Agenda

This is the published schedule and agenda for Deserted Island DevOps 2022.

All Times Eastern US

We Live in a Society: How your lazy, snooty, jock, and peppy applications feel matters
Heidi Waterhouse | @wiredferret | 9/14 @ 10:00 AM EDT

Abstract

Like our New Horizons village, our community of applications interacts with each other, not just us. What kind of rules of polite society can we set for them so that we can all get along without fighting, and adapt well when someone moves out? When we talk about microservices, the implication is that it’s something that we’ve built, but many of the same interaction rules can (and should?) be applied to our external tools.

This talk is for people who are working in an environment where the only constant is that tools will change and resources won’t.

Speaker Biography
Heidi is a developer advocate with LaunchDarkly. She delights in working at the intersection of usability, risk reduction, and cutting-edge technology. One of her favorite hobbies is talking to developers about things they already knew but had never thought of that way before. She sews all her conference dresses so that she's sure there is a pocket for the mic.

Can You GitOps Your API?
Abdallah Abedraba | @aabedraba | 9/14 @ 11:00 AM EDT

Abstract

One of the major trends in contemporary cloud-native application development is the adoption of GitOps; managing the state of your Kubernetes cluster(s) in Git - with all the bells and whistles provided by modern Git platforms like GitHub and GitLab in the regards to workflows, auditing, security, tooling, etc.

Let’s dive in into how your teams can leverage it for a faster and safer road to production!

Speaker Biography
Abdallah is a Developer Advocate at Kubeshop, focusing on API workflows and developer experience in Kubernetes, with a huge passion of engaging with developer communities and coming from a prior experience in application development and developer advocacy at GreenMobility and Google.

Building the Right Island: What Should I Be Doing Right Now?
Jason Blanchard | @n/a | 9/14 @ 11:30 AM EDT

Abstract

What does software engineering and Animal Crossing have in common? Building happens in real time, so you need to be strategic in how you allocate your time. Should I be planting apple trees, or selling turnips? Should I be cost-optimizing these databases, or replacing that legacy infrastructure? This talk will present some strategies to set your engineering team up for success in a world where your time is as valuable as a gold nugget.

Speaker Biography
Jason is currently an Engineering Lead for Employee Cycle building an HR analytics solution that takes the pain out of HR reporting. Jason switched his career to software engineering after getting frustrated with the state of education technology. Since then, he has worked across the stack, taught/mentored fellow career changers, and led product and SRE teams through startup acquisitions and a corporate carve-out. Jason also likes to collect clocks in his Animal Crossing house.

15 Minute Lesson: The Things You Need To Know About Securing Your Things.
Jake King | @jakeking | 9/14 @ 12:00 PM EDT

Abstract

We all know how easy it is to deploy our app / infra / container / service, but is it easy is it to make sure they’re monitored and secure? We’re always the ones responsible for replying to that strange email to security@ or waking up to some unusual issue so why not understand some fundamentals to get better at responding.

Jake discusses some security fundamentals that will make that next security incident a little less painful using open source tools, and tactics available to anyone - and will cover the things to do when you’re feeling the security incident ‎️‍🔥‎️‍🔥‎️‍🔥,

Speaker Biography
Jake King is a long-time security practitioner specializing in infrastructure security, primarily in cloud environments. Jake founded Cmd, a security company focused on Linux workloads that was acquired by Elastic in 2021. Prior to this, Jake managed the security program at social media giant Hootsuite where he experienced first-hand the risks pertaining to Linux systems at scale. Jake is a frequent speaker on the topic of Linux Security at BSides, MITRE, RSA and other conferences, as well as an active member of the Vancouver cybersecurity community. An Australian native, Jake studied cyber forensics and information security management before relocating to Vancouver, Canada in 2013.

Break - 30m

Friends on Other Islands: Effective Distributed Communication
Amy Negrette | @nerdypaws | 9/14 @ 1:00 PM EDT

Abstract

When we all went to our individual islands, the experience didn’t look the same for everyone. Some had others on their islands while others only had their landlord and other villagers for company. Some of us lived on our islands long before others were forced to theirs. As we began to reconnect and our time on our islands lasted longer and longer, we had to review exactly how we would communicate. We could “visit”, but it required coordination. We could send letters, but that took time. One thing we all needed to learn was how to work together, no matter which island we were on.

This talk will address:

  • Different Asynchronous and Synchronous Channels
  • How to Maximize Synchronous Communication
  • Asynchronous Etiquette
  • The Remote Watercooler

This talk sets ground rules and expectations for fully distributed communication and collaboration. These general rules are good for any distributed team member to keep in mind.

Speaker Biography
My name is Amy Arambulo Negrette and I have an abundance of cherries on my island. I've been an application developer for over nearly 15 years. Most recently, a serverless advocate and enthusiast!

A One Woman Show of Migrating an Entire R&D SCM From BitBucket to GitLab
Hila Fish | @hilafish1 | 9/14 @ 1:30 PM EDT

Abstract

Writing code is something that we learned. Managing a project E2E - Probably not that much.

In this talk, I’ll share my journey of migrating the entire R&D’s codebase from BitBucket to GitLab on my own - But with the great help of people along the way - Planning, implementation, and handoffs.

I’ll share best practices for managing a technical project with a lot of takeaways you could adopt so your project will be handled smoothly and successfully.

Speaker Biography
Hila Fish is a Senior DevOps Engineer at Wix, with 15 years of experience in the tech industry, and an international public speaker who believes the DevOps culture is what drives a company to perform at its best, and talks about this and more at conferences. She carries the vision to enhance and drive business success by taking care of its infrastructure. In her spare time, Hila is a lead singer of a cover band, giving back to the community by co-organizing DevOps-related events (Inc. 'DevOpsDays TLV' & 'StatsCraft' monitoring conference), mentoring in 'Baot' (An Israeli community of technical women in tech) and other tech communities & initiatives, and sharing her passion and knowledge whenever possible.

How to create your personal strategic plan?
Maritza Cieza | @n/a | 9/14 @ 2:00 PM EDT

Abstract

In the corporate world, a strategic plan is used by organizations to define their vision, goals and objectives. So why don’t we use this amazing tool in our personal life? Creating your personal strategic plan can help you stablish a direction, identify your goals and design the life you want to have.

Speaker Biography
Experienced Process Analyst with a demonstrated history of working in the RPA development and programming domain. Skilled in Automation Anywhere, Power Platform and Business Analysis. My mission is to free people from non-creative work by automating manual and repetitive tasks. ❤

Break - 30m

Wall of Awful: Tactics for Summiting Your Most Mountaious Molehills
Trip Longworth | @thelongshanx | 9/14 @ 3:00 PM EDT

Abstract

Have a task that’s supposed to be easy? You could do it in a snap? You know you really should get it done, and yet… you just can’t bring yourself to do it?

This talk presents the concept of the Wall of Awful, a metaphor for emotional barriers that keep us from doing the things we supposedly want to do, the neuroscience behind these blockers, and tactics for getting past them and to your goal.

Speaker Biography
Trip Longworth is a devops dork who loves reducing friction where people, processes, and technology meet. They are Developer Advocate at Garden.io and would love to help you get out of the CI queue and back into the fun parts of your job. And/or to the nearest karaoke bar.

The Obvious Evolution of Observability
Pete Cheslock | @petecheslock | 9/14 @ 3:30 PM EDT

Abstract

From managing custom-built bespoke servers in data centers, to spinning up serverless applications in the cloud, monitoring and observability has undergone a generational shift over the past decade.

Today, most companies implement expansive monitoring of their production applications to quickly respond to customer issues as they arise. The trouble is, by the time customers experience a problem or security issues are found, it’s already too late. In this session, we’ll talk about:

  • Four rising industry software development trends.
  • Why software design and code quality are the next challenges for building resilient software.
  • How the current generation of observability tooling is failing modern enterprises
  • How to move observability directly into the developer’s coding workflow to surface performance, reliability and security issues before code is ever committed
Speaker Biography
Pete is currently the Head of Growth And Community for AppMap, the open source dynamic runtime code analyzer. Pete also works with early stage startups, helping them navigate the complex world of early stage new product development. Pete also fully acknowledges his profile pic is slightly out of date, but has been too lazy to update it to reflect current hair growth trends.

DevOps Isn't Just About Developing
Michelle Mannering | @mishmanners | 9/14 @ 4:00 PM EDT

Abstract

It’s widely accepted that DevOps is as much a cultural shift as it is about the technology that’s used. DevOps consists of four main pillars, one of which is collaboration.

In this session I’ll talk about why collaboration is important and how developers and non-developers can work better together. I’ll also gives you some tips on tools to use for more effective collaboration and teamwork across multidisciplinary teams.

Speaker Biography
I am a highly motivated, curious and compassionate leader with a keen interest in driving entrepreneurial culture and pioneering Melbourne’s esports industry. I have founded several tech companies and, as a result, sits at the forefront of this city’s science, tech, esports and startup scenes. Everyday I get to create awesome experiences and engage with the vibrant GitHub developer community. I've run many hackathons, and am an accomplished MC, speaker, and facilitator. You'll often catch me at an event or speaking on stage! In my 'spare' time I'm a streamer, journalist, and always working on something exciting.

VIP Panel: An Oral History Of Deserted Island
Friends of Deserted Island | @didevops | 9/14 @ 4:30 PM EDT

Abstract

In this panel, a group of alumni speakers, organizers, and friends of the show will discuss the history of Deserted Island DevOps, and how it has evolved over the past few years.

Note: This panel is exclusive to VIP ticket holders.

Speaker Biography
To be revealed.

Maintenance and Trust: It's Not Just for Software
Kat Cosgrove | @dixie3flatline | 9/15 @ 10:00 AM EDT

Abstract

Every company on the planet either has, or wants to have, a community. For many this is a marketing tool – a source of free content generation, or word of mouth promotion, or simply repeat customers. In open source, the community plays a much more key role. The community is responsible not just for the aforementioned things, but also for the maintenance of the product and the happiness of end-users.

Without a healthy, active, and growing group of people donating their time, skills, and emotional energy to free of charge, the product might not exist. Ensuring that community flourishes means investing in fostering trust on both sides, and allowing a certain degree of autonomy. This can become very complicated to manage, though; people are messy, and perspectives will differ between the community and the business. How do we succeed here? How do we balance the will of the community and the needs of the business? And when differing perspectives clash (because they will), how do we manage the loss of trust and come out stronger for it?

Speaker Biography
Kat Cosgrove is a Developer Advocate, a CNCF Ambassador, and an actual cyborg. Her professional background has run the gamut from bartender, to video store clerk, to teacher, to software engineer. She credits this wide-ranging experience for her success as a speaker, developer, and advocate. You can usually find her speaking about DevOps or cloud native technologies, particularly 101-level content, in pursuit of her goal of increasing accessibility for these tools. When she's not building demos or at a conference, she spends her time playing video games, watching horror movies, and reading science fiction. She lives in Seattle with her cat, Espresso, who is the real brains behind the operation. Espresso may be ghostwriting her tweets.

Demystifying MLOps
Rashmi Nagpal | @iamrashminagpal | 9/15 @ 11:00 AM EDT

Abstract

This talk will discuss how to package ML models to facilitate inference, interoperability, and monitor pipelines to systematically build, deploy, and govern ML solutions for businesses and industries. Additionally, we will comprehend numerous insights into MLOps coupled with real-world examples in Azure to write programs that train robust and scalable ML models which are deployed securely in production.

Speaker Biography
Rashmi Nagpal is a Software Engineer with 3+ years of industry experience. She is also a Research Affiliate at the University of San Francisco, CA, working in sociolinguistics. She is passionate about exploring FATE (Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics) in NLP algorithms and bringing research and academia to the industry. She holds a post-graduate in Artificial Intelligence from the University of California Berkeley and Plaksha. She is a leader at Women Who Go, wherein she is actively involved in bridging the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Distributed shared team configurations with Oh-My-Zsh
John McBride | @johncodezzz | 9/15 @ 11:30 AM EDT

Abstract

Team knowledge, configurations, and infrastructure access can be challenging in a distributed world. Have you ever asked “what’s that command we use?” or “Where are the secrets to access that environment?” - well this talk is for you!

We’ll explore using Oh-My-Zsh, a powerful Zsh configuration framework, in order to share team knowledge, distribute common configurations, and share infrastructure access. We’ll discuss the real world scenario this use case emerged from, challenges faced in this approach, and how you can leverage Oh-My-Zsh for your distributed devops teams.

Speaker Biography
John is a Software Development Engineer at a large technology company working on Bottlerocket, a secure linux operating system for running containers and kubernetes. He is a maintainer of spf13/cobra, a CLI bootstrapping library. In the past, he has worked on open source Kubernetes platforms and lead teams building observability products.

Hands on with Kubernetes deployment security
Matt Johnson | @metahertz | 9/15 @ 12:00 PM EDT

Abstract

Cloud-native technologies and methodologies such as Kubernetes, infrastructure as code (IaC), and GitOps have drastically changed the way we build applications. The way we secure those applications needs to evolve as well.

We’ll start with a pre-built, insecure deployment pipeline and work backwards to learn common Kubernetes security misconfigurations and how to prevent them through automated guardrails. The environment will be available to all attendees to follow along or deepdive for themselves after the session.

Speaker Biography
Based in not-so-sunny Manchester, UK, Matt leads developer relations at Bridgecrew. Whether he’s writing articles, giving talks, or shipping new features, Matt is passionate about helping DevOps teams simplify, automate, and improve their infrastructure security.

Break - 30m


How to survive a crash landing on the island of DevOps ✈️🔥🌴
Daniel Kim and Fatima Sarah Khalid | @learnwdaniel | @sugaroverflow | 9/15 @ 1:00 PM EDT

Abstract

Fatima and Daniel, BFFs IRL and island neighbors, talk about their journey into DevOps starting from 0. Let’s face it, DevOps is intimidating - there are so many moving pieces that are constantly changing. It can be overwhelming to understand the technical concepts, interact with niche communities, and start building with all the cool new tech, especially if you’re new, much like building an island from scratch 🌴.

As newcomers to the DevOps community, Fatima and Daniel will share strategies for survival, the resources they used, and what they learned on the way. There’s an art to asking questions, connecting with the community, learning in public, and most importantly, building projects with Kubernetes. Yes, there is a wrong way to build with Kubernetes 🙃.

Join us for a wonderful, flower planting, fruit picking, and fossil collecting journey of professional growth and friendship, powered by DevOps & Turnips.

Speaker Biography
Daniel Kim (He/Him) is a Senior Developer Relations Engineer at New Relic and the founder of Bit Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated make tech accessible to underserved communities. He wants to inspire generations of students in tech to be the best they can be through inclusive, accessible developer education. He is passionate about diversity & inclusion in tech, good food, and dad jokes. Fatima is an adventurous software engineer & open source contributor. She's passionate about civic tech and committed to building more inclusive tech communities. She loves coding challenges, storytelling, and simplifying technical concepts. Before joining GitLab, Fatima has been a backend developer, core contribution mentor, and community lead in the Drupal and WordPress spaces. In 2018, she received the Women in Communications & Technology (WCT) Rising Star leadership award for her efforts in teaching and advocacy. When she's not playing board games, beating escape rooms, or playing Destiny 2 with friends, you can find Fatima reading by the ocean.

Fostering a Culture of Learning through Observability
Brooke Sargent | @codegirlbrooke | 9/15 @ 1:30 PM EDT

Abstract

Observability helps engineers understand the systems they have built, but it can also help engineers new to your team and even engineers new to tech understand the systems they will be working on.

In this talk, we will explore what it means to build a culture of observability within engineering teams, how a culture of observability fosters a culture of learning, and how these practices build a foundation to do things like onboard new engineers more effectively, help engineers level up, and take on apprentices.

Speaker Biography
Brooke is currently a software engineer working on observability at Honeycomb. Previously, she worked on e-commerce and IoT at Procter & Gamble as an engineering manager. In her spare time, she can be found in the kitchen on a quest to master baking the perfect pie.

Break - 30m

Evergreen DevOps
Aaron Aldrich | @crayzeigh | 9/15 @ 2:30 PM EDT

Abstract

A lot has happened in the past 10 years (give or take) of DevOps. What started as a single tech conference in Belgium became 80 worldwide events in 2019 and persists throughout a global pandemic as online gatherings. And while the tech du jour of these events has shifted over time —conferences full of talks and open spaces on jenkins pipelines give way to docker and now to kubernetes talk— we’re still talking about how best to learn from incidents, or how to foster psycological safety. Everything we’re still discussing is about growing as people and building strong teams and communities.

This is a talk that draws on my personal experiences in the DevOps community and through the pandemic to show how regardless of the technologies we’re using, our communities and practice developed under the DevOps banner are far more important than any specific technology we’ve worked with. It’ll touch on how the most important talk I’ve ever given was about being vulnerable in public about my mental health, how the people (and not any technology) I’ve met in DevOps have helped me the most through this global pandemic, and how building strong communities is the most important “yak shaving” we can do.

The real evergreen DevOps is people.

Speaker Biography
Aaron Aldrich is a Developer Advocate at Equinix Metal, creator of TabletopDevops (@tabletopdevops) and the Brains on the Internet podcast (@internet_brains) and an organizer for DevOpsDays Hartford, NYC and Boston. Passionate about Resilience Engineering and Mental Health in the tech industry, they believe that every technology problem is ultimately, when you get right down to it, a people challenge. Find them at crayzeigh.com for thoughts on technology and people or on twitter @CrayZeigh for a potluck of technology, politics and general tomfoolery.

Who Should Use Kubernetes?
Whitney Lee | @wiggitywhitney | 9/15 @ 3:00 PM EDT

Abstract

Who should use Kubernetes? Like, who is Kubernetes for? Kubernetes can be difficult to install and complicated to use and manage. What are the benefits of Kubernetes, and at what point do these benefits outweigh the operational complexity?

Join Whitney for a fun and fast-paced talk about the benefits and drawbacks of Kubernetes, and why the main advantage of Kubernetes adoption is not what you think!

Speaker Biography
Whitney is a full stack developer who enjoys understanding and using tools in the cloud native landscape. Creative and driven, Whitney recently pivoted from an art-related career to one in tech. She is active in the open source community, especially around CNCF projects focused on developer productivity. You can catch her lightboard streaming show ϟ Enlightning on Tanzu.TV. And not only does she rock at tech - she literally has toured playing in the band Mutual Benefit on keyboards and vocals.

App Development on Kubernetes: Patterns, Tools, and Practices
Kaslin Fields | @kaslinfields | 9/15 @ 3:30 PM EDT

Abstract

Learn how Kubernetes adoption affects application development teams. We’ll cover the three most common strategies of app development I see from businesses adopting Kubernetes - local traditional development, local containerized development, and direct development on Kubernetes. While many of the core skills and work of software development teams remains the same, this session explores the relationship between Dev & Ops with Kubernetes in the mix, as well as the new tools application developers may need as your organization adopts Kubernetes.

Speaker Biography
Kaslin Fields is a Developer Advocate at Google Cloud, a Container enthusiast and creator of tech comics. She uses her knowledge of DevOps technologies and methodologies to help others as they enter the Cloud Native world. By creating comics about DevOps tech, she hopes to make learning Cloud Native fun and accessible to everyone!

VIP Panel: The Other Kind Of Vulnerability - A New Model For Developer Communities
Friends of Deserted Island | @didevops | 9/15 @ 4:00 PM EDT

Abstract

In this panel, we’ll discuss and debate how developer communities have changed and evolved through the pandemic, and chat about the best ways to educate, inform, and entertain them in a remote-first world.

Note: This panel is exclusive to VIP ticket holders.

Speaker Biography
To be revealed.