Embracing the Grind

I hosted a podcast called Buffer Overflow for about 4 years and 200 episodes. The company I worked for took down the podcast and all of its episodes. Should I host them on my own? Would anyone listen? I want to hear from YOU!

I'm going to Disneyland! Er, World. I went to Disney World, and naturally it got me thinking about technology, in-groups, and market share. Sounds strange? It'll all make sense once you listen.

There's an age old debate in tech about the utility of certifications. It's an argument we've had a hundred times. So let's have it again! This time I'm thinking about how a certification can help someone early on in their career and how the advent of the cloud and virtualization has lowered the barrier to entry for most certifications.

Is there anything inherently good about decentralization? Is one approach always more effective or equitable than the other? The realm of technology is lousy with example of both centralized and decentralized systems, and a constant flux between the two. As any complex system evolves, the more efficient solution will evolve as well. For all the folks proselytizing the inherent beneficence of decentralized solutions, the reality doesn't seem to agree. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

Tools and technology are mostly amoral. What matters is the intent of the individual using the tool. A system is what it does, or more accurately what one does with it. Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and web3 are neither net positive or negative. However, their implementations certainly can be. NFT scams, crypto pump and dumps, and Bitcoin global warming are great examples of the worst impulses of humanity. But can all of these also be used for good? I think the answer is a firm maybe. Folding ideas NFT video: https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

I read an interesting article today talking about how you don't need the cloud. Which is true! You don't need the cloud. Then the article went on to detail all the ways they are using cloud services without calling it cloud. And I felt confused! You don't need cloud, but you're using Cloudflare? Cloud is kinda in the name! Anyways, here's my thoughts about it. The article: https://80daystartup.com/day-11/you-dont-need-the-cloud/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

Furthering my thoughts on when to script and not, let's turn our focus to live training, presentations, and keynotes. Also, guess what I just committed to at Pluralsight? Hint: it's a bunch of courses that don't deal with Terraform! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

A listener asked about my thoughts on writing scripts for creating training videos or doing it off the top of my head. I've tried both approaches, and the answer for me is a hybrid mix. Scripted presentations and unscripted demos. If you're wondering what to do for your content, check out this episode! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

Are you feeling nostalgic about 15 years ago? Was it really that good back then? When I take an honest assessment of the things I'm nostalgic for, the rose-tinted lenses drop away and I realize that now is better than then. Yes, even with the pandemic. On the whole, my life is better now than it was 15 years ago, and I hope yours is too. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313

Most things worth doing take time to do them. And time is a commitment. As I've mentioned before, you should avoid overloading yourself, so it's important to think about whether the payoff is worth the grind. That's going to depend on your own personal value system. Personally, it's worth the grind to me if I enjoy it, it will eventually make me money, or it's helping someone else.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://nedinthecloud.com Pluralsight: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/edward-bellavance GitHub: https://github.com/ned1313