About
You deserve better!
I love writing code. That is why I do technical training. I want to spread the joy I find in creating value by ”making the computer do stuff”. It should be fun and easy. That is not always the case though. Sometimes writing code is a chore, feels slow, risky or even painful. A Samman technical trainer can help with that.
Signs your team needs me:
- Features take longer and longer to deliver.
- Process improvements around the code don't seem to make an impact.
- You spend more time fixing bugs than building new features.
- Developers find the codebase hard to work with, suggesting big rewrites.
- High turnover or burnout in the team.
If any of those resonate with you, please let me help! You deserve better!
Why Chocolate?
Chocolate Driven Development works to to acknowledge our human limitations and celebrate what we can achieve when working well together. Chocolate reminds me of both of those aspects, often forgotten in software development.
Biological creatures working together
Both eating and sharing chocolate alters the levels of important substances in our body. Chocolate is also a social symbol, often used as a tool for giving appreciation and offer comfort. Chocolate bars and boxes of pralines are all created for sharing. To eat a piece of chocolate gives your brain energy to think. Seeing that your co-worker is sad and offering a piece of chocolate enables thinking better together. Our way to write software should reflect what we know about the human body. We need to avoid the pitfalls caused by our brains limitations.
We can do better
Software is (in most cases) written by people as a team. We have research on cognition, neurology and social psychology. On top of that there is specific research regarding software development. Let us use that to make better software, in a better way.
Sometimes work in the IT-industry can be soul sucking. Burn out is an increasing problem. My advice is the same as Professor Lupin gives when faced with soul sucking dementors in Harry Potter and the prisoner from Azkaban. "Take this, it is chocolate, and you will soon feel better."
About me
My first name is Ester Daniel
I am non-binary transgender. Ester Daniel is the name my parents used before I was born, when one of my names got removed. As a child I missed my "lost name" and related to people having it much as if it was still mine. As an adult I realized that I could reclaim my original name. So now I have both of my names back, and feel more complete that way. Please use my full name, or one of my nicknames (ED, Ed and Edchan all work), but never only half of my name. Sometimes I write the names as one, EsterDaniel, to clarify that they belong together. If it has to match my passport or other formal papers, Ester Daniel is the correct way to write it.
Professional foundation
My educational background is a M.Sc. in engineering physics. I also studied one year of behavioural science at Lund University. Since then I have over 15 years of experience in developing software and in adjacent areas, writing production code in over ten languages. My experience reaches from big international companies to small startups. I got involved in developer conferences early in my career and that gave me an advantage in my continuous learning. I am certified Scrum product owner I (PSPO 1) (for those where that matters).