Insightful conversations. Less snark.

A continual focus here on “Screaming” is to take time to sing the praises of those folks who aptly deserve them, and that we admire. Oftentimes Corey finds them out in the wilds known as conferences, and then in reflection will have them come on for a proper conversation. This is where Deirdré Straughan, Director of Open Source Community and Engagement at Intel, comes to play. Deirdré has had a storied career in tech that has spanned a few decades now, which in turn has put her into the position to understand the industry to a depth few do. With an extensive background in marketing, but not letting previous definitions limit her, Deirdré’s focus is now on extending “marketing” past its previous ploys. Deirdré expands on what exactly marketing as education means, and she also describes her highly varied background—country by country. She offers up some excellent anecdotes, and ponders on her hardline honesty. Tune in for her invigorating perspectives!

The tech industry is getting long enough in the teeth that now there are some bonafide old fogeys. Nevertheless there, fortunately, are plenty of younger tech folks out there pushing the thought and mentality of the industry forward. Andrew Brown, Co-Founder and Cloud Instructor at ExamPro Training Inc certainly is, but his presence in the community is so much more! Andrew talks about the various internet platforms that he stays active on, and his mission to provide education on the cloud. Importantly so, Andrew does so with an immense amount of generosity. As he puts it, he couldn’t imagine taking money for the courses that he has created. Andrew and Corey discuss at length their thoughts on cloud certifications, the worth of multicloud, and much more!

For this episode we’re changing it up a bit. Corey sits down for a group chat with Shir Tamari, Head of Research at Wiz, and a couple of his esteemed colleagues; Nir Ohfield and Sagi Tzadik. While the structure is a tad different, the content is a frequent subject: security! Shir and his team of specialists at Wiz are making some serious research into cyber security, and in turn are developing some excellent insights. Shir, Nir, and Sagi reveal some of the cutting edge security research that they have been conducting. They’ve honed their research intent down to two primary responsibilities: find risks in cloud environments, and doing community research. Shir and co. break down the various vulnerabilities that their research has revealed, and the methods they’re developing to alleviate these multifarious risks.

Pete Cheslock, Cloud Economist and Duckbill Group alum, sits down with Corey for their annual tradition of re:Invent re:Cap. After 2020’s generally crappy virtual event, and this years arguable awkward “hybrid” event, Pete and Corey have many coals to rake over. Pete and Corey talk about the general weirdness of the 2021 re:Invent amidst a still on going pandemic. One topic of conversation is the relentless insistence of certain companies to do what the customer asks, without even asking if they should. Pete expounds on some of the offerings to come out of re:Invent, and he and Corey try to sift through the chaff for some of the wheat.

Figuring out what the hell is going on in the AWS environment can be a head scratcher, on a good day. But, thanks to the earnest work of folks like Maciej Winnicki, Founder of Cloudash, these itches are, indeed, being scratched. Maciej and Cloudash got put on blast by Corey on Twitter, but for all the right reasons! Maciej goes into the details on Cloudash and how it works as a native desktop app for Mac. Maciej talks about all the areas that Cloudash is covering down from Lambda to CloudFront and others. Corey is a happy customer completely on his own! Listen in as he and Maciej take a deep dive into the technical aspects of Cloudash, and what Maciej has created is something really unique!

The keynote speeches at re:Invent are always a gamble, but fortunately this past year Matt Coulter, Technical Architect at Liberty Mutual, performed amply. While today he doesn’t have 20K people in front of him, Matt still has some great things to say. Matt and Corey talk about what it is like to present in front of such large audiences. Matt also divulges some of the details on what Liberty Mutual has working on in the cloud. Notably so, Matt chimes up on what all he has been worked on in CDK. For Matt a focus on reusable and well built tools in CDK and how they’re solving issues is crucial, as well as taking some architectural bounds at Liberty Mutual. Check out his take on all things CDK!

Miles Ward, CTO at SADA, is back! Miles is perhaps the closest thing Google Cloud has to Corey Quinn. With a wit and sharpness at hand, and an entire backup retinue of trumpets, trombones, and various brass horns, Miles is here to join the conversation about what all is going on at Google Cloud. Miles breaks down SADA and their partnership with Google Cloud. He goes into some details on what GCP has been up to, and talks about the various areas they are capitulating forward. Miles talks about working with Thomas Kurian, who is the only who counts since he follows Corey on Twitter, and the various profundities that GCP has at hand.

No company names are off limits for some often deserved snark here on “Screaming,” but Jamf pretty much takes care of itself. Levi McCormick, Cloud Architect at Jamf, is here to defend their honor—we kid. In reality Levi’s role at the enterprise architecture team over at Jamf gives him a high level, enterprise view of the cloud and in turn gives him some valuable takes. Corey and Levi talk about Duckbill Group’s use of Jamf, which for them is primarily centered around hardware. Now, Jamf has their head in the cloud and Levi and his team are crucial to that progress. Levi talks about the day to day operations of his team, and where they focus their energy and efforts to build out their products. Levi also offers some excellent insight on how to keep your various teams consistent, efficient, and perhaps most important—happy. Check it out!

When Corey went to the 2021 re:Invent, Corey made a surprising discovery. One of those was Aaron Booth, Cloud Product Consultant at Embue LTD. Aaron was making his first trip to the US just for re:Invent, and somehow managed to survive it and Vegas. Despite the miasmic nature of it all, Aaron walked away with some stories under his belt. Aaron talks about his prep work for re:Invent, which included watching “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” But, more importantly, Aaron discusses what he is most excited about following his trip and all the announcements. Aaron also offers some takes on sustainability and the cloud, and provides some hopeful perspectives on a topic that is so steeped in cynicism.

We shouldn’t forget security until the very end—and Ell Marquez, Security Research Advocate at Intezer, is here to keep us honest! Ell’s job title is just a minor indication about her own work in security, which can be so much more than blue hued charts (ahem, AWS)! Ell pipes up for some solid insight on how to step up the security game. Ell shines the light on some of the esoteric nature of security, and the importance of entire organizations sharing the security responsibility. She offers her take on third party contractors, Target kerfuffles, and chats with Corey about Pokémon’s security choices. Ell’s security chops come to the forefront too, as she and Corey debate some of the importance of various practices, and as they talk about her own work as a podcaster and more!

Serena a.ka. @shenetworks as she is known on TikTok, or @notshenetworks on Twitter, is a Network Engineer who has made her mark on the digital sphere! Serena’s work on the social end of the spectrum is only a facet of her work. As a network engineer in the age of cloud, Serena has much to say about the work of data centers. Corey and Serena talk datacenters, cybersecurity, and the role that her social media presence plays into her work in that typically curmudgeonly world. She traces the rise of her content, which has only be going on for around year, and how she intends to utilize that previously untapped space to spread the network “vibes”!

Sometimes we veer into interviews that aren’t just about cloud infrastructure. For this episode we’re joined by Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch, to talk about learning to code and creating a community around. Which, for Anil, is where to start—then “the tools will follow.” Anil and Corey discuss Glitch and how it is bringing the esoteric nature of coding into a larger audience. Anil talks about starting at the community level, then letting the room for innovation and approachability growing outward from there. Anil shines the light onto the unique ways that Glitch, through apps, is changing the way people execute their technical ideas!