Code with Jason

In this episode I talk with Dave Thomas about why code reuse is overrated, the economics of programming principles, and why we can't empirically test whether practices work—we have to scrutinize the arguments behind them. Dave also discusses his new book Simplicity and his "developer without portfolio" concept. Links: Simplicity Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Wale Olaleye about finding consulting clients through referrals and word of mouth. We discuss the "hunting vs farming" analogy for marketing, simplifying your pitch, filtering clients with deposits, and how genuine community relationships lead to business over time. Links: railsfever.com Wale Olaleye on LinkedIn Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Andrea Laforgia about programming principles, why good code is code that's easy to change, and his motto: "write your code so it can be easily deleted." We discuss technical debt as an operating model, the fallacy of sacrificing quality for speed, and AI's impact on learning fundamentals. Links: Andrea Laforgia on LinkedIn Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Steven Diamante about coaching teams on XP practices and AI coding agents. We discuss why change is so hard (people have to want it), his success turning an underperforming team around through weekly learning hours, and how to use TDD with AI—including "predictive TDD" where you have the agent guess if tests will pass or fail. Links: Diamante Technical Coachin...

In this episode I talk with Ernesto Tagwerker about using AI for Rails upgrades, AI as an unblocking tool rather than just a speeder-upper, and the dangers of AI-generated "speculative code" that adds liability without value. Links: FastRuby.io OmbuLabs

In this episode I talk with Eleni Konior about her path from economics to graphic design to programming, and how creative skills benefit technical work. We discuss building customer-focused features, the importance of assuming the customer's role, and AI in products beyond chatbots—like proactively surfacing recommendations based on user behavior. Links: datgreekchick.com Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Joel Drapper about defect-free development—not just automated testing, but the full spectrum: linting, static typing, database constraints, and especially runtime assertions. Joel's library Literal lets you define type expectations that blow up immediately when violated, catching bugs before they spread. Links: literal.fun phlex.fun joel.drapper.me Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Kendall Miller about MCP (Model Context Protocol) and why AI agents need third-party guardrails. His company Maybe Don't sits between AI agents and MCP servers to prevent disasters—because AI sometimes solves problems in creative and terrifying ways. Links: Maybe Don't, AI Kendall Miller on LinkedIn Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Lio Lunesu, CTO of Defang, about infrastructure as code, Docker, and Docker Compose. Defang compiles Docker Compose files into cloud infrastructure code. Links: Defang Lio Lunesu on LinkedIn SaturnCI Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Chris Gaffney about Dead Man's Snitch, a cron job monitoring service he's run full-time for six years after Collective Idea acquired it at a very early stage. We discuss the five-year path to profitability, SaaS being harder today, and dopaminergic personalities in tech. Links: Dead Man's Snitch Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Kate Holterhoff, senior analyst at RedMonk, about her PhD research on Darwin's methods, speculation in science, and how 19th century evolutionary thinking influenced literature. We discuss epistemology, conjecture and criticism, and how these ideas connect to programming. Links: RedMonk Speculation and the Darwinian Method in British Romance Fiction, 1859-1914 Nons...

In this episode I talk with Jeff Casimir, founder of Turing School, about why AI is far down his list of reasons for the tech job market downturn—he points instead to macroeconomic policy, copycat layoff culture, and companies using layoffs to suppress worker organizing. We also discuss aptitude vs. belief, why school is mostly daycare, and his prompt injection resume experiment. Links: Jeff Casim...

In this episode I talk with Ryan Frisch and Brendan Buckingham from the Rails Business Podcast about whether info products are viable in the Rails community, how business ideas emerge from personal pain points rather than brainstorming, and I give an update on SaturnCI sales. Links: Rails Business Podcast Locable SaturnCI Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Jarrett Yew about his 10-year programming journey, early freelancing failures, working with difficult clients, and we go deep on AGI, neuroscience, spatial reasoning in language, and David Deutsch's theories on perception. Links: Jarrett Yew on LinkedIn jarrettyew.com Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Tom Akehurst, CTO and Co-founder at WireMock, about API mocking, testing philosophy (verification vs specification, contracts, the testing pyramid), inner vs outer loop development, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) for integrating AI coding tools with external services. Links: WireMock WireMock on YouTube Tom Akehurst on LinkedIn Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Josef Strzibny about his books Deployment from Scratch and Kamal Handbook, the economics of info products in the Ruby space, his new project Lake AI, and his road trip through the Balkans. We also compare driving cultures across Europe and the US. Links: Kamal Handbook Deployment from Scratch Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Michael Ferranti from Unleash about feature flags, trunk-based development, and why DevOps metrics alone aren't sufficient. We discuss FeatureOps—focusing on customer outcomes rather than just code delivery—plus the "three voices" (engineering, business, customer) and AI's role in accelerating feedback loops. Links: Unleash Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Mike Mroczka about his book Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview . We discuss why algorithmic interviews persist, how AI has disrupted hiring, and why personal branding matters more than ever. Mike shares strategies for bypassing flooded job applications by contacting hiring managers directly. mikemroczka.com Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview on Amazon Cracking the C...

In this episode I talk with Mike Bowers, Chief Architect at Faircom, about ISAM—the bare-metal database layer that predates SQL and powers stock trading systems. We cover Faircom's pivot into industrial IoT, their JSON/SQL hybrid approach, and discuss AI, consciousness, and the symbol grounding problem. Links: FairCom Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Raphael Masson, CTO of Missive, and Craig Kerstiens from Crunchy Data. We cover bootstrapping Missive from a side project (Conference Badge), growing from 3 to 15 employees, migrating off Heroku, and why most developers underutilize Postgres. Links: Missive Crunchy Data Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Austin Chadwick and Chris Lucian about AI and machine learning. We discuss why LLMs may not lead to AGI, the history of AI funding, the philosophy of induction versus explanation, and my robot project idea for building intelligence from sensory experience up. Links: Mob Mentality Show Nonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Gregory Kapfhammer about flaky tests. We cover their five main causes, why fixing individual flaky tests isn't enough, and how test suite health connects to broader engineering practices, team culture, and the overall quality mindset of an organization. Links: https://www.gregorykapfhammer.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/GregKapfhammer https://fosstodon.org/@gkapfh...

In this episode I talk with Todd Kaufman about founding Test Double, focusing on hiring senior consultants who excel at communication and empathy. We discuss how consulting is 90% psychology, the importance of seeking to understand before being understood, and why most software projects still fail due to organizational rather than technical issues. Links: Test Double todd@testdouble.com Nonsense M...

In this episode I talk with Irina Nazarova about the San Francisco Ruby Conference happening November 19-21. She explains why SF needs a Ruby conference, the focus on connecting Ruby startup founders with engineers, showcasing new companies building with Rails, and fostering a pragmatic community centered on growth and innovation. Links: San Francisco Ruby Conference SF Ruby Cloud Cards Evil Marti...

In this episode I talk with Matthew Ford about AI-assisted coding at BitZesty. We discuss how AI speeds up development while requiring human oversight, the risks of "vibe coding," why automated testing remains critical, and how AI changes but doesn't replace fundamental software development practices like version control and architecture decisions. Links: Bit Zesty Matthew Ford on T...