Building Smarter Dev Environments for Humans and AI: A conversation with Rob Whiteley

11/12/2025 56 min
Building Smarter Dev Environments for Humans and AI: A conversation with Rob Whiteley

Listen "Building Smarter Dev Environments for Humans and AI: A conversation with Rob Whiteley"

Episode Synopsis

In this episode, host Damien Filiatrault sits down with Coder CEO Rob Whiteley to explore how AI agents are changing the way software gets built, from cloud-based dev environments to long-running “software intern” workflows. They unpack how Coder provisions secure, centralized workspaces for both humans and agents, why Anthropic’s Claude Code became so effective once it could read its own Terraform-defined context, and how MCP-powered toolbelts turn a basic agent into a capable teammate. Rob breaks down why code completion alone is yesterday’s story, how senior engineers orchestrate multiple agents like a conductor, and why startups often stick to cursor-style assistance while enterprises layer in Bedrock, governance, and stricter controls. If you care about developer productivity, you’ll come away with a realistic view of where agents help today, what it takes to trust them with real projects, and why “English as the new programming language” opens the door for many more people to build software.