CTO Connection podcast #2: Jon Williams

Update: Wanted to note again that the podcast feed is here.

I am excited to roll out the second CTO Connection podcast, featuring Jon Williams, CTO of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions and co-founder (with Igor Shindel) of the NY CTO Club. In this podcast, Jon and I talk about the "breakthrough" required to become a CTO, what it takes to move from being a pure hands-on technologist to more of a manager, the story behind the NY CTO Club and how to start your own, and finally, a bit about guitar-playing (something both Jon and I enjoy). I always enjoy talking with Jon and I'm really glad you will be able to hear his distinctive Aussie voice for yourself (he's also shown up in a couple of my columns over the past year: here and here). I'm really pleased with how this one came out (aside from some unfortunate Skype garble).

For those of you who missed the first CTO Connection podcast with Mike Dunn of Hearst Interactive and want more detail on my technical setup, my experience with properly licensing "podsafe" music, etc, be sure to read the background. I kept the same technical setup for this one as the first one.

One technical note: I've concluded that while Skype is really great for informal phone calls, using it as the platform for recorded interviews is simply ill-advised. I'm pretty sure this will be the last interview I do with Skype. Frankly, the people I'm interviewing (and planning to interview) are too busy to repeat the key moments that are ruined by Skype jitter/flutter and I feel like I'm insulting busy listeners if I force them to listen to garbled conversation (even when it is very sporadic). I haven't gotten any specific complaints about this from listeners or interviewees, it's just something that bugs me about the first two. This is one area where the Principle of Good Enough doesn't apply -- either you hear words clearly, or you don't.