Productivity Tuesday | Hello Tech Pros

In this episode we host a practice interview with Brian, one of the beta members of the Career Design Patterns Academy. Brian is a .NET developer with 8 years experience who wants to get a new job and increase his salary. Joe Zack (of Coding Blocks podcast) and I interview Brian as if we were hiring a new team member to our fictional software company. Download the interview feedback audio and tips checklist at careerdesignpatterns.com/interview.

What software developers say and what they mean are sometimes two different things. Or to put it another way, what software developers say and what you hear are two different things. In this episode we discuss common statements from software developers and parse them for clues into their true intention.   Learn how to improve the communication between developers and non-developers, go to hellotechpros.com/manage. 

George Mocharko helps create authentic, crafted, strategic messaging for small businesses, start-ups, and non-profits. He also specializes in digital and print publications management, with professional-quality newsletter & magazine design and production, including marketing collateral creation. George has a Master's degree in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University's School of Policy, Government and International Affairs and a Bachelor's degree in Communication from Mason. He studied Digital Marketing at Georgetown and Front-End Web Development at General Assembly. He is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Society for Technical Communication, Graphic Artists Guild, and Project Management Institute®.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/ux-of-technical-documentation-george-mocharko/   What You Will Learn From This Episode People don't read the whole doc, they need an executive summary. Focus on the UX of technical document

Matt Miller spent the first 9 years of his career as an Air Force pilot, before entering the private sector to work in both the medical device and advertising industries. While a top performer in the corporate world, his long term desire was to be his own boss. A good friend one day mentioned the gum ball machines he and his young daughters owned, and that conversation began a 10 year business quest that has brought Matt's company, School Spirit Vending, to the cutting edge of both the vending and school fundraising industries. Today, School Spirit Vending's franchising program provides a proven and profitable business system for busy professionals and their families looking to develop secondary income streams with a limited time commitment. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/matt-miller-entrepreneurship/ What You Will Learn in This Episode Why flashy and glamorous isn't always profitable. Why you shouldn't tie your career or your business to the training or jobs you had years ago. How Matt built a profi

Shayla Price creates and promotes content. She lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology, and social responsibility. Originally from Louisiana, Shayla champions access to remote work opportunities.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/shayla-price/   What You Will Learn in This Episode How to create your own job when your employer doesn't meet your needs. The obstacles that Shayla encountered when tackling entrepreneurship in the non-profit space. How to determine what is in demand in the current market and decide which gaps to fill. Why you should focus on delivering results with the skills you have rather than chase new skills. Why it's important to realize people are ahead of you and behind you, and why that's just fine. How Shayla used her first low-paid gigs to jump start her business. How to grow into a person who is in high demand.   Resources Mentioned The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

James Hopkins is a Co-founder of the Atlas App Store, an early stage Google Play alternative. He studied economics at CU Boulder, and worked at two startups - a health tablet company, and energy retrofit company - before deciding to start his own venture. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/james-hopkins/ What You Will Learn From This Episode App Search engines can't find products via their underlying functions. Only apps with the largest budget get top results, but what you can do about that. Why it's easy to develop apps, but not to get exposure. Why you should be focusing on developing localized apps. The basics of app store submission forms. Non-SEO tactics for app adoption.   Resources Mentioned HTP-216: How to Overcome to Cycle of Meh — Patrick Vlaskovits Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Kamil Rudnicki is a programmer, entrepreneur, founder of Timecamp, and student. He is fascinated with the usable psychology of self-improvement, business, philosophy, meditation, good and meaningful life, decision making and what future will bring. Kamil is an Introvert (INTJ). Minimalist. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/kamil-rudnicki/   What You Will Learn in This Episode Why introverts find social situations exhausting. How to find the right mentor by looking 2 steps ahead instead of 100. Why "just in time learning" is highly effective and efficient. How to build a personal knowledge base and use it to maximize your continuing education. How to save time on reading time management articles by practicing time management. The biggest time-sink apps that are destroying your productivity.

David Fradin was a classically trained product manager at Hewlett-Packard during the 50 years that HP grew 20% a year. Apple recruited him to bring the first hard disk drive on a personal computer to market. He soon rose in Apple's management ranks to the same level as Steve Jobs by heading the Apple /// product line and providing the profits which helped fund the development of the Macintosh. Since 1969 he has worked on over 75 products and services, at 25 small, medium and large organizations and eleven startups covering hardware, software, services, internet, SaaS, mobile, advertising, online training, video and for non-profit public policy associations and political campaigns. He has taught what is in this book to thousands of senior managers, product managers, and product marketing managers worldwide at small, medium and large companies. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/david-fradin-product-design/ What You Will Learn in This Episode How tech leaders can combine value and vision to develop culture

Conrado Lamas is a journalist who's been working with startups and digital marketing for almost 5 years now. He explains how writers could and should transit to digital marketing, and how everything is learnable. Conrado works at Carts Guru, after successfully releasing Mailtrack and transforming it into a leader of its success.   What You Will Learn in This Episode How to understand people's behaviours using empathy. A brief history on traditional journalism and why today is so different. The trending "fake news" and what it means to professional journalism. Why Google rewards good journalism with better search rankings. What you can do to engage in contemporary journalism.

Amar Vyas is a husband, Co-founder of Kamakshi Media, and sometimes a writer. A self-described nomad, Amar has lived in fifteen cities over the past twenty years, including two years spent at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Indian Institute of Management, (A) Ahmedabad for his MBA. In his spare time, Amar likes exploring offbeat places, learning Gujarati from his wife, and spending time with his dog, Buddy. Amar and his family lives in Bangalore, India.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/amar-vyas-product/   What You Will Learn From This Episode Why entrepreneurs need to be as smart as possible with their seed funding. The 3 questions Amar asked when starting his media business. Why WhatsApp may be the biggest missing piece to your marketing and content distribution channels. The magic "Tardis" podcast boxes that may soon be all over India. How bots will transform the delivery of audio content.

Nina Meiers loves the leverage and flexibility technology provides and decided to embark on a farming journey growing healthy, delicious foods without chemicals.  Nina is an offline farmer and online entrepreneur who juggles feeding the chooks and alpacas with building websites and ecommerce for a range of companies, locally and nationally. Nina loves the grounded lifestyle of being a farmer combined with the location-independence that online business provides.   What You Will Learn From This Episode How you can work remotely as a freelancer. Why DotNetNuke content management system is underrated. The unique customer service tactics that Nina used to grow her client list. When to bill your clients even when they aren't being cooperative. How to be more productive by unplugging from technology.

Anthony Delgado has been an explorer of the digital space for over a decade. From transforming start-ups into multi-million dollar organizations, to helping nonprofits develop digital solutions to real world problems, Anthony's passion is using software to help change the way people interact with the world around them. Anthony is a full stack developer and technology hero at websignia, a digital strategy and innovation agency. websignia has worked with a wide variety of different companies including sports, media, entertainment, healthcare, government agencies and non-profits.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/anthony-delgado-technology/ What You Will Learn in This Episode What a hackathon is and how it can help launch your career or product. How to get superpowers using the Twilio API. The 3 consecutive winning hackathon entries that Anthony's team delivered. 5 ways to dominate your next hackathon.

Avrohom Gottheil helps businesses save time and money by ensuring they have the right technology in place to effectively optimize their business communications.  Avrohom has been in the telecommunications industry for over 20 years, and businesses from all over the world have reached out to him for his expertise in assisting them with installing, managing, maintaining, and training them on their phone systems. This past year Avrohom's company, SimiPlex Technologies, launched a new product portfolio which enables him to help businesses take their communications to the cloud! Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/avrohom-gottheil-entrepreneurship/ What You Will Learn From This Episode Why being self-aware is more important than being good at your job. Why having the right support system in place is critical to your business success. The best way to ensure that your company grows and evolves. Why Avrohom hired 3 coaches simultaneously and the biggest lesson they taught him. How to fold time and find short

The steps Justin Esgar takes to ensure that guests have a great conference, leave positive reviews and book again next year.   Justin Esgar filed his patents at conception, and today he is a serial entrepreneur, Mac guru, app developer, conference owner and speaker who revels in making life better for everyone through technological innovation.   SAVE $75! The ACEs Conference is dedicated exclusively to helping you grow your IT business. You already know how to do the work. Learn how to scale and monetize. Use discount code TECHPROS and save $75 on your registration.   What You Will Learn From This Episode How to build your businesses like a wheel with spokes where each venture supports the other. Why Justin built the ACEs Conference focusing on the business side of IT. How to avoid losing $20K when hosting your first conference. The 5 things you need to put on a great show. The kinds of sponsors that would be good for your event. The steps Justin takes on launch day to ensure that gu

Anthony D. Vaughan is 3X founder and the current CEO of Cognizance Capital Consulting, which focuses on bringing new and innovative content to first time entrepreneurs as well as marketing disciplines to small business owners. Cognizance Capital has served will over 600 entrepreneurs. Anthony has had the privilege of speaking at Colleges such as Towson, Maryland and Mcdaniel University where he shared his 4+ years of experience. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/anthony-vaughan-business/ What You Will Learn From This Episode Why 90% of Anthony's clients are not ready for business. Why technology professionals tend to work on the wrong things when launching their business. Examples of how other entrepreneurs pre-sold their ideas before building them. Why getting "rejection proof" is critical to succeeding in business. The differences between influencer marketing and context marketing and when you should use both.

Justin Constantine is a former Marine and attorney and is now an inspirational speaker and leadership consultant. He survived a gunshot wound to the head while serving in Iraq. He recently completed his first book, My Battlefield, Your Office: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines.   What You Will Learn In This Episode The harrowing story of how Justin Constantine took a sniper bullet to the head and how he faced recovery. Why your company wants you to be a leader and what you can do about it. What the Marines taught Justin about leadership and how that applies to technical professionals. How to design the perfect life for yourself and who can help make it a reality. How you can avoid being bounced around like a pinball and determine your own path to success.

Businessman and Life Coach, Aaron T. Walker, has inspired many through his leadership, mentorship, and consistent pursuit of excellence. He enjoys helping others and believes experience is a great teacher. 35 years of entrepreneurship and marriage have given Aaron a wealth of experience. Aaron continues to reach new heights and broaden his perspective of the terrain by examining his experiences and growing from them. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/aaron-walker-business/ What You Will Learn in This Episode What the loss of his father taught Aaron about relationships and his net worth. How introverted people can develop more confidence. How to develop a passionate following through videos, even with messy hair and unprofessional backdrops. How the "Give, Give, Give, Ask" method can grow your business. Why Aaron believes chasing work-life balance is a fallacy.   Resources Mentioned Aaron's free "Personal Assessment" and "What Do I Want?" guides View From the Top: Living a Life of Signif

James Studdart is a solutions architect and technical team lead, specialising in the .Net stack, with over 10yrs experience in the development industry. He has work in a multitude of different sectors including, but not limited to, Holidays, Intentional freight, medical and automotive. James recently started a new podcast to help other developers progress in their careers by asking the experts the questions you want to ask but maybe don't have the time to. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/james-studdart-career/   What You Will Learn in This Episode Why developers struggle with Imposter Syndrome. How to decide which framework to use when new ones are popping up every day. The biggest mistake holding intermediate developers' careers back. How James launched his own developer podcast. How to avoid gettign pigeon-holed into one technology.   Resources Mentioned HTP-107: Why Tigger is More Productive Than Eeyore HTP-224: War Stories From the Airsoft MilSim Field Start Your First B

Krish Subramanian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chargebee, a Subscription Billing Solution for Online Businesses. Krish is in-charge of business development, overall marketing, customer acquisition, communications and brand management. While at it, Krish continues to remain a member of customer support team. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/krish-subramanian-business/ What You Will Learn in This Episode Why Krish and his co-founders decided to build a team before building a product. Why SaaS is where it's at. Why accounting practices and accounting software is easy for your MVP but difficult when you scale your SaaS. The technology behind Chargebee's subscription billing APIs and how easy it is to integrate. How Krish mined forums for problems in his domain space and then used those questions to build social media and marketing content.

Tiffany Simpson is a digital media consultant who's journey as an entrepreneur took an about turn when her son was diagnosed with autism. It was during this challenge when Tiffany decided to create computer games and mobile apps to help her son develop his speech. She has since created more solutions to improve her son's educational and social skills. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/tiffany-simpson-product/ What You Will Learn in This Episode How Tiffany learned to build apps with no prior development training. The rate of improvement her autistic son showed after using her apps. Why the quality of your graphics and UI probably doesn't matter as much as you think it does. The biggest mistake Tiffany learned when launching her business and what she's learned from it. How Tiffany kept software pirates from making illegal copies of her software.