Survey Results

Here’s a list of all the polls we’ve run on the show, enjoy!

Regarding the frequency of the podcast, which would you prefer most:

A show released once every three or so weeks around 1-1.5 hours in length
Shows released a few times a week around 10-15 minutes in length
A show released once a week around 30 minutes in length
Just testing
Anytime, I can hear Michael's voice, would be awesome!!!
Once a week, around an hour time frame.
Keep the current release cycle, address simple questions with a 5-10 minute segment per episode, dedicate longer episodes as to questions as needed.
A 1 hour show once per week would be nice. Any shorter and things often start to feel rushed or superficial.
every 2 weeks, 45-1 hour. perfect.
1 a week 1 hour long, sweet jesus
~50 minutes once a week would be nice. .NET Rocks are around that length and I love them.
I think the best podcast length is likely equivalent to the mean commute time (~25-30 minutes). Twice a week would be great because it is easier to carry a thread. Also, I think the audience begins to forget your exist if they are released only every few weeks.
How about 30 minute weeklies and 90 minutes monthlies
I don't have time for 10 minute shows. 30 minutes is my cutoff. If a podcast is less than 30 minutes long I usually don't bother playing it because it's distracting to navigate to a different podcast. Considering I often listen in my car, at the gym, or while doing other things with my hands I don't like short podcasts. And besides podcasts are not television, who wants to be reminded of the crappy experience television provides making you reach for the remote every 10 minutes because of commercials.
Once a week but 30 mins is not enough to get into a topic. Officially I vote 1/week but if you have to go to every 2 or 3 weeks to have enough time to fully cover a topic I'd prefer that. Thanks guys, regardless of when you do it!!!!
1 hour once per 5-10 days
If possible I would like to hear 2 shows a week around 30 minutes in length
bool isListenersHappy = (minutesPerShow == 60 && nrOfTimesPerWeek >= 1);
All of the above.. I want more!!!. You guys rock!
Twice a week. Each podcast is about 1 hour long.
Other

vote

Which is the most important to study?

Unit Testing
Language features
Algorithm Complexity
Design Patterns

vote

Watch the video. How would you cross the puddle?

Hop around the side, who knows what's under there!?
No wake zone! Slow and steady wins the race.
Damn the torpedos, full steam ahead!

vote

What’s your favorite source of caffeine?

Coffee: Fancy stuff, Espresso, Cold Brew, etc
Coffee: Like, for Normal People
The Hard Stuff: 5 Hour Energy, Caffeine Pills
Energy Drinks: Red Bull / Monster, etc
Soda: Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero, etc
None: My body is a temple / wonderland
Tea: Hot, cold, all the tea!

vote

When you need to add new 1:1 columns to a SQL table, but they only apply to a subset of that data do you...

Add it to the table, no reason to breakout a 1:1 relationship
Create a new table for it, keep things nice and tight!
Developers shouldn't be modifying schema!
SQL? *NO*body does sql anymore!

vote

When you need to add new 1:1 columns to a SQL table, but they only apply to a subset of that data do you...

Add it to the table, no reason to breakout a 1:1 relationship
Create a new table for it, keep things nice and tight!
Developers shouldn't be modifying schema!
SQL? *NO*body does sql anymore!

vote

How much of your code is covered by Unit Tests?

What unit test? Oh, um, zero.
Those old things? Its probably like 25% or less.
We try but we're somewhere between 25 to 50% depending on the project.
We're on top of things. Our tests cover 75% of our code.
We're amazing. Our code is covered 100% by unit tests. And sprinkled with the glittery dust of a unicorn's breathe.
Wait, work? Or personal? Work, um not so much. Personal, you'd be proud.

vote

What type of overall development floats your boat?

Gaming - I want to make something people play with..
Business apps - I want to create apps that solve real business problems...
Machine learning - data science gets my brain moving...
Dev Ops - I want to make software delivery smooth as silk...
Big data - I want to pour through all the bits...
Hacking - reverse engineering is how I butter my bread...
Frameworks - I want to build the next great tool for developers...

vote

Why did you start programming?

Needed to fulfill a business need
Wanted to personalize my MySpace theme
Took a class in school and thought it was awesome
2 make gamez!
I like getting paid to sit

vote

How fast is your _personal_ Internet connection?

Less than 5 Mbps (I <3 DSL)
<= 25 Mbps
<= 50 Mbps
<= 75 Mbps
<= 100 Mbps
> 100 Mbps
1 Gbps (Fiber FTW.)

vote

Which (programming) language are you most envious of?

C
C#
C++
F#
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Python
R
Ruby
Swift
Typescript
VB.NET

vote

How cool is your company?

Extremely cool! They pay for my conferences!
Very cool. They give me time off for conferences.
They suck. I'm lucky if I get my time off approved.

vote

What is your headphone style of choice while coding?

On-Ear - Great sound in a compact shape
Over-Ear - Sweet pillows of sound
In-Ear - I need all of the sound in my head
Earbuds - Because the pain is worth it

vote

Did you know what invariant meant?

Yep.
Nope.

vote

At what speed do you listen to podcasts?

.5x
1x
1.5x
2x

vote

How many monitors do you use?

Just one.
Two is the minimum.
Three. Like. A. Boss.
More than three. Because if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing.

vote

You have 4 near identical job applicants (quadriplets) - they differ only in how they learned to code. Who do you hire?

6 week bootcamp-er
Bachelors degree graduate (state university)
1 Year Job Experience
Frequent committer to prestigous open source projects

vote

iPhone 8 ...

It's the iPhone we've always wanted.
Evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Time to switch to Android.

vote

Having multiple monitors is great. But are they ...

A handicap?
A hindrance?
A must have?

vote

How many different podcasts do you subscribe to?

There can only be one. (Coding Blocks obviously)
Less than 10, YOLO
Less than 25, Cull the weak
Less than 50, Pro status
Less than 100, NPR is a second family to you

vote

How often should your employer replace your computer?

Every 3 yrs
Every 2 yrs
Every year
Who stays at any employer long enough to have this problem?
Wait, they're supposed to replace it?
Greater than 3 yrs

vote

How often do you replace your phone?

Every year. Gotta have the latest tech.
Every other year.
Not until it breaks. And maybe not even then.

vote

Do you trust your family to buy the tech you want?

I trust them. Why wouldn't I?
I'm hoping for the best. But please include gift receipts.
No way. Even with a very specific list, things will go sideways.

vote

How many developers are at your company?

Just me!
About 5 - Like Captain Planet
Closer to the 20 mark, headphones are required
100, crazy right?
1,000+ Enterprise!!

vote

How often do you shutdown your computer?

Shutdown daily.
Every week.
Every month.
Only when the updates force me.
Who shutdowns their computer?
I don't shutdown often. But when I do, it's because of a BSOD or kernel panic.
Only right before taking some much needed time off.

vote

Is it OK for a site to open links in a new tab/window for you?

Absolutely. No one's got time for holding extra keys!
Yes, but only for links to external sites.
Yes, but the site better warn me first.
No, nope, never, nuh-uh. That's what CTRL(or CMD)+Click is for!

vote

What is the oldest code that you actively, regularly work with?

Less than 1 year. Green as can be!
1-3 years. Was there life before Angular?
3-10 years. Back when JavaScript only ran in the browser.
10-15 years. Pre-jQuery, we had to getElementById back then!
More than 15 years old. Pre-Stack Overflow?!?!

vote

Have you ever made a mix tape?

Does a playlist count? Oh, it doesn't? Then no, I haven't.
Man, I got my technique down and everything. I know exactly when to play Bon Jovi's five words ... yes I have

vote

When you are not coding for work/school, in your free time do you ...

Eat. Sleep. Code. Repeat. Coding is all that matters.
Gotta be well rounded. Get outside. Ride a bike. Climb a mountain. Hike a trail.
Netflix. Gotta binge-watch *everything*.
Rocket League! Or [INSERT VIDEO GAME TITLE HERE]

vote

Do you pay attention to 3rd party licenses?

Yes. Because my company forces me to.
Yes. Because it's a good habit.
No. Wait, you actually read those things?
No. Wait, am I supposed to?

vote

Do you participate in open source projects?

Yes, but only on my own projects.
Yes, but only when I'm trying to beef up the résumé.
Yes, but it's documentation, not code.
Yes, but I only participate in projects owned by others.
Yes. I have some of my own projects _and_ I also participate in projects owned by others.
Man. I'd love to. But dang, who has the time?

vote

How important is Docker?

Very, Docker is the new Git
Eh, Containers are awesome, but Docker itself…
Nah, this is just a stepping stone to something much bigger
Nope, I build and deploy from a laptop

vote

Do you use Docker in your current dev life?

Yes, so I can install and remove software while keeping my system clean.
Yes, it's part of my build chain.
Yes, it's part of my production deployment.
Ain't nobody got time for that.

vote

How important is it that developers have an understanding of computer science-y topics?

Uh no.
Uh, yeah...I guess it's good.
It's not mission critical, but I prefer working with people who know their O from their Theta.
* Super important, and I can prove it mathmatically...if you accept my base case!

vote

How many years of professional programming experience do you have?

Less than 1 year
1-2 years
2-5 years
6-10 years
11+ years

vote

Should this episode have a survey?

vote

Are you better off spending more time learning learning specific frameworks, or the underlying technologies?

Frameworks - I'll dive into the underlying as needed
Underlying Technologies - You gotta walk before you can run!

vote

What is your favorite programming language?

C#
Java
Python
Perl
Ruby
Javascript
PHP
Groovy
php
php
C++ (wild guess: the "others" will win this one...)
Groovy
Scala
Fortran
Lisp
CFML (Lucee, ColdFusion)
c++
C++
apl
PHP
PL/SQL
Transact SQL
C
C
Scala
Other

vote

How important is dependency management?

Super! How can you keep it up if you can't set it up.
Important, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Meh, maybe after I close out a few of these tickets...
Ain't no body got time for dat!
PHP
Groovy
php
php
C++ (wild guess: the "others" will win this one...)
Groovy
Scala
Fortran
Lisp
Super important, and you do what little you can to avoid dependencies, but honestly not much you can do since it's mostly an artifact of the frameworks and technologies you use. Go Asp.net 5! Too bad I only work on native desktop apps, so I'm pretty screwed. Hahhaha
Other

vote

What's Better...Versions or Date Stamps?

Major, Minor, and Patch Versions (Semantic Versioning)
Date Stamp Versioning
Mixture of Semantic Versioning and Date Stamps

vote

Why do these guys keep forgetting to think up a survey?

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Destiny: The Taken King
Halo 5: Guardians

vote

OK, who's fault is it for not having a survey this time? It's probably ...

Allen's fault.
Joe's fault.
Michael's fault.

vote

Which series is more awesome?

Star Wars
Star Trek

vote

Who's the best?

Galadriel
Leia
Neither

vote

Do you leave a trail of commits in case you need them later, or do you prefer to keep things tidy?

I squash because I care (squash)
Everyone can learn from my path (don't squash)
Wait. What?
I suppose, but only if it's convenient...

vote

Bash on Windows

The next big awesome?
Much ado about nothing?

vote

What type of development do you prefer?

Front End / UI
Middle Tier / Server
Backend / Database
Full Stack

vote

In last episode’s poll, only 1% of you identified as preferring front-end-only work. Why is that number so low?

CSS
Lines have blurred, front-end working is leaking into the back
Full stack is where it's at
Irrelevant, the podcast poll demographics are skewed!

vote

What is the hardest part of landing the technical job?

The job requirements.
Dealing with recruiters.
The technical interview.
Racism/Sexism/Ageism - discrimination of some form.
Location, location, location.
Just getting the call back about the job, period.

vote

If you were stranded on an island and you could have only one programming book, which would it be?

Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Head First Design Patterns
Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
Working Effectively With Legacy Code
Introduction to Algorithms
The Pragmatic Programmer
Cracking the Coding Interview
The Art of Unit Testing
The Art of Computer Programming (all volumes)
The Practice of Programming
Clean Coder : A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers
How to Survive on a Deserted Island: Tim O'Shei
Rapid development - sidsavara
Adaptive Code via C# - Hall
1
I've read none of these and want to see recommendations
Joel on Software
Other

vote

Do you regularly attend meetups or conferences?

Yes, I need to get out of my cave every now and then
No, ain't nobody got time for that
No, I live light years away from any meetups / conferences

vote

What is your preferred work environment?

Love me some cubicles
Open Floor Plan, collaboration!
Home office (pants optional)
A work office, with a door
Coffee / Tea Shoppe

vote

Do you put stickers on your laptop?

No. I've got class and I'm an adult. Stickers are for kids.
STICKERS!!! STICKERS ALL THE THINGS!!!

vote

New Macbook Pro with Touch Bar...Is it?

Amazing - Apple's done it again! They've predicted the future, and Touch Bar is it!
Horrible - Give me back my function keys!
Jury is out - I'll wait and see what others are saying before I pass judgement.

vote

Do you listen to anything while you code?

Music, because I gotta get my jam on.
Podcasts, how else do you think I'm listening to this?
Audio books, because the book is always better than the movie.
TV, how else am I going to stay up to date on Westworld?
The office background, because I'm actually listening to my cubicle neighbors' gossip.
White noise, rain, the ocean, any repetitive noise to drown out reality
Who has time to listen to anything when I've got all of these fires to put out?

vote

When PC gaming a console-like game, what is your preferred weapon of choice?

Xbox Controller
Playstation Controller
Steam Controller
Anything made by Logitech!
Mouse and Keyboard - WASD 4 Life

vote

Do you regularly evaluate your weaknesses in an effort to strengthen them?

OMG. Daily.
I try to pick up a new skill or get better at an existing one every few months.
Yeah, but realistically, probably only once or twice a year.
I learn what I want to learn, when I want to learn it.
No, that's why I listen to you guys.
Why? I already know everything I need to know

vote

Now that you had some time to digest the news, how do you feel about Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub?

Very excited! Looking forward to the awesome things Microsoft will add to GitHub.
I'm concerned but not enough to do anything about it. Yet.
I don't care. At all. Should I?
OMG the sky is falling. Why? How could we let this happen?
Already packed up my code and moved to GitLab.

vote

What is your most productive season?

Spring. Best way to avoid the pollen!
Summer. Let me stay behind my keyboard in the nice air conditioned room.
Fall. The sky, er, leaves are falling. Safer to stay inside.
Winter. Olaf scares me, I'm not going out there.
Seasons? We don't have seasons here!!

vote

What is your most productive time of day?

Morning. Gotta get my work done before the rest of the office gets in.
Midday. Let everyone else go to lunch. I'm getting this commit merged.
Evening. I'll let the traffic die down while I close one more ticket.
Night. Now that all of the meetings are over, I can finally start my day.

vote

What is your favorite book type?

Hard cover. I want to protect my invest.
Paperback. I like to curl the cover back with one hand while I read it.
eBook. It's the only chance I won't lose it.
Books? I ain't reading no books.

vote

Does having multiple monitors improve your productivity?

Absolutely. And on the bright side (pun), I get to work on my tan from all of the extra UV light.
No. But it can be a nice luxury.
It depends on the codebase. The smellier the code, the more monitors I need. That and air fresheners.

vote

How's your math?

There's an app for that.
Was great...in primary school.
I can tip 20% comfortably.
I can still find the area under a curve.
I can still ln(e) with the best of them!

vote

What's your preferred password manager?

1Password
LastPass
KeePass + Dropbox
RoboForm
Keychain
I just use the same 3 passwords everywhere.
Whatever is built into the browser.

vote

What's your social platform of choice?

Facebook. For the old world.
Twitter. It's the best way to catch up on my covfefe.
Snapchat. Because a picture is worth a thousand words.
Instagram. Because a picture is worth a thousand hashtags.
LinkedIn. It's all about keepin' it profesh.
Google Plus. I like the dust and cobwebs.
Social? Get off my lawn kid! What? You *want* the gov't to know everything about you?

vote

Who is your favorite virtual assistant?

Alexa. The OG of assistants.
Google Assistant. Because accuracy matters.
Siri. Who needs accuracy with looks this good?
Cortana. Hipsterific. I only like things no one else likes.

vote

What do you value most in a job?

Pay. It's all about the Benjamins.
Tech stack. I need to remain interested.
Commute. Or the lack thereof. I mean, I love listening to Coding Blocks and all, but a new set of tires every month is ridiculous.
Location, location, location. Just like real estate.
Team. I need to be surrounded by people better than me so I can grow.
Industry. I want the type of problems I solve to matter. To me.
Benefits. I like to take off for the summer.
Work. Life. Balance. I have a life outside of the office.

vote

What do you want to focus on improving in 2019?

Front-End, there's a 3p service for everything now.
Back-End, cuz Flexbox...done.
Persistence is king, data data data.
Algorithms and data structures, can't go wrong with fundamentals.
Clean Code, master the tactical before the strategic.
Architecture, I've ascended to higher levels of abstraction.
DevOps, good luck doing anything without me!

vote

How do you plan to spend your time off this holiday season?

Spending time with the family because the holidays are all about the memories.
I'm not avoiding the family, I'm building my next great project.
Escaping the family _and_ the keyboard.
What time off?

vote

How good were the holidays to you?

Awesome. Got everything I hoped for.
I got things I didn't even ask for.
It was good. I got everything I purchased.
Glad to be back at work.
I didn't get squat.

vote

How much time do you spend coding outside of work?

Nada. I don't write code for free.
Until I go to bed.
I take the weekend off. Otherwise I'm writing code.
Like a sine wave, I go through phases. Sometimes more. Sometimes less.

vote

What do you think of JAMStack?

It's like, the future, yo.
Eh, I'll let this front-end fad pass and maybe grab on to the next one.
You can pry the back-end from my cold dead hands.

vote

What interests you the most?

Learning the low level nuts and bolts of how computers and OSes work, i.e. the lowest possible level, can I build my own hardware or OS?
Or the highest possible level, i.e. subjects like formal algorithms, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.
Those other options are nice, but I enjoy prototyping and experimenting with all the things, broadening my horizons.

vote

How many conferences do you go to per year?

I usually average 1-3 conferences a year.
Somewhere in the range of 4-6.
More than 6 but nothing crazy.
I go to all of them. That I can afford. Or my company can afford.
I travel all over speaking at conferences, so I go to too many.
Zero. I don't like them, they're too expensive, they take too long, they're too far away, or some other similar reason.

vote

Who is your favorite cloud provider?

Amazon AWS baby. The original gangsta of cloud providers.
Microsoft Azure. Remember when they called it Windows Azure? Awkward.
Google Cloud. Because I also need them to know how I cloud.
IBM Cloud. I'm all about the business.
Rackspace Cloud. Big enough to be a big deal. Small enough to care.
Linode. You gotta love that pricing.
Vultr. Bare metal for bare prices.
Digital Ocean. A refreshing "droplet".
Other. Because how did you not know about my dog's groomer's dad's side cloud business.

vote

What's your favorite time to listen to podcasts?

During my commute. What else am I supposed to pay attention to?
While I work. I need an escape.
While I exercise. Nothing better than staying physically _and_ mentally fit.
Every. Waking. Moment.
I wish my schedule was that routine.

vote

Did you improve on the things you wanted to for 2018?

I did, as well as improving on additional things.
I was able to focus on my 2018 goals and improve on them.
I crushed some. Failed at others.
No, dang it.
Wait. I was supposed to set some goals?

vote

Why don't you go to conferences?

Too expensive. Gotta think about that ROI.
Too far. I could finish an entire Coding Blocks podcast just getting there.
What about both of the above? Oh, that's this option.
But I do go to conferences. Why can't I participate in the survey?

vote

What is your preferred type of language to spend most of your day in?

Dynamically typed languages like JavaScript or Python. I can't be bothered to compile. I catch my errors at runtime.
Statically typed languages like Java, C, or C#. I'd like to say that my errors are caught at compile time. But sadly not always.
Functional languages like Haskell or F#. Here's a quarter kid, get a real programming language.
SQL. If you're not working in sets, you're wasting your time with one-offs.

vote

Do you discuss podcasts with your friends or co-workers?

Are you kidding? That's all we talk about.
Absolutely. They need all of the help they can get.
Absolutely. I need all of the help I can get.
No. It's my secret, super power. They can't know where my tips come from.

vote

How much data do you use per month for your home ISP?

Less than 250GB.
Less than 500GB.
Less than 1TB.
No idea, unlimited plan bro.
You'd have to ask my neighbor.

vote

What's your structured text format of choice?

XML
JSON
YAML
CSV

vote

What your favorite shell of choice?

bash
ksh
ash
Dash
zsh
fish
Command Prompt
PowerShell

vote

What native language are you most interested in?

Rust, because safety first.
Go, because I wanna be fast and parallel.
C, the old ways are best.
C++, the good parts.
No thanks, I have deadlines.
You forgot mine, you expletives.

vote

When you want to bring in a new technology or take a new approach when implementing something new or add to the tech stack, do you ...?

a.) Ask peer's if it's a good idea before implementing it? The voice of many carries more weight.
b.) Ask the relative team lead if you can implement it? If the boss doesn't like it, it doesn't matter.
c.) Implement a proof-of-concept and get stakeholders to weigh in? Because they don't know about it, they need to be sold on it.
d.) Just do it. I can't waste precious time checking if other's like my idea.
e.) Abandon it. It's already too much effort.

vote

What's your favorite type of swag?

Stickers, because they make my laptop go faster.
Shirts, because I wear them pretty often and they make me look pretty.
Water bottles. Gotta stay hydrated. And then run to the bathroom inbetween talks.
Coffee cups. Coding requires coffee.
Hats, because everyone has a bad hair day every now and then.
Socks. Everyone loves super cute socks. Except Florida man.
Bags, because they cost the most.
Pens/notebooks, in case I need to write something down super quick!

vote

Would you be interested in doing a Coding Blocks Fantasy Football League?

How has this not been a thing for six years?! YES!!!
Sportsball ... puuuuuhhhhhhhleasssseeeee ... NO!!!
A fantasy game for soccer? Silly Americans ...

vote

What's the first thing you do when picking up a new technology or stack?

Take a course, like on educative.io.
Google the pros and cons. Share the ones that support your opinion.
Bing the best practices. Pray there are some.
Find the Stack Overflow answer that you most agree with and supports your theory.

vote

Which relational database is your go to?

Postgres, the elephant in the room.
MySQL, the digital adventures of Flipper.
SQL Server. _It looks like you're trying to create a database._ -Clippy
Oracle, the big red box.
RDBMS? pfft ... NoSQL.
Graph databases are where it's at.

vote

Is DevOps a ...

A job title ... now hiring!
A job function ... get back to work!

vote

How often do you replace your computer?

Every few years. My guild needs me.
After every Apple announcement.
I upgrade it until I no longer can and can't stand the wait.
Never. And this 486 is still rocking Doom.
Every time my company gives me a new computer. When I change jobs.

vote

What is the single most important piece of your battlestation?

The keyboard of course. Johnny Five need input.
The mouse. My clicking game is on point.
The monitor. I see dead pixels.
Obviously not the peripherals. It's all about the tower o' power!
The chair. Or should I say the CEO chair.
It's all about the desk. Nothing else matters if it's sitting on a TV tray.

vote

With the new year coming, what kind of learning resolution do you plan on setting? I plan to learn ...

A new language, like Rust, Go, or LOLCODE. No seriously, LOLCODE.
A new JavaScript framework, like React or Angular, but probably ExtJS.
Infrastructure things like Docker, or K8s, ... is Virtual PC still a thing?
Higher level concepts like machine learning and AI so I can prepare myself for Skynet.
More about an OS, maybe a new OS, or just get better with a current one.
A new database system. DB2 here I come ...
Streaming data solutions like Kafka or Kinesis.
Search solutions like Elastic, Azure Search, ... idk, I need to Google it some more.
Algorithms, I need to go back to basics ... how does Bellman-Ford work again?
Data structures, because I want to go waaay back to basics.
All about cloud services. I hear AWS is a thing.

vote

Which sci-fi series is best?

Star Trek. Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a doc ... ok, fine.
Star Wars. Han shot first.

vote

Which data model do you prefer?

Relational Model. I love many to many joins. 6NF all the things.
Document Model. I'll worry about the data structure when I read it.
Graph Model. It just sounds cool. "Oh you're using relational data models? That's cute."
Polyglot Persistence. I'll use what I think makes sense for the use case.

vote

Which keyboard do you use?

CODE Keyboard*
Das Keyboard*
ErgoDox*
Kinesis Advantage*
Kinesis Freestyle*
Apple Magic Keyboard
Apple Aluminum Wired Keyboard
Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard
Microsoft Surface Keyboard
Ultimate Hacking Keyboard
Other Mechanical Keyboard
Other Chiclet Keyboard
Other. The other _other_ keyboard.
The one that came with my laptop. Cause ain't nobody got time for carrying around fancy keyboards.

vote

How do you pronounce data?

DAY-TA, where that first a is a long a ... dādə
DAA-TA, where that first a is a short a ... dadə

vote

Which fast food restaurant makes the better fries?

Arby's
Burger King
Checkers
Chick-fil-a
Hardee's
In-n-Out
Jack-in-the-Box
McDonald's
Popeye's
Steak-n-Shake
Wendy's

vote

Do you leave your laptop plugged in the majority of the time?

All. The. Time. Pfft. I don't care about the battery.
No, I try to maintain my battery's life expectancy by neither fully charging or discharging it.
No, but not because I care.

vote

What's your preferred method to increase your productivity?

Code to music in the background. Is that freedom rock? Well turn it up man ...
Absolute silence. Except for that annoying buzz coming from my UPS. And monitor. And LEDs.
Netflix and code. That's a thing, right?
Treadmill or Bike desk. Tone my brain and my glutes.
Pomodoro. I live my life one quarter hour at a time.
Pajamas. All. Day. Long.
Take a break. Go for a walk. Eat lunch. Anything to reboot.

vote

What tools are you using to ease WFH?

RDP
VPN
Citrix
Zoom
Skype
Slack
Webex
Hangouts
Teams
Discord
Pidgin
Jitsi
Messages
FaceTime
join.me
GoToMyPC

vote

Are you staying sane during these stay-at-home orders?

Yes. Or so the voices tell me.
No. But was I ever sane?

vote

Do you always include (new or updated) unit tests with your pull requests?

Yes, always, of course. I'm not a psychopath.
Not with *every* pull request, but more often than not. I mean, what kind of psychopath has the time to do them for *every* pull request?
No, I rarely include any tests with my pull requests. My friends think I'm crazy.

vote

How likely are you to advocate for working from home in the future?

After this pandemic? Every. Opportunity. I. Get.
After this pandemic? Never.
Work from home? Is that even an option?

vote

How many hours per week do you work on average?

Strictly 40. Work life balance is a must.
Less than 40. I value my time.
More than 40 but less than 60. Why do I do this to myself?
More than 60. Please help me.

vote

How do you feel about semi-colons?

Sadly, they're a necessary evil for my language.
My language doesn't require them and I'm a better dev for it.
There's only a finite number of keystrokes you'll type in your lifetime, and since they're optional in my language of choice, I'm not wasting keystrokes.
They might be optional but as a wise man once said: Never Gonna Give You Up.

vote

When you do listen to music, how do you do it?

Amazon Music
Apple Music
Spotify
YouTube Music
Pandora
Google Play Music
iHeartRadio
*The* radio
CDs
Vinyl

vote

What is your meeting limit?

One is too many. There is a reason I work with computers.
Less than 5 hours/week is okay, so I still have plenty of "me" time.
I can handle 10 hours a week, but ain't nobody happy about it.
Bring it on! The trick is to mute when you go to the bathroom.

vote

Which one?

Coca Cola, because I'd like to teach the world to sing.
Pepsi, it's hair on fire good.

vote

What's your favorite mobile device?

An iPad. The Tab-father of tablets.
An Android-based tablet. Great hw specs, without the hassle of longterm support.
A Kindle. It was on sale.
Chromebook FTW. Not quite as portable as a tablet, nor as useful as a laptop ...
2-in-1 Laptop. A giant, bulky tablet that can run Docker.

vote

Go or Rust?

Go
Rust

vote

Do you prefer that your laptop keyboard ...

Includes a numpad. Because I'm a number crunching accountant. Tax season ain't got nothing on me.
Does not include a numpad. Just center the 84 and be done with it. I don't need carpal tunnel in just one wrist.

vote

Do you eat at your desk?

Yes, don't you eat at home, too?
No, never, my keyboard is a shrine to purity.
No, wait, why, do you have something?
Yes, but only after my desk is wrapped up like Dexter's kill room.

vote

When a new mobile OS update comes out on iOS or Android, do you ...

Update as fast as possible. I can't get the new bits fast enough.
Wait for a stable release.
Never update.

vote

How often do you change jobs?

Job? Why would I do that when I can boss myself around.
I don't wanna. Interviewing is awful.
Every 3 years, like the Stack Overflow Survey tells me to.
About every 5 years, after I've built up enough embarrassments.

vote

Which do you want the most?

Xbox Series X, the fastest, most powerful Xbox gaming fridge ever.
Playstation PS5, even though the design is pretty fowl.

vote

How often _should_ you update your resume?

Once a year. Any longer than that and I'll forget everything.
As often as I remember. Might as well do it while it's on my mind.
Right before I start the job search. No point wasting my time otherwise.
Wait, you make it sound like I'm supposed to be updating that thing!

vote

How often _do_ you update your resume?

Once a year. Any longer than that and I'll forget everything.
As often as I remember. Might as well do it while it's on my mind.
Right before I start the job search. No point wasting my time otherwise.
Wait, you make it sound like I'm supposed to be updating that thing!

vote

What kind of game do you want to make?

Puzzle, because I want my players to suffer as I have suffered making this game.
First Person Shooter, what else is there?
Roguelike, cuz procedural generation is kinda like a game for the programmer.
RPG, it's kinda like writing fan-fiction and that's awesome.
Platformer, like Mario, not the shoes.
Racing, cuz momma, I wanna go fast.
Turn-Based/Strategy, Cuz all your base are belong to me

vote

What are the least amount of bits (or smallest data type) your annual salary, in whole dollars, could fit in?

1 bit (boolean): Wait, you can make _money_ with this coding stuff?
8 bits (byte): I made a webpage for a friend one time.
16 bits (short): I'm an intern, or at least I get paid like one.
16 bits (unsigned short): I'm just getting started in my career.
17 bits: I like my company.
18 bits: My company likes me.
19 bits: My company _really, really_ likes me.
20+ bits: I _run_ my company.
Some Qubits: My salary is in a state of flux.
String: Because I only get paid in thank you messages.
Negative numbers: Who needs to pay you for having fun? I pay for everything I use to write my open source project!
Memory addresses: Because buffer overflow attacks are how hackers like me make money.

vote

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Choose up to 5 themes for the Game Jam that sound like fun:

Space
Spin To Win
Evil is Okay
Hot Lava
Time Is Critical
Fresh Starts
Into And Out Of
Personification
Beast Mode
Always Right
Treat Yo Self
Dodge It
Choose Wisely
Everything is Broken
It's Not What It Seems
Take It Slow
Monolith
It's Not a Bug
TODO: PLACEHOLDER TEXT

Vote Results

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

It's a Wonderful Life, I like the classics.
A Charlie Brown Christmas, that poor Christmas tree.
Frosty the Snowman, with a corn cob pipe and a butt on his nose, err, wait ...
A Christmas Story, only I didn't say fudge.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, because my heart is three sizes too small.
The Nightmare Before Chrstimas, it's what I imagine happens when Jack White meets Tim Burton.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, an awkward story about being different enough to be important.
Die Hard, IT IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE! Welcome to the party, pal!

vote

Which hand do you type the 6 key with?

The left. Because duh, it's closer.
The right. Probably because of my ergo keyboard.

vote

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Choose your top 3 favorites themes for the upcoming Game Jam

Reluctance
It's Not a Bug
Foooooooooooood!
Space
Help! I lost my chickens
Evil is Okay
It's Not What It Seems
ALL THE CATS
Everything is Broken
WFH
Beast Mode
End of the World

Vote Results

Which company has the best open source projects?

Facebook
Google
Microsoft

Vote

What is your favorite lesson learned from Game Jam?

Less is more.
Focus on playability.
Need more graphics.
Don't worry about graphics.
Think like a player.
OMG, I need to theme the submission page?!
Include instructions, video, and/or screenshots with your submission.

vote

What's your favorite Python feature?

All the ML libraries.
The Jupyter Notebook support.
pip install everything I need.
The virtual environments are the best.
I require a lot of matrix multiplication.
It's so easy to visualize data.
It's not Java.

vote

When you start a new project, in regards to the storage technology, do you ...

Go with what you know. It's not even a debate.
Try something new. Might as well learn something.
Seriously consider the options. Deliberate. Debate. Try not to hate.
Pfft ... storage. You're funny.

vote

While in Slack, do you reply ...

In the channel. Because I don't want to risk someone not seeing my thoughts.
In a thread. Because I like to keep my conversations tidy, like my desk.

vote

For your next car, you plan to buy:

An electric car. I can tell people it's because it's green but we all know it's about the acceleration.
A hybrid. Just in case these EVs don't work out ...
A gasoline car. There's other kinds?
A diesel. Turbo diesel at that.
A fuel cell car. Like the Hindenburg but on a smaller scale.
Uber. The über mode of transportation.
Anything with more than two wheels is too many.

vote

How do you prefer to be interviewed?

Behavioral interview ... tell me about your mother ...
Take home project, how many hours do you really spend?
White boarding, like surfing ... but, worse.
Multi-person Interrogation room, like a firing squad, but better?
Informal dinner, because that's not creepy.
Weird, esoteric: How many angels can dance on how many ping pong balls on a plane with 3 potential destinations?

vote

Do you want to run your own business?

Heck yeah, Shark Tank, here I come ...
idk, that sounds like a lot of work ...
I already do and the boss is a real jerk

vote

How often do you leetcode?

Never, I'd rather ____________.
When I'm prepping for a big interview.
All the time, gotta keep that saw sharp!
Well, sometimes I start, but then I remember I don't wanna.

vote

How important is it to learn advanced programming techniques?

Extremely important. You gotta keep sharpening that saw.
Meh, it might be important, but not enough to go out of your way. You'll learn it as you go.
Wait, there's advanced programming techniques? Like what, switch statements?
It's not important at all because there's already a Stack Overflow answer for it.

vote

How do you put on your shoes?

Sock, sock, shoe, shoe, just in case if I decide I only want socks
Sock, shoe, sock, shoe. You can't have a foot only partially dressed.
Shoe, sock, shoe, sock, err, wait ...
Socks? You don't wear socks with boat shoes!
Shoes? It's a flip flop life for me.

vote

Do you have TikTok installed?

Heck yeah, I love those videos.
Nope. No way. Never.

vote

Which desktop OS do you prefer?

Windows. I like my OS named after things I don't look through anymore.
macOS. I like my OS named after places I don't go.
Linux. I like to learn how to pronounce my distribution.

vote

What's your IDE of choice?

I prefer a light weight IDE, such as VS Code or Atom.
I like a fully functional IDE, like Visual Studio or IntelliJ
I like to use editors like VIM and tell others that it's an IDE.
I like to use editors like Notepad++ or Sublime, bury myself in plugins, so that it can act like an IDE.

vote

For your next laptop, are you leaning ...

Something with Windows 11 ... it'll be fine.
Something with Apple Silicon ... it'll probably be fine.
Something running some Linux distribution ... apt install fine.
Probably a Chromebook ... it's good enough.
Laptop? I'll stick with my desktop. I don't go anywhere anyways.

vote

Do you find that you're more productive ...

At home. Less commute time. More code time.
At an office. Too many distractions at home.
At the local coffee shop. Pumpkin Spice Latte!!!!
It doesn't matter where I am if you're going to keep inviting me to meetings!!!!

vote

How do you get prefer to get on the network?

Wireless, I can't be tethered by cables.
Wired, I need all the bandwidth and low latency I can get.

vote

How likely are you to give a presentation?

Extremely likely ... to attend one. Oh you mean, speak at one, oh no. Definitely not.
Extremely likely ... to think about giving a presentation. Maybe a little day dream about how awesome I'd be at it.
Extremely likely ... to say that I will give a presentation. But go through with it? Ain't nobody got time for that.
Extremely likely ... to actually give a presentation. I love the opportunity to learn something and share it with others.

vote

What's your favorite feature on the new MacBook Pro?

The return of the function keys!!! Bye Touch Bar ...
The MagSafe charger! I love proprietary cables!
I need an SD card slot. Not a USB card reader. That requires a USB A to C dongle.
That shape that hearken's back to those early 2000's MacBooks.
Obviously, it's all about that M1 Max!!! 10 CPU cores, 32 GPU cores. THIS.
That I don't need to buy or enable a TPM 2.0 module to run the latest OS.
Wait, Apple had another announcement?
The NOTCH!!!!

vote

Have you ever had to partition your data?

Ever? More like always.
On occasion. It's just another tool in my toolbox.
Once. I don't want to talk about it.
Nope. Does that mean my dataset is small?
Nope, not my job.

vote

How many different data storage technologies do you use for your day job?

Just the one. And it is our hammer.
Two to three. It's a quaint little data pipeline.
Four or more. OMG why do we have so many.
None. Keep your data crap out of my CSS.

vote

What's your container management of choice?

Good ol' reliable Docker Desktop.
Rancher Desktop, I like my container management free and open like the wild west.
Podman, because the little otters logo is so cute.

vote

How much personal time off do you take on average each year?

A week or less. It's awful, but without me the company won't survive.
Two weeks. It's like I just joined the company. Amurica
Three weeks. Itsa nice.
Four weeks!!! An entire month. This must be what it's like to be European.
More than four weeks!!! I wouldn't say I was missing work.

vote

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Choose your 3 favorites themes

No time to lose
Spaced out
Can't stop
All your base are belong to us
It doesn't mix
Go to Hell
Magic Bug
Work Life Balance
There is a ticket for that
Trust nothing
So the customer is king, but I'm the empire
Squid Game
Hook me up
Origami
Fast Forward
It's following me
A Link to the somewhere
Failure is the option
Find the light
Tethered but alone
A11y
Branching off
It's alive
Snake! Snake! Snaaake!
All for one
Fresh starts
Everything is fixed
Game Jam 2 Electric Boogalo
Up and down
The rising tide

Vote

Do stick with your New Year's resolutions?

For the first couple weeks.
I'm pretty good until Spring. -Ish.
I'm like a machine. Resolutions are rules that are not meant to be broken.
Wait, those things are to be taken seriously? They're broken by noon New Years Day.
What are resolutions?

vote

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Choose your 3 favorites themes

It's alive
Trust nothing
Go to Hell
Work Life Balance
Spaced out
Magic bug
Snake! Snake! Snaaake!
Failure is the option
All your base are belong to us
It's following me
There is a ticket for that
Can't stop
Game Jam 2 Electric Boogalo
No time to lose
A link to the somewhere

Vote

For this year's Game Jam, you are ...

Super prepared. Been practicing all year. I'm ready.
Eh, I'll figure something out.
OMG, I have no idea what I'm doing.

vote

How awesome was Game Ja-Ja-Ja-Jamuary?!

I learned soooo much.
I forgot how much time I need to play other people's games!
I thought my game was good, but oh my, some of these are pro-fesh.
I now know that I want to be a game developer.
I now know that I do not want to be a game developer.

vote

What percentage of time does your team devote to technical debt per release cycle?

100%, it's all we do. I don't even know if we have customers.
75%-ish, we don't care for new features.
About 50%, we're equally slaying last release's technical debt while we introduce this release's technical debt.
Around 25%, we're accumulating technical debt faster than we're paying it off.
Roughly 10%, we've got too many new features to deliver to care.
Technical debt? Why would anyone address that? You'll completely rewrite the application before it comes due.

vote

How mature is your CI/CD pipeline?

Extremely mature. Something like: Commits are made. Bits are built. Things are tested. PRs are merged. Builds are deployed. Automatically. Everytime.
Somewhat. As in: We build and test PRs regularly. But deployments still require a person to initiate.
Not even close. It's more like Leeroy leaves his laptop running in a closest and when we need a build, someone walks over and performs the 18 necessary builds steps.

vote

What's most important to you when you're looking for another job?

It's all about that promotion. I need the title!
Work-life balance is the what matters. I need to be able to enjoy my life. And my work.
Dolla dolla bill y'all. Mo money mo problems, and I'll do anything to have more problems.
I need some flexibility in my schedule. Life gets hectic.
Whatever it takes to get away from this company.
Whatever it takes to get into that company.

vote

So, DevOps is a culture, but SRE is a job title?

Wait, what?
Yeah, I get it.
Meh.

vote

How do we feel about DevOps?

LOVE IT. It's the greatest.
It's great ... when things work.
It's OK. But overrated.
I wish we had a good DevOps pipeline.
It's a dream. Nobody really does that.

vote

SLIs and SLOs sounds awesome ...but does your team use them?

Of course, how else would we track our error budget?
I mean, they sound great, but um ... yeah we don't have those.
Oh wow, we have so many SLOw parts ... oh, it's an acronym, nevermind.
We're on our way and it looks promising!
I'm convinced and will implement them in the near future.

vote

Does your job include any toil?

Of course it includes some, but it's a reasonable amount.
This topic is opening my eyes to how much toil my job has.
I think my job includes too much toil but my team won't do anything to change it.
OMG, if I removed the toil from my job I'd have no job left.

vote

Which book should we finish?

Site Reliability Engineering
Designing Data Intensive Applications
Domain Driven Design
Clean Code
Clean Architecture
The Imposter's Handbook
The DevOps Handbook
ANY BOOK. JUST FINISH ONE!
I actually like that you leave some of it for me to read on my own.
Just move on to another book. Ain't nobody got time to go back to those old books.

vote

Navigation

Regarding the frequency of the podcast, which would you prefer most:

Which is the most important to study?

Watch the video. How would you cross the puddle?

What’s your favorite source of caffeine?

When you need to add new 1:1 columns to a SQL table, but they only apply to a subset of that data do you...

When you need to add new 1:1 columns to a SQL table, but they only apply to a subset of that data do you...

How much of your code is covered by Unit Tests?

What type of overall development floats your boat?

Why did you start programming?

How fast is your _personal_ Internet connection?

Which (programming) language are you most envious of?

How cool is your company?

What is your headphone style of choice while coding?

Did you know what invariant meant?

At what speed do you listen to podcasts?

How many monitors do you use?

You have 4 near identical job applicants (quadriplets) - they differ only in how they learned to code. Who do you hire?

iPhone 8 ...

Having multiple monitors is great. But are they ...

How many different podcasts do you subscribe to?

How often should your employer replace your computer?

How often do you replace your phone?

Do you trust your family to buy the tech you want?

How many developers are at your company?

How often do you shutdown your computer?

Is it OK for a site to open links in a new tab/window for you?

What is the oldest code that you actively, regularly work with?

Have you ever made a mix tape?

When you are not coding for work/school, in your free time do you ...

Do you pay attention to 3rd party licenses?

Do you participate in open source projects?

How important is Docker?

Do you use Docker in your current dev life?

How important is it that developers have an understanding of computer science-y topics?

How many years of professional programming experience do you have?

Should this episode have a survey?

Are you better off spending more time learning learning specific frameworks, or the underlying technologies?

What is your favorite programming language?

How important is dependency management?

What's Better...Versions or Date Stamps?

Why do these guys keep forgetting to think up a survey?

OK, who's fault is it for not having a survey this time? It's probably ...

Which series is more awesome?

Who's the best?

Do you leave a trail of commits in case you need them later, or do you prefer to keep things tidy?

Bash on Windows

What type of development do you prefer?

In last episode’s poll, only 1% of you identified as preferring front-end-only work. Why is that number so low?

What is the hardest part of landing the technical job?

If you were stranded on an island and you could have only one programming book, which would it be?

Do you regularly attend meetups or conferences?

What is your preferred work environment?

Do you put stickers on your laptop?

New Macbook Pro with Touch Bar...Is it?

Do you listen to anything while you code?

When PC gaming a console-like game, what is your preferred weapon of choice?

Do you regularly evaluate your weaknesses in an effort to strengthen them?

Now that you had some time to digest the news, how do you feel about Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub?

What is your most productive season?

What is your most productive time of day?

What is your favorite book type?

Does having multiple monitors improve your productivity?

How's your math?

What's your preferred password manager?

What's your social platform of choice?

Who is your favorite virtual assistant?

What do you value most in a job?

What do you want to focus on improving in 2019?

How do you plan to spend your time off this holiday season?

How good were the holidays to you?

How much time do you spend coding outside of work?

What do you think of JAMStack?

What interests you the most?

How many conferences do you go to per year?

Who is your favorite cloud provider?

What's your favorite time to listen to podcasts?

Did you improve on the things you wanted to for 2018?

Why don't you go to conferences?

What is your preferred type of language to spend most of your day in?

Do you always include (new or updated) unit tests with your pull requests?