In this episode of The Programming Podcast, Danny Thompson and Leon Noel sit down with Robbie Wagner—Ember core team member, Staff Engineer at HashiCorp, and co-host of Whiskey Web and Whatnot—to talk about his journey through some of the world’s most recognized tech companies.Grab a glass (of whiskey or water), and let’s go deep on career, code, and community.
They cover:
I currently sling JavaScript for HashiCorp.
00:00 – Intro: Meet Robbie Wagner (Netflix, Apple, Amazon, HashiCorp)
02:00 – The “MANAMANA” Acronym Explained
03:42 – AI Will Write 90% of Code? Our Hot Takes
07:00 – Where AI Fails and Why Documentation Still Matters
10:55 – How AI is Changing the Code Economy
13:17 – EmberJS, Framework Evolution & Why React Might Be Subpar
18:30 – Are We Chasing Hype Instead of Building Real Things?
21:00 – Working at Amazon, Apple, Netflix: Pros & Cons
26:35 – The Toxic Culture That Made Him Quit
29:00 – Interview Prep for Big Tech (LeetCode, STAR, and Strategy)
32:45 – What HashiCorp’s Interview Process Got Right
34:00 – Advice for People Who See FAANG as the Dream
36:00 – Defining Success Later in Your Career
37:10 – Mentorship, Scaling Help, and Developer Growth
39:08 – Preparing for a “Manoma” Interview
41:40 – Final Thoughts & Closing Thanks
