Catching Up With the Hosts of ‘Salt City Code’
As we follow the paths of our Careers in Code coding bootcamp grads, we’re finding some pretty cool projects that we want to share with our community. One such project is the Salt City Code podcast, hosted by alums Kelly Corey and Karin Thorne, which focuses on Syracuse tech and features interviews with local developers.
We caught up with Kelly and Karin to get the lowdown on their exciting venture:
How did the idea for Salt City Code start?
Karin: The idea started one day in class at CIC. There were about three weeks left, and I came in to class and said to Kelly and Kaitlyn that I wanted to do a podcast after all of this was over. I wanted to let other people know that there was a huge tech community in Syracuse and that it was very welcoming, and I wanted to see more women become involved in tech and to let young women and girls in school know that they can have a career in tech.
Kelly: She asked me one day toward the end of class if I would be interested in starting a podcast. As luck would have it, I’ve wanted to create one for a couple of years, so I responded with a very enthusiastic “Yes!” That first conversation was at the beginning of August 2019, Hack Upstate offered to sponsor us in September, and we recorded our first episode in November.
Was it your first time doing anything like this?
Karin: This is my first time doing anything of the sort. I have never recorded anything or interviewed anyone.
Kelly: This is my first successful podcast launch but hopefully it won’t be my last. It’s been a wonderful learning experience and the response from the Syracuse tech community has been incredible. We’re at over 1,000 total downloads in less than six months and that’s amazing growth for us!
How do you see yourselves complementing each other as hosts?
Kelly: Karin’s really good at chatting with people and she’s awesome at filling in the conversational gaps when we need it. I think we complement each other in that I have the background knowledge of how to create and run a podcast and Karin has a lot of enthusiasm and a kickass drive to make this podcast come to life. I do a lot of the editing and voiceover work and she handles a lot of reaching out to people and keeping our Notion workspace in order. We’re also comfortable chatting with each other, so we’re able to bounce ideas and questions back and forth and make jokes. I think the rapport and the conversational tone we have makes it easy to listen to the podcast.
How have you used the skills you developed in Careers in Code on this project?
Karin: I have learned to communicate more and listen more. I guess you could say I used some design skills in creating our logo too. The other skill I would say we both use is networking. We try to network more now than we did before CIC. I have even talked to complete strangers about our podcast and invited them to be on it.
Kelly: Careers in Code gave me the background knowledge to run a tech podcast. Most of our guests are people who were directly involved in the program which is great for keeping in touch after class and also provides good material for episodes. In addition, the experience from presenting during class and at graduation helped boost my confidence when it comes to public speaking. While I may use a different set of technical skills behind the scenes of the podcast, Salt City Code wouldn’t exist without Careers in Code.
“Salt City Code wouldn’t exist without Careers in Code.” — Kelly Corey, host of the Salt City Code podcast
Who are your typical guests?
Karin: We have all types of guests. They all have a career that is tied into tech in some way. We usually discuss how they got into tech, what they do for a career and the trend lately has been what’s their favorite video game/movie, and if they could start a meetup ,what would they like it to be about?
Kelly: The majority have been people we’ve met through various Syracuse tech meetups, but we’ve also had people reach out to us from as far away as NYC and LA. I’d say what all of our guests have in common is a passion for technology and a willingness to share their story with others. There isn’t a single guest that I haven’t learned something from, whether they’re a seasoned professional or they’ve been coding for a couple of months as a hobby. We tend to discuss people’s journeys into tech, what they’re currently working on, any cool projects or presentations they’d like to share, and where they plan to go in the future.
What has been your favorite episode so far?
Karin: That’s tough because I like them all. There have been so many different topics and so many new things that I have learned not only about strangers, but even about people we have gotten to know, like our instructors.
Kelly: They’re all my favorites, and I could never choose just one, but I will mention our first guest Melissa Schmitz here. She reached out to us before we had recorded a single episode and I’m still grateful to her for taking a chance on Salt City Code. It was a blast to chat with Melissa about VR and her experience as a hackathon winner. Once we were done recording her interview, I knew that we had a viable show on our hands.
What advice would you give to others who are looking to start their first podcast?
Karin: Don’t be afraid to do it. After that, I would say it takes work and dedication to grow your audience. It is a lot of work, but if you have a partner, the workload can be distributed easily. The one thing that I would say the most……have fun! Kelly and I always have fun and we usually get our guest to laugh at least once when they come to record their session.
Kelly: Make a show that you would want to listen to even if no one tuned in at all. Make a show about something you’re passionate about and share that passion with others. It’s absolutely worth it.
