JD's Journal
Having roamed this planet for six decades, and after 47 years of full-time employment in a smorgasbord of roles and locations, I'm sharing the gems I've gathered plus the wisdom of other remarkable leaders and innovators who I've encountered along the way. I don't have a clear destination yet, but based on my historical experience, it's certain to be a dynamic and unpredictable adventure. Welcome aboard!
JD's Journal
Julian Sequeira: Python and Mindset Mastery
Have you ever wondered how a tech enthusiast morphs into an influential mindset coach? That's the story of Julian Sequeira, our guest whose journey from AWS professional to empowering leader is nothing short of remarkable. His insights on personal growth and the seamless transition from technical expertise to nurturing others' potential are a beacon for anyone seeking to redefine their career trajectory.
This episode peels back the layers of empowerment, as Julian and I discuss how acknowledging and leveraging our strengths can propel us toward success. We laugh, share wisdom, and talk candidly about the dynamic synergy in partnerships, the inspiration behind our PyBites podcast, and the audacity to take the first step towards achieving your ambitions. It's a narrative that highlights how education aligned with passion can transform lives, as evidenced by the individuals who've found newfound confidence and career paths through our coding coaching program.
Wrapping up with a blend of humor and heartfelt discussion, we tackle the intricate dance of balancing business, family, and full-time work. Julian offers his strategies for juggling these facets of life with discipline and joy, reflecting on how significant relationships shape us as individuals. So, join us for a conversation that's as rich in dad jokes as it is in insights, where we celebrate the diversity of experiences and the cultural tapestry that enriches our personal and professional worlds.
The Pybites can be accessed at Pybites - We Create Python Developers
Hi folk, and welcome to the JDs Journal podcast where, every couple of weeks, my guests and I share some of our life's journey our successes, our failures, the valuable lessons that we've learned on the way and the resources that we've gathered that have allowed us to survive, prosper and thrive. The opinions and perspectives shared on JD's Journal should be taken and applied with your own good judgment. Episodes of the podcast are largely unscripted and unedited. I'll do my best to keep things on topic, but you can expect some occasional glitches and a little meandering along the way. I hope, if nothing else, you find that entertaining. Now let's get this episode started. Hi folk, welcome to the JD's Journal podcast. So great to have you all here. I'm really excited about today's episode. We've got a really interesting character who's got such incredible experience to share with us today, so I'm going to start by sharing his bio, how he wanted to introduce himself, so this is what he sent me.
John (jd) Dwyer:The most attractive man in AWS, julian Sequeira, has been a tech enthusiast since birth and an entrepreneur from his 20s. Being the head of the mindset coaching and an owner of his own business, julian spends his days maintaining the fine balance between investing his time in business and being completely present for his young family. That was his intro. So let me introduce you to Julian from my perspective. So I met Julian back in 2017, back in April 2017, when I joined the ranks at AWS and he was a lowly data center technician and the moment I met Julian in fact, I'd heard about Julian before I met him, but when I met Julian, I knew he was going to be trouble, but we've had a lot of fun.
John (jd) Dwyer:I had the opportunity to work more closely with him when he took on the leadership role for an employee advocate team we call ICAAP within AWS, really supporting the quality of the employee experience, and Julian and his Hailey expanded their leadership from that role in Sydney to leading the ICAP for the entire APAC region, which was pretty interesting and, frankly, it's hard to say, Julian, but I was incredibly impressed with the positive impact that they drove in that role. Subsequently, it's been an absolute pleasure for me to follow his journey, which we'll share with you today, both within AWS and also his incredible external venture with Pybites and the work that they've been doing there. So, Julian, did I introduce you appropriately or is there something you'd like to change or add to that, uh, that intro?
Julian Sequeira :I, I completely missed the whole thing. If you could repeat that?
John (jd) Dwyer:yeah, I'll. I'll send the recording later. It'll be fine, you'll notice. I avoided the whole hansen thing too. I just couldn't get there. I shouldn't deal with that. I'm not the right guy, well the, the one thing you missed.
Julian Sequeira :So that was fantastic. Thank you, john, I appreciate it. Um, the thing you missed is just how funny I am. I I did notice.
John (jd) Dwyer:That was glaringly obvious that you skipped that so for the listeners, Julian has the reputation of telling the absolute worst dad jokes, so you know funny by his own measure. Clearly funny, interesting. Anyway, I digress. So we know what you do at some. To some degree, Julian, we'll get you to expand on that. But I really want to try to look at the, the big picture. I want to ask you the big question um, what would you say is your greater purpose? Why does Julian Sequeira exist on this planet and what's going to be your legacy?
Julian Sequeira :Well, actually I thought the big question was going to be are you single? And the answer is no, just for your benefit. But to answer that question, it's really interesting. It's something I never considered in my entire career, because my entire career until the past you know, five years or something has been incredibly tech driven. You know it's been very technical and troubleshooting and away from humans and people working with machines and programming and so on. So it's really interesting now that I find my greater purpose now is it ties. It's now my value, my personal value, and it is lifting people up. So I feel like what I want to do in the world, the legacy I want to leave behind, is for people who, maybe not the entire planet, but at least the people who knew me, looked and said, yeah, he was someone who cared about other people and did whatever he could. He may not have been able to do amazing, life-shattering, earth-shattering things, but he always wanted to help people and lift them up, give them a voice, that sort of thing that's amazing.
John (jd) Dwyer:So that, uh, that transition, that's a fairly significant transition from geek, uh, you know, to to really human advocate, uh, human developer. Um, what was the catalyst? So what was the moment, what was that magic event or or can you think of it um, that caused you to make that transition and when did you realize it?
Julian Sequeira :I think, uh, but I like that. You said human developer. It makes me mix the programming side of what I like to do with coding with humans. Hmm, interesting? No, I think it was. It has definitely been over the past couple of years.
Julian Sequeira :And you know, within four years ago, we launched through my company a coaching program. Right, and I knew I wanted to help people. My business partner, bob and I, we knew we wanted to help people. We didn't realize the kind of impact we would actually make. We thought, yeah, we can help you learn to code, we can help you reach your goals with Python, the programming language. But that was about it, right, we didn't know any more to know any better.
Julian Sequeira :And so, from my perspective, it all changed when we started seeing the results and we started seeing getting the feedback from people when we'd say, hey, what did you think of the program? And you know, there's that slight imposter syndrome of like, oh, they probably hated it, they hated working with us. But hearing these people say things and it's like, you know, you changed my career, you gave me hope, you changed my life. My relationships are better. This, that because it becomes more than just coaching them on programming.
Julian Sequeira :Right, on coding you become life coaches in a way sometimes and people hearing that they gained an hour back every day something like that to someone going I've gotten out of the job that held me back, or I felt I was going to be stuck in for the next 10 years or for the rest of my life, and now I'm a coder making 10 times as much money as I could have dreamed, or whatever. So hearing those stories really made me believe even more in myself and what Bob and I are doing, and that I could continue growing and scaling this and making a difference in a way that I feel I wouldn't be able to do if I wasn't running my own company and calling all the shots, you know. So does that answer the question?
John (jd) Dwyer:Yeah, well it does. I think it answers it really well. I have a feeling I knew that you had this in you before you did because, again, I had the opportunity to observe you in an employee advocate role as you and Hayley led the ICAP, and it was clearly obvious to me back then that you had this thing in your heart, the thing in your motivation. That was very much about people. I saw that compassion and that interest. So maybe the timing was around the same time, but what you've just said correlates so nicely, in fact, to my external observation of your development. I think that's really cool.
Julian Sequeira :You could have said something back then. I mean, maybe it would have. I'm joking.
John (jd) Dwyer:It's so much more fun to watch you stumble through it, Julian. That's why you do this right. Thank you, you appreciate it. You're very welcome. So, um, so, that's, that's cool and and I kind of get a sense we've given the listeners a bit of a sense in terms of of, uh, where you are today and a little taste of where you've come from. But can you expand in terms of of your journey, so you know, from from that moment where you had that epiphany to where you are today, um, how'd you get here?
Julian Sequeira :yeah it's, it's kind of weird, um, so just the first thing I'll say with the business to even start that coaching that we did, I think it's. One thing that's important to me to mention is that we didn't anticipate starting a business when Bob and I started learning Python. Right, we created the brand or the name PyBytes because we just needed the name for a website to share our learning. Bob's in Spain, I'm here in Australia, so trying to share our learning of Python across geos was just ridiculous. So he said, let's pop it on a blog and when I wake up I'll read his blog post and when he wakes up he'll read mine. And it just naturally formed this community around it. And it was through talking with those people and doing some coding exercises, that sort of stuff, that we really came to realize.
Julian Sequeira :Yeah, people think about coaching from a health perspective, from a musician perspective, but never from a coding perspective, and we're like, why don't we do that for people? You know that would help, and that's that's where it all kicked off. And so I suppose you know, with this journey from we started and, to use the S word, we were very scrappy when we started. We all love that word, I'm pretty sure, and so it started very scrappy. But through the learning, through the feedback from people, you know, obviously the program that we run has become much more highly tuned, even more scalable and all of that.
Julian Sequeira :But me personally, you know, it's taught me so many things. It's taught me resilience, it's taught me how to deal with critical feedback. It's taught me about business. You know, there's things that I love and hate about the business side of it, about letting go, because, as the business has grown, I've had to let go of my potential control or input and things like that, and trust more people. And you know, we've grown the team to be, I think, 13 or 14 people now, and so it's taught me a lot about being a leader, about being a mentor, about being a friend, a better listener, patience, all sorts of things right, kinds of things that you learn when you have a kid as well. But, um, I feel like the business talks back less so yeah, I, as you, as you, kind of share that story.
John (jd) Dwyer:So I I recall from one of your early podcast episodes of your own pie bites and I'm going to talk about the the pie bots podcast in a minute but in one of your early episodes you talked about the fact that bob was really the python developer and you were. You did your first podcast and you really were still getting the basics in terms of python, um, and so the the whole notion of kind of fake it till you make it sounds like it's. It's resonated throughout this in letting go of what I thought I should be so the whole fake it till you make it.
Julian Sequeira :I did feel that way with coding right, because I had to do other things. I couldn't grasp it as quickly as Bob. He's just got this unnatural ability to understand Python and just get it Right and I'll have to reread the same line 10 times to understand, then implement it, then do it again, and again, and again, and he would just read it once and he's got it forever. And so there is that comparison that makes you feel a bit like, oh God, what am I doing? But then you know you play to your strengths, you learn what it is that you're good at and the benefit that you bring to the table. What is it that you bring? You don't have to compare yourself. And so that whole fake it till you make it thing.
Julian Sequeira :I did feel it some part with the Python, because a lot of the people that we coached, by the end of the coaching they were flying well above and beyond what I do, and they still do it now. But now I own it. And I'm like, yeah, that's cool, above and beyond what I do. And they still do it now. But now I own it. And I'm like, yeah, that's cool, you're the coachee, not me, and I'm now running a business and tinkering with code on the side, but not certainly not building to the depths that a lot of our clients do.
John (jd) Dwyer:So yeah, that makes perfect sense. So you and Bob it's uh, it's, you've been working together for some years now on this, on this, this business, this program and all things that you've done. And again, for some years now on this business, this program and all the things that you've done. And again, we'll elaborate in a second. But I get a sense that you've naturally worked out your relative strengths and you've worked out the roles that you play versus what Bob plays. Is that correct? Yeah, 100%.
Julian Sequeira :It happened naturally. So you know, there's that old saying like don't go into business with your best friend or your family, and that sort of stuff. But for us we couldn't, we couldn't recommend something better to do, because it's just been. I have this open relationship with him where I can just say whatever the hell I want, and vice versa, right, and we can be completely blunt with each other. No hard feelings, no bruised egos, none of that stuff.
Julian Sequeira :And so, yeah, I've completely come to terms with the fact that he's going to be doing all the Python content and I want him to do it, because we both have this mutual goal of the success that we're both achieving. Our goals are the same, our vision's the same of the success that we're both achieving. Our goals are the same, our vision's the same, and so we both know what we bring to the table and where our strengths lie. And it'll be like it's like wrestling, right, I'll tap him in, I mean you get it, get it. And then, when he's done, he's like no, it's your turn, you come in. So it's really good and having that relationship. So I always think to myself if you're going into business with someone, you have to completely and wholly trust them with everything right and because you just if there is a an essence of distrust, it'll fall apart eventually as far as I'm concerned I think that's an excellent call out to be honest with you and and the vibe between you that comes across when you listen, it's very clear.
John (jd) Dwyer:This, this kind of openness, this relationship, this trust that exists between you. You've got the perfect long-distance marriage because of where Bob's located in the world, but it's working very well for you. So I'm going to ask you to talk about the Pie Bites podcast, but before you do, I kind of want to share my perspective and, for the listeners, I want to be completely transparent and personal. The idea of me establishing a podcast in my 60s, when I first started thinking about this, was so establishment of a new podcast or writing a book or whatever it's to be to have this idea that nags at them forever, but they're afraid to take that first step. So the Pie Bites podcast I expected to be a podcast purely about coding and I'm like Julian told me to listen to it and I'm like why the hell would I listen to this? I'm not a coder, this is not interesting at all. This is not interesting at all.
John (jd) Dwyer:And the thing that became immediately apparent to me, literally after the first couple of episodes, is, as Julian's already talked about, this is not a podcast about coding. This is a podcast about empowerment, about overcoming those fears and finding your resources and doing it. And I think the last one the second, last ones that I listened to was the message was very clear Do something, but take that first step. And you used the term scrappy Do that thing and move on to the next thing and move on to the next thing. You know how do you need an elephant? Break it down. And so this programming podcast has actually been a source of inspiration for me in terms of establishing this podcast. So I just want to, kind of, for anybody who's tempted to have a listen to PyBytes, who doesn't see themselves as a coder, do it. I think you'll be inspired by the podcast. Anyway, I've done your advertising for you. Julian, tell us about the podcast.
Julian Sequeira :Yeah, there are checks in the mail. Yeah, no thanks, john, I didn't know that. That's really touching, I appreciate that. Yeah, no thanks, john, I didn't know that. That's really touching, I appreciate that. But yeah, look the podcast. You're right, we don't talk much Python on it and that's because there are other Python podcasts out there and we said, well, what's going to make this any different? Even if we have two listeners, what's going to make this special for them that they can't just get somewhere else? And one of the guys and I'm going to make this special for them that they can't just get somewhere else and one of the guys and I'm going to send in this episode of your podcast to listen to because I'm using his name but one of the guys, jason, that is in our community. He said to us back at the Python convention in 2019 or 2018 in Cleveland in the US and he said I love listening to you guys talk. You should just make a podcast on that. And that's always stuck with Bob and I and that was the motivation to just bloody get it done. And so the podcast really is just Bob and I sharing with mindset, with having coached people, the insane amounts of reading that we do, just talking about life in general and also connecting that with the Python programming experience. So you'll actually find it's kind of funny how it's worked out now with the schedule of the podcast.
Julian Sequeira :When Bob and I are talking, we get into like almost soapbox material. I'm going to get up here and I'm going to comment on this, or I'm going to talk about this and we're going to give you five tips on this or 10 tips on that, but then you know we do want to have that little bit of a technical thing, so we'll have these technical guests on the show, right? So recently we've had a series of you know, some pretty prominent experts in the Python scene on the show, but my and I may not be there to interview them due to time zones. So Bob and one of our other coaches, robin they tend to do these conversations as well, but my thing when they run the sort of here are the questions we're going to ask them. When they run it by me, I'm like where is the mindset?
Julian Sequeira :So for me, a really important piece of this podcast is about mindset and having a strong mindset, being able to navigate problems and issues. So the questions that we ask these guests when we do have them aren't just lowball, softball, questions of like how did it feel? Making this advanced library, tell me everything? Making this advanced library, tell me everything? No, it's when you had those nights where you didn't want to do anything else but go to bed after a hard day's work and you realize you have this giant library from Python, whatever it is that you're building. What made you choose to sit down and actually code and build this for free, over going to bed or watching Netflix or TV and having a drink or something?
Julian Sequeira :So we want to find out the sort of mindset, the things that are relatable, because a lot of people tend to put these experts, doesn't matter what field it is, they tend to put them up on pedestals and say I'll never achieve that, I could never be like that that person's special, they got a gift for that sort of thing. That's not me and what I want to do is tear all that sort of stuff away, peel it away and say look, these people, these experts. There is a common thread in this. Yeah, okay, they learn things and they're intelligent and can code and they might have a gift for that, but the ability to come back and actually commit to the task and the project. That's not unique, that's something anyone can do, and so I really try to get that out when we do interview people.
Julian Sequeira :And then the last thing I'll say not to go on and on about this is that it's also inspired me to bring in people that I've met, and that's why I love the idea of this podcast, john, is that you're bringing in people from your life, people that you've connected with and that are doing incredible things, things that may not change the entire planet, but they change the lives of the people around them, and I love that side of things. So I'm doing the same thing with talking with people who just do what. Do they call it Like a local hero or something like that, where you're just doing something amazing, but it's within your bubble. It doesn't need to change the planet. So I love that sort of a story, and so we bring in people like that and connect that with the Python journey as well.
John (jd) Dwyer:Yeah, I mean, you nailed my mission, there's no question about it, and that is to identify the local heroes and give them a platform to share the work that they've done and inspire others. That's definitely what I'm here for. I love that you talk about mindset. One of my first podcasts in the series was built around mindset.
John (jd) Dwyer:I'm a massive fan of Carol Dweck and the work that she did, and I think you know helping people navigate their way through procrastination and avoidance and the imposter syndrome and all those sorts of things is so vital to success, and so I love the fact that you and Bob have said it's one thing to teach somebody technical something, to give them a resource technically, but I've also got to give them the mental resources to take that and turn it into something and overcome those hurdles. I think that's incredibly powerful, so it's fantastic. Now, pybytes is much, much more than a podcast, and so what I've been learning about is that you've built an entire learning platform to support this as well, and that's being adopted by others. Can you share some more about that?
Julian Sequeira :I think it's very cool, yeah, being adopted by others. Can you share some more about that? I think it's very cool, yeah, so we built. The first thing we built before we even started coaching was we built a coding platform that's browser-based, so it runs in your web browser like Chrome, firefox, whatever, and it allows you to code live in the browser. And what it does is it gives you it throws a bunch of exercises at you, some tricky problems like hey, you've got this and you've got to do that, how would you do that? And then gives you a free window to code in, so it allows people to tinker, right, and it's there for all walks of life. You know, it doesn't matter if you're a complete beginner, it doesn't matter if you're advanced. There's something that anyone can sink their teeth into, so that anyone can sink their teeth into. So that's kind of so because our company's named PyBytes. We called those bytes little bytes of Python that you can do in your browser. So it's really good. So we enjoy that and that ticks away in the background. That's something that we use as a resource and people play with and they go oh, just keep it fresh on that. That's really cool.
Julian Sequeira :But, yeah, the main thing we do now is other. We have a website with a blog, we have an ebook, we have all those little bits and pieces, a couple of little online courses, but, yeah, the bread and butter is this coaching program and with that, as we've highly tuned that to be as efficient as possible, we take people for 12 weeks and we coach them through building an application of their own choosing. So, john, I know you love theater, I know you love music, I know you love your guitar and everything. So if you came to me and you said I want to build an app that allows me to I don't know practice my guitar or record all I do on the guitar or all the plays that I want to see in the future and where they might happen to be in the world, right, whatever it is you could come to us with an idea and we'll help you mind map. So first we start theoretically, we help you mind map the idea with the technical pieces that you need to build that, and then we coach you through actually building that. So it's up to you to do the code, it's up to you to code, but then, as you get stuck, you have a coach to help you.
Julian Sequeira :And so the analogy we like to use here. The comparison really is a gym personal trainer. So when you're at the gym and you've got a PT, they stand on the sidelines and yell at you to do one more, to do another rep. They don't actually lift the weight for you and likewise we don't code for you, but we will sit there and look at your technique, look at your code and give you those recommendations of actually here's a better way of doing it that you didn't know existed, because you don't know what you don't know. Actually, here's a better way of doing it that you didn't know existed, because you don't know what you don't know.
Julian Sequeira :And by the end of the just three weeks, even people are saying I've learned more in three weeks than I've done in three years, and so by the end of the 12 weeks they have one or two applications that they've built in their own vision. And that's the key part is that it needs to be an app of your design and your vision, because it's not easy and when it gets tough because you're going to be working with databases and all these other technically complex pieces of the coding environment again you just want to go sit on the couch and do nothing. After a hard day's work, the last thing you want to do is code or wake up early and code before work. So we coach people through that, and the way to do that is with something that they're passionate about and yeah, it's really cool.
Julian Sequeira :So we've had. My favorite thing is just people getting to the end and going. That was hard, but, damn, that was good. You know people completely changing jobs, becoming programmers or data scientists and what have you from jobs that were completely unrelated beforehand. You know.
John (jd) Dwyer:What an incredible confidence builder, though, right. So writing Hello World has never given me confidence, right? I've done it 400 million times on different platforms and I've got to say, you know, when I've tried to learn any programming language or anything like that, it's always with a bunch of scenarios that somebody else chose that I don't really care about, and so to give me the opportunities to pick a gnarly project and to coach me the way through it so that I've got to the end. I've got to come out that feeling significantly more confident than I would have just doing some stupid application that I didn't care about. I love, love it. It's awesome.
Julian Sequeira :So I did. I was just going to say, john, that's the hardest thing to quantify about any of this is that the greatest takeaway is their confidence. But how do you measure that? Right. And so trying to try when you're in the sales process right, there is a sales process for all this. When you're talking to someone and you say the greatest thing you're going to get out of this is confidence, like, well, confidence doesn't put money on the table, mate, you know. So you really have to. There's a thing. But then they come out the other end go. You're right, confidence really is the best thing I got out of this.
John (jd) Dwyer:I'm sort of trying to tell you two months ago, but yeah, well, and surely the measure is that they come out of this and they keep coding right, they keep developing and keep doing good things. I mean again, I can remember doing Visual Basic and I couldn't wait till the damn thing was over, and then I never wrote another line of Visual Basic in my life. I hated it. So if you've got to a point where they're still coding, then you've probably got a winner. Then you won, that's right. So, embarrassingly, you know, I did make the decision.
John (jd) Dwyer:You inspired me, julian, to learn Python and I went and bought a book called the Python Crash Course and it worked perfectly. I crashed and I still can't write Python. But what I did work out is I can go into chat GPT using artificial intelligence and I can tell it to write a Python application for me and it will do it. Yeah, I can't read the Python language, so I don't know whether it's a good application or not, but I do that. But I guess the question I want to ask you is you know this artificial intelligence thing and the fact that I can now get it to write the code for me. What does that mean for your business? Is that a threat to your business? Is that an opportunity. How do you look at that?
Julian Sequeira :Yeah, that's a really good question. First and foremost, it means I can get rid of all my stuff. No, I'm kidding, that's never going to happen. No, look, and that's the fear that everyone has. That's why I made that joke, because everyone's like, oh, ai is going to replace my job, especially as a coder. But when you take the fear out of it and you actually use AI, chat, gpt to help you write code, and we use it in our coaching, we coach people on how to use it for the coding right, because we don't want them to be afraid of it.
Julian Sequeira :The thing is, as you were saying, you can say, hey, write this Python function or class for me that does this right, that's fine. But how do you know that that's accurate? How do you know? And, okay, fair enough. You could say, well, just run it, and if it works, then it works right.
Julian Sequeira :But you cannot trust it. You just cannot trust AI yet and maybe in the future, maybe with years of practice and whatever, but you can't 100% trust that what it's spitting out is one Pythonically correct, and what I mean by that is it adheres by Python standards, right. But also you can't trust that it's not going to create a bigger problem further down the line. So while it might do something to solve the problem, it might open up your application or whatever it is that you're building for possible exploits and other issues that, because you didn't say lock this down or whatever your security requirement might be, you can't really trust it. So it's great to use to help you with the little snippets here and there, but then it's really up to you to know enough to know that that's safe to use, right? So when we code with it, bob and myself, we ask it to do things that we just don't want to write out all that syntax for I just don't have to go read the documentation, I don't have to do all that, just write it. And then we know enough to read through and go, yeah, okay, that's fine. Or you go back and you say, hang on, that's not going to get me what I wanted, or that doesn't factor in X, y and Z, and it will come back and say, oh sorry, you're right and you're like, well, why didn't you bloody do it right in the first place then? So it's just what it is is people, I think at the moment people are afraid of their own security, job security and fair enough, right, what's happening in the industry at the moment.
Julian Sequeira :But I read a quote today that was super, so I'm glad you asked the question. It's super well-timed. But it said your job may not be replaced by AI, but it will be replaced by someone who uses it efficiently. Replaced by AI, but it will be replaced by someone who uses it efficiently. So, from my perspective in this industry and this is going to sound really blunt and rough it's like get on or sink. Right. You have to learn this, you have to be comfortable with it, because the people who are they're going to be far more efficient than you and they're going to get in there and start using it and spit out stuff and build much quicker, solve problems much quicker and learn much quicker, because you do learn from it. So that's my take on it.
John (jd) Dwyer:I think it's very interesting the way that you position it. It kind of correlates with an observation I've got as well around AI, correlates with an observation I've got as well around AI. And the observation is that when we first saw this chat GPT thing start to become sensational, the universities were fighting it in a very big way. They were saying we won't allow this because I'll frighten the students who are going to cheat on their exams and so forth. And we've seen a flip recently where the universities are embracing AI and doing exactly what you described. They're basically changing their curriculums to say now it's a tool, now we're going to teach you and incorporate this into the curriculum, how to use the tool the right way.
John (jd) Dwyer:And I liken it to I'm going to show my age here when I was young. I can remember my, my older brother. English is a language, is a problem too. Anyway, I remember my older brother, who's five years older than I am. Um wasn't allowed to use a calculator at school. He had to use a slide rule because using a calculator was considered back then by the education to be, you know, removing the learning experience. It was cheating in the process.
John (jd) Dwyer:I can remember later on, when personal computers eventuated, we couldn't use a computer at school. That was the other question. We're not going to use a computer, and of course we've evolved. The kids are getting tablets at school and it's the norm, and I do think you're absolutely 100% correct. What's going to happen here is that we're going to see this become just another tool in supporting many, many industries, or all industries, in some way, shape or fashion. But we're on a journey, and I think the other point that you made that's incredibly important for anybody playing with AI is there's a garbage in, garbage out element to this. Ai is just generating content based on what it can find, and nobody's vetting the quality of that content right now. So if you're using it, you might be getting complete bullshit. You never know what you're getting, and so be careful with what you do.
Julian Sequeira :I think it's fun. Well, you know, you know what utopia kind of looks like to me this might be. Just show you how, how much of a dreamer I could be sometimes. Wouldn't it be amazing if all of the roles that could utilize ChatGPT and I understand, not every role can use it, but just imagine a world where we could use it and AI in general, not just ChatGPT to speed up the work that we do and give us that time back, instead of saying, well, hang on, gpt or whatever has just it means that when you deploy code, instead of taking four hours, it only takes one. Now you can squeeze more into those extra three hours. Well, wouldn't it be amazing if companies and we all came together and said, well, look, we can all shave an extra two hours off our day, so let's just do six-hour work days, same pay, same salary, same everything, but knock off at three, knock off at two. Wouldn't that be great?
John (jd) Dwyer:Where do I sign? I'm in.
Julian Sequeira :Well, we're going to have to start a colony on Mars first, I think, to be able to get away into it. I'm game.
John (jd) Dwyer:What the hell. We should do it, Love it. Hey, Julian, I think something that we all struggle with is you know, you mentioned in your bio that you're balancing the business, a full-time job and the family, and I'm really keen if you could share, like how do you do that?
Julian Sequeira :Like, what's your strategy to manage those three very important conflicting somewhat priorities, I think. So what I do is I tap into my life force, so I know all of you listening. You can't see the video, but since John last saw me, I have aged considerably. But no, really the way and I get this question a lot from people about I don't know how you do it. You manage the kids, you manage a family life, being present, the, the job, the. You know pie bites and everything like that, and then time for myself in between, which is, you know, admittedly, the smallest piece of the pie there, uh, but anything counts. 15 minutes a day is more than enough sometimes, um, because you know, pie bites gives me energy, but the.
Julian Sequeira :The main thing that I am really strict about with people are my boundaries, and I should be more strict with Bob. I know you're listening to this Bob, so I will be, but he's the only person that can bypass those boundaries, right, and obviously you know my wife and stuff. But the main thing is to have those boundaries in place, and I know everyone hears this a lot. You get these tips and tricks from emails at work and you hear them everywhere, but it doesn't work if you don't respect them and if you don't start saying no to things that happen between that. So a great example is I know, if a nurse is trick as well hopefully they do you block out your calendar, right. So if work is one of those places that tends to drop things in your calendars, just put yourself as out of office in those really meaningful slots and have a talk with your manager and set that expectation that this is non-negotiable time. So for me, every day, from 5 till 8 pm, no one gets a hold of me, no one gets a reply from me, except for the family right Between 3 and 3.40 or 3.45, again, never have a meeting. I will not jump on a meeting. I will not drive with a meeting on my phone. Nothing, that's my time picking up the kids from school, right, and in the morning, seven to late, that's breakfast time with the family and the kids getting ready for school. So again, sacred time.
Julian Sequeira :Obviously, you can see, my priority are the kids, but setting those boundaries allows you to be more efficient in the time that you do have. So as an example, 8 pm every night is my time to work on PyBytes. That's when I work on my business. It's my time. I don't take meetings unless it's an emergency. I don't do anything else but PyBytes and I've set that expectation with the family and they're okay with it. They support me through it.
Julian Sequeira :Obviously, if things happen, I will definitely go and prioritize family first. But again, that's setting those boundaries serve as triggers as well. So when my body clock hits 8 pm I'm in the mood for pie bites. I don't actually get the urge to go and sit and watch TV. It's kind of creepy and weird. I have the urge to come, sit here and build and work and coach and do things. So I think the biggest tip I have for anyone to balancing all these different things is set boundaries. And it's easier said than done because things come up, emergencies happen. Managers can be less accepting of those sorts of things. Work can get busy. So obviously you'll have your off days, but try and make that your status quo and you'll find and that's how I do it and I think a lot of people will find that success as well.
John (jd) Dwyer:I love the discipline and I was about to say that sounds really hard, but it kind of shouldn't be right. The reality is, to block your calendar shouldn't be hard, and so I think it's a great strategy. It won't work for everybody, but I think it's a good thing to do. No question about it. Have you always been that way, or is that something that is a learned skill?
Julian Sequeira :Oh, that is a learned skill and a half, without a doubt. I used to. I mean, I love my video games. Again, you can't see the camera, but I've got Marvel video games behind me and stuff on my wall and the pool of playing some of these games. They're addictive. You just want to keep playing.
Julian Sequeira :You've got your mates playing, and so there is a learned discipline that you have to choose what is more important. So there are plenty of nights I'll be sitting here working and I'll see the game platform, steam, pop up, saying that my mates that you know from the AWS data centers are currently playing this game. They're playing Grand Theft Auto together, and I'm like, oh, I want to play, and so what I'll do is I'll close the app. I'll close Discord, the chat app, so that I don't see any of it, and I'll just keep working. But it takes discipline and it's something that I've just out of necessity and desire to see PyBytes become a success. Those are things that I have learned to sacrifice, and now it's not even a sacrifice, it's just a pleasure to work on the business.
John (jd) Dwyer:Well, I think the willpower is inspiring, julian. I really do. I think we can all learn that discipline, and I'm actually sitting here as I'm talking to you, thinking about what could I block out, what could I do. I think it's really challenging me as well. I love that. So let's talk about your journey again, just briefly. But along that journey, what's been the most significant hurdle that you've come up against and how did you overcome it?
Julian Sequeira :So for me me, it was kids and, and there was no overcoming that. There was no overcoming that. Um, I was not ready. I don't think anyone is. And and you, you'd be in the same boat from when you had the kids. No one could prepare you for having kids and the immediate, the absolute immediate loss of your own time and sense of self. Just everything you do becomes about these kids, and, and that's a pleasure, right, that's a gift.
Julian Sequeira :I completely subscribe to that. I'm also human and realize that I need stuff for myself too. Right, I need, and some people might get the pure energy from kids, and I certainly. 90% of my energy comes from the kids. They force me to have energy. But on the flip side, I kind of want to sit there and watch an adult show without having to worry about kids walking in when there's a fighting scene or something. Or I want to sit here and play a game, and I don't want it to be 11 pm when I start. I want it to be midday, like the old days. And same thing I used to from my career perspective.
Julian Sequeira :I used to throw myself into work and not care about the hours in the day, and I reckon there's so many people who would listen to this that think the same thing. I'd be. Happily. I wore it as a badge of honor to show up to work, sometimes at 7.30. I mean, what else did I have to do? Right, I didn't have kids. I was like, yeah, screw it, I'm up anyway, I'm just going to go in, I'll get extra work done, and then I'd stay, I'd have an extended lunch because I got there so early, and then I'd go. Yeah, I don't feel like going home. I'm really digging this problem. I'm working, I'm going to stay at. It'd be 6pm, you know. Next thing, you know you've done a 12 hour day, and so the biggest hurdle was getting out of that mentality.
Julian Sequeira :When I had kids and because part of me still wanted to do that, thinking that was the definition of success in the corporate world, and so having kids took that time involuntarily away from me, and the only way I would be able to give that time to the company would be to just work insane hours after hours after the kids go to sleep, and, as anyone who's had a baby knows well, when the kid goes to sleep, you bloody get to sleep, because if the house is a mess or there's work to be. You just go to bed and so that sort of that. It was a nice hurdle, but it was certainly the biggest challenge to get myself out of that whole mindset and get myself really thinking about what's really important to me. And yes, work is important. I find value in that, but it doesn't need to be all encompassing, take over my whole day. So the kids a good learning tool, definitely a challenge.
John (jd) Dwyer:Well, I'll say two things. One of them is well, I'll say three things. You've got gorgeous kids. But two, if you want to see Julian light up more than he lights up about Python, ask him to tell you about his kids. He immediately lights up. There's no question about that and I, having worked with julian, I respect just how much he authentically prioritizes the kids. He's not afraid at all to say no, that time is not convenient. That's kids time, um, and he's hard and fast about that, and I love that, julian, I think that's that's tremendous commitment uh, have I ever thanks?
Julian Sequeira :did you repeat that sorry? I said, did I ever have to say no to you because of the kids? I don't think so.
John (jd) Dwyer:Well, I don't think so. I don't think so. You were late to start recording this podcast because you were with your kids, and I love that. When you messaged me and said I'm putting the kids to bed, I'm like good on you. That's awesome. That's the Julian that I know.
Julian Sequeira :Do you want to repeat the next message you sent after that? No, all right.
John (jd) Dwyer:I might have mentioned that you were standing between me and dinner and a beer. That's okay, but I said it with a smiley face, let's face it.
Julian Sequeira :It was a passive aggressive smiley everyone.
John (jd) Dwyer:That's what it was. All right bring us back to the podcast. So this is one of my favourite questions that I ask everybody If you could talk to the you at the beginning of this amazing journey, what would you tell yourself? What are the major things that you'd want you to know before you started this trip?
Julian Sequeira :probably buy shares in tesla maybe no, I'm joking, is it? That's not at all, um or any of the big tech companies, then sell on this date and or buy bitcoin. No, I think, um, I'm think, I'm actually glad. So everyone, john did send me this question in advance because I wouldn't have been able to come up with something on the spot. You would have actually stumped me. For the first time ever, john, I think you're giving this one some thought.
Julian Sequeira :Yeah, if there is something that I do that I wish I could have known earlier, because now that I know it's, it kind of works out it would be don't second guess yourself. And I tend to and this is why mindset is so important to me to just jump in and do something and just take the plunge right, because every time I have not second guessed myself and just done something, something good has come out of it, even if things didn't go to plan and whatever, but there is always something positive to reflect on. So if I was to say something, it would be don't second guess yourself, because maybe if I hadn't, in certain occasions maybe certain things would have been different or moved quickly or whatever. I don't know, but that's something I'm going to keep telling myself, now that you've made me think about it.
John (jd) Dwyer:I love that and I think it goes very nicely with the just do something, just have the confidence to do something. And I know we work in an organization that has of um of kind of this high velocity decision making or this fail fast mentality that says that that we we do try things and we're actually okay with it not working out the way we planned to to work at it. It would work as long as we learn something from it, and I think maybe there's some of that in what you just said, but I love that. I think that's a great, a great lesson. There's been the most significant influence on you. I mean, when you think about the people who've been an influence apart from me, of course, but the people who've been an influence on your life, who's the most significant and why?
Julian Sequeira :You know what I was going to make a really cheesy joke, aside from you, john, and then have everyone groan listening to this, oh God. And then you made the joke.
Julian Sequeira :I stole it, stole it from me. I'm going to end this podcast here. I put it in the plug. Look, this one's a really hard one to think about because look, obviously back in the day, mel, my wife, would have easily been the biggest influence on on that, on me. But if I'm to think about the recent years of who I am today, this is going to sound so cheesy and it's going to go to his head when he hears this.
Julian Sequeira :But bob, my business partner, is a bob, just just settle down, uh, but the and the short, and that's a short and easy answer. He's my best friend. We work on a business together. So, of course, right, but it's because the discussions we have, the things that we openly talk about, the sharing, it's beyond just business partners. Right, this is best friend material, this is we can sit. When I went to Spain and saw him in October, it was just a nonstop conversation for the entire week, literally. The only thing that stopped the conversation was either of us having to go for a shower or us sleeping, right, but the conversation would pick right back up the next morning. And so that having someone that I can discuss my business, all of that stuff with, and these mindset things on a daily basis. Our conversations have really strengthened both of our mindsets and mine, and that's why I'm now the chief mindset officer at PyBites we came up with that nice name.
John (jd) Dwyer:Is it like a hat or a shirt that goes with that?
Julian Sequeira :I'm thinking it's a big dunce cap where I get to wear that.
John (jd) Dwyer:I have to admit that's what I was imagining. I was saying um.
Julian Sequeira :so look, it's it, it has to be him from that perspective. But I want to say as well that so many of the things that I am the traits, the, the lessons I've learned it's just I'm someone who likes to connect with people. And so Cassandra Babilia, who is going to listen to this, I'm sure she's trained me to do she was. She was my manager last year, but a friend for quite a while now, for too long that she'd care to admit. I'm sure the word for the year have your word that you go off for this year and my word this year is connection, because I really truly enjoy connecting with people and that's where all the goodness comes from and where I learn so much from.
Julian Sequeira :So there's so many people in my life right now, yourself included, who every time I engage with them, I get something. I don't mean to say I take something, but I get something. I absorb something from to say I take something, but I get something. I absorb something from that. And there are people from work, there are people personal, there's family, there's all sorts of things, right? So I am an amalgamation of many people, I think. But yeah, to go back to your question, it would probably be Bob.
John (jd) Dwyer:Makes perfect sense. By the way, Cassandra has agreed to come on this podcast at some point in the future and, for those that are interested, she has an amazing podcast of her own Make Work Suck Less and a newsletter Very inspiring person with some tremendous insights.
John (jd) Dwyer:I can't wait to have her on the podcast, Really excited to do that and I'm hoping to do it in person with her in the US, which drives Julian crazy that I'm going to do that. Absol'm hoping to do it in person with her in in the us, which drives julian crazy that I'm going to do that absolute fomo, but does my, does my episode come first?
Julian Sequeira :yeah, in that case it recorded in person okay fair enough.
John (jd) Dwyer:All right, we're going to close out with some standard questions that I'm asking all of my guests. Um, the first one and we'll do this kind of fast, heavy shot um, the first one is if you could only read one book, you're stuck on an island or wherever you get to choose one book that you can read for the rest of your life. What book is that?
Julian Sequeira :and don't tell me it's your book I was going to say it's your book, john, the one you had me proofread all those years. No, I, I'm joking, of course not. That'd be what I use to get myself off the island. No, so quick fire, quick fire. Sorry, there is a book series called His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and it's three books. So that's cheating, but they flow right into each other and it was a book series that I read as a teenager and I've read it probably five times since then. And then I had the pleasure of finding out a couple of years ago that he's decided to write another three, um in that, to keep going in that series. And but those original three, I don't think I've read an entire series or a couple of books before that have inspired such imagination, feeling, excitement and just awe. Like Harry Potter didn't do it to this extent, the sci-fi books haven't done it to that extent this one just blew my mind.
John (jd) Dwyer:So that'd be, it Is this fantasy stuff, julian.
Julian Sequeira :It's fantasy stuff. There's a HBO series made on it right now. Three seasons, one for each book, and then it's done. But yeah, it's got the whole multiverse, so different universes, but it's not sci-fi. Multiple universes. There's the human world that we know today. That's common technology, right, so common era, but then you've got stuff in different worlds and crazy things like angels and there's this whole amazing religious undertone to it that really makes you think and uh, just I don't know.
John (jd) Dwyer:I could go on for days so inspired me to check it out now. Yeah, all right, cool. Next question um, is there a ritual or a habit or a hack and you've probably already shared it, I think but that's had a significant impact on your confidence or your success?
Julian Sequeira :So I've shared all the borders and all that stuff, but one tip that I'll give that fills me with confidence.
Julian Sequeira :So the word here that made me think of this as confidence is that almost everything that exists, that we do and this might be very chaotic to say almost everything is arbitrary, right?
Julian Sequeira :Almost everything that exists, that we do, that we anchor ourselves on, has been made up by someone at some point, and to me, the one truly real thing that we have is how we interact with each other. So how I talk to you, john, when this call hangs up, which is going to be pretty rough when, you know, greet the neighbors when I pull out of the driveway, how I do all these things is that's what's real, and so that gives me confidence, knowing that I don't care what someone's not that I don't care, but it doesn't bother me what your title is, it doesn't bother me how much money you have, it doesn't bother me what car you drive. I'm going to treat you the same way that I treat everyone, and I'm going to be interested, I'm going to care about you. I want to know more about you and see what I can do to, you know, improve your day.
John (jd) Dwyer:What a great mental model. I love that. I really do. It's actually interesting living here in Singapore at the moment.
John (jd) Dwyer:I was talking to a taxi driver coming back from the airport about the culture in Singapore, and it is. It's a remarkable culture in terms of how harmonious this country is, and one of the points that he made to me is that we don't look down on anybody. It doesn't matter where they're from, who they are, whether they're the janitor, the street cleaner, whatever. We just don't look down on anybody because you never know. And the street cleaner or whatever, we just don't look down on anybody because you never know. And he said the way he described to me.
John (jd) Dwyer:He said there are multi-millionaires over here drive taxis because they enjoy it socially. So it's like we just don't judge people, we just treat them all the same, and I kind of I think it parallels what you're describing there and I do love that, that mindset awesome. So I want to ask two kind of conflicting questions here, and the first one is when you need to evoke your superpowers. You need to do something that's particularly hard or particularly challenging. You know what's your rocket fuel, what puts the energy in you that you need that extra superpower.
Julian Sequeira :Drugs no, I'm joking, please cut that out if you want. No, it's people. If I am, I can imagine nothing worse than having a stressful situation coming up where I need to say, present or do something and being alone. That scares the pants off of me, right. So for me, if I can be with people who I can draw energy from, like a vampire or maybe not that bad, but at least talk it out with and say, hey, you know, gotta give this presentation in a minute, what do you think? You'll be fine, man, you'll be fine. And then I get into it, then I'm. It gives me the energy. That's what I need love it.
John (jd) Dwyer:I think I'm the same. I can relate to that, so let's turn the table on this. So what's your kryptonite? You know what is the? What is the thing that will suck all the energy, or will kind of? What do you avoid when you procrastinate around? What are you going to?
Julian Sequeira :and the funny thing, it's people.
John (jd) Dwyer:So it okay all right, your schizophrenia is real.
Julian Sequeira :I love people, but there's also the side of me that gets, that finds people draining.
Julian Sequeira :But specifically and this is no one's fault, and so I don't want anyone to think that I'm just cruel or mean but sometimes there are people that just won't accept change, that don't want to change, that won't accept your help and not that you need to help, but even making yourself available, saying I am here if you need something, and then when the conversation you have with them every time is the same thing and the same thing, um, I personally find that draining.
Julian Sequeira :Now, the the caveat I want to give here is that I don't avoid it, because people need you. People need people and sometimes that's just what you're going to do. You're just going to be that person for them to to listen. Right, and I I feel like I have the're just going to be that person for them to listen and I feel like I have the mental fortitude to be able to compartmentalize when I'm being that person for someone. I'm not going to let it get to me, but it is draining to keep that force field up and I like that adage or general rule that you are some of the five people you spend the most time with, and if one of those people tends to be a subtractor, then I'm going to find that very draining.
John (jd) Dwyer:So, yeah, I think that really thinking about this, it's that's probably the one big thing do you find that you I relate to the, the people that have a fixed mindset, who who don't want to change or don't want to grow Do you find that you try to change them or do you just accept it and try to support them?
Julian Sequeira :Oh, I used to try and change them. That's one of the things that I've grown and learned over the years, right, is that being a good friend, being a good mentor or coach isn't just about saying, ah, don't worry about it, try this instead. You know, trying to change them it's almost insulting in a way, right? So instead, I just try and approach everything with empathy, and something I learned today, right, is that you can't always put yourselves in their shoes. So that's something I've been learning about. Empathy is that empathy is kind of like putting yourself in their shoes, but you can't always do that, because sometimes you haven't been through what people have been through and even trying to put yourself in their shoes, you couldn't imagine it. So it's just about providing that space and just asking if they even want your advice or your feedback. So, yeah, I've had to learn not to do that. That's definitely something.
John (jd) Dwyer:Yeah, there's that element of we've all got our stuff and we don't know what our stuff like you don't know what somebody else's stuff is and what they're dealing with. So, yeah, respectful of that, no, I think that makes a lot of sense. So I always want to make sure that I leave my audiences either inspired or laughing, and so I'll give you a choice here. Do you have an inspirational quote that is near and dear to you, or one of your horrible dad jokes? And it has to be a really bad one.
Julian Sequeira :Can I give both Okay?
John (jd) Dwyer:Julie, I'm just going to ask you, you can give both.
Julian Sequeira :You're an overachiever, all right. The inspirational quote. You know I'm not going to quote Carol Dweck or any of those, right, everyone kind of knows those. So this is a quote from a teacher I had in high school, so it's not famous at all. The smallest thing you should put in your ear is your elbow, and that was a fantastic lesson. I have never forgotten about protecting your eardrums, and not do you know what's so hilarious.
John (jd) Dwyer:I'm so, so glad you used that. You know what's so hilarious about that. So recently I started wearing hearing aids. Yes, I'm getting that old um and in and in working with the, the specialist, to get to get arranged for that um, they worked out that I had a bit of a wax blockage in the ear and I was explaining what I do, and they worked out that I had a bit of a wax blockage in the year and I was explaining what I do and they said exactly that no really exactly those words oh man, I love it.
John (jd) Dwyer:That is so funny. All right, give me a dad joke all right, you ready, let me.
Julian Sequeira :Let me have a sip of now. I've got no more water left. I'm gonna have to do this with a dry mouth, okay. What did yoda say when he saw himself in 4k?
John (jd) Dwyer:I have no idea, hdmi. All right, you win. It was bad, it was really bad, you nailed it I even had to do the voice.
Julian Sequeira :I've never I haven't done that out loud before. I've only typed that one out. So there's a first for your podcast, mate.
John (jd) Dwyer:You totally lived up to expectations there, julian. I think you did a superb job of yeah, this may be limiting for my career.
Julian Sequeira :We'll see.
John (jd) Dwyer:I think you'll be fine somehow. Well, julian, this has been fun. This has been a lot of fun. Just I knew it was going to be lot of fun. Just I I knew it was going to be, and it's also been incredibly informative. I think it's been a great conversation. So thank you again for taking time. Um, you've talked a lot about your business. You've talked a lot about the podcast. So folks who are listening, if they want to take advantage of the of the good work that you and bob have done, how do they do that?
Julian Sequeira :so, uh, look, I love to just talk with people, so hit me up on linkedin. I know you'll have the links below, john. So, yeah, talk to me on LinkedIn. I think that's a really big piece. If you even want to talk about these things, you need to have someone to talk to, and so that's what I do. So hit me up on LinkedIn. But we also have the website.
John (jd) Dwyer:It's pybites, pybytes, but I'll give john the specific link that talks about the programs that we have fantastic, and yeah, I will have all this.
Julian Sequeira :That's pretty much it.
John (jd) Dwyer:Yep. Now, all this will be in the show notes, so we'll make sure that they can contact you uh and uh I. I recommend it. As I said, I definitely recommend the pybytes podcast. It's um, it's much more than a uh, a developer podcast. There's so much good content there, so great stuff. I love it. Well, thanks again, julian Been. An absolute pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you, listeners. We'll be seeing you soon.
Julian Sequeira :John, congratulations as well on your podcast. Thank you for having me. This has been a pleasure.
John (jd) Dwyer:Love it. Thank you so much. It's been a hoot and thanks for the inspiration, thank you.
