Why I still podcast for Fragmented

When you’ve been doing a podcast for so long and it’s a pure labor of love –time and again– you start to ask yourself: why am I doing this again?

This is a note for myself and others, who sometimes worry about the podcast.

Positive listener feedback

Probably, the single most influential reason for doing it is those 2 or 3 notes or messages I get over the year when someone says that the podcast helped change the course of their life as a developer.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t think that would be the reason, when I started. I couldn’t fathom it would have that effect on me if I’m being even more honest. But every time I’ve hit a slump, it takes one email, a YouTube comment or a random tweet or Bluesky post to just reinject that dose of enthusiasm I need, to keep going.

I’ve had some incredible people with incredible stories write to me saying - they didn’t have money to be a developer and they used the podcast to learn while they saved up to eventually buy a phone. The only phone they could buy was an Android one and that allowed them to build their very first app and get a job in the process. Some have even written about being the first person in their family to use a computer and become a mobile developer by listening to Fragmented. I’ve had folks tell me they managed to get the dream jobs of their life because of the topics we covered and them being able to get through interviews because of that knowledge. I’ve had others write in saying they got promoted as a mobile developer, because of ideas they got listening to the podcast landing the impact and convincing their bosses.

I’m really not trying to sound more important here but even getting one of those messages, even the simple thanks for doing this! immediately gives me a kick in the butt.

We’re all searching for purpose and meaning. Being able to help people in this small way is a privilege, I don’t take lightly.

My own learning

But to say, I only do this for the people would be disingenuous. The second most important reason is my own learning.

Having to talk about a topic or even interview an expert requires me to research a topic to a level of depth where I need to be able to grok it. In my job at Instacart, I no longer am paid just to code¹, but as my manager repeatedly tells me - my job is to make the right calls at the right time.

Fragmented has allowed me to do that better. I don’t know how much self motivation I’d have personally to research every single topic, just for the curiosity of it. I know others who do and I remain envious of them.

This is also one really good reason why I constantly encourage people to write more blog posts about topics they’ve learned or create content about it in some way. It doesn’t matter that one of the experts you know has already written about it. It doesn’t matter that Google has an indepth guide. What matters the most is explaining it through your voice and your own transformative learning through the process².

Access to Android community

Lastly of course, the podcast is the reason I personally have access to some of the best Android developers and folks at Google.

If I don’t know something or cannot understand a topic, I can usually reach out to the author or the people who wrote the framework and get an answer. Again, I fully recognize this privilege.

I’ve managed to chat with some incredibly smart people working at Google on Android OS because they recognize Fragmented.

Also, Fragmented is solely the reason I remain a GDE. Fragmented is the reason anyone in the community even recognizes my name. Funnily enough I’m mostly not recognized at Google I/O until I’m striking a conversation with someone, typically when I’m in a group with one of the other more famous faces, and people usually get the 💡 moment after hearing me converse with them for a few minutes.

It’s been the privilege of my life to keep working on Fragmented. Donn and I put in an incredible number of extra hours into it, but we also got really lucky and I cannot be more grateful to the listeners we have.

Fragmented hit its 10 year mark 🥲 somewhat recently.

It evolves in different shapes and forms. On its most recent iteration with Donn bowing out, I’ve switched to a seasonal approach. Research for sometime and come out with a slew of episodes. Take the time to research some more, and come out with another set.

As I said, it is a privilege to keep going but Fragmented also has to evolve with me, as I hit a big personal milestone myself this year! If you’re a listener, 🙇‍♂️ thank you for your ears.

This is the email I sent Donn - 28th Jan 2015.

Feb 17th 2015 is when we released our very first episode.