Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional

John White | Nick Korte
  • 5.0 (37)
  • CAREERS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
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. 5 DAYS AGO

    People Impact: Layoffs and Survivor’s Guilt with Brad Pinkston (2/2)

    Are layoffs top of mind for you right now? Brad Pinkston is a returning guest and someone who has experienced multiple layoff events in the tech industry from different seats. In episode 306, Brad shares the story of getting laid off from a small startup. We’ll dissect how he processed that news and eventually returned to big company life. Then, looking at layoffs from a different lens, we talk about feeling survivor’s guilt. Have you ever felt it? Is it wrong to feel it when you didn’t lose your job? After deciding to continue as an individual contributor, Brad would later become a member of the team he had once managed. Listen closely to hear about the hardest part of that transition and whether Brad sees himself returning to people management someday. Original Recording Date: 11-21-2024 Brad Pinkston works in technical pre-sales and is a returning guest. If you missed part 1 of this discussion with Brad, check out Episode 305. Topics – Once Impacted by a Layoff, Examining Survivor’s Guilt, Staying Individual Contributor, Parting Thoughts 2:29 – Once Impacted by a Layoff * How did Brad process being laid off from the 2nd startup he joined? * Looking back, Brad can logically see that his position really did need to be eliminated. * Brad likes to stay on the analytical side of his mind because emotions can easily snowball in situations like these. * “The startup was taking a chance on trying to create something. After months of trying to create it, it didn’t work. Maybe a bigger company could have taken me and put me in a different place, but this is startup world…. If we’re abandoning the strategy, we’re abandoning people who were hired to execute the strategy, so that’s the way that I analyzed it mentally.” – Brad Pinkston * The emotional processing of this event was not easy. Brad says he was worried about finances and taking care of his family among other things. * Brad mentions one of the worst things a manager or leader can say in a layoff situation such as this is how great someone is and that they won’t have any trouble finding a job. * “If I’m so great, why did you need to eliminate me as opposed to repurposing me or something like that? …That was the biggest emotional reaction I had to the entire thing…. I think that managers or people that have to deliver that news…they say that thinking that it’s going to help you be more confident, but it is not helpful at all. It is a shot to the gut emotionally, so if you’re ever in a place where you have to deliver that news, don’t say that.” – Brad Pinkston, on telling someone being laid off they won’t have trouble finding a job * John highlights the fact that we as humans don’t react emotionally the same way we intellectually think we should. * “Our emotional reactions…they just are. Whether or not it makes sense intellectually, it is what happens…. You can do all of the intellectualization that you want. That doesn’t change what the emotional reaction was.” – John White, on how reactions to situations might not make sense * We might feel that we have failed again or feel worse by having an emotional reaction that intellectually doesn’t make sense. A person can spiral downward quickly this way. * John has learned to try and give himself grace in these situations (when the emotional reaction does not make logical sense). * This is the only time Brad has been laid off, and he feels lucky that it’s only happened once. * Telling people they are going to be fine might cause an emotional reaction. * Looking at this differently, Brad thinks he would have been upset if the layoff had been completely imperson...

    42 min

  2. DEC 10

    Go-to-Market: Startups and Technical Alliances with Brad Pinkston (1/2)

    What exactly is a technical alliance? Technology companies create alliance relationships to support product integration and to increase revenue by creating multiple avenues for selling a product. But as Brad Pinkston knows, alliance relationships between different companies can become quite complex. This week in episode 305 we’re rejoined by Brad Pinkston to hear his story of pursuing a role at a startup while at the same time making the move from people manager to individual contributor. We’ll define go-to-market strategy and how that related to Brad’s role at the startup, discuss what happens when a new job turns out to be different than what we expected, highlight some thoughts on evaluating startups from a different lens before joining, and listen to Brad reflect on his experience interviewing for a second-line manager. Original Recording Date: 11-21-2024 Topics – Brad Pinkston Returns, The Allure of Startup Life, Go-to-Market and an Expectations Mismatch, Technical Alliance Relationships, Returning to Individual Contributor, Managers and Interview Expertise, Running Away from Something 2:!7 – Brad Pinkston Returns * We last spoke with Brad Pinkston back in 2020. What has he been up to since? You can find our previous discussions with Brad here: * Episode 83 – The Path to People Management and Early Lessons Learned * Episode 84 – Management Interviews and Transitions with Brad Pinkston * Brad decided to leave a big company and try out life working for a startup while at the same time making a move from people manager to individual contributor. Eventually Brad transitioned out of startup life and has returned to a big company in a technical presales role. 3:21 – The Allure of Startup Life * What attracted Brad to startup life, and what makes it alluring when you work for a big company? * One reason to join a startup is the potential for a very large future payday from stocks. * “Fundamentally what I really like to do is I like to build things from the ground up.” – Brad Pinkston * Before moving to the startup, Brad was in a first line manager role at a big company. At the time, Brad did not feel he had the amount of control he would have liked over what he was building. * Moving to the startup was a chance to go and build an organization. Brad’s role was going to be leading the relationship between his past company (the big company) and the new company (the startup). The startup planned to have an OEM relationship with the company he was leaving. * More specifically, Brad was going to… * Help the two companies work together * Develop sales strategies * Teach salespeople at the startup how to work with sellers at the former company * Teach sellers at his former company about the startup’s new technology – something much more security and networking focused and out of the area of expertise of his former company * Nick sees Brad’s move as an adjacency with some good relatable experience. *Brad was a people manager who had built and led teams. He would be building an organizational structure in terms of processes and ways of working together. And he also knew the technology from his former employer. With solutions from the former company being integrated into the startup’s technology, Brad wasn’t starting from nothing. His base of knowledge was very relevant to what he would be doing...

    44 min

  3. DEC 3

    Next Level: Shifting Specialties and Broadening Your Outcome Goal with Duncan Epping (2/2)

    Are you trying to reach that next level in your career? Why do you want to get to the next level, and what is most important to you in doing that? If next level means next job level in your case, at some point there is no next level. What then? Duncan Epping would encourage you not to set a goal based on an endpoint. This week in episode 304 we share Duncan’s career progression over time to Chief Technologist, discussing his motivations and goals along the way. You’ll hear about the qualities top level individual contributors in our industry possess. We also talk through the willingness to shift our technical specialty over time and the humility of approaching everything with the intent to learn something regardless of the outcome. Original Recording Date: 10-29-2024 Duncan Epping is Chief Technologist, a published author, a blogger, and someone who loves to learn. If you missed part 1 of our discussion with Duncan, check out Episode 303. Topics – A Job Role is not the Goal, Reputation and Reliability, Shifting Your Area of Specialization 2:47 – A Job Role is not the Goal * We’ve discussed not needing to go into management to progress in our careers and continuing to progress as individual contributors with some of our guests. Sometimes this means moving to another company whose clearly defined job leveling supports this choice (staff level, principal level, distinguished level, and perhaps all the way to Chief Technologist). What does it take to progress along this path? * Duncan tells us this is something that is quite difficult to discuss because the way someone can progress can differ greatly across companies. Things which may be important for progression at one company may not be important at others. * Though Duncan is a Chief Technologist today, repeating the same steps he took does not guarantee someone will reach the same level or end up in the same situation. Some of this has to do with being in the right place at the right time or being properly positioned to reach the next level. * “Even for myself, at some point there is no career progression anymore…. There’s not always a next level. The same applies for the CEO of the company. There is no higher level…. That is also something to consider.” – Duncan Epping * We might hear of people wanting to get to the next level and then to the next, but at some point, the progression will stop. * “You also need to ask yourself, ‘why do you want to get to that next level? What is most important to you?’ …One of the things that was extremely important to me when I started out in the virtualization space…it wasn’t becoming a Chief Technologist or a CTO or anything like that…. The one thing that was really important to me was to learn as much as I possibly could about this new, cool technology that appeared on the market. That is the one thing that I wanted to do. And that is what set me up for success. I wasn’t constantly chasing new job roles. Those job roles were more or less chasing me…which I know sounds very funny, but that’s the way things really went….” – Duncan Epping * Several months after Duncan started blogging, both VMware and EMC reached out to him about job openings (because he had written a lot of content). But Duncan did not write the articles to get a new job. He wrote them to learn something about a technology he was passionate about. * After starting in professional services at VMware, Duncan consistently tried to stay on top of the latest technical innovations inside the company, expanding his professional network through discussions with product managers and engineering team members. He was asked to move over to the cloud team that did some of the earliest deployments of vCloud Director.

    34 min

  4. NOV 26

    Write to Learn and Learn to Present with Duncan Epping (1/2)

    What would you do if your co-presenter for a breakout session at a large technology conference had to back out a couple of weeks before the event? One option is deliver the presentation yourself. That’s exactly what Duncan Epping did in this situation despite his crippling fear of public speaking at the time. Duncan Epping is a Chief Technologist, a published author, a blogger, and someone who has given many presentations in different settings throughout his career. In episode 303, we have a focused conversation with Duncan on presentations and public speaking. You’ll hear the story of Duncan’s first public presentation at VMworld and why he decided to continue doing presentations. Duncan shares his learning process, how writing has helped him develop deep technical expertise, and how he’s been able to translate this into presentation slides. We talk through different settings for presentations like customer meetings, small groups, and very large groups and stress the importance of focusing on what the audience wants to know. Original Recording Date: 10-29-2024 Topics – Meet Duncan Epping, A Focus on Presentations and Public Speaking, Lessons Learned Then and Later, Writing and Distilling Concepts to the Core, Think about the Audience, An Outline for Presentation Building, High and Low Stakes Presentations 2:37 – Meet Duncan Epping * Duncan Epping is presently a Chief Technologist in the VCF Business Unit at Broadcom. In the past, Duncan worked for VMware and has been part of the storage and availability team, the vSAN team, technical marketing, and even professional services. * Duncan lives in the south of The Netherlands in an area called Helmond. This is near the city of Eindhoven, which is known for its association with technology companies like Philips and ASML. * In the early days of his exposure to virtualization, Duncan was mainly focused on implementations with vSphere. He later would learn about and focus on Site Recovery Manager (SRM) and vCloud Director (VCD). * Duncan is also a blogger and the sole maintainer of Yellow Bricks. 4:17 – A Focus on Presentations and Public Speaking * Nick mentioned the diversity of Duncan’s experience comes out in his writing and especially in his presentations. Duncan has done a number of public presentations at conferences and user groups. He’s even been the keynote speaker a number of times. We wanted to have a focused conversation with Duncan on presentations through the lens of career progression. * Nick feels like he heard a story on an older episode of The Geek Whisperers about Duncan’s first public presentation being at a large technology conference with hundreds of people in attendance. * This is something Duncan would not recommend others do or repeat. Looking back, it was pretty scary and daunting. * Duncan had been blogging about vSphere High Availability (or vSphere HA) and developed a deep expertise in this area. In parallel, he got to know and built relationships with the product management and engineering teams for vSphere HA. * A member of the HA team at one point asked Duncan if he would help them create slides or possibly help deliver a presentation on the topic. Duncan agreed to help create slides but refused to do any public speaking. * “It’s an interesting thing because when they asked me, I had presented before, but it was probably for a group of like 5 or 6 people, more like a group discussion than a presentation. And it usually was with peers as well. Now, just to paint the picture, even when I needed to do that, I would always get extremely terrified. I had a pretty big fear of public speaking in general….” – Duncan Epping

    47 min

  5. NOV 19

    Ending with Intention: Once a Geek Whisperer with Amy Lewis (2/2)

    How do you know when to stop doing something you love? Amy Lewis would say decisions like these require us to be intentional about putting something down so we can pick up something else. Amy is an unapologetic marketer working in the tech industry, and she was once a Geek Whisperer. This week in episode 302 we explore the genesis of Amy’s involvement in The Geek Whisperers podcast. You’ll hear how it all began, how it changed over time, the overarching purpose, and why the show eventually ended. Amy speaks to the need for intention in our decision making, shares advice for those in our industry impacted by layoffs, and we learn how Amy progressed into people management. For the prospective or current people leaders out there, listen closely for some great tips. Original Recording Date: 09-19-2024 Amy Lewis is the director of enterprise marketing at GitHub. If you missed part 1 of our discussion about Amy, check out Episode 301. Topics – Whispering with Intention, Advice for Those Impacted by a Layoff, Pursuing People Leadership, Parting Thoughts with a Geek Whisperers Twist 2:31 – Whispering with Intention * As big fans of The Geek Whisperers podcast, Nick and John ask Amy how it all began. Nick remembers finding this podcast in 2016 / 2017 and how he couldn’t stop listening. * The hosts of The Geek Whisperers were Amy Lewis, John Mark Troyer, and Matt Broberg. * Amy likes to make her own luck and will jump in when she sees certain circumstances. In the case of The Geek Whisperers, Amy feels there was a lot of good fortune. * John, Matt, and Amy knew of each other and were running similar programs at different companies. * Amy thinks John and Matt had been talking about a podcast idea and knew each other a little better. Amy remembers first meeting Matt at a VMworld conference. * The original purpose of Amy, Matt, and John getting together was to talk shop. John had a great editorial vision for what could be a podcast. * “Everything just kind of disappeared into a group effort. It was magical…. It was just this amazing synergy. And when we first started we really did talk shop. It was a lot of influence marketing. It was about programs we were running. It was a time where influence marketing in a B2B setting was unheard of…. And then there was a moment where we realized so many people were hungry for hearing stories of career, and we decided to pivot. It’s a passion for all of us, and we started to tell the stories that people kind of couldn’t get another way, ask questions that other people might not be able to ask, share stories that we’d overheard or connections that we’d had…. We did what we hoped to do – create a body of work that we hoped would serve a community we really loved and were proud to be part of.” – Amy Lewis * Nick remembers Amy’s mention of listening back to past episodes of The Geek Whisperers to help herself fall asleep. * How do you decide to lay something down that you really enjoy and is very successful (i.e. The Geek Whisperers)? * Amy says they found a natural stopping point in terms of number of episodes and in what year. * My re-iterates how difficult it can be to produce weekly content. She remembers heavy travel and doing food blogging while still being part of the podcast. * Amy would help on the editorial side of the show, while Matt and John would often do editing and write show notes. Looking back she wonders how the 3 of them kept it going when they were all so busy. * “We didn’t want to fade away. We wanted to end strong, and we wanted to do it with intention…. That was a shared agreement with the 3 of us.

    48 min

  6. NOV 12

    Always a Winger: People Person and Unapologetic Marketer with Amy Lewis (1/2)

    Who knew leaving publishing might result in a career as a marketer in the tech industry? Amy Lewis was encouraged to pursue a role at Cisco by a career counselor who recognized her unique strengths. Now Amy refers to herself as an unapologetic marketer and a people person. On the soccer field and in her career, she is always a winger. She is focused more on the assist than scoring the goal. In episode 301, Amy shares her early career transition from publishing to marketing for Cisco. We’ll discuss what storytelling is and how it can be used with individuals or large groups of people and how product marketing is about finding connective tissue. Amy also weighs in on online marketing, why she enjoys it, and how she learned to communicate with executives. Listen closely to learn about the impact of having good mentors throughout a career. Original Recording Date: 09-19-2024 Topics – An Intentional Career Change, People Person and Unapologetic Marketer, Social Aspects of Marketing and Storytelling, Skills and Personas, Product Marketing as Connective Tissue, Candid Headlines and Communicating with Executives, Becoming the Interviewer 2:03 – An Intentional Career Change * Amy Lewis is the director of enterprise marketing at GitHub. * She is also known as @CommsNinja. * Amy tells us she majored in English and Political Science in school. After a 10-year career in publishing, she wanted to try a new career and landed in technology. * “Greatly oversimplified, it started with a Commodore 64, and then we wound up here.” – Amy Lewis * Has the background in English and Political Science been an advantage since Amy got into the tech industry (i.e. experience in multiple different types of marketing roles)? * Amy says yes and went to a career counselor at the time she wanted to make a career change out of publishing. * “You have a really interesting skill set. You’re a storyteller, but you understand technology. You see where the world is going…. Cisco needs people like you. Technology needs people like you, people who can tell stories…. Go get a job there.” – Amy Lewis, feedback she received from a career counselor right before she joined Cisco * Amy tells us no one in her family worked in technology, and she had no contacts in technology. But after blind applying, she landed a role at Cisco. * Amy leaned into storytelling and making complex things simpler and understandable for others. * She did not know certain skills would be so applicable in this kind of career change, but she made the pivot at the suggestion of the career counselor. * Thinking back, Amy doesn’t remember how she found the career counselor originally. * What made Amy want to leave publishing as a career? * Amy has been thinking a lot lately about return to office (or RTO as we might call it) because she has been working remotely for many years. She worked in New York at the company headquarters and then would later move away to start a family and work remotely. * Amy cites some advice from her mentor Brian Gracely about career limitations when you do not work in the same location as a company’s headquarters. * While working remotely for the publishing company, Amy saw a number of people get promoted. She felt at the publisher she would not be able to climb or grow any longer and that a new challenge was needed. It seems like she in many ways was out of new things to learn. * During the time Amy worked for the publisher, AWS was still Amazon. * At the remote office where Amy worked for the publisher, she was in charge of the server closet. In addition to this, Amy had digitized a number of properties for the publisher.

    55 min

  7. NOV 5

    Patterns of Iteration: Celebrating Three Hundred Episodes of Career Podcasting

    What can you learn from 300 episodes focused on career progression in technology? This week we’ll remind listeners of our show’s mission and share the origin story of the podcast. Listen closely for the lessons we’ve learned, the patterns we have seen in our discussions and guests, the feedback we want to hear from listeners like you, and some recommended episodes if you want to dive deeper in specific areas. As part of episode 300 we’re also announcing the recent creation of our layoff resources page that you can find at nerd-journey.com/layoffresources. This is a curated list of our most impactful discussions on layoffs with HR professionals, career coaches, burnout experts, entrepreneurs, and technologists like you. It’s been put together in a specific order to help you process layoff events, get practical tips on moving forward, and learn from the experiences of others. Original Recording Date: 10-26-2024 Topics – Restating Our Thesis, The Origin Story and Motivations, Lessons Learned, Trends and Patterns, Key Ideas and Books, Progressing as an Individual Contributor, Management as a Career, Looking at the Future 1:01 – Restating Our Thesis * Welcome to episode 300! * We wanted to start by restating our thesis for the show, especially for anyone who might be a new listener to the show. * We (John and Nick) are focused on serving the technology professional with the goal of bringing to light information on career progression and expansion that we did not know when we worked in IT Operations. We’re looking to answer questions like: * How do I find a new job if I’ve just been laid off? * How do I get better at my job? * How do I change job functions within the organization I’m in? * How can I change organizations / companies? * How do I gain recognition? * How do I progress in general in my career? * What are the different roles that exist under the technology umbrella that I might be qualified to do? * We’re extracting the patterns from stories of technologists not so different than you. Our guests have either worked in technology or have a unique perspective on the industry or trends within it. Releasing our discussions in multiple parts allows us to go deep into details and extract those patterns of the different ways one could go about accomplishing some of the aforementioned goals. * We also want to educate listeners on how many roles are possible under the technology umbrella as a whole and how you might be qualified for more jobs than you thought. You’ll hear us discuss relatable experience quite a bit on the show. 3:46 – The Origin Story and Motivations * Right before Nick started a new job in late 2017 (that John had referred him for), John suggested the two of them start a podcast. * At first, Nick wasn’t sure what he would say on a podcast, but he said yes. * John says in the beginning neither of them was clear on what the podcast was about yet. * Based on his experience at a distributor and a technology vendor after being in IT Operations, John felt there were paths and roles that people did not know about that could result in greater pay. He thought they should publicize it and talk about different ways to accomplish it. * They also had other ideas like sharing details of the solutions their employer (a technology vendor) was releasing. John remembers recording several episodes on these topics that were never published. Nick recalls some of their first intros using the words “IT news and opinions based on our points of view.” * John and Nick didn’t think they could make an impact by just talking about the technology and promoting it. Many others were doing it.

    45 min

  8. OCT 29

    Chronic Stress: Connecting the Dots between Layoffs and Burnout with Cait Donovan

    Recent episodes and tech industry layoff trends made us wonder – is there a connection between layoff events and burnout? And if there is, are there differences in how burnout shows up in people impacted by layoffs, in those who remain, and in leaders? In episode 299 burnout expert, coach, keynote speaker, and podcaster Cait Donovan returns to help us connect the dots. We start by defining burnout and building up from there. You’ll hear thoughts on chronic stress, emotional processing, burnout risk factors, and burnout protection factors. Cait also reminds us that there is a distinct line between managers and employees that has become very blurry in the workplace. Original Recording Date: 09-28-2024 Topics – Defining Burnout, Connecting Dots between Layoffs and Burnout, Emotional Toil and Processing, Chronic Stress and Capacity Noticers, Taking Stock of Burnout Risks and Protections, Burnout in Leadership, Boundaries and Closing Thoughts 2:08 – Defining Burnout * Cait Donovan is a burnout expert, a coach, and a keynote speaker. She is also the host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast. * Cait was a practicing acupuncturist for 15 years and then burned out. She would later pursue a degree in biobehavioral health to understand what stress does to our bodies. * Cait spends her days podcasting, keynote speaking, and doing corporate training. She’s also working on a second book. Be sure to check out Cait’s first book, [The Bouncebackability Factor: End Burnout, Gain Resilience, and Change the World].(https://www.amazon.com/Bouncebackability-Factor-Burnout-Resilience-Change/dp/1735194905). * If you missed the previous episodes we recorded with Cait, check out: * Episode 214 – Across the Patterns of Burnout with Cait Donovan (1/2) * Episode 215 – The Beautiful Right Turns with Cait Donovan (2/2) * What is the definition of burnout? * Cait likes to start with the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of burnout. Burnout by their definition is an occupational hazard / phenomenon (neither a mental nor a physical health diagnosis). According to WHO, there are 3 components to burnout that must all be present: * Physical and emotional exhaustion * Cynicism and detachment * Feeling a lack of productivity or lack of impact related to your work * The above is a little generic and only deals with the workplace. Cait has found chronic stress is more pervasive than just the workplace and has much to do with how we were taught to interact with the world, which may impact many areas of our lives. * Cait’s definition of burnout is “chronic stress that has led to a decline in functioning of your body, mind, soul, spirit…over an extended period of time so slow that you didn’t notice it happening until it was like, ‘where did I get here? What am I doing? What is this life, and why am I so miserable?” 5:00 – Connecting Dots between Layoffs and Burnout * Many people are looking at the tech industry right now, see the layoffs happening, and they get worried / anxious / scared. After recording other layoff focused episodes with Kat Troyer and Liz Bronson from RealJobTalk, we thought it would be interesting to explore this topic with Cait through the lens of how this trends up or down with burnout.

    50 min
See All (300)

Trailer

5
out of 5
37 Ratings

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.

Information

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada