S3 EP4: Michael Levan, Platform Engineering: The Good, The Bad & The Buzzy

In our latest Livin’ On the Edge podcast episode, I interviewed Keith Casey, senior product manager at Pangea and one of the co-authors of API Developer Weekly. Pangea offers security services in a single platform of API-based security services that can be stacked onto an existing tech stack. We explored authentication and authorization as crucial aspects of building secure and reliable distributed systems, as well as some best auth practices to help make your auth process a breeze for your developer team.

Join us for a special bonus mini episode with host Kay James and VP of appCD/ Kubecrash Co-Founder, Danielle Cook, as we dive into what you can expect ahead of Kubecrash Spring 2024. The theme is Platform Engineering: Building the Ultimate Internal Developer Platform. Kay got the inside scoop with Danielle on what to look out for and some can't miss sessions of this open source focused conference. Register to attend Kubecrash (free + virtual) on April 24: https://www.kubecrash.io/.

In our latest episode we chatted with consultant Matthew Reinbold about the future of the API industry, how to stay sharp in this current economic climate, and the state of developer relations. For more, visit getambassador.io/podcasts. Resources: - matthewreinbold.com - netapinotes.com - APIFutures https://matthewreinbold.github.io/APIFutures - Matthew's mastodon microblogging - https://opinuendo.com

API Federation encompasses a collection of design principles, tools, and infrastructure that enable the exposure of services and event streams within a specific bounded context as a cohesive and standardized API for external customers. API Federation allows individual services within the bounded context to evolve and adapt without imposing additional limitations or constraints. The TL/DR of it all is that API Federation provides a unified and consistent interface for external users while promoting flexibility and agility within the internal service ecosystem. Ok, but what does that mean? Not to fear, our latest Livin' On the Edge podcast guest, Daniel Kocot of CodeCentric AG sat down with us to walk us through it all and the two major concepts that are impacting API Federation today, including shifting mindsets and the language style you choose to code in.

Explore the crucial role of the inner dev loop and quantitative metrics to enhance developer productivity and build a sustainable engineering culture with Guru Kamat, Co-Founder of Neurelo. With over 20 years of experience, Guru has seen it all. From scaling small startup teams to being an integral part of leading technology companies such as Palo Alto and Stripe–Guru has experienced a variety of environments to truly master the art of developer productivity.

As they say, the one thing in life you can count on is change. Our latest guest on Livin' On the Edge podcasts is Krishna Modi, a Cloud Engineer at Cisco. The discussion covered a range of topics, including Krishna's professional journey, Cisco’s evolution, Identity and Access Management (IAM), trends in API gateways, and the rise of platform engineering. "Cisco has always been one of the best company cultures and has always felt like a family; that's why I came back," Krishna stated, noting that he is one of many "boomerangs" who left and then inevitably returned to the company. What Krishna shared included insights about how companies must evolve in a cloud-native world and how developer teams need to take platform engineering seriously.

On the latest Livin' On the Edge podcast episode, we interviewed Xavier Portilla Edo, Cloud and Infrastructure Team Lead from Voiceflow, a Canada-based company focused on a collaborative conversation design platform where conversational AI product teams design, test, and ship chat and voice assistants. Xavier is also an involved Community Advocate here at Ambassador Labs, so he’s quite familiar with our tools, particularly Telepresence. Our discussion revolved around how automation, their use of Telepresence, the role of platform engineering, and the importance of standardization all come together to create a developer-happy environment. For more, visit our podcast page: https://www.getambassador.io/podcasts

On the latest Livin' On the Edge podcast episode, I interviewed the CEO of Robusta, Natan Yellin, about the evolution of DevOps, throwing AI into the mix, and debunking the DevOps statement of "You Build it, You Run it." https://youtu.be/O3DRVTEgtyo The 'You Build It, You Run It' Dilemma When discussing the evolution of DevOps teams, we can't get into it without covering the typical dilemma that arises in the DevOps ecosystem. "You Build it, You Run it" is the traditional approach of separating development and operations. It has been challenged by the need for developers to take ownership of their code in production. This shift requires developers to build the software and be responsible for its smooth operation and maintenance. "'You build it, you run it' is a lie. It's a cultural thing, let's talk about what you should do instead," shares Natan. "Imagine you have a mechanical engineer, for example, with a background in metalworking building the screws for planes. Someone takes those screws, and they assemble that into an airplane, and then they ask that same screw engineer to FLY the plane. You build part of this, right? So you can fly it?" Natan explains that although the engineer was responsible for building part of the plane, he is by no means a pilot capable of flying that same plane. The same thing can be said for cloud-native DevOps engineers who are asked to run, monitor, and maintain the same code they built. It's two different skill sets asking for chaos to unfold. "These developers are building applications, and they know Java and have great application knowledge, but they aren't necessarily familiar with convoluted stacks that run in the cloud. They're now in charge of systems that break down, creating DevOps tension because they weren't empowered to run it in the first place," shares Natan.

On the latest Livin' On the Edge podcast episode, Product Manager Jake Beck interviewed Stoplight CTO and host of the API Intersection podcast, Jason Harmon. We get into all things API design, API development, design best practices, and more. Plus, we break down the 'design-first' approach to your API management strategy. Tune in!

On this episode of Livin' on the Edge we interview industry expert and CNCF member, Michael Levan. Michael takes us through all things platform engineering, what developers should actually be concerned with, and what's just marketing talk. Platform engineering is on the rise and here to stay, here's what you need to know to ensure your organization is doing it correctly.