Joe Cuevas Jr. is a seasoned software engineer based in San Antonio, Texas, with a strong focus on front-end development and user experience. At Southwest Research Institute, he contributes to innovative engineering solutions that span industries. With a background that blends technical precision and creative problem-solving, Joe brings a thoughtful perspective to the evolving world of software development. His passion for clean design, scalable code, and collaborative innovation makes him a standout voice in today’s tech landscape.

Topics of Discussion:

[1:46] Why Joe fell in love with programming after a single VB.NET class.
[5:00] What guided Joe towards the enterprise side of .NET.

[6:25] Joe’s favorite foundational .NET and ASP.NET Core books.

[9:06] Learning algorithms, concurrency, and testing to make up for no CS degree.

[10:00] Why test automation is essential and doing testing immediately after writing the code.
[12:14] Thoughts on test-driven development vs. testing right after coding.
[14:18] Previewing Microsoft Semantic Kernel in Action, by Daniel Costa.
[15:38] How Joe became a Manning book reviewer, and what he’s learned.
[17:18] Prompt engineering and agent instructions: what’s ready now.
[18:21] Codex and the moment that blew Joe’s mind.
[22:26] How Joe sees software architecture evolving in the future.
[24:09] Large language models vs. older code bases, and where they shine.
[27:57] Dependency injections.

[32:43] Joe’s advice for junior developers and why persistence beats perfection.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Joe Cuevas LinkedIn

ASP.NET Core in Action

ASP.NET Core in Action, Third Edition

Unit Testing Principles, Practice, and Patterns

Unit Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns: Effective testing styles, patterns, and reliable automation for unit testing, mocking, and integration testing with examples in C#

Dependency Injection in .NET

Microsoft Semantic Kernel in Action

Explore — LeetCode

Joe on GitHub

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An international speaker, Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, MCSD, PSM II, PSD, and PST, and a passionate member of the developer community, Phil has been working with .NET since the first betas, developing software for over 40 years, and has been heavily involved in the Agile community since 2005 as well as a Professional Scrum Trainer. Phil has taken over the best-selling Pro C# books (Apress Publishing), including Pro C# 10, is the President of the Cincinnati .NET Users Group (Cinnug.org), and the Cincinnati Software Architect Group, founded and runs the CincyDeliver conference (Cincydeliver.org), and volunteers for the National Ski Patrol. During the day, Phil works as the CTO & Chief Architect for Pintas & Mullins. Phil always enjoys learning new tech and is always striving to improve his craft.

Topics of Discussion:

[2:53] Why Phil still loves writing software after 40-plus years.

[5:39] The difference between being a consultant and supporting code long-term.

[8:27] Agile roles and user experience.

[8:40] Embedding engineers in the business to avoid “telephone game” decisions.

[11:30] “Move fast” vs. move efficiently — real-world cautionary tales.

[13:40] Using Figma for business rule diagramming before writing a single line of code.

[14:52] Releasing 4 x per week and getting rapid feedback.

[16:49] NASCAR, motocross, and the connection of slow builds of how software teams avoid friction.

[18:41] Measuring team efficiency, and how Phil eliminated emergency production fixes by mandating quality.

[22:00] Feature flags, PBI coverage, and the team’s shared ownership of the code.

[26:09] AI in legal tech: where it works, where it doesn’t.

[34:56] The architectural shift created by LLMs, vector databases, and agents.

[39:42] AI is not the goal — it’s just a tool for solving the right problems.

[44:03] How Phil uses GitHub Copilot’s agent mode to streamline development.
[46:03] Final thoughts: “It’s not about the tech. It’s about making someone’s life better.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

“Clear Measure, Inc.” (Sponsor)

“Philip Japikse: Professional C# in .NET - Episode 230”

“Philip Japikse: Migrating from .NET Framework to .NET 8 - Episode 296”

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Today’s guest is Mark Miller, a multi-time C# MVP whose work blends software architecture with cognitive science. As the Chief Architect of the IDE Tools division at Developer Express, Mark is the visionary behind CodeRush — a toolset designed to maximize developer productivity through intelligent design. With nearly four decades of experience creating software tools, Mark’s expertise spans decoupled design, plug-in architectures, and the nuanced craft of great user interfaces. He’s a top-ranked international speaker, known for unpacking complex ideas with clarity, and he shares his thought process in real time on Twitch.tv/CodeRushed.

Topics of Discussion:

[3:20] Why Mark still loves building developer tools.

[6:31] Mark talks about GitHub Copilot agent technology and other AI coding tools.

[8:00] The unique edge of CodeRush AI and its distinct advantages in user interface design.

[8:39] The future of AI in code generation, predicting increased speed and accuracy in large language models.

[9:02] The importance of managing multiple virtual developers in the future, compared to managing traditional software developers.

[15:21] Demonstration of CodeRush AI features.

[23:51] Mark creates a new class with properties and initializes it with realistic data.

[24:40] Mark highlights AI’s ability to modify and integrate code changes automatically, reducing the need for manual copying and pasting.

[36:32] AI Find.

[37:09] Advantages of CodeRush AI over competitors.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

“Mark Miller: The Science of Great UI in Software - Episode 212”

CodeRushed - Twitch

Mark Miller on LinkedIn

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.