Greater Than Code
The Human Side of Technology
About the show
For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code.
Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript.
Greater Than Code on social media
Episodes
-
277: Joy Is Activism – The Power of Ritual and Intention
April 6th, 2022 | 46 mins 20 secs
Greater Than Code panelists Mandy Moore, Damien Burke, and Aaron Aldrich talk about how life has changed for them during the pandemic and realize the power of joy, happiness, and fulfillment as activism while discussing the power of ritual, intention, reflection, and alignment.
-
276: Caring Deeply About Humans – Diversify The Medical Community with Jenna Charlton
March 30th, 2022 | 55 mins 50 secs
Jenna Charlton is a super human. They are deeply rooted in what is human in tech and believes the user is everything. They chat with the panel about software testing and give an awesome metaphor of Developer Dogs and Testing Cats, and then dive into a super helpful conversation about ADHD and how to best work with a diagnosis.
-
275: Making Change Happen – Why Not You? with Nyota Gordon
March 23rd, 2022 | 52 mins 55 secs
Nyota Gordon acknowledges the unspoken. This conversation examines the hold that news and social media have on humanity, the impact of AI, and her belief that the intersection of cybersecurity and employee wellness is resiliency.
-
274: Managing People Versus Servers with Arpit Mohan
March 9th, 2022 | 42 mins 25 secs
Engineering principles apply to more than just code and technology. Arpit Mohan believes a company's team members act a lot like servers in a distributed system: individuals who must work together to form a single cohesive unit.
Find out how Arpit applies different engineering principles to the people he works with and how that helps them function better as a team.
-
273: Motorcycling Adventures with Kerri Miller
March 2nd, 2022 | 59 mins 9 secs
A girl, a bike, and an open road.
Kerri Miller joins the show to regale us with stories about her epic motorcycling adventures.
-
272: People First – Self-Awareness and Being Excellent To Each Other with Ashleigh Wilson
February 23rd, 2022 | 54 mins 52 secs
Ashleigh Wilson sees “The Vision” and operates her company, Auditmate, under a “People First” mentality.
We talk about listening, digging into defensiveness and uncomfortableness, personal growth and development, leading with gratitude, and ask the question, “Why is showing vulnerability perceived as unprofessional?”
-
271: EventStorming with Paul Rayner
February 16th, 2022 | 58 mins 24 secs
Paul Rayner joins us to talk about Eventstorming and how it’s optimized for collaboration among teams, helps to visualize business processes, and helps with knowledge distillation and clarifying semantics.
-
270: Trust Building and Authenticity with Justin Searls
February 9th, 2022 | 1 hr 3 mins
Justin Searls released a talk on why trust has become so rare in the software industry. He joins Greater Than Code panelists to talk more about trust-building among leadership and teams and how power politics and privilege play a part in this endeavor.
-
269: Being Your Authentic Self – Turning Adversity Into Power with Nikema Prophet
February 2nd, 2022 | 1 hr 7 mins
Nikema Prophet talks about authenticity and power, seeing other people for their whole selves, facilitating safe spaces, becoming a founder, thoughts on education and homeschooling, and how impostor syndrome should not be normalized.
-
268: LGBTQA+ Inclusion
January 26th, 2022 | 48 mins 47 secs
Greater Than Code panelists, Mandy Moore, Casey Watts, and Mannah Kallon talk about LGBTQIA+ topics such as the difference between “gay” and “queer”, pronoun usage and normalization, asking questions, and effective allyship.
-
267: Handling Consulting Businesses and Client Loads
January 19th, 2022 | 1 hr 2 mins
Greater Than Code Panelists, Chelsea Troy, Mae Beale, and Casey Watts talk marketing, setting prices, and explaining their value and offerings for their personal consulting businesses while also sustaining connection to the well of “geek joy,” as GeePaw Hill mentioned in a recent Twitter thread. They talk about how it’s difficult to take on multiple roles when in management and agree that to lower burnout rates, there should be separate roles for separate people within companies.
-
266: Words Carry Power – Approaching Inclusive Language with Kate Marshall
January 12th, 2022 | 58 mins 4 secs
Kate Marshall talks about setting healthy energetic boundaries with others, the fact that words hold immense power and gives advice on how to take responsibility for unintentionally causing harm without overthinking it because progress takes practice, and gives insight on what it’s been like to open a mutual aid-centered model yoga studio over the past few years where people feel included, safe, and loved.
-
265: Computer Science Education – Forge Your Own Path with Emily Haggard
January 5th, 2022 | 52 mins 52 secs
Emily Haggard recently graduated from college and took a break from taking her finals to join us to talk about her community college path, computer science curriculums, and what makes a great mentor.
-
264: #BlackTechTwitter and Black Tech Pipeline with Pariss Athena
December 22nd, 2021 | 59 mins 46 secs
Pariss Athena talks about being the creator of the hashtag, movement, and global community #BlackTechTwitter, and founding the Black Tech Pipeline.
She and the panelists discuss being okay with losing opportunities, being vocal about wins, and being intentional about community because people who are not Black do not understand the Black experience. We, as a collective society, and as coconspirators, need to make sure the Black experience is changed for the better moving forward.
-
263: Security Education, Awareness, Behavior, and Culture with Kat Sweet
December 15th, 2021 | 46 mins 51 secs
Kat Sweet talks about security education, awareness, behavior, and culture. She’s got terrible puns, so this is a super fun show!
We talk about unconscious bias training that works, attempting to make safe things easy, and even dietary accessibility.
-
262: Faith, Science, Truth, and Vulnerability with Evan Light
December 8th, 2021 | 1 hr 19 mins
Evan Light vulnerably gets deep into conversations around ADHD, faith, science, and truth, and explores areas of disagreement with the panelists. Psychological safety is discussed, as well as unconscious bias, neuroscience, and mindfulness.