All Things Tech! A New Podcast

Hi Shabaz,

I haven’t listened to a podcast in sometime and I found this interesting. One thing I noted missing was that the topic wasn’t on the podcast page - eg “This first episode includes a brief discussion on the state of tech jobs in the current climate”.  It is probably your plan, but I would be interested in the deeper dive into say ChatGPT, what makes it different than previous AI, how it might be helpful in business, etc. There were many interesting topics mentioned but I was left wanting more details on your thoughts and the reasons behind them. 

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not sure why this episode zero doesn't have a more specific description on the page, however the system allows for a topic description for at least all subsequent podcasts, and the next one has already been recorded (not scheduled yet), and it definitely has a unique podcast description, i.e. not a common whole series description. That next podcast incidentally does go into ChatGPT and other AI.

The length of podcasts might be changed. It's a good point, how detailed should they be. We actually recorded a much longer first episode (1 hour) however the feedback was that it was too long. A longer podcast is also harder to do, dedicating that much time once or twice a week might be difficult to sustain. Another option could be to have less topics per podcast, to go deeper on fewer topics. It is also hard to know which direction the podcast will go during the recording period, since it is currently natural and unedited. Maybe an in-between option could be to have links to the topics in the description, for those who want to read up more; or a way to have interactivity, which I'm not familiar with, since I'm new to Spotify etc.

Nice.

I must admit I would have liked a little more depth on the subjects you were discussing. You seemed to mention a subject and before really getting started you were off onto something else. Would one topic per podcast work?

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the feedback. This seems to be a consensus, that it's better to go deeper and not deviate into other topics. I'm thinking one way to do that will be to be more specific in what we plan to discuss, and have a Post-It note reminder stuck in front of the screen with "stick to the topic at all times" written on it.

For instance, the next podcast, although it covers AI, does deviate slightly, but in the approximate area of the subject that we started with. That needs to be controlled a lot more. There are many interesting things to talk about, and the conversation could digress, which doesn't help the listeners, who will be interested in the topic they were expecting. It would also be nice to find ways to get information URLs out somewhere, so that those who get interested in any snippet know how to dig deeper, or have ways to ask; this works both-ways, because it would be good for listeners to contribute their advice, since everyone is an expert in different areas.

Yes, I was thinking fewer topics per episode and keeping it to 20 minutes 

I'm going to listen.

Youtube is also a good platform to post it to. The AmpHour gets a few 100 listens via that channel. 

I was able to listen today. Production-wise, you guys did a great job. It did not sound like your first podcast, which is no easy feat!

For what it is worth,I see no reason to limit yourselves to 20 minutes for the audience's benefit. Limiting your recording time is for your benefit, not ours. I am unsure where this notion comes from, but many podcast hosts often bring it up. "Oh, we don't want to go on too long because you are busy!" So? Personally, I have never had the expectation of listening to an entire podcast episode in a single session. I listen in 10-15 minute chunks throughout the day.

Just looking through my queue, the shortest episode I have waiting is 45 minutes, and the average is almost twice that. Just my two-pence.

Anyway, I think you guys did a great job, and I look forward to the next one!

I am aware of the large layoff at Microsoft and some other tech companies, but it is in sharp contrast to the situation around here. Here there is a severe shortage of people in virtually every industry. Supply chain issues are gradually easing, but the trade war between the USA and China is not over, and inflation is a factor in everything these days.

Hi James,

Thanks for listening, and for the feedback!

We didn't get a complete consensus from an unpublished hour-long "pilot" we shared with some colleagues, some didn't mind even 2-hour podcasts since that was the length of time they listened to existing ones occasionally.

Others suggested covering just 2 or 3 core subjects with a time limit of 10 minutes or so. Another suggested short and sweet, and another mentioned that it should be mixed up, some quicker ones and then some deep dives that could be longer. From what you say, perhaps we have gone to an extreme of trying to keep it at 20 minutes, and we should just extend where needed, and as a few people also mentioned, to not switch topics so much.

The next podcast is already recorded, it ended up being close to 25 minutes because although we were keeping an eye on the time, we forgot. I'll let my colleague know that we shouldn't be afraid to extend longer instead of an artificial stop. Also with longer podcasts, we could either split and publish several in a day, or chapterize it, by writing in the written description (since it's harder doing it in the audio stream since we are not editing it, we are doing just a single take) what will be on the recording so people can fast-forward if they are not interested in one topic but are interested in another.

Thanks again for the feedback, probably we were a little nervous at the start, but hopefully it will improve rather than go downhill as it progresses!

Hi Doug,

That's great feedback! Here a lot of job roles at some of the large orgs seem to have dried up, or are perhaps hiring only in some countries. Also, there seem to be a lot of contract roles, perhaps orgs are nervous about hiring permanently (even though it's not that difficult for firms to hire-and-fire in the UK (much the same as the US I believe, whereas in contrast it is a lot harder to fire in some countries in Europe, like France I believe). There is the cost of hiring permanent employees I guess, which would be higher than contract roles perhaps, regardless of country.

One thing we forgot to mention on the podcast, but might be worrisome, is that some smaller backward firms (or even small autonomous departments in large firms) may try to get rid of employees through performance reviews/probation type stuff. There is legislation they need to follow, but employees may not be confident enough to hire a lawyer (or might not be able to afford it).