Episodes

  • #069 - Season Finale: The Boot.dev Origin Story w/ Allan
    Sep 2 2024

    Today, we bring you the final episode of the first season of Backend Banter! It’s a wrap up for now. With 69 episodes behind us, we want to tell you the story of Boot Dev and how far we’ve come from our beginnings, and for that, we bring Allan Lires, the first official employee and the second person to work on our platform!


    We’re going to cover our entire timeline, achievements, hardships, how Lane and Allan were able to go all-in on building Boot Dev and our visions and plans for the future.


    Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Allan's X/Twitter: https://x.com/AllanLires

    Boot.Dev Discord: https://discord.com/invite/EEkFwbv


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    00:01 Last episode of Season 1 of Backend Banter

    01:45 Boot.dev Story and what this episode will be about

    02:26 How and when Allan was hired to work at Boot.dev

    05:33 Timeline on Boot.dev

    08:53 Guessing game

    10:34 The Rebranding Process

    12:43 Going Full-time

    14:56 What was the curriculum in the beginning?

    18:38 What was the original vision for Boot.dev

    19:17 Being honest about how long it'll take you to learn to code

    22:48 Setting expectations for difficulty

    29:55 On learning the fundamentals

    34:42 The Long Term vision of Boot.dev

    41:30 Old gamification features and why we changed them

    50:26 The Track is Never Complete

    55:01 We cover a lot of the basics that traditional colleges don't cover

    01:00:06 Why do we want to remove JavaScript from the learning course

    01:06:12 Million Lessons Completed in a single month

    01:08:28 You got to be comfortable being uncomfortable

    01:13:25 Where to find Allan


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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • #068 - Should you trust tech influencers? feat. Charles The III
    Aug 26 2024

    Today we welcome Chuck Carpenter aka Charles The 3rd, co-host at Whiskey Web and Whatnot.


    As two content creators in the tech scene, we discuss if and how celebrity developers and tech influencers are a good thing for the community, how we should be careful when choosing technologies based on influencers’ opinions, why so many people nowadays want to speedrun their whole career and how that could be self-sabotage, and a lot more!


    Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Whiskey Web and Whatnot: https://whiskey.fm/

    Charles' X/Twitter: https://x.com/charleswthe3rd


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    01:27 Does Charles listen to his own podcast episodes?

    03:33 Are celebrity developers a good thing?

    09:11 Podcasts are usually centered around a business

    10:06 We are essentially entertainers

    14:04 Tech choices being influenced by creators

    17:37 Why ThePrimeagen stood out from other tech influencers

    20:26 Career speedrunning

    23:44 The biggest miss when starting something

    24:51 What is wrong with Full-Stack application frameworks?

    29:03 How Frankenstein is the Boot.dev web application stack

    37:41 Rolling your own stuff vs using a provider

    46:01 It's easy to screw up your architecture

    50:53 What is Charles building with in 2024 and what is his preferred stack

    56:39 Does it seem like people don't talk about security anymore?

    01:00:30 Accessibility

    01:02:02 The amount of people that are "kinda" interested in cybersecurity

    01:11:03 Have some patience

    01:11:37 Where to find Charles


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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • #067 - How to Be Better than 96.487% of Developers
    Aug 19 2024

    In today’s episode, we bring back Aaron Francis. If you haven’t watched our previous episode with him, he is a software developer, fellow content creator and co-founder of Try Hard Studios. In the past he’s been an accountant at a Big 4 but now he focuses on Laravel, web development and all things business and video.


    This episode will step away from the usual tech focused content and we’ll talk a bit more about the business side of things, how you have to balance entertainment and education when creating courses, Aaron’s High Performance SQLite course, building a personal brand through the discomfort of centering it around yourself, how good presentation matters and how proactiveness puts you miles ahead of the majority, so stay tuned!


    Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Aaron's X/Twitter: https://x.com/aarondfrancis

    Aaron's Website: https://aaronfrancis.com/

    High Performance SQLite: https://highperformancesqlite.com/

    Screencasting: https://screencasting.com/

    Mostly Technical Podcast: https://mostlytechnical.com/


    Timestamps:

    00:00 Intro

    01:32 Podcast listening going up when having a kid

    02:25 Podcast about earning the first million

    08:54 You have to choose the entertainment vs education levels

    10:37 You have to shape your material to the platforms

    16:40 Long hour videos vs 2 minute ones

    20:16 Are the videos in the High Performance SQLite in linear order?

    24:19 Figuring out the metrics

    28:06 Building courses on other domains

    31:46 Building brands is difficult

    35:55 quick disclaimer

    36:30 Personal brand vs company

    37:57 Is this sellable?

    40:23 Do you need an audience?

    44:26 The strategy is simple but it is also hard to execute

    49:31 The presentation matters a LOT

    51:54 On being proactive

    57:00 Where to find Aaron


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    59 mins
  • #066 - CSS Is The Hardest Programming Language
    Aug 12 2024

    In today’s episode, we bring Adam Argyle, a CSS Dev Rel at Google, content creator, co-host at CSS Podcast, Bad At CSS Podcast and host of GUI Challenges. He’s also the creator of a bunch of tools and utilities for the front-end.


    We’re going to touch on a lot of hot topics, regarding the difficulty and power of CSS, how programmers most of the time underestimate and dismiss it as something trivial when in reality it’s one of the hardest things to master in the programming world. We also go over AI, the barriers between designers and developers and a bunch of other topics.


    Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Adam's Website: https://nerdy.dev/

    Adam's X/Twitter: https://x.com/argyleink

    Adam on Chrome For Developers: https://chromeextensionsdocs.appspot.com/authors/argyle/

    The CSS Podcast: https://thecsspodcast.libsyn.com/

    Bad at CSS Podcast: https://badatcss.com/


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    00:51 CSS Wizard has entered the chat

    02:37 HTML and CSS are not programming languages

    07:44 There's a case for complex things using CSS

    10:28 CSS is declarative by nature

    17:58 Writing CSS is a pain

    20:43 AI isn't a threat to CSS

    21:19 Breaking barriers between designers and developers

    26:33 Getting to an entry-level competency on the backend is a bit more difficult when compared to the frontend

    31:37 Adam's backstory

    33:40 Knowing everything

    34:56 The majority of the complexity lives on the frontend a lot of the times

    38:48 South Park Reality

    39:49 BFF vs BOF (Backend for frontend vs Backend of the Frontend)

    47:03 CSS is typed in the browser

    51:28 Take on why are there so many mormons and ex-mormons in the webdev and tech influencer scene?

    54:08 Where to find Adam


    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
  • #065 - I Quit Voice Coaching for Typescript feat. Matt Pocock
    Aug 5 2024

    In today’s episode, we welcome Matt Pocock, an educator, content creator and engineer who used to be a voice coach. Now, he teaches Typescript on his YouTube channel and is building Total Typescript, the most comprehensive TypeScript course available out there.


    We talk about his transition from a completely unrelated field into tech, the importance of great communication, TypeScript’s future, AI tooling and job hunts! A lot more else is covered in this video, so get cozy and tune in into this gem of an episode!


    Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Matt's X/Twitter: https://x.com/mattpocockuk

    Total Typescript: https://www.totaltypescript.com/


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    01:15 What did Matt do before becoming a dev?

    03:15 Career Transitions from a non-math background

    04:02 What makes a good programmer?

    06:46 Math knowledge > great communication?

    08:55 On writing elaborate PR's

    09:58 OCaml my Typescript

    11:00 What is Typescript's Future?

    14:21 Python type hinting and JSDoc

    20:36 null vs undefined

    25:02 interfaces vs type aliases

    32:35 Does Matt have any rules of thumb when working with types?

    37:14 How do you build nice encapsulated components with no external dependencies?

    43:43 AI tooling integration

    46:15 Will there be fewer jobs?

    52:00 How often do you use classes?

    54:29 Where to find Matt


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    56 mins
  • #064 - You’re doing networking wrong feat. Lawrence Lockhart
    Jul 29 2024

    In today’s episode, we welcome Lawrence Lockhart, a former hospitality manager turned full stack software developer. Apart from his tech job, he’s also a developer advocate, a teaching assistant at a coding bootcamp and a tech meetup leader, so you know he spends a lot of his time helping others build and transfer their existing skills into tech, being a powerful voice in the tech space for upcoming developers.


    Today we talk briefly about how he managed to switch from hospitality to tech, and how that wasn’t as easy as a lot of people online make it out to be, the importance of local and in-person jobs as opposed to starting off remote, how learning with purpose is essential if you want to make progress and advice for people starting out!


    Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Code Connector: https://codeconnector.io

    Lawrence's X/Twitter: https://x.com/LawrenceDCodes

    Lawrence's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawrencedlockhart


    Timestamps:

    00:00 Intro

    00:44 When did Lawrence start to be more involved in the online tech communities?

    02:23 How did Lawrence meet James Q Quick

    04:42 Transition from a Blue Collar job into Tech

    10:59 6 months is not the standard anymore to get in the industry

    13:44 The Timeline Discussion

    15:56 Kelsey Hightower

    18:09 Has Lawrence worked as a dev in non-tech companies and where he works now

    23:33 It's IMPORTANT to go for local market and in-person jobs first

    24:27 How networking actually works

    28:46 Learning with a purpose

    36:43 You shouldn't be trying to minmax your career path

    39:43 Advice to people that are unsure in their skills

    43:51 How to approach interviews

    49:31 You have to practice interviewing

    54:48 Learn the thing or get out

    58:33 Disagree and commit

    01:01:45 Where to find Lawrence



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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • #063 - I was fired for using HTMX
    Jul 22 2024

    In today’s episode, we bring Spiro Floropoulos, a senior developer and architect with over 20 years of experience. This episode is an unusual one, as Spiro recently got laid off due to a bizarre chain of events that involved HTMX, overworking, and technical debt.


    But we’ll learn from this story, as we want to shed some light on how situations that Spiro described could be avoided, namely how the tech industry is obsessing over developer experience and why that’s detrimental, why abstractions should be teaching you the technology as opposed to just doing the work for you, why you should be able to train your junior devs and much more!


    Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Spiro's X/Twitter: https://x.com/spirodonfl

    Spiro's Website: https://spirofloropoulos.com/


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    00:35 Why are we having this conversation

    01:33 How was HTMX involved in this?

    03:38 Spiro's background

    05:58 Why are we focusing so much on developer experience?

    13:38 The Tech Industry as a whole is headed down the wrong path

    16:17 Abstractions teaching you about the underlying technology rather than hiding it

    18:47 What are the long-term consequences of unresolved technical debt?

    26:46 There's things you can't blame frameworks for

    28:27 We have to slow down

    30:46 What happened after the introduction of HTMX into the project?

    40:26 Hiring juniors is great, but you should have the resources to train them

    47:00 The Technical Debt

    50:32 The more complex the feature became, the bigger the struggle with HTMX

    53:42 The reasons why Spiro was let go

    57:10 Instead of Agile we should treat our programmers like adults

    57:31 HTMX was instant and testing ability was better

    01:01:21 Is Spiro looking for work?

    01:02:00 Where to find Spiro


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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • #062 - Declaring War Against the Frontend feat. Sam Selikoff
    Jul 15 2024

    In today’s episode, we go to war with Sam Selikoff, co-host of the Frontend First podcast, and specialist on everything Frontend related.


    We have an amazing conversation where we discuss Sam’s journey, as he also did some backend work in the past, we talk about abstractions, what JavaScript is doing differently from other languages and frameworks, why the frontend should be driving the backend and not the other way around, and finish it off with a discussion about RSCs (React Server Components).


    Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev

    Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm


    Frontend First: https://frontendfirst.fm/

    Sam's X/Twitter: https://x.com/samselikoff

    Sam's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/samselikoff


    Timestamps:


    00:00 Intro

    00:51 Who is Sam Selikoff

    02:12 Abstractions - Should you go a level deeper?

    06:37 What was Sam's talk about

    10:51 What is JavaScript doing differently?

    19:10 Do you want the frameworks to push more features out of the box for backend work?

    24:04 Strong opinions on a library level

    30:29 Shipping more standardized interfaces

    37:06 The frontend should be driving everything in the backend

    39:12 Your types should flow from the database to the frontend, but not the product decisions

    46:53 React Server Components

    58:49 Where to find Sam


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    59 mins