Thoughtworks Technology Podcast

The podcast discusses the impact and reality of generative AI in software development, including advancements in AI-assisted coding, the significance of writing sequel queries correctly, understanding AI-generated code, differences between AI-generated code and traditional programming frameworks, coding assistance and TDD ping pong style, frustrations with the misunderstanding of pair programming, and the usefulness of AI-assisted coding tools.

Srinivasan Sekar and Sai Krishna discuss maintaining AppiumTestDistribution, an open source tool for test automation. They explore the challenges of mobile automation testing and the evolution of Appium. They also talk about expanding the architecture, identifying test failures, and the importance of community support.

The podcast discusses the importance of engineering platforms in organizations. It explores various types of platforms and the concept of developer experience. The importance of defining missions for platform and infrastructure teams is emphasized. The benefits of being a product steward and aligning best practices are discussed. Measuring the outcome of achieving business objectives and the responsibility of developers in uptime management are also covered.

In this podcast, members of ThoughtWorks Digital Scale-up Studio discuss managing cost efficiency at scale-ups. They explore operational cost efficiencies, managing cost efficiency when scaling, cultural changes for developers, and tying together cost and efficiency with platform thinking.

The evolution of SQL and the ease of access to ever larger sizes of computational power has made SQL and ETL a useful pairing for practitioners in the data space. But how do they work together exactly? And what challenges can it pose? Bharani Subramaniam and Madhu Podila discuss these issues and much more with hosts Neal Ford and Rebecca Parsons on the latest episode of the Thoughtworks Technology Podcast.

Dr. Neeraj Gupta, an astronomer, and Justin Jose from Thoughtworks discuss their collaboration in developing solutions for data-intensive challenges in radio astronomy. They highlight the complexities of handling big data in radio astronomy, the flow of information in data analysis, the discovery of hydroxyl molecules in distant galaxies, pipeline development for neurogenic research, and the future of radio astronomy technology.

XR is a potentially transformative technology, but it needs to be leveraged in a way that drives value. That isn't straightforward — given effective XR initiatives often require significant experimentation and exploration, simply aligning XR with strict organizational goals and aims will often make it harder to achieve success. How can technologists and product leaders get the balance right? In this episode of the Technology Podcast, Vaibhav Tikekar and Shea Clark-Tieche join hosts Rebecca Parsons and Ken Mugrage to discuss how to use XR effectively, talking through their experiences working with clients in recent years and providing their perspectives on how experimentation and innovation can be brought in alignment with organizational goals and objectives.

Leadership is an important if often-overlooked quality in the technology industry. However, it is also a complex and multi-faceted thing: it isn't a discrete set of skills, but rather an ability to respond and adapt to the needs of a situation, team or individual. In this episode of the Technology Podcast, Ricardo Cavalcanti (Caval) and Arturo Santos from Thoughtworks Brazil join hosts Alexey Boas and Scott Shaw to discuss their experiences of leadership and offer their perspective on the value of building a diverse repertoire of leadership styles.    

Design leader and Thoughtworks alumnus Emma Carter recently published her second book, DesignedUp. In it, she explains how designers can win a seat at the leadership table inside technolology organizations and become effective evangelists and advocates for good design principles and practices. In this episode of the Technology Podcast, Emma joins hosts Rebecca Parsons and Scott Shaw to discuss her new book and talks through some of the challenges designers face in even the most forward-thinking technology companies. She highlights that design is, today, far more than just UI design — it can, and should, touch many parts of an organization, ensuring that products and services are properly aligned with the aims, goals and needs of users. You can find Emma's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/DesignedUp-Emma-Carter/dp/1032202017/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Thoughtworks recently established a new role — Chief AI Officer. Taking up the position is Mike Mason, a veteran of Thoughtworks with over 20 years at the company, in technology roles spanning developer to technology strategist and author (and occasional Technology Podcast host). Mike will help guide Thoughtworks AI strategy and ensure that we're equipped to support clients trying to leverage AI.  In this episode of the Technology Podcast, Mike talks with hosts Neal Ford and Prem Chandrasekaran about his new role and explains why it's important that the company has someone leading on AI. He also discusses the hype, opportunities and risks of generative AI that — high on everyone's agenda at the moment — and explores how it might change knowledge work in general and software engineering more specifically. Listen as Mike talks through some of his own experiments with ChatGPT and offers his perspective on its likely impact on jobs in the months and years to come.