Hardware Podcasts

Coder's Block

Oxide and Friends · 26 Oct 2021 · 1h 20m · Episode 19

What this episode covers

Bryan Cantrill and Brigid Gaffikin, hosts of the Oxide and Friends Twitter Space, explore the concept of 'writer's block' for software engineers, drawing parallels between creative writing and coding. They discuss remedies such as prototyping, writing debugging infrastructure, and taking breaks, while analyzing how the pandemic and tools like Rust exacerbate indecision and isolation. The conversation highlights the importance of collaboration, code review, and community in overcoming creative stagnation and burnout.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Oxide Computer Company, Google, Mozilla
Products
BattleTris, ZFS, Commodore 64
Also
Rust, Fuchsia, Darvin, Ubuntu, APL, K, NaNoWriMo, Gather.town

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Making It · 46m

    Episode 122: So, you had a bad day…

    Hosts Bob Clagett, David Picciuto, and guest Jimmy Diresta discuss strategies for overcoming bad days and creative block in the maker community. They share personal anecdotes about managing frustration during projects, such as David's welding mishaps and Jimmy's shop interruptions, emphasizing the importance of stepping back and problem-solving. The conversation also covers techniques for breaking through creative stagnation, including using visual inspiration from Google Images and Pinterest, and maintaining multiple projects to keep momentum. Finally, they touch on community management, such as handling negative YouTube comments, and celebrate Jimmy's 30 years of sobriety.

    Debugging & failure analysisIndustrial & consumer product design
    10 chapters

  • Making It · 1h 02m

    Episode 095: Tandem Horse

    Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto discuss the challenges of creative stagnation and the pros and cons of working alone versus collaborating. They share specific techniques for overcoming writer's block, such as using post-it notes for project ideas and focusing on small, manageable design tasks in Fusion 360. The conversation also covers the practical difficulties of moving heavy materials without help, the importance of labeling parts to avoid errors, and recommendations for other woodworking creators like Chris Salamon and Indiana Workshop Jones.

    Founder wellbeingCareers & education
    8 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 58m

    461: Am I the Cow in This Scenario?

    Elecia White and Christopher White discuss the tension between completing projects and starting new ones, referencing a Classpert student's analogy of coding 'scribbles' to artistic sketching. They review Elecia's progress on the second edition of 'Making Embedded Systems' and its companion GitHub repository, while also critiquing the efficacy and fairness of live coding tests in engineering interviews.

    Careers & educationAI & machine learning
    5 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 07m

    78: Happy Cows

    Chris Svec, a senior principal software engineer at iRobot, discusses his concept of 'empathy-driven development' for embedded software teams. He argues that engineers should write code with empathy for future maintainers, new hires, and their own future selves, rather than focusing solely on the 'lone hacker' archetype. Svec highlights how imposter syndrome and the 'rock star' mentality hinder collaboration, and suggests that treating code as readable fiction for multiple audiences can improve team dynamics and product quality.

    Embedded firmwareLeadership, teams & culture
    11 chapters

  • Embedded.fm · 47m

    439: Ditches and Psychology

    Hosts Elecia White and Chris White discuss personal projects and burnout, with Chris detailing his experience using CircuitPython and the MIKROE 8800 board to run Conway's Game of Life, and Elecia sharing her paper engineering class. They explore the psychology of creativity, the desire for obscurity versus recognition, and the operational strain of maintaining a weekly podcast schedule, announcing a potential reduction in frequency.

    Founder wellbeingEmbedded firmware
    7 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Oxide and Friends. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.