The ReadME Podcast

Originally from the Netherlands and now based in California, Paulus Schoutsen has always been fascinated by data, and how it could be used to optimize people’s lives. Seven years ago, he open sourced a simple way to remotely turn his house lights on at sunset. Today, Home Assistant has grown to an entire home automation framework with a worldwide community. Hear Paulus share his path to programming, including his early experiments and a deep-rooted love for open source, now on The ReadME Podcast.

When Mariatta Wijaya arrived in Canada from Indonesia, she got a job as a software developer, and the first language she learned was Python. Now a Python core developer, she creates GitHub bots that are not just functional, but friendly. She’s also the co-organizer of Vancouver PyLadies and the PyCascades conference, was nominated twice for the Google Open Source Peer Bonus Program, and has received the Python Software Foundation (PSF) community service award. Hear how it all unfolded on Mariatta’s episode, available now.

Evan You, creator of Vue, shares his journey from Parsons to Google Creative Lab, discussing the organic growth of Vue and doubling of users in 2020. He talks about the idea behind Vue, turning his passion into a popular ecosystem, and advice for maintainers.

Tech enthusiasts Scott Hanselman and Mark Downie discuss maintaining Das Blog, a database-free blogging app. They delve into their partnership, revamping legacy code, and the value of blogging. Explore their journey on The ReadME Podcast.

When she was young, Gina Häußge’s dad showed her how to make her first computer commands, and she was hooked on watching code come to life. Fast forward to 2012, when she got her first 3D printer, which she loved. What she didn’t love were the noises and fumes it spat out during prints. So she put it in the spare bathroom, built a monitor that she could control from her office, and open sourced it on GitHub. Octoprint exploded in popularity, and Gina quickly learned there was much more to being a maintainer than writing code. Hear how she figured it all out, and what she’s doing now, on The ReadME Podcast.

On The ReadME Podcast, we take a look behind the scenes of the most impactful open source projects and the developers who make them happen. Our guests are coding in public, creating firmware, designing hardware, researching security vulnerabilities, creating art and music, and making phenomenal scientific discoveries. They’re also working on the periphery of open source, taking time to consider how we think about technology. In sharing these stories, we hope to provide a spotlight on what you don’t always see in the lines of code, and what it takes to build the technology that inspires us all.