The Iowa Tech Podcast

My friend, Kaylee recently invited me to be on the Iowa Tech Podcast and I almost turned it down because I didn’t think I had any relevant content.

I clarified that I've not been involved with an Iowa-based company in over 15 years and have been remote for so long that I’m not used to chopping it up about tech IRL. The invitation honestly made me a bit anxious.

But I agreed, did the interview, had a great time, told my story, giggled a lot, and missed most of the talking points I should’ve hit, hahaha.

Here are the points I wanted to expand on...

1. Take calculated risks

You might not have gathered from my career history, but I’m a fairly risk averse person. Some of the changes I’ve made have felt risky - leaving something comfortable for the unknown… but they were all very calculated risks. 

Whether the next thing worked out or not, I knew at the very least, I’d grow in some way and come out better.

In every case I learned a ton, met great people, expanded my worldview, and remained financially stable.

2. Get in over your head

I mentioned this in the episode, but I truly believe that the quickest way to learn is to get in over your head. It might be a little stressful to get out of your comfort zone for a bit, but it’s a productive, rewarding stress. I’ve gotten in over my head in some way in every single one of the positions I’ve held.

I regret zero of them.

3. You are not an imposter

I’ve often grappled with this because it’s hard to be a true expert in any given space when you’ve touched so many different domains and stacks...and it hits even harder when you're in over your head.

When you move to a new place, it's easy to spot the experts and feel like you're not worthy... but it’s simply not true. You were put into a space or asked to join a team for a reason. Embrace your strengths and your experiences. You have perspectives that the experts don’t and you now have AI to help sort out the details.

In my case, experience, work ethic, and versatility are some of my greatest strengths. I've seen how things work at fortune 100 companies, startups, and a presidential campaign's tech team. I've helped build companies, teams, tech, and shipped MVPs that were good enough to get a company acquired... and I’ve had to remind myself of my strengths many times.

If you ever feel like an imposter, find your people. Find your cheerleaders. Surround yourself by the peers and experts that help you grow or encourage you. Find a person you admire and ask them to be a mentor. I promise that you'll also help them grow.

You don't have to know everything to be incredibly valuable. Being the smartest person in the room is boring anyway...

4. The difference between AI and an engineer

On the podcast, I said that AI was a really good developer but not a great engineer. I had a hard time articulating what that meant on the spot, but ultimately the difference is scope and accountability.

I should’ve said, AI is a really great coder that nails lower level development, algorithms, and testing. It has the context of any given language, codebase, and knows its syntax, patterns and best practices. It's a little trickier for AI to understand the intricacies of how code behaves in an entire system - what it interfaces with, the history of architectural decisions, business context, tech debt, weirdo bespoke integrations, etc. A lot of these things still need the help, judgement, eyes, and brain of a human engineer.

Additionally, AI is unable be held accountable. It's the engineer who owns the consequences of the design.

5. Rocket is innovating and I’m here for it

I was so caught up in my story and overly careful about leaking Rocket IP that I did a poor job articulating that we’re truly building cool stuff. I believe we're seeing Rocket transition from a bank focused company to a tech giant that serves the mortgage industry. I’m thrilled to be playing a small part in this shift and am excited to see how far we can go. If this sounds fun to you, we should talk. 😄

6. Have fun

Many of us spend more time around our coworkers than our own family. If you’re not having fun or enjoying what you do at work, make a change. Either figure out how to do that where you’re at or make a move.

Finally…

This whole thing was a little out of my comfort zone and a bit awkward. I was out of practice and didn’t have my talking points dialed in. I took a small risk putting myself out there and I grew. That’s the goal.

I also apparently really like people to touch my stuff. 🤦‍♂️

If you haven’t listened, check it out at iowapodcast.com/derek-brooks

And if you do, I’d love any feedback.

Thanks for the opportunity, Kaylee!