Shows
Elixir WizardsElixir DevOps & Interoperability with Dan Ivovich and Charles SuggsIn this episode of Elixir Wizards, host Sundi Myint chats with SmartLogic engineers and fellow Wizards Dan Ivovich and Charles Suggs about the practical tooling that surrounds Elixir in a consultancy setting. We dig into how standardized dev environments, sensible scaffolding, and clear observability help teams ship quickly across many client projects without turning every app into a snowflake. Join us for a grounded tour of what’s working for us today (and what we’ve retired), plus how we evaluate new tech (including AI) through a pragmatic, Elixir-first lens.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
Stan...
2025-08-1447 min
Elixir WizardsVibe Coding the LoopedIn Crochet App with Kimberly Erni & Pei Pei WangToday, co-founders Kimberly Erni and Pei Pei Wang join the Elixir Wizards to discuss their crochet app, LoopedIn. Recognizing a gap in the market for a more user-friendly and interactive crochet pattern experience, they're building an app that makes following patterns easier and more enjoyable for crocheters of all skill levels.
They're building features such as step-by-step guidance, video tutorials, and the ability to upload and convert PDF patterns into an interactive format. Kimberly explains how she's leveraging AI tools to vibe code in Elixir and LiveView.
They highlight the challenges and successes they encountered...
2025-08-0739 min
Elixir WizardsSDUI at Scale: GraphQL & Elixir at Cars.com with Zack KayserZack Kayser, Staff Software Engineer at cars.com, joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs to discuss how Cars.com adopted a server-driven UI (SDUI) architecture powered by Elixir and GraphQL to deliver consistent, updatable interfaces across web, iOS, and Android.
We explore why SDUI matters for feature velocity, how a mature design system and schema planning make it feasible, and what it takes, culturally and technically, to move UI logic from client code into a unified backend.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
SDUI fundamentals and how it differs from traditional server-side...
2025-07-0349 min
Elixir WizardsRustler: Bridging Elixir and Rust with Sonny ScrogginRustler Core Team Member Sonny Scroggin joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs. Rustler serves as a bridge to write Native Implemented Functions (NIFs) in Rust that can be called from Elixir code. This combo leverages Rust's performance and memory safety while maintaining Elixir's fault tolerance and concurrency model, creating a powerful solution for CPU-intensive operations within Elixir applications.
Sonny provides guidance on when developers should consider using NIFs versus other approaches like ports or external services and highlights the considerations needed when stepping outside Elixir's standard execution model into native code.
Looking toward...
2025-06-2648 min
Elixir WizardsNx and Machine Learning in Elixir with Sean MoriarityToday on Elixir Wizards, hosts Sundi Myint and Charles Suggs catch up with Sean Moriarity, co-creator of the Nx project and author of Machine Learning in Elixir. Sean reflects on his transition from the military to a civilian job building large language models (LLMs) for software. He explains how the Elixir ML landscape has evolved since the rise of ChatGPT, shifting from building native model implementations toward orchestrating best-in-class tools.
We discuss the pragmatics of adding ML to Elixir apps: when to start with out-of-the-box LLMs vs. rolling your own, how to hook into Python-based libraries, and...
2025-06-1944 min
Elixir WizardsBlue Heron: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for Elixir & Nerves with Connor RigbyConnor Rigby joins the Elixir Wizards to talk about Blue Heron BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) support for Elixir apps. Blue Heron implements the BLE specs in pure Elixir, leveraging binary pattern matching and concurrent message processing to handle Bluetooth protocols. Unlike most solutions that require C ports or NIFs, Blue Heron runs entirely in user space, so it works seamlessly in both Nerves-based embedded projects and (eventually) desktop Elixir applications.
We discuss how Nerves development differs from building Phoenix apps. Connor shares challenges he's experienced with hardware compatibility, where some chips only partially implement the spec, and...
2025-06-0546 min
Elixir WizardsZigler: Zig NIFs for Elixir with Isaac YonemotoIn the Season 14 premiere, hosts Dan Ivovich and Sundi Myint chat with Isaac Yonemoto, creator of the Zigler library, to explore how Zigler brings Zig’s performance and safety to Elixir through Native Implemented Functions (NIFs). Isaac walks through the core design of Zigler and how it auto-generates the Elixir-to-Zig bridge, enforces type safety, and exposes multiple execution modes (normal, dirty, threaded). The conversation covers real-world applications, from SIMD-powered token selection for LLM hardware acceleration to OTP-style fault tolerance in low-level code.
Isaac shares his own journey: stepping back from professional software work to launch a biotech st...
2025-05-2943 min
Elixir WizardsCreating Horizon: Deploy Elixir Phoenix Apps on FreeBSD with Jim FreezeThe Elixir Wizards welcome Jim Freeze, organizer of ElixirConf and creator of the Horizon library. Jim shares his journey from organizing Ruby conferences to founding and growing ElixirConf into the community cornerstone it is today. He reflects on the challenges of running a major conference, how COVID-19 shaped the event, and why the talks remain an evergreen resource for the Elixir ecosystem.
We discuss Horizon, Jim’s deployment library for Elixir and Phoenix applications with Postgres on FreeBSD. Driven by a need for simplicity and cost-effectiveness, Jim explains how Horizon minimizes external dependencies while delivering fault-tolerant and st...
2024-12-1944 min
Elixir WizardsCreating a Terrestrial Telescope using Nerves & LiveView with Lucas SifoniToday on Elixir Wizards, indie developer Lucas Sifoni shares his experience prototyping a remote-controlled terrestrial telescope using Elixir, Nerves, Rust, and various hardware components.
Lucas explains the basic components of a telescope, the challenges he faced during the development process, and the benefits of using Elixir and Nerves for hardware projects. Lucas emphasizes the importance of simulating hardware components and testing assumptions before working with physical devices, as well as the value of literate programming and executable blog posts for documenting and sharing the process.
Lucas encourages listeners to explore Nerves and build their own...
2024-11-0749 min
Elixir WizardsCreating a Local-First Offline-Enabled LiveView PWA with Tony DangToday in the Creator’s Lab, Tony Dang joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford to break down his journey of creating a local-first, offline-ready to-do app using Phoenix LiveView, Svelte, and CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types).
Tony explains why offline functionality matters and how this feature can transform various apps. He shares insights on different libraries, algorithms, and techniques for building local-first experiences and highlights the advantages of Elixir and Phoenix LiveView.
Tony also shares his go-to tools, like Inertia.js for connecting Phoenix backends with JavaScript frontends, and favorite Elixir packages like Ob...
2024-10-3148 min
Elixir WizardsElixir Wizards X Thinking Elixir ElixirConf 2024 Hype-isodeThe Elixir Wizards and Thinking Elixir podcasts join forces to bring you a special hype-isode for ElixirConf 2024 in Orlando, Florida. Hosts Owen, Sundi, David, and Mark discuss their favorite moments from past conferences and offer a sneak peek into what this year's event has in store.
From insightful training classes to thought-provoking talks on topics like LiveView, data processing, Nerves, and machine learning—there's something for every Elixirist and Elixir-curious software developer. In this episode, we share tips on making the most of the conference, whether you're there to network, learn, or just soak in the community vi...
2024-07-2359 min
Elixir Wizards"DevOps: From Code to Cloud" with Dan IvovichIn Elixir Wizards Office Hours Episode 8, hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford lead an engaging Q&A session with co-host Dan Ivovich, diving deep into the nuances of DevOps. Drawing from his extensive experience, Dan navigates topics from the early days before Docker to managing diverse polyglot environments and optimizing observability.
This episode offers insights for developers of all levels looking to sharpen their DevOps skills. Explore the realms of Docker, containerization, DevOps workflows, and the deployment intricacies of Elixir applications.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
Understanding DevOps and starting points for beginners
...
2024-05-0943 min
Elixir Wizards"Keeping it Fresh" with Bilal Hankins and Anna DorigoIn Office Hours Episode 6, SmartLogic Developers Anna Dorigo and Bilal Hankins join Elixir Wizards Sundi and Dan to discuss their experiences maintaining a decade-old Ruby on Rails codebase.
They delve into the critical importance of deeply understanding the codebase, keeping dependencies current, and adapting to the original application's evolving priorities and design choices.
The conversation spans a range of topics, including accessibility, testing, monitoring, and the challenges of deploying database migrations in production environments. The guests share effective strategies for sustaining and enhancing older codebases, such as employing automated tools, performing code audits, and adhering...
2024-04-2536 min
Elixir Wizards"Whose Tailwind is it Anyway?" with Ava SlivkoffIn Elixir Wizards Office Hours Episode 4, SmartLogic Product Designer Ava Slivkoff joins hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford to discuss the product designer's role in software development. Ava shares her experience navigating client expectations, software design principles, and technical constraints.
They explore the integration of design and development workflows and how designers and engineers can collaborate to meet a project's specific needs. The conversation emphasizes the value of cross-functional teams and the synergy that can arise when all team members work in harmony to bring a product to life.
Key concepts discussed in the episode:
2024-04-1148 min
Elixir Wizards"Discovery Discoveries" with Alicia Brindisi and Bri LaVorgnaIn Elixir Wizards Office Hours Episode 2, "Discovery Discoveries," SmartLogic's Project Manager Alicia Brindisi and VP of Delivery Bri LaVorgna join Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford on an exploratory journey through the discovery phase of the software development lifecycle.
This episode highlights how collaboration and communication transform the client-project team dynamic into a customized expedition. The goal of discovery is to reveal clear business goals, understand the end user, pinpoint key project objectives, and meticulously document the path forward in a Product Requirements Document (PRD).
The discussion emphasizes the importance of fostering transparency, trust...
2024-03-2843 min
Elixir Wizards"Testing 1, 2, 3" with Joel Meador and Charles SuggsThe Elixir Wizards Podcast is back with Season 12 Office Hours, where we talk with the internal SmartLogic team about the stages of the software development lifecycle. For the season premiere, "Testing 1, 2, 3," Joel Meador and Charles Suggs join us to discuss the nuances of software testing.
In this episode, we discuss everything from testing philosophies to test driven development (TDD), integration, and end-user testing. Our guests share real-world experiences that highlight the benefits of thorough testing, challenges like test maintenance, and problem-solving for complex production environments.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
How to find...
2024-03-2145 min
Elixir WizardsCommunities in Tech with Camille Clayton & Scott TolinskiToday on Elixir Wizards, Camille Clayton, Director of Women Who Code DC, and Scott Tolinski, Co-Host of the Syntax Podcast and Creator of Level Up Tutorials, join hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford to discuss tech community spaces online and IRL.
They lay out the blueprint and best practices for fostering an inclusive environment where newcomers feel comfortable and welcome to join the discussion – whether it’s an online forum, YouTube comment sections, social media platform, local meetup, or conference.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Leaving a space open so newcomers feel empowered to join...
2023-12-2848 min
Elixir WizardsActor Model and Concurrent Processing in Elixir vs. Clojure and Ruby with Xiang Ji & Nathan HesslerIn this episode of Elixir Wizards, Xiang Ji and Nathan Hessler join hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford to compare actor model implementation in Elixir, Ruby, and Clojure.
In Elixir, the actor model is core to how the BEAM VM works, with lightweight processes communicating asynchronously via message passing. GenServers provide a common abstraction for building actors, handling messages, and maintaining internal state. In Ruby, the actor model is represented through Ractors, which currently map to OS threads.
They discuss what we can learn by comparing models, understanding tradeoffs between VMs, languages, and concurrency primitives...
2023-12-2147 min
Elixir WizardsEmbedded Systems in Elixir vs. C, C++, and Java with Connor Rigby & Taylor BartoThis week on Elixir Wizards, Connor Rigby, Software Engineer at SmartRent, and Taylor Barto, Lead Embedded Software Engineer at Eaton, join Sundi Myint to compare notes on embedded systems development with Elixir, C, C++, and Java. They discuss using Elixir and the Nerves framework for firmware projects versus more traditional choices like C. The guests ask one another questions and gain valuable insights into challenges, tooling, resources, and more across different embedded ecosystems.
In this episode, the guests expand their perspectives and demystify the concept of embedded systems for engineers outside the field. This cross-language exchange of...
2023-11-1646 min
Elixir WizardsECS / Game Development with Elixir vs. Python, JavaScript, React with Dorian Iacobescu & Daniel LuuIn Episode 4, the Elixir Wizards are joined by Dorian Iacobescu, author of the ECSpanse ECS library for Elixir, and Daniel Luu, founder and CEO of the game development studio AKREW. The guests compare notes on backend game development using ECS, the Entity Component System approach.
Akrew is currently building the multiplayer game Galactic Getaway using the Photon Unity networking framework, which employs ECS. They discuss challenges like collections of component types and persistence beyond runtime, building games for various platforms like MacOS, and handling inventory storage in a backend database.
Game development is complex and...
2023-11-0941 min
Elixir WizardsLearning a Language: Elixir vs. JavaScript with Yohana Tesfazgi & Wes BosThis week, the Elixir Wizards are joined by Yohana Tesfazgi and Wes Bos to compare notes on the experience of learning Elixir vs. JavaScript as your first programming language. Yohana recently completed an Elixir apprenticeship, and Wes Bos is a renowned JavaScript educator with popular courses for beginner software developers.
They discuss a variety of media and resources and how people with different learning styles benefit from video courses, articles, or more hands-on projects. They also discuss the current atmosphere for those looking to transition into an engineering career and how to stick out among the crowd...
2023-11-0242 min
Elixir WizardsHTTP Requests in Elixir vs. JavaScript with Yordis Prieto & Stephen ChudleighIn today’s episode, Sundi and Owen are joined by Yordis Prieto and Stephen Chudleigh to compare notes on HTTP requests in Elixir vs. Ruby, JavaScript, Go, and Rust. They cover common pain points when working with APIs, best practices, and lessons that can be learned from other programming languages.
Yordis maintains Elixir's popular Tesla HTTP client library and shares insights from building APIs and maintaining open-source projects. Stephen has experience with Rails and JavaScript, and now works primarily in Elixir. They offer perspectives on testing HTTP requests and working with different libraries.
While Elixir ha...
2023-10-2650 min
Elixir WizardsSeason 11 Kickoff: The Hosts Discuss Branching Out from Elixir to Compare NotesHosts Dan Ivovich, Owen Bickford, and Sundi Myint kick off the 11th season of the Elixir Wizards podcast. This season’s theme is “Branching Out from Elixir,” which expands the conversation to compare notes with experts from other communities; they discuss their experiences with other languages like JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, C#, Go, and Dart before and after learning Elixir.
This season's conversations will illuminate how problems are solved in different languages vs. Elixir; upcoming episode topics teased include education, data processing, deployment strategies, and garbage collection; the hosts express excitement for conversations analyzing similarities and differences betwee...
2023-10-1932 min
Thinking Elixir Podcast171: Thinking Elixir NewsNews includes José Valim's blog post about Elixir's "strong arrows" that expands on his keynote, the release of LiveView 0.20.0 with its myriad of updates and improvements, and a sneak peek into the upcoming Livebook features with a new "Authentication" section. Additionally, Wojtek Mach shares a success story using beammachine.cloud for a quick Erlang check, Sundi Myint shares a tip for 404 pages in LiveView when URLs are tweaked, and Lionel Aimerie demonstrates how to integrate Chart.js into Elixir Phoenix for visual impact in LiveView. All these, along with newly released ElixirConf videos, the upcoming SpawnFest contest, and more!
2023-10-0313 min
Elixir WizardsChris McCord and Jason Stiebs on the Future of PhoenixPhoenix core team members Chris McCord and Jason Stiebs join Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford the growth of Phoenix and LiveView, the latest updates, and what they're excited to see in the future. They express excitement for the possibilities of machine learning, AI, and distributed systems and how these emerging technologies will enhance the user experience of Elixir and LiveView applications in the next decade.
Key Topics Discussed in this Episode:
How community contributions and feedback help improve Phoenix LiveView
The addition of function components, declarative assigns, HEEx, and streams
Why Ecto changesets should...
2023-06-0158 min
Elixir WizardsSean Moriarity on the Future of Machine Learning with ElixirSean Moriarity, author of Genetic Algorithms in Elixir and creator of the Axon Library, joins Elixir Wizards Sundi Myint and Bilal Hankins to discuss Elixir’s role in the future of machine learning and AI. He explains the difference between artificial intelligence, chat models, machine learning, deep learning systems, and neural networks.
Large language models have great potential for code generation, education tools, streamlining workflow, and more. Deployment, development experience, and real-time processing make Elixir an ideal programming language for creating and improving machine learning tools.
Key Topics Discussed in this Episode:
The difference be...
2023-05-2547 min
Elixir WizardsHugo Baraúna & Lucas San Roman on the Future of the Elixir CommunityIn this episode of the Elixir Wizards podcast, hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford are joined by Hugo Baraúna, founder at Elixir Radar, and Lucas San Roman, senior software engineer at Felt. We dive into the future of the Elixir community, how we stay connected, and the remarkable culture that has developed over the past decade.
Key highlights in this episode:
The Elixir community's warm and inviting atmosphere
Commitment to long-term stability and innovation in the Elixir community
How projects like Nerves, Phoenix LiveView, and Livebook expand Elixir's capabilities
Global connections and support among Elixirists v...
2023-05-1850 min
Elixir WizardsJosé Valim on the Future of the Elixir EcosystemToday on Elixir Wizards, José Valim, creator of the Elixir programming language, joins hosts Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford to discuss the future of Elixir, upcoming features, changes to the language and ecosystem, and the potential for a type system.
José discusses how Elixir’s extensibility allows the ecosystem to grow with new tools and libraries, all while requiring few languages to the core language.
Key Takeaways:
The origin of the famous rainbow heart combo
José’s hands-off approach to planning the ecosystem which allows community contribution without reliance on the core team
The success...
2023-05-1143 min
Elixir WizardsSaša Jurić on The Future of Training & Education in ElixirToday on Elixir Wizards, Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford are joined by Saša Jurić, distinguished developer, mentor, and author of Elixir in Action. They discuss the future of training and education in Elixir, challenges faced by new Elixir developers, Phoenix generators, peer mentorship, the emergence of types, and when it’s time to close the umbrella.
Key Takeaways:
The functional programming paradigm, the actor model, and concurrency
Adapting to the Elixir syntax and tooling
The role of community, mentorship, and continuous learning in Elixir education
The pros and cons of Phoenix generators for Elixir development
Cust...
2023-05-0446 min
Elixir WizardsSophie DeBenedetto on the Future of Elixir and LiveViewIn today's episode, Sophie DeBenedetto emphasizes the importance of the Elixir community's commitment to education, documentation, and tools like liveBook, fostering an environment where people with varying skill levels can learn and contribute. The discussion highlights LiveView's capabilities and the role it plays in the future of Elixir, encouraging members to share knowledge and excitement for these tools through various channels.
Sophie invites listeners to attend and submit their talks for the upcoming Empex conference, which aims to showcase the best in Elixir and LiveView technologies. Additionally, the group shares light-hearted moments, reminding everyone to contribute to...
2023-04-1351 min
Elixir WizardsCory O'Daniel and the Future of DevOps in Elixir ProgrammingIn this episode of Elixir Wizards, Cory O'Daniel, CEO of Massdriver, talks with Sundi and Owen about the role of DevOps in the future of Elixir programming. They discuss the advantages of using Elixir for cloud infrastructure and the challenges of securing cloud systems. They elaborate on their hopes for the future, including processes and automation to streamline operations so programmers can spend more time doing what they love … writing software!
Major topics of discussion in the episode:
Cory’s ideal ratio of hot sauce to honey (recommended for chicken)
Why this episode was renamed “how Cory a...
2023-03-3045 min
Elixir WizardsSeason 10 Kickoff: The Hosts Discuss The Future of ElixirIt’s the season 10 premiere of the Elixir Wizards podcast! Sundi Myint, Owen Bickford, and Dan Ivovich kick off the season with a spirited conversation about what they hope to see in the future of the Elixir programming language, experiences that inform their predictions, and excitement for this season’s lineup of guests.
They touch on how Elixir has evolved in the previous ten years and how the range of use cases has expanded beyond web development.
The hosts introduce the season 10 theme: The Next Ten Years of Elixir
Dan explains his initial hesitation and how he w...
2023-03-2341 min
Elixir WizardsThat's a Wrap: Season 9 Finale with Sundi, Bilal, Owen & Dan!Elixir Wizards Season 9 is coming to an end! In the season finale, hosts Sundi, Bilal, Owen, and Dan reflect on the guests and highlights that made this season unforgettable. We thank you for joining us as we parsed the particulars and can't wait to reconnect next season for more insightful conversations!
*Please remember to take our LISTENER SURVEY so we can come back bigger and better for Season 10 – Coming in early 2023!! *
SmartLogic — https://smartlogic.io/
SmartLogic Twitter — https://twitter.com/smartlogic
2022-12-2936 min
Elixir WizardsMarcelo Dominguez on Command and Query Responsibility SegregationToday on Elixir Wizards, Marcelo Dominguez, co-founder at Mimiquate, joins us to parse the particulars of command query responsibility segregation (CQRS). Mimiquate is a specialized team of developers providing solutions for their clients with Elixir, Ruby on Rails, and Ember. Tune in to learn the benefits and potential applications of CQRS.
*Please remember to take our LISTENER SURVEY so we can come back bigger and better for Season 10 – Coming in early 2023!! *
The Wizards catch up with Marcelo and hear about ElixirConf Uruguay and Advent of Code 2022
Marcelo and the hosts run through their experience with CQRS an...
2022-12-2244 min
Elixir WizardsFrank Hunleth and Joe Martin on the Particulars of NervesToday on Elixir Wizards, we speak with two great minds in the Elixir community: Frank Hunleth from SmartRent and Joe Martin from Company Six. Join us to parse the particulars of Nerves, from production and terminology, to stacks, customization, and how they function.
*Please remember to take our LISTENER SURVEY so we can come back bigger and better for Season 10 – Coming in early 2023!! *
Key Points From This Episode:
How both Frank & Joe became interested in Elixir
We learn what nerves is currently being used for in production
How Nerves is being utilized within farming an...
2022-12-0845 min
Elixir WizardsJenny Bramble on Testing and Collaboration at PapaToday on Elixir Wizards, we chat with Jenny Bramble. Jenny is the Director of Quality Engineering at Papa, a platform that connects older adults and low-income families with companionship and a helping hand with daily tasks. Tune in to learn more about Jenny's experience with testing and team collaboration at Papa.
Key Points From This Episode:
Jenny tells us about her journey to learning Elixir (for 8 years now!)
We learn about the 24 talks that Jenny has done as a keynote speaker
The breakdown of her talk this year at Elixir Conf on upgrades
How Jenny got...
2022-12-0146 minThinking Elixir Podcast126: Working at a Software Agency with the WizardsAs software developers, there are many different types of companies we can work at. We met up with the Elixir Wizards crew to learn more about working at a Software Agency like SmartLogic. We compare what this is like vs working at a product company. Of course, we take the opportunity to learn more about Sundi Myint and Owen Bickford, their journeys to Elixir and the work they are doing now. Sundi shares how becoming an Engineering Manager presented new growth opportunities and Owen goes deeper on the ETL system he's creating to migrate an MSSQL DB to Postgres...
2022-11-221h 00
Elixir WizardsHarper Atlas on Tailwind From the Perspective of a DesignerWe are excited to have SmartLogic's own Harper Atlas as our guest on Elixir Wizards today! Harper, a product designer at SmartLogic (and cat lady at home), joins us on this episode to parse the particulars of the Tailwind framework from a designer's perspective. Join us to gain insights from our first non-engineer guest in this spirited conversation with Harper!
Key Points From This Episode:
We learn about Harper’s journey into the UX field
Harper breaks down her day-to-day life as a product designer at SmartLogic
What the difference between FigMa and FigJam is
The go...
2022-11-1739 min
Elixir WizardsTheo Harris on Onboarding into Elixir at AlembicToday on the show we’re excited to have Theo Harris here to discuss Onboarding Into Elixir. Theo is a technical consultant working for Alembic in Sydney, Australia. He is currently working on a project utilizing Elixir and Phoenix LiveView. Tune in today to learn more about Onboarding Into Elixir, from our guest Theo Harris!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Theo Harris
Theo lets us in on his current hot tech take
We discuss accessibility tips and tricks
Theo gives us the run down...
2022-11-1039 min
Elixir WizardsAshley Smith & Kenneth Moy from Bowery Farming on ObanOn today’s episode of Elixir Wizards, Ashley Smith and Kenneth Moy from Bowery Farming join us to dive into the particulars of Oban. Ashley has been working as a software engineer for 3 years with full-stack experience working mainly on web applications and now works in elixir at Bowery Farming. Kenneth is a software engineer at Bowery Farming with 3 years of elixir experience. Tune in today to learn more about Oban from today’s special guests, Ashley & Kenneth!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guests, Ashley...
2022-11-0338 min
Elixir WizardsJason Stiebs on LiveView at RokkinCatToday we welcome Jason Stiebs to the podcast to talk about all things LiveView and how he was originally wrong about LiveView in the beginning. Jason is the founder at Rokkincat, and a core contributor to Phoenix. Jason loves finding solutions to complex problems and mentoring young engineers. Tune in today to learn more about LiveView from today’s special guest, Jason Stiebs!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Jason Stiebs
A summary of Jason’s talk at ElixirConf on why he initially was wrong...
2022-10-2749 min
Elixir WizardsMark & David from Thinking Elixir on Ecto QueriesThis week the Thinking Elixir Podcast is taking over Elixir Wizards! Mark & David from Thinking Elixir are here today to parse the particulars of Ecto Queries! Mark Ericksen is an Elixir Specialist at Fly.io and host of Thinking Elixir. David Bernheisel is a Senior Software Engineer at Bitfo and host of Thinking Elixir. Tune in today to learn more about Ecto Queries from today’s special guests, Mark Ericksen and David Bernheisel!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guests, Mark & David
The hosts catch up w...
2022-10-2053 min
Elixir WizardsTyler Young on Geo Mapping at FeltToday on Elixir Wizards we are joined by Tyler Young to explore the particulars of Geo Mapping, the process of turning data into maps. Tyler is a Senior Software Developer at Felt, the world’s first collaborative mapping tool built for anyone to make a beautiful map in minutes. Tune in today to learn more about Geo Mapping from today’s special guest, Tyler Young!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Tyler Young
We discover Tyler’s background and how he started working in Elixir...
2022-10-1336 min
Elixir WizardsKate Rezentes on GenServers at SimplebetSeason 9 is in full swing and we are so excited to welcome Kate Rezentes today to dive into the particulars of GenServers. Kate is a Junior Software Developer at Simplebet, a B2B product development company using machine learning and real-time technology to make every moment of every sporting event a betting opportunity. Tune in today to learn more from today’s special guest, Kate Rezentes!
Key Points From This Episode:
A brief breakdown of today’s topic and introduction to our special guest, Kate Rezentes
We learn about Kate’s background and her long history with p...
2022-10-0648 min
Elixir WizardsDave Lucia on Observability at BitfoWelcome to our first episode of Season 9 Elixir Wizards, Parsing the Particulars. A show focused on conversations with software developers from around the world on the Elixir language and other modern web technologies. Today, we are joined by Dave Lucia, Chief Technology Officer at Bitfo, a cryptocurrency media company building educational content for people who are interested in cryptocurrency. Dave is active in the Elixir community and in the past has spoken at Code BEAM SF, ElixirConf, RabbitMQ Summit, and has written several blog posts which can be found at davelucia.com. In today’s episode we find out mo...
2022-09-2951 min
Elixir WizardsWe're baaaack! Season 9 TeaserHey everyone, Season 9 of Elixir Wizards is back! This season's theme is Parsing the Particulars, where we dive into particular subjects with our guests. Your returning hosts this season are Sundi, Owen and Dan! And we are excited to announce that we have a new host joining the show - Bilal Hankins! Bilal is a Software Developer at SmartLogic and is super excited to join us this season.
Some of this season's guests include Dave Lucia, CTO at Bitfo, Tyler Young, Senior Software Developer at Felt, and Kate Rezentes, Junior Developer at SimpleBet. Can't wait to see...
2022-09-2201 min
Elixir WizardsLooking back on Season 8 with Sundi, Owen & DanIt’s the season finale show! Can you believe it? Join us this week as Sundi, Owen, and Dan take a look back at this season of Elixir Wizards! You’ll hear their discussion about favorite moments over the season and learn about this season’s theme and its origin, and what they learned throughout the season. Enjoy and we hope to see you back for Season 9!
Key Points From This Episode:
Reflection on the guests experiences with all different types of language
How the team landed on the theme of Elixir in a Polygl...
2022-06-2938 min
Elixir WizardsCara Mitchell on Internal In-house eCommerceWelcome to this week’s episode of Elixir Wizards, with our special guest, Cara Mitchell of Pepsi Co. Today we speak with Cara about her career journey that led to her living in the lower East Side of New York City. Cara has been working in the software engineering field for over 20 years and currently works at PepsiCo on their in-house eCommerce platform built with Elixir. Over the years, she's worked on systems that range from embedded firmware to large distributed systems running on thousands of machines. She enjoys working in a number of programming languages and refuses to pi...
2022-06-1644 min
Elixir WizardsCatalina Astengo on The Many Languages of NavJoining us today on Elixir Wizards is Catalina Astengo, Staff Software Engineer at Nav Inc. We chat with Catalina about how she went from working as a process engineer in a mine to a software engineer in beautiful Salt Lake City.
In today’s show we find out more about Catalina’s professional background, how and why she started taking Ruby courses while working at a mine in southern Utah, how she fell in love with Salt Lake City and what it looked like transitioning to a new profession. We learn about the ins & outs of Nav and...
2022-06-0942 min
Elixir WizardsMeks McClure on Communication, Diversity, and ErgonomicsWelcome to another episode of Elixir Wizards, a show focused on conversations with software developers from around the world on the Elixir language and other modern web technologies. In today’s episode, we speak with Meks McClure, a Full Stack Software Engineer with an unconventional background in Biology and Philosophy. Meks found their passion for programming after building a website for a Mexican non-profit, Permanencia Voluntaria, using wix.com. Seeing people use the website and how it helped the community inspired Meks to pursue a career in programming. They are currently based at NewAperio, a software development company, as a...
2022-06-0245 min
Elixir WizardsJessica Kerr on Systems Thinking for DevelopersA superpower of software development is teaching our code to teach us what’s happening. This is observability, and it’s why Jessica Kerr works at Honeycomb, where she is a Developer Advocate. After twenty years as a developer, Jess sees software as a significant force in the world. As a symmathecist in the medium of code, she views development teams as learning systems made of both people and software. She believes that, if we allow the software to teach us, it becomes a better teammate and, if this process makes us into systems thinkers, we can be better peop...
2022-05-2643 min
Elixir WizardsDigit on Smart Homes, EMPEX, and Cross-platform DevelopmentWelcome back to another episode of Elixir Wizards. Today, we chat with Digit, a talented software engineer currently based at SmartRent. He became aware of the company when he started trying to modify his smart home and realized what was behind the software. Digit works on building applications within the SmartRent suite of tools using the Nerves ecosystem. Although fairly new at SmartRent, Digit loves the powerful applications of the software they are developing. In today’s show we find out more about the work Digit is currently involved with at SmartRent and what they have in store for th...
2022-05-1942 min
Elixir WizardsSanne Kalkman on Coding, Crafting, and CollaborationThis week we are joined by Sanne Kalkman, former teacher turned software engineer. Currently, Sanne works at CodeSandbox, where she's one of two Elixir developers responsible for the backend. When she's not coding, you'll probably find her either 25 browser tabs deep into a new CS topic, learning yet another new hobby, or behind her sewing machine, all of which we dive into in today’s episode! Tuning in, you’ll discover which languages Sanne is proficient in and why she doesn’t consider herself a polyglot; gain some insight into CodeSandbox Projects, a more collaborative rewrite of CodeSandbox from the gr...
2022-05-0543 min
Elixir WizardsCassidy Williams and Tobi Pfeiffer on Elixir Programming at RemoteThis double guest episode features Cassidy Williams, Head of Developer Experience and Education and Tobi Pfeiffer, Staff Engineer from Remote. This fast growing Elixir company provides HR support to clients who are hiring internationally. In this fascinating fast-paced conversation Cassidy and Tobi discuss how Remote works, the explosive growth it has seen and what Cassidy and Tobi have most enjoyed in their time there. Also, we learn more about Cassidy's content creation projects, why Tobi's handle is PragTob, and the strangest laws they have come across when working internationally. We also learn about Cassidy's love of mechanical keyboards and...
2022-04-281h 00
Elixir WizardsMiguel Cobá on Deploying in Elixir and Other LanguagesWelcome to the new season of Elixir Wizards: Elixir in a Polyglot Environment. To get things going on this exciting and intriguing subject we are very happy to welcome Miguel Cobá! Miguel currently works at Shore, and he gives us some great insight into the part that Elixir plays at the company (alongside other languages), and how this suits his particulars skillset and vision. In this season, we want to consider important questions about reaching beyond the confines of the Elixir community, and how we can all learn from each other. Miguel is such a perfect guest to open t...
2022-04-1448 min
Elixir WizardsTodd Resudek on the Impact of ElixirWelcome to the Season 7 finale! Today, we are joined by Todd Resudek, Staff Engineer at Jackpocket, to reflect on the past season and speak about the impact of Elixir, as well as a variety of other topics almost entirely unrelated to programming! Todd is a reformed graphic designer that got his start in web development 15 years ago. He has made a career in front-end development, PHP, Rails, and Elixir. He is also a member of the Hex core team and, in his spare time, he tinkers with hardware projects. In today’s episode of Elixir Wizards, you’ll learn more...
2022-02-0356 min
Elixir WizardsArthi Radhakrishnan on the Value of Collaborative Learning for Software EngineersThis week we welcome Arthi Radhakrishnan back to the show to discuss how Elixir and her career more broadly have shaped her perspectives on learning. Arthi first got into programming as a child growing up in the Bay Area, constantly exposed to tech and tech culture. She remembers building websites using GeoCities in high school and learning about data structures and OOP in Java while in college before transitioning to Elixir during her current position as a backend engineer at Community. We hear about what made her learning so enjoyable, the biggest paradigm shifts she needed to make, and...
2022-01-2745 min
Elixir WizardsMeryl Dakin on Changing Lanes and Switching Gears With ElixirToday we welcome software engineer Meryl Dakin to the show, who is currently employed by Knock. Meryl is here to help us continue our exploration of this season's theme of the impact of Elixir, and we get to hear about all how it has impacted her professional and personal life! Our guest talks about her journey through the world of development and the different positions she has held before her current role. We also get into her recent stint as the emcee of ElixirConf alongside our other friend Sophie DeBenedetto! We talk about learning through teaching, encouraging more questions...
2022-01-2051 min
Elixir WizardsSigu Magwa on the Elixir Community in KenyaWe are always excited to have conversations about the growth of the Elixir community, and today we go truly global, welcoming Sigu Magwa to the podcast, who hails from Kenya! Sigu is currently traveling in the US and he fills us in on some of the highs and lows of his trip and why he is so excited to get home to his friends and family. From there, we get into some interesting information about Elixir Kenya and the growth of the meetup over the last couple of years. Sigu shares some insight into IoT in his country and...
2022-01-0650 min
Elixir WizardsCasting Spells with Brooklin MyersBrooklin Myers is on a quest to change the perception that Elixir is difficult to get into and we are so grateful to have him as a guest on the show today. Aside from being a passionate programmer, Brooklin spends a lot of his time trying to encourage new members in the Elixir community through his Twitter account and podcast called Elixir Newbies. In this episode, we talk to Brooklin about his relationship with Elixir and its broader community, why he loves the space so much and, and why he wants to help it grow. We cover his journey...
2021-12-1656 min
Elixir WizardsSpeedcubing and Building Livebook with Jonatan KłoskoIt is important to us that the Elixir community keeps thriving, and one of the best ways to ensure this is by lowering the barrier to entry as much as possible. Livebook is helping to achieve this aim, and today we are lucky enough to be joined by its developer, Jonatan Kłosko. Jonatan is a young prodigy because while he is still at college, he is working closely with José Valim at Dashbit, and he can solve a Rubik’s cube in under five seconds! After hearing about his college thesis on evolutionary algorithms using Numerical Elixir, we jump...
2021-12-0945 min
Elixir WizardsProtocols in Elixir with Yiming ChenToday on the show we are grateful to get the chance to speak with Yiming Chen from Tubi, where we hear all about how he likes to use Elixir and the contributions he has made to the community. We begin as always with Yiming's journey into programming and how he got into Elixir through his early interest in Ruby. From there, we talk about the magic of Protocols, hearing about an awesome project Yiming built using them and how this lead him to build a testing framework called Promox. In this section, we also get into how Protocols enable...
2021-12-0242 min
Elixir WizardsRe-Platforming One of the Original Dot Coms in Elixir with Angel JoseToday’s guest is Angel Jose, a Software Engineer Manager at Cars.com with a passion for product and the customer experience. Angel played a key role in completely re-platforming Cars.com via Elixir, Phoenix, and other open source tooling, and his former adventures in the blockchain space include working with ETH, EOS, and general distributed tooling. In today’s episode, we discuss Cars.com's decision to migrate to an entirely Elixir-based system, rebuilding the data model from scratch, redesigning all of the user interfaces, and what that meant for the team that Angel was tasked with leading, as well...
2021-11-1147 min
Elixir WizardsThe Impact of Elixir LaunchisodeAs we kick off our new, seventh season of the Elixir Wizards podcast, we wanted to introduce our theme of the impact of Elixir by having a simple chat between our panel and foregoing our usual guest format. As fans of podcasts ourselves, we always like to get to know some of the personalities behind the voices, so we decided to take this opportunity to do just that, with Alex, Sundi, and Eric! So to hear a little about what to expect in the coming weeks of the show, what the teams have been up to recently, both professionally...
2021-11-0458 min
Elixir WizardsWrapping up BEAM Magic with Amos KingWe have reached the final episode of our season, and as we wrap up our exploration of BEAM magic, we are joined by Amos King, whose tweet was the inspiration behind this season's focus! We've had such a great time this season and hope that our listeners have enjoyed it as much as we have, and gained something in the process. Our conversation with Amos jumps around from exploring his experiences during the last year and a half, to the journey he has been on with his company, Binary Noggin, life as a CEO, and much more! We delve...
2021-08-2657 min
Elixir WizardsMini-Feature Extravaganza featuring Tyler Clemens, Elom Amouzou, Elise Navarro, and Jeremy NealThis episode serves as a round-up of some of the special mini-features we have recorded throughout Season 6, where we'll hear from Tyler Clemens, Elom Amouzou, Elise Navarro, and Jeremy Neal about their work and experiences with Elixir. Our first segment is with Tyler, who is a software developer at Jackpocket, where he explains what he is currently busy with and how the company is offering access to the lottery in more safe and convenient ways. We then move on to Elom, who talks about transitioning from a life in public education, and what prompted him to learn functional programming...
2021-08-1938 min
Elixir WizardsDelving Deeper into Magic with Quinn WiltonJoining us on the show today is Quinn Wilton, and we have a wonderful conversation with our guest about her journey with Elixir, unusual path into programming, and her wide appreciation for different languages! We start off looking at the time Quinn spent at Waterloo University and what separates the Canadian ethos around computer science. From there, we turn to Quinn's early work in programming, the first proper job that she stepped into, and the immediate affinity she felt for working in Elixir. We also talk a bit about the interesting research that Quinn has been conducting privately, tracking...
2021-08-1244 min
Elixir WizardsThe Bridge Between Elixir and Zig with Isaac YonemotoWhile NIFs provide a great way to interface with native code in the BEAM machine, the process can also be rather error-prone. Thankfully, since Isaac Yonemoto built Zigler, things have become a lot simpler, and he joins us today to talk about how. Isaac is an Elixir developer with a background in biotech and we kick off the discussion by hearing about his journey into programming and some of the ways that he has combined it with science. From there we hear more about the different languages Isaac has worked in and why he fell in love with Elixir...
2021-08-0546 min
Elixir WizardsMaxim Fedorov on Building and Scaling WhatsApp with ErlangToday we are so excited to share a conversation with Maxim Fedorov, who is the Core Infrastructure Lead at communications giant, WhatsApp! In our chat, Maxim offers such interesting insight and wisdom from a long career in the space, focusing on Erlang and why he views it as such a powerful language for the work at WhatsApp. We also get some backstory from Maxim, looking at his first experiences with computers, his educational background, and some of the work he did leading up to his current position. Our guest does a great job of sharing his thoughts on what...
2021-07-2950 min
Elixir WizardsChelsea Troy on the Importance of Access and the Impact of TeachingSome of you may recognize Chelsea Troy from her popular blog of the same name or as a keynote speaker for the March 2021 Code BEAM conference. Chelsea is an instructor in the Master's Program in Computer Science at the University of Chicago and currently works as a staff software engineer at Mozilla, where she specializes in machine learning and backend systems. In our conversation with Chelsea, we discuss some of the unique aspects of coding as a career. Chelsea outlines how programming can be more accessible than other careers because it doesn't have the same financial burden when it...
2021-07-2248 min
Elixir WizardsTesting Elixir with Jeffrey Matthias and Andrea LeopardiWhile we can think of many reasons why we love Elixir, the community could always benefit from a more lively conversation around testing. It was with this in mind that Jeffrey Matthias and Andrea Leopardi decided to write Testing Elixir, and today they join us on the show to share some of the insights to be found in their new book. Our guests start by sketching out the main reasons why they decided to write a book of this nature before speaking to the process of writing it collaboratively from their respective homes in Italy and the US. Andrea...
2021-07-1556 min
Elixir WizardsFrom Developer to Director of Engineering with Estelle DeBloisToday we are joined by the Director of Engineering at DockYard, Estelle DeBlois! Estelle speaks to us about the transition she made from an engineer into her current management role, her introduction to Elixir and the BEAM, her background in computer science and so much more. The bulk of this enlightening conversation is spent thinking about what it takes to make the sort of jump that Estelle did, and the skills and infrastructure that can aid team members in successful changes. Estelle speaks on what it was like to give up hands-on coding, the resources that helped her learn about...
2021-06-1052 min
Elixir WizardsScaling and The Growth Curve with Francesco CesariniJoining us for this episode of Elixir Wizards is the vastly experienced and well-traveled Francesco Cesarini! Francesco is the founder of Erlang Solutions and we are so lucky to have him here on the show to talk about his personal and professional journey, and take this great season of shows on the magic of the BEAM even further. Francesco takes us through his early interactions with computers and coding and the events that led to his decision to study computer science, before diving into his move to Sweden, and subsequently the UK, and how this all resulted in the...
2021-06-0346 min
Elixir WizardsBringing the Magic of Math into Programming with Chris MillerToday we have some extra BEAM magic for all of you! Joining us on the show is Chris Miller, who currently works as an Associate Software Engineer at Corvus Insurance. We get into a great conversation with Chris about his history with programming, his long-held interest in mathematics, and how he is trying to bring these two worlds closer together through his work. Chris weighs in with some very important expert perspectives on a range of subjects, from monads and monoids to Vim and Emacs, before we get into the different avenues of Chris' work. Along with an old...
2021-05-2754 min
Elixir WizardsThe Controlled Magic of Oban with Parker and Shannon SelbertWhile there is magic to be found in many frameworks, having too much going on under the hood without you being able to control it is not for everybody. Today we invite Parker and Shannon Selbert to speak about their dynamic partnership and the ‘controlled magic’ of their tool Oban. Together Parker and Shannon founded Soren, where they help clients with established web apps stabilize, scale, and ‘add schmancy features’. Their tool Oban is a persistent background job processor written in Elixir whose differentiating feature revolves around keeping jobs after they're processed. We dive right in with Parker and Shannon...
2021-05-2050 min
Elixir WizardsThe Right Amount of Magic with Erik PersonToday we are joined by the Vice President of Engineering at Corvus Insurance, Erik Person! Erik continues our journey into the magic of the BEAM, our season-long theme for the Elixir Wizards Podcast, and we get to hear all about Erik's path in programming, his relationship with Elixir, and his utilization of the BEAM. Growing up in a family involved in computer science, and an early affinity for technology made the choice of what to study at college a straightforward one for Erik. He tells us about his life during and after those school years, touching on his first...
2021-05-131h 00
Elixir OutlawsEpisode 94: Crossover Math-isodeThis week, the Elixir Wizards take over the show. Justus does his best Chris Keathley impression and desperately wants to talk about Elixir. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the group continues to shuck and or jive. The topic eventually winds its way to LiveBook and Nx, or "Neex" if your Amos. Justus makes the bold claim that Data Scientists are just smarter than the rest of us, a notion that is quickly put down by everyone else. As the show closes, some future developments are teased and Chris claims that contexts "aren't a thing".
A transcript is available for...
2021-05-061h 08
Elixir WizardsRobert Virding on the Roots of ErlangWelcome to a brand-spanking-new season of Elixir Wizards! This time around we will be focussing on the magic of the BEAM, so get ready for an exciting journey into new territories filled with mystery and power! To kick things off in this inaugural episode we are joined by a true legend in the space of Erlang, Elixir, and the BEAM. Robert Virding is one of the three founding members of Erlang, and his unrivaled intimacy with the language and its related subjects is truly inspiring and informative. We feel like we could fill many more episodes just hearing Robert...
2021-05-0649 min
Elixir WizardsAdopting Elixir Finale with Sean Lewis, Anna Neyzberg, and René FöhringSeason 5 ends with a bang as we welcome back Sean Lewis, Anna Neyzber, and René Föhring onto the show to share their journey on getting their companies and teams to adopt Elixir. We open our conversation with each guest sharing their first experiences with Elixir. After chatting about the changes that they’ve seen in the Elixir ecosystem, we explore Elixir’s benefits and how they’ve persuaded companies to make the Elixir leap. From zero downtime deployment to arguing for Elixir’s ability to solve immediate problems, we touch on the most convincing reasons for stakeholders to adopt Elix...
2021-03-251h 01
Elixir WizardsJenn Gamble on Data Science, Machine Learning, and ElixirThe fields of data science and machine learning are moving ever faster. Jenn Gamble has her finger on the pulse and has become an industry expert with a wealth of experience to her name. As today’s guest, she dives into these rich and often complex topics, and she helps us boil them down into palatable nuggets of knowledge. We start off by asking Jenn about her current role at Very, and she tells us about the nature of her team and the things they’re able to achieve. She touches on what the language markups look like for a da...
2021-03-1847 min
Elixir WizardsJohn Mertens on Adopting Elixir at Change.orgMany organizations take an incremental approach when adopting Elixir, preferring to pick up its nuances by using it to work on non-essential projects. But not Change.org. Today we speak with Change.org Director of Engineering John Mertens about how his company adopted Elixir to create a business-critical app that handles over a billion emails per month. From building webpages on GeoCities to working as an IT intern at an Iowan prison, we open our conversation by exploring John’s coding background. After chatting about his first Elixir project, we dive into Change.org’s process in adopting Elixir. As J...
2021-03-1143 min
Elixir WizardsSophie DeBenedetto on Programming Phoenix LiveViewAs users increasingly demand interactivity from their web experiences, Phoenix LiveView is becoming the dominant way of writing interactive Elixir applications without a loss to reliability. Today we welcome back an old friend of the show and GitHub engineer Sophie DeBenedetto to talk about her upcoming book, Programming Phoenix LiveView. We open our conversation with Sophie by hearing about her work at GitHub, as well as what we can expect from the Code BEAM V conference. As she doesn’t always get to use Elixir at her job, Sophie then discusses how coders can sharpen their Elixir skills when no...
2021-03-0448 min
Elixir WizardsShaun Robinson and Toran Billups on Using Elixir to Empower Online LearningWith the prevalence of at-home learning, teachers have to compete for student attention against numerous screen-based activities. Today we speak with engineering lead Shaun Robinson and Elixir developer Toran Billups about how Legends of Learning helps educators make their classrooms fun, engaging, and productive through their curriculum-based games. After chatting about Legends’ mission to empower teachers, we talk with Toran about how he landed a job there. He then shares his insights into securing Elixir jobs, touching on the importance of networking and building a portfolio of Elixir projects. We discuss why Elixir became Legends’ language of choice before expl...
2021-02-2550 min
Elixir WizardsBrian Howenstein on How ClusterTruck is Innovating Food DeliveryClusterTruck, a master of vertical integration, is rewriting the method of end-to-end food delivery and ghost kitchens. Today we speak with ClusterTruck Product VP Brian Howenstein to find out more about his journey in programming, ClusterTruck as an end-to-end food service, and how Elixir became mission-critical to the success of the business.
We kick things off by hearing more on Brian’s childhood and how he became interested in programming. We then hear about his internship at Apple where he was part of the Core OS networking team. Brian touches on brushing shoulders with Steve Jobs, Jony Iv...
2021-02-1859 min
Elixir WizardsYair Flicker on SmartLogic’s Origin, Evolution, and Elixir Adoption ProcessBuilding a successful development company requires having a leader with technical know-how and excellent management skills. Today we speak with SmartLogic President and Founder Yair Flicker about his company’s origin story, evolution, and their Elixir adoption process. Early in the episode, we talk about Yair’s first jobs before diving into how he founded SmartLogic. An important transition point, we then chat about how he moved from writing code to running a business. Reflecting on his tech background, Yair opens up about how he learned to code before he shares insights into the languages that his company programs in...
2021-02-1155 min
Elixir WizardsAlexandra Chakeres on Moving Towards an Inclusive Elixir CommunityDespite its welcoming character, the Elixir community struggles with diversity; as the 2020 ElixirConf community survey shows, only 2% of Elixirists are women. Today we speak with Blinker software engineer Alexandra Chakeres about her experience of the community, as well as what we can do to make it more inclusive. We open by exploring Alexandra’s background and coding career. After expressing her enthusiasm for the Turing School, we talk about Alexandra’s learn-by-doing approach to picking up Elixir. She shares how she landed her first Elixir job before we chat about her current role at Blinker. We discuss why the smal...
2021-02-0448 min
Elixir WizardsBrian Cardarella on Adopting ElixirElixir is a dynamic, functional language that packs a punch. Built on the strengths of its predecessors like Ruby and Erlang, it sits comfortably in a space where performance and scalability are at a premium. Today we speak with Brian Cardarella, owner and former member of DockYard, to find out more about Elixir and why he feels it serves companies and employees so well. We open the show by studying Elixir’s DNA, learning more about Ruby on Rails and what made it so attractive as an offering during its heyday. Brian then shifts scope and talks about why Ember ha...
2021-01-2855 min
Elixir WizardsMatt Nowack and Jake Heinz on Elixir and Discord; Bonus: Arthi Radhakrishnan, Community.comIn this episode we continue our conversation about adopting Elixir, this time with Matt Nowack and Jake Heinz from Discord, hearing them get into the features of Elixir that make it a great fit for building a real-time chat infrastructure system! We also invite Arthi Radhakrishnan from community.com for our mini-interview in the last chunk of the episode. Our chat begins with Jake and Matt telling Elixir developers exactly why they should not use Mnesia. They subsequently dive into their journeys in programming and the process of learning Elixir after joining Discord. They share a few aha-moments as...
2021-01-2153 min
Elixir WizardsJason Axelson on the Elixir Language ServerWelcome back to the Elixir Wizards podcast! In this episode, we will be continuing our conversation on the theme of adopting elixir, and our great guest for today is Jason Axelson! Jason is a back-end developer for a mixed reality studio called Animal Repair Shop and has also made some significant contributions to the Elixir Language Server project. We kick off our conversation with Jason hearing about his programming journey and then dive into the event chat service app he helped build using Elixir while he was working at Hobnob. From there, we talk about some of his aha...
2021-01-1433 min
Elixir WizardsSteve Domin on Innovating Travel APIsAnyone who has written software for the travel industry can tell you that it is in desperate need of innovation — shockingly many of their cobwebbed systems were built in the 70s. Today we speak with Duffel CEO Steve Domin, who is building tech that can finally align travel with the expectations of modern consumers. We open by exploring Steve’s journey into coding before diving into how Duffel is innovating travel. After touching on how the pandemic has impacted Duffel’s roll-out, Steve shares horror stories about the outdated tech and API systems that airlines use. We discuss Duffel’s servic...
2021-01-0838 min
Elixir WizardsShawn Vo on Elixir as a Competitive AdvantageTo beat out their competitors, startups need to code quickly, simply, and in a language that attracts top engineers. Enter Elixir. Today we speak with Shawn Vo, Axle Payments Co-Founder and CTO, about his journey with Elixir and how it has given his company a competitive advantage. We open our conversation by exploring how Shawn got into coding while automating his work as an investment banker. After touching on why he sees programming as a superpower for adding value, he shares his growth hacks for learning a language — these range from reading old books to attending coding meetups. We th...
2020-12-2938 min
Elixir WizardsViktória Fördős on ErlangToday we sit down with Erlanger Viktória Fördős, who talks with us about Erlang and how it is used at Cisco. We open the show by finding out about Viki’s background in coding and her unorthodox entry into the field. After hearing about her experiences in her school choir and her transition into the informatics faculty, Viki talks to us about her first experiences in coding and the thrills she found in it. She then expands on the topic, revealing how she approached people to build their websites using her newfound skills in HTML and PHP...
2020-12-2247 min
Elixir WizardsSimon Glenn-Gregg on Building an Election Results Prototype in ElixirToday’s guest is Simon Glenn-Gregg, News Engineer at The Washington Post. He joins us to talk about using Elixir to build a prototype for a platform the news house recently implemented to visualize the results of the November 2020 elections in real-time.
While the job title of ‘News Engineer’ makes it seem like Simon invents news, this is not the case. He is focused on software related to publishing at The Washington Post, and in particular, has been working on building their election visualization platform for the past two years. Before the final iteration of the platform was bu...
2020-12-1737 min
Elixir WizardsRandall Thomas on Learning Elixir and Why Community MattersThe culture of your programming community directly impacts your professional success. As Thunderbolt Labs Founder Randall Thomas explains in this episode, a community that practices openness and which warmly welcomes its newer members leads to greater career happiness.
We open our chat with Randall by exploring his start in coding and how he discovered Elixir. He shares some of the teething problems that he had moving from Ruby to Elixir before we touch on how learning other languages expands your ability to both appreciate and code in languages that you’re already fluent in. Following this, Randall ex...
2020-12-1053 min
Elixir WizardsLaunchisode and Outlaws Takeover with Chris Keathley, Amos King, and Anna NeyzbergWelcome back to Elixir Wizards, season five, episode one! The theme for this season is ‘Adopting Elixir’, and for today’s show the team at Elixir Outlaws play host! Chris Keathley, Amos King, and Anna Neyzberg give the Elixir Wizards a chance to talk about what they love about Elixir, how they learned it, and some of their experiences using it at SmartLogic!
We kick off the conversation with some memories of college and the different degrees everybody did, how these experiences fit into programming and the different paths that Justus, Eric, and Sundi took into the world...
2020-12-0356 min
Elixir WizardsSundi Myint on The Visual Side of Elixir, the History of Emojis, and Test- and Domain-Driven ArchitectureWelcome to another episode of Elixir Wizards as we continue our journey into system and application architecture! Our featured guest today is Sundi Myint and she is here to share her journey with Elixir and her non-traditional path to programming. We hear about Sundi's interest in gaming, her role at Cava and a bit of the inspiration behind her amazing Instagram account! We discuss her first internship and how she found herself in the role quite suddenly before diving into the motivation behind her blog post on the history of emojis. Sundi did some serious research into this interesting...
2020-06-2545 min
IEEE-USA InSight PodcastEpisode 29IEEE-USA InSight Podcast
Episode 29
- Congressional Visits Day, GreenTech, SoutheastCon, AwesomeCon
- Career Connection - Self Awareness
- InSight Spotlight - Sundi Myint
- Conference & E-Book Update with Georgia Stelluto
- Salary Survey, EVO 2019
Hosts:
Corey Ruth
Jonathan Choe
Georgia Stelluto
John Yaglenski
2019-04-1616 min