I'm a software engineer - what next?

I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.🎙 HostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comMatt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsinclair/James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656/🌐 More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.Part two of the two-parter, and this time it's the company. Last week James told engineers to get AI-pilled. This week he turns to the companies that did the same thing, and why joining one in 2026 might be the riskiest line on an engineer's CV in 2027.In this episode, we cover:- The two extremes to avoid: "we don't need engineers anymore" and "this doesn't work and we're not going to use it"- Always seek counterfactuals: the one question to ask a company, "what was the last thing you did with AI that didn't work?", and what good and bad answers sound like- Why not every software engineer knows how to use AI responsibly, from passwords checked into Git to framework code edited to make a test pass- Taste: knowing what good looks like when the pond of output has become an ocean- Careerminds' survey of 600 HR leaders: nearly a third spent more restaffing than their layoffs saved- Headlines that didn't survive the details: Klarna's AI assistant doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents- Forrester's prediction that half of AI-attributed layoffs will be quietly reversed, with jobs returning offshore or at lower wages- Why judgement is coming back, and the case for strong opinions, weakly held- Generalists or specialists? Matt expects more demand for generalists; James says you still have to prove you've gone deep on something- Business model innovation versus genuine technology innovation, and how much of today's "AI" is the first kind- No more chief electricity officers: will "AI-pilled company" still mean anything once the extremes fade?🗒️ Show NotesCareerminds, "AI-led layoffs: What HR leaders wish they knew before making job cuts": https://careerminds.com/blog/cost-of-ai-layoffsForrester, "Predictions 2026: The Workforce Muddles Through Ambient Disruption": https://www.forrester.com/blogs/future-of-work-predictions-2026-whats-coming-for-work-and-the-workforce/Computerworld, "Forrester: Companies regret many AI-related layoffs": https://www.computerworld.com/article/4084372/analysts-companies-will-face-setbacks-after-ai-layoffs.htmlKlarna, "Klarna AI assistant handles two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month": https://www.klarna.com/international/press/klarna-ai-assistant-handles-two-thirds-of-customer-service-chats-in-its-first-month/Bloomberg, "Klarna Turns From AI to Real Person Customer Service": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-08/klarna-turns-from-ai-to-real-person-customer-serviceFortune on Aaron Levie, "Silicon Valley layoffs are proof that tech CEOs are suffering from 'AI psychosis,' Box CEO says": https://fortune.com/2026/05/29/box-ceo-aaron-levie-ai-psychosis-jobs-layoffs/layoffs.fyi, "Tech layoffs tracker": https://layoffs.fyi/Jeff Bezos on one-way and two-way doors, "2015 Letter to Shareholders": https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2015-Letter-to-Shareholders.PDFMatt Sinclair, "What We Let Machines Do": https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0186-what-we-let-machines-doMatt Sinclair, "The Time Cost of How Is Zero": https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0194-the-time-cost-of-how-is-zeroMatt Sinclair, "The Expanding Pie (and the Cleanup Bill)": https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0197-the-expanding-pie-and-the-cleanup-bill🎙 HostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comMatt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsinclair/James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656/🌐 More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Are AI-pilled engineers the most in-demand people in tech, and also the most exhausted? James and Matt dig into agentic coding, running multiple AI agents, burnout, and what AI-native hiring and interviews now look like for software engineers. Part one of two.🎙 Hosts Matt: https://matthewsinclair.com Matt: linkedin.com/in/matthewsinclair/James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656/🌐 More from us: https://whatnext.dev/ https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.Season one is done. Season two kicks off a little differently: shorter, looser episodes with just Matt and James in between the usual guests, each one built around a topic that's on a lot of engineers' minds right now. First up, the line doing the rounds: management is a one-way door. James isn't convinced it's true. Matt turned up with three reasons it was never the door everyone thinks it is.In this episode, we cover:Span of control going from a "big" 7–12 to Facebook's 20, now reportedly aiming at 50, and what that does to the org chartThe shift from pyramid to hourglass, and why the middle is getting gutted instead of the bottomICs out-earning managers (the reported average salary at Anthropic is $750k; UK junior starting salaries near £240k)"The cost of readmission": why agentic coding makes the door back to IC cheaper than it used to beThe super IC: Matt doing five-to-six people's worth of work solo since September, and the one scaling question he still can't answerWhy the real risk of agentic coding isn't that you can't code, it's that you can't tell what's goodThe tax bomb nobody's pricing in: gut the highly paid middle and a chunk of government revenue goes with itWhy Matt is building micro-businesses for his 20 and 21 year old kids instead of sending them job huntingShow NotesCharity Majors, "Engineering Management: The Pendulum or the Ladder": https://charity.wtf/2019/01/04/engineering-management-the-pendulum-or-the-ladder/Matt on LLM-powered programming as a mech suit: https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0178-why-llm-powered-programming-is-more-mech-suit-than-artificial-humanHostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comJames: linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer ~ What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.This week we're joined by Les Cochrane, CTO at Practice Toolkit, building software for GPs inside the NHS. Les started in hardware, networks and second-line IT support, switched to interactive media at uni, did UX before anyone called it UX, taught himself the backend on a Rails app he built to replace the FTP site at a marketing agency, and then co-founded BorrowMyDoggy on the back of a weekend hackathon. After that: contracting, leading 24 engineers in sports data at IMG Arena, including being the employee rep when they had to let go of about 180 of them, and now CTO at a healthcare startup learning what compliance means for the first time.In this episode, we cover:- Validating his startup that he co-founded, BorrowMyDoggy, by sticking posters up on Hampstead Heath and having someone in Exeter sign up within 24 hours- What happens when 4,500 people sign up in an hour to a landing page that doesn't have a working search yet- Why "I need help" is the wrong way to ask for help, and what to say instead- Product engineer vs T-shaped vs Kent Beck's paint-drip people, and why time matters in the metaphor- Going from leading 24 engineers to being the employee rep during a 180-person redundancy- AI as a force multiplier "for good or evil" — and why introducing it into a six-month-release shop won't help- The LLM-generated PR quiz that makes you answer 10 questions about your own checked-in code before it merges- Centaur chess, supertanker captains, and Kahneman's type-3 thinking: cognitive offload and what we lose🔗 Links- YouTube: https://youtu.be/GGFYCT9m7hU- Spotify: TODO- Apple Podcasts: TODO🗒️ Show Notes- Stop Writing Documents Nobody Reads: https://tech.loveholidays.com/stop-writing-documents-nobody-reads-68842f59f28c- Paul Ingles — LinkedIn posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pingles/recent-activity/all/- Elixir's With Statement: https://www.openmymind.net/Elixirs-With-Statement/- The Comprehensive Guide to Elixir's for Comprehension: https://www.mitchellhanberg.com/the-comprehensive-guide-to-elixirs-for-comprehension/- Why LLM-Powered Programming is More Mech Suit Than Artificial Human: https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0178-why-llm-powered-programming-is-more-mech-suit-than-artificial-human- matthewsinclair/intent on GitHub: https://github.com/matthewsinclair/intent- What We Let Machines Do: https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0186-what-we-let-machines-do- When Thinking Isn't Just Fast or Slow Anymore — The Rise of System 3: https://www.incrementone.com/perspectives/when-thinking-isnt-just-fast-or-slow-anymore-the-rise-of-system-3- From Engineering Bootcamps & Founding Startups to GitHub with Kate Catlin: https://whatnext.dev/episodes/s01/e18- Aphantasia — When You Can't Picture Things in Your Mind: https://aphantasia.com/what-is-aphantasia🗣️ GuestLes Cochrane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lescochrane/🎙 Hosts- Matt: https://matthewsinclair.com- James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656🌐 More from us- What Next?: https://whatnext.dev/- Matthew Sinclair: https://matthewsinclair.com/- Quantum Fax Machine: https://quantumfaxmachine.com/🎬

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.This week we're joined by Peter Marreck, who's currently consulting on AI for legal workflows. Peter's route in was not the standard one. Four years in the US Air Force as an electrical specialist on a KC-10 refueller (actively trying to avoid anything to do with computers, it didn't take), then Cornell, then web software since 2000: FactSet, Deloitte, ThredUp, Desk, a decade running his own contracting shop, then Director of Engineering at Adgenes. The Commodore Pet got him at age eight and he's been spitting ever since.In this episode, we cover:- Why he wanted to be a doctor until he touched a Commodore Pet, and why being into computers in the 80s was "social suicide"- Trust your gut, including the time someone told him not to buy Apple stock- The centaur coder: five months of collaborating with an LLM and what changed in how he thinks about design- The thin coordinator pattern: a pure Zig functional core wrapped in a CFFI so any front end can hang off it- Why LLMs are unusually good at Zig (similar to C, simple enough to grok)- Pushback on Dario Amodei: the people who'll survive are the ones who grab the surfboard, not the ones who get washed out- Dunning-Kruger as a service, and what to make of Gary Tan's G-Stack prompts- "Don't fire your engineers. Attack the backlog instead." Why this is the moment for the work that's been sitting around for two years- Cognitive surrender as a third category of thinking, and the cost of handing too much off to the model- "Idiocracy is a documentary from the future." Peter on the incompetence failure mode being scarier than the malicious oneGuest:Peter Marreckhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/petermarreck/HostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comJames: linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.This week we're joined by Ben Moog, Head of Engineering at InsurX. Ben's path is not the usual one. Computer science at Bristol, then Sandhurst and a stint as a tank commander in the British cavalry, then a decade in finance (central risk trading at Citi, quant portfolio management at a hedge fund), then the standard quant PM ending of burnout and a divorce, and now his sixth greenfield build, this time rebuilding the Insurex platform live while the business is still running on it.In this episode, we cover:- Ben's "if you bend it, you have to mend it" philosophy and why a chaotic childhood is good career preparation- Why a quant trading floor is more stressful than commanding a tank- The Citigroup coffee story and what high-trust teams actually look like- Managers care about outcomes, leaders care about repeatable outcomes- Why Ben lets his team veto his hires before he ever sees a CV- The AI quality cliff in March and April, what's causing it, and what to do about it- "Only ask AI a question you know the answer to" and other rules for surviving agentic coding- Advice for engineers a year or two into their career, and why this is the most exciting time to be building tech since the 80s🗒️ Show Notes"Everyone Lies to Leaders" (2021 article Matt referenced): http://rubick.com/everyone-lies-to-le...🗣️ GuestBen Moog — Head of Engineering, InsurXLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/benmoag/🎙 HostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comMatt: linkedin.com/in/matthewsinclairJames:   / james-wilson-92170656  🌐 More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

Welcome back to I'm a Software Engineer, What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.This week we're joined by Sean Hederman, CTO of Zilch, one of the UK's biggest fintechs. Sean was the second hire at Zilch. Before that he built bi-temporal reference data systems at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, transformed DevOps at Stanlib and Direct Line, and somewhere along the way worked out that being the best individual engineer in the room is a ceiling, not a career.In this episode, we cover:-Why "being right doesn't scale" and what to engineer instead-The multiplier effect: lifting a team by 20% beats doubling your own output-Conway's law and the reverse Conway manoeuvre at Zilch-Queuing theory applied to engineering teams (and why Sean mandates 20 to 30% tech debt work)-Humans as chaos monkeys, and why half of software engineering practice exists because we're unreliable-Hiring engineers in the agentic era and the AI usage patterns Sean actually looks for-Adversarial agentic coding, spec-driven development, and getting the model to review its own work-The myth of the 10x programmer and what real force multipliers look like on a teamGuest:Sean Hedermanhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-hederman/ 🎙 HostsMatt: https://matthewsinclair.comJames: linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656🌐 More from us:https://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/

This week on I'm a Software Engineer ~ What Next? James and Matt are joined by Richard Bown, DevOps engineer and author of Human Software, a novel that captures the messy, human side of engineering work.We get into:Richard’s winding journey from IC to manager and back again — and why that detour made him a better engineerWhy burnout, bad management, and “culture fit” aren’t bugs — they’re design flawsHow writing a novel helped Richard reflect on decades in tech — and why fiction can be a powerful tool for changeYou might enoy this if:-You're a senior engineer debating the jump to management-You’ve felt stuck in your tech career and wondered: is this it?-You’re curious how AI, team structure, and empathy are reshaping how we build software🎧 Listen now on Spotify | iTunes | YouTube📘 Check out Richard’s book: Human Software

Welcome back to I’m a Software Engineer: What Next?This week we are joined by Kate Catlin, Senior Product Manager at GitHub, where she works on Copilot and the future of AI-powered developer experience.In this episode, we cover:• How Kate reinvented her career multiple times on the path to GitHub• What “good product intuition” really means for PMs and engineers• How AI is reshaping product work, and why evals matter for building trustworthy AI features🗒️ Show Notes• Venture For America• Le Wagon Bootcamp• CircleCI• GitHub Copilot• Find My Flock (Kate’s former startup)• Joseph Campbell – The Hero’s Journey• Philosophy of Technology (from Kate’s studies)🎙 GuestKate Catlin, Senior PM, GitHub CopilotLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-catlin/🎙 HostsMatt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewsinclairJames: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656🌐 More from ushttps://whatnext.dev/https://quantumfaxmachine.com/