Sara Ford talks with Dave Rael about developer productivity, learning to use your tools, disappointment, and deep human connections
Sara Ford is back at Microsoft on the Azure Identity team! Previously, she worked at GitHub and Microsoft... a couple of times. Sara started her career working on Microsoft's developer tools, including Visual Studio and CodePlex. She's authored a couple of books on Visual Studio with Microsoft Press. In 2015, Sara received her Masters degree in Human Factors (HCI / UX) at San Jose State University because she wants to make developer tools more usable. Sara's life-long dream is to be a 97-year-old weightlifter so she can be featured on the local news.
Chapters:
1:33 - Dave introduces the show and Sara Ford4:54 - Sara on her focus on productivity with developer tools13:25 - Sara's interest in aviation and discovering computers and software21:40 - Confidence, assertion, and fear, asking for needed help, and the difference made by showing interest in people28:59 - Developing an interest in software and finding a great mentor and many motivations33:42 - The importance of people and relationships37:38 - Sara's success story - authoring a book and the deep significance of the experience in Sara's life40:37 - Sara's prediction for the future of software43:55 - Sara's top 3 tips for delivering more value47:01 - Keeping up with Sara
Resources:
Sara's Blog
Sara's Old Blog on MSDN Blogs
Sara on GitHub
Microsoft Visual Studio Tips - Sara Ford
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software - Erich Gamma
Sara's Git(Hub) Tip of the Day Blog Series
Space Shuttle Challenger
Challenger: President Reagan's Challenger Disaster Speech - 1/28/86
Early Decision
Denise Jacobs on Developer On Fire
Carin Meier on Developer On Fire
"To try and fail is at least to learn; to fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been." - Chester Barnard
Chester Barnard
Sara's book recommendation:
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions - Brian Christian
Sara's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
Identify and take the next step
Separate your inner product manager from you inner developer (and listen to the PM)
Don't procrastinate