In the software industry, most formal training stops at the technical layer. Engineers are taught syntax, frameworks and system design.
In particular, they learn how to develop and ship. However, almost no one teaches them something far more important: how to decide which problems are actually worth their time and energy.
That question sits at the center of the latest season of La Hora del Tech, a podcast by one of Colombia’s leading employers Source Meridian that’s building an audience not by chasing hype, but by challenging it.
As AI continues to impact the industry, the main bottleneck is no longer technical. It’s human. At a certain point, it stops being about what you can build and starts being about how you think.
This tension feels especially relevant in places like Colombia, where the tech ecosystem is growing fast but still navigating its identity. Engineers here are increasingly working with international teams and the most cutting-edge tools, while also dealing with very real questions about balance and long-term growth.
The third season opens with an episode titled “From Los Angeles to Medellín: Building AI Agents Without Burning Out.”
The guest, Andrés Restrepo, CTO of Enric AI, shares what it means to operate between two different cities.
Rather than framing Colombia as a limitation, the conversation explores it as an advantage.
The second episode raises the stakes with a story that breaks away from the usual narrative of constant acceleration.
Aníbal Rojas, former VP of Technology at Platzi, talks about stepping off the fast track at the peak of his career. That pause allowed him to rethink not only how he works, but how he learns and lives.
Instead of consuming generative AI tools at surface level, Rojas chose to deeply understand them. His experience highlights a growing tension in Colombia’s tech scene: the pressure to keep up globally versus the need to build knowledge that actually lasts.
Burnout, technical judgment, and sustainable growth become central themes. The conversation openly addresses something many engineers feel but rarely say: progress shouldn’t come at the cost of exhaustion.
The podcast hosts bring credibility rooted in real-world experience. Hugo Rodríguez, Software Architect and Team Lead at Source Meridian, has spent over a decade in the field and challenges a common assumption: being senior isn’t about knowing everything—it’s about knowing what not to use. His perspective emphasizes building systems that support business goals without breaking the people behind them.
Alongside him, Maria Camila Figueroa of Source Meridian offers a lens that reconnects technology with humanity. From her point of view, every dataset represents people, and every process impacts lives. Her focus on “humanizing agility” resonates strongly in Colombia.
On May 5th, the third episode premieres: “Emotional Debt in Code: Token-Driven Anxiety.” This time, the guest is clinical psychologist Ricardo Duarte, and the topic shifts into territory that most engineering conversations avoid.
What happens when you spend months working on code you know is fragile, rushed, or fundamentally broken?
The episode explores the emotional weight that builds up from technical debt, tight deadlines, and systems no one wants to touch out of fear. It’s a conversation about the hidden cost of development: the stress, the loss of motivation, and the quiet erosion of confidence. These are things that don’t show up in KPIs but often matter more than any production bug.
This season will feature 10 episodes and a diverse set of voices, but its real ambition is grounded in reality. From building AI tools that genuinely support developers, to acknowledging burnout in teams that pretend everything is fine, the podcast leans into honest and necessary discussions.
