Join hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson for another episode of the Modern Web Podcast, where they sit down with Brad Garropy, senior front-end engineer at Stripe, YouTuber, and all-around tech enthusiast.
Brad shares insights from his journey through big tech—from Dell to Adobe, Atlassian, and now Stripe—while discussing the challenges of scaling front-end engineering across different companies. The conversation covers TypeScript’s major performance boost, the Go vs. Rust debate, and how engineering teams are evolving their tooling for speed and efficiency.
They also explore Remix, why Brad prefers building projects with minimal dependencies, and his approach to self-hosting and keeping costs low for side projects. He reflects on balancing breadth vs. depth in a career, how developers can shape their personal brand, and the importance of learning through building.
Key Points from this Episode:
- TypeScript’s shift to Go has resulted in massive performance improvements, highlighting the impact of language choice on tooling speed and efficiency.
- Scaling front-end engineering in big tech comes with unique challenges, and each company operates differently despite similarities in structure.
- Keeping projects lean with minimal dependencies and self-hosting can reduce costs and provide greater control over development.
-Balancing breadth vs. depth in a career is crucial, as developers must decide whether to specialize deeply or explore a wide range of technologies.
Chapters
0:00 – Intro: Tailwind, Remix, and Thin Abstractions
1:09 – Meet the Hosts & Guest: Brad Garrapy
2:16 – Brad’s Career Journey: Dell → Adobe → Atlassian → Stripe
3:34 – TypeScript Gets 10x Faster: Why Go?
7:55 – Performance, Tooling, and Multi-threading Insights
14:59 – Why Remix? Building with Thin, Flexible Stacks
16:56 – Deployment Strategies & Avoiding SaaS Lock-in
19:57 – Cost, Free Tiers & the Case for DIY Infrastructure
28:13 – Creator Goals: Streaming, Tutorials & Building in Public
33:12 – Identity, Community, and Being Known for Something
38:23 – Where to Find Brad Online + Closing
Follow Brad Garropy on Social Media
YouTube - https://youtube.com/bradgarropy
Bluesky - https://bradgarropy.com/bluesky
Twitter - https://x.com/bradgarropy
Website - https://bradgarropy.com
Sponsored by This Dot: thisdot.co
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