Michael Winslow

Hi, guys. I'm Michael Winslow. If you try to Google me right now, you will not find me. You'll find that guy from Police Academy that makes all the noises with his mouth.

I'm not him, but I want to keep in touch, so please use my Twitter or LinkedIn: Michael S. Winslow.

I want to tell you a story about a friend of mine named DJ Boo Boo.

DJ Boo Boo was a DJ in Philadelphia for 15 years. He's asked that I don't use his real name because he's also a software developer for a large company. What he told me is the reason why is, when you admit that you're a DJ at a company, it's not the same as admitting that you play the piano or play the guitar.

All of a sudden, handshakes turn into high fives, and then people yell down the hallway, "Yo, Boo Boo! Wiki, wiki, wiki."

So I respect that. But I asked him, "How did you even become a DJ as a software developer?"

And he said, "You know what? I never wanted to become a DJ in the beginning. I wanted to automate what the DJ does."

So he took two Windows Media Player objects, put it on a VB form, and came up with the best user interface you'll ever see.

And that is not it. But that's the point. He could've stopped right here, because it's really not that important, right? It's only a side project. Nobody would've thought any less of him.

But he actually took the next couple of years and decided to improve upon it. And before you know it, he had a product that looked like something you would find in a bar or a nightclub. It had a touch screen, digital interface. It played music videos. It did advertisements.

And he basically stopped at that point. He had a good day job, so he stopped.

But I want to point out some of the things that he was able to learn while going from version one to version two, and I want to do it in kind of a fun way.

One of the features was this thing called the DJ Builder, and that gave me an idea. Why don't we spend the rest of the time doing a role-playing game type of interface to show how he got extra skills by taking his side project seriously?

So this is our level one DJ, DJ Boo Boo, and we're going to basically explain things that he did on the side that leveled him up. So on the next screen, that gray button that says "Get Ready" is going to say "Level Up," and when it does, I need all of you guys to help me out and say, "Level up."

You ready?

Level up!

All right. Look what you guys did for him. You actually turned him into a junior software developer wearing his favorite shirt to go to his day job: "Talk is cheap. Show me the code."

All right, so he's going to his day job with his favorite T-shirt on, but at night, he's hooking up to every TV, projector, sound system in the city of Philadelphia. Do you guys think that helped him during his day job at all?

No.

Absolutely did, because we all know nobody can figure out how to work the damn TV in the conference rooms, right?

And people started to realize, all of a sudden, they said, "Every time we invite DJ Boo Boo to a meeting, everything runs smoothly, so invite him to more meetings."

Okay, get ready, guys.

Level up.

Okay, now DJ Boo Boo was going to all the meetings with the bigwigs. He decided to dress a little bit better.

In the nighttime, he's actually starting to make a product out of his software. He's actually packaging it up, working with vendors. Do you think that helps him during his day job a little bit?

Yeah.

Absolutely. So now, where he could've been just a software developer, he's talking across the table to businesspeople. Now he's really feeling like management. He's got his Lumbergh mug in his hand. He's walking down, doing that annoying manager thing like, "Hey, Janice. Woo."

So he's really feeling himself.

But I need to do a public service announcement. When you burn the candle at both ends, you have to find ways to make sure that your people during the daytime don't know that you've been up all night. You might want to invest in some sunglasses.

Okay, get ready, guys, because I think it's about to happen.

Level up.

All right. Now he's got a tie. Okay, it might be a little presumptuous, but he started something called Tie Tuesdays with his friends. Apparently, Steve is a part of it. And he realizes what we read in the books is actually true: the entrepreneurial spirit is starting to get noticed around the office.

But there was one more skill that he learned in his night job as a DJ that became very, very important to him in his career. Can you guys guess what it was?

Public speaking.

Public speaking is right. It's one of the hardest things for a software developer to do, to get up on stage in front of people. But he was able to do it. Now he can fearlessly talk in front of VPs, SVPs.

And one more thing, guys. Get ready.

It gave him...

Level up.

...the confidence to talk at one of the best DevOps Enterprise Summits in the world.

Thank you, guys. I am DJ Boo Boo. I hope you can forgive me.

There are no side projects. Experience can come from anywhere, and avoid bulleted lists.

And if you think that DJ Boo Boo became too corporate over this time, don't worry. He can still be seen around the halls of Comcast with his favorite T-shirt: "Talk is cheap. Show me the code."

Thanks, everybody.