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Underserved

Technology Podcasts

Underserved is the podcast for the rest of the technology industry. No startup or gadget worship, just real stories, lessons, and interesting topics from real people in the technology industry. Special emphasis on software development culture and history.

Location:

United States

Description:

Underserved is the podcast for the rest of the technology industry. No startup or gadget worship, just real stories, lessons, and interesting topics from real people in the technology industry. Special emphasis on software development culture and history.

Language:

English


Episodes

Ep. 112, The Value of Hustle

12/18/2023
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/

Duration:00:45:20

Ep. 111, Head in the Clouds

12/11/2023
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

Duration:00:43:38

Ep. 110, View Source

12/4/2023
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/

Duration:00:43:51

Ep. 109, Cactus Dude

11/27/2023
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/

Duration:00:42:50

Ep. 108, Culture Swap

11/20/2023
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

Duration:00:39:15

Ep. 107, Picky is Good

11/13/2023
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

Duration:00:40:33

Ep. 106, Told to learn IT

11/6/2023
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/

Duration:00:48:00

Ep. 105, False Courage

10/30/2023
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)

Duration:00:38:47

Ep. 104, From coder to CTO

10/23/2023
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 LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-harris-7407b2/ Aaron Harris in Diginomicahttps://diginomica.com/are-we-ready-profound-impact-generative-ai-accounting-and-finance-heres-what-lies-ahead Sagehttps://www.sage.com/en-us/home-1-dark/ Ann Winbladhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/annwinblad/ Dunkin Donuts adhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1e4qhHOIQA

Duration:00:46:32

Ep. 103, Aligned Interests

10/16/2023
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 UniversityBhabha Atomic Research CenterUSC Viterbi School of EngineeringInternet Engineering Task Force (IETF)Girls Who CodeAlign Technology Align Technology Virtual CareAlign Technology ClinCheck Pro 6.0

Duration:00:37:34

Ep. 102, Don’t Overthink Your Career

10/9/2023
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

Duration:00:46:41

Ep. 101, Journey to a Mission

10/2/2023
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/

Duration:00:33:20

Ep. 100, AI Invasion

6/26/2023
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

Duration:00:51:35

Ep. 099, Triple Major

6/19/2023
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/

Duration:00:38:36

Ep. 098, Running the Shop

6/12/2023
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/

Duration:00:41:29

Ep. 097, Fighting Spirit

6/5/2023
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/

Duration:00:39:38

Ep. 096, Super Stoked To Be Here

5/30/2023
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

Duration:00:36:55

Ep. 095, Leader of the Band

5/22/2023
Kim Sinclair joins me in our studio for Episode #095 of Underserved. Kim spent college in Friartown, leading the pep band on the road for fun and adventure supporting Providence College sports. After stints working for the Department of Revenue and consulting, Kim found herself moving into the healthcare payer and provider space at Boston Medical Center's health plan. By asking many questions she learned the many intricacies of the insurance side, which helped implement the Massachusetts Healthcare reform project “Romneycare” (the state predecessor to federal "Obamacare"). We talk about not wanting to be a CIO and then becoming one, being forced to make layoffs as your first foray into management, and some unusual requests serviced during COVID. LINKS linkedin.com/in/kim-sinclairDoberman Dog Rescue of New England - Doberman Rescue Unltd (dru.org)Heartworm Basics - American Heartworm Societyhttps://www.providence.edu/

Duration:00:37:56

Ep. 094, Keep Living Más

5/15/2023
Taco Bell CTO Steve Plank is my guest for Episode #094 of Underserved. Steve rose quickly through the ranks in heavily regulated industries helping to manage document compliance. It took 4 trips to Taco Bell's headquarters to switch industries and get a job offer. Since then Steve has spearheaded Taco Bell's digital transformation, resulting in billions of e-commerce revenue and tighter relationships with their ravenous customer base. Also covered are the Temple/UMass basketball rivalry in the 1990s, if/when to get your MBA, and moving from buy to build. https://www.linkedin.com/in/plankstephen/https://www.linkedin.com/in/gacharbonneau/https://www.linkedin.com/in/suejeanlin/https://www.netflix.com/title/80118100https://www.tacobell.com/https://www.tacobellfoundation.org/

Duration:00:41:27

Ep. 093, Ruining the Curve

5/8/2023
Susan Kelly is our guest for Underserved episode #093. Susan fell in love with computers early on, being curious about technology and loving the time/aggravation saver of spell check. She leaned into product management early in her career, in telecom, education technology, and call center software. We also talk about how companies struggle to allow employees to grieve a loss, watching a technology sea change wipe out your project, and going to bat for your direct reports. Susan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-kelly-mba/ Faire https://www.faire.com/ The Beetle Cat, a New England classic https://beetlecat.com/ The Ideal 18 sailboat https://shumwaymarine.com/ideal18/ The Soggy Dollar, home of the Painkiller https://www.soggydollar.com/

Duration:00:35:47