Fireship.io

Original: https://codingcat.dev/podcast/0-9-jeff-delaney-of-fireship-io

Introduction and Background of Jeff Delaney

• Professional Experience: Jeff Delaney discusses his experience, revealing that he has been in the programming field professionally for around ten years. He first dabbled in machine learning through Kaggle, a platform for crowd-sourced machine learning problems.
• Machine Learning Involvement: Jeff explains his involvement in Kaggle competitions, which required immense time commitment. However, he no longer participates in these due to time constraints.

Transition to Angular and Firebase

• Initial Projects: Jeff worked on a project called Code Diode, which he eventually abandoned to focus on Angular and Firebase, as these technologies were more relevant to his client work.
• Angular Firebase: His shift to Angular Firebase came naturally as it aligned with what he was implementing for his consulting projects. He noticed a lack of content around Angular and Firebase, which motivated him to create focused tutorials.

YouTube Journey and Content Creation

• YouTube Growth: Jeff's YouTube growth was substantial, reaching nearly 275,000 subscribers. The key to this growth was maintaining a consistent schedule and creating concise, focused tutorials.
• Unique Style: Jeff's tutorial style is fast-paced and condensed, which some viewers love while others find too rushed. This approach aims to provide quick insights without unnecessary details.

Fireship.io and Future Directions

• Motivation behind Fireship.io: Transitioning from Angular Firebase to Fireship was a creative decision to explore broader topics beyond Angular and Firebase, including Flutter, Node.js, and more generic front-end and back-end development.
• Practical Projects: Jeff emphasizes the importance of working on real-world projects to add value to the developer community. He's working on side projects like a Firebase component library to inform his video content.

Google's Developer Expert (GDE) Program

• Becoming a GDE: Jeff was nominated by David East, a Firebase developer advocate, due to his substantial contributions to the Angular and Firebase community.
• Benefits and Utilization: While the GDE program has been great for networking, Jeff admits he could take more advantage of speaking opportunities sponsored by Google.

Focus on Flutter and Future Technologies

• Flutter’s Growth: Jeff believes Flutter will continue to be significant, potentially rivaling React Native. However, Flutter web needs improvements to match the quality of its mobile counterpart.
• WebAssembly's Potential: Jeff is optimistic about WebAssembly's potential in the future, envisioning its use in creating web-based video editing tools akin to current desktop applications.

Angular 9 and Ivy Release

• Impact of Ivy: Jeff acknowledges the significant improvements Ivy brings to Angular, such as reduced bundle size and faster build times. However, he doesn't see it drastically altering Angular's established position.
• Future Prospects: Jeff looks forward to more flexibility in using Angular in lightweight, modular ways, thanks to Ivy's capabilities.

Community Engagement and Slack Channel

• Building the Community: Jeff has fostered a strong community through his Slack channel and Fireship platform.
• Diversifying Content: The shift to Fireship.io allowed Jeff to cover more diverse topics, keeping his creative energy high and offering more value to his audience.

Picks and Recommendations

• 100 Seconds of Code: Jeff's 100 Seconds of Code series provides concise explanations of important concepts. It has received positive feedback and will continue as a staple of his content.
• Tool Highlight - Remove.bg: Jeff recommends remove.bg, a machine learning-based web app for removing backgrounds from images, showcasing a practical use of machine learning.