Podcasts about Software engineering

Bret is joined by Andrew Tunall, the President and Chief Product Officer at Embrace, to discuss his prediction that we'll all start shipping non-QA'd code (buggier code in production) and QA will need to be replaced with better observability.

Join me as I speak with Omnicell Director of Software Engineering, Nicholas Kirsch about developing assistive technology with the University of Pittsburgh, unconventional teaching, working with rockstars at Iam Robotics, being the last hire at RE2 Robotics before they were acquired by Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation, and the important work that Omnicell is doing to help healthcare providers reduce errors and increase satisfaction.If you are looking at getting into or expanding your career in robotics, you should contact Nicholas on LinkedIn about career coaching. If you enjoyed this episode and want to see or hear more like it, please subscribe to Collaborative With Spencer Krause today. You'll get notified every time a new episode releases, and it's the best way to support the channel! Companies looking to outsource difficult robotics engineering problems should consider SKA Robotics. They sponsor this podcast and solve some of the most difficult robotics engineering problems in the world.Companies looking for premium space in Pittsburgh should consider renting in Rockwell Park. Located in Pittsburgh's hip Point Breeze Neighborhood, Rockwell Park features over 800,000 square feet of high-end industrial, retail, and office space. Contact Icon Development Group to learn more.

Join me as I speak with Omnicell Director of Software Engineering, Nicholas Kirsch about developing assistive technology with the University of Pittsburgh, unconventional teaching, working with rockstars at Iam Robotics, being the last hire at RE2 Robotics before they were acquired by Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation, and the important work that Omnicell is doing to help healthcare providers reduce errors and increase satisfaction.If you are looking at getting into or expanding your career in robotics, you should contact Nicholas on LinkedIn about career coaching. If you enjoyed this episode and want to see or hear more like it, please subscribe to Collaborative With Spencer Krause today. You'll get notified every time a new episode releases, and it's the best way to support the channel! Companies looking to outsource difficult robotics engineering problems should consider SKA Robotics. They sponsor this podcast and solve some of the most difficult robotics engineering problems in the world.Companies looking for premium space in Pittsburgh should consider renting in Rockwell Park. Located in Pittsburgh's hip Point Breeze Neighborhood, Rockwell Park features over 800,000 square feet of high-end industrial, retail, and office space. Contact Icon Development Group to learn more.

Dr. Sayeh Beheshti: Unveiling the Conscious Feminine | The Hopeaholics PodcastSit down with Dr. Sayeh Beheshti, a psychiatrist whose extraordinary path from Silicon Valley software engineer to mental health advocate will inspire and uplift. Born in Iran, she immigrated to the U.S. at 16 after the Iranian Revolution and war closed universities, forcing her family to seek educational opportunities abroad. Facing cultural shock and emotional struggles, she leaned on her family's resilience, later pivoting from a tech career—halted by a disabling repetitive strain injury—to medicine, where she discovered her true calling in psychiatry during medical school rotations. Dr. Beheshti opens up about the burnout she faced battling insurance companies' restrictive policies while treating addiction for over a decade, sharing heartbreaking realities of the fentanyl crisis that claims lives daily, like the Stanford student who unknowingly took a laced Adderall. Her passion for conscious feminism shines through as she discusses her upcoming books, which explore restoring balance between feminine and masculine energies to heal individuals and societies, addressing how suppressed emotions fuel addiction and how awareness can break these cycles. With a spirituality rooted in the statistical marvels of genetics, she advocates for simple, powerful practices like five daily conscious breaths and intentional self-love acts—such as savoring a coffee outdoors or journaling—to ground listeners in their bodies and foster inner peace.#TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover  #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #RecoveryIsPossible #Hope #wedorecover Join our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record', exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholicsBuy Merch: https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.comVisit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.comIf you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:https://www.infinitigroupllc.com Timestamps:00:01:35 - Transitioning from Software Engineering to Medicine00:03:57 - Discovering Passion for Psychiatry00:05:15 - Describing Abusive Medical School Work Hours00:08:00 - Gaining Intuitive Diagnostic Skills00:10:08 - Recalling Emotional Struggles as a Teenage Immigrant to the U.S.00:12:09 - Entering Software Engineering Due to Silicon Valley's Influence00:13:17 - Fleeing Iran for Educational Opportunities After Revolution00:16:24 - Introducing Conscious Feminism00:19:22 - Explaining Shadow Behaviors Like Silent Treatment00:25:37 - Advocating Compassionate Responses to Online Hate00:29:52 - Defining Feminine and Masculine Energies00:35:34 - Linking Suppressed Emotions to Addiction00:37:14 - Expressing Burnout from Insurance Companies' Barriers00:49:14 - Finding Spirituality in Science01:02:34 - Recommending Daily Conscious Breaths and Self-Love Practices

Pauline Vos (Senior Software Engineer at MongoDB) reveals how software culture evolved from its counterculture, DIY, and anarchist roots to what we see today.We explore:The original hacker mindset and why it matteredHow open source was always politicalWhy 2017-2018 changed everythingWhere to still find real hacker culture (hint: hacker camps, FOSDEM)The difference between building puzzles vs. building APIsFrom Anonymous protests to battle snake competitions, from lockpicking to the lost idealism of the early web - discover what software engineering lost and where you can still find it."Open source culture goes back to the 70s... quite a few of them see free information, open information, accessible information as a human right." - Pauline

This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted.https://gotopia.techRead the full transcription of this interview hereAdrienne Braganza Tacke - Senior Developer Advocate at Viam Robotics & Author of "Looks Good To Me: Constructive Code Reviews"Saša Jurić - Author of "Elixir in Action" & The Ultimate Beacon in the Elixir SpaceRESOURCESAdriennehttps://bsky.app/profile/abt.bsky.socialhttps://x.com/AdrienneTackehttps://github.com/AdrienneTackehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennetackehttps://www.instagram.com/adriennetackehttps://www.adrienne.iohttps://blog.adrienne.ioSašahttps://bsky.app/profile/sasajuric.bsky.socialhttps://twitter.com/sasajurichttps://github.com/sasa1977https://linkedin.com/in/sa%C5%A1a-juri%C4%87-21b23186https://www.theerlangelist.comDESCRIPTIONAdrienne Braganza, author of "Looks Good to Me: Constructive Code Reviews", and Saša Jurić, author of “Elixir in Action”, explore best practices for effective code reviews. They discuss how smaller, well-organized pull requests lead to better feedback, the importance of comment classification, and when to take discussions offline. Both emphasize that code reviews aren't just about catching bugs—they're crucial for knowledge transfer and creating cohesive codebases.While AI tools can help with routine aspects, human judgment remains essential, especially as AI-generated code becomes more common. The speakers agree that when done well, code reviews Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Inspiring Tech Leaders - The Technology PodcastInterviews with Tech Leaders and insights on the latest emerging technology trends.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyBlueskyTwitterInstagramLinkedInFacebookCHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUSJoin this channel to get early access to videos & other perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/joinLooking for a unique learning experience?Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.techSUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!

The CISO role is no longer just about protecting IT assets — it's about navigating AI risks, complex regulations, and building digital trust across the enterprise. In an era where digital trust is more important than ever, how do CISOs stay ahead of evolving threats? What impact does AI have on cybersecurity and privacy compliance? And how can organizations empower every employee to contribute to ongoing digital safety? Join cybersecurity expert and former military major Aman Tara in conversation with Punit Bhatia as they explore the evolving responsibilities of CISOs in today's digital landscape. Aman shares why CISOs must think like hackers to stay ahead, how to manage emerging AI threats, and ways to ensure compliance with global data privacy laws. If you want to understand the future of cybersecurity leadership and how to foster trust in an AI-driven era, this episode is a must-watch! KEY CONVERSION 00:01:44 What is Digital Trust for Aman Tara 00:02:44 What role does the CISO play in creating Digital Trust? 00:04:59 How to manage overlap in a CISO role with privacy function 00:06:17 Do you have regular meetings with privacy counterparts? 00:08:19 Impact of AI and emerging technologies on the role of CISO 00:09:58 How Should a CISO respond when using unsafe tools and create risk in organization? 00:12:00 What can everyone do to ensure ongoing digital trust and safety? 00:15:17 Amman's Book and Personal Journey  ABOUT GUEST Aman Tara is an ex-military Major and a qualified attorney. He holds an associate diploma in Software Engineering, a bachelor's degree in Life Sciences and Economics, a degree in Law, and his MBA from Iowa, USA. He is a Certified Information System Auditor, Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Amazon Web Services Cloud Practitioner and a Scrum Master. He has also done a Cybersecurity course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  After serving in the military for a decade in various combat and staff roles, he moved to the corporate world in 2011. He has worked on IT audits, IT security and Cybersecurity assessments, Third Party Risk Management projects for various Fortune 500 companies across the USA and South Asia. Presently, he is the Executive Director for one of the world's largest banks, working in their Cybersecurity department and Board of Directors of three Non-Profit Organizations based outside of the USA.  He has been featured in articles overseas and invited as speaker for various US based and international seminars. He conducts workshops for corporates on stress management, hosts a live radio show every week in Texas, USA, and has also authored a book ‘Just Did It'.  ABOUT HOST Punit Bhatia is one of the leading privacy experts who works independently and has worked with professionals in over 30 countries. Punit works with business and privacy leaders to create an organization culture with high privacy awareness and compliance as a business priority. Selectively, Punit is open to mentor and coach professionals.  Punit is the author of books “Be Ready for GDPR' which was rated as the best GDPR Book, “AI & Privacy – How to Find Balance”, “Intro To GDPR”, and “Be an Effective DPO”. Punit is a global speaker who has spoken at over 30 global events. Punit is the creator and host of the FIT4PRIVACY Podcast. This podcast has been featured amongst top GDPR and privacy podcasts.  As a person, Punit is an avid thinker and believes in thinking, believing, and acting in line with one's value to have joy in life. He has developed the philosophy named ‘ABC for joy of life' which passionately shares. Punit is based out of Belgium, the heart of Europe.  RESOURCES Websites www.fit4privacy.com,www.punitbhatia.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-tara-cisa-cdpse-cfe-b6095483/ Podcast https://www.fit4privacy.com/podcast Blog https://www.fit4privacy.com/blog YouTube http://youtube.com/fit4privacy   

In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Dan Ivovich and Charles Suggs sit down with Norbert “NobbZ” Melzer to discuss how Nix enables reproducible builds, consistent development environments, and reliable deployments for Elixir projects. Norbert shares his journey from Ruby to Elixir, contrasts Nix with NixOS, and walks us through flakes, nix-shell workflows, sandboxed builds, and rollback capabilities. Along the way, we cover real-world tips for managing Hex authentication, integrating Nix into CI/CD, wrapping Mix releases in Docker, and avoiding common pitfalls, such as flake performance traps. Whether you're spinning up your first dev shell or rolling out a production release on NixOS, you'll come away with a clear, gradual adoption path and pointers to the community mentors and resources that can help you succeed. Key topics discussed in this episode: Reproducible, sandboxed builds vs. traditional package managers Nix flakes for locked dependency graphs and version pinning nix-shell: creating consistent development environments across teams Rollback and immutable deployment strategies with Nix/NixOS Integrating Nix with the Elixir toolchain: Hex, Mix, and CI/CD pipelines Flakes vs. standard shells: when and how to transition Handling private Hex repositories and authentication in Nix Cross-platform support (macOS/Darwin, Linux variants) Channels, overlays, and overrides for customizing builds Dockerizing Elixir releases using Nix-based images Home Manager for personal environment configuration Security patching workflows in a Nix-managed infrastructure Common pitfalls: flake performance, sandbox workarounds, and symlink behavior Community resources and the importance of human mentorship Links mentioned: https://jobrad-loop.com/ https://nixos.org/ https://nix.dev/ https://nix.dev/manual/nix/2.18/command-ref/nix-shell https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin https://asdf-vm.com/ https://go.dev/ https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/redhatenterpriselinux/8/html/packaginganddistributingsoftware/introduction-to-rpm_packaging-and-distributing-software Nix Flake templates for Elixir https://github.com/jurraca/elixir-templates https://www.docker.com/ https://www.sudo.ws/ https://ubuntu.com/ https://archlinux.org/ Nobbz's blog https://blog.nobbz.dev/blog/ https://ayats.org/blog/nix-workflow @nobbz.dev on BlueSky @NobbZ1981 on Twitter https://www.linkedin.com/in/norbert-melzer/ https://youtu.be/HbtbdLolHeM?si=6M7fulTQZmuWGGCM (talk on CodeBEAM)

Send us a textRemember when Technology felt like it was meant to make our lives easier? For many Small Business owners today, AI and Automation have become sources of anxiety rather than solutions. Enter Mike Garde, who's on a personal mission to change that narrative.Mike isn't your typical Tech Consultant. With 30 years of Software Engineering experience, he could easily overwhelm you with jargon – but that's precisely what he refuses to do. "I want to democratize AI and automation for small businesses," he shares, explaining how larger Companies have already harnessed these tools while smaller operations remain paralized by complexity.During our conversation, Mike reveals the fascinating personal journey that shaped his approach. Growing up with a mother who battled anxiety and introduced him to positive thinking, and witnessing his father's extraordinary resilience during family tragedy, Mike developed a philosophy of continuously expanding beyond comfortable boundaries. "I've just been doing it so many times now. It's just a natural thing to progress, to push outside the boundaries I may feel confined in at any particular time," he reflects.What truly sets Mike apart is his integration of the "Three Principles" coaching philosophy with practical tech implementation. He sees our perception of technology as fundamentally shaped by our thoughts: "If we're in a good mood, the world looks a better place generally, and same as if we're looking at things with fear, as in AI or anything, the world looks like a more fearful place." This perspective allows him to guide business owners through their tech anxiety toward practical solutions.The highlight of our conversation comes when Mike demonstrates AI in real-time, conducting a conversation with ChatGPT that showcases both the capabilities and limitations of current technology. It's a perfect illustration of his hands-on approach to demystifying these tools.Whether you're a tech enthusiast or someone who breaks into a cold sweat at the mention of artificial intelligence, Mike's insights offer a refreshingly human perspective on our digital future. Connect with him at www.mgperformancecoaching.com to discover how AI can work for your business without the headaches.Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website. Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :) Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Mary Moore-Simmons, VP of Engineering at Keebo, shares her journey from early tech interests to leadership roles at SendGrid, GitHub, and Keebo. She discusses navigating career transitions, the value of mentorship, and her passion for building innovative developer tools and empowering teams.00:00 Introduction07:48 First Memory of a Computer10:30 Interest in Languages16:00 Highschool / College23:00 Engineering in University 27:40 Joining the Work Force38:05 First Job in Software48:00 Project Management 54:00 Working in DevOps1:05:30 Working in Crypto/Blockchain1:14:00 Leadership Aspirations 1:20:00 Team Dynamics1:32:00 AI Tooling1:42:00 Contact Info Connect with Mary: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmooresimmons/Mentioned in this Episode:Keebo: https://keebo.aiSendGrid: https://sendgrid.com/en-usGithub: https://github.comWant more from Ardan Labs? You can learn Go, Kubernetes, Docker & more through our video training, live events, or through our blog!Online Courses : https://ardanlabs.com/education/ Live Events : https://www.ardanlabs.com/live-training-events/ Blog : https://www.ardanlabs.com/blog Github : https://github.com/ardanlabs

Josh and James discuss the implications of Test-Driven Development (TDD) in the context of the rapid advancements in AI technology. They explore how AI tools are changing the landscape of software development, the challenges of maintaining quality in fast-paced environments, and the importance of balancing speed with safety. Their conversation also touches on the future of coding, the training of new developers, and the evolving role of testing in ensuring robust software solutions. TDD is gaining renewed importance with the rise of AI. AI tools can enhance rapid prototyping but come with risks. Maintaining quality in software is crucial as teams move quickly. The balance between speed and safety is essential in development. Understanding system design and good architecture is foundational for developers. AI can assist in writing tests and fixing bugs effectively. The complexity of production apps increases with user volume. New tools are emerging to support error tracking and testing. Training the next generation of developers is vital in an AI-driven landscape. Investing in TDD and BDD can set teams apart in software development.

In this episode, Abi Noda talks with Frank Fodera, Director of Engineering for Developer Experience at CarGurus. Frank shares the story behind CarGurus' transition from a monolithic architecture to microservices, and how that journey led to the creation of their internal developer portal, Showroom. He outlines the five pillars of the IDP, how it integrates with infrastructure, and why they chose to build rather than buy. The conversation also explores how CarGurus is approaching AI tool adoption across the engineering team, from experiments and metrics to culture change and leadership buy-in.Where to find Frank Fodera : • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankfodera/Where to find Abi Noda:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Intro: IDPs (Internal Developer Portals) and AI (02:07) The IDP journey at CarGurus(05:53) A breakdown of the people responsible for building the IDP(07:05) The five pillars of the Showroom IDP(09:12) How DevX worked with infrastructure(11:13) The business impact of Showroom(13:57) The transition from monolith to microservices and struggles along the way(15:54) The benefits of building a custom IDP(19:10) How CarGurus drives AI coding tool adoption (28:48) Getting started with an AI initiative(31:50) Metrics to track (34:06) Tips for driving AI adoptionReferenced:DX Core 4 Productivity Framework Internal Developer Portals: Use Cases and Key ComponentsStrangler Fig Pattern - Azure Architecture Center | Microsoft LearnSpotify for BackstageThe AI adoption playbook: Lessons from Microsoft's internal strategy

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Investor Rolanda Fu is joined by Dedy Kredo, the co-founder and chief product officer of QodoAI — formerly CodiumAI, a 2024 IA40 winner and one of the most exciting AI companies shaping the future of software development. Dedy and his co-founder, Itamar, are entrepreneurs who have spent their careers building for developers, and with Qodo, they're tackling one of the most frustrating problems in software engineering — testing and verifying code. As AI generates more code, the challenge shifts to ensuring quality, maintaining standards, and managing complexity across the entire software development lifecycle. In this conversation, Dedy and Rolanda discuss how Qodo's agentic architecture and deep code-based understanding are helping enterprises leverage AI speed while ensuring code integrity and governance. They get into what it takes to build enterprise-ready AI platforms, the strategy behind scaling from a developer-first approach to major enterprise partnerships, and how AI agents might reshape software engineering teams altogether. Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/engineering-ai-era-qodo-dedy-kredo-on-ai-powered-sdlc Chapters:  (00:00) Introduction  (01:12) The Future of AI in Software Development (01:58) Dedy's Journey in Tech (03:02) The Genesis of Qodo (03:53) Qodo's Unique Approach to AI Coding (05:13) Exploring Qodo's Product Features (06:42) Code Review and Verification (08:53) Customizing AI Agents (11:02) Vibe Coding and Code Review (13:27) Developer Love vs. Enterprise Needs (15:33) Enterprise Adoption (17:51) Future of Software Engineering (22:13) Balancing Developer Love and Enterprise Sales (24:05) Advice for Founders 

On this episode, we talk with Ranja Schlotte, a German athlete who rips down Alpine lines and carves Mauritius' fiercest waves. From skiing at three to mastering kitesurfing on a family trip, Ranja's hunger for adventure led to sponsorships with Slingshot, Alpina Sports, Meier Skis, Ride Engine and many more through relentless freestyle competitions. She reveals how she juggled a mathematics and economics Degree and a Degree in Software Engineering with chasing storms and snow, tests cutting-edge gear like Slingshot's OneLock system, and tackles the legendary One Eye wave. Whether staring down a near-vertical ski line in Gstaad or outsmarting Mauritius' brutal currents, Ranja's stories pulse with grit and stoke.Episode Highlights:  •⁠  ⁠Skiing before she could walk and kitesurfing Mauritius' waves from her early twenties  •⁠  ⁠Heart-pounding descent of a Gstaad ski line she spies from her window  •⁠  ⁠Battling One Eye's waves and testing Slingshot's game-changing OneLock  •⁠  ⁠Balancing university exams with competitions across the Alps and Oceans around the world  •⁠  ⁠Savoring Mauritius' tuna steaks and Indian curries between sessions  •⁠  ⁠Pro tips for landing sponsors and thriving in multiple sports  Follow Ranja: https://www.facebook.com/ranja.schlotte or https://www.youtube.com/@ranjaschlotte

Andrew Filev is the founder of Zencoder. Zencoder is building AI coding agents. In this episode, we explore the evolution from simple code completion AI to more sophisticated software engineering agents. While tools like GitHub Copilot revolutionized code suggestions, the next frontier involves AI agents that can handle complex engineering tasks and collaborate with each other through emerging protocols.The discussion dives into agent-to-agent protocols, which enable AI systems to work together autonomously on software development tasks. This advancement suggests a future where AI agents could manage entire development workflows, from requirements gathering to testing and deployment. We also touch on the importance of using slower summer periods strategically - making it an ideal time for engineering teams to evaluate their tooling, processes, and prepare for upcoming development cycles.This episode is brought to you by WorkOS. If you're thinking about selling to enterprise customers, WorkOS can help you add enterprise features like Single Sign On and audit logs. Links- Zencoder - Andrew Filev - Wrike- Powered by Claude- Vercel- Perplexity AI - Scale AI 

Taiwo Oyeniyi shares his journey from aspiring aeronautical engineer to chemical engineering, and eventually transitioning into software engineering. Discover how his background in chemistry and math played a vital role in his successful pivot into tech. Taiwo discusses the challenges, learning curves, and key skills that aided his transition, as well as the importance of open-mindedness and critical thinking in both careers. Learn about his experiences at companies like Goldman Sachs, Fight Metric (UFC), and Distrobird, and his eventual move to a leadership role in technology.▬▬▬▬▬ Resources ▬▬▬▬▬Taiwo Oyeniyi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taiwo-o-15b37b14/Alon Cohen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alon-cohen-31b26b/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cacklemedia/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cacklemediaX: https://x.com/CackleMediaLLCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CackleMediaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cacklemedia/Support the pod when signing up for Descript / SquadCast: https://get.descript.com/transferableskillSign up for our newsletter: https://shorturl.at/WDrfTWant to be a guest on the show?: https://shorturl.at/umZ2l▬▬▬▬▬ Timestamps ▬▬▬▬▬00:00 Introduction to Transferable Skills00:19 Taiwo's Early Aspirations01:13 Choosing Chemical Engineering02:50 Transition to Software Engineering06:04 First Job and Career Growth10:40 Skills Transfer and Team Dynamics16:06 The Value of a Diverse Team16:31 Coaching vs. Executing17:25 Career Pivot and Leadership17:48 Hiring and Mentoring Junior Developers19:18 Critical Thinking in Interviews20:47 Handling Pressure in Interviews21:50 Career Progression and New Challenges22:46 Building a New Platform from Scratch24:16 Balancing Technical Decisions and Business Needs26:35 Estimating Project Timelines29:58 Reflecting on Project Management32:08 Guilty Pleasure Job33:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Is AI taking over the craft of coding? Many engineers now face an identity crisis.In the episode, Distinguished Engineer Annie Vella discusses her research on AI's impact on software development. She explores the “software engineering identity crisis” as the craft of coding becomes automated. Annie warns that the seductive speed of AI tools can lead to lower quality and delivery instability, a trend supported by reports from DORA and GitClear. She also cautions that over-reliance on AI prevents engineers from gaining the hands-on experience needed for deep skill acquisition.Key topics discussed:How AI is reshaping the software development lifecycleThe software engineer's professional identity crisisThe real danger of over-relying on AI toolsHow to balance the seduction of speed with long-term qualityCrucial advice for junior engineers entering the industryWhy leaders must shift focus from speed to qualityThe idea of treating AI as a team member instead of just a tool  Timestamps:(00:00:00) Trailer & Intro(00:02:32) AI Impact on Career and Software Engineering(00:07:00) The Future of AI-Driven Software Engineering(00:14:29) The Shift in the Role of Software Engineer(00:22:13) When Writing Code is Not the Bottleneck Anymore(00:32:04) The Danger of Over-Reliance on AI(00:38:51) The Software Engineering Identity Crisis(00:48:09) Advice for Junior Engineers in This Challenging Time(00:53:34) The Shift in the Role of Engineering Management(00:59:46) You Are Not Alone(01:00:50) 3 Tech Lead Wisdom_____Annie Vella's BioAnnie Vella is a Distinguished Engineer at Westpac NZ with two decades of experience in software engineering and technical leadership across various industries and countries.Vella has returned to an engineering role after a period in management and is also a part-time Master's student at the University of Auckland, researching the impact of AI on software engineering. She believes that technologies like Generative AI, LLMs, and Agentic AI will revolutionize the field and problem-solving in general.Follow Annie:LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/annievellaX – x.com/codefrenzyWebsite – annievella.com/Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/223.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

Zack Kayser, Staff Software Engineer at cars.com, joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs to discuss how Cars.com adopted a server-driven UI (SDUI) architecture powered by Elixir and GraphQL to deliver consistent, updatable interfaces across web, iOS, and Android. We explore why SDUI matters for feature velocity, how a mature design system and schema planning make it feasible, and what it takes, culturally and technically, to move UI logic from client code into a unified backend. Key topics discussed in this episode: SDUI fundamentals and how it differs from traditional server-side rendering GraphQL as the single source of truth for UI components and layouts Defining abstract UI components on the server to eliminate duplicate logic Leveraging a robust design system as the foundation for SDUI success API-first development and cross-team coordination for schema changes Mock data strategies for early UI feedback without breaking clients Handling breaking changes and hot-fix deployments via server-side updates Enabling flexible layouts and A/B testing through server-controlled ordering Balancing server-driven vs. client-managed UI Iterative SDUI rollout versus “big-bang” migrations in large codebases Using type specs and Dialyxir for clear cross-team communication Integration testing at the GraphQL layer to catch UI regressions early Quality engineering's role in validating server-driven interfaces Production rollback strategies across web and native platforms Considerations for greenfield projects adopting SDUI from day one Zack and Ethan's upcoming Instrumenting Elixir Apps book Links mentioned: https://cars.com https://github.com/absinthe-graphql/absinthe Telemetry & Observability for Elixir Apps Ep: https://youtu.be/1V2xEPqqCso https://www.phoenixframework.org/blog/phoenix-liveview-1.0-released https://hexdocs.pm/phoenixliveview/assigns-eex.html https://graphql.org/ https://tailwindcss.com/ https://github.com/jeremyjh/dialyxir https://github.com/rrrene/credo GraphQL Schema https://graphql.org/learn/schema/ SwiftUI https://developer.apple.com/documentation/swiftui/  Kotlin https://kotlinlang.org/ https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/a-deep-dive-into-airbnbs-server-driven-ui-system-842244c5f5 Zack's Twitter: https://x.com/kayserzl/ Zack's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-kayser-93b96b88  Special Guest: Zack Kayser.

Today we're examining Palantir's "Forward Deployed Software Engineers" - and separating fact from the hype!Everything old is new again! Move over companies that have been doing this for decades such as SAP, IBM, and countless consulting firms!https://blog.palantir.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-palantir-forward-deployed-software-engineer-45ef2de257b1Listen as we break down Palantir's 2020 blog post about their Forward Deployed Software Engineers (FDSEs) and discover what these engineers actually do versus what the marketing claims...Key topics covered:What FDSEs actually do, day-to-dayHow this compares to traditional consulting rolesThe difference between software configuration and software engineeringWhy embedded customer roles aren't newCareer advice for aspiring technical professionalsIf you're interested in understanding the reality behind tech industry buzzwords, this is your episode!#ProductManagement #SoftwareEngineering #TechCareers #Consulting #Leadership #AgileCoachingLINKS= = = = = = = = = = = =YouTube: https://youtu.be/SGvJK-aruJ8Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596Website: http://arguingagile.com= = = = = = = = = = = =Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

It's been three years of Environment Variables! What a landmark year for the Green Software Foundation. From launching behind-the-scenes Backstage episodes, to covering the explosive impact of AI on software emissions, to broadening our audience through beginner-friendly conversations; this retrospective showcases our mission to create a trusted ecosystem for sustainable software. Here's to many more years of EV!

Welcome to another powerful episode of Pitch Cafe Podcast!

In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with Gilad Turbahn, Head of Developer Productivity, and Amy Yuan, Director of Engineering at Snowflake, about how their team builds and sustains operational excellence. They break down the practices and principles that guide their work—from creating two-way communication channels to treating engineers as customers. The conversation explores how Snowflake fosters trust, uses feedback loops to shape priorities, and maintains alignment through thoughtful planning. You'll also hear how they engage with teams across the org, convert detractors, and use Customer Advisory Boards to bring voices from across the company into the decision-making process.Where to find Amy Yuan: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-yuan-a8ba783/Where to find Gilad Turbahn:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giladturbahn/Where to find Abi Noda:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Intro: an overview of operational excellence(04:13) Obstacles to executing with operational excellence(05:51) An overview of the Snowflake playbook for operational excellence(08:25) Who does the work of reaching out to customers(09:06) The importance of customer engagement(10:19) How Snowflake does customer engagement (14:13) The types of feedback received and the two camps (supporters and detractors)(16:55) How to influence detractors and how detractors actually help (18:27) Using insiders as messengers(22:48) An overview of Snowflake's customer advisory board(26:10) The importance of meeting in person (learnings from Warsaw and Berlin office visits)(28:08) Managing up(30:07) How planning is done at Snowflake(36:25) Setting targets for OKRs, and Snowflake's philosophy on metrics (39:22) The annual plan and how it's shared Referenced:CTO buy-in, measuring sentiment, and customer focusSnowflakeBenoit Dageville - Snowflake Computing | LinkedInThierry Cruanes - Snowflake Computing | LinkedIn

Today on Elixir Wizards, hosts Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs catch up with Sean Moriarity, co-creator of the Nx project and author of Machine Learning in Elixir. Sean reflects on his transition from the military to a civilian job building large language models (LLMs) for software. He explains how the Elixir ML landscape has evolved since the rise of ChatGPT, shifting from building native model implementations toward orchestrating best-in-class tools. We discuss the pragmatics of adding ML to Elixir apps: when to start with out-of-the-box LLMs vs. rolling your own, how to hook into Python-based libraries, and how to tap Elixir's distributed computing for scalable workloads. Sean closes with advice for developers embarking on Elixir ML projects, from picking motivating use cases to experimenting with domain-specific languages for AI-driven workflows. Key topics discussed in this episode: The evolution of the Nx (Numerical Elixir) project and what's new with ML in Elixir Treating Elixir as an orchestration layer for external ML tools When to rely on off-the-shelf LLMs vs. custom models Strategies for integrating Elixir with Python-based ML libraries Leveraging Elixir's distributed computing strengths for ML tasks Starting ML projects with existing data considerations Synthetic data generation using large language models Exploring DSLs to streamline AI-powered business logic Balancing custom frameworks and service-based approaches in production Pragmatic advice for getting started with ML in Elixir Links mentioned: https://hexdocs.pm/nx/intro-to-nx.html https://pragprog.com/titles/smelixir/machine-learning-in-elixir/ https://magic.dev/ https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/s10-e10-sean-moriarity-machine-learning-elixir/ Pragmatic Bookshelf: https://pragprog.com/ ONNX Runtime Bindings for Elixir: https://github.com/elixir-nx/ortex https://github.com/elixir-nx/bumblebee Silero Voice Activity Detector: https://github.com/snakers4/silero-vad Paulo Valente Graph Splitting Article: https://dockyard.com/blog/2024/11/06/2024/nx-sharding-update-part-1 Thomas Millar's Twitter https://x.com/thmsmlr https://github.com/thmsmlr/instructorex https://phoenix.new/ https://tidewave.ai/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BERT(language_model) Talk: PyTorch: Fast Differentiable Dynamic Graphs in Python (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am895oU6mmY) by Soumith Chintala https://hexdocs.pm/axon/Axon.html https://hexdocs.pm/exla/EXLA.html VLM (Vision Language Models Explained): https://huggingface.co/blog/vlms https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp Vector Search in Elixir: https://github.com/elixir-nx/hnswlib https://www.amplified.ai/ Llama 4 https://mistral.ai/ Mistral Open-Source LLMs: https://mistral.ai/ https://github.com/openai/whisper Elixir Wizards Season 5: Adopting Elixir https://smartlogic.io/podcast/elixir-wizards/season-five https://docs.ray.io/en/latest/ray-overview/index.html https://hexdocs.pm/flame/FLAME.html https://firecracker-microvm.github.io/ https://fly.io/ https://kubernetes.io/ WireGuard VPNs https://www.wireguard.com/ https://hexdocs.pm/phoenixpubsub/Phoenix.PubSub.html https://www.manning.com/books/deep-learning-with-python Code BEAM 2025 Keynote: Designing LLM Native Systems - Sean Moriarity Ash Framework https://ash-hq.org/ Sean's Twitter: https://x.com/seanmoriarity Sean's Personal Blog: https://seanmoriarity.com/ Erlang Ecosystems Foundation Slack: https://erlef.org/slack-invite/erlef Elixir Forum https://elixirforum.com/ Sean's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-m-ba231a149/ Special Guest: Sean Moriarity.

In this episode Patrick and Shelli welcome Michael Pozzi, a tech leader with an expansive career across engineering, computer science, and finance. Currently, Michael is Senior Vice President of Technology Infrastructure at Ryan Specialty. We discuss Michael's leadership style, a philosophy characterized by humility and a team-centric approach. He shares his experiences of leading through uncertain times at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and highlights the ways he builds teams to foster empathy and collaboration. We chat about the evolving landscape of technology infrastructure, data volume, AI automation, and the dynamics of remote teams. Michael advocates for recognizing and nurturing talent within an organization, fostering an environment where employees can thrive and grow in alignment with their org's mission.(00:00) Welcome Michael Pozzi(00:25) Michael's Career Journey(02:26) Role at Ryan Specialty(03:07) Early Career and Pivot to Consulting(05:01) Joining the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(08:50) Transition to Infrastructure and Operations(12:51) Leadership and Team Dynamics(21:47) Recognizing the Need for Fresh Perspectives(24:05) The Importance of Empathy in Team Dynamics(29:06) Career Growth and Organizational Support(34:48) Encouraging Internal Mobility and Learning(40:10) Final ThoughtsMichael Pozzi is Senior Vice President of Technology Infrastructure at Ryan Specialty. Previously, over nearly 20 years, he held a series of director level positions at the CME Group, like Managing Director of Infrastructure & Operations, Executive Director of Systems Engineering, and Executive Director of Software Engineering. Before that he worked at Hewitt Associates and Accenture. He earned a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke and Masters in Computer Science from DePaul.If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to Innovation and the Digital Enterprise in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

In this Road to Macstock Conference and Expo conversation we welcome longtime speaker Kirschen Seah to discuss her upcoming session, Passkeys Demystified. Kirschen explains the promise of passkeys as a more secure, user-friendly alternative to passwords, and why adoption has been slower than expected. She shares insights into how passkeys work using public key cryptography, addresses common concerns about biometric data, and outlines how password managers like Apple Keychain and 1Password integrate with the system. With real-world scenarios and practical examples, Kirschen aims to help attendees confidently adopt passkeys and understand the evolving standards behind them.  Show Notes: Chapters: 00:08 Introduction to MacVoices00:45 Kirschen Seah Joins the Conversation02:20 Passkeys Demystified08:44 Managing Multiple Accounts10:32 The Role of Password Managers13:15 Preparing for the Session15:55 Macstock Conference Details17:51 The Value of Curiosity at Macstock Links: Macstock Conference and Expo Save $50 with the Kirschen's discount code: freerangecoder Save $50 with Chuck's discount code: macvoices50 Guests:Kirschen Seah's background is Computer Sciences with interests in Software Engineering, User Experience, and Mac OS X / iPhone OS development. She started programming with BASIC in 1978 on an Apple ][ and have over 30 years of experience in the field. Kirschen worked on OPENSTEP (precursor to Mac OS X Cocoa) graphical prototyping applications initially when she joined Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace) in 1999, and was a Senior Principal Systems Engineer in the Flight Management Systems department focussed on the user interface for pilot interaction. Prior to joining Rockwell Collins Kirschen worked at Acuity (formerly ichat) developing interactive user interfaces for live chat customer service agents. Now retired, there's now more time to share technical insights on her blog, develop useful scripts (Python, shell), and write Shortcuts. Kirschen is really motivated to share her experience to help fellow software practitioners develop better skills – be that in good design, implementation, or computer science fundamentals. As much as she can, Kirschen tries to share the delight in discovering how iOS and macOS applications for productivity and creativity have helped her do better in her personal and (former) work life. Connect with her on her web site, FreeRangeCoder Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:     https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

In this Road to Macstock Conference and Expo conversation we welcome longtime speaker Kirschen Seah to discuss her upcoming session, Passkeys Demystified. Kirschen explains the promise of passkeys as a more secure, user-friendly alternative to passwords, and why adoption has been slower than expected. She shares insights into how passkeys work using public key cryptography, addresses common concerns about biometric data, and outlines how password managers like Apple Keychain and 1Password integrate with the system. With real-world scenarios and practical examples, Kirschen aims to help attendees confidently adopt passkeys and understand the evolving standards behind them.  Show Notes: Chapters: 00:08 Introduction to MacVoices 00:45 Kirschen Seah Joins the Conversation 02:20 Passkeys Demystified 08:44 Managing Multiple Accounts 10:32 The Role of Password Managers 13:15 Preparing for the Session 15:55 Macstock Conference Details 17:51 The Value of Curiosity at Macstock Links: Macstock Conference and Expo Save $50 with the Kirschen's discount code: freerangecoder Save $50 with Chuck's discount code: macvoices50 Guests: Kirschen Seah's background is Computer Sciences with interests in Software Engineering, User Experience, and Mac OS X / iPhone OS development. She started programming with BASIC in 1978 on an Apple ][ and have over 30 years of experience in the field. Kirschen worked on OPENSTEP (precursor to Mac OS X Cocoa) graphical prototyping applications initially when she joined Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace) in 1999, and was a Senior Principal Systems Engineer in the Flight Management Systems department focussed on the user interface for pilot interaction. Prior to joining Rockwell Collins Kirschen worked at Acuity (formerly ichat) developing interactive user interfaces for live chat customer service agents. Now retired, there's now more time to share technical insights on her blog, develop useful scripts (Python, shell), and write Shortcuts. Kirschen is really motivated to share her experience to help fellow software practitioners develop better skills – be that in good design, implementation, or computer science fundamentals. As much as she can, Kirschen tries to share the delight in discovering how iOS and macOS applications for productivity and creativity have helped her do better in her personal and (former) work life. Connect with her on her web site, FreeRangeCoder Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon      http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:      http://macvoices.com      Twitter:      http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner      http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:      https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:      https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:      https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes      Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

Is AI a productivity tool or a dangerous shortcut for developers?In this episode, Stacy Cashmore, Product Lead at OmniPlan, joins us to discuss the practical realities of integrating AI into software engineering. Stacy shares real-world insights from developing AI-driven products, highlighting both the powerful benefits and significant pitfalls developers face when using tools like Claude and GitHub Copilot.Key topics include:✅ Practical lessons from building and launching AI products.✅ How AI can both improve and hinder developer productivity.✅ Critical considerations for ensuring maintainable, high-quality code when using AI.✅ The balance between automated productivity and intellectual growth in software development.Essential listening for developers and tech leaders who want to leverage AI effectively while avoiding common pitfalls.

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, and Alan Dye, Apple's vice president of Human Interface Design, are two of the most influential creative and technological leaders shaping how we experience the digital world. Together, they represent the rare combination of engineering and design at its highest level, shaping how Apple products feel and behave. They join live at the Apple Headquarters to discuss the much anticipated launch of iOS 26.Want to help shape TED's shows going forward? Fill out our survey! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Ericksen, creator of the Elixir LangChain framework, joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about LLM integration in Elixir apps. He explains how LangChain abstracts away the quirks of different AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini) so you can work with any LLM in one more consistent API. We dig into core features like conversation chaining, tool execution, automatic retries, and production-grade fallback strategies. Mark shares his experiences maintaining LangChain in a fast-moving AI world: how it shields developers from API drift, manages token budgets, and handles rate limits and outages. He also reveals testing tactics for non-deterministic AI outputs, configuration tips for custom authentication, and the highlights of the new v0.4 release, including “content parts” support for thinking-style models. Key topics discussed in this episode: • Abstracting LLM APIs behind a unified Elixir interface • Building and managing conversation chains across multiple models • Exposing application functionality to LLMs through tool integrations • Automatic retries and fallback chains for production resilience • Supporting a variety of LLM providers • Tracking and optimizing token usage for cost control • Configuring API keys, authentication, and provider-specific settings • Handling rate limits and service outages with degradation • Processing multimodal inputs (text, images) in Langchain workflows • Extracting structured data from unstructured LLM responses • Leveraging “content parts” in v0.4 for advanced thinking-model support • Debugging LLM interactions using verbose logging and telemetry • Kickstarting experiments in LiveBook notebooks and demos • Comparing Elixir LangChain to the original Python implementation • Crafting human-in-the-loop workflows for interactive AI features • Integrating Langchain with the Ash framework for chat-driven interfaces • Contributing to open-source LLM adapters and staying ahead of API changes • Building fallback chains (e.g., OpenAI → Azure) for seamless continuity • Embedding business logic decisions directly into AI-powered tools • Summarization techniques for token efficiency in ongoing conversations • Batch processing tactics to leverage lower-cost API rate tiers • Real-world lessons on maintaining uptime amid LLM service disruptions Links mentioned: https://rubyonrails.org/ https://fly.io/ https://zionnationalpark.com/ https://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/ https://github.com/brainlid/langchain https://openai.com/ https://claude.ai/ https://gemini.google.com/ https://www.anthropic.com/ Vertex AI Studio https://cloud.google.com/generative-ai-studio https://www.perplexity.ai/ https://azure.microsoft.com/ https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html https://oban.pro/ Chris McCord's ElixirConf EU 2025 Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojL_VHc4gLk Getting started: https://hexdocs.pm/langchain/gettingstarted.html https://ash-hq.org/ https://hex.pm/packages/langchain https://hexdocs.pm/igniter/readme.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM9iQlQSFg @brainlid on Twitter and BlueSky Special Guest: Mark Ericksen.

In this episode I chat with coach Nick Klastava about why it's important to coach runners holistically. Being a coach to athletes of all levels is so much more than just giving them a training plan. Nick started running back in 1996 and has been competitively running for 24 years now with a brief break in his 20's. His spark for running came back in High School, being a part of a team and finding a sport that brought out the best in himself. He ran competitively in college for Monmouth University in New Jersey after college he took 8 years off from running and thought he was done forever. After moving to Maryland in 2010, Nick found his spark again with running and found a new outlook on running with less pressure and less emphasis on the numbers and broke all of his college PR's by age 38.  Nick lives just outside Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and two daughters (Chloe and Amelia). Nick has a degree in Software Engineering and currently works as a Head Coach of 1:1 Run Coaching at Running Explained and also is the Co-host of the Between Two Coaches Podcast. His favorite thing about coaching is to unconditionally support runners and their journeys.Find Nick on IG: @nklastavaThank you BetterHelp for sponsoring this episode! To save 10% on your first month of therapy, visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.betterhelp.com/holleyfueled⁠To join my Strong Runner Academy Group Coaching Program visit here: https://www.holleyfuelednutrition.com/groupcoaching

In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with DX CTO Laura Tacho about the real obstacles holding back AI adoption in engineering teams. They discuss why technical challenges are rarely the blocker, and how fear, unclear expectations, and inflated hype can stall progress. Laura shares practical strategies for driving adoption, including how to model usage from the top down, build momentum through champions and training programs, and measure impact effectively—starting with establishing a baseline before introducing AI tools.Where to find Laura Tacho: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauratacho/• Website: https://lauratacho.com/Where to find Abi Noda:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Intro: The full spectrum of AI adoption(03:02) The hype of AI(04:46) Some statistics around the current state of AI coding tool adoption(07:27) The real barriers to AI adoption(09:31) How to drive AI adoption (15:47) Measuring AI's impact (19:49) More strategies for driving AI adoption (23:54) The Methods companies are actually using to drive impact(29:15) Questions from the chat (39:48) Wrapping upReferenced:DX Core 4 Productivity FrameworkThe AI adoption playbook: Lessons from Microsoft's internal strategyMicrosoft CEO says up to 30% of the company's code was written by AI | TechCrunchViral Shopify CEO Manifesto Says AI Now Mandatory For All EmployeesDORA | Impact of Generative AI in Software DevelopmentGuide to AI assisted engineeringJustin Reock - DX | LinkedIn

In this conversation, Dylan Silver interviews Nick Sehy, a real estate investor who transitioned from a software engineering career at Microsoft to investing in the Detroit real estate market. Nick shares his journey, including his initial interest in real estate, the strategies he employed such as the BRRRR method, and his pivot to fix and flip properties. He discusses the challenges and lessons learned from his first fix and flip, the reasons for choosing Detroit as his investment market, and offers advice for aspiring real estate investors. The conversation concludes with insights into future trends in real estate investment.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true ‘white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a “mini-mastermind” with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming “Retreat”, either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas “Big H Ranch”? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Connor Rigby joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about Blue Heron BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) support for Elixir apps. Blue Heron implements the BLE specs in pure Elixir, leveraging binary pattern matching and concurrent message processing to handle Bluetooth protocols. Unlike most solutions that require C ports or NIFs, Blue Heron runs entirely in user space, so it works seamlessly in both Nerves-based embedded projects and (eventually) desktop Elixir applications. We discuss how Nerves development differs from building Phoenix apps. Connor shares challenges he's experienced with hardware compatibility, where some chips only partially implement the spec, and he discusses the surprisingly deep (but sometimes incomplete) world of BLE device profiles. His tip for anyone entering the BLE space: read the official spec instead of trusting secondhand blog posts. Tools like Nerves LiveBook give you hands-on examples, so you can get a BLE prototype running on a Raspberry Pi and your phone in no time. Key topics discussed in this episode: Blue Heron origins and “bird” naming convention BLE vs. Bluetooth Classic: core differences Pure Elixir implementation—no C dependencies Binary pattern matching for packet parsing Hardware transport options: UART, SPI, USB, SDIO GenServer patterns in Nerves vs. Phoenix Linux requirement and power-consumption trade-offs GATT (Generic Attribute Table) implementation patterns SQLite integration for Nerves apps Hardware chip quirks and spec compliance Manufacturer-specific commands and workarounds BLE device profiles and spec gaps Security Management Profile (SMP) for encryption Device connection and pairing workflows Web vs. embedded development differences Where to get started: hardware recommendations and docs Links mentioned: https://github.com/ConnorRigby/ https://github.com/blue-heron/ https://nerves-project.org/ BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BluetoothLowEnergy https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/ https://learnyousomeerlang.com/building-otp-applications Linux https://www.linux.org/ HCI (Host Controller Interface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostcontrollerinterface Circuits UART Library https://hexdocs.pm/circuitsuart/readme.html SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) https://github.com/elixir-circuits/circuitsspi SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDIO Raspberry Pi https://www.raspberrypi.com/ Coral SoM Dev Board https://coral.ai/products/dev-board/ BeagleBone Single-Board Linux Computer https://www.beagleboard.org/boards/beaglebone-black https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-resources/intro-to-bluetooth-gap-gatt/ Genservers https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/1.12/GenServer.html https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.html https://github.com/elixir-sqlite/ectosqlite3 https://github.com/nerves-livebook/nerveslivebook Special Guest: Connor Rigby.

In this inspiring episode of Modern Figures Podcast, hosts Kyla McMullen and Jeremy Waisome sit down with Dr. Cheryl D. Seals, the Charles E. Barkley Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Auburn University. From her early days in Louisiana to becoming a powerhouse in user experience, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, Dr. Seals shares the pivotal moments that shaped her path in tech.

Every year, millions of students try coding for the first time through Hour of Code. But most people don't know that the technology powering those experiences is ran by someone who didn't really have a plan to become a CTO. In the fourth episode of this season of The Work Item, I am talking with Simon Guest, CTO at Code.org. Simon walks me through how he actually became a CTO (not the LinkedIn version we commonly see), and what skills helped him succeed despite the fact that there was no pre-charted path he could follow. You'll be surprised to learn just how much serendipity and having the skills in the right place at the right time play a role in strapping one's career to a rocketship. We also talk about the future of coding, whether AI is truly going to make engineers obsolete, and what we can do to build a good career moat that sets us up for long-term success. And of course, if you've ever wondered what it takes to move into technology leadership, this conversation will give you a very realistic picture of what that path looks like.

In the Season 14 premiere, hosts Dan Ivovich and Sundi Myint chat with Isaac Yonemoto, creator of the Zigler library, to explore how Zigler brings Zig's performance and safety to Elixir through Native Implemented Functions (NIFs). Isaac walks through the core design of Zigler and how it auto-generates the Elixir-to-Zig bridge, enforces type safety, and exposes multiple execution modes (normal, dirty, threaded). The conversation covers real-world applications, from SIMD-powered token selection for LLM hardware acceleration to OTP-style fault tolerance in low-level code. Isaac shares his own journey: stepping back from professional software work to launch a biotech startup focused on reducing drug manufacturing costs while continuing to maintain Zigler and even leveraging Elixir for bioinformatics pipelines. Topics discussed in this episode: What is the Zigler library and what does it do? What does it mean to run a "dirty NIF"? Async mode is temporarily removed from Zig (therefore, yielding NIFs is temporarily deprecated in Zigler) Zigler's three execution modes (normal, dirty, and threaded) and how you switch modes with a single config change Isaac's journey from professional software work to launching a biotech startup How Isaac leverages Elixir in bioinformatics pipelines at his startup LLM hardware acceleration using Zigler NIFs and SIMD-powered token picking Fault-tolerant load balancing of NIF workloads via OTP principles Transparent handling and recovery from hardware failures through monitoring Potential future memory-safety features in Zig and their implications The Elixir-based borrow-checker prototype: purpose and design Unit-checking for scientific computations to enforce correctness New OS support in Zigler 0.14: macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD Inline Zig code authoring directly within Elixir modules Isaac's commitment to maintain Zigler through its 1.0 release (...and beyond?) Links mentioned: https://github.com/E-xyza/zigler https://github.com/ziglang/zig https://vidalalabs.com/ Zig Programming Language: https://ziglang.org/ https://obsidian.md/ https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/macros.html https://erlang.org/documentation/doc-4.7.3/doc/extensions/macros.html A Deep Dive Into the Elixir AST: https://dorgan.ar/posts/2021/04/theelixirast/ https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/nif.html https://nodejs.org/en Llama Open-Source LLM: https://www.llama.com/ Mixtral Open-Source LLM: https://mistral.ai/news/mixtral-of-experts https://Fly.io SIMD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singleinstruction,multiple_data https://opentrons.com/ CI/CD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CI/CD https://hexdocs.pm/zigler/Zig.html http://www.x.com/DNAutics https://bsky.app/profile/dnautics.bsky.social

Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, joins Azeem to explore how AI is fundamentally transforming software development. In this episode you'll hear: (01:50) What's left for developers in the age of AI? (04:54) How GitHub Copilot unlocks flow state (07:09) Three big shifts in how engineers work today (10:47) Is software development art or assembly line? (15:26) Why developers are climbing the abstraction ladder (19:35) Have we already lost control of the code? (23:15) What it's actually like to work with AI coding agents (39:35) Welcome to the age of ultra-personalized software(45:37) Building the next-generation web Thomas's links:GitHub: https://github.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom/Twitter/X: https://x.com/ashtomAzeem's links:Substack: https://www.exponentialview.co/Website: https://www.azeemazhar.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azharTwitter/X: https://x.com/azeemOur new show This was originally recorded for "Friday with Azeem Azhar", a new show that takes place every Friday at 9am PT and 12pm ET. You can tune in through Exponential View on Substack. Produced by supermix.io and EPIIPLUS1 Ltd

We're talking about either the terrifying or totally mundane new world of "vibe coding" - using AI to generate code without deep technical expertise. Joining Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel for this podcast, we're happy to welcome back to the podcast Lenar Mukhamadiev, CEO of iDelsoft (https://idelsoft.com)!Listen as we discuss how this trend is changing product development, software engineering careers, and business innovation. Stick around while we argue over resistance, how vibe coding enables faster market testing and many more points, including:Accelerating time-to-market for new ideasEvolving role of professional developersUnderstanding business problems is more valuable than codingEmergence of "product engineers," or notA future where everyone is a software creator#AIinTech #ProductDevelopment #FutureOfWork= = = = = = = = = = = =YouTubeSubscribe on YouTubeAppleSpotify= = = = = = = = = = = =Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

BONUS: Tom Gilb on Building True Engineering Culture and Delivering Value Through Evolutionary Methods In this BONUS episode, we dive deep into the world of true engineering discipline with Tom Gilb, a pioneer who was writing about Agile principles before Agile was even named. We explore his latest book "Success - Super Secrets & Strategies for Efficient Value Delivery in Projects and Programs, and Plans" and uncover the fundamental flaws in how organizations approach project delivery and stakeholder management. The Genesis of Success-Focused Engineering "People were failing at project deliveries - even when using Agile. I saw there was very little about setting clear goals and reaching them, it had nothing to do with being successful." Tom's motivation for writing his latest book stems from a critical observation: despite the widespread adoption of Agile methodologies, project failure rates remain unacceptably high. The core issue isn't methodology but rather the fundamental lack of clarity around what success actually means. Tom emphasizes that true success is about achieving the improvements you want at a price you can afford, yet most organizations fail to define this clearly from the outset. In this segment, we refer to the book How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg who published statistics on the poor performance of projects in general. Beyond OKRs: The Power of Quantified Multi-Dimensional Objectives "First you need to have a definition of what it means to succeed. And that needs to be multi-dimensional. And you need to clarify what they are." While many organizations believe they're already quantifying objectives through frameworks like OKRs, Tom reveals significant weaknesses in these approaches. True value isn't just profit—it encompasses multiple dimensions including security, usability, and other stakeholder-specific benefits. The key insight is learning to quantify what needs to be achieved across all critical dimensions, as you simply cannot design for high-quality attributes like security without first quantifying and designing for them explicitly. In this segment, we talk about Tom's paper on OKR's titled "OKR Objectives and Key Results: what's wrong and how to fix it". The Missing Engineering Discipline "Why is the failure rate of our projects so high?" Tom identifies a paradoxical problem: engineering organizations often lack true engineering discipline. This fundamental gap explains why project success rates remain low despite technological advances. Real engineering requires systematic approaches to design, stakeholder analysis, and incremental value delivery—disciplines that are often overlooked in favor of rushed implementations. Stakeholder Analysis: Beyond User Stories "Stakeholders have a requirement - even if we don't know it. They might be people, but also law, contract, policies, etc. They all have requirements for us." Traditional user-centered methods like user stories can lead to failure when critical stakeholders are overlooked. Tom advocates for comprehensive stakeholder analysis as the foundation of engineering discipline. Stakeholders aren't just people—they include laws, contracts, policies, and other constraints that have requirements for your system. The practical tip here is to use AI tools to help identify and list these stakeholders, then quantify their specific requirements using structured approaches like Planguage. The Gilb Cycle: True Incremental Value Delivery "Get things done every week, next week, until it's all done. We need to decompose any possible design into enough increments so that each increment delivers some value." What distinguishes Tom's evolutionary approach from popular Agile frameworks is the focus on choosing the most efficient design and then systematically improving existing systems through measured increments. Each increment must deliver tangible value, and the decomposition process should be aided by AI tools to ensure optimal value delivery. This isn't just about iteration—it's about strategic improvement with measurable outcomes. Building Engineering Culture: A Two-Leader Approach "There are two leaders: the tech leaders and the management leaders. For management leaders: demand a value stream of results starting next week. To the tech leaders: learn the engineering process." Creating a true engineering culture requires coordinated effort from both management and technical leadership. Management leaders should demand immediate value streams with weekly results, while technical leaders must master fundamental engineering processes including stakeholder analysis and requirement quantification. This dual approach ensures both accountability and capability development within the organization. Further Resources During this episode we refer to several of Tom's books and papers. You can see this list below Software Metrics by Tom Gilb Principles of software engineering management - Also available in PDF Evo book   About Tom Gilb Tom Gilb, born in the US, lived in London, and then moved to Norway in 1958. An independent teacher, consultant, and writer, he has worked in software engineering, corporate top management, and large-scale systems engineering. As the saying goes, Tom was writing about Agile, before Agile was named. In 1976, Tom introduced the term "evolutionary" in his book Software Metrics, advocating for development in small, measurable steps. Today, we talk about Evo, the name that Tom used to describe his approach. You can link with Tom Gilb on LinkedIn.

 A vacationcast where Andy ruminates on  AI coding assistants. He draws on an article re wrote in 2007 on autonomic computing. Emphasis is placed on the essential roles and responsibilities of software engineers, differentiating them from AI systems. Andy shares personal experiences and observations of using tools like AI coding assistants, highlighting potential pitfalls and benefits. He concludes with some thoughts on a possibly useful pattern to follow when working with the assistants that keeps the software engineer responsible for the engineering.ReferencesAutonomic Computing - https://zaphod42.livejournal.com/45717.html

In this episode of AI + a16z, Distributional cofounder and CEO Scott Clark, and a16z partner Matt Bornstein, explore why building trust in AI systems matters more than just optimizing performance metrics. From understanding the hidden complexities of generative AI behavior to addressing the challenges of reliability and consistency, they discuss how to confidently deploy AI in production. Why is trust becoming a critical factor in enterprise AI adoption? How do traditional performance metrics fail to capture crucial behavioral nuances in generative AI systems? Scott and Matt dive into these questions, examining non-deterministic outcomes, shifting model behaviors, and the growing importance of robust testing frameworks. Among other topics, they cover: The limitations of conventional AI evaluation methods and the need for behavioral testing. How centralized AI platforms help enterprises manage complexity and ensure responsible AI use. The rise of "shadow AI" and its implications for security and compliance. Practical strategies for scaling AI confidently from prototypes to real-world applications.Follow everyone:Scott ClarkDistributionalMatt BornsteinDerrick Harris Check out everything a16z is doing with artificial intelligence here, including articles, projects, and more podcasts.

In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with Derek DeBellis, lead researcher at Google's DORA team, about their latest report on generative AI's impact on software productivity.They dive into how the survey was built, what it reveals about developer time and “flow,” and the surprising gap between individual and team outcomes. Derek also shares practical advice for leaders on measuring AI impact and aligning metrics with organizational goals.Where to find Derek DeBellis: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekdebellis/Where to find Abi Noda:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Intro: DORA's new Impact of Gen AI report(03:24) The methodology used to put together the surveys DORA used for the report (06:44) An example of how a single word can throw off a question (07:59) How DORA measures flow (10:38) The two ways time was measured in the recent survey(14:30) An overview of experiential surveying (16:14) Why DORA asks about time (19:50) Why Derek calls survey results ‘observational data' (21:49) Interesting findings from the report (24:17) DORA's definition of productivity (26:22) Why a 2.1% increase in individual productivity is significant (30:00) The report's findings on decreased team delivery throughput and stability (32:40) Tips for measuring AI's impact on productivity (38:20) Wrap up: understanding the data Referenced:DORA | Impact of Generative AI in Software DevelopmentThe science behind DORAYale Professor Divulges Strategies for a Happy Life Incredible! Listening to ‘When I'm 64' makes you forget your ageSlow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without BurnoutDORA, SPACE, and DevEx: Which framework should you use?SPACE framework, PRs per engineer, AI research

In this episode Patrick and Shelli talk with Firasat Hussain, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at SnapCare. Firasat shares his 25-year journey through various technology leadership roles at companies like Ticketmaster, Orbitz, and RR Donnelley, emphasizing the significance of thoughtful leadership and iterative innovation. He describes his transition to SnapCare, where he is leading the integration of new AI tools and modern tech stacks to transform healthcare staffing. The discussion delves into Firasat's leadership philosophies, the importance of trust and influence over demands, and his commitment to growth and learning, both personally and professionally.(00:00) Welcome to Firasat Hussain, CPTO at SnapCare(01:23) From Accounting to Technology: Firasat's Early Career(04:32) Transition to Healthcare Tech: Joining SnapCare(05:26) The Role of Technology in Healthcare Staffing(07:11) Personal Insights: Leadership and Growth(12:03) The Importance of Travel and Broader Perspectives(14:41) SnapCare's Mission and Operations(20:13) Balancing Leadership in Work and Family Life(24:18) The Power of Trust and Kindness Over Demands(27:07) Building Trust Through Honest Conversations(30:05) The Importance of Active Listening(32:23) Establishing Priorities and Reducing Cognitive Overload(37:59) Reflecting on Personal and Professional Growth(41:50) Final ThoughtsFirasat Hussain is the Chief Product and Technology Officer at SnapCare, a technology-driven healthcare staffing firm. His 25+ year career has spanned varied industries and organizations at a range of stages, from established global tech firms to promising startups. He was Chief Technology Officer at arrivia, VP of Software Engineering at Ticketmaster, and VP of Enterprise Architecture at RR Donnelley. He spent 10 years growing and leading at Orbitz Worldwide, with six years as Director of Hotel Product Development. He launched his early career at Cysive and Oracle.If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to Innovation and the Digital Enterprise in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.Podcast episode production by Dante32.

In this episode I talk with Dave Farley about how good software engineering prioritizes making code easy to change, since we inevitably need to revise our systems as requirements evolve. Dave also shares stories from building ultra-fast financial trading systems, where his team had to repeatedly rethink their architecture to meet performance demands. We also discuss how key concepts like abstraction and modularity connect to scientific thinking, with both requiring a healthy skepticism toward our own assumptions.Modern Software EngineeringThe Software Developers' GuidebookNonsense Monthly

Apologies for the hiatus! Dave needed some time off to recover from burnout, and these episodes remained in the can. Thanks for Waiting for us

Amid the buzz of the AWS Summit in London, I sat down with Eiso Kant, the CTO and Co-Founder of Poolside, to explore how his team is reshaping the future of software development through AI. This conversation was recorded right on the show floor inside a surprisingly sleek podcast booth at the ExCel, where Eiso unpacked what sets Poolside apart in a space many claim to be in but few truly build for. Poolside is not just another AI company. It's one of a handful globally that is actually training foundation models from the ground up. While most firms are chasing general-purpose AI, Poolside has chosen a different path. They focus solely on empowering software developers inside high-consequence environments, such as banking, defense, and major global retailers. These are systems where precision and security matter, and where AI can drive measurable gains in productivity and reliability. What struck me during this discussion is how deliberately Poolside has been built for enterprise use from the start. Their model doesn't just live in the cloud. It is designed to live within the customer's own infrastructure, whether that's in their private AWS environment or even on-prem. This focus on data privacy, security, and customizability is helping Poolside win trust where it counts most. And the partnership with AWS takes this a step further, making it easier for enterprises to deploy Poolside's AI within existing cloud frameworks while meeting strict governance requirements. Eiso explained that Poolside doesn't just throw larger models at problems. Instead, they use reinforcement learning from code execution, training on millions of real codebases and test suites. This approach helps the model go beyond autocomplete and simple bug fixes. It's now stepping into longer, more complex tasks, nudging us closer to a future where AI could serve as a true teammate for software engineers. We also tackled one of the most important discussions in AI today: whether this is a cost-cutting tool or a productivity multiplier. Eiso didn't dodge the nuance. While some may use AI to reduce headcount, Poolside's focus is on enabling companies to build more, ship faster, and innovate with greater speed. That shift is not about replacing people. It's about creating leverage for development teams under pressure to deliver more in less time. If you're a CTO, CIO, or engineering leader, this episode is packed with practical insights. Whether it's understanding the ROI of AI-assisted development, the importance of retaining control of your own models, or how to think about enterprise-grade security in the age of LLMs, there's a lot here to digest. So how should we really be thinking about AI in the enterprise? Is it a partner, a tool, or the beginning of an entirely new workforce paradigm? Tune in to find out.

How do you move from dabbling with AI and vibe coding to building real, production-grade software with it? In this episode, Austin Vance, CEO of Focused returns and we transition the conversation from building AI-enabled applications to fostering AI-native engineering teams. Austin shares how generative AI isn't just a shortcut—it's reshaping how we architect, code, and lead. We also get to hear Austin's thoughts on the leaked ‘AI Mandate' memo from Shopify's CEO, Tobi Lutke.  We cover what Austin refers to as ‘AI-driven development', how to win over the skeptics on your teams, and why traditional patterns of software engineering might not be the best fit for LLM-driven workflows.  Whether you're an engineer,product leader, or startup founder, this episode will give you a practical lens on what AI-native software development actually requires—and how to foster adoption on your teams quickly and safely to get the benefits of using AI in product delivery. Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge. Inside the episode... Why Shopify's leaked AI memo was a "permission slip" for your own team The three personas in AI adoption: advocates, skeptics, and holdouts How AI-driven development (AIDD) differs from “AI-assisted” workflows Tools and practices Focused uses to ship faster and cheaper with AI Pair programming vs. pairing with an LLM: similarities and mindset shifts How teams are learning to prompt effectively—without prompt engineering training Vibe coding vs. integrating with entrenched systems: what's actually feasible Scaling engineering culture around non-determinism and experimentation Practical tips for onboarding dev teams to tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Vercel AI SDK Using LLMs for deep codebase exploration, not just code generation Mentioned in this episode Cursor Windsurf LangChain Claude GPT-4 / ChatGPT V0.dev GitHub Copilot Focused (focused.io) Shopify internal AI memo Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge. Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast Learn something? Give us a 5 star review and like the podcast on YouTube. It's how we grow.   Follow the Pod Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/convergence-podcast/ X: https://twitter.com/podconvergence Instagram: @podconvergence

BONUS: Software Engineers are Paid to Solve Problems, Not Write Code! With John Crickett In this BONUS episode, we explore a thought-provoking LinkedIn post by John Crickett that challenges a fundamental misconception in software engineering. John shares insights on why engineers should focus on problem-solving rather than just coding, how to develop business context understanding, and why this shift in perspective is crucial in the age of AI. Beyond Writing Code: Understanding the True Value of Software Engineering "A lot of us come to software engineering because we care about building, and missed the goal: solving a problem for a customer." John Crickett explains the fundamental disconnect many software engineers experience in their careers. While many enter the field with a passion for building and coding, they often lose sight of the ultimate purpose: solving real problems for customers. This misalignment can lead to creating technically impressive solutions that fail to address actual business needs. John emphasizes that the most valuable engineers are those who can bridge the gap between technical implementation and business value. In this section, we refer to John's Coding Challenges and Developing Skills websites. The Isolation Problem in Engineering Teams "We have insulated people from seeing and interacting with customers, perhaps because we were afraid they would create a problem with customers." One of the key issues John identifies is how engineering teams are often deliberately separated from customers and end-users. This isolation, while sometimes implemented with good intentions, prevents engineers from gaining crucial context about the problems they're trying to solve. John shares his early career experience of participating in the sales process for software projects, which gave him valuable insights into customer needs. He highlights the Extreme Programming (XP) approach, which advocates for having the customer "in the room" to provide direct and immediate feedback, creating a tighter feedback loop between problem identification and solution implementation. In this segment, we refer to the book XP Explained by Kent Beck. The AI Replacement Risk "If all you are doing is taking a ticket that is fully spec'ed out, and coding it, then an LLM could also do that. The value is in understanding the problem." In a world where Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly capable of generating code, John warns that engineers who define themselves solely as coders face a significant risk of obsolescence. The true differentiation and value come from understanding the business domain and problem space—abilities that current AI tools haven't mastered. John advises engineers to develop domain knowledge specific to their business or customers, as this expertise allows them to contribute uniquely valuable insights beyond mere code implementation. Cultivating Business Context Understanding "Be curious about what the goal is behind the code you need to write. When people tell you to build, you need to be curious about why you are being asked to build that particular solution." John offers practical advice for engineers looking to develop better business context understanding. The key is cultivating genuine curiosity about the "why" behind coding tasks and features. By questioning requirements and understanding the business goals driving technical decisions, engineers can transform their role from merely delivering code to providing valuable services and solutions. This approach allows engineers to contribute more meaningfully and become partners in business success rather than just implementers. Building the Right Engineering Culture "Code is always a liability, sometimes it's an asset. The process starts with hiring the CTO—the people at the top. You get the team that reflects your values." Creating an engineering culture that values problem-solving over code production starts at the leadership level. John emphasizes that the values demonstrated by technical leadership will cascade throughout the organization. He notes the counter-intuitive truth that code itself is inherently a liability (requiring maintenance, updates, and potential refactoring), only becoming an asset when it effectively solves business problems. Building a team that understands this distinction begins with leadership that demonstrates curiosity about the business domain and encourages engineers to do the same. The Power of Asking Questions "Be curious, ask more questions." For engineers looking to make the shift from coder to problem-solver, John recommends developing the skill of asking good questions. He points to Harvard Business Review's article on "The Surprising Power of Questions" as a valuable resource. The ability to ask insightful questions about business needs, user requirements, and problem definitions allows engineers to uncover the true challenges beneath surface-level requirements. This curiosity-driven approach not only leads to better solutions but also positions engineers as valuable contributors to business strategy. In this segment, we refer to the article in HBR titled The Surprising Power of Questions. About John Crickett John is a passionate software engineer and leader on a mission to empower one million engineers and managers. With extensive expertise in distributed systems, full-stack development, and evolving tech stacks from C++ to Rust, John creates innovative coding challenges, insightful articles, and newsletters to help teams level up their skills. You can link with John Crickett on LinkedIn.

What happens when one of the most legendary minds in tech delves deep into the real workings of modern AI? A 2-hour long masterclass that you don't want to miss.   Bret Taylor, current chairman of OpenAI, unpacks why AI is transforming software engineering forever, how founders can survive acquisition (he's done it twice), and why the true bottlenecks in AI aren't what most think. Drawing on his extensive experiences at Facebook, Google, Twitter and more, he explains why the next phase of AI won't just be about building better models—it's about creating entirely new ways for us to work with them. Bret exposes the reality gap between what AI insiders understand and what everyone else believes. Listen now to recalibrate your thinking before your competitors do.  (00:02:46) Aha Moments with AI (00:04:43) Founders Working for Founders (00:07:59) Acquisition Process (00:14:14) The Role of a Board (00:17:05) Founder Mode (00:20:29) Engineers as Leaders (00:24:54) Applying First Principles in Business (00:28:43) The Future of Software Engineering (00:35:11) Efficiency and Verification of AI-Generated Code (00:36:46) The Future of Software Development (00:37:24) Defining AGI (00:47:03) AI Self-Improvement? (00:47:58) Safety Measures and Supervision in AI (00:49:47) Benefiting Humanity and AI Safety (00:54:06) Regulation and Geopolitical Landscape in AI (00:55:58) Foundation Models and Frontier Models (01:01:06) Economics and Open Source Models (01:05:18) AI and AGI Accessibility (01:07:42) Optimizing AI Prompts (01:11:18) Creating an AI Superpower (01:14:12) Future of Education and AI (01:19:34) The Impact of AI on Job Roles (01:21:58) AI in Problem-Solving and Research (01:25:24) Importance of AI Context Window (01:27:37) AI Output and Intellectual Property (01:30:09) Google Maps Launch and Challenges (01:37:57) Long-Term Investment in AI (01:43:02) Balancing Work and Family Life (01:44:25) Building Sierra as an Enduring Company (01:45:38) Lessons from Tech Company Lifecycles (01:48:31) Definition and Applications of AI Agents (01:53:56) Challenges and Importance of Branded AI Agents (01:56:28) Fending Off Complacency in Companies (02:01:21) Customer Obsession and Leadership in Companies Bret Taylor is currently the Chairman of OpenAI and CEO of Sierra. Previously, he was the CTO of Facebook, Chairman of the board for X, and the Co-CEO of Salesforce.  Newsletter - The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of the episode, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠ and get your own private feed. Watch on YouTube: @tkppodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices