Detailed Notes
Welcome to Season 26 of Building Better Developers! 🎙️
This season is all about Building Better Foundations—focusing on the “why” behind today’s most prominent tech buzzwords like AI, cloud computing, low-code, no-code, and even vibe coding.
In this kickoff episode, hosts Rob Broadhead and Michael Meloche peel back the layers of hype to get to what really matters: • Why developers need to focus on fundamentals • How to bridge legacy systems with modern platforms • What to watch out for when adopting new tools • How scalability and best practices shape long-term success
👉 Whether you’re a junior dev, seasoned engineer, or tech leader, this season will help you strengthen the skills that outlast trends.
Read More... https://develpreneur.com/building-better-foundations/
📧 Got buzzwords you’d like us to break down? Email us at [email protected]
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don’t miss an episode of Building Better Developers!
Transcript Text
[Music] We are recording. This is maybe this goes the beginning of season 26. How y'all? Uh let's see. diving right in. So, we're up to a new season and I think we did this last season. We stepped into the next season and we really didn't know what we were going to do for the season. So, this may be a little more bonus material than than you may want. Um, let's see. Do we have even anything on the docket of stuff of ideas and such? I did not see anything. Y did you have something? >> Did I send you? Now I got to figure out where I put I wonder if I sent you the one because I actually did in AI. I asked it if it um recommend Oops, that's in the wrong Slack place. Um, it actually recommended a whole bunch of interesting Oh, here we go. Wait, is this it? Um, no, that's your Wait. Okay, that's on the title. I hate when I do this. And I'm not sure where I put that. >> I make sure to tag the stuff I'm working on. like anytime I do a podcast, I move it to the podcast uh group so I can find it. >> Well, this also was like it was part of it was a I think it's part of a discussion that I had. Um here we go. Let's see. Um here is this it okay here we go. based on your past seasons. So, we're going to do a season suggestion by AI potentially. Let's see what we can do with this. Um, and then we're going to see what our first couple episodes will be. Sorry, I'm like moving some stuff around so I can actually see some windows here. Uh, let's see. Futureproofing your developer career. Uh, here's a 12 episode season outline. Um, how to adapt, thrive, and leave a lasting mark in a rapidly changing tech world. Um, episode one, the only constant change in tech. Episode two, skills that never expire. AI is your coding partner, not your replacement. Navigating the cloudnative world, the rise of low code and no code. Continuous learning without burnout. Building a resilient career network. Futureproof architectures. Soft skills that matter the most in 2030. thriving and remote in global teams, developer to entrepreneur and expanding your options, your legacy as a developer. I'm thinking we've sort of done something like this. Um, I'm thinking we do like a let's tackle the buzzwords season and we can do like a couple episodes even per like the first thing I'm thinking of right away AI because it is such a big thing and because I actually just read an article today about like some of the they just did a scan they did a brain scan on people doing AI and found that basically people that use AI heavily actually are causing mental damage to themselves. They're having a hard time rec uh reviewing or remembering things like I can. They have a hard time speaking. Um they can't host podcast. There's a lot of stuff like that that are these challenges. But there it was, uh and I think it was a Harvard study they said that did it. May have been the Journal of Medicine, but whoever it was was like when you're using AI, you're like your mental uh activity goes like zero. and you know some things like that and that there's just like people are starting to see the ugly side of of AI and all of the you know the challenges and it's it's becoming more and more thing I think that would be a really good one to talk about. I think it's always good it's almost an evergreen topic for us to talk about the skills that never expire. That's not necessarily a buzzword but I think that may be uh you know an area that we can touch on those definitely the cloud everybody's you know cloud this cloud that and all that kind of things. Um, low code and no code I think is something we really haven't talked about much. Um, but I think it would be interesting to get into. Um, and we talked about our legacy a little bit in the last one, but think we could probably find some good little buzz terms and stuff like that. Make it a little more I mean I guess it's a little more contemporary, although obviously the AI stuff somewhat was as well. But I think we can do that and that may be really good working with um some of the speakers too if we can sprinkle in some speakers that may give us some some good topics there as well. So make it a little bit more of a um you know I don't know we'll we'll have to think of something that we want as like the actual thing but it's really it's just like you know let's tackle the things the elephant in the room essentially. Let's tackle the things that everybody needs to know that we know we need to know and how do we how do we work with these? Everybody knows they need soft skills. Okay. Well, how do you build soft skills? Everybody knows that you need AI. Well, how do you use AI? Uh, everybody knows that the cloud's out there. How do I use it? Everybody knows what an IDE is and version control and CI/CD and stuff like that. What does that do for me? Testing. Who the hell tests? Why would you do that? Documentation. Okay, great. What does that mean? Um, we we've covered a lot of those, but I think it wouldn't be bad to go back and review some of those. I know I've talked a lot, so your thoughts. >> Yeah, I I kind of like how you just laid out that last little bit, you know, like documentation, you know, why would anyone document testing and things like that? Um, we got to be careful though because we've kind of over the last four seasons, we've touched on a lot of these individually in different kind of in similar themes, but just in different context. Uh, so if we do it this way, we need to make sure that we stick to like one, well, we may not have to, but we're gonna probably need to keep to like the focus that we want, like buzzwords, things cuz we can go in the weeds too easily, I should say, on a lot of these and it would kind of like I guess detract from our goals for the season. like it it I I want us to make sure that we can keep it concise enough that yeah, we're talking about the buzzwords. We're talking about the important keys and that, but we keep it in context where anyone jumping into the season knows what we're talking about, knows what the season's about, not where, oh, this episode was on this, now they're kind of over here on this. It does that make sense? Like how how can we make this flow as a season versus just uh like a scattered shot of here's all a whole bunch of buzzwords? Yeah, I mean, I know that's that's always been the, you know, how it's gone for a long time is the whole we'll do something and we'll go all over the place, particularly when you start getting interviews like that was all all over the place. Um, so yeah. So then what do we So what's our goal going to be then? What's like if we want to do that then what's our why for this season or what's our goal? um you know tackling I mean like I said like we could look at like let's talk about some of the buzzwords and let's talk about things that people you know care about I guess right now for lack of a better term or we could be um I I like the buzzwords I'm trying to pull up the uh what the categories were that we used for the last four seasons because I kind of like how we structured those. Uh let's see. We have building better business, building better developers with AI, building better developers, building better habits, um, buzzwords to success. Um, what's AI coming up with? >> Oh, I'm not even asking it. >> Oh, it looked like you were typing something. No, I'm just looking like random topic ideas and stuff like that and seeing if that jumps out on me on any of these because there is stuff like it's >> because I like how we did the building like doing the building for a couple of seasons but now maybe we flip it to the developers like buzz buzzwords developer buzzwords. Um >> well or is it something we've because we have done that. So do we do something where it really is um maybe we try to do is we try to bridge the the developer entrepreneur gap a little bit and do like taking the buzz out of buzzwords kind of thing. It's like let's talk about the reality of these things and what this means and how does that work? How do you you know because some people are like I just had this conversation the other day with the guy he's like well why are people struggling with you know to adopt AI. I'm like because they don't know what the heck to do with it. They're like it's supposed to be awesome. It's supposed to be all this stuff but I don't know how it fits into my you know what I do and things like that. So, I think this is >> I think it could be a good one that that's a split and gets a little bit back on the side hustly side and stuff like that and entrepreneurial side of things like um like AI. Okay. So, what do you need to worry about with AI? What are some ways that you can use AI that are going to benefit you? And you know, what are some things to watch out for with AI? What is it? What are the things that you need to have, you know, have a heads up with? like you know people that are if you're going out and you're going to do a project in AI u and you're going to go get some people to help you what the you know realize that nobody's really been doing AI more than six months most people are going to be like I'm an AI master they took like they read a learn AI you know learn long language models in 24 hours and now they're like they're an expert >> so how do you get around that how do you find the people that are actually going to help you out um things like cloud computing like okay well what where does that matter what how can that help you how where should you put stuff in the cloud what you should be what should you be worried about um thinking from a developer point like tools like how do you use like AI is everywhere all these tools it's in emails it's in you know Microsoft's big you know co-pilot and you know all the lady in the box stuff of you know Alexexas and series and stuff like that and it's probably all going to like light stuff up now because it's all listening. But it's like those kinds of things. It's like how do we know sort of and it's it is probably a little bit of old commodity thing because the kids of today are like oh okay I'm used to all this stuff but it's also like looking forward like what does this mean? What is this going to mean six months from now or a year from now or two or three years from now? Um so maybe it is like taking the sting out of the buzzwords or something along those lines. It's basically like let's like ground some of this a little bit and talk about what does it really mean? What is it? Um and it may go to even some very basic stuff of like um you know what is a what is a developer? Uh what is a you know maybe we talk about some of the tech stacks. What does that mean? What is that what is that how important is this tech stack even to what you're doing? because I'm seeing a lot of AI generated requests for work and you can tell because it's it's you know they they give some generic kind of answers and it generates all this stuff that's like well you could do this or you could do that you could it's like okay then don't even mention it. It's like just say that that's not important. You know there's things like that that it just becomes obvious and it ends up I think it changes or it gosh now I'm getting on a soap box a little bit. It changes the gatekeepers because now AI has basically become a gatekeeper for some of these things. M >> so I think there's cases like that. I think there's a like I said we could do multiple episodes on AI alone. I think quite a few on cloud on cloud computing and what does that mean like no code low code cloud microservices uh distributed systems some of those kinds of things that are like all they don't all blend together but sort of do um what is the problem with using Firebase as your data store for your application you know things like that is I think we could get into some there could be some very general like low-level stuff that we talk about but I think we could get into some very higher you know some higher higher end stuff are like this is what you need to watch out for if you make this decision. Understand this is what you're going to be this is what you're signing on for. >> Yeah. Right into a bit of that too. Like we were talking the other day, you know, the whole vibe coding thing and that and I was reading articles as well just this morning about a CEO that's already trying to reduce workforce by using AI for help desk uh for chat bots. And now he went out and wrote a vibe coding to flesh out his ideas for features for the application. It's like here I did this and they spend they're like well yeah that might work but we have to essentially redo everything you did because yeah well you got it working it's not going to work. Um so I did pop into AI after our discussion just now trying to come up with some ideas. So, here's some themes. Uh, breaking the buzzwords. Uh, beyond buzzwords, real skill for real developers. Uh, buzzwords to blueprint. Turning hype into action. The buzzword breakdown from buzzwords to backlog. Uh, bug buzzwords to build careers and deconstructing developer buzzwords. I kind of like the beyond buzzwords, real skills for real developers. Um, but that doesn't really focus on the buzzwords. But then there's the the buzzword breakdown. I I kind of like that one. >> Well, it doesn't have to be buzzwords. It's more like I mean this it's I think it's too f I think those are a little focused on buzzwords versus it's like these are the hot topics. These are the uh cutting edge. >> Gotcha. um you know working with some of the cutting edge things and so it is I know it's like it is a sort of a broad kind of topic but it also gives us 30ome episodes that we can do on it. >> How about from buzzwords to business value? >> I I scrolled it actually gave me a lot more than what I just read off. >> I wonder how we could do that. Um, >> oh, here's one. The developer nerve buzzword filter. >> It's got a little bit of a cheek to it. How about like we could do like building better buzzwords or something like that since we're in this. We've sort of been in this kick. I'm wondering if we do that as a theme. Although that once we do it, like if we do it again, it's sort of like we've almost locked ourselves into it has to have building better. >> That's what I was trying to figure out. Is there a way to kind of use developers this time or developer? >> This I'm going to throw I will go to AI for this. Let's see what are some season I just mainly using it to just kind of get some combinations of things just to kind of see what kind of fits and what doesn't fit. >> Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. This is this is actually where it's useful to do this kind of stuff is to just get throw stuff everything at the wall and see what sticks. So, let's see. Some topics, titles. I guess I'll spell that right even though it usually does pretty good. Any idea building better? And the buzzword buffet. Yeah. No. career buzzwords uh densified the buzzword proof developer. That's a book. That is a book title right there. That's Let's see. Let's see if it gives me anything. Nice direction pairing your building better theme with a myth busting or behind the buzzword season. Let's see. Building better beyond the buzzwords. Building better with what works. Building better by mythbusting myth. Building better software in the age of hype. Um, serverless or just someone else's server. That's a good little title episodes. They got some fun ones there. Uh, let's see. This would be a good one for a future season. Build like a boss. >> Yeah, but the boss doesn't know what's going on. That's our whole point. [Music] See if it does. Let's see if I can tell it this. Oh, here we go. Building better buzzwords, building better myths, building better practices, building better realities, building better perspectives, building better decisions, building better conversations, building better foundations, building better trends, building better truths. Hm. I sort of like the building better foundations. Another little the secondary tagline it has is extracting timeless lessons hidden in the hype. But >> I think that's because the other like that to me really has a good because that's really where we're getting back to. It's like, okay, those are the buzz, but let's like taking it and we can think of a better I think we could think of a better tagline because building better foundations I like is sort of like the the short one and then it's really it's like taking big idea. Maybe it is maybe it's how we adjust it. It's taking big ideas down to practical use, you know, something along those lines. So, we're going to take we're going to tackle buzzwords, but it's really because that's really what it is. It's tackling buzz words, but like how do I actually We're not saying that the buzzwords aren't buzzy, that they're not cool things, that they're not out there. We're saying, okay, well, what do I do with this? It's almost a whole season of, okay, that's cool. It's out there. Now, what do I do? And it could even be things like really whisbang um you know, CSS libraries and stuff like that. It's like, well, how do I take all this stuff and actually do something with it? What does, you know, how do I make this little flashy pin wheel thing do something other than just be a flashy pin wheel? >> Yeah, I kind of like that better because that that feels a little more in line with developer. And I mean I I like >> that's where we go anyways. >> Yeah, true. Well, we go there because that's kind of what we build. I mean, that's what this whole thing is is building better developers, building, you know, taking coders to developers and developers to entrepreneurs and entrep, you know, that's kind of the whole theme of it. So, >> building better foundations. >> Yeah, I like that. >> All right, let's get my improv on and let's see how this works. First, I need to go to get this We'll probably put together some background this time with like a little toolkit or uh like a slide rule and >> but I put a brain on the last season. >> I thought like Yeah, that's like since we've got like bonus material here and people are actually listening in, I got to remember that. It's just like yeah, bonus like kudos to you. And for those that don't know, like Michael does all of this stuff now. That's why it's gotten like more of a It has like uh better little images and stuff like that that are not just pure stock stuff and things like that. We have like our little Yeah, it's mostly text, but at least we have like season backgrounds and that. So, uh that's all Michael spends that time and uh that's why I'm free to go deal with other crap in my life and things like that. So, all right. So, let's uh let's see how this goes. So, building better foundations. We'll kick this sucker off and see where it goes. Three, two, one. Well, hello and welcome back. We are in a new season 26 of Building Better Developers Developer Podcast. Yes, we've been doing this for a long stinking time. 26 seasons, especially when you consider there's two seasons alone encompass over 200 episodes when you add those two together. Um, we're doing pretty good. chugging along. I'm not going to spoil it yet. I'm going to like let you guys hang on. What is the topic? We just figured it out literally moments ago. So, we're still like just basking in the glow and figure out what are we going to do for this season. First, I want to introduce myself. My name is Rob Broadhead. I'm one of the founders of developing building better developers. Also the founder of RB Consulting, which often would be considered like boutique consulting and things like that. But what happens really is we help you cut it costs. We help you understand it. We help you wrangle technology. We help you figure out like what do you do with this thing? What do you do with this technology that you've got, the applications that you've got? And a lot of it is understanding your business. How do you take the processes that are in your head, get them down on paper or, you know, in a digital form? So then either your people or your systems can actually systematize, automate those, simplify them, integrate it with other systems, or we can even sit down with you and create an entire new solution. And that's what we do. We'll sit down. We start off with our little assessment with you and then either you can take it a run or we will take it as far as you'd like to go with it. Uh you can check us out at rb-sns.com. Uh we've got a little like insta assessment tool there that takes about 10 minutes and then we also have uh you can do a a very quick assessment product that takes you basically two hours of your time, an hour up front and an hour at the end. We spend a little time between that, a few hours and we build out a road map for you and you're off and running. Good thing, bad thing. Um, this is like the epitome of good thing. Bad thing actually. Bad thing is um we had a we had a house that was being rented by a uh a sib a child. Uh we'll go ahead and we'll be that direct was being rented by a child and the child said child found a house that was uh dream home and moved very quickly. Uh so we suddenly were like, "Oh, we don't have anybody. We have to do something with this house." And uh that's the bad thing is now we're under scramble mode yet again. The good thing is is that we are actually still here. We haven't like moved away. We haven't done anything where it would be much much harder for us to do so. And actually we've got somewhere else that we've got a place to stay that's literally like six, seven minutes away from this house. So we're able to get some work done and stuff like that. So that's a good thing is that at least it's the bad thing is it happened. The good thing is it happened now instead of three or six or nine months from now. Uh, the other good thing is I do have a co-host that helps me out with so much stuff. Actually helps me out. 8020 rule. He does 80% of the work. I do too and then the rest falls in the cracks. Michael, introduce yourself. Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash. I'm one of the co-founders of Building Better Developers, also known as Developer. I'm also the owner and founder of Envision QA, where we help businesses take back the control of their custom software. Uh we build custom software around your needs, not the other way around. So we make the software work for you. Our focus is simple, great service, smart solutions, and a rock solid quality. We build tools that require uh that replace frustrating systems, streamline operations, and are fully tested to work right the first time. If you want to learn more, check us out at envisionqa.com. Good thing, bad thing. Uh, good thing. Um, getting towards the end of a project, it's been a bit of a slog. Uh, not really a slog, just it we've uncovered a lot of things and we want to do it right. So, it's a little over our original estimates. Uh, bad thing as we're getting to the end of that, the nerves and the doubts and all that creep in and it's like, are we going to really make it? Yes, we are. Uh it it this is just one of those things that happen when you run your own business. Um you have the wins and you have the stress that comes pre before the winds. So uh it's I'm in that little mix right now of the good and the bad uh stage once we get across the finish line. It's going to be, you know, sunflowers and sunshine till the next project >> until the sun sunshine goes rain and the stor goes away and the rain and storms come and the flowers die and all that kind of fun stuff. Happy times, happy thoughts. There you go. Well, this this season, uh, actually, we're in a pretty good mood because we figured out what we're going to talk about. We're going to do building better foundations. We've done developers and businesses and things like that. We've done it with AI. Uh, and we actually did use AI a little bit in this, but we're actually going to pick on AI. I think part of this season, we are going to really go back to it's it's taking the things that are these big things, uh, buzzwords and these big concepts that people struggle with, like how do you actually implement it? Uh, some of these things that we know we need to do, but like how do we actually make that part of our habits? We've talked about it a lot. We've talked about it with some of the challenges. We've talked about it in uh the actually the building better developer seasons. The developer book itself talks about like habits and all these little things you can do. But I want to I want to modernize this a little bit and let's get some of the the hot topics of the day and some of the things that are, you know, most likely going to be, you know, in your mind because they're the things that you're struggling with. We're going to have some at least one. I think we're having we're going to have we are going to have some interviews this time around. Uh because we're going to sprinkle some of that in. Uh I think that'll work great to us to get just some hot topics, but also um some things maybe a little bit different that we haven't thought about and then uh do that like just it really comes back to like that foundation as a developer like what are the things that you need to keep in mind while you're tackling all the stuff that's changing all of the technology that's out there. Um this is going to be one of the seasons I think that is it yes it will from episode to episode we may you know shift a little bit and but we're also going to try to keep a couple you know a series in cases for like example the AI we'll probably have several that we'll be talking about that cloud computing we'll probably have several that talk about that uh when we talk about like uh DevOps we'll probably have some stuff on that there'll be a couple of se couple not a couple seasons couple of episodes on that and uh we'll just sort of see where these take us because uh some of these there is a uh it's like unwrapping you know it's an onion kind of thing as you sort of peel off a layer and like oh now there's another layer and another layer and another layer. I think I'll stop there and get sort of your thoughts on the over because we've just literally we've just come up with this. So we'll see what u hopefully the two of us can sort of come to consensus of where we're planning on going before we dive too much into the first topic. Well, yeah. And kind of where this topic initially came from was we we're kind of talking about like current news and things like that. You know, what what is the buzz in our industry right now? You know, like AI, cloud computing, vibe, uh coding, uh no code, things of that nature. And we felt that we wanted to do a season to where we kind of break those down. Basically, what is the why behind these buzzwords? Why do you want to do them? Why are they important? Uh, and that is where I think uh, in each episode we'll pick kind of the topic of the day and peel that back like Rob mentioned, peel back the onion and get into the why. Why is this important to us as developers? Uh, why is it important also not just to us but why is it important to our customers, to business and the industry? You know, why do we need to use this? What is the importance of this? You know, AI, you know, big buzzword, constantly thrown around. You know, cloud computing has been around long enough now that most people have heard it. Most people understand it. However, I still run into people that ask me, "What is the cloud?" Some people out there just really don't know what the cloud is. It's a buzzword. And for a lot of people not in tech, they don't care what the cloud is. They just know it's something out there. There's software's out there, codes out there, whatever. So, I think as we go through the journey of this season, uh, we'll help flush that out. We'll help kind of break those barriers down and help our listeners understand where to go. You know, what buzzwords, quote unquote, buzzwords, or what foundational skills are the skills that they need to really be focusing on for themselves and for their growth. Because sometimes you may run across a system that is 30 years old that you have to still have the skills to understand how it worked to bring it to a modern uh to basically bring it up to speed to bring it up to scale to today's standards. And if you don't understand the why of why that system was built, what's it for? translating that to something current is going to be a problem because you're not going to fully understand the why and you may pick the wrong technologies. So to me I think that's where I think this will be beneficial to a lot of our listeners around you know how can I take these buzzwords you know what where is the industry going how can I grow and I think that's what we'll kind of get to as we pull these topics down. Yeah, and I think those are some of the things I want to focus on is the with mo especially with new technologies, it seems like it's very easy or at least it's easier to do a like a a startup application or you know some sort of jump start application where you start from scratch and you build this thing out and you're like, "Oh, okay. This is how it works." Very different when you take that with an existing system and now you try to map that existing system into some new technology. It's very different just like the simplest things of like a desktop application to a web application and we're going to talk about some of these things like what are the what are the considerations. We want to take it more than just like well here's how you can use it but like here's some of the gotchas here's some of the things that you need to do uh essentially architecturally to make sure that you are going to be able to actually use that thing correctly. Some of it's it does go back to like using the right tool in the right place. Sometimes it's like, "Oh, yeah, that's a really spiffy drill, but that drill is going to be really annoying if you're going to try to use that to cut down a tree or something like that." So, you know, it's it is it does go back to choosing the right uh the right tool for the right problem, but also understanding what you're getting into. And I want to I think with a lot of these, I think we're going to get into uh go a little deeper than oh, we'll go just check this out. We're going to talk a little bit and there's going to be some war stories. is to be like, okay, well, you know, this is what we're finding, especially with some of these things that now that this has been going on for a while, we're starting to see where there's some of these issues and we've we've brought some of these up, but we want to, you know, swing back around and make sure that we're clear on some of these things so that you don't get bit so you don't suddenly have a, you know, $10,000 cloud bill from last month or, you know, some of these kinds of things that you need to you need to be very intentional and you need to actually learn a little, research a little before you dive into whatever the coolest newest thing is and think about it a little bit too because I think once we get that's why we're we came up with the foundations is it's really more about like when you go back to the foundational stuff of what are we trying to do what do we need to be thinking about what do we need to worry about what do we need to add that is the value ad to our application regardless what that application is whether it's a big you know huge server system that's used by billions of people or a little like phone app that's only used by one person at a time. Uh there's still certain considerations that are, for lack of a better term, they're best practices. You know, that's I don't know if that's really I've seen I've seen arguments against best practices even being used as a word that it's too buzzy, too much of a buzz word, but it's doing the right thing. It's doing the smart thing. It's keeping the why in front of you no matter what the technology is. And that I think that's really what makes you a developer. That's one of the things that that would be to me that's like a marker of a good developer and not just a coder is that you have those fundamentals and that regardless of what environment you're thrown into, you still have those things essentially ingrained in your system. You're still thinking about you're thinking in a certain way you're thinking in a certain manner. And I think that's why, you know, as we m Michael mentioned, vibe coding. Um, I think that's one of the things that uh people miss is it AI is not going to think that way. It's stealing thoughts from other people. It doesn't know how to put the two pieces together. And if you don't know how to stitch it together, you can have all the fabric in the world you want. You're not going to make a pretty dress. You know, something like that. It's probably not the best analogy, but hey, we'll go with that. Uh, final closing thoughts on this one. >> Yeah. So, as you're going through that, I thought of one that I think we'll we'll probably touch on with this season as well is a lot of these tools are out there, a lot of these buzzwords, if you're not already using them. It's sometimes hard to know which skill set or which tool to jump into to start learning something. Yes, some of these new technologies may be very quick to get code out there, but you're going to find very quickly that there's a limitation to how quickly some of these applications you build in these can scale. They may not be able to be enterprise level applications. Yes, you can get a product out there, but then you're going to quickly find that crap, I have to now go to a more mature uh applica or mature language or infrastructure or something else to get me to that business scale because you may have adopted something that's not there yet. So that's one of the biggest problems with just grabbing buzzwords and grabbing new tech and just jumping out there and running with it is there will be limitations to what you can do and understanding those upfront uh can help you. One, you can get a product to market fast. Yes. However, if that goes gang busters and you can't scale with that, your product's dead. So you need to be able to kind of follow that journey as you're going through the process. Okay. Yes, I have a working model. Now, how quickly can I scale this? If I can't scale, okay, how quickly can I pivot to something else to get the same product out that can scale? And you just stole some of the thunder from an upcoming episode, I'm sure. But that's okay. Stay tuned. We will go further into that one. Uh, but before we do that, we're going to do our famous love to do it every time. Actually, I don't love to do it. I hate that this is like one of those repetitive things, but I do like the results. is shoot us an email at [email protected]. Let us know what you think. Let us know good or bad. Love to hear your feedback on the prior 25 seasons or this season. What do you think? What are some uh some buzzwords or some areas that you would like us to tackle? I definitely have a few of those out there and I think those are going to be those will topics will filter into this season, but we're always looking for more because we're here to serve you to help you become better developers. Granted, we become better developers along the way because we're researching this and doing a lot of the same things. We're taking the same challenges. We're growing together. Uh but we want to make sure that you guys are a part of this as well. We love having the community side of it. You can also leave us feedback on YouTube on the developer channel. Uh on X, we are developer. We have the developer Facebook page and developer.com. You can go and there's tons and tons and tons of content out there. Uh you can check that out. that is, you know, heads up is that is going to be in a uh transition mode over the next few months as we're making some changes and updating some things and cleaning stuff up and things like that. Uh some of those may be some examples we even use during these uh upcoming episodes. So, that being said, just want to say welcome to season 26. We appreciate so much that you've been here for the prior 25 seasons and that you're sticking around for one yet another one. and we're going to try to do our best to make it every bit, every minute that you're here worth the investment of your time. Go out there and have yourself a great day, a great week, and we will talk to you next time. I think we spent enough time in the preamble. So, we're just going to count that as the bonus material this time around. Uh, and we're going to dive right into moving on to episode two, uh, of this. So, thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for hanging out. uh come back next time around and we will you'll be able to figure out just as we will what is the topic that we're going to have for episode two. Have a good one. [Music]
Transcript Segments
[Music]
We are recording. This is maybe this
goes the beginning of season 26.
How y'all? Uh let's see. diving right
in. So, we're up to a new season and I
think we did this last season. We
stepped into the next season and we
really didn't know what we were going to
do for the season. So, this may be a
little more bonus material than than you
may want.
Um, let's see. Do we have even anything
on the docket of stuff
of ideas and such? I did not see
anything. Y did you have something?
>> Did I send you?
Now I got to figure out where I put I
wonder if I sent you the one because I
actually did in AI.
I asked it if it um
recommend Oops, that's in the wrong
Slack place.
Um, it actually recommended a whole
bunch of interesting Oh, here we go.
Wait, is this it?
Um, no, that's your Wait.
Okay, that's on the title.
I hate when I do this.
And I'm not sure where I put that.
>> I make sure to tag the stuff I'm working
on. like anytime I do a podcast, I move
it to the podcast uh group so I can find
it.
>> Well, this also was like it was part of
it was a I think it's part of a
discussion that I had. Um
here we go. Let's see. Um here is this
it
okay here we go. based on your past
seasons. So, we're going to do a season
suggestion by AI potentially. Let's see
what we can do with this. Um, and then
we're going to see what our first
couple episodes will be. Sorry, I'm like
moving some stuff around so I can
actually see some windows here.
Uh, let's see. Futureproofing your
developer career. Uh, here's a 12
episode season outline. Um, how to
adapt, thrive, and leave a lasting mark
in a rapidly changing tech world. Um,
episode one, the only constant change in
tech. Episode two, skills that never
expire. AI is your coding partner, not
your replacement. Navigating the
cloudnative world, the rise of low code
and no code. Continuous learning without
burnout. Building a resilient career
network.
Futureproof architectures. Soft skills
that matter the most in 2030. thriving
and remote in global teams, developer to
entrepreneur and expanding your options,
your legacy as a developer. I'm thinking
we've sort of done something like this.
Um,
I'm thinking we do like a let's tackle
the buzzwords season and we can do like
a couple episodes even per like the
first thing I'm thinking of right away
AI because it is such a big thing and
because I actually just read an article
today about like some of the they just
did a scan they did a brain scan on
people doing AI and found that basically
people that use AI heavily actually are
causing mental damage to themselves.
They're having a hard time rec
uh reviewing or remembering things like
I can. They have a hard time speaking.
Um they can't host podcast. There's a
lot of stuff like that that are these
challenges. But there it was, uh and I
think it was a Harvard study they said
that did it. May have been the Journal
of Medicine, but whoever it was was like
when you're using AI, you're like your
mental uh activity goes like zero. and
you know some things like that and that
there's just like people are starting to
see the ugly side of of AI and all of
the you know the challenges and it's
it's becoming more and more thing I
think that would be a really good one to
talk about. I think it's always good
it's almost an evergreen topic for us to
talk about the skills that never expire.
That's not necessarily a buzzword but I
think that may be uh you know an area
that we can touch on those definitely
the cloud everybody's you know cloud
this cloud that and all that kind of
things. Um, low code and no code I think
is something we really haven't talked
about much. Um, but I think it would be
interesting to get into. Um,
and we talked about our legacy a little
bit in the last one, but think we could
probably find some good little buzz
terms and stuff like that. Make it a
little more I mean I guess it's a little
more contemporary, although obviously
the AI stuff somewhat was as well.
But I think we can do that and that may
be really good working with um some of
the speakers too if we can sprinkle in
some speakers that may give us some some
good topics there as well. So make it a
little bit more of a um
you know I don't know we'll we'll have
to think of something that we want as
like the actual thing but it's really
it's just like you know let's tackle the
things the elephant in the room
essentially. Let's tackle the things
that everybody needs to know that we
know we need to know and how do we how
do we work with these? Everybody knows
they need soft skills. Okay. Well, how
do you build soft skills? Everybody
knows that you need AI. Well, how do you
use AI? Uh, everybody knows that the
cloud's out there. How do I use it?
Everybody knows what an IDE is and
version control and CI/CD and stuff like
that. What does that do for me? Testing.
Who the hell tests? Why would you do
that? Documentation. Okay, great. What
does that mean? Um, we we've covered a
lot of those, but I think it wouldn't be
bad to go back and review some of those.
I know I've talked a lot, so your
thoughts.
>> Yeah, I I kind of like how you just laid
out that last little bit, you know, like
documentation, you know, why would
anyone document testing and things like
that? Um, we got to be careful though
because we've kind of
over the last four seasons, we've
touched on a lot of these individually
in different kind of in similar themes,
but just in different context.
Uh, so if we do it this way, we need to
make sure that we stick to like one,
well, we may not have to, but we're
gonna probably need to keep to like the
focus that we want, like buzzwords,
things cuz we can go in the weeds too
easily, I should say, on a lot of these
and it would kind of like I guess
detract from our goals for the season.
like it it I I want us to make sure that
we can keep it concise enough that
yeah, we're talking about the buzzwords.
We're talking about the important keys
and that, but we keep it in context
where anyone jumping into the season
knows what we're talking about, knows
what the season's about, not where, oh,
this episode was on this, now they're
kind of over here on this. It does that
make sense? Like how how can we make
this flow as a season versus just uh
like a scattered shot of here's all a
whole bunch of buzzwords? Yeah, I mean,
I know that's that's always been the,
you know, how it's gone for a long time
is the whole we'll do something and
we'll go all over the place,
particularly when you start getting
interviews like that was all all over
the place. Um,
so yeah. So then what do we So what's
our goal going to be then? What's like
if we want to do that then what's our
why for this season or what's our goal?
um
you know tackling I mean like I said
like we could look at like let's talk
about some of the buzzwords and let's
talk about things that people you know
care about I guess right now for lack of
a better term or we could be um
I I like the buzzwords I'm trying to
pull up the uh
what the categories were that we used
for the last four seasons because I kind
of like how we structured those.
Uh let's see. We have building better
business, building better developers
with AI, building better developers,
building better habits,
um,
buzzwords to success.
Um,
what's AI coming up with?
>> Oh, I'm not even asking it.
>> Oh, it looked like you were typing
something. No, I'm just looking like
random topic ideas and stuff like that
and seeing if that jumps out on me on
any of these because there is stuff like
it's
>> because I like how we did the building
like doing the building for a couple of
seasons but now maybe we flip it to the
developers like buzz buzzwords developer
buzzwords. Um
>> well or is it something we've because we
have done that. So do we do something
where it really is um
maybe we try to do is we try to bridge
the the developer entrepreneur gap a
little bit and do like
taking the buzz out of buzzwords kind of
thing. It's like let's talk about the
reality of these things and what this
means and how does that work? How do you
you know because some people are like I
just had this conversation the other day
with the guy he's like well why are
people struggling with you know to adopt
AI. I'm like because they don't know
what the heck to do with it. They're
like it's supposed to be awesome. It's
supposed to be all this stuff but I
don't know how it fits into my you know
what I do and things like that. So, I
think this is
>> I think it could be a good one that
that's a split and gets a little bit
back on the
side hustly side and stuff like that and
entrepreneurial side of things like um
like AI. Okay. So, what do you need to
worry about with AI? What are some ways
that you can use AI that are going to
benefit you? And you know, what are some
things to watch out for with AI? What is
it? What are the things that you need to
have, you know, have a heads up with?
like you know people that are if you're
going out and you're going to do a
project in AI u and you're going to go
get some people to help you what the you
know realize that nobody's really been
doing AI more than six months most
people are going to be like I'm an AI
master they took like they read a learn
AI you know learn long language models
in 24 hours and now they're like they're
an expert
>> so how do you get around that how do you
find the people that are actually going
to help you out um things like cloud
computing like okay well what where does
that matter what how can that help you
how where should you put stuff in the
cloud what you should be what should you
be worried about um
thinking from a developer point like
tools like
how do you use like AI is everywhere all
these tools it's in emails it's in you
know Microsoft's big you know co-pilot
and you know all the lady in the box
stuff of you know Alexexas and series
and stuff like that and it's probably
all going to like light stuff up now
because it's all listening. But it's
like those kinds of things. It's like
how do we
know sort of and it's it is probably a
little bit of old commodity thing
because the kids of today are like oh
okay I'm used to all this stuff but it's
also like looking forward like what does
this mean? What is this going to mean
six months from now or a year from now
or two or three years from now? Um
so maybe it is like taking the sting out
of the buzzwords or something along
those lines. It's basically like let's
like ground some of this a little bit
and talk about what does it really mean?
What is it? Um and it may go to even
some very basic stuff of like um you
know what is a what is a developer? Uh
what is a you know maybe we talk about
some of the tech stacks. What does that
mean? What is that
what is that how important is this tech
stack even to what you're doing? because
I'm seeing a lot of AI generated
requests for work and you can tell
because it's it's
you know they they give some generic
kind of answers and it generates all
this stuff that's like well you could do
this or you could do that you could it's
like okay then don't even mention it.
It's like just say that that's not
important. You know there's things like
that that it just becomes obvious and it
ends up I think it changes or it gosh
now I'm getting on a soap box a little
bit. It changes the gatekeepers because
now AI has basically become a gatekeeper
for some of these things. M
>> so I think there's cases like that. I
think there's a like I said we could do
multiple episodes on AI alone. I think
quite a few on cloud on cloud computing
and what does that mean like no code low
code cloud microservices uh distributed
systems some of those kinds of things
that are like all they don't all blend
together but sort of do um what is the
problem with using Firebase as your data
store for your application you know
things like that is I think we could get
into some there could be some very
general like low-level stuff that we
talk about but I think we could get into
some very higher you know some higher
higher end stuff are like this is what
you need to watch out for if you make
this decision. Understand this is what
you're going to be this is what you're
signing on for.
>> Yeah.
Right into a bit of that too. Like we
were talking the other day, you know,
the whole vibe coding thing and that and
I was reading articles as well just this
morning about a CEO that's already
trying to reduce workforce by using AI
for help desk uh for chat bots. And now
he went out and wrote a vibe coding to
flesh out his ideas for features for the
application. It's like here I did this
and they spend they're like well yeah
that might work but we have to
essentially redo everything you did
because yeah well you got it working
it's not going to work. Um
so I did pop into AI after our
discussion just now trying to come up
with some ideas. So, here's some
themes. Uh, breaking the buzzwords.
Uh, beyond buzzwords, real skill for
real developers.
Uh, buzzwords to blueprint. Turning hype
into action. The buzzword breakdown
from buzzwords to backlog.
Uh, bug buzzwords to build careers
and deconstructing developer buzzwords.
I kind of like the beyond buzzwords,
real skills for real developers. Um, but
that doesn't really focus on the
buzzwords. But then there's the the
buzzword breakdown. I I kind of like
that one.
>> Well, it doesn't have to be buzzwords.
It's more like I mean this it's
I think it's too f I think those are a
little focused on buzzwords versus it's
like these are the hot topics. These are
the uh cutting edge.
>> Gotcha.
um you know working with some of the
cutting edge things and so it is
I know it's like it is a sort of a broad
kind of topic but it also gives us 30ome
episodes that we can do on it.
>> How about from buzzwords to business
value?
>> I I scrolled it actually gave me a lot
more than what I just read off.
>> I wonder how we could do that. Um,
>> oh, here's one. The developer nerve
buzzword filter.
>> It's got a little bit of a cheek to it.
How about like we could do like building
better buzzwords or something like that
since we're in this. We've sort of been
in this kick. I'm wondering if we do
that as a theme. Although that once we
do it, like if we do it again, it's sort
of like we've almost locked ourselves
into it has to have building better.
>> That's what I was trying to figure out.
Is there a way to kind of use developers
this time or developer?
>> This I'm going to throw I will go to AI
for this. Let's see what are some season
I just mainly using it to just kind of
get some combinations of things just to
kind of
see what kind of fits and what doesn't
fit.
>> Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. This is
this is actually where it's useful to do
this kind of stuff is to just get throw
stuff everything at the wall and see
what sticks. So, let's see. Some topics,
titles. I guess I'll spell that right
even though it usually does pretty good.
Any idea building better? And
the buzzword buffet.
Yeah. No.
career buzzwords uh densified
the buzzword proof developer.
That's a book.
That is a book title right there. That's
Let's see. Let's see if it gives me
anything.
Nice direction pairing your building
better theme with a myth busting or
behind the buzzword season. Let's see.
Building better beyond the buzzwords.
Building better with what works.
Building better by mythbusting myth.
Building better software in the age of
hype.
Um,
serverless or just someone else's
server. That's a good little title
episodes. They got some fun ones there.
Uh, let's see.
This would be a good one for a future
season. Build like a boss.
>> Yeah, but the boss doesn't know what's
going on. That's our whole point.
[Music]
See if it does. Let's see if I can tell
it this.
Oh, here we go. Building better
buzzwords, building better myths,
building better practices, building
better realities, building better
perspectives, building better decisions,
building better conversations, building
better foundations, building better
trends, building better truths.
Hm.
I sort of like the building better
foundations.
Another little the secondary tagline it
has is extracting timeless lessons
hidden in the hype.
But
>> I think that's because the other like
that to me really has a good
because that's really where we're
getting back to. It's like, okay, those
are the buzz, but let's like taking it
and we can think of a better I think we
could think of a better tagline because
building better foundations I like is
sort of like the the short one and then
it's really it's like taking big idea.
Maybe it is maybe it's how we adjust it.
It's taking big ideas down to practical
use, you know, something along those
lines. So, we're going to take we're
going to tackle buzzwords, but it's
really because that's really what it is.
It's tackling buzz words, but like how
do I actually
We're not saying that the buzzwords
aren't buzzy, that they're not cool
things, that they're not out there.
We're saying, okay, well, what do I do
with this? It's almost a whole season
of, okay, that's cool. It's out there.
Now, what do I do? And it could even be
things like really whisbang um you know,
CSS libraries and stuff like that. It's
like, well, how do I take all this stuff
and actually do something with it? What
does, you know, how do I make this
little flashy pin wheel thing do
something other than just be a flashy
pin wheel?
>> Yeah, I kind of like that better because
that that feels a little more in line
with
developer. And I mean I I like
>> that's where we go anyways.
>> Yeah, true. Well, we go there because
that's kind of what we build. I mean,
that's what this whole thing is is
building better developers, building,
you know,
taking coders to developers and
developers to entrepreneurs and entrep,
you know, that's kind of the whole theme
of it. So,
>> building better foundations.
>> Yeah, I like that.
>> All right, let's get my improv on and
let's see how this works.
First, I need to go to get this
We'll probably put together some
background this time with like a little
toolkit or uh like a slide rule and
>> but I put a brain on the last season.
>> I thought like Yeah, that's like since
we've got like bonus material here and
people are actually listening in, I got
to remember that. It's just like yeah,
bonus like kudos to you. And for those
that don't know, like Michael does all
of this stuff now. That's why it's
gotten like more of a It has like uh
better little images and stuff like that
that are not just pure stock stuff and
things like that. We have like our
little Yeah, it's mostly text, but at
least we have like season backgrounds
and that. So, uh that's all Michael
spends that time and uh that's why I'm
free to
go deal with other crap in my life and
things like that. So, all right. So,
let's uh let's see how this goes. So,
building better foundations. We'll
kick this sucker off and see where it
goes. Three, two, one. Well, hello and
welcome back. We are in a new season 26
of Building Better Developers Developer
Podcast. Yes, we've been doing this for
a long stinking time. 26 seasons,
especially when you consider there's two
seasons alone encompass over 200
episodes when you add those two
together. Um, we're doing pretty good.
chugging along. I'm not going to spoil
it yet. I'm going to like let you guys
hang on. What is the topic? We just
figured it out literally moments ago.
So, we're still like just basking in the
glow and figure out what are we going to
do for this season. First, I want to
introduce myself. My name is Rob
Broadhead. I'm one of the founders of
developing building better developers.
Also the founder of RB Consulting, which
often would be considered like boutique
consulting and things like that. But
what happens really is we help you cut
it costs. We help you understand it. We
help you wrangle technology. We help you
figure out like what do you do with this
thing? What do you do with this
technology that you've got, the
applications that you've got? And a lot
of it is understanding your business.
How do you take the processes that are
in your head, get them down on paper or,
you know, in a digital form? So then
either your people or your systems can
actually systematize, automate those,
simplify them, integrate it with other
systems, or we can even sit down with
you and create an entire new solution.
And that's what we do. We'll sit down.
We start off with our little assessment
with you and then either you can take it
a run or we will take it as far as you'd
like to go with it. Uh you can check us
out at rb-sns.com.
Uh we've got a little like insta
assessment tool there that takes about
10 minutes and then we also have uh you
can do a a very quick assessment product
that takes you basically two hours of
your time, an hour up front and an hour
at the end. We spend a little time
between that, a few hours and we build
out a road map for you and you're off
and running. Good thing, bad thing. Um,
this is like the epitome of good thing.
Bad thing actually. Bad thing is um we
had a we had a house that was being
rented by a uh a sib a child. Uh we'll
go ahead and we'll be that direct was
being rented by a child and the child
said child found a house that was uh
dream home and moved very quickly. Uh so
we suddenly were like, "Oh, we don't
have anybody. We have to do something
with this house." And uh that's the bad
thing is now we're under scramble mode
yet again. The good thing is is that we
are actually still here. We haven't like
moved away. We haven't done anything
where it would be much much harder for
us to do so. And actually we've got
somewhere else that we've got a place to
stay that's literally like six, seven
minutes away from this house. So we're
able to get some work done and stuff
like that. So that's a good thing is
that at least it's the bad thing is it
happened. The good thing is it happened
now instead of three or six or nine
months from now. Uh, the other good
thing is I do have a co-host that helps
me out with so much stuff. Actually
helps me out. 8020 rule. He does 80% of
the work. I do too and then the rest
falls in the cracks. Michael, introduce
yourself. Hey everyone, my name is
Michael Malash. I'm one of the
co-founders of Building Better
Developers, also known as Developer. I'm
also the owner and founder of Envision
QA, where we help businesses take back
the control of their custom software. Uh
we build custom software around your
needs, not the other way around. So we
make the software work for you. Our
focus is simple, great service, smart
solutions, and a rock solid quality. We
build tools that require uh that replace
frustrating systems, streamline
operations, and are fully tested to work
right the first time. If you want to
learn more, check us out at
envisionqa.com.
Good thing, bad thing. Uh, good thing.
Um, getting towards the end of a
project, it's been a bit of a slog. Uh,
not really a slog, just it we've
uncovered a lot of things and we want to
do it right. So, it's a little over our
original estimates. Uh, bad thing as
we're getting to the end of that, the
nerves and the doubts and all that creep
in and it's like, are we going to really
make it? Yes, we are. Uh it it this is
just one of those things that happen
when you run your own business. Um you
have the wins and you have the stress
that comes pre before the winds. So uh
it's I'm in that little mix right now of
the good and the bad uh stage once we
get across the finish line. It's going
to be, you know, sunflowers and sunshine
till the next project
>> until the sun sunshine goes rain and the
stor goes away and the rain and storms
come and the flowers die and all that
kind of fun stuff. Happy times, happy
thoughts. There you go. Well, this this
season, uh, actually, we're in a pretty
good mood because we figured out what
we're going to talk about. We're going
to do building better foundations. We've
done developers and businesses and
things like that. We've done it with AI.
Uh, and we actually did use AI a little
bit in this, but we're actually going to
pick on AI. I think part of this season,
we are going to really go back to it's
it's taking the things that are these
big things, uh, buzzwords and these big
concepts that people struggle with, like
how do you actually implement it? Uh,
some of these things that we know we
need to do, but like how do we actually
make that part of our habits? We've
talked about it a lot. We've talked
about it with some of the challenges.
We've talked about it in uh the actually
the building better developer seasons.
The developer book itself talks about
like habits and all these little things
you can do. But I want to I want to
modernize this a little bit and let's
get some of the the hot topics of the
day and some of the things that are, you
know, most likely going to be, you know,
in your mind because they're the things
that you're struggling with. We're going
to have some at least one. I think we're
having we're going to have we are going
to have some interviews this time
around. Uh because we're going to
sprinkle some of that in. Uh I think
that'll work great to us to get just
some hot topics, but also um some things
maybe a little bit different that we
haven't thought about and then uh do
that like just it really comes back to
like that foundation as a developer like
what are the things that you need to
keep in mind while you're tackling all
the stuff that's changing all of the
technology that's out there. Um this is
going to be one of the seasons I think
that is it yes it will from episode to
episode we may you know shift a little
bit and but we're also going to try to
keep a couple you know a series in cases
for like example the AI we'll probably
have several that we'll be talking about
that cloud computing we'll probably have
several that talk about that uh when we
talk about like uh DevOps we'll probably
have some stuff on that there'll be a
couple of se couple not a couple seasons
couple of episodes on that and uh we'll
just sort of see where these take us
because
uh some of these there is a uh it's like
unwrapping you know it's an onion kind
of thing as you sort of peel off a layer
and like oh now there's another layer
and another layer and another layer.
I think I'll stop there and get sort of
your thoughts on the over because we've
just literally we've just come up with
this. So we'll see what u hopefully the
two of us can sort of come to consensus
of where we're planning on going before
we dive too much into the first topic.
Well, yeah. And kind of where this topic
initially came from was we we're kind of
talking about like current news and
things like that. You know, what what is
the buzz in our industry right now? You
know, like AI, cloud computing, vibe, uh
coding, uh no code, things of that
nature. And we felt that we wanted to do
a season to where we kind of break those
down. Basically, what is the why behind
these buzzwords? Why do you want to do
them? Why are they important? Uh, and
that is where I think uh, in each
episode we'll pick kind of the topic of
the day and peel that back like Rob
mentioned, peel back the onion and get
into the why. Why is this important to
us as developers? Uh, why is it
important also not just to us but why is
it important to our customers, to
business and the industry? You know, why
do we need to use this? What is the
importance of this? You know, AI, you
know, big buzzword, constantly thrown
around. You know, cloud computing has
been around long enough now that most
people have heard it. Most people
understand it. However, I still run into
people that ask me, "What is the cloud?"
Some people out there just really don't
know what the cloud is. It's a buzzword.
And for a lot of people not in tech,
they don't care what the cloud is. They
just know it's something out there.
There's software's out there, codes out
there, whatever. So,
I think as we go through the journey of
this season, uh, we'll help flush that
out. We'll help kind of break those
barriers down and help
our listeners understand where to go.
You know, what buzzwords, quote unquote,
buzzwords, or what foundational skills
are the skills that they need to really
be focusing on for themselves and for
their growth. Because sometimes
you may run across a system that is 30
years old
that you have to still have the skills
to understand how it worked to bring it
to a modern uh to basically bring it up
to speed to bring it up to scale to
today's standards. And if you don't
understand the why of why that system
was built, what's it for? translating
that to something current is going to be
a problem because you're not going to
fully understand the why and you may
pick the wrong technologies. So
to me I think that's where I think this
will be beneficial to a lot of our
listeners around you know how can I take
these buzzwords you know what where is
the industry going how can I grow and I
think that's what we'll kind of get to
as we pull these topics down. Yeah, and
I think those are some of the things I
want to focus on is the with mo
especially with new technologies, it
seems like it's very easy or at least
it's easier to do a like a a startup
application or you know some sort of
jump start application where you start
from scratch and you build this thing
out and you're like, "Oh, okay. This is
how it works."
Very different when you take that with
an existing system and now you try to
map that existing system into some new
technology. It's very different just
like the simplest things of like a
desktop application to a web application
and we're going to talk about some of
these things like what are the what are
the considerations. We want to take it
more than just like well here's how you
can use it but like here's some of the
gotchas here's some of the things that
you need to do uh essentially
architecturally to make sure that you
are going to be able to actually use
that thing correctly. Some of it's it
does go back to like using the right
tool in the right place. Sometimes it's
like, "Oh, yeah, that's a really spiffy
drill, but that drill is going to be
really annoying if you're going to try
to use that to cut down a tree or
something like that." So, you know, it's
it is it does go back to choosing the
right uh the right tool for the right
problem, but also understanding what
you're getting into. And I want to I
think with a lot of these, I think we're
going to get into uh go a little deeper
than oh, we'll go just check this out.
We're going to talk a little bit and
there's going to be some war stories. is
to be like, okay, well, you know, this
is what we're finding, especially with
some of these things that now that this
has been going on for a while, we're
starting to see where there's some of
these issues and we've we've brought
some of these up, but we want to, you
know, swing back around and make sure
that we're clear on some of these things
so that you don't get bit so you don't
suddenly have a, you know, $10,000 cloud
bill from last month or, you know, some
of these kinds of things that you need
to
you need to be very intentional and you
need to actually learn a little,
research a little before you dive into
whatever the coolest newest thing is and
think about it a little bit too because
I think once we get that's why we're we
came up with the foundations is it's
really more about like when you go back
to the foundational stuff of what are we
trying to do what do we need to be
thinking about what do we need to worry
about what do we need to add that is the
value ad to our application regardless
what that application is whether it's a
big you know huge server system that's
used by billions of people or a little
like phone app that's only used by one
person at a time. Uh there's still
certain considerations that are, for
lack of a better term, they're best
practices. You know, that's I don't know
if that's really I've seen I've seen
arguments against best practices even
being used as a word that it's too
buzzy, too much of a buzz word, but it's
doing the right thing. It's doing the
smart thing. It's keeping the why in
front of you no matter what the
technology is. And that I think that's
really what makes you a developer.
That's one of the things that that would
be to me that's like a marker of a good
developer and not just a coder is that
you have those fundamentals and that
regardless of what environment you're
thrown into, you still have those things
essentially ingrained in your system.
You're still thinking about you're
thinking in a certain way you're
thinking in a certain manner. And I
think that's why, you know, as we m
Michael mentioned, vibe coding. Um, I
think that's one of the things that uh
people miss is it AI is not going to
think that way. It's stealing thoughts
from other people. It doesn't know how
to put the two pieces together. And if
you don't know how to stitch it
together, you can have all the fabric in
the world you want. You're not going to
make a pretty dress. You know, something
like that. It's probably not the best
analogy, but hey, we'll go with that.
Uh, final closing thoughts on this one.
>> Yeah. So, as you're going through that,
I thought of one that I think we'll
we'll probably touch on with this season
as well is a lot of these tools are out
there, a lot of these buzzwords, if
you're not already using them.
It's sometimes hard to know which skill
set or which tool to jump into to start
learning something. Yes, some of these
new technologies may be very quick to
get code out there, but you're going to
find very quickly that there's a
limitation to how quickly some of these
applications you build in these can
scale. They may not be able to be
enterprise level applications. Yes, you
can get a product out there, but then
you're going to quickly find that crap,
I have to now go to a more mature
uh
applica or mature language or
infrastructure or something else to get
me to that business scale because you
may have adopted something that's not
there yet. So that's one of the biggest
problems with just grabbing buzzwords
and grabbing new tech and just jumping
out there and running with it is there
will be limitations to what you can do
and understanding those upfront uh can
help you. One, you can get a product to
market fast. Yes. However, if that goes
gang busters and you can't scale with
that, your product's dead. So you need
to be able to kind of follow that
journey as you're going through the
process. Okay. Yes, I have a working
model. Now, how quickly can I scale
this? If I can't scale, okay, how
quickly can I pivot to something else to
get the same product out that can scale?
And you just stole some of the thunder
from an upcoming episode, I'm sure. But
that's okay. Stay tuned. We will go
further into that one. Uh, but before we
do that, we're going to do our famous
love to do it every time. Actually, I
don't love to do it. I hate that this is
like one of those repetitive things, but
I do like the results. is shoot us an
email at [email protected].
Let us know what you think. Let us know
good or bad. Love to hear your feedback
on the prior 25 seasons or this season.
What do you think? What are some uh some
buzzwords or some areas that you would
like us to tackle? I definitely have a
few of those out there and I think those
are going to be those will topics will
filter into this season, but we're
always looking for more because we're
here to serve you to help you become
better developers. Granted, we become
better developers along the way because
we're researching this and doing a lot
of the same things. We're taking the
same challenges. We're growing together.
Uh but we want to make sure that you
guys are a part of this as well. We love
having the community side of it. You can
also leave us feedback on YouTube on the
developer channel. Uh on X, we are
developer. We have the developer
Facebook page and developer.com. You can
go and there's tons and tons and tons of
content out there. Uh you can check that
out. that is, you know, heads up is that
is going to be in a uh transition mode
over the next few months as we're making
some changes and updating some things
and cleaning stuff up and things like
that. Uh some of those may be some
examples we even use during these uh
upcoming episodes. So, that being said,
just want to say welcome to season 26.
We appreciate so much that you've been
here for the prior 25 seasons and that
you're sticking around for one yet
another one. and we're going to try to
do our best to make it every bit, every
minute that you're here worth the
investment of your time. Go out there
and have yourself a great day, a great
week, and we will talk to you next time.
I think we spent enough time in the
preamble. So, we're just going to count
that as the bonus material this time
around. Uh, and we're going to dive
right into moving on to episode two, uh,
of this. So, thanks a lot, guys. Thanks
for hanging out. uh come back next time
around and we will you'll be able to
figure out just as we will what is the
topic that we're going to have for
episode two. Have a good one.
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