In this week's episode, the full crew is back to discuss the challenges and strategies of managing development teams. Tim shares his new role as Director of Development and his approach towards improving developer experience and scaling applications. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and w…

In this week's episode, Adam, Ben, and Tim discuss the evolving perception of technology, shifting from an optimistic view in the 80s and 90s to a more critical stance today due to its potential negative impacts. They delve into the consolidation of tech power among major companies like Facebook and Amazon, contrasting it with ideas like Amazon's t…

In this week's episode, Adam, Ben, and Tim discuss strategies to stay motivated during long-term projects or repetitive tasks. If you've been at the same company or working on a project for a very long time, how do you stay motivated doing the same thing for a long time? Mentioned Links: Ze Frank - An Invocation for Beginnings - https://www.youtube…

In this week's episode, Adam, Ben, and Tim tackle the intriguing and timely topic of AI and its implications for the future of coding. They delve into how AI is currently being used, including the hype around LLMs, its perceived threat to coding jobs, and the limitations of AI in professional software development. Follow the show and be sure to joi…

In episode 211, Adam, Carol, and Tim play 'Roast My Desk, Rate My Clean-up.' Listeners submitted before and after photos of their desks, and the crew roast their setups and rate their clean-up effort. The photos and reactions can be viewed on our Discord, Instagram, and BlueSky accounts. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord…

In week's this episode, the crew explores the often confusing phrase 'free as in speech, not as in beer.' They discuss the differences between software that's free in terms of cost (beer) and free in terms of user freedoms (speech). The conversation delves into open-source licensing, the implications for users and developers, and comparisons to var…

In this week's episode, Adam seeks support from Ben and Tim as he ventures into creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a new app designed to digitize the operations of drop zones. The discussion centers on the importance of developing a solid hypothesis, engaging potential users early on, and navigating the emotional hurdles associated with br…

In this week's episode, the crew play Real or Fake for esoteric programming languages. Are Whitespace, JSF***, Cow or DeadFish real or fake? Listen to find out. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @workingcode.dev on Bluesky. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday. And, if you're fe…

In this week's episode, Adam, Ben, and Carol discuss a variety of topics including "disagree and commit", responsive design, and feature flags. We take a trip through time with some fun facts from internet and web development history. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @workingcod…

In this week's episode of the podcast, Adam, Ben and Tim discuss various books that have significantly influenced their careers and coding philosophies. The conversation ranges from classics like 'Clean Code' and 'The Phoenix Project' to unexpected titles such as 'Fight Club' and 'The Four Agreements'. The discussion underscores the value of contin…

In this week's episode, the team discusses various software development topics and how their opinions on these subjects have evolved over time. Key topics include the benefits and challenges of testing, the balance between microservices and monoliths, the role of static typing in code, and the practicality of semver versus other versioning strategi…

In this week's episode, the full crew is back to discuss the complexities translating user requirements to developers and the importance of clear communication to avoid wasted efforts. The conversation also touches upon the roles of project managers and developers, emphasizing the significance of a clearly defined problem statement and well-structu…

There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors. (Leon Bambrick) In this week's episode, the crew discuesses the complexities and nuances of naming conventions in software projects. The team reflects on their own practices, shared challenges, and the real-world impact of terminology and structur…

In this week's episode, Tim and Ben go head-to-head in a trivia game inspired by Cunningham's Law, answering questions, with points awarded for correct 'um, actually' corrections. The game reveals lesser-known facts and recent updates in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and browser functionalities. Source material for all questions came from this article. Fo…

We're back! and in this episode of the Working Code Podcast, the crew returns to dive into a thought-provoking discussion on the impact of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT on technical communities such as Stack Overflow. They explore how LLMs are changing workflows, the ethical considerations of using AI for coding assistance, and personal…

In this special episode, we celebrate reaching our 200th show by discussing the critical importance of taking breaks and avoiding burnout. We share our thoughts on mini-retirements, the differences between sabbaticals and mini-retirements, and the surprising benefits of doing 'drudgery' work. We also delve into the upcoming hiatus for the podcast a…

In this week's episode, the hosts discuss the potential discontinuation of .io domains, the historical and geopolitical nuances of TLDs like .tv and .io, and the complexities of managing and pricing domain names. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and In…

Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram. New episodes drop weekly on Wednesday. In this episode, the hosts discuss the complexities and frustrations of deployment automation and DevOps, particularly focusing on the challenges faced with makefile…

In this week's episode, the hosts discuss the value of focusing on a single top priority during challenging times and the implications of AI on the workplace, emphasizing the importance of maintaining human connections and individual reflection. They explore career progression, advocating for both skill quality improvements and the need for organiz…

In this week's episode, Adam, Carol and Tim discuss Developer Experience (DX) and its importance in creating a comfortable and efficient workflow for developers. The hosts highlight various elements that impact DX, such as the ergonomics of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), debuggers, and browser tools. They emphasize the need for faster …

In this week's episode, the hosts discuss situations where the effort put in is not worth the results. They cover topics like the inefficiency of tracking every minute, the high cost of striving for 100% code coverage, and handling lengthy build times during deployments. The team debates the importance of releasing features incrementally versus dep…

In this week's episode, Adam consults with Carol and Tim about various aspects and challenges involved in the development of an app intended to streamline and digitize the process of organizing skydiving jumps. They discuss overcoming technical difficulties, such as integrating drag-and-drop functionalities, managing data efficiently, and incorpora…

In this episode, the hosts delve into the idea of whether bonds formed in moments of workplace trauma and high-stress situations are uniquely irreplaceable. The discussion also touches on how team-building activities can simulate the bonds formed under duress, the cultural differences in work stress, and challenges faced in the workplace. Follow th…

In this episode, the hosts discuss their experiences with different codebases, from the best they've worked on to the worst. They explore the complexities of evolving and maintaining legacy code, the challenges of debugging, and the importance of clean architecture. Key points include the pain of working with ORMs, and the impact of early design de…

In this week's episode, the crew discuss finding the right balance in implementing processes within software development teams. Processes often originate from reactive measures to past mistakes but it is crucial to emphasize the importance of periodically reassessing the necessity and efficiency of these processes. Follow the show and be sure to jo…

In this week's episode, Ben and Carol of the Working Code Podcast reflect on career advice they would give to their younger selves, touching on the importance of simplicity in coding, continuous learning, and maintaining work-life balance. They emphasize the significance of learning from mentors, leveraging database constraints, and avoiding premat…

In this episode, Tim and Adam discuss career advice for their younger selves, including the importance of job changes for salary increases, focusing on programming tasks rather than managerial roles, and the hazards of tying one's identity to a specific programming language. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website…

In this week's episode, Tim returns to the podcast for a discussion on code reviews, touching on the importance of providing constructive feedback, tailoring reviews based on the developer's experience level, and discussing the merits and drawbacks of tools like GitHub. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is w…

In this week's episode, Adam and Ben talk about the feasibility of being a solo developer in 2024, considering industry pressures, tools, and personal strategies for balancing simplicity and complexity in the development process. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod …

In this week's episode Ben and Carol delve into their personal and professional insecurities. The discussion includes feeling the need to justify one's value at work, struggles with validations. They also talk about the emotional impact of customer interactions and the importance of human connections. The conversation highlights broader issues rega…

On this week's show, Adam and Ben explore the complexities of implementing AB testing in email campaigns. The hosts tackle the challenge of integrating AB testing into existing systems without causing disruptions and examine methods for experimenting with various elements like subject lines, calls-to-action, and email contents. They also discuss st…

On today's show, Adam and Ben talk about their respective strategies for leaving comments within code. Each of them inhabits a different end of the spectrum, with Ben erring on the side of viewing comments as an inherent value-add; and, Adam believing that the urge to add a comment is more akin to a "code smell", indicating a need to refactor the u…

In this episode, the team discusses various aspects of starting new projects, dealing with both personal and professional challenges, and the excitement and fears around initiating new work. Carol shares her idea for a new web application to help organize event contributions, and the group explores initial steps and considerations for starting such…

On today's show, Tim and Carol share personal updates while Adam and Ben are away. Carol discusses her challenging workday involving a difficult rebase and adjusting to a new routine after moving to Texas. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCodePod on Twitter and Instagram…

On today's show, we continue our discussion of the entries outlined on the website, the Laws of Software. Topics include McKinley's law on boring technologies, Doerr's law on aligning team vision, and Fitt's law on target touchability. Follow the show and be sure to join the discussion on Discord! Our website is workingcode.dev and we're @WorkingCo…

On today's show, we discuss a few of the entries outlined on the website, the Laws of Software. Topics include Atwood's Law on JavaScript, Cunningham's Law on getting answers, Parkinson's Law on getting things done, Goodhart's Law on taking measurements, Hofstadter's Law on inevitable failure, and the Peter Principle. Follow the show and be sure to…

On today's show, Tim gears-up for a farm insurance conference out in Nashville where he's hoping to educate farmers on the pros and cons of artificial intelligence (AI). But, ahead of his talk, he'll be using AI voice technology to call the conference attendees and convince them to attend his presentation. And then, hopefully, weave statistics and …

This week on the podcast, we touch on a variety of topics. Ben has been incrementally building a data export feature for his customers; and, he's gotten to a point in which he can see a viable light at the end of the tunnel. Carol has discovered that if she doodles circles with her non-dominant hand, it occupies the ADHD portion of her brain and fr…

Adam uses the new CSS color functions for HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) in order to create a heatmap for the number of dollars raised by his platform. Ben dives into the Algolia search service as a way to provide a search feature on his blog. Carol is trying to alleviate performance concerns around an N+1 SQL problem using an ORM (Object-Relatio…

On today's show, we cover a variety of topics. Tim was suffering from a "carding" attack (aka, a "credit card stuffing" attack) and had to build an internal CAPTCHA system in order to protect his web-based payment forms from bad actors. Adam created an open-source JavaScript library for mocking ES modules (see Mockable) that makes it possible to sw…

On today's show, we cover a variety of topics. Ben talks about overcompensation at work; and, how we often swing way too hard in one direction as the first signs of a challenge. Carol talks about how her current task got away from her; and, how she suddenly founder herself creating a Pull Request with 84 files in it. Tim talks about the generation …

On today's show, we talk about incidents and outages at work. Incidents are a fact of life. If you depend on a file system or a database or a third party vendor, at some point, something will break and your service will be degraded. Customers freak out (rightly so); and, it becomes a cross-team effort to try and find the problem, fix it, and effect…

Adam picks Tim's brain searching for the perfect solution for payments and compliance auditing. With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media. Full show notes and transcript here.By Adam Tuttle, Ben Nadel, Carol Hamilton, Tim Cunningham

In a world where many programmers instinctively reach for an existing solution in "user land", Ben poses the question: is there value in building out and maintaining your own standard library? This would be the collection of commonly-used functions and classes that you enjoy using; and, which are tailored to your use-cases and programming paradigms…

Tim just completed his quarterly strategy review meeting at work. As such, he's in the perfect head space to teach Adam and Ben what strategy is; how strategy differs from tactics; and, how OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can be used in order to ensure that the work to be done actually rolls-up to one of the company's core strategies. In the end,…

On today's show, we talk to Thelma Van about integrating design into the product development workflow. This includes User Experience (UX) design, User Interface (UI) design, scope negotiation, and user validation through interviews. It turns out, even if you can only talk to five of your customers, having this amount of feedback can have a massivel…

Several years ago, Stack Overflow noticed a small but surprising trend within their 2017 Developer Survey data. Even when attempting to adjust for several factors, it seems that the programmers who indent their code with spaces (as opposed to with tabs) have a higher earning potential. As an example of programmers who love using tabs, the hosts of …

On today's show, we talk about two major announcements relating to the technology world. First, the government released a report calling on programmers to start using memory safe languages (see: Future Software Should Be Memory Safe). Second, Apple announced that it will halt work on Titan, its autonomous electric vehicle project. We also talk abou…

The first duty in life is to assume a pose. What the second is, no one has yet discovered. - Oscar Wilde You may never think about it or even be aware of it; but, you have a personal brand. A brand is not something you can opt into or out of. It simply exists. The only choice that you have is how you manage - or choose not to manage - your brand in…

On today's show, we respond to a listener question from Kamil Maraz: I have started a Developer experience initiative in our company. We started with a survey, which led to many 1-on-1 meetings; and, one thing that came up a few times was onboarding. Long story short: it's not ideal. I was wondering if this topic could be an inspiration for one of …