210 episódios
- In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Flora Petterson, a self-taught Elixir developer, speaker, and maker, to talk about what happens when software systems forget and how developers can design for recovery.
Flora shares her unconventional path to programming, from puppetry and creative work to discovering Elixir through Nerves and hardware projects. The conversation centers on her talk, “After the Crash,” which uses forgetting as a way to think about failure in software systems. Flora and the hosts explore process crashes, lost state, GenServer lifecycle, supervision, “let it crash,” and the difference between preventing failure and building systems that know how to recover.
The episode also expands from software memory to team memory. Flora discusses documentation, institutional knowledge, mentorship, storytelling, and the challenge of preserving both what a system does and why decisions were made. Along the way, she shares how creative, low-stakes projects can help developers build deeper technical understanding and how the Elixir community can continue supporting new and self-taught engineers.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
Learning through experimentation with Nerves, hardware, and animatronics
What it means for software systems to “forget”
Failure, recovery, and lost state in the BEAM
GenServer lifecycle and process recovery
The nuance behind “let it crash”
What supervision trees can and cannot protect
Designing systems to recover from failure
Deciding when state should be recovered or abandoned
Documentation as organizational memory
Capturing the “why” behind technical decisions
Tests, docs, and examples as living knowledge
Mentorship for self-taught and junior developers
Storytelling as technical communication
Creative projects as a path to deeper learning
AI’s impact on new developers
Community, curiosity, and growth in Elixir
Join us and the broader Elixir community at ElixirConf in Chicago this September 10-11. Use promo code Elixirwizards for 10% off in-person or virtual tickets at https://elixirconf.com/
Links mentioned:
Embedded Elixir Nerve https://nerves-project.org/
Gig City Elixir Conference https://www.gigcityelixir.com/
Strange Loop Conference https://www.thestrangeloop.com/
Elixir Wizards S15E05 The State of Code Quality with Saša Jurić http://bit.ly/EWS15E05
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art
"Systems that run forever self-heal and scale" by Joe Armstrong (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNICGEwmXLU
Conway's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_law
Dunning–Kruger effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Elixir Wizards S15E10 Bruce Tate http://bit.ly/EWS15E10
Designing Elixir Systems with OTP by James Gray & Bruce Tate https://pragprog.com/titles/jgotp/designing-elixir-systems-with-otp/
GenServer Behavior https://elixir.hexdocs.pm/main/GenServer.html
IEx https://iex.hexdocs.pm/IEx.html
Domain Driven Design by Eric Evans https://www.domainlanguage.com/
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation https://gdpr-info.eu/
https://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2017/02/23/NecessaryComments.html
Living Documentation by Cyrille Matraire https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/living-documentation-continuous/9780134689418/
Exciting ExDoc talk by Flora Petterson 2025 CodeSync https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLr9FOARwzQ
ExDoc https://ex-doc.hexdocs.pm/
The AI Coding Crisis Blog Series https://grox.io/blog/series/the-ai-coding-crisis/
Build Animatronics with Nerves talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ulurej4NTg
Sam Aaron Sonic Pi https://sonic-pi.net/
https://scratch.mit.edu/
https://www.scratchfoundation.org/learn
Nerves LiveBook https://github.com/nerves-livebook/
Hardware for Embedded Systems https://www.raspberrypi.com/
Goatmire Conference https://goatmire.com/ - In this episode, Elixir Wizards Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Bruce Tate, founder of Groxio and longtime Elixir educator, to discuss career growth and mentorship in the age of AI.
Bruce reflects on Elixir’s evolution and explores how AI coding agents are changing the way developers learn, work, and advance. He explains his “anti-vibe coding” philosophy and recommends practices for maintaining code quality, arguing that many struggles attributed to junior developers are really failures of training and mentorship.
Rather than using AI productivity gains to eliminate entry-level roles, Bruce challenges teams to reinvest that time in educating juniors to support their long-term career path.
Bruce will expand on this conversation at ElixirConf 2026, September 10–11 in Chicago, and the Elixir Wizards will be there too! Join us and the broader Elixir community, and use promo code Elixirwizards for 10% off in-person or virtual tickets at https://elixirconf.com/
Topics discussed in this episode:
The evolution of the Elixir ecosystem from conception to now
Rethinking career growth and mentorship in the age of AI
What “anti-vibe coding” means
Functional core and imperative shell design
OTP fundamentals and architectural literacy
Managing AI-generated code and pull requests
Mentorship beyond code review
Developing engineering judgment
API design as a core skill
AI as a force multiplier for junior developers
Reinvesting AI productivity gains in people
Links mentioned:
https://grox.io/
Seven Languages in Seven Weeks by Bruce Tate https://pragprog.com/titles/btlang/seven-languages-in-seven-weeks/
Programming Phoenix LiveView https://pragprog.com/titles/liveview/programming-phoenix-liveview/
BASIC Programming Language https://www.purebasic.com/
C++ Programming Language https://cplusplus.com/
COBOL Programming Language https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/cobol
Fortran Programming Language https://fortran-lang.org/
Bitter Java by Bruce Tate https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Java-Bruce-Tate/dp/193011043X
Slashdot Effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect
Slashdot https://slashdot.org/
Java Programming Language https://www.java.com/en/
Ruby Programming Language https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
Lisp Programming Language https://lisp-lang.org/
Haskell Programming Language https://www.haskell.org/
Erlang Programming Language https://www.erlang.org/
Eric Meadows-Jönsson https://github.com/ericmj
Machine Learning in Elixir by Sean Moriarity https://pragprog.com/titles/smelixir/machine-learning-in-elixir/
The AI Collective https://www.aicollective.com/
Elixir Pipe Operator https://operator.hexdocs.pm/readme.html
Phoenix Framework https://www.phoenixframework.org/
Phoenix LiveView https://phoenix-live-view.hexdocs.pm/Phoenix.LiveView.html
Broadway https://hex.pm/packages/broadway
Designing Elixir Systems with OTP by James Edward Gray & Bruce Tate https://pragprog.com/titles/jgotp/designing-elixir-systems-with-otp/
The AI Coding Crisis Blog Series https://grox.io/blog/series/the-ai-coding-crisis/
Groxio Live https://grox.io/live
Special Guest: Bruce Tate. - In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Mallory Knodel, executive director and founder of the Social Web Foundation, to talk about internet governance, open standards, and the future of the social web. Mallory shares how her work as an activist, systems administrator, and public interest technologist led her into the organizations and working groups that shape how the internet functions, including the IETF, W3C, ICANN, and ITU.
The conversation explores how the internet shifted from a collection of open protocols toward a small number of dominant platforms, and what that centralization means for users, developers, and independent service providers. Mallory explains how decisions made at the protocol level can affect everything from email deliverability to identity, data portability, trust and safety, and the ability to move between platforms. We also discuss the Social Web Foundation, ActivityPub, the Fediverse, and the idea of building a more multipolar social web.
Mallory also looks at what happens when AI agents, automated accounts, and algorithmic feeds enter open social ecosystems. She shares her perspective on privacy, usability, encrypted messaging, and designing technology around user needs rather than engagement alone.
Key Topics Discussed
What it means to be a public interest technologist
How internet governance affects everyday software development
The role of global internet standards organizations
How the IETF and W3C develop technical standards
Corporate influence inside internet governance and standards bodies
The internet’s shift from protocols to centralized platforms
Email deliverability and the hidden costs of centralization
How platform control affects identity and user autonomy
Why data portability remains difficult across social platforms
The mission behind the Social Web Foundation
How the Fediverse connects independent social platforms
ActivityPub and Activity Streams as open web protocols
AT Protocol, an alternative to ActivityPub
How federated servers exchange content and user activity
Why a multipolar web differs from decentralization
What Meta’s ActivityPub adoption means for federation
The embrace, extend, extinguish risk for open protocols
Discoverability challenges across federated social networks
Trust and safety for smaller platform operators
How protocol decisions can affect human rights
AI agents entering open social web ecosystems
Whether federated platforms should block automated crawlers
Designing algorithmic feeds around values and user choice
Privacy-first principles for developers building social software
Encrypted direct messaging for the open social web
Elixir projects building across the Fediverse ecosystem
Links Mentioned:
Mallory’s Website https://malloryknodel.net/
Internet Protocol (IP) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://www.ietf.org/
International Communication Union https://www.itu.int/en/
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) https://www.icann.org/
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) https://www.w3.org/
Huawei https://www.huawei.com/en/
Cisco https://www.cisco.com/
Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M³AAWG) https://www.m3aawg.org/
Social Web Foundation https://socialwebfoundation.org/
ActivityPub https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/
AT Protocol https://atproto.com/
MeWe Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DNSP) https://dsnp.org/about/MeWe-use-case.html
BlueSky https://bsky.app/
Mastodon https://joinmastodon.org/
Internet Society https://www.internetsociety.org/
Fediverse https://fediverse.party/
NCSA Mosaic Browser https://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/research/project-highlights/ncsa-mosaic/
Webring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring
https://tags.pub/
Elixir projects:
Pleroma https://pleroma.social/
Akkoma https://akkoma.social/
Bonfire Networks https://bonfirenetworks.org/
Mobilizon https://mobilizon.org/ - In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Mike Ratliff, co-founder and CTO of GridVar, to talk about the role software plays in the changing energy infrastructure. With over 30 years of experience in technology, Mike shares the path that took him from the early internet and cloud computing into energy and utility software, along with what he has learned about staying adaptable as the industry continues to shift.
Mike explains why building software for the power grid comes with a very different set of constraints than building a typical web application and breaks down some of the challenges utilities are facing, including grid interconnection delays, power quality, increasing energy demand, and the growth of distributed energy resources. We also discuss demand response, microgrids, virtual power plants, battery storage, and how software can help utilities better understand and manage a grid that is becoming more complex.
Mike also explains why Elixir and the BEAM are a strong fit for always-on energy systems, how an Erlang MQTT server first led him into the ecosystem, and what it takes to introduce Elixir inside an established organization. The episode closes with a broader look at AI-assisted development, the value of domain expertise, and why technical leaders still need communication, judgment, and a compelling story to move important ideas forward.
Key topics discussed in this episode:
Mike Ratliff’s path from software to energy technology
Lessons from three decades of technology industry change
The value of generalists in modern software engineering
Why good technical judgment remains difficult to replace
Building software that interacts with physical infrastructure
Why utility technology adoption can move slowly
Understanding today’s grid interconnection backlog
Power quality challenges affecting new grid connections
Using simulation to accelerate utility engineering studies
Centralized and distributed approaches to grid management
How solar energy creates the duck curve
Using demand response to balance electricity consumption
Edge devices supporting real-time grid coordination
Microgrids and resilience in distributed energy systems
Cybersecurity considerations for increasingly connected power grids
Preparing utility infrastructure for extreme weather events
Battery storage and the growth of renewable energy
How virtual power plants coordinate distributed resources
Why Elixir works well for energy software
BEAM reliability for always-on utility infrastructure
Discovering Elixir through Erlang and MQTT
Building an early virtual power plant with Elixir
Making the business case for an Elixir migration
Why technical leadership also requires effective storytelling
Links Mentioned:
GridVAR https://www.gridvar.com/
GridPoint https://www.gridpoint.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackout
Demand Response: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_response
Virtual Power Plant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_power_plant
Microgrid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microgrid
Volts podcast: https://www.volts.wtf/ - In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Ellyse Cedeno, founder of Heuristic Salvo and a software engineer and product leader with more than 25 years of experience across early internet platforms, gaming, health tech, and distributed systems.
Ellyse shares the winding path that took her from early search engines and Netscape to game development, medical research at Mount Sinai, and eventually to Elixir. Along the way, she talks about staying curious over a long technical career, rediscovering joy through side projects, and why being willing to feel like a beginner again can be one of the most useful skills a developer can build.
The conversation explores what it means to grow as an engineer in a world where AI tooling is becoming part of the everyday workflow. Ellyse makes the case that technical skill still matters, but the human parts of software development (like judgment, curiosity, communication, trust, and influence) are becoming increasingly important.
We also talk about soft influence and how developers can create change inside organizations without relying on hard authority.
Key Topics Discussed in this Episode:
Ellyse’s career path through early internet platforms, gaming, health tech, and distributed systems
Moving from Netscape and search engines to medical research and software consulting
Discovering Elixir through an interest in concurrent and distributed systems
Why beginner’s mindset still matters after decades in tech
How neurodivergence, curiosity, and deep focus shape Ellyse’s approach to programming
Rediscovering joy in programming through side projects and experimentation
Building an MMORPG game server in Elixir
Exploring hardware, Nerves, and live theremin demos
The role of passion projects in professional growth
Protecting time for learning in productivity-focused environments
Work-life balance differences between the U.S. and Europe
How AI tools are changing expectations for modern developers
Why AI does not replace judgment, taste, or technical understanding
Understanding business needs instead of only focusing on technical preferences
Introducing Elixir into a TypeScript-heavy organization
Using Elixir microservices to solve specific technical problems
What “soft influence” looks like in engineering teams
Building trust through one-on-one conversations
Knowing when influence is working and when it is not
Negotiating technical decisions without turning them into power struggles
The relationship between technical competence and interpersonal skill
Managing imposter syndrome during pair programming and collaborative work
Documentation as a visibility and ownership tool
Community involvement, conference speaking, and finding your people
Staying curious without burning out
Why the human side of software development still matters
Links Mentioned:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape
Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai https://icahn.mssm.edu/
Evernote https://evernote.com/
Joplin https://joplinapp.org/
Book: Elixir in Action by Saša Jurić https://www.manning.com/books/elixir-in-action-third-edition
Book: The Little LISPer https://www.scribd.com/doc/263131641/The-Little-Lisper
Ellyse’s Goatmire Talk https://goatmire.com/speaker/ellyse-cedeno
Nerves https://nerves-project.org/
xHain Hack & Makespace in Berlin https://x-hain.de/en/
https://cursor.com/
Haskell Programming Language https://www.haskell.org/
Java Programming Language https://www.java.com/en/
Clojure Programming Language https://clojure.org/
Scheme Programming Language https://www.scheme.org/
TypeScript Programming Language https://www.typescriptlang.org/
Nostrum Library https://hexdocs.pm/nostrum/intro.html
Gleam Programming Language https://gleam.run/
Book: Getting Past No by William Ury https://www.williamury.com/getting-past-no/
“The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hx4gdlfamo
Ted Talk: Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY
Ellyse’s Codeberg https://codeberg.org/ellyxir
Ellyse’s Game Server Repo https://codeberg.org/ellyxir/gameserver
Goatmire Elixir & NervesConf 2026 https://www.goatmire.com/
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Sobre Elixir Wizards
Elixir Wizards is an interview-style podcast from SmartLogic featuring conversations with developers, engineers, and industry leaders about the Elixir programming language and the broader software development landscape. Each episode explores how modern systems are built, from distributed architectures and infrastructure to developer workflows, security, and emerging technologies like AI. While rooted in the Elixir ecosystem, the show often branches out to compare approaches across languages, platforms, and disciplines. Whether you’re working in Elixir or just interested in how software is evolving, Elixir Wizards offers practical insights and thoughtful perspectives from the people building today’s systems.
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