Welcome back to the Freecode Camp podcast. I'm Quincy Larson, teacher and founder of

Freecodecamp.org. Today, we're talking with Joe Hill. He's a software engineer who works

on a data platform for NASA. Joe taught himself programming for four years while working as a janitor.

As the single father of two autistic boys, he first used his programming skills to build an iPad app

to help them learn how to talk. We talk about data engineering and wrangling Department

of Defense data into a central data platform. We talk about the role of soft skills and getting

things done in big organizations. We talk about the need for patience and practice in self-teaching and how to stop

jumping from one tool to another and instead go deep.

And finally, we talk about tips for parents raising kids with autism.

Joe Hill, welcome to the Free Code Camp podcast.

Hi, Quincy.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, it's great to have you here, man.

You and I have corresponded, like, I don't know,

for like practically a decade. And we got to meet in Brooklyn for a Free Code Camp,

top contributor event a while back, you know, before the pandemic.

Another time ago, right? Seems like forever.

It does seem like forever. It was like another life, basically. But you are somebody who is a huge inspiration to me because you have taught yourself

programming, you've taught yourself data engineering.

You've gone from working as a janitor to working as a data engineer with NASA and

with the Department of Defense and like other big organizations that have like true big data to munch and work with.

And I wanted to learn a little bit more about you.

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