
Elixir Wizards
Elixir Wizards is an interview-style podcast for anyone interested in functional programming and the Elixir Programming Language. Hosted by SmartLogic engineers and Elixirists Owen Bickford, Dan Ivovich, and Sundi Myint, this show features in-depth discussions with some of the brightest minds in the industry, discussing training and documentation in Phoenix LiveView, the evolution of programming languages, Erlang VM, and more.
In the current season, we're branching out from Elixir to compare notes with thought leaders and software engineers from programming languages like JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, Go, Scala, Java, and more. Each episode will take a deep dive into a topic from Machine Learning and AI, to ECS and game development, to education and community.
Learn more about how SmartLogic uses Phoenix and Elixir. (https://smartlogic.io/phoenix-and-elixir?utm_source=podcast)
Latest episodes

Dec 15, 2022 • 43min
Chris Miller on Crafting a Programming Language
Today on Elixir Wizards, Chris Miller, software engineer at Corvus Insurance, joins us again for an in-depth discussion on the different approaches to programming. We dive into the conception and origin of new languages and how they evolve to solve new problems over time.
*Please remember to take our LISTENER SURVEY so we can come back bigger and better for Season 10 – Coming in early 2023!! *
Key Points From This Episode:
The hosts catch up with Chris and learn a bit about Corvus Insurance
What excites Chris about programming language and new ways of thinking
Chris' fascination with all different types of languages from Chinese to Greek to C++
We get a refresher on the concept of Domain Specific Language
What DSL is being used for certains problems in the domain at Corvus Insurance
Why a coder should care about the crafting of a programming language
We discuss why all coders don't only write assembly code
Chris breaks down how he has attempted to write his own programming language
We learn some inside tips on how stay within the abstract boundary when building a domain
How Chris' experience with multiple coding languages has influenced his work in Elixir
What the advantage of knowing multiple languages is
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Corvus Insurance on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CorvusInsurance
Corvus Insurance -- https://www.corvusinsurance.com/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Dec 8, 2022 • 45min
Frank Hunleth and Joe Martin on the Particulars of Nerves
Today on Elixir Wizards, we speak with two great minds in the Elixir community: Frank Hunleth from SmartRent and Joe Martin from Company Six. Join us to parse the particulars of Nerves, from production and terminology, to stacks, customization, and how they function.
*Please remember to take our LISTENER SURVEY so we can come back bigger and better for Season 10 – Coming in early 2023!! *
Key Points From This Episode:
How both Frank & Joe became interested in Elixir
We learn what nerves is currently being used for in production
How Nerves is being utilized within farming and energy companies
What the elevator pitch for nerves would be
How well nerves play with pre-existing embedded projects in other languages, especially when having to coexist within a system
How much can a user customize nerves
What is Buildroot and the functions that it serves
Frank explains how there are two worlds: elixir world & nerves systems
Joe and Frank let us know what they are most excited about in the near future of nerves and Elixir
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
LISTENER SURVEY – https://smr.tl/survey2022
Nerves Livebook – https://github.com/livebook-dev/nerves_livebook
Frank Hunleth on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/fhunleth/
Frank Hunleth on Twitter — https://twitter.com/fhunleth
Frank Hunleth on GitHub -- https://github.com/fhunleth
Joe Martin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-martin-265861b2/
Joe Martin on GitHub – http://github.com/josephmartin09
SmartRent -- https://smartrent.com/
Company Six – https://www.co6.com/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Dec 1, 2022 • 46min
Jenny Bramble on Testing and Collaboration at Papa
Today on Elixir Wizards, we chat with Jenny Bramble. Jenny is the Director of Quality Engineering at Papa, a platform that connects older adults and low-income families with companionship and a helping hand with daily tasks. Tune in to learn more about Jenny's experience with testing and team collaboration at Papa.
Key Points From This Episode:
Jenny tells us about her journey to learning Elixir (for 8 years now!)
We learn about the 24 talks that Jenny has done as a keynote speaker
The breakdown of her talk this year at Elixir Conf on upgrades
How Jenny got in to writing tests after going to college for computer science
What goes into developer handoff and how that varies depending on the company and team
The connection and importance between customer service and empathy
What it's like to work in Quality Engineering and Testing at Papa
What is testing?
She provides helpful tips of things that tend to be caught up by QA during code reviews
Jenny has a course on management for Test Automation coming out in 2023!
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jenny Bramble on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybramble/
Jenny Bramble on Twitter — https://twitter.com/jennydoesthings
Jenny Bramble on GitHub -- https://github.com/jennydoesthings
Papa -- https://www.papa.com/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Nov 17, 2022 • 40min
Harper Atlas on Tailwind From the Perspective of a Designer
We are excited to have SmartLogic's own Harper Atlas as our guest on Elixir Wizards today! Harper, a product designer at SmartLogic (and cat lady at home), joins us on this episode to parse the particulars of the Tailwind framework from a designer's perspective. Join us to gain insights from our first non-engineer guest in this spirited conversation with Harper!
Key Points From This Episode:
We learn about Harper’s journey into the UX field
Harper breaks down her day-to-day life as a product designer at SmartLogic
What the difference between FigMa and FigJam is
The good & bad sides of Tailwind
What goes into developer handoff and how that varies depending on the company and team
The importance of finding common language and bridging the gap between developer island and design island within a developer handoff
The features that Harper doesn’t like about Tailwind
How Tailwind has started to feel like the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
Harper gives developers some advice on how to be more helpful to designers while working in a Tailwind space
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Harper Atlas on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/harper-atlas
Harper Atlas on Twitter — https://twitter.com/harperatlas
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Nov 10, 2022 • 40min
Theo Harris on Onboarding into Elixir at Alembic
Today on the show we’re excited to have Theo Harris here to discuss Onboarding Into Elixir. Theo is a technical consultant working for Alembic in Sydney, Australia. He is currently working on a project utilizing Elixir and Phoenix LiveView. Tune in today to learn more about Onboarding Into Elixir, from our guest Theo Harris!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Theo Harris
Theo lets us in on his current hot tech take
We discuss accessibility tips and tricks
Theo gives us the run down on Alembic and what they do at their company
We find out whether or not Theo has a pet dinosaur
We learn of the technical challenges that Theo has faced as an Elixir Engineer
The breakdown of the onboarding process at Alembic
Theo gives advice to beginners on how to learn Elixir/Phoenix
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Theo Harris on Twitter — https://twitter.com/dino_coder
Theo Harris on GitHub — https://github.com/Theosaurus-Rexv
Theo Harris on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/theo-harris-coder/
Alembic — https://alembic.com.au/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Nov 3, 2022 • 39min
Ashley Smith & Kenneth Moy from Bowery Farming on Oban
On today’s episode of Elixir Wizards, Ashley Smith and Kenneth Moy from Bowery Farming join us to dive into the particulars of Oban. Ashley has been working as a software engineer for 3 years with full-stack experience working mainly on web applications and now works in elixir at Bowery Farming. Kenneth is a software engineer at Bowery Farming with 3 years of elixir experience. Tune in today to learn more about Oban from today’s special guests, Ashley & Kenneth!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guests, Ashley & Kenneth
We get the inside scoop of what happens behind the scenes at Bowery Farms and how they use elixir
What is Oban and how does it compare to other languages
Why one would use Oban rather than something like Broadway
How Oban is useful at Bowery Farms
Ashley & Kenneth explain why they are not “over” Ecto.Multi just yet
We hear about their working experience at Bowery, some days are remote, some days are at the office, and some days are at the farm where they get to see their work come to life
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Ashley Smith on GitHub — https://github.com/asmith1
Ashley Smith on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-smith-951802126/
Kenneth Moy on Twitter — https://mobile.twitter.com/chehitskenniexd
Kenneth Moy on GitHub — https://github.com/chehitskenniexd
Kenneth Moy on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-moy/
Bowery Farms — https://boweryfarming.com
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Oct 27, 2022 • 50min
Jason Stiebs on LiveView at RokkinCat
Today we welcome Jason Stiebs to the podcast to talk about all things LiveView and how he was originally wrong about LiveView in the beginning. Jason is the founder at Rokkincat, and a core contributor to Phoenix. Jason loves finding solutions to complex problems and mentoring young engineers. Tune in today to learn more about LiveView from today’s special guest, Jason Stiebs!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Jason Stiebs
A summary of Jason’s talk at ElixirConf on why he initially was wrong about LiveView
How Jason became a Phoenix core team member
What is stopping LiveView from being 1.0
Is there something that would make LiveView ‘complete’
How to decide to use LiveView over an SPA framework
Do you know if there are any folks out there putting together tooling for LiveView? Thinking like Chrome devtools, performance monitoring, etc. What tools can we use to compare our LiveView performance to non LV performance?
What Jason's thoughts about a time traveling feature for LiveView like what React / Redux has
What some featuresare from other frameworks that Jason would like to see in LiveView one day
How often Jason sees mixed LV and non LV projects
We hear about what's next in terms of features for functional components
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jason Stiebs on Twitter — https://twitter.com/peregrine
Jason Stiebs on GitHub — https://github.com/jeregrine
Jason Stiebs on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonstiebs/
Jason Stiebs Email Address – jason@rokkincat.com
RokkinCat — https://rokkincat.com/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Oct 20, 2022 • 54min
Mark & David from Thinking Elixir on Ecto Queries
This week the Thinking Elixir Podcast is taking over Elixir Wizards! Mark & David from Thinking Elixir are here today to parse the particulars of Ecto Queries! Mark Ericksen is an Elixir Specialist at Fly.io and host of Thinking Elixir. David Bernheisel is a Senior Software Engineer at Bitfo and host of Thinking Elixir. Tune in today to learn more about Ecto Queries from today’s special guests, Mark Ericksen and David Bernheisel!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guests, Mark & David
The hosts catch up with Mark & David and learn about David’s new book Ecto In Production
Dave Lucia is mentioned once again, can we go one episode without talking about him?
Find out how long David & Mark have been working in databases
We get the breakdown of what an Ecto Query is
There is a discussion around schema migrations vs data migrations and how to avoid common pain points
Learn what resources are available for learning Ecto
We find out what the pin operator is and when it is used
What an extensive query is and how to optimize queries
We learn about fun edge cases that we’ve bumped into while working with Ecto
The ins and outs of Ecto dump and Ecto load
”Ecto is a whole wide world of information. You think you know a lot and then you realize you don't. Nope, I'm almost just as dumb as I was five years ago about SQL and Ecto. Nope, it evolves. It gets deep.” - Mark Ericksen
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mark Ericksen on Twitter — https://twitter.com/brainlid
Mark Ericksen on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-ericksen-66397417/
David Bernheisel on Twitter – https://twitter.com/bernheisel
David Bernheisel on GitHub – https://github.com/dbernheisel
David Bernheisel on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernheisel/
Thinking Elixir Podcast https://podcast.thinkingelixir.com/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic
Use The Index, Luke! https://use-the-index-luke.com/
Postgresql Tutorial https://www.postgresqltutorial.com/
Postgresql subqueries
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3004887/how-to-do-a-postgresql-subquery-in-select-clause-with-join-in-from-clause-like-s
https://www.w3resource.com/sql/subqueries/understanding-sql-subqueries.php
Fly Blog: Safe Ecto Migrations https://fly.io/phoenix-files/safe-ecto-migrations/
Crunchy Data Developer Tutorials https://www.crunchydata.com/developers/tutorials
Crunchy Data Postgres Tips https://www.crunchydata.com/postgres-tips
Ecto in Production https://www.ectoinproduction.com/
SQL Join Illustration https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SQLJoins.svg
SQL Join Illustration https://i.stack.imgur.com/UI25E.jpg

Oct 13, 2022 • 37min
Tyler Young on Geo Mapping at Felt
Today on Elixir Wizards we are joined by Tyler Young to explore the particulars of Geo Mapping, the process of turning data into maps. Tyler is a Senior Software Developer at Felt, the world’s first collaborative mapping tool built for anyone to make a beautiful map in minutes. Tune in today to learn more about Geo Mapping from today’s special guest, Tyler Young!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Tyler Young
We discover Tyler’s background and how he started working in Elixir, as well as how he got into the map business because of his love for Elixir
We learn about GIS and its history as a system/standard/protocol, and how someone can study GIS
Find out how mapping is helpful in more ways than just for directions, including climate changes, vacation planning, and more
Tyler breaks down the common technologies and toolkits for programming with maps
The specific tools that Felt is using to ingest map data and build the interactive maps
What common problems arise when developing with maps
Tyler teaches the Elixir Wizards about his tried and true way of decision making with “The McDonald’s option”
_
**Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Tyler Young on Twitter — https://twitter.com/TylerAYoung
Tyler Young on GitHub — https://github.com/s3cur3
Tyler Young on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-young-dev/
Felt — https://felt.com/about
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic

Oct 6, 2022 • 48min
Kate Rezentes on GenServers at Simplebet
Season 9 is in full swing and we are so excited to welcome Kate Rezentes today to dive into the particulars of GenServers. Kate is a Junior Software Developer at Simplebet, a B2B product development company using machine learning and real-time technology to make every moment of every sporting event a betting opportunity. Tune in today to learn more from today’s special guest, Kate Rezentes!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Kate Rezentes
We learn about Kate’s background and her long history with programming
We discuss how many conferences she’s attended and why ElixirConf has been her favorite (thus far)
Find out how Kate landed a job while attending ElixirConf
How GenServers as a subject came to be
We get an inside look at Kate’s working experience at Simplebet and her experience as a Junior Engineer in the industry so far
What cases in particular cause the need for a GenServer
We discuss where GenServers would be appropriate to use and why
The ins and outs of ‘handle calls’ and ‘callbacks’
The process of testing a GenServer and data storage_
**Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:*
Kate Rezentes on Twitter — https://twitter.com/rezkate
Kate Rezentes on GitHub — https://github.com/KateRezentes
Kate Rezentes on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kfrezent/
Simplebet — https://simplebet.io/
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic
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