Whether you’re looking to sharpen your coding skills, keep up with the latest on Ruby on Rails or just stay in touch with what’s going on in the tech industry, we’ve rounded up some of the best podcasts for programmers, developers, and tech enthusiasts.
Coding
LTCWM, as it’s called, was created with self-taught coders in mind. The host, Laurence Bradford, is a self-taught techie who provides beginner level resources, focused on web design and development.
“I’ll show you what to learn and how to use those skills to make your life better, like they’ve done for mine.”
Laurence (Luh-ronze) asks lots of questions that aspiring engineers want to hear. Podcast topics include interviews with established developers, becoming a software engineer, and crushing coding stereotypes. We love that Laurence is a code-loving woman in tech.
Since it’s impossible to be an expert in every coding language, sometimes it’s helpful to have an overview of different programming languages and tools.
Programming Throwdown does a great job of educating listeners on a variety of topics. According to the description, “Every show will cover a new programming language, so listeners will be able to speak intelligently about any programming language.” The show’s hosts, both software engineers, usually talk about a timely topic and then move on to focus on a specific language or tool. Recent shows covered everything from soft skills to cryptocurrency.
Programmers and Developers
Hosted on DevChat.tv,
Ruby Rogues is a discussion about topics related to programming, careers, and of course, Ruby. Every week the hosts interview notable Ruby programmers, with discussions around chatbots, developer horror stories, and hacking your workday. DevChat.tv also hosts a podcast about Javascript, Angular, iOS development, security, and more. Check them all out here:
https://devchat.tv/
IT and Networking
Packet Pushers network produces a handful of podcasts about data networking, hosted by network architects. They describe the shows as “deeply technical and unabashedly nerdy.”
Packet Pushers Weekly is a deep dive into networking technology. It features conversations with real-life network engineers & vendors serving up real-world information and experience. The weekly episodes run about an hour, with recent topics covering Internet protocols, network data, analytics, and career advice. The hosts also conduct AMAs, which always make for fun episodes.
Also from Packet Pushers, the
Full Stack Journey podcast is, like the title implies, about the ongoing journey to becoming a full stack engineer. The host, Scott Lowe, interviews IT pros and consultants, offering up info and insights to aspiring programmers and developers.
Business of Tech
Looking to start or build a tech company? Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, hosts
Master of Scale, a somewhat-weekly podcast offering up business advice you won’t hear anywhere else. Hoffman has guests that include tech titans such as Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Alphabet/Google, Mark Zuckerberg talking about Facebook, and Reed Hastings of Netflix. You’ll hear advice such as, “Smart managers don’t try to fight every fire, they let fires burn,” and the ten commandments of startup success. It’s always an interesting show.
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, cranks out frequent interviews with industry experts and voices from around the world. Topics range from tech today and tech in the future, to current culture trends. They’re interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. And hey, where else will you find a show segment titled “The Asshole Survivor Guide?”
Accidental Tech is a podcast hosted by three software developers; Marco Arment, Casey Liss, and John Siracusa, who say they created the show while trying to do a car show. Go figure. They describe the AT podcast as, “Three nerds discussing tech, Apple, programming, and loosely related matters." If you’re interested in an in-depth dive into the latest Apple News, programming matters or the latest tech industry news, this is the podcast for you.
Consumer Technology
Leo Laporte’s
This Week in Tech is one of the earliest podcasts, they’ve been airing since 2005. If you want to know what’s going on in the world of consumer tech, this is the place to find out. Leo chats weekly with a group of tech pundits covering everything from the latest Apple offerings, to self-driving cars, to just about anything that’s made tech news that week. Listen weekly and you will always be in the know. In fact, if you want a deep dive into just about anything consumer tech, you’ll find it on the
TWIT network. Weekly shows now include iOS Today, This week in Google, Windows Weekly, and All About Android. IT geeks will want to check out TWIT’s
This Week in Enterprise Tech, a discussion of news topics affecting business IT.
If you follow consumer tech at all, you likely know Kara Swisher’s name. She, along with partner Walt Mossberg, wrote tech columns for the Wall Street Journal and co-founded the All Things D conferences, where they were known for their insightful and hard-hitting style of reporting. No fluff or evasive answers allowed.
They created their own site, Recode, which is now part of a larger entity but the Recode Decode podcast is a great listen. Each week Swisher has notable tech leaders on to discuss trends, the industry, and anything else Swisher can dig up. Guests run the range from Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg to Lyft talking about autonomous driving to Senator Cory Booker on keeping an eye on tech giants.
