streaming, shotgunning, & twitter

full transcript

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Hello, hello. Thanks for listening to guidance counselor 2.0. Listen, I want to give you a quick rundown of what this podcast is and what you're about to get into as you listen to these episodes. We had guidance counselors in middle school. We had guidance counselors in high school, but we didn't really have guidance counselors in college. And now as professionals, we don't really have anybody to turn to to ask a quick question to learn something about the job search or to navigate your career. So that is what I want this podcast to be for you. I want it to be a tool for you to navigate the job search and your career.

So that being said, I hope you enjoy this episode. And if you need to reach me, tailor at vacovac.com is how to get and touch me old-fashioned email social media at TDS&T D-E-S-S-E-Y-N. And finally, please rate and review this in the app store because I want this to be discoverable for others so they can navigate their careers. I hope you enjoy the episode. Let's give the people what they want. Who are you? I'm here for it. Who are you? What do you do? And we'll go from there. Yeah, I'm Drew Clemitz and I'm a front-end engineer from South Georgia. Currently work with a company called NSL.

And I like to write a bunch of you code. I love it. I love it. So Drew, your story is crazy. I love it. So Drew and I were chatting off air. Drew was like, yeah, man, streaming shotgunning in Twitter. That's basically it. And I was like, man, that is such a great show title. So today we're talking about streaming shotgunning and the power of Twitter and the power of community of virtual coffee. So I want to start it off, Drew. Just give your story. Obviously, it's a crazy story. So if you can kind of start when you were kind of at your lowest, I guess you could say.

Yeah. So that for as it is for most people that puts us right at the beginning of COVID. So in 2019, I moved across state and bought a house for a job opportunity. My wife and I and I are at that point in time. Ten-month-old daughter. You know, packed up, moved across the state and then fast forward to March of 2020. I was working full-time as a designer. I was working part-time as a developer doing some contracting and within seven days of each other. Like both of those dried up. I was the last one to hard on as a full-time role that I was working with.

So, you know, I was the newest one there. So I was the first one to be let go. That's fine, understandable. And I remember I reached out to, so I was only part-time with the contracting just because I had the other full-time thing. So when they let me go first, so I turned around to the contract. I was like, hey, my schedule is wide open. Do you want to up these hours a little bit? Because I wanted to be full-time programming anyways. And their response was kind of like, actually dot, dot, dot. And I was like, all right, well here we go. So yeah, it was a rough start to the year.

And we were five months pregnant with our second child at that point in time. So it was definitely a wide-so-of-full-time stay-all mom. So it was a gut check for sure. But yeah, from there, I posted it. I'm going to wrote you real quick, right? So I was getting that news. I don't want to gloss over that, right? Yeah. One kid, second kid on the way, moved across the state for a new job. Then we're told that both jobs that you thought you had were gone. Yeah. I'm always interested in the first 24 hours, first 48 hours. Like those murder documentaries, when it's like the first 72 hours, like is where you got to find somebody or like they may not be found type situation.

I don't want to go too dark on this Monday, but the first 24, 48 hours, man, where was your head at? Because I listen, it's paralyzing. And so talk to the people watching it and kind of how you felt and then what you did within the first 20, 40, 48 hours. So the first one, when they let me go from the full-time role, that was our main source of income. So they told me kind of like first thing that morning, like I woke up, I did my morning routine log-down for the day and they were like, hey, let's have a call real quick. Which didn't, that part wasn't out of the ordinary.

What caught me off guard was when the CEO, who was for this company, usually not around a lot, when he was on the call, that kind of felt a little odd. But then they had the conversation and whatever. And I found out like 8 o'clock that morning. So I don't think I actually... I was right back. Is there a set I would cry for 48 hours? Right, no, I don't know. I wanted to. I wanted to for sure. Trying to get into Drew's brains to try to help you all as well. Yeah. So my heart was in my stomach and I don't even think I told my wife until the next day.

So I literally say to my office, like I was working that entire day. And what I was doing, that was, that's part of where the shop-cutting starts taking place. Like, okay, at least have something partially lined up. Or, you know, it probably took 24 hours just to help, just to get the courage to tell her. Because like, I don't know. I spent a lot of my early twins without jobs. And that I was fine with it then. But the part I wasn't okay with was having to tell her that there's a chance that I would not be able to provide. Like, I had been providing.

Like, in my mind, like I just couldn't grasp it. Like, there are enough words configured in the right way in the English language to like, make this a sentence. Or, you know, to be something I want to say. So that first 24 hours was rough. I think I went through, I don't know. I went through like ups and downs of like, you know, I understand their business by the blah to, you know, complete rage. Like, why did you let me buy a house six hours away? I was comfortable where I was. You should have just let me alone. Like, I went through all of those emotions.

Like, it was a roller coaster that first, definitely that first 48. What? Where did you go after that? Right? Like, you're like, all right, the first 48, you know, I told the wife, obviously, you know, if we want to get into the father, dad psyche, right? I mean, that's a huge hit not being able to provide for your kids and your wife and head spinning and hearts and your, you know, stomach. And once that settled down after about 48 hours, what was the first thing that you did that potentially helped you find your next job? Um, I'm trying to think about the exact sequence. There were two things that kind of happened simultaneously.

Hey, Nick. The, the first thing I did was I was talking with my wife and I was like, she already knew at that point I wasn't developing full time, but and she knew that I wanted to and my, my portfolio wasn't as thick as it was then or as it is now. So what I told her and she was understanding of is like, what I'm going to do is I, I'm still going to be in here, you know, five, six hours a day. And it's going to be a combination of me like building stuff and sending out applications because the more, the more I can have built under my belt, the more validated I'll be when I started playing for these jobs.

Um, which is part of where the streaming starts coming, but we could get into that a little bit later. And the second thing I did was like, by that point I had built, I wasn't huge huge on Twitter yet, but I knew I had some, some, some of a network, you know, I could tech Twitter network on there. So I just posted on there, I was like, you know, I just, I can't, I can't recall the exact tweet in my head, but I was like, look, you know, I just lost both sources of income. You know, we're, so one baby seconds on the way, like I'm at my woods and if anyone has any, any leads or like any resources, I would have taken anything.

I had so many people message me and just their messages of like confidence or like good vibes like helped a lot. How, how, how well did that tweet get do just to put in perspective? Um, so perspective usually when I tweet it gets either zero interactions because I talk a bunch nonsense or it may get a few likes and a retweater to. Um, I think this one has been retweeted over 600 times at this point. It's still like two years later every now and then it will still get another tweet. Are you serious? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're, they're definitely, definitely less than less.

I think the last one, yeah, it was a couple months ago, every now and then it pops up and I'm just like, it's, I love it because it's just a reminder of like where I was and like what transpired out of that. So, so, so all right. So first 48 hours, you, you know, first day you just acted like you're working here and such. Yeah. The second day told the why. I don't think she knows that part of it yet though. Yeah. Yeah. I hope you're honest, I want to. But if she is, hello. Um, so second day, obviously told the wife started to kind of process a little bit more and then you immediately went into obviously Twitter.

What made you post to Twitter? Like like, like you talked about tech Twitter a little bit. I'm packed that a little bit more like why was that in your mind? Why were you like, because I'm trying to get people's minds about you leveraging putting themselves out. Why did you go, okay, Drew, you need to post on Twitter because here's why. Yeah. Um, I'm trying to think of how to articulate it. I knew I'd had my, my first six, my first true experience with tech Twitter is that I had a question about a West boss course and West himself. responded directly and, um, it's give some perspective.

I've, I tattooed for a long time and in the tattoo world, if someone asked for help for, hey, this person does something rad. Can someone help me learn how to do it? It's like everyone's cards to their chest. No one tells secrets. They didn't, they didn't at least when I was in it. Um, so to have that, so to have the inverse of that on Twitter. Um, it was a bit of a culture shock. It also just showed me like how willing everyone is to help. So that's probably the first thing is that like I just, I know in tech Twitter, people are 99% more likely be willing to help than in my experience in any other industry.

I've been involved in. Yep. Um, and then also I knew, um, you know, I'd befriended a couple of, it's, it's really just that same thing. Uh, over and over like I've just, I'd, I'd ask a small, I'd ask a small question and get, you know, not necessarily. Heavy hitters, but people that didn't even know who I was beyond my Twitter handle reaching out to like jump on a call or help. And, um, I guess in my, in my mind, I was thinking that like if, if people that don't know me are willing to help me on a small problem and is like debugging a line of code, like there's got to be people that will go that much farther for like helping me get out of like this rock bottom that I'm at now.

I love that mindset. So, so let's kind of get into obviously where the, because we're already halfway through and, and, and, and, and yes, Romero, there is a happy ending to this. He does find a job. I didn't mean to leave you on, on suspense. So streaming shotgunning and Twitter. So obviously we've talked about Twitter a little bit. Talk about your streaming. Um, what made you get into that? How did you use streaming to, to help find a job even though it may not be directly from. finding a job if that makes sense. Kind of what we talked about. Yeah. Um, so what, when the, when all of this first started happening, I mentioned to my wife that I, you know, still needed to be working all the time to build a portfolio.

Um, and you know, sending out applications and part of that was I, I'd done some video game streaming in the past, which is partly why I have this set up. I do. Great set up. Um, thanks. Um, yeah. So I, I'd already kind of knew like the streaming space. I already knew what it took. Um, and I think even as far as like coding goes, I'd already done like some small coding streams. Um, but so I decided I was just going to go all in and build one thing. I didn't have a, I built a lot with React. I mean with view, I didn't, I hadn't built a lot with React.

And I knew I wanted to be able to apply to as many jobs as possible. So I wanted to react, you know, a little more comfortably under my belt. Um, so I just streamed like six hours a day just building it ended up becoming the protege.dev job board, which I've sent sent it off to other people. Um, it was it, it was a, uh, I forget what the tagline was. You were literally stream for six hours just building. Yeah. I mean, I, I'd, I'd maybe put like a pause, a pause screen up and like go get a sandwich over lunch or something like that. But yeah, I'd wake up.

I'd fire this stream up at like eight or nine in the morning and then just go until like, um, I mean, sometimes just sometimes I'd go all the way to like five or six like, you know, if I got really into the weeds. So it gives me goosebumps. And usually when I hit goosebumps, it means we're on to something like again, what in your mind made you stream a programing react as it's not right. Cause again, I want to tell you in people's brains like what made you go, you know what maybe streaming obviously know the answer probably. But, but why did you stream and not just build and build in private?

Yeah. Um, so it's fun that you said that because I, it wasn't too long before that that had actually seen or started to hear about the build in public hashtag. Um, uh, Randall says my intro version is cowering. I'm actually an introvert myself. Um, I'm going to need about a week to recover from this. I'm kidding. I don't need to leave for this. No, I'm not here. I don't know. I'm so, I'm, I'm, I'm, yeah. Well, that like if, if we know a family is coming for the weekend, I need, I need to know like two weeks in advance because I just need to get there.

Um, yeah. So the, uh, the thing I had that told me like, it was really that thing like I just needed. I needed to, I needed to just put stuff out there. Whether it was on LinkedIn, whether it was on Twitter, whether it was through streaming. I just needed to increase my web presence by whatever means I could find and Twitch was the one that I was probably most comfortable with. Is that cool for your tattoo background? Cause again, I mean, obviously, you know, I fell a tattoo lover over here too. Um, you obviously go, I, you know, when I'm looking up tattoo studios, I go immediately to their Instagram.

Right. Me too. That's the game. And see there are. Yeah. Did you have that? Were you like, maybe I should put myself out there like I did it with the tattoo studio because it's kind of the same thing. Was that ever a thought? Um, I don't think it was as directly connected as I thought like that, but that was essentially. Um, yeah. The, the main thought was like I just need to, whatever drew is on the internet, I just need to make that bigger. So easy. Thanks for hanging out with us folks. That was it. That's what I wanted right there. That was good. I love that.

So, so streaming. So now people probably like, well, Drew did did that streaming actually help you land a job and the answers know like we talked about. But talk about how it actually really helped you. Once you started getting going. Uh, yeah. So I didn't, I didn't land a job from streaming. The work I did on protege, which is, uh, I will say I have met some fantastic friends from that. There's a group of developers that I'm still in touch with today. One of them is actually one of actually a developer at, I think he actually works at Twitch now, which is funny because I found him through Twitch.

I was his first ever viewer that commented. Uh, and he was streaming to like just me and now he's like a developer at Twitch, which was just crazy. Um, but yeah, the, when I started get, when I did, after my, after that tweet kind of snowballed a little bit, I had a lot of leads and a lot of interviews and it was really the, the fact that I was shipping something not necessarily that quickly, but even at all under the circumstances, I guess. Or, or what I was shipping and how quickly it was evolving. Um, that really in for the first contractor all I did end up getting, um, after, you know, losing all the sources of income, I would say protege is 90% responsible for what they gave me the chance.

Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. So it did help. But you were able to point back people, right? So yeah, it was like, hey, listen, here's what I've done and they could go check that out, which is not. So you can check that out, which is obviously huge. And again, I think, and Drew, credit me if I'm wrong, I think streaming in public allows you to probably think through things a little bit more and obviously verbally talk about it, which is a whole part of the interview process. Exactly. Right. So like, if you can get comfortable streaming, you obviously have to know what, you know, you have to be able to communicate, which obviously is important.

Um, so quick two questions here from Lavanda and Romero. How do you start a tech Twitter just use the hashtag. So create a Twitter account. And then there is there a hashtag. I know there's a hundred devs or a thousand. What is it a hundred devs? A hundred devs. Yeah. So that's that's that's a tech. So that's a that's a hashtag to use. But then also too, you can use hashtags tech Twitter too, right? And I think where it started for me when I first started using Twitter for my tech career, I was listening to podcasts like the code newbie podcast, the syntax podcast, Lawrence Bradford had a show, I think she's still doing it called learn to code with me.

So I would follow, I would follow their Twitter accounts and you know, I would follow follow people I saw responding to their tweets and stuff like that. And that's really kind of how I started to build mine like up. It pretty much from podcast expanded out. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And again, you know, let's see him kind of going back here too. Yeah, kind of what Barrett said and Barrett's a former guest of the show, you know, Barrett. I would just post I wouldn't do an over amount of hashtags. People will engage with you over time, but you guys stay consistent. But yeah, I, you know, I don't do a ton of hashtags, but that's I do have a podcast episode kind of deep dive in on how to use Twitter because it's kind of its own animal.

Yeah, Steve, you know, Steve, Steve's out here streaming every day. He's kind of doing a recap of my show. I think that's a great idea. I think, I think putting yourself out there. Listen, listen, if you can get comfortable streaming. Like an interview is going to be easy. If you really think about it, I think streaming may be the hardest thing to do consistently. And if you can do that, your interview chops are going to be great. Right. So as we wrap up here. So talk about talk about your shotgun approach. I mean, I'm not really big on shotgunning, but I want to see how you used it.

I do think it can be a part of your job search. Not the only thing I think people rely on that solely. How did you kind of layer in everything? Did you like stream for six hours and maybe mass apply for an hour and then use Twitter? Like, how did you kind of balance everything? Yeah. The, the routine I could have had was I would stream. During the day, you know, have the afternoon off to spend family time. And then I would usually get back all the computer from like 10 to midnight where I was just scouring every job board. I could find because it kind of, I would, I would work on a project during the day, but because I didn't have any people like actually using it now.

I introverted self didn't want to market it. What I would do, I would use that that block from like 10 to 12 or and I would go look for, I would discover every job board to try to find stuff to both cross post back to protege to kind of dog food that. And then at the same time, like I'd find someone like, okay, this can go to protege, let me apply and cross post. Okay, this can go to protege, let me apply and cross post to. I love it. I love it. So let's talk about community real quick. How people are in community. And if you want to give a shout it's a virtual coffee.

Because I think people are obviously scared and don't know where to really find community. So how did you find community on Twitter? I found community through a failed podcast if you want to think that way. So I had 2019 I'd plan to do a podcast interviewing developers. I recorded three episodes and I couldn't find a Ford. So I just, it was just kind of dead in water. One of those three episodes was actually back up from virtual coffee. So we met kind of pre virtual coffee. And then when she started posting about it, that was when I jumped in. As far as finding the community, it's, it's a weird thing.

I have a, my mentor invited me to a, to a community he's in on Discord and like, I'm friends with the people and they're nice and they're helpful. But it never really felt like I was part of the community. I just felt like I was there. But if you contrast that to virtual coffee, like I feel like I don't feel like I'm just there. I feel like I'm a member of that community of that sense. And that that's not as light towards the other. I mean, there's still also people and I like, I don't know for whatever reason. I guess maybe I think what it is is they're all like crazy senior stupid smart people and like I was introduced to them when like I was struggling to write HTML.

So maybe I feel like I didn't fit then. So I've just mentally never allowed myself to get their sense. interesting. But yeah, it's all about someone said it earlier in the chat that like just put yourself out there and the people that connect the people that vibe will you vibe with you will show up and it's just going to grow from there. 100%. So I've one final question, but I want to give them are there any other thoughts that you can give the job seekers? Is there any other tips or tricks that you want to share before asking my last question of the day? The, so I've been working with a friend who's been in the process of trying to find his first job and the one thing I keep telling him is like just keep showing up.

Like it doesn't matter if it's one day a month. It doesn't matter if it's one day a week. Just whatever it is. Just keep doing that and you'll get there. And that's what my mentor told me back in 2017 is like you're doing something which is more than most. So just keep doing that. I love that. Yeah. Listen, it could be showing up, make it was showing up, making a post every day on LinkedIn. It could be showing up to a meet up monthly consistently. It could be showing up to streaming weekly, right? But again, I just think staying consistent and being available and being in front of people is incredibly underrated in the job search world.

All right, Drew. Last question of the day. And again, Twitter spaces, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter. TikTok, thank you. And for tuning in today. Last question. We have any questions for Drew. Definitely ask him now. But my, my last question for Drew is we had guidance counselors in middle school elementary school. High school. But now as adults, you don't really have them. They're called therapists now. They're not really a great component of, but we don't really have guidance counselors. And so my question to you is what advice would you give your younger self? When it comes to career, right? Obviously you were a career transitioner as well.

You know, going from tattoos to software. I'm sure maybe some other stuff in between. What's what's what's your biggest advice to to your younger self? My biggest advice to me, our self is find people that are willing to take a chance on you. And sometimes you have to put yourself in situations you wouldn't normally to, to meet those people, but meeting them will be absolutely live changing. I love that. I love that. That's awesome. Nick goes, what's your next tattoo? I love it. All right. Well, y'all, thank you again for hanging out with us today. Drew stay on real quick as we wrap up. I want to say about you again.

I would go connect with Drew on Twitter. Twitter space is Drew's obviously in the in the chat right now. Go connect with him. But everybody else, thank you again for tuning in again. Shout out to render. ATL for again, picking up the show. This this upcoming year or check them out. GC2.0 not dash zero $25 off. And we'll see you all tomorrow. That's a good easy piece. Hey, you did it. You'll listen to an entire episode and I am very grateful. You know why? There's a lot of podcasts out there. There's a lot of episodes and I myself rarely finish an entire episode. So I appreciate you so so much for listening.

Quick reminder, please rate and review this podcast in the app store. I want this to be discoverable to others and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it. Please like right now. Unless you're driving, then don't do it. So thank you again. If you need to reach out to me, tailor at vaco.com or at t-test and on all social media handles. And I hope you have a fantastic day. Thank you.