Episode 245 | BJ Burns - Lead To Learn

Guest: BJ Burns @BowtieBeej BJ Burns talks with Dave Rael about learning to write software, mentors, teaching, podcasting, and helping others BJ Burns is a full-stack developer with the State of Tennessee building API’s in .NET and doing some work on the front end with AngularJS. Occasionally he writes some HTML and CSS. With his mentor Will Gant he host Complete Developer Podcast and hosts a monthly meet up group called Developer Launchpad. Each month he writes a new challenge for the group. BJ became interested in IoT when he was given an Arduino starter kit for my birthday. Since then he has added a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and Zero to his collection. Outside of computers he enjoys riding my motorcycle, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. He gets on his Xbox 360 as often as possible, though that is less and less these days. He's also an avid bibliophile to the point that he listen to Audible when driving. That is when not listening to one of his favorite podcasts. During the holiday season he has been known to dye his beard white and dress in a red suit for family events and photo shoots. Chapters: 0:45 - Dave introduces the show and BJ Burns4:12 - BJ, the teacher5:29 - BJ's story of using software as a way to deal with life's difficulty and discovering a career12:48 - How Will Gant became BJ's mentor14:59 - The origin of BJ, the podcaster, and how the Complete Developer Podcast was born17:33 - Podcasting influencers20:19 - What BJ has learned from being a podcaster22:24 - BJ's career as a software developer - getting a job, converting from contract to full-time and dealing with recruiters28:39 - No longer a newbie and upcoming changes to the Complete Developer Podcast30:44 - BJ and Will's involvement with CodeNewbie and spinning off a CodeNewbie meetup into something of their own34:28 - BJ's experience with being a user group organizer36:47 - BJ's book recommendations39:27 - How BJ stays current with what he needs to know40:40 - The things that have BJ most excited42:24 - How BJ got into AngularJS46:21 - BJ's top 3 tips for delivering more value49:34 - Keeping up with BJ Resources: The Complete Developer Podcast Will Gant on Developer On Fire MicroConf Jay and Silent Bob Get Old .NET Rocks! Carl Franklin on Developer On Fire CodeNewbie The CodeNewbie Podcast Saron Yitbarek Code Newbie Meetups Developer Launchpad Nashville - BJ and Will's User Group David Bernstein on Developer On Fire BJ's book recommendation: Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand The Sword of Truth Series, Books 1-5 - Terry Goodkind BJ's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Have a schedule and plan what you're gong to do Be flexible and adjust to the needs of the day Review your plan and your results Carry a notesbook