John K. Sawers
Co-Host of Greater Than Code
Amongst John’s weaponry are public speaking, doing the rails thing, and talking about feelings in public. His technology talks aren’t about technology and sometimes he has time to meditate. He remembers the sound of dialup.
Soon, John will no longer write much code, having intentionally (yes, intentionally) moved into management. He seems to think that making people better is more satisfying than making computers better. With that in mind he’s also spent a lot of time mentoring bootcamp developers and supervising workshops focused on deep emotional work.
He spends days at Privia Health, nights as co-founder and CTO of Data Simply and all the rest of it at johnksawers.com and emotionalAPI.com.
John K. Sawers has hosted 95 Episodes.
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094: Humans All The Way Down with April Wensel
August 22nd, 2018 | 1 hr 4 mins
April Wensel talks about compassion: living according to your values, changing social makeups of teams, conscious business, and self-compassion and forgiveness.
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092: A11y Ally with Rob DeLuca
August 8th, 2018 | 50 mins 25 secs
In this episode, Rob DeLuca talks about ambition, designing and testing for accessibility on the web, hard problems vs squishy problems, and moving from a developer role into a bussiness-y roll within a company.
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091: Solving Puzzles and Productive Failure with Kim Vanderspek
August 1st, 2018 | 47 mins 44 secs
In this episode, Kim Vanderspek talks about solving puzzles and teaching others to do the same by using technology to visualize math by quilting, sewing, Playdough, and other mediums. She also explains why failure is an important part of success, and why perseverance matters over content.
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088: The Safety 2 Dance with Steven Shorrock
July 11th, 2018 | 1 hr 3 mins
In this episode, Chartered Psychologist, Ergonomist and Human Factors Specialist, Steven Shorrock talks about system performance and human wellbeing, asset-based community development, and Safety-I & Safety-II, which defines safety as the ability to succeed under varying conditions.
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087: The Jazz of Empathy with Chad Fowler
July 3rd, 2018 | 1 hr 5 mins
In this episode, we are joined by Chad Fowler, who talks a lot about mental health, and specifically bipolar disorder. Practicing empathy and compassion is also discussed, as well as merit-based rewards systems, management, and leadership.
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086: Culture Is A Community Growing Together with Jesse Oliver Sanford
June 27th, 2018 | 1 hr 9 mins
In this episode, we are joined by Jesse Oliver Sanford, who talks about cognitive science, the importance of cultural capital, flow, and the way people think when they write code.
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085: BOOK CLUB! Technically Wrong with Sara Wachter-Boettcher
June 20th, 2018 | 48 mins 21 secs
For our second Book Club episode, Sara Wachter-Boettcher joins us to talk about her book, Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech.
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084: Federation Is Bad with Aurynn Shaw
June 13th, 2018 | 53 mins 55 secs
After a particularly compelling conversation after Auyrnn Shaw’s last episode, we invited her back on the show to talk about why federation is problematic in Internet society.
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083: Programming As An Identity with Tim Chevalier
June 6th, 2018 | 1 hr 1 min
Tim Chevalier talks about the collision of values within the programming industry and the meaning and measurement of intelligence, using programming to satisfy emotional needs and form identity, and merit and identity as a zero-sum game.
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082: Effective Change in Communities and Cultures with Aurynn Shaw
May 30th, 2018 | 58 mins 9 secs
Aurynn Shaw joins the show to talk about contempt culture, as well as why technology is political, and the cultural impact of DevOps.
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081: Your Emotional API with John K. Sawers
May 23rd, 2018 | 53 mins 41 secs
Our newest panelist, John K. Sawers, talks about his Emotional API project, and why it’s important for developers to be in touch with and process feelings.
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080: Crafting A Community with Kris Howard
May 16th, 2018 | 1 hr 6 mins
In this episode, Kris Howard talks about the similarities (and differences) between software and knitting communities. She also dives into her tweet about gender differences in “crafting” and why using the terms “craftsman” and “guys” to include all genders makes women uncomfortable.
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079: Respect As Currency with Richard Schneeman
May 9th, 2018 | 1 hr 11 mins
In this episode, Richard Schneeman talks about the skill and art of troubleshooting bugs, interviewing and evaluating job candidates, empathy in open source, and bringing open source values into company culture.
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078: Caring About Healthcare with Kenzi Connor and Laurie Voss
May 2nd, 2018 | 55 mins 37 secs
In this episode, Kenzi Connor and Laurie Voss talk about trans-inclusive healthcare.
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Special Edition: Code Is Social! LIVE from RailsConf 2018
April 23rd, 2018 | 54 mins 19 secs
In this special episode of Greater Than Code, the panelists and guest panelists talk to an audience live from RailsConf 2018 about our relationship with our code, and the ways we have emotional ties with what we do, but also how there’s more to it than that.