4 front end web podcasts hosted by people of colour
I’m a bit unusual in the sense that I listen to podcasts only when I work. I like the sound of people talking to me in the background, it’s kind of soothing. I tend to listen to mainly game industry and tech, front end related podcast. This year many horrific events affecting predominantly black people in the US most notably the horrific public murder of George Floyd have brought to light the injustices people of colour around the world have faced for years. To make moves to correct some of this injustice more exposure has been given to content creators of colour, and it’s been great to finally see these creators get the recognition they deserve. I’ve been introduced to people like Parris Lilly from Gamer Tag radio, ZombaeKillz a twitch streamer and popular tech Youtuber Marques Brownlee all have been creating great content for a long time. However, none of those creators focus on front end web development which is the other type of podcast I usually listen to. This got me thinking, ‘what web shows or podcasts are hosted by people of colour?’ And to be honest, I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head. So I reached out to Twitter.
That tweet was probably one of my most popular ones and I’m overwhelmed with the amount responses, likes and retweets I got. So in no particular order here are the 4 web podcasts hosted by people or at least one person of colour.
1. Front End Happy Hour
Such a great podcast hosted by a lot of Netflix but usually Ryan and Jem. I started listening to this a while ago but stopped because the audio quality of their early shows wasn’t that good. But it has massively improved now which is great. Also although they drink in each episode you don’t have to, unless you really want to.
2. Jamstack Radio
This show is completely new to me and I’m glad Twitter made me aware of it. With over 66 episodes and great guests like Scott Tolinski, Shawn Wang and Kent C Dodds, it’s a show I’ll definitely be adding to my list. Even though I’ve actually never developed a jam stack app before shhhhh!! 🤫
3. JS Party
Another show I’ve never listened to before but I have heard of and I’m surprised I didn’t get on board earlier. It’s a bit like front end happy hour as there are loads of different hosts here who don’t host every show, it’s called a party for a reason right? Also, you can listen to the hosts record it live which is a bonus.
4. Toolsday
This is one show that I’ve actually listened to quite regularly back in the day but stopped when it became less regular, but looks like it’s back now and I have a long list of episodes to catch up on. The hosts, Una and Chris have such a great dynamic and talk about things that actually relate to my day-to-day. They don’t do many interviews but their conversations are more than enough to carry an episode. Also, Una sings a different intro for each one. Let’s see how long she’ll keep that up for. :)
Honourable mentions
These are podcasts that aren’t exactly front end or even web related but do talk about programming in some form.
Revision path
Honestly can’t believe I’d never heard of this podcast before I mean it has over 370 episodes!!! 370. It’s great to see a show that interviews so many accomplished black designers, developers, and digital creatives. A great source of inspiration for me and people who look like me around the world.
Base CS
Imposter syndrome is very common in the tech industry and one reason is there are plenty of programmers who don’t have a computer science degree therefore don’t have an understanding of core programming fundamentals. This show bridges that gap and it’s great to see that it’s two women of colour who are leading that charge. I’ve honestly learnt so much from this show and I’m excited to learn more.
Two Black Nerds
Again, another show that I’d never heard of before reaching out to Twitter. A podcast about two black engineers and their stories about the world of work they are in tech predictions, and tools they are trying out. I’d be interested to see how much I resonate with what they say considering they’re based in the US and I’m in the UK.
There’s a lot here to listen to and I wouldn’t recommend listening to them all regularly unless you have loads of time but I’d recommend trying them all out and picking a handful to listen to regularly. Anyway, I hope you found this article useful and if you want to support me, please check out my Youtube channel where I make videos about programming, mainly games development but web dev too.
Also, we’re hiring at Octopus Investments, the place where I work, so if you’re an engineer looking for a new challenge check out our careers page.
