Software Engineering Went From Hacker Culture to...
Description
Pauline Vos (Senior Software Engineer at MongoDB) reveals how software culture evolved from its counterculture, DIY, and anarchist roots to what we see today.
We explore:
The original hacker mindset and why it mattered
How open source was always political
Why 2017-2018 changed everything
Where to still find real hacker culture (hint: hacker camps, FOSDEM)
The difference between building puzzles vs. building APIs
From Anonymous protests to battle snake competitions, from lockpicking to the lost idealism of the early web - discover what software engineering lost and where you can still find it.
"Open source culture goes back to the 70s... quite a few of them see free information, open information, accessible information as a human right." - Pauline
🔗 Connect with Pauline:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinepvos
Full episode on YouTube ▶️
Beyond Coding Podcast with 🎙Patrick Akil
OUTLINE:
00:00:00 - The Origins of Software Culture
00:02:13 - The Shift to a Profit-Focused Culture
00:03:48 - The Reality of Production and the Need for Guardrails
00:05:32 - Contrasting Modern Startup Goals with Hacker Culture
00:07:16 - The Role of Architects and Pragmatic Design
00:09:46 - The Anti-Capitalist Roots of DIY Culture
00:11:52 - Open Source: Political Roots and Business Models
00:15:28 - The Thriving and Misunderstood PHP Ecosystem
00:21:23 - Why Open Source Lacks User Experience Professionals
00:23:36 - The Decentralized Web and The Fediverse Explained
00:30:12 - The Web's Original Vision vs. Its Current State
00:33:09 - The Impact of AI on How We Use the Internet
00:36:07 - AI-Generated Code: A Goldmine for Hackers
00:40:47 - "Slop Squatting": A New AI-Related Security Threat
00:43:03 - How to Find and Engage with Hacker Culture Today
00:46:20 - Gamifying Software: Battle Snake, CSS Battles, and the Demoscene
00:50:04 - Final Advice and How to Get Involved
United States
