> Markdown version of [/magazine/661-developers-vs-scammers-bad-design-ai-is-pointless-ajax-is-20-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-1](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/661-developers-vs-scammers-bad-design-ai-is-pointless-ajax-is-20-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-1). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Developers vs Scammers, Bad Design, AI is Pointless, AJAX is 20 and more - The Best of LIVE 2025 - Part 1 **By:** [Daniel Cranney](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@daniel-cranney) **Published:** December 17, 2025 Every Wednesday, we’re joined by guests from around the world to discuss all the going on in the tech industry, and now that the year is wrapping up, we thought we’d take some time to look back on some of our favourites conversations with these thoughtful, curious, wonderfully-opinionated individuals pushing our industry forward. Here are some of the voices who made this year’s Weekly Developer Show unforgettable. [Brian Rountree](https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrountree/?originalSubdomain=es) turned the tables on some scammers by writing a simple (but brilliantly effective) script, and told us all about how - and why - he did it. [Stefan Judis](https://bsky.app/profile/stefanjudis.com) asked whether “bad design” is really that bad, or whether we’ve just gotten used to applications and websites looking a certain way. [Salma Alam‑Naylor](https://bsky.app/profile/whitep4nth3r.com) questioned whether developers could use AI with more intention, and look to solve real-world problems rather than just making AI-wrappers. [Christophe Porteneuve](https://piaille.fr/@porteneuve) explored the rabbithole that is nested if-statements and complex ternaries, to figure out which one we should go, and when. We celebrated 20 years of AJAX by looking back on the early days of the web with [Alexander Lichter](https://github.com/TheAlexLichter), while [Luise Freese](https://bsky.app/profile/luisefreese.bsky.social) encouraged us to keep humans in-the-loop when it comes to writing code with help from AI. [Emma Dawson](https://bsky.app/profile/emmadawsondev.bsky.social) broke down what the EU Accessibility Act really means for developers and why you simply cannot (and should not) ignore accessibility. [Christian “Schepp” Schaefer](https://bsky.app/profile/schepp.dev) took us on a nostalgic journey to celebrate 50 years of Microsoft, and explains why he went through the _valley of tears_ to switch to Mac. [Tejas Kumar](https://bsky.app/profile/tej.as) showed us why MCP is exciting _and_ why ignoring hype is one of the healthiest choices a dev can make. [Zaid Zaim](https://github.com/ZaidZaim) talked about YouTube changed the game for people to learning to code, celebrating 20 years since it first launched. [Rowdy Rabouw](https://bsky.app/profile/rowdy.codes) explains why regex is terrifying, and [Dirk Ginader](https://github.com/ginader) said we should stop obsessively converting designs into pixels as if that were the whole job. If 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: the tech industry moves fast and there’s always something new to explore, but the real learning happens when you’re talking to other developers. * * * ## Watch Part 1 of the Best of 2025 Check out the first compilation of the best bits from the year below. [![2025 Developer Show Highlights - Part 1](https://wearedevelopers.imgix.net/storage/temp/D7uwQkug8tSbZcv0FqUK.jpeg?w=984&auto=compress,format)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/en/videos/1767/developers-vs-scammers-bad-design-ai-is-pointless-ajax-is-20-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-1-1767) ## Related Articles - [Slopquatting, API Keys, Fun with Fonts, Recruiters vs AI and more - The Best of LIVE 2025 - Part 2](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/662-slopquatting-api-keys-fun-with-fonts-recruiters-vs-ai-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-2) - [Devs vs. Marketers, COBOL and Copilot, Make Live Coding Easy and more - The Best of LIVE 2025 - Part 3](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/663-devs-vs-marketers-cobol-and-copilot-make-live-coding-easy-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-3) - [Dev Digest 100 - new look and more content](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/379-dev-digest-100-new-look-and-more-content) - [Dev Digest 101 - the XXX edition](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/382-dev-digest-101-the-xxx-edition) ## Related Videos - [Devs vs. Marketers, COBOL and Copilot, Make Live Coding Easy and more - The Best of LIVE 2025 - Part 3](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1766-devs-vs-marketers-cobol-and-copilot-make-live-coding-easy-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-3) - [Dev Digest End of Year Recap](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1284-dev-digest-end-of-year-recap) - [WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Did AI or JS break the web?, Finding gems in the days of AI and One thing developers really need to know ](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1352-wearedevelopers-live-did-ai-or-js-break-the-web-finding-gems-in-the-days-of-ai-and-one-thing-developers-really-need-to-know) - [WeAreDevelopers LIVE – Keeping Up with Styles, Data & More](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1803-wearedevelopers-live-keeping-up-with-styles-data-more) ## Related Jobs - [Principal Software Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/267591-principal-software-engineer) at **Twilio** - [Staff Developer Advocate, GitHub Security Lab](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1921051-staff-developer-advocate-github-security-lab) at **GitHub** - [Principal Software Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/267587-principal-software-engineer) at **Twilio** - [Principal Software Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/115163-principal-software-engineer) at **Twilio** - [Principal Software Engineer, Enterprise AI Platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1467292-principal-software-engineer-enterprise-ai-platform) at **GitHub** - [Principal Software Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/146806-principal-software-engineer) at **Twilio**