Episode 297 | Howie Ross - Unlocking Potential

Guest:

Howie Ross

@howdiz

Howie Ross talks with Dave Rael

Howie Ross has been taking things apart and putting them back together for over 30 years. He has been building software, primarily for the web, for over 12 years and leading and building teams for over 5 years. He is currently the Director of Engineering at Cloud Hosting Provider, Linode, where he leads teams working on public APIs and open source single page apps. He has lectured for the UX/IxD Masters program at Thomas Jefferson University and spoke at boot camps, meetups, and conferences. Howie also consults with digital agencies, advises startups and does some career coaching. Howie is a beer and coffee geek who enjoys hiking, biking, running and climbing outdoors.

Chapters: 3:04 - Dave introduces the show and Howie Ross8:18 - Howie's transition to management - motivations for the move and the benefits and challenges of having made it13:51 - Howie's people-based role at Linode and the virtue of getting experience with support and administration17:42 - The open-source software being created by Howie's teams at Linode19:09 - Leadership, team leadership, and management20:38 - The appeal that brought Howie to Linode22:59 - Howie's advice for careers and career paths25:24 - The things that "light Howie up"28:50 - Howie's stories of failure - revoking payment processing API keys and bringing down processing, implementing software that never got used34:31 - Howie's success story - Building a self-sustaining team where he wasn't necessary36:56 - Howie's book recommendations41:33 - Keeping up with Howie

Resources: Howie's Blog Howie on Medium Linode Linode on GitHub The Linode Manager on GitHub Do’s and Don’ts of Getting a Job Part 1 - Howie Ross Do’s and Don’ts of Getting a Job Part 2 - Howie Ross Google Photos

Howie's book recommendation: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (3rd Edition) - Tom DeMarco Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age - Douglas Rushkoff

Howie's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Do your homework on the business you serve or might serve Step up and volunteer (especially in doing the things nobody else wants to do) Plant seeds and let them grow