Becoming a Polyglot Programmer through the Eyes of a Freelance Musician - SoCal Code Camp 15 - LA

Before coming to the software world, I was a freelance musician for over 10+ years I toured and played bass with bands and artists like Albert Lee, Ray Parker, Jr. of Ghostbusters fame, and even was featured on Entertainment Tonight. As a developer now, I look back on some of the concepts I learned to become a successfull musician and how they apply to learning software.

Truthfully they are not that different.

Let's dive into how the world of music has attempted to overcome a lot of the challenges around learning a new coding language, and see if we can draw some parallels together on how to:

Sound Authentic
Always Sheddin’
Know the Rules to Break Them
More Valuable Than Your Role

Transcript

1. Becoming a Polyglot
   Programmer
   Through the Eyes of a Freelance Musician
   @kickinbahk
   Josiah Mory
   

   View Slide

2. I Came From the
   World of Music
   

   View Slide

3. Worked as a Sideman
   

   View Slide

4. Playing Bass for
   Artists and Bands
   for 10 years
   

   View Slide

5. View Slide

6. Studied Music in
   College
   

   View Slide

7. A place to be exposed
   to things I wouldn’t
   otherwise study
   

   View Slide

8. View Slide

9. Writing for choirs and
   orchestras
   

   View Slide

10. Different than a
    Performance-based
    School
    

    View Slide

11. - most the focus is
    how to better play
    your instrument
    

    View Slide

12. kinda like the
    difference between a
    Boot Camp or
    studying Computer
    Science
    

    View Slide

13. One is
    generally
    more practical
    

    View Slide

14. The other more
    theoretical
    

    View Slide

15. My college career had a
    lot of theory
    and I enjoyed it
    

    View Slide

16. No….Not Music
    Theory
    

    View Slide

17. Okay maybe
    that too
    

    View Slide

18. a little bit…
    

    View Slide

19. the theory of how
    music fits together
    

    View Slide

20. Can be Many Aspects
    

    View Slide

21. • Rhythms
    • Notes
    • Orchestra
    • Band
    

    View Slide

22. My Favorite Focus:
    Band
    

    View Slide

23. interaction between
    the Bass and Drums
    

    View Slide

24. View Slide

25. known as
    GROOVE
    

    View Slide

26. Theory of Groove
    

    View Slide

27. Every Musician
    strives for Groove
    

    View Slide

28. The listener may not
    know what it is
    

    View Slide

29. They typically know when it
    ISN’T
    

    View Slide

30. Different Genres Define it in
    Other Ways
    Swing
    Clave Bubble
    Funky
    

    View Slide

31. All Reference different
    Types of Groove
    

    View Slide

32. “If you gotta ask you'll never know”
    - Louie Armstrong
    

    View Slide

33. To Understand the Groove
    You have to Listen
    

    View Slide

34. Immerse into the
    Thinking
    

    View Slide

35. the Feeling
    

    View Slide

36. “Experts in a particular field can
    often instantly know that something
    is right, but they can’t explain why.”
    - Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power
    of Thinking Without Thinking
    

    View Slide

37. Immersion
    allows reaction
    

    View Slide

38. Know what others are
    doing
    

    View Slide

39. Informs how my part Interacts
    with the rest of the band
    

    View Slide

40. just Like I immersed
    myself in a Style
    

    View Slide

41. by Listening to
    Records
    

    View Slide

42. Talking with
    other Musicians
    

    View Slide

43. Going to Live shows
    

    View Slide

44. I immerse Myself
    in a programming
    Language by:
    

    View Slide

45. • Podcasts
    • Meetups
    • Conferences/code Camps
    

    View Slide

46. great ways to
    learn
    

    View Slide

47. While Those are
    Important
    

    View Slide

48. YOU
    

    View Slide

49. HAVE
    

    View Slide

50. TO
    

    View Slide

51. PRACTICE
    

    View Slide

52. I wasn’t Born
    writing Ruby
    

    View Slide

53. Just Like I wasn’t
    Born Playing a Samba
    

    View Slide

54. They are Skills I had
    to Gain
    

    View Slide

55. View Slide

56. Practice is solving some
    small known problem
    

    View Slide

57. Never on the
    Gig
    

    View Slide

58. Practicing in music
    happens at different Speeds
    

    View Slide

59. start Slow and get
    Faster
    (Developing finger Dexterity and Reaction)
    

    View Slide

60. start Fast and go
    Slower
    (Checking for good Technique)
    

    View Slide

61. What does this look
    like in coding?
    

    View Slide

62. Solve simple, known
    problems
    

    View Slide

63. to find New and
    Unique solutions
    

    View Slide

64. My Favorite Practice Tool:
    Exercism.io
    

    View Slide

65. Different ways to solve
    the Same Problem
    

    View Slide

66. It Always comes
    Back to the time I
    give
    

    View Slide

67. More Valuable than
    my Role
    

    View Slide

68. Understanding
    the Goal of the Drummer
    

    View Slide

69. How can I
    compliment the rhythm?
    

    View Slide

70. Play with the Kick
    Drum
    

    View Slide

71. Play off the Kick Drum
    

    View Slide

72. I thought beyond
    my Role
    

    View Slide

73. To how the music was
    Best served
    

    View Slide

74. Know the Rules…
    then
    Break them
    

    View Slide

75. Start Idiomatic
    

    View Slide

76. View Slide

77. I enjoyed this
    Process
    

    View Slide

78. taking Idioms from
    other Genres
    

    View Slide

79. Taking Idioms from
    other instruments
    

    View Slide

80. While they seemed
    unique and
    creative
    

    View Slide

81. Using Common
    Solutions for One
    Language
    

    View Slide

82. Solving problem
    Uniquely in a Different
    Language
    

    View Slide

83. Creativity starts in
    knowing the typical
    Solution
    

    View Slide

84. then Solving a
    different way
    

    View Slide

85. Polyglot - using or
    knowing multiple
    languages
    

    View Slide

86. Knowledge of Other
    Languages Allows Me to
    Approach Problems
    Differently
    

    View Slide

87. Allows me to be
    involved in the
    conversation
    

    View Slide

88. and How my part
    can compliment
    the others
    

    View Slide

89. Allows for
    communication
    

    View Slide

90. Rather than a war over
    how to achieve a goal
    

    View Slide

91. More and More
    Projects are Polyglot
    

    View Slide

92. The better I
    Understand how my
    part fits
    

    View Slide

93. The better job I can
    do to serve the
    project
    

    View Slide

94. where a
    Particular
    Functionality is
    Handled
    

    View Slide

95. • Front-End
    • Back-end
    • Micro-Service
    

    View Slide

96. OR
    “What have I learned
    from ‘insert Language’
    that I can apply Here?”
    

    View Slide

97. Sometimes there
    was an opportunity
    to learn on the Job
    

    View Slide

98. More often, I had to
    put in the time to learn
    it on my own first
    

    View Slide

99. Before I was ready
    to use it on the gig
    

    View Slide

100. Advantage:
     

     View Slide

101. Learning on your own
     allows you to find
     languages which speak
     to you
     

     View Slide

102. As with any time you fall in love,
     it’s difficult to explain why.
     It (Ruby) just worked the way I work,
     and it had enough depth to keep me
     interested.
     Fast forward 15 years. All that time I’d been
     looking for something new that gave me the
     same feeling.
     - Dave Thomas (on Elixir)
     

     View Slide

103. I think that people should use
     whatever gets them excited.
     Pick something, anything, and just try
     it. If you don’t like it, try something
     else. Humans are all different, and
     there’s no single answer here.
     - Steve Klabnik (on learning languages)
     

     View Slide

104. The Languages we
     use are just tools
     

     View Slide

105. Not Religion
     

     View Slide

106. Or the way to
     Enlightenment
     

     View Slide

107. It’s not the tools that you have
     faith in - tools are just tools.
     They work or don’t work.
     -Steve Jobs
     

     View Slide

108. Ruby Jobs may not
     be Popular Forever
     

     View Slide

109. Am I the lucky one
     that works on a RoR
     project for 20 yrs?
     

     View Slide

110. Is that so lucky?
     

     View Slide

111. I never wanted
     to be part of a
     Cover Band
     

     View Slide

112. I wanted to make
     New and
     Interesting music
     

     View Slide

113. Just as it has changed
     before, the world
     will keep changing
     

     View Slide

114. At The End of the Day…
     

     View Slide

115. The value of a
     performance is
     judged on the way
     People feel
     

     View Slide

116. Our software is
     judged on the way
     People feel
     

     View Slide

117. The fact that I
     understand ‘groove’ did
     not matter to an audience
     

     View Slide

118. they just want to
     Dance
     

     View Slide

119. or experience
     some emotion
     

     View Slide

120. The people I work
     with did appreciate it
     

     View Slide

121. Software should move
     people in the same way
     

     View Slide

122. They don’t care that I use
     Ruby, C#, Rust, Elixir,
     Go, C++, Javascript…
     

     View Slide

123. Okay they may care
     about javascript
     

     View Slide

124. But my knowledge of
     Theory
     

     View Slide

125. Allows me to approach
     a problem in better
     ways
     

     View Slide

126. In more Creative
     Ways
     

     View Slide

127. Exploring Other
     Languages
     Recap:
     

     View Slide

128. More Valuable than
     my Role
     Find Creative
     Solutions (Break Rules)
     

     View Slide

129. Communicate with
     those I Work
     Opens up
     Opportunities
     

     View Slide

130. provide a better
     experience for users and
     those I work with
     

     View Slide

131. Thank You!
     Hire me :)
     kickinbahk.com @kickinbahk
     

     View Slide

132. Thanks to:
     Saron
     Yitbarek
     Judd
     Lillestrand
     

     View Slide