Breaking distributed systems for fun and profit | Kyle Kingsbury (Jepsen)

Well-known for his insightful and meticulous write-ups on testing distributed systems, Kyle (aka Aphyr) joins the show to chat about the origins of Jepsen, how he built a business around testing distributed systems, his writing process, favorite databases, and more.

 

Segments:

(00:03:29) From Physics to Software Engineering

(00:07:47) The origins of Jepsen

(00:09:41) Turning Jepsen into a full-time venture

(00:13:14) Jepsen's testing philosophy

(00:16:30) The consulting journey

(00:19:16) Structuring a consultancy

(00:22:32) Setting boundaries

(00:24:32) Pricing misadventures

(00:29:17) Pros and cons of being an independent consultant

(00:32:08) Managing your time when working for yourself

(00:38:23) Best part of the job

(00:41:13) Early writing influences

(00:45:25) LLMs and AI-generated content

(00:48:17) “The period where you can trust what you read is actually very recent”

(00:51:33) How to become a better writer

(00:54:25) Developing a formal understanding of distributed systems

(00:59:30) Common faults in distributed systems

(01:01:17) The complexity of testing distributed systems

(01:07:32) Communicating criticism effectively

(01:10:26) Advice for distributed systems engineers

(01:13:46) “Anybody trying to sell you a distributed lock is selling you sawdust and lies”

(01:16:31) Failure mode documentation

(01:18:52) The pitfalls of containerization

(01:20:17) Lightning round - favorite databases

 

Show Notes:

“Anybody who is trying to sell you a distributed lock is trying to sell you sawdust and Lies”: https://martin.kleppmann.com/2016/02/08/how-to-do-distributed-locking.html

Kyle’s excellent write-ups on testing distributed systems: https://jepsen.io/analyses

Kyle’s blog: https://aphyr.com/posts

Training courses that Kyle runs: https://jepsen.io/services/training

 

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Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en