Casting Spells with Brooklin Myers

Brooklin Myers is on a quest to change the perception that Elixir is difficult to get into and we are so grateful to have him as a guest on the show today. Aside from being a passionate programmer, Brooklin spends a lot of his time trying to encourage new members in the Elixir community through his Twitter account and podcast called Elixir Newbies. In this episode, we talk to Brooklin about his relationship with Elixir and its broader community, why he loves the space so much and, and why he wants to help it grow. We cover his journey into programming and how he got involved with Elixir specifically. He talks about the features of the language that he loves most and how learning Surface has allowed him to use Elixir in the same way he used to use React. Our conversation also ventures onto the subject of Dungeons and Dragons, another passion of Brooklin’s, and he tells us how learning programming is the closest he has come to fulfilling his dream of being a wizard!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Region-specific spelling and our peeves about words we easily misspell.
• Brooklin’s background in React and how Surface has helped him use Elixir in a similar way.
• Structure and testing: Why Brooklin loves Elixir and how it compares to JavaScript.
• How Brooklin got into programming and left his job selling computers.
• What led Brooklin to discover Elixir and how he realized its true potential.
• The aspect of problem-solving and continuous growth Brooklin loves about programming.
• Brooklin’s desire to help others learn and why he started the Elixir Newbie podcast.
• How to get over perfectionism: the value of remembering it is okay to fail.
• Sundi and Brooklin’s approach to taking notes and turning them into posts or tweets.
• How Brooklin handles his writing, podcasting, and other work by time-blocking.
• Brooklin’s love of Dungeons and Dragons and the improvisation of being the DM.
• Why Brooklin loves fantasy and how programming is the closest thing to real-world magic.
• The impacts of Elixir on Brooklin and how supportive the community has been to him.
• Whether Brooklin feels that learning Elixir has changed the way he codes.
• Aspects of Elixir that can improve regarding ease of access to the community.
• Final shoutouts from Brooklin and where to connect with him online.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Brooklin Myers on Twitter — https://twitter.com/brooklinjmyers
Elixir Newbie — https://www.elixirnewbie.com/
Elixir Newbie Podcast — https://podtail.com/en/podcast/elixir-newbie/
Lost Mines of Phandelver – https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/dungeons-and-dragons-5e/deal/lost-mines-of-phandelver-adventure-free
Kealy Doyle — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kealy-doyle/
Jono Stiansen — https://twitter.com/JonoCodes
Matthew Baker — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcbii/
Anton’s Pasta Bar — https://antonspastabar.com/
Keith Eats Everything — https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9qQXSjI-WOppp4B9x5bgsBS3993KAX2e
Surface — https://hexdocs.pm/surface/Surface.html
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/

Special Guest: Brooklin Myers.