In high school, Matt Johnson followed in the footsteps of his older brother, pursuing similar hobbies like sports and music. After joining a band, Matt realized they needed a website. Mirroring his brother, Matt learned to code, built a website, and changed his college major. Following graduation, Matt dove into business ownership, buying out the company he interned for with a business partner. That once small operation has grown to a team of over 100 and as of July 1st, Matt will be Midwestern Interactive’s sole owner. Like Chuck and Robbie, Matt made the switch from programmer to business owner and is committed to his role as a people and business leader.  In this episode, Matt talks with Chuck and Robbie about learning to love coding, Matt’s philosophy on tech and business, what’s valuable and what’s fluff with Web3, and why Matt took up golf after putting coding on the backburner. Key Takeaways [00:29] - A brief introduction to Matt.  [01:24] - A whiskey review.  [08:34] - How Matt discovered coding.  [12:17] - Matt’s (and Robbie’s) music career.  [15:14] - How Matt decides what tech to work with.  [16:33] - How often Matt actually codes as a business owner.  [22:56] - The very last piece of billable code Matt wrote for Midwestern Interactive. [26:39] - How Matt views the value of Web3. [34:40] - What golf and programming have in common. [39:23] - What other businesses Matt runs and how those ventures came to be.  [44:20] - What Matt thinks of YAML.  [44:58] - How Chuck and Robbie strategize with tech and testing.  [52:42] - How Matt produces consistently strong outcomes.  Quotes [14:25] - “It’s pretty crazy, right? You leverage the tools for what you love to do, and then you fall in love with the tool. It’s a really interesting thing. I remember the idea of telling a computer what to do was just baffling to me. I can just create my own anything.” ~ Matt Johnson [18:26] - “When you are running a business you have to be able to be the right person for the job at any given moment. And you have to have that ability to change your priorities to meet the priorities of the people setting the priorities.” ~ Matt Johnson [18:57] - “When you base your decisions on what’s right, it’s a whole lot easier to go to sleep at night. And getting good rest is very important in the progression of your business.” ~ Matt Johnson Links Matt Johnson Midwestern Interactive W.L. Weller Antique 107 Pappy Van Winkle’s Whiskey Maker’s Mark Buffalo Trace Distillery Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Whiskey Total Wine Bart Paden Christ In Youth The Jordan Howerton Band Myspace Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win LinkedIn Slack Bored Ape Yacht Club SHIBA INU Damien Hirst NFT  Zinc Coffee YAML Kubernetes GitHub ESLint Ember.js Prettier  Husky React Connect with our hosts Robbie Wagner Chuck Carpenter Ship Shape Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Whiskey Web and Whatnot Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape’s software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io.

In high school, Matt Johnson followed in the footsteps of his older brother, pursuing similar hobbies like sports and music. After joining a band, Matt realized they needed a website. Mirroring his brother, Matt learned to code, built a website, and changed his college major. Following graduation, Matt dove into business ownership, buying out the company he interned for with a business partner. That once small operation has grown to a team of over 100 and as of July 1st, Matt will be Midwestern Interactive’s sole owner. Like Chuck and Robbie, Matt made the switch from programmer to business owner and is committed to his role as a people and business leader.  In this episode, Matt talks with Chuck and Robbie about learning to love coding, Matt’s philosophy on tech and business, what’s valuable and what’s fluff with Web3, and why Matt took up golf after putting coding on the backburner. Key Takeaways [00:29] - A brief introduction to Matt.  [01:24] - A whiskey review.  [08:34] - How Matt discovered coding.  [12:17] - Matt’s (and Robbie’s) music career.  [15:14] - How Matt decides what tech to work with.  [16:33] - How often Matt actually codes as a business owner.  [22:56] - The very last piece of billable code Matt wrote for Midwestern Interactive. [26:39] - How Matt views the value of Web3. [34:40] - What golf and programming have in common. [39:23] - What other businesses Matt runs and how those ventures came to be.  [44:20] - What Matt thinks of YAML.  [44:58] - How Chuck and Robbie strategize with tech and testing.  [52:42] - How Matt produces consistently strong outcomes.  Quotes [14:25] - “It’s pretty crazy, right? You leverage the tools for what you love to do, and then you fall in love with the tool. It’s a really interesting thing. I remember the idea of telling a computer what to do was just baffling to me. I can just create my own anything.” ~ Matt Johnson [18:26] - “When you are running a business you have to be able to be the right person for the job at any given moment. And you have to have that ability to change your priorities to meet the priorities of the people setting the priorities.” ~ Matt Johnson [18:57] - “When you base your decisions on what’s right, it’s a whole lot easier to go to sleep at night. And getting good rest is very important in the progression of your business.” ~ Matt Johnson Links Matt Johnson Midwestern Interactive W.L. Weller Antique 107 Pappy Van Winkle’s Whiskey Maker’s Mark Buffalo Trace Distillery Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Whiskey Total Wine Bart Paden Christ In Youth The Jordan Howerton Band Myspace Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win LinkedIn Slack Bored Ape Yacht Club SHIBA INU Damien Hirst NFT  Zinc Coffee YAML Kubernetes GitHub ESLint Ember.js Prettier  Husky React Connect with our hosts Robbie Wagner Chuck Carpenter Ship Shape Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Whiskey Web and Whatnot Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape’s software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io.