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    It Depends

    A podcast by Clear Function. Clear Function is a group of happy engineers based in Memphis, TN. We partner with visionaries to bring their ideas to life. For more information, check out our website.
    en40 Episodes

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    Episodes (40)

    36: Balancing Code and Meetings

    36: Balancing Code and Meetings

    On this episode, Ben, Mo, Daniel, and Jesse discuss the nature of doing development work that is not strictly writing code all the time. They try to find the appropriate balance between time spent coding and time spent in meetings. This topic includes some great tips on how to do meetings efficiently and effectively. There's even a rousing few minutes about what defines a meeting.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    35: Alexa & Voice Development

    35: Alexa & Voice Development

    On this episode, Daniel, Jesse, and Ben discuss all the recent hype around your favorite voice assistant speakers. They talk through the reasons for current spikes in popularity of voice speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. Most importantly, the engineers discuss how to develop for and take advantage of these new and exciting platforms.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    34: How to Present at Tech Conferences

    34: How to Present at Tech Conferences

    On this episode, Daniel, Mo, Brian, and Ben discuss the necessary steps toward becoming a presenter at a tech conference. This includes selecting a conference, choosing a topic, crafting an abstract, mastering the topic, preparing a slide deck, and giving the presentation. Listen in for specific presentation tips and tricks!

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    33: How and When to Invest in R&D

    33: How and When to Invest in R&D

    On this episode, Daniel, Jesse, and Brian talk about research and development and its place in an agency. In addition to defining R&D, they discuss how to manage and spend research time well. This conversation also includes more on how to keep up with articles and technologies, which is expanded from a previous episode, namely It Depends 10: Should I learn this new technology?.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    32: DevOps: Scaling Out or Scaling Up?:

    32: DevOps: Scaling Out or Scaling Up?:

    On this episode, Daniel, Jesse, and Mo embark on the final episode in our DevOps series. Specifically, the topic is scaling to handle additional load for a site in production. Do you handle the traffic by buying more servers or by growing existing servers?

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    31: Chatbot Skills with Daniel Pritchett

    31: Chatbot Skills with Daniel Pritchett

    On this episode, our very own chatbot expert, Daniel Pritchett, joins Mo and Ben to discuss chat as a service. While there is a lot of hype around chatbots recently, these engineers decode chat as a platform and engage in all kinds of fun along the way. Listen in to hear about the implicit increases in efficiency, knowledge sharing, and time savings that can come with chatbots. Also, look out for Daniel’s talk at Southeast Ruby in October and his upcoming book!

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    30: Application Hosting with DevOps in "The Cloud"

    30: Application Hosting with DevOps in "The Cloud"

    On this episode, Ben, Daniel, Jesse, and Mo discuss the cloud and application hosting. The conversation includes services such as Heroku, Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Listen in to hear about how developers make the decision to use platform as a service or infrastructure as a service to manage and host their applications.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    29: Using Docker and Ansible to Win at DevOps

    29: Using Docker and Ansible to Win at DevOps

    On this episode, Ben, Jesse, Keith, and Mo discuss configuration management and continuous deployment. Using technologies like Docker and Ansible can identify and provide dependencies for applications. Learn how to fight for consistency across development and production environments with containers.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    28: The How, When, & Why of DevOps

    28: The How, When, & Why of DevOps

    On this episode, Ben, Mo, Jesse, and Daniel cover continuous integration & delivery, monitoring, logging, and more. Do today’s developers all need to learn some DevOps? What are the tradeoffs in targeting platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, or the traditional ‘bare metal’ deployment?

    ##Things Mentioned

    ##Other Helpful, Introductory Articles

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    27: When to Google, When to Ask for Help

    27: When to Google, When to Ask for Help

    On this episode, Jesse, Mo, Keith, and Brian discuss the balance between using a search engine and asking co-workers for help. When you have a tricky problem to solve, either of these tactics will include some significant trade offs. The team explains when and how to Google to be effective in programming.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    26: Pair Programming

    26: Pair Programming

    On this episode, Ben, Jesse, and Daniel discuss pair programming. With the strategy of pairing comes significant benefits to productivity, code quality, rubber ducking, and knowledge sharing. Listen in for helpful tips about tooling and managing differing team strengths and energy levels.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    25: How to Win at Tech Conferences

    25: How to Win at Tech Conferences

    On this episode, Jesse, Mo, Ben, and Daniel discuss the continuous improvement topic of tech conferences. They discuss how to choose a conference, the most helpful aspects of a conference, and how to attend conferences well. Perhaps most importantly, the group explains how to take full advantage of the conference by sharing knowledge with the whole team.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    24: Should You Change Code for Tests?

    24: Should You Change Code for Tests?

    On this episode, Ben, Mo, Daniel, and Jesse discuss three important questions regarding the priority of testing when writing code. Could you change your code for tests? Would you change your code for tests? Should you change your code for tests? Listen in to hear about how testing is a first-order concern in writing good code.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    23: Software Testing & Test-Driven Development

    23: Software Testing & Test-Driven Development

    On this episode, Ben, Daniel, Jesse, and Brian discuss software testing. From types of tests to tooling for testing, learn how tests can help you make better software in less time with reproducible, regression-preventing tests. And finally, the debate about test-driven development is rekindled again!

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    22: The Art of Debugging

    22: The Art of Debugging

    On this episode, Daniel, Mo, and Jesse debug all the problems. They address making and questioning assumptions as a programmer, how to debug different types of errors, and the best tooling in various operating systems. Listen in to hear about test journals, buddy debugging, rubber ducking, and much more!

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.

    21: The Secret to Success in Team Projects

    21: The Secret to Success in Team Projects

    On this episode, Daniel, Stephen, Ben, and Colin go beyond engineering practices to talk about another important part of the life of the developer. We call it leadership, but it involves all kinds of soft skills as well as individual ownership of practices, products, and projects. In large part, this episode reveals our "secret sauce" in team projects.

    ##Things Mentioned

    For more information, check out our website at clearfunction.com.

    Follow us on Twitter at @clearfunction.