Detailed Notes
Welcome back to Building Better Developers! In this special New Year’s Eve-Eve episode, we’re recording in the same room and doing a Year-End Reflection for Developers.
We look back at what we’re ready to leave behind in 2025—especially the AI hype cycle—and talk honestly about big companies using “AI” as a cover story for layoffs. We also hear quick perspectives from our in-room studio audience on Agile lessons, the AI buzzword problem, and why we’d all benefit from less fear and more clarity heading into 2026.
As you head into the new year, take a breath, reset, and keep building—smarter and kinder.
Subscribe for more episodes from the Building Better Foundations season.
https://develpreneur.com/year-end-reflection-for-developers/
Chapters (timestamps)
00:00 Intro + recording in the same room 01:10 Why a year-end reflection matters 02:00 AI fatigue: hype vs reality 03:05 “AI caused the layoffs” and the honesty gap 04:00 Studio audience: Agile lessons and teamwork 05:10 Studio audience: AI buzzwords and market chaos 07:10 Studio audience: less fear heading into 2026 08:30 Final thoughts + see you in 2026
#BuildingBetterDevelopers #YearEndReflectionForDevelopers #SoftwareEngineering #Agile #AI
Transcript Text
Well, hello and welcome back. Here we are on New Year's Eve and it happens to be actually it's New Year's Eve Eve day before that and we're sort of in a different place. You may have noticed that we clicked record and we are actually both here. We're not in our like normal like virtual screens and such. So, we're diving right into the New Year's Eve special. Uh, as always, this is, if you haven't figured it out yet, it's a developer podcast. This is building better developers. Uh, we are in the midst of the building better foundation season. And, uh, this episode, like I said, we're going to handle a couple of special things. Look at the year that's gone by and then in a couple days, we get new years and we're going to see what the new year looks like. I happen to be Rob Broadhead, one of the founders of developer, also founder of RB Consulting, where we help you assess your technology and build a road map for success. Good thing, bad thing, uh, good thing is technology. We get to move our recording studio around. Bad thing for him, not so much for me, is that this is probably going to be harder than normal to edit. Uh, we've got our nice little mics here, and we're going to see how well our microphones actually work for us. and uh audio-wise what this is going to do. But better yet, I'm going to let Michael introduce himself. >> Hey everyone, my name is Mike Walsh, one of the co-founders of developer, building better developers. I'm also the founder of Envision Q, where we help companies reduce their spaghetti software through automated testing. Uh good thing and bad thing. Uh good thing we're finally, we've been talking about doing this for years. We're finally in the same room doing the recording. Uh so those of you on YouTube, you guys see our friendly faces on audio. Yes, we're in the same room. You just have to uh trust us. Uh bad thing, as Rob mentioned, uh this is a different format, so it's going to make editing this a little more fun, but uh we'll see how it goes. All right. So, we're going to talk about uh it being New Year's Eve, I think it's a good time to do a little retrospective on the year and talk about what uh this time around and we're going to put this out to the studio audience, including our uh some people that are staring daggers at us because they are also like our technicians for tonight. Uh but we're going to talk about what we are ready to see go away uh in the year that has gone by. And I think for myself, um, honest, funny, funny enough, uh, I think it's this discussion of AI. I think like people have overblown it all year. I happen to, yes, enjoy using it and talking about it, but I'm like ready for us to move on to some other topic for some of these things. Now, I say that and I'm sure the next couple interviews we're still going to be talking about it. However, I think we need to like get out of like the, you know, this is going to destroy the world or it's going to save the world and get into the reality side of it. So, your thoughts on 25? >> Uh, well, I'm going to pick on AI a little bit, too, but I'm actually going to pick more on uh big businesses. There's been a I'm a little tired of larger Fortune 400 companies stating that all these layoff and productivity uh or employee elimination uh you know all the people that are being let go because of AI is a bit of a farce. We're actually dealing more with the uh end of the co no hire no fire. Yes, AI is going to have an impact on jobs but that's not what we're seeing right now. They're just hiding behind that. So, let's, you know, fess up. If you're going to fire someone, just say you're firing them for the bottom line. Move on. Don't lie about it. Uh, and agreed. The other thing with AI that I'm a little tired of is the whole u let me just give you crap. You know, where AI the chatbots just feed you crap. Um, it's like come on, it's getting better and I'm looking to see what AI will do next year. >> So, now we're going to pass it over here. One of them. There we go. We're going to pass it over to one of our studio audience members. Uh we're going to start with you. Uh introduce yourself and then what do you think? Sorry, I lost my mic. Introduce yourself and then what are you ready to see go away in 25. You don't have to touch any buttons. Just speak into the fuzz. >> Uh hey, I'm Ian. I work under Rob. Uh I'm a developer at the RV consulting company. Um for 2025, I I got to work on some pretty cool projects. I got to work on uh my first uh what it's agile is what we what the uh practice is. Um I worked on my first agile project uh with the team. Uh it was fun. Uh sort of learning how to work with a bunch of uh other developers on one big project. Uh as for a bad thing, um there there were of course some, you know, hang-ups uh as we went along. Ran a little longer than expected, but that's how some of these projects go sometimes. pass it on and we are going to go to a in our huge studio audience sort of >> introduce yourself. >> Hey, I'm Wesley. I am one of RB's developers. As far as things that I'm really hoping I don't see in 2026, >> I'm really tired. I'm going to kind of piggyback off what Michael said about uh Fortune 500 and bigger companies using AI. I'm really sick of the AI buzz word. It is It's currently the fad right now. And you know, I like playing around with it. It's a fun little toy. I'm looking I'm hoping that we in 2026 we finally figure out or get to a point where we understand where the tool is useful and where it's not. Um there's there's a lot of panic going around that Rob mentioned that it's going to replace everybody. Michael said, "Yes, you know, big businesses are slashing jobs and trying to just really shoehorn it into things where it really doesn't need to be there." What I'm I'm looking forward to as this science as the technology, you know, matures, we find the roles that it is. I'm also really hoping a lot of these um a lot of these AI projects kind of flop. Um, there's everyone's kind of jumping onto the bandwagon right now and it's making all kinds of markets go crazy. Like the PC RAM market right now absolutely insane because so many of these AI companies are buying it all up. 128 gigs is like 2 grand at this point. Absolutely insane. So, I want the AI frenzy to die down. I don't necessarily want the technology to go away. And specifically, let's when we're talking AI, we need to specify in large language models, not AI as a whole. What we have right now is kind of a buzzword in and of itself, but let's let's just calm down a bit. All right. And flipping the camera around here, >> we're going to pass this over to our camera woman and we'll get our other tech. There we go. So, go ahead and yourself. What are you ready to see go away from 25? >> Um, said you >> who are you asking right now? >> You >> um what am I ready to see go away in 25? Um >> first, who are you? >> Oh, I'm Natalie. Uh I work for RB and I work with Michael also and I uh help her cats within, you know, all of our platforms. I think what I'm ready to see go way in 25 was a lot of the fear that everybody has and a lot of the fear and the uncertainty and for people to really remember who we are and that you know we're all in this together and it shouldn't be so fearful all the time that it's going to be okay. >> That's a really good one. So, I'm going to give this back to Michael >> because he's not going away. Perfect. Uh so um there you have it from our panel of experts uh things that uh could go away in 25. I think we're sort of in agreement that there's some definitely some things that we are ready to see disappear and we're ready for 26. Uh as we are going from the Christmas season into the new year and all that kind of stuff. Uh just like go out there, have some fun, get out, socialize, hang out with other people, be kind to each other. you know, this is like be brothers and sisters for a little bit. Sort of like like Natalie said, there's like the fear and the anger and some of this kind of stuff like this. Let's let it go. Enjoy the next few days as we go into the new year. And uh we will see you in 2026. Go out there and have yourself a great day, great week, great next year, and we will talk to you next year.
Transcript Segments
Well, hello and welcome back. Here we
are on New Year's Eve and it happens to
be actually it's New Year's Eve Eve day
before that and we're sort of in a
different place. You may have noticed
that we clicked record and we are
actually both here. We're not in our
like normal like virtual screens and
such. So, we're diving right into the
New Year's Eve special. Uh, as always,
this is, if you haven't figured it out
yet, it's a developer podcast. This is
building better developers. Uh, we are
in the midst of the building better
foundation season. And, uh, this
episode, like I said, we're going to
handle a couple of special things. Look
at the year that's gone by and then in a
couple days, we get new years and we're
going to see what the new year looks
like. I happen to be Rob Broadhead, one
of the founders of developer, also
founder of RB Consulting, where we help
you assess your technology and build a
road map for success. Good thing, bad
thing, uh, good thing is technology. We
get to move our recording studio around.
Bad thing for him, not so much for me,
is that this is probably going to be
harder than normal to edit. Uh, we've
got our nice little mics here, and we're
going to see how well our microphones
actually work for us. and uh audio-wise
what this is going to do. But better
yet, I'm going to let Michael introduce
himself.
>> Hey everyone, my name is Mike Walsh, one
of the co-founders of developer,
building better developers. I'm also the
founder of Envision Q, where we help
companies reduce their spaghetti
software through automated testing. Uh
good thing and bad thing. Uh good thing
we're finally, we've been talking about
doing this for years. We're finally in
the same room doing the recording. Uh so
those of you on YouTube, you guys see
our friendly faces on audio. Yes, we're
in the same room. You just have to uh
trust us. Uh bad thing, as Rob
mentioned, uh this is a different
format, so it's going to make editing
this a little more fun, but uh
we'll see how it goes.
All right. So, we're going to talk about
uh it being New Year's Eve, I think it's
a good time to do a little retrospective
on the year and talk about what uh this
time around and we're going to put this
out to the studio audience, including
our uh some people that are staring
daggers at us because they are also like
our technicians for tonight. Uh but
we're going to talk about what we are
ready to see go away uh in the year that
has gone by. And I think for myself,
um, honest, funny, funny enough, uh, I
think it's this discussion of AI. I
think like people have overblown it all
year. I happen to, yes, enjoy using it
and talking about it, but I'm like ready
for us to move on to some other topic
for some of these things. Now, I say
that and I'm sure the next couple
interviews we're still going to be
talking about it. However, I think we
need to like get out of like the, you
know, this is going to destroy the world
or it's going to save the world and get
into the reality side of it. So, your
thoughts on 25?
>> Uh, well, I'm going to pick on AI a
little bit, too, but I'm actually going
to pick more on uh big businesses.
There's been a I'm a little tired of
larger Fortune 400 companies stating
that all these layoff and productivity
uh or employee elimination uh you know
all the people that are being let go
because of AI is a bit of a farce. We're
actually dealing more with the uh end of
the co no hire no fire. Yes, AI is going
to have an impact on jobs but that's not
what we're seeing right now. They're
just hiding behind that. So, let's, you
know, fess up. If you're going to fire
someone, just say you're firing them for
the bottom line. Move on. Don't lie
about it. Uh, and agreed. The other
thing with AI that I'm a little tired of
is the whole u let me just give you
crap. You know, where AI the chatbots
just feed you crap. Um, it's like come
on, it's getting better and I'm looking
to see what AI will do next year.
>> So, now we're going to pass it over
here. One of them. There we go. We're
going to pass it over to one of our
studio audience members. Uh we're going
to start with you. Uh introduce yourself
and then what do you think? Sorry, I
lost my mic. Introduce yourself and then
what are you ready to see go away in 25.
You don't have to touch any buttons.
Just speak into the fuzz.
>> Uh hey, I'm Ian. I work under Rob. Uh
I'm a developer at the RV consulting
company. Um for 2025, I I got to work on
some pretty cool projects. I got to work
on uh my first uh what it's agile is
what we what the uh practice is. Um I
worked on my first agile project uh with
the team. Uh it was fun. Uh sort of
learning how to work with a bunch of uh
other developers on one big project. Uh
as for a bad thing, um there there were
of course some, you know, hang-ups uh as
we went along. Ran a little longer than
expected, but that's how some of these
projects go sometimes. pass it on and we
are going to go to a in our huge studio
audience sort of
>> introduce yourself.
>> Hey, I'm Wesley. I am one of RB's
developers. As far as things that I'm
really hoping I don't see in 2026,
>> I'm really tired. I'm going to kind of
piggyback off what Michael said about uh
Fortune 500 and bigger companies using
AI. I'm really sick of the AI buzz word.
It is It's currently the fad right now.
And you know, I like playing around with
it. It's a fun little toy. I'm looking
I'm hoping that we in 2026 we finally
figure out or get to a point where we
understand where the tool is useful and
where it's not. Um there's there's a lot
of panic going around that Rob mentioned
that it's going to replace everybody.
Michael said, "Yes, you know, big
businesses are slashing jobs and trying
to just really shoehorn it into things
where it really doesn't need to be
there." What I'm I'm looking forward to
as this science as the technology, you
know, matures, we find the roles that it
is. I'm also really hoping a lot of
these um a lot of these AI projects kind
of flop. Um, there's everyone's kind of
jumping onto the bandwagon right now and
it's making all kinds of markets go
crazy. Like the PC RAM market right now
absolutely insane because so many of
these AI companies are buying it all up.
128 gigs is like 2 grand at this point.
Absolutely insane. So, I want the AI
frenzy to die down. I don't necessarily
want the technology to go away. And
specifically, let's when we're talking
AI, we need to specify in large language
models, not AI as a whole. What we have
right now is kind of a buzzword in and
of itself, but let's let's just calm
down a bit. All right.
And flipping the camera around here,
>> we're going to pass this over to our
camera woman and we'll get our other
tech. There we go. So, go ahead and
yourself. What are you ready to see go
away from 25?
>> Um, said you
>> who are you asking right now?
>> You
>> um what am I ready to see go away in 25?
Um
>> first, who are you?
>> Oh, I'm Natalie. Uh I work for RB and I
work with Michael also and I uh help her
cats within, you know, all of our
platforms. I think what I'm ready to see
go way in 25 was a lot of the fear that
everybody has and a lot of the fear and
the uncertainty and for people to really
remember who we are and that you know
we're all in this together and it
shouldn't be so fearful all the time
that it's going to be okay.
>> That's a really good one. So, I'm going
to give this back to Michael
>> because he's not going away.
Perfect.
Uh so um there you have it from our
panel of experts uh things that uh could
go away in 25. I think we're sort of in
agreement that there's some definitely
some things that we are ready to see
disappear and we're ready for 26. Uh as
we are going from the Christmas season
into the new year and all that kind of
stuff. Uh just like go out there, have
some fun, get out, socialize, hang out
with other people, be kind to each
other. you know, this is like be
brothers and sisters for a little bit.
Sort of like like Natalie said, there's
like the fear and the anger and some of
this kind of stuff like this. Let's let
it go. Enjoy the next few days as we go
into the new year. And uh we will see
you in 2026. Go out there and have
yourself a great day, great week, great
next year, and we will talk to you next
year.