PODCAST · technology
Underserved
by Andrew Gelina
Underserved is the podcast for the rest of the technology industry. No startup or gadget worship, just real stories, lessons, and interesting topics from real people in the technology industry. Special emphasis on software development culture and history.
Episodes
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Ep. 122, From River Hawks to Robots
Eva Moscat caps off Season 10 of Underserved. Eva grew up in a math-intensive family, and a college course requirement introduced her to programming. She found her niche in network development, and as interconnected devices became the norm, her career prospects bloomed. We discuss the importance…
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Ep. 121, From 600 Meatballs to Product Management
Episode #121 of Underserved features Dmitry Grenader. Dmitry left the Soviet Union with his family and landed in Brooklyn. He worked his way up from odd jobs to a master's degree and became a software developer. A mentor saw promise in Dmitry's product management skills and encouraged him to lean...
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Ep. 120, Why Can't I Learn To Do That Myself?
Episode 120 of Underserved is here! Our guest today is Christine Bird, a fellow UMass alum and veteran of the financial services industry. Christine started her career teaching some of the toughest students and learned to love it. Her foray into technology and QA taught her bug diplomacy, the…
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Ep. 119 Digital Leaders, Place Your Bets
In Episode 119 of Underserved, I interview Dustin Humphreys. From the level land in the Texas panhandle comes this pharmacist-turned-technologist. Dustin wore many hats to help bring drug stores online during the DotCom boom. He has since helped multiple drugstore chains advance their online...
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Ep. 118, AI Is Like Salt
In Underserved #118 we interview Andrew Heffernan. Andrew grew up believing he wanted to be an engineer. After dabbling in civil and plastics, he found his way into the tech industry via customer support at Constant Contact. The company thrived and provided Andrew advancement into development,...
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Ep. 117, CIO Steering Digital Innovation
Episode #117 of Underserved features our guest Sree Kancharla. It looked like Sree was on track toward a math PhD and teaching, but a tech career blossomed instead. Sree was involved with many projects ahead of their time, including iterative deployment and Google Glass. We talk about innovating…
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Ep. 116, No Laughing Matter
Kurt Iverson is featured in Episode #116 of Underserved. Kurt offered to build a website for a budding comedian in exchange for free show tickets. While not a great monetary deal, the experience and connections ended up paying huge dividends. Kurt parlayed this into development gigs for…
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Ep. 115, Fight for Simplicity
Dom Scandinaro is our guest for Episode #115 of Underserved. Dom enjoyed building computers with his Dad and taking an entrepreneurial angle with their shared venture. As a young track star, a scholarship offer made his college choice for him. Luckily the CS program at Wheeling was fun and...
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Ep. 114, Unicorn Cavalry
Philosophy major Jason "Mac" Macauley found his way into the industry via content moderation. He caught the coding bug when he realized that his love of logic translated well. He aimed to be an "Employee number less than 10" at a startup, cash out, and teach philosophy. After a few years, he came...
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Ep. 113, Continuation Bet
Season 10 of Underserved kicks off with our guest, Rob Salvador. Rob's late teens were spent on a computer, but playing multi-table online poker tournaments, not coding. The DOJ shut down online poker, forcing Rob to pivot. His dad's construction company proved fertile ground for learning the...
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Ep. 112, The Value of Hustle
Season 9 concludes with Episode #112 featuring Michael Dane. It took a formative solo photography trip to the UK for Michael to find himself and his potential. After discovering what he was good at and the Internet, he was off and running with his brother Abe and Hearst Media. This led to a…
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Ep. 111, Head in the Clouds
Episode #111 of Underserved features Drew Schillinger. Early on Grandpa Jack wanted to teach Drew programming, but mom didn't want him inside glued to the computer. Drew eventually found his way between chair and keyboard, first teaching and later practicing as a developer. A memorable stint at...
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Ep. 110, View Source
Ep. 110 of Underserved features Rob Larsen. Rob was around for the glory days of the web when you could "view source" on a webpage to learn how to do something new via imitation. At the same time, he was involved in local magazines, writing about film after a stint at Emerson. Rob learned quickly...
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Ep. 109, Cactus Dude
Kevin "Cactus Dude" Kreucher is our guest for Episode #109 of Underserved. Kevin is another unique story - going from a client of a treatment center to running its IT operations. Kevin got a tour of MSPs after that and built out his Rolodex steadily to support all facets of IT. Nowadays Kevin...
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Ep. 108, Culture Swap
Cassio Goldschmidt grew up coding on cloned computers in Brazil. Most folks go to the college in their city, and Cassio decided to study Computer Science at his. A desire to get some international experience brought him to the US for a 3 month internship and he has been here ever since. Cassio...
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Ep. 107, Picky is Good
Jason Judge ended up at the right place (Redmond, WA) at the right time (1995) to see the world change. In Episode #107 of Underserved, we discuss the Seattle scene in the 2000s, leaning into the database world, the MBA education you get by proxy working for a startup, and the importance of...
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Ep. 106, Told to learn IT
Paul Dingwitz shares his experiences with us in Episode #106 of Underserved. Paul "answered the call" from an Army recruiter, and this was his introduction to technology. In the military you don't get a lot of choice about what you do, so when he was tapped to maintain the LAN and WAN he had to...
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Ep. 105, False Courage
In Episode #105 I talk to our guest Vic Caruso. Vic went the music crossover route into tech, entering the industry during the Dot Com Boom and Bust. His project management experience has helped him cross verticals from video games to municipalities to mall management during his career. We…
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Ep. 104, From coder to CTO
Aaron Harris is featured in Episode #104 of Underserved. As a kid in the woods of Vermont, Aaron still found a way to plug into technology. A classmate at BYU convinced him to switch majors from CS to Accounting for undergrad, then to get a Masters in IS. This unique combination suited him well,...
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Ep. 103, Aligned Interests
Episode #103 of Underserved features Ema Patki. Ema heard a common refrain from her parents growing up, the only two legitimate professions were engineer and doctor. She didn't love EE, but it led her to programming and USC. Protocols that helped the Internet boom also helped Ema advance her...
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Ep. 102, Don't Overthink Your Career
Episode #102 of Underserved features Jim Scholhamer. Jim had an early fascination with geology, history, and archaeology. Dad encouraged him to take up engineering, where he eventually fell into materials science. This field could mean something as boring as bumper plastics or as exciting as…
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Ep. 101, Journey to a Mission
Season 9 of Underserved kicks off in-studio with our guest Tanya Bulkovshteyn. Tanya's family moved to Canada and quickly found out French immersion was not optional. Dad's push toward a technical career led her to computer science and the United States. Tanya describes how being a woman in the...
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Ep. 100, AI Invasion
Underserved has reached Episode 100! We celebrate this special landmark with a very special show. We bring back three previous guests (Mike Breault from #007, Eli Goldberg from #069, and Steve Kaufer from #013) and add one new one (Rachael Rosen) to form a panel of distinguished experts. We…
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Ep. 099, Triple Major
Our 99th episode features Tim Sebel from Bullhorn. Tim was able to leverage his AP classes from high school into an unusually wide amount of choices in college. Or rather, not having to choose between three different majors and completing them all! Tim moved on to startups doing semantic search,...
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Ep. 098, Running the Shop
Episode #098 of Underserved features Gu Xie live from Texas. We start with his unlikely story of growing up as a Chinese immigrant in Belize, moving to the US, and learning some tough lessons in and out of the classroom at the University of Georgia. Also discussed: leaning into data analytics,...
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Ep. 097, Fighting Spirit
Komal Maliekal is our featured guest for Episode #097 of Underserved. Komal channeled her mother's fighting spirit to succeed in a difficult engineering school, job market, and technology landscape in her native India. We talk about the culture shift moving to the United States, what to do when...
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Ep. 096, Super Stoked To Be Here
In Episode #096 of Underserved, our guest is Chris Boutiette. Chris had to ask his high school to add computer courses, only to find them unexpectedly challenging. This didn't deter him from pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or working his way through college running a tech support...
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Ep. 095, Leader of the Band
Kim Sinclair joins me in our studio for Episode #095 of Underserved. Kim spent college in Friartown, leading the pep band on the road for fun and adventure supporting Providence College sports. After stints working for the Department of Revenue and consulting, Kim found herself moving into the...
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Ep. 094, Keep Living Más
Taco Bell CTO Steve Plank is my guest for Episode #094 of Underserved. Steve rose quickly through the ranks in heavily regulated industries helping to manage document compliance. It took 4 trips to Taco Bell's headquarters to switch industries and get a job offer. Since then Steve has spearheaded...
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Ep. 093, Ruining the Curve
Susan Kelly is our guest for Underserved episode #093. Susan fell in love with computers early on, being curious about technology and loving the time/aggravation saver of spell check. She leaned into product management early in her career, in telecom, education technology, and call center…
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Ep. 092, Mindfully Hyperactive
Yan Robert joins us as our guest for Episode #092 of Underserved. Yan grew up in Quebec like JP Beaudry, one of our previous guests, and even attended the same university in this small world. Yan was ahead of his time with an Internet directory he founded in the late 1990s. We talk about his...
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Ep. 091, Chief Integration Officer
Episode #091 features Sesh Tirumala, CIO of PagerDuty. Sesh is a podcast veteran, and shares with us his experiences implementing systems in 120-degree heat, being a technologist in Appalachia, and managing incremental IT costs. Sesh has felt the pain of having to justify IT's existence, proving…
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Ep. 090, From Guitar to Keyboard
Our guest for Episode 090 of Underserved is Joe Frascati. Joe moved several times as a teen, honing his skills in quickly sizing up new social situations and identifying the players and roles. This skill served him well in his career, from a retail startup to the legendary Silicon Graphics and...
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Ep. 089, As the World Churns
The Underserved Podcast kicks off Season 8 with Rob Moore, recording from across the pond in the UK. Rob figured out there is no grad school application deadline if you apply overseas, and fell in love with England. Early in his professional career, his company developed a podcast marketing tool...
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Ep. 088, Root of Trust
We cap off Season Seven with our guest Jason Oberg, Ph.D. Jason grew up in Hawaii surfing and enjoying the outdoors, but computer gaming brought him inside and online. After moving to California and earning three degrees, he left UCSB and UCSD to start a company in the hardware security space. We...
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Ep. 087, Master Data Marketing
Texas transplant Joe Forrester is featured in Episode #087 of Underserved. Joe wanted to be a pilot after watching the original "Top Gun", but colorblindness trumped his enthusiasm and determination. Instead, he cut his teeth in cellular billing software, which was followed by learning how to...
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Ep. 086, Oscillation Lifestyle
David Rose walks the road less traveled. A serial entrepreneur for over 30 years, David has envisioned and built more products than most people can imagine. In Episode #086, we talk about his "oscillation lifestyle" - moving back and forth from learning to teaching, teaching to implementing,...
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BONUS Episode - Modern History
Ben Hodson came in to record with us at Syrinx Studios in October. The first half of our conversation is Season Seven's Episode #085. We had a lot of ground to cover, and this bonus episode takes us from when we met one another at Monster up to the present day. Topics covered include the struggle...
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Ep. 085, Ancient History
I have known Ben Hodson for over 20 years, and when he came in to record we went over most of those years and back a few more in Episode #085 of Underserved. The first part of our conversation is this regular episode entitled "Ancient History." We start with Ben's step-grandfather cultivating…
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Ep. 084, Banging the Drum
Our 84th episode features Madhu Rajagopalan, Head of Engineering at Wellframe. Madhu's eyes were opened early when he saw how much more malleable software was than hardware. He quickly moved from electrical engineering to software development. This career path led him to several interesting…
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Ep. 083, From Ballet to Body Language AI
Rachel Cossar grew up a nationally ranked rhythmic gymnast in Canada. In Episode #083 of Underserved, we discover her journey from those early competitions to the Boston ballet to working with artificial intelligence to improve body language. It turns out that non-verbal body communication…
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Ep. 082, Order Up
Episode #082 of Underserved is our first one recorded 9.5 time zones apart. Naresh Pillai joined us from India, where he has returned to bootstrap a startup called OpineWorks. Prior to this, Naresh spent time developing software both in India and the United States. We worked together when he was…
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Ep. 081, Fear the Tree
Amanda Richardson grew up and started her career on the East Coast, but it took just one trip to California to fall in love with the state. In Episode 081, we talk about the siren song of Stanford, being the janitor on strategy presentations, and the gamification of coding interviews. Also…
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Ep. 080, It's all in the Clouds
Andrew Bauer is our guest for Underserved episode #080. Andrew is another guest who is a product of the Syracuse I-School. Combining business and technology skills, the I-School produces graduates with the rare skill set of being able to talk to both technical people and business folks (and…
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Ep. 079, On the Front Page
Episode 079 of Underserved features Shani Gentry Cincotti. Our first Alabama native on the show (Roll Tide!), Shani shares about growing up pursuing journalism but realizing that the tech industry might be more welcoming/pay better. A stint in electronic photo asset management bridged the two...
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Ep. 078, Specialization is for insects
Adam Firestone is our featured guest for Episode 78 of Underserved. A recovering attorney and platoon leader, Adam believes as Robert Heinlein does: Humans are not meant for specialization. We should be capable in many realms. In Adam's professional life, this means understanding security...
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Ep. 077, Triumph of Humanity
Michael Gallagher is featured in Episode #077 of Underserved. Michael spent his youth painting cars, running a collision business, and even getting his Massachusetts appraiser's license. A friend suggested he check out Putnam Investments and so began a career in financial services technology....
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Ep. 076, HOWTO: Harness Capitalism
SEASON 7 of Underserved kicks off with our guest Paul Belt. In our 76th episode, we cover Paul graduating from running a BBS and the warez scene into software development. Paul realized quickly that many companies and hiring managers in the software industry insist that you have that "piece of...
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BONUS Episode - A Monster Bonus
Episode #075's guest Jeff Taylor was generous with his time, spending over two hours with me in the studio. We captured so much good material that we needed a bonus episode to squeeze it all in. In this bonus episode we talk about life after Monster, why you should run the meetings you attend…
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Ep. 075, A Monster Idea
Our guest for Episode #075 is Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com and 14 other companies including most recently RoverTrophy.com. Jeff has always been ahead of his time, with boundless amounts of energy. This led him to create the world's first job board in Monster, a revolutionary idea that...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Underserved is the podcast for the rest of the technology industry. No startup or gadget worship, just real stories, lessons, and interesting topics from real people in the technology industry. Special emphasis on software development culture and history.
HOSTED BY
Andrew Gelina
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Underserved have?
Underserved currently has 130 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Underserved about?
Underserved is the podcast for the rest of the technology industry. No startup or gadget worship, just real stories, lessons, and interesting topics from real people in the technology industry. Special emphasis on software development culture and history.
How often does Underserved release new episodes?
Underserved publishes regularly with 130 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Underserved?
You can listen to Underserved on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Underserved?
Underserved is created and hosted by Andrew Gelina.
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