
Pybites Podcast
The Pybites Podcast is a podcast about Python Development, Career and Mindset skills.
Hosted by the Co-Founders, Bob Belderbos and Julian Sequeira, this podcast is for anyone interested in Python and looking for tips, tricks and concepts related to Career + Mindset.
For more information on Pybites, visit us at https://pybit.es and connect with us on LinkedIn:
Julian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliansequeira/
Bob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbelderbos/
Pybites Podcast
#156 - Mindset, Networking, and Personal Growth in Technology Careers with Louise Oprel
This episode features a discussion with Louise Oprel, a cloud advocate, on her career journey and experiences with networking, mentoring, and personal growth.
Louise and Bob share insights into developing the right mindset for success and overcoming challenges through small, consistent actions like volunteering, reading, and daily reflection.
Practical tips are provided for using technology to connect with others, gain experience through events, and unlock one's potential through mentoring.
Links:
- Follow Louise on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louiseoprel/
- Connect with her in our community: https://pybites.circle.so/
Learning to let go, motivate yourself to motivate yourself to keep going on. It's really a choice to rewire or debug. And that's something we all, or at least I think we all need to learn our own way in this life to really get the best out of yourself. It's a mindset, and we all face challenges, we all face fear, but it's really having the faith and also the focus, the mindset to push through. And when you have the right mindset, you can really do anything. Or at least that's what I believe. Oh, yeah. Mindset is a big part. Hello, and welcome to the Pibytes podcast, where we talk about Python career and mindset. We're your hosts. I'm Julian Sequeira. And I am Bob Valdebos. If you're looking to improve your python, your career, and learn the mindset for success, this is the podcast for you. Let's get started. Welcome back, everybody, to the Pywytes podcast. This is Bob, and I'm here with Louise Oprel. Say that well, in English. Yeah, I guess. Hi, everybody. Hey. Welcome to the show. I'm happy that you could finally join because we have been talking about doing a podcast for a while, and, yeah, it's going to be cool. So, first of all, do you want to quickly introduce you to our dear Piebites audience and what you do day to day? Sure. So, dear Piebites audience, nice to meet you. I'm Louise. I'm about to turn 30 years old, living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I'm Dutch. This is my first bottle. I have a guinea pig and a cat. And I've been working in cloud about eight years. And during my career, that's also how I met Bob and Gillian, both virtually as we were working at the same company at that moment. And, yeah, that's it, I guess. Nice to meet you. Yeah, no, and I think we met on LinkedIn, and, yeah, that was in the Oracle days, and you reached out, and that's a bit of that networking we're going to discuss later on in the episode. We're both Dutch, so that's funny. And we never met in person. Not yet. Not yet. Hopefully that will happen one day. Yeah. So, yeah, you're a cloud advocate with a mission to disrupt and innovate in the age of transformation. So, yeah. Could you share more what you do at that capacity, and what do you aim to achieve with that mission? Yeah, sure. So, like I said, I've been working in cloud for almost eight years, and I have covered many different roles, from more technical pre sales, to customer success, to pure sales. And right now I'm focusing on partnerships because I see a lot of value in collective projects. We are living in a very cool time, the age of information, where we share and connect better than ever through technology. And that's why I really like technology and the value that it can bring also to larger corporations. So I'm working in the business world on partnerships where we can bring more value together at a corporate level. And you can think of things like cost optimization through cloud finops, making corporates more sustainable by enabling them to exit their data center and then to move to cloud. Do large cloud migrations, optimize their architecture and make them help them save more money, and then also become more sustainable through things like landing zone. We work a lot on legal and security practices, innovation and modernization practices through AI, for example. And yeah, that's something I'm really passionate about because cloud brings so much value and potential for us as a spaces, especially now. And like I said, Bob, we never met in person, but we have connected so much through technology. And that's exactly why I like to disrupt the more harsh corporate business world with cloud. I hope that makes sense. Yeah, it does. Yeah, no, and like 20 years ago, it was way less likely that we could have even met our interface like we've been doing. And it's also kind of the story with me and Julian. Right. Ultimately we've met a couple of times, of course, but yeah, that all started like remotely. And thanks to technology, right, the AI word has fallen. So of course I have to ask that question, like, if AI is already impacting your work and if so, how or is it still pretty stable the same? Well, we were just talking a bit about chat GPT, right, that it's taking over almost everything, entire LinkedIn posts are generated on it. So yeah, everywhere I look, there is AI. And yeah, it's everywhere. And it's up to us to make the most out of it. I see a lot of power which we can use in a positive or negative way. And that's why I think there's a lot of potential collectively to embrace it and to make the most out of it, especially now. Yeah, being so passionate about tech, but also how fast it's moving. How do you stay up to date with latest tech development? Well, I think you're a great example, Bob, because even though I'm not really a pythonist myself, I mean, I tried it and I really like coding. I'm not the most tech person, but I do have very technical friends. I have a very strong support network, and I meet people through events, through online communities. I always try to look for people who I can look up to and who inspire me. And yeah, maybe the story how we connected. Back when I was working in Oracle in Spain, I saw a very cool post about Bob building a python community at the time, and I just added him on LinkedIn and said in a personal message, like, hey, Bob, you inspire me. Thanks for sharing. That's how we connected. And he introduced me to Julian, and then over the years, we kept connecting, we kept sharing books. Inspiration, that's how I do it. And not only with Bob and Julian, but with many people. With most people in my life, I try to look for mentors, coaches, people who inspire me. I've been traveling the world to go to events, volunteered there as well, did many different roles in order to come into touch with the entrepreneurs, with the inspiring speakers. And yeah, I read a lot. Stay curious, and I don't watch the news. I just. I just have people, I have nerdy friends, and that helps a lot. Yeah, that's interesting, and thanks for sharing that story. It's really nice to know that if it wasn't for that post, you probably would have connected to me because simply wouldn't have seen me on the timeline. Right. Yeah. And that's the knowledge sharing that I just mentioned. The power of information age. Right. You share something and you make connections, but then it's also on the other person to reach out where I think a lot of people might well not shy away. That's a bad expression. But maybe just don't take that initiative or not being proactive about it and then leaving those opportunities on the table. That's exactly the mindset part. And I can say myself, I'm the shyest person I know, naturally. So it's getting out of your comfort zone, motivating yourself to. To motivate yourself to reach out. And I always just try to follow the inspiration, try to follow people who I look up to. And you can look up to anybody, actually. You can learn a lot from each other in this world. And that's how I like to approach life. Yeah, that's interesting. You seem very sociable while you are, but it seems that you also characterize yourself a little bit more as an introvert. So, like, reaching out. Extremely. And I'm highly sensitive as well. I'm anxious. I have PTSD, I have a lot, but I try to work on it. I try to be vulnerable. I try to share as well with others in order to help each other, because that's the only way, if you share your experiences, be authentic, that's the way others feel safe to be authentic with you. Yeah. So reaching out doesn't come naturally, yet you develop the habit of keep doing it. Right? Yeah. Well, what I try as well is to not focus too much on myself. Also, even through interviews, I don't like to brag about myself. I want to be humble. I don't think I'm amazing, but I like to focus on the other. When I reached out to you, it was because I really thought you were doing something amazing. And I like others to feel good. I like interviewers to feel good. So it's shifting the focus from myself to the other. And that's the way, it's like a more positive exchange. And if there's one thing you leave with people, it's the way that you make them feel. So if it's not about you, it can be about them. And everybody likes to be hurt sometimes, so that's awesome. Yeah. We often quote Derek sivers in this context to be interesting, be interested. Right. So if you express interest and generally are interested in the other person, then, yeah, if you need help, you can just offer help. That's my way. What I learned in sales, I don't like sales, but it's about helping others, and that's when they start helping you. And, yeah, it's an exchange, so I really try to approach life collectively. So that's not just about me. And that way I can step out of my introvert bubble. Yeah, I guess. You know the book quiet, right, by Susan. Of course. Yeah. Hugh mentioned it on the podcast the other day, and I thought it was for introverts. It's actually also for extroverts. And anybody on that skill can benefit from the book, right? Yeah, exactly. And I'm reading another book called sensitive now. It's like another part of. Also, 30% of people are sensitive. Yeah, that's a. That's a good one. Because with code reviewing and how that comes across can. Can be. It can be hard with all the impulses. It's also the age of distraction. There's information everywhere. You can be turned on all the time. How do you manage? How do you stay balanced, and especially when you are more sensitive and how do you deal with sensitive people? So I try to focus a lot on the psychological parts as well, and self knowledge is a lot. Self reflection. Awesome. So I want to pivot a bit to what you said about, well, what basically came down to volunteering, right? Yeah. You wrote an article a few years ago, the golden ticket to great events, and you discussed the power of volunteering to unlock extraordinary opportunities. Right. So, yeah, maybe talk a bit about your volunteering experience, how it has helped you and, yeah, maybe start there. And then I have a follow up question. It's nice that you referred to that article. It's eight years ago. Quite cute, I think. But it's still an approach that I use. So it's called the golden ticket to great events and to give you some background. When I was still studying, I lacked confidence. I was crying in interviews, literally, when they asked me, what can you do? Well, I cannot do anything. So I decided to work on myself, to work on my confidence. And that's how I started getting into voluntary work. I volunteered at events and I did many different roles. I was a door guard, speaker, escort, wristband girl. But I also did medical drug testing, for example, just to overcome my fear and to step out of my comfort zone. And I realized that it was a great way to enter into events for free. So I would just write event organizers and be like, oh, I love this event. Can I please contribute? Just give me any task. I'm happy to work and help. I just love your event. And yeah, that's how I got into all these different roles. And can you imagine being a speaker escort, where you have to walk like really great entrepreneurs? And they were talking nicely to me. It was such a confidence boost. So, yeah, my approach was to volunteer at events. And in my current job, I still do that work at events. I still use the approach. Whenever I see a project that I would love to work on, I just offer my help and contribution. Hey, let's team up. Do you need help? And that's how you can get into really great opportunities and also find really uplifting people. Because I've ended up into VIP's with CEO's and really high executives, artists, all different inspiring people. And it's a really great way to get into events and also to boost your confidence, because when you're volunteering, it's not so much about yourself, especially at an event. You don't have to participate and wear your business suit and be a personality. No, you're the contributor, you're the helper. And helping makes me feel good and boost my confidence. And that's what I learned from volunteering. That's the supporting role, right? Yeah, exactly. And that's exactly what I do in sales as well. It's not so much about selling it's about helping so that you're more in like, an enabling and empowering customer success role. And that's also how you get more traction from customers or even interviewers. When you're coding, it's more technical, of course, but you also have your customers. And, yeah, it's also a lot about scripting your mindset. So scripting coding, I think there's a connection. Yeah, that was my follow up question. Because how significant mindset is there in overcoming limited opportunities and motivation challenges? That sounds obvious, almost, right. Like, offer your help, but why isn't everybody doing that? Why isn't everybody succeeding that way? What are some limiting? Because even you said that you had to win that confidence to even approach people. Right. So what are some of the limited beliefs and why people are not succeeding that way? Well, I think mindset can be everything, and one of the biggest blockages, or I think even the biggest blockage people have or face is fear. Through mindset, I was unable to overcome fear, trauma, emotional barriers, even the anxiety to be on a podcast right now. Mindset really helps us to push through challenges with discipline to make sure that you show up for yourself. And, yeah, you can focus better on the right opportunities. So finding your drive, learning to let go, motivate yourself, to motivate yourself to keep going on. It's really a choice to rewire or debug. And that's something we all, or at least I think we all need to learn our own way in this life to really get the best out of yourself. It's a mindset, and we all face challenges, we all face fear, but it's really having the faith and also the focus, the mindset to push through. And when you have the right mindset, you can really do anything. Or at least that's what I believe. Oh, yeah, mindset is a big part. And if I don't say it, Julian will slap in the face. But, yeah. Do you have practical routines or rituals to help with that? For example, we keep a wins file, right? So we log our successes. And when things are tough, you can read back things we have achieved and maybe compare to our yesterday selves and say, like, oh, what I'm actually taking for granted now was three years ago, like a very big deal. So that's kind of a tactic or tool, right? Do you have certain tools or structures, habits that helped you with this? Well, I have, like, more spiritual routines. I don't know if it makes sense in the podcast, but I like to pray. I like sports as well. Sports is such a huge routine or foundation in my life. Being able to wake up early, show up for yourself, you have the control over your body. Your body is like your house in this life. If you're able to show up for that self is the foundation. Being able to respect yourself enough to get enough sleep, it's the small things, the small accomplishment that I like to reflect on daily, either through prayer, I like to write a lot, journaling, or through sports. It's also very valuable to have the right people in your life to support you. I have a lot of virtual friends who I can reflect with. Some people I just email weekly, and we share challenges, but also things that we overcome. And it doesn't have to be like, oh, I need to do this more, this more. I personally am trying to push myself less, which is very hard for me. And then it's also a matter of perspective, because if I share with people like, oh, I'm so proud I finally slept in, it might be very different for people. They will be like, oh, okay. But for me, that's like an obstacle. So, yeah, it's all a matter about self reflection and bringing things into perspective. Because what might be a win for you might be an obstacle for the other. And, yeah, just checking in with yourself a lot through any routine that works for you, whether that is drinking tea, sitting outside, meditating, or doing sports, partying, even anything that works for you, that's awesome. That's a lot of tips in one. Definitely want to call out the sports. It's not just doing the sports, but I've been going to the morning routine again and doing it first thing. And it's just, even though I go to the gym later in the day, I just feel much better if I do it early. And you get that first hit in the day and it's almost like building up that, yeah, there's a self respect thing to it as well. Respecting my body, I'm showing to myself that I can have the discipline to go somewhere, work out for, even if it's 30 minutes and come back. Right. And it's this small. Well, that's not small necessarily, but often it's cadence of small things that then lead to something big. But, you know, as Jim Rowan said. Right. Like small things, they're easy to do, but also easy not to do. And the other thing I like just said about the challenges with friends. Right. Like, we can do a lot of this alone. Maybe journaling is also can be a solo activity. But yeah, sharing that, that accountability with friends is super powerful. That's what I like to do with you as well. Every now and then we check in. Yeah. Yeah. Whether it's about career or life or anything. Books. Books. Mindsets. Yeah. We keep growing. I see the plants behind you. I love growth. Yeah, that's all the wife. Oh, but the books then that's also growth. Oh yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Maybe a bit more on the volunteering. So you recently earned the RSM Distinguished Alumni award? Yeah. Maybe you want to talk what that is. You already spoke a bit about the volunteer work, of course, but yeah, maybe you want to talk about that in specific award and what it meant for you and how you got there. Yeah. So I've been really grateful to receive an award. A few months ago, RSM was my university, Rotterdam School of Management, where I ended up. By luck, I was the first in my family to study and I just randomly entered the university. I found my people there even though I was so shy, so imposter syndrome, introvert, sensitive. I found my people there and I've been so lucky to be surrounded by inspiring, uplifting mentors and coaches throughout the years. I had my masters when I was 21 through all the support that I received. And I have been so grateful and proud that I felt like giving back to university. But also I wanted to keep learning and I was very curious about what students were doing. So I connected with students through a relatively new, at the time online mentoring platform where I created a page and students started reaching out for mock interviews, career conversations, cv reviews, and I started helping them. And through that I learned so much about myself. They ask you a lot of reflective questions about your experiences. You have to share vulnerabilities. And also the advice that I was giving them was still applicable for myself today. And that's so much mirroring and learning. It was more like reverse mentoring. So I've been doing that for years. I had over 92 consults. So far I've been the greatest of all time. RSM mentor, which is really great title and I'm so grateful that people liked to share their challenges with me. There were a lot of young females as well, with imposter syndrome, for example. They wanted to enter the tech industry and I could help them the way I have been helped. And yeah, through the years I've seen so much growth through the people as well. Makes me feel so proud and grateful that I had an impact because the students kept thanking me. And yeah, that's exactly why I was nominated. And yeah, I really believe in mentoring. It's like a positive ripple effect because I was mentored. So I mentor and they are also starting to mentor and guide and yeah, I do this through university. But the way we are conversing, Bob is also kind of mentoring for me. Even as friends, you can mentor people in the supermarket even is so great that we are able to share knowledge this way. And it doesn't all have to be true technology, but technology enables and empowers us and yeah, that's something I'm very passionate about. That's super inspiring. So thanks for sharing that. And although you have the award and stuff, I think it seems like the most fulfilling part is by mentoring you also learned a whole lot about yourself. Right. So, but, so it's the gratitude seeing the impact your advice has on them. And nowadays it's really fascinating about mentoring and coaching is how you enable people. Like, it's not that the people don't have the skills necessarily or don't know how, it's more that you have to unlock them. Right. Yeah. And seeing that process. So again, it's not like you sitting in a classroom have to teach a bunch of stuff. It's more like how can I make this person succeed? So they already have it in them. But how can I unlock this person, right. And then seeing them flourish is one of the greatest feelings, right? Yeah, but by working them and you learn as well. Although you're mentoring, they teach us march in return as well. Right. About your approach. And you have to, well that's teaching overall. Right. You have to rethink what you're saying because you might have your own gaps and has a lot of advantages. Right, exactly. And I personally always liked see the best in others. So I try to focus on all the good things and I see solutions everywhere. But then why am I being so harsh for myself? It's very, there are worst enemies, very confronting. Yeah. But then once I had like a really good mentoring conversation, it's easier to also think a bit more kindly of yourself and it's really great. I can only recommend everybody to mentor and you don't need any experience in order to mentor because there's so much we can learn from each other already. Yeah, because you don't have to have a degree for that. Right. It's essentially helping somebody getting to the next level, right? No, actually on this platform, when I started I only just had my masters and there were people with mbas who were 15 years older than me who reached out for support. And I also referred many of the people who I mentored because they wanted to work for the employers I was working at. So then they become great colleagues and that's how you really create a network, a ripple. I don't really like to work network too much. I see people as my friends, my support friends, and I think we should all support each other. Yeah. So what is the ripple effect specifically in this context? The fact that you mentor somebody and they expand your network or what is the ripple. So I get knowledge, experience, wisdom from my mentors or through my experience at work, I share it with them. They can then experience themselves or put it in their context and then they share it as well. Or I work at a company and they want to work at the company, then literally we become colleagues. And now many of the students that I studied business administration, they are also in the business world. And then we have great partnerships, which is exactly my role to build that connection. Just like your community builder. So I'm sure you understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's that whole synergy aspect and the compound effect. Like they teach it to two, they teach it to each, to each. And you get this exponential effect how your teaching not only affects them, but it affects their students and their students because they're going to, you know, move it forward. Right? Yeah, that's true expansion. Awesome. So you're a voracious reader. I like books a lot like myself and Julian. So yeah, before getting into specific titles, what type of books do you read and how overall has reading helped you become a better professional and person? I read all types of books really, from business, psychology, a lot of spiritual books as well. I'm currently reading a kit book series just to embrace my inner child, to be a bit more relaxed because I can tend to take myself and life very seriously. I like to laugh a bit more, but yeah, books are really. They are everything to me. It's so cool for me that books are so historical, even though I love technology. Books are like back to basic. They had it march before. And also when people die, there's still so much knowledge and so much connection between the knowledges, between the wisdom within books. I have grown so much as a person. Whenever I have a problem, whenever I have an issue with myself or anything, you can just read and you don't need a degree anymore today in order to become the person that you want to be. And yeah, books enabled me to become a better person, both professionally and personally. I really like to focus on my inner peace in our work and books are my fuel there. Awesome. And did you start reading at a young age? Yeah, introverta. I like to build tents and read books with my guinea pigs in the tent. Nice. Yeah, I started later. I was not really drawn to books. Naturally, it just one day it clicked, you know, it was strange. Well, actually I like to listen more to books. Tend to always be busy. I have trouble relaxing. So whenever I'm doing stuff, I'm listening to books, which is actually really great for my listening skills. Normally I don't talk as much as I do in this interview. I'm more of the listening type. And yeah, the focus really expands through audiobooks. Yeah, it takes great concentration. I find it hard. Julian is a big audio book listener. What happens? I just zone out. Maybe it's a form of ADHD, I don't know. But it really is hard for me to keep the main thread in an audiobook. But that could also be that I'm just more a text or a book type of learner than audio. I don't know, but I find it hard to consistently go through an audiobook. How is that with the podcast then? Well, those are shorter episodes, right? So they're. You can also just listen to a chapter with book. Yeah, that's true. That might be mindsets that I just have to overcome. Maybe you should listen to a mindset book, Bob. I know, I know. But yeah, you can take the chapters as individual podcasts. If you think about it like that, it makes. Makes sense. Cool. No, yeah, I agree. Reading, although I have to say, like, sometimes I feel like I read a lot of stuff and where is it now? In my head. Right. I cannot tangibly pinpoint is this very useful? But then if I just look at holistically, then how it has shaped me, then I have to. I mean, apart from the people and the work and all that good. All these good things, there's just a total net gain, right? But you cannot usually pinpoint it to one book. It's just the total amount of learning. You know what, it's not knowledge, then it's wisdom. Right. Nice. You're a very wise person. Thank you. You too. Thank you. I must enjoy our chats. So do you have anything specific you're reading or you want to recommend in this podcast? Well, like I said, I'm reading more like a kid's book series now. It's life of a wimpy kid. It's really funny. I can recommend reading child books sometimes just to have a laugh, just to have it a bit more light. But I'm also reading, like really studying really deep spiritual work, like a course in miracles. Just. It might sound religious, but it's the connection between mind, body, soul, and there's still the mind. So I think it's all connected. Even though it's far from the coding in python, still it's mind. And when you're able to see the connections and lay them for yourself, yeah, you can become a master of life. So I'm studying a lot about inner peace, and I think a lot comes from the inside, especially now there's so many external circumstances. And it's important to focus on the inside as well, to feel good, because there's so much we can get upset about. And as long as you have your foundation at home inside, that's what I try to focus on, even through books, because books are also consumed in the mind. Awesome. That's a great way to wrap it up. Unless you wanted to share anything else. But how can people reach out to you? I guess you're in the Pybads community. Yeah, I am. I am. Not for that. LinkedIn. Yeah. Awesome. We'll link that as well then. Yeah. Thank you. Well, thanks so much for hopping on and sharing this great fun. I'm sure the audience will appreciate all the wisdom and nuggets you have shared. Well, thank you for having me and. Yeah, have a great day. Yeah, you too. Thanks. Thank you. Bye bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode. To hear more from us, go to Pibyte friends. That is Pibit es friends, and receive a free gift just for being a friend of the show. And to join our thriving community of python programmers, go to Pibytes community. That's Pibit es forward slash community. We hope to see you there and catch you in the next episode.