You asked, I answered. In this Q&A episode, I tackle the toughest career questions you submitted: from getting promoted when the process feels political, to negotiating salary, to leading projects as an IC.
In this episode, we cover:
* Holding peers accountable when you're not their manager
* Navigating promotions when the process is political or unclear
* Increasing your salary with strategic job offers
* Building real authority and getting noticed by leadership
* Staying relevant in the age of AI without burning out
This is for software engineers who want practical strategies to level up their careers, increase their earning potential, and make real impact without the fluff.
Join me at React Advanced and Tech Lead Conf in London:
https://ti.to/gitnation/react-advanced-london-2025/discount/CODING20
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:19 - Holding Peers Accountable When Managers Won't Help
00:03:58 - The Surprising Truth About Code "Quality"
00:05:43 - Scaling Accountability Across Large Teams
00:07:50 - When Climbing the Career Ladder Feels Political
00:12:37 - How to Stay Relevant in Tech Without Burning Out
00:14:49 - The Key to Learning Without Feeling Overwhelmed
00:15:18 - The Real Difference for Engineers Working Globally
00:17:44 - What to Do When You Get a Better Job Offer
00:20:51 - Finding Motivation Beyond a Higher Salary
00:21:41 - How to Build Real Credibility and Authority
00:25:31 - The Advice I'd Give My Junior Developer Self
00:29:05 - The Art of Effective Delegation
00:31:47 - Why Delegation Is Really an Act of Trust
00:32:21 - Team Player vs. Individual Star: A False Choice?
00:34:43 - The #1 Personal Development Skill for Engineers
00:37:11 - The Hidden Dangers of Relying on AI Tools
00:40:08 - Is Volunteering at Tech Conferences Worth It?
00:42:50 - My Personal Struggle with Embracing Change
00:45:32 - The Career "Regret" I Don't Actually Regret
00:46:45 - How to Stay Productive While Dealing with Grief
00:49:08 - My Process for Finding Great Podcast Guests
00:50:48 - The Secret to Making Guests Feel Comfortable
00:52:06 - How Podcasting Transformed My Communication Skills
00:53:35 - Handling Guarded or Difficult Podcast Guests
00:56:11 - Final Thoughts & How to Support the Channel
Got questions for the next Q&A? Drop them in the comments 👇
#SoftwareEngineering #CareerGrowth #TechLeadership
What's the real difference between a good software engineer and a truly great one? It’s more than just coding skill. It's a specific mindset, a disciplined approach to technology, and a deep understanding of core principles. This is the roadmap to leveling up your career.
In this conversation with Sander Mak, Director of Technology at Picnic, we discuss the methods they use to train world-class engineers.
You will learn:
The "under the hood" knowledge that truly matters.
Why great engineers often choose "boring," proven technology.
The critical transition from being a coder to a product-focused engineer.
The most common pitfall that holds good developers back.
If you're a software developer looking to move beyond "good enough" and achieve greatness in your craft, this is the episode for you.
Connect with Sander:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandermak
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:30 - Building Picnic's Tech Academy for New Engineers
00:04:37 - The Key Mindset of a Successful Junior Engineer
00:08:01 - A Look Inside the Engineering Training Curriculum
00:12:19 - The Common Pitfall of Copying Without Understanding
00:14:10 - How Deep "Under the Hood" Knowledge Should Go
00:17:41 - Why Great Engineers Value "Boring" Technology
00:21:44 - Improving Developer Experience and Team Productivity
00:30:02 - The Transition from Coder to Product Engineer
00:34:18 - Key Advice for Self-Taught Developers
00:35:41 - Using AI for Learning vs. for Code Generation
#SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperCareer #Coding
What if the standard 6-person software team is now obsolete? AI tooling isn't just a productivity booster; it's fundamentally blurring the lines between product and engineering, enabling smaller, more powerful teams to achieve what once took an entire department.
We're joined by Kate Ivanova, a Product Manager with years of experience building AI products at Big Tech companies, to discuss this tectonic shift. She explains why the traditional handoff between disciplines is breaking down and what the new, merged "product-engineer" role looks like.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why AI enables smaller teams to have a massive impact
- The merging roles of Product, Engineering, and Design
- What skills make you one of the indispensable "2 engineers"
- How to structure and manage a hyper-efficient, AI-native team
This is a must-watch for founders building lean companies, and for engineers and PMs who want to understand their evolving role in the age of AI.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:57 - Are Agile Processes Obsolete in the Age of AI?
00:02:46 - Why Product Managers Are Redefining Team Processes
00:04:35 - The Mindset You Need for AI Product Development
00:07:54 - How AI Is Forcing Product and Engineering Closer Together
00:11:26 - Using AI as Your Personal Feedback Co-Pilot
00:15:23 - The Critical Mistake to Avoid When Using AI for Product
00:20:45 - The Ideal AI Product Team Composition of the Future
00:26:10 - The New Expectations for Software Engineers in the AI Era
00:32:05 - A Better Way to Manage Tech Debt and Developer Happiness
00:34:46 - What Truly Makes Developers Happy at Work
00:37:43 - Co-Creating a Vision That Actually Motivates Your Team
00:40:59 - How to Receive Tough Feedback as a Growth Opportunity
00:45:37 - The Painful Decision to Kill a Failing Project
00:48:44 - The Most Important Skill for the AI Era
What if you could turn a weekend project into a core product feature at a major tech company? We sit down with Behrouz Pooladrak, a software engineer and hackathon legend at Booking.com, to uncover how these intense competitions can fast-track your skills, career, and impact. He shares the mindset and strategies that took his ideas from a one-day build to a real-world product used by millions.
In this episode, we cover:
How to treat your hackathon project like a mini-startup to guarantee success.
The surprising skills you gain from short-term projects that your daily job can't teach you.
How companies like Booking.com use hackathons to innovate and train new talent.
Why personal projects are the secret weapon for career growth.
This episode is for any software engineer looking to distinguish themselves, learn new technologies rapidly, and make a real impact in the tech industry.
Timestamps:
00:00:49 - The Mindset of a Prolific Builder
00:02:42 - How AI Helps You Build an MVP in One Day
00:06:26 - Why This Engineer is a Hackathon "Living Legend"
00:07:41 - From Hackathon Idea to Real AI Product
00:11:42 - The Secret to Winning: Treat it Like a Startup
00:17:22 - How Booking.com Onboards Juniors with a 4-Week Hackathon
00:20:25 - Why We Still Need Junior Engineers in the Age of AI
00:26:57 - The #1 Struggle Teams Face in Hackathons
00:31:04 - The Real Reason to Join a Hackathon (It’s Not the Prize)
00:35:46 - How to Start and Finish Your Personal Projects
00:40:12 - The Feedback Loop Between Your Job and Hobby Projects
#SoftwareEngineering #Hackathon #CareerGrowth
What if the biggest obstacles to AI innovation aren't what you think? Deeploy CEO Maarten Stolk shares his controversial but effective strategies for building successful AI products and ecosystems, challenging the common wisdom around bottom-up initiatives and regulation.
In this episode, we cover:
Why bottom-up initiatives fail without strong top-down vision.
The surprising benefits of the EU's AI Act for innovation.
How to build a thriving AI ecosystem from the ground up.
The single most important metric for AI observability.
This conversation is for tech leaders, founders, and engineers who want to move beyond AI experiments and build real-world, production-ready systems.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:45 - Why Maarten Started a Dutch AI Hub
00:02:15 - The "Flywheel" Effect Crucial for AI Success
00:04:42 - The Hard Truth: Why the Netherlands is Lagging in AI
00:07:52 - A Controversial Take: The EU AI Act is Actually Good for Everyone
00:11:26 - The Real Bottleneck to Innovation Isn't Regulation
00:14:25 - From POC to Production: Why Top-Down Vision is Non-Negotiable
00:17:13 - A Wake-Up Call for Inexperienced Leadership Teams
00:20:30 - How Winning Companies Use AI to Dominate Their Market
00:23:44 - The Right Way to Learn From Your Competitors
00:27:30 - Maarten Outsourced Core Development to an AI Company
00:31:59 - The #1 Metric You Must Track for AI Observability
00:36:03 - Open-Source vs. Closed-Source: Which AI Model Will Win?
00:40:23 - The Inevitable Crisis That Will Force Innovation
00:42:19 - The Power of Having a Long-Term Personal Vision
#AIStrategy #TechLeadership #Innovation
As a developer, you're trained to think in rows and tables. But what if that's the exact reason you're missing the most powerful connections in your data? There's a fundamental "Graph Problem" hiding in plain sight in almost every application, and once you see it, you'll wonder how you ever missed it.
In this episode, we reveal this "obvious" secret and show you how to leverage it to build smarter, more accurate, and context-aware AI.
In this episode/video, we cover:
This conversation is for any developer who feels their projects are hitting a wall. If you're ready for the "aha!" moment that will change how you look at data forever, this episode is for you.
Timestamps:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:39 - From Unstructured Data to a Knowledge Graph00:02:00 - The Experiment: What Happens When You Break a Knowledge Graph?00:05:41 - What Are Ontologies in the Graph World?00:07:35 - The Graph Problem You Didn't Know You Had00:09:09 - Why Graphs Are So Good for GenAI Context00:10:10 - The Best Way to Create Vector Embeddings for Graphs00:12:50 - Using Graphs to Solve Extreme Corporate Complexity00:17:14 - Real-World Problems That Are Actually Graph Problems00:19:31 - How to Find The Right Expert in Your Company00:23:33 - The Rise of Federated RAG Agents00:25:31 - The #1 Reason Knowledge Graph Projects Fail00:29:37 - A Standard Query Language for Graphs (GQL)00:32:53 - Why Teams Are Moving From RAG to Graph RAG00:34:34 - Should Your Company Build Its Own AI Assistant?00:38:28 - The "Fear of Missing Out" Driving Bad AI Projects00:40:21 - The Dangers of Chaotic vs. Laser-Focused Company Priorities00:44:05 - Why Gantt Charts Don't Work for Software00:47:08 - How Top Engineers Actually Learn New Technologies
Guests on this podcast express their own views and do not represent their employers.
#GraphDatabase #KnowledgeGraph #SoftwareArchitecture
It takes just three seconds for AI to steal your voice and impersonate you in a way no one can detect. How can you protect yourself, your family, and your finances when seeing and hearing is no longer believing?
In this episode, deepfake expert Parya Lotfi reveals the shocking reality of AI-driven scams, from fraudulent bank transfers to fake kidnapping calls. We uncover how criminals operate and what you can do to spot the lies before it's too late.
In this episode/video, we cover:
- How criminals use 3-second voice clones for scams
- The shocking story of a North Korean deepfake spy
- Why facial and voice ID are no longer secure
- How to use AI to detect other AI fakes
This video is for anyone who wants to understand the real-world dangers of deepfake technology and learn actionable steps to protect themselves in our new "fake reality."
Connect with Parya:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paryalotfi
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:35 - The Scary Reality of AI-Generated Videos
00:02:32 - The Dangerous Side of Facial & Voice Biometrics
00:03:45 - The Disturbing Reality of Voice Cloning Scams
00:06:46 - How to Use AI to Catch AI-Generated Fakes
00:10:11 - Solving AI's "Black Box" Problem with Explainability
00:12:10 - The Different Types of Deepfakes Criminals Use
00:14:15 - How Deepfakes Are Used to Launder Millions From Banks
00:18:18 - Inside the Darknet's "Deepfake-as-a-Service" Business
00:22:32 - Why Banning Deepfake Technology Is Impossible
00:24:58 - How Deepfakes Are Being Weaponized in Global Conflicts
00:27:30 - Red Teaming: How to Think Like a Deepfake Criminal
00:29:09 - The North Korean Spy Who Used a Deepfake to Get a Job
00:31:54 - The Ultimate Goal: A Deepfake Detector for Everyone
00:37:23 - The Future That Scares Me: AGI and Self-Aware Robots
00:44:33 - The Journey of Building a Deepfake Detection Company
00:47:42 - The Surprising Reason Deepfake Detection Is So Hard
00:54:44 - Who Is Responsible When You Get Scammed by a Deepfake?
00:58:25 - The Rise of AI Influencers and Their Tragic Consequences
#Deepfake #Cybersecurity #ArtificialIntelligence
What does it take to build AI features at the scale of Microsoft Copilot?
Senior Product Manager Stéphanie Visser reveals the massive shifts in product development, from focusing on pixels to tokens and embracing a culture of rapid, data-driven experimentation.
Learn how the roles of PMs, engineers, and scientists are evolving and what it takes to succeed.
In this episode, we cover:
This episode is a must-watch for product managers, engineers, and tech leaders looking to adapt their processes for the age of AI and accelerate their delivery cycles.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - How Microsoft Builds AI Features
00:00:49 - The #1 Thing That Changed for Product Managers
01:28 - From Pixels to Tokens: The AI Product Shift
02:58 - Why AI Is All About Output Quality, Not UX
04:46 - When Is an AI Feature "Good Enough" to Ship?
06:45 - The "Non-Embarrassment Bar" for Releasing AI
09:07 - Why Old User Feedback Methods Don't Work for AI
12:28 - The New Expectations for Software Engineers in AI
15:33 - When to Involve Engineers in the Product Process
17:43 - How Microsoft Structures Its AI Product Teams
20:40 - Why 3-Month Planning Is Obsolete in the AI Era
22:42 - How to Remove Bias From Your Product Decisions
25:36 - Balancing Data vs. User Intuition in AI
27:44 - The Biggest Bottleneck in AI Experimentation
31:12 - How to Define the Right Metrics for Your AI Product
33:39 - Building Trust and Culture in a Remote Team
37:47 - The Most Underrated Skill for Product Managers
40:57 - How to Cultivate a Strong Product Culture
44:32 - The AI Tools a Microsoft PM Actually Uses
46:29 - How to Manage the Expanding Scope of the PM Role
Connect with Stéphanie Visser:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanievisser
Connect with Patrick Akil:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-akil
https://twitter.com/PatrickAkil_
Sponsors:
Xebia - https://xebia.com
#ProductManagement #AI #Microsoft
As AI accelerates development, many companies are halting junior hiring, believing AI tools can replace them. Shahin Shahkarami, Director of Data & AI at Ikea Retail, argues this is a massive mistake and that now is actually the best time to invest in new talent.
In this episode/video, we cover:
Why companies should hire junior talent despite the rise of AI.
How the role of a data scientist is evolving with generative AI.
The most valuable business use cases for AI beyond chatbots.
This conversation is for tech leaders, hiring managers, and aspiring developers looking to understand how to build and grow their careers in the age of AI.
Connect with Shahin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahin-shahkarami
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Why Now Is The Best Time to Hire Junior Talent
00:01:46 - The Massive Mistake Companies Make with AI Hiring
00:03:11 - How Junior Talent Can Stand Out in 2025
00:04:39 - Why Senior-Only Teams Can Become Negative
00:05:56 - The ROI Problem: What If Your Junior Talent Leaves?
00:07:44 - How Companies Can Actually Retain Top Talent
00:11:06 - How AI Has Changed Personal Productivity for Leaders
00:15:34 - How the Role of a Data Scientist Is Evolving
00:18:28 - The 80/20 Rule of Building AI Products
00:21:37 - The Rise of the "AI Engineer" and What It Means
00:23:37 - A Simple Strategy for Personal Growth in Tech
00:28:46 - Where Generative AI Delivers Real Business Value
00:32:37 - Why You Must Differentiate Your Business With AI Now
00:38:09 - A 2-Fold Strategy for Prioritizing AI Projects
00:40:41 - The Power of a 20% Experimentation Culture
00:43:10 - The Problem With Chatbots as a First AI Project
00:46:20 - The Danger of Releasing an 80% Good AI Product
#AI #TechCareers #DataScience
Feeling overwhelmed by the constant change in software engineering? After 25 years in the industry, CTO Joris Kuipers shares a pragmatic roadmap to not just survive, but achieve true mastery in your craft, whether you're a junior developer or a seasoned architect.
In this episode, we cover:
How to focus your learning when new technologies emerge daily
The ideal environments for junior and senior engineers to thrive
Why rapid, frequent deployment is SAFER than slow, careful releases
The critical feedback loops you must have to accelerate your career
How to move beyond rigid processes like Scrum to deliver real value
This is for any software engineer who wants to stop just "doing the work" and start building a deeply fulfilling and successful career by mastering their craft.
Connect with Joris:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkuipers
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - The #1 Thing That Gives a 25-Year CTO Energy
00:02:39 - How to Maintain Mastery When Tech Constantly Changes
00:05:30 - The Chicken-and-Egg Problem of Learning on the Job
00:08:49 - What Junior Developers Should Master First
00:11:39 - The Danger of Starting Your Career at a Small Startup
00:14:45 - How to Persuade Senior Engineers to Change Their Ways
00:17:33 - Why I Don't Want to Be a Full-Time Coder Anymore
00:20:14 - The Right Way to Ask Your Senior for Help
00:22:42 - Why We Stopped Doing Story Point Estimations
00:25:39 - The Problem with Managers Who Lack Technical Depth
00:29:26 - Why Integration is the Future of Software Engineering
00:33:11 - The Dark Side of Accessible Cloud Infrastructure
00:35:34 - Why You MUST See Your Code Running in Production
00:37:35 - Should Developers Be On-Call for Their Own Code?
00:41:38 - The Surprising Reason Faster Deployments Are Safer
00:45:57 - Why Small, Frequent Changes Reduce Your Risk
00:49:09 - How Your Environment Makes or Breaks Your Career
00:52:10 - The Good News: Learning Gets Easier Over Time
Time is your most finite resource; once you spend it, you can never get it back. In this conversation, co-founder and Senior Product Manager Joseph Hill reveals the mindset and systems he uses to be intentional with his time, manage his focus, and stay productive without burning out.
In this episode, we cover:
How to be intentional with your time and challenge unnecessary meetings.
The right tools for knowledge and task management (Obsidian, Jira, etc.).
A simple daily logging method to boost awareness and reflection.
Why experimenting with your processes is crucial for career growth.
How to overcome FOMO and take control of your workload.
This episode is for any professional who feels overwhelmed by their to-do list and wants actionable strategies to reclaim their focus and energy.
Connect with Joseph:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillmeister
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - The #1 Realization About Your Time
00:00:44 - My New Approach to Knowledge Management
00:02:10 - The Surprising Reason I Use Jira for Personal Tasks
00:04:03 - Why You Should Experiment (Even If It Fails)
00:06:40 - How to Challenge Processes Without Being Flaky
00:08:56 - How to Say "No" to Meetings Early in Your Career
00:11:57 - The Only Person Who Can Manage Your Time
00:13:13 - How AI Is Changing Meeting Productivity Forever
00:16:24 - Is Your Team Using Async Communication Correctly?
00:19:25 - How We Track and Limit Context Switching
00:21:29 - The Simple Trick to Managing an Overwhelming Workload
00:24:08 - The Hard Truth About Dropping Tasks You Enjoy
00:26:49 - Giving Yourself Grace: You Don't Have to Be a Superhuman
00:28:29 - Why We Don't Value Our Own Time (And How to Fix It)
00:30:23 - The Daily Logging Habit That Creates Insane Awareness
00:33:48 - My Sunday Ritual for Weekly Reflection and Micro-Goals
00:36:21 - The One Daily Question That Brings Me Joy and Energy
00:38:20 - How I Keep My Work and Personal Knowledge Separate
00:41:24 - The Power of Analyzing Yourself to Improve Your Life
Dario Gieselaar, Principal Software Engineer from Elastic gets brutally honest about what it really takes to succeed in a top tech company. We uncover the uncomfortable truths about the promotion game, why direct feedback is crucial (even when it hurts), and why a "winning" mindset is everything. This is the conversation about career growth they don't have in HR meetings.
In this episode, we cover:
Navigating promotion cycles and advocating for yourself
Giving and receiving critical feedback without being seen as "negative"
The importance of accountability and managing low-performing colleagues
Why a top-down approach can be more effective than team democracy
How to "disagree and commit" to keep projects moving forward
This video is for any software engineer who wants to level up their career, navigate corporate dynamics, and become a high-impact performer in a competitive environment.
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Career Progression for Software Engineers in Big Tech
00:00:28 - The Pain and Frustration of a Missed Promotion
00:03:44 - The "Classic Game" of Asking Your Manager for a Promotion
00:05:38 - When Salary Becomes a Trigger for Your Motivation
00:08:09 - Why Recognition is More Important Than Money
00:11:09 - The Challenge of Giving Positive vs. Critical Feedback
00:13:26 - Is Your Critical Feedback Being Labeled as "Negative"?
00:15:36 - When Being Indirect Wastes Everyone's Time
00:17:44 - Why Direct Disagreement Leads to Better Decisions
00:20:16 - The Surprising Impact of Meeting Colleagues In-Person
00:22:43 - How Reorgs Destroy High-Performing Teams
00:25:59 - Why the World's Biggest Codebase is Embarrassing
00:27:58 - Should You Let Your Team Make Their Own Mistakes?
00:30:47 - The Unique Challenge of Building Enterprise Software
00:34:16 - A Hard Lesson: When Your Directness Hurts a Colleague
00:38:45 - The Uncomfortable Truth About Managing Low Performers
00:43:21 - Why High Performers Leave Teams That Tolerate Coasting
00:47:05 - A Contrarian Take: Is Workplace Democracy Overrated?
00:50:54 - How to "Disagree and Commit" Without Wasting Time
00:55:52 - The #1 Instinct to Control When Receiving Feedback
01:01:43 - Mindset Shift: Treating Software Engineering Like a Competitive Sport
The most common question I get is "How do I land a remote or international tech job?" In this episode, I'm breaking down the exact roadmap I would follow, from building core skills to the one thing you MUST do to get noticed by recruiters. This isn't just about resumes; it's about building a career that opens global doors.
In this video, we cover:
Why your first job should be local (and in-office).
How to build a "social presence" that gets you hired.
The right way to message recruiters so they actually reply.
How to prepare for modern tech interviews that go beyond LeetCode.
My personal story of failing a dream job interview and what it taught me.
This guide is for any software engineer or tech professional, from early-career to experienced, who wants to break into the remote or international job market. You'll learn the actionable steps to stand out, get your foot in the door, and ultimately land the job.
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - The #1 Question You Must Answer First
00:01:08 - Why Your First Tech Job Should Be Local
00:03:14 - The Surprising Benefit of Working In-Office
00:05:17 - The Easiest Path to an International Role
00:07:09 - Mastering English: The Underrated Skill
00:11:23 - How to Stand Out in the Age of AI Resumes
00:14:31 - Proving Your Worth with a Strong GitHub Portfolio
00:17:37 - Build Your Network Through Community and Content
00:20:13 - The Right Way to Message Recruiters on LinkedIn
00:23:20 - How Tech Interviews Are Changing (Beyond LeetCode)
00:26:41 - What I Learned from Failing My Dream Job Interview
00:28:08 - Your Complete Roadmap to Landing the Job
#TechCareers #RemoteJobs #SoftwareEngineer
Maximiliano Neustadt, CTO and co-founder of Polarsteps, shares the incredible journey of building a travel app from 5 people to over 15 million users.
From surviving as a travel company during the worst possible timing to scaling without hustle culture, Maxi reveals the key decisions, hiring practices, and leadership lessons that drove their success.
Learn how they built strong company values, made tough product choices, and why they spend a full day with every hiring candidate as part of the interview.
Connect with Maximiliano Neustadt:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximiliano-neustadt-90137b2
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
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 mattered
How open source was always political
Why 2017-2018 changed everything
Where to still find real hacker culture (hint: hacker camps, FOSDEM)
The difference between building puzzles vs. building APIs
From 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
🔗 Connect with Pauline:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinepvos
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Search is just about Google? Think again. In this conversation with Pratim Bhosale (Senior Developer Experience Engineer at Treblle), we discuss how search technology secretly powers nearly every app you use daily.
What we discuss:
- Why Netflix recommendations are actually reverse search
- How dating app swipes and e-commerce filters are sophisticated search in disguise
- The evolution from keyword matching to semantic understanding
- Why JavaScript developers are writing the most insecure code (surprising data)
- How AI is changing what brings developers joy
- The authenticity crisis in tech content (and why Pratim blocks AI-generated responses)
Key takeaways:
- Every filter, recommendation, and personalization feature you build involves search
- Modern search goes way beyond text - it's about context, location, and intent
- The developer experience is fundamentally changing with AI tools
🔔 Subscribe for more Beyond Coding episodes
💬 What hidden search problems have you discovered in your projects?
Connect with Pratim:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhosalepratim
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
Samuel Beek, Chief Product Officer at VEED, joins me to share how their team ships AI-powered features in days, not months.
We explore VEED’s product strategy, how they stay close to users, and what it really takes to build fast without breaking things. If you're building with AI or working in product, this episode is packed with useful takeaways.
Topics include:
Shipping AI features at startup speed
Embedding user feedback into product decisions
Building for scale and testing fast
Balancing innovation and execution
Connect with Samuel Beek:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelbeek
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
How do you cut through the AI hype and successfully deploy AI products at scale?
In this episode, Sohrab Hosseini (co-founder of Orq) shares practical insights into overcoming common challenges of AI production: model hallucinations, cost management, maintaining observability, and scalability. Discover the realities of putting AI into practice and learn what truly matters for achieving real-world results.
Essential listening for anyone looking to deploy AI effectively and sustainably. 🎧
Connect with Sohrab Hosseini:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohrabhosseini
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
This was a special episode, recorded at React Summit in Amsterdam! Curious to hear your feedback!
The next edition of the biggest React conference will be in New York, on November 18 & 21, and Early Bird tickets are out if you're interested: https://reactsummit.us/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=beyondcoding
The utm tags are only to gauge interest :)
I really enjoyed the conference and might see you there if you're going! Excited about the lineup as well: Addy Osmani (Google), Shaundai Person (Netflix), Ken Wheeler (REDACTED), and more.
Connect with Lydia:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-hallie
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
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. 🎧
Connect with Stacy Cashmore:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacycash
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
