Podcasts about thezebra

One number can save you a lot of money: Your credit score. But how do you go about building or improving credit? We'll tell you today on MoneyWise. Your credit score is how lenders judge you. The higher your credit score, the lower the interest rate you'll be offered when you apply for loans, credit cards, and mortgages. That much you probably knew. What many people don't realize, however, is that these days, your credit score may also determine what you have to pay for home and auto insurance. And increasingly, employers are using candidates' credit scores in their hiring decisions. A candidate with a high credit score might be offered a job over someone else, all other qualifications being equal. That also translates to more money in your pocket. To build or raise your credit score, the first thing you should do is get a basic understanding of how the credit system works. And for our purposes, let's concentrate on your FICO credit score since it's the one most lenders use. It's based on the information held in your credit reports at the three credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and ranges from 300 to 850. Anything lower than 580 is poor. A score between 580 and 670 is fair. A score from 670 to 740 is good. A very good score is anything between 740 and 800. And if you have a number higher than 800, you have an excellent score. Your score indicates the likelihood that you'll repay money that's loaned to you. That number is based on five factors: 1. Your payment history and whether you've made any late payments 2. the length of time you've had each account 3. Your balances versus your available credit 4. The types of accounts you have 5. And the number of new accounts. But what if you don't have any of those items in your credit report? It's a chicken and egg kind of thing You can build credit by opening a secured credit card. It has a credit limit equal to the amount of money you deposit in a designated savings account, and the bank uses that as collateral. It will then allow you to make charges on the card up to that limit. But you don't want to do that. Instead, just make one routine (budgeted) charge a month and then pay it off in full when the bill comes in. Now, you want to make sure the card is one where the bank reports your activity to the credit bureaus. That's usually the case with secured cards, but check to be sure. Once you start using the card the way we described, you begin to build a solid credit history. You can also get something called a credit builder loan. If you go to the website Self.inc they'll help you set it up. By the way, you can also get this type of loan from some banks and credit unions. Here's how it works: You apply for and get the loan, usually the amount is from $300 to $1000. When approved, you don't actually get the money. It's put into a CD and you make monthly payments that are reported to the credit bureaus as loan payments, building your credit history in the process. When the loan's paid off, you get the money you've paid into the CD plus a little interest minus a fee the bank charges. So it works like a secured credit card, but for an installment loan. Having both would build a favorable credit history and score even faster. You can also become an authorized user of someone else's credit card to build a credit history. Usually, that's a parent or some other family member. Just make sure that person has a solid credit score. And you don't have to actually use the card. As long as the primary owner uses it and makes regular, on-time payments, you'll get the benefit of good reporting on your credit. If you have a low credit score, the steps to increase it are simple. Make all of your payments on time. Pay extra so you reduce the amount owed versus your available credit. For credit cards, you always want that below 30%. Do that and your score will begin to rise. Of course, it takes time to build or establish a good credit rating so you have to be patient. On today's program, Rob also answers listener questions: ● Does it make sense to put a portion of your savings into an I-bond? ● Is it okay to accept a financial gift from your adult children? ● How should you handle or invest a large sum of money from the sale of a house? ● How can you ensure that you're getting the best possible auto insurance rate? RESOURCES MENTIONED: ● Treasurydirect.gov ● Thezebra.com ● PolicyGenius.com Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000 or email them to Questions@MoneyWise.org. Also, visit our website at MoneyWise.org where you can connect with a MoneyWise Coach, join the MoneyWise Community, and even download the free MoneyWise app. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1085/29

We are back with another episode of Viall Files: Ask Nick Edition! In this episode we dive into our first caller's situation where a church guy she met comes on super strong, then pulls away. From his weird pickup lines asking if she wanted cat food, to his drug use, to him being a 32 year old virgin, his aura of mystery only likely serves to hurt. Our next caller can't stop hooking up with and seeing a guy she knows is toxic for her. From changing his contact name on her phone to an STD, she can't seem to stop herself from seeing a guy she knows isn't good for her. She asks for help with putting her foot down and moving on. Our last caller struggles with what to do after her military boyfriend got orders to move to another state, meaning she would have to pack up her life where she lives now to continue to live with him. Now, she wonders what to do considering she would have to put a stop on her career, and if an unconventional solution like having him pay her a “Girlfriend Tax” may get her what she needs to make the jump and move.  “I got hooked on the potential of where it could go.”  Please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to asknick@kastmedia.com to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Pre-Order Nick's Book: https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/dont-text-your-ex-happy-birthday_9781419755491/ Check out our new "Introvert" merch at http://www.viallfiles.com today! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Vizzy: To find out where you can purchase Vizzy go to http://www.VizzyHardSeltzer.com/VIALL The Zebra: Get your free quote today at http://www.TheZebra.com/VIALL  Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back with another episode of Viall Files: Ask Nick Edition! On this episode we answer your burning questions to help you navigate the crazy world of dating. Our first caller doesn't know what to do after her mom shows up to a bar drunk and hooks up with the caller's friends. Feeling betrayed by both her mom and her friends, our caller feels that her trust in all of them has become completely shattered. Now, she wonders if she should try to forgive or if these actions are too egregious to get over. Our next caller is in a very happy relationship with her boyfriend while they are both in the military. But quickly, her reality is warped when she learns that her boyfriend has a wife and four kids back home. After finding out more while he is deployed, our caller confronts her boyfriend about everything. Now, she wonders where to go from here and if she can preserve any aspect of the relationship. Our last caller is having issues after having a major falling out with her younger brother when she asks him to be in her wedding. Our caller feels that her brother's girlfriend is influencing him, when on the flip of a switch the brother says that being close to your family and having a good relationship with them is weird and unusual. Now our caller asks how to potentially navitate helping her brother who may be in an emotionally abusive relationship and how she can repair relationships that are being ripped apart.  “It's hard to stay contained under a pressure cooker situation.”  Please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to asknick@kastmedia.com to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Check out our new "Introvert" merch at http://www.viallfiles.com today! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: The Zebra: Get your free quote today at http://www.TheZebra.com/VIALL  Article: Get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more at http://www.Article.com/VIALL  Storyworth: Get started right away with no shipping required by going to http://www.StoryWorth.com/VIALL  ZocDoc: Go to http://www.Zocdoc.com/VIALL and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then start your search for a top-rated doctor today. Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back with another episode of Viall Files: Ask Nick Edition! On this episode of Ask Nick we are joined by dating coach and podcaster, Damona Hoffman. You'll recognize her from The Drew Barrymore Show and Love Expert. With Damona's expertise, we dive into the world of situationships. Our first caller met a guy who seemed perfect, even though it was a long distance. His disconnect made her question everything, after her therapist suggested she do some research she found out he is married with kids! Now she struggles if she should get involved and let his wife know, or if she should save her energy and move on. Our next caller is having issues with her best friend who appears very selfish and controlling. She tells the caller that she's smarter and better than everyone, and even told the caller's boyfriend NOT to propose until after she gets married. Our caller wonders if she should break off the friendship and say she won't be at her wedding or confront her with her feelings and hope for the best resolution? Our last caller is frustrated when a boy from her church sends her good signals but doesn't follow through with them. She struggles when she feels like this guy looks great on paper, and how someone with a “good resume” could not be a good partner.  “He's giving you ‘I want you around' energy”  Please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to asknick@kastmedia.com to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Check out our new "Introvert" merch at http://www.viallfiles.com today! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: thredUP:New customers get 50% off and free shipping when they go to http://www.thredUp.com  Article: Go to http://www.Article.com/VIALL to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more! The Zebra: Go to http://www.TheZebra.com/VIALL and get your free quote today! Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @DamonaHoffman See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About SeanSean is a senior software engineer at TheZebra, working to build developer experience tooling with a focus on application stability and scalability. Over the past seven years, they have helped create software and proprietary platforms that help teams understand and better their own work.Links: TheZebra: https://www.thezebra.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sc_codeUM LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-corbett-574a5321/ Email: scorbett@thezebra.com TranscriptSean: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief cloud economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends at MinIO the high-performance Kubernetes native object store that's built for the multi-cloud, creating a consistent data storage layer for your public cloud instances, your private cloud instances, and even your edge instances, depending upon what the heck you're defining those as, which depends probably on where you work. It's getting that unified is one of the greatest challenges facing developers and architects today. It requires S3 compatibility, enterprise-grade security and resiliency, the speed to run any workload, and the footprint to run anywhere, and that's exactly what MinIO offers. With superb read speeds in excess of 360 gigs and 100 megabyte binary that doesn't eat all the data you've gotten on the system, it's exactly what you've been looking for. Check it out today at min.io/download, and see for yourself. That's min.io/download, and be sure to tell them that I sent you.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by our friends at Sysdig. Sysdig is the solution for securing DevOps. They have a blog post that went up recently about how an insecure AWS Lambda function could be used as a pivot point to get access into your environment. They've also gone deep in-depth with a bunch of other approaches to how DevOps and security are inextricably linked. To learn more, visit sysdig.com and tell them I sent you. That's S-Y-S-D-I-G dot com. My thanks to them for their continued support of this ridiculous nonsense.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud, I'm Corey Quinn. An awful lot of companies out they're calling themselves unicorns, which is odd because if you look at the root ‘uni,' it means one, but they're sure a lot of them out there. Conversely, my guest today works at a company called TheZebra with the singular definite article being the key differentiator here, and frankly, I'm a big fan of being that specific. My guest is Senior Software Development Engineer in Test, Sean Corbett. Sean, thank you for taking the time to join me today, and more or less suffer the slings and arrows, I will no doubt be hurling your direction.Sean: Thank you very much for having me here.Corey: So, you've been a great Twitter follow for a while: You're clearly deeply technically skilled; you also have a soul, you're strong on the empathy point, and that is an embarrassing lack in large swaths of our industry. I'm going to talk about that right now because I'm sure it comes through the way it does when you talk about virtually anything else. Instead, you are a Software Development Engineer in Test or SDET. I believe you are the only person I'm aware of in my orbit who uses that title, so I have to ask—and please don't view this as me in any way criticizing you; it's mostly my own ignorance speaking—what is that?Sean: So, what is a Software Development Engineer in Test? If you look back—I believe it was Microsoft originally came up with the title, and what it stems from was they needed software development engineers who particularly specialized in creating automation frameworks for testing stuff at scale. And that was over a decade ago, I believe. Microsoft has since stopped using the term, but it persists in areas in the industry.And what is an SDET today? Well, I think we're going to find out it's a strange mixture of things. SDET today is not just someone that creates automated frameworks or writes tests, or any of those things. An SDET is the strange amalgamation of everything from full-stack to DevOps to even some product management to even a little bit machine-learning engineer; it's a truly strange field that, at least for me, has allowed me to basically embrace almost every other discipline and area of the current modern engineering around, to some degree. So, it's fun, is what it is. [laugh].Corey: This sounds similar in some respects to oh, I think back to a role that I had in 2008, 2009, where there was an entire department that was termed QA or Quality Assurance, and they were sort of the next step. You know, development would build something and start, and then deploy it to a test environment or staging environment, and then QA would climb all over this, sometimes with automation—which was still in the early days, back in that era—and sometimes by clicking the button, and going through scripts, and making sure that the website looked okay. Is that aligned with what you're doing, or is that a bit of a different branch?Sean: That is a little bit of a different branch from me. The way I would put it is QA and QA departments are an interesting artifact that I think, in particular, newer orgs still feel like they might need one, and what you quickly realize today, particularly with modern development and this, kind of, DevOps focus is that having that centralized QA department doesn't really work. So, SDETs absolutely can do all those things: They can climb over a test environment with automation, they can click the buttons, they can tell you everything's good, they can check the boxes for you if you want, but if that is what you're using your SDETs for you are, frankly, missing out because I guarantee you, the people that you've hired as SDETs have a lot more skills than that, and not utilizing those to your advantage is missing out on a lot of potential benefit, both in terms of not just quality—which is this fantastic concept that dates all the way back to—gives people a lot of weird feelings [laugh] to be frank, and product.Corey: So, one of the challenges I've always had is people talk about test-driven development, which sounds like a beautiful idea in theory, and in practice is something people—you know, just like using the AWS console, and then lying about it forms this heart and soul of ClickOps—we claim to be using test-driven development but we don't seem to be the reality of software development. And again, no judgment on these; things are hard. I built out a, more or less, piecing together a whole bunch of toothpicks and string to come up with my newsletter production pipeline. And that's about 29 Lambdas Function, behind about 5 APIs Gateway, and that was all kinds of ridiculous nonsense.And I can deploy each of the six or so microservices that do this, independently. And I sometimes even do continuous build or slash continuous deploy to it because integration would imply I have tests, which is why I bring the topic up. And more often than not—because I'm very bad at computers—I will even have syntax errors, make it into this thing, and I push the button and suddenly it doesn't work. It's the iterative guess-and-check model that goes on here. So, I introduced regressions, a fair bit at the time, and the reason that I'm being so blase about this is that I am the only customer of this system, which means that I'm not out there making people's lives harder, no one is paying me money to use this thing, no one else is being put out by it. It's just me smacking into a wall and feeling dumb all the time.And when I talk to people about the idea of building tests. And it's like, “Oh, you should have unit tests and integration tests and all the rest.” And I did some research into the topics, and a lot of it sounds like what people were talking about 10 to 15 years ago in the world of tests. And again, to be clear, I've implemented none of these things because I am irresponsible and bad at computers. But what has changed over the last five or ten years? Because it feels like the overall high level as I understood it from intro to testing 101 in the world of Python, the first 18 chapters are about dependency manager—because of course they are; it's Python—then the rest of it just seems to be the concepts that we've never really gotten away from. What's new, what's exciting, what's emerging in your space?Sean: There's definitely some emerging and exciting stuff in the space. There's everything from, like, what Applitools does with using machine learning to do visual regressions—that's a huge advantage, a huge time saver, so you don't have to look pixel by pixel, and waste your time doing it—to things like our team at TheZebra is working on, which is, for example, a framework that utilizes Directed Acrylic Graph workflows that's written GoLang—the prototype is—and it allows you to work with these tests, rather than just as kind of these blasé scripts that you either keep in a monorepo, or maybe possibly in each individual services' repo, and just run them all together clumsily in this, kind of, packaged product, into this distributed resource that lets you think about tests as these, kind of, user flows and experiences and to dip between things like API layer, where you might, for example, say introduce regression [unintelligible 00:07:48] calling to a third-party resource, and something goes wrong, you can orchestrate that workflow as a whole. Rather than just having to write a script after script after script after script to cover all these test cases, you can focus on well, I'm going to create this block that represents this general action, can accept a general payload that conforms to this spec, and I'm going to orchestrate these general actions, maybe modify the payload of it, but I can recall those actions with a slightly different payload and not have to write script after script after script after script.But the problem is that, like you've noticed, a lot of test tooling doesn't embrace those, kind of, modern practices and ideas. It's still very much the, your tests, you—particularly integration tests do this—will exist in one place, a monorepo, they will have all the resources there, they'll be packaged together, you will run them after the fact, after a deploy, on an environment. And it makes it so that all these testing tools are very reactive, they don't encourage a lot of experimentation, and they make it at times very difficult to experiment, in particular because the more tests you add, the more chaotic that code and that framework gets, and the harder it gets to run in a CI/CD environment, the longer it takes. Whereas if you have something like this graph tool that we're building, these things just become data. You can store them in a database, for the love of God. You can apply modern DevOps practices, you can implement things like Jaeger.Corey: I don't think it's ever used or anything in the database. Great, then you can use anything itself as a database, which is my entire schtick, so great.Sean: Exactly.Corey: That's right, that means the entire world can indeed be reduced to TXT records in DNS, which I maintain is the… the holiest of all databases. I'm sorry, please, continue.Sean: No, nonono, that's true. The thing that has always driven me is this idea that why are we still just, kind of, spitting out code to test things in a way that is very prescriptive and very reactive? And so, the exciting things in test come from places like Applitools and places like the—oh, I forget. It was at a Test Days conference, where they talked about—they developed this test framework that was able to auto generate the models, and then it was so good at auto generating those models for test, they'd actually ended up auto generating the models for the actual product. [laugh]. I think it used a degree of machine learning to do so. It was for a flashcard site. A friend of mine, Jacob Evans on Twitter always likes to talk about it.These are where the exciting things lay is where people are starting to break out of that very reactive, prescriptive, kind of, test philosophy of, like I like to say, checking the boxes to, “Let's stop checking boxes and let's create, like insight tooling. Let's get ahead of the curve. What is the system actively doing? Let's check in. What data do we have? What is the system doing right at this moment? How ahead of the curve can we get with what we're actually using to test?”Corey: One question I have is the cultural changes because back in those early days where things were handed off from the developers to the QA team, and then ideally to where I was sitting over in operations—lots of handoffs; not a lot of integrations there—QA was not popular on the development side of the world, specifically because their entire perception was that of, “Oh, they're just the critics. They're going to wind up doing the thing I just worked hard on and telling me what's wrong with it.” And it becomes a ‘Department of No,' on some level. One of the, I think, benefits of test automation is that suddenly you're blaming a computer for things, which is, “Yep. You are a developer. Good work.” But the idea of putting people almost in the line of fire of being either actually or perceived as the person who's the blocker, how has that evolved? And I'm really hoping the answer is that it has.Sean: In some places, yes, in some places, no. I think it's always, there's a little bit more nuance than just yes, it's all changed, it's all better, or just no, we're still back in QA are quote-unquote, “The bad guys,” and all that stuff. The perception that QA are the critics and are there to block a great idea from seeing fruition and to block you from that promotion definitely still persists. And it also persists a lot in terms of a number of other attitudes that get directed towards QA folks, in terms of the fact that our skill sets are limited to writing stuff like automation tooling for test frameworks and stuff like that, or that we only know how to use things like—okay, well, they know how to use Selenium and all this other stuff, but they don't know how to work a database, they don't know how an app [unintelligible 00:12:07] up, they don't all the work that I put in. That's really not the case. More and more so, folks I'm seeing in test have actually a lot of other engineers experience to back that up.And so the places where I do see it moving forward is actually like TheZebra, it's much more of a collaborative environment where the engineers are working together with the teams that they're embedded in or with the SDETs to build things and help things that help engineers get ahead of the curve. So, the way I propose it to folks is, “We're going to make sure you know and see exactly what you wrote in terms of the code, and that you can take full [confidence 00:12:44] on that so when you walk up to your manager for your one-on-one, you can go like, ‘I did this. And it's great. And here's what I know what it does, and this is where it goes, and this is how it affects everything else, and my test person helped me see all this, and that's awesome.'” It's this transition of QA and product as these adversarial relationships to recognizing that there's no real differentiator at all there when you stop with that reactive mindset in test. Instead of trying to just catch things you're trying to get ahead of the curve and focus on insight and that sort of thing.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by our friends at Vultr. Spelled V-U-L-T-R because they're all about helping save money, including on things like, you know, vowels. So, what they do is they are a cloud provider that provides surprisingly high performance cloud compute at a price that—while sure they claim its better than AWS pricing—and when they say that they mean it is less money. Sure, I don't dispute that but what I find interesting is that it's predictable. They tell you in advance on a monthly basis what it's going to going to cost. They have a bunch of advanced networking features. They have nineteen global locations and scale things elastically. Not to be confused with openly, because apparently elastic and open can mean the same thing sometimes. They have had over a million users. Deployments take less that sixty seconds across twelve pre-selected operating systems. Or, if you're one of those nutters like me, you can bring your own ISO and install basically any operating system you want. Starting with pricing as low as $2.50 a month for Vultr cloud compute they have plans for developers and businesses of all sizes, except maybe Amazon, who stubbornly insists on having something to scale all on their own. Try Vultr today for free by visiting: vultr.com/screaming, and you'll receive a $100 in credit. Thats V-U-L-T-R.com slash screaming.Corey: One of my questions is, I guess, the terminology around a lot of this. If you tell me you're an SDE, I know that oh, you're a Software Development Engineer. If you tell me you're a DBA, I know oh, great, you're a Database Administrator. If you told me you're an SRE, I know oh, okay, great. You worked at Google.But what I'm trying to figure out is I don't see SDET, at least in the waters that I tend to swim in, as a title, really, other than you. Is that a relatively new emerging title? Is it one that has historically been very industry or segment-specific, or you're doing what I did, which is, “I don't know what to call myself, so I described myself as a Cloud Economist,” two words no one can define. Cloud being a bunch of other people's computers, and economist meaning claiming to know everything about money, but dresses like a flood victim. So, no one knows what I am when I make it up, and then people start giving actual job titles to people that are Cloud Economists now, and I'm starting to wonder, oh dear Lord, have I started the thing? What is, I guess, the history and positioning of SDET as a job title slash acronym?Sean: So SDET, like I was saying, it came from Microsoft, I believe, back in the double-ohs.Corey: Mmm.Sean: And other companies caught on. I think Google actually [unintelligible 00:14:33] as well. And it's hung on certain places, particularly places that feel like they need a concentrated quality department. That's where you usually will see places that have that title of SDET. It is increasingly less common because the idea of having centralized quality—like I said before, particularly with the modern, kind of, DevOps-focused development, Agile, and all that sort of thing, it becomes much, much more difficult.If you have a waterfall type of development cycle, it's a lot easier to have a central singular quality department, and then you can have SDET stuff [unintelligible 00:15:08], that gets a lot easier when you have Agile and you have that, kind of, regular integration and you have, particularly, DevOps [unintelligible 00:15:14] cycle, it becomes increasingly difficult, so a lot of places that have been moving away from that. It is definitely a strange title, but it is not entirely rare. If you want to peek, put a SDET on your LinkedIn for about two weeks and see how many offers come in, or how many folks in your inbox you get. It is absolutely in demand. People want engineers to write these test frameworks, but that's an entirely different point; that gets down to the point of the fact that people want people in these roles because a lot of test tooling, frankly, sucks.Corey: It's interesting you talk about that as a validation of it. I get remarkably few outreaches on LinkedIn, either for recruiting, which almost never happens or for trying to sell me something which happens once every week or so. My business partner has a CEO title, and he winds up getting people trying to sell him things four times a day by lunchtime, and occasionally people reaching out of, “Hey, I don't know much about your company, but if it's not going well, do you want to come work on something completely unrelated?” Great. And it's odd because both he and I have similar settings where neither of us have the ‘looking for work' box checked on LinkedIn because it turns out that does send a message to your staff who are depending on their job still being here next month, and that isn't overly positive because we're not on the market.But changing just titles and how we describe what we do and how we do it absolutely has a bearing as to how that is perceived by others. And increasingly, I'm spending more of my time focusing less on the technical substance of things and more about how what they do is being communicated. Because increasingly, what I'm finding about the world of enterprise technology and enterprise cloud and all of this murky industry in which we swim, is that the technology is great—anything can be made to work; mostly—but so few companies are doing an effective job of telling the story. And we see it with not just an engineering-land; in most in all parts of the business. People are not storytelling about what they do, about the outcomes they drive, and we're falling back to labels and buzzwords and acronyms and the rest.Where do you stand on this? I know we've spoken briefly before about how this is one of those things that you're paying attention to as well, so I know that we're not—I'm not completely off base here. What's your take on it?Sean: I definitely look at the labels and things of that sort. It's one of those things where humans like to group and aggregate things. Our brains like that degree of organization, and I'm going to say something that is very stereotypical here: This is helped a lot by social media which depends on things like hashtags and ability to group massive amounts of information is largely facilitated. And I don't know if it's caused by it, but it certainly aggravates the situation.We like being able to group things with few words. But as you said before, that doesn't help us. So, in a particular case, with something like a SDET title, yeah, that does absolutely send a signal, and it doesn't necessarily send the right one in terms of the person that you're talking to, you might have vastly different capabilities from the next SDET that you talk to. And it's were putting up a story of impact-driven, kind of, that classic way of focusing on not just the labels, but what was actually done and who had helped and who had enabled and the impact of it, that is key. The trick is trying to balance that with this increasing focus on the cut-down presentation.You and I've talked about this before, too, where you can only say so much on something like a LinkedIn profile before people just turn off their brains and they walk away to the next person. Or you can only put so much on your resume before people go, “Okay, ten pages, I'm done.” And it's just one of those things where… the trick I find that test people increasingly have is there was a very certain label applied to us that was rooted in one particular company's needs, and we have spent the better part of over a decade trying to escape and redefine that, and it's incredibly challenging. And a lot of it comes down to folks like, for example, Angie Jones, who simply, just through pure action and being very open about exactly what they're doing, change that narrative just by showing. That form of storytelling is show it, don't say it, you know? Rather than saying, “Oh, well, I bring into all this,” they just show it, and they bring it forward that way.Corey: I think you hit on something there with the idea of social media, where there is validity to the idea of being able to describe something concisely. “What's your elevator pitch?” Is a common question in business. “What is the problem you solve? What would someone use you for?”And if your answer to that requires you sabotage the elevator for 45 minutes in order to deliver your message, it's not going to work. With some products, especially very early-stage products where the only people who are working on them are the technical people building them, they have a lot of passion for the space, but they aren't—haven't quite gotten the messaging down to be able to articulate it. People's attention spans aren't great, by and large, so there's a, if it doesn't fit in a tweet, it's boring and crappy is sort of the takeaway here. And yeah, you're never going to encapsulate volume and nuance and shading into a tweet, but the baseline description of, “So, what do you do?” If it doesn't fit in a tweet, keep workshopping it, to some extent.And it's odd because I do think you're right, it leads to very yes or no, binary decisions about almost anything, someone is good or trash. There's no, people are complicated, depending upon what aspect we're talking about. And same story with companies. Companies are incredibly complex, but that tends to distill down in the Twitter ecosystem to, “Engineers are smart and executives are buffoons.” And anytime a company does something, clearly, it's a giant mistake.Well, contrary to popular opinion, Global Fortune 2000 companies do not tend to hire people who are not highly capable at the thing they're doing. They have context and nuance and constraints that are not visible from the outside. So, that is one of the frustrating parts to me. So, labels are helpful as far as explaining what someone is and where they fit in the ecosystem. For example, yeah, if you describe yourself as an SDET, I know that we're talking about testing to some extent; you're not about to show up and start talking to me extensively about, oh, I don't know, how you market observability products.It at least gives a direction and bounding to the context. The challenge I always had, why I picked a title that no one else had, was that what I do is complicated, and if once people have a label that they think encompasses where you start and where you stop, they stop listening, in some cases. What's been your experience, given that you do have a title that is not as widely traveled as a number of the more commonly used ones?Sean: Definitely that experience. I think that I've absolutely worked at places where—the thing is, though, and I do want to cite this, that when folks do end up just turning off once they have that nice little snippet that they think encompasses who you are—because increasingly nowadays, we like to attach what you do to who you are—and it makes a certain degree of sense, absolutely, but it's very hard to encompass those sorts of things, and let alone, kind of, closely nestle them together when you have, you know, 280 characters.Yes, folks like to do that to folks like SDETs. There's a definite mindset of, ‘stay in your lane,' in certain shops. I will say that it's not to the benefit of those shops, and it creates and often aggravates an adversarial relationship that is to the detriment of both, particularly today where the ability to spin up a rival product of reasonable quality and scale has never been easier, slowing yourself down with arbitrary delineations that are meant to relegate and overly-define folks, not necessarily for the actual convenience of your business, but for the convenience of your person, that is a very dangerous move. A previous company that I worked at almost lost a significant amount of their market share because they actively antagonized the SDET team to the point where several key members left. And it left them completely unable to cover areas of product with scalable automation tooling and other things. And it's a very complex product.And it almost cost them their position in the industry, potentially, the entire company as a whole got very close to that point. And that's one of the things we have to be careful of when it comes to applying these labels, is that when you apply a label to encompass someone, yes, you affect them, but it also we'll come back and affect you because when you apply that label to someone, you are immediately confining your relationship with that person. And that relationship is a two-way street. If you apply a label that closes off other roads of communication or potential collaboration or work or creativity or those sorts of things, that is your decision and you will have to accept those consequences.Corey: I've gotten the sense that a lot of folks, as they describe what they do and how they do it, they are often thinking longer-term; their careers often trend toward the thing that happens to them rather than a thing that winds up being actively managed. And… like, one of my favorite interview questions whenever I'm looking to bring someone in, it's always, “Yeah, ignore this job we're talking about. Magically you get it or you don't; whatever. That's not relevant right now. What's your next job? What's the one after that? What is the trajectory here?”And it's always fun to me to see people's responses to it. Often it's, “I have no idea,” versus the, “Oh, I want to do this, and this is the thing I'm interested in working with you for because I think it'll shore up this, this, and this.” And like, those are two extreme ends of the spectrum. There's no wrong answer, but it's helpful, I find, just to ask the question in the final round interview that I'm a part of, just to, I guess sort of like, boost them a bit into a longer-term picture view, as opposed to next week, next month, next year. Because if what you're doing doesn't bring you closer to what you want to be doing in the job after the next one, then I think you're looking at it wrong, in some cases.And I guess I'll turn the question on to you. If you look at what you're doing now, ignore whatever you do next, what's your role after that? Like, where are you aiming at?Sean: Ignoring the next position… which is interesting because I always—part of how I learned to operate, kind of in my earlier years was focus on the next two weeks because the longer you go out from that window, the more things you can't control, [laugh] and the harder it is to actually make an effective plan. But for me, the real goal is I want to be in any position that enables the hard work we do in building these things to make people's lives easier, better, give them access to additional information, maybe it's joy in terms of, like, a content platform, maybe it's something that helps other developers do what they do, something like Honeycomb, for example, just that little bit of extra insight to help them work a little bit better. And that's, for me, where I want to be, is building things that make the hard work we do to create these tools, these products easier. So, for me, that would look a lot like an internal tooling team of some sort, something that helps with developer efficiency, with workflow.One of the reasons—and it's funny because I got to asked this recently: “Why are you still even in test? You know what reputation this field has”—wrongly deserved, maybe so—“Why are you still in test?” My response was, “Because”—and maybe with a degree of hubris, stubbornly so—“I want to make things better for test.” There are a lot of issues we're facing, not just in terms of tooling, but in terms of processes, and how we think about solving problems, and like I said before, that kind of reactive nature, it sort of ends up kind of being an ouroboros, eating its own tail. Reactive tools generate reactive engineers, that then create more reactive tools, and it becomes this ouroboros eating itself.Where I want to be in terms of this is creating things that change that, push us forward in that direction. So, I think that internal tooling team is a fantastic place to do that, but frankly, any place where I could do that at any level would be fantastic.Corey: It's nice to see the things that you care about involve a lot more about around things like impact, as opposed to raw technologies and the rest. And again, I'm not passing judgment on anyone who chooses to focus on technology or different areas of these things. It's just, it's nice to see folks who are deeply technical themselves, raising their head a little bit above it and saying, “All right, here's the impact I want to have.” It's great, and lots of folks do, but I'm always frustrated when I find myself talking to folks who think that the code ultimately speaks; code is the arbiter. Like, you see this with some of the smart contract stuff, too.It's the, “All right, if you believe that's going to solve all the problems, I have a simple challenge to you, and then I will never criticize you again: Go to small claims court for a morning, four hours and watch all the disputes that wind up going through there, and ask yourselves how many of those a smart contract would have solved?”Every time I bring that point up to someone, they never come back and say, “This is still a good idea.” Maybe I'm a little too anti-computer, a little bit too human these days. But again, most of cloud economics, in my experience, is psychology more than it is math.Sean: I think it's really the truth. And I think that [unintelligible 00:29:06] that I really want to seize on for a second because code and technology as this ultimate arbiter, we've become fascinated with it, not necessarily to our benefit. One of the things you will often see me—to take a line from Game of Thrones—whinging about [laugh] is we are overly focused on utilizing technology, whether code or anything else, to solve what are fundamentally human problems. These are problems that are rooted in human tendencies, habits, characters, psychology—as you were saying—that require human interaction and influence, as uncomfortable as that may be to quote-unquote, “Solve.”And the reality of it is, is that the more that we insist upon, trying to use technology to solve those problems—things like cases of equity in terms of generational wealth and things of that sort, things like helping people communicate issues with one another within a software development engineering team—the more we will create complexity and additional problems, and the more we will fracture people's focus and ability to stay focused on what the underlying cause of the problem is, which is something human. And just as a side note, the fundamental idea that code is this ultimate arbiter of truth is terrible because if code was the ultimate arbiter of truth, I wouldn't have a job, Corey. [laugh]. I would be out of business so fast.Corey: Oh, yeah, it's great. It's—ugh, I—it feels like that's a naive perspective that people tend to have early in their career, and Lord knows I did. Everything was so straightforward and simple, back when I was in that era, whereas the older I get, the more the world is shades of nuance.Sean: There are cases where technology can help, but I tend to find those a very specific class of solutions, and even then they can only assist a human with maybe providing some additional context. This is an idea from a Seeking SRE book that I love to reference—I think it's, like, the first chapter—the Chief of Netflix SRE, I think it is, he talks about this is this, solving problems is this thing of relaying context, establishing context—and he focused a lot less on the technology side, a lot more of the human side, and brings in, like, “The technology can help this because it can give you a little bit better insight of how to communicate context, but context is valuable, but you're still going to have to do some talking at the end of the day and establish these human relationships.” And I think that technology can help with a very specific class of insight or context issues, but I would like to reemphasize that is a very specific class, and very specific sort, and most of the human problems we're trying to solve the technology don't fall in there.Corey: I think that's probably a great place for us to call it an episode. I really appreciate the way you view these things. I think that you are one of the most empathetic people that I find myself talking to on an ongoing basis. If people want to learn more, where's the best place to find you?Sean: You can find me on Twitter at S-C—underscore—code, capital U, capital M. That's probably the best place to find me. I'm most frequently on there.Corey: We will, of course, include links to that in the [show notes 00:32:37].Sean: And then, of course, my LinkedIn is not a bad place to reach out. So, you can probably find me there, Sean Corbett, working at TheZebra. And as always, you can reach me at scorbett@thezebra.com. That is my work email; feel free to email me there if you have any questions.Corey: And we will, of course, put links to all of that in the [show notes 00:33:00]. Sean, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I really appreciate it.Sean: Thank you.Corey: Sean Corbett, Senior Software Development Engineer in Test at TheZebra—because there's only one. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an angry ranting comment about how absolutely code speaks, and it is the ultimate arbiter of truth, and oh wait, what's that the FBI is at the door make some inquiries about your recent online behavior.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

Today we are back with another episode of Going Deeper with The Viall Files. We are joined by former stripper and now political candidate, Alexandra Hunt. On this episode we talk about breaking down the stereotypes of sex workers, why running a platform in support of sex workers is important, how the sex industry has massive amounts of stigma even though many enjoy the content it produces, and why many hide their past as a stripper. We also talk about using TikTok as a platform for marketing a campaign and how pushing sex work to the underground only makes things more dangerous. Then we welcome our mediation couple to help navigate a situation in which their partner has given an ultimatum to get engaged within four years of dating, or they would break up. We help figure out if this ultimatum is reasonable, why there's hesitation, and how a ring may not be the best symbol of commitment. We end our episode playing a game where we guess if a famous quotation was said from a historical figure or someone from pop culture!  “You can't prevent something from ending.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to asknick@kastmedia.com to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Check out our new "Introvert" merch at http://www.viallfiles.com today! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code VIALL at http://www.Manscaped.com The Zebra: Go to http://www.TheZebra.com/VIALL and get your free quote today! Wondery: Follow Even The Rich on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or you can listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall Alexandra's Socials: Instagram: alexandra hunt for congress https://www.instagram.com/alexandrahuntforcongress/?hl=en Twitter: ahunt4congress https://twitter.com/ahunt4congress TikTok: alexandrahuntforcongress https://www.tiktok.com/@alexandrahuntforcongress?lang=en Facebook: Alexandra Hunt for PA-03  https://www.facebook.com/AlexandraHuntForCongress Website:https://www.alexandramhunt.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we are joined by actress and Too Hot To Handle contestant, Francesca Farago. In this interview we dive into the downsides about sharing relationships on social media, how to ignore the rumor mill, and how being on reality TV and wanting privacy in your personal life are two different things. We also talk about finding your love language, how society is judgmental of someone with a lot of exes, and how you can be your own person even in a relationship. We also ask about how dating greatly differs when going out with men versus with women, and how jealously from your partner can be an issue when you're bisexual.  “A lot of people see exes as a failure.” Please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to asknick@kastmedia.com to be a part of our Monday episodes.  Check out our new "Introvert" merch at www.viallfiles.com today! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Brooklinen: Go to http://www.Brooklinen.com and use promo code VIALL for $20 off your purchase of $100 The Zebra: Get a free quote today when you go to http://www.TheZebra.com/Viall  Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @francescafarago See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Billy offers Dom a technique to help memorize lists when “Getting in the Messages”, hosts another Quirky Worky segment with LOTR superfan and professional zookeeper Kayla Cosmi who talks about working with primates, the endangered Attwater Prairie Chickens, amongst other animals, and finish it out with Colman's English Mustard for Eat the World and another Funky for You jam! Get your Friendship Onion merchandise at https://www.friendshiponionpodcast.com! Tune in every Tuesday for new episodes and please be sure to rate, subscribe, and leave a comment/review! Take a screenshot of your Apple review, tag the show on IG and we might feature you on our story! And be sure to follow and add your favorite funky jams to our Spotify playlist "The Friendship Onion." Feel free to leave Billy and Dom a message with your comments, questions, or just to say hello! https://www.speakpipe.com/thefriendshiponion or write us an email at thefriendshiponion@kastmedia.com TFO's IG - @thefriendshiponion Billy's IG - @boydbilly Dom's IG - @dom_monaghan_ Visit betterhelp.com/ONION and get back to being you. Go to BUYRAYCON.com/ONION today to unlock exclusive deals up to 30% off your Raycon order! Go to try.scribd.com/ONION for your free trial. Compare quotes for free at THEZEBRA.com/ONION Use code ONION at pendulumlife.com to get 20% off all products. Head to Policygenius.com/ONION to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save. Visit ReserveBar.com today and use promo code ONION to save $10 off your purchase of $75 or more on spirits, wine or pre-made cocktails See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Billy and Dom catch up on European sports, what advice they'd give their 10 year old selves, their best/worst/first concerts, why Rohan is the best land in all of Middle Earth, and Eat - or Drink - the World with some Guinness! Get your Friendship Onion merchandise at https://friendshiponionpodcast.com! Tune in every Tuesday for new episodes and please be sure to rate, subscribe, and leave a comment/review! Take a screenshot of your Apple review, tag the show on IG and we might feature you on our story! And be sure to follow and add your favorite funky jams to our Spotify playlist "The Friendship Onion." Feel free to leave Billy and Dom a message with your comments, questions, or just to say hello! https://www.speakpipe.com/thefriendshiponion or write us an email at thefriendshiponion@kastmedia.com TFO's IG - @thefriendshiponion Billy's IG - @boydbilly Dom's IG - @dom_monaghan_ Visit betterhelp.com/ONION and take care of you.  Head to beamorganics.com/ONION for 40% off the first 3 months of a peppermint dream subscription PLUS free mug and frother, or 20% off a one-time purchase. Get 20% off Grammarly Premium by signing up at Grammarly.com/ONION Compare quotes for free at THEZEBRA.com/ONION Visit ReserveBar.com today and use promo code ONION to save $10 off your purchase of $75 or more on spirits, wine or pre-made cocktails See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LifeBlood: We talked about shopping for auto insurance, what it means to get a personalized quote, why premiums change, and when it makes sense to bundle your coverage with Nicole Beck, Head of Communications at the Zebra.  Listen to learn what factors can negatively impact your premiums! For the Difference Making Tip, scan ahead to 16:11! You can learn more about Nicole at TheZebra.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can learn more about the show at MoneyAlignmentAcademy.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook or contact George at Contact@GeorgeGrombacher.com.

Robert Pozen shares his key tips for effective prioritization and how you can make meetings easier. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The schedule hack for efficient prioritization 2) The system to make your email work for you 3) How to say “no” to a meeting Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep682 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT ROBERT — Robert C. Pozen teaches at MIT Sloan School of Management, where he offers courses to executives on personal productivity. He was president of Fidelity Investments and executive chair of MFS Investment Management, and served as a senior official in both federal and state government. His seven books include Extreme Productivity, a top-rated business title that has been translated into 10 languages. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College, and was on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. • Book: Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours • Book: Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are • Book Website: RemoteIncBook.com • Website: BobPozen.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation by Amartya Sen — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • Care.com. Find the perfect caregiver for your child, parents, and home.• TheZebra. Quickly save on home and auto insurance at TheZebra.com/awesomeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Riaz Meghji reveals the key behaviors that lead to more meaningful connections. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The one trick to becoming a better listener 2) Where to draw the line between vulnerability and oversharing 3) How to be assertively empathetic Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep678 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT RIAZ — Riaz Meghji is a Human Connection Expert. He has 17 years of broadcast television experience, and, during his time as host on Citytv's Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, TEDxVancouver, CTV News, and the Toronto International Film Festival, has interviewed thousands of experts about human connection and collaboration, undertaking critical training that helped shape the tangible takeaways he shares in his new book, Every Conversation Counts. • Riaz's book: Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection that Build Extraordinary Relationships • Riaz's website: RiazMeghji.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Exercise: Wim Hof method • Researcher: Gordon Livingston • Book: The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy • Book: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier • Past episode: 667: How to Cultivate Your Influence and Build Powerful Connections with Jon Levy — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • TheZebra. Quickly save on home and auto insurance at TheZebra.com/awesome• Care.com. Find the perfect caregiver for your child, parents, and home.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rachel and Melinda discuss "The Rescue" (S1 Ep8) with their guest, Michael Lange, who directed this episode and several more of The OC.   The hosts talk with “Uncle Mike” about chewing gum on set, crying on cue, and dive into Julie Cooper's character in this emotional episode. They also take live fan calls for the first time! The Rescue Synopsis: Julie wants to ship Marissa off to an institute in San Diego after she OD'ed in Mexico. Ryan, Seth, and Summer won't let that happen, so they plan her escape from the hospital.  Leave the OC, Bitches a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/ocbitches Please support our sponsors: All of Care/of's products are formulated with good-for-you, clean ingredients that are backed by science. For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to https://www.TakeCareOf.com and enter code theoc50. StoryWorth has helped numerous families learn about each other in profound, special ways. Give your dad the most meaningful gift this Father's Day with StoryWorth. Go to https://www.StoryWorth.com/theoc for $10 off your first purchase and no shipping required!  Start building better habits for healthier, long-term results with Noom. Sign up for your trial at https://www.Noom.com/OC. The Zebra is the nation's leading insurance comparison site for car and home insurance. Visit https://www.TheZebra.com/OC to get your free quote today! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Darleen DeRosa discusses how to build top teams and deliver high-impact work while leading from a distance. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The quickest way to build trust in your team 2) How to ensure accountability with the ATC model 3) Simple, but effective ways to keep your team motivated Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep670 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT DARLEEN — Darleen DeRosa, Ph.D., is a consultant in Spencer Stuart's Stamford office and a core member of the Life Sciences and Leadership Advisory Services practices. Darleen brings more than 15 years of consulting experience, with deep expertise in talent management, executive assessment, virtual teams, top team effectiveness and leadership development. Darleen works with leading companies to facilitate selection, succession management and leadership development initiatives. She is a trusted advisor to CEOs, CHROs and boards. Darleen earned her B.A. in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross and her M.A. and Ph.D. in social/organizational psychology from Temple University. Darleen is the co-author of Virtual Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance (with Richard Lepsinger), as well as other book chapters and journal articles on leadership. • Darlene's book: Leading at a Distance: Practical Lessons for Virtual Success, with James Citrin • Darlene's book: Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance, with Richard Lepsinger • Darlene's LinkedIn: Darleen DeRosa • Darlene's company: SpencerStuart.com. Get more resources here! — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • App: Donut • Software: Mural • Software: Miro • Article: “How to Combat Zoom Fatigue” • Book: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach • Book: The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel • Game: Kahoot! — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • TheZebra. Quickly save on home and auto insurance at TheZebra.com/awesome • Creatives on Call. Access 15,000 brilliant marketing and creative professionals at CreativesOnCall.com/AWESOME. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rachel and Melinda discuss "The Gamble" (S1 Ep3) with guest, Peter Gallagher, who played Sandy Cohen on The OC. Peter shares his unique audition story. They all comment on their bronzed looks. Find out about Camp Gallagher, a weekend they'll never forget! The Gamble Synopsis: Sandy comes to Ryan's rescue once again. Kirsten decides to invite Dawn to an elite Vegas Night, but she gets lost in the sauce, disappointing Ryan. Dawn believes Ryan is better off with the Cohens, leaving him with Sandy and Kirsten. Meanwhile, Julie is furious when she finds out Jimmy borrowed money from Kirsten, and she thanks Sandy, who is unaware of this. Leave the OC, Bitches a message: https://www.speakpipe.com/ocbitches Please support our sponsors: This episode is sponsored by Apostrophe, a prescription skincare company for people that are ready to take their acne seriously. Get $15 off your first visit with a board-certified dermatologist at https://www.Apostrophe.com/THEOC and use code: THEOC.  Get deals on the food you love with Grubhub Perks. Visit https://www.GrubHub.com and Grub what you love! The Zebra is the nation’s leading insurance comparison site for car and home insurance. Visit https://www.TheZebra.com/OC. Meet Billie. The best razor out there for those days when you want an extra smooth shave. No pink tax. No visit to the drugstore. No breaking the bank. Visit https://www.mybillie.com/OC to get your starter kit for just $9 plus FREE shipping! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Behavioral scientist and Wharton professor Katy Milkman reveals how behavioral science can help you make changes that stick. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The top obstacles of change–and how to overcome them 2) How to overcome your impulsivity 3) How you can make your laziness work for you Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep665 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT KATY — Katy Milkman is the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, host of Charles Schwab's popular behavioral economics podcast Choiceology, and the former president of the international Society for Judgment and Decision Making. Over the course of her career, she has worked with or advised dozens of organizations on how to spur positive change, including Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Walmart. An award-winning scholar and teacher, Katy writes frequently about behavioral science for major media outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. Her book How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You are to Where You Want to Be came out two days ago! She earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University (summa cum laude), and her PhD from Harvard University where she studied Computer Science and Business. • Book: How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be• Newsletter: Milkman Delivers• Podcast: Choiceology• Website: KatyMilkman.com— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini • Book: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaier and Cass Sunstein — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • TheZebra. Quickly save on home and auto insurance at TheZebra.com/awesome See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Susan McPherson shares her surefire method for building better connections. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The winning strategy to building connections 2) Better alternatives to small talk 3) How to maintain connections efficiently Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep661 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT SUSAN — Susan McPherson is a serial connector, seasoned communicator and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships. Susan has 25+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry conferences, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Susan is a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador and has received numerous accolades for her voice on social media platforms from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company and Elle Magazine. She resides in Brooklyn. • Book: The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships • Email: susan@mcpstrategies.com • Website: McPherson Strategies — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: Caste (Oprah's Book Club): The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • TheZebra. Quickly save on home and auto insurance at TheZebra.com/awesome See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Theo talks about living in a new home, a recent stand up set, and takes some suggestions of senior quotes for last weeks caller Zachary. He also checks in with a single mother who was nominated by a listener, and takes voicemails from some people struggling with some issues. Music "The Come Up" - Eddie 9V https://linktr.ee/Eddie9V Support our sponsors: The Zebra: For Insurance in black & White https://TheZebra.com/theo Fabletics Modiphy New Merch: https://theovonstore.com​ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to tpwproducer@gmail.com. Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw Producer: Nick Davis https://instagram.com/realnickdavis Producer: Sean Dugan https://www.instagram.com/SeanDugan/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://bit.ly/theo-von   Theo sits down with podcast prodigy, Andrew Schulz, to discuss Theo's theory on the US Postal Service, the UFC matchups they want to see, Schulz getting called out for leaving New York and the podcast wars continue with Bad Friends.   Andrew Schulz: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAndrewSchulz Website: http://theandrewschulz.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewschulz/ Flagrant 2: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5PstSsGrRwj2o6asQpC4Rg   New Merch: theovonstore.com​   Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to tpwproducer@gmail.com.   This episode is brought to you by: The Zebra: https://TheZebra.com/theo Fabletics Men: https://fabletics.com/theo and get your 1st two pair of shorts for just $24 when you become a VIP member at checkout Modiphy: https://modiphy.com/theo for a $250 credit Liquid Death: https://liquiddeath.com    Music: “Shine” - Bishop Gunn http://bit.ly/Shine_BishopGunn​   Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503   Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline   Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw   Producer: Nick Davis https://instagram.com/realnickdavis Producer: Sean Dugan https://www.instagram.com/SeanDugan/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://bit.ly/theo-von   Theo discusses his views on St. Patrick's Day, the Bill Burr controversy at the Grammy's, Panda Express hazing it's new employees and buying a new house in Nashville. Plus, Theo gives a single mom with Stage 4 cancer a big surprise.   New Merch: theovonstore.com​   Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to tpwproducer@gmail.com.   This episode is brought to you by: The Zebra: https://TheZebra.com/theo Grubhub: https://www.grubhub.com Get the food you love with Perks from Grubhub BlueChew: https://bluechew.com and use promo code THEO to get your first order free Liquid Death: https://liquiddeath.com    Music: Grady Spencer - “Our Time” https://youtu.be/_H6FsUAhNIM Larry Fleet - “Where I Find God” https://youtu.be/Lzl8-_4qzyk   Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503   Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline   Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw   Producer: Nick Davis https://instagram.com/realnickdavis Producer: Sean Dugan https://www.instagram.com/SeanDugan/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://bit.ly/theo-von Cory Sandhagen is the #2 ranked UFC 135lb-er and in many people's eyes a future champ. Theo and Cory talk about evolving your tools for survival, what it felt like to knock out a legend, and what Cory would be doing if he wasn't fighting. Follow Cory: https://instagram.com/EnterTheSandman135 This episode is brought to you by: Betterhelp: https://betterhelp.com/theo Fabletics: https://fabletics.com/theo Manscaped: 20% off + free shipping at https://manscaped.com/theo The Zebra: https://TheZebra.com/theo Liquid Death: https://liquiddeath.com Music: “Shine” - Bishop Gunn http://bit.ly/Shine_BishopGunn Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw Producer: Nick Davis https://instagram.com/realnickdavis Producer: Sean Dugan https://www.instagram.com/SeanDugan/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why are names so hard to remember? This episode begins with an explanation and an experiment that explains why so many of us forget people’s names and what we can do to remember names better. http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/03/the-moses-illusion-explains-why-you-cant-remember-names.htmlDo you ever get defensive? Actually we all do. We also have to deal with others who get defensive with us. What is going on here? Why do people get defensive? It turns out to be all about fear according to Jim Tamm. For 20 years, Jim worked as a judge helping defensive people resolve their disputes. Today he is a consultant with his own firm called Radical Collaborations (https://www.radicalcollaboration.com) and he is author of the book Radical Collaborations: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships (https://amzn.to/2VVYJhN) . As an expert on defensiveness, Jim explains where it comes from and how to deal with it both within ourselves and others. The relationship between a mother and son is interesting to say the least – yet it isn’t talked about a lot. Pediatrician Dr. Meg Meeker believes that there is so much going on in every mother-son relationship and it is time to bring it out into the open. Dr Meeker is the author of the book Strong Mothers, Strong Sons (https://amzn.to/2y9ZV8h) and she joins me to help explain the mother-son relationship and offers advice on how to make it better.Do you ever suffer from “ring anxiety?” It is the belief or the sensation that your cell phone is ringing when it isn’t. It happens to a lot of people. Why? Listen as I explain. http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/technology/ringxiety-linked-insecurity-studyThis Week's Sponsors-Better Help. Get 10% off your first month by going to www.BetterHelp.com/sysk and use the promo code: syskThe Zebra. Compare and save money on car insurance. Go to www.TheZebra.com/sysk

Birds are building nests and laying eggs all over the place this time of year. And you have probably heard that if a baby bird falls out of the nest you shouldn’t put it back because the mother will abandon the baby. Is that true? Listen to hear the surprising answer. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2287/if-you-handle-baby-birds-will-their-parents-shun-themAlmost everyone dreams of being a successful entrepreneur. So, what separates the good entrepreneurs from the truly great ones? That is what Christopher Lochhead set out to discover. Christopher is a CEO marketing coach, speaker and author of the book Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets (https://amzn.to/3bQYzxJ). Listen as he explains how really successful business owners position their ideas and products to dominate the competition.Speaking in front of people is scary for almost everyone. Yet it is also absolutely necessary for pretty much all of us whether at school or in a meeting or giving a formal speech. Since we will all be called on to speak, why not arm yourself with some skills that will make you less nervous and perform better? Here with some help to do that is Matt Abrahams . He is a lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business – he is the host of the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart (https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/think-fast-talk-smart-podcast) and author of the book Speaking Up Without Freaking Out (https://amzn.to/3eZyKO1). His company, Bold Echo can be found at www.boldecho.com How many times have you heard that staring at a computer screen for too long is bad for your eyes? So, what does that mean - “bad for our our eyes”? Listen as I explain what research has shown about computer use and your eyesight. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/are-computer-screens-really-ruiningour-eyes_us_58b08e8de4b0a8a9b782192a This Week's Sponsors-The Zebra. Compare and save money on car insurance. Go to www.TheZebra.com/sysk

Want to be more attractive? There has actually been some interesting research on what makes people appealing to others and this episode begins by exploring ways you can instantly make other people notice you – and like what they see. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-attract-the-opposite-sex-2013-7?op=1It is conventional medical wisdom to take a pill to lower your fever or to put ice on a sprain or to be sure to take all your antibiotic pills even if you feel all better. Yet all those common practices and others, are bad medicine according to Dr. Paul Offit, a professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia and author of the book Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far (https://amzn.to/2RoRAUp). Listen and Dr. Offit offers an eye opening explanation of why we persist in doing these types of things and what we should be doing instead. It is easy to let exercise slip, especially with gyms and parks being closed and all of us cooped up inside. Yet exercise is exactly what we need to help get us through. Listen as I explain some of the amazing benefits of exercise that you may not have heard before. http://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-benefits-of-exercise-2015-6Are you prepared to die? What I mean by that is, do you have everything in order, or do you at least have a will? More than half the U.S. population does not yet every single one of those people will die someday. Chanel Reynolds’ husband didn’t have a will and when he was suddenly killed in a car crash, she had to navigate and figure out what to do since he left no instructions. She has since become an advocate to get people to plan for the inevitable. She wrote a book called What Matters Most (https://amzn.to/3aPU7P8) and she joins me to explain the importance of having a will and other legal documents ready as well as the nightmare it creates when you don’t. Her website is www.ChanelReynolds.com This Week's Sponsors -The Zebra. Compare and save money on car insurance. Go to www.TheZebra.com/sysk

You know when you head up the entrance ramp on a freeway, you have to really “floor it” to get your car up to speed. Is that good for your engine to put the pedal to the metal like that? This episode begins by explaining what revving your engine actually does. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a25286/how-to-make-you-car-last-longer/Would you like to be more persuasive? Jay Heinrichs is a real expert at this, having written several books on the topic. One of those books is Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion (http://amzn.to/2uDWt1U). Jay joins me for a lively discussion on what works –and doesn’t work in persuading other people to understand your point of view.When you have to shut down your Wi-Fi or other device, the advice is often to leave it off for 30 seconds or so before restarting. What’s the reason? And do you really have to? http://serverfault.com/questions/32787/where-did-wait-30-seconds-before-turning-it-back-on-come-fromAnd, we take a look at the practice of networking. We have all been told how important it is to get out there and meet people because, well, it can lead to something. But often it only seems to lead to a big pile of business cards and not much else. Larry Mohl, former Chief Learning Officer for Motorola Cellular and American Express and is author of the book Networking is Dead, (http://amzn.to/2tjFpKC) explains how traditional networking doesn’t usually work – and he offers some more efficient and effective ways to connect with people who can help you. This Week’s SponsorsThe Zebra. Compare and save money on car insurance. Go to www.TheZebra.com/sysk

On today's show, our Canadian brother Gumpy joins the boys in studio. They talk about the Pat McAfee Does America this weekend as well as the hazards of club sandwiches, sleeping dogs, RV rentals, angry methed out squirrels, whether or not putting butter in your coffee is an acceptable move, grilling, the different sizes of drones the US has in their fleet, some of the many differences between the United States and Canada, convenience stores, Mussolini and per usual, they help send you into the weekend with another edition of Friday Bangerz. This episode features @toddmccomas, @PatMcAfeeShow, @Digz, @nickmaraldo, @tyschmit, @HeyGorman, @VivalaZito, @evanfoxy, and @GumpSox10 Episode Sponsors and Discounts: Postmates - download the app and use the code HEARTLAND for $100 in free delivery your first 7 days. The Zebra - the nation's leading car insurance comparison site. Go to TheZebra.com/HEARTLAND. SipStation - It’s the fastest, easiest, and most affordable way to manage and ship your orders. JUST visit ShipStation.com, click on the microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in HEARTLAND

We speak to a man who has given thousands of people new names, told them where they would live, and warned them they could never go back home. For more, check out Gerald Shur's book, WITSEC. We have new Criminal totes, as well as stickers, t-shirts, and other gifts in our shop. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice. If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions. Sponsors: Away UK For £15 off a suitcase, visit awaytravel.com/criminal and use promo code CRIMINAL during checkout! Bombas Go to BOMBAS.com/CRIMINAL and you’ll get 20% off your first order. Calm Get 25% off a Calm Premium subscription at CALM.COM/CRIMINAL Care/of For 25% off your first month of personalized Care/of vitamins, visit TakeCareOf.com and enter CRIMINAL Jet.com Learn more at Jet.com or download the Jet app to get started. Mancrates Buy one gift and get the second gift for 25% off at ManCrates.com/CRIMINAL Progressive Choose your coverage and start an online quote today at Progressive.com Quicken To get started, go to RocketMortgage.com/criminal Quip Go to getquip.com/CRIMINAL to get your first refill pack for FREE with a quip electric toothbrush. Simplisafe Go to simplisafe.com/criminal to save 25% Squarespace Enjoy a free trial and 10% off your first purchase with offer code CRIMINAL. The Zebra Start saving at TheZebra.com/CRIMINAL

On a hot summer day in 1978, a group of friends started renovating an old house in Atlanta. They were steaming wallpaper off of the walls when two strangers just walked in. One of them had a gun. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for The Accomplice. If you'd like to introduce friends or family members to podcasts, we created a How to Listen guide based on frequently asked questions. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Sponsors: Bombas Go to BOMBAS.com/CRIMINAL and you’ll get 20% off your first order. Calm Get 25% off a Calm Premium subscription at CALM.COM/CRIMINAL Jet.com Learn more at Jet.com or download the Jet app to get started. Modcloth To get 15% off your purchase of $100 or more, go to modcloth.com and enter code CRIMINAL at checkout. Progressive Choose your coverage and start an online quote today at Progressive.com Quicken To get started, go to RocketMortgage.com/criminal Quip Go to getquip.com/CRIMINAL to get your first refill pack for FREE with a quip electric toothbrush. Simplisafe Go to simplisafe.com/criminal to save 25% Squarespace Enjoy a free trial and 10% off your first purchase with offer code CRIMINAL. Sun Basket Go to SunBasket.com/CRIMINAL today to get $35 off your first order! The Zebra Start saving at TheZebra.com/CRIMINAL

Segment 1: Adam Lyons is the founder of TheZebra.com. In 2012, Adam (while on unemployment) founded TheZebra.com in his friend's basement and set out to create the “KAYAK for Auto Insurance”. Segment 2: Lior Rachmany, an Israeli by birth, first arrived in New York in 1998, with the hopes and dreams of making it in the music industry. Upon his arrival, though, to make some money, he began serving as a moving man for one of his now competitors during the day and rehearsing his music at night. After eight years of this grind, Rachmany saw an opportunity to channel his creativity from music into his “day job” and decided to build out his own moving company launching Dumbo Moving + Storage in January 2007.Segment 3: Barry Moltz shares how to get your business unstuck.Segment 4: Dr. Rajan Sharma has been in the dental industry for over 20 years working as an endodontist. He launched EON Clinics nine years ago and it has grown to become the leading dental implant center in Chicago. EON Clinics has six locations spanning from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.Segment 5: Niki Singlaub, the founder and creator of the HYDAWAY bottle, is changing the way consumers drink water. It's portable and eco-friendly and its innovative design allows it to collapse to less than 1-inch thick, so it fits easily in a backpack, purse or pocket. Hydaway is based in Oregon. They just reached an agreement to sell Hydaway Bottles in Bed, Bath & Beyond.Sponsored by Nextiva.