56 MIN READ
Mark Miller | 02 September 2022
Because of my position as Executive Producer and host of The Untold Stories of Open Source, I frequently get asked, “What podcasts do you listen to when you’re not producing your own.” Interesting question. However, my personal preference, This American Life, is more about how they create their shows, how they use sound and music to supplement the narration, and just in general, how Ira Glass does what he does. Only podcast geeks would be interested in that, so I reached out to my friends in the tech industry to ask them what THEY listen to.
The most surprising thing I learned was people professing to not listen to podcasts. “I don’t listen to podcasts, but if I had to choose one…”, kept popping up. The second thing was people in the industry need a break and use podcasts to escape from the mayhem of their day. I like the way Jennifer says it best, “Since much of my role is getting developers on board with security actions, I gravitate toward more psychology based podcasts – Adam Grant’s is amazing (it’s called WorkLife).”
Now that I think of it, same here. This American Life. Revisionist History. Radio Lab. The Moth. You get the picture. Escaping from the mayhem of the day.
Without further digression, here are the podcasts recommended by the people I trust, no particular order. No favoritism.
The Haunted Hacker
Hosted by Mike Jones and Mike LeBlanc
Mike Jones and Mike LeBlanc built the H4unt3d Hacker podcast and group from a really grass roots point of view. The idea was spawned over a glass of bourbon on the top of a mountain. The group consists of members from around the globe and from various walks of life, religions, backgrounds and is all inclusive. They pride themselves in giving back and helping people understand the cybersecurity industry and navigate through the various challenges one faces when they decide cybersecurity is where they belong.
“I think he strikes a great balance between newbie/expert, current events and all purpose security and it has a nice vibe” – Alan Shimel, CEO, Founder, TechStrong Group
Risky Biz Security Podcast
Hosted by Patrick Gray
Published weekly, the Risky Business podcast features news and in-depth commentary from security industry luminaries. Hosted by award-winning journalist Patrick Gray, Risky Business has become a must-listen digest for information security professionals. We are also known to publish blog posts from time to time.
“My single listen-every-week-when-it-comes out is not that revolutionary: the classic Risky Biz security podcast. As a defender, I learn from the offense perspective, and they also aren’t shy about touching on the policy side.” – Allan Friedman, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Application Security Weekly
Hosted by Mike Shema, Matt Alderman, and John Kinsella
If you’re looking to understand DevOps, application security, or cloud security, then Application Security Weekly is your show! Mike, Matt, and John decrypt application development – exploring how to inject security into the organization’s Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC); learn the tools, techniques, and processes necessary to move at the speed of DevOps, and cover the latest application security news.
“Easily my favorite hosts and content. Professional production, big personality host, and deeply technical co-host. Combined with great topics and guests.” – Larry Maccherone, Dev[Sec]Ops Transformation Architect, Contrast Security
Azure DevOps Podcast
Hosted by Jeffrey Palermo
The Azure DevOps Podcast is a show for developers and devops professionals shipping software using Microsoft technologies. Each show brings you hard-hitting interviews with industry experts innovating better methods and sharing success stories. Listen in to learn how to increase quality, ship quickly, and operate well.
“I am pretty focused on Microsoft Azure these days so on my list is Azure DevOps” – Bob Aiello CM Best Practices Founder, CTO, and Principal Consultant
Chaos Community Broadcast
Hosted by Community of Chaos Engineering Practitioners
We are a community of chaos engineering practitioners. Chaos Engineering is the discipline of experimenting on a system in order to build confidence in the system’s capability to withstand turbulent conditions in production.
“This is so good, it’s hardly even fair to compare it to other podcasts!” – Casey Rosenthal, CEO, Co-founder, Verica
The Daily Beans. News. With Swearing
Hosted by Allison Gill (A.G.)
The Daily Beans is a women-owned and operated progressive news podcast for your morning commute brought to you by the webby award-winning hosts of Mueller, She Wrote. Get your social justice and political news with just the right amount of snark.
“The Daily Beans covers political news without hype. The host is a lawyer and restricts her coverage to what can actually happen while other outlets are hyping every possibility under the sun including possibilities that get good ratings but will never happen. She mostly covers the former president’s criminal cases.” – Tom Limoncelli, Manager, Stack Overflow
Software Engineering Radio
Hosted by Community of Various Contributors
Software Engineering Radio is a podcast targeted at the professional software developer. The goal is to be a lasting educational resource, not a newscast. Now a weekly show, we talk to experts from throughout the software engineering world about the full range of topics that matter to professional developers. All SE Radio episodes feature original content; we don’t record conferences or talks given in other venues.
“The one that I love to keep tabs on is called Software Engineering Radio, published by the IEEE computer society. It is absolutely a haberdashery of new ideas, processes, lessons learned. It also ranges from very practical action oriented advice the whole way over to philosophical discussions that are necessary for us to drive innovation forward. Professionals from all different domains contribute. It’s not a platform for sales and marketing pitches!” – Tracy Bannon, Senior Principal/ Software Architect & DevOps Advisor, MITRE
Cybrary Podcast
Hosted by Various Contributors
Join thousands of other listeners to hear from the current leaders, experts, vendors, and instructors in the IT and Cybersecurity fields regarding DevSecOps, InfoSec, Ransomware attacks, the diversity and the retention of talent, and more. Gain the confidence, consistency, and courage to succees at work and in life.
“Relaxed chat, full of good info, and they got right to the point. Would recommend.” – Wendy Nather, Head of Advisory CISOs, CISCO
Open Source Underdogs
Hosted by Michael Schwartz
Open Source Underdogs is the podcast for entrepreneurs about open source software. In each episode, we chat with a founder or leader to explore how they are building thriving businesses around open source software. Our goal is to demystify how entrepreneurs can stay true to their open source objectives while also building sustainable, profitable businesses that fuel innovation and ensure longevity.
“Mike Schwartz’s podcast is my favourite. Really good insights from founders.” – Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK
Ten Percent Happier
Hosted by Dan Harris
Ten Percent Happier publishes a variety of podcasts that offer relatable wisdom designed to help you meet the challenges and opportunities in your daily life.
“I listen to Ten Percent Happier as my go-to podcast. It helps me with mindfulness practice, provides a perspective on real-life situations, and makes me a kinder person. That is one of the most important traits we all need these days.” – Arun Gupta, Vice President and General Manager for Open Ecosystem, Intel
Making Sense
Hosted by Sam Harris
Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times best sellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.
“Sam dives deep on topics rooted in our culture, business, and minds. The conversations are very approachable and rational. With some episodes reaching an hour or more, Sam gives topics enough space to cover the necessary angles.” – Derek Weeks, CMO, The Linux Foundation
Darknet Diaries
Hosted by Jack Rhysider
Darknet Diaries produces audio stories specifically intended to capture, preserve, and explain the culture around hacking and cyber security in order to educate and entertain both technical and non-technical audiences.
This is a podcast about hackers, breaches, shadow government activity, hacktivism, cybercrime, and all the things that dwell on the hidden parts of the network.
“Darknet Diaries would be my recommendation. Provided insights into the world of hacking, data breaches and cyber crime. And Jack Rhysider is a good storyteller ” – Edwin Kwan, Head of Application Security and Advisory, Tyro Payments
Under the Skin
Hosted by Russel Brand
Under the Skin asks: what’s beneath the surface – of the people we admire, of the ideas that define our times, of the history we are told. Speaking with guests from the world of academia, popular culture and the arts, they’ll teach us to see the ulterior truth behind or constructed reality. And have a laugh.
“He interviews influential people from all different backgrounds and covers everything from academia to tech to culture to spiritual issues” – Ashleigh Auld, Global Director Partner Marketing, Linnwood
Cyberwire Daily
Hosted by Dave Bittner
The daily cybersecurity news and analysis industry leaders depend on. Published each weekday, the program also included interviews with a wide spectrum of experts from industry, academia, and research organizations all over the world.
“I’d recommend the CyberWire daily podcast has got most relevant InfoSec news items and stories industry pros care about. XX” – Ax Sharma, Security Researcher, Tech Reporter, Sonatype
7 Minute Security Podcast
Hosted by Brian Johnson
7 Minute Security is a weekly audio podcast (once in a while with video!) released on Wednesdays and covering topics such Penetration testing, Blue teaming, and Building a career in security.
In 2013 I took on a new adventure to focus 100% on information security. There’s a ton to learn, so I wanted to write it all down in a blog format and share with others. However, I’m a family man too, and didn’t want this project to offset the work/family balance.
So I thought a podcast might fill in the gaps for stuff I can’t – or don’t have time to – write out in full form. I always loved the idea of a podcast, but the good ones are usually in a longer format, and I knew I didn’t have time for that either. I was inspired by the format of the 10 Minute Podcast and figured if it can work for comedy, maybe it can work for information security!
Thus, the 7 Minute Security blog and its child podcast was born.
“7 Minute Security Podcast – because Brian makes the best jingles!” – Björn Kimminich, Product Group Lead Architecture Governance, Kuehne + Nagel (AG & Co.) KG
Continuous Delivery
Hosted by Dave Farley
Explores ideas that help to produce Better Software Faster: Continuous Delivery, DevOps, TDD and Software Engineering.
Hosted by Dave Farley – a software developer who has done pioneering work in DevOps, CD, CI, BDD, TDD and Software Engineering. Dave has challenged conventional thinking and led teams to build world class software.
Dave is co-author of the award wining book – “Continuous Delivery”, and a popular conference speaker on Software Engineering. He built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges, is a pioneer of BDD, an author of the Reactive Manifesto, and winner of the Duke award for open source software – the LMAX Disruptor.
“Dave Farley’s videos are a treasure trove of knowledge that took me and others years to uncover when we were starting out. His focus on engineering and business outcomes rather than processes and frameworks is a breath of fresh air. If you only have time for one source of information, use his. – Bryan Finster, Value Stream Architect, Defense Unicorns
The Prof G Show
Hosted by Scott Galloway
A fast and fluid weekly thirty minute show where Scott tears into the taxonomy of the tech business with unfiltered, data-driven insights, bold predictions, and thoughtful advice.
“Very current very modern. Business and tech oriented. Talks about markets and economics and people and tech.” – Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer, Cobalt
Open Source Security Podcast
Hosted by Josh Bressers and Kurt Seifried
Open Source Security is a collaboration by Josh Bressers and Kurt Seifried. We publish the Open Source Security Podcast and the Open Source Security Blog.
We have a security tabletop game that Josh created some time ago. Rather than play a boring security tabletop exercise, what if had things like dice and fun? Take a look at the Dungeons and Data tabletop game
“It has been something I’ve been listening to a lot lately with all of the focus on Software Supply Chain Security and Open Source Security. The hosts have very deep software and security backgrounds but keep the show light-hearted and engaging as well. ” – Chris Hughes, CISO, Co-Founder Aquia Inc
Pivot
Hosted by Kara Swisher and Professor Scott Galloway
Every Tuesday and Friday, tech journalist Kara Swisher and NYU Professor Scott Galloway offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics. They make bold predictions, pick winners and losers, and bicker and banter like no one else. After all, with great power comes great scrutiny. From New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
“As a rule, I don’t listen to tech podcasts much at all, since I write about tech almost all day. I check out podcasts about theater or culture — about as far away from my day job as I can get. However, I follow a ‘man-about-town’ guy named George Hahn on social media, who’s a lot of fun. Last year, he mentioned he’d be a guest host of the ‘Pivot’ podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, so I checked out Pivot. It’s about tech but it’s also about culture, politics, business, you name it. So that’s become the podcast I dip into when I want to hear a bit about tech, but in a cocktail-party/talk show kind of way.” – Christine Kent, Communications Strategist, Christine Kent Communications
The Idealcast
Hosted by Gene Kim
Conversations with experts about the important ideas changing how organizations compete and win. In The Idealcast, multiple award-winning CTO, researcher and bestselling author Gene Kim hosts technology and business leaders to explore the dangerous, shifting digital landscape. Listeners will hear insights and gain solutions to help their enterprises thrive in an evolving business world.
“I like this because it has a good balance of technical and culture/leadership content.” – Courtney Kissler, CTO, Zulily
TrustedSec Security Podcast
Hosted by Dave Kennedy and Various Team Contributors
Our team records a regular podcast covering the latest security news and stories in an entertaining and informational discussion. Hear what our experts are thinking and talking about.
“I LOVE LOVE LOVE the TrustedSec Security Podcast. Dave Kennedy’s team puts on a very nice and often deeply technical conversation every two weeks. The talk about timely topics from today’s headlines as well as jumping into purple team hackery which is a real treat to listen in and learn from.” – CRob Robinson, Director of Security Communications Intel Product Assurance and Security, Intel
Profound Podcast
Hosted by John Willis
Ramblings about W. Edwards Deming in the digital transformation era. The general idea of the podcast is derived from Dr. Demming’s seminal work described in his New Economics book – System of Profound Knowledge ( SoPK ). We’ll try and get a mix of interviews from IT, Healthcare, and Manufacturing with the goal of aligning these ideas with Digital Transformation possibilities. Everything related to Dr. Deming’s ideas is on the table (e.g., Goldratt, C.I. Lewis, Ohno, Shingo, Lean, Agile, and DevOps).
“I don’t listen to podcasts much these days (found that consuming books via audible was more useful… but I guess it all depends on how emerging the topics are you are interested in). I only mention this as I am thin I recommendations. I’d go with John Willis’s Profound or Gene Kim’s Idealcast. Some overlap in (world class) guests but different interview approaches and perspectives.” – Damon Edwards, Sr. Director, Product PagerDuty
Security Now
Hosted by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte
Stay up-to-date and deepen your cybersecurity acumen with Security Now. On this long-running podcast, cybersecurity authority Steve Gibson and technology expert Leo Laporte bring their extensive and historical knowledge to explore digital security topics in depth. Each week, they take complex issues and break them down for clarity and big-picture understanding. And they do it all in an approachable, conversational style infused with their unique sense of humor. Listen and subscribe, and stay on top of the constantly changing world of Internet security. Security Now records every Tuesday afternoon and hits your podcatcher later that evening.
“The shows cover a wide range of security topics, from the basics of technologies such as DNSSec & Bitcoin, to in depth, tech analysis of the latest hacks hitting the news, The main host, Steve Gibson, is great at breaking down tech subjects over an audio . It’s running at over 800 episodes now, regular as clockwork every week, so you can rely on it. Funnily Steve Gibson has often reminded me of you – able to assess what’s going on with a subject, calmly find the important points, and describe them to the rest of us in way that’s engaging and relatable.medium – in a way you can follow and be interested in during your commute or flight.” – Gary Robinson, Chief Security Officer, Ulseka
The Jordan Harbinger Show
Hosted by Jordan Harbinger
Today, The Jordan Harbinger Show has over 15 million downloads per month and features a wide array of guests like Kobe Bryant, Moby, Dennis Rodman, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Tony Hawk, Cesar Millan, Simon Sinek, Eric Schmidt, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, to name a few. Jordan continues to teach his skills, for free, at 6-Minute Networking. In addition to hosting The Jordan Harbinger Show, Jordan is a consultant for law enforcement, military, and security companies and is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
“Excellent podcasts where he interviews people from literally every walk of life, how they have become successful, why they have failed (if they have) as well as great personal development coaching ideas.” – Jeff DeVerter, CTO, Products and Services, RackSpace
WorkLife with Adam Grant
Hosted by Adam Grant
Adam hosts WorkLife, a chart-topping TED original podcast. His TED talks on languishing, original thinkers, and givers and takers have been viewed more than 30 million times. His speaking and consulting clients include Google, the NBA, Bridgewater, and the Gates Foundation. He writes on work and psychology for the New York Times, has served on the Defense Innovation Board at the Pentagon, has been honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and has appeared on Billions.
“I don’t listen to many technical podcasts. I like Caroline Wongs and have listened to it a number of times (Humans of InfoSec) but since much of my role is getting developers on board with security actions, I gravitate toward more psychology based podcasts – Adam Grant’s is amazing (it’s called WorkLife).” – Jennifer Czaplewski, Senior Director, Cyber Security, Target
“You know lately I have been listening to WorkLife with Adam Grant. Not a tech podcast but a management one.” – Paula Thrasher, Senior Director Infrastructure, PagerDuty
SRE Prodcast
Hosted by Core Team Members: Betsy Beyer, MP English, Salim Virji, Viv
The Google Prodcast Team has gone through quite a few iterations and hiatuses over the years, and many people have had a hand in its existence. For the longest time, a handful of SREs produced the Prodcast for the listening pleasure of the other engineers here at Google.
We wanted to make something that would be of interest to folks across organizations and technical implementations. In his last act as part of the Prodcast, JTR put us in touch with Jennifer Petoff, Director of SRE Education, in order to have the support of the SRE organization behind us.
“The SRE Prodcast is Google’s podcast about Site Reliability Engineering and production software. In Season 1, we discuss concepts from the SRE Book with experts at Google.” – Jennifer Petoff, Director, Program Management, Cloud Technical Education Google
Make Me Smart
Hosted by Kai Ryssdal And Kimberly Adams
Every weekday, Kai Ryssdal and Kimberly Adams break down the news in tech, the economy and culture. How do companies make money from disinformation? How can we tackle student debt? Why do 401(k)s exist? What will it take to keep working moms from leaving the workforce? Together, we dig into complex topics to help make today make sense
“I literally learn 3 new things about topics i never would have tried to learn about.” – Kadi Grigg, Enablement Specialist, Sonatype
EconTalk
Hosted by Russ Roberts
Conversations for the Curious is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. The eclectic guest list includes authors, doctors, psychologists, historians, philosophers, economists, and more. Learn how the health care system really works, the serenity that comes from humility, the challenge of interpreting data, how potato chips are made, what it’s like to run an upscale Manhattan restaurant, what caused the 2008 financial crisis, the nature of consciousness, and more.
“The only podcast I listen to is actually EconTalk, which has nothing to do with tech!” – Kelly Shortridge, Senior Principal, Product Technology, Fastly
Leading the Future of Work
Hosted by Jacob Morgan
The Future of Work With Jacob Morgan is a unique show that explores how the world of
work is changing, and what we need to do in order to thrive. Each week several episodes are
released which range from long-form interviews with the world’s top business leaders and
authors to shorter form episodes which provide a strategy or tip that listeners can apply to
become more successful.
The show is hosted by 4x best-selling author, speaker and futurist Jacob Morgan and the
goal is to give listeners the inspiration, the tools, and the resources they need to succeed
and grow at work and in life.
Episodes are not scripted which makes for fun, authentic, engaging, and educational
episodes filled with insights and practical advice.
“It is hard for me to keep up with podcasts. The one I listen to regularly is “Leading The Future of Work” by Jacob Morgan. I know it is not technical, but I think it is extremely important for technical people to understand what the business thinks and is concerned about.” – Keyaan Williams, Managing Director, CLASS-LLC
Hacking Humans
Hosted by Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan
Deception, influence, and social engineering in the world of cyber crime.
Join Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan each week as they look behind the social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines and taking a heavy toll on organizations around the world.
“In case we needed any reminders that humanity is a scary place.” – Matt Howard, SVP and CMO, Virtu
Cloud SecurityPodcast
Hosted by Ashish Rajan, Shilpi Bhattacharjee, and Various Contributors
Cloud Security Podcast is a WEEKLY Video and Audio Podcast that brings in-depth cloud security knowledge to you from the best and brightest cloud security experts and leaders in the industry each week over our LIVE STREAMs.
We are the FIRST podcast that carved the niche for Cloud Security in late 2019. As of 2021, the large cloud service providers (Azure, Google Cloud, etc.) have all followed suit and started their own cloud security podcasts. While we recommend you listen to their podcasts as well, we’re the ONLY VENDOR NEUTRAL podcast in the space and will preserve our neutrality indefinitely.
“I really love Ashish’s cloud security podcast, listened to it for a while now. He gets really good people on it and it’s a nice laid back listen, too.” – Simon Maple, Field CTO, Snyk
DSO Overflow
Hosted by Glenn Wilson, Steve Giguere, Jessica Cregg
In depth conversations with influencers blurring the lines between Dev, Sec, and Ops!
We speak with professionals working in cyber security, software engineering and operations to talks about a number of DevSecOps topics. We discuss how organisations factor security into their product delivery cycles without compromising the value of doing DevOps and Agile.
“One of my favourite meetups in London ‘DevSecOps London Gathering’ has a podcast where they invite their speakers https://dsolg.com/#podcast” – Stefania Chaplin, Solutions Architect UK&I, GitLab
Pardon the Interruption
Hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon
Longtime sportswriters Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon debate and discuss the hottest topics, issues and events in the world of sports in a provocative and fast-paced format.
Similar in format to Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert‘s At the Movies,[2][3] PTI is known for its humorous and often loud tone, as well as the “rundown” graphic which lists the topics yet to be discussed on the right-hand side of the screen. The show’s popularity has led to the creation of similar shows on ESPN and similar segments on other series, and the rundown graphic has since been implemented on the morning editions of SportsCenter, among many imitators.[4] – Wikipedia
“I’m interested in sports, and Tony and Mike are well-informed, amusing, and opinionated. It also doesn’t hurt any that I’ve known them since they were at The Washington Post and I was freelancing there. What you see on television, or hear on their podcast, is exactly how they are in real life. This sincerity of personality is a big reason why they’ve become so successful.” – Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Technology and business journalist and analyst. Red Ventures