Overcommitted | Software Engineering and Programming Insights
Overcommitted brings you software engineers who are genuinely passionate about their craft, discussing the technical decisions, learning strategies, and career challenges that matter.
Bethany Janos 
Brittany Ellich 
Eggyhead (Erika) 
Jonathan Tamsut (Former Host) Explore our episodes and blog posts by topic. Click on a tag to filter content.
Can you trust software written without AI? We examine the risks of manual coding versus automated vulnerability exploits.At Rails World 2026, a show of hands revealed that writing material amounts of code by hand is becoming a rarity. We discuss whether that h...
What do you do when the project you prepared for is no longer the priority? In our first Honest Answers segment, Erika and Bethany respond to a listener's question about a last-minute change of plans. They discuss how communication can make a change feel less ...
What does Stack Overflow’s 2026 Developer Survey reveal about software engineering, career insights, and engineering culture? The Overcommitted hosts unpack the findings, discuss what they mean for developers, and share the trends they’re watching across the p...
Roxy Rodriguez-Becker taught middle school math, moved into the school library after earning a master's in library and information science, and then taught herself to code while raising three kids. She is now a developer community manager at Torc and the host ...
Closed That Tab is back. Erika finally read Richard Cook's How Complex Systems Fail, an 18 point paper Cook wrote with patient safety and medical systems in mind, but one that is frequently discussed in web development and software engineering since the founda...
Brian Okken, lead engineer at Rohde & Schwarz, creator of the pytest book and course, and author of the new book Lean TDD, joins us to rethink test driven development. His core argument: write tests at the highest level that still makes sense, so you can refac...
SummaryBrittany and Erika close out the Overcommitted book club's read of Tanya Reilly's The Staff Engineer's Path with guest Jade Dickinson, a senior software engineer at Henry Schein One. They dig into glue work and how to make it visible for promotion, the ...
SummaryIt's a hosts-only week. Brittany and Erika catch up on what they're learning (Erika is starting Designing Data-Intensive Applications; Brittany just began Georgia Tech's online CS master's with a computer vision course) and then work through the week's ...
Engineers architect systems for work—but what about life? In this episode, Bethany, Brittany, and Erika reveal their personal tech stacks: the tools, habits, and sometimes deliberately low-tech strategies that power their daily routines, family life, and welln...
Elliott Minns takes us inside Dreams of Code and his path from software engineer and manager to full-time content creator. He shares how he turns complex technical work into clear stories, balances depth with accessibility for a developer audience, and keeps c...
Summary This week on Overcommitted, Brittany, Bethany, and Erika try out a new format: instead of interviewing a guest, the three of them rate a running list of software engineering topics as overrated or underrated. They start with the fun stuff — dark mode,...
SummaryWhat does it look like to start a software engineering career right now, when AI has erased the "grunt work" that used to be how new grads learned? Brittany and Bethany sit down with Sreya Sarathy, a software engineer at Northwestern Mutual and 2025 UW–...
This week we're trying something new: Closed That Tab, a segment where each host shares one thing they finally read that was worth the time. Erika brings a post on agentic AI identity and delegation - covering why OAuth isn't quite enough for agents that accum...
Learn how async-first communication transforms remote engineering culture and developer productivity. Ben Balter, open source governance expert, shares practical strategies for building transparent, documented workflows that help distributed teams collaborate ...
Caidan Williams put your terminals, browsers, editors, and AI agents on one infinite canvas. He joins Erika and Brittany to talk about Terminal Graph, the spatial development environment for macOS he built for himself first, and the self-taught path that took ...
What do investors actually look for in software engineers and tech founders? Melanie Nabar pulls back the curtain on what VCs see when evaluating engineering talent, sharing insider insights on career growth, technical credibility, and the skills that matter m...
Summary What happens when a software bug stops a concert—or endangers a performer flying above the stage? System reliability takes on new meaning in live event tech. This week, Brittany and Erika talk with Lars Olson, full stack engineer at TAIT, about buildi...
As AI code intelligence tools reshape daily programming work, developer productivity and career growth depend less on speed and more on judgment. In this episode, we explore what skills actually matter when AI writes code—and why engineers need a new mindset a...
What happens when coding becomes nearly free - but everything else in the software delivery process doesn't? Cameron Etezadi, CTO at LaunchDarkly, joins Erika, Brittany, and Bethany to talk about the gap between code that compiles and code that actually works ...
Summary Brittany's first weeks at Bluesky are reframing everything she thought about coding interviews. Career growth in tech still hinges on algorithm problems, but AI, remote work, and async development have fundamentally changed what actually signals engin...
Summary Dennis Pilarinos has spent nearly two decades building developer tools at Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Buddybuild (acquired by Apple). Now CEO of Unblocked, he's tackling the critical problem holding back agentic AI development: context intelligence. Why...
Summary What does it actually look like to hand 90% of your workday over to an AI agent you built yourself? Sterling Chin, founding DevRel at Inngest and creator of Marvin, an open-source AI chief of staff with nearly 1,000 GitHub stars, has been doing exact...
AI is generating more code than ever, but most engineers aren't verifying it. Sonar Staff AI Researcher Joe Tyler shares breakthrough findings from his LLM Leaderboard research on code quality, the hidden "coding personalities" of different models, and why the...
Summary Software engineering career moves don't have to be a lottery. In this episode, Adam Argyle breaks down why the technical interview process is fundamentally broken, how design engineering skills actually transfer across roles, and the tactical job sear...
Brittany shares her journey building Collective Social - a Goodreads-style app for all kinds of media built entirely on the AT Protocol - and how it led her to create OpenSocial, a service that lets any app on the decentralized web share group functionality li...
Summary In this episode, Erika talks with Salma Alam-Naylor about software engineering craft, programming best practices, and why the long game beats shortcuts. As AI coding tools proliferate and everyone chases speed, Salma digs into deliberate practice, sus...
Tech careers don't need to mean grinding LeetCode. In episode 57, John Crickett — 30+ year engineer, Coding Challenges creator (90K+ subscribers) — makes the case that programmer productivity skyrockets when you build real tools instead. We dig into why your o...
Summary Career growth through mentorship and work-life balance with Dave Schwantes, Senior Software Engineer at GitHub. Brittany and Dave explore why running toward meaningful work beats running from burnout, how mentorship became his primary form of engineer...
Summary Sabrina Goldfarb rejected the tech career playbook. No CS degree, bootcamp instead, teaching before big platforms. Now an engineer on GitHub's Copilot team and instructor at Frontend Masters, she shares how methodical planning, patience, and trust in ...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany and Erika sit down with Warren Parad, CTO and co-founder of Authress, a user authorization API built for reliability. Warren shares how his team stayed fully operational during the massive AW...
Summary In this episode of Overcommitted, Satish Saley, a senior software engineer with extensive experience on DoorDash's search platform team, discusses scaling search systems at a hyper-growth company. This conversation dives deep into software engineering...
Summary In this special one-year anniversary episode of Overcommitted, Brittany, Erika, and Bethany reflect on their journey from a small accountability group to a thriving weekly podcast and community of over 160 software engineers. They discuss their experi...
Summary In this episode, we dive deep into software development education and programmer productivity with Craig Dennis, developer educator at Cloudflare and creator of AI Avenue. Craig shares his unique journey through tech careers, from early challenges to ...
Summary This week on Overcommitted, Erika and Brittany welcome Idan Gazit, head of GitHub Next — a senior-heavy innovation team making strategic "long bets" on the future of software engineering and software projects. Idan shares insights into running a cutti...
Summary In this special in-person episode recorded at the GitHub office, Brittany and Bethany dive into the evolving role of AI agents in software development and programming as of early 2026. They discuss the impact of AI tools like Copilot and Claude Code o...
Summary Sean Goedecke, a staff engineer on GitHub's Copilot team and a prominent voice in software development, shares his unique frameworks for software engineering and improving programmer productivity. In this episode, discover how understanding the distin...
What do composing music and fixing bugs have in common? More than you'd think.In this episode of Overcommitted, hosts Erika and Bethany sit down with Marco Herrera Rendon, Senior Engineer at Comcast specializing in Rust development who, not long ago, was apply...
Summary: In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Bethany and co-host Brittany Ellich dive into software engineering education with Sam Rose, a developer educator at Ngrok. Sam shares his journey from software engineering to education, emphasizing h...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany, Bethany, and Erika dive deep into the realities of software development with guest Robby Russell. They explore the critical challenges of maintaining legacy code and managing technical debt...
Summary In this insightful episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Erika, Bethany, and Brittany tackle the critical issue of burnout in software projects and software engineering, especially amid the surge of AI advancements and remote work. They dive int...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Brittany, and Erika engage in a rich conversation with Abbey Perini, a web developer and fiber artist. They explore Abbey's current projects, the intersection of fiber arts and programming, ...
Summary In this episode, the hosts meet with Christina Martinez, a developer experience engineer from Resend, who shares insights on her creative process and current projects. She shares her delight in building silly software and how she's using that to learn...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany and Bethany with guest Bassem Dghaidi discuss a range of topics from Bassem's current learning journey in system design to his diverse career path at GitHub. They explore the value of experi...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Erika and co-host Brittany Ellich welcome Tammy Metz, a software engineer at GitHub, who shares her unique journey from teaching and library science to software engineering. The conversation explores ...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Brittany, and Erika are joined by Cassidy Williams, Senior Director of Developer Advocacy at GitHub. They discuss Cassidy's journey in the Developer Relations (DevRel) space, her philosophy ...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany, Bethany, and Erika engage in a deep conversation with Piotr Sarna, co-author of 'Writing for Developers.' They explore the journey of co-authoring a book, the importance of writing in engin...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Brittany, and Erika engage in a deep conversation with Jason Lengstorf about the concept of being unreasonable in the tech industry. Jason shares his journey of embracing unreasonableness to...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, Erika and Brittany discuss the evolving landscape of AI agents and their implications for security and identity management. Joined by expert Dan Moore, they explore the challenges posed by non-deterministi...
Summary Join us for a conversation with Kate Holterhoff, an industry analyst at Redmonk who tracks developer trends from Reddit threads to conference halls. Kate shares her unique journey from earning a PhD in Victorian literature to becoming a self-taught de...
Summary In this episode, Matt Sinclair, former partner and VP of Engineering at BCG Digital Ventures, explores the critical role of storytelling in effective leadership and shares his journey from building high-performance payment systems to coaching the next...
Summary In this episode of Overcommitted, hosts Erika and Brittany interview Adrienne Braganza, the author of the book Looks Good to Me. The conversation delves into the critical role of communication in code reviews, emphasizing that misunderstandings often ...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Bethany and co-hosts Erika and Brittany welcome Rick Turoczy, a veteran in the Portland tech startup scene. They discuss Rick's journey from a hobbyist developer to a key supporter of startup founders...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, Erika and Brittany delve into the concept of flow state in software development, exploring its significance for productivity and job satisfaction. They share personal experiences of achieving flow, discuss...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Brittany Ellich and co-hosts Bethany and Erika welcome Thomas Dohmke, former CEO of GitHub. They discuss Thomas's journey in software development, pivotal moments in his career, the importance of pass...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Erika and co-hosts Bethany and Brittany Ellich engage in a conversation with Don McKinnon, founder of Searchcraft. They discuss Don's journey in software engineering, the challenges faced while buildi...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany Ellich and Erika engage with Brad Heller, co-founder and CTO of Tower, discussing his journey from software engineer to startup founder. They explore the evolution of software engineering ca...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany and Brittany discuss their experiences at recent tech conferences, including Cascadia JS and GopherCon. They reflect on their goals from the past quarter, sharing successes and challenges, an...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommited podcast, the hosts engage in a deep conversation with Indrajith Premanath, an engineer at GitHub, who shares his journey of transitioning from an individual contributor to an engineering manager during an interim ma...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted podcast, host Brittany Ellich and co-hosts Erika, Bethany, and Jonathan Tamsut engage in a conversation with Annie Sexton, a developer advocate at fly.io. They explore Annie's unique journey into developer advocacy...
Summary Software engineering ethics isn't just a buzzword—it directly impacts your career trajectory, mental health, and long-term sustainability in tech. In this episode, we explore how engineers navigate ethical decisions on social media, handle public cont...
Summary Great engineers tell better stories—and better stories accelerate careers. On Overcommitted, we explore how software engineers can master storytelling to communicate impact, land opportunities, and build influence without the burnout. From pitching pr...
Summary Gamification isn't just for games—it's a career growth and programming best practices catalyst. In this episode, we explore how engineering culture can adopt game mechanics to boost programmer productivity, prevent burnout, and create sustainable lear...
Summary AI agents are reshaping how software engineers work—but what exactly are they? In this episode, we break down AI agents for programmers: what they do, how they fit into your software projects, and why understanding them matters for your career growth....
Summary Building a strong personal brand as a software engineer isn't vanity—it's career insurance. In this episode, we explore how programmers can develop authentic visibility and thought leadership to unlock better opportunities, negotiate from strength, an...
Summary As AI-driven development tools explode, decentralized protocols like AT Proto and MCP are reshaping how software engineers collaborate and maintain ownership of their work. In this episode, we talk with Nick Gerakines about how open source infrastruct...
Summary Mentorship can make or break your tech career—but how do you actually build it as an intern? In this episode, hosts Alec Breton, Cole Hartman, and Doris Wang explore the real mechanics of mentorship in tech internships: finding the right mentor, navig...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, host Jonathan Tamsut and co-hosts Brittany Ellich and Bethany engage in a deep conversation with Jennifer Harris, founder and CEO of Technology Management Concepts. They explore Jennifer's journey into ent...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, Brittany Ellich and her co-hosts engage with Ross Brodbeck, a software engineer at GitHub, to explore the critical topic of software availability. They discuss the definitions of availability, reliability,...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Jonathan, Brittany, and Erika reflect on their goals for the second quarter, sharing successes and challenges. They discuss lessons learned, personal growth, and strategies for improvemen...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, the hosts discuss the intricacies of pull requests, focusing on the reviewer mindset, crafting effective pull requests, and managing the review workflow. They share insights from Brittany's recent conferen...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Jonathan Tamsut, Brittany Ellich, Bethany, and Erika delve into the predictions made by the AI Futures Project regarding the future of artificial intelligence by 2027. They discuss the potential for ...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Brittany Ellich, Jonathan Tamsut, Bethany Janos, and Erika discuss their experiences with tech events, including how to choose which events to attend, strategies for networking, maximizing time at co...
Summary In this episode of the Overcommitted Podcast, hosts Bethany, Brittany, and Erika discuss their experiences with the book 'Thinking in Systems' by Donella Meadows. They explore the concepts of systems thinking and its applications in software engine...
This week the crew chats with Hirsch Singhal, Staff Product Manager at GitHub, about effective collaboration between product and engineering. Links * Hirsch Singhal's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hpsin.net [https://bsky.app/profile/hpsin.net] * ...
The crew chat about what we're learning right now and how we learn. Links * PARA: https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/ * The Art of Visual Design: https://www.artofvisualdesign.com/ * Math Academy: https://www.mathacademy.com/ * Deep Learning from scrat...
The crew chat about what tech debt is and how we have prioritized it in the past. Hosts * Overcommitted.dev [https://overcommitted.dev/] * Bethany Janos: https://github.com/bethanyj28 [https://github.com/bethanyj28] * Brittany Ellich: ...
The crew chat about how we make decisions and prioritize things as software engineers. Links * Clean Architecture [https://www.amazon.com/Clean-Architecture-Craftsmans-Software-Structure/dp/0134494164] * One-way vs. Two-way door decisions [https:...
The crew chat about our current toolset for building things as software engineers. Tips and tricks for staying on track and building things with our teams! Links * Jaeger [https://www.jaegertracing.io/] * Visual Studio Live Share [https://visualstudi...
The crew gets philosophical about the ethics of building Artificial Intelligence systems. Are software engineers going to be replaced? Is it ethical to build AI systems? Links * Superintelligence [http://elenacross7.medium.com/%EF%B8%8F-the-s-in-mcp-...
The crew chat about our experience using AI right now as software engineers (which is subject to change even by the time this episode airs). Including an overview of our current thoughts on the AI landscape, what tools we use for which tasks, and our thoughts ...
Join Erika, Bethany, Jonathan, and Brittany for a deep dive into one of every developer's most common challenges: learning a new codebase. Based on Brittany's popular GitHub blog post, this episode shares battle-tested strategies for getting up to speed quickl...
Join Bethany, Brittany, and Jonathan as they reflect on their first quarter using the 12 Week Year goal-setting framework. This candid retrospective reveals what actually works (and what doesn't) when trying to balance ambitious career goals with the demanding...
Join GitHub software engineers Jonathan Tamsut, Brittany Ellich, Erika Egemeyer, and Bethany Janos as they break down one of tech's most common yet rarely discussed challenges: imposter syndrome. In this inaugural episode, four career-changers share their per...
Learn how to automate custom Copilot instructions using dotfiles to reduce frustration and improve your AI-assisted coding workflow.
Introducing our new blog where we share insights, tutorials, and thoughts on software engineering beyond the podcast.