Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional

John White | Nick Korte
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Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional

Are you a technology professional unsatisfied with your current role? Looking for a resource to help understand changing job functions, changing organizations, or gaining recognition and progression? The Nerd Journey podcast helps explore alternative roles, increase job satisfaction, and accelerate career progression. Each week, we uncover patterns of technical career progression by dissecting careers of guests and discussing different job roles they've held, or discussing relevant career topics. We've interviewed people in IT operations, sales engineering, technical marketing, product management, people management, network engineering, cybersecurity, software development, entrepreneurs, and more. We also discuss improving job satisfaction and accelerating career growth. We are John White and Nick Korte, two technologists with experience in IT operations and sales engineering who started this podcast in 2018. We release on Tuesdays, and can be found at https://nerd-journey.com.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Conscious Decisions and Aspects of Technical Leadership with Tad Reeves (3/3)

    Technical managers are responsible for developing great engineers, right? Yes, but that is only part of the job. Technical managers should also be developing leaders on their team. But how exactly do you do that? It starts with delegating some leadership responsibility when you delegate work. Tad Reeves, our guest in episode 298, returns to share his experience as a blogger, the progression from engineer to architect, and thoughts on being a technical manager. You’ll hear how Tad has made conscious decisions to take on or avoid certain types of job roles (consulting, people management, etc.) over time based on life circumstances outside of work. Original Recording Date: 09-12-2024 Tad Reeves is a principal architect for Arbory Digital. If you missed part 1 or part 2 of our discussion with Tad, be sure to check out Episode 296 and Episode 297. Topics – LinkedIn and an Emphasis on Technical Writing, Architects and Interview Questions, The Role of Technical Manager, Developing Leaders and Stepping Away from Leadership, Parting Thoughts 2:56 – LinkedIn and an Emphasis on Technical Writing * Tad mentions he sees people every so often who question the value of being on LinkedIn. Ever since his job at AARP, all of Tad’s future roles (contract and full-time roles alike) have been a result of passive recruitment through LinkedIn. * Tad says his resume is what’s on LinkedIn. This is a great data point for all of us to consider (i.e. whether we are on LinkedIn and have our accomplishments listed). * “There’s also a reason to be civil and always present the face that you want other people to see on LinkedIn because you never know. Almost certainly, somebody who’s going to hire you is going to be seeing you. If you have a proclivity for political rantings or something like that you should probably take that somewhere else. There are other, better places that aren’t going to affect your career.” – Tad Reeves * What was Tad’s motivation for leveraging his writing and presentation skills more as he gained experience? * Tad mentions he had been blogging for a while because it was interesting but originally began writing the articles for himself. * “Google is better than the Confluence search engine anyway. I’m just going to write it on my own blog, and I’ll find it later.” – Tad Reeves, on getting into blogging * Tad did not realize it at the time, but his articles were becoming popular. At Tad’s first Adobe Summit (a yearly conference focused on marketing technology), multiple people recognized him and thanked him for the helpful blog articles. * Many of Tad’s articles were about infrastructure, CI / CD pipelines and blue green deployments, and various other technical topics. Some articles even included diagrams Tad designed himself. * Tad started to understand the visitors to his site were real people that he could impact in a positive way. And for him, that was fun and exciting. He could impact both direct customers and other engineers, which has also brought Tad new work over time. * Many times, the thing that has brought Tad more work is writing “a bunch of helpful stuff.” He stresses the importance of considering the audience we are writing for as well. * “Would this help somebody else do something? Is it giving away some of my secret sauce? I don’t know. Maybe. But, is it going to help somebody? Probably.” – Tad Reeves * The articles became evidence of technical competence that could lead to more ...

    32 min

  2. OCT 15

    Consulting and Content Management: Blinking Lights and Big Impacts with Tad Reeves (2/3)

    How can a technology become our focus area unexpectedly? For Tad Reeves, it started when he said yes to the right opportunity. After doing back-end systems work for hosting providers, working in web design and development, stints in contracting and consulting, and experience with web analytics platforms…content management systems seem like a logical next step in the progression. Tad Reeves, our guest in episode 297, returns to share his experience doing both consulting and contract work. We will also hear about the genesis of Tad’s exposure to Adobe Experience Manager and content management systems and how placing focus in this area allows for making a big impact that keeps the work purposeful and fulfilling. Why did Tad continue to incorporate his love of design into his work? Listen below to catch the full story. Original Recording Date: 09-12-2024 Tad Reeves is a principal architect for Arbory Digital. If you missed part 1 of our discussion with Tad, be sure to check out Episode 296. Topics – A Flip Back to Design, A Framework for Solutioning, Contract and Full-time Work, Out of Balance, Adobe Experience Manager and Content Management 2:33 – A Flip Back to Design * “I think flavors and harmonics of that thrill you can find also in debugging – when you have something that is affecting a broad swathe of people and then you fix it and it’s jammin’ now and suddenly it’s all working for everybody. I think every time that I’ve found myself in a job where suddenly I’m doing something that doesn’t really matter, that doesn’t really affect anybody, then suddenly I’m almost like a solder pulled back from the front line…. What am I doing here, guys? Only one person used this app that I’m writing. Do I have to do this?” – Tad Reeves, on making an impact in his work * Nick suspects a drop in energy when one feels the work they do is not making an impact. * Tad worked with other engineers but was overall in charge of some projects for UUNET, often being tagged as the lead. * He could pull in other engineers to help rack the gear or help with network cabling as needed and did not have to do it all on his own. * This role was more of an implementation engineer and was not within the scope of what we might now call an architect. Tad would be given a specification and new equipment that had been procured. His job was to get it up and running and to pull in others as needed to make that happen (i.e. people from other teams like networking, technology vendor personnel, etc.). * Tad highlights this role as fulfilling but also a place to grow from and from which to expand a “sphere of responsibility.” * What made Tad want to expand his sphere of influence? Was it working on those specific projects and being the lead? * Normally one would say yes. Tad had several interests he would bounce between. At his point in time, Tad had not completely given up on the idea of design work. Tad tells us he still likes design work, finds it fulfilling, and he tries to do it when he can. * Tad flipped back into web design at one point and worked for a firm that did web development work (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). He used tools like Dreamweaver at this time. * Tad tells us he enjoys contract work like this and built a website for the US House of Representatives and the Veterans Affairs Committee. Tad not only built this site but designed it as well. * “I look back fondly on a lot of that experience because I enjoy understanding how the whole cycle works.

    37 min

  3. OCT 8

    Sustained Interest: A Formula for Technical Mastery with Tad Reeves (1/3)

    What do you love most about your job? Give that some thought before you answer. Have you forgotten what brought you into this industry in the first place? Tad Reeves, our guest this week in episode 296, has been consistently reminded of the things he loves about technology throughout his career. Tad originally pursued mechanical engineering but made a change to graphic design. Soon he fell into technology and worked for an internet service provider in the early days of the internet. Tad was driven to learn technological concepts at a deeper level and to nurture his interests, letting these behaviors guide him through different jobs and into large scale environments. In this discussion you’ll hear about how doing phone support made Tad’s troubleshooting and communication skills better and prepared him for later roles, thoughts on the role of the technical lead, and how an impromptu dinner meeting led to a job as a systems administrator. Original Recording Date: 09-12-2024 Topics – Mechanical Engineering and Graphic Design, Supporting the Early Internet, A Level of Interest Drives Deeper Understanding, The Move to Webtrends, Landing Something Bigger, The Technical Lead, Relocation and a Love for Big Gear 2:09 – Mechanical Engineering and Graphic Design * Tad Reeves is a principal architect for Arbory Digital. Arbory Digital is a consulting firm which specializes in working with enterprises using content management systems, specifically Adobe Experience Manager. * Tad is a technologist at heart but has focused on Adobe Experience Manager in the last 15 years or so. * Why did Tad decide to study graphic arts in school? * When Tad was in high school, he wanted to design cars and refers to his young self as a “complete car nerd.” Tad still has a ton of car knowledge. * Tad was on the fence between the art side of design (i.e. visual design) or the engineering side of design. After getting into the mechanical engineering school at Oregon State, Tad started an internship with someone who was a seismic engineer, specializing in doing retrofits for buildings. * After helping the seismic engineer with some of his work, Tad came to a harsh realization. * “And I saw what being an engineer is day to day…. And I’m looking at these pages of Calculus and all that kind of stuff…I don’t want to do that. That’s not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing…. I’m going to have to tell everybody I know that I’m not going to be an engineer anymore because I don’t want to do that.” – Tad Reeves, on the realization that mechanical engineering wasn’t so interesting * Though Tad was initially afraid of his parents being angry with his decision to pursue a different career, they supported his choice to pursue something more interesting. * Tad’s mother was a nurse and his dad an electrician. * Tad already had an interest in design and would design newsletters, for example. He selected graphic design. * “I’ll do graphic design. So I did that for a year in college, but then at the same time, I was spending all my spare time fixing stuff. I was always tinkering with computers and stuff. That wasn’t my original interest, but it was one that drew me.” – Tad Reeves 5:42 – Supporting the Early Internet * Tad shares the story of getting a job doing technical support for a small, local internet service provider (ISP) with about 1000 subscribers in Tigard, Oregon. * “The pay…that’s not what I’m here for, but the problems I was solving were genuinely cool. They had my interest… Having the rush come in and seeing that ...

    43 min

  4. OCT 1

    AI and Automation: Repeatable Patterns for Learning, Consulting, and Growth with Erik Gross (2/2)

    How many questions should you ask before offering your opinion? If you’re working as a consultant in tech, Erik Gross would advise not offering your opinion until you have the full context of the problem to be solved and the organization you’re trying to help. Erik’s recommendations for being successful as a consultant follow a repeatable pattern. And just as the consultant needs context to be effective, the learner needs context like an understanding of terminology when learning a new technology. In episode 295, guest Erik Gross shares his latest entrepreneurial endeavor and why he’s considering moving to full-time entrepreneurship. Erik will explain the AI and automation space, share some of the interesting tools in that space and their value in the business world, and make some recommendations for further education. Original Recording Date: 09-07-2024 Erik Gross is a developer, an architect, and an entrepreneur who has been very active in the tech space over the last 10-15 years. If you missed part 1 of our discussion with Erik this time, check out Episode 294. Topics – Identity Crisis, A Pattern for Learning and The Expert’s Curse, Success as a Consultant, Entrepreneurial Growth and Pressure, Landing in the AI and Automation Space * This is a return visit for Erik to our show. You can find our previous discussions with him in the following episodes: * Episode 267 – A Theme of Learning with Erik Gross (1/3) * Episode 268 – Ownership through Failures: An Entrepreneur’s Take on Difficult Decisions with Erik Gross (2/3) * Episode 269 – Monetize Yourself: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Knowledge with Erik Gross (3/3) 2:49 – Identity Crisis * If someone builds a business around something (creating training content, for example) and that is no longer their main focus as a business owner, do they start to wonder what the job really is now (almost like a small identity crisis)? * Erik says this absolutely happens and shares some examples from his experience with The Tech Academy. * Erik says he wasn’t the one who really knew how grow and run a team, feeling for a while it was a failure of his. Jack was the one who knew how to do these things. But, Erik accepted this was a skill that needed work and started thinking about ways to improve. Even if we achieve success in one or multiple areas, there will be other areas in which we can improve. * Nothing is going to be perfect. Erik shares how proud he is of the curriculum The Tech Academy has to offer, but he also knows it could be even better. Right now Erik is working a project to review all courses one step at a time and capture what needs to be improved (over 1300 hours of content to review). * “How much more could it serve our students? How much better could the product be? It’s already really good. That kind of iterative improvement thing…that gets me excited.” – Erik Gross 5:22 – A Pattern for Learning and The Expert’s Curse * Erik had to build expertise in a new area to get his newest entrepreneurial endeavor started. How can people build expertise in the emerging AI (artificial intelligence)? Or is changing your focus to this area merely chasing something new and shiny?

    50 min

  5. SEP 24

    Idea Management: Supporting Business Growth by Investing in People with Erik Gross (1/2)

    Entrepreneurs have no shortage of ideas. But how do they know if a new business idea is actually a good idea? Our guest this week would advise seeking fast feedback during the ideation process to save time, preserve energy, and remain focused on delivering value to your intended audience. This week in episode 294 we’re rejoined by Erik Gross to discuss some of the lessons learned from his recent entrepreneurial pursuits. We’ll talk through how the entrepreneur can go from ideation to taking action. This includes generating ideas, capturing ideas, scrutinizing or testing ideas, and deciding to abandon certain ideas. We also discuss how the entrepreneur, business owner, or manager can invest in employees even before they start work by making roles occupiable. And it starts with putting all the pre-requisites in place to write good job descriptions. Original Recording Date: 09-07-2024 Topics – Entrepreneurs and Ideas, Focus and Subjecting Ideas to Scrutiny, Sources of Feedback, Scaling Business Opportunities with Automation, Entrepreneurial Succession Planning and Attitudes, Investing in People and Making Roles Occupiable, Thoughts on Employee Onboarding, Transferring Duties to Others 2:29 – Entrepreneurs and Ideas * Erik Gross is a developer, an architect, and an entrepreneur who has been very active in the tech space over the last 10-15 years. * This is a return visit for Erik to our show. You can find our previous discussions with him in the following episodes: * Episode 267 – A Theme of Learning with Erik Gross (1/3) * Episode 268 – Ownership through Failures: An Entrepreneur’s Take on Difficult Decisions with Erik Gross (2/3) * Episode 269 – Monetize Yourself: Leveraging Your Most Valuable Knowledge with Erik Gross (3/3) * Though we did talk about entrepreneurship a little in episode 268, does the entrepreneur naturally get a bunch of ideas to chase, or is there more science behind it? * Erik knows many entrepreneurs and says in general the entrepreneur has a plethora of new ideas, and this can be both good and bad. * Erik learned the idea itself is less valuable than executing on an idea, but he still gets excited when he gets what seems like a great idea. * “If you’re paying attention, if you’re interested in helping people, if you’re interested in starting and growing things…you’ll have lots of ideas. Is it going to withstand a scrutiny from the marketplace? Will people pay for it? Is it something that has legs? There are a lot of other questions. But yeah, the ideas…most entrepreneurs…they are full of something, but generally ideas are what they are full of.” – Erik Gross * Do most entrepreneurs keep a list of ideas they will go back and reference? * Erik, like many technologists, is a nerd for tools. He uses Obsidian to capture ideas. * When an idea hits, Erik has been known to pull over if driving to capture the idea and get it out of his head. Otherwise the idea might be lost, which is a terrible feeling. * Even if people make lists of ideas, it does not mean they are going to execute on any of them. Periodic review of your ideas is a good practice because something you jotted down a while back may be related to what you are currently doing. * Nick says keeping a list of ideas makes sense whether we are an entrepreneur or just a technologist, a people leader, etc.

    52 min

  6. SEP 17

    Enterprise Knowledge Management: A Consultative Approach to Solving the Right Problems with Abby Clobridge (2/2)

    Are you solving the right problem? To get a specific outcome, the problem we need to solve is not always what we think it is. Abby Clobridge, the founder and lead consultant at FireOak Strategies, and her team perform detailed discovery with clients to ensure everyone is aligned to solve the right problem(s). This week in episode 293 we discuss Abby’s transition to becoming a consultant and her reasons for starting a business. We get educated on what knowledge management involves, some of the challenges related to achieving effective organizational knowledge management, and how we can each do our part to promote a culture of knowledge sharing. Listen closely for when Abby learned she didn’t want to spend her time just managing people. Original Recording Date: 08-23-2024 Abby Clobridge is the founder and lead consultant at FireOak Strategies. If you missed part 1 of our discussion with Abby, check out Episode 292. Topics – Relatable Experience for Consulting and Starting a Business, Organizational Challenges in Knowledge Management, Uncovering the Context and the Problem, Centralized Governance vs. Crowdsourcing, Organizational Profiles and Evaluation Criteria, Knowledge Management Roles in the Enterprise 2:37 – Relatable Experience for Consulting and Starting a Business * Was living in the in between space the relatable experience Abby needed to take to consulting? * Abby thinks it was. She understood navigating this space, knew how to communicate with other stakeholders and co-workers, and enabled them to make informed decisions based on their knowledge of the organization. * Abby also likes to solve problems. Once she helps solve a problem, she is ready to move on to something else. Abby says leaving a company every couple of years because the problems are solved is not very sustainable, but she gets to do this all the time as a consultant. * This perspective has influenced the work she does now at FireOak Strategies. * “I always tell our clients…and I truly mean this…when they don’t need us anymore, I think that’s a win. That means that you’ve graduated. We solved the problem that we set out to solve, and I feel really good about that.” – Abby Clobridge * What made Abby want to start a business? * “I did kind of have an unusual background. I was working in technology, but I was not coming at this from a programming perspective or an engineering perspective at all. I think my ability to do that translation piece and think about process and think about governance and think about compliance and intellectual property…it was unusual 15 years ago. And I was able to leverage that.” – Abby Clobridge, on deciding to start her own consulting business * Abby says it was about the problems that could be solved and how that could help organizations. * Abby began as a solo consultant in 2010 and founded FireOak Strategies with the intention to keep the company small. For 5 years it was just her. * Being a solo consultant and business owner allows you to do only so many things at once like taking on certain projects of certain scopes / natures. * Abby recounts a specific project as being the catalyst for initially adding addiitonal staff to the company. * “I don’t want to get to the point where I’m spending most of my time managing other people and I’m not doing the consulting work because I really enjoy the consulting work.” – Abby Clobridge, on the conscious decision to keep her company small to grow one project or experience at a time * Going out on your own is challenging,

    57 min

  7. SEP 10

    Library Science: Information Architecture and the Synthesis of Details with Abby Clobridge (1/2)

    What do you think the following jobs have in common? The answer will give you a hint about our guest this week! * Doing statistical work for a market research firm * Conducting research for a popular news network * Architecting information flow and query optimization for websites * Leading digitization initiatives for a university * Becoming a consultant * Owning a business Abby Clobridge, our guest in episode 292, held all of the above jobs as a result of pursuing a degree in library science. Listen closely for the parallels between learning how to architect information flow / retrieval for websites and learning how to architect communication flow so that people needing information get just enough at the right time and with the appropriate level of detail. This includes learning how to exercise brevity in communication while being assertive. You’ll also hear how Abby worked on natural language processing and sentiment analysis years before we had mature tools to do it. Original Recording Date: 08-23-2024 Topics – Falling into Library Science, The Technical Nature of Library Science, The Architect of Information, Just Enough Information, Exercising Assertive Brevity, Leading Digital Initiatives and Walled Gardens 2:49 – Falling into Library Science * Abby Clobridge is the founder and lead consultant at FireOak Strategies. * FireOak Strategies is a boutique consulting firm specializing in information management, knowledge management, and everything related to how information, data, and knowledge are managed, secured, and shared. * In college, Abby studied history at Tufts University and wasn’t quite sure what she might do after graduation. * Tufts had an experimental college that allowed undergraduate students to teach a class to first year students, but it required a faculty mentor / sponsor. Abby was teaching a class, and her mentor was the head of information technology and human resources at the undergraduate library. * Abby kept in touch with this mentor as she got closer to graduating, and she had also done internships focused on research for producing a documentary and other things adjacent to history. * Abby’s mentor kept suggesting she attend grad school and look at library science as an option. * The library science program aligned with Abby’s interests(using technology, looking at information, doing research) and combined them with the use of analytical skills. * John jokes that library science is the original information technology and highlights the pattern we are seeing that there is no traditional background to get into technology fields. 5:43 – The Technical Nature of Library Science * People might not know how technical library can be. * For reference, Abby was studying as an undergraduate in the mid 1990s and was getting into library science in the late 1990s. During this time, doing research was not doing a Google search on a computer or phone. It was very different than today. This was before all the tools we can now use for free. * Most of Abby’s initial work had to do with online searches and paid databases like LexisNexis, Avid, WestLaw, Dialogue, etc. * Doing a search with one of the above tools wasn’t just typing in a search term / phrase like it is today. People needed to learn query languages that were specific to each database provider. When crafting a query, it was important to refine your query to get all of the necessary information needed because of the cost of doing searches using these tools. * “It’s not that different from writing a script to do a thing using Python.

    50 min

  8. SEP 3

    Layoffs and Job Market Impacts: Experience with RIFs Preferred with Real Job Talk (2/2)

    For job seekers out there, are you getting ghosted by potential employers even after asking for a status update? Is it possible that the impact of tech industry layoffs on the current job market might explain some of this, or are we observing a lack of leadership and communication? This week in episode 291, we continue a focused discussion on layoffs with Liz Bronson and Kat Nelson Troyer from Real Job Talk. Liz and Kat will share perspectives on the current job market, thoughts on the connection between employee experience and job candidate experience, how we can all be better stewards of the collective community, and advice for leaders during challenging times like reductions in force (RIFs) / layoffs. Check out the show notes for a number of resources to help you navigate. And if you missed part 1 of our discussion with Liz and Kat, check out Episode 290. Original Recording Date: 08-13-2024 Topics – Current State of the Job Market, Employee Experience and Responsiveness, Advice for Executive Leaders, Encouragement for Leaders Executing Layoffs, Closing Thoughts and Real Job Talk Resources 2:59 – Current State of the Job Market * Do we think the job market will calm itself even if the rightsizing exercises continue? * Liz is consistently speaking with a lot of job seekers, recruiters, and many others. * There are many disgruntled employees and a lot of people looking for jobs. * Jobs are being opened across different platforms and getting thousands of applicants. Many of the applicants are not qualified. * If there were 3000 applicants for a job, no one has time to go through them. There is a lot of ghosting happening right now. * Liz spoke to someone who had done 3 rounds of interviews. One of the rounds was in-person, 7 hours, and they never heard back. * This kind of thing is not an anomaly and seems to be happening all over the place. * In Liz’s opinion in times of recession / leading up to them you start to see recruiters get cut because hiring has stopped. * When many recruiters are out of work, it floods the market. If companies are hiring, the teams doing it are very lean and short staffed. * Different tools popped up that post jobs in many different places, and openings are circulated amongst networking groups as well. * With thousands of applicants, recruiters end up overworked and unable to get back to people. * There might be AI tools in use, but they may not be tuned / refined to actually be effective. * In recruiting programs that are well run, Liz says a recruiter would not have more than about 10 jobs on their plate. Liz is hearing about recruiters who have 50 jobs on their plate, which they cannot do well. Recruiters are doing the best they can right now. * Hiring managers are also overwhelmed and may be unable to get back to candidates, especially those who might only get one new job requisition for an already short-staffed team. They might not have time to hire effectively. * “We’re just in this weird spot…. The process has just gotten out of control, and job seekers are feeling it and getting more frustrated. Our tools and our people and our processes haven’t kept up with the times.” – Liz Bronson, on the job market and hiring processes * There were a lot of openings for recruiters at the end of 2023, which is usually a good sign that the economy is coming back. Any recruiter who was hired near the end of 2023 is still ramping up as of this recording. * Right now the best way to get a job is through a referral. * Liz shares a story about someone who contacted a hiring manager who said there were 3000 applicants for an open position and 600 di...

    30 min
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About

Are you a technology professional unsatisfied with your current role? Looking for a resource to help understand changing job functions, changing organizations, or gaining recognition and progression? The Nerd Journey podcast helps explore alternative roles, increase job satisfaction, and accelerate career progression. Each week, we uncover patterns of technical career progression by dissecting careers of guests and discussing different job roles they've held, or discussing relevant career topics. We've interviewed people in IT operations, sales engineering, technical marketing, product management, people management, network engineering, cybersecurity, software development, entrepreneurs, and more. We also discuss improving job satisfaction and accelerating career growth. We are John White and Nick Korte, two technologists with experience in IT operations and sales engineering who started this podcast in 2018. We release on Tuesdays, and can be found at https://nerd-journey.com.

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