In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Bobby Clayson, CEO of Crofter Market, who's tackling one of America's biggest challenges: food system centralization. Bobby shares his journey from building Tax Bit in the cryptocurrency space to creating a marketplace that connects local farmers directly with consumers.

We dive deep into the technical and business challenges of building a two-sided marketplace with Elixir. Bobby explains how COVID exposed critical weaknesses in our food supply chain—from beef rationing while farms had surplus livestock to the loss of 50% of American ranchers over four decades. He shares how Crofter evolved from a simple directory to a full third-party logistics operation with refrigerated delivery.

The conversation covers crucial startup lessons: solving the cold start problem, building trust with non-technical farmers, knowing when to pivot, and the importance of stepping away from code as a technical founder. Bobby offers candid advice about fundraising, hiring in the Elixir ecosystem, and why passion for your problem matters more than your idea. He emphasizes how functional programming naturally aligns with distributed systems and why Elixir's fault tolerance makes it perfect for marketplace infrastructure.

This episode provides valuable insights for anyone building marketplaces, working with physical logistics, or transitioning from technical to leadership roles. Bobby's story demonstrates how technology can address real-world problems while supporting local farmers and improving public health through better food access.

Resources Mentioned:
- Crofter Market: https://crofter.com
- The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen
- Platform Revolution

Connect with Bobby:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyclayson/

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- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Barnabas Jovanovics, a core engineer on the Ash framework team. Barnabas shares his unique journey from working as an electrician and automation engineer to becoming a key contributor to one of Elixir's most powerful frameworks.

We explore how Barnabas discovered Ash while building a booking platform, initially skeptical but quickly becoming convinced by its power. He discusses his major contributions including Ash RBAC for simplified role-based access control and GraphQL subscriptions, as well as his current work on a Discord bot framework that leverages Ash's architecture patterns.

Our conversation covers the philosophy of open source development, the challenges of maintaining large projects, and the exciting new Ash TypeScript integration that just launched. This feature automatically generates type-safe TypeScript client code from your Ash resources, supporting both fetch and Phoenix channels for real-time communication.

We also discuss valuable perspectives on the Elixir community, conference experiences at Goatmire and Alchemy Conf, and practical advice for developers navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-assisted programming. Whether you're new to Ash or an experienced user, this conversation provides valuable insights into the framework's architecture and future direction.

Resources Mentioned:
- Ash Framework: https://ash-hq.org/

Connect with Barnabas:
- X: https://x.com/barnabasMJ

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I welcome back Michael Lubas, founder of Paraxial.io, where he's building comprehensive security tooling specifically designed for the Elixir ecosystem. We explore how AI-generated code is impacting application security and why traditional scanning tools aren't catching critical vulnerabilities.

Michael shares his experience with the most common security mistakes in Elixir projects, including binary deserialization exploits that can lead to remote code execution. We discuss how Phoenix 1.8's improved security documentation helps developers, the rise of organized ransomware attacks, and why security scanning is more crucial than ever with AI-assisted development becoming mainstream.

Our conversation covers the challenges of enterprise security tooling, the differences between Rails and Elixir security patterns, and how Paraxial 3.0 is addressing the unique needs of Elixir developers. Michael explains why most enterprise security tools fail developers and how Paraxial takes a developer-first approach to vulnerability detection and remediation.

We also discuss the future of AI in software development, identity verification challenges in an age of deepfakes, and the evolving hiring landscape for developers. This conversation provides essential context for anyone building production Elixir applications or concerned about security in the age of AI-generated code.

Resources Mentioned:
- Paraxial.io Security Platform: https://paraxial.io/
- Phoenix Security Documentation: https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix/security.html

Connect with Michael Lubas:
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/paraxialio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellubas/

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I chat with Chris McCord, creator of Phoenix Framework and LiveView. We dive deep into Phoenix 1.8's groundbreaking AI features, including the revolutionary AGENTS.md file that's transforming how developers work with LLMs in their Elixir applications.

Chris shares the fascinating evolution from Phoenix channels to LiveView, explaining how his early experiments with real-time Rails applications led to creating the framework that powers some of today's most ambitious web applications. We explore Phoenix.new, the browser-based development platform that lets anyone build Elixir apps without installing anything locally, and discuss how Tidewave MCP brings intelligent AI assistance directly into your development workflow.

Our conversation reveals why Elixir's concurrency model and OTP primitives make it the perfect platform for building AI agents, with Chris explaining how gen servers naturally solve the complex state management and routing problems that other ecosystems struggle with. He provides valuable insights on using LLMs effectively in development, from avoiding common pitfalls to leveraging AI for code porting and debugging.

The episode concludes with Chris's thoughts on open source sustainability, the importance of community culture, and practical advice for developers looking to level up their skills with AI-assisted development. This conversation offers essential perspective for anyone working with Elixir or considering how AI will shape the future of software development.

Resources Mentioned:
- Phoenix Framework: https://phoenixframework.org/
- Metaprogramming Elixir book
- Phoenix.new - Browser-based development platform
- Tidewave MCP - Local AI development integration

Connect with Chris:
- Website: https://chrismccord.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mccord-98b47a37/

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I chat with Adam Kirk, CTO and co-founder of Jump, where they're building AI-powered meeting intelligence for financial advisors. We dive deep into scaling Elixir applications, managing LiveView at thousands of concurrent connections, and building high-performance teams in competitive markets.

Adam shares his fascinating journey from PHP and Rails to Elixir, explaining how Jump pivoted from sales automation to financial advisor tools and found explosive product-market fit. We explore the technical challenges of real-time meeting processing, AI cost optimization, and the unique compliance requirements of the financial sector.

Our conversation covers Jump's innovative hiring philosophy, including their distinctive approach of 30-minute coding assessments followed by paid trial weeks. Adam explains how they've successfully hired 40+ engineers, many learning Elixir on the job, while maintaining a strong culture of full-stack ownership and work-life balance.

We also discuss practical aspects of scaling with LiveView, handling WebSocket reconnections gracefully, and why they chose Oban over traditional GenServer patterns in their Kubernetes environment. This episode provides valuable insights for anyone building AI-powered applications, scaling engineering teams, or navigating the challenges of startup growth.

Resources Mentioned:
- Jump: https://jumpapp.com/
- Jump Careers: https://careers.jumpapp.com/
- Adam on X: https://x.com/atomkirk

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com
- Recruitment Services: https://elixirmentor.com/?utm_source=elixir-mentor

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Mike Hostetler, creator of Jido, a powerful framework for building autonomous AI agent systems in Elixir. We explore why Elixir's actor model and OTP make it the ideal platform for creating massive agent swarms.

Mike shares his vision of "10,000 agents per human" and explains how Jido's architecture leverages Elixir's strengths to build scalable, distributed agent systems. We dive deep into the framework's core components including actions (atomic units of work), signals (messaging backbone), and how agents can spawn sub-agents in supervision trees. The conversation covers practical applications, from Discord bots to job board automation.

Our discussion reveals fascinating insights about the future of software development, where traditional coding languages may need to evolve for the agent-driven world. Mike explains his design philosophy of keeping LLMs separate from the core framework, allowing for both AI-powered and traditional NPC-style agents to coexist efficiently.

This episode provides valuable perspective for developers interested in building autonomous systems, understanding distributed architecture, and preparing for the next evolution in software development where agents become integral to our development workflow.

**Resources Mentioned:**
- Jido Framework: https://github.com/agentjido
- Agent Jido: https://agentjido.xyz
- Mike's Website: https://mike-hostetler.com/

**Connect with Mike:**
- X/Twitter: @mikehostetler

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Zach Daniel, the brilliant creator of Ash Framework, for a fascinating discussion about the intersection of AI and application development. We dive deep into LLM workflows, explore the revolutionary usage rules system, and get an exclusive look at Ash AI - the comprehensive toolkit that's changing how we integrate AI capabilities into Elixir applications.

Zach shares his insights on effective LLM usage patterns, from vibe coding workflows to production-ready AI integrations. We explore the groundbreaking usage rules system that allows library authors to provide LLM-specific guidance, making AI assistance dramatically more effective for framework users. The conversation covers Ash AI's powerful features including automated chatbot generation, prompt-backed actions, and seamless tool integration that lets you build AI-enabled applications with minimal effort.

Our discussion also touches on the challenges of scaling open source communities, the future of solo entrepreneurship in the AI era, and how tools like Deep Wiki are creating surprisingly accurate AI-generated documentation. Zach provides valuable perspective on managing large open source projects while maintaining code quality and community engagement.

This episode offers essential insights for developers interested in leveraging AI tools effectively, understanding modern framework design, and building robust applications with Elixir and Ash. Whether you're exploring AI integration or looking to understand cutting-edge development workflows, this conversation provides practical wisdom and forward-thinking perspectives.

Resources Mentioned:
- Ash Framework: https://ash-hq.org/
- Ash Framework Book: https://pragprog.com/titles/ldash/ash-framework/
- Usage Rules: https://hexdocs.pm/usage_rules/
- Deep Wiki: https://deepwiki.org/

Connect with Zach:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachdaniel/
- Substack: https://www.zachdaniel.dev/
- GitHub: https://github.com/zachdaniel

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I welcome back Greg Medland, a recruiter who specializes in connecting talented developers with companies seeking expertise in the Elixir ecosystem. We dive deep into the current state of the Elixir job market and explore what developers can expect in 2025.

Greg shares valuable insights on how the market has evolved since the post-COVID correction, revealing encouraging signs of recovery and continued Elixir adoption. We discuss the most in-demand skills including Ash Framework experience, full-stack capabilities with React, and AI/ML integration. The conversation explores how companies like Apple, BBC, and numerous startups are successfully leveraging Elixir at scale.

We tackle the elephant in the room - AI's impact on developer roles. Greg provides a balanced perspective on how AI tools are changing the hiring landscape, what employers expect regarding AI proficiency, and how developers can leverage these tools while maintaining their value. He emphasizes the importance of using AI as a productivity enhancer rather than a replacement for critical thinking.

The episode concludes with practical career advice including resume tips, interview strategies, and how to stand out in a competitive market. Greg shares his unique perspective from reviewing more Elixir developer resumes than perhaps anyone else, offering actionable insights for developers at all levels.

Resources Mentioned:
- Elixir Remote US Jobs Channel (Elixir Slack)
- I Ask.ai: https://iask.ai

Connect with Greg:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregmedlandg2/

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this comprehensive episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Brian Cardarella, CEO of DockYard, to tackle one of the most critical topics facing our community: Elixir adoption. We dive deep into the challenges and opportunities that shape how developers and companies discover and embrace Elixir.

Brian shares his extensive experience from the consulting world, discussing everything from the changing conference landscape and social media fragmentation to the existential questions around AI's impact on programming languages. We explore why traditional adoption pathways have shifted, the role of LLMs in shaping developer choices, and practical strategies for convincing teams to adopt Elixir in both startup and enterprise environments.

Our conversation covers the technical barriers newcomers face with OTP, the importance of community building, and the economic realities affecting the entire tech industry. Brian provides candid insights about running a consultancy during market downturns, the influence of private equity, and why Elixir's "makes hard things easy" philosophy sometimes struggles with the "easy things" developers expect.

We also tackle community-submitted questions about migration strategies, tooling gaps, type systems, and the future of Live View Native. This episode offers both tactical advice for developers and strategic insights for technical leaders considering Elixir adoption.

Resources Mentioned:
- Elixir Outreach Stipend Program: https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2025/06/02/elixir-outreach-stipend-for-speakers/
- Conference opportunities list by Dave Erensson:https://www.codosaur.us/speaking/cfps-ending-soon

Connect with Brian:
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/bcardarella/
- DockYard: https://dockyard.com/

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com

In this episode of the Elixir Mentor Podcast, I sit down with Henry Saint-Juste, Solutions Architect at NetJets, to explore his philosophy of rapid prototyping and moving fast to validate ideas before committing to tech stacks. Henry shares his unique approach to staying 2-3 sprints ahead of engineering teams and building proof of concepts that drive real business decisions.

We dive deep into Henry's experience building NetJets' mobile application using a "code once, deploy anywhere" strategy with React Native and Expo. Henry explains how he evaluates cross-platform frameworks and why React Native succeeded where other solutions like Flutter and Cordova fell short. Our conversation covers his methodology for rapid prototyping, platform engineering approaches, and the importance of getting user feedback loops as quickly as possible.

Henry also shares his experience working with Elixir at a previous healthcare startup, his thoughts on automation and "speed of thought" development, and some fascinating insights about his unique perks working at NetJets (hint: private jets are involved). We explore modern deployment strategies, the evolving landscape of DevOps tools, and wrap up with predictions about AI's impact on software engineering teams.

This conversation offers valuable insights for anyone interested in rapid prototyping methodologies, cross-platform mobile development, and building MVPs that actually provide meaningful data for product decisions.

Connect with Henry:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hberson/

SUPPORT ELIXIR MENTOR
- Elixir Mentor: https://elixirmentor.com