Tough Conversation

Some conversations are tough.

Welcome to the tenth issue of Zero to Hero Highlights.

Last week, it was part infrastructure, part content creation. Here’s a quick overview of what has happened.

Radio Zero to Hero is Growing 🤘

Update 2024-05-27
Nowadays, I’m now using Loopback as the audio plugin / virtual audio interface.
It is much stable with a richer feature set. I’m happy with it.

I did several optimizations for the Radio Zero to Hero stream. Here are the essential highlights.

I figured out that Wirecast already has an audio plugin that can stream the system audio. It works much better than the Shiny White Box audio capture plugin that I have. As a result, I don’t have audio quality problems anymore. I can stream music forever without restarting my machine (which was not the case before).

So yeah, overall better audio quality.

Additionally, I reduced the frame rate from 60fps to 25fps, which is still more than enough if you are just streaming live coding sessions on an IDE. I also figured out 4500Kbps for bitrate was optimal for me.

Here are my entire settings for the interested.

Zero to Hero Twitch stream settings.

But the gist is that I now have much better video and audio quality, with a much smoother streaming experience.

Ah, also, as of now, Radio Zero to Hero has…

✨ 3565 (and increasing) tracks

✨ totaling 187 hours 22 minutes and 56 seconds of

✨ non-stop, 24/7, beyond-this-world beats 🎶.

Want to see how it looks? Come join the fun on Twitch.

It’s my primary music source when I’m coding and developing right now (sorry, Spotify, my old friend).

What’s on the Horizon 👩‍🍳

I finally finished configuring a TLS-terminated Kubernetes AWS ALB Ingress for FizzBuzz Pro (try saying that five times fast, huh? 😃)

FizzBuzz Pro Kubernetes settings.

Anyhoo, I learned a lot during the process, which means more articles and videos are on their way, so that you won’t have to suffer what I’ve suffered 🙂.

Other than that I’m working on the IDM Service, which is all about user-management things like login, logout, password reset, and all.

I have also created a video going through the high-level system design of FizzBuzz Pro; you’ll like it.

Random Thought of the Week

Feeling Stressed? You are Not Alone

Feeling stressed? Feeling overwhelmed? You are not alone. Let’s see how you can manage your productivity under stress.

First of all, you must realize that if you are stressed the hell out that you cannot get stuff done in time, conventional time management strategies will not help you. When under stress, trying to improve your efficiency will backfire and make things worse.

Why? Because when you become more efficient, you’ll make more room for tasks, and you’ll feel even further under pressure.

If you feel overwhelmed, attack the root cause. Be honest with yourself ( and others) about what you can actually commit to. Say “No” often. For the tasks you maintain, think in terms of priorities, not in terms of time.

Saying “I don’t have time for that” to a superior can sound abrupt, awkward, and negative; however, reframing the phrase like “Where would you like me prioritize this against these three tasks that I already am committed to?” can put things into context.

Additionally, this approach places the onus on them to tell you which task is more important, so you have one less thing to worry about. Win-win 🙌.

Tough Conversations

My next random thought is about “tough conversations”, or “giving though feedback”.

Tough conversations are challenging for a reason, and—related to the above discussion—when you are stressed out, it’s easy to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

To keep the interaction going sideways, pay special attention to how you communicate your ideas.

For instance phrases like “obviously”, “clearly”, “certainly”, “no doubt” will likely trigger defensiveness and negative emotions in your counterpart.

Additionally, don’t exaggerate things. Avoid sentences like “We always…”, “We never…”. And needless to say, don’t challenge anyone’s character or integrity.

Focus on the issue, not on the person solving the issue.

Also people generally feel defensive about “Why” statements, and they feel judged by “Should” statements. Instead, you can say “You might want to consider…”, “Can this be a possibility…”, “Have you thought of…”. Leave room for them to elaborate and think creatively.

Ah, one final advice: Don’t say “it’s not personal”.

It might not be personal to you, but it is pretty darn personal to them.

Look What I’ve Found

Here are the things that grabbed my attention this week.

I typically don’t share these anywhere else.

Exclusively hand-picked for you 👌. Enjoy.

Thanks a Lot ❤️

That’s all for this week. Next week, I’ll gather more unique content and resources.

So, until next time… May the source be with you 🦄.