Anna Miller, founder of Outlier Mentors, on why your job search isn't a job search problem.

Anna Miller has coached over 100 engineers into roles at companies like Google and Amazon. She has 44,000+ LinkedIn followers who tune in for her straight talk on what actually works in today's job market. And she built Outlier Mentors, a career mentorship community, to fill the gap she kept seeing: engineers who are talented, hardworking, and completely unprepared for how getting hired actually works.

Spoiler: it's not about blasting out applications.

Anna brings a no-nonsense, deeply human approach to job searching. She understands that the process is emotional, that rejection emails often mean nothing, and that the engineers who get hired aren't necessarily the most skilled, they're the ones who show up prepared, visible, and practiced.

Anna's network-first philosophy isn't just theory. It's built from years of watching engineers miss offers not because they weren't qualified, but because they treated the job search like a form submission instead of a human process. Getting the interview and passing the interview are two completely different skill sets, and most people never train for either one.

In this episode, we'll talk about how the tech hiring landscape has changed, why online visibility is the most underrated career skill, not taking rejection emails at face value, the difference between landing an interview and passing one, what Outlier Mentors actually does, the mentorship model from networking through offer, AI role play for interview prep, the emotional barrier that hold engineers back, and why recording yourself might be the highest-leverage thing you can do for your career.

Your call to action? → Record yourself speaking about something. Anything. If you do it, you will be a more successful person in life.

00:00 Introduction to Career Mentorship in Tech

02:18 Navigating the Job Market: The Role of Networking

05:15 The Importance of Online Visibility

08:24 Understanding the Job Search Process

11:25 The Evolution of Interview Preparation

14:16 The Difference Between Landing and Passing Interviews

16:29 The Emotional Aspect of Job Searching

19:26 The Mentorship Model and Its Benefits

22:07 Innovations in Interview Preparation: AI Role Play

24:38 Final Thoughts on Communication and Self-Reflection

Anna Miller, LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/annamiller/

Outlier Mentors - https://outliermentorship.systeme.io/

From Navy Nuclear Reactors to 4,000+ Students: Why Fundamentals Still Beat AI

Erik Gross is the co-founder of the Tech Academy and author of The Uncommon Engineer. A Navy nuclear reactor operator turned sales professional turned software engineer, Erik couldn't find junior developers, so he built a school to train them.

In this episode, we talk about Erik's journey from programming on a Vic 20 at age 11, to operating nuclear reactors in the Navy, to co-founding one of the earliest coding bootcamps. We dig into why AI is a game changer for experienced developers but a potential crutch for beginners, the moment systems architecture "clicked" on a submarine in Idaho, how the Tech Academy bakes AI training into every bootcamp, job search tenacity, and Erik's upcoming book, The Uncommon Engineer.

Your call to action? → If you can read and do basic math, you can learn to code. Whatever method you choose, give it a shot.

00:00 Introduction to Erik Gross

01:00 The Vic 20 and Learning to Code at 11

02:01 Inside the Computer: A Lesson from Dad

02:36 Navy Nuclear Power and Digital Circuitry

03:00 The Unexpected Tech Career in Sales

03:27 The Blunt Conversation That Changed Everything

04:31 Landing the First Tech Job

05:27 The Search for Junior Developers

05:56 How the First Coding Bootcamp Inspired the Tech Academy

06:36 Staying Current as a Working Developer

07:37 AI for New Developers vs. Experienced Engineers

09:26 Domain Expertise and Garbage In, Garbage Out

11:22 "Explain It Like I'm Five": Using AI to Learn

12:50 Principles Over Syntax

14:29 AI as a Companion, Not a Replacement

15:19 Why Claude is a Game Changer

16:33 AI in the Tech Academy Curriculum

17:56 The Current Tech Job Market

18:56 Tenacity in the Job Search

22:03 The Uncommon Engineer: Erik's New Book

22:26 The Submarine in the Desert

25:35 When Systems Architecture Clicks

29:02 One Takeaway: You Can Learn to Code

• Erik Gross, LinkedIn
• The Tech Academy
• The Uncommon Engineer (coming soon!)
• Tool reference: Claude by Anthropic

Jaidie Vargas is a force of nature. She is a national speaker, Navy veteran, PhD student researching AI ethics, co-founder and executive director of Amigas in Tech, IT Director, and a mom.

What doesn't she do?!

She's a champion whose actions inspire women and particularly the Latina community to feel empowered and claim their seat at the table.

Jaidie's journey from IT in the Navy to cybersecurity leadership shows the power of asking her favorite question, "why not?" at every turn. She built a career by staying curious, communicating authentically, and bringing others along for the climb. Now, through Amigas in Tech, she's building a community with friends she once needed which offers salary negotiation workshops, civic engagement tools, and real resources beyond just panels.

Her PhD research focuses on AI ethical frameworks with a human-centric, community-first approach. She's making sure communities have a voice when data centers pop up and AI decisions get made because innovation without consideration of its effects isn't progress.

In this episode, we'll talk about finding community, Jaidie's path from IT in the Navy to cyber leadership, building Amigas in Tech from the ground up, researching AI ethics, why communication is the most critical soft skill, asking "why not?" to create opportunities, time management across multiple roles, the importance of allyship, and staying authentic when the world wants you to blend in.

Your call to action? → Keep on showing up, keep on making your voice heard, and seek micro or macro glimmers of joy and hope.

00:00 Introduction to Jaidie Vargas

00:58 The Mission of Amigas in Tech

03:24 Jaidie's Journey into Tech

05:55 Researching AI Ethics

08:05 Lessons Learned in Tech

11:25 The Importance of Communication

11:49 Creating Opportunities in Tech

17:14 Future Aspirations and Community Impact

18:18 Navigating Life's Transitions

19:19 Time Management Strategies

21:31 The Mission of Amigas In Tech

22:55 Building Community and Allyship

25:43 Unexpected Success and Growth

27:53 Maintaining Passion and Avoiding Burnout

29:43 The Importance of Inclusivity

29:52 Personal Growth and Authenticity

32:20 Recap

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