Enjoy the Vue The Enjoy the Vue Team

This week's episode is sponsored by Cloudflare Pages!


Laurie Barth, or Laurie on Tech as she is well-known in the dev industry, is a software engineer who started as a mathematician, currently working as a Senior Software Engineer at Netflix. Additionally, Laurie is a content creator and technical educator across various mediums. She is also a frequent conference speaker, speaking at events across the globe, and a technical blogger contributing to publications such as CSS Tricks, Smashing Magazine, and A List Apart, as well as an active member of the TC39 Educator's committee and a Google Developer Expert. In today’s episode, we share some of our more memorable job interview experiences, both good and bad, but mostly terrible, and we dive into how those experiences could be improved upon, starting with the company setting realistic expectations for potential candidates from the beginning. We also touch on unnecessary and unfair technical demonstrations, the value of affording candidates the option to show themselves in their best light, and the inherent biases that exist when interview panels aren’t diverse, and Laurie highlights the power that candidates actually have given the shortage of engineers making this appeal to listeners: take some of that power back! Tune in today for all this and so much more, including, of course, our weekly picks.


Key Points From This Episode:



Laurie shares a terrible technical interview that stands out from her experience.
Why a generic interview format very rarely makes sense for any company.
Why companies need to set their expectations at the beginning of the interview.
The importance of recognizing how much time it takes to develop a technical interview.
Why you can’t steal an interview from elsewhere rather than writing one yourself.
The value of judging what is important based on the signal a company is looking for.
Alex talks about one of the more memorable (read: terrible) interviews he has been through.
Ari reflects on a pair programming interview that she describes as ‘interesting’.
The pressure that is put onto incoming developers to demonstrate their technical skills when it isn’t necessary for the role they will fill.
Laurie emphasizes why companies should be looking for someone to augment their team.
Why it’s not about working with people ‘smarter’ than you, but people you can learn from.
Laurie’s frustration with the use of trivia questions and the benefits of offering candidates options to present themselves in their best light.
Tessa’s turn to share her experience with a terrible interview that featured live UI coding.
The disconnect that exists between hiring managers, recruiters, and candidates.
Laurie highlights the power that candidates hold given the shortage of engineers and urges listeners to take that power back.
What Ari calls ‘douchebag alert’ questions, how people answer, and what it says about them.
The gender bias that typically exists when interview panels aren’t gender diverse.
Why it’s important for team members to meet potential candidates and vice versa.
Tessa shares the acronym, REACTO: repeat, example, approach, code, test, optimize.
How interviews tend to cater towards those who are extroverted, outgoing, and talkative.
Laurie highlights some positive interview experiences and what companies can do better.
Alex shares a tip about asking the same question of everybody, such as “what is the focus of your company?”


Tweetables:


“People can't read your mind. You need to preface, you need to set your expectations at the beginning [of the interview].” — @laurieontech [0:07:45]


“I want to work with people who are smarter than I am, but here's the trip: everyone is smarter than I am. It depends what the measuring stick is and what category we're talking about.” — @laurieontech [0:26:51]


“The goal of an interview, in my mind, should be for people to show you what they know instead of what they don't kno

Imagine working on projects that last for two weeks or less. This is what today’s guest, Jason Etcovich, gets to do all the time! Jason is a Senior Software Engineer at GitHub, where he is part of the Special Projects team. He is also involved in the Paper Cuts project, which works directly with the community to fix small to medium workflow problems. In this episode, Jason sheds light on how he became a software engineer having come from a design background. While this may sound like a drastic shift, it was gradual, which made the transition smoother. We talk about some of the exciting happenings at GitHub, like GitHub Pilot, Paper Cut, and Codespaces, and what these projects will offer the community. Our conversation also touches on automation and where it goes right and wrong, how to use software to make our lives better, and as usual, we get into some classic developer debates. Tune in to hear it all.


Key Points From This Episode:



Get to know today’s guest, Jason Etcovitch, and want he does. 
How Jason went from graphic design to working at GitHub. 
Hear more about the work that Jason does through Paper Cuts. 
Insights into Paper Cuts’ research and how they decide which projects to take on. 
The importance of having a design thinking mindset when you problem solve. 
A high-level view of GitHub Pilot, GitHub’s new machine learning feature. 
What it is like working on projects that do not last longer than two weeks. 
The open graph image generator project Jason is excited about. 
How to justify projects without necessarily having the data to back up projects. 
Some of the ways we can make our lives better with software, according to Jason. 
Common pitfalls Jason sees when trying to set up automations. 
Everyone’s take on Prettier and Standard JS. 
Getting into the semicolon debate: everyone weighs in. 
What everyone thinks about the age-old tabs versus spaces fight. 
A look at one of GitHub’s latest releases, Codespaces. 
Hear what the picks for the week are.


Tweetables:


“Part of learning that design mindset is understanding like, how does a person approach this thing? What are the various touch points that they have to consider?” — @JasonEtco [0:10:03]


“How do you say like, ‘Oh, yes. This is important,” If you don't have the data to back it up.” How do you get the data to back it up, if you don't prioritize that project? Where in that loop does it fit to get all of that data?” — @JasonEtco [0:19:57]


“If you build your automation tool in an inflexible way, you'll really regret it later.” — @JasonEtco [0:27:13]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:



ProBot
Github Feedback
Alex Tweets at Nat
StandardJS
Jason on Twitter
Jason's Website
Wyze Camera
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)
Marple (puzzle game)
VSCode in the browser, Joel Califa
The Matrix
@EnjoyTheVueCats
Special Guest: Jason Etcovitch.

The increasing volume of the societal discussion on mental health is blooming into a variety of results. One of the interesting aspects of these developments are apps aimed at helping users with their self-care and mental health management and, today, we have a conversation about a new mobile app called Whimser, which is doing exactly that! We are joined by their founder and CTO, Rahat Chowdhury, who speaks to us about the startup, its roots in CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy, and how they approach using journaling to combat negative thought patterns and cognitive distortions. Rahat explains how the application is not designed as a replacement for therapy but rather as a tool to enhance practices that users already have in place, offering continuity and opportunities for further reflection. Rahat also explains a little bit about how the company is currently being run and the leadership philosophies that ground what they do. He strongly believes in bringing a human element into the work, and shares the interesting decision to bring in junior developers from the get-go and the motivations behind this. For this fascinating conversation with an inspiring young founder and developer doing important and conscientious work, make sure to tune in!


Key Points From This Episode:



A little bit about Rahat and the two companies he is involved with.
Understanding cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive distortions.
Experiences of imposter syndrome and the ubiquity of these feelings across the industry.  
Rahat's inspiration for creating Whimser and adding to the mental health conversation.  
Considerations around broadening the scope of Whimser beyond therapy. 
How Rahat approached things at the outset and how he chose his co-founders.  
The importance of taking action and balancing this with patience and delegation.
Rahat's approach to code reviews and the consideration that goes into better communication practices.  
The impetus behind the decision to bring in early-stage developers at the beginning.   
Lessons that Rahat has learned from working with different team leads during his career. 
Decisions around salaries at Whimser; how Rahat and his co-founders are funding the company at this point.
Translating skills as a web developer into the world of mobile applications.
The funding component of running a startup; Rahat's thoughts on effective pitching. 
Data collection considerations and the idea of user-owned and licensed data.   
The inspiration for the name of the company: combining whimsy and whisper!
This week's picks: Litter robots, Focusmate, headphones, new songs, and more.


Tweetables:


“We do stuff like having some natural language processing in the background that helps you categorize your thoughts into what could be potential cognitive distortions to help you set yourself up to figure out how to combat those thoughts.” — @Rahatcodes [0:02:14]


“Trying to create a better atmosphere or a better community around tech will definitely help out in fighting imposter syndrome.” — @Rahatcodes [0:06:37]


“Whimser started from when I started taking better care of my own mental health. I started going to therapy and treating my depression, and a few other things.” — @Rahatcodes [0:09:46]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:



Rahat on Twitter
Rahat on Github
Rahat on Polywork
Rahat's Blog/website
Whimser
VirtualCoffee meetup
Focusmate
Litter Robot
Night owl t-shirt
A-O-K, Tai Verdes
Deja Vu, Olivia Rodrigo
Special Guest: Rahat Chowdhury.

Be sure to fill out our listener survey here!


In today’s episode, we discuss the pending update Vue 3.2 with special guest panelist Mark Noonan, a web developer from Tipperary, Ireland who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and currently works at NexTraq as a front-end developer. We kick off the conversation by discussing RSS feeds and how to keep abreast of your favorite websites, interesting news, and Vue developments. Our panel discusses the custom element function and why they’re excited for it to be included in the latest Vue update. Tuning in you’ll hear our definition of shadow DOM and why it’s so useful for developers. The script setup tag will also be losing its experimental status in Vue 3.2 making it an official part of Vue, giving you much more freedom in Vue single-file components. Later, our panel discusses some of the disadvantages to making a custom element, instead of using a Vue component. They also ruminate on the role of portals and how they benefit the user. We round off the episode with our usual panel picks which range from tasty pretzel and cream cheese snacks to nostalgic video games to joining a supportive online community. For all this and much more, tune in today! 


Key Points From This Episode:



Introducing today’s guest panelist Mark Noonan.
Ways to use RSS to check on your favorite websites, news, and Vue developments.
The upcoming version of Vue 3.2 and the developments for its changelog.
Using the define custom element function in the upcoming version of Vue.
The upcoming benefit of being able to write in Vue.js and being able to transfer it to the web framework of your choice, like React or Svelte.
The concept of Shadow DOM and why it’s so useful for developers.
The script setup tag will lose its experimental status in Vue 3.2.
Why now is a good time to start experimenting in Vue 3.
Some of the reasons for using Vue-demi over something like migration build.
Some of the disadvantages to making a custom element, instead of using a Vue component.
How portals work and how they benefit the user.
Why it’s useful to keep abreast of recent upgrades.
Hear our panel picks for the week, including tasty pretzel snacks, nostalgic games, and more. 


Tweetables:


“I misspoke. I thought I didn't have an RSS feed. It turns out, I do get those updates about 3.2 on a regular basis. The feed that I use is Evan’s Twitter. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.” — @halftes6 [0:02:12]


“Shadow DOM is a concept that's been introduced that allows you to have your own private document object model that you can manipulate. This has actually been in use by browsers for years, but now they've exposed it to JavaScript developers to be able to use it themselves.” — @fimion [0:07:40]


“You can progressively add it and then once enough things have Vue 3 support, you just turn it over to Vue 3, and it should all just work.” — @fimion [0:12:33]


“Vuetify incidentally, is one project whose release notes I do read. I get Vuetify release notes and I get Cypress release notes. I'm always excited about both because I'm looking for the new stuff that we can now start to do.” — @marktnoonan [0:12:45]


“The primary thing that you cannot do with a custom element that you can do in Vue with a proper Vue component is scoped slots, which is our favorite topic on this podcast.” — @fimion [0:14:45]


“It's good to stay on top of these things, and at least be aware of various options that you have in the ecosystem. Knowing what's coming up in newer versions is always better for everyone as maybe finally, that thing that you want fixed has been fixed.” — @fimion [0:21:08]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:



Vue 3.2 changelog
Vue 3.2 project board
RFC the Vue: Script Setup with Lachlan Miller (RFCs 227 & 228)
Vue Demi, Anthony Fu
@MarkTNoonan
Streets of Rage 4, Dotemu (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam (Windows, Mac, Linux), GOG, Humble)
VirtualCoffee
Dragon Age: In

Be sure to fill out our listener survey here!


Key Points From This Episode:



Matan and the rest of the panel's experience with back-end work. 
The basics of Rust and what differentiates it from older, similar languages. 
Reasons that Matan pursued learning Rust, despite the intensive time investment. 
How the strict compiler in Rust helps developers root out errors and ship better code. 
The helpful open-source documentation for Rust that is available.
Rust's fast rise in popularity and Matan's thoughts on the main reasons for this. 
How Vue and in-browser developers can make use of Rust with the help of WebAssembly. 
Matan shares his experiences of the welcoming and helpful Rust community.
The possible inspiration behind the mysterious naming of Rust. 
Matan's recommendation for getting started in Rust and making it through 'The Rust Book'. 
Examples of good typical first projects in Rust! 
Where to find Matan online and the array of exciting projects he is currently a part of.
This weeks' picks; TV shows, Planet Scale, the Otamatone, and opinions on AirPods.


Tweetables:


“I particularly have been working a lot on back-end, though my history lies primarily with front-end. This is my first full-time job, where back-end was a real responsibility.” — @matchai [0:03:05]


“Rust makes it, so that you can have both very, very fast, low-level processing, while having the guarantees that exist in higher level languages, like JavaScript.” — @matchai [0:05:09]


“I personally picked up Rust in an effort to build Starship, which is, it's an open source project of mine.” — @matchai [0:07:32]


“It is a very strict language, but in all the best ways. You can't run into impossible states. You can't run into unaccounted errors. Rust will tell you at compile time, if any possible error state can happen, which makes you very confident in the code you ship.” — @matchai [0:09:45]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:



Rust Programming Language
Rustlings
Starship
Rust origin story on Reddit
The Rust Book
Did You Enjoy the Vue, Cassidoo?
1Password
AniList.co
PlanetScale
The House in Fata Morgana (Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch)
Otamatone
Feel Good, Netflix
로스쿨 (Law School), JTBC (Netflix)
이 구역의 미친 X (Mad for Each Other), KakaoTV (Netflix)
최강 배달꾼 (The Strongest Deliveryman), KBS2 (Netflix)
Special Guest: Matan Kushner.

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The role of developer advocate is a fairly new one and can therefore be difficult to define as it continues to evolve. In today’s episode, Alex, Tessa, and Ari get together with Debbie O’Brien, Head Developer Advocate at Bit, to discuss how she transitioned from being a developer to team leader to working as a developer advocate and she unpacks the elements that drew her to the role. Debbie shares her passionate take on KPIs as well as the lessons she learned from the book Surrounded by Idiots. We delve into the traits that make up a good developer advocate and discuss why there’s a need for companies to introduce the role of junior developer advocate. Later Debbie shares some of the learning challenges you’ll experience as a developer advocate and how she adapted to learning React under high-pressure circumstances. We end the show by hearing everybody’s picks, ranging from AI software and counterintuitive fruit gums to the world’s most expensive headphones. For all this and more, join us today! 


Key Points From This Episode:



Introducing today’s guest Debbie O'Brien.
What it means to be a developer advocate and how the role has evolved.
Why KPI analytics aren’t always useful.
Debbie shares what drew her to developer advocacy.
How Debbie went from developer to team leader to developer advocate.
Debbie shares what she learned about leadership from Surrounded by Idiots.
How developer advocacy can be a very time-consuming position.
Why it can be difficult to determine whether you want to work in tech.
Determining what kind of people you want to work with.
How working in developer advocacy means you get to be at the forefront of new developments and technologies.
Some of the concerns around developer advocacy’s ability to connect with and help developers.
How Debbie’s company is helping companies migrate over from legacy stacks.
Why empathy is as important as technical skills in development advocacy.
Why the role of junior developer advocate is important for the industry and should be actively created and nurtured.
Why writing a starter guide is a good job for a junior developer advocate.
Why it’s difficult to get into developer advocacy.
Debbie shares what it was like learning React under high-pressure circumstances.
The type of learning challenges you will experience as a developer advocate.
We hear this weeks' picks! Rowntree Fruit Gums, Elgato Stream Decks, GitHub CoPilot, and more!


Tweetables:


“Maybe the most successful model for a junior developer advocate program would be one at a company large enough that could have them do product rotations.” — @GloomyLumi [0:35:23]


“I feel like KPIs are kind of, it's that classic criticism of measuring something because it's measurable, rather than measuring the things that you need to keep track of like, it's just quantitative data.” — Tessa [0:08:30]


“I started thinking about what are the parts of my job that I love and what is the part of the job that I don't like, and then try and look at what kind of job fits the job that I love. And everything seemed to fit into developer advocate.” — @debs_obrien [0:40:54]


“Having worked on small, medium, and large codebases, I know one of the big things that I think you need to keep in mind when you're doing developer advocacy is, ‘Okay, how do you integrate this with an already existing project?’” —@fimion [0:32:58]


“There should probably be a starter role, maybe it's not a junior developer advocate, maybe it's like a content creator and then you kind of go up because you could be a very, very, very good content creator, and not necessarily be a developer advocate.” — @debs_obrien [0:35:50]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:



Surrounded by Idiots
Debbie on Twitter
Debbie on Github
Debbie's Website
Debbie on YouTube
Debbie on Twitch
GitHub Copilot
S