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I want to get started doing this, anyone have advice on starting out and potential gotchas?

BlueGh0st 9y ago
Avoid streaming your API keys.
tsumnia 9y ago
I'd say be realistic and gear your streams to educating. If you think you need to make perfect code, you'll become frustrated when you simply don't know something. As good/evil as SO and Googling are to our ability to remember, its what we do. There's also longer term goals like Handmade Hero on YouTube. Think about some long term 2 year project and start making it. Make the next Spotify or PUBG. While that being successful would be equally nice, the channel could also be the more successful item.
psyc 9y ago
I’ve been streaming for a few weeks and had no viewers. A popular dev streamer told me it was the same for him for the first six months, and he was also building a large following elsewhere.
- meheleventyone 9y ago
  Where and what are you streaming? I clicked through to your profile and there wasn’t a link there.
dguo 9y ago
This article has what seems like pretty good advice: https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-of-live-coding-on-twitch-41a32e2f41c1 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-o...
gameswithgo 9y ago
Get a good microphone. Get a webcam, even if it doesn't make sense people like to see a head. Get plenty of monitor space so you can stream on one monitor and monitor chat and other things on the other. Stream in 1080p, its the perfect balance between text looking ok and everyone being able to view it well with their internet connection.
- iMerNibor 9y ago
  Also don't worry about having high fps a 10fps 1080p stream is a thousand times better for reading text than a 720p 30fps one
duncanawoods 9y ago
5 seconds into my first ever stream, I alt-tabbed to a text file containing a bunch of secret api keys... so uh... don't do that!
- heretoo 9y ago
  Oh yeah! That's a constant minefield for me if I stream. Next time I do it, I'm going to have a separate account on my machine, where I will avoid having anything accessible that is sensitive.
realSlavojTrump 9y ago
Id read this article, it has pretty excellent coverage of what you’ll need to know. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-of-live-coding-on-twitch-41a32e2f41c1 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-o... The things that I’ve settled into when streaming that I tack onto that wisdom: -stream for at least 2-3 hours per session -always double check your mic, I forget to unmute. -downmix your mic to ensure you’re heard evenly -noise gate and noise suppression are a must -run obs on your pc but stream all of the code itself from vms. This solves most privacy problems and spares a lot of the common obs-on-screen issues you’ll see during streams. Also makes it easier to transition -MAKE YOUR FONT BIGGER -pay attention to chat! I’ve got 1440p monitors, so I keep my 1080p vm on the main screen and my chat / todo list stays on that as well -set up notifications with stream labs (they’re fun and make people follow in cascades) -pick reasonable stream titles. I’ve lost pretty much all of my viewers one stream due to a bad title -consistency is king -if you’re expecting undesirables, aggressively configure nightbot. Defaults and twitches built in mods will not be sufficient and white Supremecists will get around those settings easily. I haven’t chosen to do a webcam but I know streamers can pull high enough views without them, so it’s just up to you and how consistent you want to be. I can share more of my experience if you like. Twitch coding is the best and it prepares you for pair programming and whiteboard interviews where you have to talk while thinking through a problem.

Avoid streaming your API keys.

I'd say be realistic and gear your streams to educating. If you think you need to make perfect code, you'll become frustrated when you simply don't know something. As good/evil as SO and Googling are to our ability to remember, its what we do. There's also longer term goals like Handmade Hero on YouTube. Think about some long term 2 year project and start making it. Make the next Spotify or PUBG. While that being successful would be equally nice, the channel could also be the more successful item.

psyc 9y ago

I’ve been streaming for a few weeks and had no viewers. A popular dev streamer told me it was the same for him for the first six months, and he was also building a large following elsewhere.

meheleventyone 9y ago
Where and what are you streaming? I clicked through to your profile and there wasn’t a link there.

dguo 9y ago

This article has what seems like pretty good advice: https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-of-live-coding-on-twitch-41a32e2f41c1 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-o...

gameswithgo 9y ago

Get a good microphone. Get a webcam, even if it doesn't make sense people like to see a head. Get plenty of monitor space so you can stream on one monitor and monitor chat and other things on the other. Stream in 1080p, its the perfect balance between text looking ok and everyone being able to view it well with their internet connection.

iMerNibor 9y ago
Also don't worry about having high fps a 10fps 1080p stream is a thousand times better for reading text than a 720p 30fps one

duncanawoods 9y ago

5 seconds into my first ever stream, I alt-tabbed to a text file containing a bunch of secret api keys... so uh... don't do that!

heretoo 9y ago
Oh yeah! That's a constant minefield for me if I stream. Next time I do it, I'm going to have a separate account on my machine, where I will avoid having anything accessible that is sensitive.

realSlavojTrump 9y ago

Id read this article, it has pretty excellent coverage of what you’ll need to know. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-of-live-coding-on-twitch-41a32e2f41c1 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/lessons-from-my-first-year-o... The things that I’ve settled into when streaming that I tack onto that wisdom: -stream for at least 2-3 hours per session -always double check your mic, I forget to unmute. -downmix your mic to ensure you’re heard evenly -noise gate and noise suppression are a must -run obs on your pc but stream all of the code itself from vms. This solves most privacy problems and spares a lot of the common obs-on-screen issues you’ll see during streams. Also makes it easier to transition -MAKE YOUR FONT BIGGER -pay attention to chat! I’ve got 1440p monitors, so I keep my 1080p vm on the main screen and my chat / todo list stays on that as well -set up notifications with stream labs (they’re fun and make people follow in cascades) -pick reasonable stream titles. I’ve lost pretty much all of my viewers one stream due to a bad title -consistency is king -if you’re expecting undesirables, aggressively configure nightbot. Defaults and twitches built in mods will not be sufficient and white Supremecists will get around those settings easily. I haven’t chosen to do a webcam but I know streamers can pull high enough views without them, so it’s just up to you and how consistent you want to be. I can share more of my experience if you like. Twitch coding is the best and it prepares you for pair programming and whiteboard interviews where you have to talk while thinking through a problem.