In today's episode, we hear an inspiring story from listener Basil. Today's episode is brought to you by Linode. Linode provides superfast SSD based Linux servers in the cloud starting at $5 a month. Linode is offering Developer Tea listeners $20 worth of credit if you use the code DEVELOPERTEA2017 at checkout. Head over to spec.fm/linode to learn more about what Linode has to offer to Developer Tea listeners .
In today's episode, we hear an inspiring story from listener Basil.
Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.
Linode provides superfast SSD based Linux servers in the cloud starting at $5 a month. Linode is offering Developer Tea listeners $20 worth of credit if you use the code DEVELOPERTEA2017 at checkout. Head over to spec.fm/linode to learn more about what Linode has to offer to Developer Tea listeners!
To start today's episode, I want you to take a moment. Just find a quiet place if you can, and even better if you can close your eyes. We're going to do a little bit of a visualization. I want you to visualize one or two places or situations where you recently felt completely content. Or maybe you felt excited or just a simple sense of happiness. And to make this visualization kind of come to life for you, I want you to think about the details around you. And don't strain doing this, but try to imagine that moment or that feeling that you had when you were doing something that really kind of aligned with what you really love in life. Today I have an inspiring story. I have an email to read to you from a listener. And hopefully this visualization kind of prepares you for this listener's message. It's a really exciting thing that I have people listening to this show like today's guest listener, Basil. Basil sent an email, and it was just such an inspiring email that I wanted to share it with you. My name is Jonathan Cottrell. You're listening to Developer Tea. My goal is to help driven developers connect to their ultimate purpose in life. And to excel at the work that they do so that they can have a positive impact on the people they influence. That's what this show is for. It's for developers who care about their work. And ultimately who view their work as an integral part of their purpose of what they're here on earth to do. And I hope that you fall into that category. If you don't, then certainly some of the things we say on the show you may disagree with. This is definitely a... This is definitely a very opinionated show. And even more opinionated as we continue to grow. Developer Tea is over 450 episodes now. Coming close to 8 million. We're not quite at 8 million unique downloads yet. So there's tons of content in our backlog. But we have a lot of great content that's coming up. And if you consider yourself to be a part of that kind of driven developer group, I'd love for you to subscribe in whatever podcast. Casting app you use. We produce three episodes a week. And they're always free. So the only thing that you're trading here is a few moments of your time. And then a few moments of your day. We try to keep these episodes short on purpose. So that I'm not getting in the way of your daily progress. Your mission each day. The thing that you have to focus on. My goal is not to become that thing. But instead to empower you to focus on that thing even more. And one of the ways that we do that is... Is to keep these episodes short. So I definitely want for those of you who fall into that group. To carry these conversations into your daily work. And into your communities and that kind of thing. That's really where this stuff comes alive. Is when you have someone else to discuss it with. So I'm really thankful that those of you who are in that group. That you're subscribing. And I'm really excited about what the future holds for Developer Tea. And for you. And I love to hear stories. Like today's story from Basil. Basil emails me and says... This year I graduated in my apprenticeship in Switzerland. As an application scientist. And you helped me out a lot. But more on a personal and emotional level. I made a bold choice to not apply as a web developer. But to switch the industry that I work in entirely. Now I'm going for photography and videography. Without any special education or degree in my backpack. During my whole life. Up until now. I've used a camera every now and then. And I've made some silly videos and photos. And after a recent hike. On the St. Jacobs way. I discovered my real passion. Started to take the photography game a little bit more seriously. But are the four years of apprenticeship a waste of time? The way I see it. They absolutely are not. After starting to tinker around with Instagram. I received so much positive and honest feedback. Both from users around the world. And my close friends. And my closer family circle. The confidence boost was so high. That I finally made my own website with Squarespace. Why did I use something like Squarespace? Well the answer is simple. So many people are so much better at programming than I am. And I don't want to spend the time doing everything from scratch. Not even with the best framework. I wanted to set my focus entirely on design. Not worrying about anything else. A few days ago I started to submit my stuff to unsplash.com. And I was like. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And again. So much positive feedback came. Now do I do this for the fame? Not at all. My goal is to reach out to people. And show them how I see the world. As someone with Asperger's Syndrome. And also to tell stories. On the flip side. I want to listen to other people's stories. And what they have gone through. In the grand scheme of things. You and many other programmers and designers. Have helped me out a lot. To paint my own picture. So once again. I want to say thank you. I wish you a great rest of the day or night. Depending on when you read this. With kind regards from Switzerland. Basil. Basil thank you so much for writing in. I hope I'm saying your name correctly. I'm probably not. But I apologize if that's the case. I'm really inspired by this. I want to talk about a few things. That Basil mentioned in this email. And we're going to take a quick sponsor break. But then we're going to come back. And talk about some of the things that Basil mentioned. But first before we do that. I just want to say thank you. For being vulnerable. And honest. And reaching out to me. And sharing the story Basil. Just because you have the skills of a programmer. Doesn't mean that your job title has to say. Programmer in front of it. That's not always the ultimate goal. It's not always the end point. That everyone who learns how to program. That doesn't mean that you have to work. With a job title of programmer. Some of the things that you learn. Along the way. Are going to as Basil put it. Help you paint your own picture. And I want to encourage people. Who are listening to this show right now. You do not have to be a developer. And really. We aren't just talking to developers on the show anyway. As it turns out. Tons of people who listen to this show. Are not even developers at all. And some of the people who are listening to this show. Who think they want to become developers. What you actually want. Is to work in a digital industry. Where you want a job. That has a positive outlook. An outlook of growth. An outlook. An outlook of stability. But you don't necessarily want to be writing code. And that's totally okay. You can still listen to the show by the way. But I certainly encourage you. To do exactly what Basil has done. And use your experiences. And your own introspection. To determine your own path. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. Right after we talk about today's awesome sponsor. Linode. Linode has been sponsoring Developer Tea. For quite a while. And here's the reality. Linode is caring. For developers. By continuing to support this show. They're investing in the development community. The software developer community. And they're allowing for us to continue what we do. Because cultivating developers. Is the first step. To creating a positive. Sense of value. In the industry. Right. And Linode provides an excellent. Excellent value. In fact. As far as I know. They have the best. Dollar. Per. Ram. Or Ram per dollar. Ratio. Whatever that is. You can get a server. Starting at a gigabyte of Ram. For five dollars a month. And you can do two gigabytes of Ram. For ten dollars a month. Of course. You can also do two. Five. Dollar servers. That add up to two gigs of Ram. But you have two separate boxes. Right. Now why would that be useful? Well. Imagine that you have. An application. That doesn't use a lot of memory. But it does need concurrency. It needs. A multiple. Request. Endpoints. You can. Spin up these two separate servers. The one gigabyte Ram servers. And then connect them with. Node balancer. This is another. Service that Linode provides. Linode also has. Expert customer service. That's available to you. Twenty four seven. And they have high memory plans. As well. For example. There's sixteen gigabytes of Ram. For sixty dollars. A month. That's an excellent plan. If you are looking to scale. Your product. Up. And Linode also works. On top of an. Internal. Two hundred gigabit. Network. That's. Incredibly fast. The. Messages that are sent between. Your multiple nodes. They're going to. Basically be. Almost real time. With that kind of speed. On the internal network. And it's built on top of. Intel E5 processors. Oh yeah. And. By the way. You get native SSD storage. On all of these servers. Again. Linode provides. This service. For such a good price. And. You can get. Get boxes spun up. In just a few minutes. Go and check out. What Linode has to offer. Spec. Dot. FM. Slash. Linode. Remember the code. Developer T. 2017. And you'll get. Twenty dollars worth of credit. Whenever you check out. And that. Uh. Twenty dollars can be spent. On pretty much. Any of their resources. So you can go. And do that node balancing. With that twenty dollars. For example. Go and check it out. Spec. Dot. FM. Slash. Linode. Thank you again. To Linode. For sponsoring. Today's episode. Of developer T. So I've shared with you. A story. From. Listener Basil. Who's decided. That. His passion. Is. Photography. And. He used. Square space. And he's. Submitting to unsplash. I certainly. Will try to find a link. To include in the show notes. Of Basil's work. But. I want to point out. A few things. That. That Basil mentioned. Number one. The idea. That. You know. A platform. Like square space. That. That you can use that. And focus. On one thing. You know. This is really important. And that's something. That developers. Often. Ignore. Or. Maybe they don't feel like. Is valid. The idea. That you can utilize. The work. Of someone else. Or a platform. That may even have. A bad reputation. And if it provides. Value to you. That value. Is independent. Of other people's. Opinions. Let me. Point out that. A little bit. Closer. Or. Maybe more. Articulately. The value. That a product. That you use. Or some kind of framework. Some kind of tool. Whatever it is. That you want to use. The value. It provides to you. Is not. A factor. That is determined. By other people's. Opinions. Of the value. That it provides to you. This is a fundamental. Thing. To understand. As you grow. As a developer. Right. You have to blaze. Your own path. You have to decide. The tools. That you're going to use. For your situation. No matter. What new tool. Has come out. That. No matter. What the benefits. Are. That are being claimed. Of using that tool. Or using that framework. Or. Buying into that ideology. Whatever those things are. It's important to recognize. You know. The data. Right. It's important to understand. Why those tools. Are being praised. For that. Why these other tools. Are being despised. For some of their. Their shortcomings. But. If the tool. Or if the thing. That you're buying into. If it provides. You sufficient value. And if you understand. Those value trade-offs. And you still decide. Yes. This provides me. Sufficient value. That is really. All that matters. Right. It doesn't matter. That people don't. You know. For example. If you're a developer. And you build. Websites. Then it's very possible. That using something. Like WordPress. Or even Squarespace. As Basil pointed out. Is perfectly. Suited for your. Particular application. So. Now does that mean. That you can blindly. Pick tools. Or blindly. Pick ideologies. Or methods. Without. Evaluating the risk. Absolutely not. But what you can do. Is make. An unpopular. Decision. And that feels. Very strange. Especially for young developers. It feels. Easier to go with the crowd. It feels. Easier to trust. That. Social backing. Social proof. Of a given thing. But sometimes. Sometimes. You will find. That your own research. And your own specific situation. Calls for you. To make your own. Decision. Thank you so much. For listening to today's episode. I encourage you to be like Basil. To make your own decisions. To forge your own path. And to determine the things. That you believe. Are going to be best for you. Basil. I really appreciate you reaching out. I also appreciate you. Letting us in. On your. On the. The fact that you have. Asperger's syndrome. You know. There are. Very likely. Other people. Who listen to this show. In similar situations. And I just want to encourage you. And thank you. For being here. And to you Basil. Specifically. Congratulations. On. Finding things. That you really enjoy. That kind of. Line up. With your talents. And your passions. And give you excitement. About the future. And I'm so glad. That I could be. A small part of that journey. Thank you so much. For listening to. This show. I hope you will. Subscribe. If you. Again. Consider yourself. A part of that group. Of people. Who want to connect. To your purpose. And ultimately. Want to create. A positive impact. On the people. That you have influence over. Thank you so much. For listening. To this show. Thank you to Linode. For sponsoring. Today's episode. Of Developer T. You can use. Linode. To leverage. Your dollars. Right. In the best way. You're going to have. A tool. At your disposal. That is worth. Every single penny. Go and check it out. Specs. Dot. FM. Slash. Linode. Remember the code. Developer T. 2017. To get $20. Worth of credit. At checkout. Thank you so much. For listening. Make sure you subscribe. And until next time. Enjoy your tea.