329: Find Your Personal “And” and Bring What Makes You Unique To Your IT Career with Meredydd Luff

<p>In this week’s show, Phil talks to Meredydd Luff, the CEO and cofounder of Anvil, a platform for building full-stack web apps entirely in Python.</p> <p>He has a PhD in building usable programming systems from Cambridge University and he wants to make programming more accessible for everyone.</p> <p>Meredydd talks about the importance of finding your “and” – the secondary skill that adds value to you. He also discusses why bringing your unique offerings to your IT career can make all the difference.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>TOP CAREER TIP</strong></p> <p>Look for what your personal “and” is. If you are just a developer then that’s okay, but it’s always best to be one thing “and” another. This makes life much more interesting and yourself much more valuable.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>WORST CAREER MOMENT</strong></p> <p>After completing a huge amount of work, Meredydd discovered that his system had been built upon degraded hard disks. This led to a huge outage for a popular messaging system in the Philippines.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>CAREER HIGHLIGHT</strong></p> <p>Starting and building Anvil – taking the complete system from an idea to fruition, and the experiences learned along the way.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T</strong></p> <p>As cloud services and the like continue to grow, it has meant that the doors are open to far more people. So long as people have the drive to do so, the IT sector is open to all.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>THE REVEAL</strong></p> <p><strong>What first attracted you to a career in I.T.?</strong> – Meredydd was attracted to the creative component of IT.</p> <p><strong>What’s the best career advice you received?</strong> – That studying something we enjoy is fine, and can sit well alongside a serious career.</p> <p><strong>What’s the worst career advice you received?</strong> – That he should have taken the money over a route that seemed more fun.</p> <p><strong>What would you do if you started your care