MJS 086: James Adams

This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with James Adams who is a web and a full stack developer who currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. Chuck and James talk about James’ background, current projects, JavaScript, Ruby, Meetups, and much more! Check out today’s episode to hear all of the details.

Hosted by: Charles Max Wood
Special Guests: James Adams
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Show Notes

This week on My JavaScript Story, Charles speaks with James Adams who is a web and a full stack developer who currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. Chuck and James talk about James’ background, current projects, JavaScript, Ruby, Meetups, and much more! Check out today’s episode to hear all of the details.
In particular, we dive pretty deep on:
0:55 – Chuck: Welcome to My Java Script story! You are the 4th person I have talk to today. I have only talked to one person in the U.S. Other people were from Denmark, Tennessee (USA), and Bulgaria.
1:39 – Guest: I am in Australia!
1:48 – Chuck: I try to open it up for different times and different locations. I started making my own program. I want one tool to manage my podcast company.
2:20 – Guest.
2:26 – Chuck: Introduce yourself, please!
2:33 – Guest: I have been working in JavaScript for 2 years now, and I just FOUND it. I could have been put anywhere but working with a large company. I discovered React.js. I went to study Math and Chemistry originally.
3:24 – Chuck: What was it – why did you change from mathematics to programming?
3:38 – Guest: I like solving problems and that has been true my whole life.
4:25 – Chuck: I identify with that – you’re right – for me, it’s more tangible and it’s neat to see something being built.
White line on a black floor is mentioned.
5:30 – Guest: I had a great education, but seems like the education in the U.S. is more fun. We didn’t get to program and stuff like that.
5:51 – Chuck: My experience was that I got to do really interesting things in High School.
6:20 – Guest: I think you reap benefits by diving into one topic.
6:36 – Chuck: We were building little circuits that were turning on/off LED. We then went to building robots and then computer chips. How did you get into JavaScript?
7:01 – Guest: We didn’t touch JavaScript until my 3rd year. I went to a school in Jerusalem for a while.
9:05 – Chuck: How did you get your first programming job?
9:10 – Guest: I wasn’t really applying – I thought I would travel for a year or so. It was weird I didn’t think I had to apply to jobs right away. I applied to a few jobs, and my friend started sharing my resume around and I ended up doing some contract work for that company. I used RUBY for that team.
10:18 – Chuck: First few jobs I got were through the “spray-and-pray” method. The best jobs I got are because I KNEW somebody.
10:30 – Guest and Chuck go back-and-forth.
11:31 – Guest mentions networking.
11:41 – Chuck: What have you done with JavaScript that you are especially proud of?
11:45 – Guest.
13:43 – Chuck: I didn’t know that honestly. I never really thought of integrating React Native into a native app.
14:00 – Guest: Yeah, it’s really cool. I didn’t think about it before either!
14:24 – Chuck: What are you working on now?
14:28 – Guest: Actually, I am working on some integration with different parties. Now we are routing everything back to the backend.
15:46 – Chuck: I think I have heard of Pro...
15:52 – Guest: Yeah, they are located in the U.S.
16:01 – Chuck: Every community/country is different, but what is it like to be a programmer in Melbourne, Australia?
16:16 – Guest: It’s cool and I think it has a way to go. We have a React Meetup.
16:55 – Chuck: Sounds like you have a healthy community down there. So in Denmark if you get away from the bigger cities then you have a harder time finding a community in the rural areas.
17:30 – Guest: Do you spend more time online?
17:50 – Chuck: Yeah, I don’t know. I live in Utah. It is hard because there is a community North in Logan, UT.
18:13 – Guest: You have 5-6 main cities in Australia. We don’t have medium-sized cities. In the U.S. you have a mixture out there.
18:42 – Chuck talks about the population throughout Utah.
19:03 – Guest asks a question to Chuck.
19:09 – Chuck: Yes, Facebook is putting in Data Center about 20 minutes away from my house. They have built satellite offices here. The startup scene is picking up, too.
19:49 – Chuck: We are fairly large land wise. We can spread-out more.
20:07 – Guest talks about the population density in Australia vs. U.S.
20:20 – Chuck: It’s interesting to see what the differences are.
If you are in a community that HAS a tech community you are set.
20:39 – Guest: I find it really interesting.
21:25 – Guest: Humans are a funny species – you can put out your hand, shake it, and you start talking.
21:45 – Chuck talks about the tech hubs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in U.S.
22:17 – Guest: Yeah, if you aren’t interested than you aren’t interested.
22:28 – Chuck.
22:37 – Guest.
22:53 – Chuck: Join the mailing list, get involved and there are online groups, too.
23:11 – Guest: I really didn’t get into functional programming at first. I got to talk about this at a React Meetup.
24:25 – Chuck: The logic is the same.
24:32 – Guest: You put these functions together and there you go!
24:40 – Chuck: Go ahead.
24:48 – The guest is talking about React’s integrations. 
24:56 – Chuck: Anything that is shared and put in some functional component, hook it up, and that’s it. Picks!
END – Cache Fly
29:55 – Guest: Shout-out to my mentors. I am really blessed to have these mentors in my life and I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them. Lucas is one of them who work with Prettier.
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Chuck
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James
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MJS 086: James Adams
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