In today's episode, at the request of a listener I discuss the tradeoffs of choosing to adopt a new technology versus using what you already know, even when what you already know might not be the best tool for the job. Don't forget to subscribe to hear more Developer Tea!

In today's episode, I discuss why it's important to create a brand for yourself. Make sure you check out my interview with John Sonmez to hear more about building your own personal brand, and to participate in John's giveaway: https://www.developertea.com/episodes/7976

Today's bonus episode is the first weekly inspiration mini-episode! Today's quote comes from Steve McConnell, author of Code Complete. Thank you for supporting Developer Tea with your listens! We just reached the 200k unique listens mark, and that's thanks to you! If you'd like to become a monthly supporter, head over to http://developertea.com/donate

In this episode, I answer a listener question about what route he should take in his technical education. Spoiler: I actually DO have an opinion and recommendation to this question. For a significant part of this episode, I discuss the concept of the famed "unicorn" developer, and why they're in such high demand. *Note: I accidentally called the listener a "guest" - probably because I consider everyone who listens to the show my personal guests 3 times a week. :)*

I'm excited to be interviewing Ben Orenstein from [Thoughtbot](http://thoughtbot.com/). Ben is a brilliant craftsman of a developer, and in this episode we discuss what it takes to be a craftsman. This is the second part of the interview, so be sure to check out the previous episode for the first part! [Become a Supporter of Developer Tea](https://developertea.com/donate) -Giant Robots Smashing into Other Giant Robots podcast: http://giantrobots.fm/ - Upcase: https://upcase.com/join - Vim for Rails Developers: https://www.codeschool.com/screencasts/thoughtbot-vim-for-rails-developers - Vim resources on Upcase: https://upcase.com/vim/resources - Trailmix.life: https://www.trailmix.life Ben's personal site and writings can be found at http://benorenstein.com Ben on Twitter, @r00k: https://twitter.com/r00k Ben on GitHub, @r00k: https://github.com/r00k

I'm excited to be interviewing Ben Orenstein from [Thoughtbot](http://thoughtbot.com/). Ben is a brilliant craftsman of a developer, and in this episode we discuss what it takes to be a craftsman. This interview is split into two parts, so be sure to check out the next episode for the second part! [Become a Supporter of Developer Tea](https://developertea.com/donate) -Giant Robots Smashing into Other Giant Robots podcast: http://giantrobots.fm/ - Upcase: https://upcase.com/join - Vim for Rails Developers: https://www.codeschool.com/screencasts/thoughtbot-vim-for-rails-developers - Vim resources on Upcase: https://upcase.com/vim/resources - Trailmix.life: https://www.trailmix.life Ben's personal site and writings can be found at http://benorenstein.com Ben on Twitter, @r00k: https://twitter.com/r00k Ben on GitHub, @r00k: https://github.com/r00k

Around 1:00, Brett asks how to become an “advanced developer.” - Programming Paradigms Stanford Course: https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/programming-paradigms/id495054064 - Paul Graham’s essays on Lisp: http://paulgraham.com/articles.html - Python: https://www.python.org/ - Django: https://www.djangoproject.com/ - Whiteboard: http://whiteboard.is Around 8:10, Daniel asks how to make writing tests less boring and more joyful. Justin Weiss's article about adding tests to a non-TDD app: http://www.justinweiss.com/blog/2014/12/30/how-do-you-take-an-app-from-test-less-to-tdd/

Today I'm joined once again by Ryan Stout, the developer behind the powerful new Ruby web framework Volt. Ryan and I continue discussing why he created Volt, and some of the motivations for developers to move towards "isomorphic development". Check out Volt: http://voltframework.com Support Developer Tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

Today I'm joined by Ryan Stout, the developer behind the powerful new Ruby web framework Volt. Ryan and I discuss why he created Volt, and some of the motivations for developers to move towards "isomorphic development". Check out Volt: http://voltframework.com Support Developer Tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, we talk about stigmas and stereotypes. As developers, and as humans, we have a responsibility to treat each other fairly. We also have a responsibility to our craft. In this episode, I discuss the one thing that developers should be measured by.

The first month of Developer Tea was officially marked yesterday, and in this episode, I'd like to thank you. I also challenge you towards the end of the episode. Thank you so much for listening to the show!

What was the last time you _practiced_ writing code? Any expertise arguably requires an intentional, focused effort on practicing a set of exercises. Kata acts as the practice exercises for programming. In this episode, I talk about code kata, and I also talk about the danger of being addicted to problems, and making sure we keep our kata efforts separate from our real problem-solving efforts. [codekata.com](http://codekata.com/) If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, I interview front-end developer Daniel Kao. Daniel has been running his site, Diplateevo.com, since his freshman year in high school. Daniel is a brilliant individual, and happens to be only 20 years old. He has already had a chance to meet some of his heroes, like Chase Jarvis, Ramit Sethi, Peter Thiel, Randy Komisar, and more. This past year, Daniel did something that took a lot of self control: He cut sugar for a whole year. In our interview Daniel tells me why he made this choice. Finally, Daniel is moving into a complicated field (grant writing) that he has no experience or training in. In the interview, we discuss why this can actually be a great idea for your career. If you are enjoying the show, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, I discuss flexibility. Why is flexibility important, and what can you do to make your code and your workflow more flexible? I'll share something I did recently that made creating this podcast a bit easier to accomplish. If you are enjoying the show, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

On this episode, I continue the interview Chris Coyier. Chris is the creator of CSS-Tricks.com, Codepen.io, and hosts Shoptalk Show with Dave Rupert. In this second part of a two-part interview, Chris and I talk about getting good at being a musician (or at cutting hair), why we rewrite code we've already written, and lots of other necessary things. Mentioned: - ShoptalkShow.com - Codepen.io - css-tricks.com - DeveloperTea.com Don't forget to subscribe, rate/review on iTunes, and get in touch! - Twitter: @developertea - https://twitter.com/developertea) - Email: developertea@gmail.com If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea? http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

On this episode, I interview Chris Coyier. Chris is the creator of CSS-Tricks.com, Codepen.io, and hosts Shoptalk Show with Dave Rupert. In this first part of a two-part interview, Chris and I talk about how he got started with CSS Tricks. We also talk about what it's like to make such a massive amount of freely available resources. Mentioned: ShoptalkShow.com Codepen.io css-tricks.com DeveloperTea.com If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea? http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

Ruby developer and author Justin Weiss joins me to talk about his experience working with Avdi Grimm on a guest episode for Ruby Tapas, why he chose Rails, and his book. Then, Justin gives you his 30-second suggestion to help you become a better developer. *Mentioned:* - Justin's book, Practicing Rails https://www.justinweiss.com/book/ - Justin's Blog: http://www.justinweiss.com/ - Sign up for Justin's awesome weekly newsletter: http://www.justinweiss.com/list/ If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea? http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, I talk about how I approach programmatic problems, and I give all developers my opinionated understanding of the most important factor of problem solving: imparting knowledge into your problem solving mechanisms. If you're enjoying the show, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, I share some of the stuff I've been using. None of these folks are sponsoring the show. Mentioned: Ruby - https://www.ruby-lang.org Rails - http://rubyonrails.org Grape - https://github.com/intridea/grape Sinatra - http://www.sinatrarb.com Focus at Will - https://www.focusatwill.com vim - http://vim.org Sublime Text 2 - http://www.sublimetext.com/2 Thoughtbot's thoughts on vim: http://robots.thoughtbot.com/tags/vim Upcase - https://upcase.com Simplenote - http://simplenote.com Drafts - http://agiletortoise.com/drafts Quiver - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quiver-programmers-notebook/id866773894 If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

In this episode, we cover (only 2 of) the hardest parts of computer science. Spoiler alert: this short podcast will not solve all of your complex coding conundrums, but it will provide you with some alliterative show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea