Episode 3
swyx (Shawn Wang): Coding Career Strategy
Shawn Wang formerly worked in finance as a derivatives trader and equity analyst before burning out and pivoting towards tech. He's a prolific blogger who goes under the pseudonym "swyx" and recently published the excellent Coding Career Handbook. He's a graduate of Free Code Camp and Full Stack Academy now working at AWS as a Senior Developer Advocate. Learn more about Shawn:
Blog: https://swyx.io/
Book (Use code MLE30 for 30% off!): https://www.learninpublic.org/
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Timestamps:
(05:30) How was the learning in public idea developed?
(07:45) No zero days
(10:00) Does ego prevent developers from learning in public?
(12:30) Pick up what they put down
(17:30) Strategic thinking about coding careers
(19:50) Betting on new technologies
(24:00) Enhancing existing skills vs learning new things
(27:40) Reading technical books cover-to-cover
(30:00) Systems thinking
(32:00) Updating a digitally-native book
(35:00) Deciding to work at AWS
(38:00) What won't change in tech?
(41:30) Software business models
(43:00) Rapid fire questions
Links:
Free Code Camp interview: Leaving a $350K/year job to learn coding
You Can Learn A Lot For The Low Price Of Your Ego
Shawn’s book: The Coding Career Handbook
Marketing Yourself as a Developer
