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Top 10 Fallthrough Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Fallthrough episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Fallthrough for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Fallthrough episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
An Exploration of Complexity
Fallthrough
01/27/25 • 99 min
Modern software development feels so complex. In this episode, Ian Wester-Lopshire is joined by Kris Brandow, Matthew Sanabria, and Angelica Hill to discuss complexity. They propose hypotheses for the root cause of complexity, explore the ways complexity affects our technology and organizations, and ponder if artificial intelligence can aid us in reducing complexity. As always, we've got some great unpopular opinions at the end.
As always thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
This episode is a pilot for a planned mini-series on complexity. We'd like to explore complexity deeper by having conversations with and interviewing a diverse set of people. Do you have thoughts about complexity, know someone who thinks deeply about this topic, or have something you'd like to add? Reach out to us on social media and let us know!
Notes & Links:
Chapters:
- (00:00) - Intro
- (00:31) - How are we doing?
- (01:24) - Where did complexity come from?
- (02:53) - Ian's Hypothesis
- (07:00) - Kris' (Hot Take) Hypothesis
- (14:38) - FAANG & Engineering Excellence
- (19:21) - Do better practices lead to complexity?
- (24:02) - The Cloud's enablement of complexity
- (24:39) - Some of the complexity is worth it
- (26:01) - Systems become more complex over time
- (27:33) - Moving Faster & Thinking Less
- (31:18) - Accidental complexity
- (31:47) - Where else does complexity surface?
- (32:03) - Human Organizations & Trading Complexities
- (37:46) - Documenting Decisions
- (38:20) - Hypoethsis: Bad information organization is the root of complexity
- (49:01) - Can AI be our librarian?
- (54:39) - Search is not a text box
- (55:57) - Machine learning for indexing
- (01:00:17) - Can AI write our code?
- (01:05:44) - Easy & Hard Learning
- (01:12:27) - Hypothesis: mixed and unclear terminology
- (01:14:46) - Concise Hyopthesis of Complexity
- (01:18:05) - Letters by mail?!
- (01:18:56) - Unpopular Opinions
- (01:19:14) - Matthew's Unpop
- (01:23:10) - Ian's Unpop
- (01:28:30) - Kris' Unpop
- (01:35:47) - Fallthrough & CPU.fm
- (01:37:39) - Complexity Mini-Series
- (01:38:26) - Outro
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Angelica Hill - Producer
Socials:
A Phoenix's Path to Principal
Fallthrough
05/12/25 • 97 min
From implementing minesweeper on a TI calculator to becoming a prolific open source maintainer, Evan Phoenix has had quite the journey. In this week's episode, Matt & Angelica sit down with Evan to discuss his journey, from his early days writing basic on his TI calculator, to writing an alternative implementation of Ruby, being GitHub user #7, becoming a Principal Engineer at Hashicorp, starting his own company (with his wife!), and so much more. This episode is packed with life lessons and advice helpful for everyone, from the most junior of engineers to the most seasoned VPs.
A few of the chapters of this week's episode are supporter only content, including long conversations about Evan's involvement with Ruby and a deep discussion of his interesting habit of being an early adopter. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:11)
- Chapter 1: The Beginning (02:34)
- Chapter 2: Building In Open Source [Supporter Exclusive] (28:26)
- Chapter 3: The Path To Principal (29:27)
- Chapter 4: Post Hashicorp (54:21)
- Chapter 5: Miren (01:00:31)
- Chapter 6: Being Early [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
- Chapter 7: East vs West [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
- Chapter 8: Remote vs In Office [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
- Chapter 9: Life With Work (01:07:09)
- Chapter 10: The Open Source Funding Problem (01:25:36)
- Epilogue (01:34:16)
Hosts
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Angelica Hill - Producer
- Kris Brandow - Producer
- Evan Phoenix - Guest
Socials:
- Website
- Bluesky
- Threads
- X/Twitter
- (01:11) - Prologue
- (02:34) - Chapter 1: The Beginning
- (28:26) - Chapter 2: Building In Open Source [Supporter Exclusive]
- (29:27) - Chapter 3: The Path To Principal
- (54:21) - Chapter 4: Post Hashicorp
- (01:00:31) - Chapter 5: Miren
- (01:05:37) - Chapter 6: Being Early [Supporter Exclusive]
- (01:05:37) - Chapter 7: East vs West [Supporter Exclusive]
- (01:05:37) - Chapter 8: Remote vs In Office [Supporter Exclusive]
- (01:07:09) - Chapter 9: Life With Work
- (01:25:36) - Chapter 10: The Open Source Funding Problem
- (01:34:16) - Epilogue
Choosing, Expanding, & Evolving Communities
Fallthrough
03/17/25 • 109 min
Communities play a vital role in our technical and non-technical lives, but how much thought have we put into what makes these spaces valuable? In this episode, Kris is joined by the panel and Kelsey Hightower to discuss communities and their intersection with the digital and non-digital world.
Supporters get access to an extended conversation with Kelsey, where we discuss his views of AI and what he's been up to in retirement! You can get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (00:00)
- Kelsey Introduction (01:18)
- Panel Introduction (01:39)
- GopherCon CFP (01:54)
- Chapter 1: Choice (02:46)
- Why did Kelsey leave the Go community? (02:46)
- Dylan's first experiences with Go (09:05)
- A shared vocabulary (10:39)
- The software relay race (12:30)
- Go: The Potential Parts (13:37)
- The challenge of having a Go team (15:00)
- Yes is forever (25:59)
- Modules Therapy (27:11)
- Remember the past & give space to be honest (28:17)
- Dropping the community baton (31:53)
- Go by choice (32:19)
- Wall Street measure of success (35:48)
- The first date isn't the same as the hundredth (39:36)
- The leader in you (42:19)
- Chapter 2: Infinite (47:35)
- Software is an Infinite Game (47:35)
- Constraints are required (51:30)
- You cannot build the everything tool (54:21)
- We need to touch grass (55:39)
- Augmenting life (59:27)
- Chapter 3: Evolution (01:00:55)
- Keeping sane in DevRel (01:07:17)
- Conferences in the current era (01:13:30)
- Superiority of the Single Track Conference (01:18:04)
- Kelsey's KubeCon Story (01:21:00)
- Virtual Conferences need a new term (01:23:38)
- Conferences need some innovating (01:25:35)
- Does tech even have communities? (01:27:52)
- Kelsey's dream talk development path (01:30:06)
- Chapter 4: Kelsey's Retirement (01:42:05)
- This chapter is supporter only content.
- Epilogue (01:43:34)
Hosts
- Kelsey Hightower - Guest
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Dylan Bourque - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
Socials:
Ghosttying Go
Fallthrough
02/24/25 • 95 min
What's a terminal? Why is it being emulated? On this week's episode, Matt and Kris are joined by Mitchell Hashimoto to discuss his newest project Ghostty, the Zig programming language, thoughts and feelings about Go, and more. As always, catch some Unpopular Opinions at the end of the episode.
Want to hear even more from Mitchell? This episode features bonus content for our Fallthrough Fan and above subscribers! Become a supporter and enjoy bonus content and higher quality audio today, and additional perks and benefits when we add them in the future.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes & Links:
- How to reset the terminal in Ghostty (from 04:41)
- Sunsetting Cursed Terminal Emulation (from 18:22)
- XTGETTCAP in Ghostty (from 23:31)
- ncurses terminfo database (from 25:14)
- Gnome VTE (from 36:55)
- Mongoose embedded web server (from 52:28)
- libuv (from 52:40)
- freetype (from 52:44)
- HarfBuzz (from 52:45)
- Pixman (from 52:48)
- libxev (from 52:58)
- z2d (from 53:01)
- Scripto Continua (from 01:25:26)
Chapters:
- (00:05) - Intro
- (00:39) - Become a subscriber: https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe
- (01:52) - What is Ghostty?
- (03:47) - Consequences of cat'ing binaries
- (04:43) - Ghostty's journey to release
- (06:47) - Ghostty's team structure
- (08:22) - What terminal are we using?
- (09:03) - Ghostty's Dev Tools
- (14:53) - What are escape sequences?
- (16:57) - What are terminal emulators emulating?
- (19:50) - The ossification of SSH & Terminfo
- (27:26) - Ghostty Terminfo workaround
- (28:38) - Shell in the Ghostty
- (34:44) - libghostty
- (38:59) - The most difficult part in implementing Ghostty
- (42:35) - Why Zig?
- (46:41) - How to build with Zig
- (55:35) - The Zig Standard Library
- (59:00) - Social feedback creates bleh languages
- (01:02:52) - Go's place in the modern world
- (01:11:56) - On handling feedback
- (01:19:45) - Join the Ghostty development community
- (01:21:35) - Mitchell's thoughts on GitHub (subscriber only)
- (01:23:02) - Mitchell's Unpop
- (01:24:21) - Matt's Unpop
- (01:26:37) - Kris' Duolingo Streak
- (01:29:29) - Kris' Unpop
- (01:33:25) - Outro
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Mitchell Hashimoto - Guest
Socials:
War Stories
Fallthrough
01/06/25 • 73 min
Our experiences are what make us the software people we are today. In this episode, Kris is joined by the hosting panel of Ian, Matt, and Dylan and they're talking war stories. You'll hear tales of coworker frustrations, our own hubris, and plenty of weird software bugs. To close the episode out, Dylan, Ian, and Kris provide some unpopular opinions! Let us know on social media if you think their opinions are unpopular as they seem to think they are!
Thank you so much for listening to our first episode. Happy listening!
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (00:43) - Talkin' Bout The Rain
- (01:39) - Dates, Times, and "Helpful" Platforms
- (14:17) - Y2K Flashback
- (16:20) - Non-Refreshing Refresh Tokens
- (21:53) - TCP, Locks, and Load Balancers
- (34:16) - tar != tar
- (39:52) - Bonus Story: Too Many Modules
- (43:58) - pprof to the rescue!
- (47:18) - netcat: the ultimate database backup tool
- (49:03) - The Perfect API (In Theory)
- (53:30) - Hubris and the ease of ETL
- (55:38) - Problems with Proactive Fixes
- (58:39) - Unpopular Opinions
- (59:00) - Dylan's Unpop
- (01:03:08) - Ian's Unpop
- (01:09:26) - Kris' Unpop
- (01:12:32) - Outro
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host
- Dylan Bourque - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
Socials:
05/19/25 • 74 min
From deploying WebAssembly all over the world, to using SQLite to keep track of distributed data, to blowing glass, this episode is quite the adventure! Your co-hosting power duo of Matt and Angelica are joined by Danielle Lancashire, a Principal Engineer at Fermyon, to navigate this discussion filled with insights and advice.
This episode's extended content includes two chapters: one about the groups thoughts on artificial intelligence and another on the local tech scenes across the world. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:11)
- Chapter 1: WebAssembly (02:58)
- Chapter 2: SQLite (15:20)
- Chapter 3: How To Solve Big Problems (21:35)
- Chapter 4: Artifical Intelligence [Supporter Only] (42:55)
- Chapter 5: Local Technology Communities [Supporter Only] (42:55)
- Chapter 6: Life With Work (44:18)
- Chapter 7: Parting Advice (56:07)
- Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (58:40)
- Epilogue (01:11:13)
Hosts
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Angelica Hill - Producer
- Kris Brandow - Producer
- Danielle Lancashire - Guest
Socials:
- Website
- Bluesky
- Threads
- X/Twitter
- (01:11) - Prologue
- (02:58) - Chapter 1: WebAssembly
- (15:20) - Chapter 2: SQLite
- (21:35) - Chapter 3: How To Solve Big Problems
- (42:55) - Chapter 4: Artifical Intelligence [Supporter Only]
- (42:55) - Chapter 5: Local Technology Communities [Supporter Only]
- (44:18) - Chapter 6: Life With Work
- (56:07) - Chapter 7: Parting Advice
- (58:40) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
- (01:11:13) - Epilogue
04/28/25 • 59 min
Maintaining software is challenging, but monetizing it while properly valuing your time complicate matters even more. Doing all of this for open source projects is a challenge that few have figured out. In this week's episode Matt and Angelica are joined by Carlos Becker to discuss maintaining and monetizing open source projects, what it's like to work out an open source company, and how to value your own time. Plus, we've got some unpopular opinions at the end of the episode.
Supporters get access to an extended conversation including a chapter on valuing time, the tools Carlos uses, and the groups thoughts on AI tooling! Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:11)
- Chapter 1: How Carlos Got Started (03:12)
- Chapter 2: Open Source Product Management (12:29)
- Chapter 3: Go Releaser's Architecture (15:47)
- Chapter 4: Monetization (23:23)
- Chapter 5: The Value Of Time [Extended Episode Content] (27:05)
- Chapter 6: Life at Charm (27:37)
- Chapter 7: Monetizing Open Source Projects (32:38)
- Chapter 8: Valuing Your Own Time (39:45)
- Chapter 9: The Tools Carlos Loves [Extended Episode Content] (46:57)
- Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (46:57)
- Epilogue (56:06)
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Producer
- Carlos Becker - Guest
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Angelica Hill - Producer
Socials:
- Website
- Bluesky
- Threads
- X/Twitter
- (01:11) - Prologue
- (03:12) - Chapter 1: How Carlos Got Started
- (12:29) - Chapter 2: Open Source Product Management
- (15:47) - Chapter 3: Go Releaser's Architecture
- (23:23) - Chapter 4: Monetization
- (27:05) - Chapter 5: The Value Of Time [Extended Episode Content]
- (27:37) - Chapter 6: Life at Charm
- (32:38) - Chapter 7: Monetizing Open Source Projects
- (39:45) - Chapter 8: Valuing Your Own Time
- (46:57) - Chapter 9: The Tools Carlos Loves [Extended Episode Content]
- (46:57) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
- (56:06) - Epilogue
What Even Is A Senior Software Engineer?
Fallthrough
03/31/25 • 113 min
What does it mean to be a senior (or staff) software engineer? How are we preparing the next generation of software engineers to maintain the software we've created? In this episode, Matt and Kris are joined by Bill Kennedy to discuss tech communities, training software engineers, the landscape of learning, how artificial intelligence is affecting it all, and so much more.
Supporters get access to an extended conversation with Bill, where we get into more depth on artificial intelligence, the Go team, and more! You can get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:10)
- Intros & The Rain (01:10)
- Mr. Gopher Man (02:35)
- Introducing Bill Kennedy (03:08)
- Chapter 1: Tech Communities & Software Engineer Training (04:57)
- From Ultimate Go to Ultimate Software Design Live (04:57)
- Software Engineers & Criticism (10:01)
- Saying The Wrong Things (15:12)
- The Times Have Changed (16:08)
- You Learn More From Your Mistakes (24:44)
- Chapter 2: The Learning Landscape (28:25)
- The trouble with senior engineering (30:10)
- The difference between programming and coding (35:04)
- What is legacy? (39:19)
- It's All About Packages (44:06)
- Expanding Into Rust (51:23)
- Chapter 3: Giving Back (59:43)
- Sustaining open source projects (59:43)
- Chapter 4: Passing The Baton (01:13:28)
- The need for written documentation (01:27:50)
- What AI can do for you (01:33:50)
- When do you do something? (01:40:57)
- Epilogue (01:50:05)
- Helicopter taxi (01:50:34)
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Bill Kennedy - Guest
Socials:
The Podcast Pipeline
Fallthrough
04/14/25 • 85 min
Fallthrough is a podcast about having conversations in public, and over the last 3 months we've shipped 15 of them! In this episode, Kris, Ian, and Matt sit down to discuss the podcast so far: what we've enjoyed, the feedback we've gotten, how we produce episodes, and so much more. We're excited to take a look at the first 15 episodes we've produced and look forward to making the next 15!
Supporters get access to an extended conversation including chapters on how we've pivoted the podcast, learned about what works and what doesn't, our thoughts on art vs production, and much more. You can get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:23)
- Chapter 1: The Podcast So Far (02:07)
- Chapter 2: Behind The Scenes (05:53)
- Chapter 3: Our Favorite Episodes (12:59)
- Chapter 4: Pivoting The Podcast (Supporter Only)
- Chapter 5: On Feedback (18:14)
- Chapter 6: Yes, And vs No, But (27:58)
- Chapter 7: Monologing (35:45)
- Chapter 8: Pre & Post Production (43:01)
- Chapter 9: How We Make Episodes (01:01:04)
- Chapter 10: Learning How Things Work (Supporter Only)
- Chapter 11: The Best Feedback (01:08:19)
- Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (01:13:45)
- Appendix DESIGN: Art vs Production (Supporter Only)
- Epilogue (01:22:27)
Hosts
- Kris Brandow - Host
- Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
Socials:
- Website
- Bluesky
- Threads
- X/Twitter
- (01:23) - Prologue
- (02:07) - Chapter 1: The Podcast So Far
- (05:53) - Chapter 2: Behind The Scenes
- (12:59) - Chapter 3: Our Favorite Episodes
- (17:50) - Chapter 4: Pivoting The Podcast
- (18:14) - Chapter 5: On Feedback
- (27:58) - Chapter 6: Yes, And vs No, But
- (35:45) - Chapter 7: Monologing
- (43:01) - Chapter 8: Pre & Post Production
- (01:01:04) - Chapter 9: How We Make Episodes
- (01:08:18) - Chapter 10: Learning How Things Work
- (01:08:19) - Chapter 11: The Best Feedback
- (01:13:45) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
- (01:22:00) - Appendix DESIGN: Art vs Production
- (01:22:27) - Epilogue
Building An Open Source Maintenance Company
Fallthrough
06/02/25 • 78 min
We all use open source software on a daily basis. Even though the software is free to consume doesn't mean it's free to produce. Over the years, there have been many attempts to support open source development financially, from companies that sell support to foundations and many things in between. On this week's episode, Angelica and Matt are joined by Filippo Valsorda and Daniel McCarney to discuss Geomys, an open source maintenance company. The goal of Geomys is to provide open source maintainers with stable income to support themselves financially while doing the very important work of keeping open source projects well maintained. The group discusses the why and how of Geomys, what the day to day is like, and open source maintenance as a whole.
For our supporters, this episode contains extra chapters of discussion. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.
Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!
Notes:
Table of Contents:
- Prologue (01:11)
- Chapter 1: Geomys, An Open Source Maintainership Company (04:27)
- Chapter 2: Day To Day At Geomys [Supporter Only] (12:29)
- Chapter 3: How Are Things Going? (12:29)
- Chapter 4: The Geomys Team [Supporter Only] (19:34)
- Chapter 5: Expansion Possibilities (19:34)
- Chapter 6: Interacting With The Community (30:42)
- Chapter 7: Building A Geomys Of Your Own [Supporter Only] (40:09)
- Chapter 8: Preventing Burnout (40:09)
- Chapter 9: Prioritizing Work (52:18)
- Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (58:06)
Hosts
- Matthew Sanabria - Host
- Angelica Hill - Producer
- Kris Brandow - Producer
- Filippo Valsorda - Guest
- Daniel McCarney - Guest
Socials:
- Website
- Bluesky
- Threads
- X/Twitter
- (01:11) - Prologue
- (04:27) - Chapter 1: Geomys, An Open Source Maintainership Company
- (12:29) - Chapter 2: Day To Day At Geomys [Supporter Only]
- (12:29) - Chapter 3: How Are Things Going?
- (19:34) - Chapter 4: The Geomys Team [Supporter Only]
- (19:34) - Chapter 5: Expansion Possibilities
- (30:42) - Chapter 6: Interacting With The Community
- (40:09) - Chapter 7: Building A Geomys Of Your Own [Supporter Only]
- (40:09) - Chapter 8: Preventing Burnout
- (52:18) - Chapter 9: Prioritizing Work
- (58:06) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions
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FAQ
How many episodes does Fallthrough have?
Fallthrough currently has 24 episodes available.
What topics does Fallthrough cover?
The podcast is about Software, Software Development, Podcasts, Technology and Programming.
What is the most popular episode on Fallthrough?
The episode title 'Falling Through: A New Perspective' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Fallthrough?
The average episode length on Fallthrough is 84 minutes.
How often are episodes of Fallthrough released?
Episodes of Fallthrough are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Fallthrough?
The first episode of Fallthrough was released on Dec 3, 2024.
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