Parent Driven Development

A podcast about parenting in tech

About the show

Turns out children arrive with no manual. There's no coherent online tutorial.

Between staying up to date with emerging technologies and balancing work and home life in an industry that often requires un-timeable bug fixes, on call schedules, and more, working parents are balancing a lot.

Parents are also exploring additional technical issues like "screen time" or internet privacy, coming at these issues from a different perspective as technologists ourselves.

We cover all of these topics and more using a panel of parents coming from diverse perspectives and a variety of technological backgrounds. We'll shine light onto these issues and provide a valuable food for thought for these folks.

Want to ask a question that the panelists can discuss in an episode? Email us at panel@parentdrivendevelopment.com.

And if you're loving the podcast and want to support us, please visit our Patreon!

Parent Driven Development on social media

Episodes

  • 035: Summer Vacation

    November 20th, 2019  |  43 mins 40 secs
    family vacations, road trips, summer break, summer vacation

    Josh, KWu, JC and Chris reflect back on summer vacations when they were growing up, as well as the differences and similarities they're faced vacationing now as the parent. Plus, road trips are always nostalgic to reminisce on!

  • 034: Extracurricular Activities

    October 30th, 2019  |  56 mins 10 secs
    activities, back to school, extracurricular

    Special guest, Barrett Clark, joins Josh, Kwu, Allison, JC and Chris to discuss back to school and extracurricular activities for kids: how to help your kids find their passion, the expectations of school activities, the financial side, and what it means for the parents. Tune in for a deeper dive!

  • 033: Raising Children Away From Family

    October 13th, 2019  |  50 mins 45 secs
    parent coordination, patience, raising a family, work flexibility

    Adarsh Pandit discusses what it’s like to raise a family, while living away from his parents and other family members. We dive into the importance of building a community with fellow families and how we can all help each other out.

  • 032: Tackling More

    September 11th, 2019  |  42 mins 58 secs
    back to school, engineering, management

    Dana Jones talks about going back to school with four older children and teaching herself to code when they were little. We also talk about some of the similarities of management and parenting.

  • 031: Negotiating A Shorter Workweek

    June 12th, 2019  |  37 mins 55 secs
    communication, remote work

    Itamar Turner-Trauring talks about some of the tactics he wrote about in his book, "You Can Negotiate A 3-Day Weekend", such as overcoming "this isn't normal" and "entitlement" feelings, scheduling your shorter workweek, and optimizing your output value and impact when you're not measuring your working hours.

  • 030: Moving and Traveling Internationally

    May 29th, 2019  |  49 mins 59 secs
    travel

    Annyce Davis joins Mandy and KWu to talk about moving and traveling internationally: kids' reactions, the logistics of relocation, the benefits of giving kids worldly experience at a young age, and maintaining relationships with your family when you're not at home.

  • 029: Organizing Conferences

    May 15th, 2019  |  44 mins 55 secs
    balance, conferences, time management

    Andy Croll and Chris Sexton talk about their experiences with juggling organizing conferences and parenting.

  • 028: Primary Caregiving

    May 1st, 2019  |  39 mins 30 secs
    communication, nannies, remote work

    In this episode, Nick Gauthier stops by to talk about being a full-time parent as a man, partner dynamics and making decisions, how having a child has changed the way Nick works, and why he is a big proponent of Communication Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

  • 027: Fear Mongering and Inducing Panic

    April 17th, 2019  |  40 mins 10 secs
    fear, panic, scary

    Due to the "Momo Challenge": the latest in a series of internet "challenges" and urban legends, Chris, Jess, JC, and Mandy talk about fear mongering and inducing panic: What do we do as parents to protect our kids? Do we, as technologists, have an advantage in understanding "hoaxes" better than non-technologists? Should we ignore the hype and "let live and let go?" And how much do we/should we be monitoring our kids?

  • 026: Breastfeeding

    March 27th, 2019  |  42 mins 47 secs
    breastfeeding

    Allison, Mandy, and KWu talk about their experiences (or non-experiences!) with breastfeeding. They chat about the things people don't tell you, navigating conflicting information, and the challenges and woes of breastfeeding in public.

  • 025: Girls in STEM

    March 13th, 2019  |  40 mins 46 secs
    learning, stem

    Stephanie Rowe, the founder and CEO of Juelez, joins the panel to talk about getting girls involved in STEM. Conversations around topics such as designing into motivation, how parents can help, and gender ensue.

  • 024: Teaching Kids to Code

    February 27th, 2019  |  31 mins 2 secs
    coding resources, learning, teaching

    In this episode, Kevin Whinnery of Twilio joins the show to talk about teaching kids to code: getting them motivated, benefits to becoming coding literate, and using real-world technology and tools to pique their interest.

  • 023: The Holidays: A Retrospective

    February 13th, 2019  |  36 mins 18 secs
    extended family, holidays, religion

    Warning: This episode contains potential holiday spoilers for young children.

    Allison, KWu, and Mandy talk about their holiday experiences: what they did this past year, their feelings about it, old traditions that they try to honor, and what they could do differently in the future.

  • 022: Single Parenting

    January 30th, 2019  |  47 mins 16 secs
    dating, modern families, single parenting

    In this episode, Mandy, Jess, Allison, and KWu talk about single parenting: how it's becoming more common, but that there are still stigmas attached to it, choosing your village, dating, specific challenges, and how others can be supportive.

  • 021: Self-Care For Parents

    January 16th, 2019  |  35 mins 39 secs
    self-care

    In this episode, the panelists talk about the importance of self-care: having routines, setting environments, and taking time for yourselves as individuals while being okay with your child's temporary discomfort and happiness.

  • 020: Fertility Struggles

    January 2nd, 2019  |  39 mins 53 secs

    In this episode, Adam Cuppy joins the panel to talk about him and his wife's struggle with fertility and having a child. The emotional weight of the journey is discussed, as well as the lack of community for males with fertility struggles. Adam also talks about how the whole process has given him a greater sense that while it was hard, there are many other things in his life that are hard but worth pursuing.