The Scripting Den Podcast

In this episode of "The Scripting Den Podcast" I dive into one of the most debated questions in today’s software development world: Should you use AI to code at work? 

During the episode we explore how AI tools like GitHub Copilot and Tabnine can boost productivity by automating repetitive coding tasks and accelerating prototyping. He also examines the potential downsides—such as skill degradation, quality and security risks, ethical issues, and shifts in team dynamics—that you need to consider before fully integrating AI into your workflow.

I'm also covering  best practices to strike the right balance: use AI to handle mundane tasks while keeping your manual coding skills sharp, implement rigorous code reviews, set clear usage policies, and invest in continuous training. 

This episode is perfect for developers and tech leaders looking to understand how to harness AI as a powerful coding partner without losing the human touch.

Recommended Tools

• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot
• Tabnine: https://www.tabnine.com/
• Codeium: https://codeium.com/

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, subscribe, and share your thoughts in the comments. Happy coding!

Get in Touch!

• X (Twitter): @deleteman123
• YouTube: The Scripting Den
• Newsletter: fernandodoglio.substack.com

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In this episode, I dive deep into one of the most pressing topics in tech today: AI ethics. I try to explore how well-meaning developers can unintentionally create AI systems that harm society. From bias in AI models to privacy concerns, accountability challenges, and even the environmental impact of AI, this episode is packed with insights every developer needs to hear.

By the end of the episode, you’ll understand:

• What AI ethics entails and why it matters.
• Key ethical challenges developers face when building AI systems.
• Practical tools and frameworks to make AI fairer, more transparent, and responsible.
• How developers can proactively address bias, privacy, and sustainability in their projects.

I also provide actionable tips and resources to help you embed ethics into your AI development process, ensuring that the systems you build serve as tools for progress—not harm.

Interesting Links and Resources

• Tools for AI Transparency: LIME | SHAP
• Books:
  • Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
  • Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin
• Online Courses on AI Ethics: fast.ai | Stanford Online
• AI Principles: Google AI Principles | Microsoft Responsible AI Standards

Get in Touch!

• X (Twitter): @deleteman123
• YouTube: The Scripting Den
• Newsletter: fernandodoglio.substack.com

Rate Us!

To ensure this episode reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and on Podchaser. Your support helps us grow!

Understanding how to prepare for your first technical interview, and what to expect from the process is not easy.
Companies will have their own hiring process, and some of them will confuse you with their own process getting you to think all of them are like that.

Whiteboard coding, for instance, that's one of the worst things you can do during a technical interview, however, it's a very common practice (sadly!)

In this episode I cover the entire process of interview, with a focus on the technical aspect, what to expect, what not to say and do during the process, and most importantly, what you should do and why.

By the end of this episode, you'll be ready to ace your next tech interview!

Interesting link:

• Skills of a Successful Software Engineer (my book): https://www.manning.com/books/skills-of-a-successful-software-engineer

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

If you haven't been living under a rock, you might've heard about this specific type of NoSQL database being mentioned quite often lately.
Now, why do you think that is? In fact, do you know what a Vector database actually is? And what you can do with it?

In this episode I go over all those questions, eventually hitting the actual answer that prompted this episode: Why is everyone ( and their mother ) talking about Vector databases?

Make sure to check it out!

Interesting links:

• My course on using Redis as a vector database (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/redis-ai-building-a-vector-database-with-redis/introduction)

Related episodes

• Episode 2: Is AI going to replace developers? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSd-KwcdChg&list=PLInfuhuFMY7KNADQS66SdfJoYQaShMB1F)
• Episode 34: How to implement AI into your dev workflow? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZVKE2t-otg&list=PLInfuhuFMY7KNADQS66SdfJoYQaShMB1F)

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

Many developers avoid using AI in their day-to-day simply because they don't know how to use it. Maybe you're one of them?
If reading AI automatically takes you to Copilot then you need to listen/watch to this episode.

In this episode I cover 4 different ways in which AI can help you be a more efficient developer, and 2 of those are what I call BBTs (Big Boring Tasks) that are made a lot simpler thanks to AI.

I also cover the following products during the episode, make sure to check them out if you're interested!

Coding assistants

• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/
• Codeium: https://codeium.com

Reviewing code for quality & security

• Snyk: https://snyk.io/
• Codacy: https://www.codacy.com/ 

Writing documentation

• Claude: https://claude.ai/
• OpenAI's ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/

Writing unit tests

• Mabl: https://www.mabl.com/

Related episodes

• Episode 2: Is AI going to replace developers? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSd-KwcdChg&list=PLInfuhuFMY7KNADQS66SdfJoYQaShMB1F)
• Episode 34: How to implement AI into your dev workflow? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZVKE2t-otg&list=PLInfuhuFMY7KNADQS66SdfJoYQaShMB1F)

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

In today's episode I got to interview Dave Thomas, co-author of one of the most influential books in our industry: The Pragmatic Programmer.
During the interview, we talk about the potential impact of LLMs (like Claude or ChatGPT) on the software development profession. Will we still be developing in the same way and following the same principles (some of which were actually coined by Dave on his book) in the next 5-10 years? 
We attempt to answer that question.

Here are some of the topics we cover, but I encourage you to listen to the whole thing, because Dave is dropping nuggets of wisdom on every one of them.

• Ownership of code in the era of LLMs.
• Learning in the age of AI-driven development.
• Relevance of developers when AI can write the code for you.
• The importance of learning the basics as a developer.
• "Coding as a craft" now that we have AI in the loop.
• The value of developer's time and the implications of AI in that formula.
• Is the curriculum of a developer going to change now that we're using AI-assisted development?

Reach out to Dave

• Email for more  [email protected]
• Book a chat slow with Date: calendly.com/pragdave
• Dave's Website: https://pragdave.me/

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

Have you considered using AI as part of your dev workflow? Are you aware of all the benefits LLMs can bring to the table?
Some companies fear AI simply because of misconceptions, or just lack of understanding. In this episode I cover the reasons why developers should include LLMs into their workflow and some of the best practices to keep in mind during that implementation process.

Interesting links:

• Episode 2: Is AI going to take your job?
• Cursor: www.cursor.com
• Privacy-aware Copilot alternative: https://codeium.com/
• LM Studio
• Ollama
• GPT4All

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

Sometimes as developers we spend way too much time thinking about the "perfect" tech stack for our projects, and while that doesn't exists, there are some considerations that you can take to make a somewhat smart decision when deciding on what tech to use.

Some of the factors that can help you decide on your tech stack are:

• The complexity of your project.
• Your team's expertise with the tech.
• The scalability and growth needs for the product.
• The type of community support you're looking for.
• And the cost considerations (including cost of ownership).

Remember to check out Code-Clash.net if you're looking for some guidance or if you have some questions about potential tech alternatives.

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

Where do you prefer to work, smaller startups with very small teams? Or huge multi-national companies where your team is just one of many inside a big department?

Have you tried both worlds?

I have!
And in this episode, I share my own experience of what it's like to work for small, young startups, more mature ones and then making the jump into big, multinational companies.

Is there one better than the other? That's up to you to decide, but in this episode I give you all the tools you need to make that call!

Big shout-out to the "Develop Yourself Podcast" by Brian Jenney for inspiring this episode. If you haven't yet, look it up and subscribe, he has a fantastic take on the industry!

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you

Unit tests are usually 2nd (if not 3rd) class citizens in any codebase, teams usually work on them only once they're done with all the "important" features.
However, if you do it like that, chances are those tests will eventually start slowing your development process down. They will affect your coding, and your deployment pipelines, affecting your time-to-resolution metrics or even the business by slowing down time-to-market numbers.

In other words, bad tests are a real problem.

In this episode I cover several reasons why optimizing for performance is actually a great idea, and multiple things you can do to improve your unit tests.

Mainly:

• Get rid of your 3rd party dependencies.
• Test only what needs to be tested.
• Optimize the test data.
• Implement selective testing.

Get in touch!

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deleteman123
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the-scripting-den
• My newsletter: https://fernandodoglio.substack.com/

Rate us!
To ensure the podcast reaches more developers, make sure to rate it on your favorite podcasting app and in Podchaser!
Thank you