The Rabbit Hole: The Definitive Developer's Podcast

Today’s show deals with the sometimes confusing, sometimes misleading term ‘DevOps’. We chat to Brain Guthrie who has worked at a host of different big companies including Soundcloud and ThoughtWorks and has many years of experience in and around the fields that the term DevOps is supposed to bridge. Is DevOps a goal? Is it a job description? Is it a part of the work of both the development and operations teams? We try break this down and get to the core of the idea. During the episode we also try to imagine how DevOps can fit into a more holistic approach in companies and Brain gives us great insight into the way he envisaged the subject being useful. So jump right into The Rabbit Hole, let’s go!

On today’s episode we break down the idea of ‘The Last Responsible Moment’. We talk about the benefits of leaving certain decisions to the latest possible time before finalizing them. Although this might sound like a bad idea and perhaps slightly irresponsible there really are times when only doing what is absolutely necessary at any give point can work in your favor. During this chat we try to figure when that is and when that is not. We also go down the rabbit hole on the concept of ‘You Ain’t Gonna Need It’, or YAGNI, which is helpful in understanding The Last Responsible Moment. On top of this the chat veers into shaving yaks, Yik Yak and some other things that do not involve yaks. Listen in to hear all about it!

Today we have a very special New Year edition of the podcast! We chat about the idea of new year tech resolutions and the things we hope to achieve in the coming 12 months. Everyone knows that it can be hard to stick to and measure your success with resolutions, so we have a few suggestions in keeping yourself on course. The main suggestion is the the SMART goals approach which we discuss and unpack that a bit during the episode. We even apply the system to our own personal goals for 2018 for your entertainment and educational benefit. So happy new year and tune in to hear all about this and more!

Our guest today on the show is Ben Jackson. Ben works in people operations and runs a company called for the win which helps companies to better their culture and create an optimized working environment for its employees.

On todays show we welcome Max Jacobson. We’ll be discussing the differences between Ruby and other current languages and get Max’s perspective on which language is better for certain applications. In the ever changing landscape of coding and building, everyone seems to have their own preferences, favorites and special skillsets, this conversation aims to bridge some of these gaps.

In our industry, change is inevitable and today on the podcast we are going to be talking about how to make organizational change stick. When you try to make changes in an organization, it could be very difficult from the top down and from the bottom up.

Today on the show we will be talking about the Batman and support rotations. The Batman or Batwoman is a real role and not just a superhero. In the context of software engineering and our day to day lives, the particular role of the Batman is that of a support role and a particular sprint. For example, suppose there were several stories but in their sprint, a lot of bugs had surfaced from the previous iteration.

Today we will be talking about toasting to failures. We will get into what a toast to failure is and share some stories that pertain to failing and we will, of course, toast to them. We don’t have any drinks or apple juice in the recording session with us, but we will pretend that we have glasses and we will put them in the air as we toast to our failures. A toast to failure is when one fails at his or her particular task or at their job but it’s celebrated, which we feel is very important.  It’s a little counterintuitive and you don’t want to just go out there and fail all the time. So stay tuned as we go over how failures should not only be celebrated, but should also be seen as a learning opportunity so that you and your colleagues can learn from the mistake. All this and more inside today’s episode.

Today we’ll be talking about test coverage and working with legacy code base, going from bad to good and knowing when to do it.