Transforming Work with Sophie Wade 153: Will Sentance - How Empathy Empowers Coding, Connection, and Communication
Will Sentance, Founder at Codesmith and Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, explores why empathy is a foundational skill in engineering. He explains how empathetic interactions are core to building software, teams, and the trust necessary to scale tech-based companies. Will reflects on Codesmith’s mission to empower people through thoughtful communication in a non-hierarchical learning environment. He describes how empathy, as a relational tool, expands technologists’ critical communication capabilities driving clarity and collaboration, propelling their careers.
TAKEAWAYS
[00:26] Will is drawn to the intersection of analytical and intuitive disciplines from early education.
[01:45] Will feels a deep sense of possibility through his PPE studies and aims to pass that on.
[03:05] A mentor at Oxford influences Will’s brief foray into international relations at the UN.
[04:30] Not suited to be an employee, Will seeks autonomy and creative power in software engineering.
[06:00] Will finds software to be materially satisfying and empowering as a pathway to opportunity.
[07:20] A surprising response to an early JavaScript workshop reveals his teaching clarity.
[08:15] Struggling to understand complex concepts helps Will become a better educator.
[09:30] Codesmith is founded to be an alternative path to power by mastering technology.
[10:20] Teaching coding is not just technical but an empowerment vehicle for long-term careers.
[11:40] Thoughtful communication at CodeSmith recognizes others’ knowledge and emotional states.
[13:00] Empathy is about adapting communication to another person’s experience.
[14:30] Coding success requires explaining systems clearly—communication is as vital as code.
[16:10] Leaders like Sam Altman show that technical communication drives modern tech leadership.
[17:45] CodeSmith uses pair programming to instill empathy through precise verbal technical articulation.
[19:00] Empathy begins with self-understanding and is trained through iterative collaboration.
[20:20] Breaking down code for others builds resilience and fosters a capacity to learn continuously.
[21:45] How different learning speeds and imposter syndrome are combatted by sharing struggles.
[23:00] Codesmith instructors are alumni because lived experience cultivates trust and relatability with students.
[24:20] Will’s Oxford Fellowship explores how certain skills drive opportunity in an AI-transformed job market.
[25:50] The real skill is learning how to learn and explain complex ideas using unfamiliar tools.
[27:15] Codesmith interviews measure communication, problem-solving, and how applicants handle the unknown.
[28:30] The focus is on cultivating capacities, not just teaching frameworks or programming languages.
[29:40] Engineers and non-technical people alike must build clear, empathetic communication skills.
[30:55] Workshops for non-programmers empower leaders to engage confidently with technical concepts.
[32:00] Empathetic leadership respects team members’ potential rather than relying on rules-bound oversimplification.
[34:20] Scaling AI must be matched with scaling human trust across teams and organizations.
[36:00] Will warns against systems that machines understand but humans cannot, which risks alienation.
[37:30] Open-source tools preserve accessibility and transparency in a fast-moving tech landscape.
[38:45] Many leaders are not engaging with AI tools, missing key learning and leadership opportunities.
[40:10] Building the engineering mindset—problem-solving and communication—without coding.
[41:30] Struggle is not a problem in learning; it is the engine of understanding and growth.
[42:40] Empathetic development depends on trusted relationships and cannot be scaled without sincere human investment.
[44:00] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Deep learning happens through struggle which takes place in trust-based environments, so build trusting relationships to facilitate learning.
RESOURCES
QUOTES
"The hardest part of coding isn't writing code—it's explaining code to others so that they can also either build it, understand it, or write it themselves."
"Struggle is not a bug—it’s the engine of growth."
"We train empathy like nothing else in the program. We train it through pair programming."
"You can’t scale trust with AI. You need humans to scale trust."
"We’ve even called it empathetic engineering at times. One of the principles of Codesmith is grow others even before yourselves."
"It is not how vibey you are. It is not how chummy you are. It's pure and simply, can you precisely walk through based on the understanding of another person?"
"Breaking something down means that I can have clarity about how I’m thinking about it, and therefore I can then build it up for you."
"Struggle-based growth depends on someone else saying, ‘You’re important to me enough that I’m going to invest in you.’”