The 15 Best Developers Podcasts (2026)

Software Engineering Daily launched in 2015 and has since published over 1,500 episodes covering just about every corner of software development. The show is hosted by Jeff Meyerson and features technical interviews that go deep on specific tools, architectures, and engineering practices. If a new framework, protocol, or infrastructure approach is gaining traction, there is a good chance SED will have an episode about it within weeks.

Recent coverage has included Python 3.14 features with CPython Developer in Residence Lukasz Langa, Airbnb's GraphQL framework with Adam Miskiewicz, and WebAssembly 3.0 with its co-creator Andreas Rossberg. The show also tackles broader themes like agentic AI development, reproducible builds, and developer experience tooling. Episodes typically run 45 to 60 minutes and drop on weekdays.

The breadth of the catalog is genuinely impressive. You can use it almost like a technical encyclopedia — need to understand event sourcing, Kubernetes networking, or how a specific database handles replication? There is probably an episode for that. The 4.4 star rating from over 600 reviews reflects strong content, though listeners do note that mid-roll ad placement can be aggressive. If you can look past that, you get one of the most comprehensive technical interview archives available in podcast form.

Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski are two full-stack web developers who genuinely enjoy talking about code, and it shows. Syntax runs twice a week with two distinct flavors: Monday "Hasty Treats" clock in at about 15 minutes for a quick hit on one topic, while Wednesday episodes run a full hour for proper deep dives. The chemistry between Wes and Scott is the real draw here. They riff off each other naturally, crack jokes, and aren't afraid to disagree or admit when they don't know something. Topics cover the full web development stack: React, modern CSS, TypeScript, server-side rendering, deployment workflows, and whatever new tool has the community buzzing that week. They also run Q&A segments where listeners send in questions, and the answers tend to be practical rather than theoretical. Both hosts are active teachers and course creators outside the podcast, so they have a knack for breaking down complex ideas into approachable explanations. Scott runs Level Up Tutorials and Wes sells premium courses on everything from JavaScript to CSS Grid. The show has a fun, slightly irreverent vibe that makes it easy to binge. It never feels like a lecture. If you build things for the web and want to keep up with modern tooling without reading fifteen blog posts a week, Syntax handles the curation for you in an entertaining package.

Software Engineering Radio has been running since 2006 and is backed by the IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Software magazine, which gives it a kind of institutional credibility that most tech podcasts can only dream about. With over 700 episodes in the archive, it covers the full spectrum of software engineering — from system design and architecture to programming languages, testing strategies, and team practices.

Every episode is either a focused tutorial on a specific technical topic or an in-depth interview with a recognized expert. Recent guests have included researchers discussing continuous architecture, engineers working on low-latency AI systems, and language designers talking about the evolution of C. The rotating roster of hosts keeps perspectives fresh, and each one brings real industry experience to the conversation. Episodes run about 45 to 60 minutes and arrive weekly.

What makes SE Radio valuable for working engineers is its commitment to being a lasting educational resource rather than chasing trends. You can go back and listen to an episode from 2015 on microservices or 2018 on distributed systems and still get meaningful takeaways. The production is straightforward — no flashy sound effects, just substantive technical conversation. It holds a 4.4 star rating from 271 reviews on Apple Podcasts, and many listeners describe it as the podcast they wish they had discovered earlier in their careers.

Adam Stacoviak and Jerod Santo have been hosting The Changelog since 2009, and with over 1,000 episodes under their belt, they have built one of the most trusted voices in open-source and software development media. The show combines a weekly news roundup with deep-dive interviews and a rotating "Friends" segment that brings recurring guests into looser, more conversational episodes.

The guest list reads like a who's who of open-source software. Recent episodes have featured Steve Ruiz (creator of tldraw), Paul Dix (InfluxDB co-founder), Nicholas Zakas (ESLint creator), and Brett Cannon from the Python team. Stacoviak and Santo have a relaxed but focused interview style — they let guests tell their stories without rushing them, but they also know when to push for specifics on architecture decisions, business models, or community governance.

What stands out about The Changelog is how it covers the human side of building software alongside the technical details. Episodes about Docker security sit next to conversations about open-source sustainability and the trust models that hold the ecosystem together. The production quality is consistently high, episodes run about an hour, and the 4.7 star rating from nearly 300 reviews speaks for itself. If you care about the tools and communities that power modern software development, this show belongs in your rotation.

JS Party takes the panel show format and makes it actually work for a tech podcast. Produced by Changelog Media, the show features a rotating cast of panelists including Jerod Santo, Kevin Ball, Nick Nisi, Chris Hiller, Amal Hussein, and Amy Dutton. Each week, different combinations of hosts team up to discuss what's happening in JavaScript and the broader web platform. The rotating roster keeps things fresh because each host brings a different perspective. Nick is deep in the TypeScript and tooling world, KBall leans toward frameworks and engineering leadership topics, Amal brings strong opinions about web standards, and Chris knows the Node.js ecosystem inside out. They cover everything from React and Svelte to Deno and Bun, from CSS animation to IoT with JavaScript. The vibe is genuinely fun. It feels like sitting in on a conversation between smart friends who happen to build things for the web. They argue about frameworks, geek out over new browser APIs, and occasionally go on entertaining tangents. Guest episodes bring in library authors and tool creators for focused conversations about their work. The show covers Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and the full spectrum of web development tools without playing favorites. If you follow JavaScript and web development, JS Party gives you a weekly dose of informed discussion with enough personality to keep it from feeling like a textbook.

The podcast from the company behind the site every developer has open in at least one browser tab. Hosted by Ben Popper, Cassidy Williams, and Ceora Ford, the show runs on a two-episode-per-week schedule. Tuesdays are "home team" episodes where the hosts riff on tech news, pick apart interesting topics, and share recommendations. It's loose, opinionated, and sometimes funny. Friday episodes shift gears with guest interviews, bringing in people who are doing noteworthy work in software or whose careers have taken interesting turns. The guest list pulls from a wide range: startup founders, open source maintainers, engineering leaders, and researchers. A recent episode featured the head of release automation at LaunchDarkly talking about the tension between shipping fast and building sustainably. Another covered conversations from HumanX 2025 with folks from Cloudflare and other companies. Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar has come on to discuss how AI is changing the platform itself, which was refreshingly candid about the challenges involved. The hosts have good chemistry and bring different strengths. Cassidy is sharp and funny with deep frontend experience, Ceora brings a thoughtful developer advocate perspective, and Ben anchors the conversations with his journalism background. It's a solid all-around tech podcast that benefits from Stack Overflow's unique position at the center of the developer community. Not every episode will be relevant to your work, but the ones that are tend to be genuinely useful.

Allen Underwood, Michael Outlaw, and Joe Zack have been recording Coding Blocks together for over eleven years, and the comfort level between them makes every episode feel like hanging out with your most technically competent friends. The show focuses on software design fundamentals: design patterns, architecture decisions, coding for performance, object-oriented programming, database design, and the kinds of practical skills that make the difference between code that works and code that works well. With around 242 episodes in the archive, they've built up a serious library of material. Episodes typically kick off with a "water cooler" segment where the three hosts catch up, share what they've been working on, and riff on listener feedback. Then they get into the main topic, breaking down concepts with real examples from their own professional experience. The tone is casual but the content is substantive. You might hear Allen geeking out over a new tool, Outlaw troubleshooting a Kubernetes cluster, and Joe cracking jokes, all in the same episode. They do a great job of taking topics that sound dry on paper, like SOLID principles or clean architecture, and making them engaging through stories and debate. The show is particularly good for mid-level developers looking to level up their design thinking. It's not a news show and it's not chasing trends. Instead, it focuses on the fundamentals that stay relevant regardless of which framework is popular this year.

CoRecursive is not your typical software engineering podcast. Adam Gordon Bell takes a narrative storytelling approach, spending weeks researching each episode to tell one complete story about the people and decisions behind significant pieces of software. The show has been running since 2017 with about 114 episodes, released monthly, and each one feels like a short documentary rather than a standard interview.

Recent episodes have covered the early days of Google AdWords through the eyes of engineer Ron Garret, a developer's 15-year battle with an elusive bug, the story behind the Compiler Explorer (Godbolt), and a software failure that actually sent innocent people to prison. Bell's production quality is high — there is real narrative structure, not just a host reading questions off a list. He weaves together original interviews, historical context, and technical explanation into something that keeps you listening on a commute or a walk.

The 4.9 star rating from nearly 200 reviews makes it one of the highest-rated software podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and that reputation is earned. The show also has an active Slack community where listeners discuss episodes. If you have ever wanted to understand how a particular technology came to be, or what it was actually like to work on a pivotal project, CoRecursive delivers that experience consistently. Monthly releases mean each episode gets the attention it deserves.

Jonathan Cutrell started Developer Tea in 2015 with a simple premise: give software engineers short, actionable episodes they could listen to during a tea break. Over 1,300 episodes and 17 million downloads later, the formula clearly works. Episodes release twice a week and typically run 13 to 40 minutes, making this one of the most digestible engineering podcasts available.

Cutrell is an engineering leader with more than 15 years of industry experience, and his focus goes well beyond code. Recent episodes tackle how software engineers can remain relevant alongside AI, the psychology behind career stagnation at the mid-to-senior level, how the overjustification effect kills intrinsic motivation, and practical strategies for de-risking career moves through financial planning. The Career Growth Accelerator series has been particularly popular, addressing specific blockers that keep engineers from reaching staff or principal levels.

What sets Developer Tea apart from other career-focused tech podcasts is Cutrell's willingness to draw from psychology, behavioral economics, and management science rather than just recycling standard career advice. The show does not assume every listener wants to become a manager — it speaks to individual contributors who want to do meaningful work and grow on their own terms. The 4.8 star rating from over 400 reviews and the massive download numbers make it one of the most popular engineering podcasts, period.

Jamison Dance and Dave Smith have been answering listener questions about the non-code parts of being a software developer since 2016, and with over 480 episodes, they've pretty much heard it all. The format is simple and effective: listeners write in with questions about their careers, workplace challenges, management problems, and general professional confusion, and Jamison and Dave talk through them for about 30 minutes each week. The questions are often surprisingly specific and relatable. Things like "my manager wants me to use a technology I think is wrong" or "how do I give feedback to a senior engineer who writes messy code" or "should I take a pay cut to work on something I care about." Dave brings 20 years of software engineering and team leadership experience, while Jamison is a seasoned product engineer who has been on both sides of the management divide. Together they offer practical, nuanced advice that acknowledges how messy real workplaces can be. The tone is warm and frequently hilarious. They don't take themselves too seriously, which makes the advice land better. It's the career guidance you wish you could get from a mentor, delivered by two people who are genuinely funny and genuinely experienced. If you've ever stared at your screen wondering how to handle a tricky situation at work that has nothing to do with code, this podcast probably has an episode about exactly that.

Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken deliver Python news headlines directly to your ears every week, and they do it efficiently. With nearly 400 episodes, Python Bytes has established itself as the go-to news podcast for the Python community. The format is tight: each episode covers multiple topics, with Michael and Brian each bringing a few items they found interesting that week. They'll cover new library releases, important CPython updates, community discussions, data science tools, and web framework news. Episodes typically wrap up with an extras segment and a joke, which is a nice way to end. What makes this show valuable is the curation. If you use Python professionally but don't have time to scroll through Reddit, Twitter, and mailing lists every day, Michael and Brian do that scouring for you and present the highlights. They know the ecosystem deeply. Michael runs Talk Python to Me and the Talk Python Training platform, while Brian literally wrote the book on pytest. So when they flag something as noteworthy, it usually is. The conversational dynamic between them is comfortable and efficient. They don't spend twenty minutes on small talk before getting to the content. Episodes usually drop on Mondays, with video versions available on YouTube for older episodes. It's the kind of podcast you can listen to during a morning commute and arrive at work knowing what happened in Python that week. Simple, focused, and consistently useful.

Saron Yitbarek created CodeNewbie in 2014 as a community for people learning to code, and the podcast quickly became its flagship product. Over 365 episodes, Yitbarek has interviewed developers from wildly different backgrounds — career changers who left medicine or sound engineering, bootcamp graduates finding their first jobs, self-taught programmers who built companies, and experienced engineers reflecting on what they wish they had known starting out.

The interview style is warm and curious without being soft. Yitbarek asks the questions that people early in their careers actually want answered: how did you get your first job, what did the learning process actually feel like, how do you deal with imposter syndrome, what does a typical day look like. Recent episodes have covered AI's impact on the job market for new developers, networking strategies that actually work, and practical approaches to work-life balance in tech.

CodeNewbie holds a 4.7 star rating from over 570 reviews, and listeners consistently point to the show's welcoming tone as its defining quality. But it is not just for beginners — experienced engineers often say they get value from hearing fresh perspectives and remembering why they got into this field. The show has grown into a broader organization with conferences and community events, but the podcast remains the heart of it. Episodes run 35 to 55 minutes and drop weekly.

JavaScript Jabber has been running since 2012, making it one of the longest-standing JavaScript-focused podcasts around. With over 730 episodes, Charles Max Wood and a rotating panel of co-hosts including Dan Shappir, Steve Edwards, and Aimee Knight cover JavaScript, Node.js, and frontend development from multiple angles. Episodes run about an hour and release every two weeks, giving the panel time to prepare thoughtful discussions on each topic. The panel format is the show's defining characteristic. Rather than one host interviewing a guest, you get several experienced developers batting ideas around, sharing their real-world experiences, and occasionally disagreeing in productive ways. Guest episodes bring in framework authors, tool creators, and developers working on interesting projects to round out the discussions. Topics span the full JavaScript ecosystem: React, Vue, Angular, testing strategies, build tools, TypeScript patterns, and increasingly AI-assisted development workflows. The show sits under the Top End Devs umbrella, which Charles also founded, and benefits from the cross-pollination with other shows in that network. The back catalog is massive and worth browsing by topic. Older episodes about Node.js fundamentals or testing philosophy hold up surprisingly well. If you work with JavaScript daily and want a podcast that goes beyond surface-level coverage, JavaScript Jabber delivers consistent, in-depth panel discussions from people who've been building with the language for years.

Dev Interrupted sits at the intersection of software engineering and engineering leadership, and it has carved out a unique space there since launching in 2020. Produced by LinearB, the show runs about 270 episodes deep with a two-part weekly schedule: Tuesday episodes feature interviews with tech founders, CTOs, and engineering directors, while Friday roundups cover the week's biggest news in AI and software development.

The guest roster is strong. Recent episodes have included the CEO of Warp discussing how AI agents are straining GitHub infrastructure, a member of OpenAI's Codex team talking about agentic autonomy, Spotify's Head of Technology on developer portals, and engineering leaders from Slack and Netflix. Hosts Andrew and Ben keep conversations grounded in practical reality rather than abstract theory — you will hear about actual team structures, real metrics, and specific decisions these leaders made.

The show has leaned heavily into the AI-native development conversation recently, exploring topics like vibe coding, autonomous agents, and how code review workflows need to adapt when AI generates a growing share of pull requests. With a 4.8 star rating from 146 reviews, it has become a go-to for engineering managers and senior ICs who want to stay current on how the role of software engineering leadership is evolving. Episodes run 30 to 60 minutes.

Robby Russell — who also created Oh My Zsh, the wildly popular terminal framework used by millions of developers — hosts Maintainable with a focus on a question that every engineer eventually faces: how do you keep software healthy over time? Since 2019, the show has published 223 episodes featuring senior engineers, architects, and CTOs sharing how they deal with technical debt, legacy codebases, and the organizational challenges that make software hard to maintain.

The format is conversational interviews that run about 30 to 45 minutes, released every two weeks. Recent topics have included using AI for incremental maintenance rather than full rewrites, fast feedback loops and observability, database architecture decisions that pay off years later, dependency management strategies, and why code consistency is ultimately a cultural problem rather than a tooling problem. Russell's guests bring real war stories from long-running production systems, not theoretical best practices.

What makes Maintainable stand out is its narrow but deeply relevant focus. Most software podcasts celebrate the excitement of building new things, but this show tackles the less glamorous reality that most engineers spend their time working on existing systems. The show has a perfect 5.0 star rating from 32 reviews on Apple Podcasts, with listeners noting that nearly every episode maps directly to challenges they have faced in their own work. If you have ever inherited a codebase and wondered how to make it better without burning it down, this podcast is for you.