Episodes

Every episode of What Next? - exploring career boundaries, frameworks, and the future of software engineering.

Season 2 3 episodes

Is joining an AI-pilled company a career risk for engineers?

Is joining an AI-pilled company a career risk for engineers?

22:40
Matt and James on the AI-pilled company: the two extremes to avoid, the one interview question that shows you where a company sits, AI layoffs that cost more than they saved, taste and judgement, and generalists versus specialists
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The AI-pilled engineer: most in demand, most exhausted

The AI-pilled engineer: most in demand, most exhausted

38:50
Matt and James on the AI-pilled engineer: Ramp's AI spend data, why running six to twelve coding agents is exhausting, instruct, ingest and edit, guardrails over prompts, on-demand software, and what AI-assisted coding interviews get wrong
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Engineering management is a one-way door?

Engineering management is a one-way door?

27:22
Matt and James on whether management is a one-way door: span of control heading for 50, the org chart going from pyramid to hourglass, ICs out-earning managers, and why agentic coding made the door back cheaper
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Season 1 22 episodes

From IT support to co-founding BorrowMyDoggy: Les Cochrane on his road to becoming a CTO

From IT support to co-founding BorrowMyDoggy: Les Cochrane on his road to becoming a CTO

58:50
James and Matt talk to Les Cochrane about going from second-line IT support and co-founding BorrowMyDoggy to CTO in NHS healthcare, the right way to ask for help, and what we lose to cognitive offload
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From KC-10 refuellers to centaur coding with Peter Marreck

From KC-10 refuellers to centaur coding with Peter Marreck

59:34
James and Matt talk to Peter Marreck about going from a KC-10 refueller in the US Air Force to centaur coding with LLMs, and why you should attack your backlog instead of firing your engineers
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If you bend it, you have to mend it: Ben Moag on tanks, trading floors, and the AI quality cliff

If you bend it, you have to mend it: Ben Moag on tanks, trading floors, and the AI quality cliff

1:08:33
James and Matt talk to Ben Moag about going from the British cavalry through quant trading to Head of Engineering at InsurX, and surviving the AI quality cliff
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From the Joburg Stock Exchange to CTO of Zilch: Sean Hederman on why being right doesn't scale

From the Joburg Stock Exchange to CTO of Zilch: Sean Hederman on why being right doesn't scale

1:00:01
James and Matt talk to Sean Hederman about going from stock exchanges to CTO of Zilch and why being right doesn't scale
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From DevOps to Novels: Richard Bown on Engineering with Empathy

From DevOps to Novels: Richard Bown on Engineering with Empathy

53:38
James and Matt talk to Richard Bown about humane engineering, career loops, and writing a novel about tech culture.
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From engineering bootcamps, founding startups to GitHub: Kate’s PM Journey

From engineering bootcamps, founding startups to GitHub: Kate’s PM Journey

48:07
James and Matt talk to Kate Catlin about reinventing your career, product intuition, and building AI at GitHub.
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Speaking Like a Human with Stew Bewley

Speaking Like a Human with Stew Bewley

50:21
James and Matt talk to Stew Bewley about how to communicate as an engineer.
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How to Survive Getting Laid Off, and Come Back Stronger with Steve Jaffe

How to Survive Getting Laid Off, and Come Back Stronger with Steve Jaffe

39:12
James and Matt talk to Steve Jaffe about how to bounce back after losing your job — and how to find real clarity in the chaos.
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Crash, Pivot, and Keep Going with Dan Moore

Crash, Pivot, and Keep Going with Dan Moore

40:08
Matt and James sit down with Dan Moore to talk about how careers really unfold when things don't go to plan.
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Startups, setbacks, and landing at Anthropic

Startups, setbacks, and landing at Anthropic

43:54
James and Matt explore the remarkably compressed career of one of the new wave of AI-powered software engineers.
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Do You Really Need to Do a Coding Interview?

Do You Really Need to Do a Coding Interview?

22:43
James and Matt dig into the most debated topic on dev Twitter: Should software engineers have to do coding interviews?
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Is AI going to take software engineer jobs?

Is AI going to take software engineer jobs?

25:58
James and Matt tackle the question everyone's asking: will AI replace software engineers?
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Is AI Helping Engineers — Or Making Things Worse?

Is AI Helping Engineers — Or Making Things Worse?

25:49
James and Matt take a look at AI-based code generation tools—are they making engineers more productive, or just causing a whole new class of problems?
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Should I stay or should I go? What is the right (or wrong) time to leave a tech job?

Should I stay or should I go? What is the right (or wrong) time to leave a tech job?

20:36
James and Matt dive into the messy reality of engineers switching jobs—when to walk away and when to stay put.
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You are not your title: Rethinking career progression in tech

You are not your title: Rethinking career progression in tech

16:11
Matt and James tackle The Title Trap—how culture affects how we view titles, what they really say about your skills, and whether you need to become a manager to progress.
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You are not your language: Escaping tech stack identity traps

You are not your language: Escaping tech stack identity traps

12:59
Are you a React developer, or just someone who uses React? Matt and James explore why engineers get stuck identifying with tools instead of skills.
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When good candidates don’t get hired (and why that happens)

When good candidates don’t get hired (and why that happens)

13:41
Matt and James dive into why candidates who seem like a great fit don't make it through, and how the cost of a wrong hire compares to missing the right person.
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What's next for What's Next? A short mid-season review of where we are going next

What's next for What's Next? A short mid-season review of where we are going next

16:02
A mid-season review where we reflect on making the first four episodes—what worked, what didn't, and where we want to take things next.
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Career transitions, international moves, and leading teams from the female perspective

Career transitions, international moves, and leading teams from the female perspective

35:36
Swapnali Bhansali, a seasoned engineering leader and software quality expert, discusses navigating career transitions, international moves, and the challenges of stepping into leadership roles as a woman in tech.
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How can software engineers work with VCs and PEs?

How can software engineers work with VCs and PEs?

43:32
In this episode, we speak with Danielle Ullner, a veteran venture builder with extensive experience in the US VC space and BCG Digital Ventures, to help engineers understand how to work with VCs.
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How do you manage complexity? Management and leadership frameworks for software engineers

How do you manage complexity? Management and leadership frameworks for software engineers

42:11
James and Matt talk to Michael Smith, CEO of Sagittal.AI, about moving between engineering and product, the creative engineer, the Cynefin framework for telling complicated problems from complex ones, and where AI fits in
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What should you do next in your software career? Boundary conditions for software engineers

What should you do next in your software career? Boundary conditions for software engineers

49:23
James and Matt talk to Carlton Lane about moving between engineering, management and back again across Microsoft, Amazon, Snapchat and Axon, leading teams on four continents, and why writing is a leadership skill
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