burnout++

Abstract Burnout can happen at any point in everyone’s career. But, what happens when burnout is taking place amongst other things? Your s/o having a miscarriage? Veteran dealing with time in service and injuries from it? Becoming unemployed? Let’s discuss realizing you’re approaching or are burned out, the why behind that, and coping mechanisms. Description What is Burnout? Definitions (sourced) Who it impacts? Yes. Even kids deal with this. Personal Story Thread: The year of yes can turn into years of “please stop” Burnout+ Veteran Injured (disabled veteran; disability in general) Have Kids (always stressful or worrisome) Contribute to open source (never feel like you’re doing your best) Have a side hustle (Yeah, I wrote a weekly newsletter for six years) Dealing with it all (do it before you snap) Introduce a Little Chaos A miscarriage A job lost/layoffs A global pandemic Toxic family members Welcome to burnout++ — Managing the Chaos Friends & Family - Prioritize family, tell your friends, be forward Compartmentalization (lock it in a box for short bursts) !...

April 10, 2023 · 3 min · Chris Short

Managing Disabilities at Large Conferences

Abstract There is a lack of actual accessibility to tech conferences. It goes further than mere curb cuts and wheelchair accessibility. When was the last time you saw someone in a wheelchair at a conference anyway? The large halls, crowds of people not used to accommodating the disabled, and often an immune system pushed to its limits keep otherwise able technologists away from conferences. Adding on the stresses of travel only exacerbates this issue....

May 20, 2021 · 3 min · Chris Short

GitOps: An implementation of DevOps

Abstract GitOps is a prescriptive way of implementing DevOps. You will not succeed in using GitOps if you haven’t embraced some DevOps philosophies along the way. In this talk, we’ll look at the GitOps Principles and see how they align to existing or new DevOps/SRE functions. GitOps, being a wonderful implementation of DevOps functionality in cloud native environments and beyond, will enable organizations to prescriptively shift left, improve release velocity, and hopefully reap all the other benefits that higher performers in the State of DevOps reports see....

January 6, 2021 · 1 min · Chris Short

Security at Cloud Native Speed

Abstract Cloud native technologies are increasingly used by organizations to provide a competitive advantage. Containers and Kubernetes jumpstart developer productivity but, they could increase security teams’ workloads. Threat vectors span cloud providers, control planes, developer tooling, and applications in environment hybrid environments. Use these technologies and cultures to improve security and reduce blast radius while improving velocity. This talk will analyze human tendencies and provide tips to improve security postures in cloud native environments....

November 7, 2019 · 3 min · Chris Short

Building Kubernetes Operators in an Ansible-native way

Here's a current list of ready to go CFPs and/or abstracts that I can speak to at a moments notice. If you'd like to have me speak at your conference, Meetup, podcast, webinar, live stream, etc. please review my Speaker Rider and send me a message. Thank you! Learn how Ansible can help developers (or any systems savvy person) quickly ramp up to build Operators to automate and manage the life cycle of complex Kubernetes applications....

August 7, 2019 · 2 min · Chris Short

Lessons Learned from Cloud Migrations: Planning is Everything

Abstract “Migrating to the cloud saves money!” “Not running your own infrastructure reduces your bottom line!” “Lift and shift is a legitimate first step towards moving to the cloud!” These are all potential pitfalls if you’re not careful. Proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Using a real chaotic cloud migration as a guide, we’ll walk through the pitfalls of cloud migrations and how to avoid them and the terrifying vendor lock-in (when it makes sense)....

March 7, 2018 · 3 min · Chris Short

DevOps is Not War

Abstract Over the past 500 years, there have been 16 cases of a rising power threatening to displace a ruling power. 75% of those cases resulted in war. Although your organizational transformation probably won’t lead to war, it could be contentious. History can help prevent conflict when driving change. This talk will analyze human tendencies, historical data, and provide real-world examples of how to avoid conflict during your DevOps journey....

March 2, 2018 · 6 min · Chris Short

Kubernetes Cron Jobs: Dreams Really Do Come True

Abstract I worked for a large company with several hundred cron jobs running on two systems. Managing these jobs was cumbersome. Resource use during peak times brought things to a halt. Imagine what it was like when systems were down! In this talk, we discuss Kubernetes’ killer feature: Cron Jobs. Description Kubernetes, Jobs, and Cron Jobs What is Kubernetes? Kubernetes has the concept of Jobs Kubernetes Cron Jobs are a relatively new thing Use Case Former employer had several hundred cron jobs running on two systems Resource contention during peak times brought the systems to a halt If one cron job didn’t run it was hard to determine what task failed or didn’t run based on user tickets Chaos if the systems were offline for one reason or another Using minikube and Docker running locally…...

March 1, 2018 · 2 min · Chris Short