Betatalks the podcast
Welcome to Betatalks the podcast, in which we talk with friends from the development community. We chat not only about technology, but what drives them, inspires them and makes them unique. Rick (Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft) and Oscar (CTO at Virtual Vaults), invite developers, makers, Open Source maintainers and other amazing people from the .NET and Azure development community. Looking for more content? Have a look at our Betatalks video's.
Betatalks the podcast
138. Beyond Vibe Coding: Jesse Houwing on Building Better Software with AI.
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What does it take to trust AI with a complex codebase—not just a quick prototype?
Jesse Houwing, GitHub Star, Microsoft DevOps MVP, and trainer at Xebia, joins us to share how he uses Copilot to investigate difficult bugs, improve the PowerShell Analyzer, and turn everyday frustrations into working tools.
We discuss managing Copilot costs at scale, why AI can struggle with new APIs and undocumented company knowledge, and how developers can tell useful AI-generated code from convincing-looking “AI slop.” Jesse also considers how the role of developers may evolve—from writing code toward guiding AI, curating knowledge, and applying hard-won engineering judgment.
A candid conversation about AI’s promise, its limits, and why experience still matters.
About this episode, and Jesse Houwing in particular: you can find Jesse on LinkedIn.
About Betatalks: watch our videos and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.