In this episode, Michael and Jake kick things off with some Laracon travel talk, sharing their hotel plans, coffee quests, and even jokes about pillow fights at the conference hotel. Michael reveals his precise coffee scouting for the Vib by Best Western hotel, determined not to survive three days on Starbucks alone. Should you define middleware in a controller’s constructor? Michael explains why he avoids it - preferring to keep all middleware in route definitions for better visibility and main...
Jul 11, 2025•51 min•Ep. 179
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss the nuance of being “busy”, saying no to features (and why), handling user feedback early, Laravel-powered static views with dynamic data, and building tools that stand the test of time.
Jun 26, 2025•47 min•Ep. 178
In this episode, Jake and Michael reflect on parenting, discuss Apple's new Liquid Glass UI, finding smarter ways to use video on the web, plus share thoughts on AI overload, Laracon prep, and why Wistia might be your next favourite video tool. In this episode: - Apple’s Liquid Glass UI - Kit.com and Wistia for video - Reflections on AI, tech bubbles, and accessibility - Laracon US and vox pop interviews - The emotional ride of watching your kids grow up...
Jun 12, 2025•46 min•Ep. 177
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss Jake's new stealth grill, his eldest son's takeover of the state finals (and metric's takeover of measurement), and Michael goes through the process of refining over 150 talk submissions down to the final Laracon AU schedule.
May 22, 2025•41 min•Ep. 176
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss using interfaces as a dictionary of constants, working with and testing inputs passed down multiple layers of the application, and refactoring legacy code with PHP's ArrayAccess interface.
May 08, 2025•42 min•Ep. 175
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss the ramp up of Laracon AU planning, touch base on Jake's unorthodox usage of Laravel Horizon, and Michael finally coming around to using AI.
Apr 24, 2025•37 min•Ep. 174
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss Michael's new recording gear, building integrations with external APIs using Saloon, and configuring Laravel Horizon.
Apr 10, 2025•40 min•Ep. 173
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss circles of influence and information, eloquently handling return of single values from the database, and monitoring tools for your applications.
Mar 06, 2025•39 min•Ep. 172
Jake and Michael discuss those features you ship that nobody uses but everybody has feedback for, testing a system where the valid state can change based on user input, and compliance auditing and adherence.
Feb 20, 2025•32 min•Ep. 171
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss the blockbuster trade of Luka Dončić to the the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, the just-announced Laracon US, and pitch our talks for the very same conference.
Feb 06, 2025•37 min•Ep. 170
Jake and Michael recap their Christmas and New Year break, talk through lingering packages, Laravel 11 upgrades, and breaking changes in PHPUnit.
Jan 16, 2025•41 min•Ep. 169
Join Jake, Michael, David, TJ, and Chris for a merry chat about tech, holiday antics, and the entertaining Wheel of Fortune game! ## Links Engineering Management for the rest of us ## Social X https://x.com/northsouthaudio https://x.com/JacobBennett https://x.com/michaeldyrynda https://x.com/davidhemphill https://x.com/heytjmiller https://x.com/cmgmyr Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/northmeetssouth.audio https://bsky.app/profile/dyrynda.au https://bsky.app/profile/jakebennett.bsky.social https:...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 168
Join Michael and Jake as they explore noisy coffee machines, dive into documentation challenges with Prezet, and discuss the nuances of sandbox environments. (00:00) - Introduction (01:14) - Noisy Coffee Machines (03:06) - Basketball Recap (03:48) - Documentation with Prezet (07:31) - Carrier Documentation Permissions (10:07) - Code Rendering Issues (12:28) - Developer World Update (20:21) - Sandbox Environment Strategy (27:48) - Next Steps (28:16) - Conclusion...
Dec 05, 2024•29 min•Ep. 167
Join Michael and Jake as they dive into Laracon AU highlights, reveal new coffee adventures, and discuss dynamic directories and tenant file storage.
Nov 21, 2024•38 min•Ep. 166
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss large file uploads without double-handling them, generating API documentation for your app, and the mad rush of the last two weeks before this year's Laracon AU Show links Rodecaster Duo Michael's tattoo Stoplight Scramble Vitepress Laracon AU...
Oct 24, 2024•26 min•Ep. 165
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss (clever?) ways to generate dynamic images for OpenGraph purposes, how a missing slot variable sent Michael mad, Jake's adventures with API-based file uploads, and some more details about Laracon AU.
Oct 10, 2024•46 min•Ep. 164
In this episode, Jake and Michael are joined by Jason Beggs from the Laravel team to discuss the approaches they're taking to fake interaction with third-party services during development of their upcoming product, Laravel Cloud. Show links Jason Beggs Laravel Cloud Using fake providers in development Database fake...
Sep 26, 2024•51 min•Ep. 163
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss potential security considerations around segmenting file uploads per tenant, approaches to testing batch jobs in Laravel, and perhaps the untold power of using enums in PHP. Show links Trailer for Mastering Postgres Aaron's podcast with Glauber Costa Extending enums with attributes Laracon AU...
Sep 12, 2024•48 min•Ep. 162
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss (inadvertently) bathing keyboards, pairing with remote colleagues and friends, using rational numbers to deal with rounding errors (sort of), and running code style fixers in CI or as a pre-commit hook. Show links Tuple Laramates Around brick/math brick/money Pint Running Pint on GitHub Actions Husky Whisky...
Aug 22, 2024•53 min•Ep. 161
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss different approaches to configuring a Laravel app, for consistency, security, and shareability among a team and across environments. Show links Australian men on the phone to each other Go ahead, delete your .env.example file
Aug 08, 2024•40 min•Ep. 160
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss the line between soda and bubbly water, Laracon AU, two-way SMS conversations, and the implications of not knowing maths as a programmer.
Jul 25, 2024•41 min•Ep. 159
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss feature flags, particularly the freshly-released before hook, and the perils of incorrect eager loading as your application scales. Show links Fool's mate Tim MacDonald Introduce 'before' hook
Jul 11, 2024•37 min•Ep. 158
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss whether you should push polymorphism to the database or settle for a simple JSON field, and we discuss options for rendering multiple edit fields on an index page. Show links My User Guide Liquid Death
Jun 27, 2024•39 min•Ep. 157
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss music we're into at the moment, using Pennant for feature flags in Laravel, and the age old set of requirements: "it needs to do everything the old one did" Show links Audio Reign Louis Cole Vulfpeck Burn the Jukebox Laracon AU...
May 29, 2024•44 min•Ep. 156
Jake and Michael discuss bowling, onboarding new junior developers right out of college, and the mindset required to be able to teach people the very basics of programming (and reading).
May 02, 2024•33 min•Ep. 155
Jake and Michael discuss some of the gotchas upgrading from a previous version of Laravel to 11.x, integrating a React frontend built in parallel to its backend, nested validation, and the simplicity of using a batteries-included framework like Laravel. Show links Laravel Bootcamp Laracasts Laravel Up and Running Onramp to Laravel Laravel Shift...
Apr 23, 2024•38 min•Ep. 154
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss Verbs, a take on event sourcing that strives to be simpler and more obvious to grok, children stealing device chargers, and some things to remember when upgrading to Laravel 11. Show links Verbs Laravel Shift
Apr 04, 2024•51 min•Ep. 153
Jake and Michael discuss using state machines to handle accurately and predictably handling error state, reviewing code and having your code reviewed, and converting request objects to data objects Show links - XState - Jake's State Machine's talk from Laracon US - Spatie's Laravel Data
Mar 06, 2024•35 min•Ep. 152
Jake and Michael discuss another of Michael's podcasts, Ripples, setting up review sites on Laravel Forge with Ryan Chandler's Forge Previewer, and speaking and attending Laracon(s). Show links Ripples Ryan Chandler Forge Previewer Laracon US PHPTek Here’s why you should attend Laracon...
Feb 21, 2024•42 min•Ep. 151
In this episode, Jake and Michael discuss the differences between transactional and campaign email and some approaches to sending them. We also touch on Jake speaking on PHP[TEK] 2024 on the topic of state machines. Show links Statecharts XState Visualizer xstate-viz Mermaid [PHP]TEK 2024 List-Unsubscribe header Google email sender guidelines SendStack MailCoach ConvertKit...
Feb 10, 2024•38 min•Ep. 150
