Because of my position as Executive Producer and host of The Untold Stories of Open Source, I frequently get asked, “What podcasts do you listen to when you’re not producing your own.” Interesting question. However, my personal preference, This American Life, is more about how they create their shows, how they use sound and music to supplement the narration, and just in general, how Ira Glass does what he does. Only podcast geeks would be interested in that, so I reached out to my friends in the tech industry to ask them what THEY listen to.
The most surprising thing I learned was people professing to not listen to podcasts. “I don’t listen to podcasts, but if I had to choose one…”, kept popping up. The second thing was people in the industry need a break and use podcasts to escape from the mayhem of their day. I like the way Jennifer says it best, “Since much of my role is getting developers on board with security actions, I gravitate toward more psychology based podcasts – Adam Grant’s is amazing (it’s called WorkLife).”
Now that I think of it, same here. This American Life. Revisionist History. Radio Lab. The Moth. You get the picture. Escaping from the mayhem of the day.
Without further digression, here are the podcasts recommended by the people I trust, no particular order. No favoritism.
The Haunted Hacker
Hosted by Mike Jones and Mike LeBlanc
Mike Jones and Mike LeBlanc built the H4unt3d Hacker podcast and group from a really grass roots point of view. The idea was spawned over a glass of bourbon on the top of a mountain. The group consists of members from around the globe and from various walks of life, religions, backgrounds and is all inclusive. They pride themselves in giving back and helping people understand the cybersecurity industry and navigate through the various challenges one faces when they decide cybersecurity is where they belong.
“I think he strikes a great balance between newbie/expert, current events and all purpose security and it has a nice vibe” – Alan Shimel, CEO, Founder, TechStrong Group
