Make Things Better

Hey there, thanks for tuning in to the Make Things Better podcast. The podcast where we talk to interesting people, doing good things. In this episode, we discuss the power of Brand Knowing and the importance of branding and storytelling for purpose-driven businesses. We also discussed topics within creative writing, becoming B-Corp and unlocking brand values.

If you have a topic you'd like to learn more about, let us know so we can consider exploring it on the podcast.

https://www.hiveit.co.uk/contact

Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Make Things Better podcast. In this episode, I was joined by my colleague - Jamie Chatterton to discuss neurodiversity, VTubing, and more... We hope you enjoy the podcast, and you can get in touch with us at www.hiveit.co.uk

We recently spoke to Mark Youngman about his career from junior tester to software developer, his journey into mindfulness and more.

0:00 - Intro

2:58 - Creating Tech Content
4:35 - Journey from Software Tester to Software Developer

9:09 - Becoming more mindful through journaling
12:34 - Applying Mindfulness to Software Development

17:28 - Tips for Software Developers

We recently had the opportunity to chat to James Jefferies about his experience working at Technophobia, his favourite projects since setting Shedcode up, recent work at Rewilding Britain and how people can improve their problem solving skills.

It was a real pleasure to chat with James who shared so much experience and knowledge with us.

0:00 - Intro

9:00 - The culture at technophobia

13:34 - Leaving Capita to build a business

15:08 - Shedcode

18:17 - Favourite project at Shedcode?

22:30 - Favourite thing about running Shedcode?

26:45 - Rewilding Britain 

34:30 - How can developers improve their problem solving skills?

43:48 - What can people do to make things better?

We had the pleasure of being joined by Richard for a podcast about content creation.

Richard has been creating his own content for many years now and it was great to get an insight into his creative process, what he thinks are important things to focus on and his views on different platforms.

Thanks a lot for listening, we hope you enjoy the podcast.

Hello!!

In today's episode, we were joined by the amazing Ellie Mosley who has recently had a baby! It was really nice to have a proper catch-up and discuss how Ellie found maternity leave.

Here at Hive IT, we hadn't had anyone go on maternity leave before Ellie and so we wanted to better understand how we could support people on maternity or paternity leave in the future.

Thanks for listening and if you'd like to get in touch with us at all, you can find us at www.hiveit.co.uk

A few weeks ago me and Allan went to a really great networking event hosted by the London College of Communication.   

At the event, I met Maryana and having listened to her story, I wanted to help her share it with more of the world and so I invited her on our Make Things Better podcast.   

Maryana was a great podcast guest and shared her story of having to leave Ukraine due to the war.   

Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy the podcast.  

0:00 - Intro 

6:20- Moving from Ukraine to England 

10:44- Finding a job in the UK 

12:54 - Where do the issues people in Britain are facing come from? 

14:44- Plans for the near future? 

19:15 - What can people do to Make Things Better?

Former Lawyer, Alicia Barczak, shared her journey of leaving law to enter a career in tech.   

From taking a coding bootcamp and learning to build her own app to landing a job in tech - Alicia shares some very valuable insights, which could be useful to anyone considering a career change.   

We discussed:   

0:00 - Intro  

2:14 - Choosing Tech over Law 

4:34 - What skills are useful as a Software Developer? 

5:50 - How important is problem solving for Software Developers? 

7:21 - Coding Bootcamp Versus Self-Study  

8:26 - Challenges in doing a Coding Bootcamp 

9:50 - Finding a job in Tech after completing the bootcamp 

11:28 - Advice for anyone considering a career change into Tech? 

12:23 - Lack of women in Tech 

13:30 - What can people do to Make Things Better? 

Huge thanks goes out to Alicia for joining us on the podcast!  

We hope you've enjoyed this podcast episode and if you are interested in becoming a podcast guest or have a project we could help with - get in touch via our website.

https://hiveit.co.uk/

Our team have used Next.js on a fair few projects now and we recently had an opportunity to chat with two of our Software Engineers about their experience with it.   

We discussed what the best way to deploy Next.js is, what makes Next.js a great framework, tips on using Next.js and whether it is the future of react frameworks or not...  

Skip to your favourite part:

0:00 - Intro 

2:33 - What is the best way to deploy Next.js app? 

6:38 - Tips for using Next.js? 

9:48 - Gatsby versus Next.js? 

10:44 - Is Next.js the future of Javascript frameworks? 

11:59 - Using Sanity as a headless CMS 

16:10 - How difficult is using and learning Next.js? 

17:49 - Downsides to using Next.js 

19:30 - What can people do to Make Things Better?

Cheers for listening and we hope you enjoy the episode!

We had the opportunity to chat with the CEO and founder of Raisely - Tom Maitland.   

Over $250,000,000 has been raised by organisations via Raisely's fundraising platform.   

At Hive, we recently used Raisely as part of Weston Park Cancer Charity's fundraising campaign and are excited to be part of Raisely's partner programme.

Tom was a brilliant guest and shared so many values with our team here at Hive. 

We delved into why Tom started Raisely, who uses it, how easy it is to get started on Raisely, innovation in the charity sector, tips for charities to improve their fundraising online and much more.  

0:35 - How Raisely started?

5:30 - Tom's goal for Raisely (At the start) 

7:06 - Donation Celebrations 

7:56 - Who uses Raisely? 

9:12 - How easy is it for a charity to get started using Raisely? 

10:19 - How is it freely available for charities? 

11:48 - What differentiates Raisely from other fundraising platforms? 

13:12 - Innovation in building fundraising platforms 

15:03 - What can charities do to improve their fundraising online? 

17:00 - How important is it for a charity to build a relationship with their donors? 

17:55 - Long-term vision for Raisely 

19:40 - What can people do to make things better? 

22:08 - Where can people find Raisely?

We really enjoy working with Sheffield Flourish and know their work has such a positive impact on people's lives in Sheffield.  

To gain further insight into what Sheffield Flourish gets up to, we recently had the opportunity to catch up with Robyn, deputy managing director at Sheffield Flourish.  

We discussed who Sheffield Flourish are and what they do, how putting the user at the start of their service is key to creating inclusive, enjoyable experiences for people within the Sheffield community and how they have got on running the charity throughout the pandemic.   

Robyn was a great guest providing us with plenty of information on Sheffield Flourish and helping us to better understand the brilliant work that Sheffield Flourish do.   

Thanks a lot for listening and we hope you have an amazing rest of your day.

We had the delight of being joined by the amazing Ilona Alcock, founder of Elevate.   

Elevate is a business development consultancy with a keen focus on sustainability, innovation and community.   

Ilona was a fantastic guest, full of enthusiasm, passion and a vast amount of knowledge on human-centered businesses and sustainability.   

We discussed compassion and blame culture in the workplace, what carbon literacy really means for a business, inequality and climate change, what small tech companies do to reduce their carbon footprint, what an ESG strategy is, how remote working has blurred the lines of work and home and what people can do to Make Things Better.

Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy the podcast!

In the 12th Episode of the Make Things Better Podcast, we were joined by the wonderful Laurie Nicholas from Mina.   

Laurie is the head of product and User Experience at Mina and is skilled in both design and Software Development.   

We had the opportunity to ask Laurie about his views on where the skills in both design and software overlap, what designers can learn from developers, and what developers can learn from designers.  

We also gained insight into Mina, who are an exciting Sheffield company making EV charging radically simple.  

Thanks for listening to the 12th Episode of the Make Things Better Podcast and if you do enjoy it, please like and subscribe for more!

Chris Dymond is the Academic Director for Smart Cities at Zigurat Global Institute of Technology, Director of Unfolding, Sheffield Digital, and UTC Sheffield.  

Chris is also a lecturer and also set up Smart Sheffield which is an open meetup for people interested in urban technology & innovation in and around Sheffield.  

Chris shared with us a wealth of knowledge, great examples and we really delved into Smart Cities and their pros and cons both from a practical and societal perspective.

08:27 - What is a Smart City?

12:56 - What is The Things Network? 

24:49 - What are the downsides to a Smart City? 

30:40 - How can people influence decisions around Smart Cities and ethical issues  

56:18 - What tech could be used to improve Sheffield?  

01:05:04 - What are the main attractions to working in Sheffield in the tech industry? 

01:14:54 - What can people do to Make Things Better?

We hope you enjoy the podcast and if you do, please consider leaving a review as it will mean a lot. 

Cheers and have a great rest of your day!

It was a pleasure to welcome Cameron Spilman onto our 7th episode of the Make Things Better Podcast.  

Cam is the Co-founder and Managing Director at Paper - a people-focussed business that brings design to the tech industry.  

In our chat we discuss Paper's core principles and how these guide Paper's decisions.  

We talked about:

• How Paper was Founded
• What Paper's principles are and how they were formed
• How building relationships with people impacts Paper 
• Challenges in sticking to principles
• Subconscious Dreams and a new definition for success?
• The influence of Paper's principles on Paper's team 
• Focusing on collaboration instead of competition  
• What people can do to Make Things Better?

Thanks a lot for listening, if you get a chance please leave a review as it would be hugely appreciated!

You can find Cam and Paper on Twitter @camspilman or @papersheffield

You can find us, Hive IT, on Twitter @HiveIT_uk

Sara Wachter-Boettcher is a coach, strategist, facilitator, author, and speaker dedicated to changing design and tech for good. Sara is the founder of Active Voice, a leadership development company on a mission to make work culture better for everyone.   

Sara is also the author of three books: 

• Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
• Design for Real Life
• Content Everywhere

In today's episode we mostly focused on what individuals, organizations and society in general can do to create more inclusive, healthier Work Cultures.   

We talked about:   

• 0:00 - Introduction to Sara and her work  
• 4:20 - Questioning ourselves and our organization's culture to make change 
• 10:05 - The balance between productivity and employee welfare 
• 14:22 - Is education key to changing our future? 
• 24:15 - Compassion in the workplace 
• 28:01 - Improving communication at work 
• 31:59 - Who is responsible for creating inclusive work cultures? 
• 36:09 - Making work more accessible during the pandemic 

The Full Transcript can be found here: https://medium.com/hive-it/creating-inclusive-work-cultures-with-sara-wachter-boettcher-43fa4d817e55

Sara was an amazing guest and you can find her website at sarawb.com   

We really hope you enjoy the podcast and feel free to contact tom@hiveit.co.uk with any feedback.   

If you do enjoy the podcast, consider giving it a review on Apple Podcasts, it would be hugely appreciated.

This podcast is brought to you by Hive IT, you can check our website out at www.hiveit.co.uk

Reginé Gilbert is a user experience designer, educator, and international public speaker with over 10 years of experience working in the technology arena. She has a strong belief in making the world a more accessible place—one that starts and ends with the user. 

Full Transcript: https://medium.com/hive-it/accessibility-in-design-with-regin%C3%A9-gilbert-13d49df557d3

In this episode, we discussed: 

0:00 - Introduction to Regine Gilbert

1:16 - Becoming aware of accessibility issues

7:20 - Colour Contrast issue

8:22 - Awareness to actions

10:18 - Knowing yourself as a designer

11:41 - Connect with others

12:55 - Accessible design for our older selves

15:57 - Accessibility in Augmented/Virtual Reality

18:36 - Applications of AR/VR/XR?

19:56 - Who is raising awareness of accessibility issues in XR?

21:05 - How common will AR/VR/XR be in the future?

23:59 - Tips to make design more accessible

25:38 - What can people do to make things better?

We really hope you enjoy the podcast and feel free to contact tom@hiveit.co.uk with any feedback. 

If you do enjoy the podcast, we'd hugely appreciate any positive reviews on apple podcasts and make sure to subscribe for more. 

This podcast is brought to you by Hive IT, you can check our website out at www.hiveit.co.uk

It was a pleasure to speak to Ross McCulloch, who is the director at the Third Sector Lab. Ross provided us with a real comprehensive breakdown on how digital is, and can be used to improve people's lives through various charities. 

We got to understand various topics in a lot more depth and we were able to discover, through various stories, how powerful collaboration, community and ultimately people coming together to share ideas, thoughts and feelings can be in creating a real social impact.

0:00 - Introduction

06:47 - How do the Third Sector Lab help charities with their digital approach?

12:14 - Engagement with charities on social media

15:19 - How vulnerability online can help people connect

20:40 - Why work in the Third Sector

26:15 - The commercial sector's impact on the third sector

31:26 - Can charities become more effective through collaboration? 

35:00 - A new approach emerges for charities

37:00 - How can charities become more effective online?

We really hope you enjoy the podcast and feel free to contact tom@hiveit.co.uk with any feedback.

If you do enjoy the podcast, we'd hugely appreciate any positive reviews on apple podcasts and make sure to subscribe for more.

This podcast is brought to you by Hive IT, you can check our website out at www.hiveit.co.uk

Welcome to the first episode of The Make Things Better Podcast!

In this episode, we discuss a wide range of topics and you can see what we talk about at different times below:

00:00 - Introduction

01:03 - Who are Hive IT?

05:21 - What is The Make Things Better Podcast about?

08:43 - The impact of working from home

10:53 - The polarization of social media

11:35 - Allan's experience in design

21:51 - Is it now easier to be creative?

25:35 - Is there any innate skill involved in design?

27:47 - The subjectivity of design

31:58 - Accumulating design skills

34:57 - Top tips for designers

43:09 - The importance of collaboration in design

48:11 - Receiving criticism 

59:59 - Why is design important?

We really hope you enjoy the podcast and feel free to contact tom@hiveit.co.uk with any feedback.

If you do enjoy the podcast, we'd hugely appreciate any positive reviews on apple podcasts and make sure to subscribe for more.

This podcast is brought to you by Hive IT, you can check our website out at www.hiveit.co.uk