Episode 369 | Jay Harris - User First

Guest:

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Jay Harris talks with Dave Rael about being delivering for users, the value of community, limitations, and giving an honest try

Jay is a code wrangler, software consultant, and owner of Arana Software. He has been developing on the web since 1995, when the Blink tag lured him away from Visual Basic 3, and has been awarded as a Microsoft Regional Director, ASPInsider, and Microsoft MVP. Recognizing that the greatest application performance bottleneck is a developer’s time, Jay’s continuing quest is for frameworks, modules, tools, and practices that make developers stronger, fitter, happier, and more productive. Jay resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Follow him on Twitter at @jayharris.

Chapters: 0:32 - Dave introduces the show and Jay Harris5:12 - Discovering web development6:56 - Jay on community involvement13:24 - Expert status, your unique experience, diversity, ego, and judgement in software development19:38 - Jay's story of failure - not connecting with a team24:07 - Balancing the virtue of failing fast and moving on with the value of persistence27:29 - Making an "honest try" and the forces of passion and conviction32:59 - Jay's business: Arana Software35:38 - User First40:41 - Jay's book recommendations43:53 - The things that have Jay most excited49:58 - Jay's top 3 tips for delivering more value53:22 - Keeping up with Jay

Resources: Arana Software Jay Wren Gayle Laakman McDowell on Developer On Fire Binocular Vision Justin Searls on Developer On Fire Lineman Steven Hicks on Developer On Fire Kalamazoo X Jeff Atwood on Developer On Fire NHibernate Leon Gersing Christina Aldan

Jay's book recommendation: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition - William Strunk Jr. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Robert M Pirsig East of Eden (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) - John Steinbeck

Jay's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Be yourself unapologetically Use whatever tools make you efficient and get typing out of your way and get you focused identifying problems and delivering solutions Recognize that everyone can contribute because of their unique life experience and realize that you are an expert