develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Interview With Timothy Stratton – Continuing Education

We continue our discussion with Timothy Stratton with a dive into continuing education and how to keep up in the fast-moving world.  There are always job responsibilities to address that keep our time at a premium.  We talk about finding ways to stay up-to-date and the cost of this career path. The Cost of Continuing Education Let’s start with the bad news.  There are only so many hours in the day, and that means we have to trade off other pursuits for our careers.  However, it is not all bad.  The things that Timothy mentions as giving up can always be reviewed later.  You may not watch as much television or go to the movies, but you can do that... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Timothy Stratton Interview Part 2 – The Value of Higher Education

Part two of our series of interviews with Timothy Stratton looks at his early years.  He started with a focus on higher education.  That worked well for him, but not directly because of his studies.  We explore how the journey taught him more than the academic focus. A Little Background Timothy is a software development manager at XSolis with a strong development background.  He has a master’s degree and a love for learning.  We gave some details in part one, but dig deeper into how his career started and how those steps lead to success today. Higher Education Side Effects The value of a degree is often noted as coming from the work done more than the learning itself.  Timothy... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Timothy Stratton Interview Part 1 – Starting a New Project

We start the next interview with an introduction to Timothy Stratton.  He is an experienced developer moving into a role as a manager.  This episode focuses on starting a new project and how to ramp up to new technologies. A Little Background Timothy is a software development manager at XSolis with a strong development background.  He has a master’s degree and a love for learning.  We will cover those in the interview, so no spoilers here. Starting A New Project We often have a new project to start.  That can be a new job, a new product, or learning a new language.  In each of these cases, we must first plot a path to go from little or no knowledge... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Trevor Ewen Part 4 – Extending Code

We wrap up the Trevor Ewen interview series with a discussion of building libraries and extending code.  While this is often a necessity, there are different ways it can be done to help separate your code from the core or to safely build on it.  Your desired approach will vary by application and the customers involved. Extending Code Safely There is often a right way and a wrong way to extend code.  We need to do this in a way that allows us to incorporate updates to the foundational source and not break our extensions.  It is also helpful to refactor extensions into using core functionality as libraries evolve.  Every tool and platform handles these “hooks” differently.  Therefore, we need... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Trevor Ewen Part 3 – Functional Core Imperative Shell

The third of our series of discussion episodes with Trevor Ewen touches on a functional core and imperative shell.  This is an approach to building software that uses a strong core to extend to custom solutions.  We provide some options for building on your previous solutions in the modern world of software frameworks, libraries, and open-source. Functional Core The underlying theme in this approach is a functional core.  You want to craft a foundation that is solid and extensible to speed future development.  That does not mean maximizing code reuse as much as it does solution reuse. Instead, we focus on delivering a solution quickly and reliably with less worry about maintenance.  Thus, we can build quickly and worry about refining... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Trevor Ewen Part 2 – The Technical MBA

The second part of our interviews with Trevor Ewen focuses on the value of a technical MBA.  We discuss the benefits of the degree, the program, and the network it can build.  This discussion is a must for those that are considering taking that step. A Little Background Trevor is an experienced software engineer, project manager, and real estate investor. He has overseen full-stack teams in clean energy, insurance, finance, and media. Notable engagements include Morgan Stanley, HBO, Bloomberg, Honest Buildings (now Procore), RunEnergy, Black Bear Energy, and PRco USA. He has an MBA from London Business School and Columbia Business School via the joint, global program. The Value Of A Technical MBA An MBA is not always an obvious... Read more