[Keynote] The Art of Computer Science

Do you feel like you have struggled to find your place in the tech industry? Do you feel like coding is a slog? Perhaps you feel dumb or like an imposter? I know exactly how you feel. This talk is for anyone looking to feel inspired to find their joy in the technical industrial complex.

Do you feel like you have struggled to find your place in the tech industry? Do you feel like coding is a slog? Perhaps you feel dumb or like an imposter? I know exactly how you feel, because I have and currently have all of those feelings bubbling up inside me, and that’s okay! It took me a long time to feel comfortable in this industry, and in this talk, I will tell you about my journey to find a place in tech through my art and a dash of humor. This talk is for anyone looking to feel inspired to find their joy in the technical industrial complex.

Audience: * There will be very little to no code in this talk, but I will be discussing how I built my projects from a high level. This talk is aimed at being useful and inspiring to new and veteran developers.

Outcomes: * The goal of this talk is to inspire the audience to try something new and build something just for the sake of building something. without the worry of monetization or fear. I want to reject the idea that every project needs to be a side hustle or needs to generate income somehow. It’s totally okay to make something totally stupid and just for you and your community.

• Outline: * Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
  • I’ve been programming since I was 4 years old, when I built a functioning protocol droid and Podracer from scratch.
  • Well, that’s not me.
  • In fact, if my CS Profs knew I was here talking to you all to give an inspiring speech about tech, they would * Before we get started, let’s go over how this is going to work:
  • All resources, video, slides, and a transcription of this talk can be found here:
  • Feel free to ask any questions in the chat. I’ll answer questions at the end too.
  • Thank YOU * Let’s get the obvious out of the way - yes, I am another White Dude in tech mansplaining about his career journey.
  • I want to acknowledge that I do in fact have a lot of privilege in this industry as a CIS White Man and you may not have the same experience that I have had or will continue to have.
  • My goal is to inspire you to find what makes you love tech. * Who the heck is this guy?
  • My name is Joe Karlsson
  • I’m a Developer Advocate (Fancy title for someone who has the honor of talking to devs and making cool things for them).
  • I’ve been a Full stack JS instructor and Lead Technical Engineer at one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world.
  • And now, I’m some dude that gets the honor to talk to you all. * Let’s start in college…
  • Started school in 2008 at the start of one of our MANY depressions.
  • I was scared of making money when I graduated from college, so I switched my major to Computer Science.
    • Switch majors three times - Art History, Physics, then Computer Science
    • Definitely wasn’t my passion
  • Fear - was my motivator, not passion (and that’s okay!)
  • I graduated, but wasn’t special * Early Career
  • I did MS Development during the Balmer years (before MS got cool again).
  • Hated my work, because I found no joy in programming. I was constantly looking for a way out.
  • Ended up moving to… * Hawaii
  • Moved to be a surf bum and give up on code.
  • Ended up hanging with punk coders and local Software Engineers
  • They were all building and making stuff for fun - just because they liked it
  • That’s when I started to explore… * Art and Tech
  • All of us watching this has a unique set of skills to explore the artistic medium of our generation - the web. * I’m not saying you need to make art to find joy in programming - what I am saying s that you should explore and learn and grow to find what YOU are interested in. * Continue to go to hackathons and collaborate with new friends. * Find what make YOU love to code. * Speed Round:
  • Programming is hard
  • • Tl;dr:
  • Own your career
  • Find your joy
  • Build shit you like \

*   Questions?
*   Thank you!
*   End!

• Resources:
  • My Website: https://www.joekarlsson.com/
  • Bit.ly: https://joekarlsson.dev/artofCS
  • MagicMirror² - https://www.joekarlsson.com/portfolio/magicmirror%c2%b2-smart-iot-mirror
  • IoT Kitty Litter Box - https://www.joekarlsson.com/portfolio/iot-kitty-litter-box/
  • All my projects: https://www.joekarlsson.com/work/

All Talk Resources: joekarlsson.com/2020/09/the-art-of-computer-science

You can view a complete list of my past and upcoming talks with video on my website joekarlsson.com/speaking