CityJSConf 2021 talks to Debbie O’Brien
Debbie O’Brien is Head of Learning and Developer Advocate at NuxtJS, the progressive VueJS framework. Debbie has over 10 years experience in frontend development. She has worked as a tech lead and consultant for many important clients with various technologies and often with a strong focus on performance. We caught up with her in the run-up to the 2021 CityJSConf.
Is TypeScript the future of JavaScript? And why?
Yes, because now even I am learning it. I always thought it was too difficult, too over the head but I am coming to see that actually it’s not too bad. Maybe when I dive deeper I will change my mind but for now I kinda like it. Just don’t tell anyone I said that 😂
Are you aware of new tools like Deno, Svelte or any other libraries you would like to share? Tell us what new JS stuff is coming and how you feel about those?
Always aware of new stuff but sometimes not enough time to play around with them.Very excited about Vite. I think it will make development faster and that is always a good thing.
What was your first programming language? And how long have you been using JavaScript?
HTML of course back in 1997. Building websites with notepad, no editors, no dev tools and we didn’t even have the internet installed in the college so we were building sites but had no way of seeing them live until towards the end of the course so your website was delivered to the teacher on a floppy disk. Things are so much easier now. JavaScript I only really started learning four years ago. Unless you count JavaScript as adding a JQuery library to your application by copying and pasting the code from the docs.
What advice do you have for junior devs starting out in JavaScript in 2021?
JavaScript is not easy, so don’t think it is. It will take time to learn. It might take you more time than you want it to and that is ok. Everyone learns at a different pace. And to be honest I don’t think you will ever master JavaScript and that is ok too. We all use Google to find things. We all learn new things all the time so just have fun and build things and don’t put so much pressure on yourself to fully know something.
What are you working on right now in your job? And what are you using to do this?
Creating video content for Nuxt to help others easily learn and use the framework.
How has Covid-19 affected the way you work?
I actually think it has improved the way I work. Before I would get up and do sport and come home, shower, grab a smoothie, cycle to work, arrive a minute late for a meeting, forget to drink my smoothie or have any other breakfast, then it’s lunch and I think I won’t eat lunch, I will finish early instead and then something happens and I arrive home at 5pm totally starving. That’s not a good way to work. Now with remote working I work when I want, I take breaks when I want, I eat when I want, and I do sport when I want and I think it’s a much healthier balance. Of course not being able to travel has had a huge impact on me and you just have to accept that. However I have virtually travelled to so many places and virtually connected with so many cool people. And by travelling less I have found that I have more time to dedicate to the community, to create better content and to learn more so that I also improve. Personally for me 2020 has been my most successful year career-wise and I am excited to see what 2021 will bring.
Do you have any side projects you’re willing to talk about? If so, spill the beans!
I am always doing something. Right now I am going running in a forest and creating videos giving tips for developers to help motivate people and let them know they are not alone. Sometimes it’s me reminding myself but if it helps others then great. You can follow my YouTube Channel to see them here.
How has your journey as a conference speaker been affected by Covid-19 over the past year?
I think I have done probably way too many conferences last year and had to be in two places on the same day and that is extremely stressful. Most of the conference experiences haven’t been good ones. I mean compare getting on a stage to give a talk with an audience laughing at your jokes and giving you energy so you deliver a better talk to you recording a talk to your computer. I miss the human interaction and connection. And I don’t think any conference has so far got it right but hey we are all still learning and can only do so by making mistakes and then listening to feedback.
What would be your ideal online conference set-up?
It wouldn’t be online. yeah ok I know. Well I guess it needs to capture the human part of things, the networking. To give your talk to an audience and see their face is really nice. I miss people’s faces. And hallway chat. I miss hanging out in the hallway with cool people so somehow making that happen would be great. I think the future is hybrid conferences. I think being able to show the conference online is great and should stay forever, but as a speaker we lose out on so much by just giving an online talk and it becomes boring. Speaking at conferences used to be so much fun and now it is more fun to do a live stream on Twitch. I think as well speakers like to hang out with other speakers. The speaker room has not appeared in any virtual conference yet. I love meeting the public but sometimes I want to catch up with other speakers and just talk speaker language if you know what I mean. I guess sometimes the speakers are like family or your best friends and you meet up so often across the world so not seeing them is hard. I miss my speaker friends.
Tell us about where you are in the world right now.
I live in Mallorca, a beautiful island of Spain. It is nice as I have mountains and beaches so really I can’t complain. Sometimes it just feels so small as if you drive for 40 minutes you reach the end of the island so it can feel very small sometimes, but hey let’s look on the bright side: we get a lot of sun and sun always helps keep you in a positive mood.
How is the Covid-19 situation where you are?
It’s crazy - laws change all the time, so you really don’t know what you are or are not allowed to do. We have to be home by 10pm. That’s fine as there is nowhere to go anyway. Restaurants, bars, gyms etc are all closed. But the mountains are open. I just go to the mountains. I do cycling and running a lot because that is the only way I can leave the house without wearing a mask. I have nothing against wearing a mask but walking on the street in 40 degree heat with a mask on is no fun at all. I also think we need fresh air so running in the forest and mountain is a livesaver for me.
How do you relax and de-stress?
Sport, running and cycling in the mountains and forest and online body combat classes. I have to be careful though as I get carried away sometimes and end up kicking my desk or the wall behind me. I don’t think my office was built for body combat, but hey gotta make do with what you have.
Have you made a bucket list for the end of lockdown and restrictions? If so, what will you be doing?
I am afraid to think that far ahead and then be disappointed. So I am ok living in the virtual world until the world is ready to be open. When it does I will get on a plane and go somewhere, everywhere, see people, have dinner with friends, visit family and cherish those things that we once took for granted. I will travel anywhere I can and everywhere if it’s possible. The world is an amazing place and there is so much to see and do and so many interesting people to meet and I can’t wait to meet people in person, talk, dance, drink, do karaoke and just have fun in a room with people.
