Dr. Shannon Burns - Neuroscience and Developer Experience: Exploring Flow States and Social Dynamics
About
In this episode, we dive into the intersection of neuroscience and developer experience with Dr. Shannon Burns, an Assistant Professor at Pomona College in social neuroscience with a focus on how social interactions shape neural processes. With a Ph.D. from UCLA and expertise in empathy, influence, and neural dynamics, Dr. Burns brings a unique perspective to understanding how developers can optimize their performance through flow states, collaboration, and cognitive balance. We explore how social and emotional factors influence productivity in technical environments, and how principles of social psychology can be applied to improve developer dynamics. Whether you’re a developer, team leader, or cognitive science enthusiast, this episode offers practical insights for boosting productivity and well-being through neuroscience. Referenced Links: Hyperscanning shows friends explore and strangers converge in conversation - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51990-7
Listen on
More episodes
Code Story: Anish Dhar, Cortex
Anish Dhar grew up in the Bay Area, but now is located in New York. He felt lucky to be surrounded by technology, being in the Bay Area and having his Dad as a software engineer. His earliest exposure to tech was hacking his Wii - and at that point he was hooked. He eventually joined Uber and experienced many of the problems he is solving today. Outside of tech, he enjoys tennis and playing piano. He loves making music and attending shows to hear other artists, in particular EDM.
How developer experience can escape the spreadsheet
Ben and Ryan are joined by Cortex cofounders Anish Dhar, CEO, and Ganesh Datta, CTO. Cortex offers an internal developer portal that helps devs document and reinforce organizational best practices and improve developer productivity. The portal includes features like scorecards that incentivize developers to improve their work and AI-powered search to make finding information easier.
A Founder Gets Candid About Fundraising & What Fueled His Startup’s Success
What if your inspiration for starting a company came from solving a problem you experienced first-hand as an engineer at a tech giant like Uber? In this episode, we welcome Anish Dhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cortex, to share his incredible journey from an engineer at Uber to founding Cortex, the internal developer portal that addresses a massive gap in engineering processes and recently raised a $60M Series C round.
Listen: A Founder Gets Candid About Fundraising & What Fueled His Startup’s Success