Recent Episodes

• 115 | Look for those who need help (fixed audio)

  Mister Rogers' mom said, when things are going poorly, "Look for the Helpers." I love Mister Rogers, but I have another idea.

• 114 | Catching Up On Where I've Been

  I've been creating a lot of content in other places. Here's a quick update on what I've been doing.

• 113 | Your Online Presence Matters In Job Applications

  Your online presence matters in job applications.

• 112 | Don't Make Me Throw Out Your Resumé!

  Don't make me throw out your resumé.

• 111 | Introducing Onramp, OMGPHP, and WhyPHP (ALL ALPHA!)

  Introducing three new not-ready-for-real-time web sites I'm working on: https://onramp.dev/ https://omgphp.com/ https://whyphp.dev/

• 110 | Figure out the values, then make the choice according to your values

  Figure out the values, then make the choice according to your values

• 109 | Just break that overwhelming project up

  Just break that overwhelming project up

• 108 | Knowing, and Getting, What You Want

  Knowing, and getting, what you want Recent newsletter Sign up for newsletters

• 107 | Enterpreneurial Survivorship Bias

  I think we have a bit of entrepreneurial survivorship bias Survivorship bias definition

• 106 | How we picked our insurance provider (slash my guiding principle)

  How we picked our insurance provider, and my guiding principle

• 105 | You can't make everyone happy

  You can't make everyone happy

• 104 | How we set our prices

  How Tighten sets our prices

• 103 | Christmas 2017 with the kiddos

  Per special request, Christmas 2017 with the kiddos

• 102 | A few simple tricks for editing your blog posts

  A few simple tricks for editing your blog posts

• 101 | Your Top Idea, and Letting It Fester

  What's at the top of your brain? And what's the benefit you get from having to wait on something, letting you brain roll over it? Paul Graham - The Top Idea in Your Mind Transcript: Hi, I'm your host Matt Stauffer, and this episode 101 of The F...

• 100 | Overlapping Communities

  TRANSCRIPT: Hi, I'm your host Matt Stauffer and this is Episode 100. One, zero, zero. We've made it! I have not, I was going to say tweeted. I've not podcasted, I've hardly blogged, I thought I was back a couple months ago and then it turns out t...

• 99 | Take Care of Your People

  Take care of your people

• 98 | Take care of yourself

  Take care of yourself

• 97 | Conducting reasonable, grown-up, discourse online

  There's a big difference between conversation and snarky quips. Hire More Women In Tech

• 96 | Direct communication and why passive aggression isn't what you might think but sucks anyway

  A chat about indirect vs. direct conflict, what passive aggression is and isn't, and some tips for responding to folks who manipulate others indirectly.

• 95 | Credit where credit's due

  Give credit where credit is due

• 94 | One easy tip to being in the top 2% of freelancers

  The tip: Be a grownup. -- Transcript -- Matt Stauffer: Hi. I'm your host Matt Stauffer, and this is episode 94 of the Five-Minute Geek Show, a weekly show about development and everything around it. It's one topic per episode—about frontend, back...

• 93 | If you don't know "why", you're not going to do the right "what"

  Understanding the end goals--the motivation--of your clients, or yourself, allow you to make the small decisions in ways that serve the goal, rather than potentially fighting it.

• 92 | Spoiling yourself to avoid burnout

  Spoiling yourself to avoid burnout

• 91 | Commitments, not (or and) goals

  Small, measurable, manageable commitments help people like me move toward their goals. Transcript: Hi, I'm your host, Matt Stauffer, and this is Episode 91 of The Five Minute Geek Show, a weekly show about development and everything around it. It...

• 90 | It's OK to specialize. We're a Laravel Shop. That's OK.

  It turns out, it's perfectly OK to specialize in a certain tech. Who knew! Tighten

• 89 | Start preparing now for what you need then

  Whether it's getting a new job, launching a product, or finding new business, the things you'll need in the future require you to plan now.

• 88 | Somebody is going to have to do the hard work to bring equality

  Notes: Equality vs Equity Graphic The New Jim Crow Carlos Doesn't Remember - The Revisionist History Podcast Transcription: Hi. I'm your host Matt Stauffer, and this is episode 88 of The Five Minute Geek Show, a weekly show about development an...

• 87 | I don't think we mean the same thing when we say "remote"

  I don't think we mean the same thing when we say "remote"

• 86 | Why source diving is an undersung skill

  Why source diving is an undersung skill

• 85 | Planning makes better (meetings, podcasts, bizdev, interviews)

  Planning makes better (meetings, podcasts, bizdev, interviews)

• 84 | I don't think you have $10,000 to waste on that AWS token

  I don't think you have $10,000 to waste on that AWS token -- don't commit your credentials to GitHub! phpdotenv dotenv 10,000 AWS secret access keys carelessly left in code uploaded to GitHub

• 83 | Find your power

  You have more power than you realize. Really. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart series The Great Tighten Experiment Andy Crouch: Culture Making, Playing God

• 82 | How Are You Getting Paid For Your Free Work?

  In what ways, other than money, are we paid for our free (open source, teaching, etc.) work? My latest blog post: Why I Published My Book With O'Reilly Bootstrapped.fm with Jane Portman CreatorLove

• 81 | What to Do When You Get Sick

  42 Lines article "Some principles of web development" including good talk about when you're sick

• 80 | Know why you're doing what you're doing

  Vision and goals for every thing you do allow you to make good decisions in the face of conflict Refactoring To Collections

• 79 | Quick thoughts on my new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

  Quick thoughts on my new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

• 78 | Inbox Zero, Getting Things Done, and freeing your brain

  Inbox Zero, Getting Things Done, and freeing your brain Inbox Zero Trusted Trio Getting Things Done My six-year-old write up of GTD

• 77 | Split Online Personality: race, ethnicity, justice, and "just stick to tech"

  I don't just care about tech: I'm also deeply passionate around issues of race, ethnicity, and justice. Three-Minute Geek Show My old race/ethnicity/justice blog Pulled Over

• 76 | Write Code For Humans

  Write code that you will love to write and return to, not for speed or computer optimization or whatever else. Pay money to stop wasting time "Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans c...

• 75 | Tips On Starting a User Group - Interview with Steven Wade

  An interview with Steven Wade, the creator of Upstate PHP Upstate PHP @stevenwadejr PHP.Net page on User Groups Gainesville PHP Greenville, SC Wikipedia

• 74 | I can't feel my hands (when I'm overwhelmed with stress/anxiety)

  I can't feel my hands (when I'm overwhelmed with stress/anxiety) Greg Baugues - Devs & Depression Ed Finkler - Open Sourcing Mental Illness Adam Culp - Developer Anxiety, We're Not Alone Adam Culp - Delayed Anxiety, Never Forgotten (not men...

• 73 | Introducing Briefs.fm and the Three-Minute Geek Show

  Talking about the new service, briefs.fm, and my new diary/micropodcast, the Three-Minute Geekshow Briefs.fm Ben Orenstein Chris Hunt Three-Minute Geek Show Three-Minute Geek Show on Twitter Vim tips with Ben podcast Codecation updates podcast...

• 72 | Statamic v2 beta (on Laravel), Craft, and the problem of syncing CMS schema

  Statamic - note that everything I say on this episode is about the Statamic v2 beta Craft Soon-coming Tighten blog

• 71 | Tighten's Pull Request Culture

  How we use Pull Requests at Tighten Tighten Five Minute Geek Show Episode 23: 3 Ways to Give Back to Open Source & How to Write Good Pull Requests LICECap

• 70 | To Conclude, Startups Are Basically the Same as My Toddler

  Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Fortune writeup on Seth Priebatsch

• 69 | Convention over Configuration, Convenience over Complication

  Convention over Configuration, Convenience over Complication

• 68 | Programming on Twitch

  A live-streamed episode about live-streaming. How meta. My Twitch channel AssertChris' tutorial on how to stream on Twitch OBS

• 67 | Estimates are Bull****

  Full Stack Radio - Woody Zuill #NoEstimates Agile Manifesto

• 66 | Don't be a jerk

  Don't be a jerk Gator Linux User Group event

• 65 | Pay money to stop wasting time

  Ottomatik Nitpick Forge Dead Man's Snitch

• 64 | Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the DHH

  Tech leads and visionaries don't have to be Buddha. RECONSIDER recent blog post by DHH DHH Fuck You - showing some of his brashness Laravel Podcast - the episode I referenced in this article isn't actually out yet, check back soon.

• 63 | Rapid Application Development and Testing Together Forever

  Rapid Application Development and Testing can be best friends forever. My slides from Zendcon Laravel's Testing documentation Confomo refactor branch

• 62 | Only Do What Only You Can Do

  How do you prioritize your work when you have too much on your plate?

• 61 | Everyone's A Little Bit (Different)

  Every developer's experiences, needs, and clients are just a bit different.

• 60 | Learning How to Answer the Question, "What Code Should I Test?"

  Learning how to answer the question, "What code should I test?"

• 59 | Being a Remote Employee Ain't Easy

  Being a Remote Employee Ain't Easy 37Signals Remote

• 58 | Notifications, Procrastination, and Distraction

  Concentrate.app The Mildly Alarming Podcast - Third Time's the Charm Why Procrastinators Procrastinate

• 57 | Open Source Imposter Syndrome

  Releasing open source code can be terrifying.

• 56 | Dressing Up When You Don't Need To

  Why it might be worth dressing a bit nicer even when you don't have to. Zuckerberg's uniform FMGS episode on Integrity

• 55 | Sometimes More Features & Toys Makes It Worse

  Sometimes More Features & Toys Makes It Worse

• 54 | Do You Need To "Protect" Clients & Developers From Each Other?

  Do you need to "protect" clients & developers from each other? Why is it that, in most agencies, there's never any direct communication between developers and clients? Thoughtbot Tighten

• 53 | The Ultimate Recipe For Success and #Winning

  The Ultimate Recipe For Success and Winning is not what you might think. What really matters: doing good. Build and Launch Episode 27 This American Life about Economic Cults Multi-Level Marketing

• 52 | You Don't Have the Luxury to Stagnate

  You don't have the luxury to stagnate

• 51 | The Ideal Project Management Tool, and What I Use Now

  The ideal project management tool, and what we use today at Tighten

• 50 | Why Communication is the Most Important Thing

  Why Communication is the Most Important Thing

• 49 | When should an employer "force" employees to use a tool?

  When should an employer "force" employees to use a tool? I mentioned "forcing" my employees to use PHPStorm in a podcast recently. What was I talking about?

• 48 | Soylent (Green is People)

  Matt tries Soylent for the first time. Soylent Soylent Green My Year With Soylent EAS Whey Protein Powder Video version

• 47 | All About Family (featuring special guest my 2-year-old son)

  My son joins me for the best episode of all time.

• 46 | Decoupling all the Things with Queues - with Derick Bailey

  WatchMeCode Javascript expert Derick Bailey joins us to talk about why queues are the answer to every web application problem, ever. @derickbailey DerickBailey.com WatchMeCode RabbitMQ For Developers Bundle - use the discount code 5minutegeek fo...

• 45 | When Generalizations and Stereotypes are Helpful vs. Hurtful

  Sometimes our generalized understandings of groups of people are helpful, but more often then they're hurtful. How do we know which is which?

• 44 | How you should pick your tools

  Many people's metrics on how to pick the tools they use is wrong. Don't be wrong.

• 43 | Stop Lying About Your Motivations

  We often use some external situation or justification to cover up what we don't really want to talk about it, and it's damaging our mental health and our relationships. We have to stop.

• 42 | When Microservices and SPAs Aren't the Right Answer

  Microservices are great. But not always. Single-Page apps are great. But not always. RailsConf Keynote from DHH Bikeshed episode that I haven't listened to but was recommended to me about this topic

• 41 | Asking Good Questions About Your Product/Project

  How I'm learning to ask good questions (which usually start with "Why"). Karani Jobs To Be Done Symposium Github Repo

• 40 | Finding Inspiration In Predictability (and in Being Unpredictable)

  It can be hard to find inspiration in your work. Sometimes it helps to be predictable--and some times it helps to switch everything up.

• 39 | Planners vs. Cowboys in Product Design (An Ode to #AnnoyingQuestions)

  In product design, the "planners" need to figure out the plan before you start, and the "cowboys" just want to get coding. Wee need them both, and we need them to work together. Karani Confomo Gistlog Symposium Markedstyle Ry...

• 38 | How to Make Remote Work Suck Less

  Everyone's in love with remote work. So are we! But there are some big pains that come along with it. REMOTE Campfire Slack Sqwiggle Screenhero

• 37 | Start your own podcast in under 5 minutes, take two

  Start your own podcast in under 5 minutes, take two The Real Five Minute Geek Show Blue Snowball Blue Yeti Simplecast

• 36 | Getting Started with Passive Income -- Interview with Wes Bos

  Wes Bos of "Sublime Text Power User" and "Command Line Power User" gives a quick introduction to supplementing your income in a non-skeezy way using passive income. WesBos.com @wesbos Sublime Text Power User Command Line Powe...

• 35 | Just Use Your Dang Name

  Just Use Your Dang Name

• 34 | How to responsive-ize your web site AND Introducing Podcast Wars

  The Mildly Alarming Podcast The Mildly Alarming Podcast - Episode 7 In which they introduce the podcast war The Mildly Alarming Podcast - Episode 8 In which they give the outro I played in the app That Podcast Episode 16 In which they talk about...

• 33 | Why the Slack haters are wrong and Slack > IRC

  Disagreeing with the Slack-naysayers in a controversial manner so more people will listen to my podcast

• 32 | Integrity (and why it doesn't mean what most people think it does)

  Talking about integrity--why it matters in tech, and why it doesn't mean what most people think it does.

• 31 | Keep It Simple (and short and not super indented and well named and lots of other stuff), Stupid

  How to keep your code neat, clean, easy to follow, and to draw nearer to the mythical "Self-documented" code

• 30 | Why I Don't Work From Home

  Why I work from a remote office instead of from home

• 29 | Introducing VitalSigns Because Otherwise It Won't Happen

  Given my advice in the last episode, I'm introducing my open source project here VitalSigns Symposium Gistlog Confomo

• 28 | Should You Tell Everyone About Your Next Best Idea?

  When you have a really exciting idea at the top of your head, is it better to keep it secret or share it with everyone you know?

• 27 | Your Justification for Having a Non-Responsive Web Site Is Wrong

  You may have some reasons in your head for why your web site isn't wrong. They're all wrong. LessAccounting AutoPilot

• 26 | It's all about that schema

  Talking about the MEAN stack and why Mongo & NoSQL make you work too hard MEAN Mongo Express Angular Node

• 25 | Which IDE/Code Editor is the Best?

  How do you figure out which IDE/Editor is the best for you? Sublime Text PHPStorm Vim EMacs Atom Textmate IntelliJ

• 24 | How to Write Technical Blog Posts Quickly and Easily

  I write often at mattstauffer.co, and I've been trying to learn how to do it quickly and easily. I share some of my process in this episode. That Podcast 750words.com Mattstauffer.co

• 23 | 3 Ways to Give Back to Open Source & How to Write Good Pull Requests

  Three ways to give back to opens ource, including contributing code--and, in the midst, how to write a good pull request. My Laravel.com pull request A podcast episode about The Perfect Pull Request that I embarrassingly have not listened to yet...

• 22 | "If You Don't Like It, Just Leave"

  Often people will respond to someone saying they want more or different in a language/framework by saying, "If you don't like it, just leave!" Is that the right response?

• 21 | Why Tech Conferences Are Worth the Cost

  Often folks look at tech conferences purely for what they can provide in terms of learning in sessions. But, there's a lot more to look at. PeersConf Laracon US Laracon Eu LessConf

• 20 | How To Handle Your Code Breaking

  When your code--or, more specifically, your code executing through a plugin or a framework--stops working, how do you debug it? There's a big difference between how junior and experience developers answer this question. Stack trace xDebug PHPSto...

• 19 | What if _____ Gets Hit By a Bus?

  What happens if the leader or leaders of my favorite framework/tool/etc. get hit by a bus? Angular 2.0 roadmap announcement Full-Stack Radio Episode 8 The Man With the Golden Voice, Sean Devine Batman.JS Youtube Link

• 18 | Growth Hacking Without the Gross; Interviewing Mubashar Iqbal

  Interviewing Mubash Iqbal, "Mubs", about his early success with Interviewed.io Mubs' Personal Web Site Mubs on Twitter Interviewed.io Interviewed.io at Product Hunt Interviewed.io at Hacker News Interviewed.io at Designer News Steve P....

• 17 | Entrepreneurship Advice From a 30-year Business Veteran

  Asking an experienced entrepreneur, developer, and business owner for 5 minutes of his best advice for entrepreneurs. Steve Jackson One of Steve's most recent businesses, Telemachus Press Definition of P&L, Profit & Loss Statement Youtu...

• 16 | The Twitter Experiment Part 2: Remaining Uncomfortable

  In part 2 of a 2-part series, we're reviewing the results of the great Twitter experiment. Five-Minute Geek Show on Twitter Twitter rules and best practices - Aggressive Following Youtube Link

• 15 | The Twitter Experiment Part 1: Getting Uncomfortable

  In part 1 of a 2-part series, we're going to talk about what helps you make decisions on Twitter behaviors and follow-backs. Plus, we'll just be uncomfortable spending an entire episode talking about Twitter drama. Five-Minute Geek Show on Twitt...

• 14 | Where the Best Startup Ideas Come From

  The best way to come up with an idea for a new startup, SaaS, or app. Karani Startups for the Rest of Us Rate us on iTunes Youtube Link

• 13 | Http Status Codes And You

  A brief explanation of HTTP Status Codes Wikipedia List of HTTP status codes W3.org Status Codes http://httpstatus.io http://httpstat.us http://httpstatus.es Youtube Link

• 12 | Create-a-Theme-Song

  Make your own theme song in Garage Band Note: All links are affiliate links and support hosting costs. M-Audio Keystation 61es - Which has gone up significantly in price since I bought it :/ M-Audio Keystation 49 M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 Yout...

• 11 | Make Great Coffee for Cheap

  Geek doesn't have to be about computers. Note: All links are affiliate links and support hosting costs. Cheap setup: Maker 1: French Press (cheap option by Bodum) Maker 2: Hario v60 and v60 filters Maker 3: Aeropress Grinder 1: Hario ceramic gri...

• 10 | Where Do I Breakpoint?

  Where do you place your media query breakpoints? Readability: the Optimal Line Length Youtube Link

• 9 | To _blank or not to _blank

  Should you always use target="_blank"? Never? It turns out... (tune in to see) iTunes podcast for rating Gist Conversation about microphones Picture of my Notebook When to use target=“_blank” Youtube Link

• 8 | Start Your Own Show

  Podcasting, Video Casting, and more Podcast Method Simplecast.fm Sculpin Blue Snowball microphone (affiliate link) Blue Yeti microphone (affiliate link) Blue Yeti shock mount (affiliate link) Mic stand (affiliate link) Pop filter (affiliate link...

• 7 | Continuous Integration Etcetera

  Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continous Deployment. Sculpin Thoughtworks Continuous Integration Martin Fowler on Continuous Delivery CircleCI Scrutinizer CodeShip Youtube Link

• 6 | The Holy Grail of Content Management

  The Holy Grail of Content Management Simplecast.fm Sculpin Jekyll Octopress Craft ExpressionEngine Drupal Wordpress Statamic Youtube Link

• 5 | CSS for Backend Devs (OOCSS)

  CSS for Backend Devs (OOCSS) Synergy Webinar The RSS feed The web site The Twitter The Github repo My blog post on CSS organization OOCSS BEM SMACSS The Single Responsibility Principle Full-Stack Radio Episode 1 Bootstrap Without All The Debt Y...

• 4 | To Docblock or Not to Docblock

  To Docblock or Not to Docblock Schmiffling “PHPDoc”, docblocks in PHP TypeHinting in PHP Return Type Hinting RFC Jesse O’Brien Introduction to PHP Value Objects YouTube Comment from Shawn McCool that describes exactly how I feel about DocBlocks...

• 3 | Making Your SDK Play Nice

  Making Your SDK Play Nice Moar Cawfee please Simplecast.fm Soundcloud for Podcasting Dave Hicking, podcast producer extraordinaire Adam Wathan, podcast producer extraordinaire PHP YouTube SDK PHP Withings SDK Machuga’s tweet Youtube Link...

• 2 | Rapid Application Development

  Rapid Application Development DNSimple Forge Linode Github repo Laravel installer Gitflow - Link went dead Screenflow Rapid application development The tweets timing RAD: Start - Finish Youtube Link

• 1 | Tabs vs. Spaces

  Tabs vs. Spaces Steep.it PSR-2 Youtube Link