The Engineer of What?

A bi-weekly discussion of all things related to a life of an engineer

About the show

"The Engineer of What?" is a bi-weekly discussion with Rick and Nathan on the life and struggles of being an engineer. If you are an engineer, you know that most of the time you're not even doing what your job title is. As engineers, you're a problem solver and are required to solve anything put in front of you. Doesn't matter what type of engineer you are, you'll be able to relate.

Rick and Nathan met in 6th grade, became friends, worked on projects together in high school, and have stayed friends through the different paths life has taken them. They both had a love of technology and problem solving starting from a young age and became friends through this interest. Now that they are both established in their careers they're taking the daily struggles of being an engineer in two totally different fields and creating a podcast out of it.

The Engineer of What? on social media

Episodes and Blog Entries

  • Episode 33: Project Management

    Episode  |  April 22nd, 2019  |  31 mins 40 secs
    contracts, deadlines, engineering, excel, management, planning, pm, project, project manager, work

    No matter what type of engineering you do, you probably have had to work with a project manager. We all have contracts and things we have to get done. Project managers are "suppose" to make sure this gets done. Join us this week as we talk about the pros and cons of working with a project manager.

  • Improving Website Security with Netsparker

    Article  |  April 15th, 2019
    By Nathan Westfall
    automate, automation, builds, cloud, devops, git, netsparker, npm, security, server, tests

    In your DevOps pipeline, don't forget about security. You can now easily add it to any pipeline to verify that you are protecting yourself and your code.

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    Episode 32: Security is Important, but not Required

    Episode  |  April 8th, 2019  |  41 mins
    active directory, auditing, authentication, backups, git, multi-factor, office, password, phone, requirements, security, two-factor

    Security is important for any company, but should important for your personal stuff too. Whether it's code, files, passwords, servers or even your phone security should be considered. Why personally we think it's a great idea, companies don't always enforce it. Should you still do it? (yes)

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    Episode 31: All things Gaming

    Episode  |  March 25th, 2019  |  28 mins 30 secs

    GDC is the most recent video game event and so many exciting things have come out of it. We have Google annoucing Stadia, Unreal engine showing off some impressive demos, and ray tracing coming to the forefront of everyone's mind. Join us as we talk about this and what we want at E3.

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    Episode 30: Ricky the Audio Engineer

    Episode  |  March 11th, 2019  |  51 mins 2 secs
    apple, ar, audio, chrome, engineering, flexgate, macbook, macbook pro, mixer, mixing, production, roland, sound, water, windows

    Ricky has had a week of water testing and... audio engineering? Ricky has moved back to the audio world, but boy does he have some work to do!

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    Episode 29: Electron is Flash

    Episode  |  February 25th, 2019  |  47 mins 8 secs
    adobe, airpods, apex legends, apple, electron, flash, ipod touch, macbook pro, samsung s10, vs code, vscode

    Is Electron the new flash? Some might think so, Nathan does not. We also follow up on Ricky's experience of VS Code and discuss the new things in tech including Samsung releases and a possible timeline of Apple for 2019.

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    Episode 28: Edit this Code

    Episode  |  February 11th, 2019  |  41 mins 20 secs
    apex legends, atom, c#, code editor, editing, hololens, ide, java, javascript, sublime, text editor, visual studio, vscode

    Today is the day of sale pitches. Apex Legends looks great, but Nathan isn't convinced. Ricky has to do some code editing, but isn't sure if VSCode is going to fit the needs for the project. Join us as we discuss both these topics and talk about why we can't wait to use them.

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    Episode 27: Upcoming and more upcoming

    Episode  |  January 28th, 2019  |  54 mins 43 secs
    deepmind, developer, draw.io, e3, esri, facebook, far cry, github, nukeeper, playstation, pubg, starcraft, tsa, whats app, windows, windows lite, xbox

    Whats upcoming in video games, esri, windows, and event TSA? We talk about all of it as cover everything that looked of interest to us under the sun with so many things starting 2019 off right!

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    Episode 26: CES

    Episode  |  January 14th, 2019  |  38 mins 47 secs
    ces, computers, event, gis, new tech, open source, programming, smart devices, smart watch, tech, technology

    Let's start 2019 off right. CES just happened, demos just happened, what else could of happened? Listen as Nathan and Ricky discuss everything in 2019 thus far as they are both back home recording apart like always.

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    Episode 25: Together at Last

    Episode  |  December 31st, 2018  |  51 mins 53 secs
    engineering, esri, holidays, mapping, microsoft, new year, podcasting, recording, review, software, technology, water

    Last episode of 2018! Join us as we cover everything we talked about all year and even better, after 1 year of recording we finally did an episode together IN PERSON!

  • Episode 24: Connect 2018

    Episode  |  December 17th, 2018  |  42 mins 26 secs
    ai, azure, chrome, connect 2018, dell, devops, edge, gis, github, google fi, laptop, lg, live share, machine learning, map, microsoft, open source, phone, visual studio, vs, vs code, windows 10

    Not only did Ricky have a great week for new tech, but Microsoft Connect() 2018 just happened! Lot's to cover and even more to be excited about so you're not going to want to miss this recap.

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    Episode 23: If it ain't Broke, Rewrite It

    Episode  |  December 3rd, 2018  |  43 mins 43 secs
    android, apple, chrome, engineer, fuschia, iphone, microsoft, os, red dead, surface, surface go

    Android OS and Chrome OS are both great operating systems from Google, but apparently they can do better. Join us as we talk about what that is and how it we could benefit from it along with other new things in tech including a hands on review.

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    Episode 22: Black Wednesday

    Episode  |  November 19th, 2018  |  49 mins 26 secs
    azure, black friday, cyber monday, devops, esri, google, licensing, maps, pixel, thanksgiving, tls, users

    This week being thanksgiving, it's only appropriate to talk about black Friday and cyber Monday. Not really, but join us as we discuss what's new in tech including the leaks of a new google pixel and a foldable phone? Also in the ESRI world, new ArcGIS online user licensing and new TLS restrictions.

  • Getting Started with Azure DevOps

    Article  |  November 13th, 2018
    By Nathan Westfall
    azure, backlog, code, coding, commits, development, devops, git, microsoft, pipelines, planning, productivity, release, technology

    Let’s talk about Azure DevOps! We’ll discuss the new and improved tools that are part of Azure DevOps. You'll learn how to deliver value faster to your users. Any language, platform, and cloud. Connect to GitHub or any other Git provider for CI/CD.

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    Episode 21: Mapping and Water

    Episode  |  November 5th, 2018  |  45 mins 42 secs
    esri, gis, mapping, oneplus, phone, plans, proposal, tech, technology, water

    Join us this week as we talk about working with strange mapping variables and the next big things happening in water. Ricky also needs a new phone, what do you think he should get? Listen as we discuss what got released this week including new phones to help with his decision.

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    Episode 20: And we're back

    Episode  |  October 22nd, 2018  |  37 mins 39 secs
    android, apple, engineer, esri, macos, new, os, technology, watch, windows

    Time flies and we both can agree on that. Ricky is back on schedule after getting married, Nathan is back to a normal life after a big event. Doesn't matter what we are talking about, let's just jump in as we get back to your regularly scheduled programming.