Soft Engineer

“Soft Engineer” is a podcast series about the engineering of the computer programs that surround us. A “soft” engineer does not merely write code — AI does that well enough already. A soft engineer steers the life cycle of a program. Where others burn time and energy breaking through bureaucracy and technical limits, or lean on aesthetics or a shortage of resources, a soft engineer flows like water: juggling wit, a wide technical horizon, and self-discipline; slowing down here, standing firm as a rock there, elsewhere giving way and biding their time — reaching agreement both with the person who does not breathe operators and variables yet plays a decisive role in the program’s life cycle, and with the colleague who is deep in the subject and sifts the ideas.

These podcasts, this description, the intros, and the graphics were all made with programs “for living” — from the operating system through to the mobile app and the website that brought you here. Curious how programs like these get made? Welcome.

The podcast itself is recorded in Russian. This page is the English introduction to it.