Curiosity, Courage, and the Human Side of Software with Ellyse Cedeno

In this episode of Elixir Wizards, Charles Suggs and Emma Whamond are joined by Ellyse Cedeno, founder of Heuristic Salvo and a software engineer and product leader with more than 25 years of experience across early internet platforms, gaming, health tech, and distributed systems.

Ellyse shares the winding path that took her from early search engines and Netscape to game development, medical research at Mount Sinai, and eventually to Elixir. Along the way, she talks about staying curious over a long technical career, rediscovering joy through side projects, and why being willing to feel like a beginner again can be one of the most useful skills a developer can build.

The conversation explores what it means to grow as an engineer in a world where AI tooling is becoming part of the everyday workflow. Ellyse makes the case that technical skill still matters, but the human parts of software development (like judgment, curiosity, communication, trust, and influence) are becoming increasingly important.

We also talk about soft influence and how developers can create change inside organizations without relying on hard authority.

Key Topics Discussed in this Episode:

Ellyse’s career path through early internet platforms, gaming, health tech, and distributed systems

Moving from Netscape and search engines to medical research and software consulting

Discovering Elixir through an interest in concurrent and distributed systems

Why beginner’s mindset still matters after decades in tech

How neurodivergence, curiosity, and deep focus shape Ellyse’s approach to programming

Rediscovering joy in programming through side projects and experimentation

Building an MMORPG game server in Elixir