0:29
>> Rolando.
0:30
>> What was your first job?
0:31
>> Hm.
My first job was when I was 12, probably,
0:33
delivering papers.
0:37
>> I have had many first jobs.
0:39
I worked a lot in the family business.
0:42
I spent an entire summer
dressed as a tomato.
0:44
>> I worked at Chuck E Cheese.
0:46
>> All right.
0:48
>> It was rad.
0:48
So they start everyone off at the door
where like you give everyone a stamp.
0:49
And then everyone has to be Chucky for
a while.
0:53
So I've been the mouse.
0:55
>> Late middle school, I was working for
a man who owned a bulletin board system.
0:58
I was just like a frequent user of it.
1:05
I think at that time I actually
had my own bulletin board system.
1:07
He had like this multi line board
system and it needed maintenance.
1:10
He had like a normal day job.
1:14
He's like a gemologist, I think.
1:17
>> My first job was actually
industrial engineering.
1:19
>> Deliver some paperbacks.
1:22
>> Working in a logging industry.
1:24
>> First job, I was working at
American Reinsurance Company.
1:26
>> In a research lab,
doing chemistry and chemical synthesis.
1:29
>> Now I am a QA specialist, I do QA.
1:34
>> Do community organization and
management and
1:37
then I do a lot of
writing about technology.
1:39
>> Now I'm a software developer and
IT trainer for the University of Texas and
1:42
I've taught a couple of Treehouse
courses which you may have taken.
1:45
>> I currently work for an organization
called 18F, they're basically a design and
1:48
engineering consultancy within
the federal government.
1:52
So I'm actually a federal employee.
1:55
And yeah, we basically work on a bunch
of things to make the government more
1:57
effective and efficient,
but also more transparent.
2:02
All of our stuff is open-source,
public domain, on GitHub and stuff.
2:05
>> For a developer, mostly playing
between being a back end developer and
2:10
front end developer.
2:14
>> A software engineer.
2:16
>> I'm a software engineer.
2:17
>> Now I'm a cloud engineer for
Cincinnati Bell technology services.
2:19
>> I'm currently a data
scientist in Houston, Texas.
2:22
>> How many languages do you know?
2:25
>> I'm probably mostly comfortable
with mostly just Python.
2:28
I do a little bit of JavaScript,
a tiny bit of SQL.
2:32
Some HTML and CSS.
2:36
>> Well, so
no is kind of a complicated term.
2:39
So my main language is Python.
2:43
I'm heavily involved in PyLadies and
that's my one true love.
2:45
But I took Java in college.
2:50
I have done unholy things
toward press themes.
2:53
It's kind of like whatever you
need to figure out, you do.
2:57
So.
3:01
>> Honestly, not really that many.
3:01
UT is still a lot on a mainframe system,
so
3:03
I know a language called Natural really,
really well.
3:06
Which is not really relevant
outside of the University of Texas.
3:09
I know Python, Django, of course.
3:13
And that's what you see me teach.
3:15
I know a little bit of JavaScript.
3:16
A tiny, tiny bit of Ruby.
3:17
But I'm not really a polyglot in
the way that I know that a lot of
3:19
other people are.
3:22
>> Sort of lost count at this point.
3:23
I mean, I guess I'm only really
good at like two or three.
3:25
I mean, I mainly work in Python and
JavaScript.
3:29
>> I have done a lot of stuff with PHP,
but most of my focus is in Python.
3:33
But also, I happen to be having different
clients working with Ruby on Rails.
3:37
>> Okay.
>> And of course, you can escape.
3:42
Yeah, I was screwed.
3:44
>> Four, three or four.
3:45
>> More than 20.
3:46
>> More than 20?
3:48
>> Yeah.
3:48
>> I'd say two.
3:49
Really just Bash and
then Python, that's it.
3:51
>> I work with three or four.
3:54
I wouldn't say that I'm
an expert in any of them.
3:57
>> At least four.
3:59
I mean, to get through college,
at least three.
4:00
>> How do you go about
learning those languages?
4:02
What do you do?
4:04
>> Conferences, a lot of Stack Overflow.
4:06
There's a lot of really
great slack channels and
4:08
communities where I can just ask.
4:11
And then the meet up community
in Houston is really great.
4:12
And so kind of just going and
4:15
hanging out with friends and
learning what they're doing.
4:16
>> Books and then some online videos,
that kind of thing.
4:18
So just sort of depending on what it is.
4:21
>> I tend to go just down
the rabbit hole on the internet and
4:24
start looking and
seeing if there's a class I can take or
4:27
if there's a blog post I can read
>> Or if there's a tutorial or
4:30
if somebody has actually already done
the thing and it's up on GitHub and
4:34
I can just change the labels and
the variables and reuse it.
4:37
>> Treehouse courses, one of the kind
of nice things about being a Treehouse
4:42
teacher is I get access to
a lot of the Treehouse courses.
4:45
So I've been able to do those.
4:48
But also Googling stuff,
looking at other people's blog posts, and
4:50
the kind of walkthroughs
that they have posted.
4:53
>> I'll watch conference talks
while I do the elliptical.
4:55
>> How do you keep on picking stuff up?
4:59
>> Well,
sometimes when I'm starting something,
5:00
I try to see a few videos or
test applications.
5:04
So I have used Treehouse for that.
5:09
Normally I spent, when I used to
be more like a back end developer,
5:11
but I'm moving to do more and
more front end stuff.
5:16
>> Right.
>> So normally, when learning more about
5:19
CSS, I try to read and to see at
least one chapter of a few topics.
5:22
>> Okay.
5:28
So I subscribe to a lot of newsletters.
5:29
And I'm so tired of the news or
getting that, I think,
5:34
comfortable about doing that.
5:39
And I think one of the best
tricks that I have is actually
5:42
asking people what are the top
ten books that they have.
5:46
Because that way, If you have
a book that has stand the time,
5:50
normally you have something good in there.
5:55
>> Right
>> That will give you an advantage over
5:58
a lot of people.
6:01
And lastly, I think reading the standards.
6:02
Not a lot of people try to follow
standards, but for example,
6:07
I try to keep on like,
what is coming to CSS?
6:10
And learn it before people
actually are using it.
6:14
>> Got you.
You mean the official standard
6:17
documentation.
6:19
>> Yeah, yeah.
6:19
For example, reading what is expected on
the common versions of the language or
6:20
coming on the next
versions of the framework.
6:26
So that way you keep up,
you try to be in the future in some ways.
6:29
>> That's really clever,
that's a great tip.
6:33
>> Friend's posts on Twitter or
from some website, GitHub News, or some.
6:34
>> Once you learn
the functional programming,
6:40
object oriented, you know,
you just follow the same patterns.
6:42
And my first teacher actually
had a great approach to it.
6:45
He would find the common
parts of the language and
6:49
sort of teach them a pseudo-language.
6:52
And then concentrate on the details that
would be different per language to kind of
6:54
learn, hey, this is different and
6:58
you could basically write the program
immediately in a new language.
7:00
>> That's great.
Well,
7:04
you want to give a shout
out to that teacher?
7:05
>> Yes.
7:07
He retired as a chair
at San Fransisco State.
7:09
>> I go online.
7:13
I come to these conferences.
7:14
This is my first PyCon.
7:15
>> Cool.
>> It's a great conference.
7:17
So it's a great conference so far.
7:18
And just try to keep learning.
7:20
I mean, in IT,
you have to keep pushing yourself.
7:22
>> I feel like because I have
the basics of programming,
7:24
I basically learn how to do what I
already know into another language.
7:27
And then after that, I find out
what that language's idioms are and
7:32
how they do things.
7:36
And I mainly approach it that way.
7:37
>> What's a good language that you feel?
7:41
So you have 20 languages, what's the best
language, you think, for beginners?
7:42
>> I would say Python.
7:46
>> I think the best language to learn
is a language that best suits you for
7:47
the project.
7:52
So certain languages have different
features, so you want to be able
7:53
to maximize whatever that language,
maybe preferred domain is.
7:58
>> So you don't want to use,
8:03
like you wouldn't want to use Bash
to implement a web server, you know?
8:04
So there are certain languages
are more better tools for the job.
8:09
>> I think Python.
8:14
>> I'm biased towards Python,
we're here at PyCon.
8:16
>> I'm biased,
because what I feel a good language
8:18
to learn would be a language that
let's you play with the play around.
8:22
So Python is really good because
it's very, it's not verbose.
8:27
Batteries included.
8:32
It allows you to play with a lot
of things and very quickly.
8:33
I find that the more verbose language is,
the syntax can trip you up.
8:37
It's a lot harder to maybe
express certain things.
8:41
You have to know a lot more machinery
in order to get up and running.
8:43
[MUSIC]
8:48
>> Thanks for watching the Treehouse show.
8:52
To get in touch with the show,
reach out to me on Twitter or
8:53
hit us up in the Treehouse community.
8:56
See you next time.
8:57
Can you believe that
Lacey was Chuck E Cheese?
8:59
So many more questions to ask her.
9:01
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