The Software Nihilist — Software Defined Talk #41

After finally settling an important RescueBots debate, we discuss keeping optimistic in the tech industry. And there’s much to be (potentially) cynical about: bad work conditions at Amazon and the tech industry as a whole; inscrutable restructuring at Google; and rumored fire sales in the APM space. With a trusty, detailed taxonomy of nihilism, somehow we manage to keep it together, nonetheless.

Listen above, download the episode directly, or subscribe to this podcast: iTunes, RSS Feed.

Show Notes

• If you like video, see this episode’s video recording.
• How do you avoid being cynical?
• The Amazon thing.
• Ben Thompson on Uber.
• “The Halo Effect” — the patron book of Software Defined Talk.
• Chef reading list: “The No Asshole Rule,” “Continuous Delivery,” “Lean Enterprise.”
• “White Collar work for dev, or, surviving BigCos” talk outline.
• The 15 hour work-week?
• Prabhakar on white collar work, cheerful as always.
• Alphabets and “Moonshots.”
• Hear Siracusa on Alphabet: good, level-headed stuff.
• Horace on Alphabet — or large company management considered hard: “Alphabet is therefore the “holding company” of Google A+, Google A and Google B. I can only suppose that the separation of A+ from A (and the previous A from B) allows the founders to distance themselves even further from the purchase decisions which, through pricing signals, determine where value lies and how resources should be allocated. That must be a great relief.”
• BMC buys Boundary. Cloud Foundry: Try to Avoid Killing Your Acquisitions — Lords Of Computing podcast #6.
• Also, Larry Warnock is on fire!

BONUS LINKS NOT COVERED IN SHOW!

• Oracle security chief to customers: Stop checking our code for vulnerabilities.
• Not Even Close: The State of Computer Security by James Mickens: “In this bleak, relentlessly morbid talk, James Mickens will describe why making computers secure is an intrinsically impossible task.”
• How bad is the state of computer security? Is accepting that everything is terrible part of “adulting” for entertainment?
• NetFlix shutting down last physical data center: “A 100 percent cloud operation is going to be extremely rare for big established companies. … About 12 percent of companies run IT operations entirely in the cloud. … By 2022, just slightly more than 20 percent of large enterprise companies are expected to operate entirely in the cloud.” Love the use of the Wet Hot American Summer image for the article
• “Data center zero”: Simon Wardley.
• That time @cloud_opinion stuck up for Pivotal.
• “Mr. Maritz said that Pivotal’s Cloud Foundry business is on pace to generate $100 million in sales this year.””, and see Paul’s note on the topic.

Recommendations

• Coté: KEA Company podcast panel on the IT industry analyst world: part one and part two.
• Matt: “Mazes for programmers.”
• Brandon: “Bloodline.”

Michael Coté works for Pivotal, a sponsor of The New Stack.