Software Engineering Went From Hacker Culture to...

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 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 #softwareengineering #hackerculture #opensource #programming - Connect with Patrick Akil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-akil https://twitter.com/PatrickAkil_