Off the VPN

Is passion really a must to succeed in the tech world? Grace, a coding apprentice, gets called out for not being “passionate enough” about her work. But what does “passionate enough” look like and is that really what matters most in tech? In this episode, we challenge this stereotype and explore how your skills, not your obsession, should define your success. If you’ve ever felt like passion alone...

What happens when our most senior engineer stops writing code altogether and lets AI handle everything? Well, you can expect projects and productivity to go out the window.  Meet Simon, who is about 30+ years into the game and fully convinced that AI will fully replace the developer. From trying to build a model that could replace the whole team, to refusing to touch a pull request without an AI a...

Imagine sibling rivalry at its finest, but now dip it into tech. Meet Julian and Ava, two Ivy League computer science students with very different career paths. One’s endlessly stacking internships at Amazon, Google, and other big names, while the other’s soaking up Europe, partying, and living her best life. When they both go after the same job… turmoil starts to enter.  Ever faced some serious c...

A date so bad, it felt like a work meeting? Yeah, that happened. Meet Rochelle, who thought she was going on a quirky first date with a software engineer - until an 8-minute voice memo, an unhinged rant about remote work, and a very questionable boss threat turned everything upside down.  If you’ve ever tried to date in tech and found yourself knee-deep in awkward convos and glaring red flags, you...

Ever looked at a pull request and thought…welp.  Meet Raj, a tech lead just trying to do his job, until his team is buried under an avalanche of AI-generated chaos. We’re talking 10,000-line PRs, hallucinated services, broken tests, and a very real security scare. All in the name of speed? This episode is for anyone who has watched AI tools get tossed into engineering orgs with zero training, no g...

David, a junior engineer at a fintech company, is instantly zapped into a project that quickly becomes a memorable early dev experience (both technically and interpersonally). He’s tasked with building a feature alone after his senior engineer gets sidetracked, and unfortunately for him, his junior experience does not meet the high expectations, to put it lightly. What starts as an exciting opport...

Avery lands a senior role at, let’s just call the company Seat Snag, with a big paycheck and high expectations. But when his questions about company processes start raising eyebrows, ish hits the fan. What seemed like a normal transition turns into a clash of cultures. Avery’s quest for clarity turns into frustration, and while he was encouraged to switch teams, doing so only made it worse. Finall...

Sometimes getting random DMs in your online community doesn’t always work out like you want it to.   Picture this, you're Aubrey, a cybersecurity pro thriving in a fast-paced tech scene. Everything’s going smoothly until you try to do a nice thing - offering some extra tickets to a local disco costume party. Sounds harmless, right…right!?  Enter Ted: a seemingly well-meaning but totally clueless g...

Imagine you’re our good friend Logan (aka the Wolverine) and work is steady – yay!  When all of a sudden a “low priority” side project made it to the CEO’s radar…bummer.  Chaos begins, stress rises, deadlines shift, and communication has flown out the window. What was once a simple task is now a ticking time bomb. With a small team and virtually no additional resources, Logan’s feeling the summer...

Lily’s onboarding plan? Hit the ground running. Bart’s plan? Monitor her calendar like it’s a live-action thriller. From week one, it’s all tension, mixed signals, and a staff engineer just trying to do her job. This episode follows the slow-motion implosion of a tech team where one EM’s insecurities create a ripple effect of firings, confusion, and eventually, some pretty unconventional tactics f...

While Jasmine is enjoying her office sauna, our friend, “Hank” is ready to burn bridges. So the heat is high across the board, but while one situation has vacation vibes, the other is centered around an overqualified engineer.   This week, we’re getting into the chaos of tech teams, where legacy systems, ego battles, and one very opinionated senior dev threaten to tear it all down. From the drama...

Jasmine bought a sauna and “Deb” lost her job. One of those stories is relaxing—the other, not so much. This week, Allison brings a tale straight from the tech trenches: a PM asks for a little backup on a big customer call, and somehow ends up ousted from the team. From calendar drama to missed deadlines and a total breakdown in trust, this one’s got everything except a single honest conversation....

Escalations, stress, and a side of existential crisis—just another day in tech.  Ever wondered how to handle high-stakes incidents, and then realized just how much of IT work can be automated? This episode jumps into the weird world of tech jobs that shouldn’t be full-time but somehow are. Is it a win-win, or just corporate oblivion at its finest? And what happens when you’re so good at your job t...

New year, same chaos. Allison and Jasmine are back with a tech industry tale that has it all:  job-hopping, fake demos, impossible deadlines, and promotions sliding into the void. From conference standing ovations to the reality of shipping a mediocre product, we’re recounting a story about what happens when expectations don’t match the execution. Can a tooltip ruin your life? Let’s find out!   Go...

Is it really the Holiday Season in Tech without some year-end chaos? In this episode of Off the VPN, we get into a caroling mood and talk about the festive quirks of the Tech industry while we Make the Yuletide gay. From hypothetical code freeze nightmares to awkward holiday Zoom parties, it’s all about navigating the end-of-year madness. Put your stockings up above the fireplace, and tune in for...

The year in tech, decoded and all wrapped up! Today’s episode looks back and closes the book on 2024 with special guest Patrick Austin , Founding Editor at IT Brew . From the disruption of Artificial Intelligence to news headlines that shook the balance of the industry, Patrick, Jasmine, and Allison break down the great, the terrible, and the absolutely bizarre tech moments that defined 2024. Whet...

There’s a new era of networking in tech, and it’s not all polished LinkedIn posts, Zoom mixers, or networking events. Today’s episode of Off The VPN discusses the modern rules of tech networking with special guest Meghan Halton , Senior Engineering Manager at Kibeam Learning . From the awkward icebreakers to the pressure of LinkedIn profile management,  Meghan, Jasmine, and Allison break down what...

Ever feel like you’re the only one actually working? Or that your “team-building” aren’t exactly inspiring team spirit? On this episode of Off the VPN, Allison and Jasmine run through the good, the bad, and ugly of building  tech team “synergy”. From the nightmare of being left on read by your whole team to the perils of “mandatory” trust falls, our hosts spill the tea on what makes ( and breaks)...

There’s something spooky on the horizon, and we’re not talking about ghosts and goblins. AI is changing the future of software development. And while change is scary, AI could be more about treats than tricks. So says Julia Neagu , CEO and Co-founder of Quotient AI . In this episode of Off the VPN, Julia sheds a little light on an AI-assisted future and reigns in some of our scariest AI expectatio...

Are we the only ones sitting in way too many meetings or what? How’s any work supposed to be done if we’re chit-chatting away on daily stand-ups? In this episode of Off the VPN , Allison and Jasmine talk about the overload of unnecessary meetings in the tech world — sharing listener stories and exploring the countless red flags of inefficient workplace practices. Tune in for laughs, advice, and so...

Ever had someone assume you’re not an engineer just because of how you look? Us too.  In this episode, Jasmine and Allison are breaking down the everyday nonsense of tech stereotypes and how to handle them without losing your cool. We’re talking about everything from being mistaken for non-tech roles to dealing with people who assume you don’t know what you’re doing just because they’ve never seen...

Ever wondered how to keep your tech team happy, engaged, and performing at their best? We sat down with Sarah Rieger from Jellyfish’s DevFinOps team (our first guest!) to chat about team morale. Sarah's got some awesome tricks, like starting Zoom meetings with dad jokes and using sound effects during planning.  Guests aren’t the only first for this episode. We introduced a new segment called "Choo...

Stop trying to make quiet quitting a thing—it’s never gonna happen! We’re all about loud quitting now, where leaving your job is more “you can’t sit with us” and less “thanks for the memories.” Ever thought about making your exit so iconic that the whole office will still be talking about it? Imagine rolling out with a marching band as you drop your resignation, or leaving some critical code in es...

Would you take a job sure to end in a layoff if it meant a free European vacation? Would you accept a job without a formal offer? If these questions throw up red flags, you’re in the right place. In this episode of Off the VPN, hosts Allison and Jasmine answer your questions about bizarre tech industry red flags and how to handle them.    Got a question you’d like answered on the show? Drop us a l...

Is it ever okay to put an interviewee on blast on social media? What’s the best way to deescalate a situation with an aggressive coworker? And when is the right time to speak up and have those tough work conversations even if you’re doing it solo? In this episode of Off the VPN, hosts Allison and Jasmine answer your questions about when to speak up for yourself in the office. Spoilers: We’re not d...