Sid Sijbrandij

AWS re:Invent is less than two weeks away. Want to accelerate your AI initiatives? Let's connect in Vegas and discuss how Meibel enables your engineering team to build Explainable AI into your products and experiences.

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The best use case for overseas development I've heard: We have customers in the eastern hemisphere. To support those customers better, we're standing up product, dev, and support teams to help serve those customers needs. Two key ingredients in making that successful: commensurate pay and the same level of performance and accountability as US peers. #software #international #teammanagement #overseasdevelopment #startup #leadership #coaching

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My latest for TechCrunch: Another Black Exit! Open source compliance and security platform FOSSA has acquired developer community platform StackShare, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. Founded by Yonas Beshawred, StackShare is one of the more popular platforms for developers to discuss, track, and share the tools they use to build applications. This encompasses everything from which front-end JavaScript framework to use to which cloud provider to use for specific tasks. Read more to learn about the company and its acquisition!

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These are the boring, yet impactful aspects of API operations I am here for--low-tech, economy impacting, real-world stuff like the API deprecation notice from the Department of Labor.

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This is the initial infrastructure Tradescoop was built on. A few things have changed, some additions and removals; for example, we’ve gone from MongoDB on Digital Ocean to Mongo Atlas, Redis cloud to Memorystore, but the general appraoch remains. Simplicity. Shouts to Karl Obinna Amalu, CSM for cleaning it up and adding color ✨ #gcp #infrastructure #devops

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I'm happy to see Valkey doing so well. I have a strong suspicion that the vendors who chose to disenfranchise their communities didn't really appreciate what they had until it was gone. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with creating a proprietary software company to insure that all the value created in your product remains exclusively yours. However, starting your project with an OSI-approved license then changing it to a proprietary one several years later is akin to inviting your neighbors to a potluck dinner then charging them all $50/head to partake of the communal dinner table. Results will be a) you won't need to worry about hosting another potluck because no one will come, and b) you'll never be invited to a potluck hosted by your neighbors ever again. Business leaders keep mistaking open source development to be purely a business function. To their detriment, they don't understand the fundamental harm done to the organization by what seems to them to be a logical, pragmatic, business decision. Ask any developer using and/or contributing to open source and they will tell you it is founded on social and ethical norms, where trust is at the top of the list. These companies have not only lost their communities, they've lost the trust of the entire open source ecosystem. This makes every aspect of software development more difficult from hiring talent, to getting support for open source on which they depend. When all factors are considered I just don't see how open-source-to-proprietary bait&switch can be a viable business strategy.

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In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, join us as we delve into "The Discovery of Ignorance in Product Development: Time for a Smarter Way to Deliver Customer Value" with our special guest, Gary Cohen 🟦: https://lnkd.in/ggGMHyfu https://lnkd.in/gx2tXEu6 Drawing on his rich experience across diverse sectors—from government agencies to startups—Gary brings a wealth of insight into optimizing product discovery and delivery for true customer impact. ### **Key Topics Explored: The Product Discovery and Delivery Intersection** Even if a team is familiar with the 80/20 rule (e.g., where 80% of features go unused), how does it determine the right 20% to deliver? Gary shares strategies to tackle this challenge, advocating for a shift from traditional roadmap fixation to embracing dynamic, continuous discovery that keeps customer value at the forefront. Together, we examine the effectiveness of "strict" roadmap discipline (the practice of adhering to set timelines and objectives) and if it becomes a barrier to true innovation and customer value. We also briefly touch on the FAST framework and its relevance to product discovery, emphasizing how collective discovery through mobbing allows teams to stay closer to evolving customer needs. ### **The Role of GenAI in Modern Product Development** Is AI is reshaping product discovery? We explore how GenAI can be a collaborative asset for mobs, not only for code development but also for bringing value by uncovering insights into customer behavior and streamlining feature prioritization. We compare "introverted" AI and "extroverted" AI in mob environments and discusses how developing refined AI inquiry skills is key to leveraging AI’s full potential. From training mobs in nuanced prompt engineering to using AI to help drive a more lean delivery, we share ways to maximize AI's impact while maintaining expert human oversight. ### **Unpacking Behavioral Expectations: A Smarter Approach to Product Decisions** Beyond the technical, we look at the behavioral side of product monitoring, asking, “What responses do we expect from our users?” Gary emphasizes the importance of behavioral prediction in discovery, cautioning against information bias and providing ways to gauge responses to feature experiments in real-time. We highlight the importance of monitoring usage data and what it reveals about customer engagement—whether a feature elicits a “wow” or a mere “meh.” Chris Lucian

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➰ APIContext's latest insights on cloud-based API performance have been featured on Nordic APIs! In the 2024 report, we delve into crucial aspects affecting API efficiency: 🔐 Authentication is key. Ensuring robust authentication mechanisms in APIs is crucial, yet offloading this function can introduce complex challenges. 📖 DNS configurations matter. How you handle DNS settings can significantly impact API performance, particularly when tied to authentication processes. 🌐 The role of third parties. Critical third-party services play a significant role in 🔗 API transactions, underscoring the need for careful integration and monitoring. ⛅ Not all clouds are created equal. Differences in cloud services can drastically affect API performance, an essential consideration as APIs account for over 80% of all internet traffic. #APIs #CloudComputing #TechInsights #APIContext

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🎉 Big news! I'm thrilled to announce that my new book "Apache Kafka in Action" is now available in Manning Early Access Program (MEAP)! Three years ago, Alexander Kropp and I published the German Kafka book that received incredible feedback from the community. But Kafka's evolution hasn't stopped, and neither have we! This is the book we wish we had when we started with Kafka - born from our experience training nearly a thousand people across Europe and running Kafka in production environments. In "Apache Kafka in Action," we're sharing: 🌱 Kafka from the ground up 🚀 Real-world production insights 🔧 Troubleshooting challenges we've faced 📊 Operations, governance & monitoring ⚡ Practical patterns & antipatterns What makes this book special? It bridges the gap between theory and practice, guiding you through real-world scenarios and common challenges. We're sharing not just the what, but the why and how of successful Kafka implementations. 🎁 Use code "mlzelenin" for 50% off (valid until December 7th) 📖 Start reading now: https://lnkd.in/eQD3NzEK Special thanks to Manning Publications Co. and Hanser Verlag for making this possible. Looking forward to your feedback! #ApacheKafka #Streaming #DataEngineering #SoftwareArchitecture #TechBooks #Manning

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Token Count ≠ Word count ≠ Character count Anthropic launched a new prompt improver that “brought word count adherence up to 100% for a summarization task.” That’s an amazing stat. If you struggle to get accurate word or character counts from an LLM, you’re fighting an uphill battle. This is because models operate in a currency called tokens, where one token equals ~4 English characters or .75 words. The Anthropic Console helps you create new prompts and optimize existing ones to work at higher quality and accuracy with Claude. Behind the console lie proven PE strategies: 1. “Chain-of-thought reasoning: Adds a dedicated section for Claude to think through problems systematically before responding to improve accuracy and reliability. 2. Example standardization: Converts examples into a consistent XML format for improved clarity and processing. 3. Example enrichment: Augments existing examples with chain-of-thought reasoning that aligns with the newly structured prompt. 4. Rewriting: Rewrites the prompt to clarify structure and correct any minor grammatical or spelling issues. 5. Prefill addition: Prefills the Assistant message to direct Claude’s actions and enforce output formats.” Claude pricing starts at $18/month. Have you used the Anthropic Console? If so, what’s your feedback? Join the discussion in comments- #ai #llm #genai #appliedai #promptengineer Vid credits: Anthropic

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💥 We recently announced Temporal Nexus - the feature that connects durable executions across team, namespace, region, and cloud boundaries. Nexus endpoints are API proxies for Nexus services that abstract Temporal primitives like Workflows for seamless integration and collaboration across teams 🤝 
 
Benefits for developers: - Familiar API programming model that supports both sync and async patterns for connecting durable executions using existing queue-based Workers. - Modular architecture that allows teams to independently develop, scale, and maintain parts of an application with clear API contracts backed by robust Nexus machinery. - Enhanced security, troubleshooting, and fault isolation that reduces the risk of misbehaving workers, since each team can run their workflows in separate namespaces. Use the Temporal SDK to add Nexus services to your existing workers with clean API contracts for others to use. Read more: http://temporal.io/nexus

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🌶 DORA metrics are great, but they don't cut it alone. We sat down with Jellyfish's Head of Engineering, Eli Daniel, to hear his take on what engineering leaders *should* be measuring. In this episode of Level Up, Kenneth Rose and Eli talk about: ▶ Feelings aren't facts—you need data to run an engineering org ▶ One set of metrics probably aren't going to cut it to make good decisions ▶ Engineering leaders need data as much as a sales leader 🎧 Listen to the full episode and let us know your favorite metrics to build and manage an efficient engineering team 💬 👇 Get the full episode link in the comments👇 #dora #engineering #leadership

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🔥 Eli Daniel, Head of Engineering here at Jellyfish, brought some serious insights to OpsLevel's latest Level Up episode! Here's a sneak peek into what they discussed: ▶ How to choose metrics tailored to your organization's goals ▶ Tips for analyzing where your team's time is being spent ▶ Scaling metrics for better alignment and resource allocation ▶ Why DORA metrics are just scratching the surface ▶ Balancing quantitative and qualitative metrics for a complete picture of team performance Check it out! 👇👇👇

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At Speakeasy we love working with devex leaders like Michael Heap to continuously raise the bar for what is "best in class" 🔥 We've been super lucky to work with him on what makes a great developer experience for iac and terraform. Come hear him and Thomas Rooney talk through how you can leverage OpenAPI and your API supply chain to build a provider and unlock the Terraform ecosystem. Link to the livestream in the comments 👇 #terraform #codegeneration #openapi

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An interesting, cool feature for Snowflake Cortex was just released last week and is called LLM Playground. You are now able to play with some feature and functionality and clearly see and compare results of things like: ✅ temperature, ✅ top_p or ✅ max_tokens ✅ Cortex Guard It's an interesting no-code tool that gives you the power to try models and settings. https://lnkd.in/gpZTjRiQ #snowflake #infostrux #datasuperhero #snowflake_advocate

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I recently spoke with Ben Poland from Faire about some of the challenges with scaling CI workflows in large monorepos. Listen to full episode on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or on Hangar: https://lnkd.in/gHma_zED Key takeaways: - Kubernetes can be a great way that offers scalability and consistency for high throughput CI/CD - To scale for monorepos we need to both break down large CIs into separate pipelines, and also leverage remote build caching from Bazel / Gradle to reduce execution cycle - Clear well thought through dependency graph is important for the health of monorepos #developerexperience #monorepo

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The biggest gripe I had with myself earlier in my career, was being just another engineer. Good perhaps, excellent even but still siloed. Pair that with my love for working at startups, I could feel that there’s more to the problem than moving from Fargate to EKS. And this is something that I have seen across the board. Even if the environment is welcoming and fosters collaboration, we as engineers feel most comfortable with code. Almost bound by a sacred oath to never visit the dark lands of product 😅 The key to change this is to understand you are not there to serve at the whims of jira tickets. You didn’t learn algorithms to be the fastest in the world at sorting. Your ability to breakdown problems and spot patterns extends beyond code. Your empathy for users and the larger problem makes you a better engineer! Certainly more employable, especially in an environment where coding prowess is no longer an edge. PS: I have found PostHog’s notes especially helpful. Terse, and to the point. I hope they help you as well.

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