Rails with Jason

In this episode I talk with Gregory Kapfhammer about flaky tests. We cover their five main causes, why fixing individual flaky tests isn't enough, and how test suite health connects to broader engineering practices, team culture, and the overall quality mindset of an organization.Links:https://www.gregorykapfhammer.com/http://www.linkedin.com/in/GregKapfhammerhttps://fosstodon.org/@gkapfhamhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g0eDPjYAAAAJhttps://github.com/gkapfhamThe Beginning of InfinityGödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas HofstadterZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert PirsigNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Todd Kaufman about founding Test Double, focusing on hiring senior consultants who excel at communication and empathy. We discuss how consulting is 90% psychology, the importance of seeking to understand before being understood, and why most software projects still fail due to organizational rather than technical issues.Links:Test Doubletodd@testdouble.comNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Irina Nazarova about the San Francisco Ruby Conference happening November 19-21. She explains why SF needs a Ruby conference, the focus on connecting Ruby startup founders with engineers, showcasing new companies building with Rails, and fostering a pragmatic community centered on growth and innovation.Links:San Francisco Ruby ConferenceSF Ruby Cloud CardsEvil MartiansNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Matthew Ford about AI-assisted coding at BitZesty. We discuss how AI speeds up development while requiring human oversight, the risks of "vibe coding," why automated testing remains critical, and how AI changes but doesn't replace fundamental software development practices like version control and architecture decisions.Links:Bit ZestyMatthew Ford on TwitterMatthew Ford on BlueskyNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Steve Ruiz about creating TLDraw, an open-source canvas SDK. We discuss the intersection of design and engineering, managing complexity through abstractions, state machines, and how multiple rewrites helped him discover the core problems. Steve shares insights on building developer tools and solving difficult UI challenges.Links:tldrawSteve Ruiz's personal websiteNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Anthony Eden about building DNSimple, a DNS provider and domain registrar. We discuss his 25 years in the domain industry, technical challenges, and why specialized niches create natural competitive moats.DNSimpleAnthony Eden on LinkedInanthony@dnsimple.comNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Radan Skorić about his book Master Hotwire, the challenges of Hotwire documentation, blogging in the AI age, how AI affects content creation, the Chinese room thought experiment, consciousness and computation, trust versus critical thinking, and why quality content that goes deeper than AI can produce still matters.Master Hotwireradanskoric.comRadan's Rails World talkJason's stuff:Nonsense MonthlySaturnCI

In this episode, I discuss AI with Daniel Nastase, covering Daniel's journey from building neural networks from scratch to understanding embeddings and vector databases. We explore the limitations of current AI learning models versus explanation-based reasoning, and discuss practical AI applications including agents and voice interfaces for programming.JS CraftDaniel's LangGraph bookDaniel's LangChain bookSaturnCINonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Cody Norman about his journey from economics to programming, his tattoo shop management software SpotSquid, and lessons from building products for non-technical users. We discuss market challenges, customer development strategies, and Cody's path to conference speaking.CodyNorman.comSpot SquidNonsense MonthlySaturnCI

In this episode I talk with Joel Drapper about open source development, the joy of coding without constraints, AI tools like GitHub Copilot, and our shared discomfort with the phrase "duplication is better than the wrong abstraction." We explore abstraction, technical debt versus "technical poison," and our mutual search for high-quality work environments.Joel Drapper on LinkedInPhlexNonsense MonthlySaturnCI

In this episode I talk with Jim Remzick about how AI has affected the job market, the value of in-person networking, and XO Ruby, Jim's series of regional Ruby conferences happening across the US.XO RubyFlagrantNonsense Monthly

In this episode, I talk with Joe Masilotti about his new book on Hotwire Native, which lets Rails developers build mobile apps using web views with native functionality. We explore the writing process, consulting approaches, client engagement strategies, and how both of us find clients through speaking and writing.Hotwire Native for Rails Developers book (use discount code CodeWithJasonHotwire for 35% off)Joe Masilotti's websiteNonsense Monthly

In this episode, I chat with Paul Hammond about effective testing strategies, the joy of working with well-designed TDD systems, and how synchronous collaboration improves code quality. We examine what true agility means and how technical excellence enables fearless releases and sustainable development.Feedback-Driven DevelopmentPaul Hammond on LinkedInNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Dan Moore from FusionAuth about authentication solutions, testing strategies, and when to skip tests based on risk and cost factors, then dive into philosophical discussions about experience versus knowledge, objective versus subjective programming practices, and imperative versus declarative coding approaches.FusionAuthDownload FusionAuthFusionAuth articlesUse managed services

In this episode I talk with Gayle Laakmann McDowell, author of Cracking the Coding Interview. We discuss coding interviews as well as the current state of the job market and economy.Cracking the Coding Interviewgayle.comNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Michael Lubas, founder of Paraxial, a software security product for Ruby on Rails applications. We discuss his background in both development and penetration testing, and his recent creation of GemShop - a deliberately vulnerable Rails 8 e-commerce application designed to teach developers about web security through hands-on experience. Michael explains common attack vectors like credential stuffing, the legal complexities around security research, and why developers are actually very interested in security despite stereotypes. We also cover his experience at Rails World and how Paraxial helps Rails developers get started with security.Paraxial.ioMichael Lubas on LinkedInmichael@paraxial.ioNonsense Monthly

In this episode I talk with Adam McCrea, founder of Judoscale, an autoscaler for Heroku and other platforms. Adam built Judoscale as a side project in 2016 and ran it part-time for five years before going full-time. We discuss developer marketing challenges, the difficulty of measuring marketing attribution, and building sustainable businesses. We also compare notes on our respective developer tools.

In this episode I discuss abstraction and emergence with Jorge Manrubia from 37signals. We explore how abstractions should hide distracting details while showing essential information, debate whether programming guidelines are subjective or objective, and examine how good explanations distinguish useful abstractions from poor ones. The conversation touches on service objects, domain modeling, and the importance of showing actual code when discussing software design principles.

In this episode I talk with Chris Chilek and John Cunningham of LegiPlex about their AI-enhanced legislative monitoring platform. We discuss how they identified the market opportunity, the technical challenges of processing government data, and their approach to building beyond simple AI prompts.LegiPlex

In this episode, I talk with Errol Schmidt from Reinteractive about community involvement and sales strategies. Errol shares how he targets Salesforce by teaching their account executives about Heroku, positioning himself as the go-to expert. We discuss how developers are in sales whether they realize it or not, and the importance of relationship building.reinteractive