GOTO ConferencesThis interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/392
Andrew Harmel-Law - Technical Principal at Thoughtworks & Author of "Facilitating Software Architecture" @AndrewHarmelLaw Marit van Dijk - Developer Advocate at JetBrains, Java Champion & Open Source Contributor @maritvandijk
DESCRIPTION Andrew Harmel-Law discusses their book "Facilitating Software Architecture" and how traditional architecture approaches often become bottlenecks that slow down high-performing development teams.
Rather than architects making top-down decisions in isolation, Andrew advocates for a facilitation approach centered on the "advice process" - where anyone can make architectural decisions as long as they seek advice from those with expertise and those who will be affected.
This collaborative method, inspired by open space conferences and supported by Architectural Decision Records (ADRs), shifts the architect's role from decision-maker to conversation facilitator, ensuring the right people have the right discussions at the right time. The approach requires psychological safety and organizational support but has proven successful even in traditional corporate environments, ultimately creating more maintainable code bases where development teams actually enjoy working and can respond effectively to changing requirements.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:12 Problem: Traditional architecture as a bottleneck 04:31 Solution: Facilitating Architecture Decisions 12:22 3 key influences on the book 27:43 Implementation challenges & organizational culture 38:05 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Andrew Harmel-Law • Facilitating Software Architecture • https://amzn.eu/d/5kZKVfU Christopher Alexander • A Pattern Language • amzn.to/3Urefj3 Diana Montalion • Learning Systems Thinking • amzn.to/3ZpycdJ Donella H. Meadows • Thinking in Systems • amzn.to/3XtqYCV Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design • amzn.to/3tnGhwm Alessandro Colla • Alberto Acerbis • Domain-Driven Refactoring • amzn.to/3I3I7zf Adrienne Braganza Tacke • "Looks Good to Me": Constructive Code Reviews • amzn.to/3E75XrD Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • amzn.to/3kiTwJJ
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Breaking the Architecture Bottleneck • Andrew Harmel-Law & Marit van Dijk • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-08-25 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/392
Andrew Harmel-Law - Technical Principal at Thoughtworks & Author of "Facilitating Software Architecture" @AndrewHarmelLaw Marit van Dijk - Developer Advocate at JetBrains, Java Champion & Open Source Contributor @maritvandijk
DESCRIPTION Andrew Harmel-Law discusses their book "Facilitating Software Architecture" and how traditional architecture approaches often become bottlenecks that slow down high-performing development teams.
Rather than architects making top-down decisions in isolation, Andrew advocates for a facilitation approach centered on the "advice process" - where anyone can make architectural decisions as long as they seek advice from those with expertise and those who will be affected.
This collaborative method, inspired by open space conferences and supported by Architectural Decision Records (ADRs), shifts the architect's role from decision-maker to conversation facilitator, ensuring the right people have the right discussions at the right time. The approach requires psychological safety and organizational support but has proven successful even in traditional corporate environments, ultimately creating more maintainable code bases where development teams actually enjoy working and can respond effectively to changing requirements.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:12 Problem: Traditional architecture as a bottleneck 04:31 Solution: Facilitating Architecture Decisions 12:22 3 key influences on the book 27:43 Implementation challenges & organizational culture 38:05 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Andrew Harmel-Law • Facilitating Software Architecture • https://amzn.eu/d/5kZKVfU Christopher Alexander • A Pattern Language • amzn.to/3Urefj3 Diana Montalion • Learning Systems Thinking • amzn.to/3ZpycdJ Donella H. Meadows • Thinking in Systems • amzn.to/3XtqYCV Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design • amzn.to/3tnGhwm Alessandro Colla • Alberto Acerbis • Domain-Driven Refactoring • amzn.to/3I3I7zf Adrienne Braganza Tacke • "Looks Good to Me": Constructive Code Reviews • amzn.to/3E75XrD Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • amzn.to/3kiTwJJ
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1The Blind Spots of Platform Engineering • Matt McLarty & Erik WildeGOTO Conferences2025-09-30 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here
Matt McLarty - CTO at Boomi & Co-Author of "Unbundling the Enterprise" Erik Wilde - Principal Consultant at INNOQ
RESOURCES Matt https://bsky.app/profile/mattmclartybc.bsky.social https://x.com/MattMcLartyBC linkedin.com/in/mattmclartybc
DESCRIPTION Matt McLarty and Erik Wilde explore the nuanced world of platform engineering, challenging conventional approaches and highlighting the critical importance of aligning technological capabilities with business outcomes. They discuss the evolution from DevOps, the role of APIs, and the need to create flexible, reusable technological building blocks that drive true organizational innovation.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Why SW Architecture is Mostly Communication • David Whitney, Ian Cooper & Hannes Lowette • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-29 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Check out more here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/400
David Whitney - Director of Architecture at NewDay @DavidWhitneycouk Ian Cooper - A Polyglot Coding Architect at Just Eat @ian_hammond_cooper Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover @Belenar82
DESCRIPTION Three experienced software engineers - Ian Cooper, David Whitney, and Hannes Lowette - discuss the evolution of software architecture from traditional "ivory tower" approaches to modern, collaborative practices. The conversation explores the tension between emergent and designed architecture, the importance of sustainable versus "slash-and-burn" development approaches, and how architectural decisions scale with organizational growth. Key themes include the critical role of communication and coaching in architecture, the dangers of pattern cargo-culting, and the fundamental reality that all architectural challenges are ultimately people problems requiring empathy, shared language, and cultural change.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:33 Defining software architecture in a modern context 04:13 Sustainable vs Slash-and-burn architecture 07:41 The role of the modern software architect 15:57 Language & communication in software architecture 20:46 Scale & organizational growth 25:18 Decision-making processes & advice forums 29:45 Balancing standards with team autonomy 32:53 The pattern problem & design wisdom 44:50 The transition to leadership & coaching 50:41 Communication is key 55:13 Outro
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Martin Fowler - Pioneer of Various Topics around Object-Oriented Technology & Agile Methods James Lewis - Software Architect & Director at Thoughtworks @thoughtworks
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Fundamentals of Data Engineering • Matt Housley & Joe Reis • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-24 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/399
Matt Housley - Co-Author of "Fundamentals of Data Engineering", Keynote Speaker & Podcaster Joe Reis - Co-Author of "Fundamentals of Data Engineering", Keynote Speaker, Professor & Podcaster
DESCRIPTION Joe Reis and Matt Housley, co-authors of "Fundamentals of Data Engineering," discuss the evolution of their field three years after their book's publication. They explore how the rise of AI tools has transformed data engineering practices, the ongoing importance of foundational knowledge, and the challenges facing junior engineers in an AI-dominated landscape. The conversation covers the balance between leveraging AI assistance and maintaining core expertise, the resurgence of classical techniques, and why fundamental principles remain more relevant than ever.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:56 The genesis of a data engineering classic 05:25 Writing before the AI revolution 12:27 The AI era: Opportunities & challenges 20:27 The role of expertise in an AI world 28:00 Timeless principles in a changing landscape 31:06 Outro
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ABSTRACT Evolutionary Architecture & Design – Tackling Complexity in Software
Software is a creative act, and is at the forefront of the advance of our culture, we are living through the information revolution. Software is also one of the most complex things that humans build. Sure not all software is cutting edge, but the lessons that we have learned from building cutting edge systems are profound and some of them are widely applicable.
Perhaps the most profound and most generally applicable idea of all is that you don’t build complex systems in one giant bound of intuition and inspiration, complex systems evolve over time and are the product of many many small steps, so how do we, and what does it take to, organise to take advantage of that? [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 03:17 What is engineering really for? 08:53 How to design & architect for ease of change? 12:29 Iteration 15:48 How to use the power-tools 18:03 Small steps 21:08 Prioritize testability 25:00 Architecture as a snapshot 27:16 Maintain the tourist map 28:13 Prioritize ease of change 29:31 Separate concerns 30:18 Adapt to the current context 32:34 Don't design ahead 33:56 Platform as abstraction 35:45 Manage coupling 37:25 Conclusion 37:48 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS David Farley • Modern Software Engineering • amzn.to/3GI468M Dave Farley • Continuous Delivery Pipelines • amzn.to/3rjetdi Dave Farley & Jez Humble • Continuous Delivery • amzn.to/3ocIHwd Dave Farley & many more • Software Architecture Metrics • amzn.to/3M3XqG5
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Serverless Apps on Cloudflare • Ashley Peacock & Ricky RobinettGOTO Conferences2025-09-23 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/379) Ashley Peacock - Staff Software Engineer at Simply Business & Author of "Serverless Apps on Cloudflare" & "Creating Software with Modern Diagramming Techniques" Ricky Robinett - VP Developer Relations & Community at Cloudflare
DESCRIPTION Ricky Robinett interviews Ashley Peacock, author of "Serverless Apps on Cloudflare", about the developer platform side of Cloudflare. Ashley explains how Cloudflare has evolved from primarily a security company to a full-fledged developer platform with global deployment capabilities, databases, caching solutions, and AI tools.
They discuss the unique aspects of Cloudflare's architecture, including global deployment by default, bindings that simplify resource connections without requiring secrets management, and excellent local development experience.
Ashley highlights several Cloudflare products including Workers (serverless functions), D1 (SQLite database), KV (key-value store), R2 (object storage), Durable Objects, and AI offerings like Workers AI and AI Gateway. The conversation covers developer experience, using AI assistants for coding, and the benefits of Cloudflare's approach to simplifying cloud development.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!The Death of Classical Computer Science • Matt Welsh & Julian Wood • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-22 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Check out more here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/398
Matt Welsh - Head of Al Systems at Palantir Julian Wood - Serverless Developer Advocate at AWS @julian_wood
DESCRIPTION Matt Welsh, former professor at Harvard University and AI researcher, argues to Julian Wood that we're witnessing the death of classical computer science as language models evolve into general-purpose computers capable of direct problem-solving without human-written code.
He envisions a future where AI eliminates programming barriers, democratizing computing power so anyone can instruct computers through natural language. While acknowledging concerns about job displacement and societal equity, Matt believes this transformation will unleash unprecedented human creativity by putting the full power of computing in everyone's hands, moving beyond the current "programming priesthood" to universal access to computational problem-solving.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:24 LLMs as the new computers 06:07 The future of language models: From silos to integration 11:15 Open Source models & the democratization of AI 17:44 From programming priesthood to universal computing 29:31 Challenges & concerns 44:53 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Michael Feathers • AI Assisted Programming • leanpub.com/ai-assisted-programming Matthias Kalle Dalheimer & Matt Welsh • Running Linux • amzn.to/3YSwAIv Alex Castrounis • AI for People and Business • amzn.to/3NYKKTo Phil Winder • Reinforcement Learning • amzn.to/3t1S1VZ Kelleher & Tierney • Data Science (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series) • amzn.to/3AQmIRg
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Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/375) Sy Brand - Author of "Building a Debugger" and C++ Developer Advocate at Microsoft Tim Misiak - Systems Engineer at Datadog and Co-Founder of Augmend
DESCRIPTION Tim Misiak interviews Sy Brand about their book "Building a Debugger". Sy, who has a background in GPU compilers and debuggers, discusses how implementing a debugger offers profound insights into computer systems.
The conversation explores the unexpected complexities of debugging fundamentals like stack unwinding and code stepping. They examine how debugging interfaces have evolved and the challenges posed by backward compatibility and language evolution.
Sy highlights areas for future advancement in debugging, particularly time travel debugging for non-deterministic issues and better tools for debugging optimized code. Throughout the interview, both experts share fascinating technical details that reveal why debugger implementation serves as an excellent path to deeper understanding of operating systems and hardware.
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RECOMMENDED BOOKS Susanne Kaiser • Adaptive Systems With Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping, and Team Topologies • amzn.to/4b7ht2n Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design • amzn.to/3tnGhwm Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ Heidi Helfand • Dynamic Reteaming • amzn.to/3Fvu5BA Vlad Khononov • Learning Domain-Driven Design • amzn.to/47O7GLx Erik Schön • The Art of Strategy • amzn.to/3vPmmwS Thomas M. Siebel • Digital Transformation • amzn.to/3elUnIV
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Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/377) Steve Pereira - Co-Author of "Flow Engineering" & Principal Consultant at Visible Flow Consulting Andrew Davis - Co-Author of "Flow Engineering" & Founder at Institute for Transformational Leadership
DESCRIPTION Flow Engineering co-authors Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis discuss their approach to improving workflow visibility in software development and knowledge work. They explore how value stream mapping can be adapted for modern digital work environments, where the work is largely invisible compared to manufacturing settings.
The authors explain their five-map framework designed to help teams establish clarity, improve collaboration, and enhance productivity despite busy schedules and constant firefighting. They emphasize the importance of visual collaboration to create shared mental models and the continuing relevance of these practices in an AI-driven future.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Subramaniam & Hunt • Practices of an Agile Developer • amzn.to/2XjbWor Uncle Bob • Clean Agile • amzn.to/3tpAqb5 Derby, Larsen & Schwaber • Agile Retrospectives • amzn.to/3hB4eNk Jeff Sutherland • Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time • amzn.to/2X4GQAD
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Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.tech (https://gotopia.tech)
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!C++ Memory Management • Patrice Roy & Kevin Carpenter • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-11 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/397
Patrice Roy - Author of "C++ Memory Management" Kevin Carpenter - Software Engineering Manager at EPX
DESCRIPTION Kevin Carpenter talked to veteran C++ programmer Patrice Roy. The conversation explores the intricacies of memory management in modern C++. Patrice, who has been programming in C++ for over 30 years and serves on the C++ Standards Committee, shares wisdom from his new book "Memory Management in C++" while discussing everything from the pitfalls of over-allocation to the nuances of smart pointers.
The conversation reveals how proper memory management isn't just about performance—it's about writing safer, more maintainable code that leverages C++'s powerful abstractions while avoiding common traps that lead seasoned developers astray.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:50 Challenges for new C++ devs 06:09 Code examples & teaching approach 07:55 Performance considerations & modern C++ features 11:21 Smart pointers & modern C++ practices 13:16 Key takeaways for new C++ devs 15:44 Custom allocators & performance optimization 26:31 Template computing 28:24 What's next? 29:47 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Patrice Roy • C++ Memory Management • amzn.to/3K4gnet Sy Brand • Building a Debugger • amzn.to/4cWWr84 Andreas Zeller • The Debugging Book • debuggingbook.org Bjarne Stroustrup • Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ • amzn.to/3I5Q335 Marius Bancila • Modern C++ Programming Cookbook • amzn.to/41ES4Kd
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ABSTRACT After almost 2 years of high attention on coding assistants, many engineering managers are disappointed by the measurable results, and engineers are suffering from hype fatigue, even the ones who have learned to love their new AI team mate. Meanwhile, the pace of change in the AI tooling space is still quite high, which contributes further to the hype fatigue.
This presentation gives an overview of the tooling and features available today, what works and what doesn't, and what might work with more technical advances. It will mostly focus on AI assistance for tasks that involve writing, reading and changing code, but also touch on software delivery tasks that don't touch code directly, like requirements analysis. This whirlwind tour of the AI tooling landscape is based on Birgitta's experience as Thoughtworks' global SME for AI-assisted software delivery. [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 01:35 Big picture: AI tooling archetypes 02:55 Adjusted for size: Tooling maturity & current adoption 04:43 Coding assistants: A tour 09:50 Coding assistants: Core features 10:01 Coding assistants: Model choices 12:43 Coding assistants: Context orchestration 15:43 Context of all your codebases 24:57 Coding assistants: The next frontiers 25:20 Testing 28:04 Solving larger problems 30:12 Code review & refactoring 33:31 Documentation 36:41 Debugging 42:29 Final thoughts 44:48 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Phil Winder • Reinforcement Learning • amzn.to/3t1S1VZ Alex Castrounis • AI for People and Business • amzn.to/3NYKKTo Holden Karau, Trevor Grant, Boris Lublinsky, Richard Liu & Ilan Filonenko • Kubeflow for Machine Learning • amzn.to/3JVngcx Kelleher & Tierney • Data Science (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series) • amzn.to/3AQmIRg Lakshmanan, Robinson & Munn • Machine Learning Design Patterns • amzn.to/2ZD7t0x Lakshmanan, Görner & Gillard • Practical Machine Learning for Computer Vision • amzn.to/3m9HNjP
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Ethics in AI: Biases & Responsibilities • Michelle Frost & Hannes LowetteGOTO Conferences2025-09-09 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/376) Michelle Frost - AI Advocate at JetBrains & Responsible AI Consultant Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover
DESCRIPTION AI advocate Michelle Frost and principal consultant Hannes Lowette discuss ethical challenges in AI development. They explore the balance between competing values like accuracy versus fairness, recent US regulatory rollbacks under the Trump administration, and market disruptions from innovations like Deep Seek.
While Michelle acknowledges concerns about bias in unregulated models, she remains optimistic about AI's potential to improve lives if developed responsibly. She emphasizes the importance of transparency, bias measurement, and focusing on beneficial applications while advocating for individual and corporate accountability in the absence of comprehensive regulation.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!The End of Engineerings Blank Check • Laura Tacho & Charles Humble • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-08 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/396
Laura Tacho - CTO at DX & Executive Coach at Laura Tacho Consulting @laurajeanfrank Charles Humble - Freelance Techie, Podcaster, Editor, Author & Consultant
FULL TALK TITLE The End of Engineering's Blank Check: Accountability in Software Leadership
DESCRIPTION Laura Tacho, CTO at DX and executive coach, shares her take on the challenging transition from technical contributor to business leader. She discusses the most common leadership skill gaps she sees in CTOs, particularly around setting clear expectations without falling into the "micromanagement spiral of doom".
Laura explains the development of the DX Core 4 framework for measuring developer productivity through four balanced dimensions: • Speed • Effectiveness • Quality • Impact
She emphasizes the critical importance of connecting technical work to business outcomes, arguing that the era of engineering having a "blank check" is over and that today's leaders must think like business leaders who speak in terms of ROI and impact. The conversation with Charles Humble also covers emerging trends in AI-assisted development and unconventional approaches to performance management.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 04:44 Common leadership challenges & skills gaps 12:56 Measuring team & manager performance 16:23 Understanding developer productivity & the DX Core 4 Framework 35:10 Choosing frameworks & avoiding pitfalls 39:53 AI's impact on developer productivity 43:28 Measuring manager performance 46:47 Recommendations & resources 48:11 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Will Larson • An Elegant Puzzle • amzn.to/4gb9VyC Will Larson • The Engineering Executive's Primer • amzn.to/3UURQuT Meri Williams • The Principles of Project Management • amzn.to/4lj5B1G Daniel H. Pink • Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us • amzn.to/3UHx535 Kathy Sierra • Badass • amzn.to/4b9fb2V James Stanier • Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager • amzn.to/3vHrx1E
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Effective Code Reviews with Conventional Comments • Paul Slaughter & Adrienne BraganzaGOTO Conferences2025-09-05 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/372) Paul Slaughter - Staff Fullstack Engineer at GitLab & Creator of Conventional Comments Adrienne Braganza Tacke - Senior Developer Advocate at Viam Robotics & Author of "Looks Good To Me: Constructive Code Reviews"
DESCRIPTION Can "Conventional Comments" transform code reviews from frustrating experiences into productive collaborations?
Paul Slaughter shares his experience developing and practicing "Conventional Comments", a structured approach to improving code review communications through labeled feedback. The conversation explores clear communication patterns with labels (e.g. 'suggestion:', 'issue:' or 'question:').
Paul and Adrienne discuss the importance of empathy in the review process, the balance between politeness and efficiency, and how GitLab's Code Review Weekly Workshops have helped normalize review experiences across their remote teams. The interview highlights that effective code reviews depend not just on technical evaluations but on thoughtful communication that acknowledges developers' emotional investment in their work while fostering a culture of collaborative ownership.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Reliability Engineering Mindset • Alex Ewerlöf & Charity Majors • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-04 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/395
Alex Ewerlöf - Senior Staff Engineer at Volvo Cars & Author of "Reliability Engineering Mindset" @alexewerlof Charity Majors - Co-Founder & CTO of honeycomb.io & Co-Author of "Observability Engineering" @CharityMajors
DESCRIPTION Alex Ewerlöf, author of "Reliability Engineering Mindset" and Senior Staff Engineer at Volvo Cars, shares his serendipitous journey from product engineering to reliability engineering and discusses the practical challenges of implementing Google's SRE practices in real-world companies.
Alex emphasizes the significant gap between Google's idealized SRE approach — which he links to "a fantastic chef's recipe for Michelin-starred restaurants" — and the reality most companies face with limited resources and infrastructure. The discussion covers key topics including the evolution from traditional operations to where engineers own their code in production, the critical importance of choosing SLIs that align with business impact, and how SLOs help set expectations and help the service consumers prepare non-functional requirements. Alex coined the law of 10x per 9 highlighting that reliability isn't free and requires careful cost-benefit analysis.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:51 The serendipitous path to SRE 04:31 From SRE to author 07:04 The Google SRE gap 10:24 Making Service Level Objectives (SLO) practical 19:38 The future of observability & SLOs 23:06 Swapping stories on recent reads 25:02 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Alex Ewerlöf • Reliability Engineering Mindset • blog.alexewerlof.com/p/rem Charity Majors, Liz Fong-Jones & George Miranda • Observability Engineering • amzn.to/38scbma Charity Majors & Laine Campbell • Database Reliability Engineering • amzn.to/3ujybdS Alex Hidalgo • Implementing Service Level Objectives • amzn.to/4pbWJxw Brian Klaas • Fluke • amzn.to/41V1Cko Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson • The Elephant in the Brain • amzn.to/4fYCG1i Kelly Shortridge & Aaron Rinehart • Security Chaos Engineering • verica.io/sce-book Nora Jones & Casey Rosenthal • Chaos Engineering • amzn.to/3hUmuAH
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1X Marks the Spot: Navigating Possible Futures with Wardley Maps • Simon Wardley • GOTO 2024GOTO Conferences2025-09-03 | This presentation was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2024. #GOTOcon #gotocph gotocph.com
Simon Wardley - Thought Lord, Mapper, Mostly Good @simonwardley
ABSTRACT In the keynote, Simon Wardley, the originator of Wardley Maps, takes the audience on a journey through the realm of strategic planning in the modern business landscape. This talk unveils the powerful utility of Wardley Maps in identifying and targeting strategic objectives, akin to finding treasure in the complex world of business.
The discussion begins with an introduction to the fundamentals of Wardley Maps, emphasizing their role in enhancing situational awareness in decision-making. The keynote then delves into real-world applications, demonstrating how these maps have successfully enabled organisations to change the way they work and challenge what they do. We then explore concepts such as gameplay and strategy before examining how to identify that which really matters.
There will be pirates, and possibly kittens. [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:56 Agenda 04:45 Origin 06:05 Maps 17:42 Patterns 24:11 Change 33:47 Gameplay 36:33 X marks the spot 38:13 Summary 39:07 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Simon Wardley • Wardley Maps • amzn.to/45U8Upr Simon Wardley • Wardley Mapping, The Knowledge • amzn.to/3XQEeDu David Anderson, Marck McCann & Michael O'Reilly • The Value Flywheel Effect • amzn.to/3VcHxC7 Sun Tzu • The Art of War • amzn.to/2BqDeha Jonathan Allen & Thomas Blood • Reaching Cloud Velocity • amzn.to/4n39Fnt Susanne Kaiser • Adaptive Systems With Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping & Team Topologies • amzn.to/3XTmNCc Erik Schön • The Art Of Strategy • amzn.to/2UPzXPa
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Beyond the Cloud: The Local-First Software Revolution • Brooklyn Zelenka & Julian WoodGOTO Conferences2025-09-02 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/374) Brooklyn Zelenka - Author of Numerous Libraries Including Witchcraft & Founded the Vancouver Functional Programming Meetup Julian Wood - Serverless Developer Advocate at AWS
DESCRIPTION Distributed systems researcher Brooklyn Zelenka unpacks the paradigm shift of local-first computing, where applications primarily run on users' devices and synchronize seamlessly without central servers.
In a conversation with Julian Wood, she explains how this approach reduces latency, enables offline functionality, improves privacy through encryption, and democratizes app development—all while using sophisticated data structures. Perfect for collaborative tools and "cozy web" applications serving smaller communities, local-first software represents a fundamental rethinking of how we've built software for the past 30 years.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!How to Discover the Binary System as a Child • Simon Peyton Jones & Chelsea Troy • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-09-01 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. #GOTOcon #GOTOunscripted https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/394
Simon Peyton Jones - Key Contributor of Haskell & Engineering Fellow at Epic Games Chelsea Troy - MLOps Tech Lead at Mozilla & Lecturer at University of Chicago @HeyChelseaTroy
DESCRIPTION Simon Peyton Jones – Royal Society member, Haskell language maintainer, and computing education advocate – discusses how a simple math problem about bank envelopes led him to discover the binary system 55 years ago, and why that moment of authentic problem-solving remains crucial for today's students. From his transition from Microsoft Research to founding Computing at School, Simon argues that computing education should be foundational rather than vocational, giving children agency in the digital world just as we teach them basic numeracy and science. He explores how to maintain the essence of computational thinking in an era where AI can instantly solve coding problems, emphasizing concrete, motivated contexts over abstract algorithms.
The discussion spans from elementary programming with Scratch and physical computing devices to his unique role as a computing fellow at Epic Games, where he works with CEO Tim Sweeney to design the Verse programming language, proving that even billion-dollar companies can prioritize denotational semantics over quarterly profits.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 01:08 The Binary System discovery: A teaching moment 05:45 Problem-solving in the age of AI 10:25 The journey into computing education 16:35 Functional programming & compiler design 20:41 Working as a computing fellow at Epic Games 23:40 Outro
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Professional Skills for Software Engineers • Charles Humble & Trisha GeeGOTO Conferences2025-08-29 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/373) Charles Humble - Freelance Techie, Podcaster, Editor, Author & Consultant Trisha Gee - Lead Developer Evangelist at Gradle, Java Champion & Co-Author of "Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA"
DESCRIPTION Trisha Gee interviews Charles Humble on his project "Professional Skills for Software Engineers", a collection of 14 articles organized into four categories: • communication • critical thinking • documentation • networking
Charles argues that career success in software engineering oftentimes depends more on non-programming skills than technical ability. Both Charles and Trisha emphasize that these skills are learnable and essential, despite being undervalued in the industry as mere "soft skills".
The conversation covers how intentional communication improves product development, the value of networking and public speaking for career advancement, and ways engineers can generate ideas for content creation while taking ownership of their career development. The interview makes a compelling case that developing these professional skills benefits both individual engineers and the industry as a whole.
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.tech (https://gotopia.tech)
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Real-World Java • Victor Grazi, Jeanne Boyarsky & Barry Burd • GOTO 2025GOTO Conferences2025-08-28 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. #GOTOcon #GOTObookclub http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here: https://gotopia.tech/episodes/393
Victor Grazi - Oracle Java Champion & Co-Author of "Real-World Java" Jeanne Boyarsky - Oracle Java Champion, Co-Author of "Real-World Java" & "OCP 21 Java Cert Book" @jeanneboyarsky8071 Barry Burd - Professor at Drew University, Owner at Burd Brain Consulting & Author of "Java for Dummies"
DESCRIPTION Barry Burd interviews Victor Grazi and Jeanne Boyarsky about their book "Real World Java: Helping You Navigate the Java Ecosystem". The authors highlight a critical gap in Java education - while schools teach syntax, loops, and basic programming concepts, they barely cover the vast ecosystem that professional developers actually use daily, including Git, logging frameworks, Spring, CI/CD, and IDE mastery. Victor emphasizes that knowing how to use your development tools, particularly IDE refactoring features, is a better indicator of developer experience than algorithm tests.
The book serves as a bridge for new graduates, career changers from other languages, or developers stuck on older Java versions, providing practical knowledge about the tools and frameworks that define modern Java development. Rather than just teaching "hello world" examples, the authors focus on the essential ecosystem components needed to succeed in enterprise Java environments, making it accessible for anyone who knows the Java language but needs to understand the broader technological landscape they'll encounter in professional development roles.
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:39 Book overview 05:08 The IDE chapter 13:38 Technology challenges & AI's role 16:09 Writing process & challenges 26:16 Where's the Java ecosystem going? 34:29 What's next? 36:01 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Victor Grazi & Jeanne Boyarsky • Real-World Java • amzn.to/4oCEeBR Jeanne Boyarsky & Scott Selikoff • OCP 21 Java Cert Book • amzn.to/4lF8OIC Barry Burd • Java For Dummies • amzn.to/4mrXC3e Barry Burd • Quantum Computing Algorithms • amzn.to/3Josymi Ben Evans & Jim Gough • Optimizing Cloud Native Java • amzn.to/41nivD9 Ben Evans, Jason Clark & David Flanagan • Java in a Nutshell • amzn.to/43FDoMA
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ABSTRACT I believe great programmers are not born, they are made. Or rather, they make themselves, carefully and deliberately over time. I am not talking about the folks who rote-learn the l33t answers and throw their egos around; I mean the ones who build great products using simple, understandable code, while lifting up those around them.
I have worked with some great programmers over the years, and met some others along the way. I want to tell you about the best programmer I know. As I have said elsewhere, they have “an insatiable curiosity and the belief they can convince a computer to do anything. Plus a healthy disregard for language and tool zealotry.”
As I describe them, you might recognise some of their traits in yourself; you might decide you want to aspire to some of them; you might choose to refer to them as an interviewer, or as a candidate. My hope is simply that you find them useful and in some way inspiring. [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:22 Agenda 02:37 Part 1: Getting the job done 15:07 Part 2: Choosing the right tool 28:03 Part 3: Caring about the team 39:16 Wrapping up 39:28 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Eliyahu M. Goldratt • Beyond the Goal • amzn.to/3wDbAL1 Kent Beck, Fowler, John, William, Don & Gamma • Refactoring • amzn.to/3SFBYbN Kent Beck & Cynthia Andres • Extreme Programming Explained • amzn.to/3KeL5P5 Jez Humble & Dave Farley • Continuous Delivery • amzn.to/3ocIHwd Robert B Cialdini • Influence, New and Expanded • amzn.to/3tL8GxB Aino Vonge Corry • Retrospective Antipatterns • amzn.to/3naFk84 Subramaniam & Hunt • Practices of an Agile Developer • amzn.to/2XjbWor
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1TypeScript Cookbook • Stefan Baumgartner & Peter KrönerGOTO Conferences2025-08-26 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/371) Stefan Baumgartner - Author of "TypeScript Cookbook" & "TypeScript in 50 Lessons" Peter Kröner - Host of "Working Draft" Podcast & Freelance Trainer for Frontend Web Tech
DESCRIPTION Peter Kröner and Stefan Baumgartner explore practical TypeScript implementation strategies in this discussion of Stefan's latest book, "TypeScript Cookbook", a sequel to his previous work "TypeScript in 50 Lessons". From minimal type annotations to knowing when to use advanced features, Stefan shares insights on efficient project setup, alternatives to enums, and the strategic use of classes.
The conversation examines the philosophy behind TypeScript's design while emphasizing a pragmatic approach that focuses on understanding what happens behind the scenes to make better coding decisions. Stefan consistently advocates for simplicity and intentionality when working with TypeScript's powerful but sometimes complex type system.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Residues & The Architect’s Paradox • Barry OReilly & Jacqui ReadGOTO Conferences2025-08-22 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/369) Barry O'Reilly - Founder at Black Tulip Tech and Author of "Residues" & "The Architect's Paradox" Jacqui Read - Software Architect, Speaker & Author of "Communication Patterns"
DESCRIPTION In this GOTO Book Club interview, Jacqui Read discusses with Barry O'Reilly his books "Residues: Time, Uncertainty, and Change in Software Architecture" and "The Architect's Paradox". He explains how uncertainty defines the architect's role and introduces residuality—a method where architects deliberately stress their conceptual models until they collapse, then optimize the resulting "residues" or leftovers to create more resilient systems.
Unlike traditional software engineering approaches, that try to eliminate uncertainty through rigid requirements, residuality embraces random stressors (even far-fetched scenarios like giant lizards) to uncover architectural fault lines.
O'Reilly argues that this playful yet mathematically sound approach produces more robust architectures than conventional methods, and his second book explores how inherited philosophical thinking often undermines software architecture's effectiveness in complex business contexts.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!How to Get People Excited about Functional Programming • Russ Olsen & James Lewis • GOTO 2024GOTO Conferences2025-08-21 | This interview was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2024. #GOTOcon #GOTOcph gotocph.com
Russ Olsen - Author of "Getting Clojure" & "Eloquent Ruby" @russolsen3122 James Lewis - Software Architect & Director at Thoughtworks
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:53 How Russ got started with functional programming 05:55 Russ' new book 11:05 Clojure 14:46 Q&A 24:15 Misconceptions about functional programming 28:25 To the Moon 34:20 Q&A 37:34 Mechanical vs Software Engineering 38:23 Agile & TDD 40:28 Outro
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1How Unforgiving Tools Help Your Programming Discipline with Michael FeathersGOTO Conferences2025-08-20 | Check out the full version on our YouTube channel now! #GOTOcon #SoftwareEngineering #Legacy #LegacyCode #Effectiveness #Testing #TDD #CodeQuality #CLangguage #Pascal #DDD #QA #ComputerScience #MichaelFeathers #ChristianClausen #Programming #ViralProgrammingShorts #Viral #ViralShorts #TodayInTech #GOTO
Michael Feathers - Author of “Working Effectively with Legacy Code” & Chief Architect at Globant
RECOMMENDED BOOK Michael Feathers • Working Effectively with Legacy Code • amzn.to/3ZFQoMU Christian Clausen • Five Lines of Code • amzn.to/3s2zjyg Kent Beck • Test Driven Development • amzn.to/36kchvd
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Building Bridges: From Developer to Developer Advocate • David Edoh-Bedi & James BeswickGOTO Conferences2025-08-19 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/368) David Edoh-Bedi - Developer Relations at Stripe James Beswick - Head of Developer Relations at Stripe
DESCRIPTION James Beswick (Head of Developer Relations at Stripe) talks with David Edoh-Bedi (Developer Advocate) about his professional journey from growing up in Togo to working at Microsoft and eventually Stripe.
The conversation explores David's transition from software engineering to developer advocacy, highlighting the importance of empathy, communication skills, and technical knowledge in the role. They discuss the challenges of working with large legacy systems, the complexities of payment processing, and how the software development landscape has evolved from library-focused development to API-centric approaches.
The interview provides valuable insights for developers considering a career path in developer relations and those integrating complex systems like payment processing into their applications.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Neal Ford • Functional Thinking • amzn.to/3DdP35B Petricek & Skeet • Real-World Functional Programming • amzn.to/38diF4M Venkat Subramaniam • Functional Programming in Java • amzn.to/2WlOXIt Cristian Salcescu • Functional Programming in JavaScript • amzn.to/3y75jBS Richard Feldman • Elm in Action • amzn.to/387kujI Jeremy Fairbank • Programming Elm • amzn.to/2WhZCE8 Wolfgang Loder • Web Applications with Elm • amzn.to/3jblQ3q
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Balancing Coupling in Software Design • Vlad Khononov & Sheen BrisalsGOTO Conferences2025-08-15 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/367) Sheen Brisals - AWS Serverless Hero, Engineering Leader & Co-Author of "Serverless Development on AWS" Vlad Khononov - Author of "Balancing Coupling in Software Design" & "Learning Domain Driven Design" & Creator of the Balanced Coupling Model
DESCRIPTION Sheen Brisals sits down with software engineer and author Vlad Khononov to explore his latest book, "Balancing Coupling in Software Design". Vlad shares his journey from a failed microservices project to his deep dive into the principles of coupling, drawing insights from a 1970s structured design book.
The duo discusses the timeless nature of coupling in software, how modern systems like microservices and cloud architectures still rely on age-old design principles, and the importance of understanding complexity for better problem decomposition and estimation. Vlad also reveals his unique approach to the book—integrating AI-generated poetry into each chapter to help readers grasp complex concepts. With a focus on modularity as the antidote to complexity, Vlad emphasizes that by managing coupling, engineers can create more maintainable, scalable systems.
ABSTRACT If you are curious about the field of cryptography and what it has to offer data science and machine learning, this talk is for you!
We'll dive into the field of encrypted computation, where decryption isn't needed in order to perform calculations, transformations and operations on the data. You'll learn some of the core mathematical theory behind why and how this works, as well as the differences between approaches like homomorphic encryption and secure multi-party computation. At the end, you'll get some pointers and open-source library hints on where to go next and how to start using encrypted computation for problems you are solving the hard way (or not solving at all). [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 03:18 What if...? 04:23 Demo: Huggingface 06:25 Homomorphic encryption 08:41 Pallier cryptosystem 12:12 Demo: Pallier 15:22 Recap 19:55 Multi-party computation (MPC) 22:58 Use cases 29:54 Getting started with encrypted computation 32:45 Understanding builds trust 34:01 Outro
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Developers Think Testing is Synonymous with Unit Testing – @garthgilmourniGOTO Conferences2025-08-13 | Check out the full version on our YouTube channel now! #GOTOcon #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment #Testing #Stability #Complexity #Programming #UnitTesting #TDD #ProgrammingHistory #Coding #HistoryOfProgramming #ViralProgrammingShorts #Viral #ViralShorts #TodayInTech #GOTO
Garth Gilmour - Head Of Learning at Instil Software @garthgilmourni Eamonn Boyle - Development Manager at Gearset
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Nicole Forsgren, Patrick Debois & John Willis • The DevOps Handbook • amzn.to/3C0Rj0C Kiczales, des Rivieres & Bobrow • The Art of the Metaobject Protocol • amzn.to/3zbvavV Forsgren, Humble & Kim • Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps • amzn.to/3tCz1xO Fred Brooks Jr. • The Mythical Man-Month • williamgibsonbooks.com Jeremy Kun • A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics • amzn.to/3WbgKWz Scott Wlaschin • Domain Modeling Made Functional • amzn.to/3TPnLKz Tom Stuart • Understanding Computation • amzn.to/3Dt1Ymp Sam Halliday • Functional Programming for Mortals with Scalaz • leanpub.com/fpmortals Jack D. Hidary • Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach • amzn.to/3TAyk4g Daniel P. Friedman & Matthias Felleisen • The Little Schemer • amzn.to/3SzHNHI Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Reading Code Effectively: An Overlooked Developer Skill • Marit van Dijk & Hannes LowetteGOTO Conferences2025-08-12 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/366) Marit van Dijk - Developer Advocate at JetBrains, Java Champion & Open Source Contributor Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover
DESCRIPTION Reading code is a critical yet often underappreciated skill in software development. Marit van Dijk & Hannes Lowette highlight that while developers are trained to write code, they spend most of their time understanding existing codebases—often with incomplete documentation and evolving complexity.
They discuss research-backed strategies, such as structured code reading exercises, participation in communities like the Code Reading Club, and leveraging modern IDE tools to navigate and comprehend unfamiliar code. The conversation underscores the importance of empathy in code reviews, writing clear commit messages, and using tests as documentation to improve collaboration and maintainability. By practicing code reading deliberately and utilizing available resources, developers can become more effective and adaptable in their work.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Optimizing Cloud Native Java • Ben Evans & Holly CumminsGOTO Conferences2025-08-08 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/363) Ben Evans - Senior Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat & Co-Author of "Optimizing Cloud Native Java" and many more Books Holly Cummins - Senior Principal Software Engineer on the Red Hat Quarkus Team
DESCRIPTION Holly Cummins talks with Ben Evans about his latest book "Optimizing Cloud Native Java", which updates his previous work "Optimizing Java" to reflect the realities of cloud native environments.
Ben explains that performance engineering is not just technical but also psychological, emphasizing the importance of user expectations and defining clear performance goals. They discuss how modern Java performance must account for cloud native architectures, with applications running across distributed microservices and containerized, single-core environments.
The book focuses on the importance of measuring relevant data, warns against relying on misleading micro-benchmarks, and highlights how system-level benchmarks offer a clearer picture. Ben also delves into the JVM's hidden complexities, such as changes in Java 17 and the impact of virtual threads. Practical, real-world examples in the book, like the "fighting animals" microservices application, help developers learn how to optimize Java performance in real network environments.
Finally, Ben touches on the future of Java concurrency, with virtual threads and structured concurrency offering new ways to handle performance challenges in cloud native systems.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL (youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1) - new videos posted daily!Some Principles From Real World Internal Developer Platform Engineering • Russ Miles • GOTO 2024GOTO Conferences2025-08-07 | This presentation was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2024. #GOTOcon #GOTOcph gotocph.com
Russ Miles - Author, Engineering Manager & Chaos Engineering Practitioner
ORIGINAL TALK TITLE Don’t Feed the Pigeons: Some Principles From Real World Internal Developer Platform Engineering
ABSTRACT Principles are tools that provide touchstones to help you navigate a blurry reality. When you’re faced with difficult choices it’s your principles, aligned with your values, that steer your course away from or into the rocks. You can’t anticipate the seas you’re going to sail, but good principles will work regardless of how choppy the waters are. And the broad and deep waters of building a successful internal developer platform can be choppier than most, so holding your principles close is essential to not drowning in all that platform engineering promise.
Platform engineering promises the best application of people, financial and technical resources to support and deliver speed at scale, so the stakes are high and the promise mouth-watering to unsuspecting CTOs. But there’s “many a slip-twixt-cup-and-lip”, and it’s looking likely that the roads in the coming years will be likely peppered with wasted budgets and articles such as “Why platform engineering doesn’t work”. So let’s get ahead of all that negativity and talk about how it can work in a couple of real-world environments.
In this talk Russ Miles, Technical Product Owner of the Cloud and On-Premise Infrastructure Platform Products at Clear.Bank, will share some principles he uses to guide the teams responsible for delivering a successful internal developer platform. Using real-world examples and stories, and being very careful of survivor bias, we’ll explore the complex terrain that a platform initiative has to plot a course through. After this talk you’ll take away a toolbox of principles to apply to your own complex, socio-technical working environment. You’ll learn the foundations and principles that can keep your own platform engineering initiatives off the rocks and sailing in the blue waters of ROI.
How you may ask? It all starts by not feeding the pigeons. Curious? See you at the talk! [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 03:28 My hope for this talk 05:40 15 years ago 12:25 Back to 2020 13:44 A tale in 6 weeks 16:34 Week 1 19:03 Week 2 26:32 Week 3 33:28 Week 4 34:22 Week 5 39:43 Week 6 43:10 Epilogue 47:30 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Miles, Giguere & Smith • Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms • amzn.to/3X4Bq4h Mina, Warda, Marins & Miles • Digitalization of Financial Services in the Age of Cloud • amzn.to/4gIYsow Russ Miles • Learning Chaos Engineering • amzn.to/412KEzf Dan Pilone & Russ Miles • Head First Software Development • amzn.to/4i02JF0 Chankramath, Cheneweth, Oliver & Alvarez • Effective Platform Engineering • manning.com/books/effective-platform-engineering Gregor Hohpe • Platform Strategy • amzn.to/4cxfYdb Martin Fowler • Refactoring • amzn.to/3EVcHXQ Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Dr. Imran Rashid about the Negative Effects of #SocialMedia on Our KidsGOTO Conferences2025-08-06 | Check out the full version on our YouTube channel now! #GOTOcon #GOTOBookClub #BookClub #Feelability #HumanFactor #Smartphones #Psychology #Behavior #Decisions #DigitalDecisions #ThinkingFast #ThinkingSlow #Dataism #Infobesity #ScreenTime #ImranRashid #ViralProgrammingShorts #Viral #ViralShorts #TodayInTech #GOTO
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1The Cloud Native Attitude • Anne Currie & Sarah WellsGOTO Conferences2025-08-05 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/365) Anne Currie - Co-Author of "The Cloud Native Attitude" & "Building Green Software" Sarah Wells - Independent Consultant & Author & Author of "Enabling Microservice Success"
RESOURCES Anne https://bsky.app/profile/annecurrie.bsky.social https://www.strategically.green
DESCRIPTION Sarah Wells and Anne Currie dive into “The Cloud Native Attitude” and uncover why it’s more than just using cloud infrastructure. It’s about breaking bottlenecks, embracing rapid change, and aligning the entire organization.
Anne reflects on how Kubernetes has risen since the book’s first edition, but the core principles remain. They discuss why CI/CD is key, how cloud native supports sustainability, and why true transformation demands more than just a lift-and-shift. The conversation wraps up with practical advice on identifying real bottlenecks and securing buy-in for a successful cloud native journey.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Kevlin Henney • 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know • amzn.to/2Yahf9U Henney & Monson-Haefel • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know • amzn.to/3pZuHsQ Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ Michael Jackson • Software Requirements and Specifications • amzn.to/3ql2T14 Geoffrey West • Scale • http://amzn.to/3eKMbpc Donald G. Reinertsen • The Principles of Product Development Flow • amzn.to/3hJ2Ye
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Prompt Engineering for Generative AI • James Phoenix, Mike Taylor & Phil WinderGOTO Conferences2025-08-01 | This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club. http://gotopia.tech/bookclub
Read the full transcription of the interview here (https://gotopia.tech/episodes/360) James Phoenix - Co-Author of "Prompt Engineering for Generative AI" Mike Taylor - Co-Author of "Prompt Engineering for Generative AI" Phil Winder - Author of "Reinforcement Learning" & CEO of Winder.AI
DESCRIPTION Large language models (LLMs) and diffusion models such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion have unprecedented potential. Because they have been trained on all the public text and images on the internet, they can make useful contributions to a wide variety of tasks. And with the barrier to entry greatly reduced today, practically any developer can harness LLMs and diffusion models to tackle problems previously unsuitable for automation.
With this book, you'll gain a solid foundation in generative AI, including how to apply these models in practice. When first integrating LLMs and diffusion models into their workflows, most de Crossing Borders (buzzsprout.com/2529297/episodes/17682252)
Crossing Borders is a podcast by Neema, a cross border payments platform that...
ABSTRACT Welcome to a deep dive into ReactJS security, where we address issues such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), content injection, and data leaks in ReactJS applications. These threats continue to challenge web developers, making robust ReactJS security practices essential.
ReactJS offers some built-in and automatic measures against XSS. However, securing ReactJS applications requires a deeper understanding and implementation of advanced security techniques. This presentation is tailored for developers eager to enhance their security skills in ReactJS.
In this session, we will delve into a range of critical security topics with a focus on defensive coding techniques to secure your ReactJS applications effectively. Topics covered include: • Navigating the Security Landscape of React Components • Decoding React's Built-in XSS Protections • The Intricacies of Props and Types • A Closer Look at dangerouslySetInnerHTML • Understanding User-submitted URLs in React • Enhancing React Security with CSS Styled-Components • The Dynamics of JSON and React Integration • The Power of Lazy Loading and Access Control in React • Exploring React Template Injection Vulnerabilities • The Role of Server-Side Rendering in React Security
This session is designed to expand your ReactJS knowledge, strengthen your security strategies, and give you exact methods to help you build safer, more robust ReactJS applications.
Join us to master advanced defense techniques and contribute to the development of secure ReactJS applications! [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 02:28 Agenda 03:11 AI secure code generation lifecycle 07:03 What is React & what are the top security domains 08:31 R1: Cross site scripting 11:47 React security domains 11:58 R1: XSS 16:48 R2: Dangerous URLs 20:54 R3: Rendering HTML 23:56 R4: Securing JSON 25:49 R5: Dangerous styles 27:47 R6: Insecure native DOM access 30:04 R7: Access control & exposed failures 35:35 R8: Vulnerable & outdated versions & dependencies 37:43 R9: Open redirects 39:09 R10: Insecure server-side rendering 40:32 Demo 42:16 Outro
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Charles Humble Shares His Ideas about #RemoteWorkGOTO Conferences2025-07-30 | Check out the full version on our YouTube channel now! #GOTOcon #RemoteWorking #Workflow #HomeOffice #AllRemote #Leadership #Management #Pomodoro #GettingThingsDone #DeepWork #CharlesHumble #ViralProgrammingShorts #Viral #ViralShorts #TodayInTech #GOTO
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Privacy-First Research with OpenSAFELY • Eli Holderness & Hannes LowetteGOTO Conferences2025-07-29 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/370)
Eli Holderness - Research Software Advocate at Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, Speaker & Professional Nerd Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover
DESCRIPTION OpenSAFELY represents a revolutionary approach to medical research that prioritizes patient privacy while enabling valuable insights from healthcare data. Rather than giving researchers direct access to sensitive GP records, it allows them to submit code that runs in a secure environment, with only privacy-checked aggregated results returned.
Hannes Lowette talks to Eli Holderness about how the system works, its benefits for ensuring reproducible science, the challenges of working with data not collected for research purposes, and its potential applications beyond healthcare. The approach balances the need for medical research with strict privacy protections, ensuring patients maintain trust in how their sensitive data is used.
James Lewis - Software architect and director at Thoughtworks
ABSTRACT Recent research summarised in the book Accelerate points to a set of practices that lead to high software development organization performance.
Simultaneously, research from the Santa Fe Institute on complex adaptive systems over the last 20 years seems to point to a grand unified theory of organizational design and software architecture.
"So have we cracked it? Do we now have the answer to the question: how do we create and scale high performing software and organizations?"
In this talk, James explores this research and takes a look at the surprising links between organizations, microservices, elephants and cities.
In this talk, you'll learn: • How to create and scale high performing software in organizations • The surprising links between organizations, microservices, elephants and cities
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Sam Newman • Monolith to Microservices • amzn.to/2Nml96E Sam Newman • Building Microservices • amzn.to/3dMPbOs Ronnie Mitra & Irakli Nadareishvili • Microservices: Up and Running• amzn.to/3c4HmmL Mitra, Nadareishvili, McLarty & Amundsen • Microservice Architecture • amzn.to/3fVNAb0 Chris Richardson • Microservices Patterns • amzn.to/2SOnQ7h Adam Bellemare • Building Event-Driven Microservices • amzn.to/3yoa7TZ
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1Building Modern Software at Scale: Architectural Principles • Randy Shoup & Charles HumbleGOTO Conferences2025-07-25 | This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech
Read the full transcription of this interview here (https://gotopia.tech/articles/362) Randy Shoup - SVP Engineering at Thrive Market Charles Humble - Freelance Techie, Podcaster, Editor, Author & Consultant
DESCRIPTION Charles Humble sits down with veteran tech leader Randy Shoup, now SVP of Engineering at Thrive Market. Randy discusses Thrive Market’s evolution from a 10-year-old monolith to a microservices architecture, emphasizing domain-driven design and agile scaling. Drawing on his experiences at eBay and other tech giants, he explains when to adopt microservices and the importance of continuous delivery and platform engineering for boosting productivity.
ABSTRACT Natural language processing using generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) algorithms is a rapidly evolving field that offers many opportunities and challenges for application developers. But what is a generative pre-trained transformer, and how does it work? How can you leverage the latest advances in GPT algorithms to create engaging and useful applications? Can my business benefit from creating a GPT powered chat bot?
In this demo intensive session Alan will take a deep dive into the architecture of GPT algorithms and the inner workings of ChatGPT. The journey will begin by looking at the fundamental concepts of natural language processing, such as word embedding, vectorization and tokenization. He will then demonstrate how you can apply these techniques to train a GPT2 model that can generate song lyrics, showing the internals of how word sequences are predicted.
Alan will then shift the focus to larger language models, such as ChatGPT and GPT4, demonstrating their power, capabilities, and limitations. The use of hyperparameters such as temperature and frequency penalty will be explained and their effect on the generated output demonstrated.
Join me for this session if you want to learn how to harness the power of GPT algorithms in your own solutions. [...]
TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 06:00 Model API architecture 07:37 GPT sequence prediction 08:49 Variable length 11:13 Sequence order 11:28 Long-term dependencies 12:06 Prompt engineering 13:11 Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) 15:14 Demo: ChatGPT2 20:25 Processing text 24:22 English is the new programming language 29:14 Heteronyms 34:14 Demo: Language tokenization 34:46 Word/token vectorization/embedding 35:52 Euclidean vs Cosine similarity 37:32 Transformer architecture 40:23 Attention example 41:03 Outro
RECOMMENDED BOOKS Alex Castrounis • AI for People and Business • amzn.to/3NYKKTo Phil Winder • Reinforcement Learning • amzn.to/3t1S1VZ Holden Karau, Trevor Grant, Boris Lublinsky, Richard Liu & Ilan Filonenko • Kubeflow for Machine Learning • amzn.to/3JVngcx Kelleher & Tierney • Data Science (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series) • amzn.to/3AQmIRg Lakshmanan, Robinson & Munn • Machine Learning Design Patterns • amzn.to/2ZD7t0x Lakshmanan, Görner & Gillard • Practical Machine Learning for Computer Vision • amzn.to/3m9HNjP
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1@thedrlambda8148 on How to Improve your Approach to DevelopingGOTO Conferences2025-07-23 | Check out the full version on our YouTube channel now! #GOTOcon #FiveLinesOfCode #ImproveCoding #UseTools #EnsambleProgramming #ChristianClausen #JulianWood #Programming #Refactoring #CleanCode #ViralProgrammingShorts #Viral #ViralShorts #TodayInTech #GOTO
Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter