Episode 353 | Kevin Grossnicklaus - Sustained Impact

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Kevin Grossnicklaus talks with Dave Rael about passion, software, business, learning, and mid-life crises

At one point in his career Kevin was the youngster on most development teams. He got his start developing with Visual Studio and managed .NET code during the early beta cycles in 2001. As a technical author, his first writing experience was for the Visual Basic.NET Bible released in 2002. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP since 2009 and is a member of the ASPInsiders program. He is also very active in the local St. Louis development community. In 2009, Kevin Grossnicklaus started his own software product development firm called ArchitectNow (www.architectnow.net). At ArchitectNow, Kevin and his team specialize in a wide variety of tools and technologies and take pride in helping their customers deliver great solutions on a variety of platforms. As expected (and necessary) today, they are always on the lookout for the “next big thing” in the software or technology space while guiding customers through the waves of new technology. Born in rural Nebraska, he has spent the last 20 years in St. Louis, Missouri where he lives with his wife Lynda and their three daughters: Alexis, Emily, and Hanna. He is an avid guitar player, home brewer, and gamer including everything from retro arcade games, to board games, to role playing games. When not spending time on any of those hobby’s he waits patiently for a second season of Firefly.

Chapters: 1:31 - Dave introduces the show and Kevin Grossnicklaus4:45 - Kevin's history with being a business owner10:40 - Schooling and the real sources of education12:47 - How Kevin got started with software19:11 - Kevin on writing and speaking25:06 - The growth of Architect Now33:58 - Dealing with the stress of running a business37:47 - Kevin on remote work41:14 - Hiring good people45:59 - Kevin's book recommendation48:10 - Kevin's top 3 tips for delivering more value52:02 - Keeping up with Kevin

Resources: Architect Now - Kevin's Business Missouri University of Science and Technology Apple IIGS Edgar Dijkstra: Go To Statement Considered Harmful Google Translate Mobile App on Google Play Google Translate Mobile App on Apple App Store Building Web Applications with Visual Studio 2017: Using .NET Core and Modern JavaScript Frameworks - Philip Japikse, Kevin Grossnicklaus, Ben Dewey Real World .NET, C#, and Silverlight: Indispensible Experiences from 15 MVPs - Bill Evjen Bill Evjen St. Louis .NET User Group Visual Studio Team Services Pluralsight Architect Now Blog

Kevin's book recommendation: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't - Jim Collins Patrick Rothfuss Ready Player One: A Novel - Ernest Cline Armada: A novel by the author of Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Kevin's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Over-communicate Speak up if you have a question or a concern Stay passionate about what you do