Episode 404 | Cassandra Faris - Learn, Meet, Help

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Cassandra Faris talks to Dave Rael about community, personal and career development, helping people, mental health, and using technology to solve problems

Cassandra Faris is passionate about the human side of tech. Her career has focused on supporting technology professionals through community outreach, hiring, mentoring, and employee engagement. She is an international speaker who specializes in teaching tech professionals how to advance their careers and be more effective team members. She is also the President of the Microsoft and open source conference, DogFoodCon, and a Per Scholas Advisory Board member. She has an MBA in Organizational Leadership. When she's not busy with the tech community, she is avid tabletop gamer, runner, and soccer fan who travels as much as possible.

Chapters: 0:32 - Dave introduces the show and Cassandra Faris2:41 - Origins of Cassandra's interest in supporting software professionals5:59 - Value provided by recruiters, employee engagement roles, and helping developers be more11:41 - Human skills15:40 - Cassandra's interest in soccer and building community around software18:57 - Cassandra, the conference organizer22:26 - How Cassandra stays current with what she needs to know24:01 - Being welcomed in developer communities28:54 - Cassandra's story of failure - finding a position was not what she expected and needed31:47 - Cassandra's success story - giving a difficult talk on mental health and getting rewarded with keynote and international conference features33:33 - Cassandra on mental health and speaking openly about personal struggles39:57 - Cassandra's book recommendations41:21 - The things that have Cassandra most excited43:00 - Cassandra's top 3 tips for delivering more value44:07 - Keeping up with Cassandra

Resources: Cassandra on Twitter Cassandra on LinkedIn Cassandra's website Matt Wynne on Developer On Fire Save The Crew DogFoodCon CodeMash It's OK to Talk to Strangers - Cassandra Faris Sarah Dutkiewicz on Developer On Fire Guy Royse on Developer On Fire Jim Holmes on Developer On Fire DevTalks Bucharest Ed Finkler on Developer On Fire Arthur Doler on Developer On Fire Josh Holmes on Developer On Fire Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - Daniel H. Pink

Cassandra's book recommendation: To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others - Daniel H. Pink When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing - Daniel H. Pink

Cassandra's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Learn things Meet people Help them