Spilling the ITea

We’re continuing our “inside the industry” series, and this time we sit down with Maria to explore the world of cybersecurity and digital identity. She works as a software engineer at a company focused on digital certificates, secure authentication, and protecting sensitive data, giving us a front-row view into how security is built into modern software.Maria walks us through what her role actually looks like day to day, from working in agile teams and shipping frequent updates to collaborating with support and customer success. We dig into how products go from idea to deployment, how teams ensure changes are safe and correct, and what happens when things go wrong, like the real impact of a cloud failure.If you’re curious about what it takes to build and maintain secure systems at scale, and how much responsibility comes with it—this one’s for you. Grab a coffee and join us.

After a long gap between recordings, the three of us are finally back together.We’re back with our “inside the industry” series, where we take a closer look at our jobs. This time, it’s Emma’s turn, exploring what it really looks like to build and deploy AI inside a large company.She walks us through the day-to-day of being an AI engineer, how AI is actually used in a real business, and what “AI” truly means in practice. We also demystify GenAI, touch on the outsized impact of small changes at scale, and explore how companies think about and invest in AI.We wrap up with careers, including the skills that matter most and whether a formal background is necessary, along with ethics and some of the most common misconceptions about AI.If you’ve ever wondered what working in AI looks like beyond the headlines, this one’s for you. Grab a coffee and join us.

In today’s episode, we dive into the world of software engineering in the retail sector. While we often work across different industries, this time we focus on what makes retail unique from a technology perspective.We explore the scale of change in retail tech, so how a single software update can impact thousands of customers, influence significant revenue streams, and require major coordination across engineering, operations, and business teams. How does the size of the company affect the tech resources available?We also unpack the sector’s biggest challenges. How do economic crises and market shifts affect retail technology decisions? What role does the supply chain play, and how tightly is it integrated with digital systems?Finally, we highlight the benefits of working in retail tech, along with the critical security considerations that come with handling payment systems, customer data, and high-traffic platforms.And as always, we share this from our perspective as three young women building our careers in tech. If you’re just starting out, wondering where you might fit, or feeling unsure about stepping into engineering, this episode is for you. We keep it honest, relatable, and practical, so you can see that there’s space for you here too. Let’s grow, learn, and navigate this journey together 💜

How connected are we really in a world that’s always online? In this episode, we reflect on screen time, digital dependency, and how smartphones are changing the way we think, socialize, and experience boredom. We also dig into the ethics of attention-based platforms, questioning how consciously these technologies are designed to keep us scrolling - and what responsibility that creates.

In this episode, we sit down with Manuel Navid to trace his journey into computer science and how curiosity, not a rigid plan, led him there. He shares why he chose to take a gap semester, how side projects shaped his confidence and mindset, and why that pause helped him return to university more motivated. Manuel reflects on international experiences through UNITECH, living in Sweden, and working in Germany while writing his bachelor’s thesis. We talk about life after uni, landing a software engineering role in Barcelona, and growing without burning out.

Welcome back to our series on historical women in STEM. This time let's unravel the Hollywood starlet by day, and secret inventor by night: Hedy Lamarr. We chat about her wild double life, her genius ideas, the struggles she faced as a woman in tech before tech was even a thing, and how she dealt with being underestimated just for looking “too pretty.” We’ll dig into the impact she had on wireless tech (with just enough technical detail to keep it clear and digestible), all while the world was too distracted by her looks to notice what she was really doing.

In this new episode, we chat with our friend (Carlos) Sansón, a software/product engineer at a Barcelona AI startup, about what life in a startup is really like — from constant pivots and fast decisions to open-source culture and building new features. Plus, how he found his path in computer science and the advice he’d give his younger self.

In this episode, we dive into the journey of landing that first full-time job after studying. We’ll share how we balanced working while studying, from part-time jobs and thesis projects to finding internships that actually made a difference. We’ll discuss how those early experiences shaped our career choices, built confidence, and helped (or didn’t help) when applying for full-time positions. We’ll also dive into what it felt like to enter the professional world for the first time — the hiring process, the shift in workload and expectations, and the surprises that came with finally starting a “real” job.

In this episode, we dive into the tech industry — and especially the world of software engineering. We’ll share our thoughts on the current state of the field: the impact of COVID, layoffs, hiring freezes, and the real numbers behind the headlines. We’ll talk about how innovation and AI are reshaping the industry, the evolution of software projects, and the constant challenge of staying up to date with the latest technologies. And of course, we’ll tackle the big question: would we still recommend studying software engineering to those considering it today? Join us for an honest look at the new era of tech.

We’re back! After a little break, we catch up on what’s new in our tech careers — from navigating fast-paced environments and shifting roles to diving into AI, product ownership, and team dynamics. We also chat about the never-ending meetings, performance reviews, and what it really feels like growing in a tech company. A chill, honest conversation to kick off the next season :)