Mike Stonebraker is a Turing Award winner famous for his contributions to fundamental database technologies. We discussed the story behind building Postgres, where he disagrees with Google/Amazon on databases, and what he's working on now.

🔸 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/YPObBOwIrHk

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-postgres-disagreeing

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Red book of database readings: http://www.redbook.io/

• BEAVER: An Enterprise Benchmark for Text-to-SQL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02038

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Intro

1:03 - How he got into databases

6:43 - Competing with Oracle

9:07 - What made Postgres special

15:55 - One size fits none

21:37 - Why he disagreed with Google

29:14 - Why he chose academia over big tech

30:58 - Replacing state in an OS with a DB

42:02 - Future problems in databases

51:36 - Technical book recommendations to learn databases

52:20 - Advice for younger self

55:52 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲:

• His current company DBOS: https://dbos.dev/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

In this episode, I talked to Marc Brooker, a distinguished engineer at AWS who started there as a new grad and rose through the ranks. We discussed technical learnings from 3,000+ cloud system postmortems, how software engineering is changing with AI, how to find impactful problems and much more.

🔶 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/u3GjIXP9N0s

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qX2GfpbzxzGpGvDZVINdO?si=wsDGZo9PTbCNalKVybFVnA

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/aws-distinguished-eng-learnings-from

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Post we discussed on hobbies and apparent expertise: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2023/04/20/hobbies.html

• Post on software engineering changing: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/02/07/you-are-here.html

• Post about Senior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/20/ic-leadership.html

• Post on Junior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/25/ic-junior.html

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Intro

1:27 - Finding problems that matter

11:42 - Learnings from 3000 postmortems

23:58 - Why caches are bad

29:37 - How AI will change software engineering

36:49 - Advice for junior engineers given AI

44:02 - Thoughts for senior engineers

49:59 - Why engineers should write

57:51 - Visibility and apparent expertise

1:04:23 - AWS engineers he admires

1:06:53 - Technical book recommendations

1:09:06 - Advice for his younger self

1:10:37 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-brooker-b431772b/

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/MarcJBrooker

• Personal Blog: https://brooker.co.za/blog/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is James Everingham, former head of engineering at Instagram and a veteran of the tech world with experience at Netscape. We talked about his unconventional start in the industry, learnings from every leg of his career, and regrets he has looking back.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/VIF5Fm8NdE8

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/ex-head-of-eng-at-instagram-career

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Intro

0:57 - Kicked out of college

5:35 - FBI showed up at his house

7:43 - Pre-IPO Netscape experience

25:19 - Joining Instagram as head of eng

29:12 - Why shrinking teams improves velocity

32:59 - Working with Mike Krieger

37:16 - Leading Cryptocurrency project at Meta

42:30 - What he is working on now

54:29 - Career regrets

56:27 - Advice for his younger self

57:42 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevering/

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/jevering

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@jevering

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers.

🔸 The keyboard I'm building: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WaeGfLnRvc

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/amazon-vp-reveals-everything-hes

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

2:33 - Empire Building

31:54 - Stealing scope

44:03 - Managing out via reorgs

51:01 - Bad managers and mutiny

01:01:43 - Political messaging

01:11:48 - Handling politically skilled operators

01:20:01 - Orgs trying to steal scope

01:30:26 - Handling difficult people from other orgs

01:36:19 - Handling weak managers

01:46:30 - Backchanneling

01:52:04 - Influence without authority

01:58:04 - Sexual harassment

02:00:49 - Skip overruling firing

02:05:39 - How to fire managers

02:11:31 - Leverage when people are getting fired

02:24:01 - How to grow past senior eng

02:43:01 - How to avoid politics

02:48:15 - Advice for younger self

02:49:51 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP

• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is a conversation with Brendan Burns, co-creator of Kubernetes and current technical fellow at Microsoft working on Azure. We discussed what it was like building it at Google, how he got buy-in, and what he learned along the way.

🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/FKijpCEH9D8

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/the-creator-of-kubernetes-on-building

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:37 - How he convinced Google leaders

00:09:26 - Building the MVP

00:11:43 - How he made time for Kubernetes

00:25:28 - Technical details on building Kubernetes

00:38:46 - Rallying the open source community

00:50:01 - Scaling Kubernetes up for AI training workloads

00:55:31 - Reflections on getting a PhD

01:00:22 - The inevitable trajectory of software is death

01:04:16 - Top book recommendations

01:05:22 - Advice for his younger self

01:06:21 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-burns-487aa590/

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/brendandburns

• Github: https://github.com/brendandburns

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Austen McDonald is a former hiring committee member at Meta, where he led mobile hiring and conducted hundreds of interviews. In this episode, we talked about what happens behind the scenes in a hiring committee, unethical candidates, and the role referrals play.

🔸 (Sponsor) Hello Interview's Website - https://www.hellointerview.com/

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/nOapM8i5jr0

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-hiring-lead-on-behind-the-scenes

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:49 - What goes on in hiring committees

00:09:02 - Unethical candidates

00:12:50 - How leveling is determined

00:23:12 - Can you negotiate level mid-process

00:32:30 - How non-tech leads can signal scope

00:39:11 - Referrals and bias

00:45:28 - What the rubric looks like

00:50:00 - OpenAI and Anthropic specific discussion

00:52:22 - Most common mistakes senior candidates make

01:02:31 - How to prep depending on your level

01:08:34 - Subjectivity and bias

01:21:02 - The questions you ask at the end matter

01:23:59 - Storytelling tips

01:30:31 - How he got promoted to Senior Manager (M2) at Meta

01:33:32 - His biggest career regret

01:38:13 - The best advice he ever received

01:39:54 - Advice for younger self

01:41:46 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenmc/

• His book - https://thebehavioral.tech/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is Michael Bolin, the tech lead for the open source Codex repository and a former distinguished engineer at Meta. We talked about his career path, how OpenAI engineers use Codex and the difference between research-led vs engineering-led company cultures.

🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/hN5ZFzWFhhg

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-codex-tech-lead-on-how-his

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:56 - Chickenfoot

00:02:45 - Working at Google

00:06:34 - Overhauling Facebook's build system

00:16:36 - Rewriting Facebook's IDE

00:26:01 - Struggles after Principal Eng (E8) promo

00:28:39 - Building a virtual filesystem for Facebook

00:35:47 - Delayed Distinguished promo (E9) and learnings

00:39:56 - Joining OpenAI

00:43:05 - Research-led vs engineering-led cultures

00:44:53 - The story behind Codex

00:51:00 - How he uses Codex

00:57:00 - Why Codex's harness is open source

00:59:50 - Top technical book recommendations

01:05:02 - Why deep technical skills are still valuable (for now)

01:11:07 - How to start projects well

01:14:27 - Advice on writing better and career planning

01:17:06 - Advice for his younger self

01:19:10 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹:

• His personal blog - https://blog.bolinfest.com/

• Twitter/X - https://x.com/bolinfest

• Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bolinfest

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bolin-7632712

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Bryan Cantrill was a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems and has now founded his own company called Oxide Computer Company. We discussed his career experiences through boom/busts, what competing with Bezos was like, and career regrets.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/qhSL-5GtmQM

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-eng-on-stack-ranking

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Link to the part in the talk on Oracle/Sun we discussed - https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?si=eExjIMZROGjJcDsw&t=1977

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:42 - Working at Sun Microsystems

00:10:17 - His growth to distinguished eng

00:19:14 - Why goaling on promotion is bad

00:29:34 - Stack ranking and layoffs

00:36:00 - Why he hated the Oracle acquisition

00:44:19 - Why Bezos is the apex predator of capitalism

00:48:04 - Differences between CTO and VP

00:49:58 - Starting his own company

01:02:37 - Grilling him on his past

01:11:57 - AI boom and bust advice

01:14:41 - When he was happiest in his career

01:17:22 - Top career regret

01:19:21 - Advice for younger self

01:20:57 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-cantrill-b6a1/

• Twitter/X - https://x.com/bcantrill

• Personal Website - https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/

• His company - https://oxide.computer/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

I interviewed Leslie Lamport, a Turing Award winner known for his contributions to distributed systems and the inventor of the Paxos algorithm. We walked through the major contributions of his career for the stories behind them and what he learned along the way.

🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/U719vQz-WFs

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-on-working-with

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Bakery Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/bakery.pdf

• Time Clocks Paper (most cited): https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf

• The Byzantine Generals Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf

• The Paxos Algorithm Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/lamport-paxos.pdf

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:25 - The Bakery Algorithm

00:08:28 - Experiences with Dijkstra

00:14:44 - His most cited paper

00:23:26 - The "Byzantine Generals" problem

00:38:05 - The Paxos Algorithm

00:46:57 - Paxos vs Raft Algorithm

00:51:26 - Building LaTeX

00:54:45 - Why writing improves your thinking

01:00:21 - Why he wasn't an academic

01:02:08 - Grand theory of concurrency

01:07:25 - Why he doesn't think he's smart

01:09:07 - Advice for his younger self

01:09:44 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗲:

• His works: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/pubs.html

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Ronca joined Netflix in 2007 and grew to an engineering director there. Later he joined Meta as a Director and transitioned to a Principal engineer working on video technologies. Now he's retired and was graciously willing to share his career story with us. I asked him for everything he learned in his 36 year career.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/retired-netflix-engineering-director

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/ApG9vjbHDCk

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Netflix culture memo (2009) - https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-1798664/1798664

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:40 - How Netflix was different

00:08:01 - The legendary Netflix culture memo

00:18:54 - How to hire engineers well

00:30:52 - The strongest engineer he's ever met

00:33:02 - Joining Meta

00:50:52 - Near death experience

00:59:04 - Where he learned the most

01:04:09 - Book that impacted his career most

01:11:33 - Advice for his younger self

01:18:32 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidronca/

• Personal Website: https://www.roncatech.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman