Today Quincy Larson interviews Jason Lengstorf. He's a college dropout who taught himself programming while building websites for his emo band. 22 years later he's worked as a developer at IBM, Netlify, run his own dev consultancy, and he now runs CodeTV making reality TV shows for developers.
We talk about:
- How many CEOs over-estimated the impact of AI coding tools and laid off too many devs, whom they're now trying to rehire
- Why the developer job market has already rebounded a bit, but will never be the same
- Tips for how to land roles in the post-LLM résumé spam job search era
- How devs are working to rebuild the fabric of the community through in-person community events
Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp
Support also comes from the 10,338 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org
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Links from our discussion:
- Jason's previous freeCodeCamp podcast interview, with his developer origin story: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-drop-out-to-software-architect-with-jason-lengstorf-podcast-167/
- The first season of Web Dev Challenge on CodeTV: https://codetv.link/wdc
Community news section:
1. freeCodeCamp just published a Git and GitHub for beginners course. Learn Git, a powerful version control tool, and GitHub's collaboration features. Covers branching, merging, and pull requests. Well worth your time. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-and-github-crash-course-for-beginners
2. freeCodeCamp also just launched our new Responsive Web Design Certification. Earn this free verified cert and add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core fCC curriculum. Full announcement and FAQ explains where it fits into your journey. (100+ hour interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-responsive-web-design-certification-is-now-live/
3. freeCodeCamp also just published a new Harvard CS50 course that will teach you R, a popular programming language for statistical computing and data science. Work with real-world datasets in RStudio. Covers Vectors, Matrices, Data Frames, filtering, and visualizations. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-r-programming-from-harvard-university/
4. freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification is now live. It's 1,033 steps long. Build dozens of projects then sit for the final exam. This is a FREE verified certification you can earn for your portfolio. Full announcement article and FAQ (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/
5. Today's song of the week is 1982's soul classic Risin' to the Top by Keni Burke. Love the laid back bass groove and spacious piano chords. The lyrics are about overcoming setbacks, which programmers can relate to. https://youtu.be/euysGPy2t0M
Chapters
- 0:00:00 Intro & Community News
- 0:03:11 Introducing Jason Langdorf
- 0:04:14 Market Rebound, AI & Resume Spamming
- 0:05:48 Developer Job Tips: Why Networking is Key
- 0:07:02 The "AI Fake Everything" Problem
- 0:08:25 The Shift on AI Coding Tools: From Threat to Tool
- 0:10:28 Ideas vs. Execution in the AI Era
- 0:12:47 The "Anti-AI Guy Guys"
- 0:16:04 The Dangers of Isolation for Power
- 0:18:41 CEO Empathy and the Path to Power
- 0:21:17 The Developer Labor Market Reckoning
- 0:23:09 The LLM Plateau: Humans Still Needed
- 0:24:26 The Productivity Lie & Low Morale
- 0:28:28 AI Usage Skewing Toward Management
- 0:30:26 Tech Innovations (jQuery, Webpack, Frameworks)
- 0:32:15 AI as an "Everything Tool" & Anthropomorphism
- 0:36:20 The Importance of Empathy and Politeness
- 0:39:39 The Long Game: Invest in Your Community
- 0:42:01 The Value of a Diverse Network
- 0:46:36 Career Goals: Enabling a Life You Enjoy
- 0:54:36 The Utility of LLMs: Rapid Prototyping
- 0:56:49 The Risk of Tech Debt with LLM Code
- 1:01:08 Tab Completion: High-Utility AI Codegen
- 1:03:52 Why AI Agents Don't Save Time (Managing Errors)
- 1:06:07 Skill is Necessary: Avoiding Mid-Level AI Output
- 1:07:07 Wrap-up & Where to Find Code TV