#461 – ThePrimeagen: Programming, AI, ADHD, Productivity, Addiction, and God

ThePrimeagen (aka Michael Paulson) is a programmer who has educated, entertained, and inspired millions of people to build software and have fun doing it. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep461-sc See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: ThePrimeagen’s X: https://twitter.com/ThePrimeagen ThePrimeagen’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/ThePrimeTimeagen ThePrimeagen’s Twitch: https://twitch.tv/ThePrimeagen ThePrimeagen’s GitHub: https://github.com/theprimeagen ThePrimeagen’s TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@theprimeagen ThePrimeagen’s Coffee: https://www.terminal.shop/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Invideo AI: AI video generator. Go to https://invideo.io/i/lexpod Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex NetSuite: Business management software. Go to http://netsuite.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (10:27) – Love for programming (20:00) – Hardest part of programming (22:16) – Types of programming (29:54) – Life story (39:58) – Hardship (41:29) – High school (47:15) – Porn addiction (57:01) – God (1:12:44) – Perseverance (1:22:40) – Netflix (1:35:08) – Groovy (1:40:13) – Printf() debugging (1:46:35) – Falcor (1:56:05) – Breaking production (1:58:49) – Pieter Levels (2:03:19) – Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube infrastructure (2:15:22) – ThePrimeagen origin story (2:30:37) – Learning programming languages (2:39:40) – Best programming languages in 2025 (2:44:35) – Python (2:45:15) – HTML & CSS (2:46:05) – Bash (2:46:45) – FFmpeg (2:53:28) – Performance (2:56:00) – Rust (3:00:48) – Epic projects (3:14:12) – Asserts (3:23:26) – ADHD (3:31:34) – Productivity (3:35:58) – Programming setup (4:11:28) – Coffee (4:18:32) – Programming with AI (5:01:16) – Advice for young programmers (5:12:48) – Reddit questions (5:20:20) – God PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips