Ready, Set, Cloud Podcast!

Dive into the heart of serverless architecture with the brilliantly unorthodox Dax Raad in this episode of the "Ready, Set, Cloud" podcast. Renowned for his sharp insights and unconventional approach to... everything, Dax brings his perspective to the world of serverless application development. In this conversation, he shares insights on structuring serverless projects, the importance o...

Join Taylor Jacobsen and Allen Helton as they dive into the AWS Heroes Program. Taylor sheds light on what it means to manage this esteemed group of experts and enthusiasts, sharing how she helps them stay connected and motivated. The conversation uncovers the real essence of being an AWS Hero, revealing that there's no set formula or checklist—it's about individual impact and influence wi...

Join Alex DeBrie and Allen Helton as they talk about the work that went into writing the famous DynamoDB book. Alex tells us how it all got started, how long it took to write the book, and what was easier and harder than expected about the entire process. The two also talk about imposter syndrome and how to fight back when you feel like your content isn't quite good enough. Stay tuned until th...

We have plenty of tools that build Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in the cloud. But today, we're zeroing in on two powerhouses: SAM and CDK. Allen, a passionate SAM supporter, goes head-to-head with Matt Martz, a CDK enthusiast, as they share their preferred IaC methods. Dive into the world of CDK constructs versus SAM macros, explore the portability of templates in YAML versus code, and uncover the...

Episode Summary Everybody wants to go fast. But should you? In this episode, Allen talks with Boris Tane and Thomas Ankcorn from Baselime about how they build software at breakneck speed while maintaining a sense of responsibility. They discuss some of the best and worst moments of deploying code on a Friday, how they've structured their CI/CD pipelines, and what other companies need to do to...

Serverless is taking the world by storm. Despite there being countless blogs, tutorials, and recommended best practices around serverless, there's shockingly little material on observability. Why? It's hard! Join AJ and Allen as they talk about the difficulties of observing a serverless application, dive into the differences between KPIs and infrastructure metrics, what the future holds fo...

Right on the heels of international women's day, we're diving into the current state of diversity in tech and how we're making progress every day. Sure, there's still a long way to go to achieve true equity, equality, and inclusive cultures, but we're celebrating the amazing allies and support systems that are helping us get there. Kristi and Allen start with the basics and answer the foundational...

There are about as many "first" approaches to software as there are colors in the rainbow. Front-end first, serverless-first, API-first, test-first, the list goes on and on. Andres Moreno and I cover what it means to be API-first, clarify the definition of serverless-first, and discuss how he managed to build a development process that follows both patterns. Learn about the tooling that helps this...

Episode Summary Developer experience is often an afterthought when building APIs. But when you build for developers, DevEx is critical to your success. How fast can you make that time to first call ? If you have a high barrier of entry, nobody is going to use it. The easier it is to move quickly, the easier it is to spread the word and drive usage. Lars and Allen talk about what makes for good and...

Episode Summary Platform engineering is a trending topic in cloud communities these days. Does it replace DevOps? Is it really " the next new thing? " Before we can answer that, we need to understand what platform engineering is and how it is different from DevOps. Allen talks with Ran Isenberg about the responsibilities his team undertakes at CyberArk, some challenges they went through when start...

Episode Summary The serverless community is in a heated debate over what constitutes a serverless service. Is it simply abstracting servers away from consumers? Does it include scale to 0? What about cost considerations? All these questions are answered in this talk with Khawaja Shams, co-founder and CEO of Momento. Allen and Khawaja talk shop about the true definition of serverless and how it mig...