Today Quincy Larson interviews Justin Searls. He's a software engineer who cofounded a software agency 15 years ago that's still going – even after he figured out how to make a lot of money quickly and retire at age 38 once he had enough savings.

These days he's gone from solving problems for client to solving solving problems for himself by building open source software. Often using emerging tools like agents. He says he getting way more done now than ever before.

We talk about: - How software development is ceasing to be a team sport and is now more about individual devs working directly for the people paying them - How verifiability is everything - whether it's agents contributing to your codebase or humans - How someone just now entering the field can use emerging tools to get an edge over more experienced developers

Note that I don't edit or censor these interviews at all. Justin uses some pretty blunt language so you may not want to listen to this around young children.

Support for this podcast comes from the 10,113 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Justin's website: https://justin.searls.co - The Breaking Change podcast: https://justin.searls.co/casts - Justin's article "There's no AI in team": https://justin.searls.co/links/2025-08-03-there-is-no-ai-in-team/ - Justin's article about how software is supply-constrained: https://justin.searls.co/links/2025-11-04-software-is-supply-constrained-for-now/

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will take you deep into the modern Kubernetes ecosystem. You'll implement advanced industry standards such as Gateway API for traffic management, CloudNativePG for managing PostgreSQL databases, and cert-manager for automated HTTPS security. By the end of the course, you'll have the confidence to manage production-grade environments. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-kubernetes-through-production-ready-practice/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Notion course. It's not just a fancy notebook – you can use it as a full-blown operating system. You can code along at home and build your own task manager using Notion's "Software Legos" philosophy. Then you'll integrate your project with mail and calendar functionality, dashboards, and other advanced features. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lean-notion-in-12-hours/

3. Learn how to guide agents to write secure code using a robust framework of rules and tests. Software engineer and recent podcast guest Sumit Saha shares his step-by-step process by building a Node.js shopping cart app using an agent. Instead of just using naive "one-shot" prompts, he leverages server-side validation and test-driven development. Well worth reading. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-guide-ai-with-rules-and-tests/

4. Learn the Python you need to know to build your own agents. This course starts by teaching you core Python syntax and best practices before moving on to NumPy, Pandas, and SQL. With these tools in your toolbelt, you can manage the data that fuels modern AI tools. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-and-build-autonomous-agents/

5. Today's song of the week is from the UK band Unkle – 2003's hypnotic ballad "What Are You to Me?". The groove is mostly heald together by accoustic guitar and piano on top of layers of synth bass and breakbeats. We also get some Soulful, laid back feel from the featured vocalist, Joel Cadbury of the band South. This song just melts into the background. I think you're going to like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrN2uQKq9k

Today Quincy Larson interviews Carl Brown, who runs the Internet of Bugs YouTube channel and has worked as a dev at Amazon, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and startups for over 37 years.

We talk about: - The hype versus the utility in LLMs and agent code generation tools - Why you might want to target developer jobs at smaller companies, and how these differ from "big tech" - How everyone will face agism eventually. Carl argues that a consulting career is a great escape hatch.

Support for this podcast comes from the 10,113 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - My interview with Stack Overflow founder Joel Spolsky whom we discuss: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/trello-stack-overflow-founder-joel-spolsky-podcast-interview/ - Quincy's free book "How to learn to code and get a developer job": https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/

Ted Chiang "ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web" article Carl mentions: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web

The Karpathy on Moltbook saga: //Karpathy hyping up MoltBook https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2017370646767145419 //Noon Jan 30

//Doubles Down after "being accused of overhyping" Moltbook https://x.com/karpathy/status/2017442712388309406 // 9:39 PM Jan 30

// Tweet showing Karpathy's (redacted) private information from a MoltBook security breach https://x.com/theonejvo/status/2017732898632437932 // 4:53PM Jan 31

// Fortune quotes Karpathy saying MoltBook is "a dumpster fire, and I also definitely do not recommend that people run this stuff on their computers" https://fortune.com/2026/02/02/moltbook-security-agents-singularity-disaster-gary-marcus-andrej-karpathy/ // Feb 2

Quote from Cory Doctorow about code failing well: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/06/1000x-liability/ Excerpt from Cory's Mastodon with that quote in it: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115848576290992814 Mastodon from Carl to Cory telling him I'm going to use that quote (which he boosted): https://mastodon.social/@carlbrown/115867074293449215

Article on Claude 4.6 being good at finding bugs with fuzzing: https://red.anthropic.com/2026/zero-days/

Reference to it from Computer Security Guru Bruce Schneier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/02/llms-are-getting-a-lot-better-and-faster-at-finding-and-exploiting-zero-days.html

Older paper on LLMs being good at fuzzing prior to this new claim about claude 4.6: https://arxiv.org/html/2508.01750v1

Falsehoods programmers believe about names from Patio11: https://img.sauf.ca/pictures/2025-10-23/61fb6db44e7173cd9318753c955f7dda.pdf

Same kind of article, but this one is about time instead of names (Carl said he was wrong in that Partick/Patio11 didn't write this one, but it's worth passing along): https://infiniteundo.com/post/25509354022/more-falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-time

Article with discussion of ageism in tech with the Zuckerberg quote Carl was thinking of: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2015/02/14/is-silicon-valley-ageist-or-just-smart/

Book on (interpersonal) networking that Carl recommends: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227558/never-eat-alone-expanded-and-updated-by-keith-ferrazzi-and-tahl-raz/

And another one: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/105512/dig-your-well-before-youre-thirsty-by-harvey-mackay/

Carl's video on how AdTech is fracturing Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmYXyWbis9w

Carl's Website: https://internetofbugs.com/

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you the fundamental concepts, protocols, and architectures of computer networking. You'll learn key network engineering topics like topology, subnetting, flow control, routing, IPv4 addressing, DNS, and more. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/computer-networking-fundamentals/

2. And we just published our second-ever chess course. This time you'll learn the Italian Game, one of the most common chess openings. This handbook and accompanying video course are taught by freeCodeCamp engineer Ihechikara Abba, who has a chess Elo rating of 2285. He will lay out the many traps that white can set for black, and how to not fall for them. (full-length handbook and 1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-chess-italian-game-handbook-traps-for-white/

3. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length book on Product-Led Research. This is a must-read for any manager within a tech company. It's written by a CTO and security researcher named Omer Rosenbaum, who says: "if you manage Research like it's Development, things aren't going to go well for you." He breaks down the most common research frameworks and methodologies, and contextualizes them through a series of case studies. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/product-led-research-a-practical-guide-for-randd-leaders-full-book/

4. If you're a Python developer and use the Django web development framework, this tutorial will help you optimize the heck out of your APIs. Mari will teach you how to use profiling and logging to find bottlenecks in your codebase. Then she'll show you how to get extra performance through caching, so you can serve users at scale. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-django-rest-apis-for-performance/

5. Today's song of the week is 1984 synth jazz classic "No One Emotion" by George Benson. I love the driving synth bass, the vocal harmonies, and excellent guitar solo by Michael Sambello – the guy who made the She's a Maniac song. If you're looking for a pick me up jam this song any day of the week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-MyvbolxG0

Today Quincy Larson interviews Shawn Wang. He's a software engineer, founder of the AI Engineer conference, and host of the Latent Space podcast focused on applying the latest models toward getting work done.

We talk about: - How even if LLMs plateau, there will be still paths to better output through surrounding harness code - And three big areas researchers are exploring to further improve model performance: World Models, Multi-modality, and Embodied AI - Which skills Shawn thinks are most important for developers going forward - And why Shawn thinks you should switch your own self teaching from "just-in-time learning" to "just-in-case learning"

Support for this podcast comes from the 10,113 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Shawn's Tiny Teams Playbook: https://www.latent.space/p/tiny - Shawn's interview with FeiFei Li: https://www.latent.space/p/after-llms-spatial-intelligence-and?utm_source=publication-search - Boots Theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory - Wirth's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirth%27s_law - Adversarial Reasoning: https://www.latent.space/p/adversarial-reasoning

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you how to use the security-focused Kali Linux operating system. You'll learn how to identify, exploit, and defend against real-world vulnerabilities. You'll also build a solid foundation in penetration testing, network security, and vulnerability assessment. Most importantly, you'll learn how to think like a security engineer and leverage tools of the trade like Nmap and Wireshark. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cybersecurity-and-ethical-hacking-using-kali-linux/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a guide to passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam. Beau Carnes teaches this course, which will walk you through key DevOps concepts. You'll start by setting up your K8s practice environment. Then you'll bootstrap a multi-node cluster and your control plane. You'll learn about Helm, High Availability Autoscaling, CoreDNS, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-kubernetes-administrator-certification-and-pass/

3. We also just published a full-length handbook on freeCodeCamp Press that you can read right in your browser. It will teach you modern React data fetching best practices. You'll learn how to leverage Suspense, ErrorBoundary, and the new Use API. If you're interested in web development, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-modern-react-data-fetching-handbook-suspense-use-and-errorboundary-explained/

5. Finally, I'm proud to share this new DevOps course that freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon just published. You'll learn how to take a full stack app on your local machine and ship it to a fully containerized production environment. Along the way, you'll learn about CI/CD pipelines, Docker images, launching containers, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a professional-grade pipeline that automatically builds and deploys updates with every push. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-production-ready-pipeline-with-docker-cicd-and-hostinger/

5. Today's song of the week is the 1980 classic "Turn me Loose" by Canadian band Loverboy. Build on top of a super catchy syncopated bassline, this song has some super expressive vocals, buzzing synths, percussive piano, and the guitar solo is top shelf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnHm4ro_l8s

Today Quincy Larson interviews Robby Russell. Robby created the open-source project Oh My ZSH.

Oh My Zsh is a framework for managing your Zsh configuration for your command line terminal. It's been extremely popular among developers for more than a decade.

Robby is also the CEO of Planet Argon, a software consultancy he created two decades ago. He's done work for Nike and lots of other companies.

Note that this discussion is aimed at more advanced devs and engineering managers.

We talk about: - How a "Don't let that happen again" culture can make it take forever to get new code into production, and how to reverse this - Tips for reducing your team's dependency on that one developer who's been there for years - Robby's perspective on LLM tools and how they're speeding up his workflows

Support for this podcast comes from the 10,113 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - My previous interview of Robby with his full journey: from painting houses to running a popular open source tool (2 hour listen): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-oh-my-zsh-creator-and-ceo-robby-russell/ - Robby reading his classic "d'Oh My Zshell" article recording on an older freeCodeCamp podcast episode: https://freecodecamp.libsyn.com/site/ep-34-doh-my-zsh - A recent interview Robby did with Kent Beck, the software engineer who created the Extreme Programming agile methodology, on his Maintainable Podcast: https://maintainable.fm/episodes/kent-l-beck-youre-ignoring-optionality-and-paying-for-it - Robby's Robby on Rails blog he's been maintaining for over 20 years: https://robbyonrails.com/links/ - Robby's "On Rails" podcast, the official podcast of the Ruby on Rails framework: https://onrails.buzzsprout.com/ - The Mighty Missoula (Robby's Post Rock band): https://mightymissoula.com/ - The Ghostty cross-platform terminal that Robby recommended: https://ghostty.org/ - The fzf command line fuzzy finder tool Robby recommended: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf - The new omarchy Linux distribution Robby recommended: https://omarchy.org/

Community news section:

1. Learn to code in Python from one of the greatest living Computer Science professors, Harvard's David J. Malan. This is the 2026 version of the famous CS50 course. It will teach you Python programming fundamentals like functions, conditionals, loops, libraries, file I/O, and more. If you're new to Python, or to coding in general, this is an excellent place to start. (25 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-2026-free-computer-science-university-course

2. That Harvard computer science course will get you started with programming. But where do you go from there? freeCodeCamp just published a helpful tutorial that will help you bridge from beginner projects to building real-world applications that solve real-world problems. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-go-from-hello-world-to-building-real-world-applications/

3. freeCodeCamp also just published a comprehensive intro to OpenClaw. If you've heard of Clawd Bot or Moltbot, this is the same tool, which they renamed to avoid confusion with the Claude LLM tool. OpenClaw is an agent and messaging gateway that lets you automate digital tasks through platforms like Discord. First you'll learn how to set it up. Then you'll learn security practices like implementing Docker-based sandboxing to protect your host system while your agent executes complicated workflows on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openclaw-full-tutorial-for-beginners

4. You may be using Bluetooth as you read this. It's been a key networking tool since 1999, and now it's getting 3 major upgrades: Passive Scanning, Bond Loss Reasons, and propagation of Service UUIDs. If you're interested in network engineering or IoT–style devices, this tutorial is well worth your read. (90 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-aosp-16-bluetooth-scanner-works-the-ultimate-guide/

5. Today's song of the week is 2009 banger Sometimes by Australian band Miami Horror. I love the layers Peter Hooke-style guitar riff, the anthemic snyths, and the driving bassline. This is a perfect song to start of your morning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn7FXGaHTNs

Today Quincy Larson interviews Tapas Adhikari. He's a software engineer who runs a firm of 20 developers who build projects for companies around the world. He's also a prolific teacher, having written 300 programming tutorials - including 47 for freeCodeCamp – and runs a popular English and Bangla-language YouTube channels.

We talk about: - The changing nature of software engineering - Tips for building your own fully-remote software development firm and landing clients abroad - Lessons from mentoring more than 500 developers over the years

Support for this podcast comes from the 10,104 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Tapas's handbook on how to get started contributing to open source projects (required reading IMHO): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-practical-guide-to-start-opensource-contributions/ - Tapas's many tutorials and handbooks on freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/atapas/ - The developer firm Tapas co-founded and nows runs with more than a dozen developers: https://www.creowis.com/ - Tapas's personal website: https://www.tapasadhikary.com/ - Tapas's English-langauge programming tutorial YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tapasadhikary

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python Data Structures & Algorithms course that will help you understand key Dynamic Programming patterns. These approaches come up all the time in technical interviews. You'll learn Constant Transition, the Grid Pattern, Two Sequences, Interval DP, Non-Constant Transition, Knapsack-like problems, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-dynamic-programming-through-dynamic-visuals/

2. If you're interested in building projects on top of Large Language Models, freeCodeCamp just published a Python course on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). You'll learn how to turn documents into embeddings then store them in vector databases. The course will also walk you through building your own Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-rag-and-mcp-fundamentals/

3. Learn How Execution Context Works in JavaScript. If you're a JS dev, this is essential reading. You'll learn about interpretation vs compilation. Then you'll see how Node.js and the V8 engine load and execute code. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-execution-context-works-in-javascript-handbook/

4. Finally, this weekend you can build your own fully-playable horror game based on the legendary "The Backrooms" liminal space. For some reason my kids are terrified of this weirdly normal-looking office setting. You'll build your own environment using Unreal Engine 5 and the Blueprints visual scripting tool that abstracts away all the C++ code for you. Throw in a body-cam style camera perspective and some creepy monsters and you'll have the perfect way to scare friends and family alike. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-the-backrooms-game-in-unreal-engine-5/

5. Today's song of the week is And the Cradle Will Rock off Van Halen's 1980 album Women and Children first. The song starts out with a groove on a heavily distorted Wurlitzer elctromechanical piano. I love Michael Anthony's 8th note bassline and the loose high hats under Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo. This is a great lunch break song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11mBDT5mpdw

Today Quincy Larson interviews Sumit Saha, a software engineer and prolific teacher on YouTube. Sumit is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he runs a developer agency building projects for clients throughout Asia.

We talk about: - How the hunger for learning is dying and people are increasingly drawn to shortcuts over taking the time to truly understand concepts - Sumit's information diet and his tips for expanding your skills - 5 key developer concepts explained like you're 5

Support comes from the 10,104 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Sumit's many freeCodeCamp handbooks and tutorials: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/sumitsaha/ - Sumit's website: https://www.sumitsaha.me/ - Sumit's Bangla-language YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@LearnwithSumit - Sumit's English YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@logicBaseLabs

Community news section:

1. I spent three days at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts recording a documentary about the world's largest collegiate hackathon. More than 3,000 student developers participated in this year's UC Berkeley Cal Hacks hackathon. Over the course of 36 hours, they built a broad array of projects, then demo'd them to judges from industry. I now present to you the finished documentary. I hope you find it both enjoyable and inspiring. (80-minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-cal-hacks-2025-36-hours-at-the-worlds-largest-collegiate-hackathon/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course on building your own custom Kubernetes operators and controllers from scratch. You'll learn everything from the internal architecture of Informers and Caches to advanced concepts like Finalizers and Idempotency. If you're interested in DevOps, this is the course for you. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-kubernetes-operators-with-go-and-kubebuilder/

3. Learn how to select the best GPU for economically training your models and running inference workloads. This no-nonsense guide will help you understand why certain specs matter more than others. It will also help you navigate around common pitfalls when buying or renting GPUs. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-choose-the-best-gpu-for-your-ai-workloads/

4. Learn how to benchmark embedding models using your own custom data. This course will walk you through leveraging Vision Language Models for precise text extraction. You'll also learn how to use LLMs to generate synthetic evaluation data. Finally, you'll get exposure to the rigorous statistical tests that can help you find the best models for whatever hardware you have on hand. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-benchmark-embedding-models-on-your-own-data/

5. Our song of the week: Supergroup The Power Station's 1985 hit "Some Like it Hot". This entire album features incredible drumming by Chic drummer Tony Thompson. And with Bass and Guitars by Duran Duran's John Taylor and Andy Taylor, the whole song has insane groove. 80s icon Robert Palmer sings and brings the texture. The guy reportedly smoked 60 cigarettes a day and paid the price a few years later, but man is his voice golden on this recording. Fun fact: Duran Duran's official site says they achieved the massive drum sound by putting mics at the top of a nearby elevator shaft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1t7OCESUw

Today Quincy Larson interviews Mike McQuaid. He's a software engineer who previously worked at GitHub, and now serves as lead maintainer of Homebrew, a Mac package manager used by tens of millions of developers. He's based in Edinburgh, Scottland. He's worked remotely as a dev for nearly two decades.

We talk about: - What does a career in open source really look like - What skills are going to be the most important going forward - How big open source infrastructure really gets written and maintained

Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp

Support also comes from the 10,104 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Mike's podcast, Minimum Viable Management: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdx6vnBOYrMZw3ZHjJJyItqQuZQhTIzhc - Homebrew 5.0 announcement with changelog: https://brew.sh/2025/11/12/homebrew-5.0.0/ - POSSE approach to social media: https://indieweb.org/POSSE

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a book that will teach you the math that powers most AI systems. Even if you haven't studied math since high school, you may find this book helpful in expanding your understanding of the layers of abstraction underpinning these emerging tools. You'll learn key concepts in statistics, linear algebra, calculus, and optimization theory. You'll also get a healthy dose of mathematical history. (free full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-math-behind-artificial-intelligence-book/

2. And if you're finding the sudden surge in AI tools to be overwhelming, freeCodeCamp just published this practical guide to using them effectively. This tutorial will separate the utility from the hype. You'll learn how to minimize hallucinations with Context Management. You'll also learn about agentic tools and in-editor assistants. It even has tips for how to prevent your own developer skills from atrophying, so you can adopt these tools without becoming overly dependent on them. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-not-be-overwhelmed-by-ai/

3. freeCodeCamp also published a course on React Optimization. You'll learn key React design patterns to achieve a screaming-fast front end. This course covers memoization, derived states, throttling, debouncing, concurrency, virtualization, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-react/

4. Learn modern music production using the popular FruityLoops Studio Digital Audio Workstation tool. This FL Studio course will teach you sound design fundamentals, mixing, filters, drum sequencing, basslines, synth melodies, and even advanced concepts like kick drum ducking. You can play along at home and by the end of the course you'll have your own bass house track you can share with your friends. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-music-production-with-fl-studio/

5. This week's song of the week is the 2022 song "Ditto" by Korean pop group New Jeans. I like the song feels slow and relaxed even though the tempo is really fast. It has really minimalist production - mainly just 808 drums and vocals. Perfect late night listening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6TEcoNUmc8

Today Quincy Larson interviews Zubin Pratap, a software engineer and manager from Melbourne, Australia. After nearly two decades working as a corporate lawyer, he taught himself programming using freeCodeCamp.org. Within two years, he landed a job as a software engineer at Google.

We talk about: - How tools are making programming easier, but other parts of being a developer harder - How 2009 - 2022 was NOT a normal job market and how devs are adapting - "The purpose of communication is to be understood" and other lessons Zubin's learned over the years

Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp

Support also comes from the 10,104 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Zubin's LinkedIn and other social media: https://meetzubin.carrd.co/ - Zubin's "Easier said than done" podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky4Hhd-k1js&list=PLAPuklwJx5V3fpXiSD9CMh3RhPQTCSemj

Community news section:

1. Let's kick off 2026 with a ton of announcements. We just launched Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification, along with updated Python, SQL, and Responsive Web Design certifications that you can earn. We even launched our beta Spanish and Mandarin Chinese curricula. (10 minute announcement article with tons of data): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-gifts-freecodecamp-community-2025

2. Now you can learn Spanish on freeCodeCamp. We just launched our FREE A1 Level Spanish curriculum. You'll learn: pronunciation, introductions, numbers, and more. More than 200 steps are live now. ¡Aprendamos! https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a1-professional-spanish-curriculum-beta-is-now-live/

3. Over the holiday break I took my kids to Johnson Space Center in Houston. If you're in Houston you should absolutely go here. We visited the Mission Control center that NASA used during the Apollo missions to the moon. They also had an awesome multimedia experience created by Tom Hanks about this year's Artemis mission to the moon. This is an incredible museum. We spent 7 hours there. It wasn't particularly expensive. Just make sure you book tickets to mission control a few months in advance of your trip.

4. During the road trip, I re-listened to Guns 'n' Roses's entire catalogue. Which brings me to today's song of the week: the 1991 epic Estranged. The is maybe the most mature-sounding song they've ever done, with introspective lyrics and a series of tastful, emotional guitar solos. Great drum fills, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmAY059TTY

Today Quincy Larson interviews Santosh Yadav. The son of a textile worker, he grew up inner-city Mumbai and studied hard to get into university. From there he's worked as a software engineer for 16 years. Along the way, he's picked up every distinction imaginable including Google Developer Expert, GitHub Star, and Microsoft MVP.

Santosh shares tips for: - How to get promoted as an Individual Contributor without needing to becoming a manager - How to rise within a company without needing to change jobs to move up - How to succeed socially on a team while working remotely remotely - How to not just survive but thrive after a Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis

Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp

Support also comes from the 10,338 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Santosh's freeCodeCamp article: "From the Slums of Mumbai to a Rented Apartment – My 30-Year Developer Journey": https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/my-journey-into-tech-from-slums-of-mumbai-to-my-own-apartment/ - Santosh's freeCodeCamp article "My Developer Journey – How I Got a Remote Job and Increased My Salary While Contributing to Open Source": https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/my-developer-journey-how-i-increased-my-salary-and-got-a-remote-job/ - Santosh's journey to Staff Engineer and tips for getting promoted as an IC: https://www.santoshyadav.dev/blog/2025-03-29-my-journey-to-staff-engineer/ - Santosh's podcast on working in tech: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisisTechTalks -Santosh's article on how he realized he was introducing toxicity as a manager: https://dev.to/this-is-learning/how-i-made-workplace-toxic-1ici

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just launched our new JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms Certification and our new Python certification. The are 300-hour interactive courses. You can now take the final exams for both of these and earn a free verified certification, which you can then it to your LinkedIn, CV, résumé, or personal website. These are part of version 10 of the core freeCodeCamp curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this to serve as your shortest path to acquiring programming fundamentals. (300 hour interactive curriculum – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/ and https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-python-certification-is-now-live/

2. Tell your friends who are learning English: freeCodeCamp just launched our English for Developers curriculum. You can learn vocab, grammar, reading, and listening – all through stories set in a Silicon Valley tech company. This is level A2 English, meaning it's lower intermediate. We'll introduce other CEFR levels in the coming months as well. (interactive curriculum with certification – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a2-english-for-developers-certification-is-now-live/

3. Now you can learn Spanish on freeCodeCamp. We just launched our FREE Spanish curriculum. You'll learn: pronunciation, introductions, numbers, and more. More than 200 steps are live now. The rest of CEFR level A1 will go live in 2026. ¡Aprendamos! https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a1-professional-spanish-curriculum-beta-is-now-live/

4. Today's song of the week is the 1982 Disco Soul anthem "Walk on By" by D Train. You'll love the busy synth bass and soaring strings. Even though it's a sad song, I've listened to this song dozens of times and it never fails to pick me up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmEgxqSnHXQ

Today Quincy Larson interviews Jason Lengstorf. He's a college dropout who taught himself programming while building websites for his emo band. 22 years later he's worked as a developer at IBM, Netlify, run his own dev consultancy, and he now runs CodeTV making reality TV shows for developers.

We talk about: - How many CEOs over-estimated the impact of AI coding tools and laid off too many devs, whom they're now trying to rehire - Why the developer job market has already rebounded a bit, but will never be the same - Tips for how to land roles in the post-LLM résumé spam job search era - How devs are working to rebuild the fabric of the community through in-person community events

Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp

Support also comes from the 10,338 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org

Get a freeCodeCamp tshirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org

Links from our discussion: - Jason's previous freeCodeCamp podcast interview, with his developer origin story: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-drop-out-to-software-architect-with-jason-lengstorf-podcast-167/ - The first season of Web Dev Challenge on CodeTV: https://codetv.link/wdc

Community news section:

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Git and GitHub for beginners course. Git is a powerful version control tool that most developers now use to build software projects together. GitHub is a popular platform that adds tons of collaboration features on top of Git. You'll learn the basics of both in this course, which covers branching, merging, pull requests, and other key concepts. Well worth your time. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-and-github-crash-course-for-beginners

2. freeCodeCamp also just launched our new Responsive Web Design Certification. You can now take the final exam and earn this verified cert, then add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core fCC curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this as your shortest path to front-end development skills. This announcement and comprehensive FAQ will help you figure out where this fits into your journey toward your learning goals. (100+ hour interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-responsive-web-design-certification-is-now-live/

3. freeCodeCamp also just published a new Harvard CS50 course that will teach you R, a popular programming language for statistical computing and data science. You'll work with real-world datasets inside the RStudio Integrated Development Environment. You'll learn about Vectors, Matrices, Data Frames, filtering, visualizations, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-r-programming-from-harvard-university/

4. freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification is now live. It's 1,033 steps long. and you'll build dozens of projects then sit for the final exam. This is a FREE verified certification you can earn then add to your LinkedIn, CV, and portfolio website. Dive in. Full announcement article and FAQ (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/

5. Today's song of the week is 1982's soul classic Risin' to the Top by Keni Burke. I love the laid back bass groove and spacious piano chords. The lyrics are about overcoming setbacks, which I know anyone who's attempted to learn programming can relate to. https://youtu.be/euysGPy2t0M