Software Defined Interviews
Deep discussions about technology, enterprise IT, and the like
Episodes
July 24, 2025 • 82 mins
Chris, of course, had his System generate a title and summary for this episode, so we're using that AI-driven fun this week.
In this lively and open conversation, Chris Dancy — the self-proclaimed "Most Connected person in the World" — joins hosts Cote and Whitney to discuss digital minimalism, hyper-organization, life augmentation, and cyborg spirituality. The episode is a blend of humor, tech wisdom, and raw human truth. From cor...
Mark as Played
July 9, 2025 • 67 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with AmyJune Hineline. They delve into Amy's diverse career, transitioning from a hospice nurse to a mechanical engineer and eventually working in tech and open source. They discuss the meticulous process of creating certification exams at the Linux Foundation, balancing altruistic and professional motivations in open source, and peering into the human aspects of her hospice work. They togethe...
Mark as Played
In this episode, Whitney and Coté discuss with Betty Junod, CMO of Heroku, the evolution of growing up without the internet to the present day's AI advancements and its implications for future generations. They explore how AI is changing critical thinking and curiosity, and how it affects children and business use cases. They also delve into workplace dynamics, such as transitioning between large tech companies and startups, levera...
Mark as Played
June 11, 2025 • 68 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté discuss Whitney's newfound enthusiasm for AI after a recent stint with the tool Cursor. The conversation covers how AI tools can aid in coding, building engineering journals, and even drafting compelling conference talk abstracts. They highlight the difference between tasks and prompts in AI, personalizing AI interactions, and maximizing efficiency with various MCP servers. Along the way, they delv...
Mark as Played
May 29, 2025 • 57 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Taegan Goddard, founder of Political Wire (https://politicalwire.com). They talk about what drives people to go above and beyond in their work, especially journalism like Taegan does. There's some fun conversation about how Taegan runs the business, keeping up his never ending coverage. Having run the site for well over two decades, they also talk about how the back-end stack has evolved ...
Mark as Played
After an extensive discussion of 7-Eleven pizza cuisine, in this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Sarah Christoff. They discuss working at startups, the point of startups, working in open source and balancing commercial and community interests, moving to Europe, and more!
Find Sarah in LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/schristoff/). Also, Coté referenced a talk by Aneel Lakhani at Monktoberfest 2023 (https://www.youtube.com/...
Mark as Played
May 1, 2025 • 68 mins
Whitney and Coté talk with Robert Reeves about startups, catering, the Austin's tech scene, and the business of open source over the past 20 years. A sampling: Robert share some stories of early startup adventures and strategic moves, behind the scenes catering rock festivals, and the importance of geography for starting your career in tech. Check out the video version of this episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_4WiWPZeyc) i...
Mark as Played
Whitney and Coté tour through a couple decades of tech infrastructure history with Melissa Smolensky, whose marketing career spans Rackspace, GitLab, CoreOS, and the CNCF, among other places. They explore the OpenStack/Kubernetes evolution, how "radical transparency" actually functions in corporate settings, and the shifting landscape of tech marketing—from thought leadership to the changing role of industry analysts. Plus, they co...
Mark as Played
April 2, 2025 • 82 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Emily Omier, a consultant specializing in open source strategy and product management for businesses. They discuss the initial reactions and learning curve of new tech entrants to open source, the advantages and potential disadvantages of building a business around open-source software, and the ethical considerations in this space. Emily also goes over her experiences running a conference...
Mark as Played
In this video, Coté and Whitney talk about tech education and learning with Mumshad Mannambeth. There's talk about certifications, but also how teaching online works and what it's like when it scales up to millions of people. Plus, Coté tries to figure out how to get access to more napkins.
You can also watch the video of this interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coUgwtFgJRA) form if you prefer that kind of thing.
Check out K...
Mark as Played
March 6, 2025 • 63 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Hazel Weakly about the unexpected success of content, the influence of corporate interests in open source, and the importance of emotional vulnerability in the tech industry. Hazel shares her experiences transitioning as a trans woman in tech, how her interactions changed post-transition, and the need for emotional connections and support. They also get into the Kubernetes ecosystem, corp...
Mark as Played
February 20, 2025 • 65 mins
In this episode, Whitney and Coté interview Marino Wijay, Coté finally gets to the bottom of why networking has so many layers. Why do we keep adding new layers and frameworks instead of just fixing the ones we have? They also talk about the challenges of platform engineering, the importance of empathy in tech, the difficulties of integrating multiple layers in tech stacks, the essential role of effective communication and prioriti...
Mark as Played
February 6, 2025 • 59 mins
Join Whitney and Coté as they talk with Richard Seroter from Google about the myth of the 10X developer and his perspective on hiring and managing tech talent. They also talk about the significance of learning and AI in the tech industry, the importance of communication skills, valuable resources for staying updated in tech, and Richard's personal strategies for maintaining a robust reading habit and public profile. Additionally, t...
Mark as Played
January 23, 2025 • 76 mins
In this episode of Software Defined Interviews, Coté and Whitney host Brian Gracely, co-host of the Cloudcast podcast and head of portfolio strategy at Red Hat. They discuss the process of gathering and reporting cloud news, the evolution of PaaS, and the pros and cons of working at small startups versus large companies. Also: career advice, the importance of communicating value within organizations, and how to stay relevant in the...
Mark as Played
January 9, 2025 • 64 mins
What’s it really like to do all that DevOps-y transformation at companies? That’s what we talk about this week with Sasha Czarkowski…mostly. We also discuss learning how to learning, metrics, staying sane in chaotic systems and change, breaking presentation rules, Louisville, Kentucky, and Coté’s (odd?) dislike of the open spaces format.
You can also watch the video of this episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8TfchOGCs) if y...
Mark as Played
December 26, 2024 • 58 mins
Katie Greenley shares her experiences managing events and community programs like the CNCF Ambassadors. Coté, Whitney, and Katie also discuss career development, managing a community team, and the delicate art of introducing cereal decanting into the home.
Checdk out Katie in LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-greenley/), and the CNCF Ambassadors program (https://www.cncf.io/people/ambassadors/). Special Guest: Katie Green...
Mark as Played
In this episode, Whitney and Coté talk with Viktor Farcic, Developer Advocate at Upbound, about platform engineering, the evolution of DevOps, project managing a content creation engine of one, and the virtues of imperfection. Also, the strategic avoidance of asking for directions, or, really, talking with people in general.
Find Viktor in YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/devopstoolkit), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikt...
Mark as Played
November 28, 2024 • 79 mins
As if platform engineering and expat'ing in the UK weren't enough, Whintney and Coté discuss the forgotten technology of business cards wih Abby Bangser.
Check out Abby in LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbybangser/), and Kratix (https://www.kratix.io) the platform engineering project from Syntasso (https://www.syntasso.io). Also, check out the CNCF Platforms White paper (https://tag-app-delivery.cncf.io/whitepapers/platform...
Mark as Played
November 25, 2024 • 48 mins
Whitney is back from KubeCon and shares what she saw. We talk about platform engineering, Salt Lake City's vibe, AI, and observability, among other things. We wrap the episode with tips for maximizing attending conferences. Also, memories of Arby's ads.
Whitney's KubeCon talks:
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Observability Odyssey (https://youtu.be/R3CFETvCBFU)
Panel: Exploring eBPF Use Cases in Cloud-Native Security (https://youtu....
Mark as Played
In this episode, Whitney Lee and Coté dive into the insights of Rachel Stephens from RedMonk about the world of being an industry analyst. They discuss experiences from working as an analyst, the balance between qualitative and quantitative analysis, the challenges and misconceptions surrounding open-source business models, and the impact of AI on the analyst profession and beyond. They also discuss the 2024 DORA report, and a few ...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.