Origin story: TechBits by iteratec
Tags: screencast, video, techtalks
Published: 2020-06-05 10:08:46

Last november I played around with the idea of creating screencasts. Before, I only [tweeted](https://twitter.com/mreichelt) my thoughts and I [blogged on Medium](https://medium.com/@mreichelt). Since I already gave a lot of talks in my life, and I kind of got used to people hearing my voice, creating a screencast would be the next step. I already bought a Blue Yeti microphone years ago for the possibility of creating a podcast or recording music with my guitar - but I didn't take the time to create a podcast or a screencast (yet).

This is the origin story how '[TechBits by iteratec](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi_UG4k_p995A0u43XxTuOxERRaiAbA-B)' came to be.

## The possibility

In my company [iteratec](https://www.iteratec.com/), all employees can take some days of their work time off and use it for anything they want. This is called [Innovation Frei-Day](https://karriere.iteratec.de/arbeiten-bei-iteratec/innovationiteratec/#c13870) (page in German). Its a combination of the German word 'frei' (free as in freedom) and 'friday'. It doesn't have to be on a friday - you could also take a whole week - but it's a really nice possibility to do whatever innovative stuff you want, alone or as a hackathon with colleagues, read a book or whatever else you desire.

I think this is pretty cool, because it's not always possible to try out the things we want when we are constrained by the projects we're on and by the tools we use there. This is the chance to break free and do something that brings you forward. Or plainly to have fun! 😊

## The idea 💡

Do you know these moments when you talk to a colleague that works on something else, and suddenly in your conversation she comes up with this amazing trick that will cut your build time in half? Or she shows you a keyboard shortcut for your favorite IDE, and from that day on your coding experience is just way more fun? Or you find out about a new tool that you didn't know about, but could totally have used months ago?

That's what I want to capture in screencasts: Random bits of tricks and tools that made me more productive. Of course some watchers will already know these. But for some, these will be new - and maybe it will spark a light in their minds, and make them be more productive and happier!

And would be even cooler: to have colleagues contribute ideas and screencasts to those TechBits as well, and publishing them on the iteratec YouTube channel.

## Brainstorming

In order to find ideas I wanted to create screencasts for, I used a technique called 'journaling'. You take a piece of paper and a pen, and you write down everything that comes to your mind. Everything. Even when you think about nothing, you can write down 'right now I am thinking about nothing'. I first read about this particular form of this technique in the book [Search Inside Yourself](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12921211-search-inside-yourself) by Chade-Meng Tan. It's a book about mindfulness, but I found that this technique helped me a lot in finding nice ideas.

## The setup: Plain and simple

This is how I recorded the screencasts: In my company's office in Frankfurt, with a lovely view outside on the river Main:

![Screencast setup](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/cawtsyiv1cqge5y31edj.jpg)

Nothing special. Just my MacBook. The Blue Yeti microphone, connected with a USB cable. A coffee, because I love drinking coffee. And my notes from the aforementioned brain dump.

On my Mac, I created a new user called 'iterabits' (this was my first draft name for the project) to not show any confidential data or having pop any notifications in on me. I even created a small checklist to check that I was all set for a screencast: Closing the door (with a small hand-written sign that said **Recording in progress**), turning off my phone and having everything open for the thing I wanted to show.

Initially, I wanted to record the screencast and do a second voice-over with the microphone later. I quickly dropped that idea, as that would have meant I would need to record twice for each screencast (and time it correctly). Also, I felt that having the tipping sounds and me doing mistakes live would make it more authentic.

Then, I started QuickTime and recorded the screen. The first time, it took me 3 attempts. It got better for the second and third time. Then I edited them with iMovie, and added a small outro from our company.

Let's see the results!

## The first 3 screencasts 🎉

### 🍿 TechBit #1: Using Docker as a playground 🎬

{% youtube D8M3ge5dwIs %}

### 🍿 TechBit #2: Faster C and C++ builds with ccache

{% youtube -EubptaqjHY %}

### 🍿 TechBit #3: IntelliJ - Discover & learn new shortcuts easily 🎬

{% youtube qjj9psWjxy4 %}

## Future

How did you like these? Did you learn something new? Or do you have new tips / ideas what I should do as another screencast in the future? Let me know: I'd love to read your comments, or write me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mreichelt)! Thanks. 🙂

*Cover photo by [Shahadat Rahman](https://unsplash.com/@hishahadat) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/voM1Z9cGPCU).*