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Please consider supporting OSMI and its mission to help those facing mental illness in the tech community. Donate to Open Sourcing Mental IllnessOSMI began in 2013, with Ed Finkler speaking at tech conferences about his personal experiences as a web developer and open-source advocate with a mental health disorder. The response was overwhelming, and thus OSMI was born. OSMI board members and volunteers bring their time and expertise to bear on this important issue by organizing efforts to change the experiences of those with mental health disorders in the tech workplace. This includes speaking at conferences and companies, conducting research, and creating documentation to assist companies in making supportive environments for those impacted by mental health disorders.The PanelEric Van Johnson - https://phparch.social/@ericBen Ramsey - https://phpc.social/@ramseySara Golemon - https://phpc.social/@pollitaJoe Ferguson - https://phpc.social/@joepfergusonTom Rideout - https://twitter.com/RealRideoutBeth Tucker Long - https://twitter.com/e3BethTEd Finkler - https://phpc.social/@funkatronOther LinksOSMI on Twitter - https://twitter.com/OSMIhelpOSMI on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/osmihelpOSMI on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBF9RcJ2o56UYO3kBqdKlHgOSMI on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/13196772/e-mail OSMI - info@osmihelp.orgPlaces you can find and follow PHPRoundtableYoutube - https://youtube.com/phproundtableTwitter - https://twitter.com/phproundtableMastodon - https://phparch.social/@phproundtable
Ed Finkler, Founder of OSMIHELP.ORG, joins us for this episode to talk about what may be the most important bug we have to smash on a regular basis. Burnout is far more serious than we tend to think, until we're going through it ourselves! In fact, with the unique challenges that ecommerce developers face on a daily basis, it is almost guaranteed that each one of us will experience burnout at some point in our careers. The battle for your own mind is worth fighting. -- KEY TAKEAWAYS [coming soon: full show notes at SwiftOtter.com] “Burnout” isn't a technical diagnosis. Unfortunately, when people experience burnout, their mental condition may even worsen due to the perception that nobody else identifies with their situation or understands the personal challenges it presents every day. Burnout is uniquely identified by the inability to manage stress levels properly, enjoy tasks that were once enjoyable, feel like progress is being made when tasks are completed, or even have a confident “sense of agency”, which is the conscious recognition that one has power over their own situation. Programming is certainly a difficult job, but an ecommerce developer is the creator, ongoing maintenance provider and solution designer for online merchants who often demand a lot from them. The action really never dies down with how many different things developers have on their plates. Because of the way professionals must operate in this career, experiencing burnout is almost guaranteed to happen at some point. Ed revealed to us the reality that “burnout” is really just a euphemism for “episodic depression” and that it's important to understand that everyone goes through this in different ways and for different reasons. Burnout cannot be remedied with more money, easier projects or the occasional pizza party. The sense that one's peers truly care about them and desire to see them succeed is an incredible antidote. One's greatest asset is their mind, so how come it doesn't seem important to take care of that thing? Visit Ed's website at osmihelp.org and for additional resources, check out helpguide.org Are you dealing with burnout or "episodic depression"? Do you feel that your coworkers and/or managers don't understand the importance of mental health? We'd love for you to post a comment here or drop us a line at Joseph@swiftotter.com. We're happy to be a listening ear and an encouragement to you! In addition to that, please feel encouraged to join our Slack community where over 1200 developers are collaborating and encouraging one another on a daily basis! Email us or connect with us on social media and we will happily share an invitation link with you. -- Do YOU have an incredible debugging story to share? Send your story to logan@swiftotter.com and you might be our next podcast guest! This podcast exists to inspire, educate and entertain ecommerce developers who are serious about improving their skills and advancing their careers! The Art of Ecommerce Debugging, your complete guide to becoming an expert debugger, is NOW AVAILABLE at SwiftOtter.com! Claim your copy right here: https://swiftotter.com/art-of-debugging#/ The information contained in this book is your pathway to becoming an incredible developer. In fact, veteran developers from all over the world are reporting that they learned valuable new tricks from this book. Your ROI on this inexpensive tool will be immediate and through the roof! Get your copy here: https://swiftotter.com/art-of-debugging#/ (Theme music courtesy of Trending Audio)
Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Ed Finkler. Ed is a software developer at DelMar Software Development. He is also co-host of the Development Hell podcast and he is currently raising mental health awareness in the tech community with his Open Sourcing Mental Illness speaking campaign. In this episode, Phil and Ed Finkler begin by talking about how mental illness impacts tech professionals and why awareness of the issue needs to increase. They also talk about how Ed has successfully managed his own mental illness issues. Ed and Phil discuss the future of IT and the need to simplify both the creative process and what we build. They also cover the need to use dependable tech. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (7.38) TOP CAREER TIP You need to develop your non-technical as well as your technical skills. These so-called soft skills are actually vital to success. Being a good communicator, the ability to work well in a team and having empathy are all essential. (11.56) WORST CAREER MOMENT For Ed, that was being let go from a start-up position. At the time, he was working hard and felt that he was fully fulfilling the brief. It was hard for Ed to accept this change, especially because he had difficulties in other areas of his life. That was when his anxiety and depression really took hold and negatively impact everything. In the podcast, he explains how he managed to come out the other side. (22.05) CAREER HIGHLIGHT At one stage, Ed’s mental illness completely destroyed his confidence. So, being able to gradually come back from that and once again become a fully-functioning developer was understandably a career highlight for Ed. But, perhaps even more so is what came out of that struggle. He is really proud of founding Open Sourcing Mental Illness and the fact that it has now gained momentum and taken on a life of its own. It is nice to know that it will be there and continue to help others for many years to come. (26.41) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ed hopes to see the focus shifting from web development to creating tools that make things easier and more straightforward for developers. He feels that “complexity is the enemy” and believes that the more complex things are the more likely they are to screw up. Ed is excited about the fact that the community and open source are being embraced. He explains why in the podcast. (34.45) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Ed has always loved computers. He kind of drifted into his IT career because he wanted to be able to build certain things. What’s the best career advice you received? – Don’t have a loyalty to a specific technology, brand or company. Reserve your loyalty for people. What’s the worst career advice you received? – It is a good idea to apply new and unproven technologies in production. It is not a good idea. This kind of fashion-driven development is extremely risky. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ed would start by learning Python. What are your current career objectives? – Being happy in his day to day life and at peace. Once you achieve that everything else, including work, becomes a lot easier. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – The ability to speak in front of people and enjoy doing it. How do you keep your own career energized? – Mixing things up, working in different languages on a range of projects. What do you do away from technology? – Ed loves music production. He has released an album and is about to release a 6 track EP. (54.29) FINAL CAREER TIP Focus on the things that make you happy. You need to ensure that the things that make you feel satisfied are a part of the work that you do. In the podcast, Ed provides examples. He also explains that this does not necessarily mean working things that you find exciting. BEST MOMENTS (9.46) – Ed - “How you communicate and interact with people and how empathetic you are will impact your success.” (29.24) – Ed - “The more complex things are, the more things are likely to screw up. We need to simplify things.” (35.15) – Ed - “We have to remember how lucky we are to work in the industry.” (40.04) – Ed - “Being focused on constantly learning new technologies can be actively detrimental to your career.” (41.53) – Ed - “You should make conservative technology choices when building things. End-users need dependable and proven tech.” (54.41) – Ed - “Seek out work that makes you feel satisfied and happy.” ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey. CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at phil@itcareerenergizer.com and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer ABOUT THE GUEST – Ed Finkler Ed Finkler is a software developer at DelMar Software Development. He is also co-host of the Development Hell podcast and he is currently raising mental health awareness in the tech community with his Open Sourcing Mental Illness speaking campaign CONTACT THE GUEST – Ed Finkler Ed Finkler can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/funkatron LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edfinkler/ Website: https://funkatron.com/
Arthur Doler is talking about Mental Health. This episode is sponsored by Smartsheet. Show Notes: Check out episode 51 in the archives: Ed Finkler on Open Sourcing Mental Illness and check out OSMI The Department of Health and Human Services was mentioned. I think Arthur said region 6, but it looks like Nebraska is in region 7. Burnout was mentioned briefly, so also check out episode 50: Peter Piekarczyk on Burnout Project management methodologies mentioned: Waterfall (PDF), Scrum, agile The Restoration of James Madison’s Montpelier NDC Oslo: Let’s Talk About Mental Health "Gaslighting" is a type of mental abuse, coined from the stage play / movies of the same title. Video: Strong Than Fear by Ed Finkler Course: Mental health first aid. I found 11 of them within 100 miles of me, coming up over the next two months. ArthurDoler.com And don’t forget to check out Arthur’s last appearance on the show: Arthur Doler on Retrospectives Arthur Doler is on Twitter. Want to be on the next episode? You can! All you need is the willingness to talk about something technical. Music is by Joe Ferg, check out more music on JoeFerg.com!
Ed Finkler is open-sourcing mental illness. Show Notes: OSMI OSMI's external resources, which includes books and links to other material Steve Andrews was the speaker at KalamazooX Episode 15 of the Development Hell podcast The ad that we discussed that says "I rarely get to see my kids. That's a risk you have to take." as an example of romanticizing overwork / workaholism. It's also tweeted by Jason Fried, one of the founders of basecamp. Ed Finkler will/has spoken at: WordCamp DC 2017 WordCamp Minneapolis 2017 PyOhio in Columbus, Ohio (which is right in my backyard and I've STILL never been to! Shame on me!) Ed Finkler is on Twitter Want to be on the next episode? You can! All you need is the willingness to talk about something technical. Theme music is "Crosscutting Concerns" by The Dirty Truckers, check out their music on Amazon or iTunes.
Peter Piekarczyk is concerned about burnout, stress, and anxiety. Show Notes: Original tweet that lead to this episode OSMI - watch for an episode featuring Ed Finkler soon! "Developers love Medium". (I'm not sure this developer does :) React Native Radio podcast Peter is on Github Peter Piekarczyk is on Twitter Want to be on the next episode? You can! All you need is the willingness to talk about something technical. Theme music is "Crosscutting Concerns" by The Dirty Truckers, check out their music on Amazon or iTunes.
Guest: Ed Finkler @funkatron Full show notes are at https://developeronfire.com/podcast/episode-244-ed-finkler-things-that-matter
Watch the video of this podcast here. It’s estimated that roughly 20% of the population will deal with the medical diagnosis of mental health issue every year and among IT professionals that percentage is even higher. Ed Finkler is a lead developer who has been in the tech world for several decades now. Because of his own mental health experiences, he has started a group to help IT professionals suffering from mental health disorders and to help those who employ or work with those professionals. Today that organization is called Open Sourcing Mental Illness (OSMI). OSMI works to raise awareness about mental health within the IT community through research, education and organizational outreach. It’s called Open Sourcing Mental Illness because OSMI uses the ideas of open source culture to fight the mental health issues in the tech community. When I asked Ed about the specific origins of OSMI, he shared he has ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder along with episodic depression (the first two are chronic). He describes feeling isolated and different from everyone in the earlier days of his career. That shifted about five years ago, he opened up about his struggles publicly on a podcast he co-produces with his friend Chris, called Development Hell. Ed talked about a particularly difficult time at a conference and how his mental health struggles made the experience even more challenging. That episode remains one of the most listened to shows they have ever released! Ed has talked about mental health over 60 times since then, and OSMI has grown from an idea to today’s group of over 30 volunteers, including a Board of Directors. Since Ed is at the forefront of mental health discussions in the tech world, I asked him what the discussion is like right now within the community. He says the biggest issue is that we don’t talk about it, and we don’t talk about it because we’re afraid of the stigma attached to mental health problems. According to his research within the OSMI community, roughly 93% of people believe being labeled with a mental health disorder could or definitely would negatively impact their careers. Even just talking about a mental health issue with their employers or their clients is seen as potentially damaging: 20% believe raising the discussion could or would negatively impact their career, or their business if self-employed. Yet we have little trouble talking about a physical health issue: a mere 4% thought it would hurt their job if they raised the discussion of a physical ailment, that’s 5x higher for mental health ailment versus a physical health problem. Which leads to a conundrum: how do you get resources to people if they can’t talk about a mental health issue? How do people become educated if they are afraid to talk about it? The first step, according to Ed, is to speak openly about it. The next step is for others to listen without judgment and to know that a mental health problem is not a personality flaw or a moral failing within someone. People with mental health issues are not weak or lazy. When we start to change these attitudes, and we begin to have discussions openly with compassion and empathy, then anyone with mental health issues can get the help they need and have the support they need. And that is what OSMI does, on two different levels: the individual level and the organizational level. Hear Ed describe both on this episode along with why it's okay to seek professional help to feel better, and why having professional help is like having a business coach. Tune in for that and more on today’s WP Elevation podcast.
Sherry talks with Ed Finkler, CTO at Graph Story and chairman of Open Sourcing Mental Illness (OSMI) about his mission to help raise awareness, educate, and provide resources to support mental health in the tech community both for employees and employers. Support ZenFounder OSMI.Org OSMI on Twitter OSMI on Facebook
Sherry talks with Ed Finkler, CTO at Graph Story and chairman of Open Sourcing Mental Illness (OSMI) about his mission to help raise awareness, educating, and providing resources to support mental health in the tech community both for employees and employers. The post Episode 111: Open Sourcing Mental Illness appeared first on ZenFounder.
Episode five is now live! Chris Tankersley and Gary Hockin are joined by Ed Finkler (@funkatron), someone who is way better at video gaming than Gary, and we somehow suckered people into attending live. This time around we reminisce about all of the Fallout games (except Tactics. No one should talk about Tactics) and what we love and hate about them. Spoilers - we don't like some of the aspects of the games. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch us record, and all of our listeners, and thank you to php|architect and One For All Events for giving us space at php[world] to record, and to SiteGround for providing us with some drinks. As always, follow @jerkstalkgames on Twitter, find new episodes on http://jerkstalkgames.com, listen to us on iTunes and Google Play Music, or watch us on YouTube! Games Skyrim: Special Edition Forza Horizon 3 Civilization 6 Terraria Wasteland Fallout 1 Fallout 2 Fallout 3: Van Buren Fallout 3 Fallout: New Vegas Fallout 4
In this Halloween-ish episode of Community Pulse, PJ and Mary talk to Coraline Ada Ehmke and Ed Finkler. We explore the the two sides of the same coin that are the life of technical advocates.
In this Halloween-ish episode of Community Pulse, PJ and Mary talk to Coraline Ada Ehmke and Ed Finkler. We explore the the two sides of the same coin that are the life of technical advocates.
This weeks show discusses mental health in the tech world, WordPress 4.5 released, Microsoft’s Hitler-loving sex robot ‘teen girl’ AI bot, and more! Ed Finkler, also known as Funkatron, started making web sites before browsers had frames. He does front-end and server-side work in Python, PHP, and JavaScript. He is the Lead Developer and Head of […] The post Episode 094: Open Sourcing Mental Illness appeared first on DradCast.
In this interview with Ed Finkler, Lead Developer and Head of Developer Culture at Graph Story, we discuss soft skills that are important for developers. We dive into how things like humility and empathy impact your effectiveness as a developer, as well as ways to ensure you're always learning and how you can give back to the community.
The PHP Bard himself, Jeremy Lindblom, joins us for much discussion of fun things, like how PHP is used inside Amazon, the upcoming Pacific Northwest PHP Conference (PNWPHP), and what it’s like to be a bard in the age of automation. Also Ed bought a new TV and wrote some music once. Do these things! Check out our sponsors: Roave and WonderNetwork Follow us on Twitter here. Rate us on iTunes here Listen Download now (MP3, 46.8MB, 1:05:09) Links and Notes Kickstarter for PNWPHP Jeremy on Twitter The PHP Bard on Twitter AWS SDK for PHP Amber monitors Ed’s music project Dead Agent Dead Agent – Retina EP
The Postmodem triumvirate is thrilled to feature our first guest appearance - Ed Finkler (@funkatron), host of Development Hell and the creator of the legendary Ham Button. After some brief discussion about the Ham Button economics, we embark on a long and nuanced (Really! Except for the part where we terrify Colin with well-placed Twin Peaks images) discussion of Ed's Open-Sourcing Mental Illness campaign to raise awareness of mental illness in the software development community. We recount our personal struggles with mental illness, how it's affected our careers (both negatively and positively), the coping strategies we've developed to adjust to day-to-day professional and personal life, and the hell-on-earth that is junior high. We then cap the episode off with the requisite discussion of rap, covering the brilliance of Ice-T's music (and his Twitter feed).
Defending against attacks on a web application is by nature is complex process, one that must address everything from coding practices to user management to network architecture. This talk will describe a number of techniques that, used in concert, will make your web app a much tougher cookie to crack. Primary focus will be on open-source "XAMP" setups, but the concepts should be applicable to most other systems. About the speaker: Edward Finkler is the Web and Security Archive Administrator for CERIAS. He is a member of the PHP Security Consortium, and on better days thinks of himself as an expert in web application security and interface design. His most recent project is PHPSecInfo, a PHP environment security auditing tool.
Defending against attacks on a web application is by nature is complex process, one that must address everything from coding practices to user management to network architecture. This talk will describe a number of techniques that, used in concert, will make your web app a much tougher cookie to crack. Primary focus will be on open-source "XAMP" setups, but the concepts should be applicable to most other systems.
This talk deals with practical issues of web application security, with an emphasis on open-source web service tools such as Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Recent exploits in widely-used open source web applications such as phpBB and Wordpress underline the need for web app developers to make security a primary consideration. We'll discuss the most common types of attacks and how to defend against them, both on a code, application, and network design level.
This talk deals with practical issues of web application security, with an emphasis on open-source web service tools such as Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Recent exploits in widely-used open source web applications such as phpBB and Wordpress underline the need for web app developers to make security a primary consideration. We'll discuss the most common types of attacks and how to defend against them, both on a code, application, and network design level.