In this episode of Develop Yourself, I sit down with Gabe Rucker, CEO of Founding Titans, to discuss everything from entrepreneurship and building startups to the practical side of networking and getting money from thin air.

We also dive into how Parsity students gained valuable, hands-on experience through an internship with Founding Titans, working alongside a real AI startup team.

Topics we cover include:

• Gabe’s journey from coder to founder—and what he’s learned along the way
• How to raise capital, attract the right investors, and avoid common startup pitfalls
• Validating your ideas and building a minimum viable product (MVP) that people actually want
• Why networking is critical—for both startups and job seekers
• The role of AI in software development today—and its limitations
• Behind-the-scenes: how our internship with Parsity students worked in a live startup environment

Connect with Gabe Rucker on LinkedIn:

→ Gabriel Rucker (CEO, Founding Titans)  

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

When I first tried to learn JavaScript, I hated it so much I told myself I’d just be an HTML and CSS developer and never touch it again. 

Of course, my first job threw me straight into Angular, C#, SQL, and a mountain of JavaScript I wasn’t ready for.

In this episode, I share what made JavaScript so brutal for me (and for almost every student I’ve worked with), the mistakes that keep people stuck, and the science-backed strategies that actually helped me go from totally lost to confident. 

If you’ve been banging your head against for loops, callbacks, or just “getting it,” this one’s for you.

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

When your only tool is a hammer - everything looks like a nail.

2 of these database I'm sure you've heard and 2 might be completely new to you.

Let's go past MongoDB and SQL to learn what tool is best for what job and what's the database choice for AI in 2025.

If you're interested in learning SQL, check out this episode: https://open.spotify.com/show/69BHCbRAl6rHT9LlNhFWUy

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Every year, Stack Overflow surveys nearly a 100,000 developers to learn what technologies, languages and tools are trending.

The answers here might surprise you, especially when it comes to AI tools.

You can check out the survey here: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/developers/

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Maybe I'm just coping.

Maybe.

I’ve been pretty vocal about the over-hype of AI coding tools and I always get the same responses from AI bros:

“YoU gOtta PrOmpt bEtteR!”

“This iz a skillz issue dawg”“I’m using [x] and it works perfectly”

“I’m a super duper senior architect and I’ve replaced my entire team with AI agents. You’re coping.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t doubt myself.

Maybe they’re right, maybe I’m just not using these tools correctly.

Let’s take a look at some big fax and small fax to understand where the truth ends and the hype begins.

Sources: 

TrueUp Software Engineering Job Trends (June 2025)

Business Insider: Google engineers just 10% more productive with AI (June 2025)

Computerworld: Minimal productivity gains from AI chatbots

 TechRepublic: IBM Study on AI ROI (2025)

https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

If I lost everything today—no job, no network, no portfolio—and had to start over in 2025 as a software developer, I wouldn’t be looking for a 3-month miracle. 

I’d be planning for 12 months. 

That’s how long it really takes now.

We cover:

• what tech stack you should learn
• networking as a developer using BFS
• a capstone project that is actually impressive
• an interviewing strategy
• 3 books I'd read as a new developer

At Parsity, we cover all this and much more. Apply here. 

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Five years ago, during an interview for a senior dev role, I had a panic attack. It was one of my worst interview experiences. It also taught me a lot about what I was doing wrong.

In this episode, I'll break down the process that took me from under-paid developer to passing interviews and 4x'ing my salary.

Here's your worksheet to help you create a solid story for an interview: worksheet

If you know you suck at interviews - I'll be working with a few people to help them crush their next interview and increase their salaries.

Apply here: Fill out application 👈

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Harish, former lead engineer at MongoDB and current co-founder of Flaire, takes us on a journey through his unusual career path—one that didn’t involve grinding LeetCode or chasing FAANG.

Instead, he got deep into cybersecurity, built large-scale systems, and eventually started his own company that’s redefining how small businesses use software.

We talk about:

• What it’s actually like to work on database internals and secure infrastructure
• Why most engineers shouldn’t become founders—and why he did anyway
• How to use AI for real business workflows (not just ChatGPT hacks)
• The rise of “cybersecurity as product” and how ops teams still run on spreadsheets and WhatsApp
• Why learning to code isn’t just about DSA and bootcamps—it’s about solving real problems

“A lot of tools are built for enterprises, but most businesses are duct-taping together spreadsheets. We built for them.”
“You need to understand how your workflows actually function before throwing AI at them.”
“Don’t overbuild. Build just enough to learn something, then improve.”

If you’re newer to tech and want to understand what actual engineering careers can look like—this episode will open your eyes to what’s possible.

Connect with Harish here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scharish/

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Are junior devs cooked?

How can I scaffold a solid MERN stack app?

What's the best way to stick with a tutorial?

We got some great questions this episode and my answers might surprise you.

Got a question you want answered? Drop it here: https://form.typeform.com/to/Q499M9kl

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.

Learning JS is tough.

And you're probably making some of the same mistakes I did in the past.

In this episode you'll get a path and a small project to make to teach you the minimum effective dose of JavaScript necessary to move forward in your learning journey.

Here's the challenge I mentioned which includes some short videos: Your Form Challenge

Send us a text

Shameless Plugs

Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI

Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here

Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career.

AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.