Getting into IT with Grant

Join Grant in this must-listen episode as he unravels the dynamic and often turbulent world of Artificial Intelligence. From the boardroom dramas at OpenAI to the intricate details of President Biden's groundbreaking Executive Order, Grant dives deep into the AI revolution that's reshaping our world. Discover the inside scoop on OpenAI's leadership shake-ups and Microsoft's pivotal role, and why these changes matter to you. The heart of this episode lies in a compelling, detailed analysis of the Executive Order on AI. Uncover its potential to revolutionize innovation, competition, and collaboration in AI. This episode isn't just for tech enthusiasts; it's a call to anyone curious about the future shaped by AI. The engaging narrative and insightful analysis will leave you pondering the implications of AI in our lives, the workplace, and the global stage. Sponsored by: Rooted Concepts Inc. https://codewarden.ai

In this episode, Grant dives deep into the revolutionary realm of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, exploring their transformative role in solving complex issues in natural language processing and their burgeoning application in diverse domains. With AI’s innovative ability to comprehend and generate multiple languages and even code, the integration and utilization of LLMs are forging new paths, redefining traditional concepts of coding, and propelling the emergence of prompt engineering. Sponsored by: Rooted Concepts Inc. https://codewarden.ai

Ben Whately is the CSO and co-founder of Memrise. A psychologist by education, with a Masters in Experimental Psychology from Oxford where he focused on neural networks and computational modelling of human learning, Ben has spent the last 15 years looking at ways to learn and teach languages. While studying psychology, he formed a theory for why this is, and founded the startup company Memrise in order to bring that theory into reality. He believes that people fundamentally learn languages to connect with other people or because they are enamored of the culture of that language, and Memrise strives to embody this experience of connection. Ben is also a prolific angel investor, investing in and advising more than 50 companies in the UK startup ecosystem, with a focus on Al, machine learning and climate tech. In this episode, we talk a lot about how the brain learns a new language as well as Ben's experience founding and growing a startup company. --- Get started with Memrise: https://www.memrise.com

Steve Toy is the CEO of Memrise, a language platform that uses spaced repetition of flashcards to increase the rate of learning, combined with a GPT3-powered "AI Language partner" that allows learners to practice human-like conversations. In this episode, Steve and I discuss how Memrise operated throughout the pandemic, the use of technology as a platform for running a language learning company, and how ChatGPT, GPT 3.5, and AI in general is impacting the tech landscape. --- Get started with Memrise: https://www.memrise.com

James Jones is an IT leader and the founder of the QOL Group, a non-profit organization providing support for the disabled. He is a highly motivational speaker and I was blessed to be able to record an episode with him. In this episode, James talks about his journey of getting into IT, the importance of emotional intelligence as a manager and leader, and shares experiences from the industry that have left an impact on him both personally and professionally. We discuss what good leadership looks like, as well as how to be an ally to a diverse workforce, being supportive of people with different backgrounds from ourselves. No matter your background, there's something we can all learn from James! --- Connect with James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-jones-m-jur-mim-mis-csm-sa-0231a47 Support QOL Group at: https://qolgroup.net

Building a web, or internet, scale application is no small feat. Yes, anybody can get something running in the cloud quickly these days, but that doesn't make it good! If you want to build a good internet scale application, listen and learn what it takes. We'll discuss the three pillars of scalable applications: maintainability, reliability, and availability. And we'll talk about SRE, DBRE, and Security in the context of scaling compute and databases at a global scale. This episode is intended to give you a perspective on why internet scale applications are so expensive, and what it takes to build and maintain them. ----- The Gab case study System Design Interview Study Course

Dustin Warner is a Lead Member of the Technical Staff (LMTS) at Salesforce. He has been leading hugely impactful, high potential next generation software development on their platform and he was gracious enough to spend some time with me and let me ask a few questions. In this episode we talk about his career and how he got to the position he's in. We also discuss the ins and outs of platform development, not just on the Salesforce platform but across a few different ecosystems like SharePoint and ServiceNow as well. There are pros and cons to running your business on a platform, and we debate those while also getting into his thoughts on how AI will potentially impact the work and lives of platform admins and devs as its capabilities evolve. Whether you are new to tech, or a seasoned executive, there is value in what Dustin has to say so listen to his words of wisdom! --- Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-warner-127bb44a/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2rzeI9jiuw

ChatGPT is beginning to consume my news feed. Everywhere I look I see blog posts written by AI paired with AI generated images made by DALL-E, all headlining in news articles from the mainstream media which are probably also reviewed or distributed by AI! It's Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning everywhere we turn! The rise of AI isn't bothering me as much as the trend of attributing *actual intelligence* to these robots. In this episode, we'll discuss what is going on under the hood of ChatGPT. We'll dive into neural networks and the various training mechanisms that are used, as well as looking at ChatGPT specifically and how it was constructed. Along with these tools comes a lot of creative ways to use them, which we'll take a look at as well, so buckle up! We're going to surround ourselves with robots and take a peek inside. --- Additional resources that are mentioned in this episode: 3Blue1Brown - But what is a neural network? | Chapter 1, Deep learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk The history of chatbots https://onlim.com/en/the-history-of-chatbots/

Okta was recently breached and some stuff was stolen by a hacker group! Is this the end of Okta as a security provider? You'll have to listen to find out what happened, how software exploits can work, and how to protect yourself (and your code) against them.

There are a lot of programming languages out there, so what's the difference between them and why would I choose to use one over another? In this episode, I review the top 5 most used programming languages of 2022. This will help clear up when these languages should be used, what they're useful for, and why they even exist in the first place! I will talk about: I've personally written a lot of code in these languages, so you won't just get a textbook knowledge from this episode. You're going to get a whole lot of my personal opinion as well!

The world is watching Twitter become a brand new company under the leadership of Elon Musk, and in this episode I dive into the details of what has been going on! The situation is changing from day to day, so by the time you listen to this episode new information may be available, but as of 11/22/2022 this is the story. This episode isn't just a "current events about Twitter" episode, though. It also takes a look at Mastodon, one of the up and coming challengers to Twitter. I have an account, have generated a fair amount of content on that platform, and share my experience with the ecosystem also known as the Fediverse (aka federated universe). Mastodon is a distributed social media platform and is very interesting in its own right, even without all the craziness going on a Twitter.

My condolences to Uber on their recent hack (Sept 2022), but this does provide a great opportunity to highlight poor security practices, and share steps that companies can take so they don't fall victim to the same exploits as Uber. In this episode we'll talk about security, as if it's an onion, do a step-by-step analysis of the Uber hack, and consider just how devastating this situation could have been if a real, malicious hacker had did exactly what this 18 year old did.

When you build a software application or product, you don't just start writing code and hope for the best! Your code runs on a platform, typically accesses a database, and displays data to a user - all of these functions should be isolated and organized into a tech stack. Defining your tech stack should be one of the very first things you do, even before you write your first line of code. Let's dig into this topic, talk about the tech stack in general and then actually define one! We'll be using a budgeting application as our example and deciding what technologies to use in each layer of the stack.

If you feel stuck in your engineering career and are trying to break out into a different subdiscipline, then this episode is for you! How exactly can you switch from being a Software Developer to being a Machine Learning Engineer? Or from a Site Reliability Engineer to a Web Developer? In this episode we will discuss how to make that transition, and how to best reflect on your current position to see why you want to transition in the first place. ----- As discussed in the podcast, last month's episode was an article posted on my website. Check it out here: Trunk Based Development and Continuous Integration

You work in tech and you want to be paid more money. Great, so what's your pitch? Have you thought about what time of day to approach your manager? What about setting up a new meeting or using an existing one? How about how much money to ask for? In this episode, I dive into these topics and more so that you can craft the perfect interaction with your manager! Do not wander into your conversation, come up with a strategy for telling your manager just how much value you deliver to the team. Your value is what determines your pay, so think about it. As an added bonus, I even role-play this scenario and pretend I'm asking my boss for a raise. If you do this well, it may pay off big for you! ----- Robert Half Talent Solutions: Tech Salary Guides 2022 Extraneous factors in judicial decisions: PNAS Other resources on researching your market value: Levels.fyi Glassdoor.com Blind

In this episode, we'll start by separating out Agile from DevOps, and then bringing in CI/CD pipelines. We'll also discuss DevSecOps and some of the best practices in engineering that a developer can adopt. We'll also give an overview of what a CI/CD pipeline looks like, what a pipeline stage is, what a pipeline's purpose is, and how it is related to DevOps. As a bonus, I talk about tools for Static Code Analysis (SCA) and Static Application Security Testing (SAST)! We'll also touch on Test Driven Development (TDD). ----- Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations Storytime with Dad Podcast

If you write software, you are probably collaborating with other developers. If you are collaborating, then you probably need to isolate your code and then merge it together when you're done. So what are some of the best-practices for managing this? My favorite is trunk-based development, but that name probably doesn't mean what you think it means! In this episode, we dive into branching strategies and trunk-based development. We also touch on test automation, CI/CD pipelines, agility, and DevOps practices. We'll also talk about anti-patterns or "worst practices" that some companies adopt because they are risk averse. Ironically, many of today's software delivery practices increase risk rather than decrease it! Hear my take and compare it to your own, then Tweet me (@tweetsofgrant) and tell me where our views differ! ----- Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations Google's Guidebook on Trunk-Based Development Other Visualizations of Trunk-Based Development

I have, unfortunately, dealt with plenty of narcissists in the workplace throughout my career. Although these encounters are rare, they do happen, they are dangerous people, and when you confront them you need to be prepared for what you're getting into. Narcissists are not like other people, so you must enter their world (temporarily) if you are going to come out of the engagement intact. In this episode, we discuss narcissism, the two types of narcissist, patterns of abuse (including the DARVO pattern of manipulation and gaslighting), as well as a real life story of me having to manage one of these types of individual. Yes, bad managers need to be (and sometimes get!) removed from positions of authority. Please join me on this weird journey through personality disorders in the corporate world! ---- I am launching a Patreon as well! I want to continue producing the content you care about, help you network with one another, and even have guests from the industry on the podcast to discuss their own experience. By supporting the podcast, you will help it expand and do more good in the world. When you sign up, you will be able to join my discord server, get some swag, AND through the end of May Gold Patrons will get a 30 minute 1-on-1 video or phone call with me to discuss career coaching or any topic of their choice. https://grantdryden.com/patreon

Someone wrote to me recently about working very hard and finally getting their dream job, only to discover that they hated it! That sucks and I know many of us have been there before in our own careers. It would be a tragedy to throw away a high paying, promising career if the reason why we hated it was something that we could control. In this episode, I read their message and then respond with what I think is really going on. I don't think this person hated their job, but I do think they hated the environment that they were doing their job in. Once you hear their predicament, tell me: what do you think they should do?

If you’ve ever wanted to do game dev, hear the story of how I published my first video game, Bonsai. We’ll review the core concept of the game, the process of building it and the choices of technology, and the distribution of it on Steam. It was fun, but wasn’t all rose colored! Here is a link to Bonsai on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/444160/Bonsai/