Beyond Vibe Coding, Season 2, Episode 7

 

What if the best preparation for AI coding is a 25-year-old playbook? Ben Hoskins, CTO at NewStore and a seasoned tech leader, joins Beyond Vibe Coding to explain why agentic engineering is reviving the fundamentals of Extreme Programming.

 

Ben is candid that pure vibe coding was a "hot mess" — messy architecture, frequent breakage. What turned it around was the feedback loop he'd been teaching for decades: give the agent failing tests and make them pass. Techniques like TDD, behaviour-driven development, boundary value analysis, and hexagonal architecture are precisely what turn an unpredictable model into shippable software.

 

The conversation widens to how AI reshapes teams. With engineering complexity collapsing, the "mythical" full-stack engineer finally exists, and the people getting ahead are engineers who think like product and product folks who think commercially. NewStore has begun rewriting role descriptions toward the "product engineer."

 

His most memorable line, borrowed from his platform lead: "culture eats metrics for breakfast." You can't measure a team into caring about quality — you hire and build for it.

 

Listen to the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1v1WR1aRpoQ65phOXYxM23

Hire Talent
See how Impala Search can help you attract top talent for your roles.
Find Work
Impala Search works with our candidates to ensure placement in the most suitable role possible.

OUR FOCUS


SOFTWARE ENGINEERING


JAVASCRIPT, CLIENT/SERVER SIDE
JVM (JAVA, SCALA, CLOJURE, KOTLIN)
PHP (ZEND, SYMFONY, LARAVEL, SPRYKER)
OTHER OOP LANGUAGES (RUBY, C++)
DATA ENGINEERING (PYTHON, GO)
DEVOPS

 


EXECUTIVE SEARCH


TECHNOLOGY OFFICERS (CTO, CIO)
PRODUCT OFFICERS (CPO)
OPERATIONS OFFICERS (COO, CMO)
VICE PRESIDENTS
HEADS OF DIVISIONS,
ENGINEERING MANAGERS