Show Notes
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
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!