Episode 319 | John Best - How You Respond

Guest:

John Best

@wintermute21

John Best talks with Dave Rael about limitations, philosophy, DevOps, empathy, and choosing your responses

John Best is a .NET Framework specialist for TrackOFF inc, in Baltimore,MD. Prior to TrackOFF, he was a web developer for a number of private companies and government firms across various states, specializing in ASP.NET, MVC, and Angular. Having started programming at 14 in C++, programming and software design have always held a passion for him. John studied Computer Science and Psychology at Kent State University in Ohio and enjoys studying French and Buddhist philosphy in his free time.

Chapters: 2:04 - Dave introduces the show and John Best4:20 - John's interest in philosophy, French, and Buddhism8:11 - John's physical limitations and choices on how to respond10:11 - How John got started in software14:09 - The things that "light John up"15:02 - John's failure story - getting in over his head early on19:40 - Humility for software developers21:15 - John's success story - Improving the lives of the people in his operation23:45 - How John stays current with what he needs to know25:02 - John's book recommendations26:21 - Having a beginner's mind29:44 - Psychology for developers - using metaphors, balancing what we know with the virtue of the beginner's mind, stress, and empathy36:32 - The things that have John most excited39:11 - John's top 3 tips for delivering more value41:51 - Keeping up with John

Resources: Pablo Rivera on Developer On Fire Existentialism Postmodernism Jean-Paul Sartre Albert Camus Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl Cerebral Palsy Larry Wall "I know that I know nothing" - Socrates Neuromancer - William Gibson Dan Coyle on Mixed Mental Arts (where Bryan Callen shares story of Laurence Fishburn and fixing a broken script)

John's book recommendation: Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition - Steve McConnell Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice - Shunryu Suzuki

John's top 3 tips for delivering more value: If you don't have a system for doing iterative development and releasing quickly, build one Try to find whatever blockers exist in your team and try to resolve them Try to learn as much as you can and try to incorporate that into your workflow