DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474

Lex FridmanSat, July 12, 2025 5:15pmURL:
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David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) is a legendary programmer, creator of Ruby on Rails, co-owner & CTO of 37signals that created Basecamp, HEY, & ONCE, and is a NYT-best-selling author (with Jason Fried) of 4 books: REWORK, REMOTE, Getting Real, and It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work. He is also a race car driver, including a class-winning performance at the 24 hour Le Mans race.
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*Transcript:*
https://lexfridman.com/dhh-david-heinemeier-hansson-transcript

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*EPISODE LINKS:*
DHH’s X: https://x.com/dhh
DHH’s Website: https://dhh.dk/
Ruby on Rails: https://rubyonrails.org/
37signals: https://37signals.com/

DHH’s books:
Rework: https://amzn.to/44rSKob
Remote: https://amzn.to/44GFJ91
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work: https://amzn.to/46bzuwx
Getting Real: https://amzn.to/4kzoMDg

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*OUTLINE:*
0:00 – Episode highlight
1:21 – Introduction
2:32 – Programming – early days
19:57 – JavaScript
30:16 – Google Chrome and DOJ
38:03 – Ruby programming language
45:14 – Beautiful code
1:03:15 – Metaprogramming
1:06:36 – Dynamic typing
1:13:55 – Scaling
1:26:47 – Future of programming
1:44:18 – Future of AI
1:50:13 – Vibe coding
1:58:45 – Rails manifesto: Principles of a great programming language
2:23:11 – Why managers are useless
2:32:32 – Small teams
2:38:39 – Jeff Bezos
2:53:57 – Why meetings are toxic
3:01:43 – Case against retirement
3:09:00 – Hard work
3:14:38 – Why we left the cloud
3:17:48 – AWS
3:27:07 – Owning your own servers
3:33:19 – Elon Musk
3:43:01 – Apple
3:54:48 – Tim Sweeney
4:06:22 – Fatherhood
4:32:04 – Racing
4:59:08 – Cars
5:04:26 – Programming setup
5:19:35 – Programming language for beginners
5:32:53 – Open source
5:41:46 – WordPress drama
5:53:03 – Money and happiness
6:01:56 – Hope