Code with Jason

In this episode I talk with Adam McCrea, founder of Judoscale, an autoscaler for Heroku and other platforms. Adam built Judoscale as a side project in 2016 and ran it part-time for five years before going full-time. We discuss developer marketing challenges, the difficulty of measuring marketing attribution, and building sustainable businesses. We also compare notes on our respective developer tools.

In this episode I discuss abstraction and emergence with Jorge Manrubia from 37signals. We explore how abstractions should hide distracting details while showing essential information, debate whether programming guidelines are subjective or objective, and examine how good explanations distinguish useful abstractions from poor ones. The conversation touches on service objects, domain modeling, and the importance of showing actual code when discussing software design principles.

In this episode I talk with Chris Chilek and John Cunningham of LegiPlex about their AI-enhanced legislative monitoring platform. We discuss how they identified the market opportunity, the technical challenges of processing government data, and their approach to building beyond simple AI prompts.LegiPlex

In this episode, I talk with Errol Schmidt from Reinteractive about community involvement and sales strategies. Errol shares how he targets Salesforce by teaching their account executives about Heroku, positioning himself as the go-to expert. We discuss how developers are in sales whether they realize it or not, and the importance of relationship building.reinteractive

In this episode, Colleen Schnettler discusses her startup HelloQuery, which allows non-technical people to query databases using natural language. She explains her marketing approach for growing the business, including her LinkedIn outreach system and focus on finding the right niche in the crowded AI space. Colleen also shares insights about her new venture, SaaS Marketing Gym, which helps technical founders develop and implement marketing plans.

In this episode I talk with Dave Farley about how good software engineering prioritizes making code easy to change, since we inevitably need to revise our systems as requirements evolve. Dave also shares stories from building ultra-fast financial trading systems, where his team had to repeatedly rethink their architecture to meet performance demands. We also discuss how key concepts like abstraction and modularity connect to scientific thinking, with both requiring a healthy skepticism toward our own assumptions.Modern Software EngineeringThe Software Developers' GuidebookNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Yegor Denisov-Blanch and Simon Obstbaum about their Stanford research on developer productivity. They share findings about "ghost engineers" (9.5% of developers who do minimal work), discuss challenges in measuring engineering output versus productivity, and explain their data-driven approach to software engineering assessment. The conversation explores how different developers contribute varying value, how life circumstances impact work motivation, and their methodology examining source code and Git metadata. The researchers highlight the importance of quantifying engineering contributions and have collected data from over 50,000 engineers in their ongoing study.

In this episode, Amanda Perino, Executive Director of The Rails Foundation, discusses the foundation's mission to promote Rails through events like Rails World, focusing on finding unique venues that create special conference experiences. She shares insights about venue selection, sponsor negotiations, and the foundation's efforts to showcase Rails amid challenging job market conditions.

Dave Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer and keynote speaker at Sin City Ruby 2025, dives into his upcoming book, Simplicity. He unpacks how software development has spiraled into unnecessary complexity and advocates for questioning established norms. The conversation emphasizes cultivating intuition in coding and experimenting with simpler solutions instead of following trends. Dave also reflects on the importance of personal storytelling in writing and encourages developers to embrace complexity as a learning opportunity.

Jerad Gallinger, a software developer and former philosophy major, dives deep into the essence of good code. He emphasizes that while code must function correctly, true quality lies in its understandability and maintainability. The duo discusses how different coding contexts shape quality expectations, and they connect code creation to artistic processes, highlighting the mix of discipline and creativity. They also explore the vital collaboration between developers and UX designers, stressing the importance of user-centric design for effective software.