KubeFM My pipelines from GitLab Commit to ArgoCD got beaten by FTP, with David Pech
Jun 3, 2025
David Pech, a Staff Cloud Ops Engineer at Wrike with all CNCF certifications, shares his insights on cloud-native adoption challenges. He recounts how a sophisticated GitLab CI/CD setup was overtaken by simple FTP due to cultural resistance. David discusses the hidden costs of complex tooling and the importance of team readiness over technical superiority. He offers practical strategies for gradual cloud transitions, emphasizing in-house expertise and management advocacy, while also reflecting on his own journey through cloud technologies and Docker misconceptions.
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Contrasting Company Tech Cultures
- Company A used legacy PHP with manual FTP deployment, focusing on quick, one-off projects for small clients.
- Company B used Kubernetes, GitOps, and Argo CD for long-term projects with larger clients and SLAs.
Misusing Docker as VM
- Company A bundled everything (PHP, Apache, Redis) into one heavy Docker container mimicking VMs.
- They even ran an FTP server inside the container for direct file uploads, a container anti-pattern.
GitLab to Argo CD Pipeline
- David built a GitLab CI pipeline that built multiple Docker images and deployed via Argo CD using Helm charts.
- Developers committed code and could access live URLs showing environment-specific deployments automatically.