Season 2 Episode #7: In this episode of Tech Effect, we meet Danny Preussler. Danny has over 25 years of experience in software development and is a full-stack engineer at SoundCloud. Which many people know as the online audio and music streaming platform that allows users to upload, share, and listen to music, podcasts, and DJ sets. Danny’s time in the software development scene has seen him jump from a dedicated Android Developer to a Full-Stack Engineer. With experience at eBay, Groupon, Viacom International Media Networks, Danny joins us in this episode to take us through his journey, covering everything from career changes, AI, testing in the media streaming industry, and beyond.

Danny’s journey and the lessons he has learnt

What it’s like going from a dedicated Android developer to a Full-Stack developer
Challenges, lessons and advice when changing roles
Understanding AI's strengths and weaknesses as a valuable tool
Underappreciated and overlooked challenges
Getting scaling right

The Challenges of developing in the streaming and customer-facing app domain

What it is like developing and testing in customer-facing apps
What it is like developing and testing in the streaming industry
The impact of AI on developers, testers, and the tech industry
Ensuring good personalisation and fair payment to artists alike

Testing in the Streaming Industry

Merchant vs customer-facing development challenges
How to prioritise bugs and fixes
What's behind the idea: Code without tests is bad code - Every code without a test is immediately legacy code
Testing in production, non-traditional QA practices

Common misconceptions people have about testing and real-world examples

“Any change means a failed test”
“Misconceptions with unit testing and the pyramid structure”
“Misconceptions people have about flaky tests?”
Real-world examples and explanations

And Much More

Danny Preussler

Full-Stack Engineer at SoundCloud

Danny is currently a QA Competence Lead at SoundCloud, with over 15 years of experience software development. Danny explains how his journey has taken him down many routes, from being a dedicated Android developer, working for platforms like Groupon and eBay. To his roles at streaming giants Viacom and SoundCloud, where is his now a full-stack developer. During this journey Danny take us though what it is like moving from Andriod to full-stack development, testing in difference industries, misconceptions about testing and development, the role of AI, and much, much more.

Josh William Burmistre-Griffiths

Digital Marketing and Paid Ad Specialist

Josh William Burmistre-Griffiths works at TestDevLab, focusing on digital marketing and paid advertising across multiple platforms. His past experience working at agencies and unicorn startups has equipped Josh with the expertise to bring valuable digital marketing insights to Tech Effect.

# 26 Danny Preussler (SoundCloud): From Android to Full Stack & Everything In-between

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