Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Latest Episodes:

627: Mike Perham on Sidekiq, Solid Queue, and why he said no to AI Oct 15, 2026

Show notes

Will is back in the host seat this week to chat with Mike Perham, the creator of Sidekiq - a full-featured background job framework for all Ruby applications.

In this episode, Will and Mike discuss, amongst many things; the sustainability of open source projects, synchronous vs asynchronous execution models, the concept of killing your dependencies, before diving into the ethical implications of AI and its impact on the world’s carbon footprint.

—

Our guest for this episode has been Mike Perham. If you'd like to get in touch with Mike, or learn more about Sidekiq, you can visit his website.

Your host for this episode has been Will Larry, you can find and connect with Will over on LinkedIn.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

626: “Working Side By Side With AI” with Lord Tim Clement-Jones Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

This guest has been a long time coming, Sami is joined on the thoughtbot couch this week by the one and only Lord Tim Clement-Jones, LibDeb Lord Spokesperson for AI and Digital.

Following on from the conversation Sami started with Lord Holmes around AI regulation; Lord Clement-Jones discusses how the AI landscape has changed since the founding of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence, the widening gap between where the government and technology is, and the fundamental aspect of building trust in this technology.

—

As mentioned in this episode:
Giant Robots 605: AI, It Doesn't Have To Be This Way with Lord Chris Holmes
Giant Robots 616: What’s Really Going On with AI Data Centres with Dr. Victoria Plutshack

Our guest for this episode has been Lord Tim Clement-Jones. If you'd like to get in touch with Lord Clement-Jones you can do so through the Artificial Intelligent APPG website, or connect via LinkedIn.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

625: Sorting Through The Noise with Brandon Swalve Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

Chad is joined on the thoughbot couch this week by Brandon Swalve, CEO of AppSignal (when Chad is a big fan, you know it’s an app you’ve got to check out).

In this episode, they discuss what the application performance monitoring business market is like, more is always better vs simple is always better, joining AppSignal as the CEO and the surprises and shifts over the last year and a half that Brandon has experienced in the role.

—

As mentioned in the episode:
Catch up with all the Railsworld 2026 conference talks

Our guest for this episode has been Brandon Swalve. Connect with Brandon through LinkedIn, or get in touch through the AppSignal website.

Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

624: Using AI to the MAX with Ed Woodcock Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

Sami is joined on the thoughbot couch this week by Ed Woodcock, Director and Consultant Developer at Bannermedia Ltd.

They discuss lowdown.today, an AI-Driven Open Intelligence platform that Ed originally developed to break down the day’s news, having now expanded to include topics from across the world.

They also explore how Ed’s programmes are designed to empower people with the intelligence that AI brings, the Wigan House Fiasco, spending money to use Claude vs the ROI, and how AI programmes can be used to help with genealogy research.

—

As mentioned in this episode:
AI’s effects on climate change - 616: What’s Really Going On with AI Data Centres with Dr.Victoria Plutshack
Plotbeacon - https://plotbeacon.com/

Our guest for this episode has been Ed Woodcock. If you'd like to get in touch with Ed you can do so through his website, or connecting via LinkedIn.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

623: The AI Paradox: Why Consultants Are Busier Than Ever with Nate Berkopec Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Sami talks with Nate Berkopec, owner of Speedshop, about a recent post he made on X and how his business manages to stay ahead of AI and LLMs.

Nate stresses the importance of prioritising quality in code in the age of AI, why your knowledge still matters if you want to get the best results from your LLM, how code review has drastically changed over the last three years, and the pair discuss why it’s so tough for junior developers to stand out in the industry at the moment and the lengths they have to go to to be noticed.

—

If you want more out of your project why not get in touch with Nate through his business Speedshop. You can also check out his X post that inspired this episode or connect with him via Linkedin.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

622: Six Opinions Wrapped in Code with Kelli Lucas Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Will is back in the host seat this week to chat to the one and only Kelli Lucas, Co-Founder & Chief Design Officer at LunarLab.

In this episode, Will and Kelli discuss, amongst many things; the push and pull relationship between designers and developers, alignment in the workplace, the love/hate relationship with Figma, how AI has affected the process of design projects, and why you shouldn’t rely on AI to build your business plan.

—

Our guest for this episode has been Kelli Lucas. If you'd like to get in touch with Kelli, or chat about working together on your next UX/UI Design project, you can visit the Lunar Lab website. or connect with them via LinkedIn.

Your host for this episode has been Will Larry, you can find and connect with Will over on LinkedIn.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

621: My twin brother responds… with Doron Birnbaum Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

Would you ever go into business with your family? As a follow up to last week’s episode, we’ve brought on the one and only Doron Birnbaum (twin brother of our dear Sami) to get both sides of the story about their latest business venture.

Doron takes Will and Chad through how the idea to build a tech platform that helps charities understand their data better to improve fundraising campaigns came to be, where the Birnbaum’s are currently at in terms of getting it into the hands of their target audience, and the roadblocks they’ve hit along the way.

Have our hosts now been hired as the software’s new advisory board? Which brother will Chad and Will side with? And who is technically the oldest twin?!

—

Our guest for this episode has been Doron Birnbaum. If you'd like to get in touch with Doron

you can do so through his website, or by email.

You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

620: My Twin Brother Forced Me To Be His CTO Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

Would you ever go into business with your family? In this week’s episode, our hosts take on Sami’s tale of becoming the CTO of his brother’s business venture.

After the trio get into some excellent running advice, Sami reminds us of the importance of validating the product to make sure the market will actually use what you’ve built. Will reflects on the importance of a Document of Expectations to weed out potential clients that aren’t going to put effort into the development of their ideas (especially if you’re doing the work for free), and Chad explains why an idea fizzling out before completion isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

And make sure to tune in next week, as the team brings in Sami’s brother, Doron, to answer some of the questions brought up this episode.

—

You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami.

Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel!

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

619: Inside Modern Software Engineering with Homebrew’s Mike McQuaid Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

Sami is back this week with Mike McQuaid, CTPO and Homebrew Project Leader, as they take a deep dive into the importance of open source maintainers in modern software engineering.

With 18 years of experience reducing developer friction and scaling open source software, Mike discusses the commonalities and differences between open source and proprietary software audiences, impact of large data centres on both the environment and women in the workplace, revealing what drove him to create Homebrew and where they are now, before taking Sami through burnout and why it’s important to not be rude to your open source maintainers - you’ll be surprised which national entities would fall apart if it weren’t for their hard work and time.

—

Our guest for this episode has been Mike McQuaid. If you'd like to get in touch with Mike, or to keep up to date with his work, you can do so through his website.

Also mentioned in today’s episode:
‘Open Source Maintainers Owe You Nothing’ blog post.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

618: 22 Years of Bootstrapping with Jesse Mecham Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

Will is joined this week by personal finance expert, speaker, business leader Jesse Mecham, founder of You Need A Budget (or YNAB if you are very busy and important).

In this episode, to celebrate the release of his new book ‘Never Worry About Money Again’, Jesse dives into how YNAB came to be, from spreadsheet to the interface it is today, the trials and tribulations the business went through over the years, before going into depth about why people are so scared of money.

—

Mentioned in the episode:

Jesse’s brand new book, 'Never Worry About Money Again' out now!
Visit the YNAB website
Jason Fried’s ‘Getting Real’
Richard A. Lanham’s ‘Revising Prose’
Eugene Schwartz’s ‘Breakthrough Advertising’
Donald A. Norman’s ‘The Design of Everyday Things’
Clayton Christiansen’s ‘Jobs to be Done’ Framework

Our guest for this episode has been Jesse Mecham. If you'd like to get in touch with Jesse,

or to keep up to date with his work, you can visit his website.

Your host for this episode has been Will Larry, you can find and connect with Will over on LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected