Best Apache Kafka® Podcasts (2025)

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Reimagining Stream Processing with Matthias J. Sax | Ep. 9 36:42

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7d ago36:42

36:42

Viktor Gamov talks to Matthias J. Sax (Confluent) about his career in stream processing and, specifically, Kafka Streams. Matthias’ first job: an electrician-in-training on BMW’s assembly lines. His challenge: building Kafka Streams at Confluent with a focus on API design, backward compatibility, and a library-first approach that also fits microser…

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How Time Kills All Deals in Pre-Sales with Rachel Pedreschi | Ep. 8 27:40

14d ago27:40

27:40

Listen: https://confluent.buzzsprout.com | In this episode, Tim Berglund talks to his guest, Rachel Pedreschi (DeltaStream), about her career in pre-sales engineering. Her first job: rectory office assistant at her local parish. Her challenge/theme: working at early-stage startups to bridge sales, marketing, and engineering to reach product-market …

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Scaling AI in Engineering with Peter Bell | Ep. 7 27:16

21d ago27:16

27:16

Listen: https://confluent.buzzsprout.com | Today, Adi Polak talks to her guest, Peter Bell (gather.dev), about his career in software engineering leadership, CTO community building, and AI-driven development. Peter’s first job: electronics lab technician at their school (alongside shifts at Tesco). His challenge/theme: working at scale with AI adop…

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How Kafka Expert Robin Moffat Tackles Open Source Problems | Ep. 6 24:50

28d ago24:50

24:50

Today, Viktor Gamov talks to his colleague Robin Moffat (Confluent) about his career in data engineering. His first job: paperboy. His challenge: working at a retailer with Oracle materialized views as well as teaching others how to productively approach Kafka’s internal systems. Blog posts mentioned in the podcast: ► Oracle Materialized Views trou…

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Building Parquet into Apache Pinot ft. Neha Pawar | Ep. 5 26:07

1M ago26:07

26:07

Today, Tim Berglund talks to Neha Pawar (StarTree) about her career in real-time analytics and open source database engineering. Her first job: a year-long internship at NVIDIA. Her challenge: leading the technical effort to add native Parquet support into Apache Pinot. SEASON 2 Hosted by Tim Berglund, Adi Polak and Viktor Gamov Produced and Edited…

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Matt Althauser & Alex Boswell, Founding Partners Of Polychrome 35:43

1M ago35:43

35:43

Achieving your financial goals in the world of commercial open-source requires careful planning and strong commitment. Ben Rometsch is joined by Matt Althauser and Alex Boswell, founding partners of Polychrome, who share their journey from hitting their first $10k annual recurring revenue to reaching their first $1M ARR. Matt and Alex talks about t…

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The Fix That Secured 1000s of Credit Cards ft. Brian Sletten | Ep. 4 29:37

1M ago29:37

29:37

In this episode, Tim talks to Brian Sletten (Bosatsu Consulting) about his career in software development. His first job: working at a small communications company that built network matrix switch interfaces. His challenge/theme: overhauling credit card storage and security at a major hospitality company. SEASON 2 Hosted by Tim Berglund, Adi Polak …

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How Viktor Gamov Stays Curious as Tech Rapidly Evolves | Ep. 3 30:11

2M ago30:11

30:11

Adi Polak interviews her co-host, Viktor Gamov, about his career’s evolution from distributed systems to streaming technology. Viktor’s first job: apple picking. His challenge/theme: staying curious and non-judgmental in the ever-changing landscape of tech. SEASON 2 Hosted by Tim Berglund, Adi Polak and Viktor Gamov Produced and Edited by Noelle Ga…

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How Tim Berglund Found His Calling | Ep. 2 30:36

2M ago30:36

30:36

Viktor Gamov interviews his co-host, Tim Berglund, about his career in the world of streaming data. Tim’s first job: Burger King broiler steamer. His challenge/theme: pivoting from working in hardware and firmware to finding his calling in enterprise software and developer relations. SEASON 2 Hosted by Tim Berglund, Adi Polak and Viktor Gamov Produ…

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Jason Bosco, CEO & Co-Founder Of Typesense 36:14

2M ago36:14

36:14

Ben Rometsch explores the superpowers of running an open-source startup with return guest Jason Bosco, CEO and co-founder of Typesense. Jason shares how their company achieved impressive growth by cultivating community building and collaboration through well-crafted one-source projects. He also talks about the role of open-source in creating engagi…

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Building Real-time Systems for Apple, Nike & more ft. Adi Polak | Ep. 1 32:53

2M ago32:53

32:53

The Confluent Developer Podcast is here! For this first episode, Tim Berglund talks to his co-host, Adi Polak (Confluent), about her career in distributed data systems. Her first job: neighborhood dogwalker. Her challenge/theme: early Hadoop, working at Akamai on data optimization and real-time threat detection for huge global customers like Apple,…

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Kyle Johnson, Co-Founder Of Flagsmith 32:11

3M ago32:11

32:11

Ben Rometsch chats with Kyle Johnson, co-founder of Flagsmith, about their 11-year journey together in the commercial open-source software (COSS) space. He talks about his transition from engineering to entrepreneur and back again by detailing how he navigated the evolution of his career. Kyle discusses how they have developed feature flagging as a…

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We're back! Welcome to the Confluent Developer Podcast. 1:20

3M ago1:20

1:20

Weekly episodes launching Sept. 22! | Hi, I'm Tim Berglund. It's been about four years since I've been podcasting at Confluent, and "Streaming Audio" has been on hiatus for a little more than two, but I've got great news: we are back! We're back with a new name, a new format, and new hosts. Welcome to the Confluent Developer Podcast, where we talk …

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AI-in-BI: The Roadmap for Superset and Beyond 1:00:36

7M ago1:00:36

1:00:36

We'll be exploring how the Apache Superset project (and Preset) have been making moves toward AI/LLM features, what SIPs are open on this topic, and what we consider to be the path for AI in BI as a generalized practice, as an extension to this blog post.

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AI in BI: the Path to Full Self-Driving Analytics 30:51

8M ago30:51

30:51

As a corollary to Max's new blog post, "AI in BI: The Path to Full Self Drive", this episode is a bit of.... an experiment. It explores how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing business intelligence (BI), from accelerating data analysis and surfacing key insights to enabling predictive models and automating decision-making. AI is changing how…

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Malcolm Matalka: Co-Founder at Terrateam 50:38

9M ago50:38

50:38

Interview With Malcolm Matalka: Co-Founder, Terrateam Ben Rometsch chats with Malcolm Matalka, co-founder of Terrateam, to discuss the company’s inception and its eventual shift to open source. Together, they discuss how his frustrations with the click ops approach prompted Malcolm to create his own team to disrupt the system and pave the way for m…

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Sam Stepanyan, OWASP London Chapter Leader & OWASP Global Board Member 53:21

10M ago53:21

53:21

With almost every transaction being done through the internet, your personal information and finances must be protected at all costs from hackers and scammers. Therefore, cybersecurity is important now more than ever. Leading the charge in keeping the digital world safe and secure is OWASP, a non-profit organization working mainly on software secur…

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Chris Villa, Co-Founder of Puck & Measured 50:01

10M ago50:01

50:01

Interview With Chris Villa: Co-Founder, Puck & Measured Puck, an open-source project, has exploded in popularity, becoming a major focus for Chris Villa and his team. But how do you balance a runaway open-source hit with the demands of running a consultancy? Join Ben Rometsch as he sits down with Chris Villa, co-founder of both Puck and Measured, t…

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James McLeod: Open Source Program Lead at NatWest Group 56:39

11M ago56:39

56:39

Joining this episode is James McLeod, Open Source Program Lead at NatWest Group. He looks back on his career journey, from his role at the Linux Foundation, his efforts in scaling the FINOS project, to the creation of London.js. Reflecting on the many lessons throughout his professional life, James stressed the importance of proper data documentati…

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Moritz Klack & Christopher Möller: Co-Founders, xyflow 34:41

12M ago34:41

34:41

This episode features Moritz Klack and Christopher Möller, Co-Founders of xyflow. They look back on their career journey leading to their current company, from developing webkid, creating Datablocks, and launching React Flow. They discuss their transition from agency work to open source, their pricing strategies, and the importance of community fee…

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Designated Driver #8 • Altinity with Robert Hodges 41:16

1y ago41:16

41:16

Anyone up for a Boulevardier? Of course you are! Join special guest Robert Hodges, CEO of Altinity as we learn about databases and oh-so-much more. Grab a snack/drink/whatever, and join us. Try Altinity for free at https://altinity.com/ Learn more about Apache Superset at https://superset.apache.org/ Get Preset for free, forever, at https://preset.…

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Konstantin Vinogradov, General Partner At Runa Capital 43:34

1y ago43:34

43:34

With their keen eye for innovation and their knack for spotting the next big thing, Runa Capital is at the forefront of the tech revolution. In this episode, Ben Rometsch delves into the world of open-source software with Konstantin Vinogradov, General Partner at Runa Capital. Konstantin reflects on the founding principles of Runa Capital and its c…

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Ivan Burazin: Co-Founder of Daytona 49:37

1y ago49:37

49:37

Ivan Burazin proudly presents Daytona, a secure open-source development environment manager that allows developers to tailor their environments according to their specific needs. Ivan looks back on how their company started as an enterprise product before becoming an open-source project for individual developers. He breaks down its most important f…

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Analytics Everywhere #10 • Alexander Gallego of Redpanda 56:55

1y ago56:55

56:55

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Redpanda founder & CEO Alexander Gallego, as we dive into all sorts of topics from the project's origin story, to trends in streaming data, AI, and much more. Check out Redpanda at ⁠https://redpanda.comTry Preset for free, forever, at ⁠https://preset.io/Learn more about how Preset can help your business: ht…

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Chuck Carpenter: Founder, Shepherd Pro & Host, Whiskey Web and Whatnot 42:57

1y ago42:57

42:57

Buckle up for a journey into Shepherd! In this episode, Chuck Carpenter, the founder of Shepherd Pro and host of Whiskey Web and Whatnot, joins Ben Rometsch to delve into Shepherd and Shepherd JS, an influential open-source library for creating interactive guides in JavaScript. Chuck shares his deep involvement over seven years as a maintainer, hig…

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Analytics Everywhere #9 • Devin Stein of Dosu 43:42

1+ y ago43:42

43:42

Today we welcome Devin Stein, Founder & CEO of Dosu. Dosu offers GitHub repo automation tools built around custom LLM agents, trained on your repo's issues/PRs and related content. Learn about how it's been helping the Apache Superset project and can help your repo too!Try out Dosu⁠ Try Preset for free Learn more about how Preset can help your busi…

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Julius Volz, CoFounder of Prometheus 53:43

1+ y ago53:43

53:43

Managing a modern application landscape can be a balancing act. Enter Prometheus, an open-source champion for monitoring and alerting. In this episode, Julius Volz, co-founder of Prometheus and founder of PromLabs, joins Ben Rometsch to discuss the origins and evolution of Prometheus. Julius traces its inception to his early days at Google and Soun…

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Designated Driver #7 • Apache Pinot / StarTree 46:42

1+ y ago46:42

46:42

It's happy hour again! Join Viktor Gamoc from Apache Pinot and StarTree to learn about him, the project, and their use cases with Superset. Grab a snack/drink/whatever, and join us. Try StarTree for free at https://startree.ai/Learn more about Apache Pinot at https://pinot.apache.org/Learn more about Apache Superset at https://superset.apache.org/G…

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Jonathan Schneider: Co-Founder, Moderne 43:06

1+ y ago43:06

43:06

Moderne is a pioneer in the field of mass-scale automated code refactoring, and it has some pretty interesting origins. In this episode, co-founder Jonathan Schneider talks about the genesis of Moderne, how he started his open-source journey from being an engineer at Netflix, and their current initiatives, including some interesting developments at…

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Deb Goodkin, Executive Director at The FreeBSD Foundation 46:55

1+ y ago46:55

46:55

Ever wondered how the backbone of streaming giants like Netflix or gaming consoles like Sony PlayStation ticks? Dive deep with us in this episode as we unravel the legacy and impact of FreeBSD, one of the unsung heroes of the tech world. Join us in an insightful conversation with Deb Goodkin, the Executive Director of the FreeBSD Foundation, as we …

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Designated Driver Episode #6 • Confluent/Apache Kafka 25:42

1+ y ago25:42

25:42

Join us with special guest Tim Berglund from Confluent and Apache Kafka. We'll spend our happy (half) hour (depending on time zone, of course!) learning all about the project's background, its use cases, and how that all flows into Superset. Grab a beverage, and let's dive in! Try Confluent for free at https://www.confluent.io/ Try Apache Superset/…

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Analytics Everywhere #8: Avi Press of Scarf 47:44

1+ y ago47:44

47:44

Today we welcome Avi Press, Founder & CEO at Scarf. Scarf offers telemetry and analytics to capture anonymized open-source usage data and find actionable insights to grow your open-source project or fuel your sales and marketing strategies. Check out Scarf at https://scarf.sh/ Try Preset for free at https://preset.io/…

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Designated Driver Episode #5 • Shillelagh 33:59

1+ y ago33:59

33:59

Time to take a walk on the Irish side, as Beto tells us all about Shillelah⁠! We explore the history, use cases, and inner workings of this Python library that allows you to query many resources (APIs, files, and more) using SQL. It's not just compatible with Apache Superset, it's built for Superset! Want to get started with Shillelagh and Superset…

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Eddie Jaoude, Open Source Consultant 51:07

1+ y ago51:07

51:07

Success is not just about focusing on the grind. It is also about applying yourself every single day and letting your efforts compound over time. In this episode, open source consultant Eddie Jaoude shares how he applied this mindset in his own career path. Joining Ben Rometsch, he explains how he successfully built a strong online following throug…

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Designated Driver Episode #4 • InfluxDB 24:40

1+ y ago24:40

24:40

Please join us in welcoming Anais Dotis of InfluxDB/InfluxData on our 4th installment of Designated Driver - and our first episode with an AI-generated theme song! The future is now! Grab a beer and join us!

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Ari Zilka, CEO of MyDecisive.ai 44:26

1+ y ago44:26

44:26

In this episode of The Craft of Open Source, Ari Zilka describes his transition from his previous projects to founding a new company that aims to improve control over observability data in IT. He identifies issues with current observability tools, such as high costs and lack of flexibility, and propose using OpenTelemetry to offer a more customizab…

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Designated Driver Episode #3 • Apache Drill 31:57

1+ y ago31:57

31:57

Meet Apache Drill PMC Chair Charles Givre, and learn the back story of this DB — we even get a demo this time!

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Birk Jernström, CEO/Founder at Polar 40:03

1+ y ago40:03

40:03

Ben Rometsch sits down with Birk Jernström, who shares the genesis story of Polar, a creator platform for developers. He explains how he established his company using his experiences and expertise gained from Tictail and Shopify. Birk discusses how he changes the status quo for open-source developers in terms of working on their passions full-time …

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Designated Driver Episode #2 • MotherDuck / DuckDB 25:35

1+ y ago25:35

25:35

In this episode, we hang out with MotherDuck founder and CEO Jordan Tigani over a beer (and/or a kombucha). Learn all about what makes DuckDB/MotherDuck an emerging winner in the space, and a great pairing with Apache Superset.

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Heather Meeker, Founding Partner at OSS Capital 54:55

1+ y ago54:55

54:55

These past few years, open-source has been on the fast track to dominating the software market. It might sound contradictory to many people, but open-source is big business. A project’s source code may be free, but the products generated from that source code can certainly be commercialized. If you’re a project developer, therein lies the potential…