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Break

Fallthrough Media

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TECHNOLOGY

Break is a Fallthrough aftershow, where Kris and Matt discuss the shows we record and other random topics.

8 HR AGO

Context Is King

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, Annie and Michael Hedgepeth stick around for Break. The panel kicks off with Michael's anxiety about his "distinguished engineer" rant, which shifts into a discussion about broken career ladders and why companies need to hire librarians. Michael adds wisdom on context management being the key to getting value from AI, while the group explores why staff engineers who only know code might be in trouble. Matthew shares how Oxide onboards new hires, Annie flips the script on what juniors bring to the table, and Kris questions whether software engineers know what engineering is. The episode wraps with unpopular opinions: Michael argues AI will create Michelin-star software instead of endless McDonald's apps, and Annie takes a firm stand on top sheet usage that sparks surprisingly passionate debate. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you can watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: The "Distinguished Engineer" Problem (00:01:11)Chapter 2: Career Tracks and Skill Mismatch (00:03:08)Chapter 3: Why Companies Need Librarians (00:05:57)Chapter 4: Context Management and AI Effectiveness (00:10:07)Chapter 5: How LLMs Actually Work (00:14:21)Chapter 6: The Revolution in What Makes Engineers Valuable (00:17:45)Chapter 7: Why Staff Engineers Who Only Code Won't Make It (00:19:12)Chapter 8: Onboarding New Hires at Oxide (00:24:26)Chapter 9: The Multi-Dimensional Value of People (00:28:34)Chapter 10: Is Software Engineering Really Engineering? (00:31:48)Chapter 11: Unpopular Opinions - AI Creates Michelin, Not McDonald's (00:37:05)Chapter 12: Unpopular Opinion - Top Sheet Supremacy (00:43:00)Epilogue (00:47:46) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Annie Hedgpeth - Guest Michael Hedgpeth - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

48 min
16 JAN

Megawatt Home Labs

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, Nick Gerace sticks around for Break. The panel compare audio engineering backgrounds, discuss AI-powered podcast workflows, and Nick shares his journey from IC to engineering manager, including using AI for management tasks. Things take a hardware turn with Nick's dual 3090 Ti NVLink setup, Matthew's case for water cooling, and the reveal of Kris's home lab. The episode wraps with Framework Desktop dreams and Mac Studio temptation. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Audio Engineering Backgrounds (00:02:42)Chapter 2: AI-Powered Podcast Production (00:05:26)Chapter 3: Government Efficiency (Some Are Good, Actually) (00:07:11)Chapter 4: IC to Manager: Nick's Journey (00:12:57)Chapter 5: Using AI for Management Work (00:18:57)Chapter 6: 3090 TIs & NVLink Adventures (00:22:31)Chapter 7: The Case for Water Cooling (00:24:30)Chapter 8: Kris's Home Lab (Pure Insanity) (00:33:09)Chapter 9: Framework Desktop & Thin Clients (00:35:56)Chapter 10: Mac Studio Temptation (00:40:45)Epilogue (00:42:43) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Nick Gerace - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

44 min
10 JAN

Breaking The Doom Scroll

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, Matt gets real about how AI doomerism on social media got to him over the holidays and the mental reset that pulled him out of it. Kris offers some historical perspective: the "kids these days" argument is thousands of years old, and things aren't actually worse than before, we're just living through it now. They riff on why people think in absolutes (e.g. BEVs vs. cars, capitalism vs. socialism), and land on a thesis: most of society's problems aren't ideological, they're logistical. The conversation wraps with BASF's Verbund principle (turning byproducts into use inputs) and how Kris is applying that thinking to some "useless" SMR drives that might just become a file system project. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: New Year's Resolution Recycling (00:01:05)Chapter 2: AI Doomerism & Mental Health (00:02:51)Chapter 3: Historical Perspective: It's Not Worse Than Before (00:05:43)Chapter 4: Comfortable Paths in Thinking (00:11:29)Chapter 5: The BEV Utopia Problem (00:12:41)Chapter 6: Public Transit & Absolutism (00:16:01)Chapter 7: Capitalism Isn't the Problem, Logistics Is (00:19:04)Chapter 8: The Verbund Principle (00:26:36)Chapter 9: SMR Drives & Building a File System (00:28:10)Epilogue (00:30:56) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

32 min
31/12/2025

What Is Software Engineering?

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, the panel continues their conversation from Fallthrough #52. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Modern AI and Modern Hardware (00:01:52)Chapter 2: How AI Is Changing Things (00:10:08)Chapter 3: Better Definitions for Software Engineering (00:13:13)Epilogue (00:34:14) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

36 min
25/12/2025

We Need New Fundamentals

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, the panel continues their conversation from Fallthrough #51. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Shifting With The Times (00:00:49)Chapter 2: Thinking In The Long Term (00:09:09)Chapter 3: We Need New Fundamentals (00:14:35)Chapter 4: And Then There's GitHub... (00:21:18)Epilogue (00:26:03) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

27 min
20/12/2025

Matt's Getting Canceled!

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, the panel continues their conversation from Fallthrough #50. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Is Matt Getting Canceled? (00:02:37)Chapter 2: An Interlude Into Special Forces (00:14:27)Chapter 3: Stay Lean, Avoid Being Mid (00:19:43)Epilogue (00:28:27) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

30 min
13/12/2025

Nearly A Year

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, the panel continues their conversation from Fallthrough #49. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Nearly A Year (00:02:15)Chapter 2: Standardizing On Interfaces (00:14:13)Chapter 3: The Power Of Coding Agents (00:27:58)Epilogue (00:40:12) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

41 min
05/12/2025

We're All Just Writers Now

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! In this episode, the panel continues their conversation from Fallthrough #48. Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you watch this episode of Break! Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Chapters: Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Fewer New Names, More Fixing Problems (00:02:11)Chapter 2: Oversimplifying Project Management (00:10:56)Chapter 3: We Are All Becoming Writers (00:17:50)Chapter 4: Most People Aren't Good Leaders (00:28:20)Chapter 5: Humans are not Gods, neither is AI (00:31:34)Epilogue (00:36:26) Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

38 min

A deep and nuanced conversational podcast focused on technology, software, and computing.

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TECHNOLOGY

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Break is a Fallthrough aftershow, where Kris and Matt discuss the shows we record and other random topics.

Channel

Fallthrough Media
Creator

Fallthrough Media
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

25
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

©2025 Fallthrough Media
Show Website

Break
Provider

Skriptble Publishing Inc.

Technology

Technology

Updated weekly
Technology

Technology

Updated weekly

Technology

Technology

Updated weekly
Technology

Technology

Updated weekly