In this episode, we explore how to become an effective engineering manager—even without a technical background. We’ll unpack what the role truly entails, how to leverage your strengths in communication, strategy, and people management, and ways to bridge technical gaps with curiosity and trust. Whether you’re transitioning from another field or stepping into your first EM role, this episode will help you lead confidently and earn the respect of your engineering team.

06:52: Why technical expertise is helpful but not essential 11:18: What is the role of an EM? 13:50: Non-technical strengths 17:19: Bridging the technical gap 21:21: Earning respec...

In this episode, we’ll dig into how managers can balance output, impact, and quality, set meaningful goals, and coach engineers toward growth — not just manage them. We’ll also tackle how to handle underperformance, keep top talent motivated, and build teams that stay engaged without burning out.

02:04 - Why do we measure engineering performance? 03:40 - How to measure engineering performance 11:08 - SMART goals 18:39 - Handling underperformers 27:00 - Motivating and retaining high performers

Hiring great engineers is one of the most important—and difficult—parts of an engineering manager’s job. In this episode, we break down the full hiring journey: from writing effective job descriptions and structuring interviews to evaluating candidates and making the final call. We’ll also touch on building inclusive processes, avoiding common hiring pitfalls, and how to spot not just skill, but potential. Whether you're scaling a team or making your first hire, this episode is your playbook for hiring with intention.

Remote work is here to stay—but managing a distributed engineering team comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. In this episode, we dive into what it takes to lead remote engineers effectively. From building trust and maintaining team cohesion to running productive async meetings and handling time zone differences, we cover the key habits and tools that make remote engineering teams thrive. Whether you're leading your first remote team or refining your remote leadership style, this episode is packed with practical insights you can apply right away.

Episode Notes

Engineering managers sit at the intersection of tech, product, and people—which means collaboration is key. In this episode, we explore how to build strong working relationships with product managers and stakeholders. From setting clear expectations and communicating progress to managing competing priorities and navigating tough conversations, we’ll share strategies to align teams and drive outcomes. Whether you're in a startup or a large org, this episode will help you lead more effectively across functions.

Episode Notes

As an engineering manager, project management isn’t just a skill—it’s part of the job. In this episode, we unpack what effective project management looks like from the EM seat. From setting realistic timelines and tracking progress to balancing technical depth with stakeholder expectations, we explore how to keep projects on track without becoming a bottleneck. Whether you're new to the role or looking to sharpen your execution game, this episode offers practical advice to help you lead projects with confidence and clarity.

Episode Notes

The first 90 days in any new role are crucial—but as a new engineering manager, they can make or break your trajectory. In this episode, we dive into how to approach your first three months with intention and clarity. From building trust with your team to understanding your new responsibilities, setting expectations, and avoiding common pitfalls, we lay out a roadmap to help you start strong. Whether you're stepping into management for the first time or looking to reset in a new role, this episode is your essential onboarding guide.

Episode Notes

Stepping into management for the first time can be both exciting and overwhelming. In this episode, we explore the critical shift from individual contributor to engineering manager—what changes, what stays the same, and what new challenges emerge. We’ll discuss common misconceptions, the mindset shift required, and practical tips for navigating your first few months in the role. Whether you're considering the move or already in the thick of it, this episode offers guidance to help you lead with confidence and clarity.

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What is a typical day in the life like for a software engineer? To close out Season 6, we thought it’d be a great idea to give you some insight into our workdays, as we all have very different roles and are in different stages of our careers.

Show Notes

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T...

Duration: 01:01:32

APIs are part of our daily roles as software developers, but what are they? What different types are there? And how can you design a good one?

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Transcript

Here is this week's transcript.

The definition of Agile is the ability to create and respond to change. Ultimately dealing with and succeeding in an uncertain or turbulent environment. I think we can all say with confidence that in the world of software development, being agile and agreeable to change helps you learn faster, connect with others better, and makes coding more fun.

Today we are talking about the agile framework of software developers, its significance in the workplace and the familiar steps an agile process takes to go from a project’s concept, to the physical minimum viable product.

Sh...

Duration: 00:00:00

Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language. It’s a general-purpose programming language designed to let app developers: write once, run anywhere. Today we’re diving into the world of Java.

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Here is t...

Whether you’re looking to start your own side business or create a lifelong career, the process of starting a new business can be overwhelming. This week on the podcast we’re discussing how to start your own business. We’ll dig deep into setting you up for success from the beginning and then answer the most common questions I receive about building and scaling your business.

Show Notes

If you have data for your application, you’ve probably used a database to store it. There are so many types of databases, NoSQL, SQL, graph, etc. Let's learn about their benefits and how to use them!

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Here...

It’s easy to overlook documentation when building an application, but documentation can make or break a consumer’s experience. Today we’re diving into the world of documentation to discuss what it takes to write good documentation, the ethics of documentation, and some popular tools you can use to get started.

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TypeScript is an open-source programming language built on JavaScript that provides static type definitions. It has taken the front-end development community by storm over the past few years and today we’re going to give you a beginner-level rundown on the language.

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What is it about sitting down building a good study plan that... kinda sucks? Is it the planning? The execution? The Time commitment? Are we committing to learn too much? Regardless of this answer, today we’re sitting down to talk about how to better prepare to learn, how to execute a study plan to meet your goals, build better habits to help you learn and some of our own experiences learning how to learn.

Show Notes

Welcome back to the 6th season of the Ladybug Podcast!! In this episode, we’ll be chatting about choosing a tech stack for your project is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as an engineer. It will determine many aspects of your app, from development speed, to scalability, to the cost to run it. We’ll talk about how to choose technologies from two angles: one from an individual developer’s perspective: how do you decide what to learn? And the second from an architectural perspective: how do you decide what technologies to use for your project...

You studied a bunch, landed the interview, passed the whiteboarding exercises, nailed the behavioral interview, and finally got the job. Congratulations on your new position! So now what? Today we’re sharing some of our experiences to help your job transition happen smoothly. Let’s get into it.

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React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces and is one of the most widely used libraries to date. Last season we discussed the basics of React and today we’re going to dive into the more advanced aspects of the library. Let’s get started.

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2020 was one of the biggest years in the history of e-commerce. In fact, the pandemic spurred such a growth in e-commerce that the industry as a whole moved forward about 10 years in 3 months’ time. Whether you’re interested in starting your own store or learning how to develop for e-commerce, this week on the podcast we’re breaking it all down for you.

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Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communication through the use of code so only those for whom the information is intended can read and process it. Cryptography is used for many things from online banking to GitHub commits. Today we’ll dive into the basics of cryptography. Let’s get started!

Show Notes

We got this note about RSA private/public keys from a listener:

"The point of having public and...

It’s no secret that a major perk to working in development is the salary. Developers are often paid higher than the average salary, and as you move up in a company, you can see significant growth in your income. We all know financial literacy is often skipped in early education, which is why this week we’re talking all things financial planning with our special guest, Shannon Lee Simmons, to teach you what you need to know about managing your finances as a high earner.

Show Notes

Episode Notes

You may have heard about the Cloud and thought, what do the fluffy things in the sky have to do with computers? Today’s episode is all about what the cloud is, how you can use it, and common cloud services.

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Last season we discussed the broader topic of creating digital content. This week on the podcast we’re doing a deeper dive into e-books: our experience with writing and releasing them, the tools you need to write your own ebook, and best practices for marketing and selling your book.

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There are a bunch of people you’ll work with as a software engineer -- many will be other developers, but many have other jobs as well. In this episode we’ll talk about the other people you may work with: the designers, project managers, marketers, and more and how to best work with them. Let’s dive in.

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It’s more important than ever to build secure web applications, but many developers forget to account for web security. In this episode, we’re joined by Tailor Herrarte, an Infosec Engineer, Cybersecurity Career consultant, beauty ambassador & content creator who goes by the moniker The Digital Empress. Today we're discussing types of web security, the dangers of lacking said security and a few things you can do to keep your site secure. Let’s get started.

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Episode Notes

Coding bootcamps aim to help students gain the skills they need to land their first job in web development in months instead of years. Today we’ll be diving into some of the benefits and drawbacks of coding bootcamps, and we’ll explore our personal experiences learning from them and teaching at them.

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One of the hottest new technologies in the frontend ecosystem is Next.js. Why is it so awesome? And what can you use it for? In this episode we’ll be talking all about it.

Show Notes

01:45 - What is Next.js 7:05 - What are some of its benefits 23:09 - SSG vs. SSR 27:38 - Routing 38:17 - Shoutouts

Resources

Season 5 is finally here and we are so excited to kick it off with a new host, Sidney! We have finally said goodbye to 2020, so what can we expect to be the new trends, the hip tech. We can't predict the future but we can tell you our predictions for trends in 2021.

Normally, we talk about frontend development -- but there’s so many other niches within programming out there. Today we’re going to talk about Python what it’s used for, why it’s great, and how it’s different than JavaScript.

Shownotes

01:16 - Our experiences with Python 03:37 - What is Python? 15:50 - What is it used for? 23:37 - How is it different from JavaScript? 32:35 - Resources for learning more 34:15 - Shoutouts

Resources

Blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts, e-books, and online courses are all types of digital content. If you’ve ever wondered how you can get started creating digital content of your own, then look no further. Today we’re joined by Sidney Buckner, a Software Engineer and YouTuber, to discuss how we got started creating digital content, how much you can make from publishing content, and more! Let’s get started.

Shownotes

03:00 - What kinds of content do we create? 06:08 - Pros of creating digital content 14:19 - Cons of creating digital content 19:01 - Online courses 24:27 - YouTube 37:38 - E-bo...

If you often find your days spiraling out of control, you’re not alone! Ensuring you have a productive workday isn’t always easy. There are many ways you can structure your day, and everyone has a different method that works best for them.

This week on the podcast we’re giving you a rundown of our favorite productivity hacks you can use to improve your everyday life, both at work and at home. Let’s dig in!

Show Notes

2:30 - Take care of your physical and mental health

11:33 - Scheduling your day...

Git is both simple and complex. You can usually get through your workday by memorizing a few commands, but under the hood there’s so much more to it. Today we will dive deep into Git with a special guest, Monica Powell. Let’s dive in!

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Did you know that over one-third of the world’s workforce freelances at least part-time? As freelancing becomes more popular, you may be considering giving the freelance lifestyle a shot. This week on the podcast we’re giving you an introduction to freelancing, from establishing your rates and building a portfolio to finding your first freelance client and managing the project. We close with some final tips, including how to avoid scope creep and how to take time off as a freelancer.

Shownotes

01:40 What is freelancing? 06:28 Benefits of freelancing 10:06 How to establish your rates 13:59 Building a po...

Accessibility is the process of creating applications that are usable by everyone, especially focusing on those with disabilities. As web developers, it’s important that we design and build our applications to be usable by everyone, so in today’s episode, we’re joined by Wendy Fox, the design systems lead at LogMeIn, to discuss nine common pitfalls of application accessibility and what you can do to fix them.

Show Notes

Have you ever worked on a team comprised of people from all over the world and wondered why you were having difficulty communicating and getting work done? That’s because every culture has their own way of communicating. Today we’ll chat about how different cultures communicate, give negative feedback, make decisions, and perceive time in the hopes that you can improve your team collaboration.

Show Notes

01:20 Does talking about culture cause us to stereotype? 10:00 Communicating 16:54 Evaluating 26:41 Deciding 27:38 Trusting 39:56 Scheduling 44:57 Shoutouts

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Transcript

React is a frontend library that is in super high demand in the industry. But, it can be difficult to get up and running with. Today we’ll talk about with React: why it’s so great, how data flows, and the gotchas we encountered when learning it. Let’s get started!

Shownotes

02:15 What is React?
06:35 Framework vs. Library
10:43 Why is it helpful?
12:32 What is a component?
22:52 React's lifecycle
25:47 Data in React
36:34 JSX
37:24 Setting up a React app
43:34 Shoutouts

Resources

What’s the difference between a junior and senior developer? While there’s no distinct measure from one title to the next, you can measure your progress in three areas: knowledge, coding, and communication. This week on the podcast we’re doing a deep dive into the progression from junior to senior dev.

Shownotes

Today we’re talking about everyone’s favorite programming language: HTML! Hypertext Markup Language is the structure of a web page and while it’s not necessarily the hardest syntax to learn, it’s vital to your web applications.

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Transcript

Here is the transcript for this week's episode.

Have you ever dreamed about selling everything you owned and moving across the world to begin a new life? In this episode we’re chatting with Rachel Nabors, an American abroad on the React Core team in London. We’ll chat about the pros and cons of moving abroad as well as the logistics. Let’s get started!

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There’s a classic interview question: what happens when you type a URL into the browser? To answer this question, we need to explore how the internet works. In this episode, our first of season 4, we’ll dive into URLs, DNS, basic networking, and how the browser works.

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Transcript

Here is the...

Systems design interviews are becoming more and more prevalent and can indicate your ability to work with complex systems. Many engineers struggle with the systems design interviews as a result of their inexperience developing large-scale systems.

Today we’ll teach you some of the foundational elements of systems design so you can nail your next interview.

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Have you ever written code to add a new feature that ended up breaking an existing feature? Or, have you ever written code that works in one scenario but breaks in a bunch of others? I think we can all admit to this as developers!

Well, this is where testing shines -- we write code to test our other code so we immediately get warned if our code breaks something else! OR doesn’t work in every scenario. In this episode, we’ll talk about a bunch of types of testing and why they’re helpful. Let’s dive i...

One niche in development that we have no experience with is building mobile apps. Luckily, today we have an expert to teach us all about it: Timirah James who is the founder of TechniGal LA and a developer evangelist.

Show Notes

Micro-interactions are small animations that delight our users and they are changing the way we design and build our applications. Micro-interactions have many benefits like enhancing perceived performance, indicating state change, and drawing users’ attention to something on the page. Today we’ll dive into micro-interactions and the animation libraries you can use to build them.

Show Notes

02:25 - What are micro-interactions? 05:48 - Why are they important? 10:55 - How do we build one? 29:07 - Animation libraries 33:16 - Shoutouts

Resources

We’ve talked a lot about interviewing and getting hired in tech from the engineering perspective, and today we’re going to build on that. We have a special guest, Hilliary Turnipseed, the founder of Hill Street Strategies to talk about hiring from the recruiting perspective. She specializes in hiring and maintaining diverse teams.

We also want to give a big shoutout to Black Girls Code, if you're able to, please donate!

Show Notes

01:13 - Tell us about yourself! 08:37 - Tell us about Hill Street Strategies 23:12 - What advice would you give to some...

Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Louisville police entered the apartment of Breonna Taylor and Kenneth Walker using a battering ram to force open the door. Breonna Taylor was shot at least eight times and pronounced dead at the scene. No drugs were found in the apartment. June 5th would have been Breonna’s 27th birthday.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed face down in the street. And for the past week an...

For the month of May we read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. "Outliers" examines the factors which contribute to high-levels of success and while we often attribute success to circumstance today we’ll discuss our thoughts to see if we agree.

Show notes

1:08 - What does it mean to be successful? 6:12 - How does privilege play into success? 22:12 - Practical intelligence versus analytical intelligence 30:52 - Our thoughts on the book

Resources

Transcript

We provide transcripts fo...

Today we're talking about routing and switching, starting with layer 1 of the OSI model. Let's dig in. JUST KIDDING I know nothing about that kind of networking, but we ARE talking about networking today!

Networking is a great opportunity to meet new people in the same industry, learn new skills, and develop your career. This week we’re talking all things networking: why we network, how to network, and what to do if you’re really not that into networking. Let’s jump in!

Developer community is centered around the idea of nurturing and amplifying community voices within a company and the head of developer community is responsible for leading this effort. Today we’re joined by Kim Maida, Head of Developer Relations and Community at Gatsby. We’ll discuss what her job entails, the ins and outs of developer advocacy, advice for someone looking to get into this field, and more.

Show notes

2:34 - Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 3:27 - What does it mean to be the head of developer relations and community? 6:38 - What is d...

JavaScript is notorious for being one of the most popular, yet also one of the most despised programming languages to learn, so today we’re covering some of the intermediate and advanced JavaScript concepts! We’ll discuss convoluted topics like generators, prototypal inheritance, and the rendering engine.

Knowing intermediate JavaScript concepts like the call stack, context, scope, the prototype chain, higher order functions, async programming, and the event loop is invaluable and will help with learning frameworks. The fundamentals won't change even if the ecosystem does.

Show notes

03:24 - Functional Programming vs OOP 06:28 - Pr...

Welcome to season 3 of the LB podcast. This season we’ll cover topics ranging from advanced JavaScript to networking. We’ll chat about Git & GitHub, making money outside your 9-5 job, and many more topics.

For our first episode of this new season, we’ll be reminiscing about our coding history and discussing some advice we wished we had when learning to code ranging from asking more questions to negotiating job offers.

Show notes

01:50 - Our stories 09:29 - Find a community 10:43 - Take breaks - you don’t have to code all the time 13...

There are so many ways to learn to code, and so many things to know. Today we’ll give our perspectives on different paths you can take. Whether you’re looking for your first dev job or you’re looking to advance your web development knowledge, we’ll be covering a ton of different options for you.

01:50 - What did we know before getting our first jobs?
06:40 - T-shaped knowledge
08:38 - HTML
14:07 - CSS
18:24 - JavaScript
25:00 - Backend
31:00- How the web works
32:15 - Testing
37:13 - Tooling 43:46 - Git
46:1...

How often have you found yourself working late into the night at the office? Or maybe taking advantage of the quote unquote benefits like free dinner only to realize that your work life balance is strained? If this sounds like you, chances are it might be crazy at work.

For this month’s Ladybug Podcast book club, we read "It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeyer Hansson, best known as DHH. In it they share their expertise about maintaining a healthy work life balance and how they’ve implemented these meas...

On our podcast, we talk a LOT about what to learn as a developer. But today we’re switching gears and talking about HOW to actually learn all this information. We’ll discuss the concept of metacognition, or how we learn and retain information as well as some strategies for making the process easier.

This week we have a super exciting episode, we’re chatting with Courtland Allen, the founder of Indie Hackers. We’re going to talk about what indie hacking is, how to get started with it, and his advice for gaining traction with indie products. Let’s get started!

This week we’re giving you all the details about our computer setups including our hardware preferences, browsers, desktop software, code editor and CLI settings, and top productivity tools. We’ll also tell you some of our miscellaneous preferences like most used emoji and current desktop photo.

Show notes

1:43 - What is the flow of the technical interview process

6:50 - The salary conversation

15:25 - Behavioral questions

27:32 - Interview prep strategies

34:17 - Red flags

45:17 - Shoutouts

Resources

Transcript

We provide transcripts for all of our episodes. You can find them here.

In one of our previous episodes, we talked about different jobs within tech, one of which is engineering management. Today we’re joined by the wonderful Amal Hussein, engineering manager at NPM and we’re going to chat more in-depth about her career path.

1:27 - Tell us about yourself

3:10 - Last fall you transitioned into a new role as an Engineering Manager at NPM. How did you make that leap?

5:38 - What does your day to day schedule look like?

8:32 - What’s the hardest thing about being a manager?

13:3...

Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognized or valued. If any of this sounds familiar, chances are that you're a woman.

This month for the Ladybug Podcast book club we read Invisible Women: Data Bias In A World Designed For Men by Caroline Criado-Pérez. In this episode we’ll discuss our thoughts on the...

Programming interviews are terrifying. There’s so much to learn and nobody enjoys answering technical questions in front of a complete stranger.

In this episode, we’ll dive into the frontend technical interview and give some tips and tricks for nailing it.

2:06 - Our experiences with technical interviews

3:36 - The interview process

14:15 - Phone screens

20:32 - Take home challenges

34:43 - In-person interviews

46:08 - Resources to get better at interviewing

49:00 - Shoutouts

Whether you’re seeking your first developer job or you’re looking to move to a new company, your resume is the first thing employers will see. Having a strong resume is what sets you apart from the competition. In this week’s episode we’re discussing all things resume-building, including what’s important to include, what can be skipped, and best practices for creating your resume.

1:24 - What do our resumes look like?

3:40 - CVs vs. Resumes

12:20 - Resume design

17:09 - What if I don’t have formal computer science education?<...

This week we’re talking all things game development! Joining us today is Arianna Rudawski, a software engineer with a super cool job. We’ll be discussing what a career in game development is like, the skills needed to become a game developer, and advice for getting into game development.

Computer science concepts like data structures and algorithms can be super intimidating, especially if you’re cramming the night before an interview.

In this episode, we’ll discuss common algorithms and data structures and give you some tips for your next whiteboarding challenge.

01:44 - Our experience with data structures and algorithms

05:00 - What are algorithms?

06:17 - What is Big O notation?

13:57 - Sorting algorithms

17:55 - Graph traversal

19:20 - Searching algorithms

20:04 - What are data structures

23:05 - Arrays

26:03 - Linked List...

We're so excited for the first-ever Ladybug Podcast book club episode! This is a bonus episode which will occur at the end of each month. This month we’re discussing Atomic Habits by James Clear.

If you want to follow along you can check out our Goodreads group and ladybug.dev/books.

0:36 - Our thoughts on the book

04:15 - The importance of habits

06:16 - Systems vs. Goals

08:01 - Layers of behavioral change

09:58 - Stages of habit formation

13:43 - Steps of breaking a bad habit

...

Every day we see companies market to us with a specific brand voice, and we can recognize the differences from one brand to the next. But what about personal brands? You as a person are a brand - it’s how you portray yourself on the internet and how others perceive you. I’m a brand, Emma’s a brand, Ali’s a brand. We’re all our own unique representations of ourselves. This week we’re discussing what it means to have your own personal brand and everything you need to know about building and managing your brand.

1:43...

Design for Developers

One of the biggest things that developers struggle with is design. It’s easy to look at an application and know that it looks terrible, but hard to explain why.

This episode we’re joined by Steve Schoger, co-author of the hugely popular Refactoring UI. We’ll learn some design tips and dive into the story behind the book as well as his other projects Hero Patterns and Hero Icons.

Show notes

1:40 - Who are you? Tell us a bit more about your coding/design journey.

10:22 - What...

To kick off our new season and a new year, this week we’ll be discussing 20 tips to start off strong in 2020. From mentorship to debugging to strategizing your learning, we'll give you all the advice you need for starting the year off right!

0:32 - 1. Challenge yourself to do something new.

04:30 - 2. Do a little bit each day.

07:03 - 3. Track your wins.

09:30 - 4. Get comfortable with failure.

12:08 - 5. Don't compare yourself to others.

16:28 - 6. Find a community.

19:24 - 7. People can be assholes, that's on them no...

Have you ever watched or attended a conference and been in awe of the speakers? How do they know so much information? How do they prepare a talk? How do they even get the courage to speak in the first place and what is that process like?

In this episode we’ll delve into all things conference talks. This is a very special episode because it’s our last episode this season. We’ve decided to release our podcast in seasons, which gives us more time to plan out our episodes and schedule guests ahead of time. We’ll...

Today we’re talking about web performance. Did you know that 40% of users abandon sites that take more than 3s to load? Turns out making your sites fast is pretty important! In this episode we’ll talk about what web performance is, why we should care, and we’ll give you tips for optimizing performance and measuring it.

Show Notes

For full show n...

How often have you encountered a problem and struggled to figure out where to start? Or maybe you aren’t super familiar with the browser tools available to debug your JavaScript code. So today we’ve brought on a special guest, Rebecca Hill, to help us learn about the world of debugging.

Show Notes

In recent years, working remotely has become a more popular office perk not only among startups but enterprise businesses as well. Some companies even ONLY work remotely. In this week's episode, we'll discuss our experiences working remotely, the pros and cons from an employer and employee standpoint, and provide some advice on whether or not working remotely is a good fit for you.

Show Notes

If you’ve ever seen Kelly’s Twitter account then you’ve probably heard of Shopify, an E-commerce platform that gives you everything you need to sell online. This week we’re talking to JML, CTO at Shopify, and we’re giving you all the details.

Show notes

Who are you and what is your role at Shopify? - 1:05
What does a typical day at Shopify look like? - 1:41
What was your path in tech? - 3:36
What is Shopify & e-commerce in general? - 7:44 What makes Shopify different from competitors? - 12:41
Why should dev...

This week we're talking all things portfolios. What can a portfolio do for you? How can you build one? Do you even need a portfolio to be successful? This week we'll delve into the world of portfolios.

Show Notes

What is a technical portfolio? - 1:16
Do we have portfolios? - 8:13
Why would you want a portfolio? - 8:21
How do you build a portfolio as a backend developer? - 17:06
What can you put in your portfolio? - 18:11
What if I'm bad at design? - 20:26
What should developers focus on when...

You've probably heard about some of the JavaScript frameworks that dominate the front end ecosystem. And this week's podcast we'll be discussing the pros and cons of JavaScript frameworks, go into detail about React, Vue, and Angular, and discuss tools and resources for how you can get started with these frameworks.

Difference between a library & a framework - 1:04 Do we even need a framework? - 4:37 Pros & cons of using frameworks - 13:25 Popularity of different frameworks - 16:54 React - 25:31 Vue.js - 34:14 Angular - 39:34 Which framework is right for me? - 44:23 Evolution & speed of frontend development - 45:44 Learning...

October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. We're talking with Shannon Crabill about what open source is, how to get involved with Hacktoberfest, and tips & tricks for maintaining open source projects.

Show Notes

October means it's time for Hacktoberfest. Hacktoberfest is an awesome event where you can get involved in open source whether it's your first time contributing or you're a seasoned pro.

In this episode we'll discuss what Hacktoberfest is, how you can start contributing to open source, and with our special guests Peter and Jess from Dev, we'll talk about how you can maintain your own open source project.

For full show notes, check out our website.

Design systems are in the world around us from the signs on the side of the highway to the setup of a grocery store and our products are no exception. But what exactly our design systems and how do we build them? In this episode, we'll take a look at the foundations of design systems, the benefits and drawbacks, and the process for creating one from the ground up.

1:23 What are design systems? 2:58 Emma's experience with design systems 3:52 Ali's experience with design systems 4:41 Kelly's experience with design systems 5:00 Do you need a design system and who are...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an effective teacher in the tech industry? Well wonder no more!

We had the pleasure of chatting with Angie Jones, Senior Developer Advocate at Applitools and Director at Test Automation University about her experience as a teacher. Angie talks to us about her teaching and learning styles and shares some advice for those looking to get into the world of teaching.

In this episode, we discussed how to teach to multiple skill levels, common misconceptions about being a teacher, and much more!

For the...

GraphQL has taken this industry by storm, but what is it exactly? In this special episode of the Ladybug Podcast we’ve invited 14 GraphQL experts from the community to educate us on all things GraphQL!

2:00 - What Is GraphQL? (Erin Fox)

8:21 - Benefits Of GraphQL (Akshar Takle)

11:19 - History Of GraphQL (Brian Douglas)

14:01 - Syntax (Chris Biscardi)

17:01 - Schemas (Kurt Kemple)

20:02 - Variables (Swyx)

24:24 - Fragments (Emma Wedekind)

25:36 - Directives (Jon Wong)

32:10 - Toolkit (Alan Johnson)

38:49 - React Hooks & Gr...

There are so many different paths your career can follow in the tech industry. There's frontend, backend, or even full-stack development. You could also be a software engineer, quality assurance engineer, UX engineer, manager, developer advocate, or something else entirely!

For full show notes and resources for today's episode, check out the episode page on our website

Today we are doing a deep dive about entrepreneurship with our in house business owner, Kelly! Everyone can benefit from thinking entrepreneurially, even people who don’t want to start their own business. We’re going to ask Kelly about all the things that we are curious about and scare us about entrepreneurship.

Check out full show notes and resources for today's episode, check out the episode page on our website

In our first part of our CSS episode, we discussed the foundations. In this special bonus episode we'll continue the conversation by covering some more in-depth areas of CSS, like layouts with Grid and Flexbox, animations, media queries, naming conventions, pre-processors, and frameworks.

Read the full shownotes and transcripts on our site: ladybug.dev/css-part-2

We all know that Peter Griffin Family Guy gif of him unable to work some blinds. This gif is always associated with the frustrations of CSS. Something changes, then something breaks. Why do people have these issues? How can you improve your CSS skills? What are the key concepts that you need to understand to write clean, maintainable styles?

In this episode, we'll talk all about the nuances of CSS -- what it is, how it works, and how to get better at it.

Read the full shownotes and transcripts at our site: ladybug.dev...

Have you ever been scared to contribute to a conversation or publish a blog post because you were worried you weren’t qualified enough? Wondered how you got to the point you’re at in your career because you feel you don’t belong? Or that you’re a fraud? You’re not alone!

In this episode, we discuss how we have experienced impostor syndrome and our personal strategies for combatting it.

0:36 How have we experienced Impostor Syndrome

In this episode, we're getting to know the ladybug hosts, both on technical and non-technical topics. Listen in to learn about our favorite tech stacks, our biggest career milestones, favorite books, and more.

Be sure to review the show notes on our website for links to all resources we discuss. We also have full transcripts listed there!

The landscape of technologies you can learn in the development world can be overwhelming if you don't know where to go next. In this episode, we discuss the technologies we're most excited about. From CSS to GraphQL, Django to WebAssembly, and design to augmented reality - we cover it all.

Be sure to review the show notes on our website for links to all resources we discuss.

One of the most popular outlets for programmers is through blogging. In this episode, we discuss why each of us got into blogging, the pros and cons of starting your own blog, and tips on how to make your blog a success.

View the show notes and a full transcript at ladybug.dev.

Side projects are an excellent way to express yourself creatively and build up your tech stack. But how do you find time to work on your side project when you have a full-time job and other responsibilities at home? In this episode, we discuss our personal side projects, along with some useful strategies for giving your side projects the attention they deserve.

View the show notes and a full transcript at ladybug.dev.

There are several different ways you can learn how to code. In this episode, we discuss computer science degrees, bootcamps, and self-directed learning. Each has benefits and have brought a lot of people into the world of programming. Each also has challenges.

We all have had unique paths to programming, so we'll incorporate our experiences and observations.

Visit ladybug.dev for the full transcript and show notes!