The Engineer Who Coded Like an AI Before AI Existed | Michael Novati
Michael Novati's agents have made 4M lines of code changes YTD — that's 20 KLOCs a day. On Feb 13th alone, he committed 417 PRs to GitHub on a production project. Though KLOCs are a flawed way to measure productivity, it's clear that when Novati codes, his way of operating is qualitatively completely different from most people's.
Get an inside peek into how a unique mind does its best work.
0:00 Intro
0:50 First Day at Facebook (and the PhD He Skipped)
2:49 Two Commits All Summer at IBM
4:53 The Big Brother Bot That Got Him Banned for Life
9:04 Lego Mindstorms and Books by the Pound
15:45 Why Early Facebook Was the Perfect Fit
19:12 What His Day Looked Like Before AI
25:17 The Codebase in His Head
32:45 When Speed Meets a Team
35:42 The 417-PR Day (and Why He Calls It Cheating)
39:37 Overnight Agents and 4 Million Lines
42:52 How Many Agents He Runs at Once
45:56 Why His Agents Read the Docs First
50:22 From Zero Tests to a Million
52:13 Judgment Tests: Testing for Taste
1:02:01 Not Reading Every Line Anymore
1:05:09 AI Went From Intern to Peer
1:07:56 The Beginning or the End of Engineers?
1:12:25 Why "Follow Your Passion" Isn't Enough
1:16:03 Advice to His 19-Year-Old Self
28 Oct 2026
The Part of Sprinting You Can’t Engineer
Robert Stanley is an NCAA All-American hurdler who's been coaching track for decades. He shares the secret of the 100m, rationale for relay ordering, as well as insights on what makes some athletes coachable toward success.
0:00 Intro
0:45 Robert's coaching and racing career
2:00 The phases of a 100m race
3:59 The lean: what actually stops the clock
5:24 Hot lanes and lane strategy
9:30 Hurdlers vs. sprinters
10:43 Is there an ideal height for a sprinter?
13:51 Relays: who should run first?
15:25 The handoff: "running by faith"
17:56 Why relay order matters when the math says it shouldn't
19:36 Body position: upright vs. leaning
21:27 How the 100m got 6 meters faster
23:04 Why the world records still stand
24:52 The first thing he tells new athletes
26:20 Why natural talent can work against you
27:38 What makes an athlete coachable
28:45 Advice to his younger self
21 Oct 2026
From Piloting Nuclear Subs to Second Life to Facebook Mobile & AI | Cory Ondrejka
Cory Ondrejka has had an amazingly varied life: nuclear sub pilot, cofounder of Second Life, leader of Meta's shift to mobile, and CTO of an AI company.0:00 Intro1:29 The Study of Luck2:45 Life on a Cold War nuclear sub4:13 Seven days without sleep7:26 The myth that Facebook missed mobile9:11 Why Facebook had just 3 iOS engineers12:08 Telling Mark Zuckerberg his mobile instincts were bad13:32 Better is always different15:22 What is Second Life?18:34 The magic of Second Life 20:46 Stroke survivors, concerts and a UFO22:08 What is Onebrief?25:16 Why AI works for coding: error signals26:23 Should tech build for the military?28:46 How much should AI decide on it's own?30:20 The Authorization Matrix32:04 Nearly 40 years of code, what's next?35:35 Where did the flow state go?39:32 Is AI bigger than the internet?41:35 Bonus: the C++ test43:34 Bonus: What AI agents are best at
14 Oct 2026
From Amazon Principal Engineer to 200K Subscribers
Steve Huynh quit his Amazon Principle Engineer job to run his YouTube channel, A Life Engineered ((https://www.youtube.com/@ALifeEngineered)), building it to 200k subscribers. He then launched a coaching business, all bootstrapped from his willingness to take a giant leap into the unknown.
Hear his take on how to bet on yourself and to succeed.
0:00 Intro
0:55 Speed-running YouTube success
8:05 Paying to fast-forward success
12:12 Taking action to reach your goals
18:28 Going all-in on YouTube while at Amazon
26:56 Is an engineering mindset helpful in the content & coaching business?
28:35 Guessing an engineer's level in 5 minutes
31:28 Most common engineer growth mistakes
37:34 Worst career advice ever
40:40 Psychology of careers
42:54 Biggest mistake at Amazon
44:33 You learn nothing from success
46:35 Biggest thing you've changed your mind on
Subscribe to Philip Has Questions (https://www.youtube.com/@PhilipHasQuestions) for more interviews with tech luminaries and entrepreneurs.
7 Oct 2026
The AI Expert Who Debugs Paella
Joaquin Quiñonero Candela has led AI initiatives at OpenAI, Meta, and LinkedIn. But one thing you might not know about Joaquin is his deep expertise in making paella.
00:00 Intro
00:18 Transition from Theory to Practice
03:56 Ethical Challenges and Societal Impacts
14:01 Recruiting at OpenAI
17:01 The Art of Making Paella
43:00 Paella Equipment and Cooking Setup
Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HiddenTrackPodcast
30 Sept 2026
A Microsoft CVP Looks Back: Career, Bill Gates, and Debbie Gibson
Ashok Kuppusamy was a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft with decades of experience, including being Bill Gates's technical assistant. In this interview he shares his insights from his 29 years, along with some unexpected thoughts about Debbie Gibson.
00:00 Intro
00:38 Early Days at Microsoft
02:28 Inside Bill Gates's Office
04:19 Leadership and Management Style
10:14 AI in the Workplace
14:56 Executive Isolation and Networks
16:32 Living and Parenting in Norway
22:24 Reflections on Career and Youth
25:39 Pop Fandom and Life Lessons
Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HiddenTrackPodcast
23 Sept 2026
Former Meta CTO's Strategy on Scaling Green Tech (Mike Schroepfer)
Making things cheap is the best way to get climate solutions to scale. Mike Schroepfer shares the reason for his optimism behind solving key climate challenges through enabling technology that scales in the physical economy.
00:00 Intro
00:23 Early Facebook, Sun Microsystems, and Firefox
05:20 Facebook's change to mobile and Sun's innovator's dilemma
07:42 Going from Firefox/Mozilla to Facebook
11:48 Founding Gigascale Capital
15:45 Reason for optimism about our future
20:38 Exciting projects at Gigascale
24:40 People need to see things to believe
27:25 Biggest levers to positively impact climate
30:50 Cow burps — 6% of carbon emissions
35:55 Political involvement vs. high-impact career choices
37:37 Offshore datacenters in the ocean
39:52 What is Gigascale's value-add?
43:25 Is it lonely at the top?
48:06 Advice for college students
51:06 How Schrep changed Philip's life
Learn more about Gigascale Capital: https://gigascale.com/
Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HiddenTrackPodcast
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