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.

We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon.

Greater Than Code on social media

Episodes

  • 167: Clarity of Thought with Ted M. Young

    January 29th, 2020  |  1 hr 1 min

    Ted M. Young talks about coding on a live stream, research as a ‘drug,’ connecting the academic idea of expertise to everyday context, code reviews, recording yourself coding, live streaming as an introvert, the difference between training and live coding, applying research to the TDD teaching technique, and human learning.

  • 166: From Software Engineer to Management with Phil Wheeler

    January 22nd, 2020  |  1 hr 2 mins

    Phil Wheeler talks about making the move from software engineer to into management, how he came into the GTC community, commonalities between the US and NZ, the life science software experience, determining if one should get into management, the parallels of management and parenting, working from home or the office, overcoming impostor syndrome, empathy for managers and employees, and his thoughts for the future.

  • Fast & Furious with Penelope Phippen

    January 15th, 2020  |  10 mins 18 secs

    Please enjoy this mini-episode of Greater Than Code featuring guest Penelope Phippen as we begin to pivot to our new podcast theme, the Fast & Furious. *

    ( * Just kidding, we are still a tech podcast.)

    But we do hope you enjoy this set of outtakes where we grill Penelope on her Fast & Furious knowledge and speculate about the future of the franchise.

  • 165: Rubyfmt with Penelope Phippen

    January 15th, 2020  |  53 mins 54 secs

    Penelope Phippen talks about the development of Rubyfmt, writing Ruby programming, why she is doing things the way she is, what problem she is trying to solve with this program, the hierarchy of nitpicking, opportunities for collaboration, challenges faced, what others will do with Rubyfmt, finding time and motivation to work on the program, why she hasn’t received any pushback, and the fate of regional Ruby conferences.

  • 164: Psychological Balance with Dr. Mireille Reece

    January 8th, 2020  |  1 hr 24 mins

    Mireille Reece talks about epigenetics, our brains and empathy, the brain versus the mind, three brains in one, HPA Axis, overcoming unconscious impulses, affective prosody, balancing transparency at work, effort over outcome, using the word “while”, decoding your anger, neural routes, and correlation vs. causation.

  • 163: Cause A Scene with Kim Crayton

    January 1st, 2020  |  1 hr 4 mins

    Kim Crayton talks about continuously validating her space as a black woman, how the system was built to harm and oppress black women, white feminism being bullsh*t, being a strategist, #causeascene, price asymmetry, her six-step process, strategies for developing other technical skills, and defining racism.

  • 162: Glue Work with Denise Yu

    December 25th, 2019  |  1 hr 1 min

    Denise Yu talks about the concept of "Glue Work", what she has done to improve the glue work situation, how to address changing the structure of glue work, offboarding yourself, release engineering, being a product manager, and being back in a development role.

  • 161: Making Space with Bärí A. Williams

    December 18th, 2019  |  1 hr 27 mins

    Bärí A. Williams talks about intersectionality and culture, gentrification, being born and raised in Oakland, connecting to your roots, unintended consequences, who’s job is it to educate school children about bias, diversity or inclusion, and taking space or making space.

  • 160: Thermodynamics of the Twitterverse

    December 11th, 2019  |  42 mins 15 secs

    The panelists talk about the thermodynamics of the Twitterverse. This includes getting sucked into Twitter vortexes, dynamics of human emotion, creating safe spaces for emotionally charged conversations, radical inclusion, overidentification, digital activism, tribal dynamics, having the right to rage, changing frequencies of people, call-out culture, and that ultimately: everyone is human.

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    December 10th, 2019  |  12 mins 10 secs

    On this day in Paris in 1948, the United Nations issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that sets out the fundamental rights and privileges of all people and all nations. In honor of the anniversary of this document, the panelists of Greater Than Code have come together to share their reading of the document with all of you.

  • 159: Bias in AI with Lauren Maffeo

    December 4th, 2019  |  59 mins 3 secs

    Lauren Maffeo talks about bias in AI, how the media affects people’s perception of AI, concerns of small to midsize businesses pertaining to AI, how to mitigate bias in AI, ethics in AI, fairness vs. accuracy in algorithms, preventing bias in AI, working remotely, and diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

  • 158: Exploring Company Values with Ariel Caplan

    November 27th, 2019  |  1 hr 2 mins

    Ariel Caplan talks about extreme irritability, accessibility needs, rabbinical school, and developing company values.

  • 157: Reinventing Education with Willem Larsen

    November 20th, 2019  |  1 hr 16 mins

    Willem Larsen talks about accelerated community learning, reimagining the education system, stages of human life, the Thermodynamics of Emotion Symposium, and listening to what the community needs.

  • 156: Authenticity in Interviewing with James Edward Gray II

    November 13th, 2019  |  1 hr 2 mins

    James Edward Gray II talks about why “Just Be Yourself” is terrible advice, being authentic in an interview, turning your interviewer into your advocate, intrinsic motivation, technical interviews, storytelling in the interview, and management techniques.

  • 155: Ethical Open Source with Don Goodman-Wilson

    November 6th, 2019  |  55 mins 8 secs

    Don Goodman-Wilson talks about ethics and Open Source, consequentialism vs contractualism, the paradox of tolerance, enforceability of open source licenses, compensation as an ethical consideration, quantifying the value the Open Source Software gives, and empowering people who participate in Open Source.

  • 154: Filtering Your Brain with Ambreen Hasan

    October 30th, 2019  |  44 mins 46 secs

    Ambreen Hasan talks about fixed mindset vs growth mindset, her hobbies outside of software, thinking about things in a molecular way, her journey into software engineering, self-advocating for new work experience, and empathy in engineering.