Episodes

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

Season 2 1 episode

Is Software Engineering Management a One-Way Door?

Is Software Engineering Management 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 23 episodes

From BorrowMyDoggy to Healthcare CTO: Les Cochrane on Asking for Help and Cognitive Offload

From BorrowMyDoggy to Healthcare CTO: Les Cochrane on Asking for Help and Cognitive Offload

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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From tank commander to Head of Engineering and surviving the AI quality cliff

From tank commander to Head of Engineering and surviving the AI quality cliff

1:08:00
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 stock exchanges to CTO and why being right doesn't scale

From the stock exchanges to CTO and why being right doesn't scale

50:00
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 Humane Engineering & Career Loops

From DevOps to Novels: Richard Bown on Humane Engineering & Career Loops

50:00
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 with Kate Catlin

From Engineering Bootcamps & Founding Startups to GitHub with Kate Catlin

45:00
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)

How to Survive Getting Laid Off (and Come Back Stronger)

39:00
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

Crash, Pivot, and Keep Going

40:00
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

25:00
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?

25:00
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 my job?

Is AI going to take my job?

22:00
James and Matt tackle the question everyone's asking: will AI replace software engineers?
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What is AI good for anyway?

What is AI good for anyway?

25:00
James and Matt discuss what AI-based code generation tools are really good for, and where they fall short.
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Is AI Helping Engineers — Or Making Things Worse?

Is AI Helping Engineers — Or Making Things Worse?

25:00
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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When to Jump Ship or Stay Put

When to Jump Ship or Stay Put

20:00
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

You Are Not Your Title

16:00
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

You Are Not Your Language

15:00
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

When Good Candidates Don't Get Hired

15:00
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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Mid Season Review

Mid Season Review

TBD
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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Swapnali Bhansali - Quality

Swapnali Bhansali - Quality

TBD
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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Danielle Ullner - VC and PE

Danielle Ullner - VC and PE

TBD
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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AI Augmentation

AI Augmentation

32:15
How AI tools are changing the daily reality of software engineering work
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Career Boundaries

Career Boundaries

25:30
Exploring the boundaries that define career transitions in software engineering
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