Exciting times! I’ve had a lot to share lately, and here’s another update. Shelley Benhoff‘s new book, “Lead Developer Career Guide“, has officially gone to print—huge congratulations to Shelley! 🎉
Published by Manning Publications Co., this book is a comprehensive resource for anyone aspiring to excel as a Lead Developer.
I’m incredibly honored to have written the foreword for this fantastic book!
In the Lead Developer Career Guide you’ll discover:
The key responsibilities of a lead developer
Techniques for writing effective technical documentation
Strategies for improving development processes
Best practices for communicating with non-technical clients
Methods for mentoring and inspiring a team
Approaches for delivering negative feedback constructively
The Lead Developer Career Guide is filled with interviews and real-world case studies from industry professionals and esteemed tech experts. You’ll learn how to become the public face for your development team, gathering feedback from your coworkers and communicating with clients and stakeholders. Plus, you’ll find proven techniques to reliably calculate project estimates, plan a project from scratch, and mentor junior developers and peers alike.
It consists of: 9 modules of 4 hours of content, many demos, 7 practice quizes, and 1 final quiz.
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Essentials is a comprehensive video course designed to take IT professionals and developers from beginner level to proficiency in utilizing Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Here are the: Module Learning Objectives:
Module 1: Understand the core concepts and benefits of Azure Kubernetes Service.
Module 2: Learn how to set up and configure Azure AKS.
Module 3: Gain proficiency in deploying containerized applications on Azure AKS using popular tools such as Docker, Kubernetes manifests, and kubectl.
Module 4: Explore monitoring and logging capabilities on Azure AKS, leveraging Azure Monitor, Container Insights, and Log Analytics for efficient application management.
Module 5: Understand and be able to configure networking components and manage network policies, as well as implement load balancing, Ingress Controllers, and service mesh for microservice architectures on Azure AKS.
Module 6: Implement robust security measures, including Azure AD integration, RBAC, network security groups, and secrets management, to protect applications and data within AKS.
Module 7: Learn to automate application deployment and updates through continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines using GitHub Actions and GitOps.
Module 8: Discover high availability and disaster recovery strategies for AKS, including multi-region deployments, backups, and restoration techniques.
Module 9: Explore best practices and advanced topics, such as autoscaling, cluster management, and service mesh integration with AKS.
This AKS course is for you if:
You’re an IT professional who wants to learn how to effectively deploy and manage containerized applications using AKS.
You’re a Cloud Architect who designs and implements cloud-based solutions and are interested in incorporating AKS as part of your application deployment strategies.
You’re a Kubernetes enthusiast with a basic understanding who wants to explore AKS specifically and deepen your knowledge of managing containerized applications in the Azure ecosystem.
You’re a DevOps Engineer who wants to enhance your skills in managing containerized workloads using AKS and integrating CI/CD pipelines for seamless application deployment.
You’re a Software Developer or Engineer who is responsible for building and deploying applications and you want to harness the power of AKS for container orchestration, scalability, and automation.
I am happy to share a new episode of Azure Friday. It was an honor to appear along side Senior Product Manager Rajat Shrivastava in this episode to talk about AKS Backup. I this episode we joined Scott Hanselman to explore the functionality of AKS backup in safeguarding containerized apps and their data on AKS.
Backup is frequently overlooked, only gaining significance when a failure necessitates recovery. In the realm of Containers and Kubernetes, it is often perceived as unnecessary. However, the reality is that backups are essential even for containerized environments. Microsoft has introduced a backup solution for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and its workloads, leveraging Azure Backup.
In this episode we dove into the importance of backing up containers, even when they are predominantly stateless. The episode sheds light on why safeguarding containers is crucial and provides insights into the workings of AKS backup in ensuring the protection of workloads running on AKS.
In the episode we also explore questions you may have about backing up K8s and we dive into demos showing how to protect AKS with AKS backup and how to do a restore. We even took time to answer this common question “Do I really need to backup my K8s cluster if I am running stateless apps & have everything in code i.e. IaC, CI/CD, or GitOps?”. The answer is yes. In fact one should think of it this way: “GitOps & K8s Backup are like Seatbelts & Airbags”. Here is a graphic to break this down further:
I was recently a guest on the RunAsRadio podcast. This was the second time being on the show. The last time was 4 years ago. You can catch the old episode here: Terraform vs Bicep/ARM with Steve Buchanan.
This new episode is #924 and is titled: “From SysAdmin to Platform Engineer with Steve Buchanan“. On this new episode we talked about Platform Engineering and a bunch of other stuff.
Here is the description from the episode:
“Aren’t we all platform engineers? Steve Buchanan says yes!
But there’s more to it. Steve talks about the mindset of looking beyond individual products that we might have skills with and owning the entire problem of providing platforms for your organization to get work done.
The conversation dives into the many products that can help our applications function better and the challenge of making them secure and fast. Are containers the solution? Possibly!
It’s your platform; focus on the fundamentals and go further!“
I had a great time chatting with Richard and we didn’t even mention AI until 40 minutes in. haha
I will be co-presenting an AKS Learn Live this month with Microsoft Principal Cloud Advocate Steven Murawski on “Taking Your Intelligent App Global with AKS”!. It will be moderating by Principal Product Manager Brian Redmond!
We will touch on using Azure Front Door and Fleet Manager. Description of the session:
“Once we have our intelligent application running, it’s time to make it scale. Using globally-scalable services like Azure CosmosDB and Azure Front Door, along with AKS Fleet Manager, we can take bring our intelligent apps closer to their consumers, while providing a consistent operating experience for the developers and operations personnel responsible for the service.”
I am excited to be on another panel for the Come Cloud With Us folks!
This time this panel is focused on Platform Engineering. It will be at the end of February. You wont want to miss this panel! Here is more info about the panel:
When:
Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM CST
Where:
Online event
ThePanel: Steve Buchanan – Principal Program Manager at Microsoft Kaslin Fields – Developer Advocate at Google Marino Wijay – Cloud Native Solutions Engineering and Advocacy at Solo Michael Levan – Chief Engineer/Consultant, Content Creator, and Trainer Saim Safdar – Technical Leader and CNCF Ambassador Kat Morgan – Developer Advocate at Pulumi Whitney Lee – Staff Technical Advocate at VMware Robin Smorenburg – Lead Cloud Architect – Azure MVP & CNCF Ambassador
What to Expect: A comprehensive exploration of Kubernetes, including architecture, best practices, practical demonstrations of AKS deployment and management, insights into optimizing containerized applications, and valuable networking opportunities with industry professionals.
Who should attend: Whether you’re a developer, IT professional, Azure enthusiast, student, or learner, this event is designed for you.
Mark your calendars and RSVP now! See you there! 🚀
To kick off the new year I am trying something new. For the 1st time I will be speaking on a Twitter space. This Twitter space is about Platform Engineering. It was hosted by cloud native and open source champion SAIM SAFDAR (@cloudnativeboy).
On this twitter space we talked about how to prepare your journey of learning and navigating the Platform Engineering (PE) landscape, my latest PE course, the PE guide from Microsoft and emerging best practices, and taking question’s from folks on the space.
We even had special guest Kubernetes and Platform Engineering expert Michael Levan (@TheNJDevOpsGuy) show up on the space! He shared some great insight on PE as well.
If you missed the space you can watch a recording of the space here:
I’m very excited to announce something that has been in the works for a little while now. I was fortunate to interview the legendary Andrew Shafer (@littleidea). We had a discussion about Platform Engineering. If you don’t know Andrew here is his BIO:
“Andrew Clay Shafer helped create the tools and practices that made DevOps a word. He is fascinated with the dynamics of high-performing individuals and organizations and has a reputation for improving outcomes at the intersection of Open Source, Cloud Computing and Software Delivery working on Puppet, OpenStack, Cloud Foundry and Kubernetes before founding Ergonautic to focus on improving the way people work.“
Basically, he started this whole DevOps thing, was key in the DevOps Days events, has founded some high-profile companies, and more. He is the perfect person to chat with about Platform Engineering because if anyone knows it he does!
I chatted with Andrew in an episode of Pluralsight’s Expert Access. Expert Access is a YouTube series where we (Pluralsight authors) bring in some of the best minds in tech to hear how tech leaders are solving business challenges and their takes on what’s next.
The title of the episode is: “Pluralsight Expert Access: Andrew Shafer on platform engineering as an evolution, not a replacement“. In this episode, I interview Andrew, as he gives his take on what Platform Engineering is, what organizations are chasing to enable developers, and what’s keeping organizations from long-term success when it comes to their DevOps practices. In the discussion we tackle these questions and more:
Is Platform Engineering a result of failed DevOps efforts in organizations? Is it just a Service Catalog with the twist of it being geared towards devs?
Platforms are not a new concept in the software world. In one of your tweets, there is an interesting line “Continuous Delivery without a platform is malpractice.“ Is this highlighting that organizations have been doing DevOps without platforms? Can you break down this line for us? It seems like there may be a story behind this?
Some people may equate Platform Engineering to having an Internal Developer Platform, is this the core of PE or are there other technologies that are also core to it?
Watch the episode for more insights on the importance of changing practices–not just words–for achieving sustainable progress and seeing Platform Engineering as a holistic approach to DevOps and delivery.
Many organizations have embraced DevOps and adopted technologies like Kubernetes, cloud computing, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Pulumi. Despite these efforts, they often face challenges in delivering on the promises of DevOps and cloud-native. Platform engineering has emerged as the next step in the evolution, breaking down barriers and empowering developers to bring software to the market faster and more efficiently.
Recently I have been working on content to help educate and share my knowledge in this space. I am happy to announce two new pieces of content on Platform Engineering including a new course and a new blog.
Course: Platform Engineering: The Big Picture
Last week my 22nd course was published on Pluralsight! I am really excited about this course because it covers something that has been really hot in tech lately. It is about Platform Engineering. Platform Engineering has emerged as the next step in the evolution, breaking down barriers and empowering teams. Being someone that works with Kubernetes and cloud native this course was right up my alley because I work directly in this space.
The course is titled “Platform Engineering: The Big Picture“. This course will help you explore platform engineering and discover how it can elevate cloud-native development, making developers’ lives easier while achieving new heights in software delivery. Platform Engineering unifies and centralizes toolchains & workflows for self-service making developers’ lives easier while achieving new heights in software delivery.
In this course, you will gain an understanding about Platform Engineering, its benefits, architecture, tooling, workflow and how to adopt it.
Some of the major topics covered in the course include:
A Platform Engineering overview and why it’s needed, how Platforms enhance DevOps and streamline cloud native.
A comparison of DevOps, SRE, and Platform Engineering.
You will learn about Platform Engineering Architecture, its tooling landscape, and Internal Developer Platforms.
Check out the “Platform Engineering: The Big Picture“ course here:
I hope you find value in this new Platform Engineering course. Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses!
Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:
Blog: 8 tools every platform engineer should know about
I am also excited to announce my second Platform Engineering-related blog post on Pluralsight. This one is titled: “8 tools every platform engineer should know about”. In Platform Engineering there are a lot of tools that can make up a platform. It can be confusing and hard to know what tools to focus on in the Platform Engineering space. In this blog post, I list 8 tools that are a must-know when you are in the Platform Engineering space.
