Self-Taught with Tim Frazer

Tim Frazer

Nobody gave them permission. Every week, Tim Frazer, a former yoga teacher now a tech leader and investor, meets with musicians, ex-cooks, dropouts, and so many interesting people. These individuals have created careers that many believed needed a pedigree. They talk openly about when they chose to change. Despite the challenges, they discovered the essential knowledge they required. If you're wondering whether it's too late to become something else, this is your proof that it isn't.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    Great at Music, Broke in LA: How Max Moon Became an Engineering Leader

    In this episode of Self Taught Engineer, Tim Frazer sits down with Maxwell (Max) Moon to explore his journey into engineering and the experiences that have shaped his career. At 16, Max Moon was touring as a drummer. A few years later he was in LA studios working with Lady Gaga and Juicy J for $12 an hour, transcribing audio on the side for extra cash. Today he’s a Senior Engineering Manager at Shield AI, previously working at AWS, Trust & Will, TuneIn and many more. We talk about the Friday night he taught himself Linux to get a radio stream running on his laptop, why he left for AWS after he couldn’t answer “why should I care?”, and Motif, the agent memory framework he builds on weekends. If you’ve ever been great at something that didn’t pay, this one’s for you. Guest: Maxwell Moon Follow Maxwell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwelljmoon/

  2. Sep 22

    Trevor Fox: From Pro Pitcher to Growth Engineer

    Trevor Fox broke his shoulder after being hit by a car, and the day after surgery he learned another professional baseball team had acquired his contract. Baseball never stops testing you, and that kind of whiplash sets the tone for this conversation. Trevor built his career by leaning into discomfort. We go from Division I baseball at UC Davis to the 2008 recession, independent ball, and player-coaching in Holland and Australia, and then into tech, where the Blogspot he kept while playing abroad helped him land his first digital analytics job. From there: consulting at Li & Fung in Hong Kong, Postmates (first delivering by bike, then in a growth role), Panoply, Census, his own fractional growth practice. In this episode: Why pitching is analytics thinking: spray charts, game situations, and a sport where the best hitters still fail six times in tenHow Trevor taught himself Postgres and Redshift after Zillow rejected him for not knowing SQLGrowth as structured experimentation on a metrics treeDoing your work in public, and how an old Blogspot got him his first analytics jobTrevor says "SEO is pretty much dead" and explains what AI search means for organic trafficRunning a consultancy around parenting, starting work at 5amLinks: Trevor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevormfox Trevor's blog: https://trevorfox.com Spandrel: https://spandrel.org Read the essay Subscribe to Self Taught Engineer: https://selftaught.engineer

  3. Jul 11

    Hoyt Emerson: Early Signal

    The conversation covers Hoyt's journey from a music-focused career to a technical content company, Early Signal. It explores his transition from music to data science & engineering, his autodidactic approach to learning, and the challenges he faced in finding resources for technical learning. Hoyt shares insights on the evolution of technical content and the impact of data tech startups on his work. Takeaways Transition from music to data engineeringAutodidactic learning approachChallenges in finding technical learning resourcesEvolution of technical contentImpact of data tech startups on technical content Chapters 00:00 Transition from Music to Data Engineering02:55 Autodidactic Learning Approach06:04 Challenges in Finding Technical Learning Resources11:09 Evolution of Technical Content19:59 Impact of Data Tech Startups on Technical Content

  • 3 Episodes

About

Nobody gave them permission. Every week, Tim Frazer, a former yoga teacher now a tech leader and investor, meets with musicians, ex-cooks, dropouts, and so many interesting people. These individuals have created careers that many believed needed a pedigree. They talk openly about when they chose to change. Despite the challenges, they discovered the essential knowledge they required. If you're wondering whether it's too late to become something else, this is your proof that it isn't.

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