No Hacks: Future-proofing your career in the age of AI

Welcome to No Hacks, the podcast that cuts through the noise to reveal the truth about the future of work and the impact of AI. In this episode, we're taking a look into the phenomenon of "vibe coding" – the idea that you can simply describe an app to an AI and have it magically built.Is Vibe Coding the shortcut to tech success, or just another false promise?Sani argues that the hype around pure vibe coding mirrors the deceptive playbook of dropshipping gurus: selling a dream that ultimately profits the platform, not the aspiring creator. We break down the seductive promises, expose the harsh realities, and reveal the catastrophic failures that occur when the "vibes turn bad."What you'll learn in this episode:What Vibe Coding Really Is: Understand the difference between responsible AI-assisted development and "pure" vibe coding, where code is accepted without full understanding.The Anatomy of a Hype Cycle: Discover the striking parallels between the vibe coding phenomenon and the dropshipping course industry, from their sales pitches to their hidden realities and who truly profits.A Catalogue of Catastrophes: Hear real-world horror stories of instantly hacked startups, data deletion disasters, and AI models that "lie"—illustrating the dangers of relying on AI without deep technical oversight.The 80/20 Trap: Explore why AI can get you 80% of the way to a prototype, but that crucial final 20%—security, scalability, and integration—requires uniquely human skills.The "No Hacks" Skills for the AI Era: We conclude by revealing the four critical, future-proof skills that will define the next generation of builders and leaders in technology: Systems Thinking, Problem Decomposition, Architectural Integrity & Security, and Expert Curation.Don't fall for the illusion of "irrational confidence" in tech. Tune in to understand why deep, durable skills, not magic, are the real path to success in the age of AI.Important links from the episode:https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/1jmyk5k/seems_like_the_guy_who_invented_the_vibe_coding/https://www.finalroundai.com/blog/vibe-coding-failures-that-prove-ai-cant-replace-developers-yethttps://www.louisbouchard.ai/genai-coding-risks/https://medium.com/@lars_13145/system-thinking-and-ai-redefining-software-product-development-a193a08119bchttps://instil.co/blog/critical-thinking-in-the-age-of-ai-and-why-it-still-matters/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_StephensonComparison table---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

The world of work is changing faster than ever, and AI is leading the charge. What does this mean for industries like SEO, marketing, and content? And more importantly, what does it mean for your career?In this episode of No Hacks, I’m joined by Olga Andrienko, a marketing leader who transitioned from VP of Brand Marketing into AI operations. Her journey is the perfect case study for how professionals can adapt when the ground shifts under their feet.We start with Olga’s “lightning bolt moment” at an AI course that showed her the power of automation and AI agents. From there, we explore:The future of SEO and search: why Google’s AI Overviews are disrupting traffic, how “search everywhere optimization” is replacing traditional SEO, and what it means for attribution.AI business models and big tech: the economic reality behind AI tools, the competition between Google and OpenAI, and why Olga switched from iPhone to Google Pixel for integrated AI features.Practical automation in marketing ops: real workflows Olga and her team automated, how to identify the right tasks to start with, and what role AI workflow architects play.The jobs of tomorrow: emerging roles like Heads of AI Ops and AI workflow specialists, why community and events still matter, and how to stand out in a flood of AI sameness.Human creativity in an AI-first world: why now is the easiest time to stand out online, and why clumsy, authentic writing can be a feature, not a bug.This conversation is not just about AI tools. It is about how work itself is being reshaped, what skills will still matter five or ten years from now, and how you can adapt your career for long-term success.👉 If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss what’s next. And join the Substack, where I share deeper insights, notes, and resources to help you navigate the future of work. Episode links:No Hacks SubstackHow to start in any brand role (Olga's LinkedIn post)---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

In this emergency solo episode I walk you through #ChatGate, the discovery that thousands of “shared” ChatGPT conversations are now fully searchable on Google. We de-mystify the site: operator, trace the unusual timeline that puts OpenAI, Google Cloud and Microsoft on a collision course, and explain why some marketers cheer while privacy advocates panic. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to check whether your chats are exposed and what to do next. Key TakeawaysShared ChatGPT links are public if you tick “Enable search indexing.”A sitemap discovered in late 2024 helps Google crawl those pages automatically.OpenAI now pays Google for compute while Microsoft cools its spending — timing that looks suspicious.Marketers cheering the “SEO gold-mine” are ignoring the privacy fallout.Audit yourself (site:chatgpt.com/share "Your Name"), delete stray links, and think twice before sharing sensitive prompts.Enjoy the listen — and remember: what happens in ChatGPT doesn’t necessarily stay in ChatGPT.Resources & Further ReadingGoogle Support – Advanced Search Operators (official guide to site:) https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=enOpenAI Help Center – “Share your conversations” (checkbox controls indexing) https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7925741-chatgpt-shared-links-faqLinkedIn Post by Senthil Kumar – “OpenAI’s /shared-convos-sitemap.xml SEO play” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unboxing-chatgpts-organic-traffic-deep-dive-openais-seo-hariram-jhtkcTechCrunch (31 July 2025) – “Your public ChatGPT queries are getting indexed by Google” https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/31/your-public-chatgpt-queries-are-getting-indexed-by-google-and-other-search-engines/Fast Company (30 July 2025) – “Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations—here’s why it’s a privacy nightmare” https://www.fastcompany.com/91376687/google-indexing-chatgpt-conversationsYahoo Finance (Dec 2024) – “Microsoft has invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI but is pulling back” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-invested-nearly-14-billion-000512844.htmlReuters (16 July 2025) – “OpenAI taps Google Cloud TPU chips to meet soaring demand” https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openai-lists-google-cloud-partner-amid-growing-demand-computing-capacity-2025-07-16/Juliana Jackson – Substack Essay “ChatGPT Indexed Conversations” https://julianajackson.substack.com/p/chatgpt-indexed-conversations---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

What does life look like when search engines, junior tech jobs, and even human therapists start losing ground to generative AI? In this lightning-charged round-table, host Sani sits down with experimentation legends Erin Weigel and Lukas Vermeer to test-drive a future that’s already creeping into the present.In this episode you’ll hear:“RIP Google SERPs?”. Lukas explains why he’s stopped opening SERPs and lets ChatGPT do the leg-work instead, and what that means for SEO as a profession. Therapy by chatbot. A frank debate on the ethics of replacing licensed counselors with LLMs, complete with Erin’s tale of an AI that literally narrated its own fake empathy. The vanishing ladder. Why companies are skipping junior hires, how that starves tomorrow’s seniors, and whether YouTube “mentors” can fill the gap. Layoffs, wage pressure & the fourth AI hype-cycle. Erin argues that generative tools are becoming the C-suite’s favorite excuse to “do more with less,” accelerating job insecurity across tech. Blackout reality check. Sani recounts a one-day power failure that froze an entire city, highlighting just how thin our digital safety net really is. Off-grid plans & doom-prep kits. From Raspberry Pi LLMs to a solar-powered farmhouse in France, the crew swaps tongue-in-cheek tips for surviving an AI-augmented apocalypse. About the guestsErin Weigel is the former principal designer at Booking.com, now charting the blurry boundary between human-centered design and AI-generated “V-Zero” mock-ups.Lukas Vermeer is the ex-director of experimentation at Booking.com and Vista; known for turning data questions into live product experiments. Both Erin and Lukas started the same day at Booking.com, one of many shared origin stories they unpack. ---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

Why don’t users do what they say they’ll do? Why does great UX still fail sometimes? And what do the world’s top companies know about behavior that most of us miss?In this episode, Sani sits down with Katie Dove, behavioral designer at Irrational Labs, to break down the Three B Framework, a powerful behavioral design tool used by teams at Google, YouTube, and Duolingo. They unpack how context shapes decisions, why psychological friction is often invisible, and what it really takes to drive engagement through design.If you work in UX, CRO, product, or marketing, this episode will change how you think about user behavior forever.🔍 What we cover:Why values don’t always predict behavior (and why that’s okay)The Three B Framework: Behavior, Barriers, BenefitsThe difference between logistical and psychological frictionReal-world case studies: Google AdWords, ClassPass, Duolingo, top banksHow to identify the right behavior to optimizeThe psychology of mental models, defaults, and motivationWhy asking users what they want often leads you astrayRapid-fire insights on irrationality, app design, and moreGuest: Katie DoveBehavioral designer and partner at Irrational Labs Katie leads behavioral design projects for companies like Google, YouTube, and leading financial institutions. At Irrational Labs, she helps teams apply behavioral science to real-world digital products and services.🔗 IrrationalLabs.com 🔗 Follow Katie on LinkedIn---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

Omar Lovert, an email marketing expert known for his customer-centric strategies, shares insights on transforming email campaigns through a deep understanding of customers. He highlights the importance of real customer insights over AI-generated content and discusses RFM segmentation to identify valuable users. Listeners learn how to craft tailored marketing messages and enhance retention by focusing on customer behavior. Omar emphasizes human connection in marketing, advocating for personalization in an increasingly automated world.

Heads-up: I use some salty language. Nothing hateful, just passionate about this topic. Skip if that’s not your vibe.It’s 2 AM, your side-project just went viral, and the signup flow is on fire. Do you keep “vibe-coding” blind prompts, or step up as the conductor who actually knows the score? In this first-ever solo episode, I unpack why “anyone can code with AI” is 2025’s biggest myth and show you how to turn large language models into the ultimate co-pilot instead of a ticking time-bomb.Key TakeawaysIllusions break at scale. Vibe-coding can get you an MVP, but you’ll pay interest when production fires start.Your new super-power isn’t “no knowledge,” it’s “faster knowledge.” LLMs shrink the gap between “I don’t know” and “I can ship.”Learning beats prompting. Prompting is great, prompt-and-probe is better. Use back-and-forth to understand, not just generate.Career moat = curiosity. The people who thrive next year aren’t the ones with the fanciest prompts; they’re the ones who ask better questions and close their gaps daily.7-Day Knowledge-Gap ChallengePick one concept you avoid (CSS Flexbox? Indexing in Postgres?).Spend 15 min/day grilling an LLM: “Explain it like I’m 7… now show real-world code… now debug this snippet…”Log what surprised you, then share your aha momentsCall to ActionTry the challenge. Tag me with your progress by next week.Rate & Review. If this episode saved you from a 2 AM meltdown, drop a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on your favorite app.Share. Forward the LinkedIn post or the episode link to one builder who still thinks vibe-coding is a strategy.---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

Matt Gershoff, CEO and Co-founder of Conductrics, dives into the realm of privacy-first experimentation. He shares a quirky story about his journey, including a summer school featuring donkeys in pajamas! The discussion touches on the drawbacks of data hoarding and the necessity of data minimalism. Gershoff emphasizes intentional experimentation and the ethical implications of data practices, urging businesses to focus on meaningful data collection. He also explores the challenges of managing data in the age of AI, promoting thoughtful decision-making.

Is content marketing finally dead? In this no-BS conversation, I’m joined by digital strategist Jono Alderson to unpack the new reality of SEO, content, and how Google’s evolution is leaving traditional marketing behind.Jono explains why so much content is now obsolete, how search is changing with AI, and why the only real path forward is to be more human, more trustworthy, and more brand-driven than ever before.🔥 What We Talk About:00:00 – Is content marketing dead? Jono kicks off with a bang. 00:46 – “Solved query spaces” and why Google doesn’t need your blog posts anymore. 02:46 – The AI-powered future of search: recipes, risottos, and synthetic content. 04:55 – What actually still works: EEAT, branding, and building trust. 07:45 – The ironic truth: in the age of AI, being human is your biggest asset.🧠 Key Takeaways:Why pumping out blog posts is no longer a growth strategyWhat “solved query spaces” mean for your SEO futureWhy Google’s zero-click answers are here to stayHow to compete through trust, brand, and true expertiseWhy your best marketing move might be… local radio?🔗 Links:Jono's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonoalderson/---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram

In this episode of No Hacks, host Sani is joined by technical SEO strategist Anne Berlin to explore one of the most disturbing and fascinating topics on the web today: the Dead Internet Theory. Is most of what we see online actually created by bots, for bots? What happens when the web becomes a wasteland of AI-generated slop and abandoned digital ruins? Anne draws on her extensive experience analyzing crawl logs, server stats, and digital infrastructure to reveal how bot traffic is outpacing real users, and what that means for the future of human-centric content.If you’ve ever wondered why the web feels “off” these days, this one’s for you.👤 About the Guest: Anne BerlinAnne Berlin is a Lead Product Strategist and Senior Technical SEO at Lumar, with over a decade of experience in digital strategy, enterprise SEO, and content performance optimization. Anne specializes in high-scale technical audits, crawl budget efficiency, and structured data for large websites, including e-commerce and news publishing giants. She’s a passionate advocate for reclaiming the human web and brings a cross-disciplinary lens to digital decay, combining SEO, DevOps, and sustainability insights.She's previously led digital strategy for organizations like Kaplan and the Lupus Foundation of America and holds a Master’s from Georgetown University.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – What is the Dead Internet Theory?00:24 – The rise of bots: from content creation to consumption01:04 – How bots degrade user experience01:44 – Why most web pages are unread by humans02:25 – From Geocities to AI slop: the lost human web03:06 – Budget cuts and digital burnout04:01 – The hidden energy cost of web inefficiencies05:37 – Cross-functional SEO: solving crawl waste06:33 – One endpoint, a transatlantic flight's worth of carbon07:25 – 60% of web traffic is non-human08:01 – Are we too late to save the web?09:42 – Join the crusade: building a human-led internet✅ Key TakeawaysDead Internet Theory suggests that bots, not humans, dominate the web today—both as content creators and consumers.Anne estimates 60% of web traffic is bot-based, with only 40% appearing human.Many web pages are published without ever being seen by a human, often as part of programmatic SEO.Neglected code and crawl bloat have energy and environmental costs, with one exposed endpoint equating to a transatlantic flight in carbon emissions.The solution lies in cross-training and collaboration across SEO, DevOps, infrastructure, and security to reduce digital inefficiencies and prioritize meaningful content.Anne advocates for a return to a human-first web, where real people matter more than algorithms.---If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with a friend!No Hacks websiteYouTubeLinkedInInstagram