#185 From Hospital Janitor to Developer with Emmett Naughton

Eric Leung grew up in Oklahoma and learned a lot of math in high school. His friends wanted to go to medical school and he originally planned to join them. But instead he got interested in the emerging field of bioinformatics – math applied to medicine. After 6 years in graduate school, he made the big decision to leave without completing his Ph.D. But he was able to transition into the field of data science, and he now works as a data scientist at Disney. Eric and I met up at a public library here in Dallas, Texas to talk about his journey into data science, including his time spent learning through freeCodeCamp and ultimately contributing to our open source codebase. We also share our love of the US public library system, where we met to record this and where Eric worked when he was younger. And we talk about the ancient board game of Go. If you dig this podcast, you should leave us a review in whichever podcast player you're listening. It helps more people discover the show. Download some of our previous podcasts to your phone so you'll have something to listen to the next time you're offline. And tell your friends. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech.   Eric Leung's freeCodeCamp articles: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/erictleung/ Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/erictleung The Standup Maths Minecraft Speed Run Cheating Scandal we talk about during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ko3TdPy0TU The AlphaGo documentary about Deep Mind's efforts to conquer the ancient game of Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXuK6gekU1Y XKCD comic on when to automate things: https://xkcd.com/1205/ Math for Programmers book: https://www.manning.com/books/math-for-programmers Street Fighting Math MIT course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-098-street-fighting-mathematics-january-iap-2008/

15 Sep 20232h 16min

Today I'm joined by Patrick San Juan, a software engineer who first learned to code in his 30s. I've known Patrick since the early days of freeCodeCamp. He has always been a positive, supportive force within the community. Patrick grew up the son of first-generation immigrants from the Philippines. His family didn't have much money, and what they did have, they plowed into his education. He studied economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, then went to work at a charity focused on helping underserved youth. After 5 years, Patrick decided to transition into a career where he could better support his family. And for him, that meant learning to code. I hung out with Patrick at the Alameda Public Library, in the San Francisco Bay Area where Patrick lives. We talk about the ups and downs of his journey into tech. Patrick doesn't sugarcoat anything. Getting a job as a developer is hard. But he's proof that with sustained effort, you can build a career for yourself in tech. I'm proud of Patrick and his achievements. And I'm proud to be the first person to ever interview him for a podcast. If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. And tell your friends about this show. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech. Patrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksanjuan/

8 Sep 20231h 3min

Today I'm joined by Malindi Colyer. Among her many skills, she's a Python developer and AI engineer. Malindi grew up on a farm in rural Kansas, in the middle of the US. She trained to become a diplomat, and volunteered overseas. But along the way, she discovered a love of math and computer science. That passion has landed her jobs in New York City, London, and San Francisco. I met up with Malindi in downtown Manhattan to learn all about investment banking, and how she modernized her department at JP Morgan using her software engineering skills. We talk about the high-stakes world of global finance, where she was executing trades sometimes worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We also talk about her time as a venture capitalist. She researched thousands of startups to decide which ones her fund should invest in. This is one of the most technical interviews I've done. I've done my best to make Malindi's world of math, AI, and high finance as accessible as I can. I hope you enjoy it. Malindi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-malindi-colyer-46b95589/

1 Sep 20232h 40min

#94 Killing Cancer with Machine Learning with Dr. Amit Deshwar  Today I'm joined by Dr. Amit Deshwar. He uses machine learning to discover new drugs to cure various diseases including cancer. He's a scientist who works in the growing field of Computational Biology, and has risen through the ranks at the Canadian biotech company Deep Genomics. During College, Amit got two internships at Google as a platform engineer. He then decided rather than working in big tech he wanted to go back to school and get his Ph.D. He studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, and had his work published in Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals. I met up with Amit at the Glen Park library in San Francisco, at the exact table where the FBI arrested notorious Slik Road Darknet marketplace founder Ross Ulbricht.  We talk about how scientists and developers use machine learning to speed up drug discovery. I ask him a lot of my totally naive questions about how these therapies work and how they can fight various types of cancer and other diseases. Photo of Amit arresating me at the Glen Park Library where the FBI arrested Ross Ulbright: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15B8HD4SGErnOd8zA-9gYW2MabAQFG58Q/view?usp=sharing Photo of me arresting Amit:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWyaVyzqT8YgLFYUVi5kqY9te6ShSdgr/view?usp=sharing Amit on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=QGCYxysAAAAJ Amit's Twitter: https://twitter.com/amitdeshwar

25 Aug 20231h 37min