DevRel, Linux, and the Shrinking Path for Junior Developers w/ Ali Diamond

This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Ali Diamond about her journey through tech, cybersecurity, and community building. They sip tequila, swap hot takes on programming languages and developer culture, and dig into the realities of junior engineering paths, DevRel’s evolution, and how passion—not tools—shapes meaningful work.

In this episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:39) - Tequila rating & review: Espolon Tequila Blanco
• (13:46) - From tequila to other favorite drinks
• (16:11) - Hot Take: Why junior engineers should focus on - fundamentals
• (18:57) - Hot Take: MacOS or Linux?
• (22:25) - Ali’s take on Linux flavors (and her own twist)
• (25:22) - Hot Take: Is DevRel really dead?
• (27:28) - Software developer vs. software engineer: does it matter?
• (31:45) - Hot Take: Rails vs Laravel
• (35:14) - The shrinking path for junior developers
• (47:34) - Life outside coding: Ali’s passions and projects
• (54:34) - Ali’s journey into tech and family background
• (57:40) - Plugs & where to find Ali online

Links

• Espolon Tequila Blanco: https://www.espolontequila.com/
• Minecraft: https://www.minecraft.net/
• Java: https://www.java.com/
• Lua: https://www.lua.org/
• Spindrift: https://drinkspindrift.com/
• Costco: https://www.costco.com
• All Things Open: https://allthingsopen.org/
• The Net Gala: https://x.com/_thenetgala
• 1942 Tequila: https://www.donjulio.com/our-tequilas/don-julio-1942-tequila
• Clase Azul: https://claseazul.com/
• Fresca Mixed: https://www.frescamixed.com/
• LaCroix: https://www.lacroixwater.com/
• Diet Coke: https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en/brands/diet-coke
• Monster: https://www.monsterenergy.com/
• Celsius: https://www.celsius.com/
• Django: https://www.djangoproject.com/
• Rails: https://rubyonrails.org/
• MacOS: https://www.apple.com/macos/
• Linux: https://www.linux.org/
• Andriod: https://www.android.com/
• iPhone: https://www.apple.com/iphone/
• Vim: https://www.vim.org/
• VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/
• Omarchy: https://omarchy.org/
• DHH: https://x.com/dhh/
• Arch Linux: https://archlinux.org/
• Debian: https://www.debian.org/
• Ubuntu: https://ubuntu.com/
• Kali: https://www.kali.org/
• Twitch: https://twitch.tv
• CactusCon: https://www.cactuscon.com/
• Ep 114: Privacy, Cyber Crime Stories, and Tech with Jack Rhysider: https://whiskey.fm/privacy-cyber-crime-stories-and-tech-with-jack-rhysider
• Laravel: https://laravel.com/
• PHP: https://www.php.net/
• Scala: https://www.scala-lang.org/
• Guillermo Rauch: https://x.com/rauchg
• Vercel: https://vercel.com/
• Taylor Otwell: https://x.com/taylorotwell
• Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/
• WordPress: https://wordpress.org
• React: https://react.dev/
• LeetCode: https://leetcode.com/
• NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/
• Mark Zuckerberg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
• Mad Money: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Money
• Bill Gates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
• Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/
• Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/
• YAML: https://yaml.org/
• Smiski: https://smiski.com/
• Brandon Sanderson: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/
• Game of Thrones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones
• Lore Olympus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lore_Olympus
• Webtoon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webtoon
• Invincible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_(TV_series)
• The Boys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_(TV_series)
• Burning Man: https://burningman.org/
• Coachella: https://www.coachella.com/
• Nine Inch Nails: https://www.nin.com/
• Go: https://go.dev/
• MIT: https://www.mit.edu
• Pokemon Go: https://pokemongolive.com/
• Stanford University: https://www.stanford.edu/
• UC Berkeley: https://www.berkeley.edu/
• Harvard University: https://www.harvard.edu/

Connect with Ali

• Website: https://ali.dev/
• X / Twitter: https://x.com/endingwithali
• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/endingwithali
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hak5

Connect with the hosts

• Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
• Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd
• Adam Argyle: https://x.com/argyleink

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Website: https://whiskey.fm
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

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Veteran web developers RobbieTheWagner, Charles William Carpenter III, and Adam Argyle host this informal, whiskey-fueled fireside chat with your favorite web devs. They discuss all things web development including JavaScript, TypeScript, EmberJS, React, Astro, SolidJS, CSS, HTML, Web3, and more. They take a unique approach and focus on getting to know the human side of developers and their hobbies outside of work, all while sampling a new whiskey that they rate on their unique tentacle scale.