What Is Software Engineering?

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! Kris and Matt continue the Go repository structure conversation by zooming in on the details. The pair discuss what they dislike about database libraries in Go, with a particular distaste for mocking. Then they have an extended discussion of Bryan Cantrill's "Complexity of Simplicity" quadrant framework from TalosCon. They argue Go was rebellious, but modules have been slid it into the accreted quadrant.Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you can watch this episode of Break!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Chapters:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Go's database/sql Package Design and Magic Imports (00:01:24)Chapter 2: SQL Mocking Is Painful, Just Use a Real Database (00:04:23)Chapter 3: Global Side Effects and Why Nobody Will Fix Go's SQL (00:08:07)Chapter 4: Go Package Design and the Limits of Import Paths (00:12:31)Chapter 5: Bryan Cantrill's "Complexity of Simplicity" Quadrant Framework (00:17:49)Chapter 6: Where Does Go Actually Fit? Rebellious, Not Revolutionary (00:24:15)Chapter 7: Go Is Sliding Into "Accreted" Territory (00:33:04)Epilogue (00:39:30)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! Kris and Matt continue the hardware and AI conversation by zooming in on the tooling. Matt calls out the AI hype cycle of "this is the new thing" followed a week later by "I got my identity stolen" and they dig into why AI agents can't pair program. The centerpiece is an extended analogy comparing the chat interface to piano keyboards on early synthesizers: it was the obvious first interface, but we need to evolve toward drum pads, Kanban boards, and purpose-built tools.Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you can watch this episode of Break!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Chapters:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: The AI Hype Cycle (00:00:30)Chapter 2: From AI Skeptic to Nuanced User (00:02:37)Chapter 3: Context Window Collapse (00:04:58)Chapter 4: AI Agents and the Pair Programming Gap (00:08:41)Chapter 5: Balancing Verbosity and Token Budgets (00:12:10)Chapter 6: Beyond the Chat Interface (00:16:53)Chapter 7: The Synthesizer Analogy (00:23:03)Chapter 8: Customizing Your Tools (00:27:35)Chapter 9: The Codex Personality Controversy (00:32:28)Chapter 10: Go Generic Methods Teaser (00:36:31)Epilogue (00:38:42)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! Kris, Matt, and Steve pick up where the main episode left off, asking whether copyright actually matters to working developers. Kris draws parallels to the U.S. tax system as an example of messy-but-functional policy, Matt vents about the frantic pace of AI "standards" like MCP and agents.md, and Kris argues that ossification is worse than chaos  by pointing to TCP and Von Neumann architecture as cautionary tales of things that got locked in and never changed.Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you can watch this episode of Break!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Chapters:Prologue (00:00:02)Chapter 1: Does Copyright Actually Matter to Developers? (00:00:57)Chapter 2: The Tax System: A Lesson in Messy Policy (00:04:08)Chapter 3: The Frantic Pace of AI Standards (00:09:17)Chapter 4: Innovation Is Chaos (TCP, Von Neumann & Ossification) (00:12:31)Chapter 5: Sleep Deprivation and the Cost of Keeping Up (00:17:33)Chapter 6: Tech Layoffs (00:18:16)Epilogue (00:19:30)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Steve Klabnik - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

Welcome back to Break, a Fallthrough aftershow! It's just Kris and Steve for this one! After brief reflections on the Gastown discussion, the episode pivots into a deep dive on semantic versioning, breaking changes, and the history of package management. Kris shares research showing most Go modules change far less code between major versions than people assume. They trace the history from CPAN and dpkg through NPM/Yarn to Go's GOPATH era, discuss supply chain security implications of MVS, and Kris teases an alternative Go toolchain project for 2026.Enjoying the aftershow? Let us know on social media! If you prefer to watch instead of just listen, head over to YouTube where you can watch this episode of Break!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Chapters:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Reflecting on the Main Episode (00:00:17)Chapter 2: Data Centers, Technology & the Butlerian Jihad (00:01:22)Chapter 3: Semantic Versioning & Breaking Changes in Go (00:02:42)Chapter 4: Breaking Changes Across Language Ecosystems (00:05:04)Chapter 5: History of Package Managers (00:08:48)Chapter 6: OS vs Language Package Managers (00:11:30)Chapter 7: NPM, Yarn & Lock Files (00:13:08)Chapter 8: Go's GOPATH Era & Dependency Freedom (00:14:43)Chapter 9: Rethinking Dependency Management (00:16:37)Chapter 10: Alternative Go Toolchain (00:19:53)Epilogue (00:21:23)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Steve Klabnik - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram

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

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

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

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

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

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