Show Notes
Today we bring Thomas Ballinger, a developer at Convex, an open-source backend for application builders. We will be discussing mainly databases, and why at Convex they use Rust and Typescript.
We'll also talk about systems scalability, infrastructure and go over different practices regarding abstractions
Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev
Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm
Convex: https://www.convex.dev/
Thomas' X/Twitter: https://x.com/ballingt
Thomas' Website: https://ballingt.com/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:33 Thomas' background
02:29 Convex - what it is and why should you use it?
03:16 What are query planners?
06:32 SQL is a very high level language
07:43 The primary differentiator of Convex
10:49 Who are Convex's biggest competitors?
14:20 How do you build the infrastructure
17:11 What type of database is Convex?
19:18 Why is Convex written in Rust?
23:35 Cheap abstractions
25:47 Productivity suffering from compile times
29:47 The different approaches for a backend developer to build scalable systems
32:28 Backend for Frontend
37:21 You want to be close to your data
42:13 Are there plans to support other languages at Convex?
47:06 Does the schema update the autocompletion in the editor
48:31 Naming and behavior of the queries with Convex
51:06 Why sqlc is great
52:28 Why TypeScript is a great "shortcut" for Convex
59:34 Where to find Thomas
More from Backend Banter
Today we welcome YK Sugi—engineer, educator, and the mind behind CSS Dojo—for the final episode of season two.
In this episode, we sit down with Quincy Larson, founder of Free Code Camp, to explore his incredible path from high school dropout to influential tech educator. Quincy shares his unconventional journey — from living in his car and working fast food jobs to building one of the most impactful coding education platforms in the world.
Today we welcome Mitchell Hashimoto, co-founder of HashiCorp and creator of Ghostty, a new terminal emulator built in Zig. In this episode, Mitchell shares the story behind Ghostty, how his curiosity about terminals evolved into a full-fledged project, and why Zig became his language of choice.
Today we welcome Malte Ubl, CTO of Vercel, to discuss the evolution of frontend development and the role of AI in shaping modern engineering workflows. Malte dives into V0, Vercel's innovative tool for generating frontend code using AI, and explains how it empowers developers—especially backend engineers—to build full-stack applications. We also explore the concept of verticalization in engineering roles, the challenges of balancing innovation with infrastructure, and how AI is redefining productivity in tech.
Today we welcome Madison Kana—a self-taught dev who defied the traditional path. From dropping out and navigating a world of homeschooling to launching the Code Book Club, Madison transformed her unconventional journey into a thriving community of coders. In this episode, she shares how bypassing the typical education route fueled her passion, the real challenges of learning on your own, and the power of mentorship in building a dynamic tech career. If you’re ready to break the mold and carve your own path in software development. Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm Madison's X: https://x.com/Madisonkanna Website: https://madisonkanna.com/ Learn out loud: learn0utloud.com Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Where did it all start? 01:40 - Dropping out 08:42 - How Madison started learning code 22:00 - Team leading 30:30 - Code Book Club 38:50 - Learn out loud 46:20 - AI talk 54:18 - Book recommendations 56:05 - Outro Like & subscribe for the algo if you enjoyed the video!