Underserved

Dom Scandinaro is our guest for Episode #115 of Underserved. Dom enjoyed building computers with his Dad and taking an entrepreneurial angle with their shared venture. As a young track star, a scholarship offer made his college choice for him. Luckily the CS program at Wheeling was fun and UI-focused, which has led to a career in front-end development, mobile development, and now management as a CTO. We discuss who makes a cameo on Cameo, Luxury Garage Sale, and prototyping with Francisco the Fox.   Links: Black Girls Code: https://www.wearebgc.org/ Cameo for Business: https://biz.cameo.com/ Cameo Kids: https://www.cameo.com/kids Francisco the Fox: https://www.cameo.com/franciscothefox Book Dom on Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/domscand Marathon donation page: I'm running to raise money for prostate cancer which is unfortunately what my father passed away from a couple years back.  https://support.zerocancer.org/site/TR/TeamZERO/TeamZERO?px=1916970&pg=personal&fr_id=3320

Philosophy major Jason "Mac" Macauley found his way into the industry via content moderation. He caught the coding bug when he realized that his love of logic translated well. He aimed to be an "Employee number less than 10" at a startup, cash out, and teach philosophy. After a few years, he came to terms with being a professional software developer and aimed for the next challenge - managing people. We talk about working yourself out of a job, outcome-driven sales approaches, and why golf is not a game of perfect.   Links: My Coaching Firm - https://anotherviewcoaching.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmacauley/ Blog - https://jasonmacauley.substack.com Great Dog - https://www.gdrne.com Merrimac CC (Where I shot the 4 under on the back 9) - https://merrimackvalleygolfclub.com/  

Season 10 of Underserved kicks off with our guest, Rob Salvador. Rob's late teens were spent on a computer, but playing multi-table online poker tournaments, not coding. The DOJ shut down online poker, forcing Rob to pivot. His dad's construction company proved fertile ground for learning the  industry's challenges. Rob has parlayed this into a business that optimizes supply chains using AI, lowering costs and raising the success rate of construction projects.   Links Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertjsalvador?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app Rob on X(Twitter): https://x.com/robertjsalvador?s=21&t=EU8jkpKVqqeaaDZlVIusLQ Digibuild: https://digibuild.com/ Poker’s Black Friday: https://www.pokernews.com/news/2022/11/full-tilt-poker-cheating-scandal-42534.htm

Season 9 concludes with Episode #112 featuring Michael Dane. It took a formative solo photography trip to the UK for Michael to find himself and his potential. After discovering what he was good at and the Internet, he was off and running with his brother Abe and Hearst Media. This led to a career in data and business intelligence, often having to sell management and clients why those are so valuable. Also discussed - handling motorcycles at speed, that time he worked for Senator Ted Kennedy, and avoiding downtime when it costs $750,000 per hour.   Story on my wife's struggle with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Boston Globe article https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/23/metro/how-learning-treat-long-covid-can-help-those-struggling-with-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-well/    To donate:  https://www.omf.ngo/  Advocacy info on ME/CFS  https://www.meaction.net/  Michael on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dane-6714451/ Gun Control Advocacy https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/  https://momsdemandaction.org/   

Episode #111 of Underserved features Drew Schillinger. Early on Grandpa Jack wanted to teach Drew programming, but mom didn't want him inside glued to the computer. Drew eventually found his way between chair and keyboard, first teaching and later practicing as a developer. A memorable stint at Cartoon Network's Adult Swim gave him experience as an entertainer and a technical architect. We also talk mindsets, getting an MBS, and Bugs Bunny meeting ChatGPT.   Links for show notes   Drew Rap From my time on Adult Swim’s FishCenter https://youtu.be/X69VL19nRzo Web No more interactive desktop, but there’s a gpt bot you can chat with https://doctorew.com, LinkedIn Please connect! https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-schillinger/, Github I’m embarrassed that I’m not embarrassed to show off my elephant’s graveyard of projects. https://github.com/doctor-ew, Dev.to My tech blog https://dev.to/doctorew, Medium My leadership blog https://medium.com/@doctorew, Calendly When you get tired chatting with my gpt bot, you can chat with me https://calendly.com/doctorew, MBS Reading list: https://www.goodreads.com/user_shelves/464244906

Ep. 110 of Underserved features Rob Larsen. Rob was around for the glory days of the web when you could "view source" on a webpage to learn how to do something new via imitation. At the same time, he was involved in local magazines, writing about film after a stint at Emerson. Rob learned quickly that writing code paid better than writing prose, and leaned into front-end development for several years. This has led him to become one of the foremost thought leaders in the area, publishing several books and managing popular open-source projects. Hear how his love of art, travel, and graffiti has blossomed in parallel with his tech career in this installment of Underserved.   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rob.react/ My blog post on video backgrounds https://htmlcssjavascript.com/javascript/mad-science-flash-for-a-page-background-using-javascript-and-css/ My art https://drunkenfist.com/art/graffiti/ My film writing https://drunkenfist.com/movies/ Two non-profits I work with!  https://thetrustees.org/content/save-millborn-farm/ https://brattlefilm.org/

Kevin "Cactus Dude" Kreucher is our guest for Episode #109 of Underserved. Kevin is another unique story - going from a client of a treatment center to running its IT operations. Kevin got a tour of MSPs after that and built out his Rolodex steadily to support all facets of IT. Nowadays Kevin considers his phone his greatest tool, being able to tap his network to get any job done. Also covered - exotic succulents, friending every CIO in Orange County on LinkedIn, and a memorable Chick-fil-A drive-through call.   Links: Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkreucher/ Northgate Market: https://www.northgatemarket.com/ Grocery Outlet: https://www.groceryoutlet.com/ Crazy4Cactus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Crazy4Cactus/

Cassio Goldschmidt grew up coding on cloned computers in Brazil. Most folks go to the college in their city, and Cassio decided to study Computer Science at his. A desire to get some international experience brought him to the US for a 3 month internship and he has been here ever since. Cassio shares stories about installing and re-discovering an Easter egg in software, inventing the popular Superplayer music service, and how he steered from development to security. Also featured is what to say when a vendor's sales team offers to install a security vulnerability for you, and Cassio's involvement in OWASP.   https://www.youtube.com/user/cgoldsch https://cassiogoldschmidt.com https://www.linkedin.com/learning/practical-privacy-for-products-and-services/identity-protection-is-crucial https://www.servicetitan.com https://superplayer.company https://www.elipse.com.br/en https://www.pucrs.br/politecnica/curso/ciencia-da-computacao  

Jason Judge ended up at the right place (Redmond, WA) at the right time (1995) to see the world change. In Episode #107 of Underserved, we discuss the Seattle scene in the 2000s, leaning into the database world, the MBA education you get by proxy working for a startup, and the importance of preventing bullying. Jason also talks about an important factor in his employment decisions - companies that do good in the world while doing well on the P+L.   https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ https://www.okta.com/okta-for-good/ https://modpizza.com/our-purpose/ https://www.tableau.com/foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~etzioni/papers/ieee-metacrawler.html

Paul Dingwitz shares his experiences with us in Episode #106 of Underserved. Paul "answered the call" from an Army recruiter, and this was his introduction to technology. In the military you don't get a lot of choice about what you do, so when he was tapped to maintain the LAN and WAN he had to figure IT out. A private digital media firm lured him back stateside and into the corporate sector, where he was at the forefront of broadcasters moving from film to digital. From CNN to a streaming media startup, Paul is now back in Germany with The Zeal Group, and shares with us his unique path to the CTO seat.   Children’s Fund: This is who we used to sponsor families https://www.childfund.org/  Friendly look behind the scenes at what your competitors use https://builtwith.com/ Some of the best steak cooking recipes ever https://www.youtube.com/@GugaFoods Great Book and Author https://a.co/d/1UfMICC Fun tech and gadget reading https://newatlas.com/   

In Episode #105 I talk to our guest Vic Caruso. Vic went the music crossover route into tech, entering the industry during the Dot Com Boom and Bust. His project management experience has helped him cross verticals from video games to municipalities to mall management during his career. We discuss the tricky process of a "de-merger", meditating to figure out the next move, and what the "Big Picture" means at URW.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorcarusojr/ https://www.urw.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/unibail-rodamco-westfield/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excel_(band)  

Aaron Harris is featured in Episode #104 of Underserved. As a kid in the woods of Vermont, Aaron still found a way to plug into technology. A classmate at BYU convinced him to switch majors from CS to Accounting for undergrad, then to get a Masters in IS. This unique combination suited him well, landing him at a Big 6 when there were still 6 of them, and later to an accounting software startup called Intacct as it took off. Aaron has led their technology group for over 20 years, and now Intacct is a part of Sage where he oversees all global development. Building a massively multi-tenant system from scratch has taught him a lot of lessons along the way, which he shares in this episode.   Aaron on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-harris-7407b2/    Aaron Harris in Diginomica - https://diginomica.com/are-we-ready-profound-impact-generative-ai-accounting-and-finance-heres-what-lies-ahead Sage - https://www.sage.com/en-us/home-1-dark/   Ann Winblad - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annwinblad/   Dunkin Donuts ad - Time to make the donuts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1e4qhHOIQA 

Episode #103 of Underserved features Ema Patki. Ema heard a common refrain from her parents growing up, the only two legitimate professions were engineer and doctor. She didn't love EE, but it led her to programming and USC. Protocols that helped the Internet boom also helped Ema advance her career. She is now at Align Technologies, where helping people improve their smiles has a surprising amount of technology behind it. We also discuss Girls Who Code, boomeranging between the US and India, and moving from IT to product.   Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai University Bhabha Atomic Research Center USC Viterbi School of Engineering Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Girls Who Code Align Technology  Align Technology Virtual Care Align Technology ClinCheck Pro 6.0

Episode #102 of Underserved features Jim Scholhamer. Jim had an early fascination with geology, history, and archaeology. Dad encouraged him to take up engineering, where he eventually fell into materials science. This field could mean something as boring as bumper plastics or as exciting as space telescopes. Jim forged an exciting and adventurous path, including time as an expat in Germany. Once back in the US, he worked his way into the famously insular semiconductor industry, where he now leads a billion-dollar company through its latest challenges.   Links: https://uct.com/home/default.aspx https://www.appliedmaterials.com/ https://mse.engin.umich.edu/ https://mse.engin.umich.edu/undergraduate/facilities/vvul  (Specifically Van Vlack Undergrad Lab) Chip Wars (the book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law There’s No Upside to Being a Jerk at Work https://www.colorado.com/  5 Signs You’re Overthinking Your Career Decisions www.harriethartley.org

Season 9 of Underserved kicks off in-studio with our guest Tanya Bulkovshteyn. Tanya's family moved to Canada and quickly found out French immersion was not optional. Dad's push toward a technical career led her to computer science and the United States. Tanya describes how being a woman in the field has been at times a nice, novel way to stand out and others a hard way to fit in. This has led Tanya to help mentor other women coming up in the field and taught her the value of building a network of like-minded peers.   Links: https://www.butcherbox.com/ https://www.aspca.org/news/us-supreme-court-upholds-prop-12-preserving-landmark-protections-pigs-chickens-and-calves https://www.invaluable.com/ https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/charter-of-the-french-language/ https://extension.harvard.edu/ https://www.shegeeksout.com/ https://www.autismspeaks.org/  

Underserved has reached Episode 100! We celebrate this special landmark with a very special show. We bring back three previous guests (Mike Breault from #007, Eli Goldberg from #069, and Steve Kaufer from #013) and add one new one (Rachael Rosen) to form a panel of distinguished experts. We discuss with our panel how artificial intelligence is going to change the software development game forever.   ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt CoPilot: https://github.com/features/copilot Prompt Perfect: https://promptperfect.jina.ai/ The Tyrell Corporation: https://www.speculativeidentities.com/research/tyrell-corp

Our 99th episode features Tim Sebel from Bullhorn. Tim was able to leverage his AP classes from high school into an unusually wide amount of choices in college. Or rather, not having to choose between three different majors and completing them all! Tim moved on to startups doing semantic search, helping small cable companies, and assisting folks with dementia before moving on to a large time-tracking company. The latter led him to Bullhorn, where he has helped transform their toolset into a one-stop-shop for running a staffing company.   Tim on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsebel/ Emory University: https://www.emory.edu/home/index.html SimpleC: https://www.simplec.com/ Bullhorn: https://www.bullhorn.com/

Episode #098 of Underserved features Gu Xie live from Texas. We start with his unlikely story of growing up as a Chinese immigrant in Belize, moving to the US, and learning some tough lessons in and out of the classroom at the University of Georgia. Also discussed: leaning into data analytics, superior toolsets driving more mental strain to understand them, and why 10 years in data feels like 3 lifetimes.   Show Notes Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guxie/ https://www.group1001.com/ https://neptune.ai/blog/modern-data-stack https://a16z.com/2020/10/15/emerging-architectures-for-modern-data-infrastructure/

Komal Maliekal is our featured guest for Episode #097 of Underserved. Komal channeled her mother's fighting spirit to succeed in a difficult engineering school, job market, and technology landscape in her native India. We talk about the culture shift moving to the United States, what to do when your test devices get stolen, and giving back to women in the tech industry.    Komal's LinkedIn Profile : https://www.linkedin.com/in/komal-maliekal-4553b38/ Article on Devices : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-cloud-based-medical-device-platform-komal-maliekal/ Info on anitab.org : https://ghc.anitab.org/ Athenahealth : https://www.athenahealth.com/ Dr AIT college : https://drait.edu.in/

In Episode #096 of Underserved, our guest is Chris Boutiette. Chris had to ask his high school to add computer courses, only to find them unexpectedly challenging. This didn't deter him from pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or working his way through college running a tech support firm. We talk about working your way up the organization from QA, wrangling rampant robots, and clearing your head from the saddle of a motorcycle.   Chris' LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-boutiette-aa3b1239/ Symbotic https://www.symbotic.com/ BMW Motorcycles https://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/en/home.html#/filter-all Shell Tech Works https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/entrepreneurs-and-start-ups/shell-techworks.html