Studying on the Move

A friend recently asked me what podcasts I listen to on a regular basis - and I figured to share the list here as well.

With a 45-60 minute commute each way each weekday, I spend a lot of time on public transport - buses and trains. All too often I end up standing, which makes reading difficult or impossible. So, I spend the time with my MP3 player, listening to a range of podcasts.

To begin, here are the three podcasts I listen to for professional development - each of these shows has earned a place on my regular play-list because it helps me be better at what I do.

Dot Net Rocks is one of the oldest and best podcasts out there - in fact, it predates the term podcasts itself. Now nearing show #350, the show sets a high bar for quality of content, and quality of production: the audio quality is seldom less than superb, a significant factor when listening on a train!

Hanselminutes is also quite worthwhile, with an explicit (and achieved) goal of ‘not wasting the listeners time’. Short, half hour shows that leave you wanting more. Recommended (along with DNR) for any .NET developer serious about improving his/her craft.

RunAsRadio is another good show, also from Pwop productions, but this time aimed squarely at the IT professionals who build and maintain the infrastructure that the rest of us rely upon. I’ve found this show a good way to ‘see across the great divide’ and gain an understanding of what the IT guys are thinking.

Of course, being the unrepentant geek that I am, the list of subscriptions doesn’t end there. A range of other podcasts that contribute to a wider viewpoint than just the world of .NET include:

From the Twit network of Leo Laporte, I listen to TWiT Weekly (round table discussion of news and events), Windows Weekly (Windows specific news) and FLOSS Weekly (interviews with notables from the open source community).

Indulging my interest in science, Astronomy cast (what we know and how we know it about the universe) and ScienceTalk (from the Scientific American magazine publishers). The Lullabot Podcast helps me stay up to date with the world of Drupal.

And lastly, from QuickAndDirtyTips.com, I listen to Grammar Girl and Get-It-Done Guy.

That rounds out the list of regular listening - there are a horde of others that I’ve sampled and discarded, for reasons of quality or relevance. For example, I’ve just started listening to Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky as they ramp up their new developer community site, www.stackoverflow.com. Time will tell if they make the cut for regular listening.

Hope you find this list useful!