Software Engineering Went From Hacker Culture to...

24 Jul 2025 • 50 min • EN
50 min
00:00
50:48
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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://pauline-vos.nl https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinepvos Full episode on YouTube ▶️ https://youtu.be/0fIoRVlObNo Beyond Coding Podcast with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Powered by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! 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

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