For a while now, AI and tech headlines have been dominated by layoffs and market shifts. But what if a crucial, yet often overlooked, factor was at play? I'm experimenting with a new narrative style in this video to break down Section 174 of the US tax code. Discover how changes to this R&D deduction policy, from its inception in 1954 to the impactful 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, quietly impacted everything from startup funding to the massive tech layoffs we've seen. We'll also cover the breaking news of its recent reversal on July 4th, 2025, and what that means for the future of innovation in the US.

#AILayoffs #TaxCode #Section174 #RDTaxCredit #TechLayoffs

🚀 Description:
In this packed episode of Engineering the Loop, we break down everything you need to know from Microsoft Build 2025—and trust us, it’s not just incremental upgrades. From the rise of AI agents and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the total transformation of search, software development, and even how you cool a data center, this year’s Build proves Microsoft is all in on an AI-first future.

We cover:

• Why MCP might replace traditional APIs (and kill search engines as we know them)

• How Copilot is leveling up with Agent Mode and SRE capabilities

• Running your own copilots locally with AI Foundry Local

• The wild vision of NL Web for conversational internet

• And why every developer needs to pay attention—fast

Whether you’re a developer, an architect, or just fascinated by what’s next in AI, this episode will catch you up and spark ideas.

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome & Build 2025 Overview
Kickoff and why this year’s conference felt like a seismic shift.

02:30 – Agents and MCP 101
What are agents? What is Model Context Protocol? Why do they matter so much?

10:20 – Copilot Everywhere
Copilot Studio, Copilot Agent Mode, GitHub Copilot Chat, and the rise of SRE agents.

19:15 – AI Foundry Local & Bring Your Own Models
How you can run and fine-tune your own models—locally and securely.

25:40 – NL Web & The Death of Search
Could conversational agents replace traditional search engines?

31:00 – Data Center Innovations & Sustainability
Immersive cooling, carbon negativity, and the future of green AI infrastructure.

35:10 – Developer Productivity Supercharged
Swagger specs, MCP servers, and Copilot building entire applications for you.

41:45 – Governance, Security & What Comes Next
Managing agents, protecting MCP endpoints, and Microsoft’s vision for AI governance.

47:00 – Closing Thoughts & Predictions
Where do we go from here?

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation—because the future is arriving faster than you think.

In this episode of Engineer in the Loop, Alec and Brian sit down with Dwayne Natwick—renowned Microsoft Certified Trainer, security expert, and mentor to countless professionals navigating the certification landscape. Dwayne demystifies the path to becoming an MCT, from the instructional skills training and role-based certifications you’ll need, to the hidden benefits (and the upcoming return of the annual fee).

The conversation goes deeper than the requirements: Dwayne shares what it’s really like to build and deliver your own train-the-trainer curriculum, why live instruction trumps recorded video courses, and how teaching can both exhaust and inspire. Along the way, you’ll hear war stories about canceled classes, the challenge of staying relevant, and how AI might (or might not) change how we learn.

If you’ve ever wondered whether becoming a certified trainer is worth it—or you just want to hear how top instructors keep up with nonstop new technologies—this is the episode for you.

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about becoming an MCT: Microsoft Learn - Become a Microsoft Certified Trainer

• Connect with Dwayne on LinkedIn: Dwayne Natwick on LinkedIn

• Nebraska.Code() 2025 Conference: Nebraska.Code() Website

Heads-up, hallway-track fans! In this episode of Engineer in the Loop, Alec and Brian sit down with Nebraska.Code() co-founder Ken Versaw and “community & culture steward” Arthur Doler for an unfiltered look at:

The 10-year rise of Nebraska.Code() and why the Cornhusker Marriott becomes the Midwest’s dev playground every July 23-25, 2025.

whova.com

Ken’s origin story — from writing customer-service scripts to launching a conference so locals didn’t need a $2 k Orlando flight to learn.

Arthur’s accidental pivot from data-science lightning talks to psychology-powered tech talks (and why Git visualisations changed lives).

Speaker horror stories: empty rooms, “front-row-guy” derailments, and the perils of eight-hour workshops on tiny laptop screens.

The real ROI for companies: momentum, problem-solving serendipity, team bonding and that one idea that pays for the ticket tenfold.

Bonus: impromptu Billy-Joel sing-alongs in the hotel lobby, plus why BarCamp Omaha’s “un-conference” is the easiest on-ramp to speaking.

Whether you’re conference-curious or a seasoned speaker, this conversation shows how live events fuel careers, communities and—yes—occasional chaos.

Links You (Promised to) Drop in the Show Notes

What Why

whova.com

Nebraska.Code() Speaker CFP / schedule http://nebraskacode.amegala.com

BarCamp Omaha (un-conference) – get your first speaking rep https://barcampomaha.org

Ken Versaw & Arthur Doler on BlueSky (Ken) @nebraskacode.bsky.social • (Arthur) @arthurdoler.bsky.social

This week Alec Harrison and Brian Gorman skip the rose-tinted dev chat and head straight for some therapeutic tech-venting. Fresh off an under-whelming WWDC, Alec wonders why Apple is flexing 3-D lock-screen clocks instead of, you know, actual Apple Intelligence—while a $3 k Vision Pro still can’t replace his decade-old Mac. Brian fires back with a blistering take on Google Gemini (“the passion of a thousand burning suns”) and explains how C#’s new runapp.cs experiment feels a lot like scrapping the foundation while the house is still standing. 🤦‍♂️

Along the way they swap war stories on:

• The Wall Street Journal grilling Craig Federighi & Greg Joswiak about Siri’s perpetual “coming soon” status 📱

• EF Core “CLI Hell, Level 6” and how ChatGPT bailed Brian out of phantom configs

• Why top-level statements, disappearing .csproj files, and NuGet inline directives might be great for demos—but brutal for real-world onboarding

• Alec’s discovery of Azure role-based data actions (spoiler: they’re not roles) and when over-architecting becomes a five-figure bonfire

• Building the new Engineer in the Loop site with Astro, zero-JS by default, and an assist from AI

Need a cathartic laugh—or just want to feel seen about the messy state of modern tooling? Hit play and commiserate with two devs who love tech enough to roast it 🔥.

Links promised in-episode

• Wall Street Journal interview with Craig Federighi & Greg Joswiak (Apple AI promises vs. reality)

• “Announcing .NET runapp.cs” – .NET Blog

• Alec’s deep-dive on Azure Storage data actions

• Astro Framework – astro.build

00:00 Underwhelmed by Apple WWDC

03:22 AI and Apple's Intelligence

05:43 Frustrations with Voice Assistants

08:25 The Evolution of Windows and Apple

10:49 The Dumbing Down of C#

13:17 C# vs Python: A Language Debate

15:40 The Future of C# Development

18:10 Managing Dependencies in C#

20:32 The Real-World Application of C#

23:00 Onboarding New Developers to C#

26:20 The Structure of Programming: A Necessary Evil

27:33 Adapting to Change: The Frustration of New Tech

28:56 Writing and Learning: The Joy of Creation

31:06 AI in Coding: A Game Changer

33:32 The Frustrations of CLI and Migration Issues

35:59 Enums vs Strings: A Design Debate

38:06 Delivering Value vs Over-Engineering

39:39 Leveraging AI for Web Development

42:16 Upcoming Projects and Conferences

45:19 Understanding Azure Data Attributes

In this wide-ranging Engineering the Loop chat, Alec Harrison and Brian Gorman welcome Peter Vasillion—CEO & AI Partner at Facet Interactive—to dissect how “models in the loop” are changing the way businesses ship software and automate everyday work.

Peter traces his journey from rebuilding Pentium-2 towers in his parents’ Southern California warehouse to guiding Fortune-level AI roll-outs. The trio swap stories about:

• ⚡ Rapid prototyping with LLMs – how Claude 4 Sonnet spun up a functional Blazor app for a non-developer in minutes, and why starting with a strong domain brief still matters.

• 🧠 Treating your AI like a junior hire – prompt-engineering, RAG, and iterative feedback loops that “skill up” an agent the same way you’d mentor a new teammate.

• 🛡️ Agent governance & bias – building ruler-slap guardrails in n8n workflows, the danger of hidden corporate filters, and what happens when monetization meets model moderation.

• 🤖 Assistant futures – from AI scheduling podcast guests to autonomous purchase-making, and the sociotechnical ripples when your virtual assistant becomes a trusted coworker.

Whether you’re wrestling with shadow-IT Power Apps, dreaming of a personal Telegram bot, or just curious about where the next wave of AI commoditization leads, this conversation is packed with practical war stories and forward-looking caution flags.

Links promised in the show notes

• Peter Vasillion on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pvasilion/

• Facet Interactive – strategy, data & AI consulting https://facetinteractive.com/

• n8n.io – open-source, agent-friendly workflow automation

What happens when the driverless revolution leaves the road?In our latest Engineer in the Loop episode, I sat down with Renard Henry, Head of IT at Toyota Connected, to talk about the future of autonomous systems—not just in cars, but in planes, ships, combines, and beyond.🚜 Imagine your farm equipment working while you sleep. 🛩️ Or a fully autonomous aircraft carrier. 🛳️ Or cargo ships crossing oceans with no one on board.It’s not science fiction.🎧 Listen in as we talk about AI at Toyota, evolving tech leadership, and what it means to build for a world that doesn’t just drive itself—but flies and sails too.👉 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2g9SNiQ61O1k7CmkHpKA3Y?si=BfHR5egSQUyVGUngDlp3cw

From jiu-jitsu to jumpstarting innovation at Toyota Connected, Renard Henry brings the heat in this episode of Engineer in the Loop. We talk AI in vehicles, life-saving tech, and the growing need for AI governance. Renard shares how Toyota stays lean while experimenting fast, why autonomous cars still need human oversight, and what the future holds for AI in healthcare and transportation. Whether you’re a tech lead, car geek, or just curious about how AI shows up in the real world—you’ll want to buckle up for this one.

Checkout Renard's Podcast Black Belts & Boardrooms ⁨@BlackBeltsandBoardrooms⁩

📌 Chapters:

00:00 – The Invisible AI Already in Your Car

01:37 – Meet Renard Henry: From Sports Medicine to Tech Leadership

04:32 – Leadership Lessons from Jiu-Jitsu and Industry Hopping

06:02 – Fast-Paced Innovation at Toyota Connected

07:47 – Why Toyota Still Gets Lean Right

09:21 – AI vs. Autonomy: How Toyota Approaches Both

13:51 – Autonomous Traffic, White Stoplights, and Sci-Fi Reality

17:04 – The Future of Vehicle Ownership & Passive Income Fleets

21:05 – From IT to Intelligent Agents: What’s Coming Next

22:11 – How AI Changed Renard’s Work and Worldview

25:29 – AI in Healthcare: Personal Loss and Hopeful Progress

27:16 – Ethics, Automation, and the Trolley Problem

28:24 – Why AI Governance Will Be the Next Big Tech Role

30:51 – Cost, Risk & Value: The Hidden Work of Enterprise AI

34:55 – Avoiding the Wild West of Shadow AI

36:29 – Innovation with Purpose: Vetting the Right Tools

40:07 – Final Thoughts + Where to Connect with Renard