Foojay Podcast #22: When Profession and Fun Overlap

Plenty of developers spend their weekends teaching kids to code, build robots, or tinker with Raspberry Pi boards. That side work often shapes their day job in ways they did not expect. In this episode we sit down with Jeanne Boyarsky, Monica Beckwith, and Igor De Souza for Foojay Podcast #22.

What we talked about

• The First Inspires program and what volunteers do inside it
• CoderDojo and how kids step from participant to coach
• The career impact of volunteering with young engineers
• The “rule of three” and why girls-only events matter
• Professional lessons we carry back from volunteering
• Technologies that inspire kids, including Java on Raspberry Pi
• Java in education and the move from STEM to STEAM
• Other STEAM projects worth a look

Why it matters

Volunteering with kids forces you to explain hard ideas in plain words. That skill pays off in code reviews, talks, and team work. The guests share concrete examples of how their hobby work overlaps with their profession.

See the Foojay Podcast #22 for all info, shownotes, links, etc.