In today’s episode, we welcome Matt Pocock, an educator, content creator and engineer who used to be a voice coach. Now, he teaches Typescript on his YouTube channel and is building Total Typescript, the most comprehensive TypeScript course available out there.

We talk about his transition from a completely unrelated field into tech, the importance of great communication, TypeScript’s future, AI tooling and job hunts! A lot more else is covered in this video, so get cozy and tune in into this gem of an episode!

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Matt's X/Twitter: https://x.com/mattpocockuk

Total Typescript: https://www.totaltypescript.com/

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:15 What did Matt do before becoming a dev?

03:15 Career Transitions from a non-math background

04:02 What makes a good programmer?

06:46 Math knowledge > great communication?

08:55 On writing elaborate PR's

09:58 OCaml my Typescript

11:00 What is Typescript's Future?

14:21 Python type hinting and JSDoc

20:36 null vs undefined

25:02 interfaces vs type aliases

32:35 Does Matt have any rules of thumb when working with types?

37:14 How do you build nice encapsulated components with no external dependencies?

43:43 AI tooling integration

46:15 Will there be fewer jobs?

52:00 How often do you use classes?

54:29 Where to find Matt

Wonder of the Living Path with guided meditation — Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple