Cracking Tech Interviews When AI Changes the Rules

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Wes Eklund from AWS ProServe about interviews, practical AI, and the future of developer workflows. Wes shares what trips candidates up in coding and behavioral rounds, how to ask better questions, and why prepping multiple honest STAR narratives matters. Danny introduces the Thrive Framework for behavioral interviews and Rob underscores the discipline required to stand out in a crowded market. The trio then digs into 100 Days of Code in the AI era, smart ways juniors can learn with AI, and how Wes’s team uses MCP servers and Amazon Q to speed design, onboarding, and day-to-day delivery. They cover the lull in MCP hype, real security concerns, the “80 percent is a win” mindset when AI accelerates work, and when it actually makes sense to build agents. They close on thin, purpose-built agents, enterprise adoption patterns, and why frameworks like DSPy could reshape moats and costs.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

- Wes explains how candidates often fail because they neglect behavioral prep, and Danny introduces the Thrive Framework as a system to stand out.

- The group debates whether juniors should use AI. Wes frames it as a tool for strategy and reflection, not a shortcut, while Danny emphasizes using it to deepen knowledge and accountability.

- Wes shares how his AWS team leverages MCP servers and Amazon Q to speed design, boost onboarding, and solve problems faster, while Danny highlights enterprise-level use cases like multilingual documentation.

- They discuss whether developers should build agents, the risks of security gaps, and how frameworks like DSPy could make optimized, lightweight agents a new competitive edge.

Chapters

0:00 MCP servers: security reality check

0:33 Modern Web Podcast intro

0:55 Guest: Wes Ecklan (AWS ProServe)

2:02 Job hunt & interview mistakes

5:05 Danny’s THRIVE framework

7:39 Researching values & STAR stories

11:12 Sponsor + quality & discipline in applications

13:04 100 Days of Code in the AI era

18:03 Using AI at work (MCP + Amazon Q)

23:13 Hackathons & making time to innovate

25:06 MCPs in practice: adoption & security

36:00 Agents: when they help vs. hype — close & links

Wes Eklund on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weseklund/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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