
Ready, Set, Cloud Podcast!
Learn about serverless, APIs, and all things cloud from industry leaders. This podcast is for everyone from beginners in the cloud to seasoned veterans. Brought to you by AWS Serverless Hero Allen Helton.
Latest episodes

Jul 23, 2024 • 17min
July Cancer Update
In May, I published a short episode of the podcast about my daughter Olivia being diagnosed with leukemia. It's been a rough couple of months, but I wanted to share how things are going, what the plan is, and give a tremendous thank you to the community.

Jun 27, 2024 • 28min
Becoming a full-time serverless content creator with Yan Cui
Have you ever wished you could quit your job and go create content all day long while working for yourself? You can! In this episode, Yan Cui joins Allen Helton to talk about full-time content creation and consultancy within the serverless world. The two discuss Yan's journey to greatness, weigh in on the use of generative AI when it comes to content, and cover tips and tricks to get better engagement.
About Yan
Yan is an AWS Serverless Hero offering training and consulting on AWS and serverless applications. With experience running production workloads at scale in AWS since 2010, Yan has a proven track record of leveraging technology to enhance business outcomes. He has served as an architect and principal engineer across various industries, including banking, e-commerce, social networks, live streaming, and mobile gaming. Yan has worked on large-scale systems handling millions of concurrent users and processing billions of events daily. He runs the site "The Burning Monk", where he shares serverless tips, insights, and best practices, and hosts the podcast Real World Serverless, featuring discussions with practitioners from around the globe.
Links
Twitter - https://x.com/theburningmonk
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/theburningmonk/
The Burning Monk - https://theburningmonk.com
Production Ready Serverless Course - http://productionreadyserverless.com/
LLRT Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K4ABY60_oo

May 28, 2024 • 8min
A personal update
I recently had a significant life event that has turned my world upside down. In this bonus episode, I share the story and let you know what you can do to help.
Blog post: https://readysetcloud.io/blog/allen.helton/a-personal-update
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-olivias-fight-against-leukemia

May 10, 2024 • 34min
All about the Believe in Serverless community
Join the Believe in Serverless community champions as they discuss the community's origins, diversity, global connections, future plans, supportive speaking environment, technical depth exploration, and building a welcoming community beyond AWS focus. Learn about their journey, failures, growth, and inclusive approach towards knowledge sharing.

Apr 26, 2024 • 25min
The life-changing tech boom in Nigeria with Tobenna Nwokike
There's no question that tech is booming all over the world. But how has it been received in places that have harder access to the internet, like Africa? Join Allen as he talks with Tobenna Nwokike about how technology is transforming Nigeria into something completely new. They discuss the cultural and economic changes brought on by tech, how easy it is to break into the field, the assistance the Nigerian government is providing for those who want to get into it, and much more. The whole world is embracing high-tech, making lives better everywhere it goes.
About Tobenna
Tobenna Nwokike is a software developer with over a decade of experience in the field. As a Senior Cloud Engineer/Consultant at Serverless Guru, he navigates the complex realm of cloud technologies, all while working remotely from Nigeria. Tobenna has a strong passion for uplifting the next generation of tech talent and has mentored over 30 software engineers ensuring they are well equipped for the job market/startup space.
Links
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobenna-nwokike
Twitter - https://twitter.com/tobeski
3MTT - https://3mtt.nitda.gov.ng

Apr 12, 2024 • 27min
Let's get together. In person. Today. With Raphael Manke
When was the last time you attended an event? It was probably virtual, right? Why is that? The tech industry has moved more and more virtual the past few years and we're starting to slowly but surely crawl our way back to in-person. In this episode, Raphael Manke and Allen Helton talk about their experiences with getting together in person and how it compares to virtual events. They talk about starting your own AWS user group, the value you get from networking with locals, their favorite stories from meetups, and much more.
About RaphaelRaphael is a full-stack web developer leveraging serverless technologies in his day-to-day business. He helps customers build reliable and scalable solutions with minimal operational overhead. On his cloud journey, he shares his insights as a public speaker and connects other AWS enthusiasts on his local AWS Usergroup in Germany.
Links
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-manke-a61912114
AWS User Group Karlsruhe 0 https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/aws-meetup-karlsruhe

16 snips
Mar 29, 2024 • 33min
Everything you didn't know about EDA with James Eastham
Join AWS Senior Cloud Architect James Eastham and Allen Helton as they dive into all things Event-Driven Architectures (EDA), discussing topics such as transitioning from REST APIs, initiating EDA individually or in enterprises, and the transformative impact of EDA on programming. James shares insights on what to include in events, EDA vs request/response architectures, and observability in distributed systems.

Mar 15, 2024 • 29min
You need CI/CD in your life with Johannes Koch
Johannes and Allen explore CI/CD in-depth, discussing best practices, challenges, and the importance of automation. They touch on the best pipeline in the industry, Amazon Code Catalyst, and a project for easy pipeline generation. Whether you're new to CI/CD or experienced, this episode has something for everyone.

Mar 1, 2024 • 25min
Learning by fire: taking your side project to production with Luc van Donkersgoed
They say the best way to learn is by doing, but is that always true? Does the way people effectively learn change the further they get into their career? Join Luc and Allen as they discuss continuing education as a developer and what they've experienced over the last decade. The two cover the benefits of side projects and the impact taking them to production has both from a learning perspective and the effectiveness of how it sharpens your skills.
About LucLuc is an AWS Serverless Hero and Principal Engineer at PostNL, where he designs and builds enterprise-scale serverless architectures. He is well known for his articles, presentations, videos, and podcasts about AWS. Luc strives to help team members, colleagues, and local and global AWS communities embrace and grow their skill sets so they too can experience the joy, fun, and sheer scale serverless brings to application development.
Links
Twitter - https://twitter.com/donkersgood
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/donkersgoed
Blog - https://lucvandonkersgoed.com
AWS News - https://aws-news.com
Empowered by Marty Cagan - https://rdyset.click/GDix65
The Software Engineer’s Guidebook by Gergely Orosz -
https://rdyset.click/inkhV2
Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton -
https://rdyset.click/qyGDyv
Learning Domain Driven Design by Vlad Khononov -
https://rdyset.click/iMfBjo
Architecture Patterns with Python by Bob Gregory and Harry Percival -
https://rdyset.click/ambmw2

Feb 16, 2024 • 27min
How math can change the way we write software forever with Jeremiah Dunham
Join Allen Helton and Jeremiah Dunham as they explore math in the world of computer science. Do developers use it as much as they thought they would or is it abstracted away to a point where we have no idea? What if there was a way to use math to prove the correctness of your code instead of writing unit tests? Guess what? It's possible. Tune into the episode as Allen and Jeremiah talk about the future of testing and exactly how you can (or can't) guarantee your code does what you expect it to.
About Jeremiah
Jeremiah is a Senior Software Development Manager on the AWS IAM Access Analyzer team. In 9+ years at Amazon, he's launched new services and features (AWS Elemental MediaStore and AWS IAM Access Analyzer custom policy checks), helped hundreds of people adopt AWS (including your podcast host!), received 10 patents, and spoken at several conferences, including re:Invent and re:Inforce. He cares deeply about using math to make the world a better place. When he's not thinking about things related to math, you'll probably find him running or enjoying a craft beer.
Links
LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdunham
AWS IAM Access Analyzer - https://aws.amazon.com/iam/access-analyzer
Custom Policy Check Science Blog - https://www.amazon.science/blog/custom-policy-checks-help-democratize-automated-reasoning
Dafny - https://dafny.org
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