Contributor Robust Observability: OpenTelemetry with Austin Parker
Feb 28, 2024
Explore the success of OpenTelemetry in the CNCF, the benefits of flexibility and avoiding vendor lock-in, and the secrets to maintaining a balance between maintainers and contributors. Learn about Austin Parker's journey into observability, the merger of OpenTelemetry and OpenCensus, and the importance of foundations in supporting open-source projects.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
From Teen Webmaster To DevRel
- Austin recounts starting in IT as a teenager and later returning to college to study computer science before joining cloud-native startups.
- His path into developer relations grew naturally from teaching, systems curiosity, and work at LightStep on tracing.
Community Wins Over Code Alone
- Successful open source projects nurture their communities, not just the codebase.
- Maintainers must balance protecting roadmap time with welcoming diverse contributor ideas.
How Two Projects Began Talking
- Austin describes the parallel efforts of OpenTracing and OpenCensus and the community push to stop duplicative work.
- He recounts initiating talks with CNCF to mediate a potential merger to avoid fragmentation.