Beyond Coding

Patrick Akil
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For software engineers ready to level up. Learn from CTOs, principal engineers, and tech leaders about the skills beyond coding: from technical mastery to product thinking and career growth

  1. How to Battle Complexity Before It Kills Your Software (30-Year Veteran's Take)

    4 DAYS AGO

    How to Battle Complexity Before It Kills Your Software (30-Year Veteran's Take)

    Most architects stop coding... and that's exactly where they lose their edge. Dennis Doomen has been a hands-on coding architect for 30 years, and his take is blunt: if you're not in the code, you can't make good architectural decisions. Period. In this episode, we get into the real causes of codebase rot, why dogmatic pattern-following destroys teams, how Dennis uses AI tools to build open source projects without compromising his standards, and why documentation and decision records might be the most underrated investment a software team can make. This one is for software engineers and architects who want to stay sharp, stay relevant, and build systems that actually last. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:05 - Why Dennis Refuses to Stop Coding (After 30 Years) 00:02:54 - The Only Way to Be an Effective Software Architect 00:04:43 - What Happens When Teams Copy Patterns Without Understanding Them 00:06:23 - Software Engineering Is About Battling Complexity 00:08:20 - When to Break Consistency to Reduce Complexity 00:09:24 - The Problem with Overzealous SOLID Principles 00:11:06 - The Future Where We Don't Care About Code Anymore 00:12:07 - How Dennis Built an Open Source Library with GitHub Copilot 00:14:18 - Accepting AI-Generated Code That Doesn't Meet Your Standards 00:16:39 - How to Use AI Without Losing Code Quality 00:17:41 - The Execution Is Accelerating — What Actually Matters Now 00:20:19 - Why Tests Are Your Safety Net in an AI-First World 00:23:44 - Lessons Learned from Letting AI Run Unsupervised 00:26:46 - Should Teams Standardize Which AI Tool They Use? 00:27:32 - Junior Devs and AI: Learning Skills vs. Speed 00:29:21 - How to Stay Curious and Critical in an AI-Assisted Team 00:33:43 - How to Build a Software Engineer from Scratch Today 00:34:38 - Dennis's Emoji-Based Pull Request Review System 00:36:45 - What AI Still Can't Do: Holistic Architectural Thinking 00:38:38 - Why Your Git History Is More Valuable Than You Think 00:40:44 - Decision Records: The Architecture Investment That Pays Off 00:43:16 - When Documentation Saved Dennis from a Bad Management Decision 00:44:47 - The Tailwind Layoffs and the Open Source Business Model Crisis 00:46:27 - Guidelines for Consuming Open Source Responsibly 00:49:51 - Why You Should Open Source Your Own Projects Guest: Dennis Doomen - Microsoft MVP, open source creator (FluentAssertions and more), and coding architect at Aviva Solutions. #softwaredevelopment #softwarearchitecture #softwareengineering

    52 min
  2. Uber Engineering Manager on Scaling Systems, Career Trade-offs, and Why Clarity Beats Seniority

    11 MAR

    Uber Engineering Manager on Scaling Systems, Career Trade-offs, and Why Clarity Beats Seniority

    Sendil Nellaiyapen, Engineering Manager at Uber, has built systems that scale to millions of users. In this episode he shares what most engineers get wrong about both system design and the move into engineering management In this episode, we cover: Ingredients for designing systems that scale to millions of usersHow to know when to compromise on architectureThe trade-offs of going from IC to engineering manager and why the role is harder than it looksHow to handle opinionated engineers, set team guardrails, and build high-performing engineering culture Whether you're a senior engineer weighing the move into management, or already leading teams and looking to sharpen your system design thinking, this one's for you. OUTLINE: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:05 - The Ingredients for Building Systems at Scale 00:02:23 - When to Compromise on Your Foundation 00:03:42 - Scaling from 2,000 to 5 Million Users 00:06:37 - Why Clarity Beats Seniority Every Time 00:08:27 - The Danger of Muscle Memory in Engineering 00:10:25 - MVP Mindset: What You Can and Can't Compromise 00:13:22 - How High-Performing Teams Handle Growing Complexity 00:15:04 - Who Owns the Assumptions? Shared Team Responsibility 00:17:04 - Building Open Frameworks Instead of Closed Rules 00:19:53 - Latency Is Overrated (Here's Why) 00:22:52 - Recipes for Disaster: The Biggest System Design Pitfalls 00:24:17 - The Scala Horror Story: When Elegance Kills Velocity 00:26:52 - How to Handle Opinionated Engineers on Your Team 00:29:03 - Setting Guardrails: The Manager's Design Responsibility 00:32:01 - The Hardest Trade-Off Going from IC to Engineering Manager 00:34:35 - Should Great Engineers Stay IC or Go into Management? 00:37:11 - BFS vs DFS Engineers: Which Type Makes a Better Manager? 00:39:05 - The Real Cost of Becoming a Manager (And Why It's Worth It) 00:41:52 - Outro #systemdesign #engineeringmanager #softwareengineering

    45 min
  3. Lead Software Engineer: Why You Can Write the Code in a Day but Ship in a Month

    4 MAR

    Lead Software Engineer: Why You Can Write the Code in a Day but Ship in a Month

    Are you over-engineering for a future that might never come? In this episode, we explore why "future-proofing" often leads to wasted time and sunk costs, and how shifting your mindset from opinions to hypotheses can drastically improve your Developer Experience (DevEx). In this episode, we cover: The trap of complex architecture decisions like Hexagonal Architecture too earlyHow to identify and remove friction points in the software development lifecycleThe reality of using AI agents in production and who is actually responsible for the code If you are a software engineer or tech lead tired of the "Sacred Cloud Committee" and slow processes, this deep dive into DevEx is for you. Connect with Bas de Groot: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bas-de-groot-635013100 Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:00 - The Danger of "Future-Proofing" Your Architecture 00:03:18 - Why You Should Use Hypotheses Over Opinions 00:05:32 - "Shift Left Until There's Only Sh*t Left" 00:08:19 - At What Size Do You Need a DevEx Team? 00:11:02 - How to Measure Developer Friction Effectively 00:15:43 - Using Data to Fix Slow CI/CD Pipelines 00:17:26 - Why Surveys Beat DORA Metrics for Context 00:19:52 - The "Sacred Cloud Committee" Blocking Deployments 00:24:51 - How to Get Buy-In for DevEx Initiatives 00:28:56 - The Role of Hands-On Coding in DevEx 00:31:47 - Will AI Agents Fix Bad Processes? 00:34:44 - You Are Still Responsible for AI-Generated Code #developerexperience #softwarearchitecture #techlead

    40 min
  4. How Senior Software Engineers Balance Speed and Quality (Scale-Up Lessons)

    25 FEB

    How Senior Software Engineers Balance Speed and Quality (Scale-Up Lessons)

    The difference between a junior and a senior engineer isn't coding speed, it's knowing when to say "no." "The best code you can write is the code you don't write." In this episode, I sit down with Alessandro Mautone (Senior Software Engineer at Aquablu, ex-WeTransfer) to discuss the reality of engineering at a scale-up: how do you maintain technical excellence when the business demands speed? We break down why delivering features "fast" pays your salary, but how to negotiate deadlines so you don't drown in technical debt later. If you want to move from writing code to owning product decisions, this conversation is for you. In this episode, we cover: - How to push back on features and negotiate deadlines without upsetting stakeholders - Why chasing "perfect code" can hurt a company in growth mode - The Generalist vs. Specialist career path: Which one is right for you? - The potential pitfalls of using AI for unit tests without proper oversight Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:06 - Balancing Technical Excellence With Delivery Speed 00:04:11 - Why Delivering Features Pays Your Salary 00:06:51 - The Importance of Ownership and "Skin in the Game" 00:08:59 - Leaving WeTransfer: When Company Direction Shifts 00:11:49 - The Generalist vs. Specialist Career Path Debate 00:16:46 - How to Attract Top Engineering Talent to Your Team 00:18:50 - Is LeetCode the Right Way to Hire for Scale-Ups? 00:23:16 - Learning to "Say No" is a Sign of Seniority 00:25:17 - Negotiating Scope Without Burning Bridges 00:26:02 - When AI Generates Bad Unit Tests 00:28:14 - Never Compromise on Tests, Even in "Code Red" 00:33:59 - Communicating Technical Concepts to Non-Tech Stakeholders 00:35:35 - The Never-Ending Battle Against Complexity 00:37:26 - When to Build for the Future vs. Ship Now 00:42:30 - A Real-World Example of Refactoring for Simplicity 00:46:48 - The Skill That Will Be Make or Break for Engineers #SoftwareEngineering #ScaleUp #TechnicalDebt

    47 min
  5. How to Think About Software Engineering (CTO's Perspective)

    18 FEB

    How to Think About Software Engineering (CTO's Perspective)

    We are at a unique point in history where there is finally an alternative to human coding. If AI can write the code effectively, what is left for the software engineer? In this episode, Joris Conijn (AWS CTO at Xebia) argues that the era of "just coding" is over. We discuss why senior developers are safe (for now), why juniors are at risk of never learning the fundamentals, and how "Shadow AI" is forcing companies to change their security strategies. Most importantly, we break down the difference between a "Programmer" and a "Software Engineer" with the introduction of agentic tools. If you want to future-proof your career and move from writing lines of code to designing systems, this conversation is for you. In this episode, we cover: Why banning AI at work actually increases your security riskHow to use AI to automate the boring parts of the SDLC (requirements & user stories)The critical difference between "Coding" and "System Architecture"Why you should check your AI Agents into your Git repositoryThe 20-year problem: what happens when engineers never learn the fundamentals? Connect with Joris Conijn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorisconijn TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:11 - What Keeps a CTO Excited About Tech? 00:02:58 - Stop Being the "Department of No" in Security 00:05:28 - The Real Risk of Banning AI at Work 00:06:32 - When Developers Hold the Organization Hostage 00:08:14 - The Hidden Dangers of Instant AI Code Fixes 00:09:50 - Will Future Devs Understand Object Oriented Programming? 00:11:36 - Using AI to Accelerate Learning vs Copy-Pasting 00:13:17 - Why Testing Matters More When AI Writes Code 00:16:42 - Automating the Boring Parts of the SDLC 00:19:06 - How to Turn Meeting Transcripts into User Stories 00:21:36 - The Critical Skill of Making Implicit Knowledge Explicit 00:23:10 - Why You Should Stop Obsessing Over Story Points 00:27:46 - The "A-Team" Approach to High-Trust Development 00:29:54 - Running Parallel Workflows with AI Agents 00:33:34 - Pro Tip: Check Your AI Agents into Git 00:35:52 - Balancing Autonomy and Governance in Large Teams 00:39:19 - There Is Finally an Alternative to Human Coders 00:41:07 - Programmer vs Software Engineer: What is the Difference? 00:44:45 - How to Teach Software Engineering in the AI Era #SoftwareEngineering #SystemDesign #AIAgents

    47 min
  6. How to Build the Best Platforms for Software Engineers

    11 FEB

    How to Build the Best Platforms for Software Engineers

    Is your internal developer platform actually improving velocity, or is it a bottleneck? We discuss why platform teams building "cool" abstractions is a red flag, and you should aim to create the best platform for software engineers. In this episode, we cover: Why "Golden Paths" can turn into roadblocks for developers.The danger of Shadow IT and why it’s a symptom of a failed platform.How to measure if your platform is saving time. Connect with Adnan Alshar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adnanmalshar92 Connect with Jelmer de Jong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelmerdejong-xebia 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:54 - Is DevOps Dead? The Truth About Platform Engineering 00:03:07 - Why Developers Are Drowning in Complexity Today 00:04:37 - Why Having No Platform Is Better Than a Bad Platform 00:07:20 - Treating Software Engineers as Customers of the Platform 00:11:26 - The Exact Moment You Should Start Building a Platform 00:14:18 - Who Should Be on Your First Platform Team? 00:17:33 - Turning Your Angriest Developers Into Platform Evangelists 00:18:57 - Key Metrics: How to Measure Platform Engineering Success 00:21:01 - Why 60% of Companies Don't Measure Platform Success 00:23:35 - Why No Metrics Is the Biggest Red Flag 00:25:23 - The Disconnect Between Executives and AI Readiness 00:31:34 - Integrating AI Tools and Large Language Models Securely 00:34:22 - Shadow IT: The Symptom of a Broken Platform 00:38:03 - How to Scale Without Becoming a Bottleneck 00:41:45 - Don’t Forget the Business Side of Platform Engineering #PlatformEngineering #DevOps #DeveloperProductivity

    44 min
  7. Career Advice I'd Give Every Software Engineer Right Now

    4 FEB

    Career Advice I'd Give Every Software Engineer Right Now

    Engineering hasn't become easier, writing code has just become faster. Time to stop fighting symptoms and start thinking in systems. In this Q&A, I break down the career advice I'd give to any engineer, from mastering architecture to knowing when to quit a high-paying job. In this episode, we cover: How "Systems Thinking" can be applied in practiceThe "Golden Handcuffs": Why high salaries keep engineers in toxic jobsHow to transition into leadership without waiting for a title Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:58 - How to innovate in stubborn legacy companies 00:04:49 - The "Golden Handcuffs": Money vs. Mental Health 00:07:27 - Stop solving symptoms: Systems Thinking explained 00:13:10 - Transitioning from Senior Engineer to Solutions Architect 00:15:08 - Communicating technical risks to non-technical bosses 00:17:48 - Proving leadership before you have the title 00:22:25 - My strategy for dealing with Imposter Syndrome 00:26:12 - Creating a "Zettelkasten" to retain technical knowledge 00:29:12 - The mindset that makes me stress-proof at work 00:33:10 - Learning to code with a product/design background 00:38:40 - Working with international remote teams 00:40:35 - Career Pivot: Software Engineering to Cyber Security 00:43:20 - Solopreneur opportunities in the "Education Gold Rush" 00:51:50 - Future Predictions: Vibe Coding vs. Vibe Engineering #SoftwareEngineering #CareerAdvice #SystemsThinking

    1h 1m
  8. The Skills That Matter When AI Writes Your Code

    28 JAN

    The Skills That Matter When AI Writes Your Code

    The software engineering landscape is shifting rapidly. Coding is becoming "cheap" because of tools like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Cursor etc. Interviews are evolving to focus on system design over syntax. In this Q&A, I break down exactly which skills matter now, how to negotiate the salary you deserve, and how to deal with difficult personalities on your team. In this episode: How juniors can leverage AI tools to reach senior-level outputReal-world salary negotiation tactics from my experienceWhy coding skills matter less in modern interviews (and what matters more)Handling "brilliant jerks" and toxic team culture Whether you are looking for your first job with no experience or you are a mid-level dev trying to break into a Staff Engineer role, this session is packed with actionable career advice. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:06 - Handling Brilliant Jerks: Toxic Culture vs. High Performance 00:04:13 - How Juniors Can Use AI to Outperform Seniors 00:07:10 - The Future of Coding Interviews: System Design and AI 00:11:20 - The Real Difference Between Good and Great Developers 00:13:00 - One Mistake Mid-Level Developers Make That Stalls Growth 00:15:58 - Salary Negotiation Tactics: How I Got Two Raises in One Year 00:23:44 - Questions You Should Ask to Crush Your Tech Interview 00:27:42 - What Actually Moves the Needle: Side Projects vs. Experience 00:31:05 - Don't Wait for a Perfect Portfolio to Start Applying 00:32:25 - Finding Jobs: Why LinkedIn and Meetups Beat Job Boards 00:35:16 - Should Frontend Developers Worry About Learning Backend Skills? 00:37:39 - Do Tech Certifications Actually Help You Get Hired? 00:39:07 - Mastering Soft Skills: Training Budgets vs. Real Experience #softwareengineering #careeradvice #techinterviews

    42 min
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About

For software engineers ready to level up. Learn from CTOs, principal engineers, and tech leaders about the skills beyond coding: from technical mastery to product thinking and career growth

Information

  • Creator
    Patrick Akil
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    243
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Patrick Akil
  • Show Website
    Beyond Coding

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