‼️ We hosted a CS Panel in the Codédex Discord server ‼️
Curious about landing internships and full-time offers in big tech and banks, tips for post-grad, impact of AI in computer science, & how to navigate the job market in this economy?! 🤔
Learn from two recent grads and a CS student:
Boba Talk:
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
What does it take to go from coding your first “Hello World” in a college CS class to becoming a founding engineer at one of the hottest upcoming NYC consumer startup? In this episode of Boba Talk, Ellie sits down (in the Codédex office!) with Tyrus Yeo, a University of Michigan grad who left Hong Kong, dove headfirst into Computer Science, and carved his own path into the bubble of tech startups.
They talk about the importance of taking that one intro coding class, what it’s like to hustle for that very first tech internship (including an 800-word midnight email!), how to figure out whether you’re mission-driven or tech-driven in your career, the gap between CS education and real-world software engineering, and things you can do to make lasting connections in college. From startup culture to learning React on the fly, this episode is a must-listen for CS students, new gen z grads, and anyone curious about tech and consumer startups.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:29) Hong Kong to Ann Arbor (now Brooklyn!)
(02:09) What is Ditto?
(04:00) Neo the VC firm
(05:24) Econ major and why every student should take one coding class
(10:44) Sophomore summer internship / writing an 800-word email
(14:28) Founding Engineer at Ditto: frontend changes, onboarding flow, product-first
(18:18) Advice for students & grads
(16:24) CS as a discipline vs. software engineering as a practice
(21:49) Mission-driven vs. tech-driven
(26:08) Untraditional path: Why the world needs more young people doing creative things
(39:24) Outro
Episode links:
Keep up with Tyrus:
Keep up with Ditto:
Boba Talk:
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
The first episode recorded LIVE on the new Boba Talk couch! 🛋️
Victoria Kirst, better known online as vrk, is a tech veteran (former VP of Engineering at Glitch, Tech Lead @ Google, Software Engineer @ The Browser Company) based in Brooklyn, NY. She's currently on a 2-year sabbatical exploring her love of paper through Pouch, her indie magazine, and her newsletter.
In this episode, Ellie sits down with Victoria to talk about her coding journey, from playing with MS Paint and building anime fansites to spending 7+ years at Google (twice!) working on Google Chrome, Google Maps, VR, transitioning to a people manager at Glitch, and joining one of the hottest startups in the recent years, The Browser Company, before leaving to pursue the medium of paper through the lense of cute handdrawn zines. So many great stories and gold nuggets, a must-listen for any code newbies and creative technologists.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:30) Origin story with MS Paint and anime fansites
(05:00) The Google Chrome team, Flash / Web APIs, Chromium
(08:04) The vibe at Chrome team vs Maps team
(10:03) Leaving Google; immigrant parent, taking a risk
(13:02) Teaching CS at Stanford, math tutoring, advice for Gen Z students
(16:45) Not liking school and going back to Google / Recurse Center
(20:56) The second time at Google
(22:30) Joining Glitch, a platform for building & hosting web apps
(25:33) People managing at a startup / building trust
(30:14) Trying a venture-backed startup
(32:01) Fast-paced environment at The Browser Company
(36:20) Sabbatical / leap of faith / the medium of paper
(43:13) Pouch, a magazine for stationary lovers
(45:52) Analog journal vs digital journal
(47:54) Photo printing
(53:04) Plug & outro
Episode links:
Keep up with Victoria:
Keep up with Pouch:
Boba Talk:
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
Jenn Schiffer is back! Jenn was the Director of Community at Glitch (acquired by Fastly) for seven years before taking a well-earned break. A beloved figure in the tech space for over a decade, Jenn has inspired countless developers and creatives with her work.
She shared her incredible journey – from working at Outback Steakhouse and taking apart computers in South Brooklyn, to studying computer science and teaching at Montlair State University, and working at the NBA as a Software Developer and being involved with the Women's Prison Association, and ultimately, becoming the face of Glitch, shaping its vibrant community of 3 million developers. Simply put, she's one of the coolest people in tech. When Jenn sent her last email newsletter at Glitch in August, it truly marked the end of an era for our corner of the web.
Needless to say, the Curriculum team at Codédex (Ellie, Julien, Sonny) are huge fans, so we couldn't pass up the chance to ask Jenn some of our burning questions. We chatted about the Glitch/Fastly acquisition, the art of email writing, generative AI, finding hobbies outside of work, YouTube and Pinterest, and why tech – despite all its highs and lows – is still cool as hell.
Lastly, a massive thank you to Jenn for everything you've done for the community and for paving the way for us and Codédex. 🙏
P.S. If you are intested in Creative Coding (art + tech), we have a Digital Garden Monthly Challenge that you can try out!
This episode is a live recording from the Hacker House fireside chat on February 5th, 2025, in the Codédex community, kicking off our “Roast My Resume” February Monthly Challenge. 🔥
We invited Jovanay Carter, Co-Founder of The Dev Difference & ex-Google Technical Recruiter (and former coworker!), who’s reviewed over 20,000+ resumes in her career. She shares insider tips on crafting standout resumes, optimizing LinkedIn profiles, networking strategically, how to get a referal, and everything in between to land your first tech job in 2025.
Stick around for the Q&A at the end, where we answered live questions from the community!
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review — it really helps!
Episode links:
Keep up with Jovanay:
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jovanay-carter
The Dev Difference: https://thedevdifference.com
Boba Talk:
Host: Sonny Li
Producer: Jay Yow
Codédex:
The Boba Talk podcast has been brought to you by Codédex. We are a learn to code platform with 300K happy users. Based in Brooklyn, NY.
Website: codedex.io
Twitter: @codedex_io
Instagram: @codedex.io
This episode is a live recording from the Hacker House fireside chat on December 14th, 2024, in the Codédex community during the Mini Holiday Hackathon. ❄️
We invited Steve Chen, Founder and Executive Director at Code & Coffee, to share his non-traditional path to tech — from growing up as a restaurant kid in the DC metro area, dropping out of college, and working as a food delivery driver, to joining a coding bootcamp in Florida, becoming a Software Engineer at Grubhub through a cold email, Head of Software Quality Automation at Framebridge, and running the biggest coding meetup in the U.S. after the pandemic (367 total events in 2024). Steve and Sonny traded notes on their Asian American upbringing, hours logged in Team Fortress and Dota 2, lessons learned from scaling a tech community IRL, and more. Towards the end of the episode, we also had a Q&A with questions from the audience.
This episode is a must-listen if you’re trying to break into tech in 2025 as a bootcamp grad or self-taught developer.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:21) Dropping out of college and coding bootcamp
(3:01) Meetups, pandemic, Code & Coffee
(8:32) Black sheep in the Asian household
(10:21) Gaming nostalgia: Team Fortress and Dota 2 stories
(15:34) Scaling a community, community rituals (Intro Circles)
(23:25) From startup to Grubhub to Framebridge
(28:17) Lessons learned from Code & Coffee
(33:51) Non-traditional path to tech
(41:10) Being someone that you want to work with and "How to Win Friends"
(43:35) @Valérie: What's one piece of advice for your younger self?
(47:13) @ValentineL: Are you expanding Code & Coffee to new countries?
(56:33) @Hlin245: Have you had any identity struggles in tech?
(60:05) @Milan: What are the requirements for QA testers?
(61:03) Outro
Episode links:
Keep up with Steve:
Boba Talk:
Codédex:
The Boba Talk podcast has been brought to you by Codédex. We are a learn to code platform with 250K+ happy users. Based in Brooklyn, NY.
This episode is a live recording from a virtual Hacker House event on November 21st, 2024, in the Codédex community. 🏡
We invited our good friend and neighbor, Catherine Zhou, aka Cat, ex-Head of Data at Twitter and BeReal during these companies most pivotal years, to discuss her colorful career journey from working minimum wage at a gym and as a bike mechanic, all the way to JetBlue, Twitter, and BeReal. Cat shares her unique insights on the difference between working at a startup vs. big tech, what data looks like at a consumer platform with 25-250 million daily active users, the current job market, emergence of AI in Data Science, the importance of learning SQL to pass data interviews, and advice for all code newbies trying to break into data in 2025. Towards the end of the episode, we also had questions from the community!
If you are trying to get your foot into the door as a Data Analyst and Data Scientist, there are too many gold nuggets and you do not want to miss this.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:17) Working at Twitter and BeReal
(2:29) What is Data Science?
(7:20) Data Analyst vs. Data Scientist vs. Data Engineer
(13:18) Tech Startups vs. Big Tech
(17:46) Measuring data at Codédex
(19:16) <- Gut calls - data-informed - data-driven ->
(23:31) Tools to learn in Data Science: SQL, Python, R
(27:44) SQL in Coding Interviews at Facebook, Reddit, Netflix
(30:16) Emergence of AI in Data Science
(31:55) Valérie: What's a piece of advice for someone at the start of their journey?
(34:50) Samppii: What are some memorable projects at BeReal & Twitter?
(37:05) Mel the Texas Hammer: How canone intersect data science with web dev?
(39:21) Jessi: What was a big challenge with handling data?
(42:03) Ritu: How to break into tech in 2025 without a degree?
(46:00) Coder: Any routines in your day before you got into the industry?
(50:17) Ruth: What type of data projects should I have on my resume/portfolio?
(57:00) Outro
Episode links:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
In this episode, we sit down with Jamie Rollison, a senior at UIUC studying Computer Science, to discuss her unique journey from linguistics to Android development and how she landed internships at Intuit (fun story here!) and Stripe. Jamie shares insights on following her passions, building web and mobile apps at Hack4Impact, balancing college life, the cheating/grind culture, and navigating the competitive tech landscape. Whether you're a CS student, recent grad, or tech enthusiast, this episode has valuable takeaways about landing your first internships in tech!
Ellie is today's host. ✨ Recorded IRL in our Dumbo office. And congrats on the returning offer, Jamie! See you in NYC next August.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro + Bobas
(1:10) Building Apps at Hack4Impact
(5:08) The 1st internship at Intuit (Mountain View)
(7:43) The 2nd internship at Stripe (Seattle)
(12:21) Recruitment Season: Google, Palantir, trading cos
(15:57) Online Assessment (OA)
(18:13) College grind at UIUC
(20:11) Follow your passion in CS
(22:20) Cheating culture & assignments on GitHub
(28:24) Ellie's recap
(30:05) Personal projects & hackathons
(31:37) Outro (we are SO back!)
Episode links:
Back 2 School Bash:
Keep up with Jamie:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
Codédex partnered with GitHub Education! 🙌 For this special episode, we invited Juan Pablo Flores, aka Juan Pa, Senior Program Manager at GitHub based in Seattle on the pod. Juan shared his origin story in this episode, from writing Java scripts (you read that right) on RuneScape, MapleStory, and FarmVille to organizing hackathons in Mexico City for Major League Hacking to finally moving to Seattle for GitHub. We discussed college hackathons, the importance of English for Mexican devs, whether or not Codédex should have Spanish translation, our first GitHub PRs, the impact of AI in education, GitHub Education, GitHub Campus Experts, how the partnership between Codédex and GitHub came to be, OpenAI's evolution over the years, how to measure community health, and what's ahead for GitHub (GitHub Field Day!).
Shoutout to the whole GitHub Education team for believing in Codédex and the wonderful work they are doing for students! ⛺️
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(00:00) Intro + Bobas
(01:10) HackIllinois
(02:15) Origin Story: RuneScape & MapleStory
(05:20) Origin Story: First Hackathon
(17:16) Dev Community in MXC / Language Barrier
(18:11) Should Codédex have Spanish translation?
(20:07) First Pull Request (PR)
(22:22) GitHub Education
(28:26) How Did Codédex Land the GitHub Edu Partnership
(31:00) GitHub Student Developer Pack
(33:30) Microsoft Super Bowl Ad & Impact of AI in Education
(41:38) OpenAI's Evolution: Dota 2 to Now
(43:03) Should Students Do Open-Source Projects
(44:35) Hiring at GitHub Education & Community Health
(47:45) Who are GitHub's competitors and what is GitHub's market? (@milan)
(48:28) What's ahead that students & teachers should be excited about? (@ValentineL)
Episode links:
GitHub Education 🤝 Codédex:
Keep up with Juan:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
This episode was recorded during our team offsite in Barcelona, Spain, where we did an AMA via Instagram Live on January 11th, 2024 in our Airbnb living room.
It features all of our core team members:
In this episode, a live audience asked us 13 questions ranging from our take on no-code, how to get into game development, Flutter vs React Native, and the best ways to learn APIs. Take a look at the timestamps to find questions that interest you!
This episode goes out to our community! 2024 is gonna be epic.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(00:00) Welcome
(00:53) Team Intros
(01:49) 1. What's it like to finally meeting the whole team? (@ann_era)
(02:53) 2. What are the chances of no-code tools replacing coding? (@sethdesignz)
(04:33) 3. What is better... learning to develop games OR to focus on a language and then learn to develop games? (@enchanted_gam3r)
(05:35) 4. Are you hiring? (@le.flowerrpod)
(06:12) 5. What are your thoughts on Flutter vs React Native? (@clever_coder01)
(08:34) 6. Will there be a C# course? (@k.milan)
(09:12) 7. Intermediate learners! What is Codédex's plan to help people who've gotten through the beginner courses? (@easerhersalad)
(10:09) 8. What's your favorite food in Spain so far? (@choisauce)
(11:55) 9. Will there be any new workshops hosted in the Discord server? (@myrthe.verheijden)
(12:27) 10. What is your favorite word in Spanish? (@ambx_00)
(13:08) 11. Where there be any new Challenge Packs? (@ann_era)
(14:45) 12. When is the Python intermediate course dropping? (@kylerissocool11)
(15:04) 13. What are useful APIs that I should learn after the basics of JavaScript? (@ties.vd.n)
Episode links:
Keep up with Codédex:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
We caught up with a friend on the pod! ✨ Josh Goldberg is an open-source maintainer in the TypeScript ecosystem based in Philly. In this episode, Josh shared his coding journey, from playing Halo and studying Computer Science to building the viral Full Screen Mario game in 2013 (and getting it taken down by Nintendo after hitting 2.68m unique visitors), moving to Seattle for Microsoft and transitioning to a full-time open-source dev and conference speaker. In between, we discussed every language he used in the classroom, internship, and full-time role (C++, Drupal, PHP, C#, ASP.NET, React, TypeScript), TypeScript vs. JavaScript, linters, his base salary as a Staff Software Engineer (no spoilers) and current earnings, to writing a TypeScript book with O'Reilly and speaking at tech conferences around the world, and much more. Yippee!
This episode goes out to the whole open source community! 🫶
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(00:00) Intro + Bobas
(02:30) Perfect Saturday
(7:35) Computer Science at RPI
(11:30) Full Screen Mario and Nintendo
(20:40) Internship: Making a Website
(21:10) Moving to Seattle for Microsoft
(25:40) FAANG vs. Startups
(27:10) TypeScript vs. JavaScript
(29:55) Advice for Learning to Code in 2023
(31:30) "How to Complain Positively"
(33:15) Three Books That Every Engineer Should Read
(36:10) Open-Source Maintainer (typescript-eslint)
(39:00) Salary as a Staff Software Eng vs. Open-Source Dev
(47:30) Importance of Student Organizations
(49:00) Tech Conferences
(50:15) Public Speaking 101
(57:15) Learning TypeScript Book with O'Reilly
(57:40) Choose Your Framework
Episode links:
Learning TypeScript Book:
Keep up with Josh:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
12k students apply to NASA Glenn internships each year, and only 162 are selected. We sat down with two of them – Brandon Lam, a rising junior at the University of Minnesota studying Computer Science, and Asma Ahmed, a recent University of Central Florida graduate with a bachelor’s in Information Technology. We discussed how to land your first tech internship, the full stack at NASA internships (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, Node.js, Express, Figma), converting applets from the first version of Java, grinding LeetCode everyday for four months, getting involved with hackathons/clubs, college resumes, the technical interview process, Interns vs. Pathways Interns, making $X per hour (no spoilers) at NASA, and much more.
Thank you to Nancy H. and Jacqueline M. at NASA for reviewing.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review!
Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro + Bobas
(2:35) Experience at NASA
(9:15) How to land a NASA internship
(12:50) Resumes
(14:55) Should one still LeetCode in 2023
(19:15) Other advice for college students
(23:15) Skipping class
(24:25) Personal projects
(29:30) Interview process
(31:30) Regular Interns vs Pathways Interns
(33:50) How much does a NASA intern get paid
(35:40) Have fun and take things easy
(36:30) Feeling behind
(38:20) From Minnesota to HackNYU
(39:35) IB school experience
(46:55) What's next
(47:35) Human–Computer Interaction (HCI)
Episode links:
A Day in the Life:
Keep up with Brandon:
Keep up with Asma:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
Sonny and Lillian met up with Miracle Awonuga, a recent graduate from Belmont University’s data science program (the first black woman to do so), founding member of WaffleHacks, and a project author at Codédex. We nerded out on Data Science and discussed Miracle's coding journey (from "crying over too many Programming I tests" to transitioning to Data Science), Python vs. R, the origins of WaffleHacks, advice for freshman college students, the "Holy Quad" productivity essentials, and the importance of mentors and office hours.
This episode goes out to Ms. Allison Arth, Dr. Christina Davis, and all the CS teachers out there educating the next generation of builders and dreamers.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review.
Show notes:
(0:00) Intro + Bobas
(2:15) From Computer Science to Data Science
(5:10) What is Data Science
(6:30) Creativity in data
(8:25) Python and R
(13:00) Belmont University and MTSU
(13:55) Why you should try Data Science, SQL, Little Mix
(16:10) The origins of WaffleHacks
(19:55) Dr. Davis at Belmont
(20:25) Building relationships and finding mentors
(25:10) Advice for incoming CS/DS majors and office hours
(28:00) Miracle's Holy Quad productivity hacks
(29:10) Village of supporters
Episode links:
Keep up with Miracle:
Boba Talk:
Happy coding!
Welcome to Boba Talk: Back to School season!
In the first episode, Sonny and Lillian sat down with Ellie Popoca, a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying Information Sciences and Game Design, a former Major League Hacking coach, and our amazing Curriculum Intern at Codédex. We chatted about the misconceptions of hackathons, hanging with the right people on campus, the future of AI, and much more.
Want to see more Boba Talk? Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter! If you like this episode, please leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.
Show notes:
(0:00) Intro + bobas
(2:10) Ellie's coding journey and first hackathon
(3:55) What is a hackathon
(4:40) Comparing yourself with others
(6:05) Hanging with the right people on campus
(9:10) Concerns about the future of tech / AI
(11:15) Linguistics
(12:25) Hackathons as a learning experience
(15:00) Attending 40 hackathons and Ellie's favorites
Episode links:
Keep up with Ellie:
Credits:
Happy coding!
Howdy! We are a brand new podcast for learning to code. Follow us @boba_talk on Twitter to ask us questions in future episodes!
