The Cloudcast

Transitioning from a technical role to a “less” technical role can be scary. Let’s look at how you might evaluate a change, and some tips to succeed in the transition.  SHOW: 609CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:strongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupDatadog Kubernetes Solution: Maximum Visibility into Container EnvironmentsStart monitoring the health and performance of your container environment with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering Teams SHOW NOTES:I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY TECHNICAL SKILLS OR REPUTATIONIt’s completely normal to be concerned about losing your technical skills, the thing that has established your current value to your employer, if you transition to a more product or business-focused role. HOW TO SUCCEED (OR AVOID FAILING) IN A TRANSITIONYour technical knowledge will still be extremely valuable.Not all technical decisions are based on technology. Understanding economics, and business context, and flexibility options, and personalities involved are equally as important. Understand what you’ll be building vs. managing. Is it stand-alone or part of something larger? What are the things you can influence and change? Your people skills will be challenged, and rewarded. Understand that you’re part of a large ecosystem of people that will determine your perceived success. The choices of jobs expands when you’re closer to the people that use your technology.FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Ben Hagan (@ben_hagan, Founder/CEO @polyScaleAI) talks about the challenges of database performance, distributed data and applications, and how caching-as-a-service can improve performance.SHOW: 608CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:Spot by NetAppMore Cloud, Less Cost (Spot by NetApp)LoadForge - Modern, developer-first load testing and stress tests for websites, APIs and servers.LoadForge uses your cloud to rapidly scale large numbers of simulated users to load test your website, store, API, or application for cheap - just cents per test! Teleport is the easiest, most secure way to access all your infrastructure Get started with TeleportSHOW NOTES:Polyscale.ai - The Edge First Data PlatformPolyscale announces GA and Round-A of FundingTopic 1 - Welcome to the show. You’re very much a data-centric person. Tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to found Polyscale?Topic 2 - Before we dive into what Polyscale does, let’s talk about the problem that it solves for companies. Topic 3 - Let’s talk about how Polyscale makes data-access faster, without having to rewrite a bunch of applications or databases. Help us understand things like placement, scaling, resiliency, etc.Topic 4 - How much different will the experience be for an application-developer or DBA? How much visibility will be available to troubleshoot or make adjustments?  Topic 5 - How is Polyscale different from a CDN platform?   Topic 6 - What are some of the initial use-cases or problem areas where companies can take advantage of Polyscale capabilities? FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Every week we talk about new technologies and new trends. But studies show us that new technology adoption tends to be very slow, especially at high levels. What’s behind the inability of new tech to displace legacy tech?  SHOW: 607CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:Datadog Monitoring: Modern Monitoring and AnalyticsStart monitoring your infrastructure, applications, logs and security in one place with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering TeamsstrongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupSHOW NOTES:Why Enterprise software moves so slow, despite tech innovations (Matt Asay, TechRepublic) IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX ITFor existing companies, most of the budget (typically 70-80%) is spent maintaining existing systems. New technologies are rarely used to replace existing technologies, but are usually additive. New teams and new processes are created, and those teams are often expensive (rare skills).OUTSIDE OF CLOUD, THE COSTS OF CHANGE ARE DIFFICULT TO MANAGEThe learning curve can be long, so companies often hire new talent. For new technologies, talent is difficult to find, so often very expensive. And new technology takes a while to mature, so the number of available use-cases is initially limited. It’s not unusual for wide-spread adoption to take 3-5 years (if it succeeds).  Oftentimes, existing technologies will see a market disruption coming and add similar capabilities. Many technology spaces have too many alternative options, so it can take a while before a “winner” emerges in the market. FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

William Collins (@@WCollins502, Principal Cloud Architect @AlkiraNet) talks about how to seamlessly build multi-cloud networks for any applications.SHOW: 606CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:LoadForge - Modern, developer-first load testing and stress tests for websites, APIs and servers.LoadForge uses your cloud to rapidly scale large numbers of simulated users to load test your website, store, API, or application for cheap - just cents per test! Teleport is the easiest, most secure way to access all your infrastructure Get started with TeleportSpot by NetAppMore Cloud, Less Cost (Spot by NetApp)SHOW NOTES:Alkira - Cloud Networking as a ServiceAlkira - ExplainedAlkira Overview - 1 Click Cloud NetworkingTopic 1 - Welcome to the show. Tell us a little bit about your background.Topic 2 - Every survey that comes out says customers are going to be using multiple clouds for quite a while. Interconnecting all these services, either simply or in complex ways is now a reality. Walk us through how this challenge is typically approached? Topic 3 - Walk us through the different options, from VPNs to SD-WAN to Cloud Interconnects. What are the pros/cons and trade-offs for companies? Topic 4 - Has the COVID pandemic and all the remote work changed how companies network with the clouds? Are these expected to be temporary changes, or likely to remain long-termTopic 5 - How does Alkira fit into the cloud networking picture? Does their approach to simplifying things help when companies are adopting things like DevSecOps, where networking might not be the primary focus?Topic 6 - What are some ways that companies on their multi-cloud journey can benefit from simplified ways to enable security and inter-connections to the cloud?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

DevOps mashes together two things, Dev and Ops. But in reality, it includes much more than that. But who owns DevOps? Does anyone use all of DevOps? And is DevOps a people, process or technology?SHOW: 605CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering TeamsstrongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupDatadog Kubernetes Solution: Maximum Visibility into Container EnvironmentsStart monitoring the health and performance of your container environment with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.SHOW NOTES:WHEN DOES A TOOL STOP, AND A PROCESS BEGINS?How would you define DevOps? Who owns DevOps? MOST PEOPLE ONLY USE 30% OF THE FEATURES OF ANY TOOLWhat happens if a company doesn’t go full DevOps?What happens if a team, within a company, doesn’t go full DevOps?Can there be more than one definition of DevOps within a company?Is velocity the best measurement for DevOps?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Loren Goodman (CTO @InRule) talks about the intersection of AI/ML, DevOps, and Low Code/NoCode and making complex decisions using automation.SHOW: 604CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:strongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupDatadog Synthetic Monitoring: Frontend and Backend Modern MonitoringEnsure frontend issues don’t impair user experience by detecting user-facing issues with API and browser tests with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering TeamsSHOW NOTES:InRule Technology (homepage)Topic 1 - Loren, welcome to the show. How about a brief introduction and background. Topic 2 - Our audience shows an interest in AI/ML but at least as us as the hosts, we aren’t deep on the AI/ML side. So, let’s start at the start, what is a decision platform? How is AI/ML involved? And most importantly, why do companies need one?Topic 3 - As I understand this, this is about an intersection of AI/ML with DevOps and then providing access to non-technical SME’s as well? Is this the correct way to think about this? How does this relate to automating complex decisions and how does this help the business? Does this stray into the topic of LowCode/NoCode?Topic 4 - Anytime I think about automation, especially highly automated CI/CD pipelines, I worry about a ripple effect. Is it true to say the more complex the decisions, the higher the risk that something will not go as planned? Any recommendations or best practices/lessons learned you would like to share?Topic 5 - This has me thinking about another trend, we keep hearing anything with Ops tacked on the back. Of course DevOps, then DevSecOps, AIOps, etc. Is this DecisionOps? What industries are typically drawn to these types of platforms? I can see this benefiting highly regulated industries. Topic 6 - As this may be a new topic for some, if folks want to learn more, how would you suggest they get started in this space?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Making changes to applications has always been difficult. DevOps and Microservices introduced new techniques to simplify that, but also introduced new challenges that can be difficult to manage. Should things be easier for Devs or Ops?  SHOW: 603CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:BMC Wants to Know if your business is on it's A-GameBMC Autonomous Digital EnterprisePolyscale.ai - PolyScale solves global database latency and performance with intelligent serverless caching and compute at the edge.Check out PolyScale’s global edge data platform at www.polyscale.ai and sign up for a free account today.SHOW NOTES:Microservices: Why are we doing this? (Michael DeHaan)Why developer freedom might be worth microservices headaches (Matt Asay) DEVELOPERS WANT MORE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE AND MAKE CHANGESSince the earliest days of PaaS, developers have wanted more freedom to choose how they build applications, and wanted less to distract them. But those trade-offs move the challenges of managing applications to different areas. HAS DEVOPS FIGURED OUT HOW TO BALANCE THOSE TRADEOFFS PROPERLY?PaaS platforms have challenges when the use-cases drift outside the guard-rails.We can give developers freedom, but that often leads to silos or snowflakes.We don’t need containers or immutable systems, but the alternatives can be prohibitively expensive or add security risks. DevOps assumes that Devs and Ops can work together, but that assumes that individuals within teams all have the same goals, motivations and timelines. Some technologies have emerged to fit into these new working models (e.g. Kubernetes, Service Mesh, etc.)“If it’s 2pm on a Wednesday, and your team wants to roll out a new set of application features into production, how confident are you that the business won’t skip a beat?” FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Forrest Brazeal (@forrestbrazeal, Head of Content @GoogleCloud) talks about the realities of multi-cloud (intended and accidental), how to adapt skills to new cloud environments, and best vs. worst practices. SHOW: 602CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:Datadog Monitoring: Modern Monitoring and AnalyticsStart monitoring your infrastructure, applications, logs and security in one place with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering TeamsstrongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupSHOW NOTES:The Cloud Resume Challenge BookThe Read Aloud Cloud Cloud Irregular (Forrest’s blog)The Best Jobs in CloudAdvice for transferring IT skills to Cloud skills (Twitter thread)Are you multicloud engineer yet? (Google Cloud)Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. We first learned about your skills at A Cloud Guru, but you work on a bunch of really interesting projects. Tell us a little bit about your background, and what you now focus on at Google Cloud.Topic 2 - For a while you were very AWS-centric in your focus. What were your thoughts on multi-cloud a few years ago, and how has that evolved over the last few years?Topic 3 - Hashicorp’s recent State of Cloud Strategy Survey found 76% of employers are already using multiple clouds in some fashion, with more than 50% flagging lack of skills among their employees as a top challenge to survival in the cloud. What do these survey results tell you about actual company usage of clouds?Topic 4 - You spend a lot of time talking to people about cloud jobs and transitioning to cloud skills. In the context of multi-cloud, who do you find should be focusing on multi-cloud? Is it more infrastructure-centric or application-centric or something else? Topic 5 -  Technical people obviously can’t be experts in everything (all clouds). Do you have any suggestions for companies that have to manage applications across multiple clouds? Best practices, worst practices, etc.Topic 6 - We have to ask about the songs. How did it begin, what’s the process, and do your co-workers respond to them? FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

There are transitional moments, often many, in your career when you just don’t think you can make the change. This week we look at the thought process of how to address those “don’t think I can” moments. SHOW: 601CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:Polyscale.ai - PolyScale solves global database latency and performance with intelligent serverless caching and compute at the edge.Check out PolyScale’s global edge data platform at www.polyscale.ai and sign up for a free account today.BMC Wants to Know if your business is on it's A-GameBMC Autonomous Digital EnterpriseSHOW NOTES:Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, with Slash (podcast) SOMETIMES HARD DECISIONS ARE HARDThere will be times in your life when you’d like to make a change, or take on a new skill or opportunity, but you tell yourself that you’ll never be able to do that. THE JOURNEY IS OFTEN MORE INTERESTING THAN THE DESTINATIONAt times it can seem like the new thing will take forever to learn, or that it’s too far out of reach. We talk about some examples of when changes happen, the thought process involved, and how to measure the next stage.  FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet

Jesse Proudman (Makara, Co-Founder & CEO) talks about how he moved from infrastructure into the world of crypto. He gives advice on learning and his plans to make investing in this space more approachable for everyone. SHOW: 600CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK - http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:CloudZero - Cloud Cost Intelligence for Engineering TeamsstrongDM - Secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. Manage access to any server, database, or Kubernetes instance in minutes. Fully auditable, replayable, secure, and drag-and-drop easy. Try it free for 14 days - www.strongdm.com/signupDatadog Application Monitoring: Modern Application Performance MonitoringGet started monitoring service dependencies to eliminate latency and errors and enhance your users app experience with a free 14 day Datadog trial. Listeners of The Cloudcast will also receive a free Datadog T-shirt.SHOW NOTES:Makara (homepage)Strix Leviathan (homepage)The Cloudcast #339 with JesseBitcoin Information & ResourcesHow Money Got Free (Book)Cryptoassets (Book)Topic 1 - Welcome back Jesse! We’ve chatted multiple times over the years but most recently back in 2018 with your first crypto startup, Strix Leviathan. For those who haven’t heard from you before, how about a quick introduction and background. Topic 2 - By now, everyone has heard of crypto and it seems these days, everyone has an opinion on crypto. What got you started in the space and what prompted you to spin off a second company from Strix Leviathan, the new company is Makara. Topic 3 - What are the most common misconceptions and objections you run across these days in the crypto space?Topic 4 - Before we dig into Makara and what is different there. What are your thoughts on differences between tokens? There are many different spaces and types. Layer 0, Layer 1, Layer 2… Does this matter to the average person or is Bitcoin the same as Ethereum?Topic 5 - Tell everyone a little bit about Makara and why it is different?Topic 6 - To bring this back around to the previous question on types of crypto and categories. Tell everyone about Makara’s concept of baskets for categories and how do you decide on groupings and when do you introduce new baskets?Topic 7 - Because of the interest in this space, there are lots of people out there giving bad advice and trying to make a quick buck. Most of the dedicated podcasts covering this space are horrible I’ve found. If someone was new and wanted to get started, where would you go? FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter: @thecloudcastnet