Carolina Code Cast™

Hosted by Barry Jones

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May 2026

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The tech podcast of the Carolina Code Conference, a polyglot conference for all who code that's held every August in Greenville, SC. The podcast features interviews discussing a wide variety of topics from around the programming, DevOps and security community. blog.carolina.codes

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31 recent

May 4, 202618 min

Announcing The Jimmy C. Award

In Greenville, our community is made up of numerous different meetup groups from around the area covering a multitude of different topics, getting together on Slack and Discord. Many of these groups are coordinated and supported under via Hack Greenville and RefactorGVL.Greenville is not unique in this either. Numerous tech communities exist in the southeast, particularly in our orbit around South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. At the Carolina Code Conference, we go out of our way to connect with other tech communities including making a special invitation video for you to share at your meetup groups to invite you directly. Our goal is to bring all of our communities together every year.None of these communities happened by accident. It all came from the efforts of numerous people who care enough about our community to work together to help us all thrive. Those people who freely give of themselves to make our communities possible often do not receive the recognition that they deserve.It’s time to change that.This year we created an Annual Award for Service to the Southeast Tech Community and named it in honor of Jim “Jimmy C” Ciallella, one of our hardest working and most selfless contributors for approximately 20 years. Adam Gautsch shared on LinkedIn how proud he was to see Jim recognized; excerpt below.“I couldn't be happier. Over the 25 years of our friendship, Jim has given more of himself than any sane human should. He's done this without expectation or desire for money, power, or awards named after him.…And over the last couple of decades, he's been the ballast of the Greenville tech community. OpenWorks, HackGVL, and so many communities depend on Jim's willingness to show up and not give up.” - Adam GautschWe also back filled the award, giving out one for each of the 5 years the Carolina Code Conference has existed: 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025.You can scroll up to watch the video of the initial announcement during the 2025 conference, recognition of Jim and all of our initial award winners as well. Smiles and head nodding was almost universal as we talked through the intention of the award with our crowd from Asheville, Augusta, Knoxville, Athens, Atlanta, Columbia, Charleston, Charlotte and more.Because this year’s award was a surprise we did not solicit public nominations so all of the winners were from the Greenville area. Going forward we want you to nominate the people in your communities who deserve to be recognized for their service. The nomination form was initially shared in our 2025 Recap post. You can nominate as many people as you like and there are a lot of fields. We want to enable you to make the best case possible for your candidate. These recommendations will be considered every year, so you can make a strong case for 2026 and that individual may end up the winner in 2028! You can begin Submitting Nominations for the Jim Ciallella Award for Outstanding Service to the Southeast Tech Community right now!The Jim Ciallella Award WinnersCongratulations to our first recipients of the The Jim Ciallella Award and thank you all for your service to our communities!* 2018 - Joel Taddei* 2019 - Christina Roberts* 2023 - Ben Acord* 2024 - Pamela Wood Browne* 2025 - Robert RoskamVideo Notes* 00:00 - Let’s talk about Community* 02:18 - Jim Ciallella Recognized* 08:12 - 2018 Winner - Joel Taddei Recognized* 09:59 - 2019 Winner - Christina Roberts Recognized* 11:44 - 2023 Winner - Ben Acord Recognized* 13:26 - 2024 Winner - Pamela Wood Browne Recognized* 16:21 - 2025 Winner - Robert Roskam Recognized* 18:08 - We want to hear from your communities!Stay on top of all the latest news about the Carolina Code Conference! Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

February 25, 20262 min

Inviting Your Meetup to the 2026 Carolina Code Conference

Inviting to Your Meetup to the 2026 Carolina Code ConferenceIf you run a tech meetup group and would like to showcase this 2 minute video ahead of an upcoming event, contact us for a 20% off discount code to share! Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

July 7, 20252 min

Inviting Your Meetup to the 2025 Carolina Code Conference

Inviting to Your Meetup to the Carolina Code Conference Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

July 22, 20241 hr 6 min

EP28 - Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Episode SummaryIn this episode of the Carolina Codecast, host Barry Jones talks with Eric Weissmann, Executive Director of NextGEN, about his career journey from Cincinnati and the Walt Disney Company to Greenville. Eric discusses his work in entrepreneurial ecosystem building, his role at Cintrifuse, and his current efforts to foster innovation and startup growth in the Greenville area. They delve into the importance of startups for regional economic development, strategies for attracting venture capital, and the comprehensive interconnected support systems needed to nurture entrepreneurial communities. Don’t miss this one!“ There was an accelerator here, an incubator over there. Those universities were over here. It was like everybody was playing their own notes, but, but it wasn't making a song? You needed a conductor of the orchestra…” - Eric WeissmanEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* 02:23 - Understanding Ecosystem Building and Economic Development* 07:27 - Cintrifuse in Cincinnati, Union Hall and Startup Cincy* 18:54 - South Carolina's Venture Capital Challenge* 27:12 - Strategies for Retaining Startups* 32:07 - Disney College Program Experience* 41:33 - Teaching Entrepreneurship at Miami University* 49:49 - NextGen and Startup Greenville InitiativesLinks* Eric Weissmann on LinkedIn* NextGEN* Cintrifuse* StartupCincyCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

June 24, 20241 hr 15 min

EP27 - Teamwork: Charlotte Dev Community, IaC with Nitric, Flutter, NodeJS, Dart, Movies and College Sports

Episode SummaryIn this episode of the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chats with Ryan Edge, Software Development Lead with Uptech Studio. Get to know Ryan ahead of his 2024 Carolina Code Conference keynote as he recounts his journey, Uptech's support for startups with advancements in cross-platform development using Flutter and backend solutions with NodeJS. He shares his involvement with the Flutter community in Charlotte and his current project, Fan Inc, an app aiding college athletes in managing their NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) earnings. The discussion transitions to the broader dynamics of college sports, focusing on NIL deals, the equitable distribution of athlete earnings, and the balance between sports and education within institutions like Clemson. Personal anecdotes and team dynamics underscore the need to uphold the integrity of team sports while adapting to the evolving NIL landscape. “People always ask me, are you scared that Flutter's not gonna be popular five, ten years from now? And my response is always, well if Flutter loses, and we're not using Flutter ten years from now. That means that what we are using is so much better than what Flutter was and will improve our lives so much better. ” - Ryan EdgeEpisode Notes* Tech Talk: Flutter and Node.js at Uptech Studio (02:36)* Diving Deep into Flutter (03:52)* Community Involvement and Google Developer Expert (06:18)* Exploring Infrastructure as Code with Nitric (07:49)* Personal Insights: Family and Film Festivals (17:56)* Movie Buffs: Horror, Sci-Fi, and Nostalgia (19:21)* Moving Around: A Childhood of Change (34:44)* Life in Charlotte and Early Career (38:36)* Lockheed Martin: A Unique Experience (40:02)* Exploring Modern Cloud Providers (44:43)* The NIL Space: Empowering College Athletes (57:06)* The Impact of NIL on College Sports (01:00:23)Links* Ryan Edge on LinkedIn* Uptech Studio* Flutter* Nitric* Fan IncCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

June 10, 202458 min

EP26 - Forrest of Knowledge: Growing a Culture of Mentorship in Tech

Episode SummaryIn this episode of the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones sits down with Gavin Coyle, Head of Growth at Enok Collective, to discuss his diverse career journey from biology to technology. Gavin talks about his role as a product manager and agile coach, and the mentorship culture he's developing through Mentorship in Tech, formerly EngineerKit. He shares insights into the challenges of breaking into tech, the importance of effective mentorship, and the integration of coaching techniques to foster growth. The conversation also explores parallels between biological ecosystems and organizational dynamics, and Gavin's involvement with the Agile Learning Institute. Get inspired to mentor!“So the analogy in my head, because of my, med school background…a good doctor doesn't want to see you again…because you're healthy. So in the same way, we don't want to see our clients again, not in a bad way, but just to make sure that they're independent and they can take care of their own teams and the product and the process.” - Gavin CoyleEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* 01:11 - Gavin's Journey into Tech * 04:37 - The Three Legs of Enok Collective * 10:47 - The Importance of Mentorship * 15:30 - Gavin's Career Pivot from Biology to Tech * 25:06 - Mentorship Challenges and Solutions * 30:16 - The Role of Coaching in Mentorship * 38:59 - The Importance of Humility and Growth Mindset * 43:03 - Creating a Supportive Mentorship Environment * 45:37 - Parallels Between Biology and Organizational Mentorship * 52:53 - Engineering Guild and Programming Languages * 56:13 - Involvement with the Agile Learning Institute Links* Gavin on LinkedIn* Enok Collective Website* Enok Collective on LinkedInCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

May 15, 20241 hr 1 min

EP25 - Simply Structured: Managing Life, Health, Habits, Startups, Community and Lots of Code

Episode SummaryThis week on the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chat with Pete Broderick, Co-Owner of Simply Binary and Co-Founder of Slipstream. During the episode Barry and Pete talk about moving from Virginia to Greenville, good habits, health, fitness and discipline to manage work and family life, the meetup experience in the area and Simply Binary’s commitment over the hears to help facilitate it, the experience of building startups and using the right tool for the job when programming. You’re going to want to get a gym membership, a better organized calendar and learn a new programming language when this one is all said and done!“I like the philosophy of betting the barn, not the farm. Take medium sized bets frequently but never put all your chips on the table.” - Pete BroderickEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* Origin Story - Chantilly, VA to Greenville, SC (1:15)* Systems and Routines for Balancing Life (10:06)* Fitness Challenges, Journaling and Good Habits (14:20)* How to Slowly Build Discipline, Sleep and Caffeine (20:27)* HG Nights, Upstate Ruby and Upstate Elixir Meetups (33:02)* Building Startups: CaptureLife, Slipstream (38:09)* The Right Tool for the Job: Ruby, Python, Go, Node and Elixir (45:22)Links* Pete on LinkedIn* Simply Binary* Slipstream* The 20,000 Resident Neighborhood of South Riding, Virginia* HackGreenville Nights* Upstate Ruby* Upstate |> Elixir* Why We SleepCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

May 10, 20241 hr 8 min

EP24 - A Machine Learning Deep Dive, Georgia Tech's Online Masters and Life at Elastic

Episode SummaryThis week on the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chats with Ben Trent, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Elastic. During the episode Barry and Ben talk about his journey into software from a math degree, extensive discussion of the Georgia Tech online Computer Science Masters degree, his time at Rackspace, working with Inference Systems at Elastic, dig deep into machine learning, information retrieval, how Vector data works, working with the Heirchical Navigable Small Worlds (HNSW) models and probabilistic structures, his experience speaking at the Carolina Code Conference in 2023 and what it’s like to work on a distributed team. This is one of our more technical deep dive episodes but Ben does a great job of breaking it down so that it’s easier to understand. You’ll learn a lot!“We’re gonna say Barry has a Napoleon complex.” - Ben TrentEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* Journey from Math to Rackspace (1:31)* Georgia Tech online Computer Science MS…and toddlers (3:40)* Time at Rackspace (10:18)* Comradery during an online degree program (14:37)* AI Chatbot TA and the overflow of software into everything (18:28)* Rackspace stories: Upgrading from Rails 1.2 and “The Scream Test” (22:50)* Working on Inference Systems at Elastic (31:01)* Information Retrieval and Cool Sunglasses (37:54)* Teach me about storing Vector Data (43:42)* HNSW and Probabilistic Structures (50:20) * Making Java Faster, Conference Talks and Searching with Numbers (54:15)* Working in a Distributed Team (58:44)Links* Ben on LinkedIn and Twitter* Georgia Tech Online Master of Science in Computer Science* Java Must be Faster: Time for the Vector API* Elastic* Rackspace* What exactly are vectors * Neural Networks* The original HNSW PaperCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

May 1, 202458 min

EP23 - The Tate's Great Loop: Adventure on the High Seas to GigCityElixir in Tennessee

Episode SummaryThis week on the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chats with Bruce and Maggie Tate with Grox.io and the GigCityElixir Conference. During the episode they will talk about their grand adventure, buying a boat and taking it on the Great Loop from the Tennessee River, to the Mississippi, out to the Atlantic Ocean, up the coast, through New York to the Great Lakes and back down the Mississippi to get home. This incredible, life changing 9 month boat trip resulted in a book and an epic talk at the 2023 Carolina Code Conference. All of this was done while working remote. We’ll also hear about GigCityElixir, how it started, how it’s going and what is coming up on May 9th - 11th in Chattanooga back to back with NervesConf! This one is epic.“We named her Currently because we wanted to really pay attention to the trip, kind of just be present.” - Maggie Tate“More people climb Mount Everest than do the Great Loop and I understand why. It’s emotionally hard, it’s physically hard but it’s oh so tremendously rewarding too.” - Bruce TateEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* GigCityElixir helping out the Carolina Code Conference (1:56)* What was the origin of this Great Loop boat trip? (3:19)* Getting the boat and nearly wrecking it immediately (9:24)* Pocket Trawler: A boat that can handle this trip (14:21)* Lock Systems: Elevators on the water (17:13)* Returning from sea through New York (21:50)* 9 months on a boat, working remote the entire time with Peplink (25:57)* Rough water, bad weather and communications planning (29:17)* Bursts of travel, waiting out storms, planning your dock access (33:45)* Currently - Naming the boat and writing the book (37:50)* GigCityElixir: Nurturing Coding Communities (40:00)* Starting conference invites with…bourbon? (44:00)* What’s happening with GigCityElixir in 2024 (49:06)Links* LinkedIn - Bruce & Maggie* GigCityElixir and NervesConf on May 9th - 11th* Grox.io* Bruce’s Talk from the 2023 Carolina Code Conference - Loop* The Book: Currently Away on PragProg, Bookshop and Amazon* Peplink SystemsCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe

April 5, 20241 hr 13 min

EP22 - DEF CON 864: Penetration Testing, Social Engineering and Capture the Flag

Episode SummaryThis week on the Carolina Code Cast, host Barry Jones chats with Luke Kapustka with DEF CON 864 (DC864). During the episode Barry and Luke talk about his work as one of the community leads for DC864, the origins and growth of the group, his experience in the security industry as a penetration tester and social engineer. We’ll learn about popular tools like Burp Suite, hear stories from work in the field and how to start your career. We’ll also hear about the experience of running a Capture the Flag event for programmers during the 2023 Carolina Code Conference. Check it out!“A hacker is not someone who's always malicious. They essentially repurpose something that was used for something else for their own means and their own needs. We look at a problem, we look at a system and find another way of interacting with it to do something that was unrelated to what it was designed to do, to somehow circumvent something. ” - Luke KapustkaEpisode NotesHighlights from this week’s episode include:* Penetration Testing: Web Apps and Burp Suite (1:54)* Social Engineering to Access Building and Information (10:25)* Email Phishing: Simulating Attacks and Training Response (19:02)* Luke Net Diaries: Getting Past Security (27:37)* DC864 Meetup Group (32:35)* The Village People: Red Team, Blue Team, Lock Pick and Career (43:16)* Red Teams and Blue Teams (51:13)* Breaking into InfoSec (1:00:12)* Capture the Flag (1:04:26)Links* Luke on LinkedIn* DC864* DEF CON and Blackhat* Darknet Diaries* The LockPicking LawyerCarolina Code Cast is a podcast that covers a wide variety of topics in the coding and data space. Learn more about this year’s Carolina Code Conference at carolina.codes.Developed with assistance from Heard Media. Get full access to Carolina Code Conference™ at blog.carolina.codes/subscribe