In this episode, Toby and Krisztian take a hands-on dive into what it actually means to run your own data centre. Drawing on years of real-world experience racking servers, pulling fibre, configuring BGP and managing colocation suites, they walk through physical layout, cooling, power redundancy, network topology, capacity planning and hidden operational costs — then contrast all of this with the cloud. A rare and genuinely technical episode for anyone curious about what happens behind the abstraction layer.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:27 Our data centre backgrounds

4:09 What does a data centre actually look like?

6:27 Tiers of availability

7:14 Racks, blades and colocation

13:06 Power redundancy: dual circuits and hot-swappable components

15:55 Network: SFPs, fibre optic and bandwidth design

18:59 BGP, ASN numbers and getting on the internet

24:13 Cooling: cold aisles and hot aisles

28:52 The cost breakdown: hardware, power, space, staffing

33:18 Capacity planning: the static nature of physical infrastructure

37:00 Team size and skills required

40:17 Hardware lifecycle and refresh cycles

44:05 How servers are ordered, received and racked

47:11 Should you run your own data centre?

50:10 Edge cases where on-prem makes sense

53:38 Hybrid cloud and AWS Outposts

57:09 Cloud vs data centre total cost of ownership

1:03:01 Environmental impact: waste heat and green data centres

1:07:24 How data centre skills transfer to the cloud

1:08:30 Summary: use the cloud if you can

Technologies Mentioned

AWS - https://aws.amazon.com

AWS Outposts - https://aws.amazon.com/outposts

Kubernetes - https://kubernetes.io

Juniper Networks - https://www.juniper.net

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian dig into technical communication — one of the most underrated yet career-defining skills in engineering. They explore how to tailor your message to different audiences, why the curse of the expert derails so many technical conversations, how good documentation and code naming are themselves forms of communication, why architecture diagrams so often mislead, how to run blameless post-mortems, and why honesty and integrity are the foundations of trust in any technical discussion.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:06 What is technical communication?

2:08 Understanding your audience

5:33 The curse of the expert

7:06 How to explain Kubernetes to non-technical people

9:54 Avoiding jargon with business stakeholders

11:35 Written communication: READMEs, comments, documentation

13:54 Using AI to maintain documentation intent

15:12 Architectural Decision Records

17:37 Naming things properly: services, teams and systems

21:41 API documentation

25:56 Empathy in communication

29:34 Improving public speaking

33:57 Drawing out quieter voices in meetings

35:01 Pre-meeting async writing

38:49 Integrity and saying I don't know

43:13 Learning what the business actually does

46:00 Blameless post-mortems and RCAs done right

49:06 Architecture diagrams: right level of abstraction

53:38 Deployment vs logical architecture diagrams

55:00 Executive-first documentation: start wide, go narrow

58:17 Summary: always lead with context and work down into detail

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian take a deep dive into the world of principal engineers. Krisztian, himself a principal engineer, breaks down what the role actually involves: translating business strategy into technical direction, mentoring without micromanaging, building mental models of complex systems, and interpreting between engineering and senior leadership. They explore the difference between principal engineers and architects, the IC versus management career path, what makes a great versus a toxic principal engineer, how to interview for the role, and what aspiring engineers should focus on to get there.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:51 Where does principal engineer sit in the career ladder?

3:30 IC versus management track: the fork in the road

6:05 Why the industry created the IC path

7:06 What does a principal engineer actually do day to day?

8:27 Principal engineer versus architect

10:48 Leading by influence, not authority

12:59 Translating business goals into technical direction

16:20 Building a mental model of the whole system

18:20 Communication: 80% of the job

20:47 Teaching and knowledge sharing

22:01 Mentoring versus knowledge sharing

24:57 How to become a principal engineer

31:44 Red flags: arrogance and decision-making from authority

36:33 Avoiding the gatekeeper trap

39:46 The servant leader mindset

42:32 When to insert your authority: tiebreaking and escalation

45:00 Why principal engineers should not own production code

53:14 Skills to develop on the path to principal

56:25 The importance of breadth across industries

59:23 Spotting fake experience in interviews

1:02:00 How principal engineers are interviewed

1:06:39 Summary: what the role is really about

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian tackle the challenges of startup engineering, drawing on experience helping companies scale from nothing to tens of developers. They explore the two main startup archetypes: the bootstrapped zero-to-one prototype phase and the well-funded one-to-many scaling phase. Topics include picking the right tech stack, when to use vibe coding versus proper infrastructure, the danger of over-engineering early, unit economics, multi-account cloud environments, avoiding the trap of rebuilding your data centre in the cloud, and why unblocking other teams is always the highest-value activity.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:26 Setting the scene: two types of startup

2:07 Phase one: zero to one, get out the door fast

5:33 Defining MVP and avoiding scope creep

9:57 Zero to one vs one to many: different problems

13:42 Real startup examples: from vibe coding to Kubernetes

15:48 Security, compliance, ISO 27001, GDPR

17:58 Build vs buy

20:00 Practical tech stack for a solo founder MVP

22:56 Scaling with three developers and early funding

24:47 Unit economics: know your cost per user

28:04 Managing technical debt consciously

30:04 Use boring tech and popular languages

33:14 Organisational structure first, then tech

36:16 Standards, contracts and avoiding API chaos

40:41 Multi-account cloud strategy from day one

43:57 The real cost of blocking engineers

47:52 Unblocking other teams is always highest priority

50:03 Data architecture to avoid cross-domain dependencies

54:14 When to use consultants and fractional expertise

56:03 Summary and key takeaways

Technologies Mentioned

Replit - https://replit.com

Next.js - https://nextjs.org

Vercel - https://vercel.com

Supabase - https://supabase.com

GitHub Actions - https://github.com/features/actions

AWS EKS - https://aws.amazon.com/eks

Kubernetes - https://kubernetes.io

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian explore vibe coding — building software using AI tools and natural language rather than writing code directly. Krisztian shares hands-on experiments with Replit and Cursor, the hosts discuss the impressive speed of prototyping versus the frustration when things go wrong, and they dig into the hidden security risks of putting powerful development tools in the hands of non-technical users. The conversation also covers AI-assisted cyberattacks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and what the explosion of AI-generated apps means for the software industry.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:50 What is vibe coding?

1:47 Krisztian's experiment with Replit

3:54 Building a microservice diagramming tool with AI

6:55 Toby's experience with Lovable

10:09 Cursor vs Replit

14:00 Getting stuck in loops and losing flow state

23:16 The mainframe parallel: computing cycles and AI costs

28:42 Pricing and the race to the bottom

33:27 Why you still need developers in the loop

40:05 Supabase and Lovable integration, vendor lock-in

44:29 Security risks of vibe coding

47:28 AI-assisted cyberattacks and the arms race

59:05 Supply chain attacks and model poisoning

1:01:34 The explosion of AI slop

1:05:08 Prompt engineering and LLM manipulation

1:08:00 Summary and recommendations

Technologies Mentioned

Replit - https://replit.com

Cursor - https://www.cursor.com

Lovable - https://lovable.dev

Supabase - https://supabase.com

Claude (Anthropic) - https://www.anthropic.com

React - https://react.dev

TypeScript - https://www.typescriptlang.org

GitHub Copilot - https://github.com/features/copilot

OpenRouter - https://openrouter.ai

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian tackle one of the most common questions in tech: how do you actually get into the industry in 2025? They cover choosing your first programming language, T-shaped career development, what hiring managers look for in juniors, the impact of AI on junior roles, how to navigate introversion in a collaborative industry, the value of changing companies to broaden perspective, and why your reputation starts mattering from day one. A practical and honest guide for anyone starting out or looking to level up.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

1:23 Would you start in tech today?

2:32 Find your motivation first

3:23 How to start learning: courses, books, boot camps

5:57 Pick one language and go deep

8:31 What a junior is actually expected to know

10:21 How AI has changed the junior market

13:54 AI as a tool vs AI as a crutch

17:40 Getting into infrastructure and cloud

21:50 The T-shaped engineer

24:11 What hiring managers look for

31:57 What to do in your first interview

33:17 Communication: the neglected superpower

40:11 How to help juniors grow

44:25 Imposter syndrome and the Dunning-Kruger curve

49:09 Understanding the business from day one

51:30 Managing introversion in a collaborative environment

55:58 Career progression: junior to senior to staff

1:03:49 Individual contributor vs management

1:07:22 When to switch companies

1:12:50 Protecting your reputation from day one

1:15:03 Make yourself redundant, not indispensable

1:22:37 Remote work challenges for juniors

Technologies Mentioned

Python - https://www.python.org

JavaScript - https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript

TypeScript - https://www.typescriptlang.org

Linux - https://www.kernel.org

Terraform - https://www.terraform.io

AWS - https://aws.amazon.com

In this episode, Toby and Krisztian dig into one of software engineering's most debated topics: monoliths versus microservices. They break down what each architecture actually means, where the industry went wrong by treating microservices as a default, and when a well-structured monolith is the smarter choice. The conversation covers real-world scaling challenges, infrastructure complexity, team organisation, Kubernetes fatigue, and the hidden costs of over-engineering early-stage products.

https://techleaguepodcast.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/techleague-podcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/techleaguepodcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-league/id1852602975

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1zx8UIe2EjawuVU3I31fdP

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:40 What is a monolith?

2:31 What are microservices?

3:50 The case for monoliths

7:46 Scaling problems with monoliths

8:17 Running a monolith like a microservice

14:00 The infrastructure cost of microservices

19:15 Pros and cons of microservices

22:03 Infrastructure as code and service ownership

24:00 Architectural mistakes and migration pain

28:41 Technology diversity: freedom or fragmentation?

33:25 The danger of nano-services

35:21 When should you use a monolith?

39:39 When should you use microservices?

42:44 ECS Fargate vs Kubernetes

43:01 The history of container orchestration

51:06 Is the complexity worth it?

58:13 Conclusions and takeaways

1:01:36 How to build a monolith you can grow out of

Technologies Mentioned

Docker - https://www.docker.com

Kubernetes - https://kubernetes.io

Amazon ECS - https://aws.amazon.com/ecs/

AWS Fargate - https://aws.amazon.com/fargate/

AWS Lambda - https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/

Terraform - https://www.terraform.io

Apache Mesos - https://mesos.apache.org

Google Cloud Run - https://cloud.google.com/run

Helm - https://helm.sh

In this inaugural episode of the Tech League podcast, hosts Toby Sears and Krisztian Fisher explore their backgrounds in the tech industry, delve into the current AI landscape, and share insights on the evolving world of technology. Join them as they navigate through engaging discussions and set the stage for future deep dives into tech topics.