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Develop Yourself
Develop Yourself
Author: Brian Jenney
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© 2025 Develop Yourself
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To change careers and land your first job as a Software Engineer, you need more than just great software development skills - you need to develop yourself.
Welcome to the podcast that helps you develop your skills, your habits, your network and more, all in hopes of becoming a thriving Software Engineer.
304 Episodes
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I want to offer you some politically incorrect career advice that the gurus on LinkedIn won't share with you. From job hopping to the #1 skill you need as a developer: I cover the things that helped me go from struggling bootcamp grad to engineering manager. Resources mentioned in the pod: My article outlining my salary jumps through interviewing: https://brianjenney.medium.com/i-used-to-suck-at-coding-interviews-then-i-quadrupled-my-salary-9d5260389a09 Here's your templates for writing on L...
We’re in a strange moment right now. The AI bubble is showing signs of popping and the tech industry is waking up from a long night of partying. We were told to “do more with less” and “just use AI” for the past 12 months. After spending a year building production systems this way, I can tell you there’s a growing gap between what people think AI can do and what it actually does. To say I’m annoyed with the media and talking heads online is an understatement. It is really starting to boil my ...
In this episode of the Develop Yourself Podcast, I talk with three email and growth experts about something most developers overlook: email as a serious money maker. I’m joined by: Mike, founder of Seventh Sense, an AI-powered email timing platformBoris, Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Educative, one of the largest developer learning platformsDoug, CEO of Optimize 3.0, a HubSpot Diamond Partner agencyWe dig into: How AI is reshaping email marketingWhy email is still the most reliabl...
I lay out the project with tons of resources right here 👇 https://brianjenney.medium.com/your-learning-roadmap-to-become-a-software-developer-2e15e1ce1e22 Send us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career. AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it...
Amber argues that the biggest problem facing new developers isn’t coding ability… It’s lack of real experience, and an over-reliance on feel-good advice that doesn’t translate into hireability. We dig into: Why contributing to real, medium-complexity open-source projects is the fastest path to becoming job-readyWhy most juniors aren’t actually hireable yet — and how to fix thatHow toxic positivity on LinkedIn is misleading beginnersWhy “passion” means nothing if it isn’t backed by proof-of-wo...
Am I too old to learn how to code? If you're alive then the answer is NO. BUT, you are going to need a different game plan than your 22 year old co-workers if you want this to work. I was 31 when I got my first job as a coder. Here's what worked for me and others I've taught over the years. Send us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex softwar...
There are some major changes coming to Parsity and this podcast. As a listener, I appreciate you sincerely for listening and I want to extend the largest discount we've ever done for our 30 day Javascript program. It's usually $49 but I'm reducing it to $10. Complete the 30 days and you got yourself a $1400 discount to Parsity's software engineering program. 👉 Join Dev30 👈 I want to hear from you! What are the guests and topics you want in 2026? Send us a text Shameless Plugs Fre...
"We don't really need developers any more" "In 2 years, the tools will be so good, that no one will be writing code" "Learn a trade bro" I've heard all of these phrases in the last week and it's honestly getting to me. Too often, the people with the loudest microphones have the least experience with the tools we're using. Besides being a talking head on a podcast, I'm also a father and full time software developer. I made this episode not only to vent about why AI hype is so dangerous but why...
Ryan is a current student at Parsity who build an app for his employer, Smoothie King, to suggest drinks in a chat interface using a powerful and lesser-known AI technology: RAG. RAG stands for retrieval augmented generation. Basically, providing information (like smoothie recipes) to an AI model so it can return a highly specific response. Ryan breaks down how he finds the time to build side projects like this and how he built this app. Want to build your own AI-powered app? Check out this p...
You’ll learn the six core JS skills to master before frameworks, why TC39 keeps changing the language, and how to test your skills with a challenge you can access below. 👉 Try out the JS Form Challenge. 👈 We also cover: Why hiring trends still test JavaScript, even when jobs say ReactHow to think like a developer: requests, responses, and UI updatesThe fastest way to level up without AI shortcutsA way to test your JS skillsSend us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTM...
Let's be honest - interviews suck. But you can't suck at them. In this episode I break down what your next interview as a junior developer will LIKELY include. Your mileage will vary. Grab the interview guide below which includes a playback of a live event that Parsity recently hosted and a ton of resources: https://brianjenney.substack.com/p/the-junior-dev-interview-guide Send us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on ...
Thinking about learning to code with ChatGPT, Cursor, or Copilot? Hit pause for ten minutes. In this episode, I break down why AI isn’t replacing developers but it is making it harder to learn. You’ll learn the right time to start using AI as a beginner, how to avoid outsourcing the struggle that builds real skill, and the “teach-back” method that can boost your learning retention by up to 90%. Referenced study: https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/evaluating-impact-ai-labor-market-curre...
Original article: https://medium.com/@wlockett/you-have-no-idea-how-screwed-openai-actually-is-8358dccfca1c Your AI engineer starter project: https://parsity.io/ai-with-rag Send us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career. AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on the...
Grab the templates for posting to LinkedIn here: https://www.parsity.io/learning-in-public I’ve grown from 0 to nearly 40K followers on LinkedIn with barely any viral posts, and along the way I learned how the platform really works. In this episode, I’m breaking down the exact strategy junior developers are using right now to get recruiters to notice them and get hired faster. So if you’ve hit “Easy Apply” until your fingers hurt and still don't have any interviews, this is for you!&nbs...
👉 Your adult time audit worksheet 👈 I get it. There is no time. You have kids, maybe adult dependents or a really good show you're binging in between our slow descent into a dystopian reality. I don't believe in fluff. Let's cover a practical guide on learning to code as a busy adult and some of the easy (and not so easy) steps you're going to need to take. Send us a text Shameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on the po...
Let's weigh college, bootcamps, and the self-taught route with blunt pros and cons, then map each path to market realities, hiring filters, and long-term growth. The goal is to help you choose a route that gets you hired faster without stalling your career later. • how degrees are used as filters and where they matter • why top-tier schools win on internships and networks • the gap between CS theory and practical stacks • when bootcamps accelerate outcomes and where they fall short • s...
I just quit my job as a senior AI developer, and while helping hire my replacement, I realized how few people actually know how AI apps work. In this episode, I walk through Retrieval-Augmented Generation step by step—the same system I built at work—and show you the real skills developers need right now. 👉 Grab a hands-on project with a video you can follow along with here 👈 Hold your spot in the January cohort and become the go-to person in your organization for integrating AI into y...
Just give up? Everyone says no one’s hiring junior developers anymore — but is that actually true? In this episode, I sit down with recruiter David Roberts to uncover what’s really happening in the job market, why most applicants are getting filtered out, and what you can do differently to land your first role. We break down the biggest myths about entry-level tech jobs, how recruiters actually think, and the skills that make you stand out in 2025. Don't learn to code, learn to build comp...
Every headline says AI is eating developer jobs. But spend a week in production and you’ll see the opposite: brittle code, flaky tests, and tools that look fast until you actually ship something. In this episode, I break down why the “AI replaces engineers” story sells so well—to investors, to execs, and to lazy headlines—but falls apart in the real world. We’ll talk through a Cornell + METR study showing seasoned devs got 19% slower using AI (even though they thought they were faster), and...
I thought Ben was a troll when he slid into my DMs after a LinkedIn argument. Turns out, he’s building some of the most practical AI systems I’ve seen. In this episode, we talk about how that disagreement turned into a friendship—and why Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) might be the skill every developer needs in 2026. Connect with Ben here Check out Lobi Software here Finally - if you want to go deeper with RAG, I have a tutorial I made just for you: https://parsity.io/ai-with-rag Send u...




















