Cassidy Reynolds

Mentoring Jr DevOps

How do we help junior people build the right skills to do advanced automation system administration, and actually build systems that are resilient and robust? Then, after understanding that that is a learned skill that’s predominantly learned by doing the work, troubleshooting.

We started the conversation talking through how to teach troubleshooting and find opportunities for that. But we transformed the discussion into the challenge of teaching people skills that they then walk away with, that, as you’re mentoring people, you’re increasing their value, and potentially giving them the keys to leave and find a better job.

We talked about this as an industry trend, and some expectations on what you can do about it, and how you can approach that situation. Overall a very robust conversation about building great teams, through junior engineers, and what it takes to be thorough and complete in a process like that. Both from what you can do, and what you have to watch out for.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/cOP6v9HEYv6_YVrrRwA_sxjvNaQ
Image:www.pexels.com/photo/a-girl-usin…noculars-9290029/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the September 13th Cloud2030 Podcast, Rob Hirschfeld shares insights on mentoring junior DevOps engineers, emphasizing the importance of troubleshooting for their learning process. He highlights the hands-on nature of operations and admin work, where individuals encounter challenging problems, learn on the job, and understand solutions by fixing issues. Hirschfeld stresses the need for a supportive environment that allows junior team members to learn without time pressure, fostering a culture that encourages experimentation and learning through doing.

VMware Explore Retrospective

VMware Explore is a show at the end of August where VMware brings together its community, its vendors and tells what’s going on. VMware is dominating in their market, they are making the right moves, and doing a good job for their customers and their partners. This is a surprising summary of the conversation, because this conclusion is certainly not where we started out.

In this conversation, we start from the position of VMware not doing what it needs to do. It’s fumbling its message, it’s not doing the right things. Then we talk through all of the things that contribute to VMware’s position in the market.

If you listen through, the conversation follows a fascinating path to our concluding position.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/NO-lHxp4EfDy9cmyP8Yr-dayi9Q
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-brow…noculars-3811807/

Are Platform Teams Good?

How do you build effective, productive platform teams? What should their mission be, and what type of tools and dangers do they have?

We start by questioning if there are such things as platform teams and their roles, as well as how they can go awry in modern organizations.

At the end, we recognize that they do and can provide a very important role. In this conversation, you will learn the right ways to form a platform.

Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/Kf-Hi9H6bTmhufavGaa1ae9w_R4

Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-beside-woman-in-train-1970830/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the August 23rd DevOps Lunch and Learn, Rob Hirschfeld discusses the evolving concept of platform teams as centers of excellence for corporate governance and controls in IT and operational environments. He notes the current diversity in approaches to solving problems in infrastructure but anticipates a consolidation phase where standardization becomes more prominent. Hirschfeld emphasizes the cyclical nature of IT innovation, suggesting that platform teams will play a crucial role in advocating for standards, processes, and best practices, ultimately contributing to the industry’s progress.

IT In An Age of Scarcity

How do supply chain, ecologic, capital, and political issues limit our ability to continue to build big data centers? Today we expand on this continued conversation.

We’re already seeing this in the news, and we need to rethink how we are building a lot of the core infrastructure we depend on. That includes power, data centers, networking and connectivity. Potentially even human logic, which we get into.

The purpose of this conversation was to look at the bigger picture, and then pull it back into how we build IT systems.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/herJl7zHewHfDIIEhdI_tdUewA8
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/white-paper…-surface-1101124/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 podcast, discusses the shift from availability to scarcity in the IT landscape, highlighting the need to find synergies and connections between systems. He emphasizes the necessity of coupling components and integrating systems efficiently, especially as resources like power, data centers, and supply chains become limited. Hirschfeld encourages listeners to engage in the conversation at 2030.cloud, emphasizing the importance of diverse insights for shaping future discussions.

CHIPs Act And Global Supply

How do we build advanced innovative products and companies? We discuss the Chips act and global supply chain of silicon and manufacturing in today’s episode.

We took that apart into its component parts: supply chains, raw materials, power, whether talent, real estate, and put it back together in ways that look forward towards how we think these forces and global politics are going to shape manufacturing for the next decade.

Absolutely fascinating and critical discussion that will impact every single person’s health, their careers, and frankly, what they can buy on the store shelves.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/JPNiGOfYD8WZzyqGcbQ9y4biN5k
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/closed-up-p…ing-unit-1432680/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the August 18th Cloud 2030 discussion, Rob Hirschfeld delves into the complex factors influencing technology innovation, including geopolitical considerations, weather, supply chain dynamics, and the significance of the CHIPS Act. The conversation explores the potential impacts on innovation, particularly in the semiconductor industry, and debates whether the CHIPS Act will lead to increased vertical integration by large companies or foster innovations in smaller-scale manufacturing methods like 3D printing. Hirschfeld highlights the disruptive nature of the CHIPS Act and its potential to reshape supply chain dynamics, encouraging listeners to explore the full episode at the2030.cloud.

Orchestration Balancing Events And Flows

When working with orchestration in automated systems, how do you find the right balance between things that are event driven and things that are workflow driven, or more linear?

We go through some of the history of where we went from linear orchestration (Ansible) to timed orchestration (Chef or Puppet). We also discussed SaltStack, which had an event driven system into it, but didn’t gain the traction that we might have expected as we look at the amount of orchestration systems that are now coming to light.

In this conversation, we address the balance between when you orchestrate and when you want to do workflow and linear transactions, and how to find that sweet spot.

One of the things that we’ve determined is, there aren’t a lot of tools that hit that sweet spot. And I think if you listen carefully, you’ll see why.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/ynb8KndfUhKsTvQG6965ktepv-Y
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/a-choir-sin…a-flower-7569413/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the August 16th orchestration discussion on Cloud 2030, Rob Hirschfeld emphasizes the importance of striking a balance between orchestrated systems and event-driven operations. He highlights the challenge of comprehending the consequences of operations in complex systems and emphasizes the need for a blend of orchestration and event-driven approaches while ensuring that automation workflows remain understandable to users. Hirschfeld encourages listeners to explore the full episode at the2030.cloud, where the discussion delves into various tools, techniques, and considerations for building effective systems.

Consumerization Of Power Storage

How can we structure incentives to build strong, resilient infrastructure? Today we talk about power infrastructure.

There are a lot of commercial incentives for internet providers and for consumers to have good internet, but there aren’t the same incentives for consumers to have reliable power systems. We’re seeing a rash of failures and faults in the grid.

In this conversation, we talk about storage systems and resilience of the grid, not by putting more wires in the ground but by actually creating incentives for people to have independent supplies, and independent sources of generation that can support them.

Image: www.pexels.com/photo/orange-batt…-surface-7012272/
Transcript: otter.ai/u/DENsKVB5VibrKpDCLAjoFj4Jrqs

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the August 11th Cloud 2030 episode, Rob Hirschfeld discusses power infrastructure resilience and incentives, highlighting the challenges and innovations in making the power grid more distributed and autonomous. He raises the question of who will bear the cost of improving resilience in individual power experiences and suggests that employers might play a crucial role in providing incentives, either at a city level or by helping employees achieve reliable and resilient power at home. The episode explores the interconnectedness of individual systems and discusses the incentives and innovations shaping the future. Check out the full conversation at the2030.cloud for an in-depth exploration of these topics.

Career Advice Part 2

We continue our hiring advice series in this episode. It’s a really powerful thing to have people who have established careers, think about what would have made a difference, think about what is important when we work with and mentor inexperienced and junior people who are building a career.

This episode is full of thoughtful advice on how to build subject matter expertise, and the ephemeral qualities that make somebody a good leader or a good worker, or what we were calling an executive function.

If you are building your career, or helping mentor people who are building a career, you will get a lot out of this.

PART 1: the2030.cloud/2022/06/19/the-car…e-wish-wed-gotten/

Image: www.pexels.com/photo/person-s-ha…hing-wall-626163/
Transcript: otter.ai/u/t2JEhT0XXcbPvDVuDM-OTRP_G84

The Dangers of Interconnected Systems

What are the challenges of interconnectedness and transparency, specifically concerning Kubernetes and cloud native applications?

We have a fascinating discussion sparked by the question of how exposed we are. What happens when something we don’t know is connected is open and exposed as hackable? What happens when it closes, and we didn’t know?

We talked about how this is inherent in the architecture of cloud native applications and what you can do about it.

This discussion should get you thinking about how to architect not just your applications, but the platforms that you need to connect together to make them work.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/6m6yPHG7cV_lrmdOEPGyHmo1ifM
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/men-pulling…n-a-rope-7678454/

Content Moderation in the Metaverse with Open Source

How do you moderate content, and why? What is important to enforce and what are we thinking about?

We talk content moderation all the way to the point of open source licenses for different rules of engagement depending on the space you are in. How we got there is fascinating and important.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/UK3qGMyAc4EqSjHzeUwOW3MbgI0
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/police-fun-…ny-uniform-33598/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the July 28th Cloud 2030 episode, Rob Hirschfeld delves into the topic of content moderation, emphasizing the need to expand our perspective in two crucial ways. Firstly, he highlights that moderation and amplification are interconnected, emphasizing how platforms have the power to manipulate content visibility, and these actions should be considered moderation. Secondly, he underscores the importance of clear and upfront rules on platforms, advocating for a standardized, open, and transparent approach to content moderation. The episode delves into these aspects, discussing the evolving rules on social media platforms and the necessity for a more informed and standardized approach to content moderation. For a comprehensive exploration of these themes, check out the complete podcast at the2030.cloud and join the ongoing discussions.