Beyond The Build
Beyond The Build is a podcast about the real, unfiltered experiences of being a software engineer. Hosted by Uma and Ope, two seasoned engineers, it explores career growth, technical challenges, work-life balance, and industry insights. The show covers the highs, lows, and parts of working in tech that often go unspoken. It is aimed at both aspiring developers and experienced professionals.
Episodes
The US Is Blocking H1B & Green Card Sponsorship for Some Big Tech Companies
Send us Fan MailBe part of the show: https://btb-listener-line.fly.dev/ Ask us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9The US is tightening immigration policies, and Big Tech is feeling the impact. With companies like Microsoft pausing green card sponsorships and proposed changes to OPT for international students, what does this mean for the future of tech jobs in Amer
AI Plan Mode Is Dead. What Developers Are Doing Instead | LWIT
Send us Fan MailBe part of the show: https://btb-listener-line.fly.dev/ Ask us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we talk about how personal AI agents are starting to change the way we interact with technology, including research showing that some agents may recommend more expensive options based on what they infer about a user
Is Polymarket A Money Laundering Machine? | LWIT
Send us Fan MailBe part of the show: https://btb-listener-line.fly.dev/Ask us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9 This week on Beyond the Build, we break down some of the biggest stories in software engineering, cybersecurity, AI, and tech.We discuss Jev, a new decision-focused AI model, the shifting AI talent pipeline between China and the US, AI hacking incident
Scams, Surveillance, Cyber Warfare: What The Dark Web Has Been Up To With AI | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down Anthropic’s latest AI misuse report and look at how bad actors are already using AI for scams, surveillance, cyber operations, influence campaigns, telecom data scraping, and other real-world attacks.We also discuss the growing AI arms race between companie
Apparently AI Might Kill Us. Anyway, Here’s a PR | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond The Build, we talk about the growing wave of AI safety warnings coming from researchers at companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, and whether those concerns should actually change how seriously we think about the risks of increasingly capable AI systems.We also get
AI Just Changed the Rules of Software Security | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9AI is changing software security faster than most engineering teams are prepared for.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down how AI agents are starting to discover and exploit vulnerabilities, why the window between a CVE being disclosed and actively exploited is shrinking, and what that means fo
Why Developers Have to Start Caring About Memory | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9This week on Last Week in Tech, we’re talking about what happens when memory gets expensive and software can’t afford to stay bloated.RAM prices are climbing fast, Android is tightening memory limits, and companies like Cloudflare are squeezing huge amounts of memory out of their systems through better data
Why Lovable.dev Migrated From Next.js (And It Worked)
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down some of the biggest AI and software engineering stories from the week, including Anthropic’s explosive revenue growth, Cursor’s new Git hosting platform, Lovable moving away from Next.js, and the growing cost of AI inside companies.We discuss why Anthropic’s reported $65B annualized revenue run rate is impressive but difficult to c
Prediction Markets Are the New Retirement Plans (401k)? | LWIT
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down some of the most interesting stories happening across AI, software engineering, and the broader tech industry.We talk about AI agents moving into the browser, the growing US-China AI divide, why AI search may be weakening the open web, and how prediction markets are blurring the line between investing and gambling. We also get into
The Unlimited Token Budget Was Never Going to Last | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down some of the biggest stories in tech this week, from Microsoft putting limits on internal AI usage to the growing cost of running AI at scale.We also cover the latest AI model releases, OpenAI’s Astra research, a new coding benchmark designed to be harder to
OpenAI Slashed Prices 80% | The Real Reason They're Panicking | LWIT
Send us Fan MailOpenAI didn't just cut prices they slashed Luna by 86% and Terra by 20% in a single move. That's not a sale. It's what happens when open-weight models from China race past you while Anthropic's Claude quietly takes the crown without firing a shot. Uma and Ope break down the real story behind the price collapse, why Anthropic's counterintuitive strategy is w
Gumroad Now Spends as Much on AI as It Does on Employees | LWIT
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we discussed how OpenAI's model escaped its sandbox and hacked Hugging Face, why open-weight models are now 50x cheaper, and what Big Tech's $1.65T indirect AI bet means for the future.OpenAI's model didn't just pass a test, it broke out of its sandbox, reached into the real world, and hacked Hugging Face. Meanwhile, a wave of new open-weight mo
Kimi K3 AI Model is Literally INSANE! (Free) | LWIT
Send us Fan MailThis episode of Last Week In Tech delivered chaos on every front. A Chinese model nobody expected just flipped the coding leaderboard, and the gap between East and West is now thinner than most engineers want to admit. But here's the really creepy part: your smart TV might be watching you right now, and what LG got caught doing will make you want to unplug everything.Apple is
Companies Are Now Paying $10,000/Week to Fix AI Code | LWIT
Send us Fan MailOpenAI just dropped GPT 5.6, and it's already changing the game, but not in the way most developers expected. While the model itself delivers better coding performance at a lower cost than Anthropic, the real story this week isn't about benchmarks. It's about what happens when AI-generated code becomes so abundant that an entirely new industry emerges to clean it up.
Hiring for junior developers dropped 20%. Here’s what nobody is telling you.
Send us Fan MailThis week on Last Week in Tech episode, we discussed: Anthropic just re-released a model the US government told them to pull. OpenAI dropped GPT 5 but only to 20 companies. In this episode, Uma and Ope break down what these staggered launches reveal about government influence over Claude AI releases, and why both hosts believe these restrictions could quietly hand the AI lead to Ch
Meta Was Tracking Employee Keystrokes to Build Their Replacements | LWIT
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9This week on Last Week in Tech: a $100M fintech disaster that tricked millions of Americans, Polymarket's fake gambling website exposed by college influencers, and why China's new open-weight AI model is spooking Silicon Valley. Plus, your smart TV might be selling your IP address without you know
LWIT: A Singel Web Page Can Hijack Your AI Agent
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Connect with Ope - https://www.linkedin.com/in/osunkoyaope/ArticlesAI Agent Hijack: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/06/18/autojack-single-page-rce-host-running-ai-agent/Skills Over MCP: https://aaif.io/blog/skills-over-mcp/Slow down and Sit With It: https://yaoyue.org/blog/2026-slowdown/C
LWIT: The US Government Ordered Anthropic To Take Down Fable
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Connect with Ope - https://www.linkedin.com/in/osunkoyaope/Connect with Uma:Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/umacodes)Tiktok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@umacodes)Twitter: (https://twitter.com/umacodes)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/umaabu/)Follow us on Social MediaInstagram: (https://www.instagra
LWIT: AI Is Creating a Generation of Bad Engineers
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Beyond The Basics With Claude Code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuY2ChJIx48Google Is Paying SpaceX To Use Its GPU: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48417490Opus 4.8: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-8AWS Agentic Football Worldcup: https://aws-experience.com/emea/smb/e/45d3b/aws-agentic-f
LWIT: AI Is Creating a New Class of Elite Engineers
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9ArticlesLearn Harness Engineeringhttps://walkinglabs.github.io/learn-harness-engineering/en/ Meta Engineering Draft: https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/inside-metas-ai-draft-zuckerberg-134000308.htmlForward-Deployed Engineerhttps://techcrunch.com/2026/05/04/anthropic-and-openai-are-both-l
LWIT: Software Engineering May No Longer Be A Lifetime Career
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9ArticlesAWS Overheating: https://www.itpro.com/infrastructure/aws-outage-explained-may-2026-data-center-overheatingOpenAI buying tools: https://medium.com/@krupeshraut/openai-and-anthropic-are-buying-the-tools-every-developer-uses-heres-why-you-should-care-e52006bc4707Software Engineering May No Longer Be A
LWIT: MAANG Companies Now Let You Use AI in Interviews.
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Connect with Ope - https://www.linkedin.com/in/osunkoyaope/Connect with Uma:Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/umacodes)Tiktok: (https://www.tiktok.com/@umacodes)Twitter: (https://twitter.com/umacodes)LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/umaabu/)Follow us on Social MediaInstagram: (https://www.instagra
LWIT: An AI Agent Deleted a Company’s Database in 9 Seconds
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we break down one of the wildest stories in tech right now — an AI agent wiping out an entire production database in seconds — and what that says about the systems we’re building.But that’s just the beginning.We also dive into the bigger shift happening across the industry: the decline of junior developer roles, the rise of AI-assisted engineering, and why the way
LWIT: 20,000 Tech Layoffs in 7 Days… Here’s What’s REALLY Happening
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Last week in tech, around 20,000 layoffs landed in seven days. Meta announced 8,000 cuts and froze another 6,000 open roles, reorganizing survivors into a new Applied AI Engineering division. Microsoft ran its first voluntary buyout in 51 years, using a Rule of 70 to target longer tenured staff. And Sam Alt
LWIT: 45% of AI Code Is Broken. We're Shipping It Anyway.
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9AI coding tools are everywhere right now. They’re helping engineers move faster, ship more code, and build things that would’ve taken days in a fraction of the time.But there’s a catch.Recent studies show that around 40 to 46 percent of AI-generated code contains security vulnerabilities. At the same time,
EP32: You’re Onboarding Wrong (30-60-90 Day Plan Explained)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Most engineers think onboarding is about learning the codebase.It’s not.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down what onboarding actually is and why so many smart engineers struggle in their first 90 days, even when they’re technically strong.We talk about the hidden layer no one teaches you. The
EP31: How High Performers Process Feedback
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down one of the most uncomfortable but important parts of being a software engineer: receiving feedback. We get into why feedback hits so hard, especially for high performers, and walk through what it actually looks like to receive it well. Not just smile and no
EP30: AI Has Changed What It Means To Be A Software Engineer
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9The game has changed, but not in the way most people think. AI has made it easier to build things fast, but it hasn't made the hard parts any easier. In this episode, Uma and Ope break down the new meta for software engineers: what gatekeeping used to look like and why it no longer scales, why a "
EP29: AI Anxiety, Surviving Probation and Layoffs - Ask Us Anything
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Join the CodeRoom: https://thecoderoom.carrd.co/You asked, and we came prepared.In this special listener Q&A episode, we answer your most pressing questions about navigating the tech industry. From junior developers worried about being replaced by AI, to self-taught engineers fighting for recognition wi
EP28: Building Software Engineering Taste in the Age of AI
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9AI has made writing code faster than ever. But speed isn’t the differentiator anymore.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we talk about engineering taste, what it actually means, why it matters more in an AI-driven world, and how to develop it intentionally.We explore why taste matters more than ever when
EP27: 20+ Years in Tech Recruiting (How Hiring Decisions Are Made)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we sit down with a seasoned recruiter to unpack what actually happens behind the scenes of tech hiring.We break down why hiring is really about risk management under uncertainty, why strong candidates still get rejected, and how recruiters and hiring managers evaluate fe
EP26: The Importance Of Branding As A Software Engineer
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Personal branding isn’t about being an influencer or posting for clout. It’s about controlling how you’re perceived when you’re not in the room.In this episode of *Beyond the Build*, we break down why software engineers already have a brand whether they like it or not, how internal and public branding shape
EP25: One Of The Hardest Parts of Software Development (It's Not The Code)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Writing code is rarely the hardest part of software engineering.As engineers grow, the real challenge shifts to something far less talked about: coordinating people, aligning goals, sharing context, and synchronizing work across teams.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down why so many engineerin
EP24: Specialization Might Be Destroying Your Career Mobility
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Should you stay or should you leave?In this episode of Beyond the Build, we tackle one of the hardest questions in your career: when should you actually leave your team or company? Most engineers don't think about this until they're already frustrated, burnt out, or realizing they've been bui
EP23: Why Writing Will Make or Break Your Engineering Career
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Most engineers spend years perfecting their coding skills but completely ignore the one skill that actually determines who gets promoted, who gets their ideas shipped, and who leads projects: **writing**.In this episode, we break down why documentation isn't just "nice to have" - it's th
EP22: Your Manager Is Using You (Here's How to Use Them Back)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Think your manager is just there to assign you tasks? Think again.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we dig into one of the most overlooked parts of being a software engineer: what you should actually expect from your manager. A lot of engineers think management is just about task updates, but your manage
EP21: The Truth About Finding “Fulfillment” in Your Career
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Everyone says you should “find joy” or “do what you love” but is that realistic advice, or just another modern work myth? In this episode of Beyond the Build, We unpack the tension between fulfillment and functionality at work. Should you expect your job to make you happy, or is that setting yourself up for
EP20: WFH vs WFO The Productivity Myth Everyone’s Falling For
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode, we unpack the realities of working from home versus working in the office. We share what’s lost when you’re remote, like casual hallway conversations and easy collaboration and how that affects connection and visibility at work.We also explore the upsides of remote life: fewer distractions,
EP19: The Fundamental Reasons Software Engineers Struggle and What to Do About It
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9When your teammate is struggling, it's easy to assume they're not trying hard enough. But what if the problem is something else entirely?In this episode of Beyond The Build, we dive deep into one of the most uncomfortable topics in software engineering: how to recognize when a colleague is struggl
EP18: Amazon Leader Reveals What Separates High Performers from Leaders
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we sit down with Felix Ekwueme, Technical Advisor to the VP of International Sellers at Amazon, to talk about the real drivers of career growth that go way beyond just “doing good work.”We unpack why comfort and growth don’t coexist, the dangers of being the silent high
EP17: The Layoff Signals Everyone Ignores (Until It's Too Late)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this raw and honest episode, we dive deep into the uncomfortable reality of tech layoffs that every software engineer needs to understand.Drawing from our own experiences of surviving cuts while watching teammates get let go, we break down the harsh truths about what really determines who stays and who g
EP16: From Lagos to South Africa to a US Tech Giant - Career Lessons From A Digital Nomad
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9In this episode of Beyond the Build, we sit down with Fola, a Senior Security Engineer whose career has taken him from Nigeria to South Africa and now the United States.We unpack what it means to build a career across countries and cultures. Fola opens up about his journey out of Nigeria, the culture shocks
EP 15: Focusing On Solving the Right Problems (and Ignoring the Wrong Ones)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9What if the secret to making an impact at work isn’t solving every problem—but knowing which ones to ignore?In this episode of Beyond the Build, we dive into one of the most overlooked but critical parts of being a software engineer: identifying the right problems to solve, at the right time, in the right w
EP14: How to Ask for Help Without Feeling Dumb (Engineer's Guide)
Send us Fan MailAsk us a question or suggest an Episode: https://forms.gle/8tEg2CKTNNWteSgt9Asking for help might seem like a basic skill, but in software engineering, how you ask can impact everything from your productivity to your team’s trust. In this episode of Beyond the Build, we break down the underrated art of asking for help at work.We talk about:The mental shift engineers need to make wh
EP13: Inside the Mind of a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft
Send us Fan MailProduct managers wear a lot of hats—but what do they actually do?In this episode of Beyond the Build, we sit down with our first-ever guest: Thien-Y Le, a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, to get the unfiltered truth about one of tech's most misunderstood roles.Thien-Y walks us through the real work of a PM—from balancing customer demands with business goals to managing rel
EP12: We’ve been to 20+ Tech Conferences - Here's What Actually Matters
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we dive deep into the often-overlooked world of tech networking and collaboration.We share our personal experiences from dozens of conferences and meetups, revealing which events actually moved the needle for our careers and which ones were just free pizza and swag. You'll discover why general networking events are often a waste of time, ho
EP11: The Tech Hype Trap: Why 90% of Developers Are Wasting Their Time (And How to Be in the 10%)
Send us Fan MailEvery developer faces the same exhausting question:Should I learn this hot new technology everyone’s talking about—or is it just another flash in the pan?In this episode of Beyond the Build, we tackle the tech trend dilemma head-on. Some believe staying on top of the latest frameworks, tools, and AI models is essential to stay relevant in the job market. Others argue it’s all hype—
EP10: How to Be the Engineer Everyone Remembers (For the Right Reasons)
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we’re talking about one of the most overlooked parts of software engineering—being a great teammate.Software engineering isn't a solo sport—it's the ultimate team game. But while we spend countless hours perfecting our technical skills, we often overlook the collaboration skills that actually determine our career success.In this episod
EP9: Your Code Isn’t Enough - How Software Engineers Actually Get Promoted
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we’re diving deep into what it really takes to get promoted as a software engineer. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about writing good code.We break down how to think about promotions through the lens of impact, influence, and ownership, the pillars that often separate engineers who stay stuck from those who move up. You’ll learn what’s typically e
EP8: Winning Over Your Manager, Director & VP - The One-on-One Playbook
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we dive into the critical skill every engineer needs, but few are taught: how to collaborate with leadership. From one-on-ones with your manager to hallway chats with directors and VPs, we cover what you should be saying, asking, and sharing to make your work more visible, effective, and aligned.We break down the types of conversations to have,
EP7: Structuring Meetings for Success: Write, Align, and Act
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we dive deep into the art of running effective engineering meetings. We break down different types of meetings, when you should prep with documents (and how to write good pre-reads), how to align with key people before a big meeting, and why every meeting should have clear outcomes before it even starts.We also discuss how to structure meetings
EP6: Work-Life Balance In Tech - The Hidden Cost of Climbing the Ladder
Send us Fan MailIf you’ve ever questioned whether your job title comes at the cost of your freedom, this one’s for you.In this episode of Beyond the Build, we dive into the messy reality of work-life balance in tech—especially as your role and responsibilities grow. We ask the tough question: Is balance even possible once you start owning important projects or teams?From seasonal workloads to titl
EP5: Are You Smart Enough To Be A Software Engineer?
Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Beyond the Build, we open up about something nearly every software engineer faces but rarely talks about — imposter syndrome. From feeling like we’re not “technical enough” to questioning whether we belong in the rooms we’ve worked hard to get into, we share our personal stories, struggles, and how imposter syndrome has shown up throughout our careers.We also div
EP4: Developing "Taste" As A Software Engineer
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ope and I break down what it really takes to build strong technical skills as a software engineer. We go beyond just writing code and dive into how to deliberately sharpen your expertise by:Building a portfolio of projects that showcase your abilitiesDeveloping taste in engineering and writing about what you learnSurrounding yourself with an environment that pushes
EP3: AI : Friend or Foe? Using AI Without Losing Your Edge
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ope and I discuss how we incorporate AI into our work as software engineers—the benefits, the challenges, and the misconceptions. We break down the pitfalls of relying too much on AI, share strategies for using it effectively without compromising core engineering skills, and offer practical advice on leveraging AI to boost productivity rather than replace developer
EP2: Rethinking Technical Interviews
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ope and I dive into our experiences with technical interviews—from their evolution into the current LeetCode-heavy format to the challenges they present for both candidates and hiring teams. We explore alternative approaches to assessing software engineers and share practical tips on how developers today can better prepare for these rigorous evaluations. Whether yo
EP1: How We Coded Our Way Here
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ope and I discuss our backgrounds and how we got to where we are. We also go into what the podcast will be about moving forward
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