Voices of XYZ
This three-host podcast, each a member of Generation X, Y, or Z, discusses how their experiences of the same events - such as their first day of school, first crush, or first computer - differed from a generational viewpoint. All three grew up in the Midwest and are now software developers.
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Episodes
Friday Oct 18, 2024
Friday Oct 18, 2024
In this episode, we mainly discuss our first year as a software developer. What was advice you wished you had when you had first started? How have you experienced imposter syndrome; how do you overcome it? What unexpected skills did you end up needing? What has your experience been with #agile & #scrum? Did you know software used to be shipped to a "merge master" via tapes? And much more - listen now!
Friday Oct 04, 2024
Friday Oct 04, 2024
On this episode, we discuss how video games affected our lives. How has eSports grown and evolved since the late 90s? What was the Pandora's box of paid downloadable content and what has it changed since? Does anyone remember the unplayable Atari E.T. or SwordQuest games? And much more - listen now!
Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
On this episode, we discuss our K-12 experience. How has bullying changed over 40 years? What about school lunch and recess? Did you forget about the complex and contradictory social hierarchy of middle school? And much more - listen now!
Friday Sep 06, 2024
Friday Sep 06, 2024
In this episode, we travel back in time to our college years. How do college students navigate their first semester these days? How has student entertainment shifted across the years? Are the men's dorms still a smelly mixture of cologne and trash? And much more!
Friday Aug 23, 2024
Friday Aug 23, 2024
In this episode, we discuss how we started our careers as developers in the 90s, 2000s, and today. How did people create resumes in the 90s? How has company and worker culture shifted in the last 30 years? Is stealing stuff out of a shared fridge a timeless tradition? And much more!
Friday Aug 16, 2024
Friday Aug 16, 2024
In this very first episode, we talk about slang and memes - how they started, how they spread, and the cultural impacts that they had on each of us.
Christian Snook
I was born in 1967 and grew up on an acreage outside Melcher-Dallas, Iowa. At the age of 12 I became fascinated with most all things music. Since I lived in a pretty remote/isolated area I kept myself busy teaching myself guitar, piano and music theory. I also played trombone in Jazz, Concert and Marching bands. Eventually I started writing and performing songs with my best friend.
I started college at Northeast Missouri State University as a Music major, but ended up getting my Bachelor’s in Business Management. My hope was to get into the music business eventually start my own record company. It was during that time that I took my first programming course (COBOL). After graduation I soon realized the whole business management thing was a huge mistake. Because I had loved that programming course so much, I decided to go back to school get a Computer Programming degree at Indian Hills Community College. I graduated in 1993 and have been programming professionally in the Des Moines, Iowa area ever since.
These days in my spare time I still write and record music and hope to release an instrumental album in the near future. I enjoy reading, especially books about WWII. I also love spending time with my kids and girlfriend Kristi, who is helping me search for the ultimate margarita recipe.
Ben Sampica
I was born in 1990 and grew up in the tiny town of Center Junction, Iowa, which I then graduated from Anamosa High School. After initially attending Iowa State University, I took some time off to gain real-world experience in hardware and help desk roles. Eventually, I decided to pursue my education at the University of Northern Iowa, which led me to settle in Des Moines to start my career as a software developer.
My passion for all things nerdy started early. One of my earliest memories is watching my oldest brother play Warcraft II on our Windows 95 computer. Growing up in a rural area with limited resources, video games and the internet quickly became my go-to sources of entertainment and creativity.
Today, I’m fortunate to have a wonderful wife and two amazing daughters. My wife is nothing short of a superhero, supporting me despite my well-known role as a dungeon master for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and tolerating my ever-expanding collection of Warhammer 40k literature, which now occupies an entire bookshelf.
If you'd like to know more about me, visit my website.
Elmin Didic
I was born in 2002 in New York City and moved to Des Moines, Iowa, for some reason when I was one. I attended Iowa State University, where I majored in Software Engineering. I had internships at several places, but one was at Casey’s General Stores, where I met Ben and Chris! I now work as a Software Engineer in Des Moines.
I have always been super into video games. Ever since I could remember, I was always playing something, much to my parents' dislike. I started to code after learning that Minecraft was made by one person. Since I was in third grade, I would say I was connected to the internet and have watched it evolve a lot.
I spend most of my time juggling work, a startup, and my personal life. I used to play games super competitively, even playing for Iowa State’s college team in Valorant. Now, I just play Stardew or college football. Being competitive, I broke too many mice and controllers.
Feel free to check out my website.