Podcasts about Conestoga College

Greg Brady spoke to Vikki Poirier, President of OPSEU Local 238, representing support staff at Conestoga College about Conestoga College President John Tibbits resigns after union pressure, OPSEU/SEFPO invites interim leadership to rebuild together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Brady spoke to Vikki Poirier, President of OPSEU Local 238, representing support staff at Conestoga College about Conestoga College President John Tibbits resigns after union pressure, OPSEU/SEFPO invites interim leadership to rebuild together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Brady spoke to Lior Samfiru, Co-founding partner at Samfiru Tumarkin and host of the Employment Law Show which you hear weeknight evenings from six-thirty until seven here on 640 Toronto about almost 200 full-time Conestoga College employees lose their jobs ahead of the holiday break. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Brady spoke to Lior Samfiru, Co-founding partner at Samfiru Tumarkin and host of the Employment Law Show which you hear weeknight evenings from six-thirty until seven here on 640 Toronto about almost 200 full-time Conestoga College employees lose their jobs ahead of the holiday break. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going to jail! "Finally," some would say. Well too bad because we're not actually going to jail, but we are going to talk about jail and who is going there in the first part of the show. Also, in this all news episode, we will look at the aftermath of lower international student enrollment and then head to a land down under and a great social (media) experiment underway there now. This Thursday, December 11, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: The Prison Experiment. A CBC investigation published this week shows what we've all know for some time: Ontario's jails are dangerously overcrowded. More than that, four out of five people in prison are actually awaiting trail, which means they're technically innocent, at least in the eyes of the law. As the Ontario government flaunts their law & order agenda, and "Jail, Not Bail", are we missing the forest for the trees with this story? Student Services. A lot has been done to vilify international students in Ontario, but as their numbers continue to dwindle, we're seeing the follow on effects. In Brampton and Waterloo, transit systems are looking at service cuts because there are now fewer riders, and redevelopment plans in downtown Guelph and Kitchener are delayed as Conestoga College faces a budget crunch. So are international students the real villains, or can we finally talk about the ways they were exploited all along? Antisocial. Australia took the first step this week, becoming so far the only country in the world to ban social media for anyone under the age of 16. A few other countries are considering it, and many more are watching and waiting to see the results, but this will definitely be a big test for the tech oligarchs who have long shirked government regulation and other controls on their business, even if it means not protecting kids from the potential harms of social media. Is this the future? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

Sometimes information gathering doesn't happen in the perfect audio conditions of a studio or the Zoom link, you have to occasionally get out there and find the news. To that end, we will visit a picket line on Speedvale Avenue, attend an annual event that reminds us that there's still some ways to go when it comes to eliminating gender-based violence, and hear about a program fighting food insecurity in the west end. First up we meet Nisha Jagtap and Will Snyder, two of the hundreds of college support workers on strike and are about to enter their third week on the line. Both sides released statements on Monday saying the other is prolonging the strike, but that's what is going on at the high level. What's going on at Conestoga College's Guelph campus? Jagtap and Snyder will share their thoughts from the picket line, how students are being affected, and what they want from a new contract.  Next, we will rewind to Thursday September 18, which was the annual commemoration of Take Back the Night. Cindy McMann, public educator at Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, spoke at the event and talked about why recent events prove that it's still hard for women who are the victims of sexual violence to get justice for themselves in an outdated and restrictive justice system and the ways we can work towards systemic change. And finally, we will go to Shelldale last Friday and hear from some of the people who take part in the f.u.n. Fridays program, which stands for "Food United Neighbours". The f.u.n. Fridays initiative is an effort to improve food access for the Onward Willow neighbourhood, and Guelph MP Dominique O'Rourke announced new funds for the University of Guelph that will allow the f.u.n. Friday partners to expand into Centre Wellington and bring similar improved access to quality healthy foods to the Fergus area. So let's get into some real audio news on this week's Guelph Politicast! You can learn more about the programs at Shelldale at their website, and f.u.n. Fridays takes place every Friday in the Shelldale gym and you can learn more about them on social media. You can access the programs of Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis or learn how to donate and volunteer at their website, and you can learn more about the efforts to change the justice system here. And finally, you can learn more about college support workers strike here. The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify . Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

What does it really mean to be a professional in the pet care industry? In this episode, Jenn Dahinten, Chair of PACCC, joins to explore the importance of third-party certification in setting industry standards. She shares how PACCC was founded to support experienced pet care providers with recognition, ethics, and continuing education. The conversation dives into the rising pressure from legislation, public expectations, and why certification helps build trust with clients and lawmakers alike. Jenn also offers practical steps for those ready to elevate their professionalism. Main topics: Third-party certification vs. online courses Legislative pressure and industry regulation Career progression in pet care The role of ethics and continuing education How professionals can influence legislation Main takeaway: “There is a skill set, both taught and intuitive, that's required to provide care for a pet when their owner is away.”– Jenn Dahinten Too often, pet care is seen as simple or instinctual—just for “animal lovers.” But Jenn Dahinten reminds us that caring for someone else's pet isn't the same as caring for your own. It demands education, experience, and emotional intelligence. Certification through PACCC proves that you take your role seriously, and that you're committed to excellence in your profession. When pet parents leave their pets in our care, they deserve nothing less than a certified professional. About our guest: Jenn Dahinten became the owner, and operator of Royal Pets Hotel and Enrichment in 2009 and founded the charitable “Racers Fund”, for retired service dogs shortly after. Having been a pet parent and client of pet care facilities on four different continents she relished the opportunity to provide the kind of loving care, expertise, and professionalism that she always felt our fur family deserved. Before joining the pet care industry, Jenn first was a paramedic (human). Jenn studied Biochemistry at the University of Guelph, Ambulance and Emergency Care at Conestoga College, and then Advanced Life Support Paramedic (L3) at the University of Natal. During her years of providing air/ground emergency care across continental Africa, Europe, and the UK, Jenn was also active in providing veterinary assistance at local small animal practices and shelters. During a subsequent career in pharmaceutical sales, marketing, and training, Jenn returned to Canada and discovered her calling in the pet care and education industry. From the start, Jenn has been an advocate for fear free practices across grooming and training and has ensured that Royal Pets has been at the forefront of setting the standard in pet care. Royal Pets has been a part of both the IBPSA and The Dog Gurus since their inception and is proud to be an active member of the APDT, Fear Free ™ Organization, and PACCC. Jenn continues to provide education and training opportunities locally and within her industry and continues to champion continuing education, certification, regulation, and professionalism as some of the many necessary means to guarantee our pets get the care and attention they deserve. Links: PACCC: https://PACCERT.ORG Check out their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pacccsocial Alabama Legislation: https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1885956 Check out our Starter Packs See all of our discounts! Check out ProTrainings Code: CPR-petsitterconfessional for 10% off

In this episode, I'm joined by Pejman Salehi, Executive Dean of the School of Applied Computer Science and Information Technology and the School of Creative Industries at Conestoga College and author of the EdTech Magazine article, “How Higher Ed Leaders Can Adapt to Generational Shifts.”We explore how:- AI-driven platforms personalize learning for individual needs, styles, and paces.- Gamification is making education more engaging and fun.- Virtual and augmented reality are creating immersive, interactive learning experiences.Whether you're an educator, EdTech innovator, or curious learner, this conversation will give you fresh insights into how technology is transforming education for a new generation.

There are some major shifts in Canada's real estate market in 2025-2027, highlighting three key trends: Interest Rate Stabilization, Collapsing International Student Enrollment, Historic Population Growth Slowdown RBC predicts the Bank of Canada will maintain rates at 2.75% with no further cuts expected, forcing investors to adjust their strategies rather than hoping for lower rates. Many Canadian colleges are experiencing a 50% drop in international students due to federal policy changes, with some institutions like Conestoga College seeing up to 95% reductions. This is causing significant vacancy risks for student rental investors. Canada's population grew by only 20,107 people (essentially 0%) in Q1 2025, the lowest growth in almost 80 years. This is primarily due to reduced immigration and a decrease of 61,000 non-permanent residents. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) | BMO Global Asset Management Buy & sell real estate with Ai at Valery.ca Get a mortgage pre-approval with Owl Mortgage Unpacking Multiplexes Tickets free 1 week trial for Realist Premium See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world and unrepresented communities as we continue to strive for a more diverse workforce. Join us as we celebrate National Volunteer Month to showcase the incredible contributions of our Chapter Executives from across Canada and globally.When Jim Galloway walked into his high school welding shop in Brantford, Ontario, in the 1970s, he couldn't have predicted how far the spark would take him. His journey through the welding industry spans four decades, crossing paths with nuclear power plant construction, cutting-edge research, manufacturing management, and education—creating a roadmap for what's possible in a welding career. What truly sets Jim's story apart is his commitment to community and knowledge sharing by choosing to teach at Conestoga College. He helping develop their renowned Welding Engineering Technology program while maintaining deep involvement with professional associations. Find your Local CWBA Chapter Here: https://www.cwbgroup.org/advocacy/membership Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/Canaweld: https://canaweld.com/Josef Gases: https://josefgases.com/There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved, and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry.  https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-memberWhat did you think about this episode? Send a text message to the show!

Canada's manufacturing sector faced challenges even before President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on goods made here. The overall sector has shrunk, both in its contribution to our economy, and the number of workers it employs. So, how should Canada support existing companies and their workers as tariffs take hold? And what's the way forward to building up a homegrown manufacturing sector that provides higher-skilled jobs and in-demand goods? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a radio special celebrating the recent grand re-opening of the "Conestoga College Living Classroom" at The Village of Riverside Glen . Recorded on December 5th 2024 at Riverside Glen, today's broadcast starts with the speeches recorded at the event, followed by some short interviews with staff and coordinators who help bring the living classroom to life.About the Living Classroom:The Living Classroom is a partnership model that integrates education into a long-term care or retirement home to support workforce development in senior living. Students, faculty, and those living, visiting and working in the home engage in a culture of shared learning. The model was first implemented in Ontario in 2009, through a partnership with Conestoga College, the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging and Schlegel Villages.That first site was The Village of Riverside Glen, and today's recorded celebration marks its' grand re-opening ceremony. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bridgingthesocialdistance.substack.com

It's Opposite Day With Rob Lewin!!! This episode is very exciting because it is opposite day with Rob Lewin! Rob is an improviser and sketch comedian living in Guelph, Ontario. His live comedy credits include The Second CityToronto FamCo,The Making-Box Brigade, The Bad Dog Featured Players and festivals such as Toronto Sketchfest, Detroit Improv Festival, Del Close Marathon NYC, and Montreal Improv Festival. He teaches improv and sketch classes with Pinch and you see his sketch duo Corpse perform around Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo. Unlike every other (wonderful) Comedicine guest, who is a health care professional first and then transitions into comedy, Rob has been improvising since before his brain was fully formed. (Grade 9!) Rob is currently in his second year of the Practical Nursing program at Conestoga College. Yes, he is going to keep on doing improv, sketch and teaching improv AND doing nursing, but not at the same time. Would it be cool to teach nurses about improv with his background? Maybe it would, but that's not what Rob is doing here people! Have a listen, Rob is a wonderful improviser, comedian and human and he whoever ends up with him as their nurse and/or in his audience and/orin his improv class is very lucky!!!Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/rob.lewin/Thanks for listening to Comedicine! Send is a text to let us know what you think!Instagram @comedicine_comedyComedicine FacebookYour host, Dr Sarah BostonDr Sarah Boston is a veterinary surgical oncologist (cancer surgeon for dogs and cats), cancer survivor (ironic, right?), bestselling author, actor and stand up comedian. She is a 2023 graduate of the Humber College Comedy Performance and Writing Program. She is the 2023 recipient of the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award, which recognizes and supports promising comedic performers in the early stages of their career She is also the recipient of the Award for Academic Excellence from Humber College because she is a nerd in all aspects of her life. Instagram @drsarahboston www.Drsarahboston.com Representation Book Musical Genius Mark Edwards

Gettin' Air with Kimberlee Carter. The road to becoming an award winning Open Education catalyst is best travelled on roller skates. In this episode we chat with Conestoga College's Kimberlee Carter about her journey into Open Education and all the people she brought along with her.

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, Julie interviews Erika MacKay, the founder and CEO of Niche for Design, about her journey in interior design and her focus on workspace wellness. They discuss the evolving office environment and Erika shares her experience of balancing entrepreneurship with maternity leave. Erika shares insights into creating healthy, productive workspaces and the challenges entrepreneurs face in maintaining business operations during significant life events.Erika is a workspace wellness expert and advocate for spaces that help us feel and perform at our best. She is a registered Interior Designer, a member of the International WELL Building Standard Faculty, and a part-time faculty member at Conestoga College. As founder and CEO of Niche for Design she is focused on growing her team and their impact. She is fascinated by hybrid offices, flexible “coworking,” environments, and the opportunity to create connection and belonging in physical “office” spaces. Her next business venture is going to be an embodiment of this new work “experience”. Erika is sought out to speak and consult, based on her expertise in work environments, space planning, and especially wellness in the workspace. She believes that the spaces we spend time in have an enormous impact on our health and has made it her mission to help more people work in spaces that truly support their wellbeing.Erika and Julie discuss...Erika's journey in interior design (00:02:22)Erika discusses her childhood interest in space optimization and explains the shift in the purpose of office spaces.Growing a business and building a team (00:12:46)Erika shares her experiences and strategies for growing her business, including her approach to taking maternity leave as an entrepreneur.The opportunity of stepping back (00:20:25)Erika takes a step back as a CEO to focus on the bigger picture and plans her return to work.Workplace design and wellness (00:23:18)Erika discusses the reasons why business leaders may not consider workplace design and the misconceptions about the role of designers.Reimagining office spaces (00:29:36)Exploring alternate arrangements for office spaces. Erika describes how this shift in perspective on workplace design and wellness is not an extra but the most important aspect of a workspace. You can connect with Niche for Design through their website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn or with Erika via her LinkedIn.You can connect with Julie on LinkedIn or Instagram. Find Julie's writing at her blog or by ordering Big Gorgeous Goals. What did you think of this conversation? We'd love if you'd rate or review our show!

Greg (@GregBradyTO) speaks with Leopold Koff, Professor at Conestoga College and President of Local 237, about Conestoga College's $252 million surplus after recruiting foreign students. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Brady (@GregBradyTO) focuses in on why Conestoga College is sitting on $252 million in surpluses from recruiting foreign students.. This college has led the nation in recruiting international students.. Are the walls bursting at the seams? We ask Conestoga College professor and President of Local 237 Leopold Koff that question. Next, Andrew Scheer, MP and former Conservative Party Leader (@AndrewScheer), about his party's call for a probe into how the federal government let a terror suspect with alleged ISIS ties into Canada. Lastly, Elizabeth Roy, Mayor of Whitby (@ElizabethJRoy), Ontario and we were talking about a new hospital coming to her town – it'll be 10 years until it's operational – but how is Mayor Roy's town handling population growth, infrastructure and homelessness? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg (@gregbradyTO) and the panel of: Stephanie Smyth (@stephaniesmyth), broadcaster, Smyth Media Group, Brad Bradford, Toronto city councillor for Beaches - East York (@BradMBradford) & Mark Saunders, former Toronto police chief, mayoral candidate discussed: 1- Man arrested after multiple protesters struck on Gardiner Expressway, Toronto police say  2 - Sharp rise in unemployment in immigrants and young people (15-24) per National Bank  3 - Conestoga College surplus swells to $252M. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg (@GregBradyTO) speaks with Leopold Koff, Professor at Conestoga College and President of Local 237, about Conestoga College's $252 million surplus after recruiting foreign students. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Brady (@GregBradyTO) focuses in on why Conestoga College is sitting on $252 million in surpluses from recruiting foreign students.. This college has led the nation in recruiting international students.. Are the walls bursting at the seams? We ask Conestoga College professor and President of Local 237 Leopold Koff that question. Next, Andrew Scheer, MP and former Conservative Party Leader (@AndrewScheer), about his party's call for a probe into how the federal government let a terror suspect with alleged ISIS ties into Canada. Lastly, Elizabeth Roy, Mayor of Whitby (@ElizabethJRoy), Ontario and we were talking about a new hospital coming to her town – it'll be 10 years until it's operational – but how is Mayor Roy's town handling population growth, infrastructure and homelessness? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg (@gregbradyTO) and the panel of: Stephanie Smyth (@stephaniesmyth), broadcaster, Smyth Media Group, Brad Bradford, Toronto city councillor for Beaches - East York (@BradMBradford) & Mark Saunders, former Toronto police chief, mayoral candidate discussed: 1- Man arrested after multiple protesters struck on Gardiner Expressway, Toronto police say  2 - Sharp rise in unemployment in immigrants and young people (15-24) per National Bank  3 - Conestoga College surplus swells to $252M. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, we talk with Camelia Nunez, a self-proclaimed "profpreneur" who blends her entrepreneurial spirit with a deep passion for education. We talk about why she believes building a culture of curiosity and continuous learning around education is important and how it will affect how we live, learn and work.  Camelia shares her experiences growing up in Romania, witnessing life before and after the revolution, and moving to Canada as a teenager to complete her education.Starting her career as a Spanish professor, Camelia's entrepreneurial drive led her to co-found an EdTech startup. With over 17 years in higher education, she has held roles in teaching, administrative leadership, research partnerships, innovation, entrepreneurship, and operations at Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo and now Conestoga College. Camelia emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adapting to a rapidly evolving workforce. We discuss innovative solutions like yearly membership fees for education to maintain relevant skills and challenge the outdated concept of a fixed career path.We talk about all kinds of entrepreneurs, but Camelia highlights the resilience and persistence of non-tech entrepreneurs and how those traits are significant in achieving long-term success.Camelia shares insights on inspiring youth to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, offering real-life examples of creativity sparked by personal pain points.Connect with CameliaLinkedInResourcesConestoga CollegePlay-a-LatteYouth Creativity FundWhat did you think of today's episode? We want to hear from you!Thank you for listening today. Please take a moment to rate and subscribe to our podcast. When you do this, it helps to raise our podcast profile so more leaders can find us and be inspired by the stories our Voices of Leadership have to share. Connect with us:Voices of Leadership WebsiteInstagramBespoke Productions Hub

In today's episode, we talk with Camelia Nunez, a self-proclaimed "profpreneur" who blends her entrepreneurial spirit with a deep passion for education. We talk about why she believes building a culture of curiosity and continuous learning around education is important and how it will affect how we live, learn and work.  Camelia shares her experiences growing up in Romania, witnessing life before and after the revolution, and moving to Canada as a teenager to complete her education.Starting her career as a Spanish professor, Camelia's entrepreneurial drive led her to co-found an EdTech startup. With over 17 years in higher education, she has held roles in teaching, administrative leadership, research partnerships, innovation, entrepreneurship, and operations at Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo and now Conestoga College. Camelia emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and adapting to a rapidly evolving workforce. We discuss innovative solutions like yearly membership fees for education to maintain relevant skills and challenge the outdated concept of a fixed career path.We talk about all kinds of entrepreneurs, but Camelia highlights the resilience and persistence of non-tech entrepreneurs and how those traits are significant in achieving long-term success.Camelia shares insights on inspiring youth to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, offering real-life examples of creativity sparked by personal pain points.Connect with CameliaLinkedInResourcesConestoga CollegePlay-a-LatteYouth Creativity FundThank you for listening today. Please take a moment to rate and subscribe to our podcast. When you do this, it helps to raise our podcast profile so more leaders can find us and be inspired by the stories our Voices of Leadership have to share. Connect with us:Voices of Leadership WebsiteInstagram

Canadian sportscasting legend Rod Black's greatest call of them all: His son's Tyler's MLB debut in Milwaukee (1:45) Guest: Rod Black, Canadian sports broadcaster Wacko or a work in progress? Scrutiny of B.C. drug decriminalization pilot program intensifies (16:17) Guest: Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson, Vancouver Police Department, President, BC Association of Chiefs of Police What's next for the Edmonton Oilers in round two of the playoffs? (33:28) Guest: Reid Wilkins, Host of Inside Sports and the Edmonton Oilers hockey broadcast on 630 CHED Racquetball star and Corus' Mike Cerisia will be inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (43:39) Guest: Mike Ceresia, a Canadian retired racquetball player Clinical trial links frequent anger to increased risk of heart disease (55:37) Guest: Dr. Joseph Ebinger, Clinical Cardiologist, Associate Professor and the Director of Clinical Analytics for the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles What to expect from the first interim foreign interference report (1:07:19) Guest: Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief, The Globe and Mail   How a rapid growth of international students at Conestoga College is impacting staff and the school's integrity (1:27:55) Guests: Leopold Koff, a union leader representing faculty, counsellors and librarians at Conestoga College, and Vikki Poirier, another union leader who represents support staff

Today we discuss how Trudeau's capital gains tax increase is hurting middle-class Canadians and will chase doctors away from Canada. We also discuss the increased speed limits coming to Ontario highways, Less than half of Canadians now say they want an electric vehicle, A major grow op was discovered in Niagara, Conestoga College is bringing in sheep to deal with their landscaping issues, and lots more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From woodworking school into the industry with Professor Trevor Hibbs and former students Mitch, Nathan and Saleh. They tell us about coming from different backgrounds, going through the Conestoga program, and making capstone projects. We also discuss fighting mass-produced products, learning to let go of projects, mixed material creativity, and clients not appreciating skill on this episode of The Construction Life Podcast. Reach out to Trevor Hibbs of Conestoga College at thibbs@conestogac.on.ca. Reach out to Mitch of Salzburg Interiors & Furniture at mitchbosnyak@gmail.com and @BozzyB00ts. Reach out to Nathan Banks of NEFF Beautiful Living at nateb95@icloud.com and @NathanBanks95. Reach out to Saleh of NEFF Beautiful Living at salzakar@gmail.com and @SalehZakk. Stay connected with The Construction Life Podcast by texting Manny at 416 433-5737 or emailing him at manny@theconstructionlife.com. If you have something to contribute to the podcast, email info@theconstructionlife.com to schedule a time to join us in studio. Are you interested in the latest trends in building, renovation, home improvement, real estate, architecture, design, engineering, contracting, trades, and DIY? Look no further! Our construction podcast and social media content cover a wide range of topics, including project management, safety, best practices, business development, leadership, marketing, customer service, productivity, sustainability, technology, innovation, and industry news

In today's dynamic workforce, optimizing a hybrid work environment is crucial for fostering and sustaining healthy employee engagement. As organizations increasingly adopt flexible work arrangements, striking the right balance between remote and in-office work becomes paramount. A well-optimized hybrid work model acknowledges the diverse needs of employees, nurtures a positive company culture, helps attract and retain top talent, and reflects an organization's commitment to employee well-being. Erika MacKay is a workspace wellness expert and advocate for spaces that help us feel and perform at our best. She is a registered Interior Designer, a member of the International WELL Building Standard Faculty, and a part time faculty member at Conestoga College. As founder and CEO of Niche for design she is focused on growing her team and their impact. She is fascinated by hybrid offices, flexible “coworking,” environments, and the opportunity to create connection and belonging in physical “office” spaces. Her next business venture is going to be an embodiment of this new work “experience”.In this episode, we discuss the challenges and benefits between working remotely vs in-person, how to optimize your workspace in a people-centric way, tips, strategies and the ROI to your operating costs and employee engagement, how to create your hybrid work schedule, and more!Chapters02:25 - Erika's passion for making sure workspaces are optimized 03:34 - Working remotely vs in-person07:27 - Why do you need to come back to the office / the power of in person connection11:23 - People-first culture benefits and rightsizing to support a people centric culture14:26 - Making sure your workplace is utilized to the needs16:03 - Tips for designing spaces for different needs and roles 18:44 - Tips for designing multi-function spaces 24:26 - How to create your hybrid work schedule26:12 - Maximizing ROI for your office space needs31:35 - Shared working spaces and how to allow employees to have their own ‘space'34:07 - Final thoughts35:29 - Where to find ErikaConnect with Erika LinkedIn - https://ca.linkedin.com/in/erikamackayVisit Niche for Design - www.nichefordesign.com…Hosted by Hilda Gan - ca.linkedin.com/in/hildagan Visit us at - peoplebrightconsulting.comFollow usLinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/company/pplbrightTwitter - twitter.com/pplbright Facebook - www.facebook.com/pplbrightInstagram - www.instagram.com/pplbright/ Hilda Gan is a sought-after expert on effective HR strategies, work culture enhancement, and employee engagement. Unique among HR consultants, Hilda combines over 25 years of HR expertise with business acumen and business owner experience.People Bright Consulting is an award-winning HR Management Consulting firm that helps leaders of companies build the foundations for successful hiring, healthy and inclusive work culture, and engaged staff. It starts with listening to our clients and finding pragmatic customized business solutions to HR problems.#HybridWork #EmployeeEngagement #Productivity #Office #Work

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Wednesday, February 28, 2024.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate her daily news digest and share it with our audience—tune in every morning on the TRNN podcast feed to hear about the latest important news stories from Canada and around the world.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsReferenced articles:Story 1 - Man who was charged in connection with stealing a U-Haul and who was forced into incarceration while waiting trial, dies in a London prison.Story 2 - Students force the University of Waterloo to ditch new vending machines that use facial recognition software for some reason.Story 3 - Conestoga College offered a stunning 30,000 international student permits in 2023 alone; information coming from new CBC investigation about which institutions are driving international student enrolment.Story 4 - It's the eighth anniersary of the Phoenix payroll system and there are more problems then ever! Currently, there are 444,000 outstanding payroll issues.Story 5 - Chinese migrants are increasingly moving through south to north American routes to migrate to the US.Story 6 - The same day an attack on a Catholic church in Burkina Faso's north killed 15 people, dozens were killed in the country's east when a mosque was attacked.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.

This week Open Sources Guelph is dealing bad news. What else is new? From critics silenced to cities under siege, we're reminded that there's a world full of danger and destruction out there, which are two things that are closely associated with a specific man who was once President of the United States, and might be again. Meanwhile, closer to home, an old man is almost literally yelling at clouds. This Thursday, February 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss: Alexei. They finally did it. After years of trying, Vladimir Putin and his appendages in the Russian state were finally able to eliminate his biggest critic, Alexei Navalny. The lawyer-turned-agitator "died suddenly" in one of the worst prison in all of Russian, and coincidentally just a few week ahead of a national election and the second anniversary of the Ukraine invasion. So where does Russia go now? Rafah. The next front in Israel's war against Hamas seems to be the city of Rafah, but as the IDF are promising to launch their campaign just before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli government is facing for blowback from the international community who are calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nearly five months into this war, is there any chance that Israel will listen? Oh Carolina! This weekend is the South Carolina Republican primary, and it's widely expected that Donald Trump will win. It will be just about the only winning that Trump's experienced recently after being told he doesn't have total immunity, he has to pay $364 million in fines for the way he did business in New York, and there are still so many court cases to go. So why does Trump look unbeatable? They Call Me Mr. Tibbits. So the head of Conestoga College called his colleague from Sault College a "whore" last week in an actual interview with the press. Tibbits, along with many Ontario college leaders, has been on the defensive for the drastic increase in the number of international students enrolled, but is this ad hominem attack a sign of the stress getting to Tibbits, or is just a sign he should retire? Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

Brandon Fentonn is a flatland lifer. He has a huge bag of tricks and a myriad of difficult breakless maneuvers and multiple whiplash variations? He currently residing in Toronto and is a regular at the DunBat hockey rink. Brandon has A PHD in Philosophy and currently works as a victim's rights advocate at Aboriginal Legal Services and as a course director at Conestoga College. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials.Support the show

In 2012, nine out of 10 students at Kitchener's Conestoga College were domestic. Today, they have more international students than any institution across the country … almost as many as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia combined. This year, Canada is on track to bring in 900,000 international students.Globe postsecondary reporter Joe Friesen joins us to discuss how Canada's international student population has grown so quickly, and why institutions have grown to depend on them – especially in Ontario.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

When philosophy professor Darren Hick came across another case of cheating in his classroom at Furman University, he posted an update to his followers on social media: “Aaaaand, I've caught my second ChatGPT plagiarist.” Practically overnight, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots have become the go-to source for cheating in college. Now, educators are rethinking how they'll teach courses this fall from Writing 101 to computer science. Educators say they want to embrace the technology's potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to “ChatGPT-proof” test questions and assignments. An explosion of AI-generated chatbots including ChatGPT, which launched in November, has raised new questions for academics dedicated to making sure that students not only can get the right answer, but also understand how to do the work. Educators say there is agreement at least on some of the most pressing challenges. — Are AI detectors reliable? Not yet, says Stephanie Laggini Fiore, associate vice provost at Temple University. Fiore was part of a team at Temple that tested the detector used by Turnitin, a popular plagiarism detection service, and found it to be “incredibly inaccurate.” — Will students get falsely accused of using artificial intelligence platforms to cheat? Absolutely. In one case last semester, a Texas A&M professor wrongly accused an entire class of using ChatGPT on final assignments. Most of the class was subsequently exonerated. — So, how can educators be certain if a student has used an AI-powered chatbot dishonestly? It's nearly impossible unless a student confesses, as both of Hick's students did. Unlike old-school plagiarism where text matches the source it is lifted from, AI-generated text is unique each time. In some cases, the cheating is obvious, says Timothy Main, a writing professor at Conestoga College in Canada, who has had students turn in assignments that were clearly cut-and-paste jobs. In his first-year required writing class last semester, Main logged 57 academic integrity issues, an explosion of academic dishonesty compared to about eight cases in each of the two prior semesters. AI cheating accounted for about half of them. This article was provided by The Associated Press.

#89 – As a first-year offensive lineman on the University of Waterloo's varsity football team, Ben Brown was supposed to be living his dream. With the support of his father, who had been his football coach, Ben received a football scholarship to an excellent school and was excited for the next chapter of his life. Before Ben's university career began, however, tragedy struck as Ben's father passed away. Suddenly, Ben was carrying the weight of his and his father's dream all on his own.Despite this incredible hardship, Ben pressed on and outwardly, had a successful first year of university. His grades were good and he seemed to be happy, but internally Ben was struggling. He decided that he needed to step away from the football team and take a term off school for his mental health and when he came back, it did not take long to realize he no longer saw a future in his program of study.With the help of a career counsellor at the university, Ben found a new path in an unexpected place that involved leaving the university behind. Now, years after graduating from Conestoga College, Ben is living a new dream as a firefighter.Listen to Ben's Academic Crossroads today to hear the whole story.___________________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media: Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTikTok: @jonathancollaton

The CWB Association Welding Podcast is celebrating Women Empowerment Month, supporting and empowering women in the industry today, and everyday. Our weekly episodes this month connects female welding professionals around the world to share their passion.Today's guest is Tara Chambers, Welding Specialist at Alliance Fabricating Ltd. Tara took the traditional University path after high school and after obtaining a degree in Criminology made a drastic change to completing the Welding Engineering Technology Program at Conestoga College. Tune in to learn how Tara made the transition between careers and advocates for females in the trades. Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/WeldReady: https://weld-ready.ca/There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry.  https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member

The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what's happening in the welding industry.This week's guest is Paul Murray, Product Leader for Rotoweld from Tecnar. Paul grew up with no exposure to the trades but after taking a job at an automotive shop and seeing the need for welding skills, he explored further education. Paul became a passionate Welding Engineer Technologist graduate from Conestoga College, which led him to his current position at Tecnar. Tune in to learn more about the benefits of becoming a Welding Engineer Technologist and Rotoweld in automated welding.  Follow Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-murrayCheck out Tecnar: https://tecnar.com/Check out Rotoweld: https://rotoweld.com/Follow Rotoweld on Social Media:https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/tecnar-rotoweldhttps://www.facebook.com/Rotoweldhttps://www.instagram.com/rotoweld_tecnar/

Spoke Online is updated regularly during the school year by Conestoga College's journalism students, faculty adviser Lynn Haddrall, and new media technologist Chris Martin.They can be contacted by email at spoke@conestogac.on.ca.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/houseofmysteryradio.

Episode: 0023 Title: Jeff Weyers: Finding Terrorists Through Open-Source Intelligence Release Date:  2nd of June 2022 Podcast Writer: Paige Keningale  Theme Song: Wolf Moon- Unicorn Heads.  Voice overs: Dr Susanne Knabe-nicol aka the Police Science Dr Podcast Email: podcasts@acia.org.uk  Podcast Webpage: https://www.acia.org.uk/Podcasts ,  https://www.leapodcasts.com/  Podcast Social Media: Twitter: ACIA_org,  LinkedIn: Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts (UK).  Bio: Jeff Weyers is a Senior Intelligence Research Analyst with iBRABO Inc. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Intelligence and Security Studies from the University of Ottawa, a Diploma in Law and Security Administration from Conestoga College, a B.A. in Psychology and Biology from Wilfrid Laurier University and finally a M.Sc. in Investigative Psychology from the University of Liverpool. Jeff has trained in the areas of Anti-Terrorism Training, Intelligence and Security, Major Case Investigations, Drug Enforcement, and Interviewing and Interrogation. Jeff is currently studying the risk assessment of terrorist groups, anti-terrorism training and response, and the social networking of terrorist groups. Jeff has consulted with numerous agencies on identifying individuals vulnerable to violent extremism. As a result he has received numerous commendations for his work in diverting persons from violent extremism. Useful Links:  https://globalnews.ca/news/4767450/militant-beheaded-canadians/  https://globalnews.ca/video/4891562/geolocation-helps-canadians-find-isis-execution-sites-in-syria/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Zz5QPc1mM  https://ibrabo.com/ 

Today we are speaking with one of our authors in the upcoming release of Every Body Holds A Story, Amber Nicole. Amber lives in a small town north of Waterloo, Ontario Canada with her 3 boys and amazing partner Kevin. Amber is extremely passionate about advocating for women in abusive situations, mental health advocacy, brain injury advocacy (and recently started a support group for survivors and caregivers of brain injury. ( "the concussion collective"). She has a diploma from Conestoga College studying fitness and health promotion, and is a student of massage therapy. She has been an athlete my entire life playing competitive hockey, soccer and everything in between. Amber is also a musician, having played guitar, piano, ukulele, mandolin for the last 15 years and loves singing. In this episode we discuss. 1)  The writing journey in this collaborative project and Amber's experience of writing through PTSD, and how challenging this experience was for her.  Also working through the writing process, it was incredibly healing for her. 2)  Amber shares her story of postpartum depression and how it is another topic that people don't like to discuss but it is so important especially at this point in time in the world. 3)  Through the process of writing, Amber unlocked and worked through even deeper healing of her own trauma and expereinces. Connect with Amber:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amber.mlotschek/ Amber's FB group, The Concussion Collective, a Facebook group for survivors and caregivers of brain injury.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/concussioncollective/ Apply to be an author in an upcoming collaborative book:https://www.everybodyholdsastory.com/assessments/2147570491 Join the Every Body Holds a Story Facebook Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/582412896496298 Apply to be a guest on Every Body Holds A Storyhttps://www.everybodyholdsastory.com/assessments/2147570491 Follow us on Instagram:https://instagram.com/everybodyholdsastory Tune in to Sue's podcast, Love Your Cells: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/love-your-cells-podcast/id1478170164 Tune into Marsha's podcast, Own Your Choices Own Your Life:https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/own-your-choices-own-your-life/id1445904739

The CWB Association Welding Podcast is celebrating Women Empowerment Month, supporting and empowering women in the industry today, and everyday. Our weekly episodes this month connects female welding professionals around the world to share their passion.Today's guest is Saxxon McLeod, a Welding Engineer from the pressure vessel and heat exchanger industry. Saxxon is a proud graduate from the Welding Engineering Technology program at Conestoga College and previous CWB Association Student Chapter Chair. Saxxon is an advocate for women in the trades and thankful for the female mentors she has had through school and in her workplace that brings her confidence and support during her career journey.Check out Conestoga College: www.conestogac.on.ca/fulltime/welding-engineering-technology-inspection/Get more involved with your local CWBA Chapter: www.cwbgroup.org/association/chapters

This weeks guest is Tyler Smith. Tyler is an accomplished chef with over two decades of experience in The Industry. Tyler has worked in many difference facets of the food industry since his first job in fast food over 20 years ago. Tyler has worked every position, station, job and title in the kitchen. Everything from porcelain and stainless steel steward (dishwasher for those unfamiliar with the term) to executive chef and everything in between.  Tyler attended Conestoga College in the Cook Apprenticeship Program. Tyler has worked for some recognizable names and companies in Waterloo Region over the years including the Charcoal Group, Fat Sparrow Group and Hannah's Bella Bistro just to name a few.  When Tyler is not cooking, he loves to travel (when it was allowed - damn you Covid) and he is deeply inspired by the cuisines he encounters on his travels.  Tyler is currently working at Ethel's Lounge in Waterloo and does private catering on the side.  Links: @tylerdroop @theindustrypodcast email us: info@theindustrypodcast.club Podcast Artwork by Zak Hannah zakhannah.com

Malak Sidky, is the founder of Health Care Event Planning - a boutique firm specializing in the health care industry. She is a professor at Fanshawe College where she has taught Math for Hospitality and Risk Management. She also teaches Event Marketing & Promotions at Conestoga College.In this conversation, we talk about:• The importance of having a business plan.• The benefits of having a mentor and coach.• How to avoid spreading yourself thin by tapping into resources like interns and new hires.• And much more...️ Find Malak at:https://healthcareeventplanning.com===️ Hosted by:Hilda Gan - https://ca.linkedin.com/in/hildagan Produced by: 6 Story - https://6story.ca​ Visit us at:https://www.peoplebrightconsulting.com

“There is no doubt our future will be unlike any other in the history of humanity, when we choose to remember. When we choose to restore the stories our ancestors once told.” Spoken with the gravitas endowed by a pulpit or lectern, Mkomose forcefully demands that we remember: our ancestors, the wisdom of past generations, the Anishinaabe creation stories of gratitude and kinship. His speech ties together long histories with the urgent actions demanded to combat settler colonialism and climate catastrophe. Mkomose (Dr. Andrew Judge) is Assistant Professor of Anishinaabe Studies at Algoma University and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, and has Lectured at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, The University of Waterloo, and coordinated Indigenous Studies at Conestoga College. He specializes in Anishinaabe cultural knowledge, ethno-medicine, and land-based learning. Mkomose has learned from, worked and consulted with, and served Indigenous Elders and community leaders for over a decade. He has founded several community-led Indigenous knowledge-based programs at elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels and works tirelessly to promote land-based sustainability practices. Mkomose has delivered over a hundred invited lectures related to Indigenous knowledge. He is focused on supporting conscious awakening using plant medicines and Anishinaabe cosmovision to respond to the current state of society. He has been initiated into both Midewiwin and Mayan Day Keeping societies and regularly participates in the ancient ceremonial practices of his Anishinaabe ancestors. Photo: Andrea Pinheiro “Artists-in-Presidents” is initiated by Constance Hockaday, curated by Christine Shaw, and commissioned by The Blackwood (University of Toronto Mississauga). Podcast production by Vocal Fry. Transmissions are released every Friday from August 6–December 17, 2021. To view the portrait gallery, access ASL videos and transcripts, and for additional information about the project, visit www.artistsinpresidents.com and www.blackwoodgallery.ca.

This is Part 2 of a 2 part interview. Daniel Henderson began his hospitality career in Waterloo, Ontario. Graduating from both Chef Training and Food & Beverage Management programs at Conestoga College, he pursued his Red Seal Qualification at the Waterloo Inn and Conference Centre. Striving for change, Daniel moved west to Vancouver Island where he began studying the art of Sushi under several Japanese Chefs. Landing in Victoria, B.C. with the Oak Bay Marine Group, Daniel worked his way through the Island at several Japanese Sushi Restaurants until finally managing the Sushi Bar at beautiful April Point Resort and Spa. Ready for his next challenge, Daniel returned to his roots in Ontario in 2004, to French and Mediterranean kitchens. He worked at the Cambridge Inn and Conference Centre as Executive Sous-Chef and as Chef for Blackshop and Sole restaurants. It was in 2008 that Daniel took his passion back to the Asian cuisine and joined Bento Sushi as their Corporate Chef. In his role at Bento, Daniel managed culinary development for over 1300 chefs in over 400 locations across North America including 4 restaurants in Manhattan, New York. With Bento, Daniel opened more than 75 locations as well as led all culinary development during Bento's rapid expansion to the North Eastern United States. During his time at Bento, Daniel's sushi training also brought him to Japan where he experienced the art of Sushi first hand. While leading the culinary team at Bento, Daniel completed his Certified Chef de Cuisine designation in 2012. Alongside his C.C.C., Daniel's other achievements include having won the Alumni of Distinction award from Conestoga College and being nominated for the Ontario College Premier Award in 2013. Moving on from Bento, Daniel led the Food & Beverage team at Holt Renfrew in 2014, helping define dining and food moments and refining Food & Beverage concepts within the luxury retailer, while leading the opening of 2 Holts Café locations in Yorkdale & Vancouver. Shifting to the growing digital consumer demand, Daniel took his next step joining Chefs Plate in 2015 – Canada's leading direct-to-consumer meal kit delivery service. In his role as V.P. Culinary Innovation, Daniel led the Culinary, Sourcing, FSQA and Operation teams with a focus on rapid production development to provide Canadians fresh, speed scratch dinner solutions for time starved families coast to coast. Daniel led these teams to acquisition when Chefs Plate was acquired by the world Meal Kit leader, Hello Fresh in October, 2017. Today, Daniel works at Loblaw Companies Limited as Senior Director, Product Development – Meal Solutions. Currently, Daniel leads the Culinary, Sourcing, FSQA and Operations teams within Meal Solutions at Loblaw under the PC Chef brand - focused on helping Canadians solve dinner through both digital & traditional store fulfillment channels. The recent pandemic has led the Meals team to launch pcchef.ca – a next day delivery service of PC Chef and local restaurant meal kits with daily delivery. Instagram: @chef.hendo.eats Podcast Artwork by Zak Hannah @zak.hannah

This is Part 1 of a 2 part interview. Daniel Henderson began his hospitality career in Waterloo, Ontario. Graduating from both Chef Training and Food & Beverage Management programs at Conestoga College, he pursued his Red Seal Qualification at the Waterloo Inn and Conference Centre. Striving for change, Daniel moved west to Vancouver Island where he began studying the art of Sushi under several Japanese Chefs. Landing in Victoria, B.C. with the Oak Bay Marine Group, Daniel worked his way through the Island at several Japanese Sushi Restaurants until finally managing the Sushi Bar at beautiful April Point Resort and Spa. Ready for his next challenge, Daniel returned to his roots in Ontario in 2004, to French and Mediterranean kitchens. He worked at the Cambridge Inn and Conference Centre as Executive Sous-Chef and as Chef for Blackshop and Sole restaurants. It was in 2008 that Daniel took his passion back to the Asian cuisine and joined Bento Sushi as their Corporate Chef. In his role at Bento, Daniel managed culinary development for over 1300 chefs in over 400 locations across North America including 4 restaurants in Manhattan, New York. With Bento, Daniel opened more than 75 locations as well as led all culinary development during Bento's rapid expansion to the North Eastern United States. During his time at Bento, Daniel's sushi training also brought him to Japan where he experienced the art of Sushi first hand. While leading the culinary team at Bento, Daniel completed his Certified Chef de Cuisine designation in 2012. Alongside his C.C.C., Daniel's other achievements include having won the Alumni of Distinction award from Conestoga College and being nominated for the Ontario College Premier Award in 2013. Moving on from Bento, Daniel led the Food & Beverage team at Holt Renfrew in 2014, helping define dining and food moments and refining Food & Beverage concepts within the luxury retailer, while leading the opening of 2 Holts Café locations in Yorkdale & Vancouver. Shifting to the growing digital consumer demand, Daniel took his next step joining Chefs Plate in 2015 – Canada's leading direct-to-consumer meal kit delivery service. In his role as V.P. Culinary Innovation, Daniel led the Culinary, Sourcing, FSQA and Operation teams with a focus on rapid production development to provide Canadians fresh, speed scratch dinner solutions for time starved families coast to coast. Daniel led these teams to acquisition when Chefs Plate was acquired by the world Meal Kit leader, Hello Fresh in October, 2017. Today, Daniel works at Loblaw Companies Limited as Senior Director, Product Development – Meal Solutions. Currently, Daniel leads the Culinary, Sourcing, FSQA and Operations teams within Meal Solutions at Loblaw under the PC Chef brand - focused on helping Canadians solve dinner through both digital & traditional store fulfillment channels. The recent pandemic has led the Meals team to launch pcchef.ca – a next day delivery service of PC Chef and local restaurant meal kits with daily delivery. Instagram: @chef.hendo.eats Podcast Artwork by Zak Hannah @zak.hannah

#16 – Ania's career path has taken her many places. When she was in high school she wanted to be a lawyer but a guidance counsellor crushed that dream. When she wanted to go to fashion school in Los Angeles, the almighty dollar crushed THAT dream. After an amazing experience at Conestoga College, she finally settled into a career in business, however, a tragic loss led her to realize there was more to life than work. She began to look for something that would give her a better work-life balance and although she excelled at a career in insurance, it wasn't a long-term career option for her. As Ania found herself drifting towards something where she could be more creative, she took the plunge and headed back to school as a mature student at Sheridan College for their Interior Design program. After a tense period of trying to land a steady job, she has found her fit at Wilfrid Laurier University while also managing her own design company, a YouTube channel, and a podcast.Link's to Ania's projects: Podcast: https://communitycactus.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/InteriorDesignHub Business: www.interiordesignhub.ca ______________________To support Career Crossroads, click hereTo leave Career Crossroads a review, click hereYou can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroadspodcast.com or follow us on social mediaInstagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTwitter: @jcollatonTikTok: @jonathancollaton___________________You can find Career Crossroads at careercrossroads.ca or follow us on social media: Instagram: @career_crossroadsLinkedIn: Career Crossroads PodcastFacebook: Career Crossroads PodcastTikTok: @jonathancollaton

Gareth Berg is currently the Restaurant Coordinator at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph Ontario. This public facility is owned by the City of Guelph and is home to the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League. In addition to hockey, this 5000+ seat venue also hosts concerts and conventions. Gareth oversees the 240 seat restaurant, 5 bars, 3 kitchens, 32 private suites and 55+ staff. Additionally, Gareth also teaches at Conestoga College in the Culinary and Hospitality programs. Gareth got his start in The Industry as a dishwasher at Benjamin's in St Jacobs Ontario. Being a hard worker, he quickly moved up to cook's apprentice. From there he moved on to La Costa in downtown Kitchener and eventually followed that up by going to Culinary School at Niagara College. Gareth starting working at Trius/Hillebrand Winery under Tony Deluca. Eventually, he moved on to Chef at the Merchant Ale House. In 2006 Gareth went back to school for a degree in Business Management - Hospitality at Niagara College. While working on his degree, Gareth worked at a number of bartending and service jobs in Niagara Falls and Niagara-On-The-Lake. Upon graduating, Gareth starting as the Assistant Food and Beverage Manager at Zee's Grill in Niagara-On-The-Lake. Eventually, he moved on to Fionn MacCools in Cambridge Ontario. The job at Finn McCools involved taking his staff to open and train additional Finn McCools franchises as well as training incoming franchisees and their teams at the Cambridge location. Eventually, Gareth moved on to the Breadalbane Inn located in Fergus Ontario as the General Manager/Maitre'D for several years before finally entering his current roll in 2014 at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph where he remains to this day. Podcast Artwork @zak.hannah

An interview with Steve Schoger, designer and creator or co-creator of many online tools like Tailwind and Refactoring UI and Heroicons and Zondicons. Refactoring UI book Refactoring UI website @SteveSchoger on Twitter Transcription sponsored by Larajobs Editing sponsored by Tighten Matt Stauffer: Welcome back to the Laravel podcast season three. Today, I'm going to be talking to Steve Schoger, co-creator of Refactoring UI and about 10,000 other products you probably already use. Matt Stauffer: Stay tuned. Matt Stauffer: All right, welcome back to Laravel podcast season three. It has been a minute. It's been a couple months since the last one, and we're going to roll up, finish up season three. And I let you all vote on who you wanted to hear from. So, we got three people who were at the end. And the first one is Steve Schoger, designer extraordinaire, Twitter fame, making books, and making dollars. Matt Stauffer: And Steve and I have known each other for a while. We work together at Titan for a while. I've also learned a lot about design from him. So, I'm really excited to hear not about Steve the designer quite so much, but about Steve the person. Matt Stauffer: So, first of all, Steve, the first thing I always ask everybody is first of all say hi to people, and then second of all, if you're meeting somebody in the grocery store and they ask what do you do? How do you answer that question of them? So, let's get started with that. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Sure. I usually introduce myself as my formal title. I usually say UI graphic designer. Even that's weird, because depending on where you work, my job title might be different. It's either UI graphic designer, visual designer, but I usually say like, yeah UI designer. And usually they have a clueless look on their face. I usually say I design websites. Is the easy answer. Matt Stauffer: It feels like it's a little bit of a lame answer. I say the same thing all the time. I'm like, "I make websites." Steve Schoger: I know [crosstalk 00:01:48] get all technical, but they won't get it. Matt Stauffer: Exactly. Steve Schoger: And then some people are just completely like, if I'm talking to someone older, they'll be like, "Oh, so you design books?" I'm just like, "Yeah, I do." Matt Stauffer: It's easier to say yeah and move on and by your tomatoes than actually have to answer it. Steve Schoger: Yeah this conversations over. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. My go to for a while has been I make websites, and I'm getting more and more dissatisfied with it, because I did it for a good reason. It's hard to have that conversation with those people, but then everyone's like, "oh, can you make my website for my Mom and Pop Sausage Shop." Or something like that in WordPress. And I'm like, "No. No, I'm sorry." I know some people who make websites. So, now I'm like, "I make web applications." I don't know anyway. Matt Stauffer: So, okay. So, you are right now coming off the heels of a successful launch of Refactoring UI and everybody in the entire internet heard about this thing and it's super exciting, but just a couple years ago, you were working a nine-to-five, and you had not achieved the level of Twitter fame. So, we're going to walk through that process. But before we go there, I want to learn a little bit about who makes the man who we know today. Matt Stauffer: So, where are you from originally? And when did you first get into design? Even in the earliest stages. Whether it was drawing on your wallet at age three or whatever. What are the steps you can remember that really got you to the point where you realized that design or art or creativity in general were things you might be interested in long-term? Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, to your first question. I'm from Ontario, Canada, and I'm from a city called Kitchner. Which is about a hundred kilometers outside of Toronto. And it's a population of 200,000, is the city of Kitchener, but it's this Tri-City thing. There's three cities next to each other to make one big city, which is about about half a million people. And I actually grew up on a small town outside of ... that's the city I live in now, which is Kitchener, which is a city, a small town of 200, 300 people. Matt Stauffer: Wow. Steve Schoger: Yeah and and I started getting into design, I guess, when ... kinda what you said, I started drawing when I was a little kid. I guess, my mom put this miniature horse in front of me when I was ... I can't even recall this, it was like when I was a baby almost and I'd draw it, but I could ... she acknowledged that I could draw depth. You know when people draw a horse or something, they draw a stick figure or something, but I actually drew the depth of it. Matt Stauffer: The angle of it. Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. And she saw, "Okay. There's Talent here." And, I guess, that's the earliest form of what I do. So, I've always been into art and when I was younger, I wanted to be an animator/ I'd watch a lot of cartoons cool stuff. And I didn't really ... when I was younger, the job I have now was not even a job. So, I never designed on the computers until I got to like ... Actually, the first time I used Photoshop was my first day of college. Matt Stauffer: Okay. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, I'd be doing art and stuff and I'd take graphic design courses in high school, but they're not computer based graphic design. It's school, low-budget, you're working with pen and paper, and you're drawing letters and stuff. Matt Stauffer: Using rulers and all that stuff. Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. Matt Stauffer: Now, what was that, because your teacher said, "Oh, there's all this newfangled stuff. But we want you to know the basics." Or was it not even in the context of the newfangled stuff and they just said this is what graphic design is? Steve Schoger: Yeah. I mean, I didn't really ... I guess, that's what I thought graphic design was, and then when I got to college then I started using Photoshop, and everyone around me in the classroom got a handle on Photoshop. They already knew their way around a little bit, but the course I took, it wasn't graphic design. It was multimedia design production. So, that's everything from graphic design to to video, to a little bit of development, to even a little bit of music production, because I didn't know I wanted to do graphic design. So, I took a ... but I knew I wanted to do something in media. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So, when you went up to college, you just said, "I want to do something media-related." And you were still trying to figure out what exactly, so you just tried a lot of different classes or? Steve Schoger: Well, it was a course called multimedia design and production. All those things I just said. And yeah, I just wanted to get my hands wet with everything, and figure it out from there. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to college. I didn't know what I wanted my career to be, let's put it that way. Matt Stauffer: But you did have a sense that it was going to be creative and you were going to making ... So, basically was that class the full spectrum of potential careers you were thinking of that point? Steve Schoger: Yeah. Matt Stauffer: Okay it was a perfect all-in-one experience on all them. Did you come out of that class then knowing graphic design is it? Or did it still take some time to figure it out? Steve Schoger: No, no, because like, I guess, in high school, I wanted to be a rock star in high school. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. Tell me more about this. Let's pause college. Tell me more about this. Steve Schoger: Yeah, I play guitar. I picked up a Guitar when I was grade eight. So when I was 12, I guess. And I got really into it, I'd spend four hours a day. I'd come home from high school and play guitar until I went to bed. Matt Stauffer: That's amazing. All-electric or were you an acoustic as well? Steve Schoger: I started on acoustic. The way I got a guitar is my great grandma passed away and it was my inheritance. Matt Stauffer: Okay. Steve Schoger: She didn't have the guitar, but the inheritance money went towards a guitar. So, I started playing acoustic and then I always wanted an electric guitar. So, I picked one up maybe first year of high school or something like that. And that's all I did. And I played in the high school bands and stuff. I played bass guitar in the high school band and stuff. Steve Schoger: And, I mean, that was just an unrealistic dream. But when you're in high school you're just, "I'm gonna make it. I'll be ..."- Matt Stauffer: So, when you were in high school, you legitimately were interested enough in that dream that you thought, "I'm going to graduate from high school and I'm going to join a band or start a band. And I'm going to tour the world, and that's where my money's going to come from."? Steve Schoger: Yes. That's what I believed. Matt Stauffer: Because some people say that ... is kinda like the side dream. That was the dream. So, what dissuaded you from that dream? Steve Schoger: Well, my parents. They were like, "Well, you should consider going to school first, then maybe think about doing that." Matt Stauffer: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, they were and trying to weave them together a little. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, even when I was in multimedia design, I still had this music industry dream in mind. So, I did the multimedia course. I graduated from that, finished it, and then there was this music industry arts program at the same college. I went to Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. And it was really hard to get into it. But I applied for it anyway, right after I graduated from multimedia, and they accepted me. So, and I'm thinking, "Well, I might not be a rock star, but I'd love to be in the music industry right? I'd love to show you music production." Steve Schoger: So, that course covered everything from music business, to just being in the studio and recording artists, and all that stuff . Still an unrealistic dream. Look at the music industry now, right? But I took that course and, I mean, that's still my hobby today. So, I don't regret taking that course. I learned a lot out of that course, but then when I finished that program, I was interning at small record labels. And they all saw the multimedia design on my resume, and that's what I ended up doing at those labels, right? I end up doing a lot of web stuff. A lot of designing little brochures and one sheets. A lot of stuff like that. Steve Schoger: So, I was doing that more and more, and I kinda enjoyed it at this point. Because I was kinda doing it for something I really enjoy doing. But I wasn't getting paid, it was all internships and stuff. Matt Stauffer: Oh. Got it. Steve Schoger: Right. And then I'm like, "Well, I got to get a job in this,." And I tried to follow my music industry path, but there was no money in it. So, I'm like, "Well, I just enjoy doing this anyway." So, this is in like 2009. So, right at the peak of the recession. It was impossible for me to get a job. I couldn't get a job anywhere, right? Steve Schoger: So, I'm thinking "Well, not a bad time for me to go back to school." And I already took multimedia, and I'm thinking "Well, what can leverage all these skills?" What can add to this? And I was thinking, maybe I'll take a look at marketing course or some kind of copywriting course. So, I took advertising and copy writing at Humber College. Steve Schoger: But, when I was in school, in that course, I spent way more time working ... I was making ads, and again in the course, I was making fake ads, right? But I spent way more time working on the creative, than actually the writing the copy. And that year I also spent a lot of time just learning web development. And I learned a little bit of this when I took multimedia, but I forgot everything I learned. So, I was real learning that stuff. And it was easy to pick up again. Matt Stauffer: Real quick. What were you learning? Was it mainly HTML and CSS? Steve Schoger: Html and CSS. Matt Stauffer: [crosstalk 00:11:20] did you get into a CMS or anything like that, or not at that point? Steve Schoger: Yeah, I learned about ... I knew about WordPress and stuff. But even that was ... it was a little too technical for me at that point too, because WordPress you can use the templates, but I really wanted to make something unique. WordPress is always just like, you got the header, the content area, and the sidebar. Ad I didn't want that. I don't want that constraint. So, I just started hand coding, and I learned about a few other CMS's at the time. I don't even know what they were called if you asked. But I tried them out, and I found one that worked for me, and I built a little blog for myself, and I would never write, at all. But that's everyone who starts a Blog and has the attention of write a post every week. And some people succeed at it and I did not. Matt Stauffer: I'm there with you buddy. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Steve Schoger: So, I was doing that. And then during this time in school, maybe in the second semester, it was a one year program, like a post grad program. And I took, in the second semester of that, I spent a lot of time ... I realized I wanted to do web design, at this point. And if I found a job before I finished school, I would have just dropped out of school, because I already had two diplomas at this point. So, it wouldn't phase me to drop out. But I couldn't find a job, but I was doing informational interviews, where I would contact the company and say "I'm not looking for a job. I just want to learn what you guys do day-to-day, and learn about the company." And I did a quite a few of those, and it was my way of networking. And you know what? I did do a little bit of like, "Oh this job. This place is hiring a designer. I'm going to ask if they want to do an informational interview." And I did it with a few companies. And one of my informational interviews turn into a job interview and they offered me a job the day later. So, that's how I got my first job. Matt Stauffer: So, tell me about the difference between an informational interview and a job interview when you know they're hiring? Was it, because you didn't think you would have the qualifications or do you think you're more likely to get in for the informational interview? What made you want to do this one type of interview versus just applying for the job? Steve Schoger: Well, if I did an informational interview, it's this ... my sister recommended that I just reach out and ask for informational interviews. And, I guess, I didn't think I was qualified for the job. So, I didn't apply for the job. And I feel like they're more likely going to have me in, if I have no intention of this Matt Stauffer: Ulterior motive. Steve Schoger: Exactly, exactly. Matt Stauffer: So, that's really interesting. Steve Schoger: I recommend anyone, I recommend to everyone does that. If you're a student in school, and you're just maybe not confident enough to go for that first job interview. Just shoot ... most people ... very few people turned me down, for an informational interview. Matt Stauffer: I mean, it makes sense. We've had a few people reach out for that. It seems so unique that I'm like "Yeah. Sure, I'll talk to you for a little bit. We can't always give you a full hour, but we'd love to chat with you a little bit about Titan." So, I hear that. That's really cool. Steve Schoger: Yeah, and I bring my portfolio in, and say "Hey, can you take a look at this and give me some feedback?" Matt Stauffer: I'm a student. I'm still learning and I'd eventually like to work at a company like this. That kind of thing? Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. And I was more thinking about, I was going for visual design jobs, but then I was interviewing with companies, and they're looking for UX designers, and I didn't even understand the role at that point. What the difference between a UX designer and a visual designer is. And sometimes I still don't understand the difference. Matt Stauffer: I think most people still don't get it. I still struggle. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So that was what? 2010, 2011 at that point? Or was it- Steve Schoger: That sounds about right. So, I think, so. Yeah. Matt Stauffer: Were you married yet at that point? Steve Schoger: No, but I was dating my now wife at the time. I met her in high school. And she's my high school heartthrob, and she rejected me in high school. Matt Stauffer: Oh snap. Steve Schoger: Well, she liked me. She later confessed that she liked me, but friends and influence from that. Kind of like, "Oh no, he's gross." Matt Stauffer: He's a rock star, you don't want to be with that kind of a guy. Steve Schoger: Yeah, but then later on we connected after I graduated from Fanshawe. We were talking on MSN at the time. MSN messenger. And that's how we really started to get to know each other, and then she came to visit me a few times, then we started dating. And then I sat a year off between when I graduated from Fanshawe and Humber, and that's when I really, I also spent that year figuring out what I wanted to do, working on my web design skills. And I was just getting to know my now wife at the time. And then we moved into together when I moved to Toronto. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So, during those years in between, when you weren't in school, the reason I asked about her, I mean, first of all, I'm always curious, but also, were you living alone, working just side jobs while you figured this all out? Or what was your life situation during that time? Steve Schoger: The years between- Matt Stauffer: So, basically you got a you got a job in 2010. We're about to talk about what, I think, was the first design job that you got. So, prior to 2010, where you in school the whole time, or where there any years in there where you were - Steve Schoger: [crosstalk 00:16:52] going back and forth here, because I'm stressing out and forgetting things. There was that year between Fanshawe and Humber. And that was me just getting more familiar with Photoshop again, because I haven't touched it in a long time, getting more familiar with code. And I was living with her, but not living with her. She was still a student. And I was just living at her place. Like, I was still living with my parents, but I was just always over at her place. I brought my computer over there and we just pretty much lived together. Matt Stauffer: Were you doing freelance work at this point or? Steve Schoger: No, I was [crosstalk 00:17:26] I was just learning. I took one job that I just was not qualified to do. And I started doing it and I'm like "I can't do this." And I had to say like, "Yeah, I'm not ... sorry." Because you ... I think, the best way to like ... you just got to try, right? That's how I am with ... maybe this is a conversation for later on, but- Matt Stauffer: No no, lets do it. Steve Schoger: That's how I am with speaking. I am really uncomfortable doing public speaking, but I just force myself to do it, and now I'm doing a lot of talks this year, and I regret are doing every one of them, but it's like, "Well, I gotta do them." And I put myself in that situation, but it's like ... anyways. Steve Schoger: So, yeah. I was just working on my craft, I guess, in the in that time, right? With my girlfriend. And that's how I ... and I just bring a lot of blog posts, learning how to design. Matt Stauffer: So, in 2010, you got your first job, and it came out of an information interview. So, a couple questions around there. What was your actual job supposed to be? And at that point where you primarily thinking of yourself as a UI visual designer? Had you started thinking about any of the other aspects of design that you do today? Because today obviously you're doing interface design, but there's a lot of UX embedded in the stuff that you're working on as well. So, how did you think of yourself then? And what was the actual job that you got? Steve Schoger: So, the formal title of the role, and this is goes back to different places have different titles, but the formal title was "interactive designer." And that could be the same as UI designer at our company, visual designer at another company. So, the work I was doing there was more like ... it wasn't so much software design, which I mostly focus on now. It was more like doing websites. And just doing the creative, mostly. Matt Stauffer: So, you'd basically be the one who says "Hey, we're working for Joe's Plumbing. Here's the font that Joe likes." And you'd put together Photoshop documents. Would you also convert them or are you mainly delivering fat Photoshop documents to web developers, and then moving on? Steve Schoger: Yeah. I remember when ... So, going back to the informational interview I had. The moment it turned into a job interview, there's that transition in that part, and I got all excited. He asked if I code. And I knew a little bit of code. I coded enough to build my own personal website, and that's all he wanted to know. He saw my website. He saw that it's probably not the best code, but he made it. And and I didn't need to code for the job. But he liked that I coded, because it just made it easier to communicate my ideas to the developer. Matt Stauffer: And probably also, because you understood the constraints that the developers are under. One of the things I said, when we first started working with you one, of the reasons that we were excited to work with you, and we'll get to here eventually is, because you were a designer who understood that for example, you can't deliver something with an image that would theoretically have to go wider than the browser, but you didn't give us what the image should look when it goes wider than the browser, right? Like when the browser gets a little wider. It's so clear what it's like working with a print designer, who doesn't understand ... not even responsiveness necessarily, but just like, you literally can't curve a thing that way in HTML. It's literally not possible. Matt Stauffer: As someone who understands what it's like to implement something, your brain was set in a different space, I think. Steve Schoger: Yeah, I think so, because everything was print design back then. There was no responsive design. Yeah, that's for sure. And everything was ... even if you wanted to use a custom font, you embedded it as an image. So, I was a big font guy. I didn't like using just the web defaults. So, I always searched for new fonts, and I'd export that as an image. Steve Schoger: So, I did a lot of the exporting stuff. and, but then yeah, I'd usually hand that off to the front end developer. And I was, when I was working there, I was the only designer at the company. It was a small company. I think, there's eight or ten of us in total. Matt Stauffer: Was it a consultancy? That just took client work and did a design- Steve Schoger: Exactly. Matt Stauffer: Built the front end, maybe integrated CMS, deliver it, move on to the next client? Steve Schoger: Yeah, and they specialized ... they worked with a lot of media companies. So, television production companies, and I think, that was just as a result of ... they worked with one, and word of mouth and ... Matt Stauffer: Its who you know. Steve Schoger: It often works that way. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, I was doing a lot of that stuff. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So, what was your next transition after that? I mean, did you stay at that job for a couple years and regardless, what made you want to move to something Different? Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, I was working in downtown Toronto at this point, at this company. And I worked there for two years, I think. And it was good. I liked being in a small company, but there's also part of me, "It's my first job. What else is out?" So, I was curious, and I interviewed at other companies, but then we also wanted to move back to our hometown, Kitchener, because Toronto is so expensive. By the way, I wish we bought a house in Toronto at that time, because it was- Matt Stauffer: Because now it's so different. Steve Schoger: We could have sold our house then and had no mortgage whatsoever and moved back here. But whatever. Matt Stauffer: [crosstalk 00:23:14] you could predict the future. Steve Schoger: Yeah, right. Steve Schoger: But I wanted to move back to Kitchener, Waterloo. First of all, Kitchener had this ... we have a little bit of a tech scene here. Blackberry, you know Blackberry? They put our name on the map, our city on the map. And we have at the University of Waterloo. So, a lot of trucks, a lot of engineering talent. And this created this little tech community. And I saw this from Toronto, and I was really interesting in it. But there was no design whatsoever. It was all engineers, right? And I'm thinking "I could have a huge competitive advantage if I go there. There's no designers whatsoever." And there was a company ... So, I was interviewing at a company called "Desire to learn." And they're an educational company. Matt Stauffer: I feel like I know somebody else who worked there, or did you- Steve Schoger: [crosstalk 00:24:19] it might be me. Matt Stauffer: Oh okay. Sorry. Keep going. Steve Schoger: And are you familiar with Blackboard? Matt Stauffer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Steve Schoger: The same kind of- Matt Stauffer: Can you give a real quick intro to anybody who hasn't heard before though? Steve Schoger: Yeah. It's e-learning software. When you go to school, it's your login portal, and that's where you can get your grades and your assignments and all that stuff. And I even used Desire to Learn when I was at Fanshawe. That was one of their first clients. And I had a friend working there and I was really interested in the company, but they never had any design either. I was their very first visual designer. Steve Schoger: But, to step back a little bit. My friend recommended I apply for this job. So, I applied for it. But at the same time, the company I was working at, we had a really low time, it was not good. And right when I got offered the job, the day later, my boss, before I even got to go into his office and say "I'm quitting." He basically said I gotta lay everyone off. We're closing the doors. Matt Stauffer: Wow. Steve Schoger: So, it was like the same day. I'm like, "Wow. Perfect." Matt Stauffer: Talk about timing. Geez. Steve Schoger: So, I had a little tweak break there, before I started my new job, because I basically I said "I have to put my two weeks notice in." Matt Stauffer: And then turns out you didn't. Steve Schoger: I think, I had a week. We were still wrapping things up and I had nothing to do. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So, you moved back, because you said Desire to Learn was in Kitchener. Steve Schoger: Yeah, moved back to Kitchener. But my wife was still working in Toronto. So, there's a little bit of ... I moved him back in with my parents that summer, is when I moved in. And Caitlin was still in Toronto, living at the place we were renting out. Steve Schoger: So, the summer we were living a little bit long distance, but I mean, we were an hour away from each other. So, I saw her on weekends and stuff. And she was interviewing locally at that time. And I started my job as Desire to Learn. And like I said, I was the first designer there, and UX was such a buzzword at this time. No company understood. They're like we need to invest in UX, but no one knew what it meant. And I worked at that company for two years. And in the two years I was there, I don't think anything I actually did saw the light of day. It was one of those situations. And it maybe has since I've left right? I've made these projects and they were sitting there, and you could work on them. But yeah. Matt Stauffer: That's tough. Steve Schoger: And right when I was leaving, they hired a ... I think, they have a good design team, now. They grew their design team since I have left them. Matt Stauffer: So, is that why you left? Because you just felt what you were doing wasn't actually- Steve Schoger: I was getting burnt out. And I was really passionate about what I was working on. Where I took my work home with me. And it was so frustrating to not have any of my work see the light of day. So, that just burnt me out. And plus, other factors were going on in my life where, we were renovating our house. And I'm not sure if you've been through a process like that, but never again. Matt Stauffer: It's definitely a second job. And it's a second, more stressful job. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, it's just all these stressful things in my life, to the point where "Man, let's just get out of this city and let's go move to California." And I even went for a job interview in California. They flew me down and stuff, and that was kinda fun. And I didn't get the job. I think, the reason I applied for the job was because I was just depressed, and I just wanted something to change in my life. Matt Stauffer: Maybe some change will make everything better. Yeah. Steve Schoger: Yeah, right? But once I left my job at Desire to Learn, and the house was done, we finished renovating the house, everything settled down, and I felt good I didn't make that decision. Steve Schoger: So, when I left Desire to Learn, I went to an insurance company, a local insurance, well not a local, it's a Canadian insurance company. Well, do you guys have Sun Life in the states? Sun Life? Matt Stauffer: Sounds familiar, but I'm not sure. Steve Schoger: Maybe, because I've talked about it. Matt Stauffer: Probably. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So, it's an insurance company. And it's just a huge company, a huge Canadian company, thousands, tens of thousands of employees. Matt Stauffer: Are they based out of Kitchner as well? Steve Schoger: We have an office kitchener ... I say we as if I still work there. There's an office of Kitchner. I don't even know where the head office is. In Toronto, maybe. But there's offices all over Canada. Matt Stauffer: Got it. Okay. Steve Schoger: And I worked there for two years. And when I started that job, this is when I started freelancing with you guys, Titan. And it was around that same time and it's around the same time I met Adam. And I'm trying to think of a way to tell this story that has this nice, seamless, flow, but I'm trying to remember everything that happened. Matt Stauffer: So, let me let me turn it and maybe this will help you out. So, a lot of us, when we met you and Adam. So, Adam worked at Titan, I think, when I first heard about you. So, he would say "Yeah, I got these buddy that I'm working with, and we do these design things together blah blah blah." So, we just started hearing your name more and more often, and eventually he's like, "Yeah, why don't you guys, consider pulling him in for something?" So, we would and we're like "He's really great." Matt Stauffer: So, we had this idea, especially because, I actually meant to mention this to the listeners that this Kitchner, Waterloo, that whole triangle, is really weird, because there is an excessive amount of technological ... I don't know if I want to say excessive amount of talent, but I don't know. But there's an excessive number of people who do the type of work that I do in that one little space. Matt Stauffer: You're there, and Adams there, and Vehicle's there, and all these other folks are there, and every time we open up a job posting. It's a guaranteed that at least several of the qualified applicants come from this little tiny circle, out of the entire globe. This little tiny circle. Steve Schoger: Well, it's like I said, we do have this tech thing going on here, and I don't want to say it like ... people will say "Well, we're the Silicon Valley of the north." But everyone says we're the new Silicon Valley. But it's like "No, but there definitely is something going on here." Matt Stauffer: And I hear a lot of people say like, "Oh, we've got a nice little tech community." People say that about my local town here. And what they mean is "We have more than nothing." But that's not what it is where you are. There is seriously a lot of people all doing the same stuff there. Matt Stauffer: So, when I start hearing about you, what I figured was, Adam and Steve have known each other since high school, they grew up together, they live down the road from each other, they happen to be very talented, and when I've only learned pretty recently that that's not the case. So, why don't we- Steve Schoger: [crosstalk 00:31:13] no that's not true, yes. Matt Stauffer: Why don't we come at it from the angle of how did you meet Adam in the first place? Steve Schoger: Yeah. Steve Schoger: So, I met Adam, because ... I was always working on a lot of side projects. So, when I was working at Desire to Learn, I'd be working on my ... I'd spend a lot of time working with just startups, helping them out, and just getting my hands dirty, right? And a friend of mine that I went to high school with, his name's Chris Albrecht. And I always wanted to work on projects with him, but he was always busy. He had a kid at this point. He was always doing house renovations. He's one of those guys that's good at everything. He can build a house, and he's a developer, and he's just ... and you want to hate him for it. Matt Stauffer: You don't, because they're also good at being a wonderful person, but you want to hate them a little bit. Steve Schoger: And that's the problem. Yeah, you want to you want to hate him. Good at everything. But then he's just an awesome person, so you can't hate him. So, like "Well, God, man." Steve Schoger: But he took a a software development course at Conestoga College, which is a local college. And that's where I met Adam. And, I think, the two of them were the top of the class. So, Chris talked very highly of him, and he said Adam works on a lot of side projects like I do, I should connect with him. Steve Schoger: And I said, yes sure. And I just sent Adam a message on LinkedIn, and it's funny, I tweeted that recently, the the message I sent to him. It's funny when I re-read it, because I dug it up, and I re-read it. And it's not how I talk to him, at all. It's like, I'm really proper. Matt Stauffer: Yeah, I was gonna ask if it was was really formal. Steve Schoger: Yeah it was a really formal, "Hey, we should connect. I heard a lot of great things about you. I hear you're a good designer, and you're a good developer. It's a really rare combination." And now we just talk like bros. But it was funny reading that and I just said "We should meet up and grab coffee." And I just showed him some of the work I'm doing, and he showed me the stuff he's working on, and I said, "We should work on a project together, just to get a feel for each other and see what it's working with each other, and maybe about can turn into something else." Steve Schoger: And, I think, the very first thing we worked on was, he happened to be working on this Resume Builder app. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. I remember that. Steve Schoger: And I had this idea for a Resume Builder app, and I was designing one, but they're both separate projects. And we're like, "Well, we're working on the same thing. Why don't we build this together?" And we never took it seriously, right? We just wanted to get a feel of what it was like to work with each other. So, we did it, and we got it half done, and that will never see the light of day. Matt Stauffer: Right. That was enough. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Nut I did like working with them. That's what we learned about each other, right? I really like that he's got a really good sense of design, and I have that way of ... we talked about earlier that, I understand a little bit of code. So, I can communicate with him effectively. So, I think, we had that good dynamic that worked well together. Steve Schoger: And, I think, I met him ... I'm not sure if I met him when I was working at Desire to Learn or when I went to Sun Life, but ... no, I met him when I worked at Desire to Learn, because the reason I went to Sun Life, it's like I was going there because, A) it was a pay increase. So, that was nice. But I knew I was going into this big company, that was just a huge bureaucracy. Matt Stauffer: You're a cog. Steve Schoger: I'm going to be miserable there. But I went there, because this is around the same time I was talking to you guys. And I'm like, "Well, I can make this transition into freelance maybe." And you guys were my first starting point there, and what brought me to Sun Life is "Well, I'm going to work my nine to five, and when I get home from work, I'm going to turn that off. And then turning that off and then I can work on freelance projects." And that's what I was doing for you guys. Matt Stauffer: And that's the type of job you want to have, if you're going to start that transition to freelance, is the type of job where you can turn it off at the end of the day. Which, if it were your soul thing, it would be worse, because you want a job you love, but if it's the thing that's helping you transition, you actually want one that you don't love and you don't care about, that goes away. That's really interesting. Steve Schoger: I almost didn't care if I got fired. It's that kind of thing. I didn't want to get fired, because it paid the bills, but it's ... Matt Stauffer: You weren't emotionally or mentally tied to it, other than showing up and doing the things you should do to get the paycheck basically. Steve Schoger: Yeah exactly. Matt Stauffer: Huh. Okay. Steve Schoger: So, this is where you get more familiar with where I come into the picture. Matt Stauffer: Lets pretend like I don't know it. Steve Schoger: So, I'd work on a few projects with you guys, and I was also doing a few projects with Taylor. And, I think, the first thing I did for him was spark. I did the first Spark website. I did the website and I did a logo for him. And, I think, I did that before I started work with you guys, because Adam recommended me to Taylor, and then he recommended me to you guys. Steve Schoger: And I knew nothing about Laravel at this point. I only know about Laravel, because of Adam. Adam got Laravel famous. And I said, "Hey man, I come with you?" Matt Stauffer: Me too. That's hilarious. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. So, I remember that you were doing that transition stuff. When did you leave Sun Life? What was the the moment right? Steve Schoger: Because I was talking ... I did a few you projects with you guys. And then I'm not sure who suggested it first, but we basically had an arrangement. I think, it might have been you who suggested it. It doesn't matter. But you guys wanted a designer, because you never had a designer at your company. And Taylor just wanted an ongoing designer, but neither of you had enough work to fulfill a 40 hour week. Steve Schoger: So, the arrangement was, well, I do one week with Titan, one week with Taylor, and then I'd have an off week to go find any other freelance work. So, we had that arrangement worked out, and then you guys matched my salary at Sun Life. So, it felt easy going into, it was easy to convince my wife it all worked out. Steve Schoger: So, I made that leap. And that's what brought me to that thing, an I've been working with you guys for ... how long have been with you guys for now? Matt Stauffer: Has it been two years with this arrangement? Steve Schoger: It's funny. I've been with ... every job I've had has been two years. Matt Stauffer: That's it. That's your magic number. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. I think, it's been two years. Because, I think, we did one year, and at the end of the year, we thought about it, and we re-upped it. So, it's probably been two years this way as well. Steve Schoger: Yeah, and, I mean, we're on pause right now, right? And that's ... we're talking about that shortly. Matt Stauffer: [crosstalk 00:38:17] story. Yeah. Steve Schoger: So, I was doing that, and I don't know ... next question, I guess. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. Matt Stauffer: So, I think, that worked really well, and, I think, it was really great for us. I mean, that's a curious business thing that anybody else can ask any of us more about, is that idea where Dan and I since ... Dan and I are both liberal arts Majors, with the design aesthetics, who are programmers. So, we always wanted a designer. From the earliest days of Titan, we wanted a designer, but it was hard for us to really justify at the beginning. Matt Stauffer: So, this was a really cool way to do this transition. And now we have a full-time designer, and have had Steve working with us for a while. But it took us this kind of experience to start building design into our workflows, and our ways of building. So, just anybody who's curious about that, it worked out really, really, really well, for us. Matt Stauffer: But the next part of the story was what you used in that third week. And that third week, was a combination of, I think, finding other clients, but also starting to become not just Laravel famous, but eventually just web development, broad internet famous, and then there's books and stuff like that. Matt Stauffer: So, where were you thinking? What was your approach? What was your attack? What was your mindset? What were the first steps you took to start using that time and start garnering a reputation? Steve Schoger: Yeah, I think, for the first year, I was doing a lot of ... I was just doing ... I was using the time for freelance, and I was finding new freelance clients. And I don't even remember any of the projects I did in that time, even though it was like a year ago, probably. Two years ago. But they're just a little one off things right? Steve Schoger: But it was still ... the tricky part about that thing. It's like, well, I work on a freelance project for a week, but there was more to do after working after that week ... For you and Taylor, we all had this understanding. Well, I'll be back with you in two or three weeks. But when I get a new client, it's like, well, I had to be ... Full disclosure. I have this [inaudible 00:00:28] going on, so I can work with you this week, but I won't be back with you 'til the following week. Steve Schoger: And they had a deadline, so it's like ... Well, I don't know how long I could do this for. I could only pick certain projects that last ... It was hard to find clients that worked that way. Matt Stauffer: [crosstalk 00:00:40] one week or less at any given moment. Steve Schoger: Yeah. So what I spent my time doing is just working on my personal brand, or working on little side projects, and the first project I did was Hero Patterns. That was a website for ... It's SVG background patterns. You can go on heropatterns.com and it's just a bunch of patterns that you can use for a hero background or whatever you want to use it for. I built that just as a fun project. I wanted to learn more about SVG, so that seemed like the right step, and I just wanted to add it to my portfolio and add to my personal brand. Steve Schoger: Then I released a bunch of icon sets. That's what I was doing in that time, just working on free, open-source projects. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. And those took off pretty quick. I remember seeing Hero Patterns, and I think [Zomicons 00:01:40] as well, on things like CSS Tricks. So it was pretty early on that you were releasing these things, and they were getting picked up pretty broadly. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Well, the Laravel community has certainly helped with growing my Twitter following, because it's such ... The whole community is really active on Twitter, first of all. Then I had Taylor and Adam retweeting my stuff and that really helped. Taylor had probably 50,000 followers at the time, so it all helped. I was growing my following there, and then Hero Patterns was getting posted on Product Hunt, and that really helped. Steve Schoger: From there, where does that bring us to? I was doing all these little open-source projects, and then I started doing the tips. Let's move up to that, 'cause I don't know what else ... Oh, I released another little project, Heroicons, which is like SVG icons, marketing icons ... They weren't meant for in-app experiences, but more if you go on a marketing page, and you're showing a features section. You can put the icons there and customize the colors. I thought it was a pretty interesting idea when I made it and it was a fun little thing, and I could make some money off of it. Steve Schoger: I released that and it did okay. I think I made $10,000 in the first few months, over that period. But Adam was launching his books and his courses, and they were doing insanely well. I saw him doing that and I'm thinking, at this point, I think I could maybe do a design book or something like that. I had all these ideas for what a design book could be for developers, and I was sharing these ideas with Adam. He encouraged me to build my following first. Matt Stauffer: Yeah, yeah. Steve Schoger: 'Cause that's what he did and that's what made his launches so successful. He proved that what he was making was worth it. Steve Schoger: I started doing the tips on Twitter to prove that I know what I'm talking about, and I can provide little ... Basically the tips, if you're not familiar with them, they're little bite-sized design tips. Here's a before of something that a developer might design, and here's an after of how you can improve it. It's like, take it, instant improvement, instant gratification, and they've evolved over time. Steve Schoger: The first tips, I was working on a project for you guys, let's say, and I'd take a screenshot of that project I was working on and post it and that was it. Immediately, they started doing well. People started seeing them and they were like, wow, these are pretty useful. Then they just grow and grow and grow. Steve Schoger: The tip idea, by the way, I stole the hot tip idea from Adam, 'cause he was doing hot code tips, and he stole it from Wes Bos, 'cause Wes Bos has been doing it for years. I talked to Wes Bos about that recently, and he said he stole that idea of a tip from someone else. Matt Stauffer: Really? Steve Schoger: Yeah. But he made it his own by adding the fire emoji. Matt Stauffer: Yeah, yeah. Steve Schoger: But now people think I created the fire tip and there's people copying me. It's all great. It all grows from there. Steve Schoger: Then, like I said, I was working on these projects, and I'd maybe work on something and I'd see, well, that's an interesting insight, and I'd take a screenshot of it. But then they became a higher quality thing. Well, in order to communicate this idea, I need to make this own little thing specific for this. Matt Stauffer: Compose the tweet with all the ... You made a little graphic side-by-side with all the bullet points and everything, right? Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. So the very first tips that I was doing, I'm just doing them and not thinking of it, and then Adam would bring in a lot of ideas. He'd share his ... This would be a cool tip for you. Matt Stauffer: Sure. Steve Schoger: Then we'd work on it together, and then they became ... with both of us working on them together, the quality went up and up and up. We'd try to make each tip better than the last, so they eventually just did really well. I think the biggest tip I posted got 13,000 likes and 3,000 retweets. Matt Stauffer: Holy crap. I knew they had gotten big but I didn't realize they'd gotten that big. Steve Schoger: That's by far the biggest one. At the beginning, they were getting ... The very first one I ever did, 40 likes. Then from there, it got 100 likes. Then it was 300 likes. I'm like, whoa. That's so big. Now today, it's like I can't post one without getting at least 2,000 likes and 300 retweets. Matt Stauffer: Geez. Go ahead. Steve Schoger: Yeah. They just spread so far. Matt Stauffer: That's awesome. Steve Schoger: The last tip I tweeted, people are hijacking the first comment, 'cause they know ... They see a little fire emoji in the tip, and they're like, first comment. Matt Stauffer: At least it's first comment, and not, do you see this? You should go to my course, blah blah blah. Steve Schoger: No, it was a friend of mine who's just joking, 'cause on the Kanye posts, people try to hijack it with their art. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. That's awesome. I wanted to point out something really quick here. I think one of the reasons that these spread so much is that, first of all, they're really high quality. You really know what you're doing. There's not a lot of people talking about it this way, and they're really easy to digest and apply. So there's one aspect. They're just really good tips, broadly, this is a really good idea. Matt Stauffer: But I think the other piece about this is that your tips ... You mentioned the fact that [inaudible 00:07:38], there was a lot of dev and not a lot of design. We have talked about this for a long time, about the Laravel community and other programming, especially back in programming communities. I have clients all the time that say, yeah, you can tell this was made by a developer, referring to something that they have that they're asking us to fix up. That means something. "You can tell this was made by a developer" means it doesn't look good, it's hard to understand. The information density is bad, the flow is not good. Matt Stauffer: There's this very big issue, with us as developers, knowing how to put stuff on the page, but not really knowing how to make it and such so that it's going to be ... not even just enjoyable, but understandable for the end user to really get the information out in a reasonable, pleasant way. Matt Stauffer: One of the things I love about your tips and a lot of your teaching is I think it reflects the fact that you do understand developers, and you do understand development, and you do know code, and you know enough developers and work with enough developers to know where our shortcomings are. You're not just putting out generic design tweets, but many of these tweets ... not all, but many of them ... are explicitly useful for people without a design background who are put in context, that because we're application developers, we need to build user interfaces. We don't know what you're doing. Matt Stauffer: I feel like a lot of basic design tips people give tend to be relatively useless to developers 'cause it's the same three things you've heard over and over again, but you really narrow in on practical design tips that help application developers. I wanted to point out that that is something I think probably comes intentionally, but also probably comes a little bit because of the specific background you do as a tech-adjacent designer, right? Steve Schoger: Yeah, and I think also, Adam's involvement too is a huge, huge- Matt Stauffer: Sure. Steve Schoger: I'm more or less the face of Refactoring UI, but it's honestly ... Adam and I are doing it ... Basically, the tips are ... From the birth of a tip idea, me and Adam will be ... Adam might point something out to me and say, this is an interesting little insight, and I'll have a sketch file of all my tips. I'll be able to either take a screenshot of something and I'll passively work on it until it best communicates the idea, and me and Adam are going back and forth at this point. Steve Schoger: Then there's the tip launch day, that we decide we're going to post ... That's a two-week process before we get ready to post it. Then me and Adam jump on a call and spend some time figuring out, how do we want to work this? How do we frame it in a way that communicates it? A lot of time gets put into these. Steve Schoger: But, yeah. Certainly, I have that kind of background that helps communicate to developers. But I don't want to discredit Adam whatsoever. Matt Stauffer: I love that. Steve Schoger: He's equally involved in that process, and he's coming with his developer point of view. Like I said, he's got a really good sense of design as well. And to be fair, some of the tips we've posted, I never even thought of them as tips, 'cause I'm so ... I have a designer mindset. Matt Stauffer: Sure, sure. But Adam was able to help you see- Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. Some of them ... It's like, one of the tips, for example, is offsetting a box shadow to make it appear like a light's coming from above to make it look more natural, right? Matt Stauffer: Right. Steve Schoger: And he suggested that tip, that was his idea, 'cause I never even thought of it as a tip. I'm like, I just do that. It's just second nature. I don't even think about it when I do it. Doesn't everyone do that? There's quite a few tips like that, where it's like, I never even thought of it as a tip before, as something insightful. Matt Stauffer: That's cool. One of the things that I pointed out to Adam that he does intentionally, but I don't know if everybody recognizes, is that he has a talent for ... We haven't actually said it. This is Adam Wathan, in case anybody happens to listen to this podcast and doesn't know who Adam is, which I kind of doubt. It's Adam Wathan. Matt Stauffer: He has a knack for recognizing what everybody in a particular community doesn't know, and everybody in another community might know, and then bringing the stuff that the other people know into the community where they don't know it. Refactoring to Collections, if you were to sell that book to someone in a community where they use collections pipelines for everything, they'd be like, why would I spend money for this book? But Adam understands how to bridge that information, so part of his talent, I think, is helping bridge the knowledge that you have as a talented designer and a tech-adjacent talented designer who does have a lot to offer. But he's also able to help you bridge that gap into developer mindset. So I love that you brought that point up. Steve Schoger: Yeah, I think that's very accurate. Adam's probably the best teacher I know. Him and Jeffrey Way are the really good teachers. Adam's probably one of the smartest people I know, and him and my other friend are the smartest people, I know, but the other guy that I'm speaking of is ... He was almost an astronaut. So that's who I compare Adam to. They're both completely different. He couldn't do what Adam does and Adam couldn't do what he does. Matt Stauffer: Well, you mentioned Refactoring UI. That's a perfect segue. So, hot tips was a big thing, and then you and Adam decided you guys were going to make Refactoring UI together. A lot of people have questions about that, you did just launch it. Before we talk about how it started, what did it end up being? If somebody's never gone, what is Refactoring UI right now that they can go purchase? Steve Schoger: Yeah. Refactoring UI is sort of a package. It was pitched as a book, but that takes all of the ... pitched it as a book to help developers get good at design. But we made this whole package, this whole resource for developers to help them make their designs better. So there's the book aspect, and that's probably the main component that everyone's familiar with. But then with that, we provide color palettes. So a big problem with developers is they don't know how to choose colors, so we just provide a bunch of color palettes for them. We provide a bunch of font recommendations, and there's an icon set. So it's this big package that you can go pick up. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. That totally makes sense, and it's good to know it's not just a book, 'cause I think that you guys said, what's the best way we can teach this? It's not just book, it's also resources that help you do the thing. And there's videos too, right? I think you mentioned that. Steve Schoger: Yeah, I didn't mention that. There's videos in the package. The videos are taking the ideas that are introduced in the book and applying them to a real-world example. Matt Stauffer: You tweeted out a couple of those, so if somebody wants to get a sample, they can see what that's like. I think you tweeted some. Steve Schoger: Yeah, there is a one video available you can watch. We emailed it out to the mailing list, so you can sign up and you can get that. You can also check out, if you're interested in that kind of thing, I also have a YouTube channel where I do UI breakdowns, and that's all part of it. Matt Stauffer: Okay. So we now know what it ended up being. And it just launched ... Right now, it's January 11, and it just launched a couple weeks ago- Steve Schoger: A month ago, December 11. Matt Stauffer: Okay, there you go. Steve Schoger: There you go. Matt Stauffer: When did it start, if you remember, and what were you originally thinking? Steve Schoger: Yeah. Like I said, I saw Adam get successful with all his courses and stuff, and I'm thinking, well, I could maybe do that with design for developers. So the original idea was, I was going to write a book. But I was bouncing my ideas back and forth with Adam, and it just made sense to get him involved in the project. And I think this was even before I started doing tips, I thought I was going to write a book. It only made sense to get him involved and make it a 50/50 partnership, 'cause he can bring his developer frame of mind to it, and to articulate the ideas that have much better than I could. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. At that point it was still a book. What thinking process did you guys go to when you were starting to write this book that made you realize it needed to be more than just that? Steve Schoger: Right. I think when we started working on the book, there was a few ideas in the book that ... It was too difficult to communicate in the way we were writing it, the style of writing it was. And there was a few ideas we wanted to communicate that just couldn't be communicated that way. That's when we realized we needed to make some videos attached to it. There's a few insights in the videos that you can't necessarily find in the book, 'cause maybe it's a little more hand-wavy. We like to make the book very- Matt Stauffer: Very concrete? Steve Schoger: Yeah, very concrete, where in the video, there's a few more ideas that are a little more hand-wavy. Matt Stauffer: What was the hardest part about writing this book, about this whole process for you? Steve Schoger: Making the book was a roller coaster of emotions. Matt Stauffer: Oh, yeah? Steve Schoger: Well, you've been through this, right? I think early on, we had all these ideas of what the book was going to be. We spent so much time planning, and not enough just doing it. What we realized is that we should've just started doing it and let it just unfold, right? Matt Stauffer: Right. Steve Schoger: What was the hardest part? The book is more or less a picture book. There's more pictures than there are words. I made about 300 images for the book. Matt Stauffer: Wow. Steve Schoger: And they're not just ... A lot of books will just take a real-world example, take a screenshot of it, and put it in their book. We had really specific points we wanted to communicate, so we thought the best way to do it is design a little UI for it. One of my goals with the images was to make it so ... First of all, I might design an entire UI just to communicate how to do a drop shadow. I thought it'd be cool if every image in the book is something you can go ahead and create yourself, challenge yourself to create that image in the book. And I wanted there to be a little bit of hidden gems within all the images. Steve Schoger: So it's like, oh, we're teaching you how to do a drop shadow here, or a box shadow, but I noticed in this little UI example, you had this, and I never would've thought to do that on my own. So there's a whole bunch of little hidden gems like that in images. That took a long time. Steve Schoger: The way we delegated work with the book was Adam wrote all the words. We worked on all the concepts together to figure out how we communicate these ideas, and Adam wrote all the words, and I did all the images. Matt Stauffer: Got it. Steve Schoger: Some chapters will be like ... There's 200 words, but then nine complex images. So I just couldn't do any of the writing with the amount of time I was spending on the images. Matt Stauffer: For sure. What you're saying is you did all the work and Adam just mailed it in, right? Steve Schoger: Yeah, exactly. Matt Stauffer: I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Steve Schoger: No, no. I couldn't have done it without ... Like I said, Adam is far better at articulating these concepts than I could've ever done. If I wrote the book myself, it would've been ... I don't want to say a failure, but it wouldn't be near as good. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. And I want to attest to the fact that I know both of these guys relatively well at this point, and they basically disappeared off the face of the planet for weeks at the end there, because they were both putting in such long days. Tell me a little bit about that time for you. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Just for the listeners, I had my thing, gig with you and Taylor, and I think I sent you guys a note at the end of September, maybe? Matt Stauffer: I think so, yeah. Steve Schoger: Is that about right? And Adam and I were passively working on the book at this point, but we realized it needed a full-time commitment. So I sent you guys a note saying, hey, I know you guys knew we were working on this book. We were getting towards ... gearing up launching this. So I sent you guys a note saying, hey, do you mind if I go on a leave, and you guys were fully understanding about it, and that was awesome. I feel like I'm in debt to you guys for that. Matt Stauffer: No, dude. Not at all. Steve Schoger: Then that was in September, and we already had a launch date in our head. We wanted to get it done before the new year. We already announced that we were going to get it launched by fall 2018, right? Matt Stauffer: Right. Steve Schoger: And then I just worked on ... We worked on the book for three months there. There was a break in between where we were both ... And you were there too ... invited to speak at Laracon Australia. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. Steve Schoger: Both Adam and I made a bit of a family vacation out of that too. We spoke at the conference, but it's like, well, going to Australia is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and our wives want to come, so we brought our whole family along. Matt Stauffer: I got to meet your families and I loved it. Steve Schoger: Yeah. That was a two-week break we had in there. Then when we got home, we realized ... We wanted to launch it at the end of November. That was the original goal. But we got back from Australia, we were like, that is impossible. There's no way to get this amount of work done in that amount of time, so we pushed it back a bit. We didn't actually have a date in mind, but we were thinking, we've gotta get it done before the new year, because if we don't get it done by ... If we didn't get it done in the week we got it done, then we probably would've postponed it to the new year. Matt Stauffer: Yeah, 'cause it was just too close to Christmas and everything's too crazy around then. Steve Schoger: Exactly, exactly. Even at the time we launched, it was a little bit ... I don't know. Yeah. And we were just ... Like you were saying, we disappeared, especially in the last week. That was ... I didn't sleep for three nights, the last three days before the launch. I was up for 72 hours. I got maybe two hours of sleep in that period. Matt Stauffer: Yeah. I saw you at the end of that period. Steve Schoger: Yeah. Matt Stauffer: [crosstalk 00:21:09] Steve Schoger: No, and I was just neglecting my family. My wife was incredible about it. She even said, hey. Would it be helpful if I go sleep at my parents' for the next few nights, just to get out of the house, and you have time to yourself? Matt Stauffer: Wow. Steve Schoger: She was incredible for that. Yeah. That was just ... I was trying to stay active on Twitter, 'cause I needed to keep promoting the book and make it look like I was still alive. But, yeah. Matt Stauffer: Because we're pretty short on time, I try to keep these under an hour and we're going to go a little bit over, I want to ask you a lot more questions, but I want to at least push on this one thing. What did it feel like to put out your first big product, and what were you doing after the launch? Now that it's been a couple weeks, how do you reflect on that experience about having done it, about the launch day ... Does this make you want to go do something like this again, or do you say never again? How do you feel about it right now? Steve Schoger: I don't think I'll ever work on a book again, for sure. But I'm all down for working on projects like this again, big product launches. They're fun. Steve Schoger: I know when Adam did his Refactoring to Collections book, it was like, he was working on that in the evenings and stuff while he was working for you guys, then he had this unexpected huge

A local to Kitchener, Ontario, videographer Phil Marques has always had an interest to combine his love for music and videography together! Phil has three years of communications technology education and two years of stage production under his belt. He received a one year certificate for Media Foundations at Conestoga College, and a diploma for the two year Broadcast (TV) Program. Phil has had the privilege of working with local artists such as Breaching Vista, Amberwood, The Red Factor, Red Handed Denial, Shae Dupuy and To The Trees. As well as big touring acts such as Texas In July, August Burns Red, Adam Gontier, One Bad Son, and Say Yes! For classes/booking: http://justtheletterk.com/booking Get Socialistic with me: