SEEK Bytes

New AI Tools, Same Old Bugs? The crew react to the Next Wave

Drowning in new AI tools and wondering which ones actually help you ship better software? In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Elliott, Seamus and Will react to the latest wave of AI‑powered dev tools, from coding assistants and test generators to agents that promise to refactor your whole codebase while you sleep. They dig into what these tools are really good at (speeding up boilerplate, exploring APIs, generating tests), where they fall over (context, architecture, edge‑cases), and how they’re already changing code review, onboarding and day‑to‑day developer experience at SEEK. In this episode, we explore: • Which new AI tools are genuinely useful for everyday coding – and which ones are more hype than help • How AI is reshaping pairing, code review, debugging and tests, and where human judgment still absolutely has to stay in the loop • Practical ways to experiment with AI tools on your team without burning trust, wrecking your codebase or slowing everyone down If you’re a software engineer, tech lead or engineering manager trying to make sense of the exploding AI tool ecosystem, this episode is for you. 🔔 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

OpenClaw: Build your own AI Agent workforce (without getting burnt)

What if you could spin up a whole AI workforce on your own machine – planners, “engineers”, researchers and content creators – and run it all from a simple chat window? In this episode of SEEK Bytes, we explore OpenClaw, the agent platform that lets you act like the CEO while AI agents do the grunt work in the background. In this episode you’ll learn: • How OpenClaw turns AI into a digital team – using one “front-of-house” bot as your main interface, then spinning up specialised agents behind the scenes to research, draft content, update tickets and even prepare changes for real systems. • What it really costs to run this at home – from beefy GPUs and Mac minis to cloud API bills that can quietly blow past a few hundred dollars a month, plus why some “cheap and easy” YouTube setups gloss over the real price tag. • The security & scam risks you need to know about – including AI “app” stores where around 1 in 5 skills are malicious, how the wrong plugin can leak your data or crypto, and why doing your homework before you plug AI into your systems is non-negotiable. Drop a comment if you’ve tried building your own AI stack (or are tempted to), and hit Subscribe for more real-world AI, security and engineering stories from the SEEK Bytes team. 🔔 Follow SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

NX Supply Chain Attack Explained (with Trevor Kilvington)

Imagine updating a trusted monorepo tool… and the next time you open your terminal it asks for your password, then tries to shut your machine down. In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Will, Seamus and SEEK Staff Engineer Trevor Kilvington unpack the NX supply chain attacks – how they unfolded, why they were so scary, and what every IT team can learn from them. This episode's special guest: Trevor Kilvington (SEEK Staff Engineer) In this episode, we explore: • How a popular open-source tool ended up shipping malicious code to developers’ laptops and CI pipelines – and how SEEK engineers helped spot it first • Why attackers leaned on AI prompts and worm-like behaviour to hunt for secrets and quietly spread through NPM packages • The uncomfortable question of whether keeping everything “always up to date” is still the safest choice – and what this means for CI/CD ownership and developer responsibilities Whether you’re in software engineering, DevOps, SRE, security, platform or IT leadership, this episode will change how you think about package updates, build pipelines and the tools you trust every day. 👍 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

Inside SEEK’s Legendary Hackathons (with Glenn Wilson, Kat Vassallo & Andy Maxey)

This episode of SEEK Bytes steps away from code to celebrate one of SEEK’s most loved traditions: Hackathon. Will is joined by Kat, Andy and Glenn to lift the lid on how a twice-yearly, three-day event brings together people from every corner of SEEK to dream up bold ideas – many of which end up on real roadmaps and in front of real customers. In this episode you’ll learn: This episode of SEEK Bytes – a podcast for engineers by engineers – steps away from code to celebrate one of SEEK’s most loved traditions: Hackathon. Will is joined by Kat, Andy and Glenn to lift the lid on how a twice-yearly, three-day event brings together people from every corner of SEEK to dream up bold ideas – many of which end up on real roadmaps and in front of real customers. This episode's special guests: Glenn Wilson (Snr Business Analyst / former Community Engagement Lead), Kat Vassallo (Tecnology Community Engagement & Innovation Manager), Andy Maxey (EVP & Community Impact Lead) In this episode you’ll learn: • How SEEK hackathons actually work – three days off BAU, 40+ teams hacking across APAC, big themes (from space operas to dinosaurs), t-shirts as badges of honour and a Shark Tank-style final where the ELT judges every idea. • Why hack is core to SEEK’s culture and EVP – how grassroots volunteers, wild costumes, candy bars and chaos create a safe space for experimentation, help people work with teams they’d never normally meet, and generate ideas that influence products, processes and even board-level conversations. • How any company can start their own hackathon – practical tips on beginning with a half-day or single-department event, proving value before going company-wide, getting leadership buy-in, and using hackathons to build skills, networks and long-term innovation habits. 🔔 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

Human vs AI: The Sleep-Deprived Dev Who Beat OpenAI’s Code Bot

An OpenAI-backed coding agent. 12 elite competitive programmers flown to Tokyo. A 10-hour marathon solving an NP-hard puzzle in front of a live stream. And a very sleep-deprived human still manages to beat the AI at its own game. In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Elliott Millar, Will, Seamus and Arnav break down the World Tour Finals heuristic contest where a human edged out a custom AI built just for competitive coding. In this episode, we explore: • How the competition was set up so both humans and a custom OpenAI agent had to race the same brutally hard optimisation problem under tight time limits • The surprisingly simple strategy a sleep-deprived engineer used to out-score a specialised AI model • What we can learn from how the AI iterated, refactored and “thought” about code during the contest • Why the story might change when you put the human’s winning code back into the AI – and what that says about humans + AI working together Whether you’re in software engineering, data, SRE, platforms, security or any IT role wondering how far AI coding tools can really go – and where humans still have the edge – this episode is a fast-paced, deeply nerdy look at the future of competitive problem solving and day-to-day development with AI in the loop. 👍 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode