Kevin O'Shaughnessy talks with Dave Rael about insights from a career in programming, getting involved in communities, and continuous learning
A senior Web developer based in the UK, Kevin runs a blog at www.zombiecodekill.com and is also a regular guest blogger at Outlier Developer and Simple Programmer. He believes in continuous learning and improvement, and is doing a 12 learning paths challenge on Pluralsight in 2016. He's especially focused on GPS-based applications, performance, security issues, and interesting languages. Kevin is also active on Twitter @zombiecodekill.
Chapters:
- - Dave introduces the show and Kevin O'Shaughnessy
- - Kevin, the web, mobile, and GPS
- - How Kevin got interested in blogging and involved with writing his own blog and writing for other sites
- - Kevin the learner, consumer of Pluralsight, and the 12 learning paths challenge
- - Kevin's definition of value - both giving and receiving
- - The things that "light Kevin up"
- - How Kevin got started in software
- - Kevin's stories of failure - difficulty finding employment, poor choices in dependencies
- - "When you're evaluating a new tool for adoption, instead of trying to understand the reasons for adopting it, you should try to understand the strongest reason not to adopt it."
- - Kevin's success mindset and story - questioning requirements that wound up being illegal and preventing going forward on an ill-advised project, speaking in front of large audiences
- - Kevin speaking on the history of the internet
- - "If you're nervous, it's a good thing because it means you're about to do something you really care about."
- - How Kevin stays current with what he needs to know
- - Kevin's book recommendations
- - The things that have Kevin most excited
- - The things that cause Kevin pain and suffering
- - The things about which Kevin likes to geek out
- - Kevin on psychology
- - Kevin's prediction for the future of software
- - Kevin's top 3 tips for delivering more value
- - Keeping up with Kevin
Resources:
- Kevin’s Blog, Zombie Code Kill
- Kevin at OutlierDeveloper
- Kevin at Simple Programmer
- Pluralsight Learning Paths
- Cory House on Developer On Fire
- Pluralsight Course by Cory House: Becoming an Outlier: Reprogramming the Developer Mind
- Outlier Developer
- Jurassic Park: A Novel - Michael Crichton
- Kevin's talk on History of the Internet
- Ryan Holliday
- The Story of Maths
- Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- TJ VanToll on Progressive Web Apps
- TJ VanToll on Developer on Fire
- Kevin's Top 10 Pluralsight Courses Blog Post
- Pluralsight Course by Jay Mcfarland: Management Strategies that will Increase Productivity Today
- Dave On Simple Programmer
Kevin's book recommendation:
Kevin's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
- You're never as good or as bad as you think you are
- Remember the pendulum of success - you can't have success without the risk of failure
- Always remember how lucky you are to be alive