DEV Community: Levi Sharpe

Unreasonable Requirements for Audio Producer Jobs (Yes, Even At Tech Companies)

Levi Sharpe — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 21:17:02 +0000

Hi all,

Is it just me, or is the proliferation of job postings requiring audio producers to also be video producers a bit disappointing to say the least?

I remember a little less than a decade ago when people in the industry were upset when so many jobs started requiring audio producers to also be audio editors or "preditors." And throughout my career I have now become proficient in most aspects of audio production (producing, scriptwriting, audio editing, sound design, and mixing) to keep up with the "needs" of the industry.

I didn't necessarily agree with the direction the audio industry went, requiring all of us to become audio Swiss Army Knives to make a decent living. But, I am at least happy to now have a well rounded skill set in the medium of audio.

However, I find these new job postings requiring audio producers (now all required to be 'preditors,' mind you) to also be skilled in the whole other medium of video to be excessive.

I also got my graduate degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, a multimedia program which teaches each of its students the fundamentals of audio, video, print, and photo; so, I am well capable of doing both audio and video producing.

But, having an employee capable of producing in multiple mediums should be a bonus (a well compensated one), not a requirement.

It wasn't so long ago when audio producers weren't required to be an army of one, and if a podcast had a video component, that was handled by separate video producers. We don't have to live in this new exploitative future where the audio industry is headed. Companies will constantly demand more and more, making you do the job of multiple people to cut costs. The least we can do is collectively try and push back against them trying to force us do the jobs of multiple people now in different mediums.

Remember, just because something is doesn't mean it ought to be.

If you are at a company doing this, please stand up for your fellow future employees. If you see something, say something.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

All the best,
Levi

Why I Chose Not To Continue Interviewing With A Certain Popular Tech Podcast

Levi Sharpe — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 22:29:17 +0000

I recently interviewed for a senior producer position for a very popular software development focused tech podcast (to be further identified as “The Tech Podcast,” which is not its real name). This podcast was recently acquired by a well known tech company (to be further identified as “The Tech Company,” also not its name).

The position seemed like a perfect fit given my past career experience. Many people in the software developer community urged me to apply.

I applied, and after a second round of interviews, I decided not to move forward following my conscience and my gut. The main reason being their unbending decision to include an unpaid 2-hour job assessment test as a part of their interview process, which I find to be unethical and exploitative.

(I also posted this on my portfolio site here).

For those who don’t know me, I have been in the radio/podcast space for almost a decade, getting my start by producing segments for Marketplace Tech, a show syndicated by NPR.

My past experience that would be most similar to producing for The Tech Podcast, is my experience producing for the popular early career developer podcast, CodeNewbie, as well as spearheading Forem/DEV’s podcast unit after they acquired CodeNewbie.

The podcasts we launched to compliment CodeNewbie were the developer roundtable show DevDiscuss, as well as the tech news show DevNews. Quarterly, I juggled the researching, scriptwriting, guest booking, recording, audio editing, and mixing of these three podcasts. I was the sole producer (we did hire one additional producer, but he was only at the company for a couple of months before there were mass layoffs).

This year, on top of editing and mixing the international affairs podcast Global Dispatches, I worked full-time for 9 months leading the production of a highly produced Wondery/AT WILL MEDIA pop culture podcast called The Big Flop.

Prior to that, I launched Gizmodo Media’s podcast unit, juggling the producing and editing of three weekly shows: The Upgrade, DirtCast, and Big Time Dicks. And on top of all of this, I’ve edited and sound designed audio dramas such as the Webby award-winning comedy musical podcast, Propaganda, and the fantasy comedy podcast, Roommate From Hell.

All of which is to say, I have a lot of experience in audio production.

Back to my experience interviewing with The Tech Podcast.

I first had a 30 minute call with a recruiter where she told me a bit about the role, and that due to my extensive background and “impressive resume” I was already put through to the next round.

This next round consisted of a 70-minute Zoom chat with the hiring managers. One being the co-host of The Tech Podcast (Interviewer A), and the other being the general manager of The Tech Company (Interviewer B).

After a very engaging and productive chat where Interviewer A and Interviewer B went through the various aspects of the role, and I went through my career background, all seemed very much aligned. Interviewer B then asked one final question, “Do you have any questions for us?”

I had some big picture questions that had to do with where The Tech Company wanted to take this newly acquired show and the potential for building more podcasts on top of that, but my main question was about a 2-hour assessment test, which the recruiter had told me about. I asked her if the assessment test was paid, to which she replied nobody had ever asked that before, but that it was not paid. However, she said that it was alright not being paid because it was, “meant to be a fun assignment.”

I’ve done a fair share of hiring in the past for podcast producer roles, and I by no means am against assessment tests. What I am against is not paying people for their time.

I told Interviewer A and Interviewer B that I didn’t believe in unpaid assessment tests, and that I was happy to provide materials of work that I’ve done in the past that are similar to what I would be doing in the assessment test if payment wasn’t an option.

Interviews are a two-way street. The interviewers are not only interviewing the potential employee, the potential employee should also be interviewing the interviewers to assess whether they want to work at the company.

When I give my perspective on something like unpaid job assessment tests, it’s not only to express my concern about an exploitative practice, it is also a way for me to gauge a company’s culture and ethics. It shows me how willing a company is to hear out their employees (even potential employees), and whether they are open to collaboration and compromise, as opposed to just adhering to some strict hierarchical top-down structure.

During my interview with the hiring managers, I gave a few examples of ways in which I believe giving unpaid assessment tests is exploitative.

I am a freelancer, and as such I have set a value on my time for my work. However, even if I wasn’t a freelancer, everyone’s time is valuable, and people should be compensated for their time if they are expected to work.

The argument companies typically make for why it’s okay for assessment tests to be unpaid is that what is produced won’t be put out into the world. This argument doesn’t make sense because there are instances I’ve worked on episodes or radio segments that never saw the light of day (usually because the guest either turned out to be problematic or the topic was no longer newsy and we had to pivot), but I was still paid for my time.

Also, The Tech Podcast currently outsources the editing and mixing of their episodes to an external production house. This production house was never given some unpaid assessment test prior to the tech podcast working with them. The production house was given trust that they can accomplish the job due to the production house’s prior work. An individual, especially a freelancer, can essentially be seen as a very small business, and as such should be treated the same way. They should be hired based on their prior work, trusting that they can accomplish the job, or paid for their time to prove it.

Unpaid assessment tests also remind me of when I was a barista in my early 20’s. Some cafes would expect you to work 1 - 3 days unpaid to see if you are “the right fit.” In most cases, people searching for these types of jobs are in tough financial positions; they don’t have the privilege of saying no. To be fair, a lot of the cafes that do this are small businesses with tight finances. It’s still gross and exploitative, but you can see how a small business owner might reach that decision to squeeze some free work out of somebody.

But, The Tech Company which acquired The Tech Podcast isn’t a small struggling business like a little NYC bar or cafe. They are a well-known tech company with the tech money that comes with that, which makes their decision even more appalling.

And honestly, for me, it’s not necessarily about the amount of money a company is willing to pay a prospective employee to do an assessment test, it’s the principle of whether they are willing to pay anything. It is about whether a company respects someone’s time, and if they ask someone to do work for them, even if it never ends up in something like a podcast feed, that the work is compensated to any degree.

Allowing someone the mere prospect of working for your company is not enough compensation for their work.

You might ask at this point, “Well, does that mean prospective employees should be paid for the interviews they go on, since they are also spending valuable time to do that?” My answer to this is that at least in an interview there is an inherent reciprocity and mutuality there. Both interviewer and interviewee and spending their time, unlike when an unpaid job assessment test is thrown at someone and they are expected to be the only ones working, and working for free no less.

I also posed the question of how long into a software developer’s career might it seem offensive for a company to give that person an unpaid coding assessment test. Would any company right now have the audacity to ask a Scott Hanselman or maybe even one of the popular developer co-hosts of The Tech Podcast to do an unpaid coding assessment test? Probably not, because their resume speaks for itself.

Interviewer B’s response to my criticism of unpaid assessment tests was that he, “appreciated my perspective,” but that he was, “not interested in having a philosophical debate,” and that, “this is how we decided to do it, and you can choose not to continue with the interview process.”

Thus, I chose not to continue with the interview process.

Now, I am at a place in my career where I can say no, unlike when I was a young barista in my early 20’s. A lot of jobs I find now are through companies who reach out to me to work with them, instead of the other way around, and that is truly a privilege.

I hope that what I wrote here sparks a debate about these unethical hiring practices so that those who aren’t in a privileged position -- those who can’t say no -- won’t be exploited.

Disclaimer: I have kept the name of the tech podcast, the tech company that acquired them, and the names of the interviewers anonymous because I signed an NDA prior to the second interview. I imagine companies do this not only to protect “intellectual property,” but also in part so they won’t have to be held accountable for engaging in unseemly practices such as unpaid job assessment tests.

Listen to DevNews S8E5: Big Tech Goes All-In On Passwordless Sign-In, Apple’s Gatekeeping of Web-Based AR, & more!

Levi Sharpe — Thu, 12 May 2022 19:08:06 +0000

What are the privacy and security concerns regarding our passwordless future? We address that question and others on this week's episode of DevNews...

S8:E5 - Big Tech Goes All-In On Passwordless Sign-In, Apple’s Gatekeeping of Web-Based AR, Apple Mail’s Nifty Email Tracking Blocker, and More

DevNews

As a refresher, DevNews is the news show for developers by developers. Each season, our hosts cover the latest in the world of tech, and speak with diverse guests from a variety of backgrounds to dig deep into meaty topics such as security, the pros and cons of outsourcing your authentication, and the latest bugs and hacks.

In this episode, we talk about Apple’s gatekeeping of web-based AR on the iPhone, a neat feature added to Apple Mail that blocks email tracking, and we say goodbye to the iPod.

Hosts:

@saronyitbarek is the founder of Disco, founder of CodeNewbie host of the CodeNewbie Podcast, and co-host of the base.cs podcast.
@joshpuetz is the Principal Software Engineer at Forem — the open source community software that powers DEV, CodeNewbie and a growing number of other online communities.

Guest:

Jackie Singh — is the former senior incident response and threat analyst at Biden For President, who currently is the director of an anti-surveillance nonprofit, which advocates and litigates against government use of mass surveillance.

You can follow DevNews to get episode notifications and listen right in your feed — or subscribe on your platform of choice! Plus, if you leave us a review, we'll send you a free pack of thank-you stickers. Details here.

Quick Listening Links

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Season 8 Sponsors:

Plus, thank you to @graciegregory for providing editorial support for this post

I hope you enjoy this episode of DevNews 📰 More episodes coming up!

Listen to DevNews S8E4: A Surge In Hacks Against Russia, Privacy Concerns With Mental Health Apps, & more!

Levi Sharpe — Thu, 05 May 2022 22:58:54 +0000

Russia faces an irony when it comes to a surge in hacking against the country. We talk about that and more on this week's episode of DevNews...

S8:E4 - A Surge In Hacks Against Russia, Privacy Concerns With Mental Health Apps, and Lego’s Big Move Into the Digital Space

DevNews

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In this episode, we talk about Lego expanding its online ambitions and its plans to triple the number of software engineers on staff. Then we’ll speak with Joseph Menn, author of the book, Cult of the Dead Cow, and technology reporter at The Washington Post, about a piece he wrote titled, “Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all.” Finally, we’ll speak with Jen Caltrider, who leads Mozilla’s Privacy Not Included guide, about their research which found that the vast majority of mental health and prayer apps are severely lacking in privacy protections.

Hosts:

@saronyitbarek is the founder of Disco, founder of CodeNewbie host of the CodeNewbie Podcast, and co-host of the base.cs podcast.
@joshpuetz is the Principal Software Engineer at Forem — the open source community software that powers DEV, CodeNewbie and a growing number of other online communities.

Guests:

Joseph Menn — is a technology reporter at The Washington Post specializing in hacking, privacy and surveillance. He joined The Post in 2022 after two decades covering technology for Reuters, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. His books include “Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World” (2019) and “Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords who are Bringing Down the Internet” (2010).
Jen Caltrider — started her career as a journalist at CNN. From there she moved into digital media, and is recognized as a pioneer in the use of digital media strategies, messaging, and communications. She has over a decade of experience in advocacy, digital media, content strategy, campaign design, video and audio production, and storytelling.

Quick Listening Links

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Season 8 Sponsors:

Plus, thank you to @graciegregory for providing editorial support for this post

I hope you enjoy this episode of DevNews 📰 More episodes coming up!

Listen to DevNews S8E3: Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover, Security Vulnerabilities in Web3, & more!

Levi Sharpe — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 18:08:23 +0000

Will Twitter users actually vote with their feet? Let's talk about it...

S8:E3 - Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover, Security Vulnerabilities in Web3, and Experimenting With the TikTok Algorithm

DevNews

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In this episode, we talk about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and the Twitter storm it created, especially amongst Twitter employees. Then we speak with Dipanjan Das, system security researcher at UC Santa Barbara, about various large scale hacks in the blockchain space, and how companies and individuals can better protect themselves in the growing Web3 space. Finally, we speak with senior software engineer and popular Tiktoker feleciaforthewin, about how she experimented with the TikTok algorithm and ended up gaining over 300-thousand followers.

Hosts:

@saronyitbarek is the founder of Disco, founder of CodeNewbie host of the CodeNewbie Podcast, and co-host of the base.cs podcast.
@joshpuetz is the Principal Software Engineer at Forem — the open source community software that powers DEV, CodeNewbie and a growing number of other online communities.

Guests:

Dipanjan Das — is a Ph.D. student in the SecLab (Computer Security Lab), UC Santa Barbara, advised by professor Giovanni Vigna and Christopher Kruegel. Before that, he spent two years in IIT Madras while pursuing my M.Tech under the research guidance of professor Chandrasekaran PanduRangan.
feleciaforthewin — is a software engineer, designer, and content creator with keen interests in social constructionism, sociology, philosophy, and technology.

Quick Listening Links

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Season 8 Sponsors:

Plus, thank you to @graciegregory for providing editorial support for this post

I hope you enjoy this episode of DevNews 📰 Looking forward to sharing the rest of this season with you.

Listen to DevNews S8E2: AI Regulation In Different Cities, A GitHub Snafu, and Crypto-Miners Wreck a Town’s Power

Levi Sharpe — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:58:40 +0000

We're back with a brand new episode of DevNews. This week, we explore whether or not the AI regulations and systems happening in cities around the world are actually up to snuff — among other topics! I hope you listen and let us know what you think.

S8:E2 - AI Regulation In Different Cities, A GitHub Snafu, and Crypto-Miners Wreck a Town’s Power

DevNews

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In this episode, we talk about how a developer irreversibly lost a community of 54-thousand stars and watchers built up over the past 10 years on GitHub, and how unregulated crypto-mining wrecked the power of an entire New York town. Then we speak with Vidushi Marda, senior program officer at Article 19, where she leads the research and engagement on the human rights implications of machine learning, to get her perspective on the Artificial Intelligence regulations and systems different cities around the world are implementing.

Hosts:

@saronyitbarek is the founder of Disco, founder of CodeNewbie host of the CodeNewbie Podcast, and co-host of the base.cs podcast.
@joshpuetz is the Principal Software Engineer at Forem — the open source community software that powers DEV, CodeNewbie and a growing number of other online communities.

Guest:

Vidushi Marda leads ARTICLE 19's global research, engagement and strategy on machine learning and human rights.

Quick Listening Links

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Season 8 Sponsors:

Plus, thank you to @graciegregory for providing editorial support for this post

I hope you enjoy this kickoff to a new season of DevNews 📰 Looking forward to sharing the rest of our episodes with you.

The DevNews Podcast Season 8 Premiere is Here 🔊

Levi Sharpe — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 19:27:39 +0000

Hi! I'm Levi Sharpe. If we haven't interacted here on DEV before, I'm Forem's Senior Podcast Producer. As my title suggests, I produce and mix our podcasts: DevDiscuss, The CodeNewbie Podcast, and DevNews

With so much going on all over the world, our team is experiencing a complicated (but net positive) mixture of emotions when it comes to the DevNews podcast returning: relief? responsibility? anticipation? Listen to the season 8 premiere of DevDiscuss and you'll hear what I mean.

S8:E1 - Coding Under Bombing

DevNews

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Hosts:

@saronyitbarek is the founder of Disco, founder of CodeNewbie host of the CodeNewbie Podcast, and co-host of the base.cs podcast.
@joshpuetz is the Principal Software Engineer at Forem — the open source community software that powers DEV, CodeNewbie and a growing number of other online communities.

Guest:

Alexander Lebedev is a backend developer from Ukraine. He loves data and analytics systems and making blog posts and videos about how to improve quality of life.

In this episode, we talk about Elon Musk buying the largest share of Twitter and then flip flopping on being on the board. Then we speak with Alex Lebedev, software engineer at HotJar, about his experience living in Ukraine under the horrific conditions of its war with Russia, and about his blog post titled, “Coding Under Bombing.”

A huge thank you to Alex for reaching out to US with an offer to speak on our show about living in Ukraine. We're humbled to have had his time and thoughts on how we can support victims of war (hint: donate, donate, donate if you can). Alex pointed us to the following resources that we'd love for you to check out:

National Bank of Ukraine

5 Steps to Be Productive Under Stress. War-tested. — Written by Alex

Quick Listening Links

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our Season 8 Sponsors:

Plus, thank you to @graciegregory for providing editorial support for this post

I hope you enjoy this kickoff to a new season of DevNews 📰 Looking forward to sharing the rest of our episodes with you.

I’m Levi Sharpe, Senior Podcast Producer at DEV/Forem- AMA

Levi Sharpe — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:37:07 +0000

Hi! I’m Levi Sharpe, Senior Podcast Producer and Sound Designer at Forem.

I’ll be joining Nick Taylor and Christina Gorton on Friday, October 30th at 1pm EDT on thePracticalDev Twitch stream to talk about podcasting and what I do as a podcast producer at Forem.

I would love to answer any questions you have about producing podcasts, my current and past projects, and more.

For some context, I currently produce, edit, and mix DEV’s CodeNewbie, DevDiscuss, and DevNews podcasts. You can listen to them right here on DEV or wherever you get your podcasts!

Previous to working at Forem, I was lead podcast producer at Gizmodo Media Group, where I helped launch their podcast unit, producing and editing Lifehacker’s Webby-nominated podcast, The Upgrade, as well as Jezebel's pop culture podcast DirtCast and their politics show Big Time Dicks. And previous to that I worked at Marketplace, and mainly produced stuff for Marketplace Tech.

As a passion project, I sound design and mix the narrative fiction podcast Roommate From Hell, which is about a girl named Claire who moves in with a demon from hell, they become friends, and antics ensue.

I received my master’s from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and other places his work has been featured include Marketplace Weekend, Codebreaker, Actuality, The Takeaway, Word of Mouth, and Popular Science.

Feel free to ask any questions you have about podcast production, the value of podcasts for developers, any of the DEV shows… or really anything in the discussion thread below!

Follow ThePracticalDev Twitch channel to watch this stream, get notified when streaming begins, and more!

I'm Levi, Your Resident Podcast Producer, And I Just Joined The Dev Team

Levi Sharpe — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:40:37 +0000

Hello DEV community!

My name is Levi Sharpe, and I am one of DEV's newest hires. I am a podcast producer and sound designer. I currently work on the CodeNewbie and Base.cs podcasts, hosted by Saron Yitbarek. CodeNewbie is an organization which fosters a supportive, international community of people learning to code, which has now been acquired by DEV!

Previous to working at CodeNewbie, I was lead podcast producer at Gizmodo Media Group, where I helped create and produced Lifehacker’s Webby-nominated podcast, The Upgrade, as well as Jezebel's pop culture podcast DirtCast and their politics show Big Time Dicks.

I received my master's from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and my work has been featured on Marketplace Tech, Marketplace Weekend, Codebreaker, Actuality, The Takeaway, Word of Mouth, and Popular Science. You can take a look at some of my work at levisharpe.com.

As a passion project, I sound design and mix the narrative fiction podcast Roommate From Hell, which is an independent show I make with some friends about a girl named Claire who moves in with a literal demon from hell named Bea, they become friends, and antics ensue.

Some of my other passions outside of podcasting include banjo picking, sculpting, cocktail-making, cycling, and nerd stuff like Magic: The Gathering, D&D, and comics. I've also been dabbling in Python.

I am really excited about being a part of the DEV team and exploring and expanding our podcast and audio endeavors!

Please rate and subscribe :)