Jim Ray works in developer relations at Bluesky, where he helps developers build on the AT Protocol (atproto) and co-hosts the Off Protocol podcast. Brittany and Bethany talk with him about what developers can build on the open social web today and what’s coming next.

Jim explains Spaces, the upcoming permissioned data layer that will let developers build private groups and communities on atproto, and how builders might choose between public and private data. He shares his path from journalism school at UNC through newsrooms, a design agency, and almost a decade of developer relations at Slack before joining Bluesky. The conversation also covers:

• why lexicons make atproto easy for AI coding agents to build on
• how the independent PLC directory helps keep the protocol “locked open”
• how competing blogging apps Leaflet, Offprint, and pckt worked together on the standard.site lexicon for long-form publishing

The episode wraps with AtmosphereConf 2027, which has its call for presentations open now. Then a round of predictions: when Spaces ships, and whether any app in the Atmosphere will ever outgrow Bluesky.

Links

• Jim Ray on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jimray.bsky.team
• Off protocol: https://atproto.com/off-protocol
• PLC Directory: https://web.plc.directory/
• Standard.site: https://standard.site/
• Leaflet: https://leaflet.pub/
• Offprint: https://offprint.app/
• Pckt: https://pckt.blog/
• Wordpress standard.site plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/atmosphere/
• Em-dash from Cloudflare: https://emdashcms.com/
• Atmosphereconf 2027: atmosphereconf.org
• Atmosphereconf 2027 CFP: https://atmosphereconf.org/speak
• Attie: https://attie.ai/
• delve.town: https://delve.town/
  

• Overcommitted: https://overcommitted.dev

• Bethany Janos: https://trustyduck.dev
• Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com

Can you trust software written without AI? We examine the risks of manual coding versus automated vulnerability exploits.At Rails World 2026, a show of hands revealed that writing material amounts of code by hand is becoming a rarity. We discuss whether that human-written code is actually safer, especially after reviewing the eMudhra certificate authority compromise where private keys were recovered in under a second. Between open-weight models demonstrating Mythos-class exploit skills and the ongoing debate over AI consciousness, the security landscape has shifted significantly.This conversation is for engineers navigating the reality of AI mandates at work and the impact of agents that continue running after you log off. We also cover the practical side of professional development, from Bethany building a holiday gift-list app to Brittany replacing cloud subscriptions with local transcription tools. By analyzing these technical shifts, we aim to help you maintain a grounded perspective on your career trajectory.Subscribe for weekly software engineering breakdowns, and comment on which professional challenge you want us to tackle next.

Hosts

• Overcommitted: https://overcommitted.dev
• Bethany Janos: https://www.trustyduck.dev
• Brittany Ellich: https://brittanyellich.com

What do you do when the project you prepared for is no longer the priority? In our first Honest Answers segment, Erika and Bethany respond to a listener's question about a last-minute change of plans. They discuss how communication can make a change feel less arbitrary, why context switching leaves unfinished work on your mind, and how stopping notes, handoff documentation, and an AI-assisted morning routine can help you pick work back up. They also cover keeping a record of contributions when projects don't ship, separating your identity from your assigned work, and the loss of autonomy that can come with a reorg. The conversation turns to disagree and commit, the psychological safety it requires, and recognizing when it may be time to find a different team or role. To close, they translate some familiar corporate memos into plain language.

Hosts

• Overcommitted: https://overcommitted.dev

• Bethany Janos: https://www.trustyduck.dev
• Erika Eggemeyer: https://github.com/eggyhead

Show Links

• Molly Graham, Work Whiplash: https://mollyg.substack.com/p/work-whiplash
• John Cutler, TBM 31/52: Why Does Our Strategy Keep Changing?: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-3152-why-does-our-strategy-keep
• ShiftMag, Do managers shift priorities to make engineers miserable?: https://shiftmag.dev/shifting-priorities-development-business-886/
• UW Bothell, Sophie Leroy on attention residue and ready-to-resume plans: https://www.uwb.edu/news/2019/02/12/task-interrupted
• Sophie Leroy's faculty page and research publications: https://www.uwb.edu/faculty/sophie-leroy/
• Jellyfish, Mitigating Context Switching in Software Development: https://jellyfish.co/library/developer-productivity/context-switching/
• Masicampo and Baumeister, Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024192
• Hello Interview, Handling a project priority change: https://www.hellointerview.com/community/questions/project-priority-change/cmlj4w9bn01yq08adp1vva9ot
• David Rock, A sense of autonomy is a primary reward or threat for the brain: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-at-work/200911/a-sense-of-autonomy-is-a-primary-reward-or-threat-for-the-brain
• Bordia and colleagues, Uncertainty during organizational change: Is it all about control?: https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320444000128
• Glavin and Schieman, Control in the Face of Uncertainty: https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272514546698
• NASA, Managing the Trauma of a Terminated Project (PMHut reprint): https://pmhut.com/managing-the-trauma-of-a-terminated-project
• Disagree and commit, Concept overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disagree_and_commit
• Amazon's leadership principles, Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles