In this episode of Two Black Nerds, Romeo and Iheanyi catch up on life and talk about how they've been during the COVID19 pandemic. They talk about how their cities have handled the pandemic, how they have been coping with the isolation through hobbies, and what the pandemic has also taught them and made them grateful for.

Links

The song used for the intro is 1.26 beat1 by BOPD.

In this episode, Two Black Nerds take the time to discuss Romeo's career transition from being an Electrical Engineer to a Software Engineer from beginning to end. Romeo guides us through his thought process behind switching careers, his plan of attack for making the transition, and also shares insights he learned throughout the entire process and what excites him about being in software now.

Links

• KameCrypto - Romeo's side project
• Python
• Flask
• SQLite
• JetBrains PyCharm
• The song used for the intro is 1.26 beat1 by BOPD

Two Black Nerds return to the microphone after a two year hiatus. In this episode, they discuss relationships, technological advancements since 2017, a little bit about crypto and what they don’t understand about it, and the moral responsibility of tech companies.

Links

The song used for the intro is 1.26 beat1 by BOPD.

In this episode, Two Black Nerds talk about habits, inspired by the book "The Power of Habit". They discuss the theory behind habits and habit loops. They discuss how to create, change, and getting rid of habits. They also talk about habit loops they've successfully created in the past, and which ones they want to change.

Links

Our intro and outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

In this episode, Two Black Nerds go back to their roots and have a casual conversation where they reflect on 2016. They briefly talk about shows and films that they watched recently, including the amazing show Luke Cage and reflect on the state of politics in the United States after the election. They also talked about their goals and close the discussion with books they read. Happy Belated New Year!

Links

Our intro and outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

In this episode, TBN has a conversation with Rohini Pandhi and James Norman from Transparent Collective, a non-profit that helps founders from underrepresented groups access the resources they need in order to create successful companies. We talk about the history of TC, the progress that they’ve made so far, in addition to how they’ve structured their past events. They also give really helpful advice on the do’s and don’ts of making a pitch deck and discuss the plans for the future of the organization.

Links

Airbnb’s First Pitch Deck
Transparent Collective’s Twitter
Transparent Collective’s Website

Our intro and outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

In this episode, Two Black Nerds talks to Deandra and Taeyin, founders and visionaries of Stage for Change. Stage for Change is a nonprofit dedicated to using storytelling and the arts to build inclusive communities, on college campus and beyond. They talk about the mission Stage for Change and how it evolved from a campus community theater production, to a not for profit with a great mission. Deandra and Taeyin explain the process of and lessons learned from “scaling” their nonprofit from one university to another, in addition to future plans for Stage for Change. They also discuss the process of starting a nonprofit 501(c)(3) company.
This episode is a discussion on how to approach diversity and inclusion from the perspective of the personal narrative. If you enjoyed our diversity in tech episode, you will definitely enjoy this episode!

#Links

• If you feel so inclined, consider donating to their generosity campaign

• Learn more about the guests and their mission at stage 4change.org

• Connect with them on Facebook and on Twitter @stageforchange

• Watch Romeo’s performance here

• Learn about the community theater program where it all started Show Some Skin: ndshowsomeskin.com

#Credit

• Our Intro and Outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

In this episode, Two Black Nerds talk to Courtland Allen, MIT graduate and YC Alum and the founder of IndieHackers’. Courtland tells them about his career as a programmer and how he made the progression from developer to founder and the lessons and skills he learned while at MIT and YCombinator. They also discuss the history of IndieHackers and how it was initially founded and created and the future direction of the website, with snippets of technical discussion here and there.

Links

Taskforce
YCombinator
IndieHackers
IndieHackers: How to Come Up With a Business Idea
NomadList
Levels.io
Courtland Allen’s Twitter

Our intro and outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

In this episode, Romeo interviews Tre Haskins, a friend and fellow Notre Dame alum. They discuss the transition from his job as Technology Consultant at Deloitte to a Production Manager on Celebrity Cruises. They discuss Tre’s mentality entering Deloitte and how he went about finding his new gig and leaving his “comfy” job and the challenges it presented.
They talk about how he convinced himself about the change, how talked to his parents about it, and becoming comfortable with his decision and finding the courage to pursue a different path to fulfill his passion.

Links

– The United States Institute for Theatre Technology USITT

Our intro and outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

In this episode, we answer questions from recent college graduates. We talk about everything from our salaries, what we spend money on, taxes and what to do if people do not take you seriously at work, and much more.
If you don’t want to listen to the whole episode, feel free to skip around the episode using the timestamps (with links) below:

Questions Answered

00:06:20 - How much do you make?

00:08:55 - What are taxes and why do they suck?

00:14:22 - Financially what do you do?

Resource:

• Use the Mint App to track your expenses

00:25:05 - What can we do to build a strong financial foundation upon getting our first job?

Resources:

• A book on finance: Ramit Sethi: I Will Teach You To Be Rich

• An Article: The Psychology of Automation: Building a Bulletproof Personal-Finance System

• A book on cooking: Tim Ferriss: The Four Hour Chef

00:30:00 - Balancing research with family/social life (or how to have work life balance?)

Resource:

• An article on work life balance: Fixed Schedule Productivity Method by Cal Newport

00:38:00 - How do you make new friends and have a social life if you are moving to a new area?

Resources:

• A website: Meetup.com

• A Two Black Nerds episode: “Wait I’m not the only minority anymore!”

00:41:20 - Your thoughts on dating while black after Notre Dame/PWIs

00:49:20 - Do you really have to go to work when you're hungover or can you use a sick day?

00:53:30 - I would like advice about cold-emailing/-calling people and companies when they don't have jobs posted but you still want to work for them.

01:03:34 - How can I break into a major industry if I don't come from a top tier college?

01:11:00 - How do you avoid getting depressed after you achieve your goals and lose your passion for doing things?

Resource:

• A book: Chapter Six of Scott Adams book How To Fail at Everything and Still Win Big

01:22:30 - How should I go about evaluating if the work I'm doing is worthwhile? How much does whether or not you think your job is improving people’s lives weigh into it?

Resources:

• A website: Professor William MacAskill 80000 hours. It discusses how to evaluate your work

• A TED Talk: William MacAskill “Want to make a difference? Don't Work for a Charity.”

01:30:55 - How do I deal with people that won't take me seriously in the workplace?

Resource:

• A book: Dale Carnegie “How to Win Friends and Influencing People”

01:36:35 - What are the best ways to keep learning new things?

Resources

• YouTube channel: Ted ED

• TED

• Brainpickings - Interdisciplanary musings on the intersection of philosophy, science and literature.

• Twitter. Find smart people and follow them

• A Podcast: TED Radio Hour

Odds and Ends

We are also giving away two copies of Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich. The details are in the show. The giveaway will last until June 15th, 2016. So first people to follow the instructions get dibs.

Our Intro and Outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit

This episode is long overdue. We recorded at the end of last year, and just now got around to publish it. We discuss the difference between static and dynamic site, native vs. web apps, iOS vs Android, Front End vs. Back End developer and much more. We give our personal opinion on which coding languages are best to start with, and give recommendation on which resources we think are best.

###Links:

• Learn front end and backend development at CodeAcademy
• Learn via online classes at Udacity and TreeHouse
• Exploring Coding Bootcamps: Iron Yard, General Assembly, Hack Reactor
• Learn Android Development at Vogella and at the Big Nerd Ranch
• Learn iOS Development with Design+Code
• Learn Code The Hard Way LxTHW
• Read Paul Ford “What is Code?”

Our Intro and Outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit