Welcome back to I’m a Software Engineer ~ What Next? The podcast for devs figuring out their next move. Hosted by James Wilson and Matt Sinclair, we talk honestly about what it takes to build a meaningful career in tech.This week we’re joined by Les Cochrane, CTO at Practice Toolkit, building software for GPs inside the NHS. Les started in hardware, networks and second-line IT support, switched to interactive media at uni, did UX before anyone called it UX, taught himself the backend on a Rails app he built to replace the FTP site at a marketing agency, and then co-founded BorrowMyDoggy on the back of a weekend hackathon. After that: contracting, leading 24 engineers in sports data at IMG Arena, including being the employee rep when they had to let go of about 180 of them, and now CTO at a healthcare startup learning what compliance means for the first time.In this episode, we cover:- Validating his startup that he co-founded, BorrowMyDoggy, by sticking posters up on Hampstead Heath and having someone in Exeter sign up within 24 hours- What happens when 4,500 people sign up in an hour to a landing page that doesn’t have a working search yet- Why “I need help” is the wrong way to ask for help, and what to say instead- Product engineer vs T-shaped vs Kent Beck’s paint-drip people, and why time matters in the metaphor- Going from leading 24 engineers to being the employee rep during a 180-person redundancy- AI as a force multiplier “for good or evil” — and why introducing it into a six-month-release shop won’t help- The LLM-generated PR quiz that makes you answer 10 questions about your own checked-in code before it merges- Centaur chess, supertanker captains, and Kahneman’s type-3 thinking: cognitive offload and what we lose🔗 Links- YouTube: https://youtu.be/GGFYCT9m7hU- Spotify: TODO- Apple Podcasts: TODO🗒️ Show Notes- Stop Writing Documents Nobody Reads: https://tech.loveholidays.com/stop-writing-documents-nobody-reads-68842f59f28c- Paul Ingles — LinkedIn posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pingles/recent-activity/all/- Elixir’s With Statement: https://www.openmymind.net/Elixirs-With-Statement/- The Comprehensive Guide to Elixir’s for Comprehension: https://www.mitchellhanberg.com/the-comprehensive-guide-to-elixirs-for-comprehension/- Why LLM-Powered Programming is More Mech Suit Than Artificial Human: https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0178-why-llm-powered-programming-is-more-mech-suit-than-artificial-human- matthewsinclair/intent on GitHub: https://github.com/matthewsinclair/intent- What We Let Machines Do: https://matthewsinclair.com/blog/0186-what-we-let-machines-do- When Thinking Isn’t Just Fast or Slow Anymore — The Rise of System 3: https://www.incrementone.com/perspectives/when-thinking-isnt-just-fast-or-slow-anymore-the-rise-of-system-3- From Engineering Bootcamps & Founding Startups to GitHub with Kate Catlin: https://whatnext.dev/episodes/s01/e18- Aphantasia — When You Can’t Picture Things in Your Mind: https://aphantasia.com/what-is-aphantasia🗣️ GuestLes Cochrane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lescochrane/🎙 Hosts- Matt: https://matthewsinclair.com- James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-wilson-92170656🌐 More from us- What Next?: https://whatnext.dev/- Matthew Sinclair: https://matthewsinclair.com/- Quantum Fax Machine: https://quantumfaxmachine.com/🎬