Launching a New Podcast
Published on 7 Jan 2016 · Filed in Podcast · 709 words (estimated 4 minutes to read)After quite a bit of deliberation and planning, I’m excited (and nervous!) to announce the launch of a new podcast, titled “The Full Stack Journey Podcast”. Here are the details, structured in a Q&A format.
What topics does this new podcast cover?
The focus of The Full Stack Journey Podcast is to talk about the journey to becoming a full-stack engineer. That term is a bit of a loaded term—some people like it, some people don’t, and there’s some disagreement over exactly what it means. I use the term to describe someone who can work at multiple layers of the modern data center stack, crossing between different silos. This isn’t to say that a full-stack engineer is an expert in all these areas, but it does mean that a full-stack engineer has at least some knowledge and experience in all these areas, with expertise and experience in at least one of them. The podcast aims to provide real, relevant, practical information at helping people with their “full-stack journey.”
Why is the idea of becoming a full-stack engineer important enough to warrant launching a podcast?
I strongly believe the future of the infrastructure engineer does not lie in being an expert in just one area. The days of the IT pro who is only a storage expert, only an OS/hypervisor expert, or only a networking expert are, I believe, numbered. To remain relevant and valuable in today’s fast-paced and quickly-changing environment, infrastructure engineers need to do three things:
- Expand into other technology areas
- Move “up the stack” to embrace orchestration and automation
- Become more aware of applications and the business—it’s not just about infrastructure.
These three things, I think, dovetail very nicely with my view of a full-stack engineer, and I think that a podcast dedicated to helping IT professionals start a journey toward being a full-stack engineer will be helpful.
How is this different than other podcasts?
There are some great podcasts out there that talk about the components of the modern data center stack, but I couldn’t find any audio podcasts that focused on providing real, relevant, actionable information to help IT pros grow and evolve. This may be because audio podcasts are a terrible way of sharing this information, and if that’s the case I’m sure that will become evident fairly quickly. I’m aiming to differentiate this podcast in a few different ways:
- Talking to real people about their journey
- Aiming to provide practical, real-world information that listeners can put to work right away
- Focusing on technical growth and development
As such, I think that The Full Stack Journey becomes a natural complement to a number of other podcasts, web sites, and similar resources.
Where can I get the podcast?
The podcast recordings themselves will be hosted on Soundcloud (see here). Over time, the podcast will have its own website, and you’ll be able to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. In the spirit of “just getting started,” I wanted to go ahead and launch the podcast before all these other things are finished (they are all underway). Show notes for the podcast will be published on this site until the podcast’s web site is ready.
When will the first episode be available?
Very, very soon. (OK, fine. I’m posting the show notes tomorrow, although you can listen to the audio recording right now.)
How can I provide feedback?
I’d love to hear your feedback about the podcast. You’re welcome to contact me via Twitter, or you can drop me an e-mail (my address is on this site). When the podcast’s web site is finished, there will be a comments section where you’ll be able to provide feedback on each episode. All feedback is welcome—good or bad. I won’t be able to improve the podcast without knowing what I’m doing wrong, so don’t hesitate to provide your thoughts.
Why?
Why launch a podcast? Why this podcast? Why me, and not someone else? These are all valid questions. I’m constantly telling folks they need to challenge themselves by moving outside their comfort zone. This is me moving outside my comfort zone. I saw a need that I didn’t feel was being addressed, and I’m going to try to address it. I might fail, but at least I tried.