Beyond Coding

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Technology
**Beyond Coding**

For software engineers ready to level up. Learn from CTOs, principal engineers, and tech leaders about the skills beyond coding: from technical mastery to product thinking and career growth. Created by Patrick Akil. Powered by Xebia

Latest Episodes:

Generative AI, LLM Implementations and Challenges with Rens Dimmendaal Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Rens Dimmendaal:

https://rensdimmendaal.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rensdimmendaal

https://twitter.com/R_Dimm

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/2VOGakc2qvk

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE
00:00:25 - Hosting and being a guest
00:01:42 - Day to day of Rens
00:03:29 - Generative AI: Where do we stand?
00:06:18 - Honeycomb.io using an Gen AI to increase conversion
00:09:23 - Plagiarism and chat bots
00:12:23 - Integrating different solutions
00:14:37 - Testing AI solutions
00:16:21 - Slack GPT
00:17:36 - Sensitive information
00:19:56 - GitHub Copilot, Sweep AI and new ways of coding
00:22:08 - Way of working and quality control
00:24:17 - AI will change the way we learn
00:25:45 - Distinguish yourself when applying for jobs
00:26:44 - Three types of knowledge and AI
00:28:45 - Learn by doing
00:30:01 - Doing more as a single person
00:31:42 - Patrick generated podcast summaries
00:32:55 - Easy to make something with LLMs
00:35:12 - Long term LLM challenges
00:39:11 - Metrics to focus on for LLMs
00:40:44 - Rens's greenfield LLM implementation step by step
00:43:03 - How to leverage open source LLMs
00:44:12 - Monopolising organisations gathering data for AI
00:46:27 - Big companies play unfair in the AI playing field
00:47:49 - Generative AI steals art from other artists
00:50:40 - The future of AI looks bright

Working from Anywhere, Goals, Impact and Freelancing with Eva Zahrawi Ruiz Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Eva Zahrawi Ruiz:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/evazahrawi

http://the2ndhalf.nl

https://twitter.com/evaza

Check out her podcast!

https://podcasts.apple.com/en/podcast/the-2nd-half-your-guide-to-a-more-fulfilling-career-and-life/id1493425732

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/oldZF_jgy9I

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:35 - Planning for Japan 2025

00:02:20 - Patrick missed out on a trip to Japan and Russia

00:03:00 - Why Eva loves Japan

00:04:21 - Japan is affordable

00:06:57 - Eva is big on travelling

00:10:12 - Patrick is travelling more and more

00:11:34 - Combining work and travelling

00:14:38 - Flexibility as freelancer

00:16:25 - International opportunities

00:18:56 - Discipline of working from abroad

00:22:36 - Stepping out of your regular routine

00:25:14 - Losing the title

00:27:18 - Profession crisis

00:30:20 - There is always a way back

00:33:39 - No one expected Eva to leave

00:37:37 - Enjoying the work you do

00:40:14 - Growing as fast as possible

00:42:37 - What is your mission?

00:45:29 - Eva's core values

00:50:10 - Working towards certain goals

00:54:28 - Difficult conversations

00:58:34 - For as long as it takes

01:00:09 - Being good with politics

01:03:29 - Eva hates escalations

01:07:51 - Not just executing on orders

01:13:32 - Figuring out the why

01:16:57 - Managing to avoid clashes

01:19:56 - Companies are big social experiments

01:21:28 - People are inherently good

01:25:40 - Making it your managers problem

01:29:51 - Only come with good news

01:33:21 - Complain in one on ones

01:35:39 - Final thoughts

Mentorship, Design and Creative Engineers with Alyona Volkova Sep 06, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Alyona Volkova:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvol

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/jW3xmo27144

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:25 - Echo-free chambers
00:01:00 - Calming yourself down
00:03:15 - Overthinking things with public speaking
00:05:29 - Recognising yourself in footage
00:06:34 - Receiving compliments
00:09:29 - Actively self-reflecting
00:12:10 - Different ways to retain information
00:15:05 - It all started with photoshop
00:17:49 - Alyona's first real job as a developer
00:20:40 - Moving from developing to design
00:22:38 - Love for software engineering and design
00:25:33 - Developers and designers understanding each other
00:28:00 - Patrick's experience working with designers
00:29:16 - Creative developers
00:32:54 - Alyona's journey with mentorship
00:36:23 - Fulfilment in mentoring
00:37:43 - Long-term mentoring relationships
00:38:59 - Mentees having similar challenges
00:40:20 - Understanding the thought process
00:42:20 - The right mindset
00:43:41 - How to be a great mentor?
00:46:08 - Pair designing and co-creating
00:47:47 - Copying designs to learn
00:50:18 - Tutorials and knowledge retention
00:51:48 - Continuous learning and improving in mentoring
00:53:30 - Past, present, future
00:55:15 - Crossing paths
00:57:18 - Mentoring has changed Alyona
01:01:29 - Rounding off

Q&A #5: How to be a Great Senior Software Engineer & More with Patrick Akil Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/KtJILlRIPOc

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:29 - How do you manage your own expectations
00:02:41 - If you could change one thing from the past, what would that be?
00:05:37 - What is the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?
00:07:33 - Why did you transition from ops to development?
00:11:54 - Applying to a new role
00:15:45 - What languages are you learning?
00:16:19 - Rehydrating...
00:16:32 - What does it mean when someone says: you'll learn this on the job?
00:18:19 - How much time do you get to learn on the job?
00:19:25 - What to learn and how to progress with CSS
00:21:32 - How many projects should my portfolio include?
00:24:38 - Should a startup have in-house or outsourced developers?
00:27:43 - What traits differentiate good vs. great developers?
00:31:04 - How do you conduct an interview for a junior frontend role?
00:34:01 - Do you have any tips for senior developers?
00:37:16 - What interview questions do you ask?
00:40:47 - Thank you for your questions!! :)

Changing Consumer Behaviour with Georges de Boeck Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Georges de Boeck:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesdeboeck

Blinkist article (called it Blender, oops):

https://uxplanet.org/how-solving-our-biggest-customer-complaint-at-blinkist-led-to-a-23-increase-in-conversion-b60ad514134b

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/M1EkMTauIBU

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:22 - Preshow baby talk
00:01:43 - How Georges got interested behaviour
00:03:23 - Wrong expectations
00:06:40 - Behavioural experiments to increase conversion
00:09:26 - Georges's guerilla experiment
00:11:41 - Interviewing customers
00:13:06 - Usability testing is difficult but valuable
00:14:58 - Letting go of your own opinion
00:16:00 - Your ideas might not be feasible
00:17:12 - Do we have too many processes?
00:18:26 - Boundaries make solutions more challenging
00:20:39 - Optimizing what you already have
00:21:50 - Becoming a specialist
00:23:39 - It's impossible to cancel my Hello Fresh subscription
00:26:08 - Conscious reputational damage
00:27:43 - Georges will never be a customer of this telecom provider again
00:30:08 - Mindset buying lottery tickets
00:31:18 - Blinkist increased conversion by focussing on customer problems
00:33:42 - Company USPs that are contradicting what other companies are doing
00:35:45 - Getting customers hooked just works
00:36:50 - Pokémon Sleep is genius
00:38:07 - Pokemon Go and gaming the system
00:39:03 - How to do microtransactions right
00:41:26 - Smart game design, but unethical
00:44:09 - Georges's weakness in buying books
00:45:54 - Companies selling your data
00:48:45 - City design to drive behaviour
00:51:50 - Experiments that create habits
00:54:21 - Helping people and not making money
00:56:15 - Choosing not to choose
00:58:24 - Patrick got all his wisdom teeth pulled
00:59:31 - Maybe I should've thought this through more...
01:00:15 - Dutch habit of not going to the doctor and dentist
01:01:47 - Final thoughts

How to Innovate through Software with Carlos Kelkboom Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Carlos Kelkboom:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-k-4016b8225

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/6QfyY9ffz6M

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:23 - YouTube recommendation system
00:02:15 - Innovation on YouTube
00:03:37 - Starting up something new
00:05:12 - Disrupting your own organisation
00:07:08 - Big companies should invest in disruption continuously
00:08:52 - The start of a project
00:11:29 - How important is it to build this?
00:13:24 - Building the system three times
00:14:54 - complexity and first time right
00:17:08 - All you need is disciplined engineers
00:19:43 - Architects can do more harm than good
00:21:50 - Smaller teams
00:23:28 - Not every team needs Scrum
00:24:33 - Let engineers commit and then leave them alone
00:25:48 - Processes that are not helping us
00:28:19 - Using the right tool for the job
00:32:17 - Ownership is moving to developer teams
00:32:56 - The spirit of software development
00:35:08 - How would you build something from scratch?
00:37:59 - Trust and predictability
00:39:38 - Control and fear
00:42:00 - The dna of a tech company
00:44:19 - Why tech companies have a playground in their office
00:44:49 - Getting and keeping developers in a flow state
00:46:30 - Stop projects that are not working
00:49:49 - Stopping is hard
00:50:21 - Why games release when they do
00:50:35 - Prove it works in 10 days
00:51:52 - The fulfilment of delivering value to users
00:53:18 - How great developers work
00:55:14 - How you become a senior developer
00:57:35 - Downtime and execution
00:58:42 - The determination to continue
01:01:01 - Empathy and nudging
01:03:42 - Carlos might start a contrarian podcast
01:06:02 - Rounding off

Developer Advocacy, Burnout Recovery and Communities with Lian Li Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Lian Li:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-li

https://twitter.com/lianmakesthings

https://lianmakesthings.dev

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/tuIxuiG2MIY

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:25 - Reminiscing about older videos
00:02:46 - Standing on stage
00:04:22 - The impact of developer advocacy
00:06:04 - Measuring your impact
00:10:09 - Transitioning to developer advocacy
00:12:19 - What to focus on as dev rel
00:14:32 - Discussions and disagreements
00:16:21 - Creating a shared understanding
00:18:29 - Lian's career choices and progression
00:21:21 - Consultancy mindset
00:22:58 - Under-promise over-deliver
00:24:02 - Starting over with dev rel?
00:26:09 - Lian's burnout
00:30:39 - Recovering from a burnout
00:32:58 - Timeouts and routine
00:34:58 - Sleep in your running shoes
00:35:44 - Living in pajamas
00:36:03 - Remote working
00:36:44 - Tourists in Amsterdam
00:38:02 - Building a community
00:40:59 - Teams and communities
00:42:00 - Giving your thing away
00:43:13 - Micromanaging and letting go
00:45:36 - Tribal leadership
00:48:04 - Behaviour while being stressed
00:49:40 - Self awareness and triggers
00:50:07 - All tech problems are human problems

How to Learn Through Content Creation with Raphael de Lio Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Raphael de Lio:

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaeldelio⁠

⁠https://raphaeldelio.medium.com⁠ ⁠

https://www.youtube.com/c/raphaeldelio⁠

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/aF7Pcvn0CdI

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:23 - YouTube channels and making videos
00:03:10 - Giving advice and downsides
00:06:43 - How Raphael got into content creation
00:09:11 - Sibling Influence
00:09:41 - Pivoting to tech content
00:13:20 - Making videos vs. writing
00:14:40 - Interaction on Medium and YouTube
00:17:46 - Medium is changing their monetisation model
00:20:10 - Tech newsletters
00:23:16 - How Raphael got into Redis
00:25:51 - Show Your Work
00:27:58 - Learning through content creation
00:30:24 - Focussing on different technologies
00:33:06 - Saying goodbye to Redis
00:34:11 - Raphael is always working on something
00:35:46 - Drive and productivity
00:37:42 - Retirement and fulfilment
00:40:03 - The 4-Hour Workweek
00:43:09 - Burnout and creating routines
00:44:39 - Unlimited holidays the right way
00:46:25 - Creating a mobile app to learn physics
00:49:02 - An app that translates any word to any language
00:50:30 - Accountability and expectations
00:52:04 - Opportunities and awkward situations
00:54:22 - Rounding off

Open Source, Meetups and Developer Relations with Alessandro Vozza Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Alessandro Vozza:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandrovozza

https://twitter.com/bongo

https://www.meetup.com/nl-NL/dutch-kubernetes-meetup

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/6_-AUxn-99E

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:25 - Puglia vacations
00:05:24 - Moving to Amsterdam for love
00:07:21 - Bulletin board system
00:09:30 - Alessandro's origin story
00:11:18 - Love for open source
00:13:11 - Sustainable open source
00:15:29 - Giving back to the community
00:18:25 - The rise of foundations
00:19:54 - The rise of AI
00:21:00 - Improving lives everywhere
00:22:24 - Taking a stand as engineers
00:25:24 - Alessandro starting a DevOps meetup
00:26:49 - Stoicism
00:27:12 - Back to DevOps meetup Amsterdam
00:29:07 - Learning public speaking at a meetup
00:31:22 - Maintaining connections
00:34:17 - Be authentically yourself
00:36:30 - The perspective of success
00:38:08 - Marcus Aurelius
00:39:29 - The rise of Developer Relations
00:41:00 - The qualities of a good DevRel
00:42:23 - Next steps in Patrick's career
00:43:58 - Storytelling connects people
00:45:20 - Social budget
00:46:21 - It's about the people
00:48:05 - Public speaking and respect
00:50:15 - The world is smaller but bigger
00:50:47 - Dutch Kubernetes Meetup shoutout!

Codam College: Free High Quality Education with Victoria Ous and David Giron Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

Connect with Victoria Ous:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaous

Connect with David Giron:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgiron

Additional links:

https://www.codam.nl/en

https://tumo.org

Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/5lo6atmVjWQ

New episodes every Wednesday with our host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Big shoutout to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for sponsoring this episode!

OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:37 - Codam has no teachers
00:01:29 - How Victoria got involved with Codam
00:02:11 - David and the 42 Network
00:03:42 - Codam's educational model
00:05:57 - What if students get stuck?
00:06:59 - Feedback from graduates
00:08:47 - Learning to learn
00:10:29 - What is the role of education?
00:12:19 - Knowledge, soft skills and mental health
00:14:51 - Fail as many times as you need
00:16:23 - Educational choices have consequences
00:17:33 - The Dutch educational system filters people
00:18:49 - The impact of teachers
00:19:50 - Patrick's cousin studies dentistry in Armenia
00:21:03 - Onboarding in Codam College
00:24:27 - How the educational model works
00:28:19 - The final project: The Internship
00:31:58 - Student performance after Codam
00:34:17 - The challenges of not being accredited
00:38:05 - Free education
00:39:44 - How long is the educational journey?
00:41:01 - Alumni
00:42:56 - Working with organisations
00:45:34 - Applying the model to other topics
00:48:19 - Lowering the age requirement
00:50:05 - Tumo and dream based education
00:52:23 - AI disruption and the future of education
00:55:58 - ChatGPT and Codam
00:57:33 - Rounding off

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected