Backend Banter – Details, episodes & analysis

Today, we bring you the final episode of the first season of Backend Banter! It’s a wrap up for now. With 69 episodes behind us, we want to tell you the story of Boot Dev and how far we’ve come from our beginnings, and for that, we bring Allan Lires, the first official employee and the second person to work on our platform!

We’re going to cover our entire timeline, achievements, hardships, how Lane and Allan were able to go all-in on building Boot Dev and our visions and plans for the future.

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Allan's X/Twitter: https://x.com/AllanLires

Boot.Dev Discord: https://discord.com/invite/EEkFwbv

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:01 Last episode of Season 1 of Backend Banter

01:45 Boot.dev Story and what this episode will be about

02:26 How and when Allan was hired to work at Boot.dev

05:33 Timeline on Boot.dev

08:53 Guessing game

10:34 The Rebranding Process

12:43 Going Full-time

14:56 What was the curriculum in the beginning?

18:38 What was the original vision for Boot.dev

19:17 Being honest about how long it'll take you to learn to code

22:48 Setting expectations for difficulty

29:55 On learning the fundamentals

34:42 The Long Term vision of Boot.dev

41:30 Old gamification features and why we changed them

50:26 The Track is Never Complete

55:01 We cover a lot of the basics that traditional colleges don't cover

01:00:06 Why do we want to remove JavaScript from the learning course

01:06:12 Million Lessons Completed in a single month

01:08:28 You got to be comfortable being uncomfortable

01:13:25 Where to find Allan

Today we welcome Chuck Carpenter aka Charles The 3rd, co-host at Whiskey Web and Whatnot.

As two content creators in the tech scene, we discuss if and how celebrity developers and tech influencers are a good thing for the community, how we should be careful when choosing technologies based on influencers’ opinions, why so many people nowadays want to speedrun their whole career and how that could be self-sabotage, and a lot more!

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Whiskey Web and Whatnot: https://whiskey.fm/

Charles' X/Twitter: https://x.com/charleswthe3rd

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:27 Does Charles listen to his own podcast episodes?

03:33 Are celebrity developers a good thing?

09:11 Podcasts are usually centered around a business

10:06 We are essentially entertainers

14:04 Tech choices being influenced by creators

17:37 Why ThePrimeagen stood out from other tech influencers

20:26 Career speedrunning

23:44 The biggest miss when starting something

24:51 What is wrong with Full-Stack application frameworks?

29:03 How Frankenstein is the Boot.dev web application stack

37:41 Rolling your own stuff vs using a provider

46:01 It's easy to screw up your architecture

50:53 What is Charles building with in 2024 and what is his preferred stack

56:39 Does it seem like people don't talk about security anymore?

01:00:30 Accessibility

01:02:02 The amount of people that are "kinda" interested in cybersecurity

01:11:03 Have some patience

01:11:37 Where to find Charles

In today's episode, we bring back James Q Quick. Last time we talked about his best tips to land your first ever job as a developer. Today we talk about James' new startup and how he manages all his new tech adventures with being a parent and also provides some helpful insight as to why having an audience and personal connections in the industry is beneficial - but not strictly necessary to succeed.

We also talk about AWS, abstraction and the current (healing) state of layoffs, so don't lose hope if you're demotivated in your job search.

Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Deals for Devs: https://www.dealsfordevs.com/

James' Website: https://www.jamesqquick.com/

James' Twitter: https://x.com/jamesqquick

James' Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesQQuick

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:55 On being a parent

04:28 Idiocracy

05:47 Deals for Devs

10:09 Comparison with Dixie Direct

12:22 How do you quantify the really high quality deals

15:57 The challenge with a two-sided marketplace

22:28 Doing stuff manually is actually pretty good

25:38 Having a personal connection helps A LOT

29:12 Zeta

34:05 The Web is being modeled on AWS

36:38 You shouldn't be learning one JavaScript framework

38:30 Know how to answer a question if you don't know the technology

41:43 When you learn to code, how much layers of abstraction you should go?

43:45 Should passion be required for a job in tech?

49:02 The state of layoffs

52:29 The ease of finding a job after a layoff when you're highly talented

55:58 Do you need an audience to find a job easily?

58:40 Developers of the world - Interviews in person

01:02:12 Where to find James

In today's episode, we bring back BadCop! Since last episode, she joined Boot.dev's team and is now writing courses with us!

Today we will be discussing the approaches to writing good educational material, Bash (of course, duh), working outside cloud solutions, SSH, NAS systems, workflows with different editors and cultural shifts in different areas of programming. Enjoy!

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

BadCop's Twitter: https://x.com/badcop_

BadCop's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/badcop_

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:58 BadCop Joined the Boot.dev Team!

01:15 Writing courses is harder than it looks

03:45 Lane's approach to writing courses

05:21 What's the hardest part of writing a course for BadCop?

09:01 On writing Bash

13:19 How useful is it to know how to work outside the cloud solutions?

17:28 SSHing into the home network

20:49 What is a NAS?

23:26 Using VTuber Software off the shelf

25:55 When did BadCop start using NeoVim?

29:41 IRC talk

33:20 Cultural shift in the programming space

38:05 Getter and Setter functions

42:35 People are overusing the idea of encapsulation

48:41 Dependency Inversion Principle

51:11 The VTuber Project

52:58 Where to find BadCop

In today's episode, we welcome Ken Wheeler, a dope programmer, who creates cool projects and just gives them away for free, helping thousands of developers worldwide, a based beatmaker and just in general a cool person.

In this episode, we talk about AI, React, OCaml, why stressing over specific frameworks is not worth it, advice for new developers, HTMX, SPA's and a LOT of other stuff, so stay tuned!

Ken's X/Twitter: https://x.com/ken_wheeler

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:25 Do you hate AI?

02:10 How diffusion works

17:47 First impressions with writing Go

18:29 Where's the line between Backend Development and DevOps

24:11 Does anyone version their REST?

24:57 urql

25:38 Offloading the data work to the other side

29:55 Wordpress is 80% of the websites

31:15 HTMX

33:12 Single Page Apps

34:02 Is React still your go-to

36:38 Is it hard to switch from React to Vue?

39:37 Picking a first language to learn

40:43 OCaml

43:12 HEX and raw Binary Data

44:42 Bluetooth powered crossbow

52:20 What got Ken into doing talks

58:45 Where to find Ken

In today's episode, we welcome Casey Muratori, a seasoned programmer who specializes in game engine research and development who is currently working on a narrative game about organized crime in the 1930s in New York.

And oh boy, is this episode packed with valuable knowledge!

In this talk, we go over the differences between different job positions in the Game Development Industry and how it compares to the Web Development arena, as well as dive deep on the notions of technical knowledge, is it all useful or is some of it just a waste of time? We talk about bloated systems, how we already surpassed the tipping point of code written, so that new exploits will be appearing indefinitely. Casey gives us his opinions on what a programmer should ABSOLUTELY know to be the best at what they do, and a lot of other exciting and interesting topics.

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Computer, Enhance!: https://www.computerenhance.com/

Casey's Twitter/X: https://x.com/cmuratori

Timestamps:

00:28 Casey's Background

02:43 Game Developer vs Game Designer

09:08 What are the different ways people should think about careers that exist for game developers

14:33 Is all knowledge useful or is some of it a waste of time?

16:16 Computer, Enhance! and Casey's teaching methodologies

24:00 Devil's advocate about understanding at the hardware level

29:48 Software is getting slower, bloatier and less performant

35:42 What is the primary reason behind the rise of slow software

38:20 Top 3 concepts that people SHOULD know

43:43 Do you need to know both ARM and x86?

57:03 30 million line problem

01:08:29 Is there any way to mitigate these types of problems?

01:13:39 Where to find Casey

01:14:50 Which was the best part of Twin Peaks

In today’s episode, we bring AnthonyGG, a highly requested guest, a Go developer with over a decade of experience with Golang and a fellow content creator.

This episode will be all around Web Development with Go - from how Anthony started writing code with Go and why he chose this language, to tooling, migrations, integrations with databases, generics, Go job interviews and much, much more!

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player:

https://www.backendbanter.fm

Anthony's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anthonygg_

Anthony's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theanthonygg

Anthony's Twitter/X: https://x.com/anthdm

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:29 Anthony's backstory, how he learned to code and started writing code professionally

08:55 Going from go migrate to goose

13:20 What does Anthony use in tandem with goose/go migrate to interact with databases

14:46 Bun vs gorm vs sqlc

18:26 The way boot.dev is running goose at the moment

20:14 Problems with migration tools

23:47 Should HTTP handlers explicitly return an error?

29:05 Building your own middleware and helper functions

36:00 Generics

38:09 How often does AnthonyGG use a context package and for what purposes

44:57 Golang job interviews

46:12 Developer experience with working with Go on Web Applications

54:51 You still need community-built tools

57:08 Where to find Anthony

Today, we bring back a dear guest and friend of the podcast, ThePrimeagen! Now Ex-Netflix engineer who turned his full focus to content creation surrounding software engineering and tech.

In today's episode, we talk about his new Git course on boot.dev, where he shares motivations on why he decided to write a course on Git, how he incorporates it into his workflow and shares some hot takes regarding today's tech education landscape, his opinion on bootcamps, colleges, and what his ideal way of teaching computer science is.

To finish off, he shares some of his exciting new ventures, namely a coffee shop and a Doom game which you can play through twitch chat!

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player:

https://www.backendbanter.fm

ThePrimeagen's Youtube:

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

ThePrimeagen's other Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@ThePrimeTimeagen

ThePrimeagen's Twitter: https://x.com/ThePrimeagen

Terminal Coffee Shop: https://www.terminal.shop/

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:27 Why teach about Git?

02:55 Was Prime taught Git?

04:50 add files individually or git add .

07:22 Hot take about git in school

10:27 What should you learn in school in the first place?

11:34 Where did school come from?

16:42 You can't become a software engineer in 3 months

19:45 Contents of Part 1 and what will Part 2 of the Git course be about

22:58 Rebase vs Merge and Prime's current workflow

24:22 Why you shouldn't merge

29:10 A lot of the times, people just don't know the tools

32:29 The advantage of rebase

34:03 Rewriting history criticism

36:30 Prime's terminal coffee shop

44:22 Doom in the terminal?

54:08 Is the bandwidth the problem with the Doom game?

55:27 Ideas for the controls for Doom

58:57 Where to find Prime

In today's episode, we welcome Low Level Learning, a fellow programmer and content creator. With over 500k subscribers and his own course where he teaches low level programming topics, he came on the podcast to talk about what he knows most: C, low level concepts, AI, as well as share some of his own developer experiences and preferences that he garnered over the years.

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Low Level Learning’s Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/LowLevelTweets

Low Level Learning's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lowlevellearning

Low Level Learning's Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/LowLevelLearning

Low Level Academy: https://lowlevel.academy/

Timestmaps:

00:47 Who is Low Level Learning?

01:34 C is a High Level Language

02:47 Is C lower level than Rust or Zig?

04:33 Front-end vs Back-end, which is harder?

06:34 The Boot.dev stack

07:11 The Low Level Academy stack

07:59 Low Level Academy

09:56 Project-based learning

12:18 sqlc

14:44 How do you debug C?

17:26 Fuzzing Harness vs Unit Testing

22:28 Favorite Feature of C

23:45 If you could change one thing in C, what would it be?

26:53 Where do C programmers work?

29:16 The White House and Garbage Collectors

31:19 What is a side-channel attack?

33:56 Power side-channel attack

35:41 Side-channel attack on boot.dev

37:08 What tooling does Low Level Learning use to write C?

43:59 How do you deal with the lack of a package manager?

48:12 Opinion on statically compiled and dynamic libraries

50:36 Where to find Low Level Learning

In today’s episode, we welcome Natalie Pistunovich, host of the Go Time podcast, OpenAI Ambassador and Google Developer Expert for Go. She advises companies on how to make the most of AI and adopt it properly and also teaches the Cloud and Infrastructure course for B.Sc. students at the HTW Berlin.

In this episode, we talk all about AI driven development and how is Go one of the best languages suited for code generation, the future of LLM’s and how can we boost the average developer’s job with AI, creating custom GPT’s, changes in the area of AI Chips, and a lot of other fascinating topics.

Learn back-end development - https://boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Natalie's Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nataliepis

Timestamps:

00:47 Who is Low Level Learning?

01:34 C is a High Level Language

02:47 Is C lower level than Rust or Zig?

04:33 Front-end vs Back-end, which is harder?

06:34 The Boot.dev stack

07:11 The Low Level Academy stack

07:59 Low Level Academy

09:56 Project-based learning

12:18 sqlc

14:44 How do you debug C?

17:26 Fuzzing Harness vs Unit Testing

22:28 Favorite Feature of C

23:45 If you could change one thing in C, what would it be?

26:53 Where do C programmers work?

29:16 The White House and Garbage Collectors

31:19 What is a side-channel attack?

33:56 Power side-channel attack

35:41 Side-channel attack on boot.dev

37:08 What tooling does Low Level Learning use to write C?

43:59 How do you deal with the lack of a package manager?

48:12 Opinion on statically compiled and dynamic libraries

50:36 Where to find Low Level Learning