The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Amal Hussein, a seasoned software engineer at Istari Digital with a rich history at companies like NPM and Stripe, joins Jerod for a candid chat. They dive into the concept of agentic coding and its implications for the future of developers. Amal shares her thoughts on the emotional impact of AI in the industry, the balance between innovation and personal life, and her recent transformative experiences. The discussion tackles the evolving role of software engineers as they adapt to new technologies and navigate the complexities of work-life integration.

Lara Hogan, author of Resilient Management and a management coach for the tech industry, shares her insights on leadership development. She emphasizes the crucial roles of mentoring, coaching, and sponsoring in nurturing talent. The conversation highlights the transformative power of sponsorship for underrepresented groups. Lara also discusses the importance of adapting leadership styles to different situations and the necessity of clarity in feedback. This engaging dialogue explores how effective leadership is both a skill to be learned and an art to be practiced.

Explore the future of coding with insights on agentic coding that could reshape how junior developers work. Discover essential PostgreSQL patterns that can transform your development process. Delve into Verification-First Development and its potential benefits. Hear about the struggles faced with GitHub Actions and how new tools like CASCII can enhance visual communication in coding. This discussion is packed with valuable tips and innovative solutions for navigating the tech landscape.

Justin Searls, a software developer and the mind behind the podcast Breaking Change, joins to discuss Apple's AI challenges, particularly the stagnation of Siri. He argues about the decline of stability in the tech job landscape and introduces his innovative project, POSSE Party, designed for effortless online presence management. The conversation also touches on the implications of recent tech trends and the importance of quality over quantity in development, along with some amusing anecdotes about personal experiences in coding and podcasting.

Ilya Grigorik, a distinguished engineer at Shopify, dives deep into the complexities of securing e-commerce checkouts. He discusses the rise of sophisticated threats like digital skimming and the importance of PCI compliance. Ilya shares insights on optimizing checkout performance and the innovative sandboxing approach used to manage third-party integrations safely. He also touches on how tools like Retool and advances in AI are reshaping developer efficiency and security in the rapidly evolving e-commerce landscape.

Dive into the world of sensory computing as Amelia Wattenberger critiques the tech landscape. Discover how the Learnk8s team transforms cluster management with a spreadsheet, and hear the unanticipated feedback from Cursor. Governments aim high with an open-source Notion alternative, while XPipe revolutionizes server access right from your desktop. Explore AI innovations enhancing team collaboration and follow the humorous twist of an AI's quirky refusal to code!

John Long, a product designer and developer skilled in front-end technologies and AI, joins the conversation. He shares his insights on the battle between Next.js and Rails and highlights the transformative role of AI in design. John discusses the advantages of using Framer for web development and their love for Figma. They explore how AI tools enhance both development workflows and creative processes, emphasizing the need for designers to adapt and expand their skill sets amid evolving technologies.

Beyang Liu, CTO & Co-founder of Sourcegraph, sheds light on transforming software development with AI. He discusses how tools like Cody and AI agents optimize coding processes, tackling complexities in large codebases. The conversation dives into automating code reviews for consistent feedback and improving code quality to reduce technical debt. Liu also emphasizes the importance of context-aware code search and evolving code generation models, all aimed at enhancing developer productivity in high-performance teams.

Vibe coding is becoming the new norm, with AI reshaping the coding landscape. Discover how the Model Context Protocol (MCP) might enhance AI interactions. Social media algorithms are discussed for their impact on mental health and public opinion, sparking strategies for independent thought. Automation tools are emerging, yet the importance of a human touch in content creation remains crucial. Finally, the conversation touches on whether software development managers should still actively engage in coding.

Our award-winning JS Party game show is back with a new name, a new channel, and the same ol’ survey-response-guessing fun! The JS Party crew join us to see who knows y’all best. Survey says! Join the discussionChangelog++ members save 9 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!Sponsors:Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates. Retool – The low-code platform for developers to build internal tools — Some of the best teams out there trust Retool…Brex, Coinbase, Plaid, Doordash, LegalGenius, Amazon, Allbirds, Peloton, and so many more – the developers at these teams trust Retool as the platform to build their internal tools. Try it free at retool.com/changelog Temporal – Build invincible applications. Manage failures, network outages, flaky endpoints, long-running processes and more, ensuring your workflows never fail. Register for Replay in London, March 3-5 to break free from the status quo. Featuring:Nick Nisi – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, XAmal Hussein – GitHub, XKevin Ball – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, XChristopher Hiller – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, XAmy Dutton – GitHub, XAdam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, XJerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, XShow Notes: More dev game shows! Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!