SuiteScript Stories
A podcast for the NetSuite development community - connecting SuiteScript developers through conversations, stories, and ideas.
Hosted by Eric T Grubaugh, SuiteScript Coach at Stoic Software.
Questions or comments about the show? Email me.
Episode 43: Isabella Romanazzi Interview
Published July 26, 2024
I have a conversation with Isabella Romanazzi, Director of NetSuite Recruitment at SystemsAccountants. We discuss:
- Isabella's journey into recruiting
- her observations of trends in the current NetSuite job market
- her advice for NetSuite job seekers and employers alike
- her passion for networking events
Links
Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by the members of the Sustainable SuiteScript community. We are a community of NetSuite developers looking to accelerate our learning, share ideas, build a sense of community, and raise the bar for SuiteScript development.
Join us today at https://sustainablesuitescript.com/.
Episode 42: Eric's Developer Journey
Published July 12, 2024
I share my backstory, including:
- Learning to write code on a calculator
- Changing my mind halfway through a college degree
- Starting out in government contracting
- Transitioning cluelessly into NetSuite and JavaScript
- Getting fired from a NetSuite developer job
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by the members of the Sustainable SuiteScript community. We are a community of NetSuite developers looking to accelerate our learning, share ideas, build a sense of community, and raise the bar for SuiteScript development.
Join us today at https://sustainablesuitescript.com/.
Episode 41: Fond Farewell to Tim
Published June 18, 2024
We say farewell to Tim as he saunters off into the sunset toward his next adventure. On his way out, we discuss:
- more SuiteQL FAQs
- Tim's reasons for moving on
- what's next for Tim's products and services
Episode 40: The Anchor Group Interview
Published May 21, 2024
Jacob Terneus (CEO) and Caleb Schmitz (CRO) of The Anchor Group about their lengthy experience working with SuiteCommerce.
- the challenges and skills required for ecommerce roles
- the evolution of Anchor Group's focus to SuiteCommerce
- the differences between various ecommerce solutions
- the benefits of knowledge sharing and training within a company
Episode 39: Generative AI Therapy
Published May 14, 2024
We discuss our observations of the explosion in popularity of generative AI
- What are our individual reactions to the rise of generative AI?
- How are we using AI in our lives?
- How well does generative AI write SuiteScript right now?
- Enthusiasm and reservations about the nature of work in the age of AI
Links
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 38: 2024 Wish List for SuiteScript and NetSuite
Published April 18, 2024
We discuss our ideas to expand the NetSuite development ecosystem.
- improving access to SuiteQL metadata table access, views, indexes, query plans
- enhancing developer tooling like debugging environments and dependency management
- tailored learning paths for all experience levels
- better community engagement through a developer relations team
- Tim's weekly "SuiteDigest" newsletter aggregating NetSuite news and jobs
Episode 37: Jonathan Stark Interview #2
Published April 1, 2024
We follow-up with Jonathan Stark to discuss the concept of authority. Jonathan shares his definition of authority, why establishing authority is important (especially to soloists), and strategies for building authority.
We also discuss Jonathan's career pivots, the steps that he went through to establish authority in new areas, and how he and Rochelle Moulton started the popular Business of Authority podcast.
Episode 36: Productivity Advice for NetSuite Developers
Published March 28, 2024
We talk about maintaining a healthy and sustainable productivity system.
- keeping your focus on consistency in task execution and progress towards goals over raw outputs (e.g. "how much did users' lives improve?", not "how many lines of code did I type?").
- the importance of rest and evaluation.
- Tim’s use of text files for task planning and search features for easy access.
- the need for a flexible productivity system that accommodates unexpected events and allows for presence in family life.
- the importance of focus, managing interruptions, and structuring routines with larger time blocks.
- the value of rest and relaxation, setting boundaries, and saying no to new projects.
- the significance of establishing systems and routines to enhance productivity, adapting methods to suit individual needs, and continuous improvement.
Episode 35: Adam Smith Interview
Published March 25, 2024
Adam Smith joins us to talk about SuiteAdvanced, his popular premium browser extension for NetSuite.
- Adam's journey to becoming a NetSuite developer.
- the motivation for building and sharing SuiteAdvanced.
- the technical challenges of building and distributing a browser extension.
- Adam's experience winning the Hackathon for Good at SuiteWorld.
Links
None
Episode 34: Jonathan Stark Interview
Published March 14, 2024
Jonathan Stark joins us to talk about the insanity of hourly billing.
- Jonathan's and Tim's shared history in the FileMaker Pro space.
- Jonathan's AHA moment when he realized hourly billing was killing his business.
- the misaligned financial incentives created by hourly billing.
- how specializing into a narrower target market amplifies your opportunities.
- the various forms of specialization: Vertical, Horizontal, Platform
- the obstacles an agency faces when trying to specialize.
Episode 33: The Butterfly Effect
Published February 28, 2024
We discuss an article called "The Butterfly Effect" which Eric wrote, describing his observations of the NetSuite development space. Often, our eagerness to say YES to every client, to every project, to every task, flings us into a spiral of dysfunction.
- Business, teams, and individuals are all interconnected systems. Nothing and no one operates in a vacuum.
- How can you avoid the fear and anxiety of an empty project pipeline?
- Can your project pipeline be too full? Yes. Yes it can.
- Are things any better three years after the article?
Links
- The Butterfly Effect by Eric T Grubaugh
- The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks
- 11 Questions for a Better Onboarding Program by Eric T Grubaugh
- It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- overreacted by Dan Abramov
- Just JavaScript Course by Dan Abramov
- LifeSpan TR1000 Under-Desk Treadmill
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 32: NetSuite Customizations
Published February 13, 2024
We discuss the pros and cons of being able to customize NetSuite as broadly and deeply as you want.
- How do you decide when to customize NetSuite to your business needs versus when to adapt your business process to NetSuite?
- Whose responsibility is it to make that decision?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of either choice?
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 31: Naming Things is Hard
Published January 31, 2024
We highlight the significance of clear, concise, and consistent naming conventions in coding. Poor naming can lead to confusion, increased cognitive load, and avoidance of code. We talk about using domain-specific language in your code, the importance of consistency, the benefits of having a standard set of rules within a team, and the importance of good documentation.
Links
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 30: Gil Hoffer Interview
Published January 17, 2024
An interview with Gil Hoffer, co-founder and CTO of Salto. We discuss Gil's long tenure as a leader in tech and Salto's mission of making our lives as business engineers easier. We also talk about the reasons that high-quality DevOps and engineering practices are critical within the business applications space, as well as the rewards and challenges of building both a team and a large system on the NetSuite platform.
Links
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 29: 2023 Year In Review
Published December 19, 2023
We look back on 2023 and ahead to 2024. Tim discusses his struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome and his transition to project-based billing. Eric shares his experience with burnout and his decision to work independently once again. We both discuss the importance of self-care in our lives and maintaining a work-life balance.
Links
- Jonathan Stark teaches independent professionals how to make more money without working more hours.
- Cooper Press is aggregating content for developers from across the internet.
- Tim is building aloe.js, a human-friendly way to run JavaScript outside the browser.
- Xojo is a cross-platform rapid application development framework.
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto. Salto is not a consulting company looking to sell you services. Instead they're a software company that has built a powerful DevOps platform for NetSuite users to manage, track, deploy, and monitor changes to NetSuite. If you'd like to learn more about the Salto DevOps platform, check out salto.io where you can sign up for a free demo and a free 30-day trial.Episode 28: Cassius Kellogg Interview
Published November 29, 2023
An interview with Cassius Kellogg, Vice President of Services at Bryant Park Consulting. We discuss Cassius' experience in the NetSuite graduate program, Bryant Park's incredible growth and business mindset, and our ideas for efficiently onboarding yourself or gracefully handing off your projects to another developer.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 27: Sonny Spencer Interview
Published October 25, 2023
An interview with Sonny Spencer, Director of Finance Operations at Veeva Systems, Salto Leap instructor, and a speaker at SuiteWorld 2023. We discuss the journey that landed Sonny where he is, about the experience of speaking at SuiteWorld, and about performance analysis in NetSuite.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 26: What’s a "Good" NetSuite Developer?
Published September 20, 2023
We discuss our opinions on what it takes to be an effective NetSuite developer - the qualities and habits to invest in and the traps to avoid.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 25: Paul Giese Interview
Published August 16, 2023
An interview with Paul Giese of OptimalData Consulting wherein we discuss common pitfalls and strategies for large data migrations.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 24: On Technical Debt
Published July 12, 2023
We discuss the mindset and the tools we use when assessing and managing technical debt in our SuiteScript customizations.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 23: Sam Hornstein Interview
Published June 15, 2023
An interview with Sam Hornstein, President and Owner of eXtendTech, an SDN Partner providing specialized solutions for the Promotional Products vertical.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 22: Common SuiteQL Issues
Published May 4, 2023
We discuss what we’ve been doing in the intervening years, and then we dive into common questions and problems Tim sees with SuiteQL.
Links
None
Sponsor
This episode was hosted and sponsored by Salto.Episode 21: Eagleson's Law
Published April 1, 2021
We discuss Eagleson's Law, a software engineering law that states, "Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more months might as well have been written by someone else." How does this apply to SuiteScript development? What can we do prevent feeling this way about the code we write?
Episode 20: TJ Cornelius Interview
Published March 25, 2021
An interview with TJ Cornelius, the Owner and Founder of SuiteRep. We discuss TJ's path to NetSuite, as well as service variation in a SuiteScript team/firm (i.e. offering clients and prospects services where the deliverable is not code or some other NetSuite customization).
Episode 19: Chidi Okwudire Follow-Up Interview
Published March 18, 2021
A follow-up interview with Chidi Okwudire, a NetSuite Specialist and Creator of NetSuite Insights. We discuss an interesting NetSuite Certification Survey that he's been conducting, as well as some surprising (and not-so-surprising) results.
Episode 18: Pricing
Published March 11, 2021
In this episode, we discuss options and things to consider when pricing NetSuite development work. Should you charge an hourly rate, or based on time & Materials? Should you used value-based pricing? (And what is values-based pricing anyway?) What costs do you consider? How do you research the going rate? How often should you raise your rates?
Links
Episode 17: Going Solo
Published March 4, 2021
We discuss why we decided to go solo, how to determine if going solo is right for you, the pros, cons, risks, and rewards of going solo, what you need to make the leap, and more.
Episode 16: Productivity
Published February 25, 2021
We discuss productivity tips, tricks, and techniques, our systems, the challenges that we face, influences, and ways to avoid or eliminate common sources of distraction.
Links
Episode 15: NetSuite Opportunities
Published February 18, 2021
We discuss the career opportunities that are available to NetSuite developers, where to find them, and what to look for.
Episode 14: Matt Dahse Interview
Published February 11, 2021
An interview with Matt Dahse, Senior Solution Architect at 360 Cloud Solutions. We discuss:
- Starting with design, instead of starting with code.
- Matt's path to NetSuite.
- There's nothing that NetSuite can't do, but there are things it shouldn't do.
- How and why Matt wrote "NetSuite Development With SuiteScript 2.0."
- The benefits of writing a book.
- The importance of understanding the business case for writing code.
Episode 13: Clean Code
Published February 5, 2021
We discuss "clean" code, including:
- What is "clean" code? (Spoiler: We don't have an answer.)
- Rewrites and Refactors
- Review: Write Code Like a Recipe
- Review: What is Functional Programming?
- In all things, moderation.
- Is "modular" code better?
- Tabs vs. Spaces
Episode 12: SuiteScript Commiseration
Published January 28, 2021
We commiserate about SuiteScript in general, and:
- The oft-frustrating API design versus typical CRUD interface.
- Comparing SuiteScript to a typical "MVC" architecture.
- SuiteQL as a better Data Access Layer.
- Closed nature of a very small community.
- The unenviable position of documenting a massive ERP system.
- Encouraged by the improving tools infrastructure.
Episode 11: SuiteScript Anti-Patterns
Published January 21, 2021
We discuss anti-patterns, including what they are, and how they apply to our work with SuiteScript. Specifically, The Boat Anchor, Deep Dark Dead Code, Source Control by Filename, The God Object/Swiss Army Knife, The Golden Hammer, Organization by Script Type, High-wire Releases.
Episode 10: Eric Birdsall Interview
Published January 14, 2021
An interview with Eric Birdsall, NetSuite Developer and Administrator at Creative Safety Supply. We discuss Eric's journey to NetSuite, how college is not for everyone, psychological burnout, how Worth = Reward - Cost, and signs, causes, and prevention of burnout.
Episode 9: Specialization as a Defense
Published January 6, 2021
We discuss the concept of commoditization and how it applies to services and software development in particular. How, in the eyes of your buyers, your code and processes don't help to differentiate you from your competitors. How being busy doesn't necessarily mean that you're being successful. How specialization can act as a defense to commoditization, and specialization's numerous additional benefits.
Episode 8: 2020 Year In Review
Published December 30, 2020
We look back at 2020 and forward to 2021. What went right, and what went wrong, in our businesses. NetSuite's 2020 developments. Eric's "pivot" and Tim's quest to specialize. And more.
Episode 7: Adam Partee Interview
Published December 23, 2020
An interview with Adam Partee, Vice President Business of Development at Maverick Fulfillment, a third-party logistics company. We discuss Maverick's NetSuite-first business strategy, how NetSuite is listening to feedback and improving its WMS offering, some of the shortcomings of the NetSuite WMS (cycle counts, inventory management, supplier integration), and how Adam believes that as a developer, you should learn the business behind your code.
Episode 6: Chloë Windahl Interview
Published December 16, 2020
An interview with Chloë Windahl, Business Systems Administrator and highly motivated NetSuite administrator at Ednetics. We discuss Chloë's background, her path to NetSuite, her passion for motocross, and some "saved search sorcery."
Episode 5: Development Tools
Published December 9, 2020
We discuss the development tools and services that we use - for SuiteScript projects and beyond. What we use to write code. The "official" toolset (WebStorm, SDF, and Jest). Source control. Managing tasks and to-dos. Managing documentation. Third-party libraries. Tim's non-SuiteScript tools/platforms.
Episode 4: Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Starting Out As A Developer
Published December 2, 2020
Inspired by Alex Lakatos's "Things I Wish I'd Learned Sooner After Being a Developer for 10 Years," we discuss the importance of soft skills, imposter syndrome and imposters, the importance of continuous learning and exploring, the potential benefits of specializing, strategies for doing deep work, and more.
Episode 3: Paths to Becoming A SuiteScript Developer
Published November 25, 2020
We discuss the many possible paths to becoming a SuiteScript developer, the benefits of specialization, the importance of continuous learning, the massive responsibility of customizing an ERP, and more.
Episode 2: Chidi Okwudire Interview
Published November 18, 2020
An interview with Chidi Okwudire, a NetSuite Specialist and Creator of NetSuite Insights.
Episode 1: Introductions
Published November 11, 2020
Who we are, our backgrounds, our goals for the podcast, and more.