90 episodes

The stories and people behind the code. Hear stories of software development from interesting people.

CoRecursive: Coding Stories Adam Gordon Bell - Software Developer

    • News
    • 4.9 • 180 Ratings

The stories and people behind the code. Hear stories of software development from interesting people.

    Story: Code, Kickflips and Crunch Time - Mick West's Neversoft Journey

    Story: Code, Kickflips and Crunch Time - Mick West's Neversoft Journey

    Meet Mick West, whose career began in an unusual office setup — sandwiched between a kebab shop and a phone sex hotline. From there he worked all over Manchester, making computer games for Tiertex and Ocean. 
      Career opportunies brought him to California and to his own game dev company, Neversoft. At Neversoft, navigating team growth and tight deadlines, Mick played a key role in creating "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater." This wasn't just another game; it was a huge hit and secured Mick's legacy in the gaming world.
      Join us as we explore Mick West's journey from a quirky start to the heights of video game innovation and beyond. Discover the resilience, adaptability, and teamwork that fueled his success and how he continues to explore new horizons. How did he tackle the technical challenges that came his way, and what can we learn from his relentless pursuit of the next big thing?
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter  

    • 57 min
    Story: Leaving LinkedIn - Choosing Engineering Excellence Over Expediency

    Story: Leaving LinkedIn - Choosing Engineering Excellence Over Expediency

    What if your dedication to doing things right clashed with your company’s fast pace? Chris Krycho faced this very question at LinkedIn.
    His journey was marked by challenges: from the nuances of remote work to the struggle of influencing company culture, and a critical incident that put his principles to the test against the company’s push for speed.
    Chris’s story highlights the tension between the need for innovation and the importance of project health. This all led Chris to a pivotal decision: to stay and compromise his beliefs or to leave in pursuit of work that aligned with his principles.
    He chose the latter. Join us as we dive into Chris’s compelling story, exploring the challenges of advocating for principled engineering in a world that often prioritizes quick wins over long-term value.
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter Chris's Personal Website  

    • 47 min
    Story: Beautiful Code - Inside Greg Wilson's Vision for Software Design

    Story: Beautiful Code - Inside Greg Wilson's Vision for Software Design

    Greg Wilson has been on a decades-long quest to transform how we teach and talk about software design. From getting rejections for using the term “beautiful code,” to empowering scientists through workshops on Python and Unix, Greg has pushed to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
    Join us as Greg shares his failures and epiphanies along the way. You’ll hear how he revolutionized research computing by showing physicists the power of profilers. How he taught grad students the elegance of shell scripts. And how he’s crusaded to create a shared language to discuss software architecture with the nuance of true craftsmanship.
    Greg’s captivating journey reveals that with perseverance and the right examples, we can elevate software design discussion to an art form. But that we’ve got a long way to go. You’ll come away enlightened and eager to level up your own understanding of software design.
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter  

    • 57 min
    Story - Code as a Lifeline: Brain Injury Sparks Python Mastery

    Story - Code as a Lifeline: Brain Injury Sparks Python Mastery

    What if your dreams were suddenly ripped away? What if your talents vanished, your passions erased? That's what happened to Jason McDonald when a traumatic brain injury at 16 ravaged his planned destiny of becoming a doctor. Jason painfully rebuilt his ind and body from scratch - relearning to read, write, even speak. 
     A serendipitous discovery of coding ignited a new passion within Jason. He dove into the world of Python, even writing a popular programming book. His is a story of the incredible resilience of the human spirit when faced with life-altering challenges. One that calls us to embrace our own vulnerabilities as gateways to growth.
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter  

    • 44 min
    Story - From 486 to Vue.js: Evan You's Full-Time Gamble on Open Source

    Story - From 486 to Vue.js: Evan You's Full-Time Gamble on Open Source

    From the early days of exploring creative possibilities on a 486 computer in his childhood to developing one of today's most popular web frameworks, Evan You's journey is a tale of passion and innovation.
      
    Evan started Vue.js while working at Google, just wanting to scratch his own itch for a lightweight JavaScript framework. But soon Vue started to gain a huge following. 
    Eventually Evan then faced a tough dilemma - should he take a leap of faith and devote himself fully to his fledgling open source project?
    Hear Evan's firsthand story of that key career transition. How the explosive user feedback at Vue conferences gave him confidence. But also the challenges he faced by putting himself directly in the line of fire from unhappy users.
    It's an inspiring journey - from a developer just trying to solve his own problems to the leader of one of today's most popular web frameworks. Hear the very human story behind Vue.js.
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter  

    • 46 min
    Story: Platform Takes The Pain

    Story: Platform Takes The Pain

    How did Spotify scale from 10 engineers to 100s to 1000s ...without slowing down? Without becoming corporate? 
    Facing an IPO deadline, Pia Nilsson worked with 300 teams to transform how Spotify built software. She spearheaded a movement that led them from working in silos to a unified developer platform. 
    Hear the inside story of how Spotify's Platform teams embraced transparency and customer focus to create Backstage — now used by companies worldwide. 
    It's an amazing tale of ingenuity and perseverance. Hear Spotify's secret to scaling engineering without losing speed and independence. Don't miss it!
    Episode Page Support The Show Subscribe To The Podcast Join The Newsletter  

    • 48 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
180 Ratings

180 Ratings

reticentraccoon ,

Great stories and delivery

Adam is a fantastic researcher and an even better story teller. Each story that he covers itself feels very unique and the way he weaves the narrative through it makes you experience the story from the start to the end as something closely lived.

Rintel ,

Entertaining and Educational

This is a fantastic podcast that manages to be both highly educational and entertaining. The host is a great storyteller who organizes, edits, and presents his content at a very high level. Anyone with an interest in technology and the people behind that technology will benefit from giving it a listen.

A Different View ,

Throughly Interesting and Entertaining

One of my favorite programing-related podcasts out there. Every episode is well produced and throughly entertaining.

Top Podcasts In News

Serial
Serial Productions & The New York Times
The Daily
The New York Times
Up First
NPR
The Tucker Carlson Podcast
Tucker Carlson Network
The Ben Shapiro Show
The Daily Wire
The Megyn Kelly Show
SiriusXM

You Might Also Like

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source
Changelog Media
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
se-radio@computer.org
The Stack Overflow Podcast
The Stack Overflow Podcast
Coding Blocks
Allen Underwood, Michael Outlaw, Joe Zack
Go Time: Golang, Software Engineering
Changelog Media
Software Engineering Daily
Software Engineering Daily