When Did We Become Afraid to Try?

Jennifer Wadella

Jennifer Wadella headshot

Jennifer Wadella

@likeOMGitsFEDAY

  • Lead Angular Consultant at Bitovi
  • Community Organizer
  • Fermentista

Experimenting in Life

Kombucha

A fermented tea drink that’s made by adding yeast
+ a culture of bacteria to a mixture of tea, sugar,
& sometimes additional flavorings or fruit juice.

Contains probiotics - good for gut health

Estimated origin around 200BCE

Billie Eilish throwing money

Ingredients

  • SCOBY
    (symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeast)
  • water
  • tea
  • sugar
  • flavorings
    (fruit, spice, herbs, flowers)

<- SCOBY pellicle

unsplash-logoMegumi Nachev

process

1. Brew tea

2. Add sugar

3.Add cooled sweet tea to SCOBY

4. Let the SCOBY do it's magic

5. Bottle & add flavor

6. Strain & Rebottle

fermentation vessel £24.00
3x grolsch bottles £11.95
tea £2.00
sugar £1.30
fruit £1.75
total cost £41

My first brew

How full should my 2F bottles be?
With dried herbs is it best to crush or add whole?
Can I take my booch out of the fridge to carbonate further?

"Why are people
so afraid
to try things?"

Scientific Method

  1. Ask a question
  2. Do background research
  3. Create a hypothesis
  4. Test hypothesis with experiment
  5. Analyze data
  6. Communicate results

Variable considerations

  • Controlled variables
  • Independent variables
  • Dependent variables

Noma Restaurant & Experimentation Kitchen

Noma Guide to Fermentation

So What?

Fear of Trying Keeps People
out of the tech industry
and halts innovation

How do we keep Fear
From Taking Over

unsplash-logoAndy Li

Ask why you are afraid.

Ground yourself.

What is the problem?
What is the worst case scenario?

Do a Cost-Benefit Analysis

psssst. code is cheap

UNLESS YOU'RE USING AWS.

THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO "TRY"

Get Over Your Fear of Starting

Remember Newton's First Law

Every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it.

unsplash-logotwinsfisch

Code is Malleable

Understand
society
has set us up to
fear failure

Intelligence == fixed

"Overall, parents who see failure as debilitating focus on their children’s performance and ability rather than on their children’s learning, and their children, in turn, tend to believe that intelligence is fixed rather than malleable."

Parents’ Views of Failure Predict Children’s
Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-Sets

unsplash-logoAnnie Spratt

Adopt a growth mindset

to whoever needs to hear this: the concept you're currently struggling to learn, stick with it, because it's all going to start to make sense very soon.

Don't get caught up in comparison culture.

unsplash-logoCaroline Hernandez

Innovation comes from
trying something new

Embrace failure as
part of the process

“The most damaging phrase in the language is 'We've always done it this way'.” - Grace Hopper

Go try something new.

Questions?

Corgi confused


Slides available at: tehfedaykin.github.io/WhenDidWeBecomeAfraidToTry

@likeOMGitsFEDAY #whenDidWeBecomeAfraidToTry