Different media of communication have different interactions with audiences. Text content provokes the readers to imagine and thus have a greater ability to engage the readers in imagination. Visual content impacts audiences at a psychological level and thus works better when leaving a message or a Call-To-Action. Audio Content, however, has the maximum potential to hook the unadulterated concentration of listeners, and thus the best medium to impart knowledge and spread awareness. And this is precisely why in a world of multiple interactive media, podcasts still have monumental relevance and importance.
1. Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats.
- Host: Scott Tolinski & Wes Bos
- Total Episodes: 358
- Average Episode lengths: around 20 mins / around 50 mins
Syntax covers different topics related to JavaScript frameworks, the latest CSS advancements, and web tooling. Syntax is a very content-rich show. They cover core technical web development topics that address very realistic use cases. Some examples are, From React to SvelteKit, Webhooks, Stylelint for Linting CSS, TypeScript, and Such.
Syntax is a very FM-like podcast with a lot of fast-talking, audio effects, and quirky humor. This is one of the most popular podcasts on the list with over 350 episodes. Scott Tolinski, who has an awesome voice for podcasts, is a full stack developer and creator of a YouTube channel teaching web development. Wes Bos is also a full-stack developer specializing in JavaScript and CSS, and his personal viewpoint is real gold. The hosts are not just pro developers but pro podcast hosts as well.
Tolinski and Bos really spice up the podcast with their own personal experiences that add real value for the listeners. Syntax has two different types of episodes, the shorter 30 minutes episodes, "Hasty treats" which covers a very specific subtopic. And the longer, around 1 hour, episodes that cover web development topics with a much broader scope.
The hosts beautifully use their sense of humor, which has a unique blend of quirky and innocence, to address many web development soft skills. Overall, if you are a full-stack developer or aspiring to be one, you should definitely hear out Tolinski & Bos.
2. PodRocket
- Hosts: Ben Edelstein, Brian Neville-O'Neil, and Kate Trahan
- Total episodes: 56
- Average Episode lengths: 30-45 mins
PodRocket is relatively new but they are already going strong. PodRocket is a podcast by LogRocket, a platform providing session replay, performance monitoring, and product analysis. PodRocket discusses mostly Frontend web development-related stuff, infused with personal experiences and expressions.
PodRocket can not only give a sneak peek into the professional life of an experienced web developer but also into the emotion and intellect of a developer. The Podcast interviews experienced developers, about frameworks, libraries, and day-to-day tech industry issues.
Kate Trahan, who is also the producer of PodRocket, as a host sounds very honest in her dialogues. And it's a good thing because it instinctively develops trust with the listeners. Ben Edelstein is the Co-founder of LogRocket, and as a host, he really fleshes out the business aspects of web development. Brian Neville-O'Neil is the content director.
3. The Stack Overflow Podcast
- Hosts: Paul Ford and Ben Popper
- Total episodes: 380
- Average Episode lengths: Around 25 mins
The Stack Overflow podcast is a very comprehensive podcast that covers multiple areas of software development, coding, and the art & culture of computer programming. The podcast features questions that are trending in the development community, interviews with professionals, and refreshing takes on trending tech issues. Paul is a celebrity in the podcast world, he is an eminent commentator for outlets like Wired and the New York Times. And Ben, a former journalist, is the director of content at Stack Overflow.
4. The Changelog
- Hosts: Adam Stacoviack and Jerod Santo
- Total episodes: 441
- Average Episode lengths: Around 1 hour
The podcast follows conversations with developers, hackers, leaders, and innovators. Like the stack overflow podcast, this too is a comprehensive one that covers all things related to software development. Jerod Santo is the Managing Editor of Changelog media.
The Changelog podcasts in every episode invite the best of engineers and managers. Changelog podcasts are not limited to any particular programming language, community, or platform. The interviews on Changelog podcasts are pretty detailed and in-depth.
5. Egghead.io
- Hosts: Joel Hooks and John Lindquist
- Total episodes: 74
- Average Episode lengths: Around 45 mins
While most tech podcasts focus on the tooling, programming language, and other technicalities, egghead.io focuses on the personal realizations and experiences of the coders. Egghead podcasts can be very insightful that will help you evaluate your life as a developer.
Joel Hooks as a developer is pretty active in the developer's community, helping others become better at their jobs. And John Lindquist has spent most of his career developing rich web applications, and now is the Co-founder at egghead.io.
6. Cod[ish]
- Hosts: Salesforce Engineering team
- Total episodes: 131
- Average Episode lengths: 30-45 mins
![Cod[ish]](/static/c304ce346d1d2c228ae149afcbddc29d/d9ed5/cod%5Bish%5D.png)
Cod[ish] podcast is created by the team at Salesforce engineering. Cod[ish] explores the life of a developer and all the necessary tools, tips, technology, and code. The tone of the content however has a prominent focus on the business and marketing side of tech development.
7. Ladybug podcast
- Hosts: Emma Bostian, Sidney Buckner, Kelly Vaughn, and Ali Spittel.
- Total episodes: 80
- Average Episode lengths: 45 mins
Ladybug podcast is well suited for beginners in the industry since they cover generic (broad) topics related to software engineering and its work culture, like how to start a company, what is agile, getting started with Java, and Such. The podcast still has a lot of room for improvement as far as presentation skills are concerned. However, the podcast brings a lot of work-culture-related tidbits that can be quite refreshing.
8. CodePen Radio
- Hosts: Chris and CodePen team members
- Total episodes: 333
- Average Episode lengths: 35-40 mins
CodePen covers a diverse range of tech development topics—but the content is curated mostly in a manner to benefit tech entrepreneurs. Chris mostly talks with one of his CodePen Colleagues and discusses different aspects of running a tech business; in the process, they generally share how CodePen works on the business end and the tech end.
Chris has a shy and awkward, but confident, sense of humor that really helps the content shine. Chris is a legit podcast host, and he will get you hooked immediately. Since they discuss topics, through real-life experiences of running a tech company—you are always listening to an issue that could easily happen to you; highly relatable content. As a bonus, Chris is always accompanied by a CodePen member who professionally works in the domain that's up for discussion in the podcast.
9. The Bike Shed
- Hosts: Chris Toomey & Steph Viccari
- Total episodes: 309
- Average Episode lengths: 45+ mins on average
On Bike Shed, Chris & Steph discuss their personal stories and experiences to address the tech issue in question. The hosts speak of development experience and challenges at thought of with Ruby on Rails, and JavaScript.
Chris is a web developer, trainer, and product consultant with experience in Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Postgres, and GraphQL. Steph too has similar job roles and experience, in addition to experience in Ember, Phoenix, Elixir, CSS, MongoDB, HTML, and Haml. Steph's voice is really soothing and her manner of speech is absolute; listening to her is a treat.
As the hosts speak on the podcast, they don't just speak but truly express themselves, which makes the content very real and honest. Bikeshed has a more narrative approach. You will dig their content if you appreciate storytelling as much as you appreciate learning about tech. The hosts are really in sync with each other which makes the conversation effortless, and thus, comfortable for listeners.
10. Front End Happy Hour
- Hosts: Ryan Burgess and panelist of engineers from Netflix, Twitch, and Atlassian
- Total episodes: 136
- Average Episode lengths: Around 1 hour on average
Front End Happy Hour is a podcast that features all things related to Front End Development. Ryan has eight years of experience in management and currently works as a software engineering manager at Netflix. The host does a good job keeping the panelists tied together, and keeping the conversation always to the point. You won't find speakers going on a rant on this podcast.
The rich quality of panelists is also intriguing. You get to listen to developers, creators, and managers from leading companies like Netflix, Twitch, and Atlassian, sharing their professional experiences related to Front End Development. The content tone takes the line of a very formal discussion, which can be a little bland to people who are new to podcasts.
The name "Front End Happy Hour" is quite justified since the panelists actually talk over drinks. And, they do quite an interesting thing on the podcast where, before starting they select a keyword. Then throughout the podcast, every time the selected keyword comes up the panelists "cheers," and take a drink.
11. UI Breakfast
- Hosts: Jane Portman
- Total episodes: 234
- Average Episode lengths: 45 mins on average
Well, it should be a no-brainer that UI Breakfast addresses UI/UX-related topics, but they also touch topics related to SaaS products and marketing. UI Breakfast addresses multiple aspects of UI/UX designing, including business, technology, and strategy. Jane Portman the host is also the Co-founder of Userlist, an Email Marketing automation platform.
UI Breakfast also invites Co-founder level professionals as guests to share crucial tidbits on UI designing. This podcast doesn't beat around the bush much and addresses the issue swiftly. The podcast follows a light interview-like pattern, over a casual friendly discussion.
12. User Defenders
- Hosts: Jason Ogle
- Total episodes: 109
- Average Episode lengths: Over 2 hours on average.
This podcast not only has an interesting name for a UI/UX design podcast, but also an interesting take. While the previous podcast focuses more on technical areas of UI designing, User defender discusses the aesthetics.
The best way to define User defender is probably in their own words, "being a great UX designer begins and ends with being a great human. We can't pour an empty cup into another. We cannot lead others where we are not…" Jason Ogle is a designer who closely follows the ideals of User defender. Ogle is a senior interaction designer, who has been working in digital designing since 1996.
Many UI design podcasts tend to wander into the coding aspects of UI/UX, but User defender makes a conscious effort to stick to the core designing aesthetics, cultures, and technicalities. User defender also invites, as guests, core designing professionals who have made the "natural evolution" to UI designing from print, digital graphic design, and digital art.
13. Talk Python to Me
- Hosts: Michael Kennedy
- Total episodes: 335
- Average Episode lengths: Around 1 hour
As the name suggests, this podcast discusses anything remotely related to python. If python is your go-to language, this is a podcast you need to follow. This podcast, through its conversation and interviews, brings together developers, data scientists, and hobbyists from across the Python community.
"Talk python to me" episodes are an hour-long, on average—so for every topic they cover, they really dive deep. Michael Kennedy is very sure of his job. He carefully directs and guides his guests with questions that help address the issue in a manner that is educative for the listeners. Michael himself is a big-time Python and MongoDB enthusiast.
14. Malicious Life
- Hosts: Ran Levi
- Total episodes: 133
- Average Episode lengths: 30-45 mins
Malicious Life podcasts run on cyber security subjects, hosted by cyber security expert Ran Levi. Malicious Life can give you an inside peek into the wildest computer hacks. The podcast unravels controversial historical events related to cyber security. And as a bonus, the podcast invites people who were actually related to the event. The show has an audio documentary-style format, with a lot of narration and sound effects.
How to listen
There are multiple ways of listening to these podcasts. Almost all podcasts have their websites, where you will find all the episodes archived. You will also find many podcast media having their YouTube channels. The mobile apps are also quite worthy—apps like Apple podcast, Spotify, Audible, and such. However, the best option is probably the mobile app Google Podcast or Apple Podcasts. The audio player in Google podcasts/Apple Podcasts can play the episodes in the background, while you use other applications on your phone. Both have all the above-mentioned podcasts, and for free!
- Anubhav
