The Joe Reis Show

In this episode, I talk about how I'm kind of living in a bubble of cool tech and AI, and how the 99% of businesses out there are still grappling with the same old data and tech problems they've always dealt with. I also talk about how me and my friends are using AI to automate the boring stuff and scratch our own itches.

In this episode, I sit down with science fiction author, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow to unpack his viral concept of Enshitification, the three-act tragedy of platform decay: 1. be good to users 2. lock them in 3. extract value from users to feed advertisers and shareholders We also dive into: - The AI bubble: Cory’s case that parts of the sector are propped up by aggressive accounting a...

Tech is full of smart people with smart ideas - enterprise data models, ontologies, data mesh, proprietary AI strategies - that repeatedly fail to gain traction. When they fail, the blame usually goes to "stupid users", "lazy and immature organizations." Perhaps, but I don't think that's the whole story, and if you adopt that mindset, you're sure to keep failing. I...

In this episode, I visited the Hex office and sat down with Barry McCardle (CEO of Hex) to talk about the massive shift we’re seeing in the data stack. Countless companies have spent decades buying BI tools in the hope of "self-serve Nirvana," yet most dashboards still raise more questions than they answer. Barry and I dive into why the traditional dashboard is becoming a "jumping-o...

What status game are you playing? Are you trying to outcompete others, or playing your own game? In this episode, I talk about status games in data and careers in general.

The technology industry is prone to moving fast and forgetting its history. This is a shame because our industry is built on the shoulders of many giants, often long forgotten. Bill Inmon, Roger Whatley, and I discuss the history of technology and computing, covered in their new book, From Stone to Silicon. We talk about the big people and moments in technology and computing, and much more. From S...

Welcome to 2026! In this spontaneous Friday AMA, I take listener questions on ontologies, the “leaky abstractions” of AI coding tools, why the “button pusher” era of engineering is a professional dead end, and the shifting landscape of data engineering. I also provides an update on my upcoming book, Mixed Model Arts (launching in March 2026), and discuss the unexpected convergence of library scien...

Happy 2026! In this episode, I rant about whether vibe coding and AI coding agents makes the Law of Leaky Abstractions obsolete, making your first dollar (or whatever currency), and more. The Law of Leaky Abstractions: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/11/11/the-law-of-leaky-abstractions/ If you like this podcast, please take 10 seconds and give it a rating or review on your podcast platform of...

2025 is nearly gone, and in this episode, I give some thoughts on what I think might happen in 2026. I also chat about this week's surge of interest in Kimball vs Inmon (and the podcast I tried to organize with them) and much more.

“What I built today might be obsolete tomorrow.” This is something I heard this week from a developer, and this is not uncommon given the warp speed nonstop advancement of AI models every week. We used to measure the rate of change in months or years. Now it’s days or weeks. In this episode, I talk about why writing code is rarely hard part, and why having good taste and shipping things that peopl...

In this episode, Nik Suresh returns to the show to discuss his first year running a bootstrapped services company. And no, he probably will not throat punch or pile drive you. Nik explains why he moved away from hourly billing to fixed pricing, why writing code is often the least profitable part of a project, and how to spot "status games" in the tech industry. We also dive into the curr...

Oh yeah...ontologies. In this mini-clip from Matt Housley and I, we chat about why ontologies are super popular now.

Had an interesting discussion with my 15 year old son. He and his friends see white collar work as “cooked.” They see it as a rat race where the work is increasingly insecure, abusive, and meaningless. Then there’s the looming question of AI… Instead, they’re interested in careers they find meaningful and not as exposed to whatever AI does to work. And if they own a company, they’ll just hire “cla...

It's Friday! Matt Housley and I catch up to discuss the aftermath of AWS re:Invent and why the industry’s obsession with AI Agents might be premature. We also dive deep into the hardware wars between Google and NVIDIA , the "brain-damaged" nature of current LLMs , and the growing "enshittification" of the internet and platforms like LinkedIn. Plus, I reveals some details ab...

In this episode, I sit down with Mark Freeman and Chad Sanderson (Gable.ai) to discuss the release of their new O’Reilly book, Data Contracts: Developing Production-Grade Pipelines at Scale. They dive deep into the chaotic journey of writing a 350-page book while simultaneously building a venture-backed startup. The conversation takes a sharp turn into the evolution of Data Contracts. While the co...

I meet a lot of people who want to accomplish major goals next year. Then the year comes and goes and most people are still waiting to get started. It's almost December. Rather than wait until the New Year to get going, use December to plan how you'll execute on "that thing" you're itching to accomplish. Time waits for nobody, so get going.

In this episode, Ciro Greco (Co-founder & CEO, Bauplan) joins me to discuss why the future of data infrastructure must be "Code-First" and how this philosophy accidentally created the perfect environment for AI Agents. We explore why the "Modern Data Stack" isn't ready for autonomous agents and why a programmable lakehouse is the solution. Ciro explains that while we trust agents to write code...

Just launched your Substack? Great! Here’s what to do next. This episode covers the realities of writing long-form in public, the traps that cause most writers to stall, how to build consistency, and how to grow an engaged audience from day one.

Data engineering is undergoing a fundamental shift. In this episode, I sit down with Nick Schrock, founder and CTO of Dagster, to discuss why he went from being an "AI moderate" to believing 90% of code will be written by AI. Being hands on also led to a massive pivot in Dagster’s roadmap and a new focus on managing and engineering context. We dive deep into why simply feeding data to LL...

The days of easy entry into data jobs over. Maggie Wolff joins the show to discuss the new reality of the data career landscape. We dive into why the bar is higher than ever and why "cold DMing" on LinkedIn is a terrible strategy. Maggie also breaks down her secret strategy for networking as an introvert: treating events like a game or role-playing a more extroverted friend. Plus, we dis...

Matt Housley joins me for our monthly round-up of topics. This time, there's danger everywhere - The AI Bubble, how vibe coding is evolving, AI slop, and more.

After 1,500+ conversations with CDOs and VPs of data , guest Malcolm Hawker noticed a disturbing pattern: a "limiting mindset" that causes data leaders to fail. He argues that too many leaders blame external factors such as "culture" , "data literacy", or a lack of support rather than taking accountability for delivering value. In this conversation, Malcolm breaks down how this mindset is reinforc...

In this conversation, Dr. Cecilia Dones and I discuss the social skills we're losing as AI becomes more integrated into our lives. We explore the erosion of social norms, from AI companions joining Zoom calls without consent, endless enshitified content, to my son's generation calling AI girlfriends "clankers".Is there hope? We break down the "rage currency" that domina...

In conversations I've been having with leaders and practitioners, there's some open-ended questions about the impact of AI on vendors and open-source projects. If you don't have a moat, you need to start thinking about how AI coding tools will erode the edges of your product. And what about getting users and traction? I cover this and much more in this episode. Enjoy!

Sujay Dutta and Sidd Rajagopal, authors of "Data as the Fourth Pillar," join the show to make the compelling case that for C-suite leaders obsessed with AI, data must be elevated to the same level as people, process, and technology. They provide a practical playbook for Chief Data Officers (CDOs) to escape the "cost center" trap by focusing on the "demand side" (busin...