Backend Banter

Boot.dev

The only podcast dedicated to backend development, technologies, and careers. Lane Wagner, the founder of Boot.dev, interviews successful backend engineers to get their takes on various trends, technologies, and career tips for new backend developers. Golang, Python, JavaScript, and Rust are the programming languages most commonly discussed, but speakers dabble in all sorts. read less
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Episodes

#050 - Python is Faster than Rust
3d ago
#050 - Python is Faster than Rust
In today’s episode, we welcome John Crickett, veteran software engineer, having worked at Staff, VP, and C-Suite positions over the years, and now focusing on helping thousands of engineers worldwide, through his coding challenges that have you building real applications, as well as helping with the soft skills through his articles and posts about software development. Today we cover a LOT of ground where we explain exactly what a Software Architect is, discuss different leadership types, advice to get a software job, remote work, unpopular opinions on programming languages, performance and scale, and a couple other things, so stay tuned because this episode is a true fountain of knowledge. Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm John Crickett's Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/johncrickett John Crickett's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncrickett/ Coding Challenges: https://codingchallenges.fyi/ Coding Challenges on Substack: https://codingchallenges.substack.com/ Research mentioned at 27:33 : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232514133_Effect_of_self-differentiation_and_anonymity_in_group_on_deindividuation More on the topic of Deindividuation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindividuation#Major_empirical_discoveries Timestamps: 00:12 Who is John Crickett01:13 What is a Software Architect03:04 People vs Technical Leadership03:53 What kind of decisions does a software architect make?04:43 Is there a lot of "Thought Leadership" involved?05:23 Do you prefer Technical or People leadership?07:47 How did John start his coding career?11:39 Most people don't start working at "sexy" companies13:58 Juggling off-topic14:32 What are the Coding Challenges?19:03 Remote work and downtime22:56 The wrong culture might spoil the remote environment and people care less about the work27:05 Anonymity turns people into assholes29:58 Why did we have a phone call when this could've been an e-mail?33:42 Doing LeetCode vs Building Projects36:54 Most of the time you'll be using already existing solutions40:05 Is there too much abstraction nowadays?41:56 Using the Command Line is cool again!43:44 When talking about scale, what matters most is the architecture, not the language or framework51:30 Why just switching to a "faster" language isn't enough53:48 Go vs Rust performance comparison54:44 Learning how to write performant code is more important than the programming language itself55:25 The importance of benchmarking58:33 Where to find John
#048 - Your command line sucks ft. Bashbunni
Apr 8 2024
#048 - Your command line sucks ft. Bashbunni
Today, we're excited to have Bashbunni join us, a software developer and fellow tech content creator currently rocking it as a DevRel at Charm, whose purpose is all about glamming up the CLI experience. In this episode, we cover a lot of ground, from diving into Charm's cool libraries and their real-world applications to chatting about the self-taught programming journey. We also touch on TikTok and addictive social media use, content creation and its intricacies, and share some insights into the world of Golang. Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Bashbunni's Twitter: https://twitter.com/sudobunni Bashbunni's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bashbunni Bashbunni's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/bashbunni Charm: https://charm.sh/ Charm's video that Bashbunni mentioned: https://charm.sh/blog/100k/ Timestamps: 00:36 When did Bashbunni start working with Go? 02:10 School during COVID and education nowadays 04:23 Is self-taught still a viable way to learn programming? 08:50 Discipline can be learned 10:04 Why it is much harder to focus nowadays? 11:08 TikTok and Addictive Social Media Use 14:31 What kind of media does BashBunni consume, if not short-form content 18:14 Is creating content for Charm a bit part of the job? 21:05 On Tech content creators being technical 24:41 Quality vs Quantity 25:31 What is Charm? 29:09 Why Golang is the best language for CLI Applications 32:52 US vs Canadian Accents 34:05 Melt - One of Charm's Libraries 36:24 Soft serve - Self hostable git server 37:39 VHS - Terminal GIFs as code 39:10 How many people are behind Charm? 39:17 How does Charm make money? 42:40 GUI's are bloated, Terminal is the GOAT 45:56 Bashbunni's beef with JavaScript 48:47 Where to find Bashbunni
#047 - From Nursing to Programming ft. Trash Puppy
Apr 1 2024
#047 - From Nursing to Programming ft. Trash Puppy
In this episode, we host Trash Puppy, with her amazing story of how she went from Nursing to becoming a Software Engineer. Today, we talk about her story, why she chose Golang, her exciting personal projects and her experiences and advice as a self-taught developer. As Trash Puppy is accepting job offers at the moment, we also dove into the current job market and job hunting process, as it definitely isn't an easy one to navigate these days, while also touching up on her thoughts of the threats of AI. Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Trash Puppy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrshPuppy Trash Puppy's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@trshpuppy Trash Puppy's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/trshpuppy Trash Puppy's Github: https://github.com/TrshPuppy Trash Puppy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trshpuppy/ Timestamps: 00:31 How Trash Puppy went from a Nurse to a Software Engineer 05:06 Lane shares how his wife went from an X-Ray technician to Software Dev 07:00 When did Trash Puppy start learning to code? 08:24 Trash Puppy pivoted to Golang? 09:29 Was there anything else about the industry that motivated Trash Puppy to switch to WebDev? 10:38 NetPuppy 13:12 Coding in Cyber Security 18:10 Do you want to hire Trash Puppy? 18:27 Current Job Market and Job Hunting 22:51 You have a better chance applying to local jobs 25:25 Lack of experience in the field when searching for a job 29:26 Outlook on AI 30:15 Impact of not having a CS Degree 33:11 Building projects or studying up on foundations? 37:19 The learning happens during the struggle 41:47 What has been the hardest thing about learning Go so far? 45:27 What do you like the most about Go? 47:03 What's your least favorite part about Go? 48:20 Installing Go modules vs GOPATH 50:31 Where to find Trash Puppy
#046 - How I Spent $100,000/mo on CI/CD
Mar 25 2024
#046 - How I Spent $100,000/mo on CI/CD
Today, we're thrilled to have Tommy Graves, co-founder of RWX, a company focusing on building tools that optimize build and test performance, reliability, and developer experience. In this episode, we're delving deep into the realm of CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment), with a special focus on Mint - their latest CI platform. We'll be exploring its unique features, how it differs from its competitors, caching, security, cost-efficiency in production pipelines. Apart from that, we'll also discuss GitHub Actions along with it's biggest flaws and finally demystifying CI/CD, as it is not the big monster a lot of developers perceive it to be. Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Mint: https://www.rwx.com/mint Timestamps: 00:54 Who is Tommy Graves 05:14 What is Continuous Integration? 06:57 What is Mint trying to solve, that isn't solved by other CI/CD platforms 09:57 Better Semantic Output on a CI/CD platform 14:20 What's the benefit to the structure of semantic logging, apart from visualization 15:23 CI/CD course on Boot.dev 17:59 Does Mint make it cheaper for companies that have high CI/CD expenses? 19:12 Why don't other companies do caching the way Mint does? 25:49 There are security implications of using the same platform for both CI and CD 30:42 How smaller teams could benefit from Mint 33:15 Verifying changes to the deployment workflow with GitHub Actions and Mint 36:49 Is GitHub Actions dominating the space or is there still competition? 39:04 One of the biggest frustrations with GitHub Actions 42:03 Does Mint relate to the Unix philosophy? 48:07 How does configuring the CI/CD tools drive the philosophy of Mint 50:36 Just understand CI/CD, you won't need those courses dedicated to CI/CD platforms 53:45 CI/CD is not as esoteric as it sounds 58:48 Where to find Mint
#045 - Whiskey, Web, and Wagners
Mar 18 2024
#045 - Whiskey, Web, and Wagners
Today, we bring a special "Whiskey, Web and Whatnot" edition to our podcast, where we welcome Travis Wagner and Robbie The Wagner, to talk about controversial takes regarding tech CEOs, their experiences in the field, the impact of AI and other personal preferences towards technologies Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Whiskey, Web and Whatnot podcast: https://whiskey.fm/Robbie's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobbieTheWagnerTravis's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/techsavvytravvy Travis's Twitter: https://twitter.com/techsavvytravvy Timestamps: 01:22 Whiskey, Web and Whatnot 01:52 Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg, which Tech CEO of 2024 is your favorite? 03:28 Robbie's Background 04:42 Travis's background 06:23 Big company or small company? 10:07 Tenures, incentives and current market 12:33 Who would you pick for your team, Steve Ballmer or Sundar Pichai 13:41 AWS or GCP? 16:25 DevOps is not a real job 20:16 Be a DevRel or a Scrum Master? 23:38 What's the difference between DevRel and Dev Advocate? 24:56 AI or VR, which is more impactful on a developer's day-to-day? 31:53 Which Big Tech Company sucks the least? 36:21 Bigger Salary but Less Equity or Less Salary but More Equity? 41:19 Is Blockchain Gone Yet? 50:52 CS Degree or Being an Open Source Maintainer on a successful project? 55:10 Remote or On-site? 01:03:19 Where to find Robbie 01:03:43 Where to find Travis
#044 - Managers should know how to code ft. Thorsten Ball
Mar 11 2024
#044 - Managers should know how to code ft. Thorsten Ball
In today's episode, we bring Thorsten Ball, author of "Writing An Interpreter In Go" and "Writing A Compiler In Go". In this talk, we discuss the different clashes and responsibilities between Product and Engineering teams, reignite the topic of working with technical managers, explain why cookie banners are dumb, and on a more interpersonal note, discuss how important coolness is in education, explain why a lot of the times, highly talented people just don't know how to work and also dabble into the ideas of fulfillment, responsibility and reliability.Thorsten's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thorstenballRegister Spill: https://registerspill.thorstenball.com/Thorsten's Books: https://thorstenball.com/books/(01:08) - The idea behind Register Spill (02:20) - It's a Negotiation: When Product and Engineering meet (05:58) - Engineering vs Product (07:31) - Thorsten's view of the Product team (09:36) - Thorsten's view of the Engineering team (11:06) - Engineers should inform product before building something (14:57) - Real-life example from Thorsten (18:04) - Measuring completixy in T-Shirt sizes and Time Estimates (22:46) - Set a cap on time dedicated to a task (23:50) - Do we need more technical leadership? (27:58) - Working with Engineering Managers that are technical is a bliss (35:19) - Not Every Company Is For Everybody (41:14) - Cookie Banners are Dumb (50:13) - Educators underestimate how important coolness is (56:19) - There are a lot of highly capable people that just don't know how to work (01:02:20) - Getting fulfillment just from the effort (01:04:23) - Be reliable (01:06:34) - Where to find Thorsten
#043 - Nuxt.js is better than Next.js ft. Daniel Roe
Mar 4 2024
#043 - Nuxt.js is better than Next.js ft. Daniel Roe
In this episode, we bring Daniel Roe, the Lead Maintainer of Nuxt.js, an open source framework that makes web development intuitive and powerful. Today, he shares his journey into the framework and sheds some light on intriguing questions surrounding its development and usage. Today's talk ranges from the origins of Nuxt to its unique features and practical tips for developers, deliberate naming, comparison with Next.js and technical and detailed discussion regarding performance optimization and project structuring.Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmDaniel's Twitter: https://x.com/danielcroeDaniel's Website: https://roe.dev/Nuxt Framework: https://nuxt.com(00:14) - How did Daniel Roe join Nuxt? (02:53) - Elk, Moose and Wilderness (06:07) - Was it named Nuxt intentionally to confuse people? (08:32) - Next.js vendor lock-in criticism and does Nuxt have any similar issues (11:31) - Boot.dev moved from a Vue 3 SPA to Nuxt (14:19) - Auto-importing by default? (20:01) - Using longer variable names because of global namespace (21:58) - Explaining the default Nuxt payload behavior (26:59) - Default prefetching (30:17) - What are the most common use cases for Nuxt apps (32:32) - Who has control in your project? (33:45) - Enabling JavaScript or not? (37:25) - Updating head tags in Nuxt (39:09) - New feature that improves script handling in Nuxt (41:01) - What do you prioritize? Interactivity or Scripts? (42:06) - Google Tag Manager (46:07) - What's Daniel's favorite Nuxt feature? (47:11) - Types are amazing! (49:37) - How did the Idea of Boot.dev came to be? (51:24) - Gamification of coding (53:46) - Theory is picked up from practice (56:05) - What's one thing you'd instantly change about Nuxt if you could (59:04) - Separation of what goes on in the client vs the server in the same file (01:04:44) - Where to find Daniel
#042 - Rust is the WORST language to learn first ft. Teej DeVries
Feb 26 2024
#042 - Rust is the WORST language to learn first ft. Teej DeVries
In today's episode, we bring back Teej DeVries, the first guest ever on our podcast! Today we are discussing Teej's new course on Boot.dev on Memory Management. In this talk, we discuss the importance of memory, why Go is a C-programmer minded language, garbage collectors, among other technical topics. We also talk about why understanding the fundamentals in crucial in helping you increase your learning ability, how different it is hiring juniors and seniors and why being curious gives you the advantage over everyone else.Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmTeej's Twitter: https://twitter.com/teej_dvTeej's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/tjdevries(00:00) - Introduction (00:57) - Teej will have a course on Boot.dev! (01:35) - Why Memory Management is so important (05:17) - Go is a C-programmer minded language (07:00) - 25% off on boot.dev! (07:22) - How far in the curriculum will Teej's course be? (09:13) - Should you learn Rust or C first? (12:43) - Dropping out of college (13:49) - You should know WHY you're doing something (15:29) - Self motivated learning (18:52) - Internal Boot.dev tooling for this course (21:59) - OCamls' garbage collector (23:55) - Functional language, performance and immutability constraints (30:24) - Roc programming language (32:42) - Wasm (WebAssembly) vs Machine Code (36:07) - C's Standard Library vs Go's Standard Library (37:01) - Installing dependencies (41:09) - C as an educational tool (43:27) - You have to think when using C (45:42) - Enterprise machines are weaker compared to local machines (47:43) - Why this course is before the Job Search chapter (49:44) - Being curious gives you the advantage (51:16) - Every program uses memory, so we should have at least some level of understanding about it (54:28) - Just being able to speak like an engineer goes a long way (57:14) - There are still a ton of jobs that involve embedded systems, not just WebDev (01:00:13) - Be eager to learn (01:01:51) - Hiring Seniors vs Hiring Juniors (01:02:50) - You learn better if you understand fundamentals (01:04:10) - Analogy to Dota 2 (01:08:54) - Where to find Teej
#041 - From Roblox to software founder ft. Lewis Menelaws
Feb 19 2024
#041 - From Roblox to software founder ft. Lewis Menelaws
In this episode, Lane chats with Lewis Menelaws, a Full-Stack developer and entrepreneur. Today he takes us through his coding journey and insights as a developer influencer. From his early days coding Roblox games, tech stacks, and the challenges of freelancing, to his shift into content creation and thoughts on the current programming meta. Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmLewis's Twitter: https://twitter.com/LewisMenelawsLewis's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CodingwithLewis(02:01) - Intro (02:18) - We need to talk about developer influencers (02:53) - When did Lewis first learn to code (05:17) - Java and PHP (06:17) - Shift from Python2 to Python3 (07:02) - Why Python (07:34) - Dynamic Typing Isn't Enjoyable (09:09) - Dynamic Languages are just a tool (09:47) - When did Lewis Start a WebDev Agency (12:30) - Pivotal moment at the agency (15:50) - Website vs WebApp (21:53) - Tech stacks (24:54) - Not so Open Source (27:09) - Opinion about TypeScript (29:13) - Understanding topics at a deeper level (33:23) - 1 layer deeper than where i do most of my work (35:45) - Be the glue (38:28) - Dependencies as a cost (39:57) - What motivated Lewis to start his own agency (40:52) - Freelancing is playing on hard mode (43:14) - Transition to content creation (46:42) - Confidence in your technical abilities (49:12) - We need to talk about developer Influencers (56:19) - Catering towards the algorithm (56:56) - Take on the current programming meta (58:55) - Future of Coding with Lewis channel (01:01:55) - Where to find lewis (00:00) - Chapter 28
#040 - The man who wrote the book on DynamoDB ft. Alex DeBrie
Feb 12 2024
#040 - The man who wrote the book on DynamoDB ft. Alex DeBrie
In this episode, Lane talks to Alex DeBrie, author of the DynamoDB book. Today's talk covers various aspects such as DynamoDB's comparison with Amazon S3, its benefits, use cases, constraints, and cost considerations, while also covering other AWS and Google Cloud services. Alex also shares his insights into his journey of writing the book on DynamoDB and touches on topics like access patterns, secondary indexes, and billing modes. Alex also shares his professional experiences, including consulting vs freelancing, thoughts of entrepreneurial aspirations, and gives helpful advice for those that are considering pursuing a similar career.Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmAlex's Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexbdebrieAlex's Website: https://www.alexdebrie.com(00:00) - Introduction (01:27) - Who is Alex DeBrie? (02:39) - What is DynamoDB? (04:15) - EC2 instance (05:50) - Amazon S3 (06:25) - DynamoDB is more like S3 (07:40) - Difference between DynamoDB and S3 (08:20) - What do we mean when we say NoSQL (10:08) - BigQuery and BigTable (12:31) - Some of DynamoDB's benefits (13:15) - When to use DynamoDB (15:58) - Constraint of number of connections (18:06) - DynamoDB is a multi-tenant service (19:21) - How does DynamoDB shake up against something like MongoDB (22:22) - DynamoDB is opinionated, but it provides good results consistently (25:54) - You can only do certain things in DynamoDB, but they are guaranteed to be fast (26:42) - Relational Databases - Theory vs Practicality (31:08) - How Alex came to write a book about DynamoDB (32:15) - What happens when SQL runs, depends heavily on the system underneath (33:57) - DynamoDB doesn't have a query planner (36:08) - Access patterns (38:04) - Use case for Secondary Indexes (39:43) - Costs of DynamoDB (40:45) - Billing modes for DynamoDB (45:26) - Provisioning and planning for expenses (48:40) - Super Mario 64 Hack (49:34) - What Was Alex's Last Full Time Job (51:02) - Consulting vs Freelancing (52:23) - Does Alex see himself going back to a Full Time Job? (53:07) - Does Alex have any entrepreneurial urges? (54:01) - What you should think about before jumping into freelance/consulting (56:01) - Authority in the consulting world (57:11) - Where to find Alex
#039 - Get promoted by being lazy ft. Dax Raad
Feb 5 2024
#039 - Get promoted by being lazy ft. Dax Raad
In this episode, Lane talks to Dax Raad, a well rounded engineer that is currently a developer for SST, a framework that helps people build Full-Stack applications on AWS with ease. Today, they talk about personal opinions on industry practices, scale, financial decisions, infrastructure mistakes, reflections on long-term company commitments and many more!Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmDax's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thdxr(00:00) - Introduction (00:51) - Dax's Tweets and Personal Branding (01:31) - You have to learn to be yourself (02:56) - Intrusive thoughts (03:33) - When did Dax become active in the Tech Twitter scene (06:30) - What was the Zero Interest Rate Phenomenon (ZIRP) in the tech scene (09:33) - Should people choose fun early in their career? (12:22) - Lane's take on the expertise when abstracting (14:15) - SST's Philosophy in regards to abstractions (16:35) - Merging roles (19:28) - People don't want to care about the cloud (21:31) - Less stressed about work = better results (24:10) - Managers vs leaders (25:20) - Dax shares stories about managing vs leading (29:36) - Did Dax ever have users? (31:24) - Most Startups Fail (32:09) - Dax's reason for joining startups (33:25) - Staying at a company for decades (35:53) - Main downside of staying at an established company for a long time (36:34) - The World changes, so don't look at how already established companies do things (37:57) - Scale has a different meaning for different companies (40:07) - So much goes away when you have less people at the company (41:51) - Sometimes not saving money is a better option (43:35) - Moving off Stripe (46:54) - Rolling your own payment processor (49:05) - Which debate on Tech Twitter annoys Dax the most (50:52) - Stored Procedure debate (53:31) - What's a BIG mistake in the infrastructure space? (57:31) - Kubernetes (01:02:58) - What Dax misses from Google Cloud (01:03:19) - Is Sundar Pichai a bad CEO? (01:04:51) - Where to find Dax
#038 - I Got Caught Rolling my Own Auth... feat. Dev Agrawal
Jan 29 2024
#038 - I Got Caught Rolling my Own Auth... feat. Dev Agrawal
Lane chats with Dev Agrawal— content creator & Developer Advocate at Clerk! Tune in as they discuss DevRel, authentication vs. authorization, JWT, and so much more in this episode. Learn back-end development - https://boot.devListen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fmDev's Twitter: https://twitter.com/devagrawal09Dev's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@devagr(00:00) - Introduction (00:50) - Is Dev's name really Dev? (02:10) - What is it about writing code that scares Dev? (02:50) - JavaScript is one of the worst with dependencies (03:09) - Dev's ideal world (03:20) - .NET and Blazor (03:59) - Blazor explained (04:36) - WASM on the Front-end (05:04) - Is Blazor unique to C# ? (06:11) - What is a DevRel? (08:07) - Lane's experience (09:13) - You shouldn't roll your own Auth (11:59) - Undifferentiated work (13:56) - Authentication vs Authorization (16:19) - Regarding Auth, which is a bigger pain point for companies (16:48) - Pain points of Authorization (18:38) - Pain Points of Authentication (20:23) - Lane's perspective (22:29) - Using a third party for authorization (24:27) - Is Clerk used for both Authentication and Authorization? (26:16) - JWT explained (28:39) - Where is the users' data stored? (29:27) - Features are developed as needed (29:52) - Auth coupling to the rest of the system (30:16) - Webhooks listeners to access user session data (31:03) - Postgres foreign-data wrapper (32:09) - Microservices sharing databases (34:29) - CQRS (37:37) - Average size of a company that uses Clerk (40:50) - What are the most used ways to sign-in (42:04) - Stances on passwords (46:56) - OAuth (50:33) - Why Lane dropped Sign-in with Twitter/X (51:14) - What do popular services usually use? (52:24) - Sign-in with Google (57:39) - Unpopular opinion on Auth related web architecture (01:00:17) - 2 ways of doing authentication (01:05:59) - Where to find Dev