Give your top three, and optionally a summary of what they’re about and why you love them.
They don’t have to be programming related podcasts (but those are certainly welcome). I am mostly interested to hear about podcasts of any genre, but I am posting it here as I’m keen to get the opinions of other tech workers, fans and hobbyists.
My favourite three are:
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Darknet Diaries
I imagine this one is familar to most podcast fans that might stumble upon this post. The host is a fantastic interviewer, storyteller and producer. He interviews incredibly interesting people and shares their stories about all things dark net: hacking, social engineering, dark web, darknet markets and more. -
Self-Hosted
A podcast about all things self-hosted. The two hosts are passionate self-hosters who like to discuss open-source solutions, self-hostable products and technical setups. They are highly experienced and have a ton of useful information to share. They have great guests on the show, and have built a brilliant community around the topic. -
Coding Blocks
A general software engineering podcast. I find some episodes a bit hit or miss, but the three hosts are hilarious, informative and very entertaining. You can tell they are three very close friends who absolutely vibe off of one another. They cover all sorts of topics including programming languages, development tools, books, conferences, frameworks, companies and more.
I really don’t listen to podcasts very much, but the one I do listen to regularly is https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/greatest-generation/
Mostly for the nostalgia of Voyager.
Other than that, I’ll listen to comedy bang bang, but I haven’t listened to that in quite a while.
The only time I really listened to podcasts was on my commute, but I don’t commute anymore
Yes, no long commuting has slashed my podcast listening time too. I now only listen to them on the school run (if my son wants to listen too), or during chores.
Yeah doing the dishes is about the only time I ever listen to podcasts. I’m also just not a podcast person in general.
I listened to https://www.thisamericanlife.org/804/the-retrievals that was pretty good
Darknet Diaries is so awesome! I love hearing the actual stories behind the hackers instead of just that they hacked something. Also, Jack is an awesome host
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- Behind the Bastards
- The Dollop
- Hardcore History
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- Darknet Diaries
- Linux Unplugged
- Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Hard Fork: for keeping up with the biggest tech news. they do dissecting of potential impact if stuff.
Lex Fridman: He interviews really interesting subjects. I’ll listen to subjects I’m interested in based on who they are or the subject matter they are an expert in. Lot’s interesting tech folks. My favorite episode so far is with John Carmack: Doom, Quake, VR, AGI, Programming, Video Games, and Rockets. Epsidoe is 5 f***king hours but broke it up into several sessions and Carmack is so good in articulating, it flew by.
Huberman Lab: before software I liked biology and medicine. I like these occasionally because I get to learn how systems outside of software/hardware work. These I will watch/listen in a sitting as one would to a movie. It demands your attention to follow along. (I don’t like when doctors have podcasts with all the “alternative medice” BS. But Huberman is an active researcher at Stanford and in charge of a lab that cranks out sweet research. Def credible dude and very methodic and tries to rule out bias).
The constant push from Spotify to follow the Fridman podcast was one of the final straws for me to cancel my membership
Yeah I was not a fan of paying for Spotify and them cramming ads of podcasts down my throat when I wanted to listen to music. Plus their shuffle is a joke. Music discovery was pretty sweet though
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The Dollop- one comedian tells another comedian about crazy shit from American (or sometimes Australian) history
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My Brother, My Brother, and Me- an “advice” show with three goofballs
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Darknet Diaries- stories about hackers. Well researched, often with interviews of the people involved
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- The daily zeitgeist
- stuff they don’t want you to know
- the skeptics guide to the universe
bonus
- SRLSY wrong
Edit: yeah I got the wrong sub.
To list some good ones that haven’t already been ssid:
Stop podcasting yourself
A problem squared
Secretly Incredibly Fascinating
99% Invisible - An excellent design/architecture podcast
20k Hz (“twenty thousand hertz”) - great show about the audio that pervades our daily lives, from notification sounds to movie special effects, passing through game sounds, sound history,etc.
Imaginary Worlds - in their own words, “ a podcast about science fiction, fantasy and other genres of speculative fiction”.
All three are done by professionals in their respective fields, exceedingly well researched, and with superb production values.
In no particular order: TrueAnon, Blowback, Citations Needed
No specific order but:
- Tech won’t save us
- If books could kill
- Search Engine
- Radiolab
- Majority Report
- Bad Faith
Just curious: how do you feel about post Had&Robert Radiolab?
I like Lulu miller and Latif. I really enjoy the episodes still.
Not sure if that’s what you were referring to.
Not top 3, just my top (now ended) podcast of all time.
On the Metal https://oxide.computer/podcasts/on-the-metal The description: As a part of starting Oxide Computer Company, Bryan Cantrill and Jess Frazelle decided to also create the podcast that they always wanted. Joined frequently by their boss, Steve Tuck, Bryan and Jess interview incredible guests retelling stories of adventure at the hardware/software interface. It’s unapologetically technical and as Jess says, “the nerdiest podcast on the face of the planet” – but if you’re their kind of nerd, you’ll find yourself hanging on every word!
Is it not comparable with oxide and friends?
I only saw Oxide and Friends when I was posting above, so I will certainly check it out.
- Soft Skills Engineering - Software engineering advice podcast
- If Books Could Kill - Criticising reviews of bestselling books
- CoRecursive - Stories about software
Co-recursive is excellent, I enjoy it a lot
The Dirtbag Diaries, The Moth, This American Life
None of these are programming related. I think quite a few people know about the last two, but Dirtbag Diaries probably less so. If you enjoy the outdoors, hiking, climbing, biking, whatever, it’s worth checking out.
The adventure zone. It’s all I listen to so 🤷
Darknet diaries (spotify+yt)
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (spotify + yt)
Undine Almani (yt)
Not Another DnD Podcast - Well, it’s a serial DnD podcast that has had multiple campaigns and they have bonus episodes about submitted DnD disagreements that other people have
Dungeons and Daddies - Also DnD, but this time it’s also about generational trauma and trying to reconnect
Face Jam - They eat limited time fast food items and rate it with a lot of banter and stories thrown in
