The Peterman Pod

Osad

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  Turing Award Winner: Early AI, LLM Predictions, Causality | Judea Pearl 27.07.2026 1t 27min

  Judea Pearl is a Turing Award winner and a pioneer in artificial intelligence and causal reasoning. We talked about how he got into science, his major breakthroughs and his predictions for AI today.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/FleTXB1fAcQ• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-early-ai-llmThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:54) How he got into AI(11:17) Greatest scientist of all time(20:15) What people thought of AI in the 80s(26:23) Entering academia and researching AI(34:52) The invention of Bayesian networks(46:28) Pioneering work in causality(55:38) The causal hierarchy(59:34) LLMs and predictions(01:20:12) A restless mind pays(01:24:36) Advice for his younger self(01:26:37) OutroWhere to find Judea:• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/yudapearl• Website: https://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/jp_home.html• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea_PearlWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• The Book of Why: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Why• Bayesian networks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_network• Alpha-beta pruning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha%E2%80%93beta_pruning• Pearl vortex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_vortex• Graphoid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphoid• Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality_(book)• Coexistence and Other Fighting Words: Selected Writings of Judea Pearl, 2002–2025: https://bayes.cs.ucla.edu/COEXISTENCE/
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  Creator of OCaml: Functional Programming, Formal Verification, Programming Languages | Xavier Leroy 20.07.2026 1t 24min

  Xavier Leroy (creator of OCaml) is an expert in compilers, formal verification of software and functional programming. This interview should be an approachable resource if you're curious about formal verification of software since I was learning that on the fly during it.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/9Cswiqrq6So• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/creator-of-ocaml-functional-programmingThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:43) What sets OCaml apart(04:39) OCaml vs Rust(07:57) Why is manual memory management more performant(11:21) Javascript vs OCaml(14:00) Famous Rob Pike quote(16:05) Type inference and how it works(22:12) What is formal verification and how does it work(40:07) What made multicore support difficult for OCaml(50:17) How programming languages interface and call each other(57:41) The danger of almost-correct LLM code(01:05:39) How LLMs will change programming languages(01:10:26) Industry vs academia(01:15:05) Most interesting unsolved problems(01:18:30) Top book recommendations for engineers(01:21:17) Advice for his younger self(01:23:31) OutroWhere to find Xavier:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Leroy• Website: https://xavierleroy.org/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• CompCert verified C compiler: https://compcert.org/• seL4 microkernel: https://sel4.systems/• Programming Pearls (book, not an affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/dp/0201657880• How to Design Programs (book): https://htdp.org/
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  Turing Award Winner: TPU vs GPU vs CPU, Computer Architecture, RISC vs CISC | David Patterson 13.07.2026 59min

  David Patterson is a Turing Award winner famous for his contributions to computer architecture. I interviewed him about his past work, thoughts on GPU/TPUs and career advice from half a century of experience.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/Pn4ZwlEh5nw• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-tpu-vs-gpu-vs?r=n49kyTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:42) RISC vs CISC(12:51) Compilers(17:38) GPUs(23:07) GPU vs TPU vs CPU(32:12) Is Moores law dead?(38:04) GPU benchmarks(41:40) How to have a bad career(49:59) Courage and optimism(55:56) Advice for his younger self(58:15) OutroWhere to find David:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Patterson_(computer_scientist)Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• AlexNet paper: https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper_files/paper/2012/file/c399862d3b9d6b76c8436e924a68c45b-Paper.pdf• David Patterson's “How to Have a Bad Career” talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1w4MRHIhc• “Life Lessons from the First Half-Century of My Career”: https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/life-lessons-from-the-first-half-century-of-my-career/• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (book): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People• Working (book): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_(Terkel_book)
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  Turing Award Winner: NSA, Public Key Cryptography, Crypto Wars | Martin Hellman 06.07.2026 1t 1min

  Martin Hellman is a Turing Award winner who helped to invent public-key cryptography against the NSA's wishes. I interviewed him all about his work and why it broke the law at the time.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/AZLOETBCQM4• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-nsa-public-keyThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:34) Why his work broke the law(08:39) How people did encryption before(18:51) The crypto wars(26:22) The story behind Diffie Hellman key exchange(36:48) Signatures vs key exchange(43:05) RSA patent wars(48:08) Why inventions happen at similar times(50:29) What he worked on after cryptography(57:31) His thoughts on death(59:40) Advice for his younger self(01:00:45) OutroWhere to find Martin:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Hellman• Website: https://ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Martin Hellman's “The Evolution of Public Key Cryptography”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tev3tVzH91s• Keys Under Doormats: https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/keys-under-doormats/• Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society (CRISIS report): https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5131/cryptographys-role-in-securing-the-information-society• Secure Communications Over Insecure Channels: https://doi.org/10.1145/359460.359473• New Directions in Cryptography: https://doi.org/10.1109/TIT.1976.1055638
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  MIT Complexity Theorist: Why You Can Do Better Than “Optimal” On Leetcode & SAT | Ryan Williams 29.06.2026 1t 12min

  Ryan Williams is a professor at MIT and the winner of the Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science. I interviewed him all about his work starting by asking him a popular Leetcode question (3 SUM).Correction: In this podcast I say "lower bound" when I mean "upper bound" and vice versa. Was speaking using the intuition that lower is better for running time. In reality, the accurate usage is:"Lower bound" = A proven floor for a problem e.g. "no algorithm can possibly be faster""Upper bound" = A proven ceiling for a specific solution e.g. "there exists an algorithm this fast"Professor Williams answers as if I spoke accurately so the error didn't impact the flow of conversation. Just a correction for the record• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/AaK1SL2i_4Y• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mit-complexity-theorist-on-leetcodeThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:41) Asking him a popular Leetcode question(03:54) Doing better than the popular optimal solution(08:26) Fine grained complexity(17:00) A severe strengthening of P vs NP(24:38) SAT problems and solvers(34:51) Hot takes on famous open questions(46:57) Simulating space with time(01:01:02) Why he solves hard problems(01:02:35) How to pick good research direction(01:07:14) Technical book recommendations(01:08:31) Advice for his younger self(01:11:56) OutroWhere to find Ryan:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Williams_(computer_scientist)• Website: https://people.csail.mit.edu/rrw/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-ryan-williams-a1b534a/• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/rrwilliamsWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Some Estimated Likelihoods for Computational Complexity: https://people.csail.mit.edu/rrw/likelihoods.pdf• Simulating Time with Square-Root Space: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17779• Cook and Mertz's tree evaluation paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3618260.3649664
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  OpenAI Eng & Dev Tools Founder: How Software Engineering Is Changing | Charlie Marsh 22.06.2026 1t 22min

  Charlie Marsh is the founder of Astral, the Python devtool startup that was acquired by OpenAI. I inteviewed him about how software engineering is changing and learnings from starting his own company as an engineer.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/Iw65FD4MGgs• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-eng-and-dev-tools-founderThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:40) Origin story(06:04) The front page of Hacker News(14:35) Why he chose Rust(20:10) Full codebase migration from Zig to Rust(28:40) LLM generated code and open source(35:34) Performance optimizations(44:54) Optimization with AI and combating slop(01:02:08) Learnings as an eng starting a company(01:17:55) Top technical talk recommendation(01:18:56) Advice for his younger self(01:22:00) OutroWhere to find Charlie:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshcharles/• GitHub: https://github.com/charliermarsh• X/Twitter: https://x.com/charliermarshWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Python tooling could be much, much faster: https://notes.crmarsh.com/python-tooling-could-be-much-much-faster• The coolest PR he's ever seen: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/789• Andrew Kelley’s data-oriented design talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IroPQ150F6c• Ruff: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff• uv: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv• ty: https://github.com/astral-sh/ty• Salsa: https://github.com/salsa-rs/salsa
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  Google DeepMind Pre-Training Lead: How To Land a Job at a Frontier Lab | Vlad Feinberg 15.06.2026 1t 4min

  Vlad Feinberg is Google DeepMind’s pre-training area lead and I asked him all about how to land a job at a frontier lab like Google DeepMind, Anthropic or OpenAI.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/cDyi91onoJ8• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/google-deepmind-pre-training-leadThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:33) Skills frontier labs need(08:45) The difference between AI research and engineering(21:41) Domains that matter for the frontier(30:50) Marketing yourself to frontier labs(35:13) Concrete steps engineers can take(38:29) Overview of pre-training areas(47:23) Jeff Dean spot bonus story(50:14) Favorite Gemini war story(58:59) Advice for his younger self(01:03:07) OutroWhere to find Vlad:• Personal Website: https://vladfeinberg.com/• Twitter/X: https://x.com/FeinbergVlad• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirfeinberg/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• How to Land a Job at a Frontier Lab: https://vladfeinberg.com/2026/05/10/how-to-land-a-job-at-a-frontier-lab.html• ThunderKittens: https://github.com/HazyResearch/ThunderKittens• Deedy's doomer Tweet: https://x.com/FeinbergVlad/status/2056383124829872466?s=20• Jacob Steinhardt's "Research as a Stochastic Decision Process": https://cs.stanford.edu/~jsteinhardt/ResearchasaStochasticDecisionProcess.html• The Scaling Book: https://jax-ml.github.io/scaling-book/• Dwarkesh and Reiner's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkSf5IS-zw
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  Co-Creator of Haskell: Functional Programming, Thinking in Types, Useless Languages | Simon Jones 08.06.2026 1t 27min

  Simon Peyton Jones is the co-creator of Haskell (pure functional programming language) and I interviewed him about functional programming, why it matters, and his thoughts on other programming languages.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/Podcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/xcB_LF3cdqw• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/co-creator-of-haskell-functionalThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:39) What functional programming is(09:18) Downsides of functional programming(10:53) Specialized hardware for functional programming(21:47) Haskell is useless(25:59) Rust vs C(28:26) Haskell vs OCaml(35:26) Side effects in Haskell(44:26) Type systems(57:30) How the Haskell compiler works(01:04:35) Why Haskell is talked about more than used(01:09:07) Avoiding success at all costs(01:11:12) LLMs and programming languages(01:13:57) New programming language design(01:15:59) Should students continue to learn programming(01:22:33) Why Excel is his 2nd favorite programming language(01:25:04) Advice for his younger selfWhere to find Simon:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonpj/• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Peyton_Jones• Personal Website: https://simon.peytonjones.org/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Haskell is useless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ• John Backus Turing Award lecture: https://worrydream.com/refs/Backus_1978_-_Can_Programming_Be_Liberated_from_the_von_Neumann_Style.pdf• Why functional programming matters: https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/dat/miranda/whyfp90.pdf• Excel is his 2nd favorite programming language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M4P5M85KO8
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  Turing Award Winner: P vs NP, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Quantum Computation | Avi Wigderson 01.06.2026 2t 15min

  Avi Wigderson is the only person in history to have won both a Turing Award (computer science) and Abel Prize (math). I interviewed him all about his field.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/Podcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/5GUcvSAJcJw• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-p-vs-np-zeroThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:08) P vs NP(14:51) What if you relaxed correctness(25:38) Why NP complete problems are equivalent(30:33) Space vs time complexity(43:06) Why people use SAT solvers(45:53) Randomness is a resource(55:48) Randomness depends on computational power(01:21:20) Zero knowledge proofs and their significance(01:38:30) Quantum computation and why it matters(01:56:24) Math vs computer science(02:08:16) Major breakthroughs and his experience(02:12:31) Advice for his younger self(02:14:48) OutroWhere to find Avi:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avi_Wigderson• Personal Website: https://www.math.ias.edu/avi/homeWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• PCP Theorem paper: https://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/TOPICS/pcp/AS.pdf• Paper on SAT approximation hardness: https://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/max3satl.pdf• Turing's paper: https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Turing_Paper_1936.pdf• Original paper on NP completeness: https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~sacook/homepage/1971.pdf• Ryan William's breakthrough result on space vs time: https://people.csail.mit.edu/rrw/time-vs-space.pdf• Old result on space vs time: https://www-wjp.cs.uni-saarland.de/publikationen/HPV75.pdf• Paper describing constant space majority solution: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~barring/publications/bwbp.pdf• Fast primality test paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022314X80900840/pdf?md5=6f748cd82fa8efa1a637efab5f632baa&pid=1-s2.0-0022314X80900840-main.pdf• Deterministic primality test paper: https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/manindra/algebra/primality_v6.pdf• Randomness vs observer paper: https://people.csail.mit.edu/silvio/Selected%20Scientific%20Papers/Pseudo%20Randomness/How_To_Generate_Cryptographically_Strong_Sequences_Of_Pseudo-Random_Bits.pdf• Hardness vs randomness paper: https://www.math.ias.edu/~avi/PUBLICATIONS/MYPAPERS/NOAM/HARDNESS/final.pdf• Erdos original sum vs product paper: https://users.renyi.hu/~p_erdos/1983-18.pdf• Terrence Tao sum vs product paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0301343• Seminal interactive proof paper: https://www.cs.miami.edu/home/burt/learning/csc609.221/goldwasser-micali-rackoff-knoweldge-complexity.pdf• Zero knowledge proof paper: https://www.math.ias.edu/~avi/PUBLICATIONS/MYPAPERS/GMW86/GMW86.pdf• Shor's algorithm original paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9508027• Lattice paper (new hard problems): https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/258533.258604• MIP* vs RE paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.04383• Zero knowledge non-interactive proofs: https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1296.pdf
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  Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling 25.05.2026 2t 1min

  James Cowling is the CTO at Convex and was previously the most senior engineer at Dropbox. We discussed technical details of his past projects, simplicity vs complexity, and career advice given where AI is today.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/Podcast links:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/3XkmNSuHFmY• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/dropboxs-former-most-senior-eng-buildingThank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/Timestamps:00:00:00 Intro00:00:53 Systems work during his PhD00:13:05 Dropbox technical deep dive00:21:57 Why Dropbox migrated from AWS00:36:40 How to do massive migrations00:44:31 Simplicity vs complexity in promos00:49:23 What technical teams should be focused on01:00:25 Doing the right thing vs promo hypothetical01:08:13 Why he dipped into management sometimes01:11:36 Why you should not lead by example01:23:23 How to mentor Senior Staff engineers01:27:30 Career advice for the AI era01:37:21 Why he started his own company01:46:05 The most technically challenging work of his career01:48:10 How he got involved in Silicon Valley01:52:16 Career regrets01:55:54 Top technical book recommendation01:56:36 Younger self and permanent underclass adviceWhere to find James:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcowling/• Twitter/X: https://x.com/jamesacowling• His company: https://www.convex.dev/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• His PhD Thesis: https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/atc12/atc12-final118.pdf• Masters paper: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall19/cos418/papers/vr-revisited.pdf• Papercuts writing he mentioned: https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/embracing-papercuts-e6390055dfc4• "Don't lead by example": https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/dont-lead-by-example-4f86b1174e64• His writing about orienting teams around missions: https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/your-system-is-not-a-sports-team-e17f9eb16b94
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  Creator of C++: Bell Labs, Negative Overhead Abstraction, Mistakes | Bjarne Stroustrup 18.05.2026 1t 59min

  Bjarne Stroustrup is the creator of the C++ programming language and a former researcher at Bell Labs. We talked about what Bell Labs was like, programming language design, and interesting anecdotes from his experience.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/U46fJ2bJ-co• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/creator-of-c-bell-labs-negative-overhead𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro0:50 - The origin of C++8:46 - What Bell Labs was like17:24 - Dennis Ritchie24:00 - When to build a programming language31:59 - Bootstrapping a language33:58 - C++ is not object-oriented37:32 - Discussing type systems46:20 - Memory safety49:26 - Standards committee anecdotes1:09:40 - Adding automatic garbage collection to C++1:18:25 - Template instantiation is Turing complete1:21:57 - Abstraction and performance1:28:51 - AI writing code1:35:54 - His motivation1:39:18 - Famous quotes1:46:48 - Reflecting on building C++1:49:12 - Top C++ book recommendation1:50:59 - Advice for his younger self1:58:06 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarne_Stroustrup• Personal Website: https://www.stroustrup.com/𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:• "A History of C++": https://www.stroustrup.com/hopl2.pdf• "Evolving a language in and for the real world": https://www.stroustrup.com/hopl-almost-final.pdf• "Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World": https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2020/p2184r0.pdf• The lecture where he mentioned he lost half his hair: https://youtu.be/69edOm889V4?si=IAZxYNwlUALodEV7&t=474• Quotes I pulled: https://www.stroustrup.com/quotes.html
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  Harvard Professor: CS50, What Matters More Than CS, Lecturing Well | David J Malan 11.05.2026 1t 3min

  David Malan is a Harvard professor known for turning CS50 into a popular online computer science course. We discussed the story behind CS50, how to lecture well, and how AI is changing CS education including in cheating/academic dishonesty.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/bB2o81DnKHk• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/harvard-professor-cs50-what-matters𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro1:09 - Getting into computer science3:27 - Becoming the professor of CS5011:19 - How to lecture well14:25 - Depth vs engagement in education18:11 - Why don't we consolidate educational resources23:20 - Why start with C31:51 - The ideal use of AI in education34:54 - Cheating and AI38:21 - Should we really learn CS still?45:24 - College vs online education47:06 - The most difficult concept to learn51:00 - Growth vs fixed mindset52:35 - The future of CS5055:56 - Biggest career regret1:00:29 - Top book recommendations1:02:36 - Advice for his younger self1:03:35 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:• Personal website: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmalan• Github: https://github.com/dmalan• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidjmalan/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malan/• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/davidjmalan/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidjmalan• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidjmalan𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:• His first program for CS50: https://x.com/davidjmalan/status/1432538424590929920• Paper about CS50 improvements: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/publications/fp310-malan.pdf• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy• How Computers Work book (not affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/How-Computers-Work-Evolution-Technology/dp/078974984X
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  PyTorch Eng Director: Promo Hacking, Industry Shifts, Regrets | John Myles White 04.05.2026 43min

  John Myles White recently left his role as a director of engineering at Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) so we spoke freely about promo culture, how big tech has changed, and how his career grew.𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/aPfnP4iAIH8• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/msl-eng-director-promo-hacking-industry𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘆:• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/• My ergonomic keyboard project, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro0:54 - Is he bullish on MSL5:23 - Running promotions at Meta15:15 - Growing at Meta22:22 - Julia core language contributor29:24 - Academics failing into industry31:48 - Stats book recommendations38:02 - Biggest career regret41:05 - Advice for his younger self42:46 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-myles-white-115697180/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/johnmyleswhite• Personal Website: https://www.johnmyleswhite.com/• Github: https://github.com/johnmyleswhite𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:• Evaluating the design of the R language - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240040602_Evaluating_the_Design_of_the_R_Language• Stats book he mentioned (not affiliate link) - https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Agnostic-Statistics-Peter-Aronow/dp/1316631141• Stats book he mentioned (not affiliate link) - https://www.amazon.com/All-Statistics-Statistical-Inference-Springer/dp/0387402721
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  Turing Award Winner: Data Abstraction, Dijkstra, Distributed Systems | Barbara Liskov 27.04.2026 34min

  Barbara Liskov is a Turing Award winner known for her work in programming languages and distributed systems. We discussed the major problems she solved in her career, stories about Dijkstra, getting rejected from Princeton because she was a woman and misc topics around her work.🔸 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/T9CGjbPZeaM• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-data-abstraction𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• Go To Statement Considered Harmful: https://homepages.cwi.nl/~storm/teaching/reader/Dijkstra68.pdf• Viewstamped Replication: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall09/cos518/papers/viewstamped.pdf𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro1:00 - Getting rejected from Princeton2:53 - The software crisis9:03 - The drawbacks of Python10:17 - Getting into distributed computing13:09 - Paxos vs Viewstamped replication21:44 - The significance of Dijkstras letter25:04 - Why she stayed in academia30:39 - Why her award was questioned33:51 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗮:• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Liskov𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  Turing Award Winner: Postgres, Disagreeing with Google, Future Problems | Mike Stonebraker 20.04.2026 56min

  Mike Stonebraker is a Turing Award winner famous for his contributions to fundamental database technologies. We discussed the story behind building Postgres, where he disagrees with Google/Amazon on databases, and what he's working on now.🔸 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/YPObBOwIrHk• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-postgres-disagreeing𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• Red book of database readings: http://www.redbook.io/• BEAVER: An Enterprise Benchmark for Text-to-SQL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02038𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro1:03 - How he got into databases6:43 - Competing with Oracle9:07 - What made Postgres special15:55 - One size fits none21:37 - Why he disagreed with Google29:14 - Why he chose academia over big tech30:58 - Replacing state in an OS with a DB42:02 - Future problems in databases51:36 - Technical book recommendations to learn databases52:20 - Advice for younger self55:52 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲:• His current company DBOS: https://dbos.dev/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  AWS Distinguished Eng: Learning From 3000 Incidents And How Engineering Is Changing | Marc Brooker 13.04.2026 1t 11min

  In this episode, I talked to Marc Brooker, a distinguished engineer at AWS who started there as a new grad and rose through the ranks. We discussed technical learnings from 3,000+ cloud system postmortems, how software engineering is changing with AI, how to find impactful problems and much more.🔶 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/u3GjIXP9N0s• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qX2GfpbzxzGpGvDZVINdO?si=wsDGZo9PTbCNalKVybFVnA• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/aws-distinguished-eng-learnings-from𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• Post we discussed on hobbies and apparent expertise: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2023/04/20/hobbies.html• Post on software engineering changing: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/02/07/you-are-here.html• Post about Senior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/20/ic-leadership.html• Post on Junior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/25/ic-junior.html𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro1:27 - Finding problems that matter11:42 - Learnings from 3000 postmortems23:58 - Why caches are bad29:37 - How AI will change software engineering36:49 - Advice for junior engineers given AI44:02 - Thoughts for senior engineers49:59 - Why engineers should write57:51 - Visibility and apparent expertise1:04:23 - AWS engineers he admires1:06:53 - Technical book recommendations1:09:06 - Advice for his younger self1:10:37 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-brooker-b431772b/• Twitter/X: https://x.com/MarcJBrooker• Personal Blog: https://brooker.co.za/blog/𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  Ex-Head of Eng at Instagram: Career Regrets and Learnings | James Everingham 06.04.2026 58min

  This is James Everingham, former head of engineering at Instagram and a veteran of the tech world with experience at Netscape. We talked about his unconventional start in the industry, learnings from every leg of his career, and regrets he has looking back.𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/VIF5Fm8NdE8• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/ex-head-of-eng-at-instagram-career𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:0:00 - Intro0:57 - Kicked out of college5:35 - FBI showed up at his house7:43 - Pre-IPO Netscape experience25:19 - Joining Instagram as head of eng29:12 - Why shrinking teams improves velocity32:59 - Working with Mike Krieger37:16 - Leading Cryptocurrency project at Meta42:30 - What he is working on now54:29 - Career regrets56:27 - Advice for his younger self57:42 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevering/• Twitter/X: https://x.com/jevering• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@jevering𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  Retired Amazon VP: How Corporate Politics Work And How To Win | Ethan Evans 30.03.2026 2t 50min

  Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers.🔸 The keyboard I'm building: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WaeGfLnRvc• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/amazon-vp-reveals-everything-hes𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00 - Intro2:33 - Empire Building31:54 - Stealing scope44:03 - Managing out via reorgs51:01 - Bad managers and mutiny01:01:43 - Political messaging01:11:48 - Handling politically skilled operators01:20:01 - Orgs trying to steal scope01:30:26 - Handling difficult people from other orgs01:36:19 - Handling weak managers01:46:30 - Backchanneling01:52:04 - Influence without authority01:58:04 - Sexual harassment 02:00:49 - Skip overruling firing02:05:39 - How to fire managers02:11:31 - Leverage when people are getting fired02:24:01 - How to grow past senior eng02:43:01 - How to avoid politics02:48:15 - Advice for younger self02:49:51 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  The Co-Creator of Kubernetes On Convincing Google, Building It, and Scaling for LLMs 23.03.2026 1t 7min

  This is a conversation with Brendan Burns, co-creator of Kubernetes and current technical fellow at Microsoft working on Azure. We discussed what it was like building it at Google, how he got buy-in, and what he learned along the way.🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/FKijpCEH9D8• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/the-creator-of-kubernetes-on-building𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:37 - How he convinced Google leaders00:09:26 - Building the MVP00:11:43 - How he made time for Kubernetes00:25:28 - Technical details on building Kubernetes00:38:46 - Rallying the open source community00:50:01 - Scaling Kubernetes up for AI training workloads00:55:31 - Reflections on getting a PhD01:00:22 - The inevitable trajectory of software is death01:04:16 - Top book recommendations01:05:22 - Advice for his younger self01:06:21 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-burns-487aa590/• Twitter/X: https://x.com/brendandburns• Github: https://github.com/brendandburns𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
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  Meta Hiring Lead On Behind The Scenes of Senior+ Eng Hiring 16.03.2026 1t 42min

  Austen McDonald is a former hiring committee member at Meta, where he led mobile hiring and conducted hundreds of interviews. In this episode, we talked about what happens behind the scenes in a hiring committee, unethical candidates, and the role referrals play.🔸 (Sponsor) Hello Interview's Website - https://www.hellointerview.com/𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• YouTube: https://youtu.be/nOapM8i5jr0• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-hiring-lead-on-behind-the-scenes𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:49 - What goes on in hiring committees00:09:02 - Unethical candidates00:12:50 - How leveling is determined00:23:12 - Can you negotiate level mid-process00:32:30 - How non-tech leads can signal scope00:39:11 - Referrals and bias00:45:28 - What the rubric looks like00:50:00 - OpenAI and Anthropic specific discussion00:52:22 - Most common mistakes senior candidates make01:02:31 - How to prep depending on your level01:08:34 - Subjectivity and bias01:21:02 - The questions you ask at the end matter01:23:59 - Storytelling tips01:30:31 - How he got promoted to Senior Manager (M2) at Meta01:33:32 - His biggest career regret01:38:13 - The best advice he ever received01:39:54 - Advice for younger self01:41:46 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻:• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenmc/• His book - https://thebehavioral.tech/𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman