Advertise on podcast: The Frontend Masters Podcast

In this episode of the Master.dev podcast, Dustin Tower, VP of Learning, sits down with Leah Thompson, DevRel and community engineer at Laravel and Twitch streamer (LeahTCodes), to talk about developer relations, learning in public, and how community can launch a tech career. Leah shares her non-traditional path into software: from a pure mathematics degree and a stint teaching high school math, to the free 100Devs bootcamp, to her first job as an HTML email developer. She explains how a free Laracon US ticket and a message to Taylor Otwell led to a job at Laravel just months later. Along the way, she talks about why teaching is the fastest way to learn, how streaming prepares you for conference speaking, and why being authentic is the key to building an audience. Leah also digs into the Laravel stack (React, Inertia, Laravel, and Tailwind), why Laravel's opinionated structure works so well with AI coding agents, how Laravel Boost helps close the context gap for models, and her advice for beginners learning to code in the age of AI.If you're interested in Laravel, developer relations, conference speaking, learning in public, AI-assisted development, or breaking into tech without a traditional CS degree, this conversation is full of practical insight and encouragement. #Laravel, #DevRel, #Inertia, #AI, #WebDevelopment, #LearnInPublic, #Podcast Check out Leah's Master.dev Course: https://master.dev/courses/laravel/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=leah-podcast Find Master.dev Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasterDotDev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/masterdotdev/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masterdotdev Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Master AI & Full Stack Development with in-depth, modern engineering courses. Our 300+ high-quality courses and 24 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer, frontend to backend, and everything between. Start your path to mastery today: https://master.dev/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=leah-podcast

In this episode of the Master.dev podcast, Marc Grabanski sits down with Maxi Ferreira, staff frontend engineer at Help Scout and writer of the Front End at Scale newsletter, to talk about frontend architecture, from monolithic apps to micro frontends, and how AI is reshaping the way engineers think about system design. Maxi shares his take on when micro frontends actually make sense (and why most teams should start with a modular monolith instead), the ongoing debate between SPAs and MPAs, and how AI-assisted development is shifting the value of engineering work from implementation to architectural decision-making. He also opens up about his path from teaching himself to code in Argentina using Dreamweaver, to building Help Scout's original design system, to launching Front End at Scale as a way to explore frontend architecture more deeply. If you're interested in frontend architecture, micro frontends, AI-assisted development, design systems, or building a long-term engineering career, this conversation is full of practical insight and hard-won lessons. Check out Maxi's Master.dev Course: https://master.dev/courses/frontend-architecture/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=maxi-podcast Find Master.dev Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasterDotDev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/masterdotdev/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masterdotdev Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Master AI & Full Stack Development with in-depth, modern engineering courses. Our 300+ high-quality courses and 24 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer, frontend to backend, and everything between. Start your path to mastery today: https://master.dev/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=maxi-podcast

In this episode of the Master.dev podcast, Dustin Tauer sits down with Katia Gil Guzman, a developer experience engineer at OpenAI, to talk about her path from learning C and HTML as a kid to building software at Microsoft, founding her own SaaS startup, and working at the intersection of AI, developer tools, and creativity. Katia shares how early curiosity shaped her career, what she learned from working with early users of Azure Cognitive Services and mixed reality, and why the best products often come from your own expertise and passions. She also talks about the value of building for specific users you understand deeply — whether that means a niche industry, a dev tool, or something entirely different. If you’re interested in software engineering, startups, developer tools, AI, or have a creator mindset, this conversation is packed with practical insight and inspiration. #OpenAI #DeveloperExperience #SoftwareEngineering #Startups #AI #DeveloperTools #Podcast Check out Katia’s Master.dev Course: https://master.dev/courses/codex/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=katia-podcast Find Master.dev Online:Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasterDotDev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/masterdotdev/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masterdotdev Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Master AI & Full Stack Development with in-depth, modern engineering courses. Our 300+ high-quality courses and 24 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer, frontend to backend, and everything between. Start your path to mastery today: https://master.dev/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=katia-podcast

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Will Sentance - the beloved creator of "JavaScript: The Hard Parts" and one of Frontend Masters' most popular instructors! Will is so much more than a JavaScript expert. He's a passionate educator, former Codesmith CEO, Oxford Visiting Fellow, Lego enthusiast, and someone who genuinely believes everyone deserves access to great education. In this warm and honest chat, he shares his story, his teaching philosophy, and what excites him about the future of learning.  WILL'S ADVICE: "Find something in your day-to-day life you want to solve with code. The learning you'll get from solving real problems is worth 1000 tutorials." Will Sentance is the creator of "JavaScript: The Hard Parts" (one of Frontend Masters' most popular courses), former CEO of Codesmith, and current Visiting Fellow at Oxford University researching AI's impact on education. LEARN FROM WILL: Watch "JavaScript: The Hard Parts, v3" on Frontend Masters: https://frontendmasters.com/courses/javascript-hard-parts-v3 #softwareengineering #javascript #coding #AI #techeducation #careeradvice Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with 250+ in-depth, modern software engineering courses across frontend, backend, data, cloud, and AI taught by engineers who build real systems at scale. frontendmasters.com

What if the secret to landing your dream job wasn't grinding LeetCode, but building software for fun? Matias went from creating Counter-Strike levels as a kid in Buenos Aires to becoming a creative developer at Vercel—and his path was anything but traditional. Starting with graphic design, teaching himself Blender's old game engine, and eventually building an emoji programming language "just for fun," Matias proves that curiosity beats curriculum every time. In this conversation, we dive deep into:  - How childhood game modding led to a career in creative web development  - The process behind building award-winning websites (Next.js Conf, Daylight Computer)   - Why WebGL and shaders are underutilized on the web - Building a multiplayer racing game in React (yes, really)  - Going from zero to teaching Frontend Masters courses  - The "useless projects" that became career-defining skills - Why WebGPU has him excited to play again   The golden thread: Keep experimenting with what excites you, not just what seems useful. That random shader experiment? That weird Webpack project? They might be exactly what lands you your next opportunity. Perfect for developers who feel guilty about their side projects, designers wanting to code, or anyone who thinks their unconventional path isn't "right" enough. #webdevelopment, #creativecoding, #webgl, #react, #vercel, #careertransition, #softwaredevelopment Check out Matias’s Frontend Masters Course: https://frontendmasters.com/courses/winning-websites/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with 250+ in-depth, modern software engineering courses across frontend, backend, data, cloud, and AI taught by engineers who build real systems at scale. frontendmasters.com

This podcast interview with Kyle, creator of Web Dev Simplified, covers his journey from discovering programming late in high school to building a successful YouTube education channel and transitioning from agency work to full-time content creation. He shares insights on learning, career decisions, teaching philosophy, and the impact of AI on programming education. #webdevsimplified #webdev #webdevelopmentCheck out Kyle’s YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/WebDevSimplifiedFrontend Masters Online:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMastersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us:Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! frontendmasters.com

Sabrina Goldfarb works at GitHub on billing systems and the Copilot AI tool. She made a career change from video editing to software engineering and started her tech journey with Frontend Masters' HTML/CSS bootcamp about eight years ago, which sparked her passion for coding.Sabrina co-founded Circulart, a fintech startup collecting data from emerging market central banks. She balances her GitHub work with managing the startup's technical architecture, crediting AI tools for making this possible by condensing what used to take a week into a day.She's passionate about teaching and giving back, driven by remembering her own eight-year struggle to break into tech. She advocates for creating your own opportunities and being persistent. Learn AI alongside coding fundamentals. Security and code understanding remain important, but AI proficiency is now essential. She encourages automating repetitive tasks and staying open to new technology. Check out Sabrina’s Practical Prompt Engineering Course: https://frontendmasters.com/courses/prompt-engineering/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMastersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMastersInstagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! frontendmasters.com

Ben Hong (Vue.js & Angular core team member) joins the podcast to discuss his journey into tech, open source contributions, and teaching. Learn how he got started in open source, his thoughts on Vue.js vs. React vs. Angular, and why community-driven projects matter. Ben also shares his passion for productivity tools like Obsidian, his experience with public speaking, and advice for developers looking to grow their careers. Whether you're interested in frontend frameworks, documentation, or career development, this episode is packed with insights! Follow Ben: @bencodezen#Programming #WebDev #TechTalk Check out Ben’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/ben-hong Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! frontendmasters.com

In this episode, David Khourshid, creator of XState, shares his journey from piano performance to programming, revealing key lessons for developers and founders. Learn why being a great coder doesn’t mean you’ll succeed as a CEO, how state machines simplify complex app logic (and when to avoid them), and the surprising link between music and code. He also discusses building Stately.ai, the challenges of visual programming, and why burnout makes sabbaticals essential. Whether you're into React, state management, or startup growth, this episode is packed with insights. XState: https://xstate.js.org/ | Follow David: @davidkpiano#Programming #Startups #WebDev #TechTalk Check out David’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/david-khourshid Frontend Masters Online:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMastersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMastersInstagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us:Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode25

In this episode, Richard Feldman (creator of Roc, Elm educator, and Zed engineer) discusses AI’s focus on "vibe coding" over high-quality tools, why functional programming’s real value lies in ecosystems—not dogma—and how frustration with slow compilers led him to design the Roc programming language. He shares Zed’s pragmatic use of AI for code "rough drafts," lessons learned from teaching Elm and Rust, and why prioritizing outcomes always beats out industry hype. He shares some Java war stories, JSX’s early controversy, and why Zed’s performance-first approach defies today’s norms. Tune in for deep dives on language design, where he sees AI’s potential, and the myth about using "boring" tech.Check out Richard’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/richard-feldmanFrontend Masters Online:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMastersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMastersInstagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMastersAbout Us:Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode24

In this episode of the Frontend Masters Podcast, host Marc Grabanski chats with Jon Kuperman, a seasoned developer, educator, and TC39 delegate. Jon shares insights into his journey from juggling enthusiast to JavaScript language contributor, his experiences at companies like Twitter, Brave, Adobe, and Bloomberg, and his passion for teaching and accessibility. He also dives into the complexities of evolving JavaScript, the challenges of browser development, and the future of reactive programming with signals. Tune in for a deep dive into the world of frontend development, open source, and the collaborative process behind shaping the future of JavaScript. Check out Jon’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/jon-kuperman/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us:Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode23

In this episode of The Frontend Masters Podcast, Kevin Powell, a CSS educator and YouTuber,  describes his transition from print design to web development before finding his niche in teaching CSS online. Kevin started his YouTube channel eight years ago as a creative outlet while teaching at a vocational school. He grew it from 100 initial subscribers to a full-time career through consistent weekly content focused exclusively on CSS and HTML. Throughout the podcast, Kevin shares insights on modern CSS features like container queries and view transitions while emphasizing the importance of understanding fundamentals before adopting frameworks like Tailwind. His success stems from deliberately maintaining a narrow focus on CSS despite pressure to cover other technologies, and his journey exemplifies how specializing in one area and maintaining consistency can lead to sustainable content creation. The interview concludes with Kevin reflecting on how he "accidentally" found his path through trying different careers and hobbies until finding what stuck. Check out Kevin’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/kevin-powell/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMastersLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode22

In this episode of The Frontend Masters Podcast, Todd Gardner, co-founder of TrackJS and RequestMetrics, discusses his journey from consultant to entrepreneur. He shares insights on bootstrapping SaaS products, competing against VC-backed companies, and the importance of charging customers for your product or service early. Todd delves into technical aspects of his products' stacks, including the use of .NET Core, Clickhouse, and HTMX. He offers advice on public speaking, teaching, and maintaining healthy co-founder relationships. The conversation covers web performance optimization, JavaScript error monitoring, and the challenges of balancing product development with marketing efforts. Todd also reflects on his career philosophy of continuous learning and adaptation in the fast-paced tech industry. Marc has captured his advice on startups in this article, originally an email to Todd in 2014: https://marcgrabanski.com/articles/your-advice-startups/ Check out Todd’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/todd-gardner/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode21

In this 20th episode of The Frontend Masters Podcast, Francesca Sadikin, a software engineer at Netflix, shares her journey from architecture to tech. She discusses her experience at a software engineering consulting firm, rapid career progression, and landing a role at Netflix. Sadikin offers insights on transitioning into tech, the benefits of software consulting for skill accumulation, and the challenges of working at a top-tier tech company. She also delves into her approach to teaching and public speaking, emphasizing the importance of practice and preparation. The conversation covers strategies for managing imposter syndrome, the value of autonomy in Netflix's work culture, and balancing career growth with personal life as a new parent. Check out Francesca’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/francesca-sadikin/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer!  https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode20

In this episode, Kadi Kraman, a software developer at Expo, discusses her journey from scientific programming to React Native development. She shares insights on her experiences at companies like Formidable and her work on projects such as the Puma app. Kadi delves into the evolution of Expo, explaining how it has addressed previous limitations and become the recommended framework for React Native. She explores the concept of React Native frameworks, the benefits of Expo Go, and the introduction of development builds. The conversation also touches on emerging trends in React Native, including React Strictum and efforts to align React Native more closely with web standards. Finally, Kadi offers advice on getting into tech speaking and teaching, and reflects on the importance of tackling challenges and continuous learning in software development. Check out Kadi’s Frontend Masters courses here: https://frontendmasters.com/teachers/kadi-kraman/ Frontend Masters Online: Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrontendMasters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontend-masters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrontendMasters Instagram: https://instagram.com/FrontendMasters About Us: Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses — our 150+ high-quality courses and 18 curated learning paths will guide you from mid-level to senior developer! https://frontendmasters.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=home_link&utm_campaign=podcastepisode19