Technology Thursday | Hello Tech Pros

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 documentation. Remember that they are consumed by people, not technology. Start thinking about doc from inception and include a tech writer role. Make sure the documentation is accessible when anyone picks it up. A documentation specialist's job is to capture, aggregate, sort and redistribute knowledge. Professionals think 9-5, M-F. It's not time management, its energy management. Cater to energy and communication styles.

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

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 in their startup. Why SPICEs are the key to success. Strategy Process Information Customer Employees Why hackathons and venture capitalism may be counter to the results you are trying to achieve (fire, ready, aim). Why the salesperson's responsibility is to understand what the customer wants to do then match them to product or service that meets that need. Don't define yourself by the solution, but by the problems. How to observe users like a scientist.

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.

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.

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.

Dmitri Saveliev is a startup veteran with an extensive Silicon Valley background. His experience in developing banking software for Fortune 500 companies has prepared him to lead a venture of his own, ServiceWhale. Derived from his own personal frustrating experience shopping for a heating and cooling system for his home in Princeton, NJ, Dmitri founded ServiceWhale in an effort to create a true market for home improvement shopping where pricing is easily obtainable and the experience is similar to that of how consumers shop for most products and services online. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/dmitri-saveliev-technology/ What You Will Learn in This Episode How ServiceWhale saved 1.5 man-years by using existing frameworks and APIs instead of reinventing the mousetrap. Why it has been diffifult in the past to find a "big-ticket" service provider for home renovation projects and how ServiceWhale is helping. How Dmitri manages a development team spread across 5 timezones. How the object-oriented "purist" developers in the past did more harm than good. The problems you need to focus on when building your tech company.

From Jon Sonmez and SimpleProgrammer.com comes a list of 155 developer podcasts. I can't believe I just read them all. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/developer-podcasts-technology/ Resources Mentioned The Ultimate List of Developer Podcasts DeveloperPodcasts.com   Sponsors HelloUglySite.com AnxietyNerd.com

Gret Glyer is 26, has lived in Malawi, Africa for 3 years, crowdfunded $100,000 to build a girls school there, and most recently launched a revolutionary new app that is going to literally change the world by the end of this year. It's call DonorSee. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/gret-glyer-technology/ What You Will Learn in This Episode The conditions in Malawi that inspired Gret to start a poverty elimination app. Why travelling to a 3rd world country or launching an app is like taking a leap of faith. How donation campaigns have been run for ever and why they are so inefficient. Why the cost of your iPad is the same as a house in other countries. How Gret turned an idea into an app that is changing the world in 6 months.

Ron Atzmon is Managing Director of AU10TIX Limited, pioneers of multi-channel ID Authentication and record generation. Mr. Atzmon has led the company to the position of technology leader and provider of choice of the world’s major players. Under Mr. Atzmon’s leadership AU10TIX introduced the concept of “Secure Customer Onboarding”, redefining fraud prevention best practices but also influencing customer acquisition success rates across financial services markets. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/ron-atzmon-technology/ What You'll Learn in This Episode The importance of knowing your customer (KYC) in various markets. The history of ID Authentication and the challenges have already been solved. How ID validation problems can increase your real estate costs per customer. Why automation is the key to unlocking customer satisfaction. Which companies are having the hardest time adapting to the new mobile-first sharing economies.

This is Part 4 of the free 7-day audio and email course Start Your First Business.   What You Will Learn In This Episode Why most tech pros are wasting serious time and money on the wrong stacks when launching their business. The stack you need to master in any industry. The most critical piece of the stack that often gets overlooked. The biggest mistake I made when launching Hello Tech Pros and what I'm doing about it now. Why non-technical people often dominate at building business while tech pros struggle to find customers. How to change the relationship with your audience members from "Who are you again?" to "Please take my money!"   Resources Mentioned Start Your First Business Course

Travis Tidwell has been developing advanced enterprise software solutions for over 15 years ranging from Embedded GPS navigation products to Open Source web solutions. In 2008, he developed and founded the popular Open Source multimedia solution MediaFront (http://mediafront.org), but has since then created Form.io, a groundbreaking technology that provides a Form and Data Management system for Serverless Applications. Travis now serves as the CTO. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/travis-tidwell-technology/ What You Will Learn In This Episode The evolution of early web to content management systems to web 2.0 apps to serverless apps. The change that has affected the development community because of mobile-first design. What serverless forms are and how they work. How to simplify the connections between your forms and APIs. A slick way to generate the API and bind to the data by designing the form UI. Where to find the code repos to deploy a serverless form in minutes.

Brad Folkens is Co-Founder and CTO of CloudSight, where he oversees all technical aspects of the image cognition technology. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Theoretical Computer Science and Mathematics from Northern Illinois University. Prior to creating CloudSight, he co-founded CityTech USA, notable for creating the web-based collaborative government website PublicSalary.com. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/brad-folkens-technology/ What You Will Learn in This Episode The current differences between image cognition and voice cognition. The history of image recognition, pioneered by the postal and banking industries. How some companies are creating computer models that simulate the way the humen brain works. The industries that will most benefit from image cognition.

Career Hyperdrive Course: Day 4 The Career Hyperdrive Course is a free 7 day email and audio course for technical professionals to help launch your career into hyperspace. Each module in this course is designed to help you overcome a major barrier to your career growth. Here's what you're going to get out of the course. The motivation you need to overcome your biggest career obstacles and navigate asteroids. Productivity tips to help you crush it at work without killing your personal life (leaving more time at the cantina). Jedi mind tricks that will build your respect and influence across the organization without needing to move into a management track. A droid masterclass that’s going to guide you through the process of selecting the right technology for the right problem, every time. Social engineering hacks to break into the elite inner circles and get a seat at the Jedi Council. A strategy that will raise your value (and salary) within your organization and increase your reputation and negotiation power across the galaxy. The peace of mind to unplug from the job without the guilt of leaving your friends to fight the Death Star on their own, or the fear and anxiety of being pursued by bounty hunters.   The audio lessons are available to everyone, but the action items and homework are exclusive to the students who subscribe to the email version of the course. (Hint: If you don't take action and do the homework, you're probably not going to change anything.)   Click here to enroll in the full course. It's completely free.   Module 4 How to Choose the Right Tech for Every Situation Without Breaking the Budget   Here's what you're going to learn in the fourth module of the Career Hyperdrive Course.   The 7 technology problems that all stem from the root cause (and how to avoid them). The evaluation method to put every tech decision through. When to buy, when to build and when to forget the whole thing. A strategic way to roll out your tech solutions to right audience. The features you can safely ignore without imploding the project.

Brandy Semore has over fifteen years of management experience in various fields with a strong grounding in internet, data center operations and business management strategies. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and holds a MBA from Oklahoma City University, with an emphasis in project management and is PMP certified with the Project Management Institute. Beyond being a working mom delicately balancing her career with her family – she is passionate in helping and serving others. Brandy is dedicated to coaching others in managing successful projects, regardless of one’s background or training, as seen from her blog articles Project Success: Six Factors. She is also an advocate for equal pay and equal opportunity for women working in technology. She serves as the volunteer President and Executive Director for Oklahoma Women in Technology (OKWIT), which she co-founded in March 2016. Since its inception, OKWIT has attained over 350 members and expanded from the OKC metro area into Tulsa. She is also the Director of Operations for Pinnacle Business System, a information technology solutions provider. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/brandy-semore-technology/ Key Takeaways When you have women in leadership positions in technology, businesses see an increase in productivity and profit. Sometimes men stop talking shop when women workers walk in the room. Women built the first computer. In the 1980s, women dropped out out of tech jobs and STEM degrees. 35% of computing jobs filled by female workers in the U.S has dropped to 26% today. Women as a whole have to be guarded about what they say about their careers to not damage the relationships with their male colleagues. Many women in technology are introverts and don't like speaking out. Groups like OKWIT are connecting women in a safe environment to talk about these issues. Women are starting to feel empowered. They are asking for raises, asking for promotions and getting in leadership. Women in technology starts at home as parents. Introduce girls to technology, Legos, telescopes, microscopes, Scratch camps. High school admins need to introduce girls to tech opportunities and STEM activities. Collegiate professors and administrators need to make females feel comfortable and welcome. Don't say things to make a girl feel bad about herself for being interested in STEM. When planning an offsite event, include activities that are more inclusive. Men tend to ask for raises and promotions more while women wait. Managers need to be aware of this and look across the entire talent pool.   Resources Mentioned OKWIT Ada Lovelace Scratch Osmo Starter Kit Osmo Genius Kit Osmo Coding Kit

Nick Rust has spent the majority of his professional career working in Healthcare IT (10 years), with a particular emphasis in Health Care and Medical Device information security. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/nick-rust-technology/ Key Takeaways It's common that most people don't have experience in healthcare IT. When medical devices first came out, it was an instrument, not a piece of information technology. Radiology has more tech and devices than most other departments. Biotech been around for decades, IT came in 1980s. New biotech are computers integrated into the instruments. The facilities and instruments are not good at network segmentation. FDA recently said that the industry is far below standard. The most basic security features are missing in many biotech areas. No network whitelisting. Running Windows XP. Gaining network access to medical devices is an excellent way of escalating level of access across the network. If you can gain control of one hospital in a network of 75 means you have a greater chance of gaining access to the other 74. If you change how you practice medicine every 18 months, people are going to die. The practice can't keep up with the development of enterprise and personal computing advancements. Data security is the best growth area in healthcare IT.

Stephen Gatchell is currently a Chief Data Officer Engineering Analytics & Data Lake at EMC and serves on the EMC Data Governance Office, Master Data Management and Business Data Lake Operating committee’s developing EMC’s corporate strategies for the Business Data Lake, Advanced Analytics and Information Asset Management.  Stephen also serves as a Customer Insight Analyst for the Chief Technology Office analyzing customer technology challenges and requirements. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/stephen-gatchell-technology/ Key Takeaways A data lake is a way to democratize data. It can be structure, unstructured or semi-structured including all of the data assets including visualizations, tables and views. The idea of a data lake is to break down the silos between the departments and come up with innovative solutions across a variety of different sources. The use cases are very important. Historically, "big data" was 1 GB and all of it was managed by IT. The data would be imported into a BI system in order to analyze. There was no drill down into the raw data from a report. Today data analysts are at all levels of the organization in all departments. HR, legal, engineering, interns and VPs are all analysts. Now we need real-time data with access across the organization. The people, process and technology have all progressed over the last few decades. People who want to drill down to get to the results. Process to get the analytics updated in real time. Open source technology allows anyone to build their own database. A data scientist is a subject matter expert (SME) that understands the data and also can code. They don't need to have a mathematical background but they are studying statistics and want to generate a D3 visualization. Rogue IT is a good thing (as long as they aren't a security risk). We want the business to understand technology. IT needs to keep the lights on and support the business in finding new tech. IT needs to look for end-to-end solutions that help many groups across the org. Data lake, visualization, ingestion tools for example. The next things in Big Data are data governance, MDM and data quality. What is the value of this data to our business? Natural Language Query (NLQ) will enable a no-UI analytics engine. Flash storage will allow petabytes to be searched very quickly. Always learn, build connections and be as persistent as possible.

TradeLive, a recently launched Austin-based startup, is a modern business-to-business marketplace for new and used IT gear aimed at eliminating the pitfalls that make other IT exchanges slow, unreliable and restrictive. General manager Doug Wick is building this company, after having spent 15 years in senior product/business development roles at software startups. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/doug-wick-technology/ Key Takeaways The secondary market for IT gear is starting to mature like the used car market. 15 years ago, your only real solution was to find some guy online and sell him a trunk full of stuff. This was ok for small businesses, but not practical for enterprise. In asset disposition, most of it goes to recycling. Cars and computers drop value quickly, though there are still some hardware that is usable and valuable for smaller businesses. Due to Moore's Law, the progress on hardware outpaces the software. The lifetime of hardware is useful for 15 years now. Instead of buying a new router with new options and configurations you can now get the same model off the secondary market. Valuing IT equipment is like valuing art. Tradelive is like CarMax for IT gear. All the inventory is priced at the best price, and is driving the change for the industry. This network of dealerships operates via price transparency and market efficiency. We are now in a position to allow developing countries have access to this equipment. The secondary IT market has been valued in $100s billions. The Austin tech scene works on non-sexy problems.

After a close-call with a hippopotamus while canoeing in Africa, Tim Barnes celebrated life with African artists and artisans by commissioning a custom, hand-crafted “hippo chair”. After 25 years of consulting and leading IT organizations, Tim decided to give back to a third-world community — but more than aid — by creating awareness and business opportunities via first-world marketing channels and old-school import/export legwork. Tim Barnes has spent the last 20+ years in the Information Technology industry, half of which as a consultant for Deloitte and Accenture and half as Director of Information Delivery at Devon Energy. Tim has lived in both the US and Canada and enjoys backpacking around the world. Today he is the Founder at MoreThanAid. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/tim-barnes-technology/   Key Takeaways More Than Aid is a cause that helps villages in Malawi, Africa help themselves by providing an international marketplace to sell Malawi artwork. Malawi ranks 173rd out of 188 countries worldwide on the United Nations Human Development Index. 20 pieces of art has been shipped and sold to US and Canadian art collectors which has provided resources for 3 kids to go to secondary school. Over 50% of the population in Malawi are 15 years old and under. The adults time are focused on farming and food and water, not trying to create economic change. In most aid situations, most of the money goes to the bigger cities, not the rural areas. Tim used Excel to develop a pricing formula for the artwork. How big is the picture, how many colors, how complex? Facebook became THE platform for communication and coordination, both on the marketing side and the volunteers. Accepting a Facebook friend from an impoverished country can be eye opening. It's important to people in Canada and US what its like to be a native in impoverished countries. People in developing countries think differently than privileged because of the challenges they've overcome. They've learned how to survive. They may inflate their situation to get noticed, which can lead to corruption.

Adam Wallschlaeger started his own consulting and training business 3 years ago, seeking to help business professionals and job seekers use LinkedIn to accomplish their goals.  LinkedIn is his primary area of expertise, but he also helps people start their own small businesses.  He trains people on website development, social media, blogging, podcasting and sales development.  He also hosts a podcast called Unsubscribe From The Cubicle where he interviews entrepreneurs in order to find their roadmap to success.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/adam-wallschlaeger-technology/

Aric Watson is a full-stack web developer with nearly 20 years of experience, currently working for Nexcess.net, a Michigan-based web hosting company that specializes in hosting high-traffic Magento e-commerce websites. Aric works on internal projects as well as several of Nexcess' open-source Magento extensions. You can find him at various conferences and meetups. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/aric-watson-technology/ Resources Mentioned nexcess.net Magento Composer This Oklahoma Fempreneur Runs 3 Businesses On Her Smartphone — Lauren Rutledge on Entrepreneurship   Sponsors Minio.io - Minio Cloud Server written in Go for developers and devops. TransourceMedia.com - Podcast and multimedia post-production. BookMoreNights.com - You've got the best vacation rental property, show it off!

Over the past 10 years, Jason Will has successfully worked as a social media and technology consultant, freelance writer, speaker and advisor. A few things became clear over the course of time: building personal brands, teams and companies are the fueling elements of his passion. Content marketing > social selling always. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/jason-will-technology/ Sponsors Minio Cloud Storage

Why do some companies treat software development as a cost center but data science as strategic investments? Don't they both write code? Jamie Dixon has been writing code for as long as he can remember and has been getting paid to do it since 1995. He was using C# and javascript almost exclusively until discovering F# and now combines all three languages for the problem at hand. He has a passion for discovering overlooked gems in data sets and merging software engineering techniques to scientific computing. When he codes for fun, he spends his time using Phidgets, Netduinos, and Raspberry Pis or spending time in Kaggle competitions using F# or R. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/jamie-dixon-technology/   Sponsors Minio Cloud Server - Written in Go and supported by a passionate community. BookMoreNights.com - You've got the best vacation rental property, show it off!

These are the tools and technology I've use to publish 100+ episodes of Hello Tech Pros podcast.   Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/podcast-tools-technology/ Sponsors Minio Cloud Storage - Store photos, videos, VMs, containers, log files, or any blob of data as objects.

David S. Platt teaches .NET programming at Harvard University Extension School and at companies all over the world. He’s the author of 11 programming books, including Why Software Sucks (Addison-Wesley, 2006) and Introducing Microsoft .NET (Microsoft Press, 2002). Microsoft named him a Software Legend in 2002. David Platt recently published The Joy of UX. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/david-platt-technology/ Sponsors Minio Cloud Sever - Store photos, videos, VMs, containers, log files, or any blob of data as objects.

Hani Mourra is a Dad, Softwareprenuer and the creator of WordPress plugins that automate the publishing of videos, podcasts, and live videos to your WordPress site. He is extremely passionate about creating automation software to help content creators build their email list and grow their audience faster. SimpleSocialPress - Automatically Publish Facebook Live Videos To Your WordPress Site SimplePodcastPress - Automatically Publish Podcasts To Your WordPress Site SimpleVideoPress - Automatically Publish YouTube Videos To Your WordPress Site SimpleLivePress - Automatically Publish #Blab Live Broadcasts To Your WordPress Site Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/hani-mourra-technology/

Aaron Schlesinger discusses the past, present and future of the Go programming language and why it is coming to take over the world. Aaron Schlesinger is a Sr. Software Engineer at EngineYard where he’s a core contributor to the Deis project. Being a Go developer for the past 2+ years, he has distilled his knowledge of the language into the Go In 5 Minutes screencast as well as speaking at various conferences and events about Go. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/aaron-schlesinger-technology/ Sponsors Burdene - Reminder bot. HelloTechBook.com - Get a free audio book from Audible.

Most people launch their product to the sound of crickets instead of fireworks. The reason is because their pre-launch sequence failed to ignite (or worse, they didn't have one). Arne Giske is running a 7-Day Entrepreneur Improvement Challenge and is giving away the case study on the exact pre-launch sequence he used to get this challenge off the ground. I want to extend a special invitation to join Arne's 7-Day Entrepreneur Improvement Challenge (it's completely free) first because it's packed full of great information, second because I will be one of the 7 featured guests within the challenge. I'll be visiting Arne on Day 4 to talk about Tech & Tools, specifically on how to implement a Technology Decision Process. Sign up for the challenge now. Arne Giske is the host the Millennial Entrepreneur Podcast where they share startup stories from young business people worldwide. He is also the founder of Giske Business Network, an agency that focuses on mobile app development and digital product launch strategies. He is an advocate for youth entrepreneurship, a fan of frameworks, and a few short months out from launching multiple mobile apps with his team. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/arne-giske-technology/ Key Takeaways Most people launch their product or service to the sound of crickets instead of fireworks. You need to focus on the pre-launch marketing sequence as much (or more) than the product development. Find a core group of ideal users. Find a list of competitors and read the one- and two-star reviews. Prepare your toolkit, including digital marketing channel, email lists, landing page. As you tell people about your idea, guide them towards your landing page and get them on your email list. Involve your audience in the story of your product. Focus groups and beta testers are your goldmine. The more feedback they give, the better your can focus. Nurture the community and help them understand why you are there to help. The last couple of weeks before launch is the most criticl time. Hit every marketing channel hard and give customers great deals. "Hook them up!" Give a cutoff date and stick to it. Arne is launching a 7-Day Entrepreneur Improvement Challenge. Day 1 - Mindset Day 2 - Fitness Day 3 - Education Day 4 - Tech & Tools

This founder's company is providing the backend services to power your next Uber-like idea. Indemand let's you build an on-demand business in minutes. Originally from Nottingham, England, Alex Saidani is an entrepreneur and self taught developer since the age of 13. Alex has helped change the world by giving communities in Africa access to clean water with GiveMeTap a YCombinator company, founded Hashtrack a social media analytics company, chosen to represent Britain as one of the top innovators and is now disrupting the on-demand economy with Indemand, a 500 Startups company. Alex did all this before the age of 22. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/alex-saidani-technology/ Key Takeaways Many software developers get started from tinkering instead of through computer science courses. Alex's first app got rejected from the app store because it was a web-hybrid app that should have just been a web application. Song of the Day app was the first app approved. Alex packaged his physics notes for high school in an app, charged £1.49. Indemand is like Shopify for on-demand apps. Instead of building an e-commerce system you can set up a system like Uber on Indemand to manage the products and services, customers can make orders and drivers can accept jobs. Thanks to Uber a lot of people's expectations have changed. Everyone wants to place an order, track it, rate it and get it within the hour. The technology at the heart of Indemand is websockets, Google Maps, Twilio using Angular 2. In the future, Indemand  API will allow people to customize the ordering system. Available before the end of 2016. To get your startup productive quickly, use technology with which you already have experience. Resources Mentioned Indemand Sponsors Transource Media - Transforming businesses through the power of multimedia. Be a guest on Hello Tech Pros. Get a free audio book from Audible.

Do we control the technology in our lives or does the technology in our lives control us? Pamela Pavliscak is a design researcher who studies our conflicted relationship with technology. She is founder of Change Sciences, a research think tank focused on humanizing technology for Chase, NBC Universal, Virgin, and many others. Pamela is writing a book coming out later this year called, Designing for Happiness, and has spoken at SXSW, Google Creative Labs, the Future of Design, and Collision. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/pamela-pavliscak-technology/ Key Takeaways What makes people feel happy or miserable about technology? We have been through many waves of technology in the last 100 years. Mainframe computers and home automation / home devices (refrigerators & washing machines). Personal computers and early access to internet. Smartphones and high-bandwidth. Wearables and embeddables. People are fascinated with smartphone and get emotionally attached to them. We know how phones are making us miserable, but how does it impact happiness? They allow us to be creative. They allow us to create and foster relationships. When we design technology for one purpose, how much control do we have over how people actually use it? What do we value in technology? When we move from smartphone to embedded tech, we can't as easily "detox" or unplug. People working in tech are generally optimists. Data collection and privacy is a huge issue. We have symbiotic relationship with technology and need to be conscious on how we use it and how it affects us. Resources Mentioned Change Sciences Did God Create the Internet? by Scott Klososky HTP-49: How Much Time Do You Spend on Your Phone? Being Unplugged Sunday with Kevin Holesh Moment app Focus app Sponsors Levant Technologies - Website and mobile design

Radoslav Stankov has been doing software development since 2002, starting as PHP programer, but quickly moved around the tech stack. Rodoslav considers himself to be a full stack developer. Currently he's working at ProductHunt, where he does iOS development in Objective-C / Swift, backend in Node and Rails and frontend in React / Redux. He believes that frontend and backend are equally important and a lot of problems can be avoided by working in collaboration. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/radoslav-stankov-technology/ Key Takeaways ProductHunt started as small mail list, hottest thing in tech today. Place to discover your next favorite thing - podcast, text, books. Not a single person knows everything, ask for help if you don't know, there is no shame, but there is shame in not having respect for others. Estimating projects can be off by far if you don't understand the other tech stacks. Strive to be equal partners with clients, they can explain why something not needed or need to be added, have weekly goals. Everything that can be automated should be automated, just focus on what the code should be doing. graphQL from Facebook is alternative to REST services + JSON and every client gets the same response graphQL you pass in a template and get back the data you want mobile app and chrome extensions use public API; website uses private API where things change contantly defined like a database schema People should not label themselves as a frontend or backend developer, they should be someone who solves problems on a team. Resources Mentioned ProductHunt graphQL Sponsors Levant Technologies - Voted Oklahoma's #1 website design and development company.

How do you charge all of your devices at night? This couple struggled with cable mess and until they developed their own solution: the NytStnd. NDF+Group LLC, was created as an outlet for co-owners Chad Diez and Victoria Norris to utilize their industry experience from the corporate worlds of Design and Marketing, into the small business sector. From ideation to creation, this family owned business is capable of designing, manufacturing, and launching mainstream products. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/victoria-norris-technology/ Key Takeaways Cable management on the traditional night stand in 2016 is a mess There aren't many (any?) other docks on the market that let you plug in your iPhone, iPad, Apple TV remote and Apple Watch Wireless charging is coming down the pipe and NytStnd is following the trend NytStnd is not just for Apple devices, it supports other USB cables for Android, Windows, etc Be open to try new things and receiving feedback and iterating through several versions Resources Mentioned NytStnd.com Sponsors BookMoreNights.com - You've got the best vacation rental property, show it off! About Hello Tech Pros Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.

David Crook is a Microsoft Developer Evangelist formerly of Microsoft Consulting Services.  He is focused on Data Science, Machine Learning and High Performance Computing.  He is also known as the Mad Scientist on his team. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/david-crook-technology/ Key Takeaways Are you a mad scientist? Scientist = someone who pursues knowledge in a structured way Mad = uncontrollable and disastrous Twitter is a cesspit of language Studying the interactions of AI is really the study of how real humans interact Many experts in the field of data science are mathematicians first and programmers second It's all about being able to prove your results and make sure they are consistent and reproducible Using math models to represent the data instead of a lot of if-then-else blocks SCADA systems in oil and gas industry has very complex problems of monitoring 100,000's of data points and analyzing for leaks, equipment failures, etc Azure machine learning tool has given the old systems an easy UI Experts can build and train a model in less than a day, used to take months Allows data scientists to solve different types of problems faster Get nice added features that didn't get before The amount of machine learning capabilities available on high-end cell phones are incredible Some problems may be able to move out of the cloud and onto the device You can distribute map/reduce problems to cell phones More programming languages are supporting machine learning frameworks, meaning more developers can solve machine learning problems If you want to get into machine learning, just start building Find a problem and start working on it from a mathematical perspective Resources Mentioned How to build a talking teddy bear Microsoft Tay Tay became a racist jerk after learning from Twitter Azure Machine Learning Tensorflow CNTK Sponsors BookMoreNights.com - Is your vacation rental property fully booked 100% of the time? BookMoreNights.com helps with your rental property marketing to book more nights.

When Jared Porcenaluk first experienced computer programming courses in college, he felt at a competitive disadvantage and quickly decided to change his major. After a second attempt in a more collaborative environment, Jared grew to truly love the practice. Now he wants to build an international hotspot for IoT in his hometown of Orlando, Florida. Jared Porcenaluk is a developer and tech enthusiast with five years of experience, mainly in the Microsoft .NET stack. He lives in Orlando, works at Nebbia Technology, and also co-organizes the Internet of Things Orlando meetup group. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/jared-porcenaluk-technology/ Key Takeaways Learning computer programming is never-ending Attempt to deeply learn every day .NET stack now plays nicely with other stacks - or a least nicer IoT is the "train of awesome" - only visionaries can see it for what it is Come to Orlando IoT Meetup Group Resources Mentioned "I'm grokking, here!" jaredporcenaluk.com .NET Gulp NuGet Internet of Things (IoT) Orlando Unikey

As a new mobile developer in the early days of mobile development, James Montemagno was given two months to build a cross-platform app for remote DVR management. Luckily, he discovered the Mono Runtime and was able to hit his aggressive target because IT JUST WORKED. Today he helps the mobile development community successfully build and launch native cross-platform applications using Xamarin. James Montemagno is a Developer Evangelist at Xamarin and Microsoft MVP. He has been a .NET developer for over a decade working in a wide range of industries. Before joining Xamarin, he was a professional mobile developer. James has now been developing with the Xamarin platform for over 4 years. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/james-montemagno-technology/ Key Takeaways Use technology that JUST WORKS Work with technology and on problems you are passionate about Yesterday was the best day to get into mobile development Today is currently the best day to get into mobile development Every day is the best day to get into mobile development, the landscape is constantly improving Cross-platform mobile development is a reality We are at a peak in mobile development - just hit 1-1.2 million apps in app stores A new app is released to iOS App Store every 3 minutes TV is still a big untapped market that no one has cracked Cross-platform development is about deploying the best user experience for the right type of device Augmented reality is the future - from entertainment to virtual travel to field work Resources Mentioned Xamarin Microsoft MVP Award Mono Runtime Consumer Electronic Show HockeyApp Under the Radar - iOS Podcast Xamarin Evolve conference Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Listen on Audible) Sponsors ScrumBrawl Transource Media About Hello Tech Pros Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.

Santosh Hari discusses the challenges with working with regulatory agencies to provide cell and internet access in developing countries, the benefits of building your platform on cloud technologies such as Microsoft Azure and the future of IoT. Santosh Hari is a software entrepreneur with experience building products on the .NET platform since 2002 and over 15 years in the software industry. Before 2000, his claim to fame was working on projects that saved the world from the Y2K disasters. Santosh Hari currently works for Spectrum Bridge, a wireless startup, where he leverages his software skills to help build high quality, affordable wireless broadband to the developing world. He also dons the volunteer cape and helps the Orlando .Net User Group (ONETUG) organize meetups and Orlando Codecamp. After hours, he helps out at Sand Dollar Technology, a joint tech venture with his wife. Santosh is a public speaker in the areas of technology – cloud, G.I.S and startups. He has given talks at meetups, codecamps, barcamps and also at Ignite Tampa Bay in 2013. When not working on software projects, Santosh loves playing tennis, rescuing animals and rooting for his favorite sports team, the Florida State Seminoles. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/santosh-hari-technology/ Key Takeaways In developing countries, it's a cash economy; how can we provide services without cash transactions? Respect the local cultures and standards Building software as a startup is more nebulas than as a consultant Train your mindset to be more adaptable Stop chasing shiny objects Look for 10x improvements before changing tech platforms Automate work where possible to free humans to achieve greater things CEOs should think like techies and tech pros should think like CEOs   Resources Mentioned Spectrum Bridge Microsoft Azure Orlando .Net User Group (ONETUG)   Sponsors This episode of Hello Tech Pros is sponsored by ScrumBrawl ScrumBrawl is a fast paced, extremely chaotic board game where fantastical creatures vie for supremacy within the Arena, a 20x20 battle pit where dragons, hydras, golems and tiny tiny chickens score goals by maneuvering magical orbs into portals or fighting other creatures to the death. (Sorry chicken) ScrumBrawl is the product of VicTim Games and you can listen to the backstory of this indie board game by going back to Hello Tech Pros episode 28 where I interview Tim Bugher, one-half of VicTim. We talk about the original concept, the product design and the upcoming expansion set. That’s Hello Tech Pros episode 2-8. But wait, there’s more! I am giving away a copy of the game to one lucky listener. To qualify, leave a review for Hello Tech Pros on iTunes or Stitcher Radio (or both) and send me an email with the screenshot to chad [at] hellotechpros.com. At the end of the month, I’ll randomly select one entry and send them a copy of ScrumBrawl board game. Once again, leave a review for Hello Tech Pros on iTunes or Stitcher Radio (or both) and send me an email with the screenshot to chad [at] hellotechpros.com. ScrumBrawl. Fantastical, brutal, fun.

Struggling to understand the engineering practices of a new system is tough. Failure to understand the business domain can lead to a critical failure. While working on trading software on Wall Street, Joshua Johnson's lack of domain knowledge led to a personal failure. In this episode, Joshua and I discuss the importance of domain expertise, use cases, web services and the future of Big Data. Joshua Johnson was born in Oklahoma City, OK and has degrees from University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Christian University. His first job was on Wall Street where worked with trading software and later moved to Europe to work for European banks. Now he is back home in Oklahoma with his wife, 2 kids and a boxer puppy. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/joshua-johnson-technology/ Key Takeaways Domain expertise (or lack of) can make or break a project Use cases need to be carefully thought through and well documented If you aren't building with web services or APIs, how are you future-proofing your system? Don't ever give up on your ideas, do it anyway This episode is sponsored by: Hello Tech Pros. Want to be a guest on the show? Chad Bostick here, and I’m helping professionals who work with technology build a personal brand and get connected to an audience of thousands of technologists, entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors. Download my cheat-sheet of interview questions and apply to be a guest today by texting HELLOPODCAST to 44222 or visiting hellotechpros.com/guest Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.

Over his head on a project with tight deadlines and technology he didn't understand, Grant Vinson found himself in a vegetated state and discouraged. Today he's excited when presented with a challenge because it means it will make him a stronger developer. In this episode we talk Grunt, SASS, Node.js, Laravel, CSS compatibility issues and virtual reality. Grant Vinson is a frontend web developer who mainly focuses on UX and UI. He is currently working on his first conference pitch and will be launching a new coworking space management app named Dovetail. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/grant-vinson-technology/ Key Takeaways There are multiple solutions to every problem Be resilient and learn how to Google What doesn't kill you makes you stronger Resources Mentioned Dovetail Grunt Laravel CSS Flexbox CSS Houdini Grant's app boilerplate with Grunt tasks and SASS/JS files This episode is sponsored by: Hello Tech Pros. Want to be a guest on the show? Chad Bostick here, and I’m helping professionals who work with technology build a personal brand and get connected to an audience of thousands of technologists, entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors. Download my cheat-sheet of interview questions and apply to be a guest today by texting HELLOPODCAST to 44222 or visiting hellotechpros.com/guest Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.

Denver Brown discusses the challenge with user interfaces on early sound mixing software, the benefits of social networking platform LinkedIn and the future of IoT including with the Nest thermostat, smart grids and wearables. Denver Brown is a Sr Account Executive at Calance, providing IT design, implementation, operation and talent services for enterprise customers enabling transformations to new technologies such as cloud and mobile. This episode of Hello Tech Pros is sponsored by… ME, Chad Bostick. As an enterprise IT leader I’ve gotten the opportunity to solve a number of different business problems including field worker productivity, back-office process efficiencies, enterprise system integrations, big data analysis, resource management, and IT complexity reduction. Each project comes with it’s own unique challenge whether it be distributed teams, change management, stakeholder buy-in, availability of subject matter experts or just getting one technology to play nice with others. Let me know what business problem is keeping you up at night, and how you’d like me to help. Go to chadbostick.com and click the CONTACT button, or text HELLOCHAD to 44222. Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/denver-brown-technology/ Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.

Quinton Crenshaw recalls a complexity reduction project that took 5 years off his life, discusses how the Suryl Nexus software platform provides work order management to small and medium businesses and envisions a near-future where heads-up-display wearables will provide ways for field service employees to innovate and increase productivity. Quinton Crenshaw is an experienced leader who enjoys using technology to provide IT service breakthroughs for companies. He is the COO of Suryl Services, where he works with friends to bring new thinking and technology to old problems. This episode is sponsored by: Hello Tech Pros. Want to be a guest on the show? Chad Bostick here, and I’m helping professionals who work with technology build a personal brand and get connected to an audience of thousands of technologists, entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors. Download my cheat-sheet of interview questions and apply to be a guest today by texting HELLOPODCAST to 44222 or visiting hellotechpros.com/guest Show notes at http://hellotechpros.com/quinton-crenshaw-technology/ Hello Tech Pros is the daily podcast that interviews business professionals who work with technology and discuss Motivation, Productivity, Leadership, Technology, People, Entrepreneurship and Being Unplugged.