Develop Yourself
To change careers and land your first job as a Software Engineer, you need more than just great software development skills - you need to develop yourself.
Welcome to the podcast that helps you develop your skills, your habits, your network and more, all in hopes of becoming a thriving Software Engineer.
Episodes
287 episodes
#279 - Recruiter Exposes the Truth About Junior Developer Jobs
Just give up?Everyone says no one’s hiring junior developers anymore — but is that actually true?In this episode, I sit down with recruiter David Roberts to uncover what’s really happening in the job market, why most appl...
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44:20
#278 - AI Does NOT Replace Junior Developers, Here's Why
Every headline says AI is eating developer jobs. But spend a week in production and you’ll see the opposite: brittle code, flaky tests, and tools that look fast until you actually ship something.In this episode, I break down w...
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12:43
#277 - RAG: The Only AI Skill Web Devs Need to Learn in 2026
I thought Ben was a troll when he slid into my DMs after a LinkedIn argument. Turns out, he’s building some of the most practical AI systems I’ve seen. In this episode, we talk about how that disagreement turned into a friendship—and why Retrie...
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36:14
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#276 - Claude Code Failed: What Anthropic’s Postmortem Means for Developers
Ever had your AI pair programmer stop helping and start breaking everything? I did—and this time, the data proves it wasn’t just me.Claude fell off. TypeScript that wouldn’t compile, migrations stuck in loops, refactors that ...
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16:18
#275 - Terrible Advice for Software Developers (that you're hearing in 2025)
After 11 years helping hundreds of career changers switch into software development, I've found the hardest part isn't teaching technical skills but rewiring brains from misleading online advice that hurts new developers. Much of th...
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17:45
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Developer Career Change Hotline: Networking, Breaking In, and Not Giving Up
Let's tackle three of the most common struggles career changers face: 1. Breaking into tech from another field2. Networking without feeling fake3. Staying motivated when the job search drags on. If you’re w...
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18:53
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#274 - The Cost of Being Nice: Why Good Developers Don't Get Promoted
Have you ever wondered why some developers keep getting promoted while others stay stuck at the same level despite their technical skills? The answer might surprise you.Through practical, actionable steps, I break down exact...
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20:01
#273 - When You Don’t Know What to Build—Build This
Breaking into software development isn’t about finishing another tutorial—it’s about building something that matters. In this episode, I’ll show you how to choose a side project that proves your skills, keeps you motivated, and actuall...
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18:19
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#272 - The State of the 2025 Tech Job Market: Is AI Helping or Hurting Us?
The tech job market is sending seriously mixed signals in 2025. While social media overflows with doom and gloom about hiring freezes and impossible entry barriers, actual data tells a surprisingly different story. Job openings are ...
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14:23
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#271 - The Physics of Career Change: How Long It Actually Takes to Become a Software Developer
Remember when coding bootcamps promised you could learn to code and land a job in just three months? That golden era of easy entry into tech has fundamentally changed, yet the marketing hasn't caught up with reality.In this ...
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37:25
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#270 - Coding in the Age of AI: What No One’s Telling You
AI is changing coding faster than anyone expected. Two years ago, autocomplete felt wild—now people with zero dev experience are shipping apps over a weekend. The question isn’t “is AI replacing developers?” It’s “how do...
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20:13
#269 - I'm Burnt Out! The 3 Worst Parts About Being a Software Developer (and why I still love it)
It’s Labor Day weekend and, honestly? I’m burned out.Maybe this isn’t the best business move, but I’d rather keep it real with you than fake the whole “everything is great in tech” narrative.I’ve been plenty vocal about why AI isn...
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12:43
#268 - An AI Agent Horror Story: What Happens When AI Runs a Business?
What happens when you give an AI agent full control over a small business?I mean, what could go wrong?Things started off rough and then got down right creepy near the end of this experiment.You can read the original article...
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12:15
#267 - Step-by-Step: Build a Real AI Project with Next.js & RAG
What does it actually mean to be an “AI Engineer”? Honestly—not much. The title is overloaded and vague. But what is meaningful right now is knowing how to build real projects with AI that go beyond toy...
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24:54
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#266 - Startups 101: Insider Secrets for Aspiring Developers
In this episode of Develop Yourself, I sit down with Gabe Rucker, CEO of Founding Titans, to discuss everything from entrepreneurship and building startups to the practical side of networking and getting money from thin air....
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41:03
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#265 - Why JavaScript Feels So Hard To Learn: You're Making One of These Mistakes
When I first tried to learn JavaScript, I hated it so much I told myself I’d just be an HTML and CSS developer and never touch it again. Of course, my first job threw me straight into Angular, C#, SQL, and a mountain of JavaScript I...
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18:59
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#265 - The 4 Databases Every Developer Should Know (Including 2 You Probably Don't)
When your only tool is a hammer - everything looks like a nail.2 of these database I'm sure you've heard and 2 might be completely new to you.Let's go past MongoDB and SQL to learn what tool is best for what job and what's the dat...
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22:43
#264 - Stack Overflow's 2025 Developer Survey: Surprising Takeaways on AI, Coding Languages and Work
Every year, Stack Overflow surveys nearly a 100,000 developers to learn what technologies, languages and tools are trending.The answers here might surprise you, especially when it comes to AI tools.You can check out the survey her...
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28:32
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#263 - They're Lying to You About AI Productivity: Hype vs Reality for Coders
Maybe I'm just coping.Maybe.I’ve been pretty vocal about the over-hype of AI coding tools and I always get the same responses from AI bros:“YoU gOtta PrOmpt bEtteR!”“This iz a skillz issue dawg”“I’m using [...
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12:47
#262 - 12 Months to Hired: A No-Fluff Roadmap to Becoming a Software Developer
If I lost everything today—no job, no network, no portfolio—and had to start over in 2025 as a software developer, I wouldn’t be looking for a 3-month miracle. I’d be planning for 12 months. That’s how long it really tak...
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34:37
#261 - I Used to Suck at Coding Interviews. Then I Started Doing These 4 Things
Five years ago, during an interview for a senior dev role, I had a panic attack. It was one of my worst interview experiences. It also taught me a lot about what I was doing wrong.In this episode, I'll break down the process that took me...
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17:33
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#260 - From Lead Engineer at MongoDB to Fashion Tech: On Hiring, Remote Teams, and Start-Up Life
Harish, former lead engineer at MongoDB and current co-founder of Flaire, takes us on a journey through his unusual career path—one that didn’t involve grinding LeetCode or chasing FAANG.Instead, he got deep into cybersecurity, bu...
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24:21
Office Hours: Answering Your Coding Questions EP 3
Are junior devs cooked?How can I scaffold a solid MERN stack app?What's the best way to stick with a tutorial?We got some great questions this episode and my answers might surprise you.Got a question you want answ...
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18:56
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#259 - The Minimum Effective Dose of JavaScript You Need to Learn
Learning JS is tough.And you're probably making some of the same mistakes I did in the past.In this episode you'll get a path and a small project to make to teach you the minimum effective dose of JavaScript necessary to move forw...
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19:59
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#258 - Should You Use AI While Learning to Code? A Senior Developer’s Take
A junior developer who got hired at a startup used AI non-stop to keep up.It worked for weeks until he crashed and burned.He'd built a house of cards that he couldn't keep up. The AI tools went in doom loops or just added m...
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17:28
