Front-End Fire

Coding interviews were a shaky signal before AI showed up, so how the heck do we hire developers now? We dig into a proposal to test junior engineers on product thinking with AI customers and graders, and why getting good with AI tools is no longer optional. Plus, a Railway employee hacks a competitor with its own AI agent, the NY Times sues Brave over its paywall blocker, and Squarespace cuts 19% of its staff.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:18 - How to hire junior engineers in an age of AI
25:02 - Railway admits an employee hacked a competitor
37:09 - The NY Times sues Brave
42:30 - 20-somethings and old phone OSes
47:55 - Squarespace is laying off 19% of its employees
51:01 - What’s making us happy
News
All: How to hire junior engineers in an age of AI
Lightning News
Railway got hacked then hacked a competitor with its AI
NY Times sues Brave
Squarespace is laying off 19% of employees
What's Making Us Happy
Paige: Blu-Tack Reusable Adhesive
Jack: Happy with US midterm results
TJ: Kids learning to drive
Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
Front-End Fire website
Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
Blue Collar Coder on Discord
Reach out via email
Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast

What even is a dev conference in the age of AI? Jack is fresh back from React Advanced in London with a road report, and we dig into how conferences are rethinking their focus as attendance shifts. We also break down how the Claude Code team handles code reviews, unpack GitHub Universe's updates, cheer on CSS-Tricks' new owner, and say a fond goodbye to the Arc browser.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:58 - React Advanced conference update
12:40 - How the Claude Code team does code review
21:34 - GitHub Universe highlights
38:58 - CSS Tricks has a new owner
41:34 - RIP Arc
50:11 - What's making us happy

NEWS
Paige - GitHub Universe 2026 highlights: https://github.blog/news-insights/company-news/github-universe-2026-evolving-every-layer-of-the-stack/
Jack - React Advanced conference update: https://reactadvanced.com/
TJ - How the Claude Code team does code review: https://x.com/addyosmani/status/2114604912520921136

LIGHTNING NEWS
RIP Arc: https://arc.net/
CSS Tricks has a new owner: https://css-tricks.com/css-tricks-has-a-new-owner/

WHAT'S MAKING US HAPPY
Paige - The Diplomat TV series: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17491088/
Jack - Dungeon Crawler Carl book series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Crawler_Carl
TJ - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36337550-the-7-deaths-of-evelyn-hardcastle

Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. You can join us in our Discord channel, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.

Front-end Fire website: https://front-end-fire.com
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Reach out via email: frontendfirepodcast@gmail.com
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AI is generating more code than ever, and reviewing it has become a lonelier, more exhausting slog. This week we dig into whether ideas like shared review sessions can actually make code review better. Then we run through a brutal week of hacks hitting OpenCode, PHP, Next.js, and TLS certificates, count the many new TypeScript forks, and look at the custom source control Anthropic built to merge 30,000 changes a day.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:31 - How can we make code review better?
19:45 - A roundup of this week’s hacks
30:04 - Claude Duet
34:31 - Everyone is forking TypeScript
41:05 - Anthropic’s new source control tool
47:00 - What’s making us happy
News
All: Code reviews suck, but how do we actually make them better?
Lightning News
Hacks! OpenCode hacked, PHP hacked, new CVEs in Next.js and React, eMudhra certificate hacks
Who isn’t forking TypeScript?? ts-rust, bun check, tsc-ts, tsrs, and the OG TS team dropped TS 7.1 beta
Claude Duet: Anthropic’s Muse or Dots
Anthropic’s new source control
What's Making Us Happy
Paige: Ted Lasso season 4
TJ: Vibe coded game ticket tracking site
Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. You can join us in our Discord channel, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
Front-end Fire website
Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
Blue Collar Coder on Discord
Reach out via email
Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast

The AI clone wars continue. The developer who vibe-coded replacements for Adobe's Creative Suite last week is back, this time with open-source clones of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. How long before the cease-and-desist letters start arriving? We also dig into the newly stable TanStack Start 1.0, check out what's new in OpenCode 2.0, and take a look at Meta's new Wonder models and what they mean for AI agents.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - TanStack Start 1.0
18:37 - The Office suite has been vibe cloned now too
31:11 - OpenCode 2.0
41:00 - Meta’s new “Wonder” models
50:48 - What’s making us happy
News
Paige: OpenCode 2.0
Jack: TanStack Start 1.0 is stable
TJ: The Office suite has been vibe cloned now too (and this legal writeup)
Lightning News
Meta’s new “Wonder” models
Anthropic redesigns source control
What's Making Us Happy
Paige: Whirlyball
Jack: University of Miami football
TJ: Video podcasts
Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. You can join us in our Discord channel, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
Front-end Fire website
Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
Blue Collar Coder on Discord
Reach out via email
Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast

Open source was fun while it lasted. AI-generated submissions are swamping maintainers and bug bounty programs, so the gates are closing, and we can’t say we blame the people closing them. We also dig into Pi 1.0 and the new Pi Durable framework, and a dev who used Claude to reverse engineer Adobe Creative Suite and release it as open source. Plus: Deno joins Cloudflare, and an ice cream map that divided us.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:45 - OSS maintainers and companies are shutting off PRs and bug bounty programs
9:07 - Pi 1.0
16:06 - Someone vibe coded a free knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite
36:31 - Deno is joining Cloudflare
39:53 - example.com changes
41:38 - Controversial state-by-state ice cream infographic
46:32 - What's making us happy
News
Paige: Pi 1.0 and Pi Durable
Jack: Someone vibe coded a free knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite
TJ: OSS maintainers and companies are shutting off their external PR & bug bounty programs
Lightning News
Deno is joining Cloudflare
example.com changes
Controversial state by state ice cream infographic
What's Making Us Happy
Paige: Black Sails show
Jack: OSX shortcut to reorder the menu bar icons
TJ: Using AI to clean up old photos
Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
Front-End Fire website
Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
Blue Collar Coder on Discord
Reach out via email
Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast