Beyond the Stack

EP. 02 - Jilles Soeters on AI/ML and Developer Experience

Welcome back to Beyond the Stack! In Episode 02, I sit down with Jilles Soeters, Senior Staff Engineer at Udemy, to talk about his journey from teaching himself HTML as a kid to shaping developer experience at scale. We cover: * How AI changes the day-to-day workflow of a software engineer * The strengths and weaknesses of models like Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Qwen * Emerging ideas like vibe coding (coined by Andrej Karpathy) * MCP servers and why they matter for real-world context * Honest advice for CS students entering a world where LLMs are everywhere Jilles also shares pivotal career lessons and why staying curious is the real edge for engineers today. 🎧 Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/w02bweXk2yw 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-02-jilles-soeters-on-ai-ml-and-developer-experience/id1836825875?i=1000729052881 Connect with Jilles Soeters: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillesme/ Connect with me: Website – https://yash-verma.com LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/-yv/ #BeyondTheStack #SoftwareEngineering #AI/ML #MCP

EP. 01 - Building a Career Beyond Just Software with Seth Hodgson

In the first episode of Beyond the Stack, host Yash Verma sits down with Seth Hodgson, SVP of Engineering at Udemy, to talk about his journey from hands-on engineering to executive leadership. Together, they discuss how young developers can think beyond just code, understand organizational culture, and grow with a philanthropic mindset.