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Learning By Ear: Our Engineering Team’s Favorite Podcasts

Our Engineering Team’s Favorite Podcasts

I can’t think of many professions in which things evolve and change at the pace they do in digital technology. And that means the members of our development team are under considerable pressure to keep up to date on what’s happening this week. Today. Right now. Being at the top of our field and delivering the latest, best-possible solutions to our clients means we have to stay at the leading edge of our industry, always. 

Fortunately we love what we do, so staying on top of what’s going on isn’t so much an obligation as a passion. But there are only so many hours in a day, and many of those are spent building cool stuff for our clients. So where do we find the time to catch up? 

Our crew loves a good podcast—juicy true crime, gaming, modern spirituality, current affairs (and the ever-therapeutic cat purring podcast). Our dev team often gets inspiration about software engineering from them, too. Podcasts are usually updated weekly or even daily. And since they can be enjoyed while washing dishes, driving to grab the kids from school, traveling to visit clients, or walking the dog, we can #multitask while going about our everyday lives. We also hear they’re good for long commutes—but fortunately for us, we don’t have those at Modern Tribe 🙂

Here are our team’s favorite podcasts for learning the latest. 

Vinny (Frontend Developer)

Syntax

  • What it’s about: “A tasty treats podcast for web developers.” Expect plenty of JavaScript-focused chats between two leading educators in the industry, Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski, as well as some general development and workflow chats.
  • Who it’s for: Intermediate to advanced developers. You’ll want to have at least basic knowledge of JavaScript and other development topics so you can follow along. 
  • Why I like it: Offers lots of tips and tricks for learning/understanding coding languages, debugging, quick rundowns of new tech and JavaScript libraries, and other timely industry-related chats. For instance, staying sane while working remotely—a very useful episode for our distributed team! 

Ryan (Frontend Engineering Manager)

Developer Tea

  • What it’s about: A thoughtful and easily digestible discussion around some of the less technical aspects of engineering and being a developer. 
  • Who it’s for: Anyone in the industry, whether junior or senior, who is interested in more intentionally working towards gaining experience in the soft skills side of engineering.
  • Why I like it: It focuses more on the soft skills required by developers, which are just as important in this profession—if not more so—than the technical skills. Developer Tea discusses a myriad of other topics, including career, people and team skills, and interviews with others in the industry.

Front End Happy Hour

  • What it’s about: A super fun format for a podcast. Frontend engineers get together over drinks to talk about all things frontend development. Crack open a beer and have a listen. 
  • Who it’s for: Anyone in the industry, regardless of your level of experience. You’ll always learn something new with this podcast.
  • Why I like it: Delivers a diverse range of interesting content, like challenges the developers are facing, process and workflow, and miscellaneous tech nerdery. 

Crisoforo (Backend Developer)

The Big Web Show

  • What it’s about: Features special guests and topics like web publishing, art direction, content strategy, typography, web technology, and more. “It’s everything web that matters.”
  • Who it’s for: Beginner developers or anyone else interested in the web. 
  • Why I like it: I like the diversity of topics covered—it’s not just about coding, so it helps me think more holistically about my work.

Coding Blocks

  • What it’s about: Pragmatic talk about software design best practices—design patterns, software architecture, coding for performance, object-oriented programming, database design and implementation, tips, tricks and a whole lot more.
  • Who it’s for: Developers and anyone else involved in coding, as many of the topics covered have technical jargon that might be hard to understand for an audience that’s not comfortable with coding lingo.
  • Why I like it: It’s a good way to discover concepts like algorithms or new topics to read more about. 

Jonathan (Backend Developer)

Software Architecture Radio

  • What it’s about: The first podcast dedicated solely to the practice of software architecture. It discusses “modern software architecture patterns and practices with the practitioners getting their hands dirty doing the work.”
  • Who it’s for: Developers looking to learn more about architectural patterns.
  • Why I like it: Every episode leaves me with a long list of new things to learn—and the motivation to learn them.

Whether you’re just dipping your toes in or you’re looking to level up your code game, that list should give you some great inspiration each week. Who are you following for your tech news these days? Tweet us your favorites at @moderntribeinc—we’re all ears.