The DevLab Podcast

The DevLab Podcast (by hackajob) is your backstage pass into the world of today’s leading tech professionals. We talk to developers, engineers, product managers, CTOs, and more from some of the most innovative companies in the UK and US. If you’re building a career in tech, this is where you’ll find the stories, skills, and strategies that matter. Each episode brings you real journeys, technical know-how, and actionable insights to help you grow your craft and your career.

The DevLab Podcast is a technology podcast hosted by hackajob, with 113 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

hackajob hosts The DevLab Podcast, a technology show with 113 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #10

  You're thinking too small about AI

  Sep 28, 202650 minS10

  Ask a leadership team for their AI initiatives and the list comes back as savings. MJ's argument is that most companies are thinking far too small about what the technology can do, and she has an exercise for it. Write down your AI initiatives, but you're not allowed to mention efficiency, cost, or productivity per person. The second list takes longer to write, and it's the one worth having. MJ is Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer at Credibly, where she runs growth and the company's AI programme. Before that she spent eight years at Ford, founded a mobility startup inside the company and took it external. She has a literature degree and an MBA, and she'll tell you she's a writer first and a technologist second. We get into why an organisation behaves like a complex organism rather than a machine, what ROI looks like before it looks like money, why copying your best employee caps you at your best employee, and the shipping container story she uses to explain what automation actually changed. Plus deepfakes, shadow AI, and why she expects the strongest hires of the next decade to pair a technical skill with a humanities one. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:00 Ford, and building a startup inside a big company 05:31 What a failed startup teaches you about where you work best 08:54 Why an organisation is a complex organism, not a machine 14:17 The shipping container story 16:55 The small AI projects that go nowhere, and why you need them 19:01 What ROI looks like before it looks like money 21:49 Why copying your best employee fails 23:57 AI as an abundance model 27:06 Ban the word efficiency from your AI planning 29:45 Why leaders can't delegate their AI learning 32:24 Deepfakes, shadow AI, and risk becoming everyone's job 34:12 Efficiency at one end, burnout at the other 36:09 Compliance, ethics, and the certification that doesn't exist yet 44:23 What's missing from the AI conversation Follow MJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minyang-jiang-6981a148/ DevLab is hackajob's series on how AI actually lands inside organisations, with the people doing the work. Discover more at hackajob.com #AI #AIAdoption #Leadership What would you like us to talk about next? Looking for a new role? Create your free hackajob profile and let Archer, your AI advocate in the job market, match you to roles that fit your goals. Apply knowing you're a good fit: https://hackajob.com/talent/sign-up Hiring? Archer is hackajob's AI sourcing agent. It finds and qualifies the passive, in-demand talent your team can't reach and delivers them straight into your ATS, while your recruiters make every hiring decision. Book a free demo: https://hackajob.com/employer/book-a-demo Stay up to date with DevLab and Archer: X LinkedIn Facebook Instagram TikTok

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  Episode #9

  Building the Zillow experience millions use, from Mexico

  Sep 22, 202642 minS10

  Luis Hernandez is a Senior Engineering Manager at Zillow, where he leads a team building Zillow's seller experience across Mexico and the US. In this DevLab episode he explains how a team split across Mexico and the US ships core product that millions of Americans open every day, how AI shows up in the actual engineering work, what Zillow looks for when it hires engineers, and why you don't have to become a manager to keep growing. What you'll learn: How Zillow builds core product from Mexico, not side projects How to prepare for big tech interviews, and why failing a few is normal The difference between high-impact projects and high-impact systems How Zillow's engineers actually use AI, from writing code to the Zestimate Why you can reach senior levels at Zillow without managing people What Hack Week, team retreats, and Zillow's "Cloud HQ" distributed setup look like Questions answered in this episode: What does an engineering manager at Zillow do? What is it like to work at Zillow as an engineer based in Mexico? How does Zillow use AI in software engineering? How do you get hired at big tech from Mexico? Can you grow at Zillow without becoming a manager? About DevLab: DevLab is the series where we sit down with the people behind the tech you actually use and find out how it really gets built. Read more about Zillow and the team's work: https://hackajob.com/company/zillow Like the sound of a team that builds core product from Mexico, invests in its distributed culture, and lets engineers keep growing without pushing them into management? Create your free hackajob profile and get matched to roles that fit: https://hackajob.com/talent/sign-up Subscribe for more conversations with the engineers behind the tech you use. What would you like us to talk about next? Looking for a new role? Create your free hackajob profile and let Archer, your AI advocate in the job market, match you to roles that fit your goals. Apply knowing you're a good fit: https://hackajob.com/talent/sign-up Hiring? Archer is hackajob's AI sourcing agent. It finds and qualifies the passive, in-demand talent your team can't reach and delivers them straight into your ATS, while your recruiters make every hiring decision. Book a free demo: https://hackajob.com/employer/book-a-demo Stay up to date with DevLab and Archer: X LinkedIn Facebook Instagram TikTok

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  The DevLab Podcast

  BAE Systems: Building impactful tech with inclusive teams

  Jun 9, 20261h 5m

  What does it actually take to build technology people can rely on? In this episode of DevLab, Phil sits down with three people from BAE Systems who all came into tech through very different routes and are now doing very different things. Johanna started out wanting to be a primatologist. Davinder got her first computer from her uncle at 14 and has been writing code ever since. Emma came from sports coaching, via a call centre, into a career spanning IT, service management and business relationship work. Together they talk about squiggly careers and the value of non-traditional routes into tech, what it means to stay hands-on as a senior engineer, building systems that sit quietly behind everyday life, AI adoption and where human judgement still matters, inclusion, neurodiversity and OutLink at BAE Systems, and what teams need to feel safe enough to actually do their best work. What would you like us to talk about next? 🔥Are you looking for a new role? Create your free hackajob profile and let Archer, your AI advocate in the job market, match you to roles that fit your career goals. Get started here and apply to roles knowing you are a good fit: https://hackajob.com/talent/sign-up 🔥Are you hiring? Discover how hackajob can connect you with top talent by booking a free, no-commitment trial: https://hackajob.com/employer/book-a-demo Stay up to date with DevLab and hackajob: X : @hackajobHQ LinkedIn : hackajob Facebook : hackajob Instagram : @hackajob TikTok : @hackajob

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  Episode #7

  BAE Systems: Building impactful tech with inclusive teams

  Jun 9, 20261h 5mS10

  <p>What does it actually take to build technology people can rely on? In this episode of DevLab, Phil sits down with three people from BAE Systems who all came into tech through very different routes and are now doing very different things.<br/><br/>Johanna started out wanting to be a primatologist. Davinder got her first computer from her uncle at 14 and has been writing code ever since. Emma came from sports coaching, via a call centre, into a career spanning IT, service management and business relationship work.<br/><br/>Together they talk about squiggly careers and the value...

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  Episode #6

  The women who refused to stop learning: Afghanistan's quiet tech movement

  Apr 3, 202628 minS10

  <p>Fauzia didn't plan to go into tech. She wanted to be a doctor. When Afghanistan's university entrance exam placed her in computer science instead, she had no laptop, no coding experience, and no clear idea of what she'd signed up for.<br/><br/>Then the pandemic hit. Then in 2021, everything changed again. Women were told they could no longer continue their studies.<br/><br/>In this episode of the DevLab podcast, Phil, VP of Marketplace at hackajob,  sits down with Fauzia, Software Engineer and Executive Director at CodeWeekend, a community-led bootcamp helping Afghan developers build real technical skills. <br/><br...

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