From Librarian to Developer: w/ Roxy Rodriguez-Becker

From Librarian to Developer: w/ Roxy Rodriguez-Becker

Author: Skill Issue Studios November 20, 2025 Duration: 44:21

Recorded live at All Things Open, Robbie and guest co-host Jason Torres talk with Roxy Rodriquez-Becker about her journey from educator and librarian to aspiring developer, the community supporting her transition, navigating motherhood and advocacy, and how her son’s medical challenges inspired her to build a life-changing G-tube feeding app.

In this episode:

  • (00:00) - Working Edit
  • (01:03) - Wine rating and review: San Simeon Cabernet Sauvignon
  • (02:35) - Meet Roxy
  • (03:04) - From teaching and libraries to tech
  • (05:38) - How Roxy is learning to code
  • (06:24) - Inside the “Chosen One” series
  • (07:35) - The support systems behind Roxy's move to coding
  • (09:14) - Navigating a public job hunt and being in the spotlight
  • (11:30) - Roxy’s advice for getting out of your comfort zone
  • (12:43) - Roxy’s background in content creation
  • (14:35) - How Roxy juggles parenting, work, and learning to code
  • (16:51) - How her son’s medical journey inspired the Tube Feed app
  • (28:03) - Why advocating for yourself is harder than advocating for others
  • (30:00) - What pulled Roxy back into tech
  • (32:01) - Growing up Cuban and Catholic
  • (35:30) - How Roxy's upbringing shapes how she raises her kids
  • (36:33) - Why Roxy chose software engineering specifically
  • (38:33) - Robbie's biggest strength and biggest weakness
  • (39:27) - Guilty pleasure TV shows
  • (40:43) - What success looks like for Roxy
  • (42:41) - Where to find Roxy online

Links

Connect with Jason

Connect with Roxy

Connect with the hosts

Subscribe and stay in touch

Whiskey Web and Whatnot Merch
Enjoying the podcast and want us to make more? Help support us by picking up some of our fresh merch at https://whiskey.fund.


There's a certain alchemy that happens when you combine deep technical expertise with the warmth of a good conversation, and that's exactly what you'll find in Whiskey Web and Whatnot. Hosts Robbie Wagner, Charles William Carpenter III, and Adam Argyle bring decades of collective experience to the table, but they leave the lecture format at the door. Instead, each episode feels like pulling up a chair with colleagues who are just as passionate about the craft of building for the web as they are about the nuanced flavors in a glass of whiskey. The discussion naturally flows between the concrete details of modern development-like navigating JavaScript frameworks, CSS architecture, or the practical realities of agentic AI and new coding tools-and the broader, human aspects of a software engineering career. This podcast from Skill Issue Studios is built on the idea that the tools and the people who use them are equally important. You'll come for insightful, grounded advice on developer productivity and emerging technologies, but you'll stay for the genuine camaraderie and the occasional spirited debate about which whiskey bottle truly earns a spot on the shelf. It’s a refreshing blend of substance and personality, making complex topics accessible and reminding everyone that there's always a story behind the code.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Whiskey Web and Whatnot
Podcast Episodes
Experts Agree: Yelling at Computers Is the Future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:00
This week, Robbie welcomes back Chuck Carpenter for a nostalgic reunion over Jim Beam White Label Bourbon to catch up on life, AI workflows, and whether agents can replace human reviewers. They dig into Chuck's move to I…
Guppy Pimps, Tripp Pants, and Debugging IE5 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:50
This week, Robbie and Adam sip on Glen Morangie A Tale of Ice Cream and dive deep into their entrepreneurial origin stories, from childhood hustles to band life to building apps for dead platforms. They dig into selling…
Dark Factories, Polymorphic UI, and Why Developers Still Matter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:43:34
This week, Robbie and Adam are live from React Miami with a packed lineup of rapid fire interviews and hot takes. They catch up with Jason Lengstorf about driving a quarter million dollar Lamborghini through Miami with a…
Proxies, Petty Pranks, and Ramon the 420 IQ Gorilla w/ Ken Wheeler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:20
This week, Robbie and Adam welcome Ken Wheeler to talk AI harnesses, multi-agent swarms, survival bags, and whether React is finally a framework. They dig into React Server Components, hooks versus signals versus proxies…
AI Harnesses, Framework Wars, and Why Beards Beat Mustaches [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:43
This week, Robbie and Adam are coming to you live from the Clerk booth at React Miami with a rapid-fire lineup of lightning podcasts. Fueled by Cutwater cocktails and conference energy, they caught up with Nnenna Ndukwe,…