Consulting, Open Source, and YouTube Education with Alexander Lichter – Techstrong Unplugged EP25

Hey everybody, and welcome back to Textron Unplugged. I'm your host, Atan Solomon, and this is episode 25 of our series. In this episode, we're taking you to vConf 2024 at vConf Arcos.

Cassandra Chin met up with Alexander Lichter, a versatile VEP engineering consultant, YouTuber and open source contributor. Alex discusses the importance of problem driven development, the value of educating others through YouTube, and the challenges of balancing multiple projects as a solo entrepreneur. Without further ado, let's note over to UCON 2024.

Welcome back to Text and Unplugged. I'm Cassandra Chin, and today we're here with Alex. Hey, how's it going?

Very good. Can you introduce yourself? Yeah, Of course.

Yeah. Uh, I'm Alex. I am a web engineer consultant by day, so my, my job is more or less to help companies that have problems in this case with, so the frontend frameworks and the applications say, okay, we have some problems with performance, or we want someone to review the applications.

We, yeah, just need some help. And then I'm there so like, sure we can make it happen. Um, and besides that, yeah, I'm running my own company, so the little one man show, so to say, but working together with lots of amazing people.

Um, and I do YouTube. I do some live streams as well, and I'm also an open source and that's more or less about me. So how did he actually get started into technology?

So, it's really funny, like around the age of three, I have like the vivid memory of my grandfather who back in time was really into like, computers, like big things back then. And it was like, yeah, let's, uh, sit in front of it. Let's play a little bit.

It was, I think back then it was kind of Mario Clone and I was hooked immediately. So it was pretty funny. Uh, and from then I always like was interested in that, like exploring more things.

And I think from there, uh, I got into like, okay, how to use the internet, like back in times, right? It was not like generally whale, like logging in for like the phone. It was, it was really weird with like, uh, the modems and stuff.

Um, and like my family was always, uh, let's say supporting dad also together with my, my mom or my grandpa checking out more and more. And yeah, then I figured out, okay, the internet is like a, a big place. You can, you could find so many things there.

And then my cousin came out the face, I'm like, oh yeah, like around the age of like 10 or something. Like, oh yeah, that, that guy needs his own email address because horse some point would be nice to register on your and so on. And that must have sound like that old story from back in time because nowadays, like everybody has like a Google account or whatnot.

Um, but that's how I got started with like computers in general. But at some point it was like, it's cool to use all that, but I want to see how to create something like that. I want to see how I can also do something.

What I see in the internet that I see when I open my applications. And I think the biggest point was at the age of like 13 where like the Minecraft High was really big. It was like back then in, in Vida and there was the multiplayer of course.

So back in time I was, I was then checking how exactly can, can I change something? MicroCraft server, how can like add in something the game like moding the game. And there was, there was a big app, like a big mod called Bucket in Time written in Java.

And that brought me to, okay, let's learn Java, let's do something. And that's how I started getting into, It's interesting you got into programming using Minecraft. 'cause that's actually the same way I got into programming.

Very cool. Lovely. So Minecraft has really been around for a long time.

Oh yeah. It's, uh, it's crazy. I feel a little bit old when I think back now like 11, no, 11 more than half a year have to go, uh, started, but, and still there and play by so many people has evolved And I think kids are still moding and doing the kind of things you were doing for Sure.

Probably a bit different also not at Minecraft itself. Back then they didn't give like that many official ways of doing it. So it was a lot of community driven and well, by now it's, I think it's more official also the people back then that worked on Bucket, they got hired by Mojang to work on it full-time.

So it's really cool Actually. It's still a bit community driven. Yeah.

Oh, that's Great to hear. Yeah, I, I haven't been in the, the scene for a while, but every now and then I still like see some old plugins sometimes bring a comment like, oh hey, when you update, and like, I won't what happen I'm afraid. But good thing is also like, uh, when I started developing these things and even became like, uh, part of the bucket team for like reviewing other plugins, I was like 16, something like that.

Um, it was quite an experience also to like, okay, how to do open source, how to write proper issues of like, okay, I downloaded the mod and it didn't work. So of course I I, I always have that in my mind. The first time I, I told someone like, okay, hey, use that and didn't work.

It was the, the worst description ever because I just thought, okay, hey, it doesn't work. And now I see this as open source maintainer. I see it quite often.

People do exactly the same. And I always remind myself of, okay, I did exactly the same. And back then nobody told me, Hey, this is how you can do it better.

People just like, Hey, it's not helpful. And they were right. It, it wasn't really helpful.

Um, but I learned how to do better. And now I also like when people just say like, Hey, okay, that doesn't work. I'm like, okay, here are a few steps to, to help us figure out how we can help you.

Because just saying it doesn't work, that's, that doesn't lead us anywhere because commonly the typical, okay, it works for me, it might not work for you, but we have to figure out why. It's interesting that you actually learned how to do open source room of game. It's, it's really funny, like, yeah, starting with starting with issues, starting like publishing code here and there.

Um, but also at some point I then moved a little bit away from it because then I figured, okay, I want to show my, my work on not only on the, like the moding side, but also my own side. And then I started getting into that development into a bit of PhD. Um, and that was, that was very interesting because Java for me was always like big and bulky and lots of code and PHP was like, it was more or less flexible.

You can just write it very easily and get to what you want with less code was a bit less structured, but for me it was, okay, I can, I have to write less to achieve the same, so why not doing that All interesting stuff. Yeah. And what kind of apps did you write?

Um, so for, for VA applications? Yeah. I started with like my, my own, uh, for portfolio more or less showing like my, my MicroCraft plugins as well.

Then like some simple thing like currency, converters and stuff. Also did it in Java once, um, I wrote some more script, even like with people can log in, they can say, Hey, I wrote for a specific plugin to be developed, like some more complex system all from scratch, like with just PHP know, like framework attached. So At the time, did currency converters exist on websites at the time?

For sure. That's, that's always, that was just like a little, So what's your like, motivation to like create it? So for, for this, it was basically, I was also very active in the forum and they had like a forum currency and then like taking this mapping and this to like, I don't know, this 300, uh, like forum gold is worth a euro.

Um, that was something that wasn't exactly like that there. So, and also was a nice exercise of, okay, like it's, it's probably also difficult to build. Let's do it.

Let's figure out how it's something to to, to do it. And that also resembles what I did with micrograph. Yeah, I wanted to reach a goal, I wanted to change certain things and I had to figure out how that's commonly how I learn with like, okay, I have a project and I want to, uh, achieve a goal that could be to solve my own needs.

That could be to solve needs of friends and family or of, um, the community as well. And then it starts with, okay, how to do that. What do I need to learn for that?

What new skills do I need? What can I reuse? So yeah, that's commonly how it's like problem driven, let's say I develop.

Do you wanna talk a little about like more of what you're doing now? Of course. Yeah.

Um, so right now I am, uh, in, well besides my day job of, uh, helping companies that also individuals, I, I am lost in open source. So there I am the maintainer of a web framework for nj. Uh, also mentioned briefly before and another interview guest Daniel's also on the team.

Um, so the idea is that's a web framework that helps people build in web applications very easily. Uh, we want to make it with them better, more easier for the users, fix all the problems and think of how we can make it even better. So I think that's one of the things I pursue in terms of coding openly.

Another thing that I really like is also educating people about that, because building amazing features is important. Fixing bugs is important, but if you have a really cool feature but nobody knows how to use it, that's not really helpful. So of course there's like documentation, but sometimes the documentation of like, okay, here's how you use it, but you might need more context.

You might go like, okay, hey, these are some cases where it's good, here are like three more examples. And some people needed extra context. Some people feel like, okay, I don't need it.

That's why I decided in, uh, September, 2023 to start a YouTube channel around that one video a week. And, um, yeah, to help people understanding more things arounds. And look, It's really interesting how you like educate people through YouTube.

It's lovely. Also, there is so many, like I started also writing blog posts. Now I don't have that much time at the moment to do that, but with videos it's, it gives more context.

But also, I know lots of people are very visual learners, so if they see how someone does it, uh, someone does it, they can code along or you can say like, okay, I got it. I get the code. Uh, I'll have a look into that.

That's, um, yeah, that works pretty well. And people, so far Are your videos like live streams? Uh, I have some live streams as well, but commonly I produce them.

So, um, I, I commonly have like a topic. I decide on usually what people in the community are interested in or what I think could be interesting for them. Then I prepare them as in, okay, I do some research, I build the demo application.

I think what, what I want to tell, it shouldn't be too long, it shouldn't be too short. And then I record them. The videos I give it to my editor goes to post-production and editor will cut out well the ohs and s and the, the long parts are not necessary and maybe my mistakes.

And in the end, like a probably like 10 to 20 minutes video comes out and they will be Do you ever engage with like user feedback or like, Quite a lot. So all the videos are premiering on YouTube, so we always have a live chat for that. And then like also answering questions there on demands also did that actually this morning was a, a release, uh, because I'm based in Europe and then, uh, we are right here in in Orleans, so the titles are different, like waking up in the morning premiering, answering some questions and also in the comments of course if somebody is like, uh, writing a comment or try to answer them, either there's a question of like, how do I use this and this, what does this case?

So I try to be very responsive there And think it's really cool how you engage them. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Yeah. Um, I think this is very important to understand the needs of the people. And if I see like, okay, lots of people want a certain type of content, then that's all good for me to plan ahead.

So I see what people are interested in or maybe also what I can improve in explaining. So if people maybe didn't understand a certain art of the video, they know for next time. Okay, I can put more focus on there or explain differently.

Personally I use YouTube the most for tutorials like yours. Great. Yeah.

And I, I think it's, it's so good because there's so much content out there. It's free, right? I, I don't charge anything for that.

Uh, and that's, that's like a way to learn. I also learned back in times YouTube tutorials and I'm very happy to give a little bit back to the community, uh, and to help people that might also, similar Way. You said you also owned a company?

Yes, Correct. So, um, that's also more less me, but, um, it's a one man show, let's say, uh, for doing consultancy and also then like covering all the video part and well, um, you have to write invoices, expenses and something has to pay the bills as well. So open source is really full, but unfortunately not that many people can live from doing open source.

And I think it's, it, it'll help in a way that will change in the future, but for me it's, I have time for open source because my consultancy business. So my freelance business is paying you bills For your consultancy business. Do you like write applications for other people?

Uh, I started with that more or less. I don't do it that often. I really try and focus helping them with my expert knowledge.

Um, if they said like, okay, hey, can you also implement that? Then I already say no, but also I, I try to focus on what I can improve there because there are lots of really good full stack developers. Um, but of course if you're the maintainer of a framework, if you're like really deep into all the internals, then the knowledge is better used to help people fixing problems.

So I also, on the other hand, it helps to understand the project and why people have certain issues. So maybe I can also go the other way around and say, okay, if multiple of my clients they have problems with new or not, maybe I can make a video about it or document it or fix it maybe to make the life better. And also there, there are lots of people, I mean, I only see a small subset, but there may be lots of other people suffering from that or having the same issue that are the silent majority.

So yeah, I hope it's, uh, helps them. I think that's really great to use your knowledge to help fix their problems. Like sometimes helping fix their problems is more valuable than just writing it for them.

For sure. Yeah. And also like how to understand, okay, you have this issue here is why like explain not only this is the fix, but here is how you can circumvent that or here's the concept behind it.

Um, and yeah, that's the classic analogy with like, okay, um, I, I want to transfer knowledge on. So it's not like I'm, I'm the person, as I said, fix them. It's really like, okay, ideally they understand the next time the same issue happens, they can do it on their own and they don't have to call me, which makes me a little bit obsolete over time, but weighs also good, poor damnit at least.

What is a typical workday like for you? Um, that's really, that's really different actually. I don't have the typical workday because I, I don't have like one or two, like big project.

It's where like I have, uh, one or two handful of clients. Uh, and then I, some people said like, okay, we have, uh, we have meetings every week or every two weeks we're discussing. Some people say, let's, um, here's an issue.

Uh, please solve that and tell us at least end of next week the how, how you did it or what you findings. Um, so sometimes I have calls with people, sometimes I don't, sometimes I work on, on issues. Sometimes I prepare a YouTube video.

Sometimes we open source and sometimes I do livestream. So it's, it really Depends. It's a lot of balls to juggle every day, for Sure.

Yeah. And it's, uh, well self-discipline, like having some kind of time management, it's pretty essential for that. It's still one thing I think I could get better at just because the more things, as you said, the more boss to juggle, the harder it gets to keep it all in shape.

And of course you have deadlines here and there. You don't want to, like, you want to meet them, you don't want to postpone things again and again. Uh, and that's, that's also a skill to acquire.

But you also get there with by time, don't start with like a hundred projects. You start with with one, then maybe another one comes in and then you go up step by step. I see.

I think we've had a really good chat today, so thank you. Absolutely. Yeah, thanks for having me.

And uh, if there any questions as usual.