Coding Blocks

By Allen Underwood, Michael Outlaw, Joe Zack

What's Coding Blocks about?

Become the best software developer you can be

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2023 Holiday Season Develop...

11.25.2023

It’s that time of year again when the three of us reflect on the things we’ve bought and loved, or the things we want to get…and want to love…So, come join us in this episode for our usual amount of ...

Coding Blocks episodes:

11.25.2023 2023 Holiday Season Developer Shopping List It’s that time of year again when the three of us reflect on the things we’ve bought and loved, or the things we want to get…and want to love…So, come join us in this episode for our usual amount of ...
11.13.2023 Gartner and your Life Partners Ever looked at a Gartner report? We talk about the Technology Adoption Roadmap for Midsize Enterprises 2022, and the cloud services you’re married to in this episode. Also, Joe’s drumming up business ideas, Allen’s laying down the law and Outlaw ...
10.30.2023 Open Telemetry – Instrumentation and Metrics Join us as we get back into the world of Open Telemetry. Piggy-backing on previous conversations from the Google SRE series as well as DevOps, metrics and instrumentation is a key component of understanding what’s happening with your systems. Follow ...
10.15.2023 Keyboards, Cloud Costs, Static Analysis, and Philosophy We’ve got a smorgasbord of delights for you this week, ranging from mechanical switches to the cloud and beyond. Also, Michael’s cosplaying as Megaman, Joe learns the difference between Clicks and Clacks, and Allen takes no prisoners. See the full ...
10.02.2023 Code Confidence using NASA’s Ten Simple Rules We’ve mentioned in the past that the code we write isn’t maintaining heartbeats or being used in life-critical settings, but what if your code is? NASA happens to be a company who has code that is life and mission critical ...
09.17.2023 GitHub Actions In this episode, we are talking all about GitHub Actions. What are they, and why should you consider learning more about them? Also, Allen terminates the terminators, Outlaw remembers the good ol’ days, and Joe tries his hand at sales. ...
09.05.2023 Tracing Specifics – Know your System with OpenTelmetry Get a behind the scenes intro to some of the interesting conversations we have before we even get into the content. We’ll be jumping into the meat of this episode and looking at the specifics of tracing using OpenTelemetry. Before ...
08.21.2023 What is OpenTelemetry? In this episode, we’re talking all about OpenTelemetry. Also, Allen lays down some knowledge, Joe plays director and Outlaw stumps the chumps. See the full show notes at https://www.codingblocks.net/episode216 News What is OpenTelemetry? It’s all about Observability Reliability and Metrics ...
08.07.2023 Software in Audio and How to Lead In this episode, Allen, Michael and Joe discuss the latest update with the Reddit saga, software for designing audio and reproducing analog sounds, an open-ended interview question and tips on how to be a great leader. Reviews Huge thank you ...
07.23.2023 Team Leadership, TUIs, and AI Lawsuits In this episode, we’re talking about the history of “man” pages, console apps, team leadership, and Artificial Intelligence liability. Also, Allen’s downloading the internet, Outlaw has fallen in love with the sound of a morrvair, and Joe says TUI like ...
07.10.2023 Better Application Management with Custom Apps Last episode, it might have been said that you can become a senior engineer in just one short year. Our amazing slack community spoke up and had some thoughts on that as well…we revisit that, and what does senior even ...
06.25.2023 Errors vs Exceptions, Reddit Rebels, and the 2023 StackOverflow Survey In this episode, we’re talking about lessons learned and the lessons we still need to learn. Also, Michael shares some anti-monetization strategies, Allen wins by default, and Joe keeps it real 59/60 days a year! The full show notes for ...
06.11.2023 Easy and Cheap AI for Developers, Reddit API Changes and Sherlocking We’re back after a brief break for a busy month of May, and we’re here to talk about some pretty cool stuff happening in the developer world. Outlaw took vacation and can remember nothing, Joe introduces us to Sherlocking, and ...
05.15.2023 Gitlab vs Github, AI vs Microservices In this sequence of sound, we compute Joe’s unexpected pleasure in commercial-viewing algorithms, Michael’s intricate process of slicing up the pizza, and Allen’s persistent request for more cheese data augmentation. Will you engage in this data streaming session? The full ...
05.01.2023 Supporting Your Code, README vs Wiki and Test Coverage In this episode we talk about several things that have been on our mind. We find that Joe has been taken over by AI’s, Michael now understands our love of Kotlin, and Allen wants to know how to escape supporting ...
04.16.2023 Water Cooler GPT We’re doing a water cooler talk today. Also, Allen can tell you how not to leak secrets, Michael knows how to work a spreadsheet, and Joe has been replaced by an AGI. The full show notes for this episode are ...
04.03.2023 Understanding Serial Transactions for Databases like Redis We’ve got a new / old opening…Allen goes off / on script? Michael denies Joe the “swing” vote, and Joe is all in on AI assistance Testing for concurrency issues is hard because it’s non-deterministic – basically you get unlucky ...
03.20.2023 Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Lost Updates and Write Skew What are lost updates, and what can we do about them? Maybe we don’t do anything and accept the write skew? Also, Allen has sharp ears, Outlaw’s gort blah spotterfiles, and Joe is just thinking about breakfast. The full show ...
03.06.2023 ChatGPT and the Future of Everything There’s this thing called ChatGPT you may have heard of. Is it the end for all software developers? Have we reached the epitome of mankind? Also, should you write your own or find a FOSS solution? That and much more ...
02.20.2023 Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Weak Isolation and Snapshotting Ever wonder how database backups work if new data is coming in while the backup is running? Hang with us while we talk about that, while Allen doesn’t stand a chance, Outlaw is in love, and Joe forgets his radio ...
02.06.2023 Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Multi-Object Transactions It's time we learn about multi-object transactions as we continue our journey into Designing Data-Intensive Applications, while Allen didn't specifically have that thought, Joe took a marketing class, and Michael promised he wouldn't cry.
01.23.2023 Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Transactions We decided to knock the dust off our copies of Designing Data-Intensive Applications to learn about transactions while Michael is full of solutions, Allen isn't deterred by Cheater McCheaterton, and Joe realizes wurds iz hard.
01.02.2023 2023 Resolutions Michael spends the holidays changing his passwords, Joe forgot to cancel his subscriptions, and Allen's busy playing Call of Duty: Modern Healthcare as we discuss the our 2023 resolutions.
12.19.2022 200th Episode Extravaganza! We step back and look at how things have changed since we first started the show while Outlaw is dancing on tables, Allen really knows his movie monsters, and Joe’s math is on point. The full show notes for this ...
12.05.2022 Job Hopping and Favorite Dev Books We talk about career management and interview tips, pushing data contracts “left”, and our favorite dev books while Outlaw is [redacted], Joe’s trying to figure out how to hire junior devs, and Allen’s trying to screw some nails in. The ...
11.21.2022 Technical Challenges of Scale at Twitter We take a peak into some of the challenges Twitter has faced while solving data problems at large scale, while Michael challenges the audience, Joe speaks from experience, and Allen blindsides them both.
11.07.2022 The 2022 Shopping Spree It's that time of year where we've got money burning a hole in our pockets. That's right, it's time for the annual shopping spree. Meanwhile, Fiona Allen is being gross, Joe throws shade at Burger King, and Michael has a ...
10.24.2022 As the Watercooler Turns We gather around the watercooler to discuss the latest gossip and shenanigans have been called while Coach Allen is not wrong, Michael gets called out, and Joe gets it right the first time.
10.10.2022 Git from the Bottom Up – Reset, Stash, and Reflog We wrap up Git from the Bottom Up by John Wiegley while Joe has a convenient excuse, Allen gets thrown under the bus, and Michael somehow made it worse.
09.26.2022 Git from the Bottom Up – The Index This episode, we learn more about Git's Index and compare it to other version control systems while Joe is throwing shade, Michael learns a new command, and Allen makes it gross.
09.12.2022 Git from the Bottom Up – Rebasing It's time to understand the full power of Git's rebase capabilities while Allen takes a call from Doc Brown, Michael is breaking stuff all day long, and Joe must be punished.
08.29.2022 Git from the Bottom Up – Commits We are committed to continuing our deep dive into Git from the Bottom Up by John Wiegley, while Allen puts too much thought into onions, Michael still doesn't understand proper nouns, and Joe is out hat shopping.
08.15.2022 Git from the Bottom Up – Blobs and Trees It's surprising how little we know about Git as we continue to dive into Git from the Bottom Up, while Michael confuses himself, Joe has low standards, and Allen tells a joke.
08.01.2022 Understanding Git After working with Git for over a decade, we decide to take a deep dive into how it works, while Michael, Allen, and Joe apparently still don't understand Git.
07.18.2022 Stack Overflow 2022 Survey Says … Once again, Stack Overflow takes the pulse of the developer community where we have all collectively decided to switch to Clojure, while Michael is changing things up, Joe is a future predicting trailblazer, and Allen is "up in the books"
07.05.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – More Evolution of Automation We're going back in time, or is it forward?, as we continue learning about Google's automation evolution, while Allen doesn't like certain beers, Joe is a Zacker™, and Michael poorly assumes that UPSes work best when plugged in.
06.20.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – Evolution of Automation We explore the evolution of automation as we continue studying Google's Site Reliability Engineering, while Michael, ah, forget it, Joe almost said it correctly, and Allen fell for it.
06.06.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – (Still) Monitoring Distributed Systems We finished. A chapter, that is, of the Site Reliability Engineering book as Allen asks to make it weird, Joe has his own pronunciation, and Michael follows through on his promise.
05.23.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – Monitoring Distributed Systems We haven't finished the Site Reliability Engineering book yet as we learn how to monitor our system while the deals at Costco as so good, Allen thinks they're fake, Joe hasn't attended a math class in a while, and Michael ...
05.09.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – Eliminating Toil We say "toil" a lot this episode while Joe saw a movie, Michael says something controversial, and Allen's tip is to figure it out yourself, all while learning how to eliminate toil.
04.25.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – Service Level Indicators, Objectives, and Agreements Welcome to the morning edition of Coding Blocks as we dive into what service level indicators, objectives, and agreements are while Michael clearly needs more sleep, Allen doesn't know how web pages work anymore, and Joe isn't allowed to beg.
04.11.2022 Site Reliability Engineering – Embracing Risk We learn how to embrace risk as we continue our learning about Site Reliability Engineering while Johnny Underwood talked too much, Joe shares a (scary) journey through his mind, and Michael, Reader of Names, ends the show on a dark ...
03.28.2022 Software Reliability Engineering – Hope is not a strategy It's finally time to learn what Site Reliability Engineering is all about, while Jer can't speak nor type, Merkle got one (!!!), and Mr. Wunderwood is wrong.
03.14.2022 The Great Resignation We're living through the tail end, maybe?, of the Great Resignation, so we dig into how that might impact software engineering careers while Allen is very somber, Joe's years are ... different, and Michael compares Apples to Apples.
02.28.2022 Minimum Viable Continuous Delivery We dive into what it takes to adhere to minimum viable continuous delivery while Michael isn't going to quit his day job, Allen catches the earworm, and Joe is experiencing full-on Stockholm syndrome.
02.14.2022 #CBJAM 22 Recap We have a retrospective about our recent Game Ja Ja Ja Jam, while Michael doesn't know his A from his CNAME, Allen could be a nun, and Joe still wants to be a game developer.
01.31.2022 PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers, The Dramatic Conclusion We wrap up our discussion of PagerDuty's Security Training, while Joe declares this year is already a loss, Michael can't even, and Allen says doody, err, duty.
01.18.2022 PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers, Penultimate We're pretty sure we're almost done and we're definitely all present for the recording as we continue discussing PagerDuty's Security Training, while Allen won't fall for it, Joe takes the show to a dark place, and Michael knows obscure, um, ...
01.04.2022 PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers! Part Deux We continue our discussion of PagerDuty's Security Training presentation while Michael buys a vowel, Joe has some buffer, and Allen hits everything he doesn't aim for.
12.20.2021 PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers We're taking our time as we discuss PagerDuty's Security Training presentations and what it means to "roll the pepper" while Michael is embarrassed in front of the whole Internet, Franklin Allen Underwood is on a full name basis, and don't ...

Older episodes

Coding Blocks

What's Coding Blocks about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Coding Blocks episodes:

2023 Holiday Season Developer Shopping List

Gartner and your Life Partners

Open Telemetry – Instrumentation and Metrics

Keyboards, Cloud Costs, Static Analysis, and Philosophy

Code Confidence using NASA’s Ten Simple Rules

GitHub Actions

Tracing Specifics – Know your System with OpenTelmetry

What is OpenTelemetry?

Software in Audio and How to Lead

Team Leadership, TUIs, and AI Lawsuits

Better Application Management with Custom Apps

Errors vs Exceptions, Reddit Rebels, and the 2023 StackOverflow Survey

Easy and Cheap AI for Developers, Reddit API Changes and Sherlocking

Gitlab vs Github, AI vs Microservices

Supporting Your Code, README vs Wiki and Test Coverage

Water Cooler GPT

Understanding Serial Transactions for Databases like Redis

Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Lost Updates and Write Skew

ChatGPT and the Future of Everything

Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Weak Isolation and Snapshotting

Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Multi-Object Transactions

Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Transactions

2023 Resolutions

200th Episode Extravaganza!

Job Hopping and Favorite Dev Books

Technical Challenges of Scale at Twitter

The 2022 Shopping Spree

As the Watercooler Turns

Git from the Bottom Up – Reset, Stash, and Reflog

Git from the Bottom Up – The Index

Git from the Bottom Up – Rebasing

Git from the Bottom Up – Commits

Git from the Bottom Up – Blobs and Trees

Understanding Git

Stack Overflow 2022 Survey Says …

Site Reliability Engineering – More Evolution of Automation

Site Reliability Engineering – Evolution of Automation

Site Reliability Engineering – (Still) Monitoring Distributed Systems

Site Reliability Engineering – Monitoring Distributed Systems

Site Reliability Engineering – Eliminating Toil

Site Reliability Engineering – Service Level Indicators, Objectives, and Agreements

Site Reliability Engineering – Embracing Risk

Software Reliability Engineering – Hope is not a strategy

The Great Resignation

Minimum Viable Continuous Delivery

#CBJAM 22 Recap

PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers, The Dramatic Conclusion

PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers, Penultimate

PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers! Part Deux

PagerDuty’s Security Training for Engineers

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