Episode 10 continues our "Origin Stories" series where we interview senior engineers about their careers in software. This time around, host Keegan Sands (Full Stack Developer, Rocket Insights) interviews Tiffany Pereira, Rocket Insights' QA Practice Lead.  Tiffany studied Computer Science to be a software developer, then did a QA internship and really loved it. Even after that internship, she viewed QA as a steppingstone to be a developer, but over time she found that by embracing the parts of QA that many people overlook, that she could develop her talents into a career path that she lo ..read more

Heard a lot about AI and Machine Learning but don’t understand it?  This month’s episode is for you: we’re introducing machine learning in the simplest way possible, as if we were chatting with a five-year-old!   Special guest Tyler Renelle, host of Dept's Machine Learning Guide podcast, sits down with with Dept Engineer and Resident Five Year Old, Matt Merrill to teach him about the history, background and technical landscape of machine learning. Just enough to get anyone, even an actual five-year-old, started ..read more

Rocket developers Brandon Aaskov, Dave Oelfke, Simon Ingeson, and Matt Merrill dive into the topic of clean code. When is it worth it? When is it unnecessary? Will it get you in trouble with your teammates? We also share some practical tips for walking the line between "You ain't gonna need it" and when it's worth it to spend that extra 20 minutes cleaning up code.  This podcast was inspired by the article "Goodbye Clean Code" by Dan Abramov which ignited a lot of talk in the Rocket Insights engineering slack channels! Detailed Notes: 00:00 - Intros 03:20 ..read more

Shipitio is entering a new dimension with an episode all about 3D! And here to talk about their 3D experiences are a few folks from Dept, Rocket’s parent agency: Jake Rainis, Matt van Voorst, Rachel Caires and Richard Thompson. Together with host Keegan Sands, they’re sharing their expert opinions on how 3D Experiences can enhance products as well as the technical challenges of implementing 3D in the browser.  As usual we end with our picks: Keegan - Marcus Eder's Ultimate Ski Run  Matt - Bruno Simon his twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bruno_simon_dev Rachel - Luna ..read more

In today's episode we talk with DEPT Digital Products Software Engineer Ali Halim about his origin story. We talk about late nights in college, what got him hooked, paying your dues in your first job and seizing opportunities to grow your career.  This is a great one for the aspiring technical team leaders out there!   Our Picks from this episode: The Lost Art of Running Book The Popcorn Maker with the banned Amazon review ..read more

Episode 9 continues our "Origin Stories" series where we interview senior engineers about their careers in software. This time around, we're interviewing Brian Manning, Principal Software Engineer at Rocket Insights. Brian started out digitizing football playbooks and wound up getting hooked on coding, becoming an Android developer in a series of startups and even starting his own company. He talks about the importance of knowing what you don't know and how, with enough work and persistence, anyone can be a developer. Picks: Brian - "Die" by Kieron Gillen (Graphic Novel) Brandon - Fortune F ..read more

In this episode, we're talking about Architecture Sprints and why they're valuable.  Our client Bloomerang joins us for this one.  Bloomerang is the donor relationship and volunteer management platform for thousands of nonprofits. Their SVP of Payments, Evan DaSilva talks with us about how an Architecture Sprint with DEPT helped them get past a challenging situation with technical leadership during the busy end of year giving season! We dive into what an architecture sprint is and why it's a valuable investment to get your product moving, or moving again ..read more

In episode 3, host Brandon Aaskov talks with Rocket Insights Software Developers Dave Oelfke and Ian Pirro about State Management on the UI.  They go deep on Redux, alternatives to Redux, and where these tools should and should not be used.  As always, we end with our picks (totally unrelated to State Management) for you to follow up on! Topics: 0:00 - Intros and a brief history of Redux.  Opinions abound! Scott O'Brien - The Rocket Insights dev who (used to) troll Dan Abramov (creator of Redux) on Twitter 2:30 - What is Redux? 3:30 - Graph ..read more

In this episode, we talk to DEPT® Project Manager Kate Flynn about her origin story: She talks about how she went from Architect, to Construction Manager, to Software Project Manager. This leads to a great conversation about the parallels between architecture and software, and what software engineering can learn from architecture. Kate also shares her thoughts on striking a balance between planning too much, and planning just enough. Finally, what origin story would be complete without a tale about building a two story underground bunker and powerlifting? Enjoy ..read more

In this episode, we interview Jonah Jolley, Director of Engineering, and Stephanie Bressan, PSM, CSPO of DEPT® about the relationship between product and engineering teams.   What makes a good partnership? What doesn’t make a good partnership? We also talk about the importance of empathy, trust, keeping priorities visible, and how you must come prepared with snacks! We wrap up with thoughts on Agile: Does it help or hurt? Do velocity metrics matter? Are standups even helpful ..read more