Code, Cloud & AI

Barry Luijbregts

Code, Cloud & AI explores the craft of software engineering in a world shaped by cloud platforms and AI. In each episode, Barry Luijbregts sits down with builders and leaders from Microsoft and the broader ecosystem to unpack how they design systems, use modern developer tools, and adapt their workflows as AI becomes part of everyday engineering.

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    Human in the Loop: Tim Warner on AI, Coding, and the Future of Tech Work

    In this episode, I sat down with Tim Warner to talk about how generative AI is reshaping the day-to-day reality of technical work. We compared this moment to earlier platform shifts like the web, mobile, cloud, and virtualization, and dug into what feels different this time: the speed, the accessibility, and the way AI has moved from being a novelty to becoming part of the operating system for how many of us think, learn, and build. Tim shared how he uses tools like Claude Code, ChatGPT, and GitHub Copilot in real development workflows, why he still insists on keeping a human in the loop, and how prompting, context, sub-agents, and memory all change the way he approaches building software and teaching others to do the same. We also explored how AI is affecting infrastructure work, instructional design, and technical education, including how Tim uses it to improve Pluralsight course demos and certification content for Kubernetes. Toward the end, we zoomed out and talked about careers, kids, and the future of software development: if code generation becomes increasingly automated, what should people actually study, and what work will still matter? Tim’s answer was refreshingly human: focus on the intersection of passion and aptitude, and use AI as a force multiplier rather than a replacement for judgment, curiosity, and craft.Tim Warner: https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/tim-warnerBarry Luijbregts: https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/barry-luijbregtsPluralsight: https://www.pluralsight.com/Cornell University: https://www.cornell.edu/Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/Claude Code: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-codeClaude Code for VS Code: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-codeGitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilotVisual Studio Code': https://code.visualstudio.com/Windows Terminal: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/OpenAI: https://openai.com/OpenAI Codex CLI' https://github.com/openai/codexGemini CLI: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cliEverything Claude Code: https://github.com/worldflowai/everything-claude-codeGetting Things Done (GTD): https://gettingthingsdone.com/David Allen / GTD About: https://gettingthingsdone.com/about/Microsoft Bicep: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/bicep/Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA): https://www.cncf.io/training/certification/cka/Camtasia: https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/TechSmith: https://www.techsmith.com/ScreenFlow: https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htmAdobe Premiere Pro: https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html

  2. Jul 14

    Why Visual Studio Is Thriving in the Age of AI with Mads Kristensen

    In this episode, I sat down with Mads Kristensen, a principal product manager from the Visual Studio team to unpack what a PM actually does inside a large engineering organization and how that role blends user research, roadmap planning, technical decision-making, and product experimentation. We talked about his 15+ years working on Visual Studio, why he still builds extensions himself to test ideas quickly with real users, and how Visual Studio continues to grow even in the middle of all the noise around AI-powered coding tools. He also shared why Visual Studio remains especially strong for professional C# and C++ developers, enterprise teams, and anyone who treats code as a long-term asset rather than just a throwaway artifact. We also got into what’s next for Visual Studio: deeper AI integration, especially around debugging, testing, code review, and project scaffolding, while still preserving the strengths that make the IDE unique. Along the way, we covered some lesser-known but powerful features like Dev Tunnels, saved window layouts, and floating tool windows, plus the move to yearly Visual Studio naming with evergreen in-place updates. If you’re a longtime Visual Studio user, curious about where the product is headed, or wondering how AI fits into serious software development, this conversation is packed with practical insight and a lot to be excited about.  People / Social  • Mads Kristensen on X/Twitter (@mkristensen): https://twitter.com/mkristensen • Mads Kristensen's blog (Fancy Zones + Visual Studio post referenced): https://www.madskristensen.net • Mads Kristensen on GitHub: https://github.com/madskristensen Microsoft / Visual Studio • Visual Studio: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com • Visual Studio Insiders / Preview channel (recommended in the episode): https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/preview/ • Visual Studio Marketplace (extensions): https://marketplace.visualstudio.com • Visual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com • GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot • GitHub Copilot CLI: https://docs.github.com/copilot/github-copilot-in-the-cli • Microsoft PowerToys: https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/powertoys/ • PowerToys FancyZones: https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/powertoys/fancyzones • Dev Tunnels (mentioned as "DevTunnel"): https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/developer/dev-tunnels/overview • .HTTP file support in Visual Studio: https://learn.microsoft.com/aspnet/core/test/http-files • Hot Reload (.NET): https://learn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/debugger/hot-reload • ASP.NET (web apps referenced): https://dotnet.microsoft.com/apps/aspnet • WPF: https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/desktop/wpf/

  3. Jul 7

    Gerald Versluis on MAUI, Blazor Hybrid, Linux Support, and Agentic Development

    In this episode, I sat down with Gerald Versluis from Microsoft’s .NET MAUI team for a wide-ranging conversation that started with mental health, sunlight, and fitness, and quickly moved into the future of cross-platform app development. Gerald shared what it’s like building .NET MAUI today, why creating apps for iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows from one C#/.NET codebase is still a deeply complex challenge, and how the platform has matured from its Xamarin roots into something far more capable for production use. We also talked about Blazor Hybrid, native UI versus web-based approaches, and why MAUI continues to be an appealing option for .NET developers who want flexibility across platforms. The biggest theme of our conversation was how AI and Copilot are transforming the way Gerald’s team works. He explained how Microsoft’s MAUI team is using AI not just to generate code, but to review pull requests, validate fixes, interact with running apps, and even expand MAUI into new territory like Linux support through the new MAUI Labs efforts. We explored practical patterns for agentic development, custom instructions, skills, MCP servers, and self-verifying workflows, along with the broader implications for software careers, education, and the future of developer productivity. If you want a grounded but exciting look at what AI-assisted software development already looks like inside a real product team, this episode delivers.  People / Social  • Gerald Versluis (guest) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jfversluis • Gerald Versluis on X/Twitter (@jfversluis): https://twitter.com/jfversluis • Gerald Versluis on GitHub: https://github.com/jfversluis • Gerald Versluis website/blog: https://blog.verslu.is • Jonathan Dick (creator of DevFlow, .NET MAUI team) on GitHub: https://github.com/Redth • David Fowler (Microsoft, mentioned re: Aspire) on GitHub: https://github.com/davidfowl Microsoft / .NET • .NET MAUI: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/apps/maui • .NET MAUI on GitHub: https://github.com/dotnet/maui • MAUI Labs (mentioned explicitly): https://github.com/dotnet/maui-labs • DevFlow (in MAUI Labs): https://github.com/dotnet/maui-labs/tree/main/DevFlow • Blazor Hybrid: https://learn.microsoft.com/aspnet/core/blazor/hybrid/ • .NET for iOS (formerly Xamarin.iOS): https://github.com/dotnet/macios • .NET for Android: https://github.com/dotnet/android • .NET Aspire: https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire/ • Microsoft Learn (docs): https://learn.microsoft.com • Microsoft Loop: https://loop.cloud.microsoft GitHub / Copilot tooling • GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot • GitHub Copilot CLI: https://docs.github.com/copilot/github-copilot-in-the-cli • GitHub Agentic Workflows: https://github.com/githubnext/gh-aw • GitHub Actions: https://github.com/features/actions Partner UI frameworks • Avalonia UI: https://avaloniaui.net • Uno Platform: https://platform.uno Other tools / libraries • Lottie animations: https://lottiefiles.com • Rive (interactive animations): https://rive.app • Appium (UI test framework): https://appium.io • Anthropic Claude (Opus 4.6 referenced): https://www.anthropic.com/claude • Duolingo (mentioned re: Rive animations): https://www.duolingo.com Off-topic / lifestyle • Hyrox (fitness race, Maastricht / Lisbon / Madrid mentioned): https://hyrox.com

  4. Jun 30

    From Copilot CLI to Cloud Agents: How Brittany Ellich Builds at GitHub

    In this episode, I sat down with Brittany Ellich, Staff Engineer at GitHub, to talk about what software engineering looks like when AI is part of nearly every step of the workflow. We got into her path from a smaller medical education company to GitHub, what it means to work on enterprise billing and metered usage, and why billing systems are such a fascinating engineering problem: speed matters less than accuracy, and in distributed systems that’s a surprisingly hard thing to optimize for. We also explored how GitHub’s different cloud and enterprise offerings complicate that work, especially when data residency and product flexibility enter the picture. From there, we went deep on AI-assisted development: async vs. sync coding, delegating work to cloud agents, using GitHub Copilot CLI and VS Code in agent mode, and how tools like Spec Kit and SQUADS are changing the way features get planned and built. Brittany shared how AI has shifted her role toward product thinking, architecture, and review, and we talked honestly about trust, pride, technical debt, junior engineers, and where the profession may be heading next. It’s a thoughtful, grounded conversation about adapting to a fast-moving moment in software without losing the joy of building.Brittany Ellich website: https://brittanyellich.com/GitHub: https://github.com/Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-usGitHub Actions: https://github.com/features/actionsGitHub Enterprise: https://github.com/enterpriseGitHub Enterprise Server docs: https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.17/admin/overview/about-github-enterprise-serverGitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilotGitHub Copilot CLI: https://github.com/features/copilot/cliGitHub Copilot CLI getting started docs: https://docs.github.com/copilot/how-tos/copilot-cli/cli-getting-startedVisual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/OpenAI Whisper: https://openai.com/index/whisper/GitHub Spec Kit: https://github.com/github/spec-kitSpec Kit documentation: https://github.github.io/spec-kit/SQUADS CLI: https://squads.sh/en/docs/cliCascadiaJS: https://cascadiajs.com/Craig Dennis talk, “AIdentity Crisis: Can I be Proud of This?”: https://cascadiajs.com/2025/talks/aidentity-crisis-can-i-be-proud-of-thisHacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/Rust programming language: https://rust-lang.org/React: https://react.dev/Stack Overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questionsLeetCode: https://leetcode.com/OpenAI: https://openai.com/Gemma: https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/Gemma 4: https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/gemma-4/Anthropic Claude Mythos: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/mythos

About

Code, Cloud & AI explores the craft of software engineering in a world shaped by cloud platforms and AI. In each episode, Barry Luijbregts sits down with builders and leaders from Microsoft and the broader ecosystem to unpack how they design systems, use modern developer tools, and adapt their workflows as AI becomes part of everyday engineering.