09 PLATFORMS ✣
Podcasts.
Podcasts have become an unexpectedly resilient channel for developer-focused content. The medium has none of the algorithmic volatility of social platforms and produces unusually durable audience-author relationships. Many DevRel profess…
Podcasts have become an unexpectedly resilient channel for developer-focused content. The medium has none of the algorithmic volatility of social platforms and produces unusually durable audience-author relationships. Many DevRel professionals report podcasts as their highest-converting form of paid sponsorship.
The major developer podcasts
General software industry
- The Changelog — Adam Stacoviak, Jerod Santo. Long-running (since 2009); open-source and software-industry focus; the flagship of a podcast network.
- Software Engineering Daily — Founded by the late Jeff Meyerson; long-form interviews on practically every software topic.
- Software Engineering Radio — IEEE Software; long-form, often academic-flavoured.
- Acquired — Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal. Tech-company histories; massive recent growth.
- Hanselminutes — Scott Hanselman, weekly since 2006. One of the longest-running tech podcasts.
- CoRecursive — Adam Gordon Bell. Programming stories.
- InfoQ Podcast — InfoQ.
JavaScript ecosystem
- JS Party — Changelog network; multiple hosts.
- Syntax.fm — Wes Bos, Scott Tolinski. Front-end / full-stack.
- JavaScript Jabber — Devchat.tv.
- The CSS Podcast — Adam Argyle and Una Kravets (Google).
- The Changelog Podcast (general but with strong JS coverage).
- Frontend Happy Hour — Netflix-engineer-hosted.
Python ecosystem
- Talk Python To Me — Michael Kennedy.
- Real Python Podcast — Real Python.
- Python Bytes — Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken.
Go, Rust, and language-specific
- Go Time — Changelog network.
- The Rustacean Station — Rust community.
- Java Off-Heap — Java.
- Ruby Rogues — Devchat.tv.
DevOps / SRE / infrastructure
- Arrested DevOps — Long-running; multi-host.
- The Cloudcast — Cloud computing.
- Screaming in the Cloud — Corey Quinn; AWS-centric humour-and-news.
- Last Week in AWS — Same Corey Quinn franchise (also a newsletter).
- PodCTL — Red Hat / OpenShift.
- Kubernetes Podcast from Google — Long-running.
AI engineering
- Latent Space — swyx, Alessio Fanelli. The defining AI-engineering podcast.
- Practical AI — Daniel Whitenack, Chris Benson.
- Lex Fridman Podcast — Lex Fridman. Crosses AI, science, and broader culture; large reach.
- Cognitive Revolution — Nathan Labenz.
- The TWIML AI Podcast — Sam Charrington (long-running).
- No Priors — Sarah Guo, Elad Gil.
DevRel / community
- Community Pulse — Mary Thengvall, PJ Hagerty, Jason Hand, Wesley Faulkner, Erin Mikail Staples (rotating hosts). The DevRel community’s own podcast.
- DevRelX Podcast — SlashData.
- DeveloperRelations.com Podcast — Hoopy / Matthew Revell.
Industry analysis
- The Pragmatic Engineer — Gergely Orosz (newsletter + podcast).
- CodeNewbie — Saron Yitbarek; aimed at newer developers.
Database / data
- Data Engineering Podcast — Tobias Macey.
- The Stack Overflow Podcast — Stack Overflow.
Podcast distribution
- Apple Podcasts. Still the discovery default for many listeners.
- Spotify. Aggressively investing; many shows publish exclusively or first to Spotify.
- Pocket Casts, Overcast. Power-listener clients.
- Podcast Index — Open directory.
- YouTube. Many podcasts now publish video versions; significant share of audience listens via YouTube.
How DevRel teams use podcasts
As guests
The highest-leverage podcast use for DevRel is guest appearances by senior team members. A 60-minute appearance on The Changelog, Latent Space, Syntax.fm, or Community Pulse can produce substantial brand and product awareness with a deeply qualified audience.
As sponsors
Most major developer podcasts run sponsored segments. Approximate rates (US, 2024–2026):
| Audience size per episode | Mid-roll rate |
|---|---|
| 10K–30K | $1K–$4K |
| 30K–100K | $4K–$15K |
| 100K+ | $15K+ |
The top tier (Acquired, Lex Fridman, top-three AI podcasts) commands substantially higher rates and often books months out.
As publishers
Some companies operate their own podcasts. Notable examples:
- Heavybit’s Developing Insights / Inside DevTools.
- Cloudflare’s Cloudflare TV (more video than pure podcast).
- AWS’s various podcast properties.
- Stack Overflow Podcast.
- Sentry Podcast.
- PostHog’s hand of god / various.
Producing a successful podcast is harder than appearing on others’; most companies’ attempts fail or atrophy. The ones that succeed are usually anchored by a strong individual host.
Why podcasts work for DevRel
- Long-form trust. Listeners spend 30–90 minutes with a single voice; the relationship is unusually intimate.
- Durable. Episodes get listened to months and years after release.
- Discoverable. Show notes and transcripts are SEO surfaces.
- Cross-promotion friendly. Guest-cross-promotion compounds reach.
Operational notes
- Provide a transcript. Accessibility and AI ingestion both require it.
- Show notes with linked references. High-value for SEO and listener follow-up.
- Cadence beats production polish for organic growth.
- Cross-publish to YouTube (with video, if possible) to capture that audience segment.