Ever wondered how AI is changing the way we code? Laura and David break it down in this episode of Smart Coding. From real-world examples to the surprising environmental impact of AI tools, they cover it all—with a few personal stories thrown in. Tune in for a relaxed and eye-opening chat. 00:00 Introduction to AI Augmented Programming 01:32 David's Coding Journey with AI 02:43 Debating the Merits of AI in Coding 04:29 Practical Applications of AI in Development 07:14 The Future of Coding with A...
Jun 26, 2025•42 min•Ep. 22
Observability for Developers: What You Need to Know? In this episode, we discuss the intricacies of observability in microservices with Adriana Villela, a principal developer advocate at Dynatrace and an OpenTelemetry maintainer. Adriana shares insights about the importance of properly instrumenting code, managing technical debt, and balancing the environmental impact of observability data. She also delves into practical advice for getting started with OpenTelemetry and the importance of communi...
Jun 19, 2025•49 min•Ep. 21
The Future of Sustainability in Open Source Can open source ever truly be sustainable? In this mind-bending episode, Hazel Weakly guides us through the social, economic, and emotional layers of open source communities. We dig into governance, funding models, trust, burnout, and what it means to scale collective ownership—without losing your mind. Hazel Weakly: The Nivenly Foundation Fellow, Member of CNCF’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing WG, Software Developer | Leader Hosts: David Flanagan and Laura ...
Jun 12, 2025•48 min•Ep. 20
In this episode David and Laura explore the world of Atlantis, the Terraform automation tool, with special guest Jose (PePe) Amengual, a core contributor and maintainer of the Atlantis project. We discuss the origins, features, and future of Atlantis, along with its role in production engineering and its integration with various VCS systems. 00:00 Introduction 00:14 Terraform Automation and Project Atlantis 00:35 Pepe’s Journey with Project Atlantis 03:40 What is Atlantis? 22:05 Security Aspects...
Apr 03, 2025•40 min•Ep. 19
Java for Serverless Functions In this episode of Cloud Native Compass, hosts Laura and David explore the world of Java for serverless functions with special guest Otávio Santana. Otávio, a seasoned Java developer and Kubernetes expert, shares his insights into the modernization of Java, its ecosystem, and its place in the cloud native landscape. We discuss Java's evolution, the misconceptions surrounding it, and why it remains a powerful tool for developers today. 00:00 Introduction to Java for ...
Mar 27, 2025•30 min•Ep. 18
Dapr: The Future of Microservices In this episode of Cloud Native Compass, host David Flanagan is joined by Mark Fussell, co-founder and CEO of Diagrid, to discuss the intricacies of Dapr and its role in microservices and distributed systems. They delve into the actor model, the new Dapr Agents, and much more. Creators & Guests David Flanagan - Host Laura Santamaria - Host Mark Fussell - Guest Click here to watch a video of this episode. (00:00) - Introduction (00:09) - Guest Introduction (0...
Mar 20, 2025•53 min•Ep. 17
Struggling to Learn Kubernetes? Here’s How to Stay MotivatedIn this episode of Cloud Native Compass, host David Flanagan talks with Koray Oksay, a Kubernetes consultant, trainer at Kubermatic, CNCF Ambassador, and organizer of KCD Istanbul. From this episode, you’ll learn how to overcome the challenges of learning new technologies, how to find motivation, and how to use real-world projects to improve skills. The guest shares personal experiences—how he moved from struggling with Perl and Python ...
Mar 13, 2025•37 min•Ep. 16
In this episode, David and Laura catch up with Mikkel Mørk Hegnhøj from Fermyon to break down the latest in WebAssembly. They’ll cover how it’s changing cloud computing, what’s new with Spin and WASI, and why devs should care. Tune in for some great insights! Click here to watch a video of this episode. Creators & Guests David Flanagan - Host Laura Santamaria - Host Mikkel Mørk Hegnhøj - Guest (00:00) - Introduction to Server-Side WebAssembly (00:25) - Technical Difficulties and Banter (01:0...
Feb 28, 2025•38 min•Ep. 14
In this episode of Cloud Native Compass, hosts David Flanagan and Laura Santamaria dive deep into the complexities of the Kubernetes release cycle with guest Kat Cosgrove. Kat, a sub-project lead for SIGrelease in the Kubernetes project, shares her experiences and discusses issues such as burnout, handling drive-by PRs, and the nuances of managing a fast-moving open source project. They explore the structure of the release team, the challenges of maintaining CI stability, and the ever-evolving n...
Jan 30, 2025•39 min•Ep. 13
Exploring Cloud Migrations & Infrastructure Strategies with Jason Hall of Chainguard Click here to watch a video of this episode. In this episode of the Cloud Native Compass podcast, hosts David Flanagan and Laura Santamaria chat with Jason Hall, Principal Engineer at Chainguard. They delve into Chainguard's migration from Kubernetes and Knative to Cloud Run, discussing the reasons behind the move, cost considerations, managing technical debt, and best practices for infrastructure management...
Jan 16, 2025•56 min•Ep. 12
InfluxDB 3.0 Rewrite InfluxDB, a time series database, underwent a major rewrite to create InfluxDB 3.0, also known as IOx. The decision to rewrite the database was driven by the need for strict control over memory management and high performance. The project started as a research endeavor and gradually gained traction within the company. The team decided to build around projects under the Apache Foundation, such as Apache Arrow and Apache Data Fusion. In April 2022, InfluxDB 3.0 was officially ...
Nov 08, 2023•56 min•Ep. 11
Here are 5 key takeaways from this episode that you don't want to miss: 1️⃣ The People Problem: Laura Santamaria raises an important concern about verifying AI-generated outputs and tackling the challenge of the "people problem" in AI development. 2️⃣ Verifying Data Authenticity: JJ discusses the challenge of proving that a data blob originated from a specific model and how this issue is being addressed by companies like IBM through pile cleaning and legal penalties. 3️⃣ AI Misconceptions: We de...
Nov 01, 2023•43 min•Ep. 10
We're back with an exciting new episode of Cloud Native Compass, and this time we're diving deep into the captivating world of eBPF. Join Laura Santamaria, David Flanagan, and special guest Liz Rice as they unravel the mysteries and explore the incredible potential of this powerful technology! In this episode, you will learn: 1. The two parts of eBPF: Discover the kernel program and the user space interaction that make up the magic of eBPF. 2. Programming with eBPF: Explore the different options...
Aug 25, 2023•32 min•Ep. 9
Curious about Istio's new deployment mechanism, Ambient Mesh? It allows you to use Istio service mesh without relying on sidecar proxies, which brings a bunch of improvements that Marino and Matt share throughout this episode; as well as a ton of deep dive technical implementation details. Creators & Guests Laura Santamaria - Host David Flanagan - Host Marino Wijay - Guest Matt Turner - Guest (00:00) - - Introductions (01:50) - - What Ambient Mesh? (04:15) - - Why Ambient Mesh? (18:20) - - W...
Aug 04, 2023•49 min•Ep. 8
In this episode, hosts David and Laura, sit down with Laslo Fogas; a self proclaimed WebAssembly sceptic. They discuss the future of Cloud Native and improving the broken developer experience. Creators & Guests Laura Santamaria - Host David Flanagan - Host Laszlo Fogas - Guest...
Jul 21, 2023•43 min•Ep. 7
In this episode of the Cloud Native Compass, host David Flanagan interviews Natan from Wix Engineering about event-driven architectures. Natan shares his experience as a software engineer for almost 20 years and how working at Wix has improved his engineering skills. Wix has a powerful website building platform that has enabled people with different skill levels to build websites. They have expanded their reach from self-creators to agencies and web professionals and created a whole ecosystem pl...
Jun 19, 2023•46 min•Ep. 6
I interview Marc Boorshtein, the CTO of Tremolo Security, an open-source identity management company that focuses on authentication, authorization, identity, and automation. Marc explains that their most popular tool is Open Unison, which allows users to log in to their Kubernetes clusters with whatever authentication system they have, such as LDAP, AD, Okta, or Azure AD. Open Unison also provides secure access to the dashboard and integrates with other cluster management applications. Next up w...
May 29, 2023•39 min•Ep. 5
In this episode, Rachel shares her journey into tech and how she ended up in the Kubernetes space. She did not have a traditional IT background, but she was always interested in computers and programming. As soon as she discovered the DevOps philosophy and movement, she knew that it was the right fit for her. She went down the rabbit hole of learning how to use Docker, Ansible, Chef, and Kubernetes, and eventually landed a job at Fairwinds, a Kubernetes-centric company. Rachel discusses the chal...
May 22, 2023•41 min•Ep. 4
In this episode, David interviews Frank, a staff engineer at Personio, a big HR company based out of Germany. Frank has been in the industry for close to 15 years and has worked with various programming languages such as PHP, TypeScript, Kotlin, Java, Go, and Rust. Frank's interest in event-driven architecture started when he worked on a project for Schiphol airport. The website needed to ingest flight information as close to real-time as possible, and the only real way to do that for the scale ...
May 15, 2023•45 min•Ep. 3
In this episode of the Cloud Native Compass podcast, the guests discuss WebAssembly and server-side WebAssembly. The guests include Kevin Hoffman, CTO of Cosmonic and creator of the WasmCloud open source project, Connor Hicks, founder and CEO of Suborbital, and Kate Goldenring, senior software engineer at Fermyon. They each share their experiences and paths to working with WebAssembly, with Kevin having experimented with Asm.js and CloudABI before discovering WebAssembly, Connor being drawn to t...
May 08, 2023•50 min•Ep. 2
In the first episode of the Cloud Native Compass podcast, the hosts discuss a range of topics related to cloud, containers, and Kubernetes. The conversation begins with a discussion on the cost of cloud adoption, which is becoming increasingly challenging for many organizations. The guests share their experiences and offer advice on how to navigate this tricky situation. The guests also discuss their backgrounds and experiences in the tech industry. Eli, a developer advocate at Scaleway, shares ...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 1
