DevOpsDays Seattle 2019 Notes
https://twitter.com/smariapena/status/1121193014175473669
Just got done with a local DevOpsDays conference. It was a hybrid single track plus OpenSpace style event. I missed a lot of talks for snacks and hallway conversations and whatnot but ultimatley, a very good and worthwhile conference.
Tuesday; April 23, 2019
Leena gave an understated talk about migrating databases in a devops environment where DBs are sort of a last frontier. She recommends the Expand Contract Pattern.
The affable Peter Chestna gave a talk on The 3 Ways of DevSecOps – Making Shift Happen this was especially interesting to me as I become more and more engrossed in all thing appsec. However, having done some years in QA I see that there isn't new ground being tread here, just many teams finally putting their boots on and making the first step in their own journey.
Karthik Gaekwad gave the talk about burnout in devops. It was incredibly heartening to hear a squishy human talk not being done by a woman for once. I know it rang true for so many in the audience and even if they weren't burnout giving them the tools to prevent and observe in others is incredibly valuable. Excellent work.
I get a little leery about vendors or co-founders doing talks that, SURPRISE are solved by their product/service but Christine Yen from Honeycomb gave a talk Observability for Developers: How to Get From Here to There and it was JUST OOZING WITH VALUE and rang of being from the future and was SO GOOD. She's great, Honeycomb is great, the talk was great, what they're doing in o11y is so crucial and needed. I highly recommend you check out all things in this orbit.
Ashina Sipiora gave a lightning talk, Negotiations are about more than your salary, which may have only hit a handful of people but probably made millions of dollars in real human impact.
Heidi Waterhouse gave an Ambrose Bierce style, hilarious lightning talk: The Devil’s DevOps
Wednesday; April 24, 2019
Cat Swetel - 193 Easy Steps to DevOpsing Your Monolith the whole talk was done in sunglasses which was instantly endearing. Some of the talk was a little over my head but hearing her in the fishbowl Q&A session later solidified my impression. This woman knows her shit better than most and has the receipts. I think her presence was more impactful to me than I can really grok at the moment. It's just one of those feelings you get around someone where you would follow them into any battle. She just has that air about her.
John Willis - Devops' Seven Deadly Diseases I could listen to this guy talk for hours if he could just stop talking about himself. Pure wisdom.
Stephanie Hippo gave the talk Be The Mentor My Dog Thinks You Are, which was short and critical. We have to share our information and experience and we must seek mentorship. It is absolutley necessary yet many can barely agree on what it is or entails. Shippo gave us a clear path forward.
Heidi Waterhouse did a Ignite Improv and it made me cry laugh so hard i had to go fix my makeup. Then she threw a sticker party. I was too tired and stickerless to play but, stickers! <3
Lucy Wyman gave a talk What Not to Automate which is something I think a lot about in today's tech climate. Will be chewing on this one for a while.