From FAANG to Fired: The Illusion of Stability in Big Tech w/ Adam Argyle

This week, Robbie and special guest co-host Adam Argyle talk about life after layoffs, the myth of job security at big tech companies, and what it really means to build meaningful things on the web.

In this episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:23) - Whiskey: Chicken Cock Rye
• (02:45) - From FAANG to fired: the illusion of stability in Big Tech
• (14:49) - How HTML and CSS are replacing JavaScript, one feature at a time
• (23:13) - Robbie’s role at HashiCorp
• (26:47) - What is AI actually good at?
• (53:30) - Taste, tools, and the art of building with (or without) AI
• (57:32) - Waking and baking
• (58:54) - Robbie on raising twins
• (01:03:05) - Why Robbie left Amazon
• (01:04:25) - Where tech is headed: AI, burnout, and the future of creativity
• (01:09:20) - Plugs

Links

• Chicken Cock: https://chickencockwhiskey.com/ [https://chickencockwhiskey.com/]
• Seinfeld: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld]
• Norlan Glass: https://norlanglass.com/ [https://norlanglass.com/]
• Chrome: https://www.google.com/chrome/ [https://www.google.com/chrome/]
• South Park: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park]
• Amazon: https://amazon.com [https://amazon.com/]
• TanStack: https://tanstack.com/ [https://tanstack.com/]
• Netlify: https://www.netlify.com/ [https://www.netlify.com/]
• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com [https://www.shopify.com/]
• Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ [https://www.microsoft.com/]
• Lady Bird: https://ladybird.org [https://ladybird.org/]
• Mozilla: https://www.mozilla.org/ [https://www.mozilla.org/]
• Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/ [https://brilliant.org/]
• Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ [https://www.duolingo.com/]
• Apple: https://apple.com [https://apple.com/]
• Westworld: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series)]
• Dead Space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space]
• Awwwards: https://www.awwwards.com/ [https://www.awwwards.com/]
• Vue: https://vuejs.org/ [https://vuejs.org/]
• Safari: https://www.apple.com/safari/ [https://www.apple.com/safari/]
• Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/ [https://tailwindcss.com/]
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/ [https://www.figma.com/]
• Lodash: https://lodash.com/ [https://lodash.com/]
• HashiCorp: https://www.hashicorp.com/ [https://www.hashicorp.com/]
• Ember: https://emberjs.com/ [https://emberjs.com/]
• Windsurf: https://windsurf.ai/ [https://windsurf.ai/]
• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ [https://www.cursor.com/]
• Firebase Studio: https://firebase.studio/ [https://firebase.studio/]
• Zed: https://zed.dev/ [https://zed.dev/]
• NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com/ [https://notebooklm.google.com/]
• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ [https://chatgpt.com/]
• Claude: https://claude.ai [https://claude.ai/]
• Cline: https://cline.bot/ [https://cline.bot/]
• Deno: https://deno.com/ [https://deno.com/]
• Sam Altman: https://x.com/sama [https://x.com/sama]
• DeepSeek: https://www.deepseek.com/ [https://www.deepseek.com/]
• Dia: https://www.diabrowser.com/ [https://www.diabrowser.com/]
• Warp: https://www.warp.dev/ [https://www.warp.dev/]
• Honda Accord: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Accord [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Accord]
• Silicon Valley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)]
• Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org/en/ [https://bitcoin.org/en/]
• Catch Me If You Can: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_If_You_Can [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_If_You_Can]
• Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot [https://github.com/features/copilot]
• Ken Wheeler: https://x.com/ken_wheeler/ [https://x.com/ken_wheeler/]
• MySpace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace]
• GitHub: https://github.com [https://github.com/]

Connect with Adam

• Website: https://nerdy.dev/ [https://nerdy.dev/]
• X / Twitter: https://x.com/argyleink [https://x.com/argyleink]

Connect with Chuck and Robbie

• Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner [https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner]
• Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd [https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd]

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Website: https://whiskey.fm [https://whiskey.fm/]
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603]
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf [https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf]
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603 [https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603]
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot [https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot]

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