RobbieTheWagner 
Charles William Carpenter III Episodes
197: Stop Fixing Things That Aren't Broken
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk about the unintended chaos of “move fast and break things” in both software and startups. From Riverside glitches to Tesla’s overengineered wipers, they explore how updates can derail otherwise stable experiences. They unpack t...
196: The Myth of Perfect Code w/ Marc Backes
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Marc Backes about Vue vs. React, work-life balance, and the realities of messy codebases. They also sip an Evan Williams Single Barrel, debate inbox zero, and discuss Marc’s adventures in coffee roasting and pilot training...
195: Should You Learn Tailwind Before CSS? w/ Bree Hall
This week, live from React Miami, Chuck, and special guest co-host Aaron Francis, talk with Bree Hall about React styling strategies, Tailwind CSS, and whether you should learn fundamentals before frameworks (spoiler: it depends). They explore the evolution of...
194: Static, Dynamic, Generative: What’s Next for the Web? w/ Guillermo Rauch
This week, Chuck and special guest co-host Aaron Francis talk with Guillermo Rauch live from React Miami. From early days at Zeit to founding Vercel and launching Next.js, Guillermo shares stories of scaling infrastructure, creating developer-centric products,...
193: Why You Can’t Skip the Fundamentals w/ Henri Helvetica
This week, Chuck and special guest co-host Aaron Francis talk with Henri Helvetica live from React Miami. They explore the evolving challenges of web performance, why genuine research skills still matter in an AI-driven world, and how developers can stay curio...
192: Are Frameworks Still Worth the Tradeoffs? w/ Adam Rackis
This week, Chuck talks with Adam Rackis live from React Miami. Along with special guest-host Aaron Francis, they dig into React Server Components, the quirks of modern JavaScript frameworks, and why TanStack might be the future. Sipping an Appleton Estate Rum,...
191: WTF is MCP? w/ David Cramer
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with David Cramer about MCP—microservices for language models—and why it might be the future of AI tooling. They dig into the state of AI agents, developer efficiency, and why Codegen isn’t killing jobs anytime soon. In this e...
190: Vibe Podcasting: App Rewrites, AI Assistants, PB&Js, and more!
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk about American whiskey, buttered PB&Js, and the quirks of AI coding assistants. They swap TV recommendations, debate developer priorities like security and rewrites, and more. In this episode: * (00:00) - Intro * (02:43) - ...
189: Your Terminal Is Getting Smarter with Ben Holmes
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Ben Holmes—Astro core team alum and now at Warp—about the rapid evolution of developer tools, the promise and quirks of AI-powered coding, and why he’s betting big on terminal UX. In this episode: * (00:00) - Intro * (...
188: Inside Sagamore: The Revival of Maryland Rye with Clint Spotleson
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Clint Spotleson of Sagamore Spirit about the craft behind their unique Manhattan Finish Rye, the history of Maryland-style whiskey, and why great whiskey is meant to be shared. Clint shares stories from his journey through...
187: What Makes a Good Job in Tech?
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk about career moves and tech transitions. They discuss Robbie’s new role at HashiCorp and Chuck’s dive into cybersecurity. They also debate legacy tech quirks, open-source updates, and the ever-evolving world of AI. In this epi...
186: Why Most Developers Overcomplicate Everything w/ Aaron Francis
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Aaron Francis about developer education, Laravel vs. Rails, and the evolution of full-stack development. They explore the trade-offs of opinionated frameworks, the practicality of PHP, and why simplicity often wins. Plus, ...
185: Tailwind 4, DeepSeek AI, and the End of the Old Web
This week, Robbie and Chuck cover a wide range of topics, including AI and its impact on web development. They discuss DeepSeek, Tailwind’s latest updates, and whether Stack Overflow is still relevant. Plus, a detour into skiing, college sports, and Nintendo's...
184: Is jQuery Really Dead? And Other Hot Takes w/ Travis Wagner
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Travis Wagner about his career move from Universal Music to Crunchyroll and the nuances of backend development. They discuss a wide range of hot takes, including whether jQuery is still relevant in 2025. In this episode: ...
183: Is This the End of Tech Conferences? w/ Dax Raad
This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Dax Raad about his evolving career from software engineer to open-source advocate and content creator. They dive into his work on SST, explore the bizarre economics of tech conferences, and get into Dax’s next big move—man...
