10 episodes

U-Turn is an interview show that gives people from different walks of life a chance to discuss the how and the why of the big changes they have made in their careers and what work means to them today.

U-Turn Eric Jorgensen

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 4 Ratings

U-Turn is an interview show that gives people from different walks of life a chance to discuss the how and the why of the big changes they have made in their careers and what work means to them today.

    010 – Garric Nahapetian of SwiftCoders and Farmers Insurance

    010 – Garric Nahapetian of SwiftCoders and Farmers Insurance

    In this episode of U-Turn, I talk with Garric Nahapetian. Garric graduated from law school in 2012, and, for a short time, worked as an attorney in southern California. Today, however, he writes code for a living. That’s right — he is now a programmer. I first heard of Garric via the weekly podcast he hosts called SwiftCoders, a podcast about Apple’s modern open-source programming language Swift. If you enjoy programming or even learning about the Apple ecosystem in general, I highly recommend you check it out!

    Listen as we talk about dealing with family pressure to follow a certain career path, finding the courage to do something different, and teaching yourself to write code while driving for Uber part-time.

    Episode Links

    Garric’s interview with Chris Lattner, creator of Swift
    Chris Sacca, venture capitalist
    Gimlet Media
    StartUp, Alex Blumberg’s podcast about starting a business
    iMore podcast, hosted by Rene Ritchie
    The Downtown Train, Garric’s former blues band
    Agile software development

    • 56 min
    009 – Don Melton of Apple, Eazel, and Netscape

    009 – Don Melton of Apple, Eazel, and Netscape

    Don Melton is “internet famous” for a few things: probably most so for his time at Apple, during which he led the team that would create the Safari web browser — perhaps you’ve heard of it?

    Since retiring from Apple in 2012 as director, internet technologies, Don has stayed busy, working obsessively on an open source set of scripts for transcoding video and appearing on various podcasts, most notably Guy English and Rene Ritchie’s show Debug — which I can’t recommend enough for anyone who is a programmer or who has even a passing interest in programming. Don also hosts his own podcast for iMore every so often with Rene Ritchie called . . . Melton.

    Listen as I talk to Don about learning to code, moving into management, his time at Apple, and, ultimately, his decision to retire. We also chat about open source software, the things he does with all his free time, and, of course, wine.

    Episode Links

    Don’s biography at donmelton.com
    Eazel, the Mountain View-based startup at which some of the initial WebKit team (including Don) worked
    Blue Meanies
    “Memories of Steve” — Don’s remembrance of Steve Jobs after his passing
    Don’s Video Transcoding Scripts

    008 – Patrick Carrie of Limbeck and Volcom (Part 2)

    008 – Patrick Carrie of Limbeck and Volcom (Part 2)

    Patrick Carrie is the man responsible for the slinky guitar leads in the indie/alt-country band Limbeck. Since Limbeck stopped touring in 2008, he has worked for Volcom, a surf and skate brand, first as a graphic designer, and more recently as global art director. Patrick hasn’t given up music entirely, however. He has played part-time in the bands The Pride of Erie PA with former Motion City Soundtrack drummer Tony Thaxton and The Young Dudes with former Limbeck singer Robb Maclean. Somehow, he has also managed to find time to be a father to three boys and appear in an online Swiffer commercial (linked below).

    In Part Two of my two-part interview with him, I talk to Patrick about how he made the transition from being a musician who toured for as many as eight months out of the year to a working full-time as a graphic designer while balancing responsibilities at home and the always-there itch to still play music.

    Episode Links

    Limbeck
    Volcom
    Patrick’s Site
    Getting Rad With Dad, Patrick’s “Dad” blog
    Patrick’s Swiffer commercial
    The Garage Monkeys (aka Limbeck) iMac commercial

    • 48 min
    007 – Patrick Carrie of Limbeck and Volcom (Part 1)

    007 – Patrick Carrie of Limbeck and Volcom (Part 1)

    Patrick Carrie is the man responsible for the slinky guitar leads in the indie/alt-country band Limbeck. Since Limbeck stopped touring in 2008, he has worked for Volcom, a surf and skate brand, first as a graphic designer, and more recently as global art director. Patrick hasn’t given up music entirely, however. He has played part-time in the bands The Pride of Erie PA with former Motion City Soundtrack drummer Tony Thaxton and The Young Dudes with former Limbeck singer Robb Maclean. Somehow, he has also managed to find time to be a father to three boys and appear in an online Swiffer commercial (linked below).

    In Part One of my two-part interview with him, I talk to Patrick about the highs and lows of playing in a touring rock band, from ernest beginnings when everything seemed to be going right to the time when he finally realized that it was time to hang it up. We also talk about recording an album in Minneapolis with Gary Louris of The Jayhawks, saving a catfish from a dumpster in downtown St. Paul (seriously!), and how much money a guy in band like Limbeck made per year in 2007 (hint: not much).

    Episode Links

    Limbeck
    Volcom
    Patrick’s Site
    Getting Rad With Dad, Patrick’s “Dad” blog
    Patrick’s Swiffer commercial
    The Garage Monkeys (aka Limbeck) iMac commercial

    • 1 hr 39 min
    006 – David Sparks of Sparks Law and macsparky.com

    006 – David Sparks of Sparks Law and macsparky.com

    If you consider yourself to be a part of the Apple community, you’ve probably heard of David Sparks through his work on the Relay.fm podcast Mac Power Users with Katie Floyd. Since 2009 and over the course of more than 300 episodes, David and Katie have shared tips on getting the most out of Apple technology. David also writes regularly on his site macsparky.com.

    Talking and writing about Apple technology isn’t David’s day job. For over twenty years, he has been a practicing attorney. In 2015, after two decades with the same law firm, he decided to “go indie,” as we often say in the tech community, and he created his own one-man firm called Sparks Law.

    In this episode, David and I talk about how you know when it’s time to finally go out on your own (hint: waking up every day saying to yourself, “Today is going to be the day I quit my job,” is one indicator), the importance of having a supportive spouse or partner, and the myriad benefits of working from home. We also grapple with the question of whether or not a new venture should get your entire focus.

    Episode Links

    Sparks Law
    macsparky.com
    Mac Power Users

    • 59 min
    005 – Mark Nelson, Actor Turned Medical Student

    005 – Mark Nelson, Actor Turned Medical Student

    About Mark Nelson
    After graduating from Juilliard, Mark Nelson worked as a professional actor for over two decades. He appeared in films and television, and, eventually, he and his wife (also an actress) settled in the Twin Cities to raise a family and work at the Guthrie Theater. Interestingly, his first play at the Guthrie, “Philadelphia, Here I Come” co-starred Rainn Wilson, who would go on to star as Dwight in the American version of The Office. See a review of the play from Variety below.

    Mark would go on to perform in over 20 productions at the Guthrie. At age 40, however, when most people are settled firmly into their careers, he decided to make a major change in his life: he started medical school to become a family practice physician.

    Listen as I talk to Mark about why he decided to give up acting, how he handled the transition back into the life of a student, and what he hopes to achieve in his career as a physician.

    Episode Links

    Variety review of “Philadelphia, Here I Come”, Mark’s first play at the Guthrie
    Mark’s Guthrie Theater biography
    Mark’s wife’s IMDb page

    • 1 hr 39 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
4 Ratings

4 Ratings

winey12 ,

UTurn is quickly becoming my favorite podcast

What I love about UTurn that I think is unique from other podcasts, is Eric has a way of making his guests, who are otherwise strangers, feel so comfortable that you really get to hear all the details of their career change. This makes for a longer podcast, but Eric keeps the conversation so interesting that you don't realize that an hour has passed. The conversation isn't forced, and comes quite naturally which makes you get sucked into listening longer. It even leaves you wanting to listen to more episodes.
The other thing I love about UTurn is the quality of guests that Eric has come on his show. Some I know, and some I don't, but even the ones I hadn't heard of before have really compelling stories that keep you engaged! I highly recommend you listen :)

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