Holly Cummins

Holly Cummins, an engineer on the Quarkus team at Red Hat, shares her insights on enhancing productivity through unconventional methods. She discusses how "messing around" and integrating playful downtime can significantly boost problem-solving abilities in software engineering. Holly emphasizes the importance of managing cognitive load as engineers shift from coding to more complex roles involving AI tools. By fostering curiosity and creativity, she advocates for a balanced approach that nurtures long-term performance and combats burnout in the tech industry.

Jez Humble and Holly Cummins discuss the delicate balance of communication in the tech industry, emphasizing limited bandwidth management and automation. They explore the significance of good platforms, pull requests in open-source, and the potential of technology to disrupt power structures in software engineering.

In this discussion, Holly Cummins, a skilled software engineer, dives into the world of contract testing using Pact and Quarkus. She highlights how contract tests blend unit and integration testing for enhanced confidence in microservices. The conversation includes an intriguing demonstration involving a sweater shop application, showcasing the challenges of end-to-end testing. Holly also emphasizes the significance of consumer-driven contracts and efficient CI integration, ensuring robust software practices while navigating the complexities of HTTP response codes in testing.